legov

Fwiw, I knew it was technically a better description of America - hyperbole, you know.

You're thinking of the USA. No, I was thinking of Australia

Actually 6th most crowded for countries above 15 million people, and number 1 in Europe Lies, lies and damned.... (not saying you're lying, just that evaluating how overpopulated a country is goes way beyond merely looking at a single stat.)

You guys have just been spoilt by cultural expectations of large houses and big (fuel-guzzling) pickups.

In a similar vein:

I think generally, that saving face thing still exists, especially amongst the upper classes. Suicide before surrender is probably the most drastic manifestation of the mindset, after "honor" killings.... cough ** honour *** cough we will be having none of that American spelling on here thank you very much , just cause the French bailed you out in 1778 doesn't give you the right to invent your own language Can of... Nevermind.

Asia is massive (not to mention that it's a European concept, really - I mean, lumping India and China into the same cultural group is just.). Be wary of overgeneralisations. "Saving face." Hmm, tricky. It would be hard to tell, I think, if an expression of shame is a manifestation of cultural notions of honour or merely human nature. For example, I'm tempted to think of East Asian parents feeling ashamed whenever their children get bad grades in school - but how is this any different from a parent in the West feeling a sense of shame when his children act rowdily in public?

In regards to the Hong Kong uprising? I'm no expert (although I'm at uni right now and may choose to specialise in Chinese studies in the future) - if we're talking about the central leadership, then my gut feeling is no. They've done a lot of things (cracking down on protests, etc) that aren't popular with the Western media, which suggests that they are other things they are more worried about than what Westerners think of their actions. That said, I do get the feeling that Hong Kong's a little different, given how important it is as a global financial hub - this isn't backwater Xinjiang or Tibet, this is cosmopolitan Hong Kong we're talking about, and any rash action here could quite possibly dampen the confidence foreign investors have with regard to doing business in the rest of China - businessmen like safety and don't like government interference, after all.

Can't find versions of these that are not interactive (hence why I'm unable to post the pictures directly onto VT), but anyway: Chinese provinces and Indian states and territories as countries Uttar Pradesh has more people than the whole of Brazil, jesus!

This is fun

Aussies? New Zealanders? Indian soldiers?

New Creation Church

but their hearts aren't pure enough. Mine just pumps blood. I don't know if you've ever watched much late night american aspirational / prosperity christian TV (I suspect the answer is 'not that much')? The views on there are really quite amazing, sermons and presentations telling you that all you have to do is believe in the absolute power of God to bring you prosperity, send $20 and touch the screen and a better wealthier life will be yours. All you've got to do is really believe. Not send the money and hope, that won't change anything. but send the money and truly believe. The test is, if you really believed you'll get rich. If you don't get rich, it's your own fault. It's fascinating stuff. Then there's the end of days stuff, I love it. Essentially it's power point presentations explaining that the USA is actually the devil and either Israel of the UK is the little devil. Their military adventures in the middle east are a proven pre cursor to the end of days. As such, all good christian americans should support the escalation of all wars and conflicts because the more the US Army gets involved, the closer we are to end of days. Then an auditorium of middle aged americans claps and whoops. Then I get an e-mail from the local Methodists about the foodbank rota, about handing over some property to the local community and asking people that are members and non-members to vote on what to do with some money that's been raised and it's really quite an extraordinary contrast. You should go to Singapore and listen to some of the sermons our massive megachurches spew out week after week, lovely stuff.

I feel so left out.

That is a terrible pun, sir.

Mike, check pm

Doesn't China have the world's largest number of Internet users? Could be that they are massively concentrated in a few big cities, which kinda disappears in that massive rural space. Unlike say, France or the UK, where it's everywhere. There are, what, 400, 500 million Internet users in China? Way too many for "massive concentration in a few big cities" - besides, that map doesn't suggest massive concentration in any cities (apart from Shanghai and the surrounding region)

Doesn't China have the world's largest number of Internet users?

Edit: Quite incredible, isn't it? We're getting real-life Coruscants

He's aged sooo much.

CrackpotForeigner's alma mater (no kidding):

Why? After the banking crisis they reined in their loaning spree. It's back on again now, but only for those with money to start with. My kids and their partners are all in low paid insecure jobs, so no-one will grant them a mortgage. In Singapore (and East Asian societies in general) there is little stigma attached to living with one's parents even when you're in your 30's. People in general only go house-hunting when they get married. I'd much, much prefer having my own place to living with my parents, of course, but that's more to do with the fact that I don't have a very good relationship with my parents (particularly mom) and less to do with social expectations.

Why?

The fascinating thing about languages like Mandarin and Arabic (from an English speaker's perspective) is, I think, how they operate on completely different concepts.