Honey! I forgot the suitcase home!

We just realized that it has been three years already! Three years here, in Beijing, three years of discovery, and of learning. And continuing.
It just happened that this is a long weekend here in China, the "Golden week" (黄金周), a combination of a three-day holiday celebrating the creation of the country, and the reshuffling of the work-week, to end up with 7 consecutive days off, allowing many to return visit family in their villages.
We just did what the Chinese do, and headed to a village, Wuduhe, 100 inhabitants, near the Great Wall. (ponder on this number in comparison to what is called here a mid-sized city, with one or two millions inhabitants).
We are fortunate enough to have friends who found a courtyard house in the countryside. They are renting it with some friends, and for that special weeks, nobody was using it.
We packed up with electric blankets, warm night wear and thick comforters, since the nights are now more fresh (10 degrees), and the house not heated. We also took lots of food to barbecue. We sailed out of Beijing while the kids were napping in the back of the car, heavy with all the gear needed for 3 days out of the city.
It is always so nice to drive out to the countryside, and it lovely to arrive to the house, meet the owners, let the kids roam.
All was well until we realized that our suitcase full of our sleeping gear, diapers and toiletry was forgotten at home. After pondering a few long minutes about the possibility of driving back to Beijing to pick it up (for a 4-hours round trip), I opted to head out to the nearest town, on a mission, but skeptical about what I could find (PJs are easy, but contact lenses solution?) I first got into a typical street market to find regular Chinese pajama (think thick lined cotton) sold in a small shop directly on wooden tables.  I basically bought half the inventory of the lady, each piece for about 30 or 40 RMB each (someone was happy from our mindlessness at last!)

Fashionable Chinese winter PJs - (this picture was taken in Beijing). 
Then I drove out in direction of a more "modern" street, with small stores. Not only I easily found the diapers (don't forget, most kids are still using split pants here), I could choose one brand from another.  And then I left in search of an eyewear store (at this point without any notion of Mandarin it would be Mission Impossible). I drove away, turned at the indicated intersection. I was told I could not miss it. Indeed:  I found myself in front of an immense mall filled with latest fashion - something at par with Beijing's downtown shopping malls: all lights and adds on the outside, all loud music and expensive items inside.
It was an amazing discovery to drive from this tiny little village and found such a modern city, so near. I guess on our way to Wuduhe, we passed away from it, on the highway, giving us the sense that we are heading to a more isolated, more rural area than what it is.  In any cases, point made, our rural countryside house is kind of just beside a fairly large city (named Huairou), with all conveniences. So next time we run out of butter, we know where to go.
I entered the mall, searched the eyewear store, found one, bought the solution, walked out through the back door, where I discovered another set of 5 similar stores tucked away. It happens that this solution is not a rare commodity in this part of the country.
Thanks g-d.
I drove back and 20 minutes later, I entered Wuduhe village, trudging carefully along the narrow concrete road between a deep ditch and the villages houses' walls, whose inhabitants are already in the dark ready to sleep. I finally reached the house, tucked away at the end of the village, just beside the chestnut orchards. It was 7:00 PM, I felt I had moved in that amount of time 50 years back in time.
The kids put on their new super-duper chinese thick PJs, we tucked them in bed, and we sat back and toasted to the last 3 years of our life in a country that never cease to surprise us.

War Zones

With all the recent events, we hear a great deal about war.  Osama bin Laden's death. The war on terror. The new Libyan war. Uprising in the Middle East and its bloody repression.  And the eternal Israelo-Palestinian problem, and Hamas latest rounds on Israel. Or is it Israel latest shelling of Gaza? (I can't recall)... Indeed, with the speed of development, it is hard to keep up. But in fact, I am a news junky. I need my daily dose of news or I feel uncomfortable. I need information, about the world. I want to know, understand, analyze.

However, despite the captivating developments of the new front lines, or the various uprising here or there, I keep my kids away from news broadcasts. They will certainly have time later, when they grow up, to learn about the realities of our complex world. I feel there is no need to impress and imprint their young and fresh minds with images of hate and violence. But despite me and Paul's sheltering reflexes, reality reaches us - and them - in unexpected ways.

