Two-Week Vacation in Zhongshan

I got back to Seattle yesterday. I finished a two-week vacation at home with my parents. It had been a very relaxing time. I attended one of my cousins' one-month "anniversary" celebration, but missed my high-school's 100 anniversary celebration. I also saw some of high-school classmates and visited Macau.

I booked the discounted airline tickets. I had to get back to Seattle on December 26th. Meanwhile, my high-school was having 100th anniversary celebration on December 27th. I missed it just by one day. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the celebration.

On the other hand, one of my cousins got married last month. Somehow he and his wife and their families decided to celebrate their one-month "anniversary". They had a grand wedding ceremony with more than 500 people attending. Since I was at home, I was invited to their anniversary dinner.

I graduated from high school for more than 10 years. We are doing different things. I saw some of my classmates from high school during my visit. Surprisingly, I heard another two of them got married with each other!

Macau is just south of Zhongshan. It takes less than one hour to get there from Zhongshan. I finally visited it on December 18th with my parents. Here are some pictures.

Grown-Up

My friends say I have grown up.

I just moved to a one-bedroom apartment last weekend. I have the whole apartment to myself. It's my first time living alone. My friends said I have finally "grown up".

Baby Formula

I still remember the milk disaster in China back in September. Two weeks ago, I got an email from a high school classmate out of blue. He asked me to buy 12 big cans of baby formula from the US. They're so heavy that I had to take two trips. Last week, I bought 6 cans. This afternoon, I bought another 6 cans. The 12 cans of baby formula weight 20 pounds. I have to use EMS to send them back to China. It'll cost more than $120 on shipping!

Maybe I should open an import/export business on baby formula?

November 4, Election in the US

I found this picture online.

Steamed Eggs

I have decided that I should cook more often. Since the beginning of this year, I had been eating out a lot. If I cooked, I would just cook Korean spicy instant noodles. I have gained about 10 pounds. During the summer holiday, I went back to China to visit my parents and friends. My mother told me I should do more exercise. I knew she wanted to tell me that I should lose some weight. One of my parents' friend, who cares about me a lot ever since I was little, saw me again in August. She gave me tips on how to lose weight, even though I didn't ask for it!

Last week, I wanted to cook steamed egg, a simple dish that my grandmother used to make. I also had it at a friend's before she went back to China for her field trips. I stirred three chicken eggs, added some water, and put it on the stove to steam. It turned out not tasty at all! I called my parents and asked them how to make steamed eggs. Then I found out that I forgot to add some oil, but I added too much water. The good thing is that the dogs aren't too picky. I tried a second time. This time, it was only eatable. I think I have to try several times before it tastes good.

Zhang Danhong Incident

I didn't know Zhang Danhong. I had never heard of her name before. I found her name tonight when I was reading online Chinese news. Of course, I have a lot of things to say about Chinese news that is available in the newspaper and on the Chinese websites in China. I won't focus on this today. Instead I want to focus on Objective and Unbiased of news report in the western media in general.

According to some news, Zhang Danhong, who was the deputy editorial director of the Department of Chinese radio of the Deutsche Welle, was suspended for saying "too many good words for China". One of her "good words" for China is

The Communist Party of China has more than any political force in the world implemented Article 3 of the Declaration of Human Rights

Which is referring to the Chinese authorities pulling more than 400 million people out of poverty.

There are many people supporting Zhang. An open letter signed by 49 German scholars is a good example. At the same time, there are some people supporting the Deutsche Welle, such as another open letter by "a group of Chinese freelance writers and journalists living in different parts of the world".

Personally, I think the act of the Deutsche Welle is very silly. First of all, I believe an objective and unbiased news network has to have a variety of views according to the western philosophies.

If a media, or a nation couldn't tolerate different opinions, what will they be called?

Languages and Nations

I was talking with one of my schoolmates who will have his first baby soon. I asked him if his children were going to be multilingual. He replied that was for sure. Both he and his wife speak English and French fluently. In addition, his wife speaks Vietnamese fluently. So my schoolmate said his children would speak English, French, and Vietnamese.

