I'll Shine until I Fall

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010

2010-10-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Liu Xiaobo for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has long believed that there is a close connection between human rights and peace. Such rights are a prerequisite for the "fraternity between nations" of which Alfred Nobel wrote in his will.

Over the past decades, China has achieved economic advances to which history can hardly show any equal. The country now has the world's second largest economy; hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Scope for political participation has also broadened.

China's new status must entail increased responsibility. China is in breach of several international agreements to which it is a signatory, as well as of its own provisions concerning political rights. Article 35 of China's constitution lays down that "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration". In practice, these freedoms have proved to be distinctly curtailed for China's citizens.

For over two decades, Liu Xiaobo has been a strong spokesman for the application of fundamental human rights also in China. He took part in the Tiananmen protests in 1989; he was a leading author behind Charter 08, the manifesto of such rights in China which was published on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 10th of December 2008. The following year, Liu was sentenced to eleven years in prison and two years' deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power". Liu has consistently maintained that the sentence violates both China's own constitution and fundamental human rights.

The campaign to establish universal human rights also in China is being waged by many Chinese, both in China itself and abroad. Through the severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China.

Oslo, October 8, 2010

Take a Breath

2010-07-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

People in China are divided into 7 grades, geographically, regarding liberty.

The first grade is people in Hong Kong and Macau. Technically, we are Chinese all the same. They are free to visit blogspot and many others.

The second is people from Shenzhen. They are free to visit blogspot and others ONLY WHEN they travel to Hong Kong and Macau, where they have multiple entry permissions on a year-by-year application basis.

The third is people from Guangdong Province. The province is on the F List; also, it is geographically closest to Hong Kong and Macau. Technically, it means same day travel available. (F List - tourist entry permit, it grants permit to enter HK and Macau up to twice within one-year period. You are only allow to renew the permit after the previous permit used up or expired.)

The fourth is people from other provinces on the F List. These are mainly costal areas. However, for these people, travelling to Hong Kong and Macau means immoderate shopping and gambling instead of taking a breath in the freedom of exploring the Internet.

The fifth, people from provinces that are not on the F List, which means, on the L List. The L List only grants group travel once at a time. For many, travelling to HK and Macau is once-in-lifetime. It means sightseeing, shopping and gambling.

The following grade is people never even heard of Hong Kong and Macau. Nor GFW. Nor freedom of speech.

At the bottom is people never knew they have such rights.

It is not the fault of people. They are never told to and, they are still struggling to suvive which is their topmost right.

China is rich but you never know how deep the gap is.

Minitrue

2010-01-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

It's COMPLETELY North Korean.

Blogbus (www.blogbus.com) is bad too and is also dead. Big Brother is watching us and we are happy.

A Tagline

2009-12-20T18:11:00.000-08:00

As responding to Chihong's last comment, I recalled this inspiring sentence. It reminds me not to give up hope because...

Every human heartbeat is a universe of possibilities.

WFG

2009-11-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

I cannot use blogspot in China.

There aren't any bad words about China in my blog, I'm sure. It's too sad that it blocks me from writing my blog. It also blocks everyone else from writing, reading or searching for any blogspot sites. There is plenty of cool stuff on those blogs, but people live in China - anyone crosses the Chinese border - doesn't have the right to pursue interesting stuff in life.

Let's talk about giving

2009-08-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

A shorter post, to allow myself take a shorrrrrrt break from that neverended essay...

It's cool stuff, too. I came across this post by Lauren Burgoon from Georgetown U. It talked about how people react to micro-philanthropy:

https://digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/blogs/msfs-556-spring2009/kiva-birthday/

...from his own experience.

It's not a dry piece of research paper (like the one I'm writing now><) It's interesting to find out that...

"It’s not only fun to search for projects that do speak to my interests, but also to see how fast they are fully funded." Yeh we can make it fun to give (ref to that loan use description goes: Buy more meat).

The last paragraph is also key to us.

I think Givology should try harder to enlarge our community.

Good night...

Summer

2009-08-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

Black: I want to drag you out of the room...

INDECOS - II

2009-08-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Aug 10 – 17, 2009, Matara

(II)

People working here are awesome. I admit that I enjoyed being with a group of nice girl friends and gossip around :-PPP The girls are very hard working and they love working here. Everyone get along really well. I have to say female staff is INDECOS’ asset: think about WEP or house visits to parents, these girls are from the local area and can easily approach village families, especially Mums working at home. They are good listeners and advisors. The WEP Manager, a 36-year-old young lady (we think she’s 18), said women would think of them when they have problems. They think the WEP team is reliable. Building up trust is important.

Photos 38&39: Girls girls girls:)

Needless to say males are of equal importance :-P INDECOS director Conrad is a great person, experienced and kind. We shared and exchanged a lot of ideas, he did teach me what I’d value for life. He wants to save the poor through “empowerment” – a word that has always being mentioned by him. Given education, they can help themselves out. We need to guide them to realize their potential and the community’s resources, e.g. help students realize their dreams, housewives realize their ability to earn a living rather than totally depend on their husbands, teenagers realize they can choose a healthy sex life… and facilitate them to achieve the potential, e.g. through micro-credit, or a little scholarship funds. He wants the projects to be transparent, people to be motivated by their own intention. Even when the worst come, they don’t give up the people they care for (they have been facing shortage of funds in HIV/AIDS projects; year after year they carry it on as vulnerable teenagers need the education, esp. in rural areas). The reason I trusted INDECOS to make a difference is Conrad’s mind has every influence here, they believe in creating a change deep inside. Dr. Ekanayaka with nutrition project and Chathuranga with Star for Life are two other gentlemen with the same great heart.

Photos 40&41: Conrad and Pearl; Chathu.

Time to say goodbye and I wish more time could be spent with them. The good news is I’m spreading this and hopefully soon, we are re-connecting through giving and learning:)

Photo 42: Again, GIRLS:)

INDECOS - I

2009-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Aug 10 – 17, 2009, Matara

(I)

INDECOS is a mature NGO in Sri Lanka. Since commencement in 1991, it has completed 60 projects and is now doing 9 projects, big and small. The most impressive aspect, besides her high-motivated staff, is that they stretch out to the local community and give really hands-on coaching to the people – they love, and be familiar with the local people.

Photo 33: Mr.Conrad lecturing to 15-year-old village children.

Photo 34: WEP team surveying women in tsunami areas.

Her full name is “Institute for Development of Community Strengths”. One of her label recent undertaking is the women entrepreneurship development since 2005 (the current project “Women Entrepreneurship Program” – WEP – starts in 2007), a micro-credit project targeting tsunami-affected women. INDECOS is now self-sufficient in providing loans, no longer relying on sponsors. I mentioned this project because it has convinced me that INDECOS is successful at the grassroot level. That weeklong visit to the schools made me seriously consider that awareness to education reckons on family support. Even poor families can put education at the first place when they are convinced of the power of it. We can’t just provide them money occasionally, but to empower them continuously – this is also the belief of INDECOS.

Photo 35: Community meeting.

Photo 36: Tree planting activity.

Since about 5 years ago, INDECOS has conducted many projects targeting children. I have written about MCC (Matara Children Centre), which provides preschool education to kids from low-income families, skills training and scholarship to high school students and other awareness raising programs such as Star for Life. I have been spending most of my time in MCC reviewing their projects especially getting an insight into her scholarship scheme. Since they have years of experience in student sponsorship, and have built up close relationship with local schools (not only through MCC, but also HIV/AIDS projects, environment education projects, anti-abuse campaigns, and even WEP), I think it is suitable for a cooperation with Givology, to utilize its widespread Internet platform to support Matara local children.

Photo 37: Dr.Ekanayake delivering HIV/AIDS lecture to village kids.

Inside the Mountains - II

2009-08-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

Aug 7, 2009, Pussellawa

(II)

I asked about family incomes. Averagely a working labour in tea fields earns 300 Rupees (rs) a day, working 20 days, they earn 6000rs ($52) a month. When there’s plenty of rain (wet season is from May to November, to my knowledge), they might get more but not exceeding 8000rs ($70). If there are two working labours in the house (father and mother), they can expect 12000rs income per month. The problem is the increasing living cost in this country. Food expense is 200rs per head per day, and in mountain areas, unlike costal areas, they have 4-6 children in a family; some have retired parents to look after. 600rs income per day (both labours) to feed 6 or more people – this leads to very low quality of life. One-labour family is even more difficult.

Photo 28: A Grade 5 girl looking out of the window.
Photo 29: Paintings on the wall. The "Longing for rain" theme indicates an agricultural society.

The school is not in bad condition, among all schools I’ve paid visit to. However, a lot of help are expected to generate, you can imagine. No lights in classrooms, old desks and chairs, lack of lab facilities, just to name a few. I met the principle Mr. Rajendiran. He showed great concern to the school and the students. As the teacher mentioned, the principle has insisted in developing their school and keep claiming their needs to the government (who distributes resources to all schools), and this is why the school is being maintained so well.

Photos 30&31: The school off the road of the mountain. Spectacular views surrounded. You can see this classroom building, it's very dark inside - very dark.

One day only, and I could not forget this “surprise” of the trip. During the weekend, I always saw students walking in the mountain paths, and recalled me of this small school off road of the huge mountain. They said there are 15 schools in Pussellawa area, and almost the same size in other towns. All these schools are serving very poor children – the large population from tea farmer families.

From friends I met in Colombo, I also learned about poverty among tea peasant families. A gentleman working in the NGO Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has organized volunteer groups to help these children complete school, even go to universities (it’s very rare), and its Outreach Unit in CPA now is organizing exchange programs cross country. My friend Chandrika from Outreach is now initiating a scholarship plan. With Outreach’s engagement at the grassroots, I wish the plan every best – as we see, a lot of good wills are generated. They can do it, so can we.

Photo 32: A classroom filled with students. There are not enough teachers in the school. Photo 33: Big boys.

Inside the Mountains - I

2009-08-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Aug 7, 2009, Pussellawa

(I)

Holiday break! Well the truth is that I felt sick of the heat in the south, my arms and legs were covered with strange red dots – a long weekend into the cool mountain climate can be a therapy:-P

Photos 23&24

It was a coincident that I stepped in Saraswathy Central College in the middle of the mountains. After a 2-hour adventure on several wrong buses (|||), I met a warm-hearted lady on a bus, (finally someone speaks English! Orz-) She told me that she is an English teacher in a primary school, and she is now going to work. “In the mountains?” “Yes, it takes me an hour everyday.” “How is the area?” “Very poor.” I didn’t hesitate and went off the bus with Renuka.

This is the mountain area in Central Sri Lanka. Pussellawa, the name of the town, is right in the middle between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, where prosperous in tea planting, boomed in tourism, yet under poverty among peasants. It is a huge area.

