The Blower's Daughter

This song is just amazing!
Today I happen to heard it from radio and then I wonder where I used to listen to it.
Yes, it's in a film starred by Judy Law, Julia Roberts, etc.

Such a sad song makes me fascinate and listen it again and again!

Irish singer - Damien Rice. Now I remember him...

The Blower's Daughter

This song is just amazing!
Today I happen to heard it from radio and then I wonder where I used to listen to it.
Yes, it's in a film called "Closer" starred by Judy Law, Julia Roberts, etc.

Such a sad song makes me fascinate and listen it again and again!

Irish singer - Damien Rice. Now I remember him...

The Blower's Daughter - Closer

The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice

This song is just amazing!
Today I happen to heard it from radio and then I wonder where I used to listen to it.
Yes, it's in a film starred by Judy Law, Julia Roberts, etc.

Such a sad song makes me fascinate and listen it again and again!

Irish singer - Damien Rice. Now I remember him...

Stay Overnight at Changi Airport in Sigapore Last Night

This is a novel experience for me to stay overnight in an airport. My JetStar flight arrived at Singapore at 11:05 p.m., but my China airline to Beijing will depart at 9:30 a.m. next day. Fortunately, the Changi Airport is convenient and comfortable so that I sat in front of a LCD-screen TV set to watch the super long Starwar series movies in the Star Movie Channel Movie Lounge.

Two unpleasant experiences happened in my journey.
First is the strict implementation of 20kg weight limit of baggage. The original weight of my baggage is 24kg, so I adjust and repack my baggage to fit JetStar's requirement. It was troublesome!

Second is the Zhangyi airport levied the tax of my two cartons of cigarettes brought in Taipei airport. It cost me 4 Singapore dollars! I am unhappy to pay this unexpected and extra fee.

One day in NTU Library

Sitting at the library of NTU, I feel everything is so familiar and enjoyable, reminding each piece of my memory studying here. I used to dream to use my own laptop in this library, however, in my entire university time, I didn’t own one. Today, and now, I am using my newly brought laptop here to type my blog’s content.

Recently, the newspaper and TV news keep reporting the soaring price of food, oil, transportation fees, etc. I do notice that everything becomes more expensive than my past impression. Eating my lunch at the buffet inside the Student Activity Center, I perceive students mostly only spent fewer than 60 NTD to buy a lunch, only having not much amount of food to eat, at least for me. I hope that I am just thinking too much. If not, then it shows sad implications for Taiwanese students, or Taiwan.

Comments Again about the Episode Hosted by Bobby Chen and Patty Hou with Rene Liu as a Guest

I watched a selection of “Kidnap”(连环结，又名綁架) starred by Rene Liu(劉若英) and Lin Jianxin(林嘉欣), and part of “Happy Birthday”(生日快樂) starred by Rene Liu and Gu Tianle(古天樂), prompting me to search for an episode of a talk show hosted by Patty Hou(侯佩岑) and Bobby Chen(陳昇) with Rene Liu as a guest. I was moved by the show, which I have watched months ago and written down some comments about it.

I have to say that this episode is a piece of works with staggering complicated implications and has even a richer context to analyze than the two movies that I mentioned above, although Rene's acting is absolutely outstanding on the movies. Why do I say so? Here come some points I hold.

First, Rene, a famous Taiwanese actress who has won more than hundreds of acting awards in Taiwan, in Mainland China and even in Asia, expose the “real herself” without any disguise from the very beginning, a situation described by some Internet comments as “totally break down”, because her master declined to accept her offering of brand new album. The guest instantly wept and consequently the inexperienced hostess suddenly did not know how to handle the accidence, resulting in the entire program out of control. Thanks to her inexperience, the audience got the luck to see the real sentiments of the guest and the host, who acted as if he was also one of the guests of that day. In fact, I would say there was no host or hostess in this particular episode. Rene and Bobby Chen just took advantage of this show to communicate their respective attitude and feelings which might not have any proper opportunity to express in other occasions.

Second, although movies tend to be designed to move the audience and to be schemed many climatic plots, sometimes a real life story could be more touching and more intricate than them. For example, after Rene asked Bobby to sing a song called "The Kite”, whose lyrics similized a person with liberal and unrestrained personality as a kite, He by his own picked a second song to sing for her, whose lyrics immersed in a tone of sorrow, wisdom, and open mind used a man's perspective to tell a woman who was going to take a train by herself in the platform of a train station that the time has changed and a woman should have her own dream to pursue. Each word of the lyrics sang by Bobby was fully fit with the thoughts which he want to express. The lyrics seemed to tailor for this moment, while actually they were written by him many years ago.

Finally, I noticed even these days, many fans are still writing their comments about this episode which was produced many years ago. People could easily find this material on various video sharing websites such as Youtube, Tudou (土豆網), and other similar Chinese sites. The popularity has proven not only the popularity of Rene Liu, but also the formidable Internet distributing effects on an event or a program. No matter how long ago a word, a comment or a piece of works was generated, once it was put on the Internet, the impact is going to exist almost perpetually without the limits of space and time.

Bureaucratic Stuff in China and Postponement of Russian Dinner

I went to Agricultural Bank of China right at 9 o'clock to open several accounts for stockholders. After lining up for more than a half hour, the clerk rejected my application, making me very irritated by the bureaucratic operation of banks in China and the troublesome process of registering a company in this country. I called my agent and he suggested me to try another bank. Queuing for more than one hour this time in another bank, fortunately, his suggestion worked! Afterwards, I emailed Jolt some data and reminded him to move on the next step as soon as possible.

It is exhausting to set up a company in China. However, I keep telling myself that all these annoying trivia are just beginning of owning my own business. The centerpiece has even not yet begun. So be patient!

At noon of Yesterday, I got Creek’s text message and then phoned her to accept the phone call interview for workshop. The result will not be notified until next week, meaning that I have to keep thinking of this thing until next week. The total required cash for this event is 7600 RMB, but I think it is worthwhile.

Today it is raining in Beijing, resulting in postponement of my appointment with Olive to go swimming this afternoon and then to have an exquisite dinner in a Russian restaurant near Xizhi Men (西直門). I have been looking for this get-together since last night I confirmed my schedule with him. I do need a relaxation and some social life now. Besides, Olive is going to leave China a couples days later. I am sad about his departure but this is the correct decision he has to make. Bless him!

Kick off Company Registration Process and Donate a Few Money to a Beggar

Eventually, I commissioned an agency company to register our start-up and paid 2000 RMB as the deposit. This was a substantial move for me, meaning that I will have to totally devote at least one year to the new business – I do not want to have a failed record of entrepreneurship.

There was a change of shareholders. A PM withdrew from investors partly because, compared with other stockholders, she felt shameful about the paltry sum of her investment and partly because she planed to buy a car after getting a driven license of her own, resulting an exclusive effect on her disposable income. This development did cause some problem on our registration task, but Jolt could solve this issue by himself.

