May 18 - 24, 2009

May 18, 2009 – an article from the China Daily English newspaper today I found interesting because it is about one of the many ethnic groups that are in China and how they are handling a challenge facing them - The cultural heritage of the Qiang (pronounced Chee-ong) people is faced with grave challenges as some 30,000 Qiang, or one-tenth of the entire Qiang population, perished in the earthquake a year ago. The ancient Qiang people once helped found the Xia (Shee-ah) Dynasty some 4,000 years ago. Wang (Wong) Guanquan (Guan-chew-on) and his friends are trying to keep this heritage alive.

Since last September, Wang and his wife have been living in Shengli (Shun-glee) village, the biggest resettlement of quake survivors. Every night at 7, Wang leads the group dance at the square. During the day, he teaches those who want to learn more at a cultural center, where some 100 women also learn to do traditional embroidery.

Traditionally, the Qiang get together during festivals, marriages and harvests, to do the Salang (Saw-long) group dance, believed to have been taught in Chinese traditions by a fairy called Sister Salang.

When men join in, Wang changes the steps to make the moves more vigorous. Typically in ancient times, after war, the Qiang men would stage dances with armor and swords to commemorate those who died in battle.

Wang says, “When you work outside, you are earning money for yourself. Here, I’m passing on my cultural heritage” and that benefits others.

May 19, 2009 – something from the China Daily that I found quite Western and interesting - McDonald’s has expanded its 24-hour delivery service to other cities in China after a one-year trial in Shanghai (pronounced Shong-high). This is part of the company’s efforts to win more customers and offset the impact of the economic downturn.

The McDelivery service has been extended to six other cities – Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Nanjing and Tianjin. McDonald’s has promised that each McDelivery would be completed within 30 minutes. There is no requirement for a minimum order amount, and each McDelivery will be charged 7 Yuan ($1.03).

Kenneth Chang (Chong) said the trial in Shanghai, which started last May, had been an “overwhelming success”.

May 20, 2009 – We thought it was interesting to see China’s side in the China Daily on the new nomination of Jon Huntsman. Here are some excerpts from one of the articles. Obama names Utah governor as China envoy - US President Barack Obama has nominated Utah governor Jon Huntsman, a Republican and a fluent Chinese speaker, as ambassador to China.

"This ambassadorship is as important as any in the world because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with the global challenges of the 21st century by working in concert with China," Obama said at the White House ceremony on Saturday with Huntsman standing beside him.

He also said there was "much to be gained by a closer, working relationship with China" and that he could think of no one better suited for the job than Huntsman.

Huntsman, who has a good command of Putonghua, will - once confirmed by the Senate - succeed Clark T. Randt, who left the post on Jan 21 after an eight-year tenure, the longest since 1979.

Chinese experts call the Obama pick a "surprise" as well as a "smart move", which shows commitment to a bipartisan foreign policy.

Huntsman's nomination as ambassador to China has broadly been met with praise in both countries.

"Jon Huntsman is a well-regarded politician in the US ... his experience as ambassador to Singapore and his knowledge of China plus his wonderful Chinese language skills singled him out from the large number of candidates," Dai Min, president of the US-based Center for America-China Partnership, said.

Yuan Peng, professor of America Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Obama appointed Huntsman "in order to seek China's help and cooperation" on several international and regional issues, including the global financial woes, climate change, and the denuclearization process in Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Huntsman may play a key role in strengthening high-level exchanges by helping put in place the Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue mechanism, agreed to by President Hu Jintao and Obama at the G20 summit in April, said Tao Wenzhao, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Dialogue on climate change may be a highlight of Huntsman's tenure as he has already made a name for himself in this field as governor of Utah and the issue is very much part of the Obama administration's core missions," Tao said.

Benjamin Moeling, deputy political attache at the US embassy to China, said he thinks Huntsman is highly qualified for the job, citing his "knowledge of trade laws, people skills and language competency".

China connection

Huntsman, whose Chinese name is "Hong Bopei", learned Putonghua when he was a Mormon missionary in Taiwan as a teenager.

There was also another article that had some interesting thoughts. Here is part of the article. China expects new U.S. envoy to play "positive" role - BEIJING - China's Foreign Ministry said China hopes that the nomination of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. as the US ambassador to China will play a "positive" role in bilateral relations, local media reported Monday.