I was brought to the classrooms by a teacher. Like many times before, students were warm. Teachers were also showing extreme friendliness to me. Students followed the teacher’s “instruction” to greet me in English, and even sing a song to welcome me. As an “unexpected visitor”, I was fluttered indeed :-P They didn’t prepare for this, they just like to see you there and smile to you. What lovely people!

Photo 25: You can see some shoes are totally worn out...
Photo 26: Student attendance in Grade 12 class.

The teacher sometimes told me in person a student that needs special help. I saw these children having class, playing with their peers, and innocently smiling at me. And I was told that they either lost father, lost mother, or have disable parents. In average, there are 5-6 children of this kind in one class of 30. I also noticed that over half the students don’t have proper shoes, many are already worn out (badly, you’d have thrown it away 3 years ago in the US), and some with slippers on or simply bare feet. Note that it is as cold as UK here in the mountains, unlike the rest of Sri Lanka.

Photo 27

Smiling Angels

2009-08-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

Aug 1 – 4, 2009, MCC, Matara

The 4th week I came down to Sri Lanka’s south point Matara. South of Matara District is the fishery area by the beautiful India Ocean, and was caught in the tsunami; north of it is tea plantation mountain area, rich in natural scenery yet poor lives.

I was introduced to INDECOS, an NGO dedicated to community development since 1991. It was thrilled to go over the 69 projects they have completed during the 18 years, and I thought, “what an accomplishment!” As I will have the last 2 weeks working in their headquarter, I may write about it later. Here is MCC show time, Matara Children Centre managed by INDECOS.

Photos 15&16: They are happy here.

It was of immense pleasure working here. 20 lovable sweet cute adorable lovely (…) preschool children come to school every morning. Some 20-30 high school students come in the afternoon for skills training. Filled with kids and young people, the centre is full of passion and joy!

Photos 17&18: Preschool children showed me their masterpieces! Very creative work!!

MCC is a place for children from marginalized, low-income families in Matara. Funded by the Swedish Friends of Children in Sri Lanka (SFCSL), she is now providing free pre-school for 20 children; free skills training, namely computer, English, dancing, music and cookery, for 180 students; scholarship for 104 poor students; and other education programs for low-income families in Matara.

Photo 19: A girl granted scholarship whose father died, and lives in a small house with her mom and 4 younger brothers and sisters.

Photo 20: Computer classes. There are 10 computers in the Centre.

I had a close look at MCC’s scholarship program, from the budget to each student’s profile. The first impression was that it looks exactly like a “Givology profile”! These students were selected through formal procedure by MCC staff. They were firstly recommended by school principles. Then interviews and house visits were conducted by MCC. Face-to-face communication is a priority in MCC programs. Here they guarantee visits to each house, talk to the students and their respective families, not only at the selection process but also throughout the program; they review students’ study and other problems on a regular basis, as well as talk to teachers for updates. Narmada and Rasika are field coordinators. These ladies are so familiar with each student and their family members, “my students” is what they call them.

The program started in 2005 with 10 students funded by SFCSL, and has supported 65 students through the years, now 60 students are benefiting (while 5 are not likely to continue study) from SFCSL funds and another 39 are sponsored by Japanese, Canadian and Australians, mostly volunteer families. From Grade 8 or 9, students are granted SLR600 ($5.23) each month until finishing A-level (Grade 13), or until they decide not to continue study. 600 Rupees is far from enough, but it made a difference; MCC is longing for more funds.

Photos 21&22: Little flowers!

They are also hoping to have volunteers coming to teach English on a regular basis. Anyone interested in forming a Go to Sri Lanka group? :-P I’m 100% supporting it!

55 months after the Tsunami - II

2009-08-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Jul 27 – 31, 2009, Galle, Hambantota and Matara

(II)

3) POVERTY AMONG STUDENTS. For individual students, it is also helpful to offer them a hand. These fishery communities are in poverty. Education is not an extra burden for them like other poor countries, as they have a free system that exempts parents from tuition fees, books expenses and uniforms. Still, raising 1 or 2 kids in a family and providing food, cloths and stationary is difficult. If only we could help students a little, they are much better off.

Photos 13&14: A school in a very poor rural area. This is the only building it has. (taken at Janadiphathi Mahinda Rajapaks Rotary School)

Despite all the above sad parts, the visit filled with pleasure and laughter. Students are super SWEET. Typical Sri Lankan tropical smiles accompany us all the time! They were waving hands when we caught sight of them, greeting us in simple English, following us wherever we go, rushing to the camera when I was taking pictures… They simply like you.

Photos 15&16: They are warm, and curious:)

A typical day starts at around 7am – as school starts at 7:30 and finishes early at 1:30. Travelling long distance between each cluster in rural areas took up much time. So everyday before 2pm was very tight, only to take a short break on the van. Splendid sceneries in deep south Sri Lanka had exploited my break time though…

Photos 17&18: They deserve a better life.

This week was impressive. I saw the schools and their communities myself, and was moved by enthusiastic students and teachers. Deep thoughts surrounded me at the meantime: NGOs always take rapid responses after disasters, but have we considered taking away an existing aid may have put people back in trouble? These schools are all state-of-the-art buildings with high standards; today, all lights are off, computer labs are empty, toilets are stuck and messy, and so on and so forth. It is not the donor that to be blamed (quite a few of them ended up with shortage in funds, or incomplete work, though, and some designs didn’t take into account the real needs and circumstances), but we should be more aware of the blind spots after the short enthusiasm.

Greetings from Thallala Maha Vidyalaya!

55 months after the Tsunami - I

2009-08-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Jul 27 – 31, 2009, Galle, Hambantota and Matara

(I)

One-week assessment-trip to tsunami devastated areas – realizing the frustration of IDP camps permission, on the same day my colleagues travelled to Vavuniya (the largest IDP camp), I was arranged to alternatively conduct a school maintenance survey in tsunami areas.

photo 3: Students happily playing cricket on the playground. This IDP school is lucky, it has plenty of space for a playground. But it is dusty in the sun and muddy in the rain. (taken at Devapathiraja Maha Vidyalaya)

It’s more than 4 years since the tsunami washed up this area in Southern Sri Lanka. As a response to the tsunami, donors gave funds for the rehabilitation of a majority of the affected schools. Input in construction was immense, well facilitate schools were built up and after that, schools were handed over to the government. Teaching has returned to normal. This re-visit intends to find out whether buildings and facilities are being properly used, and how much the community participates in the maintenance – it is assumed that an active community participation solves the current problem of non-participation and eventually improve the quality of education.

Photo 4: All donor schools have nice buildings. This school is well decorated yet, suffering from extremely dry climate, no plants are grown. (taken at Tsu Chi National School)

Altogether we visited 12 schools. Findings showed that lots of supports are absolutely needed in these schools in the long run: construction of buildings is only the first step that guarantees education to take place. I see the major problems as:

Photos 5&6: Toilets. No water supply is a common problem. (Taken at Thallala Maha Vidyalaya and Kirinda Muslime Vidyalaya)

1) NO FUNDS AT ALL to pay for maintenance. A majority of schools are rated poor in maintaining existing facilities, namely classrooms, labs and toilets. Some schools are extremely dirty and the environment has affected study activities. All schools claimed that it is lack of funds that made them unable to keep a tidy environment, e.g. no one takes the cleaning duty (no money to pay for a cleaner, while teachers & students are not able to clean the whole school), or no brooms and soaps etc.

To date, not a single classroom turned on the lights. I asked every school about this, and replies were identical: they cannot afford the electricity bill. A number of schools were cut electricity from time to time. Classrooms are dark even during daytime.

Photos 7&8: One school has bad leaking pipes; the other doesn't have tabs or water at all. (taken at Zahira School and Kudawella Jayawickrama)

2) LACK OF RESOURCES for further development. Currently, except for the government, there are no funding sources for the schools; apparently a poor country cannot afford this expensive (free) education system, and the schools lack outside resources. The tsunami was somehow an “opportunity” to receive international aids, but once the money quit, they remain nothing.

In almost every tsunami-affected community there is a voluntary “school development committee” formed by parents, teachers and principles. This was initiated to help out schools via community participation (through regular meetings). But 2 problems make this function less useful: firstly, they are not able to fund. These are poor areas and limited capacities within the community in terms of funding. Funding remains a problem never solved in SDC meetings. Secondly, they lack capacity also in terms of participation, i.e. discussion, putting forward solutions, execution, etc. A teacher pointed out that capacity building is a “pre-requisite” for the committee. The major reason behind is, as several principles observed, that 75-80% of parents are fishermen – this means the father goes out for weeks in the sea, and the mother looks after all household routines; participation among fathers is impossible while decisions are hardly made by mothers – men dominate decision-making. As a result, the 2-3 time annual SDC meetings don’t bring schools a better situation.

They need help from the outside. Now they feel abandoned.

Photo 9: Students and their parents cleaning the classroom. (taken at Rathgama Siri Sumana Primary College)

Photos 10, 11&12: Happy faces of the kids. You can't help but LOVE them:) (taken at Rathgama Siri Sumana Primary College, Janadiphathi Mahinda Rajapaks Rotary School and Kirinda Muslime Vidyalaya)

Emergencies in IDP Camps - II

2009-08-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Jul 10 – 24, 2009, TERM office, Colombo

(II)

Day after day I was planning to go to an IDP camp – my help is small but I know there are chances I can accumulate lots of help around the world. Settling the 800,000 IDPs or nearly 80,000 students is a long-term undertaking and, the major responsibility should lie in its government. But something need to be done by second and third sectors. Very disappointed, chances for a more open international aid atmosphere are closed up through strict permission.

I think, due to the previous exposure of IDP camps during war, the criticism on risking civilians’ lives for extinguishing LTTE, and the lack of transparency in the tsunami aid (not only in Sri Lanka) known by the world as international persons from media and NGOs ‘rushed in’, as well due to the actual chaos in humanity aid coordination in the tsunami, the government is now very cautious towards any foreigner who wish to visit post-war areas.

Gradually I knew how strict the permission is, or impossible. News is saying this. My colleagues say there are only 15 NGOs are permitted under rigid process, all are international NGOs. I met a lady from North Yorkshire volunteering for the Methodist Church and she had been waiting 7 weeks for it – no hope so far.

The organization I’m working for – Tsunami Education Rehabilitation Monitor (TERM) has contracted with the government to ‘monitor’ i.e. support, coordinate and supervise post-tsunami education rebuilding. Gaining the trust of Ministry of Education during 4 years’ work, it got permission to go into IDP camps intending to monitor post-war education rehabilitation. They obtained loads of information in needs assessments (what I am analyzing now), and the next step is to try to identify the needs and distribute aids accordingly.

Photo 2: My favourite part in TERM office: children's paintings, describing the tsunami moment. Moving pictures...

