24 July 2015

Gentlefolk,

Herewith a few photos of our time in Hong Kong, 17 - 24 July 2015.

I had an hour or two to spare, so did this post.  I could never dream of doing that in Qingdao. Using foreign sites on a computer in China is fickle.  Google (and related apps such as gmail and Blogger) and other sites such as Facebook are blocked or at least disrupted.  If you manage to get on (using a VPN) you are never sure how long the connection will last.

It is such a relief to be here in Hong Kong where everything works ... one doesn't realise the tension of living with these kinds of restrictions ... we are so dependent on computers and the internet and Google these days.

Hong Kong is a marvellous city; always fun to visit. We are lucky that Andrew and Caroline live on the border of Happy Valley and Causeway Bay - a great, central location on HK Island.

The streets are always busy - Causeway Bay is as crowded at midnight as at midday. Good subway system; easy and cheap to get around.  We took Eddie on one of the old trams yesterday - took about an hour to go to Central and back (for a total cost of $0.80 each!).  They are rattly old contraptions, but good fun and move a lot of people.

It is good to observe young Hongkongers - they look fit and healthy, well-dressed and smart; not many overweight or shabby people here.

Like Shanghai, HK is a 'vertical city' - people live, work and shop in high-rise buildings. For example, the extensive Toys-R-Us store in Causeway Bay occupies the 7th floor of a large commercial and office building.  In contrast, the vast IKEA store occupies two underground levels.

Andrew and Caroline's son, Little Eddie, is now 16 months old.  A delight. Keeps everyone on their toes.

The weather was clear for the first two days, and then the rain started ... and continued for the next 5 days. Not the best for sight-seeing and doing stuff.  Still, it meant we spent more time with Little Eddie.

Reddie - the new way to buy your very own, customised furniture

The big event during our visit was the public launch of Caroline's online furniture business on 20 July 2015.

Check it out at www.reddie.co click HERE 

Very exciting to see a new business venture being created.  It has taken an enormous amount of effort over the last 12 months or so.  Caroline is one gutsy  woman, and smart and creative.  Let's hope it's successful.

For the first few months Caroline is limiting delivery to Hong Kong, and when everything is working smoothly she will extend to other countries.

Congratulations, Caz. Well done!


Here are some photos of our time in Hong Kong.

Vera with Little Eddie, our youngest grandson.

Our first morning in Hong Kong was bright and clear so we all went to South Bay, an attractive beach not far from Stanley. The water was clean and safe (shark net) - nice for swimming - Hong Kong is full of little gems like this, where you can easily escape the city.   

After lunch at South Bay, Andrew & Caroline took Eddie home for his nap, and Vera & I visited Stanley.  The old Stanley markets are still there, and still popular.  It's amazing: the alleys are so narrow and crowded, but that's what makes the place so appealing I guess. Stanley now has a plaza with McDonalds and other fast food joints, and there is a nice coastal walk.  We took the bus back to Causeway Bay - a fun ride.

The Indo Market shop in Causeway Bay is always crowded with Indonesians.  Most of the maids in HK used to come from The Philippines, but lots of Indonesians there too now. 

The Sunday scene outside the Indo Market shop in Causeway Bay. Hong Kong has many domestic workers from Indonesia and they all congregate with their friends on a Sunday.  It's quite an amazing sight to see all these women dressed in their "Sunday best" (Moslem) gear - close your eyes an you would think it was a bazaar in Indonesia!

Vera and Eddie enjoying the "ball pit" in one of the children's play rooms in the Hong Kong Football Club.

Caroline has started an online furniture business www.reddie.co  - very exciting - here are Andrew and Caroline making the first deliveries.

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We got a shock on the HK subway the other day - saw a teenage boy reading a book; I mean a real paper book.  Everyone is wedded to smart phones these days, so seeing a paper book just seemed quite strange.

Actually, it's remarkable how young people can walk and check their phones at the same time.  That is certainly a problem on our campus, and we also noticed it on the streets of Shanghai.  It was interesting to note that there are signs in the Hong Kong subway telling people to put their phones away when they are moving around.

Sign in Hong Kong MTR

Last semester I made it a rule, at the beginning of each class, that all students had to turn their phones off.  "Not silent - power off".  They complied, reluctantly.