The Beijing-based Global Times said in its cover story Monday that China's Foreign Ministry had been diplomatically contacted regarding the nomination. China's Foreign Ministry said China hopes that the nomination of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. as the US ambassador to China will play a "positive" role in bilateral relations, local media reported Monday.

"We hope that a new appointee will play a positive role and work to the advantage of the development of bilateral relations in a new era and strengthen the friendship between the two peoples," the ministry said.

"The nomination of the new ambassador does good to both sides," Shi Yinhong, director of the American Studies Center at Renmin University of China, was quoted by the Global Times as saying. Shi called Huntsman a powerful politician with rich policy-making experience related to China.

Fluent in Chinese Mandarin (Putonghua) and having adopted a Chinese daughter, the newly nominated US ambassador to China looks to assume a crucial role of diplomat between two nations that are increasingly interdependent in economic matters and are often at odds over hot-button issues such as human rights and weapon sales to Taiwan.

But analysts warn that even with the strong Chinese cultural background that Huntsman possesses, it doesn't mean the US will be any less firm with China on contested and thorny issues, according to the Global Times.

The governor has strong ties to Asia: He lived as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan. He and his wife, Mary Kaye, adopted two daughters, one from China and one from India. He also supports Utah's legislative push to offer Chinese language courses in school, which would be the first of its kind in the US.

May 21, 2009 - from the CHINASCENE in the China Daily, something with a little humor - Fugative’s nervousness leads to his arrest – A wanted man was arrested after he behaved too nervously for some police officers in Dengfeng (pronounced Dung-fung), Henan (Hur-non) province, on Wednesday.

The suspect surnamed Chen (Chun) was taking shelter during a downpour in the city’s Duancun (Doo-on-tsun) Road at about 11 PM last Sunday when he blurted out he couldn’t travel to the capital due to the weather.

One of the men under the roof then asked, “You are going there so late?”
Chen then noticed the people under the roof were policemen. He was nervous and then tried to run away but he was stopped.

Police then learned that Chen has been on the wanted list for 10 years after he seriously attached another villager in 1999.

He was on his way to Zhengzhou (Jen-joe) to have plastic surgery to hide his identity.

May 22, 2009 – a human interest story was in the China Daily newspaper today showing some growing pains that this country is going through, seems they have the same problems with their youth as we do in the US – When worlds collide - Pi (pronounced Pee) Li's (Lee’s) future was bright indeed, just as her mother planned. Having studied in the UK for three years, the 20-year-old had a good chance of getting into Cambridge University and was due to start her own business on her return to Beijing.

In fact, Pi intended to do nothing of the sort. She had actually been studying her first love - cooking - and on her return, her friends helped her to open a Western-style restaurant. A predictable storm erupted when her mother found out, but Pi persisted and finally won over her parents.

So goes the TV series Wo de (duh) Qingchun (ching-choon) Shui (shway) Zuozhu (dsoo-jew) (Who Determines My Youth), which has touched many hearts with its tale of three mothers in their 50s and their daughters born in the late 1980s.

The generation gap is a familiar theme in Chinese books, movies and TV shows. Post-1980 youngsters are often called the ba (bah) ling hou (hoe), the "me generation" born after the introduction of the one-child policy. They are now entering adulthood and beginning to play a role in society.

They are often stereotyped as spoiled and self-centered. One thing is for sure; they are more aggressive about making independent choices.

The ba ling hou have grown up in an era of tremendous economic growth, social changes and rigorous educational requirements. The gulf between them and their parents is most evident in their purchasing habits, career pursuits and more open attitude towards love and marriages, says Zhou (Joe) Xiaozheng (Shee-ow-jurng), a professor with the Sociology Department of the Renmin (Run-meen) University of China.

The producers of Who Determines My Youth interviewed many youngsters and tried to accurately convey their anxiety about the generation gap.

Parents' expectations of their children are often self-projections and therefore doomed to end in disappointment. "The parents do all they can to make it easy for the younger generation to do better than they did," says series director Zhao (Jow ((rhymes with cow)) Baogang (Bow ((rhymes with cow))-gong). "But the younger ones often have their own dreams that deviate from what their parents want."

May 23, 2009 – today we took it easy and spent time together at the gym, shopping and going out to dinner. We had been told by one of Floyd’s business associates from the US that is now living in China, that there is a great Tex-Mex restaurant around the corner so we tried it instead of going Chinese this time. They had a great atmosphere and a great Philly Cheese-steak sandwich!