On my way home, I saw one beggar, whose face was so frightening that I do not want to elaborate too much herein. I think that was caused by unfortunately genetic disease. I remembered I used to see him on the viaduct of Sitong bridge (四通橋) last month when I made an appointment with the above-mentioned PM for the start-up discussion. At that time, I did not give him any money and I felt uncomfortable about what I had done. Therefore, this time when I already passed through him and I suddenly realized that this beggar was the one I saw couples weeks ago, I turned back and put ten RMB - which was not too much but which was the amount I could offer in terms of my stringent economic conditions - into his iron can. I was not sure if he could see my behavior because his eyes were covered by pending and twisted muscles and skin, and I was not sure if his appearance was just a trick and a disguise to cheat passengers so that he could make money from people’s compassion, a commonplace in China that was schemed by tons of criminal groups everywhere in this country, making the public reluctant to donate any cash to any beggars in big cities. Due to many disguised beggars in China, I have not give any money to those beggars in Beijing, because I think most of them can get good care if they want to get assistance from the government, and because the authorities also warned citizens not to donate money to those beggars, who influenced the appearance of a metropolis and the operation of subway. Nonetheless, I sympathized with those who played some instruments much more than those who only stretched their limbs to ask for money. My idea was that at least those who played music were doing something to exchange for money, rather than doing nothing but at the same time hoping to gain compensation.

Summary of MBA Career Seminar

I met zixi, the legendary founder of one well-known community in the Hall of Oriental Plaza when my new friends and I were heading to CKGSB. She was kind of different from what I imagined. I conversed with her prior to the speech given by Professor Huang Ming, who used teach in Stanford and Chicago Business School.

Professor Huang’s speech is convincing. I wrote down some main points from his sharing as the following.

*The goals for a MBA program:

1. Career Switch
2. Networking
3. Knowledge: use a short time to absorb as many study results from managerial scholars, who have devote their whole life on their research, as you can

*The culture in CBS: Competitive
*The culture in Stanford: Teamwork (Suitable for start-up oriented students)

*What matters in essay writing?
Highlight on social activities and leadership and it must be able to move readers.

*Who want to work in investment banks or consulting firms should choose top 5 B-schools; who want to stay in Fortune 500 has not much difference in any B-schools with top 20.

*Is it hard for Chinese students to land a job in the U.S. after graduation? The best profile for a Chinese student who wants to get a job in America could be someone who understands the western managerial culture, and in the meantime has a deep comprehension about China. This type of person might work in the U.S. for one to two years and then be assigned to China as the top management who is in charge of all China affairs.

Agreements Set Down and Some Thoughts about Future

Waiting for phone call from the consultant in a head hunting company the entire daytime, I wasted time doing nothing today. I think I need to breathe some fresh air so I make an appointment with Olive tomorrow to hike in Xiang Shan tomorrow. In the evening on MSN, Jolt caught me and begun discussing our agreements. I, hence, pulled Ethanol into our conversation and reported to both partners about some obstacles so far I encountered. After one hour or so, we come to conclusion and will move on to registration work next week.

These days I cannot help speculating whether I should follow my original plan to pursue my MBA degree from next year, or I should seize the promising job opportunity in the Great China market, probably a more booming economy than the one in the U.S., if I get the job offer later. I was confused today. Can MBA program in U.S. promise my a better career and life than those in China, a limelight all round the world in this century? Am I too stubborn insisting on this switch of locations, industries, and life? I thought of these questions and then one thing loomed on my mind. That is, yes, I will go on to study abroad, no matter I would start my own business later or I would work in Suzhou for that Taiwanese company. My point is neither that how high position in a company I can get in my future, nor that how many fortune I can amass in my life. My point is that I want to keep experiencing different, interesting, multi-culture life in the following decades. There is not much different between my past and my future if I still work in China for the following years. The only breakthrough I can make is for sure to work overseas, a life experience much different from the traveling experiences that I had in Europe. I might later on feel tired, frightened, and helpless later on the road toward this destination. However, I must give it a try or I would never know if it worth or not.

An Unexpected Job Opportunity and the End of the TOEFL Registration Battle

In the late afternoon, a specialist of a head hunting company in Shanghai phoned me and provided me some basic information for some position of a Taiwanese company. At first, I was not really interested in it because the location is in Suzhou, a second-tier city in China where many Taiwan companies amass there. However, the salary is attracting, and I found that the company is promising after checking data about it. This company gained a big amount of investments from two famous venture capitals at the end of last year. Now I am really in a dilemma: Should I do my best to land this job opportunity? Or I'd better follow my original plan to start my own business and study abroad afterwards?

I decided to give it a try for this special job. I replied an e-mail to the specialist to ask her to arrange an interview in Beijing ASAP because the GM of the employer is visiting Beijing currently. I want to go through the entire process as soon as possible so that if I do not match the requirements of the employer, I can go on my previous plan without too much waste of time on this interlude.

By the way, yesterday I spent more than 5 hours registering for TOEFL seats. It was definitely a war that thousands of Chinese people sitting in Internet cafés, offices, dormitories or at home stared at the monitors, cursed the stupid website registration system, complained the Department of Education in China and the ETS in the U.S., and cried for the eventual success or unfortunate failure. Some people decided to register for more than one seat because of the fear of facing this kind of torture again. Many students still failed to get any seats for the exam and thus might lose their opportunities for study overseas.

Release of TOEFL Seats and an Appointment with “Strangers”

At midnight, there were about 8 people talking at the same time on the MSN messenger dialog pane, words flowing as fast as river water. I have not done such an online group talking for a long time. Among these people, I only met Candid once at a GMAT activity in February and both Lettuce and Meteor, two girls that I have not contacted since then. Jubilant is someone who sent me his MSN account several days ago and who I left him some offline greetings in Japanese. The main reason that makes us get together is the unconfirmed news from NEEA about today’s release of ibt-TOEFL exam, whose seats in China is in short supply since the beginning of this year.

After a messy conversations, someone proposed we can have a “FB”, a recurrently coined Internet term which means singing in KTV or dining out with friends with one’s own money, if joining the upcoming speech about MBA career next Sunday noon. I promised to join them because I think I do need more social life and I do want to make more local Chinese friends. Among them, I am very impressed by Jubilant’s multilingual ability, versatility and colorful overseas working and life experiences. Additionally, he is only 24 years now, an age which I still stayed at university! I am convinced that the younger generation of China is very competent and has strong competitive advantage in job markets around the world.

Today's release of ibt-TOEFL seats will certainly cause a war for all Chinese students who plan to study abroad. There is no doubt that the release of this time, 25000 vacancies according to some rumor, could not meet the strong demand from the market. We will see what will happen today.

PS. While I tried to connect to the Internet to post above content, I suddenly found that there was something wrong about the connection. I was very anxiety about this because several hours later I also have to grab a seat for myself. I prompted contacting my ISP and spent about two hours working with them. Fortunately, the problem has solved. I asked the ISP lady about the possible reason for my connection problem. She told me that it might be caused by too many people using the Internet for the moment. Does that imply millions of Chinese are online waiting for the first gun shot to secure a TOEFL exam vacancy now? I can not help suspecting this possibility, because I have never encounter any Internet connection problem since this ISP provide service for me!

The Coincidence Which Makes Us Miss Each Other

The day before yesterday, I did not turn on my cell phone until noon. A few minutes later, a text message appears and reads as “I am visiting Beijing to deal with some business and will leave soon once finishing it. There is not enough time to meet up with each other in such rush trip.” The words was sent by Venus, someone whom I have not thought of for a long time until several days ago Dr. phoned her in front of me, and whom I just fantasized I made love with in the midmorning on that very day.

I got to admit that I still have some special feelings for her. She is the only girl who has really attracted me. Unfortunately, on a special night when she asked me whether I loved her, I hesitated for seconds and kept silence. Soon she came to a conclusion, “you just think that why not accepting all these things in terms of your single status, right?” I do not know what was wrong with me at the moment. Ironically, after our breakup, I did become eager to confess myself to her. But it was late and she rejected my pursuit. I think that sometimes I am just too slow to understand myself and to respond appropriately toward fantastic opportunities.

Once I read her message, I just replied with some short words to express my regret for no time to meet. She then sent another text message to tell me that she used to call me this morning to see if we could have a lunch together but my cell phone disconnected. At the moment, she was already having her meal. I typed words as “It is OK, because we will still meet each other in Wu Tai Mountain.” Actually, I did not really want to meet her on that very day because I am not in good condition. Thus, it might be a good idea to meet next time. Later on, I went to her blog to leave some words for her.

It was coincidental not only that I received her message just after I thought of her on that day, but also that I was not prepared well to meet her on that very day and I unintentionally turned on my cell phone late, resulting in we missed meeting each other. No matter what, I am still looking forward to our reunion.

The Boy Who Sees with Sound

Benjamin Underwood develops a special echolocation system, which usually is used by bats or dolphins, to detect the surroundings around him so that he can get to any destination without a cane, a common tool for blind people. Retinal cancer claimed both his eyes when Ben was three years old. However, he always says, “I am not blind. I just can not see.”

The attitude of his mother is contributing to the extraordinary ability to push the limits of human perception. Ben’s mother always told her son, “Your name is Benjamin Underwood, and you can do anything.” She gave him the confidence and the bravery to challenge the physical deficiency, prompting this exceptional boy to develop his unbelievable echomobility.

I am astonished by the fact that the human being could employ echoes to distinguish the objects and to navigate oneself. This story, again, proves that the mankind has a variety of unknown capability to exploit. If a boy like Benjamin Underwood who has lost his faculty of sight could conquer the all the impediments to learn how to locate himself by echolocation, how could a person like me who is in possession of all faculties give up his or her life goal by any temporary setback or surmountable depression?

Related Article:
The Boy Who Sees with Sound - by PEOPLE Magazine

Taiwanese Literature Reading Club and a Fiction Called “Kill the Husband”

By MSN messenger Mermaid told me that she will get married in September and invited me to join her wedding ceremony in Taiwan. By the same instant communication tool, Cherry told me that in subway train in Taipei she ran into Crimson, who still studies in North Carolina for his politics doctorial degree, and he told her that he was going to visit Beijing next day. I will not return to Taiwan until next Chinese New Year festival, and there is no contact information for me to call Crimson, who I have not seen for many years, to figure out a way to meet up in Beijing. These people are all my old classmates in university, who are the members of Taiwanese Literature Reading Club, an organization that I founded with other four friends in our sophomore year.

Cherry said she have collected all contact information of all members of Taiwanese Literature Reading Club. I, therefore, joked that we should hold once again a reading activity and asked each one to read a book beforehand and to bring the book to join the reunion. This sounds exciting, because I could provide everybody’s speech in our book discussion of many years ago, a reminiscence of the prime of our life.

The time of joining Taiwanese Literature Reading Club is certainly one of my unforgettable and beautiful memories in my life. In addition to getting along with many good friends, I also get inspired by one fiction called “Kill the Husband” (殺夫) written by Li Ang (李昂), a famous Taiwanese writer who has ever been awarded Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by French government. The topic of the book was all about a bad-luck story happened on a wife who had been tortured by his uncouth husband, who made a living as a slaughter. The difficult situation that she confronted with made her eventually choose to kill her husband, a miserable story based on a real social event happened in Shanghai. I learned from this prominent novel that one could always have other choices when facing desperate situations, if one has the courage to forsake what one currently owns and to leave one’s surroundings for a totally brand new place. I think this book somehow affects my life philosophy and a number of decisions in my life afterwards.

An Old Friend's Invitation and the New Friend's Pending Leave

Yesterday, many substantial things happened on me.

First, in the morning I visited Dr. and he gave me a contact info of some Taiwanese in Beijing, who I will write an email to him later, and phoned Venus, who Dr. and I have not seen for a long time, when Dr. and I had our lunch in We Ke Hotel (物科賓館), a place where I had a pleasant conversation with Dr. and Professor Fang, a previous deputy chairman of some Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences. I was surprised at that Venus still remembered my status and asked me to tell her the result of my examination. At the beginning, she asked me how long I would stay in Shanghai, while the fact is that Dr. came to Beijing so that it was not me travel to Shanghai, but both Dr. and I called her from Beijing at the moment. She invite me to join a possible trip to Wu Tai Mountain (五臺山) in August, an get-together chance which I definitely look forward to.

Second, in the afternoon, Olive told me that he will left Beijing for Paris on July 10 with Henry, who got a internship in an insurance bank in Paris via Olive’s connection, and then stay in Luxemburg about two months before he fly to Boston to complete 2 courses in Harvard Law School, something he has to finish if he want to work for American law firms, instead of European law firms. Besides, he needs to take an exam in America so that he can qualify to work in China for those American companies. He has to get a loan for his short-term study in Harvard. I was sad to know that he might leave Beijing for about half year, because he is my best friend here in China.

Third, in the evening, the score was revealed and it was not ideal for me. Fortunately, I was able to book another seat right away next Saturday in this difficult situation. Thanks all kinds of Gods and all my ancestors! I have to seize each opportunity no matter what happened.

To Save a Stranger, Will You Lie between Rails Letting the Train Running Trough You?

What is the feeling of lying on the roadbed between rails while a 370-ton subway train roared over above your body? Wesley Autrey, a 50 years old African-American, just experienced this kind of formidable moment. What is his motivation? Well, it is to save a stranger, who fell down from the platform because of unexpected seizure.

I am not only shocked by the incredible plot of this real-life story and the courage of the savior, but also moved by the fact that in this world, there is still somebody willing to risk his own life to rescue the life of a stranger. Many times, when I was standing on the platform waiting for subway train, I used to fantasize lying on the depression between the rails when a train was passing through the station, wondering the possibility of being alive after doing so. This is only a passing whim derived from boredom while waiting for my train. However, I have never thought of that this action could have really happened in the reality on January 2 of this year.

The most impressive moment for me was that the two young daughters were screaming- “My daddy! My daddy! - when the train monster swallowed their father and that stranger. I could sympathize the fright of the little girls at the very emergent moment. What if their father died in front of them? Then that day could become a haunting nightmare in the rest of their life. Fortunately, this supposition did not become a truth.

Life is a miracle. Everybody should cherish each moment of his or her life. On the other hand, to give others a hand when one could is a virtue that might be an old-fashioned one, but should last forever.

Related Report:

• Man Is Rescued by Stranger on Subway Tracks
  
• The Time 100 - Heros and Pioneers

Naming for a Company and the Current Process

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

“Sony” is a good name because it is easy to pronounce and memorized. “Acer” is also good one. By contrast, “ASUS” is not perfect, because people do not know how to pronounce the “U” here.

