“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
– Douglas Adams
The Whole Metaphorical Ball of Wax
As discussed previously, here is my digital news writing clip file in its entirety: all of it that is hosted here, unsorted, except by chronological order, page after page. Blog posts, editorials and columns, news stories — a veritable Fourth Estate kit and kaboodle (as opposed to a wax ball), as it were.
Again, if you seek some granularity, try the links in the menu above, or the category drop down and tag list over on your right.
Shopping, Shenzhen and Farmer Ye: Pondering the New China
SHENZHEN, China — I’ve come to the conclusion that many, if not most Chinese people love to shop. Now before the ignorant self-righteous weigh in, let me add that I’m not knocking China; far from it. After all, the movement to a market economy is still underway — less than a generation ago, really — and I imagine that many middle-aged people have disposable income for the first time in their lives, and want to spend it. As a middle class American I would feel hypocritical if I found fault with that. Then of...
read moreAgilent: Old Dog Learns New Tricks in Chengdu
CHENGDU, China – Being in the right place at the right time — a cliché, except perhaps in business, where timing and geography can often mean the difference between success and failure. Especially for a U.S. technology company looking to take advantage of the booming market here. So when Palo Alto, Calif.-based Agilent Technologies Inc. announced a joint venture (JV) 10 months ago with a fellow test and measurement instrument maker based here, Chengdu Qianfeng Electronics Ltd. Corp., it raised a few eyebrows in the West. Why form this...
read moreGrasping at Straws … er, Spicy Noodles
CHENGDU, China — It is with a somewhat heavy heart — and a very depressed palate — that I find myself in the Chengdu airport waiting to catch a flight to Shenzhen. There are a number of reasons for this; I’m acutely aware that my trip is more than three-quarters over; in less than a week I’ll be back in the States. And yet I feel like I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of China, much less gain an acute understanding. Not that I expected to develop an innate understanding of an ancient culture in a...
read moreNo McDonalds Please; I’ll Have the Fish Head Hotpot
CHENGDU, China — I never would have thought something with a fish head floating in it could taste so good, but more on that later. I want to make an observation about something that always bugs me when I travel abroad. Why do hotel employees always want to send you to some place that’s foreign friendly? Even when you tell them that’s not what you want. I suppose there is some general truism to be gleaned from this observation, but I’m not sure what it is. Surely I’m not that different from most business...
read moreStartup Vies for Opto Market with Homegrown IP
XIAMEN, China – Startups and entrepreneurs are popping up all over China and this southern coastal city, which is also a center of the optoelectronics industry in China, is no exception. Chinese optoelectronics has a bit of a head start over its silicon semiconductor device industry; one of Xiamen’s opto device companies was founded more than two decades ago. But then it also plays host to Xiamen UX High-Speed IC Co. Ltd. UX was founded less than three years ago by a handful of engineers, including Chinese — one of them local...
read morePeanuts, Tea and Massage: A Night at the Sichuan Opera
CHENGDU, China — Last night I attended the Sichuan Opera here in Chengdu, the capitol of Sichuan province. Lemme tell ya, it ain’t fat ladies in brass brassieres and horned Viking helmets singing Wagner, that’s for sure. Nor is it a black-tie affair. Peanuts, sunflower seeds and tea are served, and people roam the aisles offering massages, their white jackets proclaiming “Ear Cleaning and Health Massage.” And there are boisterous conversations throughout the audience, throughout the performance — I confess,...
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All original content posted here -- words and images -- are copyright © Jeff Chappell 2009-2012 unless otherwise noted.
Jeff Chappell: journalism nerd; web geek. That's the short story. Want the longer one?