corruption - dishonest and fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
definition according to the mac dictionary.
so.. the chinese people are not really corrupt contrary to popular belief. however, to do engage in some conduct that is not transparent in nature, which may or may not fall under the category of corrupt, depending on your definition. moreover, there is a very valid reason why they turned out this way.
(note. this is more on the government officials, rather than the businessmen. well cos i learnt about the govt officials and not the private sector.)
this is going to be super wordy. (i skipped a lot of explanations to summarize the whole thing. so some parts maybe a bit missing.)
so to describe what it is.. i need to tell you a bit of history. the history would reveal certain aspects of how the chinese behavior today in contemporary china. some of the stuff may be wrong (oops!) but yeah as said before, i'm no expert. just summarizing what i've learned in class and also what i've learnt on my field trips.
so.. a long long time ago... mao was born.
and then there comes a time in 1949, when mao, one of the leaders of the CCP, beat the heck out of the KMT (kuomingtang) and took over control of china. KMT went to taiwan, and are still there. they hate each other's guts, so they're always quarreling (the reason is cos of the previous struggles from 1920s to 1949 - would take another essay to explain this). so mao took over, and ushered in the new communist era.
in a short summary, they passed a law, and everything became state owned. no more personal land, etc. so people are now organized into communes. each commune is kind of like a community. so in the community there will be a factory, and some land. so everyone gets employed by the state, as factory workers, farmers, shopkeepers, etc. everyone earned $36, no matter what position you work as. supervisor earns $36, laborer earns $36. but if u are in a senior position u get other benefits, like getting to go to dinners with big shots, have more clout, etc.
food was provided for, by rationing. farmers work the land and sell the produce back to a central pool. everyone then gets rationed quantities of food. the factory also runs a school, clinics, etc. for the workers' family. so everything is settled by the factory. and the factory is owned by the state. therefore the state provides for everything.
for a period of time this new system did work. grain productivity increased A LOT, and many other benefits came along. however, there are obviously some failures. cos your life is guaranteed by the state, nobody wants to work hard. since if u do work or dont do, you still get $36. along the way, many things happened also, such as the great leap forward, which was quite a failure. but anyway, mao finally died in 1976.
so after him, the next big shot took over. Deng Xiao Ping. So his era started in the 1980s. so when he took over, he realized he had to change the system for the progress of china, by introducing "socialism with chinese characteristics". the commune system was thus abolished. the land was returned to the people, i.e. each family got its plot of land to work, etc. the land was also returned to the local govts to manage. the factories also stopped providing all these services also. Deng also opened up china's economy to foreign investments. so now pple can be farmers, workers, or civil servants, etc. this is still the current system in use, called the hukou system. basically your family is registered in a certain area of china, and that is your hometown. it is some restrictive population control mechanism (can start a debate on this, but shall not.)
so the changes of course were not instant. took like many many years, to develop and slowly change people's mindsets, and to implement change. up till now, many changes are still being made, as this system great influences on public policy.
in this new system, more power was to be transferred to the local people to manage their own areas. so now there is the central govt, and all the various provincial govt. further down the line, there will be the county govt, and town govt, and village chief. this hierarchy was already present, by the system became more institutionalized and roles defined (but still not very well defined). so the central govt sets the policy, and the bottom pple relay down the message, and also implement the policies.
but the thing is, over the years, the govt kept pushing more responsibilities to the local govts, but not increase the budget for them. with more things to do, you need to spend more. but then the govt keep cutting their budget, or not increasing it. therefore in order to survive, the local govts has to look for other sources. which often leads to negative consequences. so some people start charging the citizens very random fees. like all these mysterious admin fees kind of thing, to increase their revenue.
one prime example is the healthcare system. it is a total mess, as kw can testify. if u are a villager and get a serious illness in china, you are as good as dead, because the healthcare system is so expensive. main reason is because of the lowered budget from the govt, the hospital have to look for other sources of revenue. so they start raising prices, recommend patients for unnecessary treatments, colluding with the pharmaceuticals to sell medicine, etc. it is just to ensure organizational survival. however, when they actually made enough money to survive, they get greedy and simple continue their practices. they are human after all, and give in to temptations.
another example is local development of social services. basically at a provincial level, they also face the same budget issues and increased responsibility. with the factories providing lesser services, the govt is supposed to make up for it (as in most developed countries). but the local govts got not enough money. so they have to earn some money first. therefore they rent the land out to factories and businesses to earn the money, so that they can gather capital and than build services like elderly homes, etc. but after many years, they are still developing and rasiing capital, even though the renting out of the land has been rather profitable. so social services are still rather neglected in the 1980s and 90s.
so in a sense, they are not corrupt, cos they didnt take bribes or engage in dishonest practice. it may be unethical to some people, but they have to ensure their own survival. but the only thing is that they become greedy and neglect certain things (there's nothing wrong with being greedy and wanting to earn money. just look at all the ibankers). and the whole concpet about china is that they want to develop and keep developing. so the social and environmental aspects of life are facing the brunt of the impacts of economic development.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
great atmosphere, good game, shitty result
a break from china.
was the game of the season so far. super hyped up for it. and get to watch it with a liverpool fan.
soaking up in pre-match atmosphere.
nervous liverpoo fan and "arsenal" fan. haha.
feel quite sad wearing a fake jersey. hahaha. should have brought mine from home. but it says tevez. argh. prob gonna buy next season's one with the new sponsor. hope its not ugly.
