Looking for a Job as a Foreign-Trained Student

BEFORE I went to the UK to pursue a master's degree in finance, I suffered from an illusion that is common among young Chinese and their parents. I believed it was a sure fire ticket to a job in Beijing or other big cities in China. My experience over the following years, however, taught me otherwise. Armed with two decent degrees, I was certain of a bright future in China. Then I learned to my astonishment that there would be 3,000,000 domestic graduates that year, and a further 20,000     

What the Nation Expects!

IT was precisely 50 years ago that my parents put me,a skinny but carefree eight-year-old kid,aboard an aeroplane at Nairobi’s Embakasi Airport and sent me away to a boarding school in England.Unlike Rudyard Kipling,who was destined not to see his mother for f ive years after he had been sent from India for a dose of English schooling,I was reunited with my family at least once every year for the next 10 years.I was one of the lucky ones.     

My Neighbor＇s American Kids

EVERY time we had dinner, I felt awkward when my Chinese morn repeatedly asked me to eat more. My mom in America would never push me like that. Finally I couldn＇t tolerate it anymore, so I asked why she did that. She told me it was because she loved me and really looked upon me as her own child, and she worried about whether I felt hungry. From that point I understood that Chinese people had led a poor life in the past. What worries parents most is whether their children have enough food. Although their lives have dramatically improved, they are used to voicing the old concerns. I still don＇t feel easy with constant requests to eat, but when my Chinese mom tries to persuade me to eat more, I always thank her with a smile instead of feeling angry.＂     

Yunnan Revisited

THERE is an indissoluble bond between Yunnan and me. I first went there in 1970 after graduating from university in the coastal metropolis of Shanghai. 1 left for Beijing eight years later, when the reform and opening-up policy was in its infancy. It was not until March 2006 that the opportunity arose to revisit Yunnan's rural areas. I was prepared for dramatic changes after my 28-year absence. Those that I saw in the provincial capital of Kunming were only to be expected, but I was totally unprepared for the transformation I witnessed in the rural areas isolated from Kunming by the Hengduan Mountains, most notably in Simao City where 1 embarked on my career. Some were beneficial, others less so. It was a journey of happy revelations tempered with a few misgivings.     

Xinjiang People： A Local Photographer＇s Portfolio

I was born and brought up in Xinjiang, and my Iongtime friends often warn me, a photographer, not to take pictures in dangerous places. As a matter of fact I have received many such phone calls in recent years. Each time I finish the call, I become lost in thought. Scenes of experiences in past decades, together with those photos, materialize before my eyes. I decide I will, with my camera and my utmost good faith, continue to record the land and its people that I dearly love.     

Qipao Comeback

正WHEN I was about 13 years old,a shop called Shaolin opened up in my hometown in southeast England.At that time,I had no idea what or where the name Shaolin came from–my friends and I would pronounce it"shay-oh lin"–but after my first visit to the shop,I was certain it would become a firm favorite on our list of places-to-hang-out on a Saturday afternoon.Shaolin was an Aladdin’s cave of Chinese goods.On entering,you were fi rst struck by atmospheric,dim lighting and the heady smell of incense.Then,the sounds:A CD of bamboo flute music accompanied by sounds of nature,and the tinkle of wind chimes evoked a sense of calm that made you want to stop and browse.For me,these sensory experiences became synonymous with"the Orient,"and     

Never Too Late to Start Over

LAST year I decided to pack up my things and move into a retirement community. Many people asked me why I would want to do that, rather than staying in my own home or living with my kids as most people in their late years do. One of the main reasons was that I had already had some friends living in these types of places, and they always spoke highly of the experience.     

Micro Credits: A New Turn for "Laid-Offs"

Jia Xiangde just didn't know what to do when, five years ago, he lost his job at a state-owned chemical factory. He was given mi "unemployment pay" of 200 yuan (US$24.1) per month for his family of seven. "My wile had no job and life was really hard for us," he recalls. "I had thought I would be done for until the government stepped in to help. I got a petty loan from the government, and that has helped me turn a new leaf in life."     

LETTERS

Irecently read your article .entitled ＂Coupling and Unoupling Chinese Style＂ with great interest. Though the events mentioned in the article weren＇t part of my life, I know them to be true. My parents told me that they had bowed to a portrait of Chairman Mao at their wedding, a must for any wedding process of the time. The gifts they received were mostly wash basins and thermal flasks, several of which remained unused till I was a teenager.     