I have some European friends as well some friends from the US mentioned that many people in the US only speak English. I think this might relate to the fact that all people in the US except for the native Americans were/are immigrants. Integration was the supreme task for families from different backdrops. The trade off is that people became monolingual. You might have known that my schoolmate and his wife are not from the US. They are from Canada.

Last Saturday evening, I went to the farewell party of the couple. At the party, one of their friends did a quite survey on "what is your favor thing(s) about Canada?" as the couple are moving back to Montreal.

Even though I haven't lived in Canada, there are a lot of good things about Canada. Canada is a neighboring country to the US. Yet, the country has two official languages. It is a part of the Commonwealth. It has universal health care.

In the early of this century, when people from the US traveling in the Europe, they liked to say they were from Canada. Thanks to the 2008 presidential election in the US, people started to be excited about the US. Two of my housemate's friends who were visiting from Vancouver, BC said they wished they would vote in November.

P.S. Trying to be more politically correct, I use "the US" instead of "America". As "America" includes north and south. North America includes the US and Canada.

Maple Valley Loop, North Cascades

I went hiking with two of my friends to North Cascades last Sunday. It snowed already! I still remember it covered with snow in the mountains in July.

Insider and Outsider

After graduating from college, I went back to Chengdu last month first time in seven years. I was lost in the city, and I couldn't find the gate of my college! The real estate has doubled its value in less than five years in Chengdu and where my parents currently reside. I sometimes read about how the maps of some cities in China have to be updated in every few weeks. I also heard how people outside of China were amazed by the pace of developments and changes in China. Every time I went back to China, I felt like I had to catch up so many new things, and sometimes I even felt myself like a person who was coming from the countryside visiting the big cities.

For the first few years in the US, I was so occupied by experiencing the US: studying in English, making American friends and friends from all over the world, doing part-time jobs, traveling in the US, etc. Then I was trying to understand the US and Americans. It was then that I recognized there were so many things different between the US and China. I grew up in China immersing in Chinese culture, Chinese education, and Chinese values. I have taken them for granted and haven't thought about them intellectually, or at all: how the Chinese think and behave, how those thoughts and behaviors relate to Chinese values, culture, history, etc. The feeling of ignorance of China and the Chinese was frightening. I borrowed a book titled "My Country and My People" by Lin Yutang published in 1930s about China and the Chinese people. This book is a little bit outdated. However, I still found it useful.

When I started the PhD program in urban planning three years ago, I saw studying China and Chinese become popular in the US and other parts of the world as China has gradually emerged as an important international player thanks to her fast economic development. More and more news on different aspects of China could be found in the US major media. I got to know the changes in China through different media both from the west and the east. However, the gigantic size of China often results in grasping information/facts on China uncompleted. The reports in the media only reflected part of truth.

Bailout and Milk

For the last several weeks, the economy in the US and Chinese milk quality have been two of the major concerns in my family.

My father has been quite concerned about the economy in the US. Not because he has money investment in the US banks. It is because his only daughter is in the states right now. He is concerned if her research funding for her study will be secured, and her monthly stipend from school will be enough.

There are nearly 53,000 children in China ill due to the the tainted milk. The scare spreads to Europe, and other parts of the world where Chinese milk products were imported. The food safety has been a concern for a quite a long time in China. I think ever since environmental pollution has been concerned, or even earlier when piracy widely spread in China. Both my uncle's family and my parents' friend make their soy milk from the scratch every morning. My parents started to do that last week as well.

Seven Year Itch

Last Sunday, it was my seventh anniversary in Seattle. I have lived in five cities until now.

Han Yuan --3 Years
Lu Zhou --8 Years
Zhongshan --7 Years
Chengdu--4 Years
Seattle--7 Years

I wonder how much longer I will still be here.

Visiting Sichuan, Summer 2008

Last month when I went back to China, I visited Sichuan. I was born in Han Yuan, a small rural county in Sichuan. I went to college in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan.

