I agree with MonkeyKing - the whinging about Fatburger beef is certainly an indictment of local suppliers. I don't mind paying for quality....but certainly neither want nor will pay for dodgy beef.

Just off the phone with Brokers Brothers, who claim they are offering the same price level to the Beijing promoter as what Dylan team asked from BBH. That seems to be against Sun Mengjin's angry statement.

"It all depends on whether we can get a permit from the Chinese Ministry of Culture," says BBH. "And it's still unconfirmed."

Don't worry, Songgirl78, my original article is mostly casual and fun. After all, my #4 observation is that "expats are cool" and I feel very honored to meet such an interesting group every day...

According to Taiwan Radio International, the Beijing and Shanghai shows remain unconfirmed, and Taipei definitely gets postponed. no news on Seoul and Hong Kong yet.

We're still contacting BBH (since no one's answering the phone across the strait). Back to the TRI news, BBH claims they are "having difficulty of getting a performing license in mainland China". They also explain that the reason why the Taipei show gets postponed is because it comes as part of the whole tour package, so not having a permit from Beijing has an effect.

Honestly, it's not looking good.

this is the original text from TRI:

　　美國著名藍調民謠歌手，也是20世紀重要的美國民權運動代言人巴布狄倫（Bob Dylan）確定來台舉辦演唱會！不過由於受到大陸巡迴演出尚未獲得中國官方批准，導致原本預訂4月2日台北開唱的日期，也被迫跟著延後，目前時間仍未確定。

　　今年年初就有消息傳出，指美國60年代重要的藍調民謠歌手巴布狄倫（Bob Dylan）將在今年亞洲巡迴演出行程中，首度訪台開唱，時間就敲定在4月2日，讓許多台灣搖滾迷又驚又喜、簡直不敢置信！

　　 據了解，主辦單位「布洛克兄弟」是以200萬美金的天價，取得巴布狄倫同意，在3月底結束日本演出之後，再增加首爾、台北、北京、上海與香港等5站巡演。不過原本台北預定的4月演出檔期，卻遲遲未見公開售票，讓搖滾迷害怕又是烏龍一場。

　　「布洛克兄弟」表示，由於大陸兩場演出尚未得到中國政府批文，使得其他場次演出受到影響，才會導致巴布狄倫來台開唱的時間被迫延後，目前確定時間還有待確認。「布洛克兄弟」公關負責人Jeffery說：『(原音)因為我們是結合整個大陸場次走巡迴，不過目前大陸這邊批文可能有點狀況。』

　　 至於樂迷關切的票價？目前主辦單位決定把最高票價從原來預定的新台幣2萬元調降為1萬元，最低票價則暫定1200元，地點選擇在台北南港展覽館。

Regarding to the Show of Peace, we'll be expecting a major update early next week. Rumors are flying that it might get postponed as well...

happy, happy. Now only if they delivered hummous and pitta bread...

I agree with Sun Mengjin. I've had similar experiences with Chinese who wanted to represent foreign artists in China.

I wonder if Bob Dylan and his agent know what the Taiwanese promoter did.

Beijing Koala wrote:

Funny that the article about the Chinese language should have a picture of a sign in broken Chinese!

It should have correctly read:
禁止停车 jìnzhǐ tíngchē

仃 [dīng] is an obscure rarely used word with a rather different pronunciation with obvious different meaning.

read the blog ...
http://www.sinoglot.com/blog/2010/02/20/park-that-simplification/

Quote:

"when I stumbled across this No Parking sign:

禁止仃车 (jìnzhǐ tíng chē)

in which the third character is 仃 instead of the proper 停, I immediately assumed it was an uneducated mistake propagated by one of society’s fringe characters.

But it turns out to be a fringe character of a different sort.

I asked Sinoglot’s Kellen Parker if he’d run across 仃 used this way. Not only had he run across it, he had the Wikipedia reference! According to that article (which has some fascinating-looking references — I just expanded my Amazon wishlist) 仃 was used for a few years as a completely legitimate simplification of 停 in the so-called “second round” of character simplifications. The simplifications didn’t stick and were repealed in 1986, but it’s possible, if our No Parking writer was educated between 1977 and the mid-80s, that 仃 was simply how they learned to write it."

HI songgirl78,

In fairness to the doc, he was talking about patients he commonly encounters on the job - he never said they were necessarily representative of the population at large. I'm guessing people who are fit and healthy, seeking TCM treatments, or who don't demand drugs every time they have a cold wouldn't be visiting the doctor too often. It's the nature of the job - the people doctors see are sick, and many are sick for various lifestyle reasons.