finding more support!
went to a bar in wan chai. great atmosphere. probably the closest to a real english stadium i've experienced so far. singapore is so.. -_- even watching at bars arent really as great as this.
great singing, although i didnt get to video most of it down. every tackle is met with a chorus of abuse, esp bad ones. meeting pple on the street who would congratulate you and take pictures with you cos we were wearing liverpoo and united jerseys. smiling and making small talk with any random people on the street about the match. the bar fight/argument that didnt evolve into a brawl (would have been awesome if it did.) and this weird french researcher he met on the bus home. he said "what a shame. liverpool lost to lyon. and just this weekend lyon lost to the shittiest team in france. man u are lousier that even the shittiest team in france."
idiotic logic. -_- couldnt be bothered to argue with him. what football does he watch.
didnt manage to take other videos, had a lot of pretty good songs.
owen <3 but he didnt score. would have been epic if he did.
was the game of the season so far. super hyped up for it. and get to watch it with a liverpool fan.
soaking up in pre-match atmosphere.
nervous liverpoo fan and "arsenal" fan. haha.
feel quite sad wearing a fake jersey. hahaha. should have brought mine from home. but it says tevez. argh. prob gonna buy next season's one with the new sponsor. hope its not ugly.
finding more support!
went to a bar in wan chai. great atmosphere. probably the closest to a real english stadium i've experienced so far. singapore is so.. -_- even watching at bars arent really as great as this.
great singing, although i didnt get to video most of it down. every tackle is met with a chorus of abuse, esp bad ones. meeting pple on the street who would congratulate you and take pictures with you cos we were wearing liverpoo and united jerseys. smiling and making small talk with any random people on the street about the match. the bar fight/argument that didnt evolve into a brawl (would have been awesome if it did.) and this weird french researcher he met on the bus home. he said "what a shame. liverpool lost to lyon. and just this weekend lyon lost to the shittiest team in france. man u are lousier that even the shittiest team in france."
idiotic logic. -_- couldnt be bothered to argue with him. what football does he watch.
didnt manage to take other videos, had a lot of pretty good songs.
owen <3 but he didnt score. would have been epic if he did.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
school social work - part 3
ok. so was following my prof to this primary school. my prof had started a ngo in guangzhou and they have been existing for quite awhile. so when the earthquake thing happened, they moved in to help the area. (in depth explanation later.) so they started an office at this new school. currently, they employ 3 full time social workers that are stationed at this school. they serve the student population of 700 odd fellas and about 80 staff.
as u read, keep in mind that most of the students and staff, stay in the school hostel. they only go home on weekends. so the school is kind of 24/7.
name of the ngo...
p.s. if u want to work here.. its 4000 RMB a month salary. (if u work for the govt, its twice the pay.)
so what do they do? kind of similar to what they have in singapore. they run an afternoon youth centre. like when the kids have no sch, they can chill out at this room. (i didnt see it, so not sure how big it is.) and under the supervision of the social workers.
they also provide counseling services for the kids, if they have any issues. so services include individual or group work, where they run groups. duh. hahha. topics not very certain, but can be a wide range of things, like discussing them about school stress, etc.
weekends, when the social workers are free, they do homevisits. this is for them to get a picture of the kids' home setting. so to ensure they are serving their needs. they might do homevisits during the weekday if is urgent, i.e. some kid has some issue, and they need to talk to their parents as well. (so they do do family work. which is cool. much better than sg.)
once in awhile, they'll run enrichment classes. those kind that u learn non-academic stuff.
and of course. any other jobs that help improve the lives of all the kids.
so while we were there, did some tasks that can be classified as others. the first night, we walked around the kids' dorms and helped them take pictures. so they can paste their pictures on their dorm doors. this is part of the slow but moving plans to make their dorms look nicer and personal.
next morning, we helped to design this notice board for the kids. cos they cant really draw well, so we drew the shapes and they cut it by themselves. words are by them too. this is some eco-firendly message type of deal on the notice board.
finished product.
the social worker who brought us around! outstanding hospitality as usual.
so it is much more impressive then singapore. this is total immersion into the community, and servicing the people. cos the social workers live in the community and are part of it. they dont come from sichuan, but they've picked up the dialect and are almost able to pass of as a local sichuaner. it is comm-based work, which is really much better (biased perspective here) than what they do in singapore. which is what social work should really be (not these bloody c&c-ers). some family work is done too, but their main target is the school children.
ok. so for some explanations. early part talked about this ngo moving into shui mo. (the town name, if you forgot.) so when the earthquake happened, obviously the govt has to respond, to help provide aid to the area, and also to rebuild back stuff, etc. so one interesting thing they did, was that the central govt, divided sichuan into different areas. and each province in china, was in charge of a certain area (not sure whether all the provinces take part, or whether its only the rich ones). like shanghai was in charge of this area, beijing another area, etc. so shui mo was under the jurisdiction of guangzhou (guangzhou is very rich). which is where my prof's agency is located. if not there is no way a ngo (esp foreign ngos) can enter this area to provide aid. so very cool about the way they divide and help each other. to serve your fellow country man.
