I read with interest Chevalerie's blog on "The dream come true in Urumqi". It brought back past memories of a visit to Xinjiang.http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-2067059-31728.htmlIt was on a break during my study tour to Fudan University in Shanghai in 2010 that I decided to call a classmate who has gone back to her hometown in Urumqi, Xinjiang. After a long chat, I decided to make the trip out west, 4000 km away and so totally unlike Shanghai. However what I was not prepared for was the cold when I landed in Urumqi in December right smack into winter. This is the photo story of the land that Wenxin grows up in.Waking up to the snow in the morning. Wondering what it is like outside. Eagerly wanting to go out and wander.Bright early in the morning saw an opening welcome at a new KFC. Most of the performers were older woman showing their vigor in spite of the old age and in spite of the cold. As you get older, physical activity gets more important. To be able to go out and enjoy the wonder of the snow and the warmth of the morning sun.Starting to smell the morning breakfast floating my way while the locals are starting to go to work or to do their marketing. Everyone is dressed up for the winter cold. Luckily the wind was not strong. Nonetheless I'm starting to feel the cold in my bones after staying out for so long.Getting the food ready for the workers in the morning. The early bird catches the early customers. This is also when I started to love the Xinjiang's lamb on a stick with their chilli powder. Something similar to the Malay satay stick but much larger.My classmate pick me up and we went to Hongshan where I saw this temple in the snow. The park was quiet as it was snowing. I'm sure if it's not for having to bring me out, my classmate would have be home curl up in her warm blanket. But to me, everything here is new and interesting. And different.An octopus in the snow, lonely, without the children. With few people in sight, people who sees us must be wondering what is this two lunatic doing in an empty park in the wintry cold. I'm sure there must be alot more children playing in the summer. But the snow, though cold, is equally fun. I can still remember the park as if it was yesterday.Saw this intricate design outside the International Bazaar. Feels like I'm in Turkey. Makes me want to visit the bazaar in Turkey. Being so far west, Xinjiang does get alot of cultural influence from it's Middle Eastern and Russian neighbours. The facial features does look very different in many of the people I've encountered here. That's what makes Xinjiang so unique in China.Traditional Muslim influenced Minaret outside the International Bazaar. Surprising I have not heard any of the Muslim prayers that I typically hear over loud speakers like in Malaysia or Indonesia. Maybe they do it differently here. However what is the same here is that I'm certainly not having any pork for dinner here. Having had Malay friends, I'm used to it already. After a while, you can get accustomed to the culture of the place you live in.Watch and join in the traditional Xinjiang folk dance. It looks familiar like a typical Turkish dance with the strong colours and strong beat of the music. Even without the drink, I'm intoxicated.Felt like being taken back in time to the days of Aladdin. Even the dinners joined in the dance. It was a memorable evening. I also remember the drink with just the number 57 for a label. Didn't know that it meant 57%. Luckily my classmate intervene and save me from having to drink that. As you can tell I'm not a drinker.The next day we took the long ride to Tianshan 天山。It was a long ride. We were just chatting when before long I saw the snowy mountain. I wish I was driving. Then I can just stopped by the road and just admire the panoramic view from afar. But we continue driving up.Half way through the cars are not allowed any further. We had to walk up the rest of the way. It must have been snowing recently as we can see layers upon layers of fresh snow on leaves and branches. It was fun kicking the trees and have the snow fall on my classmate. It was quite a sight. I think I was so mesmerised by beauty of the heavy snow on trees that I no longer feel the cold. Finally we reach our destination - Tianchi (天池）or heavenly lake. I feel like top of the world and no longer noticed the freezing -26 degree centigrade. Looking at a remote temple in the distance, standing on the icy lake, I feel like I just got dropped into Shangrila like in Lost Horizon. Most local comes here during the summer. We were the only ones there during that day. People at the half way point must think we are crazy. Well, not my classmate. But this crazy foreigner certainly is.I have to thank Wenxin for her grandfather's thick coat else I'll never survive it up there. It was also a good thing the sun came up. But the sun gets to be too glaring for the camera as the sunlight gets reflected off the snow and the ice.Everything is frozen up there as if it is frozen in time awaiting spring to come. All too soon we have to make our trip down. Being inexperienced with snow, I decides to make a snow ball with my bare hands. Very soon I realised I shouldn't have done that. My body was freezing all the way down the mountain.Xinjiang has opened up my eyes to the beauty that's west of China in the mountain ranges with culture that's so remotely different from the coastal cities of Shanghai. I know there have been troubles and stuff here but I believe the bridge of understanding can be built through more interactions and closer communication. There is so much we can learn from each other. It is ok to be different for it is in the differences that life is so much more interesting.

