Random Dinner Selection

I’ve been going to the same restaurant ordering randomly from the menu in a effort to discover local delicacies. Today’s result way a plate full of orange round discs with no taste and had the consistency of gooey jello. The plate was coated with sugar too. Alas I had accidentally ordered a big plate of strange tasting dessert.

I asked for a menu so I could order again but I got a little gesture of hospitality instead as a free plate of mystery salad arrived and a little plain dumpling bun. The staff giggled a bit and smiled at me,as they also realized I had made a mistake.

The salad and bun were gone in no time but most of the dessert plate I had to leave behind.

Sofia Church

Today’s walk took me to beautiful Sofia Church. I explored the shopping malls nearby too and managed to overpay handsomely for an umbrella (90RMBs-C$15). I thought the price sounded a bit high, but after hunting around for a men’s umbrella for a few days, I just did not have the sense to start bargaining and just said ’OK’ like a typical dopey tourist.

The Chinese shopping mall sometime resembles a bazaar or market that stretches out to many floors. There are many (hundreds?) of little booths where vendors cram as many things as they can into their small areas.

The most popular products seem to be women’s cloths. I managed to stumble into a whole basement of cellphone vendors in one mall. Each booth was about 6x6 feet-enough for a display case and a chair.

Saturday June 24th’s Adventures

Street Market from Morning















On the way to work I discovered a little street market that stretched a block and a half. There were plenty of assorted things for sales and food being cooked for sale.

I avoided the temptation to have an outdoor breakfast.

Motorcycle Taxi for Hire
















Scattered throughout the city are middle aged men just sitting around on fancy motorcycles. At first I thought these were part of a motorcycle gang but later I was told they were ‘taxis’ for hire.


Park Behind My School



There is a nice park right behind my school. This is where I go to have my Chinese lessons with my tutor.

Blog June 26, 2006

Here is my adventure today, my day off. It’s tough to drag myself out of bed but I usually go for a long slow walk. I grab a bite to eat for breakfast and try to discover more on foot. Usually there is a visit to the local DVD store where I pick up 4-6 DVDs (daily!) and then I go out for dinner again.

The Morning Show














My walk to work takes me on the main street of the Daoli district, but its not the main street of Harbin by any means.

Today’s show was a big public display of government accomplishments with a taped video show, and posters. T-shirts were also being given away.

Musical Support













The display was suddenly supported by a military marching band. In the background is the central mall of Harbin.

The welcome message is also in English and Russian(!)




Mmmmm- Delicious Bakery















There is a little food court/market on the corner of my street and main street where I get my breakfast food.

I’ve found that bakeries are a serious affair with many ‘watch the cooks work’ type displays where you can watch very intricate creations.

My favorite breakfast food is a 2 RMB (C$0.30) wrap with egg/sausage/hash brown potatoes and vegetables.

Teaching English with Chess

Today I taught my 'New Interchange" class (7 girls) how to play chess in an effort to use chess as an English teaching tool. Because of the similarity between some of the Chinese chess pieces and International chess, the girls learned quite quickly.
This class is my most advanced class and is also the only one where I don't have an assistant in class with me. Funnily enough, the level of spoken English for half the class is quite low. I can barely get some of them to say a word in English in class.
I've improvised on the book material by allowing the class to present one or two short skits on a topic of their choosing. Sadly, this is where I notice the level of spoken English for an advanced class is so low. Next week I hope to get the girls to explain chinese chess (in english!) to me.

Teaching English with Chess

Today I taught my ‘New Interchange” class (7 girls) how to play chess in an effort to use chess as an English teaching tool. Because of the similarity between some of the Chinese chess pieces and International chess, the girls learned quite quickly.

This class is my most advanced class and is also the only one where I don’t have an assistant in class with me. Funnily enough, the level of spoken English for half the class is quite low. I can barely get some of them to say a word in English in class.

I’ve improvised on the book material by allowing the class to present one or two short skits on a topic of their choosing. Sadly, this is where I notice the level of spoken English for an advanced class is so low. Next week I hope to get the girls to explain chinese chess (in english!) to me.

Whew I'm not Crazy!-Energy Conservation

I thought I had lost my mind. Sometimes my stairwell is not lit and
then other days there is dim emergency lighting. Now I have discovered a
clever little secret about Chinese buildings. They have sound activated
internal corridor lights!



Traffic control is cute too:

Traffic lights at major intersections have digital displays showing how many seconds until the lights change. Also there are traffic police with red flags and whistles to signal the right of way. The catch is that pedestrians jaywalk when ever it suits them and cars in the intersection just keep going even when pedestrians are crossing. Both pedestrians and cars seem to ignore each other but no accidents happen.



Speeding is not really a problem. Everyone is going at a reasonable speed. However, indiscriminate lane changing, cutting off other vehicles, dodging jaywalkers is all part of the show.