为人民服务！
as u read, keep in mind that most of the students and staff, stay in the school hostel. they only go home on weekends. so the school is kind of 24/7.
name of the ngo...
p.s. if u want to work here.. its 4000 RMB a month salary. (if u work for the govt, its twice the pay.)
so what do they do? kind of similar to what they have in singapore. they run an afternoon youth centre. like when the kids have no sch, they can chill out at this room. (i didnt see it, so not sure how big it is.) and under the supervision of the social workers.
they also provide counseling services for the kids, if they have any issues. so services include individual or group work, where they run groups. duh. hahha. topics not very certain, but can be a wide range of things, like discussing them about school stress, etc.
weekends, when the social workers are free, they do homevisits. this is for them to get a picture of the kids' home setting. so to ensure they are serving their needs. they might do homevisits during the weekday if is urgent, i.e. some kid has some issue, and they need to talk to their parents as well. (so they do do family work. which is cool. much better than sg.)
once in awhile, they'll run enrichment classes. those kind that u learn non-academic stuff.
and of course. any other jobs that help improve the lives of all the kids.
so while we were there, did some tasks that can be classified as others. the first night, we walked around the kids' dorms and helped them take pictures. so they can paste their pictures on their dorm doors. this is part of the slow but moving plans to make their dorms look nicer and personal.
next morning, we helped to design this notice board for the kids. cos they cant really draw well, so we drew the shapes and they cut it by themselves. words are by them too. this is some eco-firendly message type of deal on the notice board.
finished product.
the social worker who brought us around! outstanding hospitality as usual.
so it is much more impressive then singapore. this is total immersion into the community, and servicing the people. cos the social workers live in the community and are part of it. they dont come from sichuan, but they've picked up the dialect and are almost able to pass of as a local sichuaner. it is comm-based work, which is really much better (biased perspective here) than what they do in singapore. which is what social work should really be (not these bloody c&c-ers). some family work is done too, but their main target is the school children.
ok. so for some explanations. early part talked about this ngo moving into shui mo. (the town name, if you forgot.) so when the earthquake happened, obviously the govt has to respond, to help provide aid to the area, and also to rebuild back stuff, etc. so one interesting thing they did, was that the central govt, divided sichuan into different areas. and each province in china, was in charge of a certain area (not sure whether all the provinces take part, or whether its only the rich ones). like shanghai was in charge of this area, beijing another area, etc. so shui mo was under the jurisdiction of guangzhou (guangzhou is very rich). which is where my prof's agency is located. if not there is no way a ngo (esp foreign ngos) can enter this area to provide aid. so very cool about the way they divide and help each other. to serve your fellow country man.
为人民服务！
the other end of the spectrum - Part 2
so we've got the yy experience. thought that was enough to prepare me for what to expect at a town/village school. the only prior knowledge i had of the school was that it had 700 kids. cos when i was arranging with my prof, she asked me to plan some activities for them, and when i asked her how many were there so that i can plan properly she said "There are over 700 children at the school. You can have as many as you want." fwaa. 700 kids. with 17 pple at 100 plus per school, it was already more than enough for us to handle.. now got 700!
so when i reached the primary school, i got a shock of my life. it was an 80 million yuan school (according to the vice-principal. might be exaggerated figure). The story of the school was that everything was flattened. so they combined two village schools and put it in the town. (equivalent of combining Gan Tang Zi and Tang Fang, and relocating them into the Xing Jie Town) plus other random students, the total student population was 700.
the thing about the school was that the facilities are by far many times better than a singapore school. amazing stuff. before the earthquake.. there were village schools that were similar to the ones in yunnan. now they have took a technological leap of 50 years to arrive at this new school.
so.. intro u the sch first.
name of school!
main building of the school and assembly area. this is only half of the main building. the other part is on the right. cant take it in the photo cos its an l-shaped building. (if you look closely they even have a monument at the base of the flagpole.
they have a 5 lane track...... with 2 basketball courts on it. building in the left.. is a INDOOR MULTIPURPOSE HALL.
canteen is a multi-storey building....
the building at the far end is a hostel. all the students and teachers (except those who live nearby) stay there.
hostel room... staff get one room to themselves, although there are 8 beds in in there.. haha. students get 8 to a room. the hostel is big enough to accommodate about 700 kids.. and about 80 staff. outstanding.
corridor lights. and stairs lights... ARE AUTOMATED. WTH. so the part that you walk will be lighted up. and it will off automatically. every fllight of steps have one sensor at the start and one at the end. and the building is like 5 stories. whole corridor is filled with those sensors too.
stack of books tt jsut arrived that are yet to be sorted. massive stack. the mini stack (like 1/20 of the stack here.) we bought for the sch in yunnan was like 4000 yuan? these must have cost a lot more. and the best part of it... is those are the unsorted ones.
there are already 3 FULL shelves. (all double sided) and quite long. like nus book shelf length. ALL BRAND NEW BOOKS. and they even have a security system thing. the piece of barcode thing that is hidden in everybook and beeps if u try to steal it when u walk pass the sensors at the door. WTH.
ALL classrooms have a HDTV. (sch has 700 kids. each class has about 30 kids. you can do the maths yourself.) goodness me. what kind of tv programs do they have to watch. chalk board is brand new as u can see. and they all have proper tables and chairs.
school is powered by lenovo. brand new computers.. all dual core kind. and there are many many many many sets of them around...
and well the last thing...
our beloved toilets. despite the advancement (its a very big toilet. they have working taps. proper cubicles.) ... the smell is still the same. :)
so a little introduction of the school. a very different face from the village schools we visited in yunnan. some questions that you may have in mind.. will answer/explain two things here.