May 24, 2009 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our grand-daughter Kylie. She is 7 years old today! We are continually blessed to be able to attend church here. I call it a blessing as the communist leaders could pull the plug on our meeting at any time if things are deemed necessary to them. I am not complaining about that, I only feel blessed to be able to attend! Today we had 3 wonderful speakers who spoke on charity, hope and honesty. They were great subjects with many great stories. It was a very uplifting day for sure. We spent the rest of the day at the apartment just relaxing, enjoying time together and catching up with the family on the computer.

May 11 - 17, 2009

May 11, 2009 – Since my weeks tend to be a bit of the same old thing around here, I decided to do something different and share some articles from the local CHINA DAILY English newspaper as they will truly tell you more about things here. Some of these will be from the section called CHINASCENE which is some rather unique articles about the locals and others will be regular articles about the news here. I will leave the wording as it shows in the newspaper, as sometimes their translation from Chinese to English is very unique! If we do something interesting we will still report on that.

To see grandkids, couple threatens sons with divorce – An elderly couple was so desperate to see their sons and grandchildren that they lied to them that they were fighting and wanted to get a divorce.

Tian (pronounced Tee-on), 74, and his wife, 71, of Zhengzhou (pronounced Jen-joe), capital of Henan (pronounced Her-nahn) province, have four sons who never visited them since they moved out and got married.

Tian phoned his eldest son earlier this week and said he and his wife were planning to divorce.
When the son showed up, his parents said they just wanted to see their grandchildren. The other sons also rushed home after they heard the false rumors.

May 12, 2009 – Today is the one year anniversary of the very deadly earthquake that occurred southwest of us in the Sichuan (pronounced Sish-wan) province. I would like to share some of what is written in the China Daily about it. There were 69,227 confirmed deaths, with 17,923 missing, 374,643 injured and more than 50,000 deformities suffered from this calamity. Here is a very short story about one of those trapped in that quake.

Jiang (Jee-ong) Yuhang (Yoo-hong) vividly recalls spotting the firefighters last year, glimpses of their orange uniform flashing through the cracks of debris that separated him from salvation. When he was miraculously pulled from the rubble of the six-story building after 124 hours, Jiang immediately knew his new calling – saving lives alongside the same people who had saved his.

“I want to be a rescuer,” Jiang (Jee-ong), 21 said to his mother Long Jinyu (Gin-yoo) when he first emerged from the debris of Yingxiu (Ying-she-oo) township at the epicenter of the Sishuan (Sish-wan) earthquake.

May 13, 2009 – Another article from the China Daily about the earthquake - Famous sow moving into grand new pig digs – A pig that became famous across China for its indomitable will to survive after it was pulled from the rubble 36 days after the May 12 earthquake has moved into a state-of-the-art new home.

Zhu (Jew) Jiangqiang (Jee-ong-chee-ong) – or “Strong Pig” – has taken up residence in a facility provided by Chengdu (Chin-dew) Baisikang (Bye-see-kong) Biotech Co. at Jianchuan (Jee-on-chew-on) Museum – China’s largest private museum – in Sishuan (Sish-wan) province’s Dayi (Daw-yee) township.

From its new home, the two year old porker will meet the public, said the museum’s planning director. “A lot of people will come, because this pig has sent a powerful message to us humans about never giving up in the face of catastrophe.”

“She is not just a pig; she’s a hero. And she has a special personality” says Wu (Woo) Zhiwei (Jee-way), department manager.

Zhu (Jew) Jiangqiang (Jee-ong-chee-ong) survived on (ate) rain-soaked charcoal until June 17, by which time she had lost two-thirds of her weight.

May 14, 2009 – A heart warming article from China Daily about the earthquake: Jiang (Jee-ong) Xiaojuan (Chee-ow-jew-on): MOTHER OF MERCY – the image of Jiang (Jee-ong) Xiaojuan (Chee-ow-jew-on), captured as she breastfed a baby left uncared for in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan (Sish-wan) province and circulated on the web, was one of such power it propelled her to hero status in China…a 30-year-old officer in the city of Jiangyou (Jee-ong-you), earned more than just a nickname.

On May 22, less than a week after the photo was published she received an honorary “national police model’ award from the Ministry of Public Security, and was invited along with other quake survivors to talk at schools and other public venues across the country.

