Another week, another yuan.
Note: where I refer to $ it is US$ (because the Aussie $ fluctuates too much). The exchange rate I am using in May 2014 is US$1 = Yuan 6.2.
Exam papers
End of the semester is looming and that means exam time. My main project this week was to compile the exam papers for my Oral English and Western Culture classes. The former was easy, just a few minutes, but the culture papers took much longer.
We have to prepare two papers, A & B, for each subject. There have been instances when Paper A has leaked to students in which case Paper B can be quickly substituted.
My Western Culture exam papers have 4 parts: Multiple choice (20 questions); True / False (20 questions); Fill in the blank (30 questions); in Part 4 they have to write short essays on 3 topics (choice of 6). I am planning to hold the exam 7 - 9pm on Sunday 15 June 2014.
Anyway, good to have that job out of the way now.
Model worker?
I got a mention on the university's website. Click here
http://news.upc.edu.cn/English/News/2014/04/15/08441430048.shtml
Five Year Rule
This week we were informed that the "5 Year rule" is now being strictly enforced, at least in Qingdao Prefecture: foreign teachers can stay a maximum of 5 years; if they wish they can return to China after an absence of 2 years for another stint of teaching. Apparently this regulation was introduced in 2008 and was largely ignored by schools and colleges - but no more.
Two of our colleagues are affected: Arnel has been teaching in China for 7 years, and Anatoly for 15 years. Their visas will be cancelled at the end of this semester (in July) and they will have to leave. They are in shock.
Vera and I are finishing our 4th year teaching in China. We always planned to leave after 5 years, in mid-2015, so this regulation won't affect us.
There are differing views on this issue. One the one hand, why get rid of 'old hands' if they are doing a good job? But on the other hand, some teachers can get too comfortable (and lazy). On balance I think the regulation makes sense. China has attracted its share of misfits, who for one reason or another can't make it back home and end up here, drifting from school to school year after year. Often they have no real interest in teaching or in China, but as 'native speakers' they are in demand. Sometimes their attitude and behaviour leaves much to be desired, diminishing the image Chinese have of Westerners.
But I feel sorry for those whose plans have suddenly been thrown into disarray. Not easy.
New phone
My old mobile phone finally gave up the ghost, so I am now the proud owner of a new smart-phone.
We have become friendly with a Professor in the Computer Science Department, and he offered to help. He checked various reviews and recommended a Huawei P6 as a value-for-money phone. Huawei sponsor the Canberra Raiders so I was happy to support them in return.
He logged onto an e-commerce site and ordered the phone online. The cost was Y1,888 (Chinese love the number 8 - lucky number!) or $305. It was delivered in 24 hours - very efficient.
We then went onto the China Unicom site (one of the Big 3 telecom companies) to get a new number. This is where the process took an unexpected turn.
There were about 20 new numbers on offer. I was all for just choosing one randomly. But my friend insisted that we must check the "luckiness" (feng shui) of each number. He put each prospective number into a Singapore website and within a few seconds we got back a rating. Finally, after testing about a dozen numbers, we hit pay-dirt and got a very good rating. And that's how I got my new China Unicom mobile number: 186 7892 7152.
What a fascinating blend of modern technology and ancient traditions. What's the saying? Something like: "You can take the boy out of the village, but not the village out of the boy".
The cost of the new number was Y89 ($14) - but Unicom had a special on and threw in 10 months of a basic plan (monthly: 50 calls, 250 text messages, 300 MB of data). Should do me fine.
Now if only I can work out how to turn the darn thing on ....
APEC comes to town
Qingdao is off the beaten tourist trail, so we were delighted when old friend Heath McMichael visited recently. Heath is the APEC Desk Officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra. China is the host country of APEC this year, and a Trade Ministers + Senior Officials meeting was held in Qingdao.
We met Heath outside the Shangrila Hotel (we couldn't enter - tight security), had lunch at a nearby restaurant and then spent a pleasant hour strolling around May 4 Park and along the seashore. It was great to catch up with him, and get all the goss from home.
