ResoluteRaven
No bio...
User ID: 867
ResoluteRaven
8d ago
Interestingly, Taiwanese seem much more chill, the few times I’m in Taipei it always seems like the locals are eating and drinking outside, relaxing into the evening, but maybe there are cultural or ethnic differences there.
I think the difference is that the ambitious and energetic Taiwanese are all clustered in Hsinchu Science Park, doing business on the mainland, or have emigrated to the US.
ResoluteRaven
8d ago
I think climate is certainly a factor. It's very difficult to keep building facades in subtropical or tropical climates clear of mold, vines, and water damage, and only places like Singapore are willing to expend the resources to maintain appearances in this way. Another is age; cities like Shanghai and Suzhou were built up long before the rest of the country. Shenzhen looks shiny and new now, but after a century in the same climate it may (differences in architecture and city planning aside) not look so different from Hong Kong i.e. overgrown and dilapidated.
ResoluteRaven
8d ago
Heilongjiang does have more Russian influence than Liaoning; its capital Harbin had a majority ethnic Russian population in the early 20th century after all. However, all of the foods you mentioned are still commonly eaten across Northeast China. I would expect that simpler preparations e.g. boiled potatoes, sauerkraut, and pork are less likely to be found in restaurants than as home-cooked meals, and in some cases may be looked down upon as "peasant food" by young, upwardly mobile Chinese.
ResoluteRaven
10d ago
I went to a magnet high school with a rigorous enough curriculum that even the chemical engineering program at a prestigious university was a step down in terms of difficulty, but I would still say I worked fairly hard.
Not that much I learned has been of use since then; most ChemE departments still teach as though all their students will end up working in oil and gas, when in reality less than 10% do these days.
ResoluteRaven
12d ago
I've never had a hangover, and I've also never gone to sleep drunk. Perhaps those things are related, or I just don't drink enough (I have Asian glow).
ResoluteRaven
14d ago
The closest thing I've read is The Tragedy of Liberation by Frank Dikötter, but it focuses more on the period immediately after 1949 than the Chinese Civil War itself.
ResoluteRaven
24d ago
Is the taste of the food the only thing normal people care about at a restaurant?
It's just about all I care about, assuming the low bars of "won't get food poisoning" and "don't have to wait 2 hours for a meal" are cleared. When reading Yelp or Google reviews for restaurants I find it incredibly frustrating to wade through paragraphs of descriptions of the service, atmosphere, or other things I couldn't give less of a shit about, and prefer those written by Asian immigrants, who typically get right to the point and focus exclusively on the quality of the food. Of course, I'm far from normal, and the fact that I have this problem is evidence that your typical restaurant-goer does in fact care more about ambiance than me.
ResoluteRaven
24d ago
delicious food in a shitty, antisocial environment doesn't bring that much pleasure
If I were a prisoner in solitary confinement and you served me a Michelin star meal, I think I'd disagree.
ResoluteRaven
25d ago
I don't personally enjoy most paintings from the Impressionists onwards, including famous works by Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc. and concur with Scott on the aesthetic qualities of Angelus Novus and his opinions on architecture, expressed elsewhere. I think the latter field has more of an obligation to cater to the lowest common denominator taste-wise, as your average philistine can choose not to visit a modern art exhibition, but can't choose not to see the buildings they walk by every day. One area where I do have more "refined" tastes (literally) is food, but I only proffer my opinions on the subject when asked, cook for myself whenever possible, and make no great effort to change people's mind about [insert weird foreign dish that your average American would find disgusting].
ResoluteRaven
25d ago
For those with knowledge/believers of HBD, what does it have to say about Indians (East Asia), Arabs, & Hispanics (IQ wise)? I've been living in my city and I've noticed Indians tend to live in the nicer neighborhoods. Perhaps just selection effects from immigration?
There are high-performing (IQ-wise and economically) subgroups of all these populations e.g. Tamil Brahmins for Indians, Maronite Christians for Arabs, and the white elites of any Latin American country for Hispanics, so you'll have to be more specific. Typically, immigrants who do not have access to a land border to hop or refugee status to apply for are disproportionately from these sorts of high-performing groups and subject to additional selection effects as well. People disagree on the magnitude of each of these effects, but that they exist there should be no doubt.
Hispanics have similar problems as black people, what does HBD say about them?
If by similar problems you mean crime, then at least as far as Mexico is concerned it seems to me that interpersonal violence correlates with Spanish conquistador ancestry. Areas that remain majority indigenous, such as the Yucatan peninsula, have low homicide rates, and travelers tend to remark that the locals are quite docile compared to their mestizo neighbors. There is a confounding factor, in that the whiter states in the north are close to the American border, a major catalyst for crime, but seeing as the Spainards who came to the New World were from areas like Extremadura that were at the front lines of the Reconquista for centuries (cf. the Scotch-Irish, who came from the bloody no-man's land between England and Scotland) it makes sense to me.
ResoluteRaven
26d ago
The HBD explanation for the differences between northern and southern Italy isn't African ancestry, it's the Hajnal line. The north fell within the region where the influence of the Catholic church and the manor system was sufficient to break traditional clan networks and create an individualistic population with higher social trust where it was possible to do business with strangers, while in the south the same type of tribal honor culture persisted that holds back much of the Middle East and Africa ("Me and my brothers against my cousins; me and my cousins against the world").
ResoluteRaven
26d ago
No, I don't think the average man is disgusted by painted nails. I find the Empress Dowager Cixi-type nail extensions to be silly and impractical but have no visceral reaction to them, despite being on the extreme end of the prudishness spectrum when it comes to other types of body modifications e.g. tattoos, piercings, and dyed hair. I've also seen nothing to indicate that this practice is gaining in popularity in the real world.
ResoluteRaven
26d ago
It wasn't independent during the period of greatest emigration though.
ResoluteRaven
29d ago
Some leftover Japanese-style chicken curry and rice. I use the premade roux cubes but add a lot of additional spices, and my family recipe includes okra and coconut milk. Afterwards I'll prepare a big pot of black-eyed peas with ham hocks and collard greens for the week.
Many Chinese won't be satisfied until you recognize the unique culture of the village of Niaobulashi and the special way they fold their dumplings, but about the smallest number you might get would be 8 or 9, lining up more or less with Patrick Chovanec's Nine Nations of China.
More options
Context Copy link