1) the thing about the chinese that is really interesting is that.. they like to build infrastructure (i'll explain this another day if i have time.). so they build this new 80 million yuan complex. (the secondary school costs 100 million yuan.) this primary school is way more advanced than any pri sch in singapore. maybe even better or comparable to a JC standard. everyone is excited. this great new school to go etc.
but.. the people are still villagers. they are farmers at heart. the biggest problem they face now is that they don't know how to fully utilize the technology. also, all the money has been spent on the infrastructure, but almost none on the heartware. all the teaching material, style of teaching, quality of food at the canteen (malnourishment for the kids.) remain the same. moreover, the principal has never managed such a large compound and this big a number of people. he gets headache everyday trying to solve the problems.
so in a way.. the chinese are a real mysterious lot of pple.
2) so.. 80 million yuan.. where did it come from? the money was donated by the 2nd artillery division (or battalion? not too sure.) of the People's Liberation Army (china army). so then. why does the defense ministry have to pay for such rebuilding works????? and also.. usually the civil servants always say they do not have much money, in terms of salary, etc. and they are also forever trying to push the central govt to increase their budget so they have more money for operating.. so second question is where does the money come from then?
speculated answer: the army unofficially runs a side business. like they invest in stuff, and therefore are quite well off. so helping to rebuild the school is a show of generosity of the 2nd artillery division, because education is very important. also creates the image thing. may include some altruism elements too.
to be continued..
so when i reached the primary school, i got a shock of my life. it was an 80 million yuan school (according to the vice-principal. might be exaggerated figure). The story of the school was that everything was flattened. so they combined two village schools and put it in the town. (equivalent of combining Gan Tang Zi and Tang Fang, and relocating them into the Xing Jie Town) plus other random students, the total student population was 700.
the thing about the school was that the facilities are by far many times better than a singapore school. amazing stuff. before the earthquake.. there were village schools that were similar to the ones in yunnan. now they have took a technological leap of 50 years to arrive at this new school.
so.. intro u the sch first.
name of school!
main building of the school and assembly area. this is only half of the main building. the other part is on the right. cant take it in the photo cos its an l-shaped building. (if you look closely they even have a monument at the base of the flagpole.
they have a 5 lane track...... with 2 basketball courts on it. building in the left.. is a INDOOR MULTIPURPOSE HALL.
canteen is a multi-storey building....
the building at the far end is a hostel. all the students and teachers (except those who live nearby) stay there.
hostel room... staff get one room to themselves, although there are 8 beds in in there.. haha. students get 8 to a room. the hostel is big enough to accommodate about 700 kids.. and about 80 staff. outstanding.
corridor lights. and stairs lights... ARE AUTOMATED. WTH. so the part that you walk will be lighted up. and it will off automatically. every fllight of steps have one sensor at the start and one at the end. and the building is like 5 stories. whole corridor is filled with those sensors too.
stack of books tt jsut arrived that are yet to be sorted. massive stack. the mini stack (like 1/20 of the stack here.) we bought for the sch in yunnan was like 4000 yuan? these must have cost a lot more. and the best part of it... is those are the unsorted ones.
there are already 3 FULL shelves. (all double sided) and quite long. like nus book shelf length. ALL BRAND NEW BOOKS. and they even have a security system thing. the piece of barcode thing that is hidden in everybook and beeps if u try to steal it when u walk pass the sensors at the door. WTH.
ALL classrooms have a HDTV. (sch has 700 kids. each class has about 30 kids. you can do the maths yourself.) goodness me. what kind of tv programs do they have to watch. chalk board is brand new as u can see. and they all have proper tables and chairs.
school is powered by lenovo. brand new computers.. all dual core kind. and there are many many many many sets of them around...
and well the last thing...
our beloved toilets. despite the advancement (its a very big toilet. they have working taps. proper cubicles.) ... the smell is still the same. :)
so a little introduction of the school. a very different face from the village schools we visited in yunnan. some questions that you may have in mind.. will answer/explain two things here.
1) the thing about the chinese that is really interesting is that.. they like to build infrastructure (i'll explain this another day if i have time.). so they build this new 80 million yuan complex. (the secondary school costs 100 million yuan.) this primary school is way more advanced than any pri sch in singapore. maybe even better or comparable to a JC standard. everyone is excited. this great new school to go etc.
but.. the people are still villagers. they are farmers at heart. the biggest problem they face now is that they don't know how to fully utilize the technology. also, all the money has been spent on the infrastructure, but almost none on the heartware. all the teaching material, style of teaching, quality of food at the canteen (malnourishment for the kids.) remain the same. moreover, the principal has never managed such a large compound and this big a number of people. he gets headache everyday trying to solve the problems.
so in a way.. the chinese are a real mysterious lot of pple.
2) so.. 80 million yuan.. where did it come from? the money was donated by the 2nd artillery division (or battalion? not too sure.) of the People's Liberation Army (china army). so then. why does the defense ministry have to pay for such rebuilding works????? and also.. usually the civil servants always say they do not have much money, in terms of salary, etc. and they are also forever trying to push the central govt to increase their budget so they have more money for operating.. so second question is where does the money come from then?
speculated answer: the army unofficially runs a side business. like they invest in stuff, and therefore are quite well off. so helping to rebuild the school is a show of generosity of the 2nd artillery division, because education is very important. also creates the image thing. may include some altruism elements too.
to be continued..
