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The writing is on the wall: China is the world second largest economy and the growth rate has slowed sharply. The wages are rising, so that the fabled army of Chinese cheap labor is now among the most costly in Asian emerging economies. China, in the last thirty years has brought hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but this miracle would stall unless China can undertake another transformation of becoming an innovation nation.

The post The transition of China into an innovation nation appeared first on OUPblog.

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Ten years ago Brazil was beginning to enjoy the financial boom from China’s growing appetite for commodities and raw materials. The two countries were a natural fit. Brazil had what Beijing needed – iron ore, beef, soybeans, etc. and China had what Brasilia desperately wanted – foreign exchange to address budget deficits and cost overruns on major infrastructure projects. It was a marriage made in heaven – for four or five years.

The post What a difference a decade makes in Brazil appeared first on OUPblog.

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The United States is far from perfect. But China still lacks an independent legal system, adequate protection of human and labor rights, genuine freedom of expression, and predictable means to address grievances. Until such reforms can be accepted in Beijing, resentment will continue to rise and China’s smoldering volcano may eventually erupt.

The post China’s smoldering volcano appeared first on OUPblog.

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While most of the ReedPOP staff were in Brooklyn promoting the official beer of New York Comic Con, Lance Fensterman was in China, announcing the creation of the Beijing Comic Convention, to be held June 9-10, 2016! Beijing joins the Shanghai Comic Convention as the second ReedPOP show in China, and their eighth in Asia. […]

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Late September and October 2014 saw Hong Kong experience its most significant political protests since it became a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997. This ongoing event shows the inherent creativity of language, how it succinctly incorporates history, and the importance of context in making meaning. Language is thus a “time capsule” of a place.

China, which resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong after it stopped being a British colony in 1997, promised universal suffrage in its Basic Law as the ‘ultimate aim’ of its political development. However, Beijing insists that candidates for Hong Kong’s top job, the chief executive, must be vetted by an electoral committee made up largely of tycoons, pro-Beijing, and establishment figures. The main demand of the protesters is full democracy, without sifting candidates through a selection mechanism. Protesters want the right to nominate and directly elect the head of the Hong Kong government.

The protests are a combination of movements. For instance, the “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” movement is a civil disobedience movement that calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyze Hong Kong’s financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage according to international standards.

The humble umbrella has become the predominant symbol of the 2014 protests – largely because of its use as protection against police pepper spray. I’m sure you will have seen the now-iconic photograph of a young student holding up umbrellas while clouds of tear gas swirl around him. Thus, the terms “umbrella movement” or “umbrella revolution” came into being.

Yellow or “democracy yellow” as the colour became known, became the symbolic colour of the 2014 protests. As the protests wore on, yellow ribbons have been tied to fences, trees, lapels and Facebook profile pictures as indicators of solidarity with the “umbrella movement”.

How yellow and the crossed yellow ribbon became the symbol of the campaign for democracy in Hong Kong is unclear. The yellow ribbon often signifies remembrance (“Tie a yellow ribbon round that ole oak tree”, a hit song from 1973 about a released prisoner hoping that his love would welcome him back). Perhaps it relates to the fact that in 1876, during the U.S. Centennial, women in the suffrage movement wore yellow ribbons and sang the song “The Yellow Ribbon”. Interestingly, one political party in Hong Kong’s uses the suffragette colours (green, white, and violet) as its political colours.

From previous colour revolutions, we know that colour is significant (Beijing saw it as a separatist push, and the interchangeable use of “umbrella movement” and “umbrella revolution” did not help). Historically, in imperial times only the emperor could wear yellow. Nobles and commoners did so on pain of death. Yellow has now become a colour for the masses.

A blue ribbon movement also arose, signifying support for the police and against the action of the occupiers; the “blue ribboners” were also known as the “anti-occupiers”. Currently, Hong Kong society seems divided between the pro-occupiers and the anti-occupiers. Subsequently, there has been massive “unfriending” of people on Facebook. Thus arose a new verb: “to go blue ribbony”; as in “my friend said the group chat [FB] has gone blue ribbony so she left.”

