As the year 2005 comes to an end, i have only one wish for the upcoming year: Get rid of all the religions in the world. For me, religions, when practiced by man kind, is the root of all evil. Religions by themselves might be harmless but when combined with man, it is a lethal combination. How many conflicts we have read and witnessed the last two millennia are related to religions? How many people have died in the conflicts between different religions and even among people within the same religion (Catholics versus other Christians, Sunni Muslims versus Shiite Muslims)? And how many died and suffered when religious sects tried to impose their beliefs on non-believers?
The main problem with religion is different people interpret it differently. Because the religious books (Bible, Koran, Torah..etc) are perceived to be the words of god, different interpretations of the same book can often have disastrous outcome. More often than not, religious books are abused by people in power. People in power pick and choose items from the religious books to fit their own agendas. As one of the most religious president in the recent history, President Bush is against abortion because of his religious beliefs. And yet, how many prisoners were executed when Bush was the governor of Texas? Does the “Thou shall not kill” commandment not applicable to the innocent civilians killed in the war on Iraq? Why is President Bush so against the killings of unborn babies but at the same time has absolutely no hesitation in blowing innocent Iraqis to bits?
Can you imagine a world without any religion? I certainly can. It will be a world that is a hell lot more peaceful than the one we are living in now.
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Prior to my recent trip to Beijing, i had not done any traveling since i went to Boston in late August for my orientation. Since July, i can add Beijing and Wuhan to the list of cities i flew into this year. For the year, i have traveled 126490 flight miles on 84 flights. This is not quite the personal record setting miles i accumulated in 2003 when i flown 141873 miles on 132 flights, but it is the second highest nonetheless.
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Instead of trying to see if the Bush administration broke any law by eavesdropping on Americans without any warrants, the Justice department is investigating the whistle blower who leaked the eavesdropping information to the New York Times. This is the current sad state of affair with this administration. In addition to lying to the American public about the non-existent WMD threats from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the phantom links between Al-Qaeda and Iraq, the Bush administration is going after anyone who dares to question its handling (or mis-handling) of the Iraq war - which should not have happened in the first place - and the so-called “war on terrorism”. Witness the Valeri Plame affair, in which the identify of a CIA agent was outed because her husband wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that questioned the administration’s use of cooked up intelligence. For them, it is either their way or the highway, it is either “you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”
I just have question for this administration: Are we any safer now since the declared “war on terrorism” and the Iraq war?
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Oooooh yes! My work is done in Beijing and i am finally going home. It has been only been about 13 days since i left Seattle but it seemed like forever. Since i have been to China, it has been just work. My daily routine, which i am getting a little sick of, can be summarized as the following: hotel (wake up) - work - lunch - work - dinner - hotel (work and sleep). That said, i really enjoyed working with the IBMers assigned for this project.
Can’t wait to get home. Whistler here i come!
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This is a true story. One of the IBMers i am working with told me what happened to his co-worker when he tried to increase the credit limit on his credit card. Because he was planning to travel to the US, he wanted to increase his credit limit from RMB 20,000 (USD $2,500) to RMB 40,000. So he called his credit card company to make his request. One week later, he received a Visa card issued by the same bank with a credit limit of RMB 10,000. A few days later, he received a MasterCard with the same credit limit. Within the next two weeks, he received two more credit cards from the same bank, each one with credit limit of RMB 10,000. So in total, he had received 4 credit cards with total credit limit of RMB 40,000!
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After spending the last three days in Wuhan (武汉), i am back in freezing Beijing again. Prior to leaving Wuhan, Steve Yau, Du Xincun (IBMers from Hong Kong and Beijing respectively) and i got a short tour of Wuhan. Wuhan is actually the combination of two cities, Wuchang (武昌) and Hankou (汉口). Hankou is north of the Yangzi river while Wuchang is south of the river. In the old days, to go between the cities, you would have to catch a ferry. Now, there are two bridges that spanned across the mighty Yangzi river. I was told that eventually, there will be a tunnel and 5 other bridges across the river in Wuhan. The three days i was in Wuhan, there was this constant haze that surrounded the city. I am not sure if it was polluted air or the humidity but i suspect it was the combination of both.
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Our friendly cab driver was acting as a temporary tour guide for us. He explained the historical significance of this region. He took us on a tour of the East Lake (东湖) and dropped us off at the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼). He waited for us while we spent about 45 minutes at the Yellow Crane Tower. The original tower was destroyed toward the end of the Qing dynasty. This new one is rebuilt back in 1985 and it’s not located at the original location.
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On our way to the Wuhan airport, the cab driver pointed us to some really weird-looking houses on our right. They were weird in the sense that most of them looked like they were not completely built. Most of them, i did not see any doors or windows. The cab driver told us that the farmers in those area do not grow plants, they “grow” houses. The reason behind that is if you have houses on your land, when the city needs to use your land for other development, they will not only have to pay for your land, they will also have to pay for any houses on your land.
I have been eating great the last few days. In fact, i have been eating really well since i have been here. In every meal, i have to say more than 80% of the dishes were new to me. The IBM reps in Wuhan invited us and the client for two consecutive nights. I learned something during the second dinner. If the person giving you a toast is in a higher position than you, you should always tip your glass lower than his when the glasses meet. I did not know about this until the second dinner. God knows how many people i had offended during the first dinner!
Do you know that there are Chinese cigarettes that cost $8 USD a pack ? I did not believe it until it was shown to me. Apparently, these cigarettes are only made for consumption of party officials and they are not easily available to the general public.
Updated 1/2/2006
Wuhan is actually a combination of three cities, not two. The city i left out is Hanyang (汉阳).
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Through talking with the folks i am working with in China, i learned the following interesting things:
- If you are single and you are working for a state-owned business, you get to take up to 40 days a year off to visit your parents/family. If, however, you are married, then you get up to 40 days a year every 4 years.
- Homes in cities north of the Yangzi river are supplied with heat from the state during the cold months of winter. Homes in cities south of the river are not. A soldier standing guard on the north end of the bridge spanning the Yangzi river is supplied with thick winter clothing but a soldier guarding the south end of the bridge is not. (Update 12/17/2005: Turned out this may not have been true.)
- By law, a doctor is not allowed to reveal the sex of the baby to the expecting parents.
- You can pretty much forget about doing business in China during three weeks around the Chinese New Year. No one will be at work.
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I am back in Beijing. This is my first business trip since i started working at Availant less than 3 months ago. I am feeling excited and yet at the same time, a little nervous. The nervousness probably arises from the fact that i am representing Availant in front of a customer for the first time. This is almost the same feeling i had when i first went on a high availability implementation project in my previous job.
I was in Beijing back in July for about a week. That was my first ever trip to China. Now i am back again, though the weather is on the other extreme end now. Back in July, it was very hot and daily temperature was around the 90s (Fahrenheit). Last week, the average daily temperature in Beijing was in the 20s (Fahrenheit).
I am glad the Beijing Shangri-la has complimentary high-speed internet because i really do not like paying RMB 120 a night like what i did in July when i was staying at the Shanghai Hilton and the Pudong Renaissance.
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