Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

Going to be in Japan soon, I can't really ignore what's happening in modern Japanese politics. Probably one defining feature is the people's lack of interest combined with their fleeting support for each incoming prime minister. With each new leader comes a sudden surge of high expectations for reform and dramatic positive changes…only to have that fervent support turn into disappointment and open criticism of the leadership only few months later when little changes are seen. Of course, no country can be as extreme as Japan where prime minister changes every few months for the last five, six years. But the point about people having unrealistically high expectations for their leaders is ever-present in all democratic countries, and the current trend in the United States may be a good example as well. While not anti-Obama in anyway myself, I am deeply concerned by the deep emotional involvement his supporters have displayed in the course of the presidential campaign. Liste...

The successful organization of the World Cup in South Africa should indeed be congratulated. Once again (after that controversial Games of the XXIX Olympiad held at Beijing from 8th to the 24th of August 2008), the international sports community has shown the insight and wisdom in steadfastly resisting widespread criticism regarding the choice of a seemingly unfit host nation. The fierce, spectacular, yet friendly competitions as well as the nearly flawless, despite some minor flaws, executions of the events have shown both the courage of the South African government to defy widely held negative opinions and proved once and for all that the choice of the host nation was not one to be regretted by the future generations. However, accompanying such tremendous success is an equally gigantic problem that has become gradually more prominent. Such is the problem of individual nations using international sports competition such as the World Cup and the Olympics and the success of their own ...

Just getting back from a 5-day solo trip through Xi'an and Zhengzhou to see the famous Terracotta Soldiers and Shaolin Temple, I am sitting in my living room in Shanghai downloading a game on Three Kingdoms (got a bit hooked when I was playing it in an Internet cafe in Xi'an) while thinking about how lucky I was to get bus and train tickets off scalpers that made my journey such a go-when-I-feel-like-it style that is my only enjoyable way to travel. At least here in China, the underground economy is everywhere. The brothels fronting as foot massage, karaoke, and dance clubs that I talked about in the last post, of course, are the most obvious example, but probably the only thing in this country that cannot have underground involvement is airplane tickets. Being known as the "world's factory floor" gives you the advantage of generating not only illegal services (brothels, taxis, scalping tickets, you name it, but these exist not just in China but all developing c...

Yep, if China could be considered a "morally righteous" country (like what the govt is trying the best to do...see last post), the "foot message," karaoke bars, and even "restaurants" better be controlled somehow...the pink lights streaming out of these places are really quite amazing...wait til nightfall, the country where porn is banned becomes a prime destination for sex tourism (I have heard quite a bit about sex tourism to China organized by Korean and Japanese companies...) Yes, you heard right...porn sites are completely banned here...in fact, if you try to access any porn sites (foreign ones, of course..anyone who try to register a domestic porn site is bound to be arrested...yes, there have been cases of that..and you think Internet is anonymous when you don't use your real name and identity...the cyber police is quite powerful and can track a lot of things down..its all prep for the cyber war, i.e. the war of the future) and actually manage t...

Today, there is an apparently growing trend of establishing wireless Internet connections in populated areas to benefit large numbers of users simultaneously with little cost. Most notably, many coffee shops and college campuses have already taken a lead in installing a network for customers, students, and faculty members, allowing for immediate rapid Internet access from all corners of their large coverage areas. In fact, the technology is probably most important not when used by some dude in a coffee shop sending emails, but in major industries that cannot be access physically and thus requires remote communication for control and smooth operations. The best example that comes to mind is oil and gas fields far away from population centers, such as those in the northern slopes of Alaska (that I so regret not being able to visit in my Alaska trip) Rapidly sharing information is necessary for the safety and efficiency of the oil and gas industry in the future. Instant communication b...

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...

As I mentioned previously, I became a US citizen not long ago , and the celebrations of my fellow citizens at the ceremony, waving their American flags, were quite a sight to behold. And when I was looking at the waving of the flags, a flashback just randomly popped into my head of a major controversy at Yale. Three Yale students, all of whom international, were caught burning an American flag on private property (i.e., they torched a flag that was hanging on the roof of some random house). The discussion of xenophobia and patriotism suddenly spiked because of the incident, and many, students and school officials alike, questioned the motives of the three students and the suitability of their continuing their studies at Yale.