Numbers have always been important in Hong Kong’s recent history. In 1984, with the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the year 1997 became important as that was the date of day Hong Kong “reverted” to Chinese sovereignty. The first opportunity to ask for universal suffrage was 2007 (denied), and then 2012 (also denied).

“689” is the “the number that explains Hong Kong’s upheaval” (quipped The Wall Street Journal). Invoked constantly in the streets and on social media, “689” is the protesters’ nickname for Hong Kong’s leader. The chief executive is elected by a 1,200 member Election Committee made up mostly of elite, pro-Beijing individuals after first being nominated by that committee. C.Y. Leung, the current chief executive, was elected by 689 members of that committee. This small circle election is at the heart of protesters’ frustrations, so they use “689” as an insult that emphasizes Leung’s illegitimacy. When they chant “689, step down!” they indict Mr. Leung along with the Beijing-backed political structure that they see threatening their city’s autonomy and freedoms. There is an expression “689 冇柒用” (there is no 7 in 689), where “柒” means “7” and “7冇柒用” means “(he is) no fucking use.” Interestingly, “689” could be read as “June 1989”, the time of the Tiananmen protests in Beijing.

In addition to protest songs such as ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna (naturally), ‘Do you hear the people sing’ from Les Miserables, and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, just to name a few, a very mundane ditty served as a tool of antagonism. This was the song “Happy Birthday”. Employing the happy birthday tactic was used by protesters when others shouted abuse at them. Singing “happy birthday” (sàangyaht faailohk, in Cantonese) to opponents, which served to annoy and disorientate them no end.

Chinese characters are made up of components called ‘radicals’. After the now iconic photograph of a young student holding up umbrellas while being tear-gassed, an enterprising individual came up with the following character扌傘, a combination of two ‘radicals’: 手 for “hand” → becoming 扌 on the left and the character for “umbrella” (傘) literally, a hand raising an umbrella. The definition for this character is to “to protest and persevere with peace and rationality until the end”, explaining that “with the radical ‘hand’, the word symbolizes the action of opening an umbrella”. The character ultimately has the meaning of “withstanding, supporting and not giving up the faith”.

The protests in Hong Kong are an ongoing phenomenon. The outpouring of linguistic and semiotic creative has been breath-taking.

Feature image credit: Hong Kong Protests, by Leung Ching Yau Alex. CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0 via Flickr.

The post Umbrellas and yellow ribbons: The language of the 2014 Hong Kong protests appeared first on OUPblog.

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Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China Paul French

It's taken me a few days for me to say anything about this book besides "I just... wow. I mean, it's just, Beijing and... wow. I mean... wow." And that goes for the rather explosive content and also the way French can spin out a story. (I mean, wow.)

In early January, 1937, the night of Russian Christmas, Pamela Werner was murdered. Horrifically. Her body was found the next morning outside the supposedly haunted Fox Tower in Beijing.* She lived with her father in the Tartar city, just outside the Foreign Legation, so the investigation is under the control of the Chinese police. But she's a British subject, the daughter of a former British Consul, and this isn't an average robbery gone wrong. To get around the British legation promoting an envoy to the case that they would control, the Chinese police appoint a detective from Tianjin, where Pamela went to boarding school. DCI Dennis was former Scotland Yard and wasn't under the legation's control. His hands were tied by the British as to what he could and couldn't do, but he wouldn't get in the way of the investigation.

But the British want to save face and hinder things at every turn. The Consul in Beijing has a personal dislike of Werner's father. National and personal politics play large. The White Russians who run the Badlands, the strip of seedy dive bars, opium dens, and brothels between the Legation Quarter and the Tartar city, aren't talking. In Tianjin, Pamela was a quiet school girl. In Beijing, she had several boyfriends and liked to party. Meanwhile, the Japanese are surrounding the city and getting ever closer. Everyone's fleeing-- either the investigation or the threat of war.