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| Billboard and floral arrangement in front of the Shangrila Hotel, Qingdao. |
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| With Heath in Qingdao. |
Nobel Prize
In my Western Culture class last week I described the Nobel Prize system.
It was established by Swede Alfred Nobel (1833 - 96) who was a brilliant chemist. He ended up with 350 patented inventions, including dynamite which he discovered in 1867. His built a business empire largely based on guns and munitions.
When his brother died in 1888 a journalist thought it was Alfred, and wrote an obituary titled "The Merchant of Death is Dead". Alfred was shocked that this would be his legacy and determined to use his fortune for the good of mankind. His will left the equivalent of $1.7 billion with instructions that annual prizes should be awarded to living scientists who made break-through discoveries in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Peace (Economics was added later).
The Swedish Academy of Sciences manages the Nobel Prizes, which started in 1901. Last year awardees received a gold medal, a diploma, and about $1.2 million.
| The Gold Medal, part of the Nobel Prize. |
By 2013, 847 individuals had received a Prize, and 22 organisations (such as the International Red Cross). The average age of recipients is 59 (the youngest recipient was 25 years old, the oldest 90).
45 women have received the Nobel Prize. The first woman laureate was Marie Curie in 1903 for Physics; she was honored again in 1911, this time for Chemistry. A remarkable achievement to receive two Nobel Prizes and in two different disciplines.
The following table shows Nobel Prize winners by Country of Birth. Many foreign students do their PhDs in America and stay on, so by 'Country of Citizenship' the USA would be even more dominant.
Nobel Prize winners by Country of Birth, selected countries (figures are rounded).
Country
of birth
|
% of 847
|
Country
of birth
|
% of 847
|
USA
|
30%
|
Canada
|
2%
|
UK
|
11%
|
Japan
|
2%
|
Germany
|
10%
|
Australia
|
1%
|
France
|
6%
|
China
|
1%
|
Sweden
|
3%
|
India
|
1%
|
Seven Chinese Nobel laureates were born on the Mainland. They are:
Name
|
Province and year
of birth
|
Country
of Citizenship
|
Medal
and year of award
|
Yang Chen Ning
|
Anhui, 1922
|
USA
|
Physics, 1957
|
Lee Tsung Dao
|
Shanghai, 1926
|
USA
|
Physics, 1957
|
Daniel Tsui
|
Henan, 1939
|
USA
|
Physics, 1998
|
Gao Xing Jian
|
Jiangxi, 1940
|
France
|
Literature, 2000
|
Charles Kao
|
Shanghai, 1933
|
UK
|
Physics, 2009
|
Liu Xiao Bo
|
Jilin, 1955
|
China
|
Peace, 2010
|
Mo Yan
|
Shandong, 1955
|
China
|
Literature, 2012
|
The whole country celebrated when Mo Yan got the Literature Prize in 2012. Recognition, at last! Mo-mania hit the media and he became a super-star.
The numbers raise an interesting question: Why have so few Chinese (and Indians) received Nobel Prizes, given the huge population? Made for a good discussion topic with the students.
Some of the students believed that this is yet another example of Western bias against China, and a way to 'constrain' China's development and progress. A conspiracy theory!
Others felt that the language barrier was to blame - Swedes / Westerners do not properly appreciate the many advances made by Chinese scientists because there is little understanding of Chinese.
One brave soul suggested that the political system (dominated by the Communist Party) may not be conducive to academic freedom and endeavour.
Personally I think it reflects China's relatively recent embrace of modern science. Remember that just 65 years ago only about 20% of Chinese could read and write (now the figure is 95%). The last few decades have seen remarkable progress, with Chinese scientists and engineers now among the world's best. But at this stage of its development, most science still focuses on applied science rather than pure research.
The following table was published in the China Daily on 8 December 2012, and shows the source countries of academic papers published in respected scientific journals around the world in the 10 years 2003 - 12. If you don't do the work, you can't expect the rewards, right?
While Chinese scientists are trying hard to make up for lost time, I think it will still be many years before they (and Indians) have an impact commensurate with their populations in areas of achievement such as the Nobel Prize.