I wrote this to tell you that the education gap in war affected areas is huge. It deserves our continuous concern. Currently grassroots cannot access freely, yet time will come when we can reach out our hands to these children.

p.s. I was told to keep needs assessment figures confidential, so no concrete number is showed here.

Emergencies in IDP Camps - I

2009-08-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Jul 10 – 24, 2009, TERM office, Colombo

(I)

It’s been two weeks in Colombo. It is such a massive city that I have to commute for more than 30 minutes from Y.W.C.A. to the office on the other side of the city, and crossing Colombo streets is not as pleasant as travelling the Highland railway. Except for this black half-hour, days are generally cozy: imagine a white-collar work from 9am to 5pm everyday. It is just like that. Though I faced loads of data collected from the fields – SAD data, giving them emotions – and felt that much is needed to be done, I just had no idea how much longer an ‘outsider’ like me has to wait for permission to see the real situation inside IDP camps.

Two weeks of data analysis and reporting has given me a lot of insight into the education downturn in war-affected areas. Not only were children killed, injured, losing parent(s) or, in LTTE controlled areas, becoming child soldiers, all residence were forced to leave their homes and placed elsewhere like refugees, these are IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) temporarily sheltering in crowded, short-facilitated IDP camps.

There are ‘schools’ in IDP camps, though. These are either space under a tree or a tent, accommodating fifty to hundred children in a time. They are in short of teachers, as teachers are also victims of the war. Lack of exercise books, blackboards, desks, chairs etc is needless-to-say. Also, in Sri Lanka, students don’t go to school without proper uniforms (in their free education system, the government provides 1 uniform per student. I have never seen a student go to school without uniform, even preschool children. Sri Lankans see proper dressing as crucial, no matter rich or poor), and they are in great need of uniforms, too.

Absence from school is common, 10-20%. Some areas exceed 20%. Reasons vary, some due to war and some awareness. Insufficient health service and lack of continuous medicine supply make ill children unable to attend school; shortage in materials (exercise books, pencils…) also causes missing attendance – in the case of school uniforms, again, children have to use the same one-and-only uniform for a week, so some are not willing to go to school because of this; there are domestic difficulties. Children are involved in housework, or are sent in queues for food and water distribution in camps. Some parents are not interested in sending children to school…

And there is a high percentage of children under stress. Also some children lost father or/and mother, injured or disabled. These children need special attention. In the IDP camps, there are nearly 40% of them!

photo 1: Colleagues in TERM. 2 gentlemen on the right are North IDP program officers; the lady and the gentleman on the left Tsunami program officers.

p.s. I was told to keep needs assessment figures confidential, so no concrete number is showed here.

Amazing Bubbles

2009-07-24T02:22:00.000-07:00

English photographer Richard Heeks shot a series of Bubbles...

I've been more than a little obsessed with photographing soap bubbles. A good day is a still day with slight cloud (diffuses the sunlight).

The lens is always in the centre of the bubble reflection. I find that reassuring for some reason. Life is rarely so simple.

'A small act is worth a million thoughts'

2009-06-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

Before looking into what is happening in China, have a quick glance at the world: Video clips entering into the Internet Censorship Contest (click to view a list of Truth Rising Trailers - more under 'Research related links') hosted by Alex Jone's PrisonPlanet.com and Infowars.com; also some links collected by Infowars.com; GlobalVoices Advocacy; and the recent case in South Korea (More recent is an investigation. Roboseyo has commented). Although my attention was totally drawn by the insanely severe censorship in China, and recently Iran, I'm thrilled to know that US, UK, Australia and Germany are also fear of the Internet...welcome to the communist world.

The rulling powers are too afraid to judge which one is dangerer, giving in their privilege in watching over us or forcing us to give in our private rights. A result of a much 'ordered' Internet is, according to Infowars.com, 'those who comply with centralized control and regulation of content will be free to enjoy the new super-fast Internet 2, where DVD quality movies can be downloaded in seconds, but at the cost of the Internet losing its role as the last true outpost of freedom of speech.'

Now look closely at China: the Green Dam(n). In the name of blocking pornography material and protecting youths from being affected by such messages, it (definitely) also filters politically disruptive material, all while gathering private user data. It's a software installed on PERSONAL COMPUTERS. Never have I heard of such stupid censorship before. It is saying: unplug your internet cable, throw your computer away, come back to stone age. You are safe.

A report found that Internet is not as dangerous for children as many think - I think the Internet is a 'scapegoat' to other 'real world' factors, it's too convenient to blame a media like this. But actually the Internet provides avenues for children to extend social worlds, self-directed learning, and independence, suggests the Digital Youth Research report. Though arguable, the problem of sexual predator caused by pornography Internet messages is not serious as to the extend of blocking every related search result off EVERY (including government, corporation, organization...) PERSONAL COMPUTER. Obviously we are not talking about youth escort here.

And obviously, the primary intention behind the Green Dam(n) Youth Escort is clear.

Chinese Internet Strike Proposed to Protest Censorship Software

Written by Jolie O'Dell / June 23, 2009 5:29 PM / http://www.readwriteweb.com

On July 1, the Chinese government will be rolling out censorship software on every new computer sold in the country. The software, called Green Dam Youth Escort, is intended to block pornography and possibly filter politically disruptive material, all while quietly gathering private user data.

One man in particular is staging a protest against the censorship: He is calling for everyone in China to abandon the Internet on the day the new rule takes effect. According to GlobalPost, Beijing artist and prominent political critic Ai Weiwei wants other Chinese citizens to realize their own power.

"I gave almost no explanation about why I'm doing it," said Weiwei, well known as a cultural revolutionary and investigative blogger, to GlobalPost's correspondent. "I just give the structure and people will fill in their own meaning. I don't want to be political first. I wanted to set up an act that everyone can easily accept, and then realize the power later."

Weiwei has a reputation for being a hugely prolific blogger, generating around 3,000 posts in his first three years of writing online. He also uses Twitter, Chinese microblogging service Fanfou, and other sites to spread the word about freedom of expression and overt criticism of the government in China.

On July 1, he is calling for all of China's 300 million Internet users to completely log off for the day. In the original post, even Ai noted, "Chinese people are very practical. They think 'Oh, what's that going to do?'" He is aware the action he's requesting is huge; however, he feels that even a small gesture of protest will have an impact.

In his own words, "A small act is worth a million thoughts."

Given Westerners' sudden bout of green-tinted solidarity with Iranian protesters, we do wonder if Weiwei's call to action (via online inaction) will spread beyond China...

(emphasis added)
p.s. It is recommended to visit all links above.

2009 Declaration of the Anonymous Netizens (China)

the original Chinese document

How many Internet users are there in China? Ai said 300 million. I'm not sure. According to comScore, the Internet population in China is 179.7 million, ranking top in the world. Another press release by comScore reviewed that China has a growing Internet population at 20% in 2006, among the highest in the world. It is not surprising that it has doubled the number of 2006...86.8 million×1.2⁴=179.988 million

Everybody loves DUO

2009-06-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

DUO: Durham University Online.

I logged on DUO after 49 days since my last log on. On the front page it says 'DUO survey: response rate is low this year'. 14%? That's quite low. Complete the survey and enter a prize draw for £50 Amazon voucher? Why not...

After a long long long long long (5 pages, yeah!) survey, I came up with the last but one question...If you rated it 'poor' or 'very poor' in the above, please specify your reasons.

'Well I don't think the poor performance of duo is the fault of duo alone, but the whole university as a supportive system. Taught postgraduate teachers didn't encourage us to share, students only concentrate on their own, getting library books is always a competition. There are not enough resources for an increasing number of students, and the online duo didn't solve the problem of scares resources - this is why.'

DUO is ok. ITS is doing a good job. Seriously.

Grass-mud Horse and River Crab - Times article

2009-06-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

Half a year has passed, the popular Grass-mud Horse has become part of the Chinese grass-root language. It has unprecedentedly assembled the crowds on the Internet to express their angry emotions against the government's stanching freedom of speech. At the twenty-year anniversary of the June protest, the cleanout campaign is again sweeping all sorts of information away. I post this Times article to express my anger - much worse than Cao (grass) Ni (mud) Ma (horse).

A Dirty Pun Tweaks China’s Online Censors

By MICHAEL WINES

Published: March 11, 2009

BEIJING — Since its first unheralded appearance in January on a Chinese Web page, the grass-mud horse has become nothing less than a phenomenon.

A YouTube children’s song about the beast has drawn nearly 1.4 million viewers. A grass-mud horse cartoon has logged a quarter million more views. A nature documentary on its habits attracted 180,000 more. Stores are selling grass-mud horse dolls. Chinese intellectuals are writing treatises on the grass-mud horse’s social importance. The story of the grass-mud horse’s struggle against the evil river crab has spread far and wide across the Chinese online community.

Not bad for a mythical creature whose name, in Chinese, sounds very much like an especially vile obscenity. Which is precisely the point.

The grass-mud horse is an example of something that, in China’s authoritarian system, passes as subversive behavior. Conceived as an impish protest against censorship, the foul-named little horse has not merely made government censors look ridiculous, although it has surely done that.

It has also raised real questions about China’s ability to stanch the flow of information over the Internet — a project on which the Chinese government already has expended untold riches, and written countless software algorithms to weed deviant thought from the world’s largest cyber-community.

Government computers scan Chinese cyberspace constantly, hunting for words and phrases that censors have dubbed inflammatory or seditious. When they find one, the offending blog or chat can be blocked within minutes.

Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, who oversees a project that monitors Chinese Web sites, said in an e-mail message that the grass-mud horse “has become an icon of resistance to censorship.”

“The expression and cartoon videos may seem like a juvenile response to an unreasonable rule,” he wrote. “But the fact that the vast online population has joined the chorus, from serious scholars to usually politically apathetic urban white-collar workers, shows how strongly this expression resonates.”

Wang Xiaofeng, a journalist and blogger based in Beijing, said in an interview that the little animal neatly illustrates the futility of censorship. “When people have emotions or feelings they want to express, they need a space or channel,” he said. “It is like a water flow — if you block one direction, it flows to other directions, or overflows. There’s got to be an outlet.”

China’s online population has always endured censorship, but the oversight increased markedly in December, after a pro-democracy movement led by highly regarded intellectuals, Charter 08, released an online petition calling for an end to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power.

Shortly afterward, government censors began a campaign, ostensibly against Internet pornography and other forms of deviance. By mid-February, the government effort had shut down more than 1,900 Web sites and 250 blogs — not only overtly pornographic sites, but also online discussion forums, instant-message groups and even cellphone text messages in which political and other sensitive issues were broached.

Among the most prominent Web sites that were closed down was bullog.com (visit the new site at http://www.bullogger.com/), a widely read forum whose liberal-minded bloggers had written in detail about Charter 08. China Digital Times, Mr. Xiao’s monitoring project at the University of California, called it “the most vicious crackdown in years.”

