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May 16

苡菥

八水绕长安。其中潏水每年冬天结冰最早，春天解冻最迟。潏水性寒，初春吸周围麦田的坤气，在水边就会生出一种叫做“苡菥”的水草。苡菥叶长，筋络厚实，根部在泥里相结。开蓝花，单层花瓣，五片至八片不等。花期一十四天，其后结籽。种子随河水可及外省，但是在其他地方却不能生长。于是潏水是唯一能见到苡菥的地方。

March 11

Chinese Rock Music ABC

The Chinese in the Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have lived a very different life. So has their music.

Even though Hong Kong does have many serious musicians, the music in the commercial hub city is more like products rather than art works. Influenced by Hong Kong’s economic might and its successful movie and music industry, Cantonese culture has become one of the most recognizable Chinese cultures. To many, Cantonese language is an equivalence of Mandarin.

Unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan’s culture is actually not a local culture. When KMT retreated from the Mainland to Taiwan after the civil war, a large number of populations from all regions of China migrated to the island, including refugees, soldiers, and intellectual elites. Taiwan’s culture is like a melting pot of Chinese culture on a smaller scale.

In 1980s, both Taiwan and Hong Kong had experienced unprecedented economic development. Cultures burgeoned. The Mainland started economic reforms and opened its door to the outside world. People absorbed a lot of fresh ideas from Taiwan and Hong Kong. A natural progress would be that people would copy the music from Taiwan and Hong Kong, maybe awkwardly in the first step, and then gradually develop music of similar style. But to many people’s surprise, a small group of underground musicians chose a very different path and made their voices first. The rock music.

In 1987, Cui Jian published his first album “The Rock on the New Long March Road”. It was primary, straightforward, and full of strength. His music was very heretical at that time, but meanwhile very Chinese, using a mix of traditional instruments. It was not only the first Chinese rock album, but also one of the best ever.

At the time, Cui Jian was a synonym of rock music. He was rock and rock was him. But more people started their own “Long March”, the pilgrimage to their dreams. Youth moved to Beijing, the capital city, with a guitar, and formed their communities. The unemployed youth rarely had income or financial supports. Some were homeless and lived on the streets. The music resources they could find and learn from were very limited. But they chewed every bit of it. The outcome, as people later found out, was by all mean astonishing and awe-inspiring.

In 1990s, a respected Taiwanese company Rock Record, the largest independent music company in Asia, sent their agents into the Mainland. They were overwhelmed by their discovery. When these underground singers and bands in Beijing were introduced to the public, their music combined with marketing and producing expertise of the Taiwanese company was extremely successful and won the hearts of a generation. This was called the New Music movement.

It was surprising that youth in the Mainland showed so much enthusiasm for rock music. But if we think through it, the phenomenon makes a lot of sense.

First, the political movements in the country planted rebellious spirits, which are very compatible with rock music. Second, the sheer geographic size and long history of the country make the youth think big and aim high. They are less interested in writing soft love songs. Lastly, the lack of commercial environment and education in their lives makes them less sensitive to market needs and the idea of exchanging their talents for money.

Is it a success story? Unfortunately not. Many of these bands couldn’t adjust their lives from underground bar bands to professional musical groups. After their successful debut albums, many released lackluster second albums in a relatively short time. Their supporters were mostly disappointed.

Taiwan and Hong Kong music still dominated. Many people regarded rock as a marginal music that was good to try but was fundamentally unpleasant. After the first wave of the New Music movement, people didn’t find enough exciting new bands to sustain their interests. The market cooled down.

The Mainland got back on the track of what we predicted: copy from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and then create their own popular music. That’s indeed what happened.

But rock music didn’t die. It will never die. Seeds have been planted and they will grow and bloom. To many older as well as younger musicians, rock is their life. They won’t give up due to market fluctuations. Not like in the early time when we could find several inspiriting albums every year, they do produce a steady number of releases with various styles. Their popularity is growing slowly and gradually.

The market shall prevail. Artists shall persist. I am a listener. I am with them, and I will always support them.

February 12

Prepared To Rise?

Last November, China Central TV broadcasted a documentary TV series titled The Rise of the Great Powers.

The scale and altitude of the series caused discussions domestically, and also raised interests and attentions abroad. According to a common belief, Chinese government doesn’t speak straight, though what they say might convey some crucial messages. Every bland official statement could imply some political climate changes. The documentary is a solid work on its own, and some speculate it might have more profound meanings.

The Rise of the Great Powers consists of 12 episodes, totaling 600 minutes. It narrated 9 countries that achieved global influence in the past 5 centuries, which were Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and the United States. It analyzed the reasons why they rose, and, in some cases, the reasons why they fell as well.

The scope and the title of the series naturally reminded me of Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Fortunately, the author himself was interviewed in the documentary, among other historians, economists, and politicians around the world.

The 12 episodes were organized in this way: the series spent one episode on Portugal and Spain, assumedly because the 2 countries dominated the world in roughly the same period, rose and fell for similar reasons. The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Japan each took one episode. Britain, Russia, and the United States took 2 episodes each. And the last episode was for conclusions.

It’s not surprising that some countries concern the Chinese more than the other. Britain started the Industrial Revolution and it was the first nation that entered modern society. Russia was a superpower. It imprinted sentimental memories in Chinese people and left some legacies. The United States is undisputedly the only superpower today.

In the last episode, it attempted to list some widely acknowledged approaches to modernization, including: the unification of the nation, effective exercise of state’s power, peaceful international environment, the rule of law, democracy, technology innovation and system innovation. It stressed that mankind’s future relies on cooperation rather than confrontation, echoing the “Peaceful Rise” slogan China recently introduced to international community. Its perspective also hinted how the Chinese typically view history, which is, the rise and fall of great dynasties and nations are natural progress when putting in the purview of thousands years of history, and the game should be played patiently and foresightedly.

The principles could be considered long term strategies, and they may serve some very practical reasons just as well. Making the unification as a base of a nation’s rise might be rooted in the concerns of Taiwan’s potential troublesome situation. Stressing on regional cooperation reflected China’s diplomatic efforts to develop free trades with its Asian neighbors.

Its praise toward democracy will please the world, but Western audience could also easily identify some ideas that differ from Western thought. The series argued that Germany, Japan, and Russia took a different path to industrialization than other developed countries. They were backward nations and archived industrialization in a much faster speed by utilizing the power of the state. The argument justified China’s policy. Chinese government takes more responsibilities in economic activities in the current early stage of modernization than some other nations do. This contradicts orthodox free market theory firmly hold by Western economists who advocate privatization and less government controls. In some respects, however, what China does is not really new and has been proved effective in history. China’s policy of using gigantic government projects to stimulate demand-and-supply cycle might have been copied exactly from Roosevelt’s “the New Deal”.

Does the series over-simplify the process of human development? If the path to modernization is so clear, why most of the world still live in poverty? The series obviously recognized the challenge. It actually emphasized that the way to prosperity doesn’t have a clear answer nor does it have a single universal answer to every country. It’s still waiting for every one of us to explore.

The Rise of the Great Powers in general is welcomed by both Chinese audience and the outside world. Chinese people in the time are very receptive to new ideas. This series promotes a more confident, open-minded and cooperative attitude to the world. This could be definitely considered a good sign. It also has special meanings in the present time because the international community is calling China to play a more responsible and constructive role in world affairs. It’s unrealistic to talk about China as a great power but it’s time for the Chinese to start thinking about their roles and their affects in the world.

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January 03

对联

一篇稿子。中文读者不必看了。

During New Year holidays, the Chinese have a tradition of hanging Spring Lian on the two sides of the door. Spring Lian is a special form of Dui Lian. So what is Dui Lian?

If you have experience of Chinese traditional residence, you probably have noticed Dui Lian. They’re wooden boards inscribed with characters and hung on the columns outside or walls inside a house. Dui Lian consists of three pieces: the Upper Lian, the Lower Lian, and the Horizontal Scroll. The Upper Lian and Lower Lian are the same size and written vertically, with the Upper Lian on the right side and the Lower Lian on the left side. The Horizontal Scroll, or called Heng Pi, is much shorter and hung over the top.

Dui Lian is found in residences, temples, schools, and many traditional public sites. It is not only an expensive decoration but also a symbol representing the characters of the residence owner or the teachings of the institute.

Spring Lian is in a casual form that is written in black ink on red paper and specifically used for the New Year. They’re good wills and wishes filled with festive air. Let’s see an example of Spring Lian.

The Upper Lian: The winter has left. Hundred trees revive.
The Lower Lian: The spring is coming. Thousand flowers bloom.

In its original language, the upper and lower Lian have exact same number of syllables and letters and the Lower Lian matches the Upper Lian.

Spring Lian are usually simple but Dui Lian could be much more serious.

