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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 leogoesrawr
October 11th 2009

Hainan Vacation, Part 1 Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

Kittens

Due to various internet difficulties, there were a number of blog posts that got written and were not published, so I thought that it would be easiest if I just gave you the summary of my vacation (with pictures!) broken down into however many parts I feel like. The first day of my vacation was National Day, which honestly wasn't very different than any other day except that there were people selling Chinese flags on the street and when I went to the supermarket, there were people watching the festivities in Beijing on the televisions in the electronics department (they were [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 9th 2009

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS TEACHING IN HAIKOU Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

OUR STUDENTS

Have just finished two weeks of teaching conversational English at the Haikou Municipal Educational Research & Training Academy. This is our fourth year teaching with Global Volunteers & the most fun. Our team of 17 bonded quickly & the laughter & companionship developed quickly! Each morning we boarded the bus at 8AM & returned to the hotel by noon for lunch. Roy & I shared a class, consisting of 9 students, all Chinese English teachers. They were eager to increase their ability to speak conversational English. Teachers teach their English class 'from the book'. Once out of the univer [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 1st 2009

GONGQI CELEBRATION--YONGXING VILLAGE Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

GATHERED FOR TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEAL

It was an honor to be invited to Yongxing, a small village outside Haikou City, to celebrate Gongqi, an annual celebration of ancestors. It is a day for the families to gather together to pray for their ancestors and share a meal. Two of our students, who I taught last year through Global Volunteers, invited us to share a meal with their family. Our guides to the village, were two of our students from class this year, who also teach in Yongxing middle school. We went by taxi and, because of a big traffic jam, it took 1 1/2 hours to [View Full Entry]

LINDA AND SHALLY SERVING 'HAINAN NOODES'

By COOKIE W
February 20th 2009

BACK IN HONG KONG/HAIKOU, CHINA Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

HONG KONG HARBOR

AFTER 16 HR FLIGHT, NEWARK/HONG KONG ON CONTINENTAL, WE ARRIVED IN HONG KONG & SPENT ONE NIGHT. FOLLOWING DAY, FLEW 1 HR TO HAINAN ISLAND TO PREPARE FOR OUR 'FOURTH' SESSION WITH GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS IN HAIKOU CITY. THE WEATHER IS VERY WARM & HUMID........WE'RE USED TO THAT & RATHER ENJOY IT! HAD A NICE DINNER WITH OUR CHINESE FRIENDS UPON OUR ARRIVAL IN HAIKOU LAST NITE. WAS A WONDERFUL WELCOME FOR US......... ALL'S WELL!!!!! [View Full Entry]

By Olliep
April 24th 2008

Arriving in HaiKou (Hainan) Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

The ferry

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 a hotel listed in our bible. The hotel was amazing quality for a 'budget' choice, Mark had already stolen all the freebies before we even had chance to check-in! After a hard nights travel, a nap was well deserved. Our Primary mission: Find a way to get to VietNam from Hainan island. Our hotel was very central to we walked through the [View Full Entry]

By Hans
April 1st 2008

#97 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China ("Tropical" Island of Hainan, China's smallest Province) Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

This prized Jackfruit is growing on the Island of Hainan, of the coast of South China.

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 exiled. One of the most outspoken critics of the Song Dynasty was China's ancient, grand poet Su Dongpo, who was exiled to Hainan between 1097 A.D. and 1100 A.D. by the Song Dynasty emperor. He described his journey to the "tropical" Island of Hainan, located on the southern tip of China, with these words: "... Having visited the wonder, I never feel regretful, though gone through [View Full Entry]

Even on the Island of Hainan, Children will be children.

Walking the paths an ancient village, only a few cigarettes convinced this gentleman to pose with me.

Vacation time in Hainan was also difficult for the island's animals.

By Hu Di
March 20th 2008

Haidian Peninsula Free Market Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

Shop of bags

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 for 3 months or 6 months, like many of other bloggers do. I am good at finding excuses for myself. So I decided to say " to travel is more to perceive than to make destinations. Travel gives us time to think, refresh, rethink...give us insights to places which we have never been and to people who we have never known...finally we retrospect, make connections between [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 5th 2008

HAIKOU CITY, HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

EVERGREEN PARK WITH OUR HOTEL ON LEFT

In 110 BC, Emperor Hanwu was the first to assign an administrative office on Hainan Island. It borders Vietnam to the west. The climate is very tropical & due to the abundance of sunlight, many crops are grown such as rice, wheat sweet potato, taro, sorghum, millet & beans. Sugarcane, hemp, peanuts, sesame & tea are also grown. Among the fruits are, pineapple, litchi, banana, plantain, citrus, mango watermellon & jackfruit! It is also rich in medicinal herbs, there are over 4,000 plants that can be used for medicinal purposes. There is no industry on the island, therefore, no pollution. We [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 5th 2008

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS - HAIKOU CITY, HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

HERE I AM WITH STUDENTS

'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, Hainan Island. We taught each morning to Chinese English teachers at Haikou Educational Research and Training Academy. Every other year English teachers in China must get re-certified. This is our 2nd time having HuDi as our team leader; last year her partner, Baoli, led our small team in Xi'an and HuDi participated. We feel as tho these leaders are a part of our family now. We stayed [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 3rd 2008

LUCHEN RURAL VILLAGE Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

10 RULES FROM MING DYNASTY

LUCHEN is an ancient, rural village 2 hours from the city of Haikou, Hainan Island. There is a stone marker, at the entrance to the village, from the 'Ming Dynasty', 1500 A.D. It lists 10 rules for the village --'don't steal;don't cut down trees', etc. The foilage is tropical & the soil very fertile. Fruit trees are very abundant --jackfruit, pineapples, leechie nuts, bananas, to name just a few. The houses were all built from volcano bricks......bricks cut into squares from volcano lava, no mortar is used. The bricks are porous & would leak in the rain.....however, it is a very [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou