LITCHI time...

One of the many things I will miss when I return to Sweden is all the different fruit You find here in China.

Now it is the season for one of my favorites - lichi!















The lichi is of a size as a walnut, with a thin, frail shell and a transparent flesh that is fresh and acid. Inside there is a hard, black seed that You not eat.

Have been grown in China for many thousand years. For a long time it was forbidden for common people and only the emperor and his family was allowed to eat it. One of the emperors mistresses requested that lichi should be transported thousand of kilometers across China just to please her. Since that, the lichi is considered as a symbol for romance and family happiness.

Another of my favorites is yangmei (Chinese Bayberry). This is a subtropical tree grown for its sweet, crimson to dark purple-red, edable fruit.
In China mostly growing south of the Yangtze River.
The fruit is spherical, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, with a knobby surface. The flesh color is similar to surface color, or somewhat lighter. It is sweet and very tart.

Happy Birthday - to me!

Happy Birthday to me.....
Yesterday I celebrated my 60th birthday and it was exactly the way I wanted it. No big party - just a nice dinner with some good Swedish and Chinese friends.
Was "kidnapped" by my colleague Sara and her husband Per and we went to a Chinese restaurant where Annie, Jennie and Yanmei was waiting. A very nice surprise and we had a very good birthday dinner together.

Annie, Pehr and Sara Sara - Jennie and Yanmei

Birthday cake - Yanmei and Shi Zhiting


They also gave me a really nice present - a "Happy Buddha". Looks very much like me and I hope it will bring me luck in my future life.

Thank You all for a very nice birthday
that I will remember long time!

Back to Sweden

During the week I had meeting in Lund but also have time to have lunches and dinner with my friends. During the Easter Holidays I met my children and my mother.

















For the first time in 1,5 year I also stayed in my apartment when i was in Lund. Before it was rented out but now empty. A little strange feeling staying here - not spent many nights here since I bought it 2 years ago...

When I returned from Lund I was told I got a new manager and been transferred to a new department. It also "looked good" for staying in China for at least another year. But, two days later all was changed again and I got the information to move back to Sweden when my contract expire end of July.
I had hoped to stay another period in China but this is "business-life" nowadays.
Will miss life in China but will sure be back a few times a year since we have my wife's family here.

Since I have several days saved vacation we will do a lot of travelling during the two months that are remaining. My "dream trip" to Tibet and Lhasa will be the first coming up.....

"Flying is getting close to heaven..."

Flying back to Sweden for some meetings and discussion about "the future". Use my SAS points to upgrade to Business and this is always a nice experience - this time I think the best ever...
Just 14 people in Business Class and a very nice and service minded crew. If You never tried Business Class before I can tell You what is it like:

- First Champagne before take-off.
- Later Champagne again - together with snack (salami, pickled cauliflower and sun-dried tomato skewer).

The dinner:
- Green leaf salad and beef tenderlion with aspargus, mixed peppers, spinach and chilli sauce as starter.
- Main course (you can choose from four different): Chicken breast filled with mushroom in red wine sauce, served with sweet potatoes and roasted vegetables. To this some Tim Adams Shiraz red wine.
- Emmentaler and Brie cheese with fig marmaled served with a glass of Cockburn's Port Wine.
- Lemon tart and fresh fruit.
- Rounded off with coffe and a glass of Calvados Daron.

After a dinner like that You sleep very good.

Thank's SAS and the crew on SK996 - this time you really made "flying close to heaven".....

Spring in Beijing

A lonely grave just behind the fence in the park nearby

Todays starts the Qiing Ming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day). This is a day to remember and honor your relatives at grave sites. Families pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks and other things. The rites are very important to most Chinese, especially farmers.

Some people put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They think that this will help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qing Ming. Now people also start the spring plowing, sing, dance, and Qingming is a time where young couples start courting.















Another popular thing to do is fly kites (in shapes of animals, or characters from Chinese opera).

Today the spring really came to Beijing - almost clear sky, sunny and +20. Let us hope it stays like this until Tuesday when the festival and holidays are over and it is time to go back to work.















Spring fishing in Hong Ling Jin Park - just across the street

Food "from home"...

This weekend my friend Camilla visited us in Beijing. We had a nice dinner together on Saturday evening at Uama Teppanyaki with a lot to eat.