ANINDISPENSABLE PART OF LIFE

<正>A Chinese woman's experience of using WeChat overseas By Lu AnqiWhile many of my friends in China revel in the convenience that the social networking platform WeChat has brought them,Chinese living outside China like me are also grateful forthe positive changes this homegrown application has brought to our personal and professional lives.It helps families,relatives and friends stay closer,making keeping in touch simple and trouble-free.I didn't use WeChat until I came to live and work in South Africa in 2013.Before then,I didn't yet have a smartphone,though I did have Internet access.With my computers at home and work having MSN,Skype and QQ messengers,I was well linked with relatives and friends no matter where they-or I-were.When I arrived in South Africa,I bought a smart phone and WeChat was one of the first apps I downloaded.I was happy to find I could add all my QQ and phone contacts to my new WeChat account.I contacted other friends who were not yet using the app to join me.After that,every morning when I launched WeChat,I     

Finding the Ties That Bind Through Educational Exchange

IT was in November 1973 that I first became involved with educational exchange between China and the US. At the time I was a staff memberof the Science and Education Team of the State Council. It was my duty to meet the American Delegation on Early Childhood Education at the Guangzhou Railway Station after they arrived in China.     

A foreigner in rural south China

In southern Guangdong Province, close to the South China Sea, there is a small city, Taishan, which is very close to my heart when I talk about my early days in this country. In 1992 I was sent out by my government to work in a college in Guangzhou,capital of Guangdong Province. Although I had been to China five years previously I knew very little about the country. So much was strange to me, so much was new. Also, due to infrastructure restrictions at that time, travel, a foreigner wanting to visit anywhere beyond the major     

Finding the Right Words

正No phone battery,two kuai,and lost in Chaoyang amidst a sea of words and sounds that slipped one after another through my fingers.How was I going to get home?I graduated with a neuroscience degree in the South Island of New Zealand in 2012,and have been working toward my medical degree ever since.After fi ve years of science,     

LETTERS

The topic of＂dreams＂ reminds me of a text by the late Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng who was paralyzed when he was 21, in whichhe elaborated on his devotion to sports. He loved track and field the most, more than writing, and his favorite star was Carl Lewis whom, with a strong body and super speed, he regarded as the luckiest man on earth. Shi once thought that he would do anything to have Lewis＇ physique and vigor in another life, if there were one. But observ- ing the athlete＇s rise and fall after a doping scandal, he gained fresh understanding of success, happiness and life in general. He said his dream was to have a healthy body, a beautiful soul and life wisdom. While acknowledging that many think one should not be too greedy or ambitious, Shi＇s overriding belief was that everyone has the right to dream big, and to look forward to the best in the world.     

LETTERS

正Now in my 60s,I am starting to think seriously about where I’m going to spend my later years.I do not personally oppose living in a nursing home when I’m too old to take care of myself.My children treat me very well and I enjoy the time we spend together.But they have lives of their own,while I have a life of my own.I don’t have the heart to expect them to look after me,as they are already occupied with     

Build the Nation through New and High Technologies

I left my job in the UK five years ago to return to China and actualize my ambition of founding an international company in carnating Chinese wisdoms to rival hi-tech innovation giants like IBM and Microsoft, with creativity, or the power of the mind, as its competitive edge, rather than intense exploitation of natural resources and cheap labor. In my capacity as     

Eighteen ways to better sleep

Sometimes I sleep like a baby and sometimes I sleep like a log. For me, the baby aspect is defined by a series of interruptions with a quick fix in the bathroom or a snack from the fridge. The log is more like a stiffness accompanied by a metaphoric chain saw buzz from my apparently loud snoring. Insomnia, habitual sleeplessness, fortunately is not a friend of mine, but that's because I have experimented with different ways to make my forty winks longer, waken with an attitude to seize the day and not feel tired an hour after breakfast. Are you one of the estimated one half of the population who suffers from not enough shut-eye? Allow me to let you in     

National Unity Defined

正I had to end my travel in south China earlier during the last winter vacation because of the outbreak of the COVID-1 9epidemic.At that point,the realization of a war against the virus dawned on me.But what had not yet dawned on me was the weight of what I would discover over the following months.On the day of my return to Beijing where I live,the once bubbly,lively streets of the capital city were deserted and quiet.Shops were locked down,flights canceled and offices closed.I witnessed the whole country shut down in a matter of days and     

Just Call Me ＂Three F Li＂

THEY used to call me Private Enterprise Li （Li Minying）, but I would rather be known as ＂Three F Li＂ （Li Sannong）. It was by accident that I became an economist. At the very beginning of China＇s economic reform, I presented the concept of transforming China＇s economy through shareholding, and suggested that the private sector and the state-owned sector enjoy equal status in the economy. As a participant in economic policymaking in China I have witnessed a lot of changes to the People＇s Republic.     

Myths,legends and legacy of the Yuan:Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan

The very idea of going to Mongolia makes me shiver. It's not that it's as far north or as cold as Siberia, but the legends and myths which are as plentiful as the grasslands and the Gobi Desert sands are enough to leave me in terror. A Christmas present that I held in my hand at the end of the "choose an unopened gift or take one already seen" was a specially boxed set of knife, silver cup and tasselled tusk from Mongolia. An informed guest explained that this was a warrior's kit, the knife to pierce a horse's neck and the cup was the vessel from which to drink the blood. I didn't ask about the horn.