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Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

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By Jupe
July 1st 2007

Given up that idea

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

Ok. So since Cam and I are engaged to get married I've decided to drop the idea of not talking about him on this blog. It's impossible. I live with the man, almost every cultural issue I have is with the man or his friends, he's my life. If you don't want me to talk about my life then I can not talk about him, otherwise it's not going to work. Anyways, a lot's been going on over here recently. Today is the 10th anniversary of China getting Hong Kong back from England so last night at midnight we watched the [View Full Entry]

By Jupe
July 1st 2007

Who is he?

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

I just went to buy a printer for the computer. It's 75$ for an HP printer, scanner and copier all in one and I'll be able to use it here and in the US. Right now I need to do a lot of printing and copying for the visa so it's important for now. If I copy and or print up to 500 things then I've already paid for the price of the printer so it's worth it. Anyways, I was at the shop buying it with Cam just now and afterwards I had to go pay for it and get [View Full Entry]

By southernsoul
June 20th 2007

Happy Duan Wu Jie

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

On our way out of the apartment, Wesley and I noticed some branches outside of our neighbors' front door. I asked Wes if he knew what they were for but was met with only a blank stare. I'm not one to be overly superstitious, but I got a little worried. These branches somehow reminded me of the Biblical story about the passover. Either we put some mystical markings outside our house or evil spirits will come and haunt us till days end. Right as we entered the classroom, our teacher started talking about a special type of branch called "Ai Hao" [View Full Entry]

By Jupe
June 17th 2007

Tests

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

So I've been going through a bunch of tests in the past couple days. First of all I took a Chinese test this morning. It was a bit rough! There were two parts of this test, the first part was listening and the second part reading. The listening wasn't too bad. I know I made a couple mistakes - one I chose the wrong answer and it kept going before I could change it, two I didn't write one of the characters properly and third there was one where I didn't take notes on a long passage. I often have difficulty [View Full Entry]

By Jupe
June 11th 2007

Annoyed

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

Having a bit of trouble with everything at school and home. First of all no one seems to understand my relationship with Cam. Everyone thinks we're having an awful relationship and doesn't know why I'm in it. Just to let you know first of all I'm not masochistic and from past experience ya'll should know that I've stuck to relationships that I benefit from not ones that harm me. Yes Cam and I fight and yes that aggravates me and I do end up complaining about it a lot to others because most of the time I don't understand why it [View Full Entry]

By frequentflyer
June 8th 2007

Last day in Dalian

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

ShinHai Park

More tidbits about Dalian: a peninsula city, city with the most number of roundabouts in China (~50), population of about 6 million with 2.9m in the metropolitan area, size of about 30x Singapore. Today was my last day in China. We went to ShinHai Park (literally translated "Star Sea" Park), a popular park with the locals. It used to be a garbage dump but you wouldn't even know unless someone told you. The plaza here is four times as big as Tiananmen Square. There is a big concrete structure in the shape of a open book. It was constructed to [View Full Entry]

By frequentflyer
June 7th 2007

Benxi to Lushun to Dalian

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian

Height 203
Description. I am too lazy to type.

By this time I think I've tried all variation of Ce Suo (washroom/restroom) along the various roads, highways and attractions. They range from behind a bush, a hole in the ground with 4 walls, a sliding channel lined with heavy plastic with 4 walls, a bigger room with a gutter separated by walls, turkish squat toilet, and all the way to 5***** self-flushing urinals with soap dispensers and running water. Do bring your own hand sanitizer and toilet paper! Before I tell you about my day I think some history of Lushun is in order. Lushun literally means "smooth journey". [View Full Entry]

By frequentflyer
June 6th 2007

Changchun to Benxi

Asia » China » Dongbei » Changchun

Benxi
Description of Benxi

Changchun to Benxi Asia » China » Dongbei » Changchun By frequentflyer June 6th 2007 After more driving this morning we get to today's highlight - Benxi Cave, with the longest underground river in China, 5th longest in the world. It's about 5km long, average depth of 2m and deepest is 7m. Average water temperature i [View Full Entry]

By frequentflyer
June 5th 2007

Harbin to Changchun

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin

IXAT
Want a ixat?

Heilongjiang province is the most northeastern province in China with a population of 39 million, about 4 million in Harbin. Some interesting tidbits about Harbin: it has the tallest free-standing tower in Asia; Harbin Industrial University is the 6th largest in China and has many Russian students; the first department store was built in 1901; public schools are named by number, and usually don't have names; it costs about 100 Yuan to attend public school, about 5000 to 18,000 for private school. Ginseng, mink fur and deer antler are known as “three treasures of northeast China&rdquo [View Full Entry]

By frequentflyer
June 4th 2007

Jinbro Lake to Harbin

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin

Jinbro Lake

This morning we cruised around Jinbro Lake. It's 46km long, the second largest volcanic crater lake in the world. The largest is somewhere in Switzerland. The rich and powerful have villas around the lake. Some universities also have cottages here for summer retreats. Some of the highlights include crocodile islands and a mountain that looks like a supine chairman Mao from a certain angle. Afterwards we got on the bus again, this time heading for Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province (literally translated as Black Dragon Province). Harbin is about 200km from the Chinese-Russian bord [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Asia » China » Dongbei