Naming for our company is such a substantial task that could affect the result of brand marketing. Till this afternoon, I have proposed 3 choices for my partners, but one of my partner, who is a mainlander, seems prefer the one that my Taiwanese partner and I have already gave up. The possible reason might be that our preferred choice has a Chinese name that consists of the middle word of my Taiwanese partner’s name and that of my name. If I were him, I would certainly feel uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I do think our preferred choice has the very ideal English name for our start-up. Hence, I replace the word which is the same as the middle word of my name with another rare word, which has a similar pronunciation as the English name.

I hope that all partners could agree with my fourth proposition.

So far, I have make sure the list of investors and the capital that each of them will offer. My original plan is to register the start-ups this week. The Chinese investor, however, seems to prefer to sign some agreements first. This requirement is reasonable, but I do need more time to produce the draft version of these legal documents.

I am eager to register the companies as soon as possible, because the process to do so might take about one month to accomplish. Besides, I can do nothing before the setup of the new companies for those potential projects, such as the projects of patent and software products. We have to grab these business opportunities to develop our companies. The current moment is also a good timing for us, but not the 4 quarter, which is usually a low season in software localization industry.

Several Observations about CKGSB MBA Program

This afternoon, I joined the information session about CKGSB MBA program in Oriental Plaza, a complex where the richest Asian Li Ka-shing invested in. Generally speaking, I got a fair impression on today's arrangement. Here come some observations and comments on this school:

First, CKGSB, which is founded in 2002 by the Li Ka-shing Foundation, is very ambitious to set its goal as a top 10 business school in 10 years, although it is so young. Indeed, this announce could be just a propagandistic strategy to attract talented students. However, it is also true that this mission impossible could be achieved only in China, if there is a possibility for any new business school to attain this kind of astonished achievement. The reason is, of course, that China is the focus around the world and that the booming economy of China can fuel any brave valiant attempt.

Second, to complete a mission impossible, CKGSB has to take some unconventional and unusual actions to solicit more excellent students. A very different approach in CKGSB MBA program is that applicants are allowed to have interview first, and then, if passed the interview, get a so-called “conditional offer”, which means the applicants afterwards need to take GMAT and to achieve the minimum requirement for GMAT score, so that CKGSB would issue the official admission offers for them. Above-mentioned practice is different from the usual procedure of most B-schools, which require the GMAT score before the decision to give any interview. The purpose of CKGSB, I believe, is to attract some outstanding applicants who have problems to take GMAT earlier.

Third, CKGSB holds several GMAT reading clubs, or studying groups, in order to assist all MBA applicants to share mutual experiences and then get as high as possible score at the exam. It also invites some teachers in New Oriental School, a well-known cram school which has listed in the American stock market, to instruct these club members. It is wise to do so because this activity enhance more opportunities for CKGSB to reach those exceptional applicants, and these applicants can also become familiar with this school in the process of studying in this kind of organization.

Forth, CKGSB knows how to attract eyeballs and how to prompt its information session. It organizes a professor’s speech prior to the introduction of admission officer. Today's topic is “Brand Position of Tsingtao beer”, which can lure many attendees for sure.

http://www.ckgsb.edu.cn/

Transfer Pricing and APA

If I set up one new company in Taiwan and the other one in Beijing at the same time, I am not sure whether any risks might happen on the trade between the two companies. There is one issue to aware, which is transferring pricing, a taxation term which I am not familiar with.

Transfer pricing usually occurs among associate enterprises, resulting in decrease of a nation's tax revenue. There are many complex concepts and operations on this issue. Although I thought of this benefit as well, the motive of starting two companies in different places stem from the high criteria of capital amount of a Joint Venture company, the only form that 2 Taiwanese and 1 Chinese can invest in the Mainland China.

Although transfer pricing and Advance Pricing Agreement are not easy subject for me, I found they are quite interesting. If I do not try to start my own company, I would never encounter this issue, and, from my work, I would never learn something new and similar to it.

Related Article:
Tax Co-operation in an International Setting (by Chinese scholar)

Creating a Start-up Is Demanding and Challenging

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Creating a start-up is never an easy thing. These days I gleaned related info on the Internet, talked with friends or previous boss about their start-up experiences, and contemplated possible solutions for obstacles. There is always something unexpected happened in the process of register our new company. It is true that if we do not have passion, we would give up the idea of building a company of our own.

On Monday, I visited my previous boss and he gave me many useful advices. Inspired by his words, I begin to consider the possibility of setting up a company in Taiwan. Afterwards, I found some insurmountable impediments to a Joint Venture in Beijing, prompting me to figure out a way to build corporations with limited capital.

There was a time I felt so tired that I was thinking of giving up the start-up plan. However, I realized that to create my own business requires right timing to meet some right partners, business opportunities, and proper locations, factors that one could not always meet anytime in one’s life. I think I have to seize the chance to live up with my dream right now, or I might not get the same chance later even I left China.

China is all the rage just now. Now that I live in China at the moment, I should do something on this piece of land. If I do not give it a try, I would never know whether I could make it or not!

My Friend Did His Best to Recruit Me

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Colt invited me for dinner yesterday in Guomao. He used to invite me for dinner this Monday but I had to wait for my landlord to pay the rents.

He tried his best to persuade me to join his company, although he was unwilling to give me any shares of his company. He explained that there is no difference between holding some shares of the company and merely sharing profits of business, an idea which he can only talk about theoretically and can not give me pragmatic salary package. His company has set up for more than one year and has not broken even. Therefore, his company can not afford my salary for sure. This is why I proposed him to give me some shares because as a stockholder, I could comfort myself that I am working for my own company although the pay is so low.

The atmosphere of the end of the dinner may be kind of uncomfortable. He kept saying that I do not admit the wrong decisions I made about my previous job selection. Nonetheless, I thought he was the person who was too confident to see his own weakness and to understand that each person has his or her own values. It was not necessarily wrong if I chose a different path from his.

I revealed to him that I might have four options for my current career path. Among these choices, the most possible is to create a start-up with my other friends. I stop convincing me after knowing my thoughts.

This talk makes me feel that there is no possibility for cooperation between his company and my future start-up, a beautiful plan I considered for a long time before today’s meeting.

NTU(臺大) Students Visiting Qinghua(清華) Students in Beijing

Students form National Taiwan University visited Qinghua University in Beijing
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

This Wednesday evening, Students from the Department of Politics at National Taiwan University, a group visiting Beijing for couples of days, had a seminar with students from Qinghua University in Beijing. This activity was a casual communication between these two groups of students. The sensitive politics was certainly one of concerned issues. However, it was impossible to come to any conclusion in such short time stretch. The main purpose of the event must have something to do with building a friendship between the Taiwan Strait so that afterwards these students can keep in touch with each other.

This is a meaningful activity because students in Taiwan seem not to understand China so much as those in China seem to understand Taiwan. It might be caused by the manipulation from the politicians in Taiwan. Whatever one's positions, one should understand as much as possible about the China affairs in order to making a wise decision.

Generally speaking, students from Taiwan were more laid-back and joyful than those from China, who appeared to be serious. There was one thing that amazed viewers – the Chinese students were open-mind to discuss some issues that we thought were taboo here. Perhaps, the young generation of China would really become the hope of this rising empire.

In the occasion, I met some Termite and Syrup, a Taiwanese couple who went to study in American together. Both are brilliant people. I might enter NTU one year earlier than Syrup. It was nice to talk with them.

Go to See a Doctor in Beijing Xiehe Hospital (協和醫院)

協和醫院
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Yesterday was my first time to see a doctor in Xiehe (協和) Hospital, the most well-known hospital in Beijing. Unusually, I got up before 6 o'clock and then dashed to the bus stop because it is said that registration would be full after 7 o’clock. Fortunately, I succeeded in registration and left the hospital about 9:30.
Although the medical services in Taiwan must be better than those in China, for me who do not have the public health security, the cost to see a doctor in Taiwan becomes very expensive. Registration in China may be only 5RMB, while that in Taiwan may cost 150 NTD.

Except the terrible crowded patients, I had a good impression on Xiehe Hospital. Therefore, I went to apply a card issued by the hospital which can make the registration process become easier after second time.

A Software Localization Meeting Beijing

Localization Meeting Beijing
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Yesterday, I attended a localization meeting in Beijing, which consisted of several speeches given by sponsors and main players in translation or software localization industry. Nonetheless, all the speeches were very crass-some become product sales conference, and some sound like college job fair- except the part about the curricula of School of Software and Microelectronics, Peking University.

The only value for me to attend this meeting is to know a Senior Project Manager from a Taiwan Vendor. I might contact him later when I was free. He said some of clients asked its company to arrange some Taiwanese professionals to work in Beijing. However, this is not a permanent request. I think that is especially suitable for me.

At night, Sheath and I discussed about our business. I was exciting. I am going to give it a try. He treated me dinner in a western restaurant. I do not think the price is cheap, but he said in Guangdong the prices for such a meal are much higher. Well, it seems some local Chinese people are just richer than me!

Hop spring in Beijing (九華山莊/小湯山/北京)

Hop spring in Beijing (九華山莊/小湯山/北京)
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Hot spring is always fun. Yesterday, Squash, Oliver, Henry and I went to Jiouhua Shan Zhuang (九華山莊) again, because we enjoyed the time spent there in March with Jupiter and Neptune. However, this time is not as exciting as last time, partly because this is our second time visiting so that no novelty exists any more, and partly because the atmosphere of spending time in hot spring in the afternoon can not compare with that at night, making us feel kind of mysterious and romantic.

The hot spring in Xiaotanshan (小湯山) contain sulfur, and it is beneficial for health, preventing skin diseases occurring. Salt rubbing is the most interesting part for this trip. I had to take off the swimming pant and lie on a bed first. A man put a small amount of water and plenty of salt to my entire body and then began to rub. According to the man, this massage can kill bacteria attaching on human body. Surprisingly, I did not get any strong feelings during the whole treatment. On the contrast, Squash was too sensitive to complete the process. He asked to rub himself, a funny thing to say and to do.

Under the recommendation from Squash, we had a dinner in a Japanese restaurant called "ISSHIN" in Wudaokou (五道口), where is famous for many Korean living in the neighborhood and ,therefore, is called "small Korea in Beijing". Many foreigners ate in ISSHIN. The food was delicate and palatable, and of course expensive.

First Time Language Exchange

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Yesterday in Yannan (燕南) coffee shop, Neptune and I had our first time language exchange. Neptune revised my three compositions and advised me to apply more personal and specific examples to my writing. I think he is right. However, he seams not good at instructing writing details, such as proper use of vocabulary and grammar. Olive appears to be more experienced than Neptune. I made a phone call to Olive and we three had a lunch of dumplings together in NongYuan(農園).

Olive was so thoughtful and generous that he suggested us to use his room in Shaoyuan (勺園) for exchange. In the afternoon, I began to teach Neptune how to pronounce those Chinese sentences in his textbook, a material from Global Village. Neptune complained that in Global Village, most students are Koreans and thus they generally use the Korean language to communicate. Besides, He found that many students spoke much worse Chinese than he, an environment that, in his opinion, is a disadvantage of learning Chinese.

Lifetime Friends Needed Especially When in Depression

The Bar Zone in Lotus Lane - lane
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

These two days, I have been in deep depression, mostly derived from the pressure of study and the advent of the exam. I got to do something to cheer myself up. Hence, I forced myself to jog for 20 minutes or so, and, after dinner, I watched Kang Xi Lai Le（康熙來了）, a popular and entertaining Taiwanese Show. Today I watched the episode about 周渝民, one member from F4 which is the most sensational group both in China and in Taiwan.

Everybody may encounter some kind of emotional disturbance now and then. One has to learn how to cope with it. I think the best way could be talking with friends, listening to favorite music, doing some exercises, watching some movies or TV programs which can make one cry or laugh so that one can temporarily forget his or her current condition. The emotion management could be more difficult for those who live alone, and, unfortunately, I am belonged to this kind of groups.

Everyone turns to especially need friends, when suffering. At the moment when one becomes fragile, however, one only want to talk to those “lifetime friends”, instead of general friends, who might be colleagues or virtual friends on the cyber space. Unfortunately, most people may find it difficult to make lifetime friends since leaving campus, because most friends that people made after graduation involved with some sorts of sophisticated interests between.

When I was in college, I do make some lifetime friends, which by definition means, no matter how long we have not seen each other, no matter how far away our locations currently is, or no matter what might happen in the future, we believe we can still be friends until die.

At the moment, fortunately, I somehow feel like making two more lifetime friends, Olive and Henry, who is a local Chinese. Before, I used to think that it is impossible for me, a Taiwanese, to make any real friends with the locals. Perhaps, I was wrong.

The City Animal Visited Lotus Lane (什剎海), the Bar Zone in BeijingAgain.

The Bar Zone in Lotus Lane - Performer
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

This is my forth times to visit the Lotus Lane (Shichahai / 什剎海), where is my favorite traveling spot all around Beijing. This area is actually a bar, or pub, zone where the construction of those seductive bars delicately consolidate into the ancient architectures and the picturesque lakes, including Qianhai(前海) and Houhai (後海). Once you get in this area, you can always easily notice those tourists with different skin color from yours. Shichahai is particularly popular among foreigners, prompting the price for everything here to boost. Last year when I came here with my two female ex-colleagues, each small bottle of beer costs RMB 80. However, the performance of the live band was poor and the skills of those bartenders were embarrassing, who are using some fake wood bottles to practice some acrobatic action right in front of us.

I always enjoy strolling on the lanes in shichahai and streets near Drum Tower (Gulou / 鼓樓), because the surroundings remind me of many busy streets in Shanghai, such as Xintiandi(新天地), one of my favorite places there. Olive treated Henry and me again to have a dinner in a British style restaurant. The cuisine is OK, but I do enjoy the atmosphere there. We sat on the second-floor terrace, where I found that Henry and I were the merely two Asian faces on this particular space, making me have the illusion that we were enjoying our time somewhere in Europe.

