Don Tai (Canada) Blog

For half a year China has cut off internet access to the Xinjiang region of North West China. Recently a trickle of the wired world has been allowed to creep back. My friend Josh, who lives in Xinjiang, has suffered near irreparable psychological damage that I hope he can overcome. Still, one fact remains: The withdrawal of internet services is not a human rights violation.

Al Jazeera covers news on China. Nice!

The year 2009 was marked by significant news coverage of Al Qaeda attacks, soldiers and civilians getting blown up in Iraq and Afghanistan, much stricter airport security and, here in Canada, increased wariness of those from the Middle East. In the middle of this morass was the news agency Al Jazeera. Most people here in Canada actually did not recognize the agency until tapes from Osama Bin Laden were released only to Al Jazeera.

LCD TV Wall Mount Bracket, probably Made in China. It's cheap at $21US from Amazon.

Some day I will buy a flat panel LCD TV and will need a wall mount. The wall mount will probably be made in China. I do care about the safety of the employees that make my purchases, wherever they may me. They are just like the rest of us, working to squirrel away enough cash to put their kids to school. Particularly galling are safety conditions in China’s factories. The fact of the matter is that the lives of people in a far off land are not front and centre for us. While we give the proper lip service to be socially acceptable, they work in unsafe conditions so we can buy products at a cheaper price. We should care about how the products we buy affect workers in China.

Air quality is something one personally cannot control. I suppose you could rent an oxygen tank and wear a medical mask 7/24 but realistically, few people could do this. Having lived in Beijing and have recently returned for a visit, the bottom line is that Beijing air is hazardous to all living beings in the area. For me it does not matter that the Chinese government says it’s Ok, and that there are places with worse air quality, some of them in China. All the proof you need will be provided by living in Beijing for only a couple of days.

It is not as hard as it was before, a decade ago. I recall the road being in terrible condition because it was a main route to Zhengzhou, so the road was pulverized daily by coal trucks. Now they have expanded to have not one but two highways (gaosulu). Here are the hops: Changzhi’s Dongguan bus station, Licheng, Changning, Longwangmiao, to Quixuiyuan. Two buses. The bus from Changzhi to Licheng is hourly and travels about 48kms and costs 20 RMB. The bus from LiCheng to Changning is hourly on the 15 and costs 5 RMB. The bus from Changning is only twice a day for the last 8 kms.

Steam engine train rides with the Richmond Hill Live Steamers. The smell of coal, steam, oil, the whistle!

Two weekends a year the Richmond Hill Live Steamers, Toronto, Canada, has an open house, where they show off their scale model steam trains. It is a fascinating world of the mechanical and hand built. There are train rides for the kids and adults, while the old timers work and test their engines. The feeling of the club is very relaxed, leaving their work to speak for itself. We had a great time and was glad we went early. Donations to the club are welcome.

Chinese Prisons and Legal System: Infamous for human rights violations

One of my deepest fears while on Chinese soil was being arrested and slogging through the morass they call the Chinese legal system. The blog Beijing Haze documents the efforts of an American wife and long term Beijing resident, on extricating her Chinese husband from the wrath of China’s prison system. Her husband was recently arrested in a massage parlour in a Beijing city-wide blitz against prostitution.

Here is her “About Me”:

Cycle Commuting in Sydney, Australia

It is clearly evident by the popularity of large SUVs here in Toronto that many Canadians here merely pay lip service to conserving the world’s diminishing gas supplies.

I see them every day driving their large vehicles to work, the only person in their SUV. Do they think they impress other people? Maybe they feel good driving such a monster? I’m not sure, but they certainly waste a whole lot more gas than they should.

H1N1 flu is a highly contagious strain, but not in China

I will declare that I am a Canadian who has spent a couple of years studying Chinese in China. An article in the local Toronto Star titled Canadians Quarantined in China reports that 22 Canadian students will be quarantined for 7 days in a hotel in Chongqing, China. None have fever or flu-like symptoms. I agree with the Chinese position to quarantine these students but the blame cannot be laid on the 22 unfortunate students themselves, but on the Canadian government’s laggard position on the H1N1 flu strain (formerly called swine flu) and the tendency of democratic countries for freedom of movement, irregardless of the consequences.

Who has financed all this vacant Beijing Real Estate?

Any cursory examination of Beijing’s skyline in 2008-2009 will reveal that commercial buildings such as general office, retail space and hotels have been sprouting up like weeds. As the Olympics wound down and the Global Financial Crisis deepened, it was clear to all that the vacancy rate for these mamoth buildings is very high. Beijing is oversupplied with commercial real estate by an estimated 14 years of optimistic growth. One needs to wonder who financed these buildings and how will they recoup their investment. It seems like the heard mentality has prevailed.