Beijing Olympics

I have been watching the Olympics these days. One thing I noticed is that the US media counts the TOTAL medals in their medal table, while the rest of the world count the gold medels. It's also interesting to find other people have similar observations as I do. A message left on BBC online is about this.

with the official olympic medal table, i assume that it is compiled firstly on the number of gold medals, then a mix of the silver and bronze medals? as on the official olympics website, and on the bbc site also, the table is assumed on this theory.

whereas on espn, sports illustrated etc. in the states, they focus on the TOTAL medal haul. is this because they know they will win the most medals (gold, silver and bronze) and thus ensuring they finish (in their minds) top of the medal table. because as it stands at 13:41 CET, china lead the table in the worlds eys, but team usa lead the way in those rose tinted lenses that the americans wear.

Mt Adams and China

I summited Mt. Adams, the second highest peak in the Washington State, last week. The weather was very nice and the view was great.

My friend, Amenda, organized it. We have a team of seven. We left Seattle at 4:30 on Saturday morning. We camped at the 9000 ft the first night. The second day 5am, we started our summit attempt. It was my first time to use crampons. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all. We summited at 10:45am. Going up was easier for me than coming down hill. We got back to the car around 6:30pm.



By the time we got back to Seattle area, it was almost midnight. I had to take a flight to China at 2:20am. My schedule was so tight that I didn't have time to go back home to have a show before I went to the airport.....

Chicago Millennium Park

I was in Chicago from July 7-11 for a conference. It was my second time to be in Chicago. Chicago is a very nice city with fantastic architecture and great parks. The Millennium Park is one of the many parks in Chicago.

Summer/Winter Hike

I went on a hike with two of my friends on the first weekend of July. It was an area we haven't been to before. The trees were beautiful. The weather was not great. You might see the snow covering the ground. We all had to wear long sleeves and rain jackets. In fact, it was cold and foggy. One of us even said "we should come back when it is summer"!

Seattle Skyline

I went to a park at Queen Anne with a friend of mine on Sunday. The weather was very nice. Seattle downtown skyline was quite pretty, wasn't it?

Three dogs and one cat

Summit View on the Granite Mountain

Two weeks ago, Amenda and I hiked up to the Granite Mountain. One third of the hike was still covered with snow. The weather was very nice. We had great views on the summit.


Mt. Rainier


Video clip of the 360 degree summit view


I'm in my heavy hiking outfit.


Amenda in front of half-covered waterfall

New Chief Economist of the World Bank

I read the news that Justin Yifu Lin, who is a Chinese economist, began as the new Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank in June. I believe that the rapid economic development in mainland China for the last 30 years might be one of the reasons the World Bank appointed a Chinese economist.

I didn't know much about him. I searched his name online. It turns out that he has so much interesting experience. He was born in Taiwan and joined the army of Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1971. In 1979, he swam across the water to the People's Republic of China (mainland China). He went to study at the University of Chicago in early 80s and went back to mainland China after he got his PhD in economics. Another interesting thing is that he may face arrest on charges of defecting from Taiwan's army 30 years ago if he visits his hometown in Taiwan.

Visa

I went to renew my US visa on Thursday in Vancouver, BC. I took a 3-hour bus ride to Vancouver from Seattle the night before. I waited in line for more than 2 hours to get my interview. The interview only took one minute. I waited another hour in line to get my passport back on Friday afternoon. On the way back to Seattle on Saturday, it took me more than more than 6 hours because my bus had to queue up at the US border for more than 3 hours.

Well, I should think that I went to Vancouver, at least an interesting city with a lot of things to do. At least I visited a friend who I haven't seen for a long time and we did some catch-up.

Winter in June

It was below 10 degree Celsius and raining heavily for the last few days in Seattle! It is June already! Where is my sunshine? Where is my summer!!!

Karma?

I just came back home from a dinner gathering and turned on my computer. My MSN was logged in. I saw a very strong comment against a Hollywood celebrity from a friend on MSN. I was puzzled. When I checked the Yahoo! entertainment news, I found out what happened. Sharon Stone's comments on Sichuan earthquake were indeed infuriating. What a Chinese TV host wrote in her blog reflects what I thought about Sharon Stone.

For those who can't read Chinese, here is a brief summary of the blog post.