Daily surprise

They turn the water off without warning to work on god knows what. I just tried to wash my hands(6:45pm) and voila! No water. I went shopping at WalMart today (again). Its a great combination: China+Walmart+Sale= Cheap!!!!!!!! Prices.
I got some nice T-shirts for 9.9RMBs (C$1.50) each. My new DVDs were even cheaper 7RMBs (C$1) so what could I do? I bought 6. Only my dinner was cheaper-tasty beef noodles for 5RMBs. Oh I'm really having too much fun. I'm not even sure when payday is. I doesn't seem to matter. Coke was on sale too. There was a World Cup promotion-4 bottles of coke(500ml) for 2.1RMBs ($0.30).
I alway try my best to go to WalMart-just to hunt around for a bargain.

Car Manners-When to Honk Your Horn

There is something unmistakable about the sound of Harbin traffic. Someone is always honking their horn.

You honk
*To warn someone your are coming
*To warn someone you are close.
*To warn someone you are about to hit them
*To alert the oncoming traffic you are going the wrong way up a one way street.

No need to honk when
*You are cutting off a pedestrian
*You are cutting off another car
*You are cutting off a bus or other large vehicle

Possibly honk if
*You are bored
*You are saying hello to someone you know
*You want someone to get moving,

As a bonus to drivers, there seem to be no parking meters. However, public streets seem to be monitored by people directing parking and carrying pouches as though they were collecting money. I took a closer look and they were wearing official looking ID tags.

Anywhere else, you can basically park anywhere you can stop your car.

Night Market Dinner

Today I went for dinner in an open air night market by the river and had tasty beef noodles for 5RMBs(Less than C$1). There was a little crowd of vendors following me trying to get me to try their dishes when they realized I was a foreigner. I was lucky one of my teaching assistants was with me to explain what was going on to me.

The noodle dish was served on a plastic plate wrapped in an inside-out plastic bag for hygiene (!).

I also sampled shish kabobs of beef, lamb and chicken (not so good); and barbecued fish (very tasty). These were spicy foods and only the fish was good.

This market was a place only frequented by the locals so I got a good idea of what life in China was all about.

World Cup Soccer-China Style

World Cup Soccer-China Style

Viewing the world cup to most people means sitting in front of the TV at home or maybe going to a sports bar. In Harbin, the downtown area has outdoor TVs setup at outdoor fast food malls and near the Wal-Mart there is a huge TV set up for public viewing. The main program is soccer.

Last night Japan-Croatia was shown and enthusiastic crowds were viewing the games.

Nightlife
There is no bar/nightclub style nightlife. Here people enjoy strolling down the main street mall which leads to a lovely riverside walkway. Downtown buildings feature traditional old style Russian architecture, not the modern ugly rectangular buildings.

Its too bad this blog site does not allow me to post pictures anymore

First Saturday Teaching

Saturday June 17-2006
This was my first day of a full weekend of teaching 8-hours plus parent meetings and preparations. It’s a good thing that I have several assistants to do the main work and all I have to do is deliver the material, keep the kids interested and familiarize myself with the text.

Each foreign teacher gets an assistant to help with translation, keep discipline in class, give and mark homework and prepare lesson plans. The foreign teachers need only to review and make changes to lesson plans presented to them.

The textbook(s) emphasize constant drilling to improve pronunciation but nothing can describe a 2-hour lesson with little kids who have to sit still most of the lesson. There is only a 10-minute break for the lessons, so to keep the kids from losing interest, teachers inject some fun with English word games like hangman and Simon says etc.

It’s quite tortuous for the youngest kids who may be as young as 6 years old.

No Pictures for now
I don’t know why but I cannot upload pictures anymore. Hopefully this can be fixed soon.

Corrections
1. The pizza place was in fact not a pizza hut, just a pizza place.
2. My buildings stairwells are lit with dim emergency lights, but the outer exits are completely unlit and would be considered hazards in the west.

Little Details-Harbin

Small Details-Harbin

Jaywalking is one of the main ways to cross any street. There is no end to traffic violations either.
There are no parking meters.
There is no regular garbage pickup service.
There is no visible recycling-but I am told things do get recycled.
There is constant honking of car horns.

When you go into Wal-Mart or large stores, whenever you approach a counter, someone will say something to you or try to show something to you. If you walk down the main mall, many stores have someone standing outside to try to get you to come in or offer you a sample.
The architecture of the downtown area is beautiful.
Ice cream vendors are everywhere. You can get a cone for 1RMB ($0.15).
Middle age men with fancy motorcycles seem to hang around on street corners. Later I learned these are motorcycle taxis(!). I’m not sure if they are legal, but no-one minds them. At first I thought they were some kind of motorcycle gang.

People love Chinese chess. There is always a game going on with a large set and a little crowd around them.
There are no coin operated Laundromats. But there are laundry services; the catch is you must be able to read Chinese to know they exist. I just got my first laundry done for 71RMBs (C$12).

Street drainage is awful. You have to look really hard to find a drain. However, the roads are all freshly surfaced.
Pedestrian pavements are very narrow. It seems like pedestrians have few rights.

