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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
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User ID: 894
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
3d ago
It's definitely at least partly due to climate. The winters are pretty harsh up here so it's not the 24/7 sauna that is the South. In the deep winter, you can keep food out of the fridge and just leave it outside and it'll stay frozen. It's also gotten a lot cleaner over time. Piles of trash and litter was a lot more common in my youth, but nowadays, it's a lot less common, especially in the city.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
5d ago
It's fascinating to see the fun house mirror reflection of western classical architecture in that development your grandparents used to live in.
It was (and maybe still is) very popular to build things in the "European style" in China. For many Chinese, anything "Western" (farther west than the former Soviet countries) is considered higher class. It's part of the reason you might see random English letters/words on clothing or decoration. It's quite similar to how Westerners will get random Chinese or Japanese tattooed on themselves without knowing what they say, sometimes to hilarious effect:
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
5d ago
I left fairly young so I never really made friends in China. I know that every one of my cousins that are working are no longer in AnShan. I was lucky to go during a holiday so I could see all of them. On the ground, basically everyone knows that AnShan is depopulating. Schools are closing and everyone knows the reason. However, compared with America, there's less of the typical depression you might see associated with the population decline.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
5d ago
It's generally quite similar. There are different regional influences, as @ResoluteRaven said. LiaoNing has a lot of Korean restaurants, and Kimchi is a staple, for example. There's also the fact that Northerners farm a lot more wheat and potatoes than rice because of our climate, so bread and noodles are more common. But the main staples are the same. Pickled cabbage is one of the main staples in the North Eastern region. It's generally cooked in a stew with pork. Another one is lamb skewers. One staple that's more often made at home than eaten at a restaurant is "Eggplant Mixed With Potatoes." You literally steam eggplant and potatoes, then mix them together to create a kind of mash, and put in fermented soybean paste. It tastes like home to me.
By the way, the Chinese claim that all dumplings in Eurasia originated in China. To me, this has some more validity than the claim that Italian pasta originated in China.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
5d ago
The northeast/Manchuria/Dongbei region is also famous for people eating skewers and drinking baijiu outside. Though that could just be the recoil from the long depression of the local economy.
It's simply how people are here. Traditionally, the region has been farmland and pasture generations before the industrial overhaul that took place in the 20th century. During winter, when it routinely snows and goes below freezing, you drink to keep yourself from going crazy due to boredom. During summer, when it's night time, you go and have some skewers, drink, and relax and go soak in the public bath. For most people, it's a quaint living, not dissimilar to what you might find in Italy or Greece.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
5d ago
There's also the fact that alcoholism is simply a given here in the North. Similar with Russians and Vodka, the North Easterners have spent multiple generations cultivating the strongest livers with BaiJiu so that while clinically, a large part of the population are alcoholics, they are all well functioning enough for it to be seen as more quirky and quaint instead of dangerous and terrifying. Alcoholism is simply a part of the North Eastern stereotype.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
5d ago
I only know the large picture, but the Chinese real estate crash came as a result of the one-two punch of Covid and the Evergrande disaster. Even Evergrande wasn't really the cause. The real cause was the fact that almost every single major real estate developer in China was leveraging a lot of debt to fund their developments. The Chinese government instituted their "Three Red Lines" policy in order to reign in the developers, but it meant that many of the developers were retroactively made non-compliant. Evergrande was one of these companies and was not able to petition the government for a softening of the policy. Evergrande was in violation of all three of the red lines and was essentially made insolvent. Evergrande was later delisted from the HK stock exchange in 2025. When the second largest property developer in China gets essentially put into a coma, the entire real estate market in China goes into a freefall (this, by the way, was the stated goal of the Three Red Lines policy in the first place). This is my understanding.
There's also a story of their shady wealth management products that I'm not as familiar with.
I haven't seen that channel, but I'll watch a few videos and get back to you. I'm definitely not saying that life isn't miserable for anyone in China, and the GaoKao system is completely psychotic, but most people, even younger people starting out in their careers, can afford to rent their own place. They can afford to eat out and have a drink. Even if people aren't as rich, it seems that their quality of life (in the ways we measure it) is at least improving. Maybe that's just because I have my own goggles on.
