Merry Christmas everybody…
Enjoy this holiday, especially if you are celebrating with your whole family, and not alone on the other side of the planet, like me!
October 1st was party time in China! This year was the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. An impressing parade took place on Tian’anmen Square. For those who miss the good old days when the Soviet military would parade on the Red Square in the USSR, October 1st was the time or never to witness such a display of military might, of soldiers marching in perfect unison, of communist rhetoric being displayed as art, a show that only communist nations know how to do, as one Chinese told me: ” Only the Soviets, the North Koreans and us can do that!”.
I could not go to Beijing for the celebrations, so I watched the parade on television. On the picture, you can see a huge portrait of former president Deng Xiaoping, probably moved by a car, and behind him there was his slogan: “Pushing reform and opening up”. Four of the presidents, from Mao to Hu Jintao had their portrait displayed on the square and “their” slogan was closely following behind. Mao’s slogan was “The Chinese people have stood up!”; Jiang Zemin’s was: “Adhering to the important thoughts of the three represents”; and finally that of the actual chairman, Hu Jintao: “Implementing scientific outlook on development”.
Hu Jintao’s portrait.
And Hu Jintao himself, in a Mao suit.
Thousands of children (30000 according to a professor) were holding big cards, some were red, some were yellow or other colors. By flipping the cards to the correct color, the children would form words and slogans. Here: 社会主义好 (Communism is good).
“富强民主文明和谐” Prosperous and Powerful Democracy, Civilized and Harmonious Society.
“时刻准备着” Semper Paratus (Always Prepared).
“明天更美好” Tomorrow will be even more beautiful.
At the end of the parade, about thirty floats passed by, each one representing one province. There was Shanxi, Sichuan, Guangdong… and the very last province that everyone thought had been forgotten…: on the picture you can see the characters “Tai” and “Wan”.
On Taiwan’s float, there was some symbols of the “Rebel Island”, one of them the Taipei 101 tower, that was once the highest standing building in the world.
September has been a busy month. September 1st was the first day of class. I started level 4 of Chinese (out of 6 levels) and this semester, I noticed that the teachers are giving us more and more ideological (communist) or nationalistic (Chinese) examples to explain the meaning of new words. For example, in order to explain to us the meaning of the verb:
让步 (make concessions), the teacher used the following example: “Over the question of Taiwan and Tibet independence, we Chinese, must never make any concessions (让步) to foreigners!”
For the word: “recognize” (公认):
“We recognize (公认) president Mao as the greatest leader China has ever had!”
For the verb: “to interfere” (干涉):
“China will never accept foreign countries to interfere (干涉) in its interior affairs”.
Last July, riots sparked by racial tensions resulted in the death of hundreds of people. After the intervention of the police and the return to calm, according to some reports, some Uighur terrorists started to prick people with syringes, apparently as a way to attack people without attracting suspicion from the authorities. This method propagated into many cities in China, including Xi’an. On this picture, the suspect is not a Uighur as one would expect, but a Han (the ethnic majority). And she doesn’t target any minority in particular (but rather women and old people).
The poster of a suspect wanted by the police:
嫌疑人刻画：女，年龄： 30-40岁，
身高：160-165cm, 黑色长发
披肩或扎马辫，本地口音或普通话，
瓜子脸，体型较瘦，身挎大包，
单肩包或超市购物袋。
作案方式：在公交车上利用上下
车拥挤背包中针扎人。
侵害人群：妇女和老人。
Description of the suspect: Woman, between 30 and 40 years old,
Height: 160 to 165cm (5’3” to 5’5”), long, black hair.
Local accent, speaks Mandarin,
Oval face, carries a big bag,
A strap bag or a plastic bag.
Modus operandi: enters crowded buses
and uses the syringe in her back pack to prick people.
Targets: Women and Old People
September 18 was the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of China in 1933. On that day, anti-raid sirens from all over the country rang out during one minute. Some old people took advantage of that day to write hate messages on the walls with chalk, directed at the Japanese.