Oh yes-I did find a McDonalds, a KFC and a little place that claimed to be a Pizza Hut.

My Apartment-China Style

My New Home

My employer-the Yi Jian English School provides a modest furnished apartment for me. This is standard for all foreign teachers. It’s quite big by Chinese standards but still, for a westerner it is really small.

However, I am quite close to work.

The kitchen has a single gas burner and a small fridge. A microwave is not standard issue or a normal appliance. One very odd thing is the gas water heater. It took quite some doing to figure out how it works.

The bedroom is small and narrow and is the wide of a double bed. I do get a TV and a DVD player included! Also included is an ADSL connection. This was quite a puzzle to figure out how to use. Finally, one of the teaching assistants was able to unravel the mystery.

Today’s adventure begins with-no water!-for some reason, the water has been turned off. Again I get to have a cold shower.

This week’s important task is to get someone to show me how to use the washing machine. It looks like I have to hang my clothes dry. I cannot even escape this by finding a laudromat-there are none to be found.

The garbage pickup system is a big surprise. There is no regular pickup, nor is there any obvious place outside the building that garbage should go. The system is to place garbage outside your door at night and it will be picked up by ‘cleaners’ everyday-in the morning or at night.

The lighting is awful in the stairwells and outside the building. Actually, there is no lighting. There rear building faces are just left unpainted and it really looks like I live in a slum.

My First Class-Tuesday June 13

My first scheduled class lasted 2 hours and was a nervous joy. I had nine keen and curious little students and was helped by Vicky, my teaching assistant.

The orange cloth contraption is my first innovation in teaching for the school. Its a collection of objects (bought from Wal-Mart!) that I used for vocabulary development.

I ask kids to reach in without looking and pullout an object-and then guess what it is. When each child has an object, I ask them to describe it and explain what it is to the rest of the class.

We supplemented the planned textbook exercises with a series a word games, \'Simon says\' and guessing games based on the \'magic vocabulary box\'.

After the class, I met with all the parents and (with the help of a translator) answered all questions. Most of the parents looked at me with a wall of silence with only two of the parents doing all the questioning.

Most of my classes are on the weekend with Monday as my official day off. I also have three evening classes during the week. All the classes are two hours long with a 10-minute break.

Harbin-Main Street

Main street in downtown Harbin is a pure viewing pleasure. However, looking for cheap western CDs and DVDs is quite frustrating. I was expecting to see a CD/DVD superstore with a fabulous selection but I was greatly disappointed.

I did stumble across some small store with very modest selections of western work and finally I managed to snag

• A 5 DVD set of Eagles
• A 4 DVD set of Rolling Stones concerts
• 3 other DVDs

for the princely sum of C$30 total (a teaching assistant from my school did the haggling for me).

Wal-Mart China Style

The Wal-Mart is something of an amazing experience. The main idea remains the same but the chinese experience has 3 floors, a large fresh grocery section, moving escalators that you can take your shopping cart onto and a host of other differences.

The ground floor has 2 bakeries and other food options. I make it a point to go to the Wal-Mart just to hand around for abit and look for an excuse to buy something-on sale!

Shopping is a noisy experience. There always seems to be someone shouting something at you. Salesladies seem to be everywhere.

The next building over is a Parkson's 6-floor department store. It has a top floor fast food court that is simply beyond words to describe. There are no western foods offered but there every conceivable type of chinese fast food. There are no separate outlets, but you are just ringed in completely in an end-to-end array of food options.

The First Day-Thursday June 8

The First Day-Thursday June 8

Shanghai airport has no air conditioning! This is first lasting impression of China. Then I proceeded to invest in can of Pepsi for 18RMBs ($3) to quench my thirst. So much for cheap China prices. One of the first noticeable things at the airport is the large number of foreign travelers.

The flight to Harbin was uneventful. I boarded after paying 260RMBs for exceeding the baggage weight limit. During the five-hour layover I had a chance to chat with an engineer for a Swiss laser-welding equipment company who was making a service call to a customer.

Chris (my foreign teacher contact), Mr. Sun(the owner) and Elva ( a local teacher) greeted me at midnight at the airport. I felt really important for three people to greet me in person. We drove back to my apartment and exchanged stories along the way. One of the streets we went on is ‘Edmonton Road (or Way) as Harbin/Edmonton are sister cities.

I woke at 4:30am to unpack and the first thing I did was blow up a power adapter. My first major task is to get an Internet connection.

The first shower was a cold on as I had not mastered how to turn the hot water on. The bathroom does not have 2 taps for hot and cold water as most westerners are used to.

The kitchen is quite sparse with a single gas stove (my first investment will be the traditional microwave) and no oven.

The washroom has a curious feature-the bathroom is the show area as well-toilet and all. I was greeted with an absence of toilet paper and towels.

My window view is of the run down end of very old looking apartment building. The double door is heavily reinforced and heavy duty metal lock (triple bolts). This should deter any would be burglars.

During the night, there is dead silence. There should be no problem sleeping.

The first task of the day is for my employer to register me at the police station. The is a 24-hour period for this from time of landing.

Shopping Chinese Style!

Team Buying
We all know that if you buy in bulk, you’ll usually get some type of discount, but some enterprising people in China are taking that a step further by organizing online and then visiting a store like a flash mob to team buy items.

Welcome to China’s newest shopping craze, tuangou, or team buying. By combining the power of the Internet to compare prices with the stealth tactics of the flash mob, team buyers are driving hard bargains in the world’s hottest economy. Many team-buying websites have sprung up to catch the trend, which first began in online forums and chat rooms.

So instead of one person buying a $300 camera, 15 strangers meet up at the store to bulk purchase the cameras at a discount. The organizer of the team buy goes with the group and serves as the main negotiator and can form organized walk outs if the deal isn’t good.

Bargaining as a way of life
Typically, shoppers looking for the same items find each other online, then band together offline to negotiate special deals on electronics, home furnishings and automobiles. Some team buyers approach store managers beforehand. Others simply show up and flex their collective muscle.

Bargaining is a way of life in China. Shoppers treat sticker prices as a starting point for negotiations, and it's a point of pride to strike a tough bargain or walk away if unhappy.

This habit of face-to-face haggling is one reason why regular online shopping is only slowly catching on in China, which has more than 110 million Internet users, second only to the U.S. E-commerce, was worth around $1 billion in 2005, according to Beijing-based research company iResearch. Many shoppers, though, prefer cash-on-delivery or checks to online payment systems, and credit cards aren't widely used.

Thanks!

Thanks to Kai and Jazz for the thoughtful gifts. I had a great time at Osler School and the VPL teaching you.

China’s Special Economic Zones

Shenzen at Night

Economic Development (China in Brief)

China began to reform the national economic setup in 1978. Here is a summary

1980: China established five special economic zones,

1. Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
2. Zhuhai, Guangdong Province
3. Shantou, Guangdong Province
4. Xiamen, Fujian Province
5. Hainan province
   

1984: Opened 14 coastal cities—Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai—to overseas investment.

1985: extended the open economic zones of the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle in south Fujian, Shandong Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula, Hebei and Guangxi into an open coastal belt.

1990: Opened the Pudong New Zone in Shanghai to overseas investment, and opened more cities in the Yangtze River valley.

1992: the State Council has opened a number of border cities, and in addition, opened all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions.

In addition,

• 15 free trade zones,
• 32 state-level economic and technological development zones,
• 53 new- and high-tech industrial development zones

have been established in large and medium-sized cities.

The five special economic zones are foreign-oriented areas which integrate science and industry with trade, and benefit from preferential policies and special managerial systems. The Shanghai Pudong New Zone has made great progress in both absorbing foreign capital and accelerating the economic development of the Yangtze River valley.

The 5,900 foreign-funded enterprises have formed six pillar industries:

1. automobiles and spare parts and components
2. microelectronics and computers
3. household electrical appliances
4. bio-medicines
5. optical, mechanical
6. Electrical products

Help Yourself-Chess News and Resources

Keeping Up with the News

Chess is slow but news travels fast.

ChessBase - is my favourite news site. News comes daily, has many illustrated reports and you can view games played with a nice games viewer.

The Week in Chess - all the latest results and also has a downloadable games feature for keeping databases up to date

Other Resources

New in Chess-has the best chess magazine in the world. NIC is also publishes quarterly yearbooks and many other resources.

Rybka-is a strong chess program and has a free downloadable beta version

Chessgames.com-is an online database of games

Chessville-has an instruction section, annotated games and other goodies

Ten Tips to Winning Chess is a nice starting point

Playing Online

This is a great way to practice!

Internet Chess Club-you can join or play for free as a guest. The best site for the most serious players

World Chess Network-Many of my students play here

Playchess.com-Has many features and you get 1 year free membership if you buy the Fritz playing program


For Kids in Vancouver

Vancouver Public Library-Chess Club for Children - I used to run this club.

Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.
Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. to noon

Location:
Children's LibraryLibrary Square - Lower Level
350 W. Georgia St.
www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/chi/home.html

Admission: Free! Just drop in

The Big Day!-SLP Board Report Presentation

Today Certified Management Accountant candidates will give their final presentation called the 'Board Report’ for the Strategic Leadership Program.

It is a very nervous time. We have to present the written report we made to a 3-person panel of strangers who will judge our PowerPoint presentation and ask us questions.

Our topic was to make a new strategy for a fictional company called Bon Beverages-a small maker of fruit juices and soft drinks. We had to do a lot of research to support our recommendations.

An example would be to find an independent bottler in California because we are recommending that our company should expand there by licensing soft drink production to a bottler there.

Here is what we found:

'The Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group, Inc. (DPSUBG) is the largest independent manufacturer, marketer and distributor of well-known and widely-consumed carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks in the United States. We service more than one-third of the U.S. population with operations in 25 states. We operate ten manufacturing plants, over 100 distribution centers and employ over 9,000 employees.