With Olive's help, Henry just got an intern in Paris. Hence, Olive asked me whether I have time to travel with them to Europe later. I can not help raising my tone to repeat his question again. This invitation is very alluring for me. I do have plenty of time. However, I might not have enough money to visit Europe again. They will let me know their schedule once they set it down. We will see!

How Can I Endure My Face to Become "SWOLLEN"?

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

I especially aspire to go swimming today. However, the swimming pool of Huateng Club, where I buy its membership card, has been closed for several weeks, deriving from some construction of a third party. I was very unhappy with the status quo so that I made my third time phone call to the reception of that club to complain. The result, of course, was that I still have to wait for its notification and there is no precise prediction to the re-open date.

When I especially desire to go swimming, most of the time I am in a condition of frustration. Now I become even more depressed after meeting the above-mentioned situation.

Usually, I do not enjoy doing exercises. What is more, I do not enjoy watching any sport program, which, for me, is so boring that I seldom to tune in to any sports channel, such as ESPN. Nonetheless, I do not really want to become a fat guy, and I do want to live longer to enjoy life, so that I force myself to do some exercises, such as jogging, swimming and yoga.

I am a fan of Yoga, but the expense of practicing it here in Beijing is much expensive than that in Shanghai, where I used to buy a seasonal membership card of a yoga club next to my flat. I might consider to practice it around July, when my membership card of Huateng Club is about to expire, making me have to spend all the balance by the expiration date. I might take the 20 times program, which would cost me RMB 720.

Now that I can not go swimming, I turn to jog this evening. Jogging is tiring and boring and it take persistence to accomplish the running each time. In Beijing, it is impossible to get into any school to take advantage of the track on campus, a situation different from Taipei. I planed for myself a route to run in my neighborhood. If I am in a good condition, I can run about three circles of it. But today, I only finish two and a half. I vow to myself that I would go jogging each day, because I notice that my face manifested in recent photos becomes “swollen”!

Want to Own an Apartment? Want to Work in Sydney?

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

By email, Tomato told me that he finally owns one apartment of his own, after signing a good many papers these days. I am happy for him. Nonetheless, I can not help thinking of myself that I not only do not have any real estate till now, but also might get into debt in the following years. What an opposite situation we are under now!

I think I am a nomad continuing migrating from one city to another. I do not really have the desire to possess one house for myself, at least not at the current moment, partly because I do not have the feeling of belonging to any specific city, no matter Taipei, Shanghai, or Beijing. I keep searching for a place where I belong to.

I wrote to Tomato that I have already set out toward my destination, so that I do not have the right to become depressed for now. The only thing I should do is to concentrate myself on what I should accomplish each day, avoiding from keeping surfing on the Internet without purposes.

Another thing Tomato mentioned is that an acquaintance invited him to work as the designer in Sydney for the second biggest pearl supplier in the world. Perturbed for many days, he eventually declined the invitation because the affinity developing between him and the brand he has been cultivating in his current company whose headquarters located in Kaohsiung.

I supported his decision because Sydney, for him, is an unknown world where he can hardly harness the potential variations which might hinder his success. However, if I were him, I am not sure whether I would make the same choice because I am such a person who always pursues novelty and changes.

Thousands of Chinese Students Unable to Register TOEFL Are HeadingAbroad to Take It!

The Number One Pass in The World
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

TOEFL is all the rage just now. Last week when it was available to register the exam from July to October, all the seats were occupied in four and a half hours, making many students anxious about no opportunities for taking TOEFL. Furthermore, the process of registering a seat was a torture that many people spend more than one day to grab one because the webpage of the Chinese version registration website appeared error message all the time, provoking people even more frustrated and furious. Until now, there are still a big many students unable to get a seat for exam, a incredible and chaotic situation that one in any countries can hardly imagine. Some of those miserable students have no other choices and, thus, are forced to go abroad to take the TOEFL exam.

This is definitely caused by short supply of seats for such a big population country. Indeed, this situation may be partly because the implementation of iBT TOEFL, a new practice which the entire problems are sent out from the test center in the U.S., requires hardware equipment, such as computers and access to the Internet, and, thus, the places where qualify to such requirements might not be as many as those in the PBT or CBT TOEFL times. However, another reason could also be that the institution of arranging iBT TOEFL in China has very limited ability to organize the exam here. One of the proofs was the slow response of the website when thousands of people trying to register their own seats at the same time, obviously deriving from the poor capability of its servers. But I do not think the ETS, the owner of TOEFL, dares to change this institution unless it does not plan to keep promoting its business in China, because this institution, actually, is the Department of Education of China.

Another unpleasant thing is that the price to take TOEFL in China is much higher than that in other countries. In China, one has to register a seat on a Chinese version website operated by the Chinese authorities and the price listed on it is RMB 1370, higher than the price on the international website set by ETS. Hence, who are making money from Chinese students?

Two Day's Travel: Shanhaiguan (山海關), Qinhuangdao (秦皇島) andBeidaihe (北戴河)

Laolongtou, where the Great Wall meets the sea
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Olive, Henry, Jo, Ni, and I went to Shanhaiguan (山海關) for sightseeing. Olive, Henry and I stayed over night in Beidaihe (北戴河), whereas Jo and Ni returned to Beijing because Jo would have a class next day.

After traveling to Europe for one month, I became to lose interests on travel, especially in China, not only because I don’t have much money now, but also because most traveling spots in China are similar, such as temples and ruins, etc. Although I was also looking forward to this trip, which was proposed by Oliver, my motivation was only to breathe some fresh air outside Beijing, regarding the journey only as a stroll much longer than a one-hour stretch after dinner.

In term of stroll, our two-day trip was really a good exercise because we did walk for a long time, especially the second day in Beidaihe.

We took train from Beijing Railway Station to Beidaihe first, and chartered a 7-seat vehicle until 8 o’clock for the first day itinerary, costing each person RMB 50. This saved us a big deal of time from searching for transportation tools and from transferring among them.

Our first stop is Laolongtou, (老龍頭) a name in Chinese literally meaning “the old dragon head”, where the Great Wall extends east into the sea, i.e. Buohai (渤海). We had a lunch first before buying tickets to enter the resort. Originally, we chose a restaurant, but, before ordering anything, we left for another one because Jo found that some dirt on the bowls and plates. Jo apologized for his insistence to change place to eat, but he said, “I don't want to be sick.” I respond to him that, “When I still lived in Shanghai, we used to wash our bowls, chopsticks and spoons with the tea before eating anything. Lack of hygiene in restaurants, especially in the rural locations, is commonplace in China.”

The scenery in Laolongtou was, actually, spectacular. The only thing uncomfortable was the freezing and winding weather.



Our second stop was Jiaoshan (角山), the first mountain that the Great Wall encounters and surmounts in a westerly direction. This journey has become the most appealing part for us, because of its several astonish and hazardous vertical ladders on the fortress of the Great Wall. Admittedly, this section of the Great Wall is the most charming one compared to other sections such as Juyongguan (居雍關) and Jiayuguan (嘉峪關). I found myself a personality trait that the more challenging a thing is, the more impressive I would feel. Huashan (華山), which ranks as my number one picturesque mountain among all the others, was a good example.