In Hangzhou city, by the side of Xixia Mountain, resides General Yue’s tomb. General Yue Fei (1103 – 1142) was an extraordinary military leader and hero in the wars between Chinese Song Dynasty and northern nomadic Jin Dynasty. He led his army fighting with Jin on the front lines, though back in the Court, some scheme was fermented by his enemies who were close to the emperor. Some high officials fabricated false evidence, persuaded the emperor to call General Yue back, charged him of disloyalty, and sentenced him to death. The death of General Yue was an unbearable tragedy in history. In 1162, when the grievance was redressed, General Yue was buried in his present place with honors. Outside the tomb, there are statues of the four treacherous officials who betrayed the great general. The statues have a shameful posture, with their knees down to the ground.

The Dui Lian of the tomb reads:
The green mountain is honored to bury the loyal soul;
The white iron is too innocent to forge the sycophants.

Every concept and syllable of the Upper Lian is perfectly matched, countered and balanced by the Lower Lian. Nonetheless, they both represent the same notion and sentiment. This is the principle and philosophy of Dui Lian.

Another famous Dui Lian is in the Palace of Cultivation in the Forbidden City, which was essentially emperor’s office. The Dui Lian reads:
Only one person to govern the whole world;
Not the whole world to serve one person.

It says, I, the emperor, am given the responsibility to govern the world, but I am not granted the right to exploit the world to satisfy my individual desires. Compared to the other two examples, this Dui Lian is not in an orderly format. However, no matter how it is presented, the Dui Lian is admirable.

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December 03

Speak Chinese in English

Making friends from different cultures often makes us think about what we got used to. One example is a question a friend asked. "How do you type Chinese on the computer?"

The short answer is, we have some sort of mapping between Chinese characters and English letters. Software is available that helps users input Chinese by actually typing 26 Latin letters on a standard keyboard.

The long answer is ... rather long. The history of how the Chinese invented the system, which is called Pinyin, is worth studying. Actually, many people have already seen and used Pinyin. Chinese names translated to English and imported words like Feng Shui are all written in Pinyin.

Unlike English and most other languages, which could be spelled by a limited number of basic letters, Chinese characters are a vast set. A literate should know nearly ten thousand. The most inconvenient part is, when you look at a character, you don't necessarily know how to pronounce it.

In ancient times, this was never a problem, because education was a privilege of the upper classes. However, it became important to invent a tool to facilitate Chinese language-learning when modern China started to bring education to the masses.

When we look at China's history, we must keep the turbulent background in mind. When the West used warships to open the gates of the Qing Empire, the Chinese suddenly faced the bitter fact that we had been left so far behind. It was not only a matter of a reform, but a revolution, a choice between survival and extinction of the civilization.

Many radical ideas were introduced. Some proposed to abandon the writing system altogether. Even though it seems ridiculous and incredible today, the proposal appeared like a reasonable option.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the Chinese Language Reform Committee was established in 1952. Their job was: first, simplify Chinese characters; second, popularize the common speech (putong hua); and third, invent a new character set to identify Chinese language pronunciations.

The three goals were all controversial, though I'm only going to focus on the last one.

It might surprise some readers that using Latin letters in Pinyin was only one proposal among many others. When scholars and linguists worked on the project, they considered how to preserve the traditions of Chinese characters. I personally imagine that a new character set according to the idea would look very much like Korean and Japanese characters.

Different schools on the committee couldn't reach a consensus. By 1955, the committee had received 655 different proposals from the whole country. In 1956, during a meeting of the committee with party leaders, Mao Zedong expressed his preference to use Latin letters. The decision was thus made. In 1958, Pinyin was published and became a national standard.

As an ordinary Pinyin user, I have nothing to complain with it. It's not perfect, but is easy to use; not a marvel, but a solid tool. However, English speakers often find it hard to pronounce the English translations of Chinese names. That's mainly because the Pinyin system was primarily designed for Chinese pronunciation only, not the other way around. Because English and Chinese languages have pronunciations uniquely their own, English speakers may be confused by the likes of Qi and Xi.

When the world entered the computer age, the Chinese faced a new challenge of how to enter Chinese characters into computers. Software companies invented various kinds of input software. Computer users became puzzled by all these inventions on the market. Within a decade, a few softwares won. Some professional input softwares that stress speed could take a month of training to master. But popular input softwares are all based on Pinyin, because most people are familiar and comfortable with it. The learning curve of using it on keyboard is very short.

In late Qing and in the dawn of the computer era, we all heard voices saying that the Chinese language couldn't survive the new age and that it was doomed. At the same time, others claimed that attempts to modify quintessential Chinese characters were crimes and an evil scheme of communists. In reality, we often encounter such a theme. When a country fails, people are too desperate, or incapable, or not willing, to find the causes and solutions. Instead, they simply blame "culture." On the other hand, too much arrogance, or an attitude of "We are so good," only means detachment from reality. The cost could be huge.