Source countries for Academic papers,
2003 – 12
Country
|
Share
|
USA
|
55%
|
UK
|
13%
|
Germany
|
12%
|
China
|
7%
|
All other
|
13%
|
List of prolific inventors
While I was researching the Noble Prize (above) I came across a Wikipedia website titled "List of Prolific Inventors".I grew up thinking that Thomas Edison was the world's most prolific inventor. Well, he had that record for over 100 years, but no more. According to this website he is now in 5th place.
There are 79 inventors with more than 300 world-wide utility patent families to their name (inventions which are patented in several countries are counted as one 'patent family'). This list only includes utility/invention patents, not other kinds of patents such as design patents. The 5 most prolific inventors shown in the list are:
Wikipedia List of Most Prolific Inventors, accessed 17 May 2014
Name
|
Country of birth / residence
|
No. of utility patent families
|
Kia Silverbrook
|
Australia
/ Australia
|
4,669
|
Shunpei Yamazuki
|
Japan /
Japan
|
3,516
|
Paul Lapstun
|
Australia
/ Australia
|
1,268
|
Gurtej Sandhu
|
India / USA
|
1,093
|
Thomas Edison
|
USA (deceased)
|
1,084
|
I was astonished (and delighted) to see an Australian ranked #1 and another Aussie ranked #3. Astonished because I was not familiar with either of their names. These are remarkable achievements - shouldn't they be household names, feted and honored across the length and breadth of Australia?
I tried to find more information on these two Aussies through Google, but found slim pickings (see below). They are obviously both very private people.
The main Countries of Origin of the 79 people on the List of Prolific Inventors were: USA 68%; Australia, Germany, Japan about 8% each.
Apart from Silverbrook and Lapstun, four other Australians were on the list: Simon Walmsley (649 utility patent families); Tobin King (494); Garry Jackson (363); and Norman Berry (341). One Chinese was on the list: Fan Shou Shan who is a Professor of Physics at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He has 480 utility patent families.
Kia Silverbrook
All I could find out is that Kia was born in 1958 and lives in Sydney with partner Janette Faye Lee. From 1990 to 1994 he managed Canon's research laboratory in Australia. In 1994 he established Silverbrook Research whose address is 393 Darling Street, Balmain 2041 (www.silverbrookresearch.com).
One article implied that Kia dropped out of college, but I couldn't verify that. I found the following quote in a 2007 article titled 'Masters of Invention' in Biz Journal: "My background is in digital electronics and software, but I've deliberately become multi-disciplinary - jack of all trades, master of none."
Kia's first US patent was granted in 1990. Areas in which he has patents include: digital printing, LCDs, computer graphics, video & audio production, automation. At one stage Silverbrook Research employed several hundred scientists, but numbers have shrunk. On 26 February 2008 Kia passed Shunpei Yamazuki to become the world's most prolific inventor, and has been #1 ever since.
In another quote, Kia said that his inventions which had been licensed to overseas companies had brought over $1 billion into Australia. If true, his company is one of Australia's top export earners, excluding primary and mineral exporters.
I found an article which appeared in The Australian on 9 November 2013 titled 'Staff patently unhappy at inventor Kia Silverbrook.' It suggested that Silverbrook Research was in financial trouble as many of the staff had not been paid for months.
Apparently one of America's richest men, George Kaiser, invested in Silverbrook Research but was disappointed with results. Kaiser finally cut off funding and sued alleging broken promises. It seems that Kia may have transferred the rights to his proven Memjet Printer technology to settle the case. All very murky.
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| Kia Silverbrook in 2007. Inventor, scientist, businessman. |
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| Kia Silverbrook in his laboratory, Upstart Business Journal 15 October 2007 |
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| Kia Silverbrook was the Distinguished Technopreneur Speaker in Singapore, September 2012. |
Paul Lapstun
I was able to find even less information on Paul Lapstun. Apparently he worked at Silverbrook Research for some years, but is now shown as the Chief Technology Officer of a company called Nearmap (www.nearmap.com). The company website has this photo, but little else.