The Company’s portfolio of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) and alternative beverages consist of highly recognizable national brands that are in many cases the first or second ranking brand in their flavor or product category. Dr Pepper, Seven Up, A&W, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Schweppes and Squirt are a few of the leading CSD brands.

The leading alternative beverages, manufactured and/or distributed by the Company are: Snapple, Fiji, Arizona, Clearly Canadian, Glaceau and Deja Blue water. Our brand portfolio is continually updated so that we achieve our goal of providing business value to our customers and refreshing beverages for their consumers.'

Our presentation is 1:30pm to today. After we will meet with our class at a pub/bar and go out for a nice dinner to celebrate the end of the course. If we pass we will all be CMAs. Whew!

Internet Filtering in China

Internet Restrictions in China


Some of my friends in China were having some trouble connecting with my blog for no apparent reason. So I started to dig around on the topic of Internet Filtering in China.

Results are a bit shocking! Some sites are specifically filtered out.

Among the specific blocked pages are the following categories of content:

Dissident/democracy sites
Blocked sites includes sites about democracy and human rights generally and sites specific to China. Of the top 100 sites returned by Google in response to a search for "democracy china," 40 were found to be blocked, while 37 "dissident china" sites were blocked, 32 were blocked for "freedom china," and 30 for "justice china." Specific blocked sites included Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Hong Kong Voice of Democracy, the Direct Democracy Center, and dozens of Falun Gong and Falun Dafa sites.

Health
Blocked sites included sites about health generally and about health in China specifically. Of the top 100 Google results for "hunger china," 24 were blocked; for "famine china" 23; for "AIDS china" 21; for "sex china" 19; for "disease china" 14. Specific blocked sites included the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Internet Mental Health reference, and the Health in China research project. We found blocking of a total of 139 sites listed in Yahoo's Health directory categories and subcategories.

Education
Blocked sites included a number of well-known institutions of higher education, including the primary web servers operated by Caltech, Columbia, MIT, and the University of Virginia. Blocked non-university sites included the Learning Channel, the Islamic Virtual School, the Music Academy of Zheng, and the web sites of dozens of public and private primary and secondary schools. We further found evidence of blocking of 696 sites listed in Yahoo's Education directory categories and subcategories.

News
The BBC News was consistently unreachable, while CNN, Time Magazine, PBS, the Miami Herald, and the Philadelphia Inquirer were also often unavailable. Of Google's top 100 results for news, 42 were blocked. We further found evidence of blocking of 923 sites listed in Yahoo's News and Media directory categories and subcategories. Nonetheless, some news sites that were previously blocked became accessible during the course of our testing; for example, Reuters was blocked through April 29, but was subsequently accessible, while the Washington Post was blocked through May 6 and was subsequently accessible. This reduction in blocking of entire news sites may reflect that certain new filtering technologies (discussed in greater detail in the appendix) allow blocking only of the particular sections and articles that are particularly controversial in China. As a result, our results should not be taken to suggest that every Washington Post article is now accessible in China.

Government sites
Blocked sites included a variety of sites operated by governments in Asia and beyond. As discussed below, government sites of Taiwan and Tibet were targeted specifically. Also blocked was the entirety of uscourts.gov, including the many federal district and appellate courts in the United States, as well as the United Kingdom's Court Service and Israel's Judicial Authority. The communication sites of various governments were blocked, including the United States' Voice of America, as well as travel sites from Australia, Israel, Korea, Switzerland, and Wales. Government military department sites were also blocked, including the US Department of Defense, though others remained reachable (the CIA). A variety of additional government sites were blocked, without manifest pattern, both in the United States and beyond; examples include the site of Seattle's King County, the main Australian Federal Government index site, the Philippines Bureau of Customs, the British Insolvency Service, the Office of the Governor of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Blocked sites included 516 sites in Yahoo's categories and subcategories pertaining to governments.

Taiwanese and Tibetan sites generally
Blocked sites included business sites (like the A&D Company of Taiwan), non-commercial sites (the Taiwan Health Clinic and a total of 709 .edu.tw sites, as well as the Voice of Tibet), and government sites (the Office of the President of Taiwan and the Taiwanese Parliamentary Library among 936 other Taiwanese government sites, and the Official Website of the Tibetan Government in Exile). More than 60% of Google's top 100 "Tibet" sites were found to be blocked, and more than 47% of the top "Taiwan" sites were blocked. Taiwanese content was also blocked disproportionately, relative to its representation in our testing sample; fully 3,284 .TW sites (13.4% of .TW sites tested) were blocked, while our overall block rate was approximately 9.3%. (Of course, comparisons of block rates must be performed with care given the subjective formation of the list of sites tested. For lack of a domain name specifically associated with Tibetan sites, it is more difficult to perform such a comparison on the block rate of Tibetan content.)