The murder remains unsolved, and the case technically open, but no one working on it. Pamela's father starts his own investigation and gathers his own evidence and reaches his own conclusions about who murdered his daughter. The Japanese get involved. Then they're not. Different personal and national politics at play, but they still have a major role in the investigation. Pamela's father has a compelling case to make against his main suspect (one that French agrees with) but the Consul and London are ignoring his pleas and evidence. Personal politics make it easy to write him off. The war makes it easy for his files and notes to get shoved in a drawer and lost (until French found them in an uncataloged file at The British National Archive in Kew.)

Was it the KMT? The Japanese? A jealous boyfriend? Was it a message to someone else? Or something far more sinister? (Answer: far far far more sinister.)

Secret nudist colonies, stateless prostitutes, political assassinations, and cocktail hours spent at smoky back tables gathering gossip, rumor, clues and evidence, Shura**... and a world on the brink of war. Basically, but John LeCarre and Eileen Chang in a blender and make the result a true story, and you get Midnight in Peking.

French has a gift for spinning out the suspense and tension. He deftly explains the back-history and the politics, making it understandable so the rea

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This is the alleyway leading to the almost hidden entrance of one of the highest rated duck restaurants in Beijing. The inside looks much like you would expect of a place you enter from an alley, but the food is so very very good! 

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I quickly left this area after taking this picture - far too many warnings for me! What were they doing here that needed this strange assortment of warnings? Why were these signs posted low behind a parked motorcycle on a busy Beijing street? What is Ovntilating and a Daop Down, and why are they dangerous? Such a mystery.

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…Beijing of course! Look, see.

What do you mean that looks like Europe? No, really we’re in Beijing, see what we had for dinner.

Ok, yes that is Japanese food. Well, what can I say, Beijing is just an international city. We plan on being pretty international while we’re here too. Where we live in Zhejiang province it’s a little harder to come by good foreign food and clothes that will fit us. So, our first order of business today was to buy some new shirts and then hit up a foreign restaurant. 

Tomorrow it’s real burgers (by that I mean not McD or KFC)! Probably not so special for you, but it’s been quite a long time for us. I’ll keep you updated on our Western food intake. I’m sure you can’t wait. 

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By Rana Mitter

This week, the foreign ministers of Japan and China shook hands in public in Beijing, pledging better relations in the years to come.  It was a reminder to westerners that we still don’t know nearly enough about the relationship between the world’s second and third biggest economies (Japan and China having recently switched places, so that Beijing now holds the no. 2 spot, riding hard on the heels of the US).  Relations between China and Japan have been rocky over the past few decades, with an incident over the arrest of the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel by the Japanese authorities causing ructions just last autumn.  And of course for many Chinese, the relationship is shaped by memories of the horrific war with Japan between 1937 and 1945 in which some 15 million Chinese died.  But China and Japan are also profoundly linked economically and culturally.  Japanese companies invest in China; Chinese goods flow into Japan.  And the two countries share aspects of culture, particularly writing systems and religious practice, that come from centuries of shared interaction.  In the twentieth century, Japan was the dominant member of the duo.  But as the century to come seems to be China’s , what does that mean for its closest neighbour, sometime enemy, and now wary partner?

The key player in this diplomatic minuet is the US, still, of course, the world’s biggest economy and a cultural powerhouse.  It may be in relative decline, but it looms large in every region of the world, including the Pacific.  And of course, the continuing security arrangements between the US and Japan are one of the factors that exercise minds in Beijing.  The Chinese see the Pacific as the site of a new regional hegemony: not territorial, but in terms of influence, both military and economic.  Having the United States, with its powerful naval presence, in the Pacific, is a constant reminder that there is a check on their ambitions in the region and that not everyone in that region welcomes every aspect of China’s “peaceful rise.”  And Japan is still a key US ally.  After World War II, Japan was disarmed precisely so that it could never again invade and occupy Asia.  But as a result, Japan’s defence was taken care of by the United States, leaving Japan free to grow its economy (remember, until the 1990s, “Asian economic miracle” meant Japan, not China).    Ironically, the China of today might have preferred it if China had been left to develop its own forces without US assistance in the postwar era, since it would be easier for Beijing to face down an independent military in Tokyo than to do so a force backed by Washington.  The rivalry is not just about arms: both China and Japan compete for influence in the region and beyond with foreign aid and investment.  So the mistrust remains – but also the realization that the relationship will inevitably change as China becomes richer and Japan becomes older (Japan is one of the faster-ageing societies in the world – although so will China be from the 2020s on, because the children of the one-child policy are getting older).

