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| 49 |
No Taxi at Huaihai Road Shame on you - Transportation Administrative Department! That scandal is getting hotter & hotter among netizens. Let's wait and see how the authorities are going to sugar up their dick move this time. P.S. Dr. Xu Zhiyong has been released. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125104581176051961.html Question is: How does he dare to continue his great career? |
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I Need Some Change As you plan to visit Dubai, here is an article for your reading. This one really shocked me. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html# |
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I Need Some Change Why not to try Maldives? I spent several days there 2 years ago, and almost got addiction to that place. Wish I could have the time & budget to visit it again, and again, and again. |
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Yifan's Head was Hurt Hope you would become a little happier after hearing this: I fell over at the age of two. Worse than Yifan's cut, it was on my eyebrow. The scar has disappeared now, but it left a gap in my eyebrow. I guess my parents got the same feeling at that time as you are sufferring from now. But I myself never felt it's a big deal. And I have married a beautiful wife. P.S. Maybe you didn't, but I'd still like to mention it, just in rare case: Don't blame your ayi too much. |
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Hospital is Badly Needed An international clinic in Shanghai: http://www.bodyandsoul.com.cn/index.php/en |
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Ten Characteristics of Great Companies Sorry. Correct link: http://www.tieku.org/211186/1.html |
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Ten Characteristics of Great Companies Jianshuo, I'm reading an astounding "novel", disclosing a wardrobe-skeleton story of a great company. (Link: http://www.tieku.org/211186/1.html) The author didn't quote the real name of the company, but everybody can see it's Microsoft. And the author claimed that it's just a fiction, but it seems he just made this disclaimer to avoid legal troubles. You had been in Microsoft for years. I do want to know your thoughts on this novel. How many percents of its contents do you think is true? Microsoft is definitely one of the greatest companies in the world, having earned plenty of respect. I wish everything in that story is bullshit. But I can hardly imagine how this guy could make up everything without any foundation. And what is his motivation then? |
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I am Dreaming about Visiting India I still remember my middle school Politics textbook compared the economy growth of China against India. These 2 nations have comparability because their scratch lines are similar. Figures showed that China is on the upper hand, and the textbook used this as a proof for superiority of socialism over capitalism. I don't know if today's textbook still has this paragraph. I've never visited India. I don't want to make a rash conclusion that "China is better than India" simply based on that textbook, or some posts written by travellers back from India. But if it's like a racing competition for these 2 nations, I would still like to bet $10 on China. Some more random throughts derived from this post: 1. We learned in the school that there were 4 Great Ancient Civilizations: ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient India, & ancient China. I wonder if this is a theory which is worldwide accepted, or just another popular one within China. Could anybody clarify this for me? 2. It seems that going through the long human history, there is always a powerful nation, during one period, taking the dominant position over the others. Today, US is the big brother. Tracing back into history, we have Britain, Spain, Holand, Mongolia, China, Rome, Turkey, Arab... (Sorry, if I missed some one you think I should have mentioned). But till now, NONE of them could regain their glory after they had lost it. In future, can anyone of them make the history to rejuvenate? So far, I think China seems to have a good chance to become this record breaker. Welcome objectors. |
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Hospital is Badly Needed I know some foreign companies are buying International SOS membership for their expat staff as a welfare. Anybody interested in this may check out below site: http://www.internationalsos.com/en/asiapacificregion_china.htm |
| 38 |