Last week, a friend of mine, a journalist, was killed in Lybia. Tim was a great photographer and reporter. He was really interested in telling a story. During the Liberian war, he had rented a house in Monrovia to  really capture better what was happening in the city. This is where I met him. Only today when others detailed his work, I realized how much and how well he was doing his work.
It is just strange for me to think of him from this perspective - the war perspective - when I met him in peaceful and hopeful times, just around the election of Shirleaf-Johnson. He was a photographer, recording history being made - in times of peace. I had not given too much thought into how he had got there, and Tim was not the type to boast about his "war coverage". I never have lived through war, I have only roamed in a few devastated places, a while after the facts. It is hard for me to imagine what effect it can have on ones' mind when living through it "live".

Yesterday at the dinner table, Noam looked at me and asked me: "Mommy, do you know war, when you are small?" I am not sure what prompted the question. Maybe me and Paul were talking about Tim, about Lybia, about the conflict. I can't recall. Anyway, Noam popped the question again.
It was not the first time. He first had asked about war right during our CNY trip. In fact, he first inquired  when we were in Cambodia, while visiting a war "museum" - essentially a yard with a number of damaged war equipment, helicopter, plane, a few old thanks, some lance-rockets, some other various things torn and old half taken by the weeds. Our guide was a victim of land mines: he had lost him mom, dad and two sister in front of his eyes, when a young boy. He also had lost one of his arm.





For Noam it was the strangest of things. I was not fast enough to catch a picture of him, but I vividly remember him standing beside our guide, right below the empty sleeve of the missing limb, directly in line with what should have been there. He was staring. Then the questions came later.  "Why no arm?" Answer: "He lost it". Q: "Where is the arm?" (looking around). A:"We cannot find it, it got broken". Q:"Why did it get broken?" A: "Because of war". Q:"What is war"? A:"It is like when you fight with your friend, but this time it is big people, and many big people, and they use terrible things to make each other suffer. And many many people suffer because the countries fight." Q:"And what more?" A:"When there is war people loose their house, their moms and their dads, sometimes they even loose their arms or their legs". Q:"What more?"....
You get the gist.
So for several weeks, at times, he would return again with similar questions. One day, he looked at me and asked: "Mommy, when you are small, you know war?" A:"No." Q:"Daddy know war?" A:"Yes". Then his eyes light up, and he goes, "Yeah!". Then Paul proceeded to explain again about the lost limbs, lost houses and lost moms. For a 3 and half year old boy, some concepts are harder to grasp, and the idea of explosions, fires and making a mess can sound like good fun. And yet, at times, I can feel there is a really a little compassionate soul behind these large blue eyes, when he realizes that an arm an a family have been missing forever.

Great Wallk

Sunday night, it rained a little. And Monday, we woke up to a wonderful, clear, blue, crisp air. With such beautiful sky, Sunday's ordeal was quickly forgotten. Truly schizophrenic changes in weather. Tuesday was as marvelous as Monday.  So I headed out with a group of French women to walk on the Great Wall, on the JinShanLing portion.

I recently joined the group Pékin Acceuil, a group of French and francophones who get together. What is really interesting is that they do not only meet for coffee or wine tasting (isn't that what would most people expect from a French expatriate, no?). In fact, they organize visits to art galleries, do aquafitness or hiking together, play bridge or mahjong, discuss chinese culture or paint, and countless other interesting activities. Myself, already busy here and there, happened to discover them late in my Beijing stay. With them, I am finding a source for new friendships (to possibly replace lost repatriated ones), and another way to jam thigh fill my schedule with taitai time. 

So, JinShanLing, we went. And for you readers, a few pictures in lieu of words. It is just easier for all of us (you and I included), as we were busy chatting away. 