Entertainment
Blocked sites included the movie Deep Impact, the Canadian Music Centre, the Taiwanese site of MTV (mtv.com.tw) and multiple sites providing off-color jokes. We also found blocking of a total of 451 sites in Yahoo's categories and subcategories pertaining to Entertainment. Business.
Blocked sites included Novartis, Malaysian Airlines, Oil Industry News, [...]

Religion
Blocked sites included the Asian American Baptist Church, the Atheist Network, the Catholic Civil Rights League, Feng Shui at Geomancy.net, the Canberra Islamic Centre, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, and the Denver Zen Center. We found blocking of a total of 1,763 sites in Yahoo's categories and subcategories pertaining to religion.

Now that's a very scary list!

Foreign Companies Help Restrict Access
In its quest to control the internet China has sought help from overseas. Some large, US-based computer software companies are believed to have sold Beijing the sophisticated software needed to run its filtering system. Companies like Google and Yahoo! have also been accused of co-operating in China's internet censorship. Google, for example, has modified its Chinese language search engine so that it does not show results for sites the Chinese government deems "harmful".

BBC News has more

Blogger Beware!
Bloggers must register with authorities. Earlier this year, China required anyone starting a Web site or a blog to register with authorities. Hundreds of Internet cafes — the main entry for Chinese who can’t afford a computer or Internet access — have closed as part of an ongoing effort to curb potential political decent.

MSNBC has more

Chinese Food Introduction

Index-China.com

There is an enormous variety of Chinese food that differs greatly from region to region. One interesting thing about Chinese traveling in China or Hong Kong is to try out different food.

You will find how different from what you have known from the fast food stand and how enjoyable it will be if you just release yourself from traditional food paradigm.

Famine and hardship
Famine and hardship played a large role in the development of the cuisine. China has been an agricultural civilization for thousands of years and has suffered from poor harvests.

Energy Saving
The lack of cooking fuel from thousands of years of settlement and clear-cutting prompted the development of stir-frying. The need to save fuel became so influential that most Chinese dishes require a lengthy preparation but only a few minutes cooking time.

Healthier and Tasteful
Most Chinese dishes are cooked with meat and vegetables together, so the foods contain lower calories and are less rich than Western style food.

Beijing Food
Beijing food is the most famous food of China, particularly known for Beijing Duck The northern part of China has a cold climate unsuitable to grow rice, so wheat is the primary grain consumed. Northern Chinese eat more breads than those in the south, where rice predominates.

Cantonese Food
Cantonese food or Guangdong food is typically steamed, boiled or stir-fried. It is a very healthy food since it uses minimum of oil. The main ingredients of this type of Chinese food are seafood, pork, chicken and vegetables, but could include almost anything. You need white rice to accompany the meal to make it complete unless it is a special banquet.

Sichuan Food
What is typical of this southwestern province of China is the spicy taste of its food. Many Sichuan dishes are prepared using chili pepper oil, which gives a special taste to the food. The most famous Sichuan dish is the Gongbao (Kung Pao) chicken, fried with peanuts and chili pepper.

Some noodle knowledge
There are egg noodles, wheat noodles, and rice flour noodles.

• Wheat noodles are often found in Shanghai noodle dishes. These are round wheat noodles that are cooked then stir-fried in a savory sauce with chicken, pork and shrimp.
• Rice flour noodles are often found in Singapore-style noodle dishes and use rice vermicelli noodles cooked with curry powder, shrimp, barbecued pork and ham.
• Egg noodles are often found in Cantonese restaurants as noodle soup (like won ton mien), or stir-fried in a dish.

There are two types of noodle dish.

The first is lo mien which is a plate of cooked (boiled) noodles with some barbeque pork or duck and some vegetables on the side of the plate, and accompanied with a bowl of broth.

The second is Chow mien in which the noodles are pan fried and then mixed with stir-fried vegetables, meat, and seafood.

Soup
Chinese soups have been part of Chinese meals for a long time. There are many different types of Chinese soups. Sweet corn and hot/sour soups are the most popular soups to westerners. Chinese make their soups with chicken, meat or vegetable stock. Chinese soups are very tasteful and can be light in both texture and flavor. Yet some of the soups are filling enough to be a meal by themselves.

Chinese Tea
Tea drinking is an integral part of Chinese life and the Chinese food experience. Tea is believed to be good for you. The Chinese were the first to discover the tea leaf and have been drinking tea ever since in many varieties.

More
Food and cooking in China can be divided into 4 main types or styles

Northern style:
more wheat than rice is eaten in the north. Jiaozi (Steamed dumplings) are a special dish as are spring rolls. Peking Duck too is a famous dish from the north.
The city of Xi'an is famous for it's dumplings known as jiaozi. There are many different types and each type is shaped differently, depending on what is inside. Some contain chicken, some pork, and there is one dumpling which is pinched to make three sections, each containing a different filling.

Peking Duck
Ducks are fed a rich paste made of grain and soybean to fatten them. After killing and plucking, the ducks are rubbed with spices, salt and sugar and the body cavities are filled with boiling water.
The ducks are roasted in an oven, or hung over an open fire where the skin absorbs the smells of burning fruitwood. Slices of Peking Duck are served wrapped in a thin pancake with sliced cucumber, shallots and a sauce/paste made of soy.

