Has it been a year already?

I am a terrible blogger! Has it really been a year already and I haven't put anything up here?

Well, I need to get this to work again...

It’s a curfew, but we are happily celebrating and very jolly…

I have always said that I can write a book just to talk about my encounters with taxi drivers in Beijing. Here come a good one, that happened just two days before the Oct 1st National Day.

I got on this taxi after work. The driver is a friendly man in his early 40’s. The road was more congested than usually, primarily because it was getting very close to both the National Day and Mid-Autumn festival. There would usually be a lot of people on the road delivering gifts like mooncakes and fruit baskets.

I was commenting on the heavier than usual traffic…

Driver: It will be better tomorrow. Lots of companies are closing their offices in the afternoon.

Me: Really? Is that because traffic restriction in some areas will begin in the afternoon?

D: Yes. The curfew will begin in the afternoon (下午就开始戒严了).

M: This is amazing! The National Day is supposedly something to celebrate. Why would the city become almost like a warzone?

D: No. It is not a war. It is a celebration. People are very jolly about it (很热闹).

M: Is curfew not supposed to only take place when a country is at war or about to get into a war? Why would we need to have a curfew if we are celebrating?

D: No. It’s curfew. But it is not a war. We are very excited about that.

M: In most other countries, curfew will only happen during war time or under extreme circumstances.

D: No. It is not a war. If it is war time, we will have night curfew (宵禁). Curfew is different.

M: Is night curfew (宵禁) not just curfew (戒严) that takes place at night? And how jolly could it be if people are not allowed to go anywhere? Especially if they are not allowed to go to where the celebration activities are taking place?

D: That’s true. It will be difficult to move around. We probably won’t have too much business either. But it is still very jolly.

M: …

One World, One Dream… When are we waking up??

Or more precisely, when are people "allowed" to wake up?

Beijing hosted what was hailed as the most successful Olympic Game ever, but that was 12 months ago.

Here we are, more than a year later, CCTV is still playing matches after matches of the game (more specifically, matches after matches of Chinese teams winning the games). One night last week, there was even a special program to talk about how the opening ceremony was planned and produced and how much pressure Zhang Yimou and his team faced.

As I was stepping on the plane yesterday, I was handed a newspaper. On the third page, there was an article talking about how people are lining up to purchase food products from the 50 designated Olympic food suppliers during a 9-days event to "Relive Olympic Glory, Enjoy Food that are Safe" (重温奥运辉煌，共享安全食品). These suppliers were said to be selling food that are of "Olympic-grade" safety and hygiene standard to the public. It seems like no one was questioning why food served to the Olympic teams was supposed to be safer than the food being served in the usual restaurants and sold in street market in the first place.

Even for the upcoming 60th Anniversary of PRC’s establishment, the Beijing government announced that the security inspection around the city would be implemented according to "Olympic Standard".

When would people be allowed to wake up from this dream? How long more would people be haunted by this "glory"?

Please... Can we just wake up, move on and grow up?

Urumqi

It is kind of hard to believe, but I have in fact travelled to Urumqi for business last week.

The city appeared to be very pleasant, just with the usual chaos and traffic problems one would expect from a second tier city in China.

Uyghurs, other minorities and the Hans appeared to be living fairly peacefully together. All staff at my client's office in Urumqi are Hans who have lived in Urumqi for most if not all of their lives. They all told me that the relationship between the minorities and Hans have by and large be good in the past, as most of the minorities are in fact very friendly and easy people. Last month's incident happened in the Tianshan district where a lot of minorities engaged in various type of trade, some of them more legal than the others. When the riot broke, most people in the city were in fact shocked.

The weather in the city has been very nice during my visit. The air quality is something that people in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing can only hope for.

The only "inconvenience" we have experienced was that there was absolutely no internet connection, we could not send or receive any SMS, and GPRS connection on the PDA cell phone was neither working.

Entrance to the largest night market in town. You can see the security guards checking people's bags before allowing them to enter.


A young Uyghur in front of his shop, promoting the barbeque food he was selling. Can you see the roasted lamb??


Erdaoqiao Market in Tianshan district. This handicraft and souvenir market was quite seriously affected during the riot, but is basically back to normal order. But according to the shopkeepers, business has dropped significantly...

This observation tower and the mosque in the background are part of the "International Grand Bazaar" which is a large tourist district near the Erdaoqiao Market. The ground level of the mosque is another handicraft market. The observation tower was not operating during our visit, likely because of security reasons...

A street scene in the Erdaoqiao area. You can see people from different minority groups...

Summer is over... back to reality!!!

With my wife and son back in Beijing, our summer holiday is officially over... well, almost... We have not had any long holiday away from China for close to 2 years. This time I was in Canada for a whole month, and they have been there for almost 7 weeks.

It is certainly good to be back home, to sleep in our own beds, to enjoy the relatively cheaper food, to have the luxury of the assistance of a domestic helper, the excitement of working in a fast growing market...

But we certainly did not miss the pollution, the "making-sense-is-not-a-requirement" services, the smoky restaurants, the hectic driving... and the list can probably go on and on and on...

Well, it is good to back in reality... but also nice to have memory and hope of how things can always be better.

This was taken on top of Sulphur Mountain in the Canadian Rockies. It's really quite breath-taking.

And we met this fearless little fellow on the mountain too...

I know this is comparing apples with oranges. But this is how the sky in Beijing looked liked on the weekend after my return. I took this at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall when some friends were visiting...

Sorry... I'm back!

Hi friends! Thanks to those who have been checking in occasionally. It must be quite disappointing to see that there has been no new post for almost 10 months.

First, I was very terribly busy at work. Second, as some of you may know, blogger and blogspot have been blocked in China for the last few months. So I could not access my own blog unless I use some kind of proxy. And the one that I use is very slow.

But it looks like the blocking is here to stay for another while. So I either start to write again despite of the inconvenience of accessing through a proxy, or I will have to abandon the blog.

And I have chosen to return...

Sorry for the long absence...

Dear all: Sorry for the long absence. Yes, I am still alive. Things have just been a bit too hectic lately, so I haven't been coming here to update this very much. I guess the latest financial Tsunami is getting everyone crazy too. It's pretty depressing and chaotic out there. But I also can't help thinking that we are living in a very unique era that probably no one has experienced before. Stay tuned... I promise that I will be good and start to write more very soon.