Thursday, December 23, 2010

An unhappy ending

The last workday of 2010 is over. Finally.

2010 ends with disappoints, disappointed with Beijing, with my job.

Over the past decade Beijing has grown more and more uninhabitable.

The number of automobiles in the capital has more than doubled since 2002, reaching over 4.5 million today and far outgrown road networks. Main roads are basically parking lots even at high noon, making traveling from one place to another an ordeal.

While car industry is booming, air quality is getting worse. (Beijing is notorious for that.) Besides car exhausts, “dirty industries” in the city and nearby provinces are major contributors. Thanks to “made in China”!

Despite the poor physical environment, house prices have tripled in the past 5 years. The population is swelling. There is nothing you can do without queuing: taking the subway; using an ATM; shopping at a supermarket and seeing a doctor… The list is endless; so is the queue. What’s more annoying is that there are some barbarians who don’t queue at all.

The megacity is eating away its residents’ lives day by day. Nevertheless, these factors cannot stop people from flocking in. Regional disparities in China are excessively large and resources are allocated to first tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai. As a result, manual laborers come along and college graduates remain here no matter how hard life is.

For my job, I’m very disappointed at my boss for not keeping her promise. Ai. Let it go…

Monday, December 13, 2010

Do we still need translators?

A few weeks ago I was helping a friend translate two college application essays from Chinese to English. The essays were about his travels around the world and they added up to 5,000 Chinese characters or so. He’d been to 40 countries and visited numerous scenic spots: the fjords of Sweden, Salamis of Cyprus, Santorini of Greece, the Bosphorus Bridge of Turkey… Many of the names were new to me, and under a tight deadline, I didn’t trouble to search them one by one. I copied and pasted the whole essay to Google translate and got a satisfying English version, which I would rate 6 or 7 out of 10. Then I corrected the grammar mistakes and trimmed some sentence structures. The essay was near perfect!

I hate to admit it but Google Translate has a bigger vocabulary than I and it’s strong in terminologies. It’s more frustrating to find that Google is able to do a better job than a translator.

For the time being, its weakness is in grammar. And the English to Chinese translation doesn’t work very well. But don’t worry. I won’t be surprised when one day Google translate replaces human translators.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Fish Tank

Fish Tank is a gruff and ruthless version of An Education. Both movies are the best I’ve seen this year.

Friday, November 19, 2010

不吐不快

出趟差累得像狗一样。

等电梯的时候旁边人的高跟鞋嘎达嘎达不耐烦地敲着大理石地面,公交车里的人吧嗒吧嗒地嚼着口香糖。

So damn annoying!!! Or what’s wrong with me?

本来以为板上钉钉的升职被莫名其妙地无限延期,而原来可能quit掉的同事却抢先一步。怎么都想不明白究竟怎么回事。

看来三年半,要么升职,要么滚蛋。

Sunday, November 14, 2010

3 days in Shanghai

Candle lights flickered in the dark, as though they were dancing rhythmically to the music. Zpark bar must be named after Zhongshan Park. Again, we are in Shanghai, doing the same job, meeting the same people, staying in the same place.

11月初应该是上海最舒服的季节。这次顺路去了周庄。很小的一个景区,跟乌镇和西塘相比,并没有特别的地方。大概江南水乡都是这个样子,去一个足矣。没报希望,也就没有失望。

田子坊虽说是创意区,却被餐馆和酒吧占据了大半,空气中弥漫着炒菜的油烟味。本来就很窄的弄堂里挤满了各国游客,坐在户外吃饭的人就像动物园里的动物一样,成了照片背景的一部分。这里的感觉很像北京的后海。

现在全中国的城市似乎都一样,旅行几乎失去了意义。真是悲哀。

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

October booklist

It’s already November, cold and dry. What happened last month? A long holiday at home. Shitty weather in Beijing. And… did some reading.


Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

A few decades ago China was as closed as its neighbor North Korea. It’s interesting that China today has become one of the destinations to which North Koreans are trying to escape. People may have doubts, complaints or grudges. After reading the book, I feel thankful for my circumstances. If breathing foul air is the price for connections to the outside world, I would like to pay.