It was against this background that the grass-mud horse and several mythical companions appeared in early January on the Chinese Internet portal Baidu. The creatures’ names, as written in Chinese, were innocent enough. But much as “bear” and “bare” have different meanings in English, their spoken names were double entendres with inarguably dirty second meanings.

So while “grass-mud horse” sounds like a nasty curse in Chinese, its written Chinese characters are completely different, and its meaning —taken literally — is benign. Thus the beast not only has dodged censors’ computers, but has also eluded the government’s own ban on so-called offensive behavior.

As depicted online, the grass-mud horse seems innocent enough at the start.

An alpaca-like animal — in fact, the videos show alpacas — it lives in a desert whose name resembles yet another foul word. The horses are “courageous, tenacious and overcome the difficult environment,” a YouTube song about them says.

But they face a problem: invading “river crabs” that are devouring their grassland. In spoken Chinese, “river crab” sounds very much like “harmony,” which in China’s cyberspace has become a synonym for censorship. Censored bloggers often say their posts have been “harmonized” — a term directly derived from President Hu Jintao’s regular exhortations for Chinese citizens to create a harmonious society.

In the end, one song says, the horses are victorious: “They defeated the river crabs in order to protect their grassland; river crabs forever disappeared from the Ma Le Ge Bi,” the desert.

The online videos’ scenes of alpacas happily romping to the Disney-style sounds of a children’s chorus quickly turn shocking — then, to many Chinese, hilarious — as it becomes clear that the songs fairly burst with disgusting language.

To Chinese intellectuals, the songs’ message is clearly subversive, a lesson that citizens can flout authority even as they appear to follow the rules. “Its underlying tone is: I know you do not allow me to say certain things. See, I am completely cooperative, right?” the Beijing Film Academy professor and social critic Cui Weiping wrote in her own blog. “I am singing a cute children’s song — I am a grass-mud horse! Even though it is heard by the entire world, you can’t say I’ve broken the law.”

In an essay titled “I am a grass-mud horse,” Ms. Cui compared the anti-smut campaign to China’s 1983 “anti-spiritual pollution campaign,” another crusade against pornography whose broader aim was to crush Western-influenced critics of the ruling party.

Another noted blogger, the Tsinghua University sociologist Guo Yuhua, called the grass-mud horse allusions “weapons of the weak” — the title of a book by the Yale political scientist James Scott describing how powerless peasants resisted dictatorial regimes.

Of course, the government could decide to delete all Internet references to the phrase “grass-mud horse,” an easy task for its censorship software. But while China’s cybercitizens may be weak, they are also ingenious.

The Shanghai blogger Uln already has an idea. Blogging tongue in cheek — or perhaps not — he recently suggested that online democracy advocates stop referring to Charter 08 by its name, and instead choose a different moniker. “Wang,” perhaps. Wang is a ubiquitous surname, and weeding out the subversive Wangs from the harmless ones might melt circuits in even the censors’ most powerful computer.

Zhang Jing contributed research.

p.s. I modified all links in the article.

Freelance Journalism

2009-06-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a commentator's article been totally changed to avoid conflict with the policy goal?! (links: original | published)

I started to regret that so much time in my past years has been wasted reading newspapers published in China. Even though I read it critically (much stronger than you can imagine), once information is filtered to meet the policy goal, there is no base for criticism. The whole thing is fake.

Freelance journalism is one of a thousand jobs that feed yourself, your family, and your country's topmost 'interest'. It is just part of it - 'it can get people to sell out even while they think they're doing exactly the right thing.' (This is used by Chomsky to describe higher education, and here I am talking about almost the same thing - people are inside a system and told to do something - and they adapt themselves to it.)

So are academic, literature, even science. People are so good at telling lies, refer to the policy tone, and escape from critical thinking. Before it, they never ask the right questions, and will never even look at the right questions. They think they are right when they do it 'properly'.

Read to rescue the nation

2009-05-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's not an overstatement.

Just read this article by Zhao Yiheng How The British Read. It reveals the fact that our nation has fallen behind at reading, far. Comparing it to Britain, a 'leading nation' in reading (statically. But the author has further proved his point by his reading experience in London and Wales), China has a huge illusion in a prosperous publishing but is extremely weak in book owned by each person, number and scale of public libraries, frequency of reading, etc.

Analyzing from the quantity aspect, this long article has left something undiscussed - perhaps because of the lack of statistics (cannot be measured by numbers at all) - the quality of, not the reading itself, publishing. The major problem is what is being published.

Under the strict restriction of publishing (strict licensing, under a firm centralized government control), it is not surprising that only books without any valuable thought are possible to come out.

Our drawbacks are related to the habit, but more are related to a lack in free expressions. We used to be a learned, book-loving nation, but the authority's fear of voices is the obstacle to further civilization, whenever it is, throughout our history of civilization...

The Internet has made the issue both better and worse. While it is more accessible to all kinds of voices, it is more convenient to all kinds of rubbish, which has completely changed people's reading habits. (Read Nicholas Carr Is Google Making Us Stupid?)

To be continued...

p.s. would be happy to hear about how the British read nowadays - esp. the young generation - from the British's prospect.

Please Vote for Me

2009-05-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

Forty kids, three candidates, one election. And, five parents. It took place in China where elections are uncommon. When the class monitor was for the first time elected, these lovely kids and their 'think tanks' experienced a battle - against the opponents, the self and the illusion of fairness and reason.

The kids knew much and enough. They knew themselves what is welcome, virtue, a positive attitude and the opposites of the above. In this sense, kids know more about adults as they are straightforward to them. They want a treat, so the actual gain satisfies; they follow the good, so they are against the candidates' faults; when the candidate is proactive, they think he is capable. There shouldn't be anything simpler than such values, but the grown-ups has complicated it.

Democracy is however a lesson of blood when the result matters. If it is as simple as treats - that equally distributed among the needed, or virtues and attitudes that are used wisely and properly, it would have been straightforward (even in the way it is called - it won't be called democracy, but something like 'great-treats' or 'moral-good-leadership' lol). One lesson to be taught in the process of democracy is freedom of opinions, which is against the interest of the uncertain some, as freedom means potential offense to everyone. In this story of monitor election, we see it in the kids' world that the speeches of candidates and non-candidates point to a certain interest relating to the question of 'who is to be the monitor'. When it is expressed freely, the interest of some groups is harmed - they cried with disappointment; imagine when it is not - when monitors were appointed by teachers, they didn't see any interest in them - even though they were beaten by the monitor to obey, they didn't feel the harm to interest instantly. Well this is why democracy is bloody painful: it brings you pain by providing you with options. You are easily hurt by the ruin of expectations. It is by no means straightforward in the sense that it causes pain by delivering treats, and achieving virtues via painful sacrifices.

What do you expect a kid to know about this?

Even grown-ups are not making any progress if they are born to enjoy the gain or born not to - there's little possibility of change to the status quo. Because interest is much connected to each other. And gaming is taking risks. See the parents, their connection to this monitor privilege is just love, (perhaps 'mianzi', too? But I'd think it'd be love in the first case.) and they don't risk to let their kid compete under naïve thoughts when others got sophisticated think tanks.

I will leave the question of political campaign unsolved here. Even though the film is quite focused on the little candidates, my real concern is the little non-candidates, the 'citizens' of this class. The crowds' awareness is decisive to the progress of democracy. The voting public treat it a right to vote for themselves, the candidates see it a duty to meet the public expectation. The voting public in this film, however, most effectively reflects the picture of democratic election in China.

I have been hostile to the term politics all through my school years, finding it unreal, dirty, a waste and a disguise in every single case I encounter. Don't even think of the national authority, our experience in a high school mostly dealt with school level, a class of 50 especially. There was no soil for democracy to grow, and we equaled politics to governance. Now I have known it for years, that

government is closed, politics is open.

But no one tells us about this when we were younger.

Ah, defeated architecture...

2009-05-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

I have been reading Kengo Kuma's Defeated Architecture for a long, long period of time. Not finished yet. It was more than architecture and it takes time.

I have a passion to architecture...I love it with a passion and hate it also with a passion...blah blah. But I'm not a systemetic thinker on the subject matter blah blah. It appeals as massive undertakings over, around and beneath us. You might have felt it incredable in an aeroplane (on which you can fly!!! Ho!), but what you might have neglected is the building you are in everyday - not just a shelter over your head like a tree or a cave - it's a sophisticated piece of work that makes you safe (sometimes to an extend of danger- -') by every means. It's great. And it all the time makes me think human is great - Architecture is a reflection of human desires - and the ability to turn desires into...architecture.

I do have a strong criticism to modern city architecture. From an aesthetics point of view, cities are ugly with massive mansions, skyscrapers and stadiums that only eye on their own function and their so-called design. The innovation to modern architecture is a total failure. Look at the cities without a character (if their 'modern' character is what you think character is, you are a person with character, congrats.) and are so functional - that they are paradise for offices (physically speaking, office boxes), trade fairs (gathering halls), shopping (product-dominant exhibiting squares, where only the products and the cash matter), commercial ads (billboards making you desire for fortune), entertainments (gathering rooms with alchohol and sex)... I suddenly understood that this is the funtionalism in modern architecture when I read Kengo Kuma. A funtionalism that requires non-character in architecture, in order to meet the mobility and separation features of modern living.

Now we look at suburbans. Suburban architecture do not have characters ever since the modern movement either. I have once upon a time appreciated the suburban ring of sattellite cities regarding them as a smooth paste of personal properties and communities. Here I'm not going to speak the social dimension of this planning, but observe it solely on architecture. It was a positive part about the movement towards modernization, in terms of privacy, independence and freedom - I mean in architecture. Again from an aesthetics point of view, suburbans don't look ugly because, I consider, the abovementioned 3 values has promoted diversity in designs. I always regard it as a symbol of liberalism in nations such as US and UK, comparing to the highly planned territories as Germany, Japan and China (or Hong Kong) - again, referred to architecture. Their policies are towards a more organized and united urban planning to achieve the functional objective. Going back to liberalization, Home Mortage policies has made it possible to 'own' a house easily and execute almost absolute freedom on it (if not mention the rights of banks). It is possitive to the creativeness in architecture design.

However, when I went to suburbans in the west and east coast of USA and now the UK, and simultaneously started to read Defeated Architecture recently, I had a feeling of being duped by a policital campaign. On one hand, I started to doubt the surface liberalism in these housing policies - does it seem so good just because people are guided to think it good? Is it liberal only to the wealthy? This is from what I saw and experienced. I stayed in a poor area right down to Beverly Hills and right next to Santa Monica in LA, in a black area in Brooklyn New York, and now in a nice middle-class home area in a nice middle-class city (all-red in the voting map of Britain forever) in UK. I saw it myself that Home Mortage policies is not a pleasant gift to the poor, is a burden to the middle-class, and is nothing to the rich. So who cares about the architecture? Only people who earn a living from it. We can explain why architects are elites in the social class. Because they are not working to the needs. (I have an instinct to talk about lawyers...!!!)