Our third stop was the well-known Shanhaiguan, whose ticket cost each of us 40 RMB, making Jo and Oliver to complain about the implementation of super capitalism throughout China. Everything in China charges a fee, no matter what it is and whether it is worth or not. I agreed with them that this place does not deserve that much of money.

The second day of our triad was not exciting. On the second day, however, we spent much more money on the sightseeing on the boat, on seafood which we picked up in person at the restaurant close to the pier, and on the cable car above the seawater between the mainland and a petty island called Nandaihe Whelk Island Amusement Centre (南戴河仙螺島遊樂中心).



The total expense of this travel costs me RMB 800 or so. At the end of the day, nonetheless, I found that actually I should only pay for RMB 500. In other words, I pay extra RMB 300 for the expenses of others, such as the expense of the chartered vehicle, the entrance tickets of Laolongtou, and the most fees of the second day. Any way, it is not a big deal as long as everyone had a good time.

More Photos of Shanghaiguan, please click here!

Beijing Botanical Garden

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Today, I felt frustrated. I think I still have a lot of stuff to improve. These days I found myself easy to upset. This is not a good thing. I hope Thursday's travel can change my status.

Tulips in Beijing Botanical Garden

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

The Beijing Botanical Garden located in northwestern part of Beijing downtown. It is actually close to Xiang Shan. I did not expect any picturesque scenery there when I accepted the invitation from Oliver. I just want to have some opportunity to talk with him and relax my mind after several days staying home.

Nevertheless, I was amazed by the fantastic tulips there. Those flowers are just so intact and colorful that I am under the illusion that they are fakes.

Beijing Botanical Garden

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Today, Olive, Henry and I went to Beijing Botanical Garden.
Tulip there is just so fantastic!

Scorched Indian Cake

Scorched Indian cake
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

Today I grilled 2 Indian cakes for my breakfast. Unfortunately, the second one got fire. I scorched it!


Successful====>Scorched!

Is It Necessary for Americans to Learn a Secondary Language?-As a Response to Dan

One month ago, my Caucasian friend, whose parents are respectively an Englishman and a French, told me that our new friend who just come to China from the U. S. is just a “typical American”. I can tell his definition about the phrase “typical American” was definitely not positive, according to his detailed descriptions. This had made me relate to other comments toward Americans from my other European friends, most of the comments concluding to two points - Americans don’t care about others (other countries) and Americans believe they are the center of the world.

I have to make it clear that I didn't feel this way before. In fact, I like Americans and the U. S. A. is my top priority among the destinations on my traveling list. However, when I hear these kinds of comments again and again, I can't help wondering what cause this kind of opinions and what is the so called “typical American". That is the background of article “The World knows about America, Whereas the America Knows Nothing about the World” I wrote a few days ago. In this article, my main idea is that the inability to master a secondary language impedes most Americans to get a deeper understanding of thoughts from other countries. My assumption is that few Americans learn a second language is a fact.

Dan gave me a comment on this topic, prompting me happily to give him a response. In his comments, he accepted my assumption - I hoped that I did not misunderstand -, introduced some background statements about the U. S. and explained his “opinion on why Americans seem to only care about themselves and display racial bias”. In my response, I just reiterated the language do play a key role in mutual understandings, even though it is not the only means for sure. Besides, I wrote that “As for other parts you mentioned, I would say that whether it is necessary to understand more about the world for American people would be another issue involved different value system. It is only a problem of choice," a part that confused Dan and that I would like to make it clear in the following.

It is the values, some beliefs in what deserves to do, that prompt people of a country to decide whether they need to learn another foreign language or not. For most Americans, they don't feel worthy of learning another language because they can use English, both in life and in work, to communicate with people in America and in other countries. They think that learning a secondary language has no pragmatic function. The choice they make just reflects their thoughts and attitudes about the world and themselves. And this choice may be another topic to discuss if anyone is interested in it. There may be nothing right or wrong.

I hope I express my idea unequivocally.

TS Ten-Day Conversations

Yesterday afternoon, I read a stunning excellent book by accident. It was after my lunch that I downloaded a old book from chapter one to chapter three - the other seven chapters were not available because this book will be published this year -– and then planed to browse several pages to get an idea of this famous works about application of oversea studying. However, once I begun reading the first page, I can't help keeping on reading it and, eventually, I spent all my afternoon on the first 3 chapters. The book is just a miracle. Usually, I am impatient to read too many words at one time. So this situation is very rare for me. Besides, I was shocked by the deep implications and inflection inside the book.
It is hard to imagine that a book talking about the process of studying abroad can become a legend in China. It has been written since 2005 and was published on a famous online forum. The content is about ten times conversation between an applicant who latter succeed in his application in Harvard University and a founder of above-mentioned forum and a CEO of a company which help students to apply overseas school. The author is clever to a frightening degree for many readers, including me. I guess the lead character is just a makeup role and the book bear the intention to advertise that company, touting more students to buy its services. But nobody can deny that the thoughts inside the book is such an attraction and an inspiration, that not only destroys most people's original thoughts about application for overseas studying, but also challenges everybody's attitude toward life, making the topic elevate to a philosophic level. Because of its outstanding writing, all the readers who hate advertisements turned out to become eager to read one episode after another - those articles are separated into ten times to publish in about a half year, making a sensation that a big number of people can't wait to read the latest content.
This practice by itself is a very successful marking approach, which not only promoted the brand name of the company, but also gave favor to students or its customers. This is a win-win situation.

Chinese Knight from a Polish Friend

It is fun to get a picture from someone who drew it especial for me, especial in a situation that we have never seen each other. Both of us did not put our own photo with oneself on our respective blog. Before I got this picture, I wonder what would be the topic of the picture she – I am even not sure the gender of my friend before I got her works - might draw for me.

Now the answer is revealed - a Chinese knight. Of course, I am happy to have this special gift from another world. This is a really strange but exciting feeling that some person in Poland would draw something for me, a Taiwanese living in Beijing now. I guess this is why the Internet, or blog, fascinates millions of people. However, I can’t help to wonder why she decides to draw a "Chinese Knight” for me.

There may have many different reasons from the impression she get from my blog to her own understanding of the world. I don't want to further analyze the deeper rationale as what an artist psychologist might do. The only thing I want to mention is my strange feeling once I see the title the little painter gave the picture. I noticed myself experiencing a complicated feeling once I read the title- Chinese Knight. It is because the word “Chinese” or “China” has become sensitive in Taiwan. Just a few days ago, there is a controversial "de-Chinese” activity enforcing by the authorities in the society. The Democracy Progress Party, the ruling party of Taiwan, was changing the name of China Post Office into Taiwan Post Office, with the intention to remove all words of “China” in all the state-own companies and public organization. Their conviction is that Taiwan is not part of China so that it is necessary to make this idea clear in all the names of the relevant organization.

I don't think my friend understand so much about the complicated status quo in Taiwan. In addtion, I believe she doesn't know that the official name of Taiwan is Republic of China, instead People's Republic of China. Very few foreigners know about this, and, of course, they don’t have to care about this. Foreigners with deeper understanding about Taiwan would just call my country “Taiwan”, instead of official country name, which is a country name not recognized in international society, whereas Foreigners who don't care about Asian affairs would simply see Taiwan as the synonym of China. This is an unfortunate destiny of all Taiwanese.