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We fly to Brisbane tonight; will return to Qingdao on 3 September for the start of the 2015-16 academic year.

I doubt I'll get around to doing a post while we are in Australia, so the next one will probably be in September.

Keep well, and keep smiling.

Alex and Vera Olah (aka The Intrepid Duo)
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Friday, 24 July 2015 (about to depart Hong Kong)

23 July 2015

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our quick, 24 hour, visit to Suzhou on 14 / 15 July 2015.

Suzhou is in Jiangsu Province, 40 minutes by fast train from Shanghai's Hongqiao Station (2nd class train ticket $7).

Shanghai was still a sleepy fishing village when Suzhou was already a commercial and cultural center famous for silk, canals and beautiful women. It benefited from its location on the Grand Canal which linked Beijing in the north with Hangzhou in the south.

But following their victory in the First Opium War (1842), British and other foreign companies established themselves in Shanghai, which rapidly became the leading port and business center. Suzhou as lived in Shanghai's shadow ever since.

Once described as the 'Venice of the East' Suzhou is now better known for its wonderful gardens. Many canals have been filled in, but the gardens have survived the march of time.  The names of some gardens conjure up all sorts of images, for example:

Garden to linger in
Blue wave garden
Couple's garden
Lion's grove garden; and my very favorite name
The Humble Administrator's garden

Suzhou is only 40 minutes by fast train, west of Shanghai.

Suzhou County is adjacent to Shanghai. Suzhou city is near Taihu Lake.  Nowadays other small towns such as Tongli are regarded as better examples of canal towns.

Suzhou's latest landmark: the 302 m (94 storey) Gate of the Orient Building.  It has been disparagingly dubbed "The giant underpants". Designed by British architects RMJM, construction proved difficult and costly and took 10 years.

Rickshaws are still a common sight around Suzhou.

We passed this sign - thought better not to investigate! 

The Taoist "Temple of Mystery" near the center of Suzhou dates back to 1181.  It contains many statues, including the one-horned ox (like a unicorn), which was said to have conveyed Laozi on his travels.

Ancient Pingjiang Street along a canal is a popular pedestrian area with many small art & craft shops and cafes.

We did an evening boat tour around the old city.  Attractive lighting along the shore (but night tours in Guilin are much more extensive).

We had breakfast at this make-shift little cafe near the Youth Hostel. It was all packed up and gone by 9.30am. 

We visited the must-see Suzhou Museum, designed by IM  Pei. There must have been close to 200 people in the queue (wisely, they were only letting a few in at a time); we don't normally queue-jump, but it was very hot and we needed to get out of the sun, so we pulled age - we told the attendants that we were near 70 (which is true), and they let us join the front of the queue.  

The Suzhou museum is not big, but what it lacks in size it makes up with style.  Simple, clean, geometric lines, with the obligatory pond and zig-zag bridge in the center.

The main hall, near the entrance of the Suzhou Museum. 

Vera in the Main Hall of Suzhou Museum, with the central pond and imaginary mountains in the background.

There are a dozen famous gardens in and near Suzhou, but we only had time to inspect one.  So we chose the "Humble Administrator's Garden".  Isn't that a wonderful name?  It is the largest garden covering an area of  about 5 hectares. Some of the pavilions inside the garden have attractive names: "listening to rain; and " looking into the distance".  

A view in the Humble Administrator's Garden.

An old gate in the Humble Administrator's Garden. Construction of this garden started in 1509.

...


From Suzhou we returned to Shanghai, and a couple of days later we flew to Hong Kong to catch up with our son Andrew, his wife Caroline and Little Eddie.

The first couple of days in HK were clear, but then it rained solidly for the next 5 days.  Cramped our style a bit.

Tomorrow night we leave for Brisbane. A week there with the Roberts family and then we will wend our way down to Canberra to catch up with family and friends there.

As you know, we've signed up for another year, so will be back in Qingdao on 3 September for the start of the 2015-16 academic year.

