Research on Central Asia and Mongolia

May 19, 2023 by George Chen in Central Asia, Review, Mongolia, China, Public Policy

Since I began to cover Mongolia and Central Asian countries some years ago, I got myself a new habit: Looking for Mongolia and Central Asia related books (in English) at any bookstore I visit.

I personally already got a good collection of books about those countries but whoever study Mongolia and Central Asia will tell you the existing literature and research materials in English language about those five or six (or seven) countries (depending on how you define the region) are still very very limited.

The only exception may be Afghanistan due to the long-time conflicts and wars. You can find many books about Afghanistan although those books in English are mostly from US perspective and about counter-terrorism. There are a few good books about Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire, the world’s second largest empire ever in history.

Today at Harvard Book Store (btw, this is an independent bookstore on Harvard Square, which has nothing to do with the university), in the Asia Pacific (APAC) section, I cannot find any book about Central Asian countries. I searched in Eastern Europe section too. Neither. Most of the books in the APAC section are about China (of course!), Korea, Japan, and etc.

Just feel a bit sad about those “underrated” countries. They are worth world attentions, not to mention China has made more efforts to form allies in Central Asia, a long-term strategically important region for China’s ambitious Belt and Road blueprint to counter the influence of the United States alongside the ancient “Silk Road”, which can be traced back to Italy and some countries in Middle East.

I remain a humble student of Mongolia and Central Asia. Welcome recommendations on good books. The more I read, the more I feel why and how big and different the world is. It’s all about perspective.

全世界都可以打邊爐

February 22, 2023 by George Chen in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Central Asia, Review, travel

香港人喜歡「打邊爐」，也就是吃火鍋。套用一段很多年前香港某商場流行過的廣告語，開心的時候可以打邊爐，不開心的時候也想要打邊爐，全世界只有一個香港，香港人就是喜歡打邊爐。是的，香港人對火鍋這件事就是這樣的執著。

我也喜歡吃火鍋，而且我喜歡全世界找火鍋店吃。去年去愛爾蘭首都都柏林出差，忍不住問當地的同事，哪裏有火鍋，然後硬是拖着幾個同事（包括幾位在都柏林工作的香港同事在內）跑到都柏林的「中國城」一條街上的一間火鍋店吃火鍋。其實我已經忘記那天晚上吃了什麼，只記得那晚好像是我在都柏林吃的最開心的一餐。

要說火鍋的發源，我的一位蒙古朋友一定會和你滔滔不絕講起「一代天驕」成吉思汗的威猛歷史。火鍋的起源其實很難考證，坊間一直流傳很多不同版本，其中一個版本是說成吉思汗可能是火鍋發明者之一，眾所周知，蒙古自古以來盛產肥羊，作為遊牧民族，成吉思汗及部下為圖方便，走到哪裏，吃到哪裏，哪裏有羊，就馬上殺了羊並趁新鮮直接放入滾燙的熱水中，成吉思汗等人意外發現，如此一來他們就有了非常鮮美的羊肉湯喝，再後來又加入蔬菜等不同食材，火鍋的飲食習慣就此開始逐漸形成。在中國北方，吃火鍋是一定要有羊肉的，所以在北方吃火鍋其實也叫「涮羊肉」，最出名的「涮羊肉」包括如今在北京還有不少連鎖店經營的「東來順」。

我在蒙古首都烏蘭巴托吃過幾次火鍋，和當年成吉思汗一群人共享一鍋不同，蒙古人如今吃火鍋都是每人一小鍋。我覺得很好，非常衞生，而且自己想吃什麼湯底自己選，也不用考慮別人的口味。在蒙古吃火鍋，自然也少不了羊肉，而且這裏不僅僅是一種羊肉，基本上羊的不同部位都會用來吃火鍋。蒙古草原羊用來涮羊肉非常鮮美，我和當地朋友笑言，我在蒙古吃過涮羊肉，恐怕再去別的地方吃羊肉火鍋，我會變得非常挑剔。