My Favorite Host Cai Kang Yong (蔡康永)

I have adored Cai Kang Yong for, I guess, more than ten years. We may like some artists when we begin to know them, but afterwards we lose the feelings toward them. Sometimes there are some reasons we can analyze, while sometimes it just happened without any justifiable explanations. Both Zhou Xu (周迅) and Andy Lao (劉德華), for example, are the latter case for me. However, I didn’t mitigate my appreciation for Cai Kang Yong as time goes by.

The rationale may be his unique attitude of life and bizarre thoughts toward things that we have taken for granted since childhood. In his most famous talk show (真情指數), which always invited successful and influential celebrities to have one by one interview, he tried to take out the masks of some religion leaders, expose the true thoughts of those movie stars and singers who disguise themselves to grab more popularity in the market, and manifest the hypocritical faces of those politicians. In his another program (兩代電力公司) aimed at generation gap, he had the nerve to ask the adolescents an immoral presuming question – if the death of their parents in the air flight accidents could compensate them a great amount of money, would they choose to get the wealth regardless of the lives of their parents? Surprisingly, most of the adolescents chose to get the compensation from the insure companies. For Tsai, he thought that every body might have some immature, odd thoughts in their adolescence and it would be better to talk about it so that the parents and the children could get more chances to discuss about those developing thoughts. These above-mentioned TV programs somehow have been closed.

Admittedly, it is another talk show called The Advent of Kang Xi (康熙來了), a name combined one word of his name and another hostess, the small S, that makes he and small S to become well-known both in Taiwan and in China. This show is purely an entertaining program that bears no any educational purposes, making it suitable for stressful people living in the busy and fast-changing society. I was amazed how popular this program turned out to be in mainland China. One can buy the cheap DVDs of the program, of course they are pirated products, from every DVD vendors, or download each episode of the programs by Internet. Besides, recently I found that I can also satisfy my appetites for the program via Youtube and 6room, a video sharing website imitated from Youtube.

Yesterday, I found that Cai Kang Yong also begun writing his blog on Sina website and the click count easily reached more than 1 millions clicks in about half month. It is a brilliant idea to take advantage of Internet to reach his audience not only because he is good at writing – he have published several books – but also because there is very low possibility for him to host any programs in China with many TV programs regulations on the style, contents, etc. In addition, I learned that he will direct a movie with the investment of Chinese capital. I am looking forward to his works. His heyday will certainly continue for many years.

Related Info:

• 蔡康永新浪部落格 (Blog in Sina of Cai KangYong)

How to Clean Downloader Virus?

I didn't know why I was in a bad mood yesterday. However, the notice from Symantec that my computer was affected by a Trojan virus, Downloader, prompted me to forget about my blues and frustration and turned to focus on the solution to rescue my computer.

I have searched for many data but none of them are reliable. Consequently, I went back to the official website of Symantec and follow its instruction step by step to clean the Virus. Earlier, the notice was increasing to thousands of prompting message, revealing that the antivirus software was unable to finish its duty. I don’t have any technical background about computer science. But in the moment, nobody can help me to do this thing, a task for which, in the scenario of office, a MIS technical person is responsible.

My computer is very old and thus it took me almost 4 hours to scan my hard drives. I was unable to wait for the accomplishment of the scanning in the safe mode so that I went to sleep this early morning about 1 o'clock. After getting up about 9 o'clock, I rushed to my desk and kept doing the following approaches. Eventually, I make it! There is nothing impossible for one who has the determination to conquer.

The instructions I followed on the webpage of Symantec

Work, Responsibility, and Trust define the Leadership

“Leadership as Work”, an article written by the well-known father of modern management Peter F. Drucker, points out that leadership has something to do with work, responsibility, and trust, rather than charisma or “personality traits”. Mr. Drucker's writing is elegant and to the point. I am delighted to read this topic because it makes me reflect my experiences in the past 5 years about my leadership.

Leadership has little to do with charisma, as what the author wrote that it is unnecessary to make every CEO “look like a dashing Confederate cavalry general or a boardroom Elvis Presley.” I cannot agree more than this description with a little bit of selfish consideration. In the highly developed media age, every CEO, it seems, are reported abundantly in all kinds of newspapers, magazines, business TV programs and radio show with a image of super star, who probably have published several books and won a band of fans. At times, I felt kind of frustrated because I am not so charismatic that I can attract eye balls of my audience. Instead, I even tend to avoid many public occasions because of my shyness, although I do know the importance of public-speaking in the demanding business world. Thus, when I read that the master overturned the idea of leadership which was thought of the equivalent of charisma by the public, I was more than happy with his concept.

So what is Mr. Drucker's concept of leadership? It is work, responsibility, and trust that count. The central idea is that the leadership is not something desirable. Instead, it is only a boring, unromantic means to achieve some goal. Under this definition, I think I can meet all the three criteria to become an excellent leader. Firstly, I always work hard. Secondly, I am responsible for my mission in any organizations I belong to. In fact, just several days ago, Ma asked for my home phone number and called me at midnight to express his willing to further cooperate with me because of my precious sense of responsibility, which is very rare among the work force of China. Last, all my former associates and subordinates not only in Beijing, but also in Shanghai, trust me very much. Especially in the last year in Shanghai when my company encountered financial crisis, all my subordinates believed in me and supported each decision I made. In contrast, they doubted the integrity and sincerity of my successor after I decided to leave the company.

In sum, this essay from Peter F. Drucker really encourages me to continue pursuing my business career. I know that I will have to conquer a lot of looming obstacles on the road I have chosen. However, I do believe what teacher Kang said, "You must do the thing that you think you cannot do" in your life. I choose it, and I would never regret it.

The World knows about America, Whereas the America Knows Nothing about the World

Many reports are describing that the Americans are enthusiastic about learning Chinese language, making a big shortage of Chinese Teachers. One article comments that English as an international language can be both advantage and disadvantage for the American people. The good part is that they can be convenient and easy to travel around the world because most people around the world try to learn English. However, the bad part is that people around the world can understand every aspects of the U. S., while the American people can hardly understand what other countries are thinking of. The language is the key.

I have to agree with this point of view. Today, I watched some CNN breaking news about the radio host, Don Imus, who got fired by NBC because of his discriminative comments about some African-American young female athletes. I found it interesting that a racial issue is so sensitive in American society, a phenomenon that seldom to happen in Taiwan or in China. While I was observing the progress of the event occurring in the United States, I started to wonder if any American people know what the critical issues are in China, Taiwan, or other countries. I become to get a little idea why most of my European friends express their disparagement to the Americans unconsciously. One of them once told me that the Americans only know about themselves and most of them are just selfish. At that moment, I just think it is a bias and an attitude of imbalance derived from the status quo that the U.S. is the supper power country in the world, compared with the European countries.

Admittedly, many Americans learn their secondary languages, such as French, Spanish, and Japanese. Nonetheless, the portion of population mastering foreign languages is much lower than most other countries. For example, in China, billions of citizens are learning English using out-of-date textbooks and materials. Contrast to this, only about 50 thousand Americans are interested in learning Chinese and they even encounter a big problem of no suitable textbooks, according the article I read.

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