Recently, there has been a big fuss about a Japanese company adopting English as its official language. Rakuten (which happens to be the company I will work for starting October) has decided to abolish all use of Japanese within the company by 2012, and all employees who do not learn English by then will be fired. Sounds rough...especially considering the senile board members are all Japanese (the CEO is Harvard grad so speaks English but what about others?) AND all business or casual communications within the company (water cooler talks and random chats over lunch included) will be conducted in English (even the ones between two Japanese employees). Now, there are praises for Rakuten's "ambition" and criticisms that the move is completely unnecessary because the company is not that global (yet, at least), but no one seems to be considering this radical proposal from a socio-cultural perspective. Yes, we all know that English is language of global communication and no lan...

In the document code he created in 1760 BC, King Hammurabi of Babylon used the “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” philosophy as a central principle of punishment for all crimes. While often resulting in disfigurement or death penalty for the offenders, the Code of Hammurabi, as the document came to be known, ensured stability and domestic harmony within the ever-growing Babylonian Empire, bringing the ancient Mesopotamian civilization to its zenith. However, such a legal tradition is coming under attack in the modern society, where there is a growing trend of perceiving the concept of capital punishment as immoral or even barbarian. Mounting evidence, on the other hand, suggests that capital punishment can significantly increase the welfare of the society as its increased implementation can bring about many economic and psychological benefits to the populace. One of the most severe problems our country faces today is the ever-growing cost of law enforcement. A large portion of the incr...

When people ask me where I stay during my many solo trips (yes, I take them a lot), I plainly tell them, "Hostels." I immediately receive facial expressions of absolute horror in return. Asked why, "don't you have to share some crappy, bunk-bed-filled rooms with complete strangers who might steal all your stuff and kill you in your sleep?" Sometimes I am absolutely amazed by the utter ignorance people display when they decide to open their mouths. Yes, you do have to share rooms with strangers in a hostels, and yes, sometimes you do have roommates with questionable backgrounds (such as newly freed inmates), but considering the purpose of a cheap hostel is completely the same as an luxury hotel, I don't understand how can people ever imagine a hostel to be something analogous in appearance to a prison cell... Granted, I have many friends who have never stayed in a hostel and probably never will (for example, the "Yalies who will never leave the comfort...

“You Asians all do…” For any Asian in America, hearing something like this from a non-Asian is about as common as it gets. Somehow, the non-Asians seems absolutely convinced that a quarter of humanity with diverse cultures can be lump-summed into one single term while the French and Russians are people of incredible difference that calling them “Europeans” collectively would be considered offensive. To my accusation, most reply that Asians “look the same,” “act the same,” and “seem to share a lot in common with each other” (they were quite serious when they said these to me, not a slight tinge of sarcasm). To which I would say, “could you enlighten me how the French and the Germans look and act incredibly differently and does not share much with each other?” Obviously, I am not saying only non-Asians are guilty of such cultural insensitivities (Asians say “white/black/”Mexican” people all do…” all the time) but it seems, unlike any other generalizations, people tend to not feel any s...

Sitting at a bus station in Charleston, SC about a couple of month of ago, a nice black lady next to me suddenly asked: "you are not from around here, are you?" heck, thats surprising. Don't know how many Asian you can find in South Carolina..."not I actually came down here from the Northeast to visit a friend." "oh, what do you do up there?" she asked. "I go to Yale University in Connecticut..." I blandly replied. "oh...you are one of those ..." she chirped back in a rather sarcastic fashion.

"Why don't you have a driver's license?" I get asked this question A LOT. It seems like not having the ability to drive in the States is pretty much unthinkable/incomprehensible for any grown adult here in the States. Especially here in Southern CA, "can't drive" is pretty much equivalent to "can't get anywhere"... Or is it?