tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-345147472024-02-07T05:11:55.539+00:00British-born Chinese BlogPast, present and future from a 'B.B.C.' point of view.burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.comBlogger390125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-81790029526840527972013-02-27T20:16:00.000+00:002013-02-28T20:37:41.966+00:00What if China and Japan's recent tensions escapated to a war?Relations between China and Japan normally aren't the best, as I'm sure you're aware and recent territorial disputes haven't exactly helped matters. But what would be the global economic impact if the dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands were to turn into a full-blown war?
I was recently sent an interesting video on this very topic. It's quite a cleverly made short film that explain the many burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-21862818948394160232013-01-14T08:33:00.000+00:002013-01-14T08:33:27.886+00:00Funny Chinese Person alert!His name is Joe Wong and he's very funny. Check out the two videos below.
The first is a joke-packed monologue at an American gala dinner and is notable as much for the funny gags as for the slightly suspicious reactions of some in the audience.
The second is a shorter appearance on the 'Ellen' chat show. Both are very amusing. See what you think.
burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-49349531484739409932012-12-17T09:52:00.001+00:002012-12-17T09:52:17.206+00:00Some things never change.... (Warning: Adult language)burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-71286261349181550232012-11-05T11:45:00.001+00:002012-11-05T11:45:35.431+00:00PlayCantonese - a Cantonese playgroup for little ones
Just passing on link to what sounds like a useful playgroup for b.b.c. parents with little ones who are learning Cantonese.
PlayCantonese holds a series of events in London introducing babies and toddlers to Cantonese language through songs, rhymes and playing. It sounds like a much needed service! Drop them a line at info@playcantonese.com if you're interested.
Website: PlayCantonese
burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-74454969394218869732012-10-06T22:46:00.000+01:002012-10-06T22:46:40.184+01:00"Mourn with deep grief. Rest in peace..."
As The Standard Hong Kong reports, thousands gathered in Hong Kong last Friday to mourn the 38 people who died in the Lamma ferry sinking - Hong Kong's worst maritime accident in 40 years.
STORY: The Standard
burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-62567292038936806042012-09-14T12:37:00.000+01:002012-09-14T12:37:02.782+01:00A ridiculous 'Chinese-y' video from Coldplay
If you haven't seen it already, here's the so-clichéd-it's-funny video for 'Princess of China', the new single from Coldplay recently performed at the London Paralympics.
It's not like they went with the obvious or anything...
Oh dear!burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-41211491865923370842012-09-06T15:22:00.001+01:002012-09-06T15:22:12.340+01:00Side-by-Side: Geography Special!This is a slightly different and more complicated Side-by-Side and has taken quite a bit longer to put together.
As a bbc who has lived most of his life in London and spent some time in HK, I am fairly familiar with the geography of both places (more so with London than with HK). What I didn't have was any sense of how one place related to the other in terms of scale and distance.
For example, burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-76349943216992683132012-08-26T23:10:00.000+01:002012-08-26T23:10:56.420+01:00'Low Budget Lead' - a bbc short film!Hi all. First of all apologies for the lack of recent posts. I have been incredibly busy but rest assured the blog is not forgotten and I hope to have some more interesting posts to come very soon (including another side-by-side).
What prompted this sudden return to the blog? A short film, that's what! Made by Jason Francis Lau during his final year at Brunel University, the film is described asburntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-48947261093529348062012-03-19T10:20:00.004+00:002012-03-19T10:30:32.328+00:00Hong Kong's 'Rotten' Voting SystemTIME Magazine discusses the upcoming Hong Kong Chief Executive election. Whilst Hong Kong society is generally far more liberal than China, there is still along way to go before we have democracy in any meaningful sense of the word.Hong Kong's people are not allowed to directly elect their own chief executive (CE), the title given to the de facto mayor. Instead, voting is by a 1,200-member burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-53301686132230804352012-01-26T11:23:00.003+00:002012-01-26T11:34:40.826+00:00Our very own memeYou've all seen them; those silly, attention-grabbing images with captions that get spread around via email and social networks. Users add their own captions but the image always stays the same. If the image becomes popular and is repeated enough times it becomes a meme.You may not have seen this one - 'High Expectations Asian Father' but I think some of them are pretty hilarious.There isn't burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-36873447295118423832012-01-23T11:38:00.001+00:002012-01-23T11:39:52.495+00:00Gung Hei Fat Choi!Happy New Year to all b.b.c. blog readers! Best wishes for the coming Year of the Dragon!burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-55076809476823062712012-01-20T12:00:00.003+00:002012-01-20T12:18:33.276+00:00Tempers flare are Mainland Chinese antagonism growsThis is reportedly a viral video from Hong Kong that shows an argument on an MTR train between local Hong Kongers and a Mainland Chinese woman who's daughter was allegedly eating soup noodles in her seat and causing a mess.The argument and the responses to the video illustrate the sentiment felt by local Hong Kong that their infrastructure - and indeed their culture - is being placed under strainburntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-29276463753650868232012-01-11T10:52:00.007+00:002012-01-11T11:10:36.984+00:00Jeremy Clarkson apparently on a mission to get firedNot likely to endear him to Top Gear's many Chinese viewers but Mr. Jeremy