As I already mentioned on FaceBook (thanks to all who commented), we were all so sad losing the little micro-dog that I had called “Fluffy”. Despite all efforts – Sun took it several times to the vet for treatment but the little fellow passed away the night of 10 December. As we now all learned, those Pomeranians (see earlier blog entry, “Beijing: dogs in the kitchen”) are very very difficult to raise. According to the vet, Fluffy was barely 2 months, the sales people said he was 3 months old. They are extremely fragile, it’s like treating a premature born baby in a hospital. He was soooo cute, also very social and friendly, always craving to be around us. What happened to him is not that clear, some say it was “dog SARS”.
It is said to be of the “British” type, looking a bit like a fox.

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In the afternoon of 9 December 1980 I landed for the first time in Beijing, thanks to LH662 coming from Frankfurt. I never thought I would stay here for so long. Indeed, Beijing was not so welcoming at that time. It was the land of “meiyou” – basically there was nothing of the things we wanted or needed. In my seminars I always start with a quick look back (with some exceptional pictures) to remind us all how China moved from a Mao-type city to pole-dancing & belly-dancing megapolis in 30 years.
In that month I came to explore how to set up a Rep Office for ACEC – done in early 1981, see here with my faithful secretary Monsieur Chen.

I also went to Changchun, to face a Siberian climate with my ill-prepared Belgian clothing. Trip done by train and I promptly caught a nasty cold, missing a trip to Tianjin. I also had my first dinner at the Belgian Embassy (with the rather colorful ambassador Denorme). My first Great Wall and Ming Tombs trip was on 21 December. I think I left on 22 December, arriving back in Belgium on 23 December.
II managed to hold on to my room 5109 in the West Wing of the Beijing Hotel, with a view on the Forbidden City. I ignored the orders of the Hotel to leave the room. Hey, once you had a room, you just stayed. The daily rate was “steep”: 50 RMB;. A suite was 70 RMB but it would take me a long time before getting that.
I am going to celebrate – or mourn – that fateful day in one of my new (Japanese) KTV. Friends are welcome.

That pic was taken in our former KTV that was closed recently. All to promote myself though I forgot actually why people had to vote for me.
Must have been the vodka.

Here it is, for those who are not sitting in a censured and paranoid country. Or for those who can afford a VPN.

(the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6t4jcduS_o)
Irritating: the reaction of YouTube:
“Your video, Sexy Pole dancing in Beijing, may have content that is owned or licensed by Warner Chappell. No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit the Content ID Matches section of your account for more information.”
No clue who is Chappell. But now with the draconian and bullying attitude of “defenders of IPR”, you are nearly not allowed to film anything. You walk around the street, somewhere there is a musician playing, or you are shooting pole dancers, or you sit in your living room and by chance the radio is on – well, that is now all “against whatever f#### law. What do they want? Should we play our movies silently or fill them up with Mozart? That would be a great combination for pole dancing. Kinda ridiculous, another extreme of the USA. You can walk around there with a loaded gun, no problema. USA, the land of the killing lawyers. Sometimes China looks liberated.
But without YouTube.
You can’t have it all.

Yes, we have. Zeta Bar at the Hilton held one more pole dancing competition on Saturday 13 November – I had missed the first one in May. The bar was fully packed and we “did not have a seat”. Lucky us, we were sent upstairs where we ended up having the best view of all. A bit difficult to take pictures with my rather modest camera, here are the best shots. I also took some good video but I need to work on the clips and then upload them on YouTube. Keep posted.
Some of the girls were great and “attractive”, can’t say more, my wife was there too!. The guy is actually the teacher and did more of an acrobat act. All great to watch.

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