What kind of Karma will Sharon Stone's comments on Sichuan earthquake bring to her?

Hundreds and thousands of people have died in the earthquake. Many more are and will be suffering for years to come. Sharon Stone's comments show she is insensitive and indifferent to life to people. This is frightening!!! Based on her logic, it could be that the Katrina in 2005 was the result of "bad karma" over the US government's invading Iraq. I'm certain that she wouldn't say that to her American fellows, even in her private home. However, she said in a public TV interview that the devastating May 12 earthquake in China could have been the result of bad karma over the government's treatment of Tibet. This shows she is not only ignorant, but also arrogant and biased.

Earthquake Prediction

It has been more than one week since the earthquake devastated Sichuan, China on May 12, 2008. I'm still searching and reading the news on the earthquake constantly. Am I having PMS right now?

I found an article on Wikipedia titled 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. It mentioned two academic studies that predicted possibility of a big earthquake in Sichuan in 2008. One study published in 2002 in a Chinese seismology journal "Recent Developments in World Seismology" analyzed the frequency and intervals of earthquakes happened in Sichuan since 1800 and concluded that

"Beginning with 2003 we should pay more attention to the possibility of an earthquake of M ≥7.0 occurring in Sichuan Province"

The other study published in "Journal of Catastrophology" in Chinese in 2006 analyzed all the M>6.7 earthquakes in Sichuan and Yunan region and found the trend that every 25 years a M≥6.7 earthquake would occur in the region. The article predicts that the Sichuan-Yunnan region may experience a M≥6.7 earthquake in 2008!!!!!

Note: The links to the full articles are embedded in the text.

On the Way to School on a Sunny Day

Mixed Feelings

I became very upset every time when I read the news about the earthquake in China. It is very sad to see people, specially the young ones suffer.

Parents are still desperately waiting for helps to get their child out from the rubbles.

A nurse is saving other people's life while her own child is still under the rubbles.

A teacher saved 13 students, but died on the way out.

Soldiers are crying because they couldn't save school kids under the rubbles due to the late arrival of the proper equipment.

However, I don't think I can just simply not read or watch any news about the earthquake. It happened at where I was born and raised. I have friends and family live there. My parents haven't heard back from all of their friends in Sichuan. We still have relatives who still spend nights in the big open space. How can I ignore it? How I can pretend it didn't happen.

It is great to see and hear the prompt response of the Chinese government and military. Prime minister Wen Jiaobao flew to Sichuan very soon when the disaster happened (with only 5 casualties reported at that time). NPR and NYT reported that the Chinese government handled the disaster as if they were the public elected officials. Comparing the response of George W. Bush to Katrina, who received the news from his assistant in a DVD the next day, I can say the responses of Wen have been way much better. A reader's comment on a Editorial in Washingtonpost put it in a much better way.

Looks like the Chinese have a pretty effective FEMA. I wonder why they didn't come over and help with Katrina. And if our paranoid jingoistic government objected, I am sure the UN would have authorized sending them in anyway.
Hopefully. they will next time.

However, one thing that strikes me the most is the school buildings and lost of student lives in the towns and cities nearby the epicenter of the earthquake. I'd like to see the investigations on those school and hospital buildings after the disaster relief, as I haven't heard many reports on the collapsed of the governmental buildings.

Random thoughts

My parents were traveling in Sichuan for 2 months last year this time. They have friends and family live in different cities in Sichuan. They went to Chengdu, Doujiangyan, Mianyang, Ya'an, etc. Earlier this year, they were planning on going there again in May. They changed their plan because I'll visit them and they want to wait for me to go there together in August.

A few days ago, when news reported that cyclone devastated Burma, I treated it as a piece of news. On the other hand, when I heard the news of earthquake in Sichuan yesterday, I was shocked, and started to worry, and became upset. It is true that I was born in Sichuan. I have spent more than 15 years there. I have been to most of the cities reported in the news. I have friends and family there. Personal connections dramatically change my attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. At the end, I'm still a selfish little human.

Earthquake in Sichuan--Part 2

I talked to my parents. They are safe.