Schizophenic air

While my sister-in-law and her son were here visiting us, we had the most wonderful weather: 10 days of sunny, clear, blue sky; the stuff most people take for granted in Canada, in Israel or in most places. 10 amazing Beijing Blue Sky Days! So unusual indeed it was deemed a "Golden Week"!
However, the minute Nurit and Liam boarded that plane to go back home, the pollution fog slowly started to cover Beijing again. For the last 4 or 5 days, in the evening, I could only see a floating and blinking light in front of our building, across the avenue. The view of the building itself, onto which the sign sits atop, was swallowed by the thick layer of pollution. During the day, looking out from our windows would be as if looking out of an airplane window into a white cloud, except unconsciously, it does not quite feel (or smell) as glamorous.
Saturday, upon waking up, Noam asked us "where is the sun?". Later in the day, he excitingly told us, pointing at the sun (dimly glowing through the fog): "Look, the moon is up!"
Sunday morning, it was really bad.

This picture was taken at 8AM. I did not use any filters, it was taken by my little powershot Canon. 
In fact, the 10-10-10 was one of the most horrible day we ever had. It was so bad that at 3PM, car needed to use the fog lights to go around the city.  It was so thick and dark and heavy that there were no escape. In vain, with our new-to-us car, we drove out of the city in hope of some fresher air. 60 km out of the city center, the air was still opaque and thick. 500 m up on the hills, and we were not sure if the fog we were walking in was cleaner or not... (although it felt as if the air was getting a little yellower in color as we were driving down the hills).
The whole trip was not really "picturesque", we could not see anything. We drove past Tiananmen square - this is not my photo, but it did look almost like this.

Photograph by Oded Balilty/AP Photo - December 27, 2007 
That same day was also the last of 4 days of talks in Tianjin, of the UN Climate Change Summit. I am a little dubious of the validity of such summit held here in China, as China is always opposed to make concessions on its CO2 emissions levels. However, Sunday's air quality maybe has helped the international counterparts understand better the meaning of "bad air quality"...
On Sunday, the air quality was so bad that the China Daily (our expat' local propaganda) even labelled it as "worst" and listed the city as most polluted of 47 cities monitored nationwide. Indeed, levels of pollution are monitored daily by the Chinese government. They are also measured by the American Embassy and distributed on Twitter here. This certainly to ensure the distribution of "real data" (read non-altered). The device used by the Americans is only able to measure up to 500 ppm of particles in the air, and in several past occasions, the levels to be measured were beyond the machine's capacity.  For clarifications, in most countries, at levels of 150 or 200ppm, there are some warnings for at-risks citizens, and most people would stay home.
The interesting thing about such measures of pollution is the lack of uniform labeling, from one country to another. In other words, when the China National Environmental Monitoring Center rated Sunday's air quality as "poor" (one level away from "Hazardous"), most other countries would have simply rated it as "hazardous". A local magazine even hinted that "hazardous" air quality would apparently requires something akin to nuclear fallout!
Already in 2005, Beijing was qualified as the air pollution capital of the world... You can check here at this photo essay prepared by the Time Magazine, just before the Olympics. It give a broad overview of some of the issues related to the problem of air pollution in Beijing. (Plus the pictures are beautiful.)
Of course we can discuss here on the sources and the improvements seen since the Olympics (and there has been), but as a mom of two young kids, I am concerned on the impacts this kind of environment can have on their health.

A view from the top

Pauli's office is in the China World Trade Centre, phase two. More commonly known as Guo Mao (国贸), the CWTC is also two hotels, a large high-end (read too expensive) shopping mall, and now three tower. The new phase, the third tower,  has just recently been completed, and it also house a luxurious hotel. It is now the highest point in Beijing, with its 90 floors.
On a wonderful weather like today, we just headed up, reaching for the 88th floor of the hotel, in hope to catch a glimpse of Beijing while enjoying a fancy drink. With kids, and their (im)possible tantrums, we were sure that our attempt to a high life would be bound to some limitations. However the experienced proved itself to be quite pleasant, and their washrooms quite useful (and cosy as far as bathroom goes) to calm our initially screaming 3 year old. Of course a little bowl of peanuts also goes a long way too...


North view: Looking at the left bottom of the picture, arranged around a "central park", our compound, with its green and white buildings (our tower is the second from the left, hiding behind the third one). A bit further, the Workers' Stadium and in the background, the mountains (where the Great Wall portions are - can't see them, can't you?!).


A West view (with glare, sorry) over the first diplomatic area and Ritan Park, towards the Forbiden City and Tiananmen square, and the large Jiangomenwai/Changan avenue. In the distance we can also see the Egg (National Theater).


