Blogs from Shandong, China, Asia

Panni stesi ad asciugare per strada, odori pungenti, gabinetti al limite dell'impraticabile, traffico sregolato e rumori molesti: e' cosi' che mi risveglio in Cina, nella vera Cina, quella della costa, culla di una civilta' millenaria che all'inizio di questo nuovo secolo sembra destinata a ricoprire un ruolo di primissimo piano sulla scena internazionale: non posso proprio sottrarmi al "dovere" di andarci a dare un' occhiata e di cercare di raccontare cosa vi succede nella vita di tutti i giorni. Qingdao, nella provincia settentrionale dello Shandong, e' stata per diversi anni una colonia tedesca e qualche suo antico edificio dell'epoca e' stato fortunatamente conservato, donando alla citta', seppur priva degli appetitosi aromi di wurstel e crauti, una certa atmosfera nordeuropea, non sufficiente comunque a giustificare l'appellativo che le vi... read more

Putting away the dishes this morning whilst waiting for my kettle to boil water for the pot of tea that is MANDATORY to start the day I had to break up the ice on the dish draining rack. Hmmm, yes it was cold overnight. I keep the window open a little in there and door closed to the rest of the apartment, but there is a radiator heater in there to take the chill off things, thank goodness the red wine may have frozen otherwise. English corner today and then lunch with Howard from Australia and 4 young Chinese guys. The top today was 0C but around midday today it was really cold, enough to freeze any water drops being dripped from the buckets being dragged up from the springs, into little icicles along the stone ... read more

Cold, chilly, grey skies and English corner. Getting dressed to go out now is a major marathon involving 13 items of clothing, underwear, undershirt, top shirt, jumper/vest, tights, socks, jeans, shoes, jacket, scarf, gloves and hat. But English corner awaits and a dedicated bunch of Chinese are there wanting to chat about this that and everything. And really I use it as much for me, to glean what the real Chinese people think. We talk pretty much without any filter, I try to remain positive but I do go near those tricky subjects of politics and religion and comparison of East and West. Today we got around to talking about the one child policy and the implications of this. China’s population is still growing as this policy is not as simple as it sounds. It only ... read more

You look at the jeans you have been wearing for the past 5 days and go, yeah sure why not; another day or two would be OK, it’s not as if I’m sweating at all. All the marigolds have been taken out of the flower beds and replaced with the “cauliflower” plants. Two colours, purple and white, they look just like cauliflowers. All the trees have lost their leaves and the trunks are painted white, a paint to reduce fungus and insects apparently. The trees are wrapped up for the winter in a fetching arrangement of a wicker basket. The large shops have a huge thick blanket at the front doors to keep the heat in and the cold out. You look longingly at the lingerie shops, but not at bras and knickers; but at long ... read more

Paraphrasing and borrowing this famous saying attributed to the Jesuits, I would have to say that the children of Zhangqui Experimental Kindergarten in Jinan will be wonderful future citizens. This kindergarten has won many awards for not only Jinan but for the whole of Shandong province and it’s easy to see why. The centre is well staffed with 3 adults per room, 1 teacher, 1 assistant teacher and 1 assistant for 40-50 children. There are additional staff to clean and cook and administrative and directing staff on hand constantly. Children are signed in with a swipe card system and in each room there is a visual and light display showing each child represented as a number with the light on for being there, this was used as a numeracy tool in one of the rooms today. ... read more