Rana Mitter is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and the author of Modern China: A Very Short Introduction and A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World. The Sino-Japanese relationship is just one area that will be explored at a forum

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Who, we sometimes ask, at the dinners and debates of the intelligentsia, was the 20th century’s more insightful prophet — Aldous Huxley or George Orwell? Each is best known for his dystopian fantasy — Huxley’s Brave New World, Orwell’s 1984 — and both feared where modern technology might lead, for authorities and individuals alike. But while Huxley anticipated a world of empty pleasures and excessive convenience, Orwell predicted ubiquitous surveillance and the eradication of freedom. Who was right?     —William Davies, New Statesman, August 1, 2005

By Jeffrey Wasserstrom

The long-standing Huxley vs. Orwell debate got a 21st century New Media makeover in 2009, courtesy of cartoonist Stuart McMillen. In May of that year, he published an online comic entitled “Amusing Ourselves to Death” that quickly went viral. At the top of this strip, which has been tweeted and re-tweeted many times and can now be found posted on scores of websites, we see caricatures of the two authors above their names and the respective titles of their best-known novels. Below that comes a series of couplet-like contrastive statements, accompanied by illustrations. The top couplet reads: “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books; What Huxley feared was that there would be no need to ban a book, for there would be no one who would want to read one.” The first statement is paired with a picture of a censorship committee behind a desk, with a one-man “Internet Filter Department” off to one side, a wastebasket for banned books off to the other. The illustration for the second statement shows a family of couch potatoes waiting for The Biggest Loser to return after a word from its sponsors.

McMillen’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” might best be called an homage, or perhaps a reboot, for the lines in it all come straight from media theorist Neil Postman’s influential 1985 book of the same title, which made the case for Huxley’s famous 1932 novel being a superior guide to the era of television than Orwell’s from 1949. But Postman himself was far from the first to play the Huxley vs. Orwell game. The tradition of comparing and contrasting Huxley and Orwell goes back to, well, Huxley and Orwell, two writers who — though this is not mentioned as often as one might expect — knew one another from Eton, where Orwell was Huxley’s pupil in the 1910s.

Orwell had not yet written 1984 when he first questioned his former teacher’s prescience. In the early 1940s, a reader of his newspaper column solicited Orwell’s opinion of the danger that consumerism and the pursuit of pleasure posed to society. Orwell replied that, in his view, the time to worry about Brave New World scenarios had passed, for hedonism and “vulgar materialism” were no longer the great threat they once had been.

In October 1949, just a few months after Orwell published 1984 (a work that presumably spelled out the more pressing threats he had in mind), Huxley wrote to his former pupil to make the opposite point. Orwell’s book impressed him, he said, but he did not find it completely convincing, because he continued to think, as he had when crafting Brave New Word, that the elites of the future would find “less arduous” strategies for satisfying their “lust for power” than the “boot-on-the-face” technique described in 1984.

Huxley wrote that letter in Britain during a month that began with a momentous event taking place a

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Ok, so it looks like when I talked about the Cybils yesterday, I forgot to mention that I am part of the final round judging panel in Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction. I served on this panel last year and am really excited to be doing it again! So please, look at your bookshelves carefully and nominate some good titles, starting next week! Last year's winner in this category, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood was amazing, but I'm hoping we can find something even better this year!

Here's another phenomenal nonfiction book, but it's for adults.