Camilla was also bringing us some food from Sweden so yesterday evening we "celebrated" with Chorizo with black pepper sauce (try!), potatoe gratin and vegetables.
Thank you Camilla!

Fastes way to get around in Beijing?

The seven "racers" from the Beijingers test (Foto: the Beijinger)


Have You ever wondered which is the most efficient mode of transportation in Beijing?
The monthly paper and website "the Beijinger" have sent out seven intrepid movers and shakers in a race from their offices at Dawang Lu (in the CBD area - not far away from where we live) to the Drum Tower (a few blocks north of the Forbidden City) at rush hour in order to uncover which form of transport is the King of Commutes.

Here are the results:

7th place
Bus and wits (time: 1hr 41’40”,)
+ Very social method of navigation whereby one gets to know old men, disgruntled construction workers and attractive young women who laugh at you because of your ineptitude.
+ Sense of pride in the com­munity effort.
- Basically the least efficient way to travel anywhere.

6th place

The Subway (time: 53’20”)
A veritable underground village, complete with a predictably mundane, though air-conditioned, journey.
+ Sometimes, at least, air conditioned.
+ Front row seats for public displays of affection.
+ Listening for “Our next destation.”
- Not always close to your final destination.
- The feeling of being herded like cattle through a narrow, hot hallway.

5th place
Taxi (time: 40’37”)
The conversations run the gamut from anti-Japanese diatribes to deep, contemplative silence. And the risk to your life is slight, but only in the grand scheme of things.
+ Scintillating conversation
+ No smoking laws that are often but not always enforced.
- Dangerous, dangerous driving

- The black cabs.

4th place
Personal vehicle (Time: 39’00”)
The Western way: a single-occupant, gas-inefficient car, made complete with the addition of a patriotic miniature Chinese flag.
+ Can take personal control over your safety and wellbeing
+ Can decorate the interior with full Hello Kitty mock-up.
- Bumper-to-bumper traffic takes on a whole new meaning
- Gas ain’t cheap.

3rd place
Running (time: 36’50”)
If you can withstand the constant barrage of potentially carcinogenic car exhaust, compounded by poor general air quality, it makes a lot of sense to run.
+ ”How did you get here?” “Oh, I ran. No big deal.”
+ Bonus brag­ging points if you smoke a pack along the way.
- It will kill you if you do it too often.

2nd place
Motor scooter (time: 33’50”)
Ironically, the motor scooter is the vehicle of choice for both younger biker types and older Chinese women. Hopefully, passersby will know into which category you fit.
+ Chic and cool

+ The Hog makes a beautiful noise.
- Weaving between lanes of traffic might just be dangerous

- Un­helmeted, you run the risk of knocking the cool shades off of your face.

1st place
The bicycle (time: 28’10”)
The Thumbelina of the Beijing traffic world: small, nimble, and agile. No surprise, then, that the perennial Chinese favorite leads the way.
+ Ride on sidewalks, go between cars, go the wrong way, sneak by crossing guards, and run red lights

+ Good for the environment, and good for you. Kind of like trees.
- You’re breathing in a lung full of bus exhaust every 5 minutes

- Actually requires effort.

This article was originally excerpted from the Insider’s Guide to Beijing. Fully updated for 2009, the guide is available in stores in Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities and on the web at Amazon.com and http://www.immersionguides.com/. To have a copy delivered to your home, office or hotel in Beijing, call 5820 7101 or e-mail distribution@immersionguides.com . I can really recommend this book! Have the latest three years edition and they are all worth the money (100 RMB)

Conclution:

I will use my dear friend more in the future. It is goos both for the

environment and myself....

No Oasis concerts in China

During the past months there have been (and still are) adds and posters all over town that the famous band Oasis is having a concert in Beijing on April 3. This was supposted to be one of the bigger music events during the year.

