Dong Feng 董锋
Via peter : 28 Nov 07 : .cn, cms, design, interview, music, textpattern, txp
Dong Feng - aka Fen - is a 20 year old Chinese TXP user born in Fujian and now studying computer science and technology in Jiangxi. Although a maker of some popular WP templates, Fen created Hellowiki with Textpattern and has very kindly answered some of my questions. Please note he struggles with English so what you will read is my version of his answers.
TXPQ What is life all about?
DF
I don't know the meaning of life, but I enjoy my life in this way:
Remember what should be remembered, and forget what should be forgotten.
Change what is changeable, and accept what can't be changed.
TXPQ How would you describe your general state of being, for example are you happy, stressed, optimistic etc?
DF Yes, I'm stressed and optimistic so I'm happy!
TXPQ Are you right-handed or left-handed?
DF Right-handed.
TXPQ What motivates you or "makes you tick"?
DF Interest, life, works, music and heroic deeds.
TXPQ Radio Lancashire often plays music made in China, for example Sep 15 2007 (playlist). (Readers: use this 103MB mp3 instead but only if you cannot access Blogspot). What music do you listen to, Fen?
DF
The music is good. It contains many Chinese elements. I like them. I love pop music and rap. Especially Chinese style pop. Here are some for you to listen to:
Qing Hua Ci, Dong Feng Po and Ye Qu.
TXPQ Those are very beautiful songs, Fen. I searched and found the Dong Feng Po lyrics and Ye Qu words. They are exquisite lyrics and are used to learn Chinese. I also found the delightful Qing Hua Ci translation (on Blogspot).
Hello Wiki - be your best - 做最好的自己
TXPQ Why did you create Hellowiki?
DF In China there is the Golden Shield Project or Great Firewall (GFW) which uses various methods of internet censorship to prevent Chinese visiting wikipedia.org and other websites. I hope one day we can visit wikipedia without a proxy. At first I wanted to build Hellowiki as an online proxy site, to easily reach wikipedia.org. But finally I had to give up because there are many proxy sites which are more powerful and fast, so it has changed into a weblog.
TXPQ Will it become a wiki?
DF I don't know the final aim of my site. The things I wrote are all of interest to me. Become a wiki someday? Maybe.
TXPQ Is there a connection with Hello Kitty?
DF This domain name occurred to me in an English class, when the topic was about Hello Kitty, and I got hello wiki.
TXPQ You write interesting articles, have useful resources and seem very popular. I hope your success continues to grow. Would you like to say anything more about Hellowiki?
DF Thank you! Hellowiki's pronunciation seems beautiful. I hope my site will be as beautiful as the pronunciation.
Textpattern Questions
TXPQ How long have you used Textpattern?
DF I first touch it at May, 2007.
TXPQ Why do you use TXP? How does it compare to Wordpress?
DF WordPress is a simple weblog program with many beautiful themes, plugins and large community, but it will work slow if you want to build a complex site. You ask me why I use TXP but I think it's hard for me to write and hard for you to read (my teacher said Chinese English is hard to read :)) so you can check this Digital Web article. They got the same idea as me.
TXPQ You have made popular templates for Wordpress such as the Dark Red theme. Will you make any templates for Textpattern?
DF Yes, I will.
TXPQ Would you like to say anything about TXP?
DF In China there are only a few people who use TXP, many people have never heard of it. But WordPress has a great group in China. I will let more people know about TXP, because it's really an unusual CMS. There are two Chinese who know more than me, siliu.com and laogui.com.
TXPQ How difficult is it to combine Chinese and English characters in a web design? (They often look messy together)
DF I was perplexed for a long time. Many English systems don't have a beautiful Chinese typeface, so it looks messy (In Vista msyh.ttf is the best Chinese typeface). English feels vivacious, Chinese feels grave - they are representative of different cultures.
China
TXPQ
There is now a big focus on China. The Women's Football World Cup just happened. There is the Olympics next year. Is China becoming more free and optimistic?
DF China is changing a lot these days. The expanding economy has enriched the people. People are getting more rights and freedom. But we have also lost many things such as Flickr, Blogspot, Feedburner, Wiki - all banned by GFW. In forums you'd better not talk about anything political. In China, WoW is a bit different and funny! For example, bones of the undead have been removed and if you are dead, no bones are left, but a tomb!
TXPQ Is there a Chinese CMS? Do you use any software that is uniquely Chinese?
ECMS is more powerful than any CMS I have ever seen. But it's only in Chinese...DF There are two best Chinese PHP CMS. One is ECMS, the other is DedeCMS. DedeCMS is OpenSource with a wide group input and easy to use. ECMS is a wonder in that all the code is written by one person. There is a rumor that ECMS Company has only three persons. One is the Seller, one is the Developer, and the last answers customer questions. ECMS is more powerful than any CMS I have ever seen. But it's only in Chinese...
Much Chinese networking works in a special and interesting way. If one day my English gets better, I will tell you more. Thank you!
TXPQ And thank you too, Fen! I really hope they pull down GFW very soon. Best wishes for all your studies and projects. 再见
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