The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed Michael Meyer

This book is many things all at once. It is a snapshot of modern China's lower classes on the verge of the Olympics It is the history of urban planning theory, and the history of Beijing's changing skyline, cityscape, and footprint. It is a love letter to a neighborhood and its school. It is an examination of a city at the heart of an exploding economy. And it does all of these things well, in one cohesive package.

While living in Beijing, Meyer was struck by the destruction of the hutong neighborhoods, but he also found that most of the hutong's most ardent supporters were tourists and scholars, not the people who actually lived there. So, Meyer moved to the hutong to check it out for himself and to volunteer as an English teacher at the local school. He is one of the few Westerners to get a true glimpse at this slice of Beijing life.

In the opening pages, Meyer declares "I am not a sentimentalist; no one should have to live in poverty, no matter how picturesque." At the same time, he is witnessing the destruction of a community, his community, and the changes don't appear to necessarily be for the better. Meyer's account of life in the hutong, and the changes taking place balances both sides of the debate well.

At the same time, it is a story of life in Beijing today, in the areas that aren't populated by overnight millionaires. He tells of his students, the adventures of the Mokey the Monkey who teaches the kids English in their textbook. This is the story of a city preparing to be good Olympic hosts, whether its essay contests for his students or English lessons for the police "from a textbook titled Olympic Security English. In dialogues named "Dissuading Foreigners from Excessive Drinking" and "How to Stop Illegal News Coverage" the lessons presented such pattern drills as 'I'm afriad we'll have to detain you temporarily.' " It is the life story of his neighbors and of the neighborhood.

This week, I'm blathering more about hutongs over at Geek Buffet.

Highly readable and highly enjoyable, I highly recommend--this is one of my favorite titles on Modern China.

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As the world watches the Beijng Olympics this week, history buffs will want to look in to the history of that city for a true understanding of China today. Arthur Cottrell's The Imperial Cities of China, just released this month, offers an intriguing study of the characters, political and ideological tensions, and technological genius that defined the imperial cities of China. And Cottrell's closing chapter, "The Last Imperial Capital," offers a riveting short history of Qing Beijing.

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Tai Lake, China

Coordinates: 31 5 N 120 10 E

Approximate area: 930 sq. mi (2,409 sq. km)

As the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Games have crept closer, China has scrambled to prepare Beijing, its capital city, for the fans, families, athletes, trainers, and dignitaries that will attend the Olympics in August. With an urban population topping ten million, dealing with pollution was one of the bigger challenges faced by organizers. But environmental contamination isn’t only a problem for the people living in and around the world’s major metropolises. South of Beijing and west of Shanghai, Tai Lake near the mouth of the Yangtse is one of the country’s largest freshwater bodies. It’s also heavily polluted. Once a scenic basin in a fertile agricultural region, Tai Lake has seen its beauty diminished by unchecked levels of human and industrial waste. Protests have compelled the government to take action, but the algae-choked water remains unfit for consumption.

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Ben Keene is the editor of Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his previous places of the week.

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As much as I love being able to speak to the blogosphere through OUPblog, whenever I can bring the author straight to you I jump at the chance. Hurrah, then, for the good people of Meet the Author, who recently filmed several of our authors talking briefly about their books. Today I bring you Rana Mitter, author of Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, who tells us a few fascinating facts about Modern China that you may not already know. Over to Rana…

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I'm in Beijing! What follows is a fairly dry account of our first night in China. I'm jetlagged, and it's all I can muster.

I got to the Newark airport over 3 hours early, just in case. Ran into Grace and Ki-Ki randomly in the food court (I had left Grace a message, but she hadn't turned her phone back on after her Boston to Newark flight) where we hung out for a few hours and read guide books.

I so rarely have companions when I travel, so it was nice to have two friends to travel with this time. The last time I flew internationally (I think to or from Taiwan), my overhead light was broken so I couldn't read. This time, our TVs didn't work, so it was doubly nice to have company. We read, chatted, they knit, I played solitaire on my iPod, napped periodically, ate horrible airplane food including a "beef" and swiss sandwich where the meat was indistinguishable. I longed for the Asian airlines where the midflight snack they serve is ramen.