Looking South West, over Pauli's office (Guo Mao 2), over Jian Wai Soho and the Hyatt (who until now had the highest restaurant in town), with a sea of housing towers in the background.


And full South, more buildings buildings buildings... It takes a few to house everyone here...


And a little more East, towards the other portion of the CBD (Central Business District). Walt Mart is under one of the three grey towers on the right side, a bit behind the orange ones...


Looking North-East, where we saying there is lots of buildings around here? You can see the suburb somewhere in the distance.


And there you go, just over the "pants" of Mr Koolhaus!


A great ambiance...


My mothley crew and I enjoying the setting.

sometimes I wonder...

this could be the first of a series...

I still haven't figured what is the real use of such post...

While I was gone...

Dear friends and readers,
I have to admit of a great guilt towards you. I had promised I would write. And then I left you in the dark, busy with teachings and other projects. And even when the semester was over, I still did not come back towards you. You have certainly felt abandoned, with reasons... And despite good times, holidays, travels and other memorable moments since my last post, I did not write. Despite the guilt. Or maybe because of it.
A blog feels sometimes as easy to maintain as a potted flower. Just a bit of attention, a bit of water, and it will grow. But once you stop feeding the flower, it dries up and looses its petals, and then even if the plant is still alive, it takes time to burgeon again....
In other words, I guess I have been suffering from some writer's block.
While feeling blocked in front of the page means no single word written, it does not mean no thoughts... While I was "away", I collected ideas, pictures and words, and I will try my best now to catch up with you and share them...

Acrobats

China is known for its amazingly flexible tiny women, dangling plates on their nose while scratching their ears with their toes. They master their art so well that everything looks easy and fluid.  It reminds me: When I was young(er), my dad proceeded to copy a move he just saw on TV, and ended up on the floor with a blocked back!
In fact, we have a bunch of these young contortionists living just around the corner, at the Beijing Chaoyang Theatre who hosts the Flying Acrobatic Show (check their site for awesome pictures). Pauli took me there last year for my birthday. The show in not only having a number of young girls (some very young) folding themselves and putting a number of plates in equilibrium. There are a number of acts with boys or girls flying on top of one another, or running in some kind of gigantic hamster wheel (my favorite), of contortions in equilibrium on a dangling plank, or of human pyramids on rolling bikes with plates dangling on top of their nose. 
This year, I brought Noam there to impress him, hoping he could sit through the whole show. And he did!  It was priceless to see his eyes wide open for the 90 minutes of the show!  And of course, as a good little boy, once we returned home he attempted a few of his own version of the show. Now he climbed out of his crib for the first time yesterday afternoon... Ah! (My nights will be even more doomed now...)

Donkey Bites

When strolling around Beijing, it is easy to miss some interesting little treasures, well hidden behind some concrete buildings, around a courtyard, or deep into a hutong (alleys). And Beijing is notorious for the rate of its change, where business turn around here is faster than seasonal weather patterns. Since our arrival here, about a year ago, we have witness several store openings and closures in and around our compound. A few months and what looked like a successful business is boarded up, without notice, final sales or information. Then a few weeks or months later a new business opens in the same space, with more or less the same concept or menu, but different owners and/or new decor. Strolling around our neighborhood again and again is then not so boring after all, as there is always the possibility to find something new. That said, once in a while it is great to get out of our city corner and explore a bit.

So last weekend we took our double stroller and zigzagged across the city to find a museum. Our visit was interesting but brief - Noam oblige. After our tour, we headed out to the street, in search of a meal for the little insatiable belly.

After pushing our stroller on the narrow sidewalks of this area of the city we made our choice to this specific restaurant.

We based our choice on the following criteria: Lots of customers as a sign of a possible tasty find. Sufficient space for a double stroller. Not a hot pot (it does not work well with toddlers). And well, salubrity, but that is sometimes difficult to see from outside or without visiting the kitchens. We had given up trying to find restaurants with high chairs before starting our search.