Best wishes, keep well, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah (aka The Intrepid Duo)
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Thursday 23 July 2015 (one more sleep in Hong Kong)

21 July 2015

Gentlefolk,

This post is a series of photos which describe our time in Shanghai last week. I will do a separate post on our short visit to Suzhou,

On 8 July 2015 we took the fast train from Qingdao to Shanghai for the start of the summer university holidays (actually, Chinese teachers do an additional 3 week "short semester" and don't start their holidays until 25 July).

We had a week in Shanghai (including 24 hours in Suzhou) and then flew to Hong Kong where we are at present, visiting with our son Andrew and his family. We will fly to Australia on 24 July for five weeks, and then head north again for the start of the new academic year.

Shanghai

Superlatives best describe this city: huge; flashy; fashionable; dynamic; impressive; well-organised; clean; intense; crowded.

With a population of 23 million Shanghai is China's biggest urban center. Imagine the entire population of Australia in one city!

We spent a week here, and were impressed by the extensive and efficient transportation system (subway and bus and taxi).  The streets are clean and air quality is better than China's other mega-cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou.

Most residents live in apartments (which are among the most expensive in China).  It is a shopper's and foodies paradise, with lots of malls and many, many restaurants. There seems to be a Starbucks on every second corner.

Is Shanghai one of the 'great cities of the world'? Perhaps not quite in the same league as New York or London or Paris or Hong Kong or Singapore - but catching up fast.

On the fast train from Qingdao to Shanghai.  The journey took a little less than 7 hours.  Just imagine going from Melbourne to Brisbane in 7 hours! And at a ticket (second class) price of $80! Virtually every seat was occupied the whole way.  We have talked about a bullet train down the east coast of Australia, but unfortunately I doubt our small population would not sustain such a service at a reasonable price.

Our train hit a top speed of 310 km per hour (they are saying the next generation of fast trains will have a top speed of about 580 k/h). We didn't travel very long at the top speed, because the train had to slow down for the next station,  It was a remarkably smooth ride.  China has built 16,000 km of fast rail in just 10 years, and they will have 20,000 km by 2020 - a remarkable achievement.  The trains, both fast and slow, are very punctual.

The train traversed the heavily-populated provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu.  There were villages every few km, and the land was intensively cultivated the whole way.   What a contrast driving down the east coast of Australia from Brisbane to Sydney (and on to Canberra) where the land is mainly pasture and animals.

Some areas, for example around Weifang, incorporate many greenhouses for the growing of vegetables.

Old friend Rob Hodge invited us to use his apartment in Shanghai, which is centrally located near Jiangsu Road subway station on Line 2 (Changning District).  Very convenient: it is about 30 minutes from Hongqiao and 15 mins from Peoples Park. Thank you Rob for letting us stay in the apartment while you were in Sydney. This photo was taken from the bedroom window - high-rise buildings as far as the eye can see.

Of course we went to The Bund, the old business center of Shanghai.  Vera looking across the Huangpu River to the financial district of Pudong.  It is hard to believe that 25 years ago there were just a few villages in Pudong. This incredible development has taken place in just one generation.

Later we visited Pudong.  This part, on the banks of the river, is dominated by many high-rise buildings., including the three in this photograph.  The buildings are not just tall, but interesting in their own right.  On the left is the 492m World Financial Center; on the right is the new Shanghai Tower, at 632 m the tallest building in China,  It looks like a corkscrew, the effect produced by its outer glass skin twisting through 120 degrees. Impressive that Chinese are willing to adopt the latest technology and innovative designs.  

When the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower was built in 1994 it set the standard for Pudong's development.  We avoided the long queues for the Observation Deck and instead opted for the interesting Museum of Shanghai History in the basement.

On our last night in Shanghai (Thursday 16 July 2015) we visited the Bund, It was packed, wall-to-wall people, as seen in this photo.  We popped in to the Peace Hotel with its distinctive green roof , which we first visited in 1985 - I swear the same jazz band was still playing in the bar!

Although it was raining when we first visited the famous East Nanjing Street pedestrian mall - one kilometer of mall after mall - there were lots of people around. 

A photos taken at 9pm on a Thursday night, in about the same location as the one above.  East Nanjing Street was ablaze with neon lights and even more crowded than during the day. 

The impressive Shanghai Museum.

We visited the Xintiandi development - "old Shanghai" rebuilt and revitalised.   Later we visited another old-new area, Tianzifang, which was actually more authentic and fun than Xintiandi.  

The inaugural meeting of the Communist Party of China was held in a house in Xintiandi on 23 July 1921 - now the site of a popular museum.  This diorama purports to show a young Mao Ze Dong addressing the meeting, but I doubt he was very prominent. It took another 15 years, during the Long March, for Mao to become the undisputed leader of a small and shattered CPC; and, almost miraculously,  in another 15 years he was the undisputed leader of  'New China'.

The agenda of the inaugural meeting of the CPC on 23 July 1921; the police threatened, so the following day the meeting continued on a hired boat on a local lake.  28 years later, in 1949, Communist forces defeated the Kuomintang to become the ruling party of China. Today it is the largest political party in the world, with 88 million members.

Our Wendy Wu tour group (May 2008) visited this Starbucks in Xintiandi. Good memories. 

Andy and his lovely girlfriend Iris invited us to the superb Polo restaurant (Shanghai food).  He is the nephew of a good friend in Sydney, Angie.  We met him when they visited Qingdao  about 3 years ago.

One of my ex-students, Fan Jian Yi (Danny), invited us to lunch at his parents place.  A lovely gesture, and we spent a delightful afternoon getting to know his family.

St Ignatius, the Catholic Cathedral of Shanghai, was built in 1904.  Sunday English mass was just starting when we visited, so we stayed for the serive - it was a full house. 

We visited the former residence and office of Soong Ching Ling, wife of Sun Yat Sen, the first President of the Republic of China (he died in 1925). Her sister Soong Mei Ling married Chiang Kai Shek and fled with him to Taiwan in 1949.  In contrast, Ching Ling stayed to help reconstruct China after the devastating civil war. She served as a Vice President of the PRC until her death in 1981.  She is widely admired for her patriotism, as evidenced by the numbers of visitors to her ex-residence.

Doesn't this building remind you of the famous Flatiron Building in New York?

Shanghai's huge Public Library.

Inside one of the metro trains.  Excellent system, always crowded.  What did we ever do before smart-phones?

No visit to Shanghai is complete without seeing the Yu Yuan Garden and Old Town.  The Ming-style garden took 18 years to construct (1559-77).   This is the 'Zig-Zag Bridge' designed to confuse evil spirits. 

We did a short visit to Suzhou, "the Venice of China", which is only 45 minutes by fast train from Shanghai.  This post is already long enough, so I'll cover the Suzhou trip in a separate post.

Shit happens

I had the wallet with all my Aussie cards (credit cards, driver's licence, etc) when we left Qingdao, but when I looked for it a few days later it was nowhere to be found.

We searched high and low: nothing, nada, nichts, zilch. Panic.

Luckily Rob Hodge had insisted we join WeChat, and we were able to seek his help via that marvellous app.  He arranged for the CBA to call our mobile (it took almost 30 minutes to be connected to an operator - luckily they had called us!), and we were able to cancel all our credit cards.  

We'll get replacement cards in Australia next week, and new licence, etc.  Nuisance. 

We could see from our online bank accounts that the credit cards had not been used.  I don't think the wallet was stolen - most likely it fell out of my backpack when I was mucking around with all our luggage.  I guess it was found by someone, who would have taken out the money (about $30) and probably threw away the cards and other ID.  

Vera swears she will not travel around Europe with me next year, unless I smarten up and look after my things properly.  I have promised to do so.

...

That's it for this post.  

Best wishes, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah (The Intrepid Duo)

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn

Tuesday, 21 July 2015 (currently in Hong Kong)

20 July 2015

Gentlefolk

This post describes the two written exams (for Western Culture and English News) at the end of the recent semester.

Also some photos taken before our departure from the campus.

(1) Western Culture

82 Sophomore students sat the Western Culture exam 7 - 9pm on Sunday 28 June 2015.

The exam comprised four Parts (see below).  It was “open book”, that is students could take in any written materials such as the text book and notes and a paper dictionary. 

I normally focus on American Culture, but two of the four classes had already done American Culture, so this time we studied the United Kingdom (11 weeks) and Australia (5 weeks).

The students in the four classes were all Double Majors, so among the busiest and brightest. Three students (Albert, Connie and Ocean) got all the 20 questions in Part 1 (True / False) completely right; 27 got all the 20 questions in Part 2 (Multiple choice) completely right; and one student (Stephanie) got all the 30 questions in Part 3 (Fill in blanks) completely right.

Everyone passed and the average mark was over 80%, which makes me think the exam may have been too easy?  I’ll let you be the judge of that – the following are 10 questions from each of Parts 1, 2 and 3, and also the most popular three essay questions in Part 4.

PART 1: True / False

1.      By GDP/PPP the UK was the 8^th largest economy in the world in 2013.

2.      The area of England is larger than that of Shandong Province.

3.      England was part of the Roman Empire for 400 years.

4.      Queen Elizabeth 1^st married and had six children, 3 boys & 3 girls.

5.      The UK has a written constitution which was adopted in 1888.

6.      David Cameron, Barack Obama and Tony Abbott are all left-handed.

7.      William Shakespeare studied at Cambridge University.

8.      All children in the UK attend government schools.

9.      13 July (commemorating the Battle of Boyne)  is the UK’s National Day

10.  Australia is bigger in area than China.

(Answers: 1 T; 2 F; 3 T; 4 F; 5 F; 6 T; 7 F; 8 F; 9 F; 10 F)

PART 2: Multiple Choice

1. For how many years did Queen Victoria rule:

A. 33; B. 43; C. 53; D. 63

2.  How many seats in the UK House of Commons:

A. 500; B. 550; C. 600; D. 650

3. In which year was Richard Branson given the ‘United Nations Citizen of the Year’ Award:

A. 2000; B. 2005; C. 2007; D. 2010

4. Who said of Shakespeare “He was not of an age, but for all time”:

A. William Wordsworth; B. Ben Jonson; C. Charles Dickens; D. Emily Bronte

5. In which year did Charles Dickens write his book “Oliver Twist”:

A; 1838; B. 1840; C. 1842; D. 1844

6. The voter turn-out rate in the 2015 UK General Election was:

A. 75.3%; B. 59.4%; C. 61.4%; D. 66.1%

7. The current British Chancellor of the Exchequer is:

A. George Osborne; B. Gordon Brown; C. Ed Miliband; D. Nick Clegg

8. How many time zones does Australia have:

A. One; B. Two; C. Three; D. Four

9. What percent of Australia is arable land:

A. 5.5%; B. 6.2%; C. 8.9%; D. 13.2%

10. In which year did Captain James Cook claim Australia for Great Britain:

A. 1760; B. 1768; C. 1770; D. 1778

(Answers: 1 D; 2 D; 3 C; 4 B; 5 A; 6 D; 7 A; 8 C; 9 B; 10 C)

PART 3: Fill in the blanks

1. The flag of the United Kingdom is called the ______________________ (name).
2. Great Britain comprises England, Wales and _________________ (name).
3. In 886AD England was unified by ______________ (name).
4. King Henry 8^th founded the Church of England in __________ (year).
5. Richard Branson’s company (conglomerate) is called the _______________ (name).
6. The name of Robert Maxwell’s big yacht was the ___________________ (name).
7. Charles Dickens worked in a factory when he was ______ (number) years old.
8. The full name of Australia is the ____________________ (name).
9. Australia is located in a region of the world called _____________ (name).
10. The ship commanded by Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery was called ________________ (name).

(Answers: 1 Union Jack; 2 Scotland; 3 King Alfred; 4  1532; 5  Virgin Group; 6 Lady Ghislaine; 7  12 years old; 8  Commonwealth of Australia; 9  Oceania; 10 HMS Endeavour)

PART 4: Written essays

Choose three of the six options and write a minimum of 100 words on each question. (The following three essay questions were the most popular)

1. Describe the rise and fall of the British Empire.  In your opinion, how could a relatively small country like the UK establish such a big empire? How could Britain defeat China in the “Opium Wars”?
2. Describe the British political system.  What is the role of the monarch in Britain today?  In your opinion, why have some countries kept a King, Queen or Emperor?  Do you think it is a good idea to have a monarchy?
3. Give an introduction to Australia’s history and development.  Describe the place of Aboriginals in Australian society today.  How can their situation be improved?