Waiting by Ha Jin

Though the story was set in rural China in the 60s, the language is kind of westernized. Some sentences didn’t sound like what a Chinese farmer would say. It’s a little weird, like watching an English dubbed Chinese movie.

Zen Baggage: a pilgrimage to china by Bill Porter

There is so much baggage we burden ourselves with over the years that keeps us from seeing things the way they are. Some baggage we carry with us for a single thought, some for years, and some for lifetimes. But there isn't one piece that isn't our own creation.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Those crazy years

Found some pictures of China's cultural revolution








Red, shocking red.
What has changed over the decades?
And what has not changed?
The pictures can tell.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

When a Billion Chinese Jump

An essential and incisive discussion on China today - a country on an environmental precipice that will affect the entire world.

When a Billion Chinese Jump tells the story of China’s – and the world’s – biggest crisis. With foul air, filthy water, rising temperatures and encroaching deserts, China is already suffering an environmental disaster. Now it faces a stark choice: either accept catastrophe, or make radical changes. Traveling the vast country to witness this environmental challenge, Jonathan Watts moves from mountain paradises to industrial wastelands, examining the responses of those at the top of society to the problems and hopes of those below. At heart his book is not a call for panic, but a demonstration that – even with the crisis so severe, and the political scope so limited – the actions of individuals can make a difference. Consistently attentive to human detail, Watts vividly portrays individual lives in a country all too often viewed from outside as a faceless state. No reader of his book – no consumer in the world – can be unaffected by what he presents.

Went to the author book talk. No solution was given. It is not impossible that China's environment will improve. But I don't think our generation will live to see that day.

(Info from NASA)

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Temperature roller coaster

One day it was 30℃, the next day it was 13℃ after the rain. Ai!

And the traffic… Beijing is like a time bomb. Sooner or later it will explode.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I miss it...

It's AWESOME! Don't even need to PS the pictures.



Saturday, September 4, 2010

Readjusting

Sep 3

3 years anniversary working for SPE.
Boss returned to work after 4.5 months maternity leave.
Every day people talk about housing and children.
Everyone is exhausted.

Sep 4

Went to QS MBA tour.
Bumped into an old colleague AGAIN!
She just left Dow Jones.

Readjusting to life in Beijing.
It’s difficult.
Once in a while I think of Canary Wharf,
my last stop in London before heading back home.
Do the bankers worry about the mundane?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Back

The hubbub and long queues at Beijing airport told me the summer fling was over. It was also one evening in the last week of August in 2000 that I first arrived in the capital. What did not change over a whole decade was the hot weather which made me feel really bad. The difference is the city is no longer new to me today.

Ok. The trip to Britain was great, as I had expected. It was more than seeing the places of interest. Just sitting in a street corner watching people walking by, each with an umbrella in hand was a pleasure. Hopping on a tube in London, listening to the voice announcements with a British accent at every stop, or overhearing chitchats in a diversity of languages are interesting too. Hopping off at the wrong stop and being left alone in an almost obsolete train station called Lydney without a mobile phone and finally being picked up by a very nice English woman who took me to the town center made the journey a bit adventurous, but I enjoyed it. And… I almost forgot… I’d tasted raspberries, blueberries and blackberries!

What I love most is the clear sky and mild climate. After I came back, I can’t help wondering why so many people are leaving their native countries for China while complaining about its problems. Is it because it’s easier for Caucasians to make a living in this developing country? Will they still choose China if they are deprived of their priorities here?

Seriously, I need to think about my next move. The more I see, the more insatiable I become. Sometimes I have an evil thought. I stealthily wish the prophecy of 2012 were true. As all good things come to an end, why not all end together?

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The scene is perfect, all we need is a blue sky.