Eastern style:
Fish is the ingredient for many dishes from this part of China. Fish tail stew, hot and sour fish soup, steamed crabs and deep fried fish with bamboo shoots are some dishes served in restaurants.

Western style:
Red chilli, garlic, peppercorns and ginger used in the cooking make the dishes of this style hot and spicy. Stir fried pork with hot sauce, stewed eel with garlic, stir fried beef with chilli and Chinese cabbage soups are some dishes of the Western Style.

Southern style:
Dishes cooked in this style include steamed lobster, sweet and sour pork with pineapple, stir fried snake meat with mushrooms, prawns with chilli, roasted pork ribs and stir fried chicken with bok choy.

Introducing Canada

Canada and its Provinces

Introducing Canada

Many people from other parts of the world think of Canada as a very cold and snowy place. While it is true that most of Canada's land is very far north (almost to the North Pole), most Canadians live in the southern parts, where the weather is much milder.

Over 90% of the people live within 100 miles (160 km) of the U.S. border. In some cities the temperature can get very cold in the winter; however, most of Canada can get quite hot in the summer, often over 30 degrees Celsius. On the Pacific coast, there is a lot of rain but very little snow.
Canadians are known to play winter sports such as ice hockey and skiing, while they also enjoy numerous summer activities.

More information from Government of Canada

Becoming an English Teacher

I went to the Vancouver Career College to get my TESL certification. It took four months and I had a great time. The College and my classes were very friendly. There were 14 people in my class and my teacher was great.

The hardest part was English grammar! Native speakers are the worst at this.

Here is my class.

Introducing China

From the World Factbook:

There are 1.3 billion people in China!

China has 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural)

Provinces:

1. Anhui,
2. Fujian,
3. Gansu,
4. Guangdong,
5. Guizhou,
6. Hainan,
7. Hebei,
8. Heilongjiang,
9. Henan,
10. Hubei,
11. Hunan,
12. Jiangsu,
13. Jiangxi,
14. Jilin,
15. Liaoning,
16. Qinghai,
17. Shaanxi,
18. Shandong,
19. Shanxi,
20. Sichuan,
21. Yunnan,
22. Zhejiang;

Autonomous regions:

1. Guangxi,
2. Nei Mongol,
3. Ningxia,
4. Xinjiang, Xizang (Tibet)
   

Municipalities:

1. Beijing,
2. Chongqing,
3. Shanghai,
4. Tianjin

China's economy during the last quarter century has changed to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy.

The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. China in 2005 is the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is still lower middle-income and 150 million Chinese fall below international poverty lines.

Economic development has been faster in coastal provinces and there are large disparities in per capita income between regions.

The government has struggled to:
(a) sustain adequate job growth for tens of millions of workers laid off from state-owned enterprises, migrants, and new entrants to the work force;
(b) reduce corruption and other economic crimes;
(c) Contain environmental damage and social strife related to the economy's rapid transformation.

From 100 to 150 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many subsisting through part-time, low-paying jobs.

China has benefited from a huge expansion in computer Internet use, with more than 100 million users at the end of 2005. Foreign investment remains a strong element in China's remarkable expansion in world trade and has been an important factor in the growth of urban jobs.

In July 2005, China revalued its currency by 2.1% against the US dollar and moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies.

Thirteen years in construction at a cost of $24 billion, the immense Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River will be essentially completed in 2006 and will revolutionize electrification and flood control in the area.

China is aiming for a 20% reduction in energy consumption per unit of GDP by 2010 and an estimated 45% increase in GDP by 2010. Conserving resources and protecting the environment are basic goals.

Harbin Ice Festival

Harbin Ice Festival

There is a famous ice festival like the Quebec Winter Carnival in Harbin.

Harbin Ice Festival is an annual event held in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province. Usually falling on January 5 and lasting a month, the festival exerts a strong draw on both local residents and visitors.

I am looking forward to this special event very much.

"The city of Harbin lies in the center of Manchuria, and embraces its frozen winters by holding an ice festival each year, as it has for the past 27 years. The result? A million visitors a year. An economic boom in the center of a rust belt. And some of the neatest ice sculptures, snow carvings, and hair-raising slides anywhere."-Real Trip Report by Fritz Galt

Strategic Leadership Program-Almost Over!

Strategic Leadership Program(SLP)

My group gives its final presentation this Saturday (June 3) as its final requirement to complete this program. It is a 2-year program on strategy development that is a requirement to become a Certified Management Accountant.

There are three professional accounting designations in Canada

• CA-Chartered Accountant
• CGA-Certified General Accountant
• CMA-Certified Management Accountant

I first got my CMA in 1986 and after I did not pay my dues in 1993, I lost my designation. I was required to take this course to become recertified.

