| 5 |
Brought Yifan to Gymboree Good for you! I think you made the right choice! |
| 4 |
The Most Beautiful Sky in Shanghai I also woke up today and saw puffy white clouds against a blue sky and felt very happy. This is how life should be, and we must all work hard to make it so. I've been hearing from friends in Beijing lately about how bad the pollution is, and I've felt very proud for Shanghai---that it is doing better at keeping the air cleaner. Of course geography has something to do with this, but it also about policy. I hope the city will continue to work to increase trees and green areas and control industrial pollution in the Yangzi delta. We all deserve to see blue skies, and for me, this is more important than industrial development. I wish people everywhere could treasure nature over material possessions. |
| 3 |
All Kinds of Trap I missed the earlier posting on your BBC interview and just looked at it now. I think that dealing with the press, at home and abroad, is an art form and one gains in experience each time. Hopefully, your future interviews will continue to better experiences, allowing you to voice your thoughts and concerns while avoiding danger and discomfort. I've experienced discomfort with articles about me in Chinese newspapers on a few occasions. Each time, quotes were attributed to me on topics I had not even discussed. I was quoted directly as talking about "friendship between two countries" and similar ideas, when I hadn't said these words at all. Since I'm not opposed to these ideas, I tried not to let it bother me but it still always does because in my own culture, this would be considered a terrible thing for a newspaper to do. Also, in the academic world, after I've given a talk, it has been published without any knowledge on my part. This also left me terribly uncomfortable and fearful of professional embarrassment. Now I am at least better prepared to watch out for these situations before they happen. Even if I can't change the result, at least knowing of the possibility eases the discomfort. But I've had to accept that these sorts of things happen in China. The western media currently has a general bias against China on certain topics, such as the environment. It's hard for Americans to accept a decline in national status, and this fear sometimes surfaces as a anti-China bias. You will get better and better at making sure that the positive things you want to say also get heard but I fear you will be encountering this bias in western media for some time to come. |
| 2 |
Hard to Use Metro Instead of a Car You have explained yourself very well. There is this exact same problem in the United States, where public transportation is poor. People often cannot afford to live in cities, as well as prefer a more quiet and green life in the suburbs. The result is that the vast majority of people drive to work with an average commute of an hour. In some urban hours, even 2 to 3 hours! This is an awful situation, as you know from your own experience, and difficult to solve. I hope that when the #7 line opens, you can use the subway. It will hopefully even be more relaxing than driving. Meanwhile, Shanghai traffic is going to get worse and worse until more trains are added so that subway crowding is decreased, and park and go facilities are built throughout suburban areas. I have recently rented an apartment and know that they're expensive in the downtown. (I would have loved to live in Luwan or Jing'an districts as I did years ago, but the cost pushed me into Huangpu district.) However, housing prices will continue to rise and housing is now one of the best investments one can make in Shanghai. It still may be worth it to move to the downtown soon, if there's anyway you could manage it. You will have to sacrifice space, but that's city living! (And I think it can be wonderful for a child to grow up in a city.) |
| 1 |
Leave Home Early to Avoid Traffic Jam Does it take more than one hour for you to use the subway to get from your Pudong home to Xujiahui? Why not only use the car for weekends and trips other than work, in a more European style? I've now returned to Shanghai after just three years away, and the increase in private cars is amazing. An increasing number of car commuters during rush hour has so many bad points, and public transportation is so good in Shanghai now. How about trying the subway at 7, maybe before it too is so crowded? |