The Great Wall of Links

Here are some interesting links related to China and Chinese things I’ve read this week. Hope you find them as interesting as I do!
A Quick Guide to Chinese Movie Stars – eChinacities has an article that lists some of the most famous Chinese actors you may not have ever heard of. Of course, the super famous ones are there: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Zhang Ziyi, but really it is pretty shocking how few Chinese actors we are all familiar with. I’ve even seen some of the movies featuring these actors but I don’t know many of the names (or faces).
China Responsible for Global Cooling – Yeah, that wasn’t a typo, I did mean global cooling. As this article from the Huffington Post explains, all the coal China burned in the mid 2000’s actually deflected sunlight from entering the atmosphere and made for some unusually cool years despite it technically being hot years. Of course it was only temporary and now things are back to their global warming ways.
Amazing Pictures of Longji Rice Terraces – Fiona from Life on Nanchang Lu gets some major props from me this week for her pictures of the local people, food and rice patties at Longji near Guilin and Yangshou. Ryan and I went to Yangshou in the wintertime so we didn’t have the opportunity to see these fields, and now I’m kicking myself. The girl has some photo skills! (Sorry people in China, her blog is a blogspot, so you need a VPN to see it.)
Social Security Benefits for Americans -According to this China Daily article, China is now allowing (or rather, requiring) Americans to pay for, and collect social security. I don’t quite understand what this means for me, but it can’t be good news. I mean, I’m not really planning on staying here for 15 years (which is when I could begin collecting) and yet I still might have to pay a large chunk of my salary for it. I’m hoping these rules are too confusing and my school doesn’t hear about the changes so things will continue as normal.
Painfully Funny Video – There is a new rule in China that just took effect about foreigners needing to show a passport to buy tickets for high speed trains. Apparently this Canadian didn’t get the memo and this video is of him flipping out at the ticket counter. I cringe, cringe for his student helper but I am soooo happy he identifies himself as Canadian because otherwise everyone would assume he’s American. Oh Canada, what is going on with you guys lately? First the riots and now this? You’ve been hanging around American for too long! (Again, VPN needed as it is a youtube video.)