October 1st will be the 60th anniversary of communist rule in China. As it is written on this poster: “no pain, no gain”, indeed the first 30 years were quite harsh… The Chinese characters are written in their traditional form 我愛中華60年/我爱中华60年 (I love China, 60 years). I wonder why they used English for their design of this patriotic poster. Very few people in Xi’an can understand this message in English.
The entrance to the University.
To prevent an outbreak of H1N1, the body guards at the entrance of the campus take the body temperature of each person entering, using a contactless thermometer. Those who are discovered having a fever will be escorted to the district hospital where they will be quarantined. A police officer is present in the morning to make sure that all the procedures are properly followed. In order to leave the campus, one must have a special authorization from their program director. For those who live off campus, it is easy to obtain that authorization, however for those who live on campus, in the dormitory, it is much more difficult.
Friday, I went to see a show given by a friend of mine at a bar. This was an opportunity for me to support a friend, take some nice pictures and see some colleagues outside of our workplace.
Here are some pictures that I took yesterday.
I was the photographer for the event. The cameraman, that you see in the background is Jonathan. He is the one who posts comments under the nickname “sleeplow”.
Dany, the guitarist.
The audience was seated at the beginning of the performance, but they stood up after the first song.
That night, four bands were due to perform. The main band, “Old School Politics” was the last one to play. They lent their equipment to the other three bands, including my friend’s.
The two pictures above are failed attempts at taking panoramic pictures. They are failed because some parts are missing in the final panorama. In the second picture, this defect is less obvious because the photo is darker and the missing parts are plain black.
People were chatting in the other room.
Under red lighting, a man is sending a text-message through his cellphone, while another one is taking a picture, using his iPhone, of a couple that is about to kiss.
The red lighting made it difficult to read the menu.
Can you tell who this guy is? He is Dany, the guitarist.
The last day of 2008 was celebrated in Montreal in the Old Montreal district. It was very cold outside. The actual temperature was -18ºC (0ºF), but the felt air temperature, due to the wind chill factor, dropped to -28ºC (-18ºF).
There was a band performing on a stage. They were playing traditional music.
A group of people were expressing their support for the Palestinian people.
And the first day of 2009 started off with nice fireworks. Let’s hope 2009 will be a good year for everybody. And let’s hope that the world gets rid of the problems from 2008. No more wars!
I hope you all had a nice Christmas!
Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, for religious, cultural or geographical reasons!
For Christmas, the CEO, owner and son of the founder of the company I work for, came to see the workers at the cafeteria. All employees – except one – got a free meal. We could talk to the CEO, if we wanted to. I asked him if I could take a picture of him alone and he said that we could take a picture together instead. This picture was taken last year, although it could have been taken this year, as both of us were wearing exactly the same clothes (furthermore, I had the same beard and he was wearing the same necktie!). Everyone was glad to get a free meal which consisted in traditional Quebec cuisine (beans, potatoes, omelette, bacon and ham, all covered with maple syrup). We were all loudly enjoying our meal, while the only employee who did not get the free meal was working inside the cafeteria. He is the cook. He cooks food for the workers. He is the bitch of the company, or to be more polite, a “paid slave”. He works on minimum wage. His shift starts at 5am, so he has to get up very early in the morning to get to work. He cooks omelettes and toasts bread, he spreads butter on them, and sometimes, he talks to the girl at the till, who is his only coworker. He never smiles and has no contact with anybody inside the company. I cannot try to talk to him, as our schedules don’t coincide. Actually, to say the truth, he doesn’t work for the company, but instead for a subcontracting firm. Anyway, I am talking about him here because I think it was very interesting to observe in the same room two people with completely different backgrounds. The multimillionaire, owner of one of the biggest companies in Canada and the poor guy who probably struggles to make both ends meet. They both ignored each other. Magical Christmas only exists in Disney’s fairy tales.
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