Surviving Beijing since 1980

Letter to China Daily 31 August

gilbert — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:54:09 +0000

Guess what…. China Daily did publish my letter, though modified. I just wonder why they made certain modifications.
I’m not complaining too much as the essence of the message was kept.
You can check with the original version posted earlier. See here what was published:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/2010-08/31/content_11233134.htm

Being:

Letters-Rethink over foreigners needed
Comment on “Foreigner communities” (China Daily, Aug 25)
I doubt that there were 20,000 “green cards” holders, that is, foreigners granted permanent residence permit in China, by 2004. Official figures for 2009 show a total of 311 “green card” holders in Beijing. Figures for Shanghai are most probably similar, but could be a bit higher. As a matter of fact, China has almost stopped issuing “green cards”. Applications are accepted but permission rarely granted.
A consequence of the near non-existence of such card holders is the weird experience of using it. Most airport security officers ignore its existence and ask people to produce their passports. The lack of training on the part of security officers and others makes “green card” holders a discriminated rather than a privileged lot.
Some Chinese people’s worry over the impact of foreigners on China and their call for a new “immigration law” to limit the influx of foreigners would only paint a bad image of China.
Reliable figures on foreigners in China are not available. Beijing is said to have more than 110,000 long-term foreign residents. Figures for Shanghai may be higher. The latest official figures (2007) show 538,892 foreigners have been living in China for more than six months. I believe the real figure is much higher, considering foreign students and many unaccounted for foreigners. Even if we assume a total of 1.5 million foreign residents in China, that is a drop in the ocean compared to the Chinese population of more than 1.3 billion.
If China wants to be an open and international society and part of the world community, some of our Chinese friends have to rethink their attitude toward foreigners.
Gilbert Van Kerckhove, via e-mail

Repairing the iMac screen

gilbert — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:03:59 +0000

I love my iMac (PowerMac6,1 – model M6498 – 1GHz PowerPC G4), bought in 2003 but still running so well. A PC would never be able to last as long.
Over time the screen started failing, usually doing a sleep/wake up helped but finally the screen gave up. Once on it would work, as long as I would not switch of or let it go to sleep.
Apple and all so-called specialists said the model was too old and they could not repair. So sad, Chinese technicians have become pretty lousy (and lazy).
Thanks to my good friend Patrik (Swiss and used to mess around with computers and watches) we looked into the problem that appeared to be the screen Backlight/Invertor. The made-in-China spare part was of course nowhere to be found in China but I ordered it online (welovemacs.com) in the USA and got it delivered. Then Patrik simply dismounted the whole iMac, screen and all, to do some cleaning, put in a new internal battery and change the backlight.

All done and … working.
Now the funniest part is, the (in)famous Mac startup “boing” is gone. We tried and checked everything. Nothing. The iMac works great but no more startup sound. We probably must have done something to the hardware while cleaning as all software checks with TechTool Pro and other did not show anything wrong.
Thanks Patrik and too bad for Apple after-sales and the Chinese “specialists”.

Rotaract fun evening in Houhai

gilbert — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:43:44 +0000

As I am now the Rotaract liaison person for the Beijing Rotary Club I frequently join their meetings.
On 28 August Rotaract organized a relaxed evening in Houhai, dinner at “Lao Han Zi” followed by a one hour boat trip on Houhai Lake. The weather was great for once, not to hot. The Houhai area has become very popular with locals and foreigners alike and being a Saturday evening there large crowds everywhere.

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Most fun was to see the typical Chinese chaos with all the boats trying to pass under a bridge, everyone blocking everyone. But our boat guy used his skills to ram his way through (the boat being the biggest one did help…).
I also experimented a bit more with my Panasonic Lumix to make night pictures. Looks like finally I am succeeding.
Peter and his wife also joined, along with Sun and Valerie.

China Daily 25 Aug 10 “Foreigner communities”

gilbert — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:55:43 +0000

This is my comment sent to China Daily on the following article:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/2010-08/25/content_11201956.htm

First of all I doubt your figure of 20,000 Green Card holders in 2004 is correct. Official figures published in 2009 indicate a grand total of 311 Green Card holders in Beijing. Figures for Shanghai most probably are similar but a bit higher. As a matter of fact China now has stopped giving out the Cards, applications are accepted but rarely if ever granted. One can wonder why the system was even started. A consequence of the near non-existence of Card holders is the humiliating experience when using it. Most airport security people ignore its existence and require to show a passport. I normally refuse; in Beijing Airport I normally have few problems. As the Card is the proof of visa, a passport alone is not enough. The lack of training of security people and others makes Green Card holders feel discriminated while it should be rather an honor.
If some Chinese people start worrying about the impact of foreigners in China and try to draft a new “Immigration Law” to even limit more the influx of foreigners, it will show a bad image for China as being unwelcoming. Reliable figures do not exist about the foreign community in China. Beijing is said to have over 110,000 long-term foreign residents; Shanghai figures are much higher. The latest official China figures (2007) reported 538,892 foreigners lived in China for more than 6 months. I believe real figures are much higher, considering foreign students and many uncounted foreigners. Some estimate that the Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese communities alone by far exceed the official total.
Even if we assume a total of 1.5 million, that is a drop in the ocean compared to a Chinese population of over 1.3 billion. There are probably more Chinese living in the USA than foreigners in China.
If China wants to be an open and international country, part of the world community, some of our Chinese friends should think it over.