MP4 is Cheap For me, I can hardly think of an occasion to use this sort of device. Laptop/iphone/ipod can deal with all circumstances. One headache for these devices are battery capacity. I guess it would have run out of juice before you finish watching the 4GB movie. Most people are using MP4 mainly as a GPS navigator in their cars, where they can plug it into the cigar lighter. But this one seems don't have the GPS function. |
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Train from Shanghai to Nanjing - CRH (D) Irene, you can buy ticket at the train station. Or you can resort to the Concierge if you are staying in a decent hotel. |
| 36 |
Hospital is Badly Needed Thank you very much, xge, for sharing above statistics. Now I start to dream of openning a CT clinic beside a normal hospital. I can retrieve the machine investment in one year, and earn 10 million RMB in the 2nd year. That's just the profit for CT department alone. CT is definitely not the only money printer in the hospital. "Low price only discourages new comers and prevent hospitals from making money legally. " If this is still called a low profit business, what is an ideal business? To rob a bank? Human greed is so hard to satisfy. P.S. I do see new hospitals are setting up gradually. Many of them are private. I wish proper competition could somewhat bring down those terribly inflated prices. |
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Hospital is Badly Needed @ xge: I see your point: Government is mandating low prices on some medicine/service. But I don't think that's the reason why a typical cough can cost more than one month salary. Actually we can hardly find medicines with "ginger root" prices nowadays. All medicines we can find in the pharmacy are so expensive. Even if there are still some cheap medicines hiding in the cabinet corners, doctors are tending to "forget" them, since these cheap medicines won't bring any "incentive". It's not difficult to find reports, disclosing that the retailing price of most medicines are double/triple/...10 times, even 20 times of the ex-factory price. There is a long profit line to go through before the medicines finally reach patients. Maybe you will tell me that hospitals/doctors are not holding the biggest scoop. Well, I won't argue on that, as I don't have any proof. But will you be kind enough to share some more inside news with us? I've been curious on this for long. Let's take CT scan for example. How much does a CT machine cost? How much is a patient charged for each CT scan? How many CT scans does a hospital carry out everyday? How many years does a CT machine serve? It'll be even better if you could provide info on some other diagnosis/treatment items, such as blood test, X-ray, MR...I'm sure you can easily name a dozen. Everyday, we have restaurants, shops, factories closing down. But I never heard a hospital bankrupt. One of my colleague once commented: "We must work hard when we are young, so we can have the money to pay to the hospital when we get old." |
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Hospital is Badly Needed @Adam Have you ever tried to find out the reasoning of my comment besides the astonishment? "a typical cough can cost more than one month's salary" This is true. But most of the cost of a typical visit will not be related to the treatment of cough. Do you really think the solution is to lower the cost of treating cough further? It is like that the government, in order to appease the public, mandates that ginger root should only be sold at 1 cent per pound, since it is a necessity to people and some people can only afford it at such a price. But when you go to buy ginger root in a store, in order to make money, they always sell you a pound of garlic with every pound of ginger you buy which costs you 10 rmb /pound. Do you really think the solution is to lower the price of ginger to 0.5/pound? If people can not afford healthcare services. The government should give people money if it can afford to. The only effect of mandating a low healthcare service price is to shift the blame to hospitals and doctors, while the real problem is low government subsides and absurdly high portion of health care resources consumed by privileged classes. Try to imagine what happens when Wen Jia Bo broke his leg instead of you. Will he be standing in line for a number to see the doctor? He probably will even pay for the one pound of ginger he got and be satisfied at the fact that it only cost him 1 cent and be thankful to the wonderful achievement of the government. It is only sadening that poor people are also thankful to the government. |
