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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 Preston_66
February 10th 2007

This might just put a little Spring in your Festival.

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Britty
Britt playing around with giant fire sticks.

With the first "New Moon" on the first day of the Lunar Year, Spring Festival will officially begin. A time to be celebrated with your family by eating dumplings and giving thanks to all your thankful for. The Spring Festival is such an old tradition that it is not able to be traced. But what has always remained a constant in all the stories is a monster called "Nian" (year). A monster that would prey on the people of China the night before the New Year. A beast born very ugly and dragon like with a mouth so big that when [View Full Entry]

By carriebaron
January 19th 2007

Goodbye Dongying

Asia » China » Shandong

Greg and our train to Nanjing
Greg and I took an overnight train together from Dongying to Nanjing, and then Nanjing to Shanghai.

Adieu Dongying! Fairwell to your fine lands until we meet again! I travel onward to the city by the sea. I've posted some pictures of the Dongying suburbs for anyone whose interested in the area's countryside. [View Full Entry]

By Preston_66
January 11th 2007

Better Late Than Never

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Emma's fault
This cat managed to break all of our plates and bowls.. grrrrrrr .. Oh well She's damm Cute.

Wow Has it been a long time since I've posted a blog. Don't worry though I'm still alive and stilling kickin' it. Recently the internet has been horrible due to the earthquake in Taiwan. Supposidly some fiber optics cables were damaged during the quake making any western websites unbelievably slow. But becuase its been so long since I've posted a blog I figuered that I'd put up with it and just say hello. Christmas didn't feel like christmas becuase of the lack of snow on the ground but I figuer as you grow up its just like every other day. The [View Full Entry]

By carriebaron
January 5th 2007

I blame the earthquake

Asia » China » Shandong

Christmas dancing

Ok, ok. It's true, I'm a slacker. I'm horrible at writing emails, sending gifts and thank you letters in time, and I don't keep up with my blog. I GET IT. Well, I've turned a new leaf! (maybe it will last more than two months this time.) Ok, so let's go from CHristmas. Christmas, which I spent in Dongying with my fellow lonely foreigners. The university held a Christmas "party" which was MANDATORY. It was mainly performances. Video to arrive in a few weeks. yikes. There was also dancing, and by dancing I mean waltzing. I was forced to dance with [View Full Entry]

By Molls
December 7th 2006

Mount Taishan

Asia » China » Shandong

Thursday night I got a call from my friends Thomas and Raphael asking if I had any interest in going to climb Mount Taishan over the weekend. Taishan is located in Shandong province and it takes about 8 hours by train to get there. They said we would take the overnight train on Friday and all that was available was hard seats, no beds. Saturday morning we would arrive and explore the town Qufu famous for being the hometown of Confucious (the main attraction being the Confucious family mansion). After that we would take a bus to Tai'an, the small city [View Full Entry]

By carriebaron
November 28th 2006

more expat stuff

Asia » China » Shandong

shenme?

Ok, so a bunch of people are leaving in February, end of a era. We'll be saying goodbye to Zack, Jessie, Chelsey, Logan, Robby (oops, nevermind, he changed his mind and is STAYING for his Chinese girlfriend!) Tracy, Brad, Alex, and Pete. So here are some more pictures of us westerners. Now, keep in mind, life's not always a party in the Dong. We also watch movies and play with Greg's girlfriend, X-BOX 360. She's a Pisces. I've added captions to each photo. You'll have to double click on each photo to see all the text, plus it will be nice [View Full Entry]

By carriebaron
November 22nd 2006

Playing with money

Asia » China » Shandong

My sophomores

Video and picture 1: MONEY DAY!! I spent about four hours creating enough fake money for about 150 students to play with in class. I wanted them to practice making change, so I had every monetary value from 20$ down to the penny. Good thing they loved the activity. Otherwise I might havae thrown myself down an oil hole, it took so long. They went CRAZY. I had never seen any of them so animated. In addition to money, I created wares for them to sell. (basically drew a bunch of random stuff on notecards.) They really got into, especially the [View Full Entry]

By Jean Guy Louise
November 8th 2006

2e partie de notre voyage

Asia » China » Shandong » Ji'Nan

Bonjour a tous de nouveau, Apres avoir quitte Beijing pour aller a Jinan par train - finalement l'horaire fut change et nous sommes partis a 13h30 au lieu de 10h00 a.m. pour arriver a Jinan a 18h00. Juste se rendre a la gare de train fut toute une experience - des milliers de personnes - en veux-tu en vla..... tout le monde te regarde - on est comme une aiguille dans une botte de foin..... finalement arrives dans le train c'etait la follie furieuse pour trouver de la place pour nos valises et nos places. Malgre tout, le voyage s'est bien [View Full Entry]

By carriebaron
November 4th 2006

Around Dongying

Asia » China » Shandong

home sweet home
Here is the hotel where I live.......a slightly nicer picture than before.

Well, not a lot to report here. I haven't been on an crazy adventures lately. I've pretty much just fallen into the routine of things. It's actually starting to feel like home here. I've got a cozy little apartment and the regular food places I go to, it's nice. I've joined a Chinese gym, which I have to admit is hilarious, especially the spinning instructor. It's a pretty good gym, and by pretty good I mean pretty clean. In other news I'm not freezing anymore. They don't turn on the heat in China until November 15th, and that's just north of [View Full Entry]

By Preston_66
November 2nd 2006

Quiet on the set. Action!

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Bodyguards and Bev
We're some bad ass looking body guards and Bev is just so purdy.

Living in Qingdao is very interesting for many reasons. It may not have the most history of any city, but it definetly has alot of oppertunity in bussiness. Recently a production/movie company has come to Qingdao to film a movie about the British take over of Hong Kong. Well why not film it in Hong Kong. Well manly becuase Qingdao is so beautiful and also becuase it is much cheaper to film here. Kindof like the movies being shot in Regina. Well becuase its about the British they obvioulsy need some foriegn actors. I had done a previous role in a [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Asia » China » Shandong