在北外四年,居然没有去过紫竹院公园。上周六在国图上完课,顺便去拍了几张照片,试试我的LX3. 可惜北京很难见到蓝天。周日天气突然就凉快了,很奇怪。

又一个同事离开了。前两天还在看杜拉拉,最后一集记得她说,都走了,我都有些不认识这个地方了。公司就是这样,铁打的营盘流水的兵。对于我们的新加坡同事,平时更多是通过email/skype沟通,好多人还没见过面就say goodbye了。还是那句老话,天下没有不散的宴席。离开也是一个新的开始。

So, that’s it. One week to go. Can't wait for the getaway...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Next stop: UK

Dreaming about a visa refusal, I jolted out of sleep at 2am today. Luckily, it was just a dream.

After 12 days’ waiting, I finally got my tourist visa to the UK this morning. The excruciating experience is a test of my patience, which I really really lack.

Traveling should be spontaneous. What had stopped me from traveling abroad in the past was the complicated visa application procedure. The documents I had prepared this time might have added up to 50 pages. Besides paper work, you also need a bit of luck.

Last month our HR director in Singapore head office quit her job and she said in her farewell email that she was going to take a break to travel to places she’d never been to and see the world. I was impressed. It will not happen in China. An unemployed person can’t even get a visa. His motive will be questioned in the first place.

Isn’t it a paradox of life? When you are employed, you don’t have many long holidays to travel; once you quit, you can’t get permission to enter another country; when you are retired, you are probably too old to move around.

Well, I’m very happy to get the visa and I’m looking forward to my first trip to the UK in August.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Suddenly into calligraphy

In a carton blanketed with thick dust, an old booklet about Chinese calligraphy caught my attention. It was hand-written and printed on a kind of carbon paper. A printer was unheard of back in 1991. It’s been 19 years since I last practiced calligraphy.

I decided to pick it up. Calligraphy used to be a mandatory course when I was in primary school. But I doubt if it still is today when a kid can use his iphone to photograph his homework and share with his schoolmates. They definitely won’t write so much as to develop hand calluses as we did.

Calligraphy is often associated with tradition and senility. But it shouldn’t have been. It doesn’t matter what you write. The nuances lie in every stroke of the characters and the slight movements of the wrist. Brush pen dances on the paper and ink soaks into it, leaving a special aroma in the air – it’s a wonderful moment.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

胡思乱想

夜深了,公交车还在疯狂地咆哮着。

心情不好,又没有人诉说,只能在这里瞎写一番,希望不好的情绪能在敲击键盘的过程中得到释放。

天气热,人也变得很懒,不饿的时候连吃饭的欲望都没有。朋友好像都很忙,忙工作,忙考试、出国。相比之下,我似乎是一个完全没有追求的人。安于现状,顺其自然。记得去年年底公司聚餐的时候,我们的VP说了一个特别好的词“无欲”。想必我现在就是这种状态。No desire for anything. I guess I’ve somewhat achieved the Taoist ideal of non-attachment.其实本来性格就很laid-back,不愿意去争什么,只是工作中有时候需要改变一下自己。

很佩服那些对未来有明确规划的人,但我做不到。为了一个目标去做一件事会很累。什么也不要想,什么都不要做,大脑一片空白。

Deadline

Speaking of cultural differences, I thought of another example. My job involves a lot of liaison between Chinese clients and our Singaporean colleagues. When I need something from a Singaporean colleague, they always ask what the deadline is. Without a deadline, I’m afraid things will be dragged on for years. But for many Chinese, this may be a stupid question and they just tell me ASAP. Damn it! When the hell is ASAP? I have to trick and push them to get an answer. What’s so hard about setting a deadline, anyway?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Our big boss’s age is a big secret!

Earlier this year, my boss’s boss, the VP based in our head office in Singapore came to Beijing for a couple of meetings. One of our clients, a state owned company, wanted to give him a present – something that indicated his animal sign. Well, that equals to asking for one’s age, which is invariably a secret. Both our boss and his assistant happened to be out of the office that day, so I turned to another colleague for help. She texted the boss, but got no reply. Later she told me on skype that it was rooster. “He didn’t reply, but I guessed after asking around for his age. It’s 99.9% correct.” Hmm…the mystery is solved, but cultural differences exist forever.