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Hospital is Badly Needed @ xge: You've created the most astonishing post I've ever read in this blog. You really think the hospitals are charging low prices, and that's the reason why China is lacking of hospitals? Try posting your opinion on a Chinese BBS. You would get drowned in objectors' slobber. |
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IBM vs Dell Laptop This February I bought a Dell laptop for my wife as a Valentine's Day gift. IBM has never been into my choice pool. Simply because their appearances are so boring - always black! While Dell's "Inspiron" offers 7 colors for me to choose from. I happily chose a pink one. I think IBM lost another score on this aspect. Although technical performance is always critical, appearance design is getting more & more important nowadays. Apple is a good example - appearance design is Apple's sharpest cutting edge (at least that's the situation on China market). |
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Craziness of Real Estate Market Why house prices are getting so high? Is it because people are getting richer & richer? Maybe we need to swap the reason and the consequence. Some people are getting richer & richer because house prices are getting higher. I read an article from the web as below. Forgive my laziness, I'm not translating this long article into English: 现在买房子，傻瓜才掏钱！【揭秘内幕】 昨晚，和一个开典当行的同学喝酒。 我问同学，“你买了多少套房子，多少间铺面？” “房子22套，铺面12间。”同学炫耀似的答道。 “那你花了多少钱呢？”同学虽然是千万级的富翁，但他也不至于能把千万多的钱压在固定资产上吧！我心中默算了一下，非常怀疑！ 现在买房子，傻瓜才掏钱！亏你还是个生意人！”同学鄙视的看着我。 同学的话，简直令我震耳欲聋，使我目瞪口呆。我连忙虚心请教。于是，同学就对我说出一番匪夷所思、惊世骇俗的话来......以下，都是我同学的话，虽然词句有些出入，但基本语意我还是转述清楚了的。 一、买房不掏钱，你是怎么操作的？ 同学的话—— 你知道，我的典当生意完全是靠钱生钱。第一次买房时，虽然我有能力一次性付清全款，但我还是不愿意那么多的现金被房子压死。那时，正流行“零首付”，于是，我一分钱没花，贷款18万买了房（贷款期限为一年）。 一年期满，要还房款和利息了。也不知道是我幸运呢？还是我倒霉！那时，我的资金被一笔业务占用了。为了业务，我不仅还不起房款不说，还得另外新增贷款。迫不得已，我找老关系——银行的信贷部经理沟兑。当我吞吞吐吐的把“延期还房款并另外新增贷款”的要求说出来后，没想到，信贷经理却诡秘的一笑，非常爽快的答应了。 信贷经理给我出的主意很简单：让我老婆，以两倍的价格，贷款买我的房子，贷款期限也是一年。 “两倍的贷款，那就是两倍的利息啊！你这不是变着方的剥削我吗？”我还没有反应过来。 “如果到时，你不还款呢？”信贷经理很镇定。 “啊......” “被银行收房，没有什么大不了的！关键是除去税费后，我还凭空白得了17万。不，这17万我可不能一个人得，我至少要分给他5万。”很快，我反应过来。于是，我对信贷经理会心的一笑...... 这，就是我第一次买房的经历。 我后来的买房经历都与此类似，也就是：坚决的不掏一分钱，全部用银行的贷款买房子；然后，如果遇见不明真象的投资者（说是投资者，其实是傻帽）买房，那就高价卖给他。如果一直没有投资者买房，那就不断的把自己的房子加价转贷给自己，不断的用银行的钱来还银行的债。 并且，我是开典当行的，与银行的关系是一般人无法比的。一般老百姓买房，大都选择20年按揭，而我买房从来都是只贷款一年，到期了才还本金和利息。这样操作，不用交月供。而贷款到期后，我只须做做“纸面文章”转贷款一下。实际上，我一分钱也不用掏。 二、我不信，在实际生活中能有如此荒谬的事情。你讲的是“童话”吧！ 同学的话：兄弟！我是看你人对，才给你讲这些掏心窝的话。你怎么可以不相信我呢？你要怎样才能相信我呢？ 作者发言：你就给我讲点实际的例子吧！ 同学的话：你知道王二麻子是怎么发家的吗？ 作者发言：“那你说说。”王二麻子是我的另外一个同学，现在是开发房地产的亿万级富翁。 同学的话—— 那我就说说。 想当年，王二麻子那个落魄啊！就连他注册公司的注册资金，也是我临时拆借给他的。如今，别看王二麻子表面风光，他拿地的钱，是从银行贷款的；修房子的钱，是建筑商垫资的。总之，他就是一个完全的“空手道”。 房子修好后，王二麻子在正式开盘前，通常要举行一个“内部认购会”。这个内部认购，其实就是王二麻子召集公司内部员工和一些象我这样的、相熟的炒房客（或者干脆是一些从招聘会上收集的、众多的、应聘者的“身份证复印件”），以这些人的名义来买房子，全部用银行贷款来买。这，就是所谓的“开发商囤房”。 并且，此次交易上报给银行的交易价，必须比实际的内部交易价提高30%。为什么？因为贷款买房要首付两成啊！举个例子，如果你想收回100万，那你就必须以130万的房价向银行贷款。这样，银行给你的钱就是：130万×0.8=104万；你实际装进口袋的钱就是：104万—4万（给相关银行人员的“好处费”）=100万。 就这样，通过开盘前的内部认购，王二麻子其实已经成功的全部收回了投资，把所有的风险转给了银行。到这时，王二麻子才会开始打广告卖房子，并归还“买地的银行贷款”和“修房子的建筑商垫资”。 作者发言：后面又怎么操作呢？ 同学的话—— 你怎么那样笨啊！稍微聪明一点的人都能想到，后面的操作方法，其实与我炒房的方法是一样的，也就是：“如果遇见不明真象的投资者（说是投资者，其实是傻帽）买房，那就高价卖给他；如果一直没有投资者买房，那就不断的把自己的房子加价转贷给自己，不断的用银行的钱来还银行的债。” 不过，由于已经收回了按揭贷款的首付款，所以后面的操作并不需要每一次都加价30%，只需按着楼市房价本来的上涨幅度加价就可以了（即每年上涨14%左右）。 什么？万一房价上涨幅度不足于支付贷款利息怎么办？笑话，你什么时候看见过中国楼市的房价上涨幅度低于当年的贷款利息了？ 明白了吧！这，就是中国楼市的房价只能上涨不能下跌；并且，房价的上涨幅度还不能低于当年贷款利息的真正原因！！ 想想就觉得可笑，居然有学者说，“建筑成本和地价的不断上涨，是房价飞涨的原因。”这简直是扯蛋！ 其实，“金融成本”才是房价构成的大头，至少要占目前房价的50%。 以上海倒塌的莲花河畔景苑为例。网上公布，其楼面价格不到604元/平方米，建筑成本也不到1300元/平方米（其实，网上公布的建筑成本并不准确。市法院电梯公寓的建筑质量总该比它好吧，建筑成本也没有超过1000元/平方米）这么便宜的房子，开发商为什么非得要把它卖到14000元/平方米呢？卖低一点、少赚一点不行吗？答案是不行的。原因很简单，“金融游戏”是有成本的，每这样操作一次，房子就必须加价一次。只有不断的加价，上述操作才有生存的空间。所以，莲花河畔景苑前年卖7000元/平方米，去年卖10000元/平方米，今年就得非要卖14000元/平方米。俗话说“豆腐盘成了肉价钱”。这，就是“金融游戏”的代价！ 有句话道出了目前中国楼市的实情，“房子是用来炒的，不是用来住的；商品房是卖给银行的，不是卖给老百姓的。” 老同学，请你想一想，现在的楼市，房价明明已经远远的超过了老百姓的实际购买能力（也就意味着房子永远卖不出去），为什么房价还会不断的上涨呢？并且，还要“量、价齐涨”呢？原因何在？正在于此！ 三、你讲的，只是极个别的现象，不能代表中国楼市的整体形势。 同学的话—— 老同学，你太孤陋寡闻了吧。请看： 李树彪案：1999年9月8日到2004年1月15日，湖南郴州市住房公积金管理中心原主任李树彪骗取公积金贷款、银行贷款共计44笔，涉案金额1.2亿元。 康明案：2000年前后，河南郑州康明置业有限公司通过东明花园414套房源，在工商银行、交通银行、建设银行、招商银行进行重复抵押贷款共690多套，至少套取银行资金2亿元。 姚康达案：从2002年至2003年上半年，中国工商银行上海外高桥保税区支行向“姚康达”一人发放房贷7141万元，用于炒作128套住房。 森豪虚假按揭案：从1997年年至2002年上半年，北京市华运达房地产开发公司以森豪公寓、太利花园为幌子,采取假按揭的方式,向中行北京市分行、北京银行中关村支行、北京银行展览路支行三家银行骗贷共计16.2亿元。（请看《京城最大假按揭骗贷案震醒房市》http://finance.people.com.cn/GB/1045/9255894.html） 建行广州分行案：2002年，审计署抽查建设银行广州地区八家支行的住房按揭贷款，发现10亿元虚假按揭。仅广东省汕尾市公安局某副局长一人，即骗取建行广州市芳村支行按揭贷款3793万元。 曲沪平案：2006年，上海浦东发展银行陆家嘴支行在已发放贷款中，发现1.26亿元个人房产按揭贷款存在抵押不实，贷款代理人为“曲沪平”。其后更查出与曲相关的房贷高达91笔，涉及金额4亿元左右。银行不得不委托房屋中介公司出售抵押房产，以回收问题贷款。 同泰案：2006年，北京同泰房地产公司涉嫌利用87份假业主所签购房合同，从银行骗贷6700万元。 