Shaoxing: “Chinese City is world's hacker hub” - and foreigners visit free!
suxiaoya
March 29, 2010, 02:56 AM posted in General DiscussionI received an email this morning that reads:
Free Accommodation & Free Transportation to Shaoxing!
“Here is your Golden Opportunity to enjoy a Free Trip to Shaoxing at the expense of their local government. Here you can take advantage of free Textile Sourcing Exhibitions and City Tours!”
This isn’t the first time I’ve received this sort of mass invitation, but it made me smile because I had just read just yesterday this article in the Times, which reports that the computers of Shaoxing have just been found to be the origin 21% of the world's “malicious hacker” emails.
I doubt very much that the city’s cyber-espionage activities are linked in any way to its government’s efforts to entice more foreigners to visit. Still, I thought it was an amusing coincidence.
As an aside, one thing that irritates me with these sorts of articles in western papers is the anti-China stance that they always seem to take – and the barrage of anti-China comments this inevitably generates from readers. The UK is clearly concerned about espionage from China, but the Brits and Americans are also engaging in the same activities. I guess for the papers it’s just a question of using attention-grabbing "news" hooks, and all things “China” continue to offer this.
Sooo, anyway, if any foreigners here in China do fancy an all-expenses-paid trip to Shaoxing, let me know and I'll forward you the email ;-)
buzaijia
April 02, 2010, 03:34 PMHey I am in! Actually two seats ! I suggest, for those not too interested in textile sourcing may I suggest a Chinesepod Shaoxing gathering at Government expenses ahah.
tvan
March 29, 2010, 03:29 AMI don't know. There's gotta be an angle.
JasonSch
March 29, 2010, 03:34 AMYeah...then again, it's not all that expensive to get there anyway!
suxiaoya
March 29, 2010, 03:45 AMHaha, sure, will forward you the email.
FYI: The requirements are as follows:
* Hold a foreign passport
* Have a current business card
* Fill out and submit the registration form by April 20, 2010.
* You must attend to the Textile Exhibition Opening Ceremony on the morning of 6th May
* Enjoy life
So, the catch is that you have to be prepared to do (or at least pretend to do) a bit of textile sourcing...
tvan
March 29, 2010, 04:06 AMI think I'll hold out for the "do a bit of beer and wine sourcing" conference.
Wait a minute... a bell just rang. Shaoxing is also the home of 绍兴黄酒，是吗？ So maybe a wine sourcing conference isnt' that far off.
JasonSch
March 29, 2010, 03:23 AMI was just talking about going there with a friend! If it's for real, send it my way.
suxiaoya
Haha, sure, will forward you the email.
FYI: The requirements are as follows:
* Hold a foreign passport
* Have a current business card
* Fill out and submit the registration form by April 20, 2010.
* You must attend to the Textile Exhibition Opening Ceremony on the morning of 6th May
* Enjoy life
So, the catch is that you have to be prepared to do (or at least pretend to do) a bit of textile sourcing...
JasonSch
Hmm...on second thought... (I'm more of a plastics man)
xiao_liang
Leather, plastics, you're not fussy as long as it's skin tight?
tvan
March 29, 2010, 07:37 PM我还没听过绍兴臭豆腐，可是我听过绍兴的睟豆腐乾 (Drunken Tofu)。
Hmmm, 所以绍兴是很有名因为它有黄酒，臭豆腐，睟豆腐乾，帽子，和黑客。很了不起！
connie
March 30, 2010, 01:57 AM你戴的是不是 乌毡帽wūzhānmào？
suxiaoya
March 30, 2010, 02:30 AMemail sent!
laselle
March 30, 2010, 02:35 AMI've been living in shangyu city for a whole year but got no chance to visit shaoxing once! It's just 30 KM far away from it.
suxiaoya
March 30, 2010, 04:17 AMIf you're interested in sourcing textiles (or wine, or hats!), it looks like a great time to go... let us know if you do!
bodawei
April 02, 2010, 08:00 AMShaoxing - I
The railway guard is dressed in sports gear and joggers, but he has a plastic ID around his neck and he carries a whistle. Somehow we find ourselves next to him in the crowd. Where do we get on? The doors to our Car 4 are firmly closed, and we can see that the car is packed. 随便 suibian. It translates as ‘whatever (or wherever) you like'. Any door will do. Clutching our train tickets we push onto car 3 and then head left into car 4 to find our seats. At the other end people are pushing on to car 5, and heading right into the same car 4 to find their seats. All the seats are taken. I find our seats and the young woman sitting in my seat immediately gets up for me. There is nowhere to store our backpacks so I put my parcel on the table between the seats and the backpack on my lap, where it stays for the rest of the one hour trip into Hangzhou. My wife's seat is on the other side of the carriage but the seat beside me is also vacated and she falls or is pushed into it. Those without tickets who have been forced into the aisle stand together, pushing against us in the crush. For a while there is hardly breathing room but as the train moves off people gravitate to available standing space until it is as crowded as a peak hour bus, standing room only, but bearable. The light is starting to fade as we leave the station, express for Hangzhou.
I bought our return tickets the day before, just after arriving in Shaoxing. I asked the 服务员 fuwuyuan in the baggage room as we passed: ‘Where do we buy tickets?' She smiled and pointed further down the street. Already this place has a nice friendly feel, like a big country town. The big square in front of the station, like an Italian plaza, is almost deserted. Some children are playing on a statue of brass waves featuring brass fish holding brass pearls. We line up at the window that says Hangzhou and Shanghai. Two for Hangzhou, tomorrow afternoon, four or five o'clock. 5:53 pm, Ok? Ok. Or was that 5:23? No matter. That will be soft seats, she says. Hard seats I say. Hard seats? Hard seats. She is amused by this, but confirms my request clearly and then takes my money and gives me change. It's possibly the first time in China that a ticket seller has smiled at me. ‘Hard' seats are not really hard, they are the same as ‘soft' seats, upholstered and quite comfortable really. The carriages on this train are better than what we usually see in Australia, high ceilings and soft concealed lighting. But they cram more passengers in to hard seat carriages, and there is no carpet. It's the cheapest way to travel. The difference is that in soft seat carriages everyone has a seat.
bodawei
March 29, 2010, 01:06 PMI can recommend Shaoxing - It's as famous for its hats as for the wine Tvan. I still have a Shaoxing hat - our 保安 in Hangzhou nearly fell over laughing when he saw it (Shaoxing hats are considered, how shall I say, rustic.) The city is also famous for Lu Xun.
Suxiaoya - I'd like to see your email, :-)
John
March 29, 2010, 03:03 AMWow, nice!
I've been to Shaoxing. It's quite a nice place.