Toluu : Virtual China

Virtual China

An exploration of virtual experiences and environments in and about China.

This picture is a not related to the post. (Photo credit: n0r)

When Lyn and I started the Virtual China blog back in February 2006, it served as an online notebook and promotion vehicle for an Institute for the Future program of the same name. And indeed, some of what we posted did make its way into that year’s Virtual China program. But there were also many posts that did not make it.

Fast forward two and a half years, this blog remains our online notebook. But it is no longer the blog vehicle for an IFTF program; nor are our posts exclusively focused on artifacts from “virtual” China anymore.

Virtual China (the blog) was becoming much more a reflection of how Lyn and I view the latest, often strange, Chinese objects or events. Yet, we were always struck by the uneasy feeling that we were betraying the “Virtual China” name and original mission.

So we put our heads together and reframed what we were doing (a brand refresh if you will).

If you’ve read this far then, please, follow us to our next endeavor, to the

find english manuals for your chinese phoneOctober 1

Last October I posted on the ongoing scroll of commentary on ChinaTechNews and pointed out the need for a blog to help non-Chinese speaking users figure out their Chinese-made phones. Today, almost a year later, Jeff posted a link to a site called chinamanuals.com, where you can buy English manuals in pdfs and pay via PayPal. Chinamanuals’ contact person is Dirk Schneider, Australia. I don’t know about the logo (!) but it seems like a great service if it does what it says it will.

A Hollywood moment for the China space programmeSeptember 26

A Nature article about China’s latest space launch yesterday, the first to cease reliance on Russian spacesuits:

The craft also carries a companion satellite, which will be released once the astronaut capsule is in orbit. Flying in close formation, it will relay real-time images of the spacewalk back to Earth.

“China wants to get the flight in full 3-D glory to maximize the publicity,” says Eric Hagt, China programme director at the World Security Institute in Washington DC. “This is going to be the Hollywood mission.”

See the full article on Nature.

Platform for Chinese designSeptember 25

ijoi’s Chinese name is 视觉我享, which roughly translates to “I Enjoy Sight.” ijoi is a web platform to promote design(ers) from and in China. They showcase work, conduct interviews and have plans to roll out podcasts (video & audio).

For example, here’s an excerpt from the video interview (subtitled in both Chinese and French) that was done with Weestar 魏星宇:

Translation: In fact, I’ve really liked drawing ever since I was a child.

ijoi was started by Gabriel Jorby, who we profiled here.

It’s a pretty impressive effort so far, and reads like a good and glossy design magazine: Visit ijoi now.

A brilliant approach to P2P lendingSeptember 19

Qifang and PPDai are both online peer-to-peer lending systems, where you can donate small amounts to people who are often poorer and from rural areas (it is a form of microfinancing).

But where PPDai focuses on the fast and high returns, Qifang takes it a step further:

Translation of left side:

An open style scholarship platform: Need help? Want to help?

Get in now > Safe, Simple, Free.

By focusing on loans for people who can’t afford education, they’re appealing to a belief in the power education, which may just have enough altruistic sway to sidestep people’s distrust of others, and is certainly a much better story than empowering petty village commerce that does who-knows-what.

Think of donating to education as the China equivalent of people in the US donating to small entrepreneurs in the developing world (e.g. Kiva: Loans that change lives).

And as proof of their social mission, the right block on the screenshot above says:

Post-disaster reconstruction communication platform: Enter now.