Thursday, October 22, 2009
in the beginning - part 1
so. i went to sichuan. in search of the rural scene again. (part hidden objective is to scout for new place to do a yes! project on.) followed my HK prof to wenchuan county, shuimo town. which was right smack at the epicenter of the earthquake. learnt many points about the chinese social welfare system and the social work scene there..
note: click the photo for hi-res. so you can see clearer. haha. if u didnt know.
so yes. this is dedicated to the yy pple, especially if u are interested to know more about china's rural scene. you might be able to do some comparisons, especially about the school.
Part A - the earthquake.
this is to give some background about the area. so it starts with the earthquake. it happened and it was rather bad (duh.) what made things worse was that there was a combination of many things. the area is mountainous (just like yunnan kind of mountains.) so there were rock slides, which send boulders flying down the mountain onto villages that were by the foot of the mountain. boulders are house-sized. so yeah.. imagine hdb flats being dropped on you.
e.g. of a boulder.
lol! they used it as a memorial monument after that. had a random transport that was sending us to dujiangyuan, he made us stop and take picture with it. lol. but we didnt mind anyway! but the driver couldnt take proper shots..
this was a school. the remains are still there after one year, cos they are preserving it as a tourism sight in the future.
so the town where the school was, completely flattened. as you can see in the picture below, there is another building on the left of the school. totally caved into the ground. if u stare hard enough at the mountain, there are brown patches. those are the rock slides from the mountains, which hurled dirt, pebbles, stones, rocks, and boulders onto villages down below.
the light blue roofs are temporary housings for the affected people.
so in the entire area, buildings disappear, 4-storey buildings sink into the ground and become a roof only, rock/land slides buried entire villages (imagine gan tang zi totally covered with soil!) in that area above, estimated 10000 pple died. they didnt even find the bodies. because villages were covered entirely. they dug out bodies after bodies and after awhile they gave up. cos there were simply too many.
even transport was a problem. bridges collapse like the photo below.
this bridge (its quite long!) was one of the main arteries into a section of the county (where shuimo was, plus other towns.). So the earthquake literally cut them off form the rest of the world.
the place (shuimo) now is just one mega construction site. the school was built finish first so everything else is still under construction. locals say need another 2 years before it can be a proper town again.
story 1: so immediately after the earthquake happened, there were announcements over radio, etc. that a very bad earthquake happened. and one very amazing thing that happened, was that thousands (or maybe just a thousand) of taxi drivers drove out of chengdu, into the affected areas to help to look for survivors and give any form of help they could. and they provided very significant help cos they had a vehicle which can transport aid in and casualties out. all these happened out of total altruism, and it was UNORGANIZED. nobody ordered them to. they just went out of service to their countrymen. really great story. and example of the wonders of the china spirit. touched my heart. honest! (and if u know me well, you might know hard it is to do so!)
to be continued...
note: click the photo for hi-res. so you can see clearer. haha. if u didnt know.
so yes. this is dedicated to the yy pple, especially if u are interested to know more about china's rural scene. you might be able to do some comparisons, especially about the school.
Part A - the earthquake.
this is to give some background about the area. so it starts with the earthquake. it happened and it was rather bad (duh.) what made things worse was that there was a combination of many things. the area is mountainous (just like yunnan kind of mountains.) so there were rock slides, which send boulders flying down the mountain onto villages that were by the foot of the mountain. boulders are house-sized. so yeah.. imagine hdb flats being dropped on you.
e.g. of a boulder.
lol! they used it as a memorial monument after that. had a random transport that was sending us to dujiangyuan, he made us stop and take picture with it. lol. but we didnt mind anyway! but the driver couldnt take proper shots..
this was a school. the remains are still there after one year, cos they are preserving it as a tourism sight in the future.
so the town where the school was, completely flattened. as you can see in the picture below, there is another building on the left of the school. totally caved into the ground. if u stare hard enough at the mountain, there are brown patches. those are the rock slides from the mountains, which hurled dirt, pebbles, stones, rocks, and boulders onto villages down below.
the light blue roofs are temporary housings for the affected people.
so in the entire area, buildings disappear, 4-storey buildings sink into the ground and become a roof only, rock/land slides buried entire villages (imagine gan tang zi totally covered with soil!) in that area above, estimated 10000 pple died. they didnt even find the bodies. because villages were covered entirely. they dug out bodies after bodies and after awhile they gave up. cos there were simply too many.
even transport was a problem. bridges collapse like the photo below.
this bridge (its quite long!) was one of the main arteries into a section of the county (where shuimo was, plus other towns.). So the earthquake literally cut them off form the rest of the world.
the place (shuimo) now is just one mega construction site. the school was built finish first so everything else is still under construction. locals say need another 2 years before it can be a proper town again.
story 1: so immediately after the earthquake happened, there were announcements over radio, etc. that a very bad earthquake happened. and one very amazing thing that happened, was that thousands (or maybe just a thousand) of taxi drivers drove out of chengdu, into the affected areas to help to look for survivors and give any form of help they could. and they provided very significant help cos they had a vehicle which can transport aid in and casualties out. all these happened out of total altruism, and it was UNORGANIZED. nobody ordered them to. they just went out of service to their countrymen. really great story. and example of the wonders of the china spirit. touched my heart. honest! (and if u know me well, you might know hard it is to do so!)
to be continued...