But here in Beijing, when outside our territory (read the areas where loads of expatriates are living), the problem is not only about the lack of high chairs. The thing is we are completely illiterate (yes, despite the countless hours of Chinese lessons) and it brings its share of surprises. So IF I knew how to read in Chinese well, I would have known. But with my limited knowledge I could only understand: Royal Fatty Something Meat. Or maybe The Fat King Something Meat. I guess I could have assumed that the meat in question would be something close to a horse, as the symbol 马 is contained in the symbol 驴. But who knows, right?!

So we got in, parked the stroller, settled as much as possible everyone on the tiny stools and started pointing at the food on the neighbours tables (our best way to make sure of getting something we know - at least in looks). Then we noticed the pretty pictures lined up on the walls, and started wondering. Can it be? Are we really going to eat donkey?

In fact, I have to admit, in good carnivorous as I am, I had no shame. I have enjoyed horse meat countless amount of times while living in Switzerland, and in my opinion this type of meat is probably less prone to being fed hormones and other nasty things... So why not donkey? And the truth is, in this little joint, the food was extremely tasty, each dish just perfectly prepared (and I am not a fan of Chinese food, so it is to say how good it was). Among the several dishes we ordered, we tried some kind of mini sandwich, made out of a deep fried bread, stuffed with some green leafy vegetables and some tender meat. Noam devoured his little sandwich so fast (usually he plays with food). Pauli ordered a few more of them (and he is vegetarian at times)...

I hope we cuold find more places like these around our neck of the woods!!!

For the curious and the adventurous, you can find this restaurant near the Xu Beihong Memorial, located 53 Xinjiekou, in the Xicheng District. From the museum, you walk a little south on Xinjiekou and turn left on a winding street filled with restaurants. The Royal Fatty Donkey Meat Restaurant is on the south side of the street, a few doors from the intersection.

This is the addres in Chinese of the memorial: 徐悲鸿纪念馆, 地点：新街口, 西北二环内, 100035西城区新街口北大街53号.

Enjoy!

Back To Beijing

Our tour in and out of DC was faster than we could have possibly imagined it. Returning to Beijing was a long - in fact a very very long - trip, but it was a pleasure to see Noam enjoying again his little world - toys, friends, kindergarten - while we were all happy to settle back into some kind of routine.

Avi, a friend from Israel arrived a few days after us. He enjoyed with us this wonderful first snow of year. Our garden was transformed, and it was fun to enjoy the crisp air and the wonderful view. Avi was proof to us that parenting is fun. Noam was delighted by the entertainment; Emmanuel fell asleep countless amount of time in his arms... Now we are hoping he comes back soon to visit us...

Breaking the Fire Wall

It has been over three months now that the Chinese government has censored a number of sites, namely Youtube (over a 3 minute video about Tibet). Recently more and more sites have been inaccessible from here, namely Blogger, Twitter, Flickr, even Hotmail (!). Even more recently there has been even censorship as we are approaching the remembrance date of June 4 1989, when Tiennamen Square was the stage of terrible incidents. 

For the last few days, in fear of more problems in remembrance of the event, news are blacked out a few minutes at the time, when references are made about the event. Fortunately yesterday, our censor was probably gone to the loo when the headlines ran, as I was able to see 10 seconds about a photographer who witnessed the events. I have been struggling to access some of these articles, but fortunately found ways around the Great Fire Wall... Read on about the events here or there.

At least I am proud to see that the Obama administration is taking a stand, asking for some accountability about these events from the PRC.  Still today, the exact number of causalities is not known, and some major figures of the movement leading to the event have disappeared. Of course the Chinese response is the usual: Mind your own business. What eles?! Today, journalists were blocked access to the square, people were monitored and nobody could really be filming openly. Former dissidents were in house arrest or ask to leave Beijing, while others have been unable to even enter Hong Kong (where freedom of speech is supposed to be guarantied). In fact Hong Kong is the only place in China where the commemoration of the event is tolerated. Another journalist reported playing an intense cat and mouse chase to meet former dissidents. What a shame. 

I have asked one of my language teacher about the events, to see what he knew, and what he might be thinking. As a young 25 year old, he has no recollection of the events that occurred when he was 5, but indicated that his parents and also one of his university teacher talked about it. However, he might be a bit of an intellectual. Several youths today show limited awareness about the event, and even disbelief about what happened. Over 20 years of non-information, or misinformation and of general belief that the West is only trying to shame China has fructified.  