成都虚构房产骗贷案：2005年至2008年期间，犯罪嫌疑人唐某勾结成都市房管局工作人员以虚构房产的方式办理房产证进行骗贷。现已发现的涉案房产证已超过一百多套，涉及金额近二千万元！而且事态还在进一步发展中。 另外，今年银监会三令五申的明确要求，“贷款发放必须用于满足实体经济的有效信贷需求，防止信贷资金流入楼市”。然而，40000亿资金依然流入楼市...... 老同学，请你想一想，为什么会发生那么多的这类事情呢？为什么全国的银行都明知道是假按揭也要把钱贷给地产商呢？难道银行的官员们都是傻子吗？ 其实，银行的官员们一点都不傻。 原因在于，银行内部人员与开发商其实是狼狈为奸的同伙。参与这项操作的某些银行内部人员决不是希望通过购房者支付贷款利息为银行赚钱，坦白地说，他们是在参与分赃——他们与开发商一起盗取不义之财，将风险转嫁给国家银行，而买单的是真实的购房者。一旦真实的购房者无法买下这个巨单，银行就出现危机。 这时候，买单的就是全国人民了，国家必须银行注资，消除烂帐。国家的钱哪里来？印钞票！结果是什么？通货膨胀，物价飞涨，老百性的钱不值钱了，或者说老百姓的钱被抢了，被谁抢了？被国家抢去堵漏了，堵开发商和银行某些蛀出来的大洞。这个洞如此之大，堵住了也是一个丑陋的疤，而疼的永远是百姓。 所以我会说——房地产业已经成为相关单位、相关部门团结起来瓜分国家金钱（其实是老百姓的存款）的道具。 违规又有什么大不了的？银行官员们不怕啊！只要表面的纸上手续完备了，我就没有了责任。即使按揭贷款是假的，又有什么关系？况且银行有国家这个后台，就是亏了也不怕，反正银行的官员们现在挣了钱就行。至于银行以后不行了，自然有国家来管，况且那是下届银行官员的事情。难怪中国银行的坏账率居然在40%以上！原来，在中国，最大的腐败在银行！！ 四、我依然认为，这只是极个别的现象。如果你讲的是普遍的现象，为什么还没有开发商被收楼呢？ 同学的话—— 原因有许多，简单的有： 1、你不关心房地产界的新闻。比如“曲沪平案”，上海浦东发展银行陆家嘴支行就收了楼，不得不成为了“房东”； 2、由于开发商在银行内部的同伙，掩护工作做的好的缘故，案子没暴。 掩护工作怎么做？很简单——只要一近债务偿还期，开发商就会和“银行内部的同伙”们一起，把房子又一次加价卖给（转按揭）其它的“身份证复印件”（其实，房子依然在开发商手里）。这样操作，开发商永远不会被收楼。 虽然这样操作，房价会不断的上涨，并很快的远远超过老百姓的实际承受能力(也就意味着房子永远卖不出去)。但是，这样的操作，如果只从官样程序上来看、只从表面的纸上手续来看的话，它是永远合法的。这就是银行官员们敢于给开发商打掩护的原因——因为以目前的银行制度来说，只要表面的纸上手续完备了，银行的官员就没有了责任。 五、你的意思是，目前的银行贷款制度有着严重的漏洞？ 同学的话—— 当然！ 我能不花钱的买那么多的房子和铺面，甚至还靠房子从银行套出那么多的周转资金做生意，这一切，全都得感谢银行的制度漏洞啊！银行的贷款制度，真的是“为人民服务的好制度”啊！ 作为一个典当行的老板，以同行的眼光来看，我认为银行贷款的制度漏洞有： 1、抵押物价值的评定方法有缺陷。 比如，明明开发商拿地只用了5000万，他却可以用这块地抵押贷款1个亿；比如，开发商修楼修到盖顶，明明只用了7000万（含地钱），他却可以用这个楼抵押贷款2个亿。 如果，按照我们典当行的规矩来办，事情又会怎样呢？ 当开发商用这块地抵押贷款时，我会亲自去核实：开发商拿这块地，是否真的给了政府5000万。并且，如果这个情况属实，他也最多只能贷款4000万。因为我要预提风险基金啊！ 当开发商用这个楼抵押贷款时，我也会亲自去核实：开发商修这个楼，是否真的花了2000万（只算建筑成本，不含地）。我会按照各种人工、各种建筑材料的最低价来核算这个楼的建筑成本。并且，如果开发商修这个楼的确花了2000万，他也最多只能贷款7000万×0.8=5600万（连地一起抵押）。 最后，当购房者按揭贷款时，我绝对不可能按照“购房合同交易价”来发放贷款，购房者最多能获得的贷款金额是：7000万×0.8×购房面积/此楼总面积。 举个例子：有个卖衣服的商人因为生意周转，需要以衣服为抵押物向银行贷款。你说说，银行是该“按照衣服出厂价的8折”给他贷款呢？还是该“按照衣服零售价的8折”给他贷款。 作者发言：当然该按出厂价算。如果按照零售价算的话，卖衣服的商人干脆不用开店了，他直接把衣服卖给银行赚钱更快！恩，我明白了，怪不得在中国会出现“房子是用来炒的，不是用来住的；商品房是卖给银行的，不是卖给老百姓的”这样的奇闻！！！ 同学的话：是啊！抵押房的价值，不能由客户之间的交易来决定啊！！ 2、责任追究方法有缺陷 “只要表面的纸上手续完备了，银行官员就没有了责任。”这怎么可以呢？在我的典当行，我可不管你的纸上手续是否已经完备，只要是你负责的业务出了问题，嘿嘿！我就找你算帐！！！ 另外，让国家损失16.2亿的森豪虚假按揭案暴露后，相关的银行官员居然没有被追究责任，这怎么可以呢？嘿嘿！如果这样的事是发生在我的典当行，不要说让他家破人亡，我至少会让他和他的亲戚倾家荡产！！！ 作者发言：是啊！发生金融案件后，居然不追究相关银行官员的责任。换成是我，我也觉得“打马虎”比尽忠职守更合算！！！怪不得中国的金融案件层出不穷。听君一席话，胜读十年书！听你说到这儿，就连我这么笨的人也知道了应该如何理顺楼市——只要严格金融制度，让炒房的人不能获得投机的资金，楼市的泡沫自然的就会散去！！ 同学的话—— 你终于聪明了一回。可惜！！！ |
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What if Someone Cut my Tree? Legal system is way from satisfaction in China, neither is in the West. So we have the popular comics/TV play/movie - "Dark Justice". I think it's a mission impossible to have a perfect legal system. Laws, similar to anti-virus softwares, are always in the passively defensive position. Human is so cunning to find bypass, or to make fully use of leaks in laws. As the idiom goes: While the priest climb a post, the devil climbs ten (道高一尺，魔高一丈). Unfortunately, legal system is something unlike anti-virus software, which we can have an easy update everyday. So, I'm guessing, does the case law system has its advantage over the statute law system, as it's more flexible & practical? |
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Good Morning, Shanghai One good thing is that I can expect new posts on this site at any time of a day. People from all over the world contribute. This significantly increase the frequency I come here. I usually stay up very late, and sometimes I even pop in at 2:00 am for a glance before shutting down my computer. |
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Values, Profit and Backgrounds Sorry for the typo above - should read CEO, not ECO. |
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Values, Profit and Backgrounds I do have a question here. A company's profit-value-preference should have been determined by its "Mission Statement". It is of a company, like constitution of a nation. The founder of a company must have put his personal inclination into the statement. If the ECO's background has an obvious influence on the company's behavior, does a company change its mission statement if it instates a new ECO who has a background different from the predecessor's? |
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B for Parking Garage Lucky contemporary baby. He's already had access to elevator, car and laptop. I remember the only toy I had, when I was 3 years old, living in countryside, was just a hen. She laid an egg every other day for the family. I made fun of chasing and throwing pebbles at her. Poor hen. Sorry. And we had another interesting thing in our small yard - a well. Nowadays many children don't even know what a well looks like. I often liked to hide inside it, with my hands grasping the stone edge, waiting for my grandma to seek for me. Yes, it was dangerous. But that is childhood, during which everybody does stupid things. Two years ago, I returned to that village. They already have tap water. But the well is still there. (The hen is gone of course.) It was a bit tear-jerking seeing that well. What's your childhood like? Still remember your favorite toy? |