When she looks back to the time following the disaster, she revealed she feels more guilt than pride as her relief work meant she had to stop breastfeeding her own son Doudou (doe-doe) who was only six months old when the quake hit and was sent to live with his grandparents. She wound up after the earthquake caring for nine babies at a local disaster relief center for babies whose mothers had either died in the disaster, were injured or were too scared to produce any milk as there was no powdered product available. She said it was instinct, she simply reacted to the babies cries by unbuttoning her uniform and starting to feed them.

May 15, 2009 – A Chinese custom from the China Daily: When her baby daughter Xiao (Shee-ow) Zhengyang (Jen-yong) picked up a pencil and a collection of poems at a birthday ceremony yesterday, Wang (Wong) Shan (Shawn) was thrilled.

“I hope my daughter studies hard and makes it, and not lead a poor life like me,” the 23-year-old farmer in Shifang (Shee-fong), Sichuan (Sish-wan) province, told China Daily.

It is a time-honored tradition that a plate with a book, a pencil, a comb and rouge are shown to a child during the first birthday to find out his or her future vocational inclination.

If the child picks up a comb or rouge, it is believed he or she will not be diligent as a grown-up. If the child takes a book or a pencil, however, he or she is expected to be studious and aim high.

Floyd spent most of the week in the office. He has a lot of detail work to get worked out on this trip.

May 16, 2009 – We took the opportunity today to actually go to the gym together. Floyd usually has not been able to go workout with me due to his schedule. Today he was. It was fun to go spend time together. The rest of the day we just relaxed and took it easy. It seems like when we are at home in the States we don’t have the chance to just relax with so many different things pulling us different directions. We are complaining, but just trying to give an idea of the stark difference between the two places.

May 17, 2009 – At church today a couple spoke that has been living here in Beijing for 3 years. The man is American and his wife is Chinese. They will be leaving to go live in the States for schooling. It was interesting to listen to them speak of the good qualities of each other. Her family was very concerned that marrying an American would not be good as the divorce rate is so high. In China the divorce rate is climbing but divorce is not popular. The parents of course were concerned if he could properly support their daughter. As he spoke, he related in China, even though they make much less money than we do, their saving rate is much higher. They learn to live within their means and do not go into debt as a whole the way the Americans do. He also spoke of the commitment to each other as a family and how they enjoy being happy. We have noticed that simple things make them happy, like walking in the park, playing ping pong or just playing with their children.

May 5 - 10, 2009

May 5, 2009 – Happy Cinco de Mayo! I spent most of the day today unpacking and getting things ready in the apartment for this month’s stay. I also went down to the store to pick up the items we will need. What a difference a month makes in the scenery from our room. When we were here in March, the trees were still void of leaves for the winter. Now the trees are full of lush green leaves and the scenery is so much different. There are parks, signs and streets that are now just “green trees” from out our window. It is hot again today. I also ventured up to the park around the block. They have done quite a bit of renovation there adding new landscaping.

Floyd is attending an international symposium on dairy cow nutrition and milk quality. It is being held in Beijing. The meeting lasts through Thursday May 7.

May 6, 2009 – I ventured out to the gym today. I have enjoyed walking on the treadmill and being able to watch movies. It doesn’t feel like just a waste of time sitting and watching a movie. The only movie worth watching was an old one, but I had not seen before. It was “The Perfect Storm” and was 130 minutes long. I felt really great until I stepped off the treadmill, then my legs were like they were not attached to my body. They worked but just on “auto pilot”, it was a really weird feeling! I spent the afternoon on the computer and fixing dinner.

May 7, 2009 – I made it to the gym again today and watched the classic movie “Over the Top” with Sylvester Stallone, it was a shorter movie so my legs worked just fine when I got off the treadmill today.

May 8, 2009 – I made today be a “me” day and I took time to give myself a facial, did my nails, etc. It takes a lot of time to try to be beautiful! LOL I also watched “We Are Marshall” here at the apartment, what a “heart warming” movie that is! I did not worry about fixing dinner today as Floyd offered to take me out to dinner for Mother’s Day, I chose to go on Friday rather than Saturday (we do not go out to eat on Sundays). We went to the restaurant at the Holiday Inn Hotel where they have seafood night on Fridays. What a smorgasbord of delightful, tempting, beautifully prepared seafood dishes! The buffet had so many excellent choices. We had a very enjoyable evening and of course, we ate too much.