With so much censorship, there is a lot of frustration in the expat community. How can we live without Youtube? 

But there are ways around this. For example, my readings have taken me to the French Cultural Center. With the status of a "cultural club", it is luckily not subject to the same censorship as some other places in China. Some titles here are from censored authors in China, and yesterday I found some interesting readings about "mass brainwashing in China", which I hope to eventually share with you in a later (uncensored) post.

To complete today's post, with some unusual cyber-contortions, I am now able to resume my my usual blogging.  From here I would like to direct you to some of these new entries (those in blue are just recently published, those not yet underlined will be publish soon). There are some entries about my parents' visit in March, and numerous of our little discoveries and day-trips, and of our trip to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. Then there is a trip to Chengdu, DaFo and Emi-Shan. There is also Pauli's parents visit, and some good moments with Noam. Finally there are a few other entries, one about Noam's artistic talent, some about some small unusual surprises, some random thoughts about this language, and finally sharing some thoughts on some of my readings.

Enjoy my freedom of speech!

Super Size

In a country like China, with the number of people living here, we can expect some things to be larger. For example, the train station where we left for Xian, the Beijing West Train station,  was BIG.

The new airport is MASSIVE (the world's biggest after Dubai's). 

(Thanks Mr Foster for the photos).

The streets are super LARGE

and the interchanges and overpasses are super HIGH and OVERSIZED.  

Maybe they expect them to be filled by people and cars in a few years?
At other times, I find myself in places where I am just truly surprise by the scale of things. The other day, I went to the bank to change a few dollars, at the branch of the China Merchant Bank, on Chaowai Street. Usually I go in our compound, where we have 3 tellers and no line up. In the Chaowai branch, the place was so large it felt like being in a bus terminal. There were lots of screens above our heads, telling us who they were serving. Numbers were constantly called to the cashiers, which were well over 30 in numbers. I pulled a number from the machine when I entered, and looked up. One hundred persons (or numbers) were in front of me. I sat in a chair, pulled my computer, and got ready to wait for a while.
I only got so far writing this post as I was probably in a fast lane for privilege foreigners changing currencies...

(The photo shows only half the waiting area.)

The First Snow

My landing in Beijing has been on my back due to a terrible flu. But what best weather when you are bed ridden than soft falling snow! Cozy in bed, with a super-healing Chinese ginger soup, I really enjoyed looking at the soft flakes flying around my window and quietly landing onto the garden below. 

The city has grown quieter, people not daring going out with "such weather". With less than two centimeter precipitations, my Canadian blood smiles at the fuss about such minimal quantities! Highways have been closed Wednesday night until Thursday afternoon, flights were delayed. However school remained open. (Does it says something about the importance the Chinese attribute to education or to the no-worry go-merry attitude they have about child rearing?)

Of course in a city where snow comes once or twice a year, snow removal equipment is lacking. In my compound, the workers were pushing the snow around with broomsticks! You can see some more photos here on this blog about snow removal, Chinese style. Very cute. 
During that time, Tami who is visiting us from Israel, enjoyed the Great Wall by herself (quite a rare feat here in populous China!!)

It is important to mention that since our arrival in Beijing 4 months ago, no drop of water has fallen from the sky. No rain, not even the idea of a rainy cloud. Dry. Beijing is dry dry dry. My hands and my skins have been suffering. But of course that is nothing compare to the pains peasants have this year. In fact, the Chinese government has even started called this dry spell the worst drought of the last 50 years. So in a Chinese way, large scale measures had to be taken. After of 110 days of no rain, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau took measures to seed the clouds and harvest rain! They informed us that they launched in the night of Wednesday to Thursday a number of sticks of silver iodine to make the snow fall thicker, and also some kind of special plane. Here is a portion of their report: 

By 5 pm yesterday, 12 silver iodide rockets had been launched into the skies of Beijing's suburban Pinggu, Miyun and Changping districts.
The local air force had also dispatched a transport plane to release 400 liters of liquid nitrogen in northern Beijing, an official statement said.
Twenty-one rocket launch bases in the city and 25 ground precipitation enhancement facilities in the mountains of eight districts were used to seed the clouds, it added.
Zhang said these actions could increase rainfall by 10 to 15 percent.
The precipitation enhancement involved at least 200 people.

