Tales from the Dragon

[Moses]

One a serious note whilst i'm sure you're right but DO you think on a daily basis that IS the case there and that you are being formally watched or details of your movements / actions are recorded in any way or do you just mean IF you were to carry out some illegal action "someone" would probably report you either morally or to get their own brownie points built up with the powers that be - or is it more organised than that - just out of interest re how things like that work there ? PS I assume you're using a VPN to post here etc too ?

With face recognizing technology and small number of foreigners in China now it is easy for them just follow you by drone non-stop and record all your actions "for future analyse". They will know all your habits, places and routines very soon. After that they will leave watching of you to robots who will alarm human only if some your path will be out of typical routine. Nothing of too much complicated.

[StevieWonders]

In Standard (Mandarin) Chinese, yuán literally means a "round object" or "round coin". During the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a round coin made of silver. The Japanese currency, the yen, derives from the Chinese word yuan.

Mandarin is a spoken dialect as is Cantonese, Hakka etc. The written language is simply Chinese. Mandarin being the dialect of the capital city and its region has been determined to be “standard” spoken Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese

[StevieWonders]

One a serious note whilst i'm sure you're right but DO you think on a daily basis that IS the case there and that you are being formally watched or details of your movements / actions are recorded in any way or do you just mean IF you were to carry out some illegal action "someone" would probably report you either morally or to get their own brownie points built up with the powers that be - or is it more organised than that - just out of interest re how things like that work there ? PS I assume you're using a VPN to post here etc too ?

Don’t fret NIrish - the Chinese government hackers will have followed arsenal’s every move as a Forum Moderator and have got all your details safely on file too.

[arsenal]

NIrish. I don't use a vpn to post here and no, I don't feel like I'm.being formally watched any more than anyone else in what is basically a police state.

steviewonders wrote
"whenever I think of you" (me)
All the time apparently..

[StevieWonders]

steviewonders wrote
"whenever I think of you" (me)
All the time apparently..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWT...neyhoustonVEVO

[arsenal]

Moses wrote.
"With face recognizing technology and small number of foreigners in China now it is easy for them just follow you by drone non-stop and record all your actions "for future analyse". They will know all your habits, places and routines very soon. After that they will leave watching of you to robots who will alarm human only if some your path will be out of typical routine. Nothing of too much complicated."

Perhaps. A drone following me might be quite useful, carry the shopping etc. But, any threats to China come from within and the authorities know that.

Of course in Thailand you need your passport to get a SIM card and every hotel reports foreigner check ins to the police as well of course as the 90 day reporting for expats.

[Nirish guy]

With face recognizing technology and small number of foreigners in China now it is easy for them just follow you by drone non-stop

The crazy thing being that after watching a documentary about just that subject a few weeks ago it seems your suggestion is just about spot on ! I'm not even sure if you were joking or not but as I suspect you already know that IS ( or can) be whats happening now already on any given day in China it seems ( and probably in many other Countries too if only we plebs knew !) Scary stuff !

[StevieWonders]

I don't use a vpn to post here and no, I don't feel like I'm being formally watched any more than anyone else in what is basically a police state.

There's a lengthy investigation in the New York Times about the efforts China made to suppress news of the coronavirus spreading earlier this year. To the point made by arsenal and Moses, the NYT states

"Though China makes no secret of its belief in rigid internet controls, the documents convey just how much behind-the-scenes effort is involved in maintaining a tight grip. It takes an enormous bureaucracy, armies of people, specialized technology made by private contractors, the constant monitoring of digital news outlets and social media platforms — and, presumably, lots of money."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/t...ensorship.html

[Armando]

In Standard (Mandarin) Chinese, yuán literally means a "round object" or "round coin". During the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a round coin made of silver. The Japanese currency, the yen, derives from the Chinese word yuan.

There was a programme on TV recently about silver. It related how China came to depend on silver originally coming mostly from traders based in the Philippines and was the richest country in the world early in the Manchu Dynasty. It was also to prove the downfall of the Dynasty. The silver coins all had holes in the centre and if I remember correctly they were often grouped in eight pieces - hence the phrase "pieces of eight". Do you have any idea if that is correct?

[arsenal]

All things peak and trough and Chinese clubs are no different. It's been boring there recently and while I wish it weren't so I know why.

Usually the party boys are straight. They go round chatting up girls, chatting up boys, drinking, collecting contacts, dancing and having fun. It's their job. Sadly recently many of the straight boys have left and been replaced by gay ones. They do none of the above. They congregate with each other in a huddle and don't bother to interract with anyone. As a result the party atmosphere has been totally diminished. Time to go to a different club, at least for a while to let the stocks of straight boys replenish.

As well as causing untold misery and death the virus has also made people fat, apparently. The reply below from a boy on blued when I said I don't like fat boys.

"Slim for the first two years, fat now after the outbreak"