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Risk Assessment of My Zhiyong Series Eeeer, what happened? Someone knocked at your door? Please tell me that's just an insurance salesman. I don't think they dare to take you away suddenly from an international live broadcast stage. The worst situation might occur is your blog get banned. But there is always a way for us to find access. Will be a little troublesome, but it's worthwhile. |
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The Significance of Xu Zhiyong Dear Jian Shuo, I didn't make myself clear. I do admire Dr. Xu Zhiyong's courage and totally agree with his work - both contents and formality. It's absolutely a mistake to detain him. A simplified situation might be like this: the central party committee gave a guideline to all subordinate departments to make the society look more harmonious, which is for sure correct. Then the Public Security Bureau director thought Zhiyong's work will make PSB looks useless and sometimes even abusing its power. So they took madcap action. I don't think the stupid detain order was issued from the central party committee. Maybe Premier Wen is shouting at the PSB director now. But even so, they still can not release Zhiyong at once, otherwise the authority would lose face again. (They know they don't have much left.) There is another saying: "Policies are not original policies once they are out of Zhong Nan Hai (central headquarters of the Party)". |
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The Significance of Xu Zhiyong Dear "Puzzled foreigner", No one will be happy to accept that logic, from his/her personal angle of view, as it's againt humanity. But we have only 2 options to explain the current situation we are facing: A. To believe that we small potatoes just don't have the insight to understand the authorities' profound decisions. (I'm referring to those at central headquarters level.) B. To acknowledge that those corrupt & fatuous bad eggs are really shitting on the people's heads. Of course I wish the correct answer is "A". That means we are on a rough, but at the very least, correct direction road. BTW, have you heard about the rumour, that in 1941, US government had already got the intelligence beforehand, that Japs would attack Pearl Harbour? And they just let it happen (but maneuvered away 2 aircraft carriers). Thus they solved the dispute within the nation, whether US should take part in the war. 2403 American lives were sacrificed. But US won't have obtained today's dominant position if it hadn't joined WWII. Were those 2403 lives worthwhile for a nation's century long prosperity? Put you back into Roosevelt's shoes, what's your call? Politics is chilling. |
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The Significance of Xu Zhiyong @ "Puzzled foreigner": I'm sure Cheng Wing Yan is safe & sound, in HongKong. Just many articles reporting her letter have disappeared on the web. I don't think Premier Wen would reply this letter. Although most Chinese people (me included) think he is a very respectable person. I guess the scenario is: we are just too micro as a ordinary citizen, focusing on micro event. Standing on the beach, we see tsunami. Those who manipulate macro situation, sitting in a space station, just see a peaceful blue sea. Individuals are dispensable for them, if only the situation keeps on their track. (Could still be a correct track for the nation in the long run. I'm not sure on this. Who knows. They should be smarter than me, otherwise they wouldn't have become "astronauts".) As the popular saying goes on many Chinese BBS's: "The authorities are playing a very very big round of mah-jong". |