My parents couldn't reach my mother's relatives who live in Sichuan until this morning. Those who live in Fulin, Sichuan have some impacts. They had to spend one night outside their home. Their houses might have some damages as well.

I'm relief. They're all safe at least.

Earthquake in Sichuan

When I got to the lab this morning, one of my labmates asked me if I heard the news about the earthquake in China. My heart was immediately hanging in the air. "Which region?" I asked. "Sichuan." I was a bit relief because my parents live quite far away from Sichuan. At the same time, I started to worry since many of my mother's relatives live in Sichuan. The first thing I did when I turned on my computer was to check the news.

NPR:

The deadly 7.8 magnitude quake hit China Monday afternoon — Xinhua News Agency reports that more than 8,533 people have been killed in the devastation. The quake flattened at least eight schools and one hospital, and its force was felt hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai.

I can't wait to call my parents......

Foreign Policy of Modern China

I'm finally taking a class whose context I'm familiar with. I have experienced or known all the events included in this week's reading for the class, Foreign Policy of Modern China.

I was an elementary school student in 1989 when June 4 accident happened. I was in high school in 1996 when the book--China can Say No--became popular. I was a sophomore in college in 1999 when the US bombed the Chinese embassy in Balgrade. I was about to graduate from college in 2001 when a Chinese F-8 jet fighter and an American EP-3 surveillance plane collided over the South China Sea. I have witnessed some of the reactions of the Chinese people towards all the events mentioned above.

Beginning the new school year right after June 4 event in 1989, all freshmen in college were required to have military training before the school started. That was still going on even in 1997 the year I entered college.

Of course, I heard of the book, China can Say No. People talked about it all the time: on TV, at work, in their spare time, etc.

In 1999 when the US bombed the Chinese embassy in Balgrade, my college schoolmates were so infuriated that many went to the protest in front of the US consular in Chengdu. I remember there was an English teacher who was from the US in my department in 1999. He was quite frightened. When he got into the classroom, he was so relieved that we didn't show that we wanted to beat him up. Even though the western media claimed that the protest was organized by the government, I believe it is very likely that the western media was fear of the popularity of Chinese nationalist.

When a Chinese F-8 jet fighter and an American EP-3 surveillance plane collided over the South China Sea and the secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld went crazy in 2001, many people I know were enraged. If the government had permitted another protest, I believe similar things like those in 1999 would have happened.

It was quite interesting for me to read articles and books discussing all the events and the Chinese public reactions to those events.

Korean Wave

Rain was ranked second on the TIME online poll on "who you thought should be on the list of the 100 most influential people of the year". His votes are much ahead of the number three: Stephen Colbert. Time described the result as a surprise. Well, Time is an American magazine and almost all of people listed in the Time 100 are Americans.

I bet most of Americans or Europeans do not know about or even have heard of Rain. Since I have lived in the US for a long time, personally, I don't know much about Rain either. However, I have heard of my Korean friends, Chinese friends, Taiwanese friends, etc. enthusiastically discuss Rain's TV dramas, songs, concerts, etc. If the director of Speed Racer have given the leading role to Rain, I believe the movie will attract much more worldwide audience, particularly more Asian audience.

Double Standards

I got back to be more social after my general exam. I felt I was self-isolated for a while. Now I started reading news again, beginning to meeting friends again, and resuming "求索" other than my graduate research focuses.

At the gathering last week, one of my American friends asked me about how I thought about Tibet, as Dalai Lama was visiting Seattle at that time and violence and protests in Tibet just happened. Coincidentally, I just read "The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama" by Melvyn C Goldstein. Tibet issue is not as simple as it is reported in the news. Some media, for example BBC, when it reported news about Tibet. The short information included in the news about Tibet was that Tibet was independent, etc. However, it never mentioned UK's ambition towards Tibet last century, the bloody slaughter of thousand Tibetans at the beginning of 20th century, or the treaty (agreement) signed with China on Tibet in 1904. Too sad, people in the western countries believed that they have accessed to more objective media report, and Chinese or people in the "Communist countries" only received government controlled news.

