3 Months: Thank You For Your Support

I published chinaSMACK’s first post on 2008 July 9.

After spending many hours translating the original Tianya Chinese post on into English, I discovered that EastSouthWestNorth had already translated it while searching for more information…and it was better than mine.

I was so angry.

I published the post anyway. I was really tired, and I did not want to feel like I wasted all my time.

It has been three months since that first post. Since then, many people have asked me many questions about chinaSMACK and about why I started this website. I hope I can answer some of those questions today.

Why did I start chinaSMACK?

Like many Chinese children, I started learning English when I was small, but maybe unlike most Chinese children, I have tried to continue improving my English by using it whenever I can and I try to make friends who also use English. I admire Chinese people who can write normal English instead of “translated English” and I hope one day I can also be so proficient.

Like many Chinese netizens, I like blogs and a place on the internet where I can share something with other people. But maybe unlike most Chinese people, I also really enjoy learning how to create and design a blog or website that is not the typical QQ or Live Space. So I try to teach myself and learn from other people. What I know now is not much, but I do think I have learned so many things even though I have never taken a computer or design class.

Before I started chinaSMACK, I did some research. I wanted to force myself to do this and not give up. I wanted to learn but I also wanted to create something fun, interesting, and maybe meaningful. At the beginning, I was not sure how I would do it, but I did have a specific idea of what I wanted to blog about. So I wrote down my reasons from the beginning and these are the reasons you can still see in the About section.

With the help of some friends, I borrowed US$166.80 (lucky number) to register the “chinasmack.com” domain name and pay for two years of website hosting. It took several weeks to design the website and one week and 5 posts after my first post to figure out what I could do and what chinaSMACK would be about.

chinaSMACK three months later…

Today, chinaSMACK has almost 70 published posts and over 2000 visits a day. It is not much, but it is more than I expected. Many of our posts are not from me alone, but from contributors who have volunteered to help. These posts are not about me, our contributors, or what we think. They are–I hope–about what many Chinese people think.

I always tell our contributors that the “main characters” of chinaSMACK are the Chinese people who share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on the Chinese-language internet. We only translate their voice so they can be heard by more people, especially non-Chinese. If they can be heard, then maybe they can be understood better. There are many differences between Chinese people and people from other countries, but I think many things should be the same. I think that is important and I hope everyone can realize that.

Some people think the topics we show on chinaSMACK are bad, or make Chinese people look bad. Maybe, but I think the emotions in these stories and in the comments are very real and I think they should be similar to what people in other countries feel when they see similar things. I do not want chinaSMACK to be about politics. I want it to be about Chinese people living life. chinaSMACK cannot show everything, but maybe it can show some of it.

2008 CnBloggerCon

I would like to go to 2008 Chinese Blogger Conference (CnBloggerCon). This year, it will be in Guangzhou on November 15-16.

I have already registered but I am not sure if I will have the money to go. The conference price is 100-150 RMB and but I also need to pay for a train ticket, food, and maybe a hotel. Too bad it is not in Shanghai. Will any readers go also?

Jiong Jiong

On 2008 September 28, I added “Jiong Jiong” to chinaSMACK’s design. If you remember from the Chinese Lesson Time, “jiong3” is a popular Chinese character often used by Chinese netizens on the Chinese-language internet. The original Chinese meaning for “jiong” is “bright,” but the main reason it is so popular these days is because the character itself looks like a face of someone who is “shocked, amused, or stupefied.” Like “Orz” represents a person kneeling or bowing down, that is what “jiong” now means and how people use it.

I think “Jiong Jiong” represents chinaSMACK very well.

Support chinaSMACK

If you enjoy chinaSMACK, I hope you will consider supporting us by visiting our new Support page and making a donation or purchasing a chinaSMACK t-shirt. I know this t-shirt is not much but it is one of the few things I can do because my art is not good enough to draw on the sidewalk. I hope you like “simple.”

I am using RedBubble for these t-shirts and they use American Apparel, which is anti-sweatshop and located in Los Angeles.

I have never been to Los Angeles, but I think it should be better than Qipu Lu here in Shanghai (Qipu sounds like “cheap”). I have read many good things about American Apparel so I hope this choice is good.

The small profit from each t-shirt will help me pay for my website hosting costs and help us further grow chinaSMACK. Maybe it can help me buy a t-shirt for myself and also help me go to CnBloggerCon too.

Go to our Support Page »
Purchase a “Project Zero” T-Shirt »

08/10/10 UPDATE: If you buy a t-shirt, I hope you can send me a nice picture of you wearing it (you do not need to show your face if you are shy). I would like to show it on chinaSMACK or make a nice collection of them. Maybe you can be creative with your picture too and it will be very fun for everyone to see.

08/10/10 UPDATE: Many people have offered to give a small donation instead of buying a t-shirt (maybe they do not like Jiong Jiong). At first, I was not sure I want to accept donations because I prefer to “earn” money. However, a lot of people in the comments and especially in email told me I was being silly and convinced me that it is okay to accept donations for chinaSMACK. A friend help me set up a PayPal account and you can now help support chinaSMACK by donating to [email protected] or clicking on this button:

If you make a donation, I want to recognize your support so I will make a list with all the people who donated. If you would like to be on this list, please write your name and/or website (including website address) in the “special Instructions” area on PayPal OR you can email me with the same information and the confirmation number of your donation.

Thank you…

Many people, both friends and strangers, have helped me and helped chinaSMACK become better.

I thank our contributors, Kris Chen, Yang Shaohua, Joe Xu, Ian Stalter, Kaier Tan, and Xia Boyang, for the posts they have written and for being part of chinaSMACK.

I thank our visitors and subscribers and especially our commenters. Thank you for supporting chinaSMACK and thank you for caring about what Chinese people talk about online, even if it is sometimes silly or strange to you.

I thank other bloggers and websites for linking to chinaSMACK.

Finally, I thank the Chinese netizens and BBS forums who have always given us so much to laugh, cry, scream, and talk about. I especially want to thank KDS and my fellow “tu fei” (bandits) because I can always find something funny there.