On the other hand, Kengo Kuma has given me a satisfactory explanation to my doubts: professional, from an architect's angle and in-depth, from his responsible thinking. He talked about the modern movement in architecture from the 20th century, starting from economics on land then Keynes' intervensionism and its relationship to government policies which has a huge impact on modern city development and the middle-class 'boom', including the mortage policies. He has analysed the work of modern architects such as Le Corbusier and Peter Ellis thoroughly. I looked out of my window, I observed houses when I run across the lands, buildings when I travel to Newcastle, London and Cardiff, I read pictures I took in the States, and I can find what Kengo Kuma indicates. The key to modern is to get rid of characters, so that we are in a 'purer' world of economic mainstream, commerce domination, finance driven and culture popularity. As stated before, architecture is a reflection to human desires, the key to modern has left in those buildings (and it lasts almost forever! - another crucial point to observe when analysing the impact of architecture.)

One last thing to add is the recession at this moment of time. Yes it's about housing! Yes it's about mortages! And yes, they cannot pay the loans...well this book was written in 2004 though.

While modern is about driving off characters, post-modern is boasting the utmost characters. But it is overstated. - Some thoughts are beingn organized. This is to be continued after I finish the book, perhaps.

I was intended to write a review on the first half of the book. But I didn't even have time to start writing. So I put up the pieces as above. To be continue...

When you believe

2009-05-18T05:51:00.000-07:00

It's just a random title.

I have been struggling with {Article 81, Article 82, State Aids} etc etc. Well, it seems a lot but it isn't. Because I am far too slow on it! Too slow. Like an aged horse dragging a full cart of coal. Someone give me enthusiasm please?

I have a passion with what I am studying. I advocate equal opportunities with a passion and hate law makers also with a passion. It has supported my study for 5 years. Not like some, I don't argue for appreciating the art, don't dig into the sources for enjoying the complexity, don't go detours for accumulating fine techniques. I am always arguing, digging and exploring for a destiny too naive, that people deserve better options than they are having now. I am not going to discuss it in this post. Read my Chinese blog in case of interest.

It was rather vague about this passion, you are thinking. It's too broad. Well when I was in China I don't think there are too many ends to this passion. - I can think about an utopia, a utopidank or an usatopia but we cannot make it into reality. I may but I'm yet to become influencial. Actually I have thought about that long, long ago when I didn't know much about pain. After I have given up that thought of utopia, it became appearent that we lack the most basic dignity and safety in our country. (Inspired by Man-Tao Leung: we lack common sense) - so the one end to my destiny is that people are living on people's will but the artificial leviathan's, economy's or rulling systems' (including the 'families' in the oriental world).

Of course I read and knew all those dillema in legal theories, political games and philosophic hypothesis. I read and knew about the world (not the people). I went to places in and out of my country and knew situations otherwise. And I am improving myself not to be limited. Nevertheless, when people I meet everyday are living vulnerably and aimlessly, I have no interest argue with you how much market share an EC company owns should it be judged dominant and being stopped from merging another so as to achieve harmony.

I don't know whether to call this a belief or not, but searching for a civil way to resolve the lack of 'common sense' has been echoing in my mind in whatever I do. Meanwhile I find it vague. If it is not vague I could have written a book during the 4 years;) But I'm still too far away from a systematic thinker. Let alone a practitioner.

So I always seek to enthusiasm - passion, until I came up with Henry Miller today:

Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing, it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.

Then, shall I seek my faith then? I always say I have one, but damn, whatever I describe it, there is someone doubting it. And that someone is myself.

I need a talk with someone. But there's no one to talk to at the moment - during exams, Article 81 and 82s.

Non Profit Website Design by Smashing Magazine

2009-05-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

By Cameron Chapman, May 14th, 2009 in Design Showcase

Non profit websites share many of the same best practices as any website. They need to be user friendly, easily navigable, and use appropriate fonts, colors, and other design elements. But often a non profit website needs to offer more than your typical corporate site.

A non profit’s website needs to make it easy to find out more about their cause, to donate money, and to become more involved. It needs to make it easy for media contacts to find the information they need and the contact information of key personnel. And it needs to do all this in a way that’s inviting to the organization’s targeted donors and/or volunteers.

Below are a list of best practices for designing non profit websites followed by some examples of non profit websites that are getting things right.

1. Make Your Site Donor-Friendly

Donations are a necessary thing for every non profit organization out there. Your website can be a great place to solicit donations, especially from new donors. It can also make it easier for recurring donors to make additional donations. In either case, you want it to be a simple and straight-forward process for people to give you money.

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating a donor-friendly site. First, make sure your donation page is prominently linked from your home page. Whether you do this with a special banner or button or simply make it prominent in your regular navigation, donors have to see where to donate before they can do so.

Second, make the actual donation process as painless as possible. Don’t require visitors to set up an account to donate. The donation process shouldn’t be any more complicated than any other online transaction. Other than information required to process their credit card or e-check, don’t require any other information. And use a single-page donation form if possible, with just one confirmation page. There’s less chance that there will be browser or connectivity issues if there’s only a single page to deal with.

2. Make Your Site Media-Friendly

Getting media attention can have a huge impact on a non profit organization. Whether the media attention brings in more donations directly or simply raises the profile of the organization, getting attention from journalists, bloggers, and anyone else with an audience is important.

Make it easy for journalists to find information about your organization. Include profiles of your board of directors, founder(s), and other key personnel. Make sure you include contact information (email and phone) for each of these key people. Have a downloadable media kit that includes everything your print media kit does.

Offer downloadable images from your site so journalists and bloggers don’t have to contact your and wait for a response. And include press-ready quotes, both from members and directors as well as outsiders. Make it clear that journalists and other organizations may use these items in news coverage without contacting the organization for prior permission.

3. Make Your Site Volunteer-Friendly

Make it easy for visitors to your site to find information on how they can get involved. There are plenty of people out there who might not have the money to make a donation but are still passionate about what your organization is doing.

Whether you provide detailed information about volunteering directly, steps people can take on their own, or just contact information for your volunteer organizer, make sure you don’t overlook this crucial bit of information.

Providing multiple means of contact makes it easier for volunteers to get in touch, so include an email address, phone number, and a web contact form if you can.

4. Make Sure Your Organization’s Purpose is Immediately Apparent

How many times have you gone to a website and not had a clue what the site was about? This happens all too often. Designers and clients often take for granted what visitors to their site will already know about their organization.

But considering how much information is pushed in bite-size pieces on sites like Twitter and Facebook, there’s no telling how much or how little visitors will know. With some organizations it’s easy enough to figure out what the organization is about just by its name, but for others it’s not so easy.

Putting an abbreviated mission statement right on the home page is one way to solve this. Another way is to put a prominent link somewhere on the home page that takes visitors to an about page that offers concise, plain-language (not “marketing-ese”) information about what the organization does.

5. Make Sure Your Content Takes Center Stage

Design on any site should be transparent, and especially so on non profit sites. That’s not to say your site can’t have an interesting design, just that the design should revolve around your content and your mission, not the other way around. Take into account the types of information you’ll be providing on the site and the formats that will be used.

Consider up front how much multi-media elements will be used, and whether they’ll be used on every page or just in special gallery sections. If you plan to post videos and photos on multiple pages, you’ll need to make sure your column widths other elements are complimentary to the kinds of media you want to use.

Make sure your columns are wide enough to accommodate YouTube videos, for example. If they’re not, any time you embed a video (or similar element), your site design will look haphazard (and some of your site content might end up covered up).

6. Make Sure Your Website is Consistent with Your Other Promotional Materials

Your logo should use the same logo and colors as your other promotional materials. Maintaining a consistent brand throughout your organization greatly increases your chances of being recognized in passing. Your website doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t) match your print promotional materials exactly, but echoing the look and feel of those materials increases brand identity.

Make sure the content is consistent, too. Proofread and copyedit your website content just as you do your print materials. While it’s easier to change content on a website, it still gives a negative impression if your site is riddled with errors and inaccuracies.

7. Know Your Site’s Purpose Up Front

The leaders of your organization (or whoever is in charge of the organization’s website) should make a list of what the goals for the site are before starting the design process. Is the site primarily to allow existing members to stay updated? Is it to solicit donations? Is it to get new volunteers or members? Is it to raise awareness in general?

Whatever your purpose is, knowing it and communicating it to your designer going into the design process will save headaches and delays down the road. Make sure everyone is on board with the same vision, too, so you don’t have to make unnecessary changes down the road, which saves both time and money.

8. Include a News Section or Blog

Including a blog or news section has a couple of big advantages for non profit sites. First, it gives people a reason to come back to your site. If you offer news about your organization and your cause, people who are interested in either will come back on a regular basis (or subscribe via RSS). This keeps your site visible and makes it more likely they’ll become more involved in the future (or stay involved if they are already).

Second, blogs and news sites are often quoted by other blogs and news sites. This increases the exposure for your site and will likely bring you more traffic.

Third, constantly-updated content increases your search engine visibility. This makes it easier for people actively looking for information related to your organization to find your site.

20 Examples Of Great Non Profit Sites

click here to continue reading...

This is a good article with good examples. NGOs are as targeted as any other business do. The concept of a website is all about convenience and friendliness. When I was doing this sole-goal blog, I found it really hard to achieve - gap between ideas and your work is lying in front of even a tiny task. So, besides bearing these criteria in mind, the real challenge is to make it happen.

And the bigger challenge behind it is, however, to manage it 'offline'!

What I talk about when I talk about running

2009-05-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

I ran, for the first time after the injury, this afternoon for an hour.

It was damp everywhere. I don't feel like running down the riverbank as usual - the route is favourable in any other moment except a rainy day. I can't run in the woods either, very muddy. So a very unusual route has stood out: streets down Willowtree and reach the footbridge at Claypath, then I can decide whether to continue to the riverbank or run back. Nice.

It's all about running when you run. Not other philosophy such as mental courage or physical balance. I don't normally run with an iPod, I am annoyed enough keeping the sounds in the world off me - I need a sound which only comes from silence, but there isn't silence when the world is around. That's why I carry an iPod, and exactly why I don't carry it running as well. I don't need a sound when running. The noise of the world surround me and I feel the silence.

Isn't it great that you can't hear a sound when they are all around? Only when running, cycling and swimming can this happen to me.