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The Significance of Xu Zhiyong I just found below article from www.AsiaSentinel.com: An excerpt of an open letter written by a Form 7 Hong Kong female student Cheng Wing Yan (鄭詠欣) addressed to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in support of Xu Zhiyong, the civil rights lawyer who has been arrested by the Chinese government. The letter has been published in Ming Pao Daily. Here is translation of the excerpt of the open letter titled “Please Convince Me from a Legal Standpoint”:- "Recently Xu Zhiyong and Gongmeng (公盟) under his leadership have been targeted by the government. Gongmeng is a civil organization formed by a group of lawyers and academics who are concerned with China’s development. Through academic research, the organization has offered some advice and suggestions on China’s legal system reform, thereby promoting the realization of rule of law and democracy. Another area of their work, which is well known to Chinese citizens, is to provide legal aid to the powerless grass roots like petitioners and victims of land grabs and melamine milk powder, helping them to get justice within the existing legal framework. Judging from the fact that many petitioners who had received legal aid went bravely to Gongmeng’s office to voice their support soon after the tax authorities shut it down, everybody can clearly see that Gongmeng is the people’s ally. Why is it that the government under your leadership is still insisting on doing something that goes against the will of the people? As far as I know, Gongmeng is a non-profit organization. They had once considered registering as a non-business civil unit, but their application was rejected and they had no alternative but to register as a limited company. In international societies, such an organization is tax-exempt, and donors can also obtain tax exemption benefits. But as Gongmeng members are law-abiding legal professionals, even though they think the system is unreasonable, they still pay their taxes as required. When the tax authorities accused them of omitting to report certain taxable items, they admitted their fault honestly. Why is it that the government under your leadership still imposing the maximum penalty, and on top of that, using a search warrant to take away all the files and data that are related to protection of civil rights? What is even more puzzling is that right before the convening of the second hearing, Mr. Xu was taken away from his home by security bureau officers and under-cover police, detained in custody and was not allowed to contact lawyers or his family. At the same time, Gongmeng was being ordered to shut down its website. This is a case of groundless seizure of citizens’ basic civil rights. Premier Wen, you always say things like ‘administering according to rule of law’ and ‘governing according to rule of law’. May I ask, based on which legal clause did the law enforcement agency take away Mr. Xu? I only have a cursory knowledge of Chinese Law, but I know that the Constitution is the country’s most comprehensive basic law and has the highest level of binding power. Article 35 of our country’s Constitution states that citizens of People’s Republic of China have the freedom of speech and the freedom to form associations. Article 37 states clearly that citizens of People’s Republic of China enjoy personal freedom and it prohibits illegal arrest or other means of illegally seizing or limiting citizens’ personal freedom. Based on my own interpretation of these Articles, I think Mr. Xu should be free to stay in his home or work at his office. In April this year, when my classmates and I were in Beijing as exchange students, we had the honor of discussing Chinese politics with Mr. Xu at his Gongmeng office. I saw that he is prepared to be selfless in doing all he can in the area of rule of law and democracy, and that he has great hope for China’s future. I was deeply moved. I can still remember during that visit I saw with my own eyes those menacing scarecrow gangsters who were trying to scare away the pitiable petitioners at the State Bureau for Letters and Visits. So, in our discussion, one of my classmates asked Mr. Xu, ‘Why does the Central Government tolerate the existence of those scarecrow gangsters?’ You know how Mr. Xu replied? He said that the number of petitioners far exceeds what the Letters and Visits Office can handle; so, in order to avoid overloading the Office, government cannot but bear with the scarecrow rogues. He reminded us several times that government is already doing its very best and that we need to be patient with it. This is what Mr. Xu is like. He is full of ideals but he is not presumptuous. He is visionary but he insists on taking one step at a time. He does not mind getting negligible results that come slowly and bit by bit. He firmly believes that one day China will realize rule of law, democracy and freedom. Premier Wen, I really don’t understand why your government can be so cruel. Why do you have to use such means to deal with a scholar who understands the hardship of the government and who wants only rational discourse? All he does is to play by the current rules of game and provide proper assistance to the weak and helpless to fight for the rights that the Constitution gives them. None of his deeds is not for the love of the country and its people. Why can’t the government spare such a person, and let him and Gongmeng handle the (tax) matter in accordance with open and fair civil proceedings?" |
