Chen Nan Yang

By Chen Nan Yang Originally published at Launchpad; reprinted with the author's permission.
From China's bamboo forest villages in Yunnan to the high-rises of Shanghai, Mongolian Cow Yogurt Super Girl—a hugely popular American Idol-like TV program—has created quite a stir. And when Li Yuchun, a music student with a tomboy haircut and girl next-door beauty, won the coveted title, she spawned a new short and edgy hairstyling craze among young girls living across the vast expanse of Mainland China.
Super Girl also created [...]

By Chen Nan Yang - Originally published at Lighthouse Digest; reprinted with the author's permission.
"Islands with islands, sunsets after sunsets, surfs are washing your memory away." An ancient Chinese poet wrote this when he looked out over the sea from an island. Maybe, the memory had been washed away but not the lighthouses. If you are at the place where the poet stood hundred years ago, you will catch the sight of a 135-year-old lighthouse, though the memories associated with it [...]

By Chen Nan Yang Originally published at www.linux.com on December 23, 2005 (8:00:00 AM); reprinted with the author's permission.   

China's Guangdong Linux Center (GDLC) and 27 universities last month set up the Guangdong Leadership of Open Source University Promotion Alliance (GDLUPA) to promote Linux in China's universities.
The GDLUPA founded several Linux Practical Bases, which are learning centers for the university students. "The students will proliferate Linux to the whole country after their graduation," Lo Sanlu, an official in the GDLUPA, said. He also [...]

Originally published at www.linux.com; reprinted with the author's permission.
As more and more traditional publishers accept digital images, artists are turning to free and open source software (FOSS) tools to create cartoons and illustrations.

Draw lines
Both vector and bitmap drawing programs let you draw lines. Generally speaking, vector lines are more reusable and revisable, while bitmap lines are more artistic.
Before starting a drawing in any tool, plan how many layers your drawing will have. A simple bitmap drawing may have only three or [...]

Originally published at www.linux.com; reprinted with the author's permission.
2,500 years ago, the Chinese philosopher Confucius asked Lao-tzu, the founder of Taoism, "What is Tao?" Lao-tzu opened his mouth but said nothing. Confucius left with a smile, but his students were puzzled. Confucius explained, "Lao-tzu has passed us the Tao. In his mouth, there are no teeth but only a tongue. The hard ones (teeth) died, but the soft one (the tongue) lives; the soft power is stronger than the hard power. [...]

Originally published at Colored Stone; reprinted with the author's permission.
According to China's Jewelry and Jade Association (CJJA), the total size of the Chinese jewelry market was 140 billion yuan (US$17.3 billion) in 2005. Colored gemstones, including jade, accounted for 30.6 percent of the market.
The CJJA forecast that the market would increase at an annual rate of 8 percent to 9 percent to about $26 billion between 2006 and 2010, but the increase of gold, diamond, and platinum jewelry might slow down [...]

Originally published at www.linux.com; reprinted with the author's permission.
When I began my career as an assistant architect 12 years ago, I used AutoCAD R12, 3D Studio, CorelDraw 6.0, and Photoshop 4.0 for architectural drawing and 3-D modeling. Today, many architects still use their later versions, but those bulky packages provide many functions an architect will never use. Luckily, there are several open source alternatives that are well-suited for architects -- QCad in place of AutoCAD, Blender instead of 3DMax, Inkscape in [...]

I am a journalist, primarily for International Fiber Journal and Platts Emissions Daily, where I am their Asia and China correspondent.
Other places I have published include Vision Systems Design, Linux.com, CM (Composite Magazine), PTCN, LaunchPad, Nailpro, Colored Stone, Lighthouse Digest, the Los Angeles Times, and other 50+ Chinese, Singaporean, and Malaysian magazines and newspapers.
When not committing journalism, I work on other writing projects, and on some trade business.
In the past, I have been an assistant architect, a cartoonist, an official in Chinese [...]