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| Paul Lapstun, CTO nearmap. The only photo I could find of him. |
A website Strutpatent.com has information on the number of new patents issued by the US Patent Office each year. I found the following figures for Kia Silverbrook and Paul Lapstun.
Number of US patents awarded by year (Strutpatent.com accessed 17 May 2014).
Year
|
Kia
Silverbrook
|
Paul
Lapstun
|
2007
|
502
|
129
|
2008
|
576
|
137
|
2009
|
444
|
113
|
2010
|
709
|
191
|
2011
|
754
|
268
|
2012
|
220
|
0
|
How can one person make 754 patentable discoveries in a year? Only if others, many others, are involved. Thomas Edison was the first inventor to apply the principles of large-scale teamwork when, in 1876, he established the first industrial-size research laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey employing a large number of researchers. I presume that Silverbrook Research was based on a similar model.
From the table (above) it seems Silverbrook and Lapstun's remarkable run of inventions has slowed dramatically.
If any of you out there have information on Kia Silverbrook and/or Paul Lapstun, please email me. I would love to know more about these two extraordinary and reclusive Aussies.
UPC President
Professor Shan Hong Hong is the President (Vice Chancellor) of China University of Petroleum (UPC). Vera and I happened to see her in one of the student dining halls recently, and couldn't resist asking for a photo. She is one of very few female university heads in China.
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| 16 May 2014, Vera & I with Shan Hong Hong, President of China University of Petroleum. |
Peter's Ice Cream goes French
News of another Aussie food icon going overseas - looks as if Peter's Ice Cream will be bought by a French group. Dick Smith, who has been helping Aussie-owned food companies for the last 12 years, said that real dinky-di local producers are becoming a rare breed and he doubts his company's future. Sad.
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| Dick Smith laments lack of true-blue Aussie-owned food producers. |
Vale, Reg Gasnier
Sad to read of the passing of Reginald William Gasnier AM a couple of weeks ago, one day before his 75th birthday.All teenage boys growing up in NSW and Queensland in the 1960s knew about Reg Gasnier and other great rugby league players of that era such as Johnny Raper and Graeme Langlands. They were legends in their own lifetimes.
Gasnier played in the centres for the St George Dragons from 1959 to 1967; 125 games and scored 421 points (127 tries and 20 goals). He represented Australia 39 times - he was only 23 when he first captained the Kangaroos. He had two nick-names: Puff the Magic Dragon, and The Prince of Centres.
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| Reg 'Puff' Gasnier, St George centre. |
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| St George great Johnny 'Chook' Raper scoring a try in 1959 with Brian Clay in support. Raper played 185 games for the Dragons and 39 games for the Kangaroos, at lock. |
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| Fullback Graeme 'Changa' Langlands scoring yet another try in 1964. He played 227 games for the Dragons (1963 - 76) and scored 1,554 points (86 tries, 648 goals). He represented Australia 34 times, scoring 189 points. |
St George were Premiers for eleven straight years, 1956 - 66. That was great if you were a Dragon supporter, but for the rest of us it was agony.
I grew up in Cooma NSW and for some reason I don't recall I supported Parramatta in the Sydney ARL competition in those days. Two brothers played for Parramatta at that time, Ken and Dick Thornett, and they were my heros. Ken Thornett played fullback. He had 129 games for Parramatta and 12 games for the Kangaroos. Dick played in the forwards and had 168 games for Parramatta and represented Australia 11 times.
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| Dick & Ken Thornett on the 1963 Kangaroos tour. Rare for brothers to represent Australia together. |
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| Fullback Ken Thornett in action. |
The Thornetts were a great sporting family. The oldest brother, John Thornett, played Rugby Union and represented Australia 37 times with the Wallabies.
Dick Thornett, the youngest, was a remarkable sportsman. He represented Australia in 3 sports: Water Polo, Rugby Union, and Rugby League.
Good memories.
...
Well, that's it for another week. Sad to see Atletico Madrid beaten at the post last night by Real Madrid in the Champions League last night. I'm rooting for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Playoffs - they came so close last year .....
Keep fit and keep smiling.
Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Sunday 25 May 2014