Clarkson's latest bon mot is to compare synchronised swimmers to the Chinese cocklepickers who died on Morcambe Bay in 2004. As reported by the Telegraph:Clarkson mocked the sport of synchronised swimming as "Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water", adding: "You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-45776537475610488432012-01-10T15:34:00.004+00:002012-01-10T15:39:01.269+00:00Happy 2012!Photo: Miss O'Kistic Apologies for the lack of posts recently. Hope to resume normal service now the festive period has passed :)Happy New Year to all b.b.c. blog readers, and see you soon for more topical posting this new year. Now... bring on Chinese New Year!burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-58555137245242561952011-11-08T09:51:00.002+00:002011-11-08T09:53:34.359+00:00China's 'black jails' (disturbing)A rather scary report from Al-Jazeera.Can places like this really exist to deal with ordinary people who, for example, want to report corrupt officials?burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-86142191345412862462011-09-20T19:32:00.001+01:002011-09-20T19:55:02.559+01:00China's Got Talent to hold UK auditionsCalling all karaoke stars, musicians and performers...This could be interesting. A lot of UK talent shows already feature Chinese or Asian auditionees - often, it has to be said for comedy value (see Goldie Cheung)But now, a show that was conceived in the UK and was then exported to China is now coming back to the UK to search for British contestants to compete in China!According to Shanghaiist: burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-63556088208475992322011-09-09T11:16:00.001+01:002011-09-12T09:40:48.314+01:00The Lowdown on the HK$6000 payoutWord has probably reached you by now that the Hong Kong government is offering all its permanent citizens a one-off payment of HK$6000 over the next couple of years.Similar to but not the same as the US 'stimulus check', the move has been prompted by pressure from Hong Kong citizens who are becoming increasingly frustrated at the rising costs of living on the SAR, especially for housing.An burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-72587873564762522612011-09-01T15:54:00.003+01:002011-09-01T16:04:06.613+01:00Chinese Novels: 20 Classics
If, like me, you are a little in the dark about classic Chinese literature, you might appreciate this link sent to me by bachelorsdegreeonline - a list of 20 renowned Chinese novels.
'Water Margin' and 'Lust, Caution' are perhaps titles you will be familiar with but there are a host of other interesting ones to learn about.
Check out the page here.
burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-1394062733386060752011-08-04T13:57:00.004+01:002011-08-04T14:04:08.770+01:00Lawrence Leung is performing in London!Regular readers will have caught a glimpse of Larence Leung in this earlier post.Well, it just so happens that the composer of the ultimate b.b.c anthem is in London doing a series of stand-up comedy performances. Lawrence is at the Soho Theatre until August 13th, and by all accounts puts on a fairly enjoyable show.Details: Soho Theatreburntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-13447094544945719632011-07-26T15:20:00.003+01:002011-07-26T15:25:29.581+01:00Yes, we invented hipsters tooNow we know where those trendy people in Hoxton and Manhattan get their fashion ideas from. Trust me, next year's must have accessory will be a red-blue-white plastic sack.Link: Accidental Chinese Hipstersburntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-23362910084415929702011-07-20T12:29:00.003+01:002011-07-20T12:35:16.104+01:00The kindness of strangers in Hong KongThis is not the usual kind of video you get from Apple news. Apparently three girls in Hong Kong have since last Christmas been voluntarily distributing 'tong sui' (sweet soup) to elderly people in the street, as well as stopping for a chat with them. As one of the girls points out, they do this not just to feed the elderly people they encounter but also to provide a listening ear.A random act ofburntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-28627736956613359672011-06-24T18:20:00.000+01:002011-06-24T18:20:00.402+01:00"How can you call them noodles?!!"More melodrama from the world of TVB miniseries. Only, if one of the highlights of the show is someone saying "The noodles made from this flour... How can you call them noodles?!!" then I'm not sure how captivating the drama is going to be. The last shot seems to sum it all up! :)PS I know nothing about this show, just saw the trailer.burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-38324950730232869872011-06-24T08:46:00.000+01:002011-06-24T08:46:00.417+01:00Do you know a rebellious, b.b.c. teen?Readers, do you know any misbehaved, spoilt or downright out of control British Chinese teenagers? Are their parents at a loss as to how to get through to them or change their behaviour? Perhaps you are one of these unruly teens yourself?The BBC is looking for more participants for its successful reality show The World's Strictest Parents and would are inviting applications from the UK Chinese burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-65662928774639512382011-06-15T11:16:00.006+01:002011-06-15T19:30:29.669+01:00Is Susan Ma the feistiest and smartest candidate of The Apprentice 2011?She's certainly the youngest and unfortunately she may also the be most naive, and the least adept at defending herself in an argument. So what will become of the Shanghai-born, British based entrepreneur currently battling it out for a business partnership with Lord Alan Sugar?If you've been following this year's 'The Apprentice', you can't have failed to notice Susan Ma, who has emerged as one burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34514747.post-267346682408852192011-05-05T10:18:00.000+01:002011-05-05T11:14:59.322+01:00'Why Can't I Be More Chinese' by Lawrence LeungLadies and gentlemen, I think we have found the b.b.c anthem. I'd like to present for your viewing pleasure Australian comedian Lawrence Leung with... well, just watch it. It's very funny!burntbreadboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885015117743010144noreply@blogger.com6