Of course when it is question to assess the impact on the environment, as usual, there is little concern shown. Maybe one day someone will ask the question about the impact of all these climatic manipulations. For now, the official answer is "Mei Wenti!", No problems! For now, as usual, la fin justifie les moyens! 

Terminal 什么?

Currently flying above Novosibirsk (go figure where this is!) l am now more relaxed. But a few hours ago I was running around like a headless chick between terminals. I am not sure how this happened. I reconfirmed online the flight, I even checked twice the printed copy of my ticket. Flying Air France, I had assumed (silly me) that we would be taking off from the new international terminal, Terminal 3, the dragon. I was even planning to take a few more photos for you. 

While standing in front of the departure board unable to locate my flight, my stomac squeezed. Where is my flight??? Did I make a mistake and it is tomorrow? Or did I missed it? I was told flatly that I should go to Terminal 2, but that I might miss my flight since both terminal are not near each other. The whole process of changing terminal was as follow: rushing to the elevator already full with people and doors closing and shoving myself into the passengers, going down all the way to the taxi level, while still in the elevator, convincing an airport agent to run with me to direct my taxi driver (at this point I could not garanty any Chinese language skills), marathon running to the front of the taxi line, highjacking the next available one and repeating kuai, kuai kuai wo hen wan (quick quick quick I am really late!) while he zigzagued his way to the highway, screaming in unisson with the driver to the lazy and slow toll clerk to open the toll gate, and ejecting myself out of the car for a last dash, fearing that the information lady misguided me and that I would have to return to Terminal 3. Fortunately, I made it, maybe one of the last one to check in, but I made it. Wow! I could not afford missing this flight, my appointment with the legal and dental experts is a non negotiable date. 

Later talking to the flights attendants about my experience, they invoqued the bad Sino-French relationship. Now I imagine, writting about this might even get my blog censored. Heck, most of you guys are mostly out of China, so here you go!

Prior the Olympics, France indicated the possibility of boycotting the opening ceremony, in light of the human right and the Tibet situations. Since, both countries relationships have deteriorated themselves. In December, President Sarkozy pushed things further by meeting with the D*alai L*ama just prior to the EU meeting. The Chinese Premier eventually intently avoided France in his recent European tour, visiting everybody else but the French.

On the Chinese side, since the Olympics, several measures have been taken to make the French uncomfortable in China. For exemple, French nationals personal shipments are subjects to stringent regulations, beyond ours, Canadians, Israeli or Americans. The Chinese have been encouraged to boycott French products in a patriotic gesture.

And most likely there are other measures that I am unaware of.

So the fact that Air France was never transfered to the new International Terminal 3, unlike all other international major carriers, is probably another "punishment" by the Chinese government. China, 20 years after its opening to the world, still uses its old tools to obtain "respect" from West, blackmailing, punishing or slapping the fingers of those who dare criticizing its actions. Like a fat spoiled child convinced his way is the only one good, and using screams, tantrums or bullying to get his ways. Quite amazing in today's world, quite amazing at this scale. But even more amazing is the fact that nobody else in the world stands up and says something. Probably economics are more powerful than anything, since China is the factory of the world.

But even if the French "stood up" to China,  it is short lived, as last Sunday the ex-French PM Rafarin arrived in Beijing "to repair sour Sino-French ties", as stated by the China Daily. Supposedly France would have realized the urgency to improve its ties with China amid the global economic crisisl, quoting the Chinese expert in European Studies Wang Zhaohui.  Again the CPC (China Communist Party) is playing the all mighty, turning into puppets everything that comes near it.

A Big Night of Fireworks

Yesterday night was the last and ultimate night of the Chinese New Year celebration, the Lantern Festival. Read plenty fireworks. If I imagined that the noise we heard every other night since our return was disruptive, yesterday made me review my views. Ever tried to fall asleep to the constant distant banging of fireworks, with the optional ones just right in front of our building? Noam was. Pauli too. I guess I am just like the princess and the pea, can't sleep with that! 

