Entries from September 2006 ↓

I think the English name of the restaurant is called Chate. Well, that is the name I recall whenever I think of the restaurant anyway. In Chinese its name is literally “one tea one seat”. It has a few branches across Hangzhou, with one ideally located at the West Lake. The outdoor seating is shaded by trees, and overlooks the lake. If you look for a nice place to chill out near the West Lake, this is the one.

The restaurant has a menu of delicious drinks, including cold tea drink and ice shake. Look out for the mango ice shake - a real treat in the sweltering hot of summer.

The restaurant’s boss is taiwaness, so no wonder that the food and drink offered are quite taiwanese flavored. I must say all the food I have tried taste delicious, especially the taiwanese dish “rice with minced pork”. 

The snacks, coming in a wide variety, such as fried yam, dumplings, etc are also wonderful.

Besides West Lake, there is a branch restaurant near Dragon Sports Centre. I was once a frequent customer there, as my office was around. I had a horrible time doing business in China, and that horrible time was associated with this restaurant - whenever I was stressed, I would go out for dinner, here in this restaurant.  

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang attended a meeting with secondary students this past week. It was an informal occassion where students would have opportunity to interact with the head of their government. It was reported that the students were not happy with the meeting because they found Mr Tsang not a sincere speaker.

Why did the students have such an unfavorable impression? Let me show you the kind of answer Mr Tsang gave the students in the Q&A session.

Q (a student): What advice do you have for us?

A (Mr Tsang): You should make use of the “one country two systems” to wring from the Central Government (ie. Beijing Government) what is advantageous for Hong Kong.

Is this a “person” talking? It sounds more like an official giving lecturing to his/her subordinates, as in the mainland China. His answer is so boring and so impersonal. And I assure you this style is very typical of him. 

Whenever I hear Mr Tsang talk like a top official in the Mainland China, I conjure up a bleak picture for Hong Kong. He never succeeds, in his public speeches, in convincing me that he is a leader of imagination and humanity, not to mention the ability to inspire in people. 

Hong Kong is sadly a city without leadership. Will the city have one day? I doubt it, under the current ”one country two systems”.

Due to one child policy in the cities, China’s new generation is heavily spoilt and they tend to take everything they have for granted. At the same time, they demand to have everything - they think they are entitled to.

I came to know three families in Hangzhou. They are very typical middle-class famillies. The parents hold high positions in the organisations they work for, and they have to work very hard so as to perform at work. The families all have big and nice apartments in gated compounds, outfitted with fashionable furniture and audio-visual equippment of all sorts, and two families have car, with one considering to buy one. 

Coincidentally, all three families have an only child - a boy aged about 6. It is striking that they share one common character: being bossy. They demand to have this and that, do this and that, and they yell and shout. Without failing, their parents will listen to them and fullfill the kid’s wish. I witnessed this many many times and felt deeply sad.

If this is the new generation, where will this lead China to? Growing up spoilt, one thing is for sure - they won’t have the will power to accomplish things. And being over protected and hence naive, they are easily submerged in the big big world.

I recall that an Swiss friend in his 60s once said this of a Chinese young man he met, “he told me about what he wants to do in the future. It is some sort of business idea. He is polite but way too naive. He doesn’t really know what the outside world is like.” 

The spying case of Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong has sent shocks to the Hong Kong community. The seasoned journalist known for his patriotism was sentenced to jail for five years by the course in China on charges of spying. Upon hearing the verdict, a sense of frustration and pessimism prevails, espescially among the journalists here, and those having believed that China is well on the way to modernity.

First of all, the trial is clouded in secrecy. No evidence is clearly presented and there is no clear explanation of why Ching is accused of spying and what intelligence he has leaked.

Secondly, there is contradiction in the court papers.  The court says Ching surrendered himself, which appears to be a total fabrication. Ching did not surrender but was arrested when visiting China. Also, in the first court paper issued, Ching was accused of leaking top secret state information. In the second court paper, the intelligence he leaked was classified as secret only.

I found out because of the case, that in China there are three classifications of “secrecy” of state intelligence. The top secret goes to state information such as military move, important diplomatic and economic information, and the state leaders’ STATE OF HEALTH.

The second level of secrecy goes to information such as news of resignation of the state leaders, their temperaments and expertise.

The third level of secrecy goes to news of plagues, corruption of local officials, etc.
So it is obvious that if you are a journalist in Hong Kong or China, you can easily step into the trap and report something that belongs to state secrets and land in the jail like Ching Cheong. No wonder the sentence of Ching Cheong has sent a chilling shock to the local journalists.

Hong Kong has been a major outpost in reporting China news of depth and a wide range of topics. If Hong Kong’s journalists are silenced because of the threat of spy charges, the news about China are doomed to be unexciting and more pro-government.

I only started to appreciate the beauty of ipod days ago when I was given the gadget as a present. I love it, laragely because I can listen to podcasts, and have found some interesting podcasts to listen to.

As a result, I discover a podcast for learning Chinese: chinesepod.com.

The podcasts are daily and each podcast about 10 minutes long. They have won very good reviews from users.

Not many podcasts are updated on a regular basis, not to mention on a daily basis. Chinesepod.com podcasts are able to deliver daily broadcasting and that is great for language learning.

In the apple podcast directory, I’ve found at least four or five other podcasts teaching Mandarin. Haven’t screened all of them yet. It appears that podcasts are opening up a new front for learning Chinese.