china, the msyterious force - Part 0
there are too many things to write about the sichuan school thing.
too many things to write about the china social welfare system.
too many photos to share.
hmm. recently taken a huge interest in china affairs.. the social work scene there is just starting and it has been a super exciting journey for the chinese social workers. yy kind of started some general interest, but that was the appetizer. now is the main course. taking a module on social welfare systems in china, and also the recent visit to sichuan, has really taught me a lot. and i can explain lots more things tt happened during yy! (tyt can testify. haha. gave her some samples.)
the chinese are an interesting lot of pple. i'll break the post down into various parts to make it easier reading.
cant wait for guangzhou visit!
here's a cool picture that our driver forced us to take. didnt mind! lol.
this was near the epicentre of the earthquake. rocks. and exciting.
p.s. i might try to do a seminar in nus! haha. if the department allows. hmm. in year 4 sem 1. about china.
too many things to write about the china social welfare system.
too many photos to share.
hmm. recently taken a huge interest in china affairs.. the social work scene there is just starting and it has been a super exciting journey for the chinese social workers. yy kind of started some general interest, but that was the appetizer. now is the main course. taking a module on social welfare systems in china, and also the recent visit to sichuan, has really taught me a lot. and i can explain lots more things tt happened during yy! (tyt can testify. haha. gave her some samples.)
the chinese are an interesting lot of pple. i'll break the post down into various parts to make it easier reading.
cant wait for guangzhou visit!
here's a cool picture that our driver forced us to take. didnt mind! lol.
this was near the epicentre of the earthquake. rocks. and exciting.
p.s. i might try to do a seminar in nus! haha. if the department allows. hmm. in year 4 sem 1. about china.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
dota talk.
for the dota players (taken from http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2530513) :
Today is field camp day 3, and i'm taking charge of platoon 4 of some company...
Today the OC ask the company, during a session on evacuation from a firefight. He ask,"Soldier, shot on right wound. Section I/C, what do you do?"
The section I/C answered,"finish him with my SAR-21."
The OC ask,"Why you kill your own soldier??!"
The I/C answered..."coz i wan to deny kill"
LOL. what a classic. the floor guys play dota like every other night. and on the other night, they play N64. haha. no need to study one.
gg to sichuan to steal 700 kids. see u.
p.s. if u happen to see rem around, do inform me! (guy missing from my floor. been missing for almost three weeks alr! its quite cool... and creepy.)
Today is field camp day 3, and i'm taking charge of platoon 4 of some company...
Today the OC ask the company, during a session on evacuation from a firefight. He ask,"Soldier, shot on right wound. Section I/C, what do you do?"
The section I/C answered,"finish him with my SAR-21."
The OC ask,"Why you kill your own soldier??!"
The I/C answered..."coz i wan to deny kill"
LOL. what a classic. the floor guys play dota like every other night. and on the other night, they play N64. haha. no need to study one.
gg to sichuan to steal 700 kids. see u.
p.s. if u happen to see rem around, do inform me! (guy missing from my floor. been missing for almost three weeks alr! its quite cool... and creepy.)
Friday, October 9, 2009
EPIC FAIL
so here my adventure begins. the pictures can explain a lot.
getting all set up with my stuff.
hooooooo! nigga gone fishin' in fake man utd michael owen jersey.
fail no.1 - the fish kept eating my bait, but didnt get hooked. AHHH. not even a small one. FISHING 1 XJ 0
fail no.2 - i caught sth. (evidence in the photo!) after enduring for ten minutes, the line snapped. knn. so i lost two hooks and sinkers. RARRRRRR. FISHING 2 XJ 0
fail no. 3 - after that ten minute fight. my reel died. the handle dropped out.. the consequences of buying a cheapo rod. and the best part... after trying to fix it. i tilted it the wrong way.. and it fell into the drain. wth. WAHH. FISHING 3 XJ 0
fail no. 4 - the drain covers were sealed into the pavement. so couldnt take it out. the hole was too small for my hand. and it was too deep for my fingers. so i made this homemade hook apparatus to hook it out. after 15 mins, the result was obvious. baaahhhhhhh. FISHING 4 XJ 0
so plan b. i used my rod to prod/dig it out. after ten minutes, finally got it out. although my reel handle came out, it was possible to fix, and i managed to recover it. so YAY. FISHING 4 XJ 1
fail no. 5 - so decided to call it a day and attempt to go fix my rod. walked around kennedy town looking for a screw that could fit that size. went to all the hardware stores, no such size. ZZZZZZZ. FISHING 5 XJ 1 (although this nice shop uncle gave me two free screws. but they dont fit anyway. cant do anything with those screws.)
in conclusion... EPIC FAIL. ok at least i got to practice throwing out the line and learning to position the bait on the hooks properly. and also getting used to the rod and the feelings when the fishes attack your bait. yay. also learnt what screw is in chinese/canto! haha! luo si! (excitement level 8/10) picking up skills is fun. next time i'll catch a giant squid.