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October 11

采访

随便贴一篇稿子。来这里读博的人可能对这个内容没什么兴趣。可是你要问我在干什么，那就是在干这些了：搞些貌似专业的东西，看看自己能做到什么地步，再挣点零花。

Jane Huang appears to be an ordinary Chinese woman. Though you won't see the real her until she starts talking about her business. When she talks about what she has done and her plan about future, the tremendous energy this petite woman exudes is awe-inspiring.

I interviewed Jane one Saturday afternoon. The first questions on my mind was, "While most Chinese come to the US to work as engineers in big companies, what made Huang establish her own business?" I knew beforehand that she holds a degree in electrical engineering, so I was curious.

Huang's parents were engineers, I was told, so it was no surprise that Jane followed in their footsteps. She completed her college from Tsinghua University back in the 1980s.

When we examine China's past 30 years, the 1980s was characterized with ground-breaking reforms and social restlessness. Among college students in that decade were idealists, poets, and protestors. They cared about the country and people. They had courage to leave home to explore a whole strange world. Jane was one of them.

At that time, people's future was very clear and simple. After graduation, they would be assigned to some research institutes or working units, without their consents. This seemed the only way, though Jane and many students made their own way -- to America.

In her first years in the states, Jane obtained graduate degree from Marquette University with Master Degree of Computer Science with minor of Mathematics. She also accumulated experience of working in software companies. It was a hard choice to choose a career between academics and industry. To Jane, being a scientist meant specializing in one field, while doing business meant expanding one's knowledge. Eventually, her interests in business won.

In 1993, Jane moved back to Madison to join a consulting company. Life led her to meet Barry who became her husband five years later. The couple dated for four years, then became engaged. Jane recalled vividly meeting his parents the first time. Barry's parents lived in an almost all-White small town in central Wisconsin. She was afraid and nervous at the thought that Barry's parents wouldn't accept her. At dinner, she couldn't even pronounce the name of an Italian dish: lasagna! But the old couples' warm hearts relieved her. They looked her as a member of family.

The support of her husband and the whole family was a critical factor when Jane later started her own company. She always feels grateful to them as they have given her the courage and energies to face and handle the obstacles of her challenging job.

In late 1990s, the economy in technology sector boomed. Jane was vice-president of a local PowerBuilder committee. She found out surprisingly that every member of the committee owned his/her own business. This raised her aspiration to be like them. However, she clearly knew the impediments of being a minority: the language barrier and lack of business connections. Despite this, Huang thought she possesses some unique advantages: she was easily recognized and remembered! Jane worked very hard and accomplished many projects. People remembered her and appreciated her job.

But things didn't go smoothly. Jane wasn't able to realize her dream, because the economy made a down turn after September 11. She thought it’s time to have a stable job. She worked for state government for 2 years. However in 2003 during a government reorganization, she lost her job.

The loss of her job turned out to be a final impetus for Huang. Instead of looking for a new job, she asked herself, "Why not look for a contract?" That way, she could take more control of her life, she thought. Huang founded Dragon Technology Solutions and started her career as a consultant and a business owner. She signed a two-year contract with a New York Investment company. The company started running and growing.

It wasn't easy to run a start-up high-tech company, considering a lot of competitions from larger and established companies, competing contracts and excellent consultants. Jane worked 60 hours a week, marketing the company, recruiting right people, and building up connections. Her efforts paid off. Last year, Dragon Technology Solutions was one of just 69 vendors to receive a coveted spot on the State of Wisconsin’s primary vendors list for IT service.

The biggest challenge of running a consulting company is management. The workforce of IT industry is not stable. Huang spends a lot of time to find qualified employees. Many American companies operate based on projects/contracts. They finish projects and move on, quickly hiring and firing people. But Huang is dedicated to build long term relationships between customers, employees and the company. She particularly appreciates immigrant workers from countries like China and India. Moreover, Huang herself is an immigrant. She understands the hardship of lives of new immigrants and feels obliged to help them.

Being a minority is both an advantage and disadvantage. Needless to say, people who were not born in America and speak English as the second language face tremendous difficulties when building relations with American partners and customers. But like other minority business people, Huang has received some help from the government's minority-promotion programs.