Edit: I've watched some of the videos and they're not unrealistic. There are a lot of people who are bring ground down to the nub in China. There are also a lot of people who are content.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
6d ago
Not even my parents/grandparents generations. When I first visited BeiJing in 2004, there were only 2 or 3 lines in the BeiJing subway. Now there are over 20. The amount of development in my lifetime alone has been quite staggering. I know I harp on the lack of development in AnShan in my post, but it's honestly a fairly recent problem. As far as I know, new apartment developments were going up as recently as 2019. Covid and the real estate collapse shortly thereafter put an end to a lot of it.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
7d ago
I find that most western fast food chains are much nicer than they are in the west. I think it’s because they were perceived as fancy when they came to China simply because they were western. Over time, they deliberately cultivated this perception so that now, they simply are fancier.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
7d ago
I’ve found that there are distinct similarities between all communist (or former communist) cities. The biggest I can think of is the ubiquity of the communist apartment block design.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
7d ago
I don’t think they ever did. I just knew about them from the internet. Boss, as far as I know, is not a brand in the US or China in any major capacity.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
19d ago
I was taught through the Alexander Pope Translation and it's the first translation of the Iliad I'd ever read.
https://gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-h/6130-h.htm#chap01
To me it's very enjoyable. Though technically not as accurate to the original as some others, in English, it's one of the best translations out there.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
I am Buddhist, though Chinese Pure Land, which seems to be different from what you practiced, and I’m praying for your protection.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
Loved your list and reviews. In fact, I haven't gotten ahold of some on your list, and will be trying them in the future. I also love that your nose is so different from mine. Personally, Bois Imperiale, Beau de Jour, and Jazz Club are some of my favorite scents so it's fun to hear differing perspectives. Also, some of the wife reviews are really funny. I'd be very glad to read any of your future fragrance reviews should you decide to do any. Thanks for sharing your results
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
There's also the problem of said politicians not having to face the consequences of their policies. Personally, I have to walk through San Francisco's Tenderloins district while dodging literal piles of human shit on the ground and homeless people threaten me from across the street. But Newsom gets to ride through the city that he personally ruined with armed security and live in a gated community. All the while, he's talking about what a great job he did and what a success he is. I still remember when he locked California down for around a year and made visiting friends and family illegal (causing me to break up with my girlfriend at the time who lived in another city) while he hosted that party for some two dozen people in the restaurant.
I don't even try to hide my complete enmity toward Newsom and I suspect that many Canadians feel the same way about Trudeau.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
I think the meaning is that Japan is some idealized version of what a European society would look like. Rules-based, polite, and homogenous. Of course, the Wakanda comparison breaks down when we realize that Wakanda was made up by people trying to sell comic books and Japan is a real-world place with a real-world culture and society.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
I agree on some level, but on the other hand, it's nice to know that true cultural exchange is still possible. I think that overall the effect will be positive.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
To be honest, it's refreshing from the normal spew of raw sewage that Xitter provides normally. The Japanese are enthusiastic about niche parts of American culture, and it's very fun to meet their enthusiasm with mine for their culture. I had a chat with some Japanese people about popular conspiracy theories in Japan. Apparently a large minority of Japanese people believe that after WWII, the royal family was replaced by other high ranking nobles who sided with America. I taught them about the reptilians that run our government and businesses.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
1mo ago
Even my Today's News feed is filled with "Japanese X users discover American culture." I'm so happy I was able to be here.
Anyone been using Xitter recently? The algorithm change is causing a lot of Japanese posts to show up on my feed. Further, the autotranslate has allowed for some of the most frictionless communication between Japanese and American users ever. This is the most fun I have ever had on Xitter. I urge everyone to try it while we're still in the honeymoon phase and before it gets changed.
Update: It seems that a lot of Japanese users have been getting annoyed because American Evangelicals have been proselytizing toward Japanese Twitter users. Theological debates have broken out. It seems that many Japanese people are annoyed with the holier-than-thou tone of the Evangelicals.
