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.
May 10th 2008Asia » China » Hainan I originally intended this post to be a lighthearted continuation of my visit to Hainan, but given the recent tragedy of the earthquake, I wanted to shift gears a bit. So enjoy the pictures which sti ... 28 photos[full story]
May 5th 2008Asia » China » Hainan A few pretty significant events have happened in the last couple of weeks here in China that (fortunately) I was not apart of, but could have very well been. The first occurred a few weeks ago when a ... 30 photos[full story]
May 3rd 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Sanya In four short days, I received the worst sunburn of my life, witnessed a baby being flung about the ocean like a pool toy, observed the differences between island and mainland life, basked in the clea ... 9 photos[full story]
April 24th 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou After very little sleep on the ferry, we arrived tired and grumpy at HaiKou. The usual mob of taxi drivers hounded us, but we are growing accustom to that now, so we calmly choose one and set off for ... [full story]
April 25th 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Sanya So .. you know how I was complaining about the cold? Yeah, now we're in 32 degree heat - I guess that's what I get for complaining so much.
The thousands of kilometres were covered in two long dist ... [full story]
April 8th 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Sanya This weekend, I was finally taken to visit a staggering Chinese paradise with a 25-degree average temperature; yeah, the largest Ocean island in China. Although the car drive and flight were both ple ... 116 photos[full story]
April 11th 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Sanya The short trip to Hainan was fantastic. The first two nights we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and the third night at the Hilton Hotel. Both hotels are simply great and we just relaxed, slept a lot and ... 10 photos[full story]
April 1st 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou In ancient China, the southern Island of Hainan was known as the end of the world. It is the place, to which many brave dissenters and critics of China's Imperial Dynasties and its emperors were exil ... 84 photos[full story]
March 5th 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou 'TRAVEL THAT FEEDS THE SOUL'........this is what GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS is all about. A week ago, we completed our third year teaching with GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS, we were the 2nd team to teach in Haikou city ... 10 photos[full story]
March 20th 2008Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou I never thought my first entry would get myself so addicted to this travel blog (never thought I would like the idea of writing and putting pictures together). But I can not afford non-stop travelling ... 21 photos[full story]
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