At present, Huang is actively working to help launch the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC).-Wisconsin Chapter and recruit as many members as possible from the Madison area. The nationwide organization, headquartered in Washington D.C., was founded in August 1984 by a Chinese lady named Susan Au Allen. The Wisconsin Chapter is headed by Ritu Sharma from Milwaukee. Huang pointed out that businesses owned and operated by Asians in Wisconsin are still low in number compared with that of other states. Huang believes that the USPAACC will help local businesses network and communicate with government, large corporations, and other organizations.

In the future, Jane plans to find opportunities to work with her home country China, which is set to become the world’s biggest economy in this century. Jane hopes she could bring her technological expertise to China and at the same time, help utilize the great human resource of China to make American businesses more efficient.

When asked how she enjoys her job, Jane says she likes the challenges of owning a business and enjoys the freedom of defining the business direction and future without cumbersome layers of middle management in traditional large corporations. She particularly likes learning in many different fields besides technologies, like marketing, sales, human resources, finance and accounting. She has learned and practiced so much more than she learned from her MBA courses. Huang sometimes works without getting any payment. She helps people to find satisfactory jobs and a channel to work in the country legally. According to her, the success of those she had helped and her friends is her best reward.

August 12

The Blogged World

一个朋友给我介绍了个州里的亚裔的杂志社。投了篇稿子，这位编辑很满意。

因为是面向外国人的，凡事都要交待个背景，中国人看起来就觉得是泛泛而谈了。

The Blogged World

It all started by a casual click on the Net a few years ago. A hyperlink brought me to a blog owned by a Chinese living in Paris. From the blog, I randomly picked up one of her linked blogs, and then from there I jumped to even more sites. The world of Chinese bloggers revealed itself in front of me.

Now reading blogs is a part of my daily life. I’m always amazed by the variety of people’s lives and perspectives. A former Microsoft employee sharing his thoughts about the new trends of the internet industry, a British living in Beijing taking photos of every restaurant he goes, and an artist drawing pictures to tell the traditions of his beloved hometown Chendu, they are all members of the blogger community.

Different forms of online diary could be tracked back to the early age of internet, though it’s until 1997 when the blog we see today came into shape. The early adopters in China were IT professionals. And then journalists joined the army. The blogging service is so easy to use that everyone starts to write their random thoughts or share photos with friends online. Some may loss their interests in a few months and stop updating their blogs, but more will join in. According to Baidu, the most popular search engine in China, the number of Chinese bloggers has reached to over 16 millions, and the number of blogs is about 37 millions. In June, Technorati indicated the number one blog on the planet in term of site traffic belonged to Xu Jinglei. Surprised? You should not.

As a nice young lady with angle’s face, Xu Jinglei has millions of fans, though she wants to be more recognized as a director than an actress. She’s particularly good at calligraphy, which was taught by her strict father during her childhood. This is a rare achievement among young women. Far from being a master, her calligraphy is fine enough to easily win admiration from audiences. As a blogger, Xu is surprisingly diligent. She updates her blog every day. No wonder the blog drew 10 millions visitors in over 100 days.

Celebrity blogs? Yes. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Bill Gates and Steven Spielberg write about their next project and their daily lives? Celebrity blogs is quite a phenomenon in China, thanks to the efforts of Sina, a leading web company in China. Since Sina launched their blogging service, they have been inviting public figures to blog on their site, which is arguably a very successful advertising strategy. The invited people include rock stars, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, writers and many with different backgrounds.

A world like this is never short of passions. The hottest flame was between a writer and a critic. Han Han published his first book when he was 17. When he read an article written by Ye Bai criticizing young writers like him knew little about literature, he felt insulted and amused. He responded with a post on his blog titled "Literature Is Nothing" in a sarcastic tone. After several rounds of debate between Han and Bai, the critic found him in no position winning the debate, because his blog was flooded by provocative comments posted by the writer’s fans. Mr. Bai thus closed his blog.

The incident well illustrated some natures of young Chinese netizens: emotional, relentless, never hesitate to express their own opinions.

However, it’s absolutely wrong to conclude Chinese blogs are dominated by simple minds. People talk business and even affect national policies. Xiang Wenbo, the president of a manufacturer of construction equipment, was angry about the proposed deal to sell Xugong, China’s largest crane maker, to a foreign company. He accused that the company was being sold by an unreasonable low price. Even though Xiang’s article was probably the most influential voice regarding the Xugong deal, it was only a tip of a broader concern among the public. Chinese government has recently announced to set up a commission and consider limiting foreign participation in several industrial sectors.

Public attention is always attracted by the news makers, but Chinese blog community is just as grass-root as anywhere else. And that’s exactly where the future lies on. With all the virtues and vileness, blogs are the true face of the real world. In this respect, we can say the world is accurately blogged.

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May 16