The course has several components:

• Four management reports. These are short reports that show how academic concepts can be applied to your workplace.
• Six 2-day seminars over a 2-year period. Each seminar requires a group presentation and readings to be completed. Each group member completes one or more research reports for their group and then your group (4-5 people) prepares and delivers a PowerPoint presentation to the seminar group.
• 2 large group reports. The second is called the board report and must be written out and then presented to a 3-person industry panel for marking.

The SLP course is like doing a mini-MBA. There is a certain element of luck involved in course success. There is a lot of group work (each 15-18 person seminar group is divided up into 4 smaller groups) and if you are in a weaker group, your marks will suffer.

There are many academic articles to read and there is a 50-70 page notes package given for each module too.

Group presentations are the most stressful and the most fun. I was lucky to be in a strong group so the work was not so strenuous.

We give presentations on the recommended business strategy of a company. Recommendations are based on individuals group members research on various aspects of a fictional company. Presentation format is usually 20 minutes for the modules but is 30 minutes for the final board report presentation.

Our group's preferred format is

1. Introduction
2. Strategy
3. Operations
4. Implementation Plan
5. Conclusion

Chess in Canada

Chess in Canada has many Internet resources

CFC-The Chess Federation of Canada. Keeps our national rating system and sells books and equipment. The CFC is responsible for sending our national team to the bi-annual chess team championships.

You can join and get a bi-monthly magazine. The CFC is in turmoil. It regularly loses money and loses its best employees. Sales are dropping too.

Chess and Math Sells books and equipment. Also sends teachers to schools in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. CMA also holds the national championships by grade. I worked as a teacher here for 9 years. This is Canada’s most important chess organization.

BC Chess –The British Colombia Chess Federation site . Has news and polls on BC chess events. You can also sign up for the email bulletin(free) and download a database of games by BC players.

BC Junior chess –A site to keep up with the latest junior news. You can also sign up for email updates on Junior news.

GM Spraggett-Has a lot of collected advice to chess players. Free advice from Canada’s leading grandmaster.

Chesstalk.com-A message board to keep up with all the chess gossip. Some of the gossip is fairly trivial though.

GM Pascal Charbonneau -The new Canadian champion’s blog

Check out my books-Checkmate University I and II that I wrote. They are quiz books meant for kids.

"The Book of Chess Exercises 1: for K-6 Children.
This is the first of a pair of checkmate execise books which start complete beginners off correctly, teaching them the basics of important checkmating postions in an easy to follow, workbook-style format with lots of diagrams.

There are no frills in the production of the cover or the binding, but the information and the positions inside make this volume well worth the price. Designed for children, but it is great for beginners of all ages! This is an excellent checkmating workbook which imparts essential checkmating information to beginning students of chess!

Algebraic notation, 104 pages, with a separately bound, 24 page answer-key."

Inner Mongolia is Part of China!

Inner Mongolia is not the same as Mongolia!

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering to the north with both the Republic of Mongolia and Russia, is the widest province in China (by its latitude). It is the third largest Chinese province (over 1.1 million square kilometers or 424,736 square miles) but not very populated.

The province has about 24 million (Similar to Canada!) inhabitants. Many ethnic groups are living in this area including Mongolian, Daur, Oroqen, Ewenki, Hui, Han, Korea and Manchu. Hohhot is the capital of Inner Mongolia.

What's Close to Harbin?-More on Mongolia

Harbin is quite close to Mongolia.

Mongolia (Mongolian: Монгол Улс) is a landlocked Central Asian country, bordered by Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south.
It was the center of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, but was ruled by the Manchu Qing dynasty from the end of the 18th century until an independent government was formed with Soviet assistance in 1921. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Mongolia adopted electoral politics. The 18th largest country in the world by area, Mongolia has very little arable land: much of its area is grassland, with mountains in the north and west and the Gobi Desert in the south. A little over 30 percent of the population are nomadic or semi-nomadic Tibetan Buddhists of the Mongol ethnicity. About one-third of the population lives in the capital city

About Vancouver, BC

There is alot of construction going on in Vancouver!

Vancouver is the largest city in the province of British Columbia and the third largest city in Canada. It's surrounded by water on three sides and is nestled alongside the Coast Mountain Range. Vancouver is home to spectacular natural scenery and a bustling metropolitan core, and boasts one of the mildest climates in Canada.

The City of Vancouver supports a wide range of destination sites — from more than 190 parks to three different civic theatres — that are interesting places to visit for tourists and residents alike. Vancouver is also home to many other sights and is networked by a comprehensive transportation system

Sadly, even though I have lived here for a few years, I do not know the city as well as the tourists.(sigh)



Vancouver even has a mission statement and is run like a business by the government! Vancouver is in the province of British Columbia.

British Columbia, often also referred to as B.C. or BC (French: Colombie-Britannique, C.-B.), is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ("Splendour without diminishment"). It was the sixth province to join Confederation (in 1871). As of 1 January 2006, its population is estimated at 4,279,462 by StatsCan. Residents are referred to as British Columbians.