How would you have done in the exam?

Next semester, starting in September 2015, I will teach Western Culture to two classes.  They are both new classes for me so I will revert to USA.  Realistically America is of much greater importance to China than either the UK or Australia.

(2) English News exam

How to test a student’s knowledge of English News?  While I enjoyed teaching this subject, I was concerned how to test the end result. 

When I asked the University's teaching office for guidance, they basically said "this is an elective course (so not very important); just do whatever you want".

Finally I decided on the following format: the exam paper comprised seven one-page articles of recent news which the class had discussed during the semester (out of a total of about 80 articles we discussed). For each article, the students had to do a Summary (based on the 5Ws - who, where, when, what, and why – we practised that every week) and then answer three or four questions related to the theme of the article.

The following were the 7 articles I chose for the exam paper:

1. Nanjing procuratorate decides against arresting abuse suspect, Xinhua, 2015-04-19

Theme: A woman severely beat her adopted 10 year old son for not completing his homework.  She was widely criticised, but the prosecutor decided not to arrest and charge her as there would be no one to look after the boy.

2. China to regulate square-dancing, China Daily, 2015.03.10

Theme: Line dancing in public areas is a popular pastime with senior citizens.  But there have been increasing complaints about noise. The government has now issued regulations to control this activity.

3. Crest fined $1m for false advertising, China Daily, 2015.03.10

Theme: A TV advertisement for Crest toothpaste (Proctor & Gamble) promised whiter teeth in one day. The Municipal Govt of Shanghai said this was a blatant case of false advertising, and fined the company just over $1 million.

4. Expert urges higher taxes on cigarettes, China Daily, 2015.05.12

Theme: The tax on cigarettes has risen from 5% to 11%, which is expected to increase the retail price by about 10%. An American expert has recommended a much higher increase as a dis-incentive to smoking.

5. Tiny Times sweeps Golden Broom Awards, China Daily, 2015.03.17 

Theme: Similar to the US Raspberries (“The Razzies”) for the worst films, China has the Golden Broom Awards.  Tiny Times 3, part of a popular series, got most “Broom Awards”.

6. Online dating websites facing tougher regulation, China Daily, 2015-05-18   

Theme: The govt has closed over 120 online dating websites which they said were basically porn or sex sites. Another 28 have been told to improve their sites.

7. Over 60% of underground water substandard, ECNS, 2015-04-24

Theme: A govt report said that 61% of China’s groundwater was poor or very poor quality.

The exam was held 7 - 9pm on Monday 22 June 2015.

I was a bit worried that seven articles might be too many for the students to handle, but in the event only a handful didn’t answer all 7 questions.  Two (out of 56) failed, while most did very well. 

I am really impressed that these students can sit a fairly complex exam in another language.  The standard of English varies, but overall they could follow the classes and then write an exam paper – I hasten to add that these were not English Major students (their majors were mainly engineering subjects such as petroleum engineering or chemical engineering or geology, etc).  

Impressive; can’t imagine Australian or American students doing as well in a second language.

Unfortunately I won't have the English News class next semester - apparently there was a clash with another class I was assigned.  I enjoyed this class (once I worked out a suitable approach) and the feedback from students was positive - several said that they had never been interested in current affairs but were now regularly reading online newspapers.  A rewarding outcome for a teacher.

...

Recent photos

End-of-semester dinner with colleagues: Gautier Plassais and his wife Hao Yu; Sun Yu; Vera; Alex (me); Paul Finkbeiner; Michael Christensen; Steven McCune.

At our favorite shop in Ji Mo Lu market in Qingdao..

Saying goodbye to Paul Finkbeiner who is returning to the US after 4 years in China.  A lovely young man, he has been a wonderful colleague and friend.  We wish him well in the future.

Dinner with valued friends, Professor Liu Bao, his wife Wang Jun Hong and their daughter Liu Si Qi (Scarlet).

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That’s all for this post.

Take care; keep well and keep smiling.

Best wishes, Alex & Vera Olah

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn

Monday 20 July 2015 (currently in Hong Kong).