Back to my route. Well it was a failure. I thought it was one way down with a couple of wind-backs but nevertheless there be only one direction. I have overestimated my ability in figuring out the English maze - blocks of standar-looking houses. It was very pleasant until Dean's Walk, followed by the second wind and... I found myself going back. I doubted it and went back to Dean's Walk, and I couldn't find a second way to get out of this crescent. If I continue, I will be either running around this 150 metre circle or returning to Willowtree.

Finally, I ran the bigger circle of Willowtree Avenue four times - and completed my 1-hour run at Churchill Street, opposite to The Shoes. Shame.

This was my first run during the past one month. An unsuccessful abmormal route was the poor theme - not dogs, not football, not secret garden, not bare foot in chilly water, not blossom, not dogs shit, not anything else like my run in the past. It was boring blocks of brick houses and noisy teenagers. Still, it was not unpleasant. I finished every metre with the presence of my mind, a mind concentrating on...running!

So there's no difference where I have passed.

Haruki Murakami has this peaceful mind but he is far too professional:P He could write a book and I only taste the joy myself, in a 'non-systematic' way.

- Bird.
- Yes lady?
- I can't see a thing.
- It's all in your mind.

Nick Drake - Cello Song

2009-05-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

A music writer from Tamworth, Staffordshire. Folk.

I'm sure my laid-back Wong likes it in a Friday afternoon with gentle breeze. Could you play this for him, honey? He will be rolling his chubby body slightly with the music.

It's raining here. Durham: 10°C, Current: Light rain, Humidity: 89%

Guangzhou: 29°C, Current: Clear, Humidity: 51%
This moment Wong must be sitting next to you. You reading and he quietly lying. In the air it is James Morrison.

The brown one looks like my dog

2009-05-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

XM: Ah Wong's missing!! Have you seen my puppy, kitten?
Ah Wong: Mou, mou, mou...

(Learning a foreign language is important, even though I have an accent.)

p.s. I've got a new random question.

When I've just found inspiration in Gilesgate...

2009-05-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Damn you extinguished it.

'I have no tree waiting for me.' V

2009-05-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today is the one year anniversary of the 512 Earthquake.

I saw people who have done something.
I saw people who have done nothing.
I saw people who have done nothing and pretend that they are heroes.

Till when would this leviathan stop doing stupid ass?

It was life. And they showed no respect.

When it was anything else, they pretended to be an innocent personnel inside an inextricably-tied body. Shall this be called insensitive? indifferent? callous? dead? No, they called it human instinct.

When they dare to cover the guilt someone inside them has committed, when they dare to show unbelievable calm facing an interrogation, when they dare to set themselves as heroes - when, afterall, the disguise has been taken off, they cried they couldn't help to. This is called human instinct. This is because every person is an innocent personnel inside an inextricably-tied body. This is because nobody can escape.

What the f. You are dead. You don't even think you can be humanitarian when it comes to the question of life.

We cannot afford another earthquake. Not because of the fxxxing economy etc.
But our fragile humanity.

1344m

2009-05-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Click here to support:

Support every metre I climb: '1344m' opens for business

Valid till 21 June, 2009.

Thanks! x

Earth Hour: Light a Candle in Memory of Lives

2009-03-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Switch off your lights for our planet
Light a candle for lives shaken away in the China Earthquake

8.30-9.30pm 28th March 2009, Earth Hour.

** On 12th May 2008 a massive earthquake hit the Southwest of inland China killing more than hundred thousand people and affecting millions. It caused unprecedented damage to both life and property on the land of Sichuan. **

It is less than 2 months from the 5/12 Earthquake anniversary. Yet the real casualty number and names are veiled beyond the public and the media’s reach. As the target of misconduct at the cost of thousands of lives, the local authority has refused to provide the actual number of victims and their information during the past 300+ days.

One year after the disaster, we protest in peace – for the lives buried under the 5/12 Earthquake ruins whose names remained hidden behind:

Light a Candle of Conscience in Earth Hour 2009.

Wherever you are, 8.30pm 28th March 2009, please light a candle and pray for the lives gone, and record this moment with your camera. Swipe off the hazes. Light up the hope.

Take a snap of your candle, post it in your blog. State your location. Send your photo or its link to memory512@126.com. We will collect the hope delivered by you.

Background of Earth Hour:

Sydney, 7.30pm 31st March 2007, 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour, presenting to the world the message of taking actions against global climate change.

In 2009, Earth Hour is targeting at 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. We vote earth and make changes, yes we can.

Background of 5/12 Sichuan Earthquake:

The Sichuan Earthquake has devastated the whole town of Wenchuan, Beichuan and Yingxiu. Other nearby towns were affected. Chinese citizens and the global community has pay much concern over the large scale of vulnerable housing problem in the area, especially dangerous primary school buildings which has the hazard of falling under slight damages, let alone the earthquake. The local authorities were blamed for their misconduct signing contracts with unqualified constructors and spending the public money in illegal ways. If the houses were built properly, there’s much more possibilities for lives.

All around China, people have been helping the region to recover. Approaching the one-year anniversary of the Earthquake, people mourn for the dead, and deliver hope to the alive.

Aiweiwei, a famous artist and civil protester, has spent every effort in finding the truth of the issue, and a long list of hidden names were found every single day. Ai’s blog http://blog.sina.com.cn/aiweiwei.

Go to the Facebook Event, support it by 'attending'>>>

Send a snap of your candle to memory512@126.com

It is Easier Said Than Done

2009-03-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

It is easier said than done. I realized how limited human beings are.

And, I want to keep exploring how breakthrough human beings are.

An English Humour

2009-03-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

A notice from the law school titled 'URGETN - Health and Safety Hazard in Law School'.

Dear All

Please note that the exit out of 48 North Bailey has a broken handle therefore you will not be able to leave using this door. This has been reported to Estates & Buildings for urgent attention.

In the event of a fire you will need to exit the building through the door at 49 North Bailey.

Many Thanks (Emphasis added)

LOL...it's such a HEALTH AND SAFETY HAZARD and it is so URGENT. I didn't neglect that this needs everyone's attention in case there is an accident. But this sort of categorizing is so funny and so typically English lol.

Samizdat

2009-03-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

Literally, the Russian word Samizdat means self (sam) - published (izdat: publishing house). So Samizdat is contrary to 'official' publications. It emerged from the 1950s Soviet Union and has now become history. It was a history of voices to be heard and fighting against the authority.

Samizdat was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries. Copies were made a few at a time, and those who received a copy would be expected to make more copies. This was often done by handwriting or typing.

Links: ELNM Lectures, esp Lecture 4; Bullog; Anglican Samizdat. Just randomly pick two examples of self-published web feeds. Internet has made it spread quicker than ever.

Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows: “I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it.”

There're always ones that enjoy standardlized ruling (and always of bad taste)

2009-03-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Neat and tidy rules give you an easy answer, but never a just one.

It is Spring. It is March.

2009-03-01T14:16:00.001-08:00

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

Sweet lovers love the spring.
- Shakespeare

What I Have Been Up To...

2009-02-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

What I have been reading from mid-January till now...? A lot but none is finished...shame...

Frazer, The Golden Bough: A study in magic and religion (Abridged Edn). The religious life has never been so much exposed and so touchable to me. Descriptive and rich, it is to me a state-of-the-art anthropology reading. Although at the meantime I went to talks brought by the Christian Society, this reading is yet to have much connection with the speeches.

Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experience with Truth. A very striking work - yet he tells his story in a most modest manner. It is not the words but something behind them are inspiring. '...there's no other God than Truth.'

McMahon, The Pursuit of Happiness: A History from the Greeks to the Present. We all long for certain kind of happiness, but do we? We think the pursuit of happiness is human instinct, but is it so ever since? From McMahon's book you start to realize how happiness has become our desire - it is a late awareness of the human being. This book is rather psycor than history, to me.

Coyle & Morrow, The Philosophical Foundations of Environmental Law: Property, Rights and Nature. It focuses on an interesting question of the relationship environmental law is governing. As a (very) contemporary division of law, environmental law or the law concerning the environment does not seek to home itself to a philosophical theory, since it appears always policy-driven. The authors argue that it concerns the relationship between human and nature, in adjusting the ownership and the use of (nature as) 'property'.

Bahn (Ed.), The Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology. An account of archaeological exploration and research. With maps, charts, index and a wide range of other visual support, it illustrates the history of the subject of archaeology. Sooooo interesting.

Besides, I got really good bargin on 7 new books from DSU. (They sell really good stock/used stuff at DSU. e.g. the weekly CD stall where I got 1950s old movies and high quality Eagles CDs for Mo.) Books are priced from £2 to £4, and the vendor sold me some items for £1 or for free, since I am his big customer:P Books I got are:

Tolstoy, War and Peace
Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experience with Truth
>>p.s. was reading the copy from library, and saw it sold for £3.5 today...
Barrow, The Romans
Kitto, The Greeks
Brondsted, The Vikings
>>p.s. this series of history from the 'Pelican Original' is so good...am fan of Penguin Books
Slovo, Red Dust (novel about truth and lie, and uncertainty...)
Szpilman, The Pianist (novel of a Jewish pianist...is now a film)

The Greek Tongue Twister

2009-02-26T17:35:00.000-08:00

Greek is always like tongue twister. Pick any sentence, say,

Εισαι εδω για δουλεια;
Eeseh edo yeea duleea?

...which means Are you here for work?

Yesterday Tom and I came across a sentence, and we made a real challenge to your tongue! Read:

Η Αννα ειναι ενα. Η Ελλη ειναι εννια.
Ee arna eeneh ena. Ee eli eeneh enia.

...which means, Anna is 1 year old, Elly is 9 years old!

Don't be Mean

2009-02-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

This morning all IEL students received an e-mail. Quite in a sudden and surprise, it is only the second time we received a letter from a student representative.

It reads:

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of a chinese student named YYY, I would like to ask you who chose topic 2 for your 2nd essay to help each other with searching relevant materials since she announced me she could not find any.

De facto, I do not choose that topic so I cannot see any difficuties in the step of "search and research for materails" for that. I wish that you could help yourselves with the problem.

As student rep. my suggestion has been forwarded to the PGSSCC that more legal research skill seminars/lectures should be given, anyway we can unite to make it out for the immediate issue.

Best regards,

Shocked. Could anybody tell me what is the point posting such a 'show-off' notice to the rest of the class when someone else has asked for your help? Ok I understand how same 'shocked' our rep was when he came across YYY's inquery. I, too, couldn't believe that she is unable to reach access to ANY relevant material in the literature-aboundant DS topic at THIS TIME almost deadline and asked FOR A PEP'S HELP who is supposed to deal with student-department complaints. And yes today students were talking about how much they were amazed by the matter. But the rep is worse in this case in sense of being illauthorised, unhelpful and mean.