Friday, May 21, 2010

夏天来了

街边饭馆儿的座位又摆到了户外,
烤串儿的炉子又冒起了浓烟。
院儿里的孩子突然冒了出来,
路上的姑娘们迫不及待地穿起了连衣裙。
突然之间,已是夏天。

今年北京的春天是十年来持续时间最短的一个春天。烟台这时候还很凉快。原来这十年来并不是全球变暖导致春天越来越短,而是内地的气候就是如此。

不喜欢夏天。不喜欢夏天的热。

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Clean eating

Consuming food in its most natural state – or as close as possible to it – is the soul of clean eating. It’s not a diet; it’s a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to health, well-being and a lean look.

Yes, it's exactly what I've been aiming at. Going veg may be hard, but eating clean is least I can do.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

A mark

It’s still not warm in late-Apr. This time five years ago, it was already hot like summer. I actually have written proof – my diary.

It was from then that I started writing a journal to keep a record of what had happened in the university of life. Blogging became ubiquitous a few years later. In this way, my experiences are compressed into a couple of word documents and some web pages. Complicated things are simplified into words.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Beijing snapshots

magnolia behind the Apple store

Sanlitun village

t-shirt store @南锣鼓巷
大栅栏



Is it the narrowest alley in Beijing?

plum blossom at night

Monday, April 19, 2010

Monday, April 12, 2010

Shanghai before the expo

                                                    view from the hotel


                                          外白渡桥(Garden Bridge of Shanghai )
Every time I tried to see and walk across the famous Waibaidu bridge, it was either the bridge or the Bund that was under construction. Finally it was over and here it is. The bridge appeared in many movies, including Spielberg’s Empire of the sun – my favourite.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

An Education

I didn’t watch this movie until last weekend. After being bombarded by the dazzling special effects of Avatar and Alice in wonderland, a bittersweet coming of age story feels so refreshing. The 60’s fashion and music are classic. Maybe I should read the book.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Post sandstorm syndrome

I am coughing my lungs out today. It must be resulting from the sandstorm on Monday. Ai!!! How can I love spring when it hurts so much!

You know, it’s not possible to wear sunglasses and a face mask at the same time because the lenses will be moistened when you exhale. So between your eyes and your lungs, you can only choose one.

It’s no longer global warming. It’s called “global weirding”, meaning an increase in severe or unusual environmental activity often attributed to global warming. (Global weirding includes an increase in average temperatures, heat waves, cold spells, hurricanes, blizzards, plant and animal die-offs and population explosions, and new animal migration patterns.)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Weird dreams

One thing I like about winter is that I always sleep well when the nights are long and quiet. Now spring is coming and I begin to have weird dreams. I actually rarely remember them, but there are exceptions.

One morning last week I woke up and recalled I was converted to a vampire. What had happened in the dream was quite blurry. It was neither bloody nor scary, and it must be the most dramatic and exhilarating dream I’d ever had. I admit I have a special liking for enigmatic vampires, but I haven’t been watching Twilight or True blood recently. The only clue to which I could relate the dream was a piece of gossip I saw on TV that night about Robert Pattinson.

Another dream was technically a nightmare. I was cramming for several exams and had to learn everything by rote, which was the case in reality in my high school. When I struggled to open my eyes, I was so relieved to realize I was no longer a student and would never be judged by scores. My interpretation to the dream is the scar is so deep that it’s still haunting me after a decade! Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a bad student. I just hate to be forced to learn.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Goodbye winter

4 1/2 months in a long down coat,
Snow on March 8.
"It's the coldest winter in ten years."
Said the meteorologist.
Nah…
It’s the coldest winter as far as I remember.

Twigs are budding,
Ice is thawing.
Cold front is on the wane,
Warm spell is on the way.
Goodbye winter,
See you in November.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Addiction

Sitting in front of the desk, trying to write something, but haven’t got a clue on where to start. Unconsciously, I clicked on taobao again.

It’s such a treasure trove! Anything you can think of or things beyond your imagination are available 24/7 at irresistible prices. All you need is a pair of discerning eyes to pick out the good stuff.