There was a small Malaysian demonstration in Melbourne yesterday. They called it BERSIH which means clean (thats why the picture of the minion cleaning itself) The demonstration was small compared to the one in Kuala Lumpur. The focus here was on change in electoral system unlike in KL which demand for a change in Prime Minister. Considering how lives have been turned upside down in the Middle East after major changes of government without proper consideration to a comprehensive reform, a drastic change is not necessary a good change. Tearing down an old house is only part of the solution. Building a new replacement is a more important consideration. The change need to be done properly and systematically.Xi Jinping approach at cutting the root of government corruption is a good start at governmental reform. However the root of the issues is still on how to motivate the government officials to stay clean. Singapore has gone on a different approach by paying its civil servant well and hoping theyll not be tempted to go the other way. That approach takes a long time to change and may not be suitable for China considering the size of its civil service. But it is still something to consider.Ensuring that civil servant are sufficiently paid is not enough, there need to be a change in both process and culture.Modern practice dictate that the person who request for a purchase, the one who makes the purchase, the person who accepts the delivery and the person who finally makes the payment are not the same person. But in China the person in charge often manages all four areas which easily opens up potential for corruption. The idea is not new. The proper implementation of it is.A more difficult change is actually that of culture. The idea that the CEO is only the representative of the company and that the assets are own by the company seems to exist only on paper. When a person becomes a manager of a department, that person seems to assume whatever in in that department is his. Maybe Im wrong in feeling that way and that this is only happening in a few areas. However if the employee have the culture of understanding the difference between what is personal and what belongs to a company who is not a person, then they can be more confident to ensure that assets dont get move around without proper authority.In Malaysia, the idea of bumiputera being the sons of the soil and therefore they are entitled to whats on the land has resulted in some local elites to feel that they have the rights to major assets of the country. The original idea was to help the poor Malay reached ownership of 30% of the economy which was and is dominated by the Chinese. Unfortunately the scheme got manipulated such that it profit a small group instead of the poor majority. That is why there is such a huge out cry about $700 million dollars being deposited the personal account of the Prime Minister.Corruption can never go away as long as human has greed. What is needed is strong leadership, proper control and an education on cultural change towards a different way of thinking. I leave you with the message from a protester that, at the end of the day, that is what we are all just trying to achieve.

Two unrelated events. One in Pakistan. Another in Taiwan. One resulted in 132 children killed by the Taliban in a school. The other another food scandal from the same company providing instant noodle that people eat every other day. The other time it was oil for human mixed with oil as animal feed. This time is tofu.Both events are murder. One delivered via a bullet to the children in Pakistan. The other delivered via poison in food to the consumers in Taiwan. Ok. I'm being too dramatic. But I think I made my point.Knowingly and intentionally putting in banned substance that can kill in food you sell, that is no different from murder. It is not even homicide. Homicide is death due to accident. This is intentional, deliberate and evil. It does not matter if the banned food substance were delivered to the population out of profit or terrorist motive, the result and intent are the same. There is tight quality control over products that come out of a factory. Production and delivery of food should be even more stringent in its quality control. Defective phone can be thrown into the bin. Defective food substance stays in your body. And it stays there for a long, long time. It becomes like a cancer. I'm starting to sound too careless in how I'm stating things. However my point is that one too many people are very careless in how they deliver food into the mouth of the population. They become very careless about other people's life, their children and, even, their own relatives who buys their food; believing them to be safe. But their trust was misplaced.How is it that in a culture where face and trust is so important that it is now treated so carelessly and recklessly. Where have they left their "face", their family image and the name left by their forefathers. Obviously all that is worth less than NT$1.Famous instant noodle brand pulled back into food scandal"Tainted dried tofu products continued to come to light thanks to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday as it published the latest list of affected companies goods that includes Wei Lih Men sauce package (維力炸醬包), a well-known instant noodle brand, and many other tofu manufacturers.Several months ago, Wei Lih Men became involved in the oil scandal by misusing tainted oil that had been mixed with animal feed oil, and had to pull all of its products from the shelves. "Heartbreaking images show children massacred by Taliban in school horror attackThere is no difference if you killed with a bullet or with tainted food. The result is the same - death of the innocent.

