Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

My grandfather recently passed, dying after struggling with three different cancers for over 30 years...he was quite a remarkable man, having fought in World War II, Chinese Civil War, and the Korean War, starting his military career as a 17-year-old anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter and ending it as a colonel leading his artillery regiment in the North Korean battlefields. After suffering various wounds that made continuation of his military impossible, he became a high ranking administrative official, becoming the dean and headmaster of various major academic institutions...he certainly was the pride of my extended family. With that said, obviously his passing is a big deal around here. That is especially true for me, his oldest grandson and legitimate heir (of what, I still am not sure...his legacy of military and administrative success, I suppose?)...and then here comes the biggest irony of all: while he was breathing his last breath on the hospital bed, surrounded by his other fami

When I tell people how USA and China are similar, the first thing that comes to my mind is how in both countries, "people treat each other like shit." While crude sounding, for anyone who has been in any contact with over the counter customer services (I am not just talking about pharmacies but also things like small shops, post offices, buses, or anything else that requires direct verbal interaction between the customer and the worker on the spot) can tell you, the rudeness frequently encountered is quite similar in both countries. Probably beyond even that, just ask for directions on the road, people who are asked the questions are frequently ignored or simply given something highly ambiguous in an extremely impatient manner. Now, imagine you didn't actually speak English or Chinese, how pissed off would you get when you are given the cold shoulder as you try to get around places as a complete stranger (yet, it is kind of surprising to note that the USA and China are 2n

Watching Chinese TV at home in Shanghai, I am surprised (not really) by how the same hosts, same singers, and the same comedians makes same appearances in concerts and "galas" that practically have not changed...eh...since I started watching TV in China....(just an explanation, "gala" is a comprehensive TV event that incorporates all sorts of entertainment, i.e. comedy, dancing, singing, acrobatics, magic, etc. in a short time, generally around two to four hours....yes, it has roots in communist thought as a form of mass entertainment for the common people because they can see all this in a short time for free...and its a form of mass employment for little known entertainers as each of these galas generally involve more than ten thousand people in performance, logistics, and preparations) To be fair, there has been reforms in Chinese media: the provincial TV stations have evolved to more than local rebroadcast stations of China Central TV (CCTV), the main propaganda

People tend to assume that when Chinese people are atheist, they are not really anti-religion, they are just brainwashed by the government to do. And when they immigrate to the West and become devotedly religious, it is because they are enjoying the freedom that they did not have back at home. Now, at the risk of sounding purely anti-Chinese (and making this blog way too China-focused after the last post), I would have to say that Chinese people (in China) are not religious because they have no idea what religion entail and simply thinks religion is some foreign idea that is incompatible with Chinese thought. In some ways, this belief is true. When Westerners label Confucianism and Daoism to be "religion," they seemed to have completely ignored their roles within Chinese (and East Asian) society and history. They have been unifying philosophical ideas that allowed for social integrity and political stability. On the other hand, true religions (such as Christianity, Islam,

OK, I finally got to Shanghai after about two and a half days spent in airports and planes...and probably most annoying aspect of being here, besides the insanely hot weather (95 degrees and 95% humidity) is probably the fact that most sites Americans tend to access (a lot of news sites, Facebook, Youtube, blog sites including Blogspot...yes, I can only post via email now) are completely gone here...while, of course this is not news, but the sites and softwares that allow for proxy access to bypass the so-called Great Firewall of China have themselves been banned, showing the increased sophistication of Internet monitoring in this country. Now, we all know certain sites are blocked for political reasons (news sites and blog sites with their "anti-Chinese" writings) and others for economic protections (Facebook and Youtube blocked so their Chinese counterparts can practically have monopolies of their domestic markets), but considering that both the Chinese netizens and the CCP

I like to take up the pen when I am bored (like right now , as I sit through another few hours in San Diego airport), it makes me fill productive, well, at least my random thoughts are not wasted, haha... motivation to write indeed) For any writer, the ultimate goal is always the same: to publish your works and allow others to know you by the views you express in your words...yet, it seems like the number of aspiring writers is just so great in number, that published newspapers/magazines that accept open submissions seems infinitesimal in comparison. Sure, most of these writers are jokes: their images of their own writings are so great that they generally refuse to even proofread their own works after the initial rush to get the words down on paper. For anyone else who read their works, their often expressed self-confidence is the hallmark of their ludicrousness in proclaiming themselves to be "writers." I am a typical example of this bunch. My writing, especially when expre

In case you didn't realize, that was pure sarcasm coming from someone who is now in his 19th hour being stuck at San Diego airport on his way to China (yes, he never left). Just to give a quick summary of the situation: I was originally scheduled to leave San Diego yesterday (the 16th) at 10am for Salt Lake City, transfer to Tokyo, then onto Shanghai, arriving 9:20pm on the 17th...then, flight from San Diego to Salt Lake City was delayed nearly two hours, meaning that I cannot connect to the Tokyo flight from SLC. The ticket representative thus rebooked me for San Diego to Detroit (at 11pm, a 12-hour wait...) from then onto Shanghai, a direct flight arriving 7pm on the 18th... THEN, after a murderous 12-hour wait in the airport, San Diego to Detroit flight got cancelled, leaving me to reschedule once more: this time leaving from San Diego to Minneapolis to Tokyo to Shanghai, leaving here at 7am (another 6 hour wait at airport...eh...) and arriving at 9:20pm on the 18th (so, exactly