We waiting about 3 hours in the Beijing airport for Jen's flight to arrive from SF. We found a coffee shop to plant ourselves down and drink coffee and tea. My Chinese was somewhat enough for us to communicate, combined with the waitress's English. At one point, though, I tried to order "bing kai shui" (iced boiled water), which in Taiwan would get us boiled water that is then made cold, but she shook her head and said she couldn't do that, so I just got boiled water instead.

We sketched out a rough itinerary for Beijing. Really, I don't care what we see, I'm just happy to be here (although I must walk on the Great Wall--it's one of the things on my 'To Do Before I Die" list).

I bought a phone card to call Chi-Chu, which was a challenge. Can you believe I forgot how to say local and international? (then again, when Chi-Chu reminded me of the words later, I don't think I had ever learned them, or else had learned them as something else in Taiwan--many words are different here)

Jen arrived on time, and thank goodness her Chinese is more fluent than mine. I was able to answer when asked, "Ji wei?" (how many people), but Jen took over when it came down to figuring out if all of our luggage could fit in the cab, and telling the driver to call Chi-Chu when he couldn't find the address.

Chi-Chu's two-bedroom condo is luxurious, and thankfully has plenty of room for the four of us. He must have been somewhat overwhelmed by the sudden influx of estrogen.

The first order of business was dinner, and we decided on hot pot, and went to a place called Xiao Fei Yang and met Eveline there (Little Fatty Lamb, literally, although I guess their official English name is Little Lamb)--their specialty is lamb, so we got a ton of that, plus veggies, chicken, etc. I love hot pot, and the spicy side was especially yummy. All of the waiters stared at us throughout the meal, confused by our lack of Chinese skills. I got this in Taiwan a lot, too. How can we be Chinese/Taiwanese and not speak the language fluently? It's such a strange thing for the locals to understand. In Taiwan, my white friends would get such sympathy and help when trying to communicate, while us Asian students were treated with impatience.

We walked home in the cold, stopping by a supermarket to pick up some breakfast food, then back home to shower and wind down. Grace blogged last night here, complete with pictures! I'll probably upload all my pics after I get back and add them in later. We're off to Shanghai tonight on the overnight train--I'm looking forward to it!

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Tim absolutely loves magic tricks and he would do anything to go to one of Amaz-O's show.He asked his parents but they said no because it was so late at night.Then he sneaks out of the house the night of the show (and he has to take his bratty little sister with him or she will tell his parents he's sneaking off!) .But then when he got there he volunteered for a trick.But what he didn't know was he had to disappear. When he disappeared he just went in the basement of the place and he found Amaz-O's secret magic tricks but they aren't just secret they are scary like the snakes that come out and balls that multiply and bounce every where in all directions...

What I like about the book is that magic is fun and anyone can learn it and magic just will lite up a persons day.What I don't like about the story is that magic tricks are pretty cool just magic tricks aren't supposed to be scary there supposed to be fun and suprizing not like killing magic tricks thats just...not normal.

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Greg still has that camera and he doesn't want to let go of it but his English teacher Sourball is very grouchy,too grouchy.Greg told everyone about the camera and everyone thinks he is crazy, Sourball, (Mr.Saur), tells Greg to bring the camera to school and take a class photo of everyone...

What I like about the story is that it's like Say Cheese and Die! Continues...But really it's kind of the same but it's more boring because you pretty much know what's going to happen because it is almost the same as the last book just with a new person in it that doesn't believe you.

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Billy and Sheena get to go to their uncle's house for the summer and he is a underwater scientist so they get to swim in the oceon a lot,but they aren't supposed to go in the coral reefs but Billy likes them so pretty and peaceful,he goes in there,but there is something dangerous and part human part underwater creature...

What don't like about the story is that on the cover it doesn't look like what it sounds it just look like a shark and that's all not something creepy and weird.What I do like about the book is that my mom loves underwater things and sea creatures so if I would show this book to my mom and she read it she would no exactly what to do if she was trapped with a shark.I think.