I have to say that when the west prise equal and just, their actions always are inseparable with double standards. Leaders from many countries said they would boycott the commencement of Beijing Olympic games. When the US invaded Iraq, even though people in many countries condemned it, no one said they would boycott anything or any event happening in the US. The west condemn China doing business with Sudan. However, it never mentioned in the western media that Japan was also buying a big amount of oil from Sudan.

Ticket

I reserved a free ticket online for a event on campus. The ticket was delivered to my house in an envelop with "Ms. Lin" on, but without postage or my mailing address on! One of my schoolmates who also attended the event told me that he got his ticket in mail with his full name, mailing address, and of course postage on.......

2008 Cherry Blossom

Three weeks ago, it was snowing in Seattle.



Today, it reached 24 degree Celsius (76 Fahrenheit). The cherry blossom on campus has attracted many people.



In the afternoon, I went to Magnuson park with a friend for Seattle library book sale. The dogwood trees (according to my friend) are blossoming as well.

家事国事天下事 事事关心

古人云：

风声雨声读书声 声声入耳
家事国事天下事 事事关心

I started to realize that my parents have done something extraordinary. My parents had eight years long distance relationship and they are still together. They just had their 30th anniversary last year. My mother took care of me by herself until when I was 3 year old. Then it was my father's turn. He had taken care of me by himself for 3 years (between I was 3 to 6). I have always known these things. However, I took them for granted. I expected that under the same circumstance, every parent would do the same thing. It was until recently that I realized that what they have done were something extraordinary.

I'm taking a course on Foreign Policy of Modern China from the Department of Political Science. I think I will have a better idea of foreign policy of China from a western perspective.

Last week, I went to a lecture on the latest Taiwan presidential election. I found it very helpful to understand political and social situations in Taiwan.

Lately, news on Tibet and Beijing Olympics has overwhelmed every major newspaper in the US and Europe. I think boycotting Beijing Olympics is a very naive approach to address human rights issues, or Tibet issues for that matter.

When I was in China, I wanted to read western literature, watch Hollywood movies, and speak English. After I came to the US, I would read books on China, go to see Chinese movies in the theater, and teach people speak Chinese. I realized I was a Chinese after I came to the US. I got to understand more about China and Chinese after I came to the US. The comparison between China and the US, Chinese and Americans help me identify the difference. I guess the differences define who we are.

General Exam--Part Two

I passed my general exam today!

After the oral exam this morning, my committee told me that I passed. It was great to hear that.

General Exam--Part One

I just emailed my general exam to my committee!!!

I have spent the last four days working on it. I stayed home most of my time during the exam. I took two walks in my neighborhood. Other than that, I was just writing, eating, and sleeping. I did sleep well. Except the first day, I woke up at 4:35am. I slept 6 hours a day.

Elizabeth proofread my exam before I handed it in. Sun brought me Korean noodles during my exam. My housemates had to keep their voice down the whole time......

The second part, oral exam will be on April 8th.

A very funny YouTube video

1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller"!

My name is 林琳 [Lin Lin].That is my full name.

What is your last name?

Lin. L---,I---, N.

What is your first name?

Lin. L---, I---, N.

What is your last name?

Lin. L---, I---, N.

What is your first name?

Lin. L---, I---, N.

My last name and my first name have same spelling.

Your last name is the same as your first name?!

My last name and my first name have same spelling.

This is the phone conversion I have every time if I call my bank, my insurance, or anything that requires my name.

What is your full name?

My name is Lin Lin. That is my full name.

This is another typical conversion I have when I meet people.

Please enter your real name.

or

Please enter your full name.

This is also a common situation I encounter if I register for some online social network such as Facebook.

I have no complain about my name. Even though I have a relative and a schoolmate from high school whose names are the same as mine, I like my name. Beside it has beautiful meaning, it is easy to remember and pronounce.

By the way, did I tell you that my name is comprised by two different Chinese characters? They just happen to have same pronunciation.

Happy New Year

Happy Lunar New Year!

By the way, I just scheduled my oral exam on April 8th! I'll take the written exam on March 25th!

Virtual Tour

Virtual Tour of UW cherry blossom