Gilbert
Green Card holder

INCAR Dansspektakel in Beijing

gilbert — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:58:35 +0000

The dance company Incar from Lebbeke in Belgium, was founded 50 years ago. As the years went by, Incar managed to make itself known as a reliable value within the Flemish cultural landscape.
See their website for further details: http://www.incar-dansspektakel.be/
See here one of their postings:
Incar Dance Company tours China!
Incar Dance Company from East Flanders, Belgium, will tour China this summer. During our 19 day stay we will visit the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai where we will perform in front of the Belgium Pavilion. From there the company will travel to Shaoxing where we will participate in the 6th “World Choir Games”. Delegations from 26 different countries have confirmed their presence at the festival. Our next stop is Xi’an, famous for the terra cotta army that has been excavated. We will end our visit in Beijing.

On 23 July 2010 the Belgian Embassy in Beijing organized a party for the Belgian National Day. In a stifling heath (typical Beijing sauna weather), far over 200 people up, many ambassadors in suits -- not me, thanks. I came out from my retreat to join the party, have some Belgian beer, meet friends and enjoy the performance of Incar. They might not be the new “Mamma Mia!” but their enthusiasm is obvious. See the pics.

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Thanks to our ambassador Patrick Nijs and his wife for a great event, but next time, ask the skies to spare us.

The video on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYPYZtmgXdY

I write like Isaac Asimov

gilbert — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:04:24 +0000

Check out this website, you paste some of stuff you have been writing and it tells you a bit about your style: I write like… http://iwl.me/

So, I write like Isaac Asimov? No idea really. He sounds like an engineer (I am too).
I used a couple of paragraphs from the first pages of the book I am working on, right now. As some may know, I am NOT available, “I am NOT in Beijing”. See here a snapshot of my hiding place sometimes after midnight. The ghost of my inspiration took the pic.

The challenge of my book is becoming bigger by the day. I have the impression I am working on a “Encyclopedia Britannica” about China and that sounds frightening (and not very sexy). Trying to understand the mechanism of modern Chinese society is a huge undertaking but the biggest challenge is actually the flood of information I already collected.
Anyway I decided just to continue writing and at some point I will see how to cut the excess and possibly split the project into several books.
All a vague plan.
But if you can’t find me you know why.

Beijing’s 12th Five Year Plan: new appointment

gilbert — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 04:52:44 +0000

On 2 July I had a meeting in the Mayor’s office, with Mayor Guo Jinlong, Vice Mayor Ji Lin, and others from the Beijing Government. I was appointed (the only foreigner!) as “Committee Member of the Specialist Working Group for the Beijing 12th Five Year Plan”.

It was the first meeting, where the Mayor and others reviewed the main issues and concerns for the 12th FYP as well as a view back on the results of the 11th FYP.
Details cannot be provided as they are confidential. But one issue was already in the press the same day – the merging of 4 Beijing districts into 2: Xicheng + Xuanwu and Dongcheng + Chongwen. I am also the Senior Adviser of Dongcheng District.
I had met the Mayor officially on 20 May in his office on the occasion of the presentation of the 2010 Great Wall friendship Awards.
The Award Winner’s meeting was chaired by Mr. Liu Zhi (sitting next to the Mayor and toasting with Bashar Samra of ING/Bank of Beijing). Mr. Liu was my boss when I was working in the Beijing Development and Reform Commission; he is now deputy secretary of the Beijing Government (Fu Mishu Zhang). During the meeting I delivered a short report on how to improve traffic management in Beijing.
pics
The award is given to foreigners (“foreign experts”) for their contribution to the city’s social and economic progress. It is the top honor for foreigners in Beijing, already given to 145 foreign experts from 28 countries. I received the award from the then Mayor, Wang Qishan, in 2004; he is now vice Premier.

New Blog Babies

gilbert — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:47:15 +0000

Yes, I know, I’ve been writing little here.
My book is still haunting me and I need to make time to write more – I have been collecting a wealth of information that needs to be digested. I plan to disappear again from time to time to find peace and inspiration. Rotary has taken up too much of my time, now changing.
My Chinese has progressed smoothly. Of course it’s a slow progress, the language is terrible to learn. But I am now at lesson 136 with my favorite teachers.

This blog has bothered me. It’s not focused enough and the readers I want to attract are not coming here. Most visitors are looking at Beijing as the capital of sex and sin (no opinion here, hahaha) and think this blog will lead them to a great orgasm. They must be soooo disappointed.
This blog will be soon cleaned up and focus more on economy, business, family and overall more serious stuff.
But don’t despair, two babies came into the world:

www.beijing1980.com
Now under testing, should be fully operational soon. Titled “Stuck in Beijing since 1980″ – “Surviving is hard but oh so much fun (sometimes)”
This site will be more critical, ironic, sarcastic, caustic and humorous about China (and the rest of the World).

www.damulu.com
“Humor keeps you alive” – “who cannot laugh does not live”.
Or also the “The Big List (of fun)”. It will be a collection of jokes, humor and not always for kids. So, will have access levels.
(damulu in Chinese means big list or directory)
This site is up but needs still more milk and diaper changes.

Keep posted!

Some interesting pictures of mother nature

gilbert — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:37:27 +0000

See here some real weird – or rather interesting pictures!

InterestingPhotos.ppt

Click on the link above and wait for the movie to play. First time I do this, let me know how it works! You need QuickTime plugin in your browser.

Nike did it? Me too!

gilbert — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:14:57 +0000

Well, NIKE has this thing of “Just do it”. One advertisement was a bit toooo on the edges.
Anyway, whatever NIKE tells us to do…
Guys, I did it. No details here. Just let imagination run wild.
(you need to be allowed access by me as a valid subscriber! Just ask!)
…{+}

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