I think firstly, you authority as a rep confines in representing students in front of the department. You are right in, as you see in this matter it is the insufficient research trainings provided by the department should be blamed, requesting more training opportunities for us. When you are willing to help her in the next instance, it is personal. I don't mind receiving a letter from you asking for help for others, and would be happy to help. And THE UTMOST issue is that (- even if you are using your authority wrong) if you act in a manner of HELPING out, we actually don't care that much. But are you really helping her, or are you just showing off that you are 'helping' your students as a rep? (If you are not a rep you won't write a letter like this and it won't be sent. In this sense you are using the authority to do this.)

Read through the letter, nothing is actually helpful to solve the present problem. You 'would like to ask us...to help each other' is nonsence. 1) What is the problem? Not practical at all by saying 'relevant material' - Shall we send her my essay which is much less troublesome? is one of my classmate's response. 2) How do we help? Call her in the middle of the night and talk to her? Who do we get in touch with? - I know, you don't want to bother yourself by asking students to help her through you. 3) 'I wish that you could help yourselves with the problem.' Where is this from?!!? I was terribly amazed seeing this. So why you send us the letter??! Are you kindly reminding YYY to help herself? Are you warning us not to bother you anymore? Oh obviously you are showing off that 'I write this letter, but I don't care.' Alright alright, when look back to your 'I cannot see any difficuties...' we know you are distinguished in class already.

Need not to continue...I feel very uncomfortable reading it. I do think YYY might be weak at research (if the rep's statement is true), but I do not make a rushed judgment that this is unforgivable. I have experienced a similar situation before, I try every effort to make up my essay and was not able to till deadline. I don't find myself any excuse on that but I myself know what's going on and desperately need understanding and relieve. I would say she is in a difficult situation which may happen for a reason. 'What is real is rational' by Hegel is, though not a perfect scenario here, rational. We are too often impose our sided thoughts to others. Even in common sense, there are exceptions; even there's much evidence, there are missing ones. The rep exposed what he might think rediculous to us, and I knew from people's discussion today that they all think this is so rediculous.

I believe there's always truth somewhere, and there's always good and bad, right and wrong, proper and stupid. You have plenty of evidence to attact this belief but I insist. - this has nothing to do with imposing values, it is something bottom-lined. (Otherwise there is no moral good in the world.) However, 'not to be mean' is a virtue, even though you see things fake, bad, wrong and stupid. I am talking about an attitude not a motto. I can be critical and be 'nice'. While 'nice' is a higher standard and does not fit everyone, I never hope someone to be nice when he refuse to. (Plus sometimes nice is just harmful because it never kill the darkside.)

p.s. by saying 'Don't be Mean' I was thinking of the Chinese phase 'be hou-dao', which does not equal 'nice', 'honest' nor 'kind'. To me it is somehow a line of being humanity same as 'don't be mean'...well there's no word I can find in English express this 'bottom-line virtue'?

Last word, if it is YYY that ask you to write this way, Mr.rep, Sorry to you and no one should be blamed...only the tide of nao-can (the brain-damaged.)

Never cease to doubt it

2009-02-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

Political affairs are not something rules can lead. This is why public international law and the so-called international economic law (as is different from rules governing international commercial transactions and disputes) keep disappointing me. At this point, I realise that law actually can solve NOTHING in such power-determined arena, and there's no such thing as international 'law'. As long as there are states, there is no way for an international, universal, rule.

Steinberg's article is just a trigger. -- he titled it as Power and Cooperation in International Environmental Law, funny. When he says it is rather political than others, it means the 'documents' are NOT LAW! I insist.

No one should call a multipal-standard and lack-of-accepted-doctrine rule, law.

2009-02-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

'Today, communism appears to many as a historic stupidity and, without a shadow of a doubt, capitalism has victoriously emerged as the dominant paradigm.' However, this view is 'too short-sighted and conditioned by the recent demise of communism', as such a simplistic view neglects 'at least two points.

'First, the realisation of any theory always differs from the theoretic model which, at any rate, captures only part of societal organsation. History and the distribution of social and political values interfere with the economic model. For example, only under very restrictive assumptions could it be claimed that, say, colonial capitalism was superior to Soviet communism.

'Second, because the working class suffered from unbearable misery during the take-off phase of the now successfully developed capitalist countries - a misery during still prevalent throughout the developing world - the Marxist vision gave hope to large fractions of society of both developed and developing countries, a hope that capitalism was unable to provide.' (emphasise added)

- D. Gros and A. Steinherr

It's all Greek to me...

2009-02-19T17:20:00.000-08:00

The English people say 'It's Greek to me!' when they are totally an idoit at something. E.g. 'Maths is all Greek to me!'... Greek has largely remained unchanged from its ancient origin, which represents the linguistic 'mystery' of Ancient Greek (similarly, Hebrew, Chinese and the oriental others, whilst Latin has been 'modernized' and produces various offsprings.) In this sense, Greek means 'foreign' to the English. Could easily tell from the Greek alphabet.

The other day Yvonne came and Dave (who is trying hard to catch me up in Greek) asked her, 'Do you speak Greek?'
And Yvonne the English literature PhD responded, 'No. Greek is GREEK to me!'
Dave: 'And English is ENGLISH to you!'
LoL...

The reason the English don't say it French or Spanish is that they understand these language very well! Languages from the Latin family are very much close to each other, and are easily linked to each other or to Latin. Once you speak English, you know some words of one another from the family; if you grow in the English culture, you can never escape the Latin context which is mixed with all other languages; if you are educated, you know Latin, thus not at all an absolute beginner of any other family member; and -- if you are well educated, you must be a multi-language speaker.

Latin and Ancient Greek are the two major ancient literal tongue that nurture the Western culture. But the Greek language is not as widely spread as Latin. It is now only spoken in Greece and Cyprus. Nevertheless, Greek do 'lend' terms to the Latin family, especially in maths and science. So Dave the maths teacher is best at remembering the numbers. His university notes are Greek fomula, Arabic numbers and English parameters -- decide which culture makes the huge contribution to human wisdom: the Greek! (check your own maths notes, if you are advanced in maths...)

Not many people in the U.K. studying (research, in terms of academy) Greek, comparing to the Latin languages, since it is relatively less 'useful' in the modern world. Evidence: flows of research on French, German, etc etc etc but hard to find otherwise. People should be aware of this... I don't worry that Ancient Greek die soon since it won't; what I am afraid of is that everything is judged by its usfulness.

Put in the USA, I heard people in LA say, 'Oh no, it's Chinese to me!' LoL...

How do we say this in China? Well, we say 'It's Niao-yu (birds' language)', which means 'it's non-Chinese'!!!

How Important This Is

2009-02-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

VoicesssssssssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS to be heard.

The Mellow Songs

2009-02-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

The Mellow Songs is the album for our Valentine's Day homeparty seafood dinner. On 13th Feb Dave and I spent the whole night on it...

This is Dave's xxth album. His albums include Days of the Week, Happy Birthday Max, Max Mix, Dave's Favourites, and a lot others.

Played at meal, the album was loved by our guests! This wide range of songs (of our taste) is just right for the Valentine's Day mood and at the same time suitable for a party - not very boring. On selection, we also imagined the party rundown and ordered the tracks accordingly. Ohhhh, we also played a little humour on the contents...(you will see, if you are familiar with the songs:P) Okay here are the tracks:

Mellow Doubt
Rust
When I'm Thinking about You
Lucky
Eskimo Lament
Leave This City
Leizah
Olympian
Monochrome
My Sundown
It Doesn't Matter
Cover From the Sky
Still in the Mood
Speak to Me Someone
Lines of Light
She Sun
Here You Me
Homeward
Paid to Smile
Never Fall in Love Again

Merely Neutral, Objective and Undergoing Discussions

2009-02-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

1. Chinese people are inscrutable. Why?

I think you may have a level of understanding of some real but hidden issues facing your country that I have such difficulty broaching with others for fear of either embarrassing them, exposing their "information gap" (you called it censorship, but it's more than that), or appearing to be anti-Chinese, when everyone who knows me knows I have a great admiration and affection for Chinese people! (OK. I admit. I like people!) ...My intoxication with China is the challenge of unravelling the many enigmas. Nothing is what it seems, because 'appearance' (or face) is so much more important than reality. Traditionally , we talked of the Chinese being "inscrutable" - a word I have never ever heard in any other context. It means (I think) "cannot be understood", by outsiders, of course. And that's the challenge.

So where is this going? The friend in Shanghai told me in despair, that I couldn't hope to understand China until I was a fluent mandarin speaker.

2. Appearing in the gap of language, I notice it is actually a gap in recognition (though deeper in it is much more than recognition...let's just start from here). But is this true and is this all?

The Chinese don't live the way the 'Westerners' (so-called) live. I don't find a lot of cases they really get along -- by saying get along I mean discussions building upon both-way recognition; by contrast, I come along plenty of occasions where they superficially interact, such as parties, lectures, trade negotiations etc. Cultural gap is inevitable, but the wired thing is that we rarely see the Chinese has in-depth conversation with non-Chinese speaking cultures, while the EU with 27 different cultures has shown a huge step of integration.

There are a lot to look into in this issue, historical, cultural, linguistic, political, and others. Regarding the information gap, it is on one hand a political aspect in this 'communication' issue, and on the other hand another issue -- the long-overdue feudalism inside the Chinese society.

3. Is the EU a good example of language/culture difference merge?

Not to over-estimate the degree of 'integration' in the EU. Ordinary people don't engage much with their political /geographical neighbours, and the British have more in common with other parts of the English speaking world than with many EU members, especially the Balkan countries!

4. I think somehow we shall at the first stage decide whether the conflicts in Europe are of the same kind and level as those between oriental and western culture...

But my perception would be this. The Chinese 'speaking' cultures share common characteristics in almost all aspects. We can borrow the path dependence theory (i.e. looking into the past) to explain the similarities. These common characteristics are the base of conversation between us, as we understand (not necessarily agree with/appreciate) the way each other behave. For example, I can always find Confucious' thought in Taiwanese, even though we are very much apart in view of democracy.

Well, to Europe, the base of conversation does not date back to so long ago, which makes their conversations easier -- or, I would say, it is the dominant western defination of modern civilization that been accepted widely today, yet the Chinese-origioned culture is among the ones that are reluctant to accept (while the modern states have no way but to accept it).

...to be continued over time p.s. Don't be sensitive or naive in attitute.

No conclusions has reached thus far. Above is a fraction of the long process of thinking one of the many issues. There must be wrong, misleading, distracting, circulate, insignificant, improper or stupid statements. But that is what 'raws' are look like, and is the way a better later statement is to made.

Do you notice? NONE of the bullet questions are answered thus far. I did this on purpose...

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

This is the 1st time I celebrate the Chinese New Year in a town without the tradition:( But there are still something out there, as long as we have friends!

