Mick

Ronny spoke of the power of words and no truer words can be spoken. Whether it is written narrative, poetry, song lyrics, or impassioned speech, words are our medium of exhange. For many years I was fortunate enough to make a living using words arranged in varying order, for multiple purposes. Like anything you use to make a living, after awhile, you enjoy your time away from it as well. That's why, in the search for happy moments, I learned some forty-five years ago the incredible power of silence. Just as it is the spaces between the musical notes that creates the beauty in a song, it is often the space - the pregnant pause - between the words that makes writing so captivating. And it is that silent space between our thoughts, that gives life a sense of wonder and awe. Some of my happiest times are spent in silent meditation - savoring the Zen of the present moment - where the real treasures live. One of my favorite sayings, written by the Zen master Dogen many centuries ago captures what wonders can be seen in that time beyond time, where we catch a glimpse of: Moon light in a dew drop, Dripping from a duck's beak. Hmmmm....perhaps I am speaking of ducks too much these days.

I personally think Washington and Bejing have been in close concert for a long time, in spite of outward rhetoric. I was living in China on the 10th anniversary of June 4th. It was the run up to that anniversary that was quite interesting. The government, although they refrained from mentioning it, was getting a bit antsy about potential demonstrations. Then, on May 8th, 1999 - just a little over three weeks before the anniversary - NATO bombers "mistakenly" bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three people. Within hours, the streets were filled with demonstrators in all cities around China and the press had a field day. I was confined to my apartment for almost a week. Bottles and bricks were hurled through my window at 2am on the night the bombing happened. Massive demonstrations took place for about five days, then stopped abruptly and everything returned to normal, except for a press-inspired nationalistic fervor. I am convinced that there is no way that embassy was bombed accidentally. This was also at the time of Chinese run up to admission to the WTO and there were a few sticking points in the negotiations with the U.S. All of a sudden, the sticking points were resolved. Call me a fool, but I think China and the U.S. acted in concert. "You bomb our embassy so we can get people in the streets and blowing off steam before June 4th and we will agree to you conditions on the WTO deal." June 4th came and went without incident as people were still focused on Belgrade and China's progression in the WTO.

Interesting that the first thing mentioned in the cutline under the first photo stated that foreigners were "running off with local girls."

Love your stories. How great it must have been to meet Billy Gibbons. Reminds me of a story Phil Robertson tells in his book "Happy Happy Happy." Phil Robertson is the head of the family that stars on the popular A&E TV series Duck Dynasty. Phil also has a long beard and one day he was in a Wal-Mart and folks recognized him and were asking him for his autograph. He obliged and was signing things when two African-American girls approached him for an autograph. "I didn't know you soul sisters were into duck hunting," said Robertson. "I don't know nothin' about no ducks," said one of the girls. "You're in ZZ Top ain't ya?"

A nice collection of photos. I really enjoyed looking through the various periods.

If they are indeed competing in the fitness category, I would say they all should do quite well. They look mighty fit to me, especially Chen Siyu.

I guess the thing that amazes me most about this is the fact that it is not at all unusual. I lived 15 years in Miami, the Cuban capital of the U.S., and worked closely with Dade County social service agencies in attaining grant monies for various projects. I can recall numerous cases where immigrants thought they were citizens, only to discover years later that they were not. It was no big deal and there were even a couple of NGOs that were formed to streamline the process of helping folks that fell into this category obtain the necessary documentation needed to become citizens. I guess outside Dade County this may seem unusual, but for Dade, it was fairly commonplace. It always amazed me that folks didn't know what they needed to do after coming ashore under the "wet foot/dry foot" laws. The Cuban community was and is tight knit and knowledge of the ins and outs of the immigration laws for Cubans are common knowledge. My ex-wife is Cuban and I was immersed in that culture for many years. Now that I have been married to a Chinese for almost seventeen years, it caused one of my old college buddies to say a few weeks ago: "What is with you and Communist women, anyway?"

I watched the documentary Randy and I would agree that it is a must watch for those with any kind of personal tie to China. It is well-done, thoughtful, and gives an insight into the plight of the rural villagers as well as the local party chief whose job it is to make things palatable to those who are being forced to change against their wishes. A highly recommended video. . .

Sure is nice to be done with USCIS isn't it? Congrats on getting the passport and best wishes to both of you for a happy and fulfilling liffe together.

Thanks, Randy. Your link took me to the same page, but it had a button to start the video. When I go there directly on my machine, the button never appears. Weird. I felt it was an interesting program to say the least. I look forward to seeing more of the series. What night does it come on PBS?

All I could get to play was the preview - "full episode" had no mechanism to start the video. I am on a Mac, if that has any relevance. The preview looked great.

Congrats Jesse! Best wishes for a positive outcome all the way down the line.

Randy, the scenery there reminds me of a wind turbine location on top of a mountain on Nan Ao Island, which was off the coast in the Taiwan Straits, just north of Shantou. We lived on campus at Shantou University and on several occasions, took a van up to the location where you could catch the ferry over to the island. It is a fairly bumpy ride as the swells can get a bit testy in the Straits. It takes about an hour by ferry to get over to the Island. In order to get to the wind mills you have to drive up this twisty, winding road that has more than its share of wash outs and drop offs. Once on top it is worth it, though. In the early morning, there is often fog like in your photos and on a clear day, with even weak binoculars, you can see Taiwan. Those photos brought back a lot of fond memories of our trips over to Nan Ao.

A crazy time, indeed. Also included the assasinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.