還有一次我去中亞國家哈薩克斯坦出差，忍不住問當地的朋友，哪裏有火鍋，我說英文「hot pot」，對方是哈薩克本地人，居然一開始沒聽懂，然後拿出手機用Google搜索了一番，終於搞明白我說的「hot pot」是什麼，於是便開車帶我去了一間所謂的「火鍋店」，入店一看，感覺更像是串串燒專門店。原來哈薩克斯坦的火鍋店都是這樣的，肉和菜都是一件一串事先串好的，肉菜也都是同一個價格，結賬時候老闆看你拿了幾串，這樣就知道總共多少錢了。

新加坡人也喜歡吃火鍋，海底撈的創始人張勇早年發達後移民新加坡，也把海底撈成功帶入新加坡，有一段時間，海底撈在新加坡幾乎成為火鍋代名詞。當然，新加坡也有自己原創的膠原蛋白「美滋鍋」，據說喝富含膠原蛋白的湯對皮膚好，很多新加坡女孩子都喜歡結伴去吃「美滋鍋」。後來新加坡的「美滋鍋」還在台北開分店，開業初還引發大家連日來排隊等吃火鍋的盛況。

台北本地的火鍋店也絕對不是「吃素的」，競爭程度非常激烈。我在台北的朋友知道我喜歡吃火鍋，喜歡到幾乎要把全台北的大小火鍋店吃遍，從劉德華、郭富城當年都愛光顧的「太和殿」，到豆腐和鴨血可以一直免費加的「無老鍋」、已經在香港開設分店的「鼎王」、打着「吃到飽」旗號（包括吃完火鍋還有無限量哈根達斯雪糕供應）的馬辣火鍋，還有號稱火鍋界愛馬仕的「橘色」⋯⋯

喜歡吃辣的朋友，一定不會錯過只有在台北才能吃到的「老四川」。總之我每次去台北，一個星期就算每晚都吃火鍋，我也不會有絲毫不滿。

其實我最喜歡的台北火鍋店並非那幾家連鎖店，真正的心頭好都是朋友帶我去的那種本地小店，那種一進門只有四五張桌子的小店，然後老闆一邊幫你準備食材，一邊有空就過來和你乾一杯。最近一次去台北，和幾個好朋友找了一家他們喜歡的小店吃火鍋，要了幾瓶台灣啤酒，配火鍋最佳。臨走時，火鍋店老闆忽然跑來找我，然後送我一個小盒子，原來盒內裝着六個印有台啤logo的玻璃杯。老闆說，玻璃杯是商家促銷送的，雖不值錢，但今天我們有緣一起吃火鍋，這才是人生價值所在。送你杯子，希望你記住你在台北的一切美好。

老闆短短幾句話，情真意切，溫暖我心。原來我們有時候吃的不僅僅是火鍋，而是一種情懷。和誰吃，在哪裏吃，這和火鍋的用料一樣重要。

為什麼我喜歡吃火鍋？我覺得有打邊爐這件事確實不僅僅在於吃那麼簡單，吃火鍋有這幾個優勢。

第一，火鍋食材很豐富，牛羊雞豬肉任選，牛肉還分澳洲的還是日本的和牛，不同牛肉下鍋時間不同，可見吃火鍋也有大學問。香港人打邊爐還喜歡選很多海鮮，魚和蝦是基本款，有錢就再買幾個鮑魚下鍋，朋友面前也很有面子，也可以表示自己日子過得還算不錯。

其次，一頓火鍋可以吃好長時間，大家一邊吃，一邊聊，聊吃的，聊穿的，聊開心的、不開心的，聊工作，聊社會，聊人生。忽然之間，火鍋拉近了你我的距離感。一頓火鍋下來，新朋友變老朋友，老朋友變知心朋友。