It all started around five o'clock in the afternoon. At first onset of artillery, I rushed from one end of the appartment to the other, calling Naom and Lili Ayi to watch the lights just below our windows.  Their frequency increased until seven o'clock, where it was just happening everywhere. From our 14th floor window, you could see Beijing sky lighting up in spots behind buildings, alongside with a constant banging background noise.

A few hours Noam was tired and went to bed with his usual "wave music" a little bit louder, covering some of the outside noise. Probably around 8 PM me and Pauli both went out on our balcony, admiring the overall effects of fireworks coming simultaneously from all sides, then I just grew annoyed by the noise. Supposedly there are some regulations in Beijing about the types of fireworks permitted, but I doubt anything was enforced, as the lights were easily rising above some 100 meters-high buildings. There would also be a law limiting fireworks launching prior to midnight, else imprisonment, but at four in the morning I woke up to some sporadic bangs.

What a shock to me this morning when I witnessed from my taxi window the blackened Mandarin Hotel. We live 3 blocks away (read 20 minutes walk) from the internationally known CCTV complex, the towers internationally famous Dutch OMA/Koolhaas office designed for the Chinese Public Television Network. From our livingroom and bedroom windows, we can see behind a forest of skyscrapers the top of its most important structure, commonly knicknamed here by the taxi drivers as the "Trousers", due to its unique upside-down U shape. Beside it lies another interesting building, also part of the CCTV complex , in the shape of an immense folded corrugated metal sheet, shielding a 300 room luxury hotel, the Mandarin Hotel, and a 1500-seats theatre for CCTV. The structure is also nicknamed the "Termite Nest". It was Pauli's favorite, a unique and odd shape, and a somewhat mysterious but strong image.

Yesterday, amist the big party, one firecracker would have landed on the roof of the hotel building, destroying it completely. The hotel was nearing completion, with an official opening targeted for May 2009. A very sad day for the team of architects and builders who worked intensely at it for about 7 years.

Here is what I have been able to gather: the fire started around 8:20 PM, and it took over 30 minutes for the crew of firefighters to show up. A first crew went up into the building, but had to turn around as the fire was too intense. They tried to spray in vain from their high ladder but the top of the 157 meter high building was out of reach. One fireman lost is life in the blaze while 6 other persons were injured. It is only several hours after the onset of the blaze, that the fire was controlled and extinguished.

The building burned like a vulgar crumpled paper ball. Flames engulfed it completely, leaving behind a metal carbonized skeleton, blowing in fumes a portion of its 157$ million value.

The fire spread with such force that one can wonder if the building was constructed to fire standards. But since it was still under construction, its sprinklers systems were not functioning, and some of its building components were not yet properly installed, creating a fertile ground for the flames to spread. 

CCTV since has offered official apologies (and this is no small feat in China, to have a public organization to do so) for its responsibility. In fact a group of CCTV employees hired a firework crew to "impress" the general public, and set fireworks in the centre of the complex. They indeed put a great show! The fireworks used where illegal, of a strength similar to those used during the Olympics. Probably it was some of those we witness from our balcony earlier in the evening. 

Most amazingly the "Chinese Big Brother" even with such event, tried to "control" its image. A notice was sent to all media websites saying as follow:  
To all websites: Report related to the Fire in the CCTV new building, please only use Xinhua news report. No photo, no video clip, no in-depth report; the news should be put on news area only, close the comment posts, don’t top the forum blogpost, don’t recommend posts related with the subject.

So no front pages, no major reporting from any Chinese agencies. And less than 12 hours (!!) after the event, no more information could be found on the Chinese media. Even CCTV, who's own headquarters were burning, did not even had more than a few lines about it. Ironical for a State Television! How can something so newsworthy, so difficult to hide can be given the silence treatment?

But at last in the street the citizens were there taking pictures, filming and later blogging about it. We live in the era of information, and as one foreign journalist stated it: Can Paper Wrap Fire? 

Here are a few links from Reuters, a slide show from NY Times, some comments and images published by The Shanghaiist. Le Monde also published something later this week.