Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

As President Obama withdraw American combat troops today, it can be said that the new Iraqi national government that have been so fragile and unstable outside of American protection finally receive a true chance to prove itself as a competent and independent entity capable of maintain stability in and effectively govern Iraq. Yet, to much of the world, the scenes in Iraq have hardly changed since that day President Bush announced the end of all major combat operations: American soldiers patrolling streets of Baghdad, workers constructing new oil pipelines and new buildings, and natives complaining about continuing American occupation. However, one thing changed significantly for the commoners of Iraq, in days before and after, major cities of Iraq including Baghdad and Mosul faced numerous terrorist attacks in which car bombs exploded on busy streets, insurgents actively engaged new Iraqi security forces in the streets and police stations while others sabotaged freshly repaired oil pip...

It has been more than seven years since President Bush declared war on Iraq. Few days ago, President Obama finally declared the end of all combat operations by American troops in Iraq as last of the combat troops departed for Kuwait. Of course, American involvement in Iraq does not end here. The State Department hires thousands of armed contractors to protect American officials in Iraq, in the process assuming many of the same roles as the American soldiers before the soldiers' withdrawal. But the move by President Obama is clear. He, as promised in his presidential campaign platform, wants America to walk out of the War's damages on its economy, reputation, and international image as quickly as possible, shifting focus on Afghanistan and domestic developments. However, as I will show in the next couple of posts, the influence of this particular war on the global perception of America and its unilateral actions will be lasting, especially considering the slogans of "fre...

Yesterday was my birthday (not much happened, I just had dinner with a friend in a Thai place...very good food, not that expensive...well, 100+ RMB per person, so its not that cheap either for a normal person, I guess) and tomorrow my father makes his return from the States. Given the intense scrutiny over alleged extramarital affairs that he is facing from the entire extended family (I would like to talk about the details even in this blog), the peace and independence I am enjoying right now will not return until I leave Shanghai for Japan almost a month later. Now, with my father back here, so will my grandmother get here from Nanjing to watch over him to make sure nothing else happens to aggravate the existing situation that further ruin the family name (I wrote about my rather uncaring and angry attitude toward this issue not that while back on this blog, so I won't talk about this anymore). I will be put in an incredibly awkward position between the silent tension between my ...

While in Taiwan and since coming back, I have been asked multiple times what are the most striking differences between the mainland and the island...and so far I have not been able to put the fundamental things in anything beyond a few superficial traits. Like I said in the previous post, Taiwanese people are respectful, polite, attentive to detail, allowing for a society filled with order. Traditions are protected and there is an overwhelming sense of peace and mutual trust within a service-oriented society despite a physical look resembling some old Chinatowns at certain parts. However, descriptions like this are definitely satisfying. People of both sides should expect something of this sort without the need for a visit to the other side. After all, reading the political and economic histories as well as the societal and ideological developments is enough to predict all such differences. Everyone on the mainland knows that Taiwan is ahead economically, especially when consideri...

Language unites a civilization. Only with efficient communication can a group of people bond so much as to consider themselves to belong to one society and one culture. A common language creates common languages and diminishes the separating effects of geographic and transportation barriers. Nowhere is such a principle more aptly illustrated than here in China, where 20% of humanity have become one nation through the use of Mandarin Chinese as a prevailing lingua franca. Sure, unintelligible local dialects still exists, but as internal migration pick up pace (and it certainly has with hundreds of millions of migrant labor moving into large cities), the power of local tongues has considerably weakened as people from all areas of China begin to live next to each other in expanding cities. People no longer use their local tongues because the majority of the people they come across everyday cannot understand them even if the tongues are used in the original localities. Politics have al...

Just got back to Shanghai after an overnight bus ride from Fuzhou (where I only walked around for an hour and a half after I landed on a ship from Matzu Islands in Taiwan)...now with the trip over and not much else to do before my father returns from the States and my grandmother getting here from Nanjing, I suppose it is time to write some reflections on the entire trip (two weeks long...even thought it was too much...after all, the Taiwanese leg happened rather spontaneously without much planning). The main purpose of this entire trip, seen retrospectively, is the comparison of mainland China with Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Same language and culture does not mean a similar present, and the result of 6 decades of different political and economic backgrounds really show on the outer appearance, social order, and especially, the characters and attitudes of the people, both to themselves and to each others, especially in the case of mainlanders vs. the other Chinese-speakers. Perhaps...

When I was planning my trip to Taiwan not that long ago (in fact, I didn't seriously think about it til I got to Xiamen, across the Strait from Taiwan....AFTER already on the road for a week in Wuhan, Guangdong Province, plus Hong Kong and Macao...I was kind of suspicions from Chinese border customs regarding why I am leaving the country 3 times in 4 days), going to an Internet cafe was definitely part of the plan...all the blocked sites, especially Facebook and this one (I have been posting via email for the past month and half on the mainland), need to be accessed... Now here I am, sitting in a loud 24-hour Net Cafe in Tainan City, my first chance in accessing the Internet in Taiwan...there is a dog barking and walking down the hall in the net cafe rather leisurely and I am getting constantly distracted by the sounds of someone playing some gambling machine next door (I suppose the net cafes here also do other entertainment options?)...so yeah, the writing is and will be pretty h...