Floyd was back in the office today. He is doing some training on a new software application Cargill just released for internal use. They are having a few technical glitches that have been a challenge that he is trying to get resolved so he can conduct the training sessions next week.

May 9, 2009 – We spent the day walking in the park, working on the computer and visiting a local market we had not ventured into yet. It is one of the typical street markets full of individual vendors. This market is not as pushy as Silk Street Market where the vendors would grab you by the arm and try to sell things to you. I enjoyed shopping here much more than the other. I would say though Silk Street Market is a place a person has to experience at least once though. The weather has cooled off a little the last couple of days, dropping back to the mid to low 80’s. We are thankful we have air conditioning in our apartment.

May 10, 2009 – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to everyone! Today at Church, the topic of course was mothers. We are so grateful for all of the mothers in our lives. There is no way to express thanks for all that our mothers do for us. We went for a short walk after our late lunch today. Sunday is truly a day to remove ourselves from the world and try to focus on the things that are the most important to us. We had a very enjoyable day together, but we did miss having our family around as they normally come over on Mother’s Day.

May 4, 2009

May 4, 2009 – We made it back to Beijing today. Our flight left Boise at its usual time of 6 AM on Sunday morning May 3, and arrived with no problems in San Francisco. We then had the usual 4+ hour layover to contend with. We walked; we used our computers, and purchased a bite to eat and just waited. Then after our connecting flight landed and the new flight crew began to board the aircraft a small commotion began. It seems the airplane was going to be taken out of service and we would be getting a new aircraft. As it turned out, we had to change gates and wound up leaving about 45 minutes late. After takeoff, things went as normal, after 3 movies, several meals - lunch, snack, lunch and several naps, we landed in Beijing. Because of the H1N1 (Swine) Flu concerns that is present almost everywhere, we had to fill out health declaration forms while in flight and hand them in at the airport. In addition, in China you have to go through a checkpoint each time you arrive from an international flight that checks your temperature to make sure you are not running a fever (this has been in effect long before the flu awareness though). Normally, you just walk through this area and the infrared temperature scanners take your temperature. This time we had to hand in the form. This created a HUGE bottleneck at this checkpoint as it appears that tourist season has begun as well as many school children were apparently traveling also. It kind of reminded us of herding cattle into the chutes at a dairy…LOL. It took us probably a half an hour to clear through this then we had to go through customs before we could go to baggage claim. All in all, we were probably close to 2 hours late getting through to where our ride was waiting for us.

Here is a synopsis of an article that appeared in the China Daily newspaper - Passengers entering the country through Beijing Capital International Airport may need to brace themselves for an additional half an hour to go through tightened quarantine procedures against A(H1N1) influenza.

Yesterday afternoon, not a peak time for arrivals, each queue of International passengers waiting at the eight check points at Terminal 3 was longer than 10m (38 feet).

“Usually it takes about 5 minutes for 300 passengers to pass border quarantine, but now it takes at least half a minute for each passenger to complete the procedure (which works out to 150 minutes for 300 passengers), excluding the time waiting in the queue,” Wang Yang, an officer at the airport’s Inspection and quarantine bureau, said.

Starting last weekend, all passengers entering the mainland have had to complete a health declaration form and hand it to quarantine officers.

They need to fill in their names, passport numbers, flight numbers, contacts and travel history as well as whether they have any flu symptoms.

At the quarantine gates, officers check the forms to make sure the names and passport numbers are right.

“The information could be vital if we need to trace anyone, so we require passengers to fill in all items in the form,” Wang said.

But many fail to do, and have to fill them in at the gate.

“That takes time,” he said.

Before handing in their forms, passengers’ body temperatures are checked by infrared machines. If the temperature is higher than 37 C (98.6 F), officers question the passenger to decide whether to place him or her in an isolation room.

There the doctor conducts checks and, if necessary, the passenger is transferred to a designated hospital for quarantine.

When we left Boise, it was raining and the temperature was in the 50’s. When we landed in Beijing, the sky was clear and sunny and the temperature was around 85 degrees F. What a change! By the time we made it to the car with all of our luggage, we were slightly overheated! We made it back to the apartment complex with no other problems or adventures. To our surprise we actually wound up in the same exact apartment as last time. That makes it easy to unpack as we remember where we put everything before.