tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-345954272024-03-07T22:04:01.388+08:00China travelsA log of a year in Jiangsu Nanjing, from August 2006Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-48717056886826886662007-06-01T13:49:00.001+08:002007-06-17T01:02:40.290+08:00Military Eugenics hospitalMilitary Eugenics hospitalIn a backstreet filled with small jewellers, food stalls, brothels and fruit sellers, by the crossing of Changfujie and Taipingnanlu, is the Nanjing Military Command eugenics centre. It's lovely to know that these things are practised to this day!Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-74492575981436059062007-04-20T18:58:00.001+08:002007-04-22T23:48:22.514+08:00Butterfly in the Ming public parkButterfly in the Ming public parkHuge black butterflies glide across the park for 8 months of the year. They've just come back and are all over campus!Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-53382808984401838332007-04-20T13:45:00.000+08:002007-04-20T14:06:26.940+08:00No rice!After a good solid meal of ten "lamb-on-a-stick"s and four "duck-heart-on-a-stick"s, something to soak up the meat is often good. This being China, a simple bowl of rice seemed the best and easiest option. So, in search of this basic staple, I went into a nearby restaurant, where a few people were being served food.The conversation went as follows:"Could I have a bowl of rice please?""Don't have Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-47268573934742022622007-04-20T11:09:00.000+08:002007-06-09T19:38:41.971+08:00Pukou Twin Dragon Hope SchoolRecently, due to a reduced timetable and a little inspiration, I've started working on a charity project.There's a huuuge poverty gap here, and people in the countryside can't afford good schooling, so they move to the city to do really underpaid hard work, and their kids go to school in the city. The problem is, cos they're from the countryside, workers can't register as residents in the city, Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-21836906911131579182007-03-30T17:25:00.001+08:002007-03-30T17:25:56.150+08:00NUAA in the eveningCIMG0706-smallThe campus here is filled with tree-lined avenues, that create a warm soft roof to walk under in the evening, and a sunshade for the hot days. Each tree forks into a V-shape, and over the years they've grown leaning toward the sun.Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-84111417851222297282007-03-21T13:36:00.000+08:002016-02-01T16:04:47.834+08:00Nanjing Presidential PalaceNanjing's Presidential Palace is a beautiful historic site. Nanjing was the capital of China for a long time, around five dynasties if memory serves, and so of course its seat of power is the location of many historic events. It's also rather plush.Rulers and residents have included Dr Sun Yat-Sen, the Japanese (when attempting a coup with the puppet Emperor - around the time of the rape of Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-42117772337198949232007-03-19T22:10:00.001+08:002007-03-19T22:17:12.790+08:00Blue Dragonfly Pukeblue-dragonflySo is the puke blue, or the dragonfly? This is the cover to a deck of playing cards. Note the manufacturer - I've heard of a niche industry but that really takes the biscuit!Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-30526141362154069182007-03-15T14:08:00.001+08:002007-03-15T19:26:08.365+08:00Efficient water storageWater storage heatersLarge shiny water tanks litter the roofs of Chinese "suburbia". These great little devices are a side offect of the small size of a residence, which often leaves as much as possible outside the windows or doors or even on the roof, and also a great way of boosting efficiency and keeping bills down. It's hard to buy non-energy saving bulbs, and public transport is always Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-75274435319609641822007-03-14T17:48:00.000+08:002007-03-14T17:59:56.880+08:00Victim of theftI've been the victim of bicycle theft!Well, not quite. They opened the lock, and then decided that the most valuable thing they could take wasn't my trusty, solid and speedy bike, but the actual lock (which in fairness did cost £1). So they left the bike. Now I have no bikelock. Buggers.Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-82585522254349416432007-03-12T12:42:00.000+08:002007-03-12T18:19:21.903+08:00First DateToday I held a lesson on first dates. This kind of topic is bound to result in some kind of awkwardness among Chinese students. The minimum age for marriage here is 22 for men and 20 for women, and I'd estimate that around 80% to 90% of my first- and second- year university students are virgins. Half of the younger generation still holds traditional values of no sex before marriage; the other Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-37666353452673596682007-03-11T15:19:00.001+08:002007-03-11T15:19:34.696+08:00Carp pool at Heilongtan, KunmingWe went to Heilongtan, a beautifully calm Daoist temple in the outskirts of Kunming. One thing they had was a carp pool. This in itself is barely worth mention - every tourist site in China worth its salt has a large pool of carp, and a sleeping person who will sell you a modestly sized bag of special fish food for a kuai or two. Anyway, there were loads here, and they were all very greedy fish. Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-5728586110602230622007-03-11T09:57:00.000+08:002007-03-11T11:35:53.599+08:00Military trainingAll Chinese university students have the first 4-6 weeks of their tuition off from lessons. Instead, they are trained by the Chinese army, using university ground and facilities. Uniforms are provided, as well as weapons. Training begins at around 7.00-7.30am, and finished at 5pm, with an hour or two for funch. Training activities include, in no particular order: marching on the spot, sitting in Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-36590551179076224422007-03-10T12:01:00.000+08:002007-03-12T13:30:52.604+08:00BuildingChina is under construction. Every street corner that you visit has a new building underway, with older houses being ripped down to make room for another enormous skyscraper. Nanjing used to be home to China's tallest building, the Jinling hotel, in 1990, with around 18 floors. Now, that honour falls to the Jin Mao tower in Pu Dong (Shanghai), which is also the fourth tallest building in the Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-28685470778903009702007-02-28T22:08:00.000+08:002007-03-01T12:12:01.733+08:00InfrastructureChina's enormous. All the cities are massive. People refer to a town of one or two million as "small". This kind of population requires a fantastic transport system, and the powers hat be are well aware; massive areas to the north, south and east of Nanjing (there's a river to the west) are mainly incomplete, but already have a complex and advanced system of wide roads ready to take all the Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-23736659327488637852007-02-26T13:15:00.000+08:002007-02-26T15:39:03.617+08:00Cute tricks with chicksThe chicks are growing! They love to sit by anything warm, as they're used to keeping hot beneath their mother. We've called them Soup and Curry. Chickens - even newly hatched baby chickens - peck at the ground constantly; as soon as one of them find something, the other runs over. So, if you tap on the floor lightly, like a beak pecking, they'll hear and run. (Press the play button in the Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-1604038430443922992007-02-26T12:16:00.000+08:002007-06-17T01:10:24.024+08:00Chinese lunch breakThe Chinese also have a saying about the importance of lunch as the main source of energy in a day: "早餐吃得好,中餐吃得饱,晚餐吃得少" (at breakfast eat well, at lunch eat until full, [and] at dinner eat just a little).The strangest thing happened when I first arrived here (and still does, every day): everybody in the office stopped doing everything at around 11.45, and ate (not too strange..), but when I Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-40407502179374290852007-02-25T14:43:00.001+08:002016-02-01T16:04:06.006+08:00Chicks<!--P1040857-->Yesterday, in Fuzi Miao, there was a lady with a polystyrene box filled up with baby chicks. We bought two (and got bulk discount!). They're barely bigger than eggs and need to be kept warm, and are only a few days old. And cute!Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-10281070837420535992007-02-12T13:51:00.001+08:002007-02-22T10:30:11.891+08:00Bizarre fruitBizarre fruitThis cheery lady offered us some very strange fruit on Ruijinlu (the main road just round the corner). I've no idea what they are! Any ideas?Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-72950314988414608282007-02-12T13:49:00.001+08:002007-02-21T10:58:26.709+08:00FIRE FIGHTING JURY EXCITER LAMPFIRE FIGHTING JURY EXCITER LAMPA whatnow?!Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-7515227681143727682007-02-12T13:38:00.001+08:002016-02-01T16:06:04.298+08:00BurmaChina, from BurmaWe're in Burma! Kids were playing in the border control station behind, and the crossing point is a hole in a barbed wire fence about 4 metres to the right of this photo. Sophisticated, eh? The guy who took us here wanted 150RMB for the service, which consisted of a 5 minute walk through a park and then a quick foot tour around some good Burmese monuments, such as the Museum Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-67425158559051311132007-02-12T13:31:00.001+08:002007-02-18T17:18:20.451+08:00Horse and cartHorse and cartThere were a lot of horse-powered carts around Kunming, especially on the motorway. This one clattered by down a minor road from the airport, with another two carts in front. It's obviously owned by a rich-ish (or lazy-ish) guy - the plastic pipes look light enough to be bundled and carried between two people without any kind of vehicle at all. Nice to see!Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-57422076153931417002007-02-12T13:26:00.001+08:002007-02-22T10:30:46.055+08:00Good steeringGood steeringWhere is he going? Nobody knows! Leaving Xuzhou, there was an enourmous tailback down a 5-lane road. This truck was the culprit. You can see the feet of the driver and his mate on the other side of the truck. Oncoming traffic moved onto our side of the road and starting squeezing round the back of this truck, leaving us no way to go. Of course, everybody starting on their horns - Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-72150361458576649452007-02-12T13:20:00.001+08:002007-02-16T12:38:12.337+08:00Meats on a stickMeats on a stickEating various meats on a stick is a great way to pass time. Lamb on a stick (yang rou chuan, 羊肉串) was the first meal I ordered on my own! Meat on a stick sellers can be found everywhere! The style of cooking often comes from the Xinjiang province in the west, which is very Muslim (relatively speaking). This is a picture of an outdoor meat on a stick restaurant; you pick what you Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-48980760196399379922007-02-12T13:03:00.001+08:002007-02-14T12:53:00.669+08:00FIAE EVACUATION CHARTFIAE EVACUATION CHARTA huge amount of broken English looks like someone's glanced at what should be written, and then tried to copy the shapes of the letters, with no real knowledge of English. Sadly, Beijing seems intent on stamping out all the hilarious Chinglish in advance of the 2008 Olympics - I read in China Daily that the Chinese think foreigners are insulted and can't understand the bad Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34595427.post-34459252093760688662007-02-12T12:33:00.001+08:002007-03-15T20:53:51.730+08:00Busy Fuzi MiaoBusy Fuzi MiaoFuzi Miao gets busy! This is just a Tuesday afternoon. The population here is immense, so much so that almost every business seems to succeed, no matter how much or little it's advertised - there are simply so many people going past that sooner or later, enough of them will provide some income. The Chinese seem to have a much reduced sense of personal space - probably as a direct Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339391715730317550noreply@blogger.com0