Thai flight forced to return by unruly Chinese passengersKorean Air flight attendant was forced to kneel in front of executiveFrom the above two articles, it would seem that master-servant class division and discrimination is very alive in these countries. I'm sure these are two isolated incidents but they do highlight how the society view members of the service industry. Instead of seeing them as professionals in their own right, they are viewed as servants to be discriminated again. It is no different from India caste system where the lower caste members are heavily discriminated against.Where these people are serving a customer in a shop, bank, restaurant or airline, they are professionals in their own right. There is a major difference between a teenager just playing basketball in the neighbourhood and a professional basketballer training and competing in major leagues. Both are playing basketball but the latter is a professional who does it for living and works hard for it. Nobody looks down on a professional Basketball player just as nobody looks down on a dancer or an actor. They are all professionals in their own rights and so are the air stewardess.How a person behaves to those around them reflects both on their family upbringings and on the societal influence. I am so tempted to say that maybe the Chinese passenger in the AirAsia flight came from a poor family background and therefore do not know how to behave on an airline. But then I'm discriminating because not all poor people will behave that way. Many are well mannered and are well brought up to know what is right or wrong. I'm also being discriminating also because the lady in the Korean Air incident is the CEO daughter and therefore, in theory, should have the well mannered behaviour associated with members of her class. But she did not.The Chinese passengers demanded alot in spite of the fact they paid little for a budget flight and therefore should not expect full service. The Korean lady demanded alot because she felt she's the CEO's daughter and therefore expects the stewardess to give in to all her demands on top of all the other passengers on that Korean flight. In both cases, the small mind cannot see the big picture. In the Chinese passenger case, that their's is just a budget air and that's how it works and all that ruckus in the air is another black mark to the Chinese tourist image abroad. In the Korean case, that her demand to turn back the flight is in contravention to flight protocol, creating massive inconvenience to other passengers and a stigma to her father's and country national airline.I often wonder how parents will behave towards service industry professional like air stewardess if they their child are also in that profession. All we need is more understanding of the work of those who are serving us and more awareness of our own behaviour and attitude.

A 16-month-old boy (body weight 11.6 kg) was found playing with an empty bottle that had contained about 230 g of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution. The container had a cracked lid that allowed the contents to be sucked. White foam emerged from the child’s mouth and nose. He then walked to bed and was found dead 10 hours later.{http://ec.europa.eu/health/opinions/en/tooth-whiteners/l-3/2-tooth-whitening-health-effects.htm}This same hydrogen peroxide was use to make the chicken feet whiter and look nicer. Another food scandal rock China. Nine factories across Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Guangdong used hydrogen peroxide to give the chicken feet a nicer appearance.{http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2014-08-25/115530738985.shtml}. To think that these people think they can get away with it. To think that these people feel it fine that people including their family and friends who may buy these chicken feet will die from it. To think that there is no religion, morality or humanity to stop them from doing this.To think what sort of family, society and education these people comes from where the only type of values they hold is money.Now I realised why 信 (trust) is so important to Chinese. That is because there is so little of it. It's time to bring back religion and Confucius Ethics.

So do you think you can read the following?

That was the title of an article about how rich kids party in Shanghai where one night out will cost $1000, a bottle of Dom Perignon cost $557 and one mega party consume 140 bottle of champagne in one single night. Alot of thought crosses my mind with regards what goes on in those young minds, how they feel about people around them, their views on money, how they were brought up by their parents, their relationship with family and friends and how people actually view them. Maybe this is a small minority and is more the exception than the rule. Perhaps, this is not a common scene at the club. It could be that one or two such incidents get blown up by the media