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
2mo ago
The last thing I need is a wife with a bigger dick than mine
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
2mo ago
Synthetik and Synthetik 2 are both fantastic games. The gunplay is punchy and fun. The sound design is immersive, and everything just flows like a dream. Synthetik 2 is a little more stop and go, but in Synthetik 1, once you get into the zone, it really is a symphony of violence.
Here are unhinged reviews of both by SsethTzeentach, where I first heard about Synthetik:
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話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分
2mo ago
Glad to hear it. Hope you find the holy grail.
Apparently The Protomen released Act III: This City Made Us earlier this year and I wasn't aware. Upon listening to the album, my first reaction is that it's good, but I'm not sure that it rises to the heights of Act II.
In case anyone isn't familiar (why would you be) The Protomen are a band whose main works are inspired by Megaman, the beloved video game franchise. In their main albums, The Protomen, Act II: The Father of Death, and Act III: This City Made Us collectively tell the tale of the dystopian city and the fight to end the reign of the evil Dr. Wiley. However, instead of the bright colors and fun atmosphere of the Megaman games, the albums are fairly dark, with fairly downer endings.
While the band was fresh, with a new sound and premise in 2005, in 2026, the entire concept is almost quaint. Another dark remake of a previously fun and lighthearted children's videogame. While the premise is no longer as fresh as it was in the aughts, the band is still worth a listen to. Act I leaned into its concept much more, with a deliberate lo-fi sound representing the decrepit state of the city (this is the post-hoc justification for why the first album sounds so horrible compared to Acts II and III). Act II is a complete change of pace, going from a western-inspired sound to an 80s rock album. Act III continues the trend of Act II, with deliberate callbacks to earlier songs.
Like I said before, I believe that Act II is definitely The Protomen's magnum opus. The story is quite clear from the music itself, and the songs are the best out of all three albums in my opinion. Even without the theming and context of Act I, Act II is still worth listening to just because the songs are so good. To be honest, if Act II wasn't so good, I probably wouldn't even have bothered listening to Act III after 16 years. Act III is much more akin to Act II than Act I, and while I don't think there are as many stand out songs as there were in Act II, the songs themselves are still good, with one or two that I will definitely come back to by themselves.
My ranking of the three albums are:
Act I: 7.5/10 Fresh for when it was released. The songs themselves are fairly good with a few standouts. "The Stand (Man or Machine)" and "The Sons of Fate" are definitely my favorites. The lo-fi nature of the album is an artistic choice as opposed to incompetence, so I don't dock it too much for that, but it does grate on my ears toward the end. The album itself tells a good, emotional story that was legitimately interesting for the time it was released. Maybe nowadays it's nothing special, but when it first came out, it was legitimately a breath of fresh air for me.
Act II: 9/10 Coming out 4 years after Act I, it was a complete change of pace. Act II sounds almost completely different from Act I, and it's a welcome change. It's much cleaner and in a completely different style from Act I. The album is full of songs that just good to listen to. "Light Up the Night," "The Hounds," and "Father of Death" are probably my favorites, but the I'd say that more than half of the album are songs I listen to individually. The story is also good, being a prequel to Act I. Overall, it's one of my favorite albums. There's a reason that I still return to it 16 years later.
Act III: 8/10 Coming out 16 years after Act III, it finishes the original trilogy. Act III sounds very similar to Act II. It's a continuation of Act I in terms of plot, and generally ties the story together. So far, "This City Made Us" is my stand out song from this album. I don't know how I feel about how Act III ends the story. I know that the story can't have a happy ending since it's at its core a rock opera story, but it seems that there was much more focus on finishing Act II's story than Act I's. I'm sure my reactions will change as I listen to the album over the next couple of weeks as I give the album a couple more listens.
Overall, If you've never heard of The Protomen, I'd suggest giving all three albums a listen in release order (Act I then Act II then Act III). If you're a returning fan who hasn't gotten to Act III yet, it's definitely worth listening to just for the nostalgia factor alone.
Also, what has everyone else been listening to?
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