Merry Christmas

Over Christmas we made a short trip to Sweden celebrating Christmas with my children and former family. X-Mas Eve dinner we spent in my daughters new house outside Kågeröd.
Also spend some days with my mother at her home.
As usuall too much Christmas food but we had a nice week in Sweden before we had to return home to Beijing again.
As Chinese You do not have any holidays during X-mas - we are waiting for the Chinese New Year in week 5.

December 2009 - a "black month"

Following the economic situation all over the world my company, Sony Ericsson, cut down on the number of emplyees in many places over the world. Most of our developments in US was closed and there was great cutdowns also in Kista and in Lund in Sweden.
Several of my former collegues had to leave the company and my own department was closed down.

However, I have been told to stay here in China and continue my work. Just the future can tell for how long ...

China in digits...

In China, numbers quick get big. Here some cuts from this months magazines...


97 297 400
Number of foreign tourists arriving in China from January to September this year.

66 000 000
Amount in RTMB that the new Bond movie Quantum of Solace brought in at China´s box offices during the opening week.

5 940 000
Number of visitors to Beijing over the National Holiday

25 000 000
Number of trees cut down every year in China for producing disposable chopsticks...
There is now a "campaign" to B.Y.O pair of shopsticks and carry with you.

230 000
Number of people in Beijing (official number!) living on less than
RMB 390 a month.

5 287
Roasted ducks was sold in one day,on October 2, by the restaurant chain Quanjude Beijing Roast Duck.

1 171
people died in traffic accidents during the National Holiday last year.

and in the other end.....

29
Time in seconds for the elevator at the Park Hyatt in Beijing to go from the 63th floor down to the lobby.

A smiling face in the skye

We weren't expecting to see more smiley faces in the sky until those special fireworks go on sale before Chinese New Year. But anyone who was out or looking out the window Monday night might have seen a cute little astronomical phenomenon in the southwest of the city.


A smiley face with the eyes of Venus and Jupiter and a friendly little smile care of the crescent moon.
The heavenly bodies not only smiled down upon the Olympic city, but could also be seen throughout China and across the Eastern hemisphere.
According to experts from the Beijing Planetarium the phenomenon of three celestial bodies being so close together only occurs about once a year.