PEEEEEENINGZZZZZZZ! just for you. haha. after the epic failure, i decided to indulge.
getting all set up with my stuff.
hooooooo! nigga gone fishin' in fake man utd michael owen jersey.
fail no.1 - the fish kept eating my bait, but didnt get hooked. AHHH. not even a small one. FISHING 1 XJ 0
fail no.2 - i caught sth. (evidence in the photo!) after enduring for ten minutes, the line snapped. knn. so i lost two hooks and sinkers. RARRRRRR. FISHING 2 XJ 0
fail no. 3 - after that ten minute fight. my reel died. the handle dropped out.. the consequences of buying a cheapo rod. and the best part... after trying to fix it. i tilted it the wrong way.. and it fell into the drain. wth. WAHH. FISHING 3 XJ 0
fail no. 4 - the drain covers were sealed into the pavement. so couldnt take it out. the hole was too small for my hand. and it was too deep for my fingers. so i made this homemade hook apparatus to hook it out. after 15 mins, the result was obvious. baaahhhhhhh. FISHING 4 XJ 0
so plan b. i used my rod to prod/dig it out. after ten minutes, finally got it out. although my reel handle came out, it was possible to fix, and i managed to recover it. so YAY. FISHING 4 XJ 1
fail no. 5 - so decided to call it a day and attempt to go fix my rod. walked around kennedy town looking for a screw that could fit that size. went to all the hardware stores, no such size. ZZZZZZZ. FISHING 5 XJ 1 (although this nice shop uncle gave me two free screws. but they dont fit anyway. cant do anything with those screws.)
in conclusion... EPIC FAIL. ok at least i got to practice throwing out the line and learning to position the bait on the hooks properly. and also getting used to the rod and the feelings when the fishes attack your bait. yay. also learnt what screw is in chinese/canto! haha! luo si! (excitement level 8/10) picking up skills is fun. next time i'll catch a giant squid.
PEEEEEENINGZZZZZZZ! just for you. haha. after the epic failure, i decided to indulge.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
cool shit.
hoho. typhoon time again. this time got double typhoon! just like mooncakes have double yolk.
damn typhoons. reminds me of good old "all-weather trained" recce days. argh. left us out there to die. damn army. anyway argh! typhoons. make it rainy so cant go out. already had two typhoons now got two more.. in a row too! all the best for the sporeans who are gg taiwan. they'll be so soaked.
some cool stuff learnt in geography class: the typhoon on the left is stuck. cos of the bigger typhoon on the right. so it will loiter around between taiwan and philippines for a few days. the weather guys cant even predict where its gg to go. cos of the double egg yolk. which is quite rare. cool shit.
damn typhoons. reminds me of good old "all-weather trained" recce days. argh. left us out there to die. damn army. anyway argh! typhoons. make it rainy so cant go out. already had two typhoons now got two more.. in a row too! all the best for the sporeans who are gg taiwan. they'll be so soaked.
some cool stuff learnt in geography class: the typhoon on the left is stuck. cos of the bigger typhoon on the right. so it will loiter around between taiwan and philippines for a few days. the weather guys cant even predict where its gg to go. cos of the double egg yolk. which is quite rare. cool shit.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
the flow of money.
spent china national day at the royal hong kong yacht club. wonderful lobang my roommate had. good food, open bar, atas dining, and best spot to watch the fireworks (some rock platform thingy in the middle of the harbor).
as usual. china's showmanship was outstanding. they even got "zhong guo" shaped fireworks. and flower shaped fireworks. the flower supposed to be hk national flower i think. many other types that i have never seen before. impressive 23 min show.
flower thing - supposed to be buahiania or sth like tt. dunno how to spell.
the zhong word if u can see. didnt take a decent shot.
and. in beijing... the stuff they put on is just too much. apparently they celebrate big every 10 years. and this year is the 60th year since mr. mao took over. the budget for the fireworks was twice that amount spent on the fireworks for the beijing olympics opening ceremony. they even zhng the weather so tt on that day will have clear blue skies and to ensure it doesnt rain on tt day. zhng the weather. wth. got like tens of thousands of pple on parade and they staged the largest ever military exhibition ever. lol.
some pics koped from the net.
some crazy stuff going on. so anyway. they spent a hell lot of money. which kind of sucks. cos after taking two modules on china, you will come to realize how shitty and messy certain aspects of the country are. the social welfare system is very messed up and the environmental aspects of china is like dying. and here they go spending so much money on their celebrations. the poor and the farmers are suffering out there, the environment is taking so much shit from the pple, and the work done to restore/help them are so... ineffective. not really the central govt's fault anyway. i bet nobody in the world can solve the mess they are in now effectively, or without other consequences. my prediction is that china cannot become a global superpower. cos no matter how developed your big cities are, the tail end of the line will drag you down. and the tail end of the line.. happens to be the majority of the population at 782 million (or 935 million, depends on which counting system) out of the nearing 1.4 billion pple in china. shame on you. go serve this pple like mao did.
为人民服务！
as usual. china's showmanship was outstanding. they even got "zhong guo" shaped fireworks. and flower shaped fireworks. the flower supposed to be hk national flower i think. many other types that i have never seen before. impressive 23 min show.
flower thing - supposed to be buahiania or sth like tt. dunno how to spell.
the zhong word if u can see. didnt take a decent shot.
and. in beijing... the stuff they put on is just too much. apparently they celebrate big every 10 years. and this year is the 60th year since mr. mao took over. the budget for the fireworks was twice that amount spent on the fireworks for the beijing olympics opening ceremony. they even zhng the weather so tt on that day will have clear blue skies and to ensure it doesnt rain on tt day. zhng the weather. wth. got like tens of thousands of pple on parade and they staged the largest ever military exhibition ever. lol.
some pics koped from the net.
some crazy stuff going on. so anyway. they spent a hell lot of money. which kind of sucks. cos after taking two modules on china, you will come to realize how shitty and messy certain aspects of the country are. the social welfare system is very messed up and the environmental aspects of china is like dying. and here they go spending so much money on their celebrations. the poor and the farmers are suffering out there, the environment is taking so much shit from the pple, and the work done to restore/help them are so... ineffective. not really the central govt's fault anyway. i bet nobody in the world can solve the mess they are in now effectively, or without other consequences. my prediction is that china cannot become a global superpower. cos no matter how developed your big cities are, the tail end of the line will drag you down. and the tail end of the line.. happens to be the majority of the population at 782 million (or 935 million, depends on which counting system) out of the nearing 1.4 billion pple in china. shame on you. go serve this pple like mao did.