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The Significance of Xu Zhiyong Craving for this series. But many googled entries of Xu Zhiyong have been blocked. Wish your blog can survive. |
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Broke the Bone of my Foot Another idea just popped up from my mind: What if you sue some government department for the faulty road, and ask for a claim? Will that be a harder kick on the "sealed room"? Many years ago I read a news, saying some Japanese got pneumonia, and they sue their government for having not done enough on air pollution control, which amazed me so much! I really wonder when similar things can happen in China, and more importantly, people takes it for granted, rather than a news. Of course I can 100% understand if you wouldn't take this action. You should spend your precious time on your professional area. Law is not your expertise. You've actually done a lot. Salute - for your sense of responsibility to this "no-fresh-air" society. |
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Broke the Bone of my Foot Sorry for your foot, but happy to see you will write more in these a few days. I'm very curious how quick that road can be fixed with effert from a person like you. Usually a small potato's yell would be just neglected. Let's wait & see. |
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A Peek Inside Someone's Travel Notebook Great. But I don't see the Moleskine notebook in the market. Where we can find it? |
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Shanghai Dazhong Taxi Yes, it's the accepted truth that Dazhong is the best, but to be honest, there are good and bad drivers for all fleets. I got a Dazhong taxi the other night, the driver started taking a weird route, then after about two minutes he sparked up a cigarette. When I asked him politely to put it out, he refused. I then told him to put it out, reminding him about the rules, to which he replied that he could smoke because he was cold. I had to order him to stop and let me out. Obviously didn't pay the fare. He then drove off still smoking. A Dazhong! |
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Booking China Domestic Flight Outside China I have made a lot of search on the internet, currently the best domestic website that provide domestic air ticket is ChinaTravelDepot.com, it's very easy to navigate and search, and you can pay online via paypal, most important: they offer real-time discount fare as low as 60% off. Beleive or not, you can try it! |
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My Google PageRank Increases to PR5 Hi, Have a look at my website at www.shophelper.co.uk and let me know what you think and how I can improve the PR and SEO of my website. I'd love to hear your opinion. Congrats on the PR5! |
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Current University Students are Different After working for 3 years with students in over 15 of the best universities in China i am still struggling to find anyone with any creativity, innovation or professional skills (noted that western concepts of professional skills are different to chinese). Even if you talk to someone like IBM with no lack of applications for their jobs, they still cannot find good people. Instead they just waste more money and time sifting through those thousands of applications trying to find the half decent ones. Besides, once you get someone that is good you have to pay them massive salaries, otherwise someone else will poach them. |
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Guide for Bike Riders in Shanghai The best bicycle shop I know in Shanghai is the one which located in the No.1011 Zao Zhung Rd(枣庄路1011号).Tel:021-50701326 They can speak English.This shop is very famous for service the foreigns. Best service and very kind I have seen! |
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Guide for Bike Riders in Shanghai The best bicycle shop I know in Shanghai is the one which located in the No.1011 Zao Zhung Rd(枣庄路1011号).Tel:021-50701326 They can speak English.This shop is very famous for service the foreigns. Best service and very kind I have seen! |