The other day I checked my account to find out how much money I’ve spent on online shopping in the past 2.5 years. Not unexpectedly, it’s a 5 digit number. What’s that saying, huh? Penny and penny laid up will be many.

I like the feeling of opening packages sent from different parts of the country. They are like gifts for myself. But there are disappoints once in a while, of course. Learn the lesson and be a smart shopper next time. Online shopping is fun!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

The odyssey

Over the past few years, relatives and friends have been trying to find a match for me, but sadly, it didn’t work out. Before I forget, let me note them down and allow me to explain the reasons.

1. Mr. C was a fresh postgraduate when he was introduced to me, while I’ve left college for three years, working and looking for my niche. He was young.

2. Mr. L was also a fresh postgraduate, who just accepted an offer from the ministry of commerce. He was going to be sent to an eastern European country soon. Oh, no.

3. Mr. L2 arrived early at the restaurant, sitting at a corner table, trying to peek at the girl he was gonna meet, which would be me, from the top of his book. Damn it.

4. Mr. S returned to Beijing from a northern European country after he finished his postgraduate course. He hadn’t a plan yet. Europe or China?

5. Mr. Architect whose name I can’t remember. We met in a very dimly lit cafe. He seemed to be a young and good-looking guy in there. But when exposed to bright sunlight, I suddenly noticed he looked at least ten years older, like a vampire burning in the sun.

6. Mr. Dr. whose name I can’t remember. As the old saying goes, all work and no play makes the Dr. a dull boy.

7. Mr. Common was just too common to be commented. But he had an uncommon name, which I had to refer to the dictionary to find out the correct pronunciation of one Chinese character.

8. Mr. Robust whose name I can’t remember. Had I ever saw his picture, I wouldn’t have agreed to meet with him. I have a bottom line.

9. Mr. Artist. Ah! If he were slimmer and could talk a little faster. As he said, his life tempo was slower than other people.

10. Mr. Northeast. My prejudice against people from northeastern China was proven true. They are garrulous, with an accent.

Well, exactly 10. The problem is me. This is not the right way for me. Simply judging from appearance, few could catch my interest. I’m picky. What’s worse, I’ve grown an aversion to this whole thing and feel both physically and mentally uncomfortable having dinner with strangers. It’s a disaster.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

大寒

几十年来最冷的冬天,冷空气一场接一场,整个北半球都在经历着extreme weather. 寒冷并不可怕,多穿点就ok了。出门的时候裹得严严实实,寒风一吹,居然有种醍醐灌顶的感觉。只是去年秋天新买的羊毛大衣一直没有机会穿,看来要等到三月份了。南方应该可以穿很久吧。

总是遇到不靠谱的人、不靠谱的事,就连在自己的blog上发个贴都要费一番周折。唉!Why can’t make it simple?

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Miss He goes to India

“Miss He”, my surname which sounds like “ho” in Chinese was wrongly pronounced as the pronoun “he” in English at the Delhi airport check-in counter. “You have two boarding cards, one for Delhi to Shanghai and the other Shanghai to Beijing.”

At the boarding gate I was intercepted. Several guys looked at the two boarding cards, confused. “Follow me, please”, a woman said. I was wondering what wrong I had done. It turned out that the absent-minded customs officer placed the exit stamp on the wrong boarding card. So I went through the whole process again and accidentally became the last passenger to board the plane.

Luckily, the plane was only half full and we could curl up and sleep through the flight. At 4:30am the stewardess’ sweet voice woke me up. Half an hour later, the plane landed in Shanghai. India was like a dream I left behind, a dream about a journey to the west.

In the dream, Taj Mahal was shrouded in smog and haze; ladies were cocooned in fancy saris; city drivers honked the horns as if they were in a competition; street vendors yelled, vying for business; kids scrounged for food and money; animals were protected and worshipped.

It’s interesting to experience the exoticism, to see the good and the bad.

At this moment in Beijing, snow flakes are drifting down silently on empty roads. I realize it’s no longer the loudest and most crowded city in the world.