I know this area very well, Doug. Li's brother lives in Changzhou and bought a nice apartment there about five or six years ago. Her sister lives in Ma'anshan, which is on the river south of Nanjing. The sister owns two houses there as I recall, living in one and rents the other.

Obviously, he doesn't teach Math.

Here are one guy's take on eleven ways to offend people in China. (Yeah, I know the title says ten, but hey, I am half asleep)...

This clip brought tears to Li's eyes when she first saw it several years back. I happened to stumble across it again on YouTube. As some of you old, old timers know, my wife was heavily involved in gymnastic training from age four right on up through college. She was quite a talented competitor until injuries and illness took their toll. These kids are really put through a ringer and she could tell stories that would make your skin crawl. Interestingly, our daughter Salina is already into tumbling, acrobatics, modern dance, and gymnastics and is very skillful. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess. http://youtu.be/8YC5dkBVaxI

Yes, I remember those Guilin Grand Adventure clips very well. They are basically what made me go back and start watching him again. He has some clips on relationships that are kind of interesting. I recall the one where he talked about splitting up with Beer Girl. He also has older clips of their wedding and a reception aboard a yacht in Hong Kong harbor. He is a real dare devil on his bike. I would hate to ride as a passenger anywhere with him. I keep waiting for him to get smacked by a car backing or turning when he passes on the right or squeezes between lines of traffic at breakneck speed. He is from South Africa, born of British parents. Says he visited Shenzhen for three days years ago, fell in love with the place, and made a decision to move there.

This guy has quite a few videos posted on YouTube, dealing with various aspects of Chinese culture and living in China. He also has a few covering relationships between foreigners and Chinese. He has lived in China for about eight years and lives in Shenzhen. His channel has a wide range of topics and I find them both entertaining and informative. I think they may be useful for those who are short on experience with China as well as those who are experienced but seek to deepen their base of understanding. Some of his clips are hilarious at times, but always informative. The guy has over 25,000 subscribers, so he must be doing something right. I don't always agree with everything he says, but for the most part, I think he is quite knowledgeable about China and his videos are well worth your time. My only complaint is that sometimes he is a bit heavy on the drinking, but I will say he rarely lets that interfere with his videos' quality. The only exception is the one clip where he and a buddy drink 25 beers to celebrate his 25k subrscribers. You will also discover that he drives like a maniac, especially on his motorbikes. Anyway, here is the link: His YouTube name is SerpentZa and that is what you might need to type into the YouTube search engine to find his stuff. He has lots of it. In the supermarket clip, the girl he mentions as "Beer Girl" is his wife, who is Chinese from Hong Kong.

This guy has quite a few videos posted on YouTube, dealing with various aspects of Chinese culture and living in China. He also has a few covering relationships between foreigners and Chinese. He has lived in China for about eight years and lives in Shenzhen. His channel has a wide range of topics and I find them both entertaining and informative. I think they may be useful for those who are short on experience with China as well as those who are experienced but seek to deepen their base of understanding. Some of his clips are hilarious at times, but always informative. The guy has over 25,000 subscribers, so he must be doing something right. I don't always agree with everything he says, but for the most part, I think he is quite knowledgeable about China and his videos are well worth your time. My only complaint is that sometimes he is a bit heavy on the drinking, but I will say he rarely lets that interfere with his videos' quality. The only exception is the one clip where he and a buddy drink 25 beers to celebrate his 25k subrscribers. You will also discover that he drives like a maniac, especially on his motorbikes. Anyway, here is the link: By the way, his YouTube name is SerpentZa. The girl he meets in the market is his wife, who is called "Beer Girl" in his videos.

It is kind of hard for me to say what my home state is - I was born in Alabama, grew up in Florida, came back to Alabama for undergraduate studies, back to Florida for grad school, then lived 15 years in Miami. I now live in Tennessee, technically, but am about an eight iron from Alabama. If you consider Alabama as my home, then famous for football, racism, rednecks, tornadoes, Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville), Alabama Space and Rocket Center, and Helen Keller, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Bear Bryant - not to mention some great rock and rollers and the recording studios at Muscle Shoals. Now, if you consider Florida as my home state, it is famous for fabulous beaches, great seafood, beautiful women, sunshine, hurricanes, baseball spring training, Jimmy Buffett, Lynyrd Skynyrd (sang about Alabama but from Jacksonville), Blackfoot (also from Jacksonville), Tom Petty (Gainesville) and many, many more great rockers. Although I have lived in Tennessee eleven years now, I can't really call it home. It has plenty goin' for it though - Nashville, Memphis, Graceland, the Grand Ole Opry, the Smokey Mountains, Johnny Cash, home of Jack Daniels, and on and on.

Now that is one pretty lady!

I think you points are well-taken Randy. I am sure that are many aspects of the inner workings of China's goverment, especially at the highest level, that we are in the dark about. I think the advent of social media and its popularity in China has provided the goverment with an instant feedback mechanism as to the social response to their actions and policies. For this reason, I think it remains in their best interest to not weild a heavy hand in response to criticism in the social media. If they respond too strongly, it may stifle honest self-expression and thus negate the much-needed feedback loop. Yet, at the same time, they have to establish and police certain "lines in the sand" so to speak. In and of itself, I think the entire phenomenon of social media in China is a fascinating subject of study. Way back when, in my graduate school days, I would have loved to tie into something of this nature. However, back then we didn't even have PCs, much less the Internet and social media.

If Chairman Mao had a grave I'll bet he would be rolling over in it about now. Things sure have changed since the blue Mao jackets for everyone.