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Guide for Bike Riders in Shanghai The best bicycle shop I know in Shanghai is the one which located in the No.1011 Zao Zhung Rd(枣庄路1011号).Tel:021-50701326 They can speak English.This shop is very famous for service the foreigns. Best service and very kind I have seen! |
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PVG: Transition to Hong Qiao (SHA) Thank you for your invaluable information on this site. Tomorrow I am flying to Shanghai (PVG) from Australia and will fly from Hong Qiao (SHA) to Xiangfan. My PVG flight arrives at 13:25 and my SHA flight leaves at 15:55, giving me 2 and a half hours transition time (inc. customs & bus/taxi trip & the rest!). I will let readers of this blog know how it goes when I get back! |
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Grocery Cost in Shanghai, 2007 Wang, I have lived in Shanghai now for 1 year and originally from NY. The prices that you paid for the groceries are a bit expensive from the supermarket. I think you can get similar items in an wet market for as much as 1/2 of the prices on veggies and 3/4 of the price on meat. The veggies in these wet markets are fresher than the supermarket and there is even room to haggle. Although I have heard that the items in the wet markets can be a bit untrustworthy. Can anyone confirm this? |
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Jobs in eBay Shanghai Guys - I totally agree. I've spent years in software. No chance to competee for Westerners. But what about IT management positions related to financial services. I'm looking for possibility to relocate to Shanghai. Any advice? |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai Hi, I am going to Shanghai in 1st week of September to work and I am looking for 1-bedroom apartment or studio room with the following amenities: - fully furnished (AC and heater) - with TV and DVD player (preferably with cable) - internet ready access - washing machine - furnished kitchen as I cook for my meals - accessible to transpo - as much as possible near the company office (South Pudong Road 360 New Shanghai International Tower 6F-W Shanghai) so I don't have to spend for my transpo. - safe neigborhood Budget: 1500 - 2000 RMB If available, please email me at galan143@yahoo.com |
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Where to Study Chinese, Beijing or Shanghai? Hi Wang Jianshou, I would say Beijing, Beijing, Beijing!! Even if Beijing has it's own Kouyin it is much much easier to practice with locals than in Shanghai. I studied WorldLink Education Chinese Language Program at BCLA and it was really great. I recommend it and if you would like to have direct feedback you are welcome to email me. adamgratton_85@hotmail.com For WorldLink's Real Life China programs See www.worldlinkedu.com Zaijian! Adam |
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Grassroot Art in Shanghai Hi, I was wondering if you can help me. I am an explat living in Shanghai and I am a bit of an art collector. Is there any areas where artists sell thier paintings on the street? I have tried all the galleries around Yu Yuan, bund etc but they are very pricey. My friend buy's a lot from Guangzhou for around 200 Yuan for a large oil painting. The same thing here is around 500 RMB. What's the Mogshan factory like resonable? I appreciate the advice. Thanks Adam |
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Inside Pudong Airport Maglev Train All, Just arrived back from Shanghai and tried the maglev there, it was an amazing experience. I went to the shop at the exhibition center and saw some some of models for around 300Y, and promised to go back and get one. Alas, I ran out of time and didn't, does anyone know if I can pick one up on the net somewhere? Thanks, A. |
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Pudong Airport Maglev in Depth All, Just arrived back from Shanghai and tried the maglev there, it was an amazing experience. I went to the shop at the exhibition center and saw some some of models for around 300Y, and promised to go back and get one. Alas, I ran out of time and didn't, does anyone know if I can pick one up on the net somewhere? Thanks, A. |
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Hard to Buy a House in Shanghai How things have changed!!! Great site by the way, just found it and love it! I'm now looking for an apartment in Shnaghai and find that a lot of the agents and sales people still have the attitudes mentioned above - however they are sitting in empty offices and sales rooms. Time for the proces to come down and the buyers to relax... and about time it is too. |