當然，以我自己為例，不是隨便拉幾個人一起就會去吃火鍋，能夠一起坐下來吃火鍋的朋友應該至少都算是說得上話的。正所謂道不同而不相為謀，如果只是為了商業應酬，我們大可以去吃西餐，你點一份牛排，我點一份牛排，各吃各的，禮尚往來，冠冕堂皇。吃火鍋，那才真的算是把你當朋友。大家吃的是火鍋，見的是人心。

以前許多港產片都會有這樣的故事情節，某個大佬收工，然後叫了一幫小弟跑到一個自己熟悉的路邊排檔吃火鍋，大佬坐主桌，身邊坐的都是最賣命的兄弟，然後其他小弟圍着坐其他幾桌，場景很是氣派。我想可能也只有吃火鍋才有這樣的氣場。

記得下次再有香港的朋友找你打邊爐，那也可能是人家把你當真朋友的一種表現。香港人鍾意打邊爐，其實也是因為香港人愛交朋友，愛談天說地，有口福，有人生。

（原文首發於香港《大公報》副刊，2023年2月22日。）

Impact, Reflection, and Appreciation

January 05, 2021 by George Chen in Facebook, Hong Kong, Public Policy, technology, Taiwan, China, Central Asia

January 4th this year marks the 5th anniversary (we call it "Faceversary") for me at Facebook.

It's been a really incredible journey: We've covered quite a number of key elections from Hong Kong, Taipei, and to Ulaanbaatar, several earthquakes and typhoons (unfortunately), social unrest and constitutional crisis, and not to mention the Covid-19 pandemic in the unprecedented year of 2020 for everyone. We also saved some lives in the real world, thanks to Facebook's suicide prevention tools and our fantastic safety partners on the ground.

For me it's a journey of impact, reflection, and appreciation. As we always say at Facebook, my journey is only 1% finished.

Thank you. Onwards.

Highlight photos:

I helped to design our first-ever Asia Pacific Public Policy team T-shirt in 2018.
Over two million people took to the streets to protest in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing imposed the controversial National Security Law on Hong Kong in the following year.
Represented Facebook for a closed-door hearing held by National Communications Commission about misinformation in Taiwan in 2017.
Welcome Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to visit our new (and bigger) Facebook Taiwan Office in May 2019.
Launched Facebook’s "Made by Taiwan, Loved by the World" campaign in 2017 to put more Taiwan brands on world map.
Hosted Hong Kong's former Financial Secretary John Tsang to visit Facebook Hong Kong Office in 2017 as he ran for the Chief Executive election.
US Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski visited the Facebook booth during the ICT Expo 2020 hosted by Communications and Information Tech Authority in Ulaanbaatar.
A 2018 “international media tour” in Hong Kong, including a visit to CNN Asia Pacific News Centre.
Facebook Taiwan Office received the “Presidential Medal of Appreciation” in November 2020 for our work on the Covid-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

A New Journey Begins

January 01, 2021 by George Chen in Central Asia

I just finished watching the four-episodes documentary film of Joanna Lumley’a Silk Road Adventure (available on both Netflix and Apple TV), which starts in Italy (of course, because of the famous Marco Polo) and ends in Kyrgyzstan, which borders China.

Lumley is the presenter and producer of the series. Unfortunately she didn’t get permission from Beijing to shoot the film, so she can only stop her Silk Road journey on the borders of Kyrgyzstan and China.

Some of you may already know that I will begin to officially cover Central Asia (including Mongolia still) starting from 2021, hence I have spent quite some time reading books and materials about Central Asia during my recent holiday time.

The more I read, the more I’m convinced that Central Asia is probably the world’s most “underrated” region. It’s historical. It’s vast. It’s better connected with the rest of the world in terms of geopolitics and investments than most people can expect. The US, Russia, China, and even the EU all want to have a say in Central Asia. It’s about politics, power, and of course it’s about investments (which means money and opportunities) too.

There’s so much for me to learn and I really hope I can put my feet on the historical lands of those fascinating Central Asian “Stan” countries before too long.