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Jerry get to visit his Aunt and Uncle in New England Jerry's sister Terri loves grave yards and Jerry hates them,but when he finds a cave he can't wait to explore it!Then kids tell him about the story of a ghost who haunts deep deep inside the cave and is over 300 years old...

What I don't like about this book is that I don't think there is such thing as ghosts and I don't think people realize that there isn't such things as ghosts but,there is such thing as spirits or demons and they might not just spirits or demons there could be things that people call ghosts and they could be what science hasn't figured out yet,and I don't think spirits really hurt people or haunt people or else it would be all over the news for attacks and people wouldn't be dressing up as them for Halloween.The book is also really not scary at all I didn't even get a little chill and none of my neck hairs stood up either.This book is kind of,it's hard to say it,but it was kind of not really boring.That was hard to say!

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Greg stole a camera from a persons house and Greg doesn't know it but this camera is a very special camera.Because when he takes pictures something weird happens the picture doesn't ever turn out right it always turns out different and it is really weird because when he took a picture of his friend and it turned that his friend was laying on the ground sprawled on his back,his neck bent in a odd angle and his eyes shut tight...

What I don't like about the book is I love photography but I really don't think R.L was letting Greg get a nice camera because Greg talks about cameras a lot but he doesn't at least get a nice one??What I do like about the story is the story seems so long.This story really tells about Greg's life so barely even half way in the beginning of the story you know already what's going on!!

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Skipper loves comic books and he has a ton of them in his room.He loves a comic book series called "The Masked Mutant" which is about a mutant who is trying to rule the universe!But then one day when he is going to the library he sees this really weird place it was kind of cool too it was reddish pink and had yellow and blue in it too..It looked like The Masked Mutant's secret headquarters!!!Did the Masked Mutant really live in this town??

What I like about the story is it is really awesome that this kid collects comics,most people these days don't collect or keep comic books anymore his comic books are cool it would just be nicer if R.L used "The Tick" or Spiderman" or "Batman" then that would be really awesome.What I also like about the story is the story seemed so long!Lots of stories seem really short and not really much of a story.

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Gary needs a vacation and he needs one just for him and he has to have one soon,a long vacation too.The reason why he needs one is because he gets beet up every day even his sister hates him.Then his wish gets granted he gets to switch bodies with a kid,but when he finds out who the kid is he isn't exactly sure he wants to switch anymore because this kid isn't exactly a kid...

What I like about the story is that I would like to change into someone too if I really had to I don't exactly want to,I just like changes.This book is also kind of like "Phantom of the Auditorium" because most books don't have phantoms in them and most scary stories don't have bees in them either.

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Steve will always remember Carly Beth's Halloween mask from last year for Halloween he though it was totally awesome,but he wants to get one just like it so he is wondering where she got hers ,at first she doesn't want him to do it so she doesn't want to tell him because she did the wrong thing and she doesn't want him to be sorry,but then she couldn't help it she told him he went there that night he took his friend too,the man that sold them wasn't there then his friend and him found some doors to the basement where all of the masks were...Was he going to steel them or would he wait 'till the next day????

What I like about the story is the same reason why I like "The Haunted Mask" except this is with a different person and he might steel it or he will wait.The story is almost the same as the first one.

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Brooke's best friend Zeke gets the new role for the phantom and his directer says that the play was cursed but no one believed her. Everyone thought she was trying to trick them.Zeke really loves to dress up and scare every one on the cast so he is really in to it,mayby a little too far into it,oh well it is really fun anyway to dress up and act,but it isn't that fun when the night comes and a light comes crashing down on the stage...

What I like about the story is that most stories I mean a lot don't have phantoms in them,I don't know why because phantoms are awesome but they just aren't and this is like the only story I have ever read with a phantom so this story was exiting when I first saw it.This story is very scary and it tells kind of how to deal in Middle School when people are really mean.

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