为人民服务！
Sunday, October 4, 2009
i went to ocean park to marry a ghost.
ocean park. halloween bash! its called "haunt kong". lol.
but it's @#$%ing good. (excitement level 8.5/10) got 8 haunted houses specially designed for the halloween thing, and the park opens till late. and all the haunted houses are asian horror themed. so super cool!! (its different from the night safari one. this one they specially create 8 haunted houses, plus all the deco and many many many many many random ghosts wandering around the park tt will disturb you.)
jiang si scarecrow! the haunted houses got all kinds of themes. jiang si, underworld, haunted campus, japanese house, shopping malls, train station, etc. many many professional standard haunted houses. i'll say its a must go attraction if you come hk. but it only happens in oct.
i had to post this. cos its the first ever real panda i saw. super cool. but yes the tiongs... (not aik tiong.) had to spoil everything. squeeze here squeeze there. elbow here elbow there. had some fun elbowing back.
ok. story time. so.. during the night, and walking around... i chanced upon this ghost in a wedding dress and holding a bouquet of black roses. lol. so there was some other pple taking photo with her. so... while waiting in line... i pointed my camera above her and took picture of a tombstone deco which was above her. (you can see it in the pic below! but dont look now!)
so when i lowered my hands after the shot... she was staring at me! cos just nice the other group finished taking and left. chua number 1. then.. she was like :"that tombstone!?!? you took picture of that tombstone and dont want to take me!" chua number 2. so.. i was like "oh oops sorry" (cos she was speaking in canto.. but i understood what she was saying. but then.. my canto is super chui.. so i dunno how to respond to her. so just mumbled some "sorry sorry") so she made me propose to her. lol! she was like "gui xia lai!" (the canto version.) she started acting a bit princessy etc. and later if i dont do... she call all her ghost friends to come disturb me. lol. so yeah i did it. argh.
and yes. although ocean park rocks (it would have been better if there was no such thing as tiongs), shenzhen rocks too. why? cos SUPER CHEAP FOOD. i ate cabonara, clams (the lala kind.), free flow drinks... only S$4.50. OMG! i could have stayed there the whole day and ate all the dishes.
yes. and i descended into the kingdom of fake goods. dove into the abyss of lousy fan-dom. i bought a fake man utd jersey. oh my oh my. what have i done. oh well. at least he came on a free transfer.. why do i have to pay for his jersey?? (ok well the club pays his wages.)
but it's @#$%ing good. (excitement level 8.5/10) got 8 haunted houses specially designed for the halloween thing, and the park opens till late. and all the haunted houses are asian horror themed. so super cool!! (its different from the night safari one. this one they specially create 8 haunted houses, plus all the deco and many many many many many random ghosts wandering around the park tt will disturb you.)
jiang si scarecrow! the haunted houses got all kinds of themes. jiang si, underworld, haunted campus, japanese house, shopping malls, train station, etc. many many professional standard haunted houses. i'll say its a must go attraction if you come hk. but it only happens in oct.
i had to post this. cos its the first ever real panda i saw. super cool. but yes the tiongs... (not aik tiong.) had to spoil everything. squeeze here squeeze there. elbow here elbow there. had some fun elbowing back.
ok. story time. so.. during the night, and walking around... i chanced upon this ghost in a wedding dress and holding a bouquet of black roses. lol. so there was some other pple taking photo with her. so... while waiting in line... i pointed my camera above her and took picture of a tombstone deco which was above her. (you can see it in the pic below! but dont look now!)
so when i lowered my hands after the shot... she was staring at me! cos just nice the other group finished taking and left. chua number 1. then.. she was like :"that tombstone!?!? you took picture of that tombstone and dont want to take me!" chua number 2. so.. i was like "oh oops sorry" (cos she was speaking in canto.. but i understood what she was saying. but then.. my canto is super chui.. so i dunno how to respond to her. so just mumbled some "sorry sorry") so she made me propose to her. lol! she was like "gui xia lai!" (the canto version.) she started acting a bit princessy etc. and later if i dont do... she call all her ghost friends to come disturb me. lol. so yeah i did it. argh.
and yes. although ocean park rocks (it would have been better if there was no such thing as tiongs), shenzhen rocks too. why? cos SUPER CHEAP FOOD. i ate cabonara, clams (the lala kind.), free flow drinks... only S$4.50. OMG! i could have stayed there the whole day and ate all the dishes.
yes. and i descended into the kingdom of fake goods. dove into the abyss of lousy fan-dom. i bought a fake man utd jersey. oh my oh my. what have i done. oh well. at least he came on a free transfer.. why do i have to pay for his jersey?? (ok well the club pays his wages.)
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