Now the concert have been cancelled and tickets are refunded. The official reason for the cancelation is Oasis were informed Saturday, the 28th of February by their Chinese promoters, (Emma Entertainment/Ticketmaster China) that representatives from the Chinese Government have revoked the performance licenses already issued for the band and ordered their shows in both Beijing and Shanghai to be immediately cancelled.
The government have instructed the ticket agencies to stop selling tickets and to reimburse the thousands of fans who have already purchased tickets for these inaugural Oasis shows in the People's Republic of China.
The licensing and immigration process for the two shows had been fully and successfully complied with well before the shows went on sale. The Chinese authorities action in cancelling these shows marks a reversal of their decision regarding the band which has left both Oasis and the promoters bewildered.
According to the show's promoters, officials within the Chinese Ministry of Culture only recently discovered that Noel Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert on Randall's Island in NY in 1997 and have now deemed that the band are consequently unsuitable to perform to their fans in the Chinese Republic on 3rd and 5th of April, during its 60th anniversary year.
Oasis are extremely disappointed that they are now being prevented from undertaking their planned tour of mainland China and hope that the powers that be within China will reconsider their decision and allow the band to perform to their Chinese fans at some stage in the future.

This is not the first concert by international artist that have been cancelled in Beijing during the last year and probably not the last.
Now we also know that the Chinese Goverment keep a long record of what you are doing and that your past can catch up with you at any time....

Rain and snow

"with a little help from my friends"




















The end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 have been extremly dry in Beijing - not a single raindrop since October 24th. The rain that finally broke Beijing's 110-day dry spell on February 15 fell harder and longer than it would have, thanks to the local government adopting cloud-seeding and other artificial precipitation measures. Given the favorable conditions (the meterological bureau was predicting light rain) the local government decided to launch a land and air offensive on Feb 12 to try increase the amount of rain that would fall over Beijing.
One plane from the Chinese air force was called into offer air support to 7 ground teams who blasted 49 rockets into the low lying clouds and another 31 teams who were busy burning 875 sticks of Silver iodide atop various mountains around suburban and rural Beijing.

The rain-making was supervised by the Beijing Weather Modification Office and was part of a broader operation to provide much needed rain to large parts of northern China. The rain-making exercise appeared to be a success, with the Beijing News reporting that an average of 9mm of rain fell in the urban districts of Beijing and an average of 7mm across the whole metropolitan area. Originally the forecast was for a fall of about 3mm across the city.















Snow cover Beijing
On the heels of its successful rainmaking venture last week, the Beijing Weather Modification Command Center has shot an additional “500 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide" from “28 weather rocket-launch bases” into the clouds over the past few days to help create this week’s snowfall, the most the city has seen in a number of years. The artificially induced precipitation is intended to quell the region’s ongoing drought, but also led to the closure of 12 highways around the capital. You can not get all......

Guilin - a dreamland

During Spring Festival we took some vacation down south to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guilin city.
The stunning landscape in which the city is situated has a kind of magic that is all its own. The strangely shaped hills, or karsts, with the verdant vegetation ranging from bamboo to conifers together with wonderful caves make Guilin such an attraction for tourists and Guilin is considered to be the pearl of China's thriving tourist industry on account of the natural beauty and historic treasures. Covering an area of about 27,800 square kilometers the city is rather compact when compared with other leading cities in the country.

However, situated within this area one may find green mountains, crystal clear waters, unique caves and beautiful stones. Major attractions include Elephant Hill, Li River, Reed Flute Cave and Seven-Star Park.

Guilin is also an important cultural city with a history encompassing more than 2000 years. The city has been the political, economic and cultural center of Guangxi since the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)




















Solitary Beauti Park is considered to be the oldest place of interest and has been so since the far off days of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). The prosperity enjoyed by the city during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is epitomized by the Tomb of Prince Jingjiang.


The many ethnic minorities represented here that include the Zhuang, Yao, Hui, Miao, Mulao, Maonan and Dong enrich the cultural life of the city. Each minority has its own unique customs and festivals and this means that they are much more abundant here than in many other places elsewhere in China.

After a "night cruise" on the four lakes sorrunding Guilin and sending the night at hotel we next day took a cruise boat along the Li River, heading for Yangshuor.














There was a lot of cruise boats on the river and sometimes almost a "traffic jam" due to the very low water in the river. Some majestict sceeneries along the river and at one stop we could see where the motive on the back of the RMB 20 note was collected. We were a little unlucky with the weather since there was a light rain all day.

After a five hour ride we arrived to Yangshou and like Guilin, it has incredible karst scenery and a parade of Chinese package tourists who can be spotted wearing baseball caps and following a tour leader who carries a flag.