Home party@Jessie's friend's house, with a group I never know before. What makes it fun is that we might be counting down in English, as it is an international party=.= Again my first time... Dinner will be a small girl-thing with Cherry and her Cantonese friend, so then switch the channel to our mother tongue.

Tuesday am invited by Tom, my awesome LA friend, to the business school Chinese lunch. Dinner time will be the Sri Lanka workshop again, think will take something special with me for the lovely teammates, but still need to figure it out with Dee the passionate, the other Chinese in our team...

I didn't mention Monday because it will be STUDY and GROUP DISCUSSION! Don't think will be able to prepare well... Partysome weekend without a book-mood!><

Happy New Year! I miss those back home, miss you all, meeting you soon.

Tell Me to Carry On

2009-01-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

You never realize the pressure until something totally irrelevant brings you down.

...which those who caused the irrelevant issue never understand. They take what you give for granted, without realizing how much you have sacrificed. They may care, but don't know how; they may know by bit, but have forgotten to.

Years later, same happens, and it always happens.

Flux

2009-01-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

A very interesting game. I played it only once and loved it. Scored 6032 after Level 30 and game over. Try your levels!

from Armor Games
p.s. I removed the plug-in some days after. Click the link to play:)

Your aim is to turn all bubbles into the same colour as the Master bubble in the middle. Drag bubbles to marry same-colour ones. 2 bubbles' combination has the power to change the colour of another unmarried bubble; majority bubbles' combination has the power to change the colour of the minorities. Whatever colour touches the Master bubble, it changes into its colour.

It counts down the seconds. So you should be both quick and skillful.

Well despite that it made me high, I had suddenly thought of something horrible in reality. The process looks like the spread of cancer cells, or mind illnesses. Someone's trying to uniform the style of all. Awweeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Crime Rate of Durham City

2009-01-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Before coming to Durham, I already know that the crime rate of Durham is very low compare to other areas in England and Wales.

I remember when reading I came across a statistics which showed that Durham is one of the top2 safest cities - with the lowest crime rate - in England and Wales. But I forgot the source and couldn't find it on the Internet. The first time I talk with Andy, a psychiatrist part of whose job is to give training to local police officers, we talked about crimes and society. Not surprisingly, he reviewed that each year there are less than 5000 cases of crimes in total, which is 'unbelieveably' low, in my perspective. Plus, NO murder, very low robbery and pick-pockets, very few severe violance crimes. In one sentence, Durham City is generally safe.

Yesterday there delivered a flyer from the City of Durham, the 'Community Safety Partnership' flyer. It arouse my interest again to check out the exact figure of crime statistics. Figure from Office of National Statistics:

Offences

Durham
District

N-E
Region

England
Country

Violence Against the Person

1060

41085

896287

Wounding or Other Act Endangering Life

756

13569

Other Wounding

567

20448

410991

Harassment Including Penalty Notices for Disorder

265

9307

214702

Common Assault

133

6871

191362

Robbery

1480

82404

Theft from the Person

2500

89072

Criminal Damage Including Arson

1466

61977

965995

Burglary in a Dwelling

254

10881

269400

Burglary Other than a Dwelling

455

14054

286875

Theft of a Motor Vehicle

170

7060

160109

Theft from a Motor Vehicle

297

15344

407141

The original page is Here. And I do recommend you to click the 'Map this data' tag right under the 'Key Figures for...' title. You could notice that Durham is among one of the lightest colours. (The lighter the colour, the less crimes reported.)

My own experience is: when walking in the silent street at 9pm, 10pm or sometimes as late as 2am, I am never afraid. It gives me so much sense of safety and peace. I love this expression in the Durham promotion site:

Enjoy the deep peace.

No More Staying up Late!

2009-01-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Finishing my readings, searchings, essays and e-mails, (and each day I do 'em all!!) it is now 3am in the morning...Have promised Ah Wong to go to bed at 2.30am tonight. I breached it again again and again. The coming trimester will be more eventative, and it seems to me that I should maintain a lot of healthy (logically) habits EXCEPT for the bed time. Look this is a dilemma: if I follow those habits I don't have enough hours each day, while if I guarentee my sleeping there won't be enough hours for keeping the habits!

However these habits 'in-the-air' are just brain productions. I'm always thinking in a way more than ideally! Towards the universe and the self, big and small...

Bed time with Radharani Samara's guitar...Wondering whoever could provide me with more of her music? Her performance shows a lot of telent.

How Google Am I?

2009-01-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

Though my blogger is opened up just lately, I have been a loyal Google fan for a long while. Google is more than just amazing. To put it simple, Google has put everything you want simple!

The thing I like most about Google is that it does not have anything unnecessary. When things come extra, they are bonuses. Google pages are neat and clear. I can downsize it, downlayer it, downfunction it whenever I don't want it, and keep it the 'least' and the most I need at the same time. 'Customizelism' is the Google philosophy I guess...

While Google is my soft-favourite, Apple is my hard-favourite, as a lot of friends know. The common feature between the two is, yes you get it, 'customizelism'. They both are stylish, while at this point Apple prevails in being cool; are function-rich, while the two cannot compare as they are in different business; and are trendy, needless to explain. Besides all these, they put to the front the previlage to choose our own style, own function and own trend. The annoying thing about Microsoft is that it sells too hard. I don't understand why anyone worries so much when it has a 95%+ market share. Perhaps it is decreasing, but its attitude has brought me an impression of stinginess. In the anti-competition litigation against Microsoft, though sometimes it is arguable that the Tying leaves chances 'of quitting' to customers (which is as rediculous as when IMF says non dominant countries can quit if they are not happy) and it is true when this playable word game is played in front of the judges, I am never convinced that this Tying is beneficial to consumers. Shameless statement.

Windows Live has undertaken a series of 'innovations' lately and generally it is at least a progress. Vista looks better than the previous versions, though it is obviously following the trend set by Macintosh. But the Live products never solve a problem fundamental. They don't care much about their consumers. They believe they are so good that consumers like them for granted. So their features, customized, are add-on's rather than bothway choices. The condition that I am able to customize my product is to accept something unwanted.

I am by no means a 'professional' user. But I am one of the end consumers. There are technologies beyond my knowledge of course, but I know whether I am comfortable with the product or not. This is why I fancy Google. I have not used every item listed in my Google, just a bit. But I think I am very Google already. Trying to list them:

Gmail, Web search, iGoogle, maps & earth, talk, books, scholar, blogger, documents, reader, YouTube, Chrome for a while, translate, and checkout always the Lab for fun, recently the Trends and the Mars (XM misses his hometown).

My homepages of iGoogle:

profile: this is the neatest profile layout ever. of fun, too.

home: i keep a puppy at home ;) he sleeps zZ, runs after my mouse, and rushes to the border (got too excited)!

tag 1: lines of news - google, bbc, China news, etc. and TedTalk.

tag 2: lines of other news - apple, law, etc. and i like the quotes.

tag 3: tools like wiki, currency, maps, amazon, etc. and i want a puppy!

i like the puppy footprint at the bottom of the wallpaper espacially ;)

An English Version of My Ancient Piece of Work

2009-01-10T18:28:00.000-08:00

Yes there are two convenient ways to start with, when you are creating a new blog. The first way is the 'historical-moment statement + welcome message', like this:

This blog opens for business today! Come visit me from time to time in the future! LOL

The second way is to post a previous article...make the first blog entry looks better. Sometimes it is so difficult to switch it on in the right, funny, significant way. When don't know what to do, I look back and dig something out... Here we go:

KEEP WALKING

The registration in this community is initiated by Killuamao’s invitation to her open blog Farewell and Memory: Our College Time.

Time we celebrate youth on the island (i.e. our university) was memorable. Time spending ahead of the farewell shall be no less memorable than before. I have begun my journey, unconsciously, ever since university.

The opening of this blog is inspired by the magazine City Pictorial (No.209) Specials: Empower Our Love.

My growth during the four-year university time lies in two aspects: think in topmost just, do in grass-root base. Meanwhile, I have firmly believed in the differences that simply carrying-on my belief can make, in the pursuit of both constitutional justice and a real civil society. All these understandings brought me to every possible effort to make a difference, despite of my immatureness and the difficulties.

In the field survey in Wengyuan Town, supporting the establishment of CitiBank Community Library, I, a fresher who have been dreaming of helping others, seeing that the children’s wish and our initiatives are so in common, determined to positively call and organize helps to others, rather than be called and organized.

In the construction in Huafeng Village, travelling to a remote end far from the civilized together with JIA Organization volunteers, I, a member of an NGO for the first time in my life, doing all kinds of ‘tiny’, ‘trivial’ things, felt the great change bring by ‘tiny little’ action, and the joy coming along.

My journey in GreenPeace refreshed my knowledge. I haven’t studied systematically about NGOs, but mature management and passionate, persistence volunteers of GreenPeace led me to understand how a group of ordinary people walked such a significant way, and why grass-roots must play a role. However, the draw-backs we encountered during the GreenPeace campaign led me to deep frustration in pursuing my belief, for the first time in my life.

Café Scientifique is not an NGO, but it inspired me in a way that educating the community with my knowledge is of huge benefit. The experience impacted me significantly in my efforts afterwards.

Becoming part of SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) is a great change to my life. I am not able to conclude the ‘SIFE Difference’ in this short article (I wrote a separate one in detail). I devoted half of my university time in SIFE, I tasted the joy and the frustrations. I learned three things in particular: Action, Creativeness and Perseverance, which, in fact, will take my whole life to achieve.

Experience during exchange to the U.S. gave me culture shock every single day. I had a crush on its civil society, and hold firmly my dream in hand. I volunteered in SVTC (Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition) to take full part in achieving a short-term goal. The power we formed, the change we brought, made up the most enjoyable memory in Los Angeles.

I am at a turning point of graduation. My dream commenced in my family, my pursuit began in the campus, and my real-world effort initiated at the border of the campus and the society. I never ever take a rest since start.

Thank you, all those pass me the belief, support my belief and trust my belief: Mom, Dad, Calean, Oi, Tarou, Yuanyang, Zhouhui, Sarah, Hefeng, Yihua, Ammie, Lai Yun, Wanny, Mingxian, Yang Ding, Kevin, Melody, Sisi, Mandy, Woods, Victor, David, Jasmine Chen, Wen Yi, Vic, Jasmine Ou, Ted, Maureen, Tania, Donald, William, Vinsa, Mr. Xu, Michael, Danny, Marnie, Anne, Jian, Renay, Dr. Fong and Mrs. Fong, Derek, Liz, Sally, Will…

Still Walking…

Link: http://pidank.blogbus.com/logs/22322541.html

It's lenghthy, but simply to set the mood. Hope time with Google Blogger would be inspiring. So far I find Blogger amazing. Approachable, stylish, customize-friendly, functional and innovative-passionate, it is no doubt of my taste of all time:P