However, it isn't your typical Chinese town. Yangshuo has a reputation as a foreigners' village in Southern China. This town feels like one of the stops on the travelers' trail, with lots of the same people you'd expect in Katmandu, Sihanoukville or Dali. It does not have a big China-city feel to it. It is more like a vacation town, with restaurants and shops.
Many travellers use Yangshuo as a base and spend their time exploring the karst scenery and rivers, or checking out caves and local temples. Renting a bike and taking off into the countryside, with or without a guide, is one popular strategy. There is also a whole community of rock climbers enjoying hills and caves.
Others just take it easy in the many cafes and bars. While this certainly isn't the whole story, the town is in some ways a break from the rest of China. For this reason, it is very popular with foreigners who work in China.

Welcome to the year of the Ox

According to one Chinese legend the 12 animals argued as to who would be the first animal in the 12-year cycle. The gods decided to hold a contest in which the animals must cross a river.
The first animal to cross the river would be the first on the chart followed by the other animals according to their finish. The rat was the smallest of the animals and was expected by the other animals to finish last. Quickly the 12 animals jumped into the river but unknown to the ox, the rat had jumped on his back. As the ox was about to jump on the riverbank to claim first place, the rat jumped off his back and won the race. The pig that was very lazy ended up last. As expected, their peers often tease most children who were born in the year of the pig.

People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, quiet yet inspire confidence in others. They are eccentric and temperamental. They speak little but when they do they are quite articulate. Mentally and physically alert, they are generally easy-going but can be very stubborn and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people. They also love to travel.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

Happy Chinese New Year to all of You.

As usual the "war" broke loose late in the evening on the 25th - after all had their traditional dinner (tun nian fan) with their families.
If You never been in Beijing during Spring Festival you can not imaging what is all about - it is constant thunder during 24hrs. And it is very LOUD.... the louder the better and more impressive. It is almost impossible to sleep during that night.
We are also unlucky to have a "firework stall" just across the street where they sell fireworks. People just walk a few meters away from the stall and set fire........

But this is the way it is here and this will continue for 15 days in Beijing. After that it stops. But after the first night is just allowed to use firework between 7 in the morning and 24 at night - so we will get some sleep -:)

Getting ready for Spring Festival

China is now prepairing for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and in the end of next week it will be celebrated all over China.
This is the one time per year when all families trying to get together, often in their home town.
Some have already gone home but during end of next week millions of chinese will travel by car, bus, train and airplane across China to reach their home towns. This is a gigantic logistic issue that I think just can be done here in China.

At the Beijing West Railway Station,120 temporary ticket windows is opened near the main ticketing hall. As of Jan 5, 240 ticket windows now serve the large crowds lining up to buy tickets home from Spring Festival. Tickets are sold around the clock.

Also preparation for the big fireworks have started - to soon and illegal in some areas...

Police and firefighters in begiining of the weeks destroyed a huge batch of illegal fireworks that had been confiscated in the lead up to Spring Festival. 3,500 boxes of fireworks valued at around RMB 1.02 million were destroyed. The explosion took place at a reservoir in Daxing District on Monday.

Fake money in China

There are more and more faked money in China.
Last time I was in Zhuhai a taxi driver give me a faked 50 RMB and this fake was not so good.
When I payed my foot-massage they see it direct and showed me how I had been fooled...

If you touch Mao:s hair with your nail, the surface should be "scratched" - not plain.
Also if you touch his collar - this also should have a pattern - not plain.

However, the new faked 100 RMB now circulating in Beijing is made so good that they are difficult to separate from real ones.
An official from the Bank of China has contradicted earlier media reports that the fake RMB 100 notes circulating around the country, were of such good quality that even the official currency detecting machines at banks had difficulty distinguishing the fakes. The official clarified that these notes can be identified and that China’s central bank has begun an investigation into the source of the counterfeit bills.

Zhuhai - my second home

The Fishing girl in Zhuhai

After New year it was time for another business trip to Zhuhai in southern China.
It is some sort of my "second home" since I have spent quite a few times there during the last 6 months.
I like the town more an more for every time I am there and also try to se little of the surrondings when I do not have to work. It is quite beautiful with a lot of trees and flowers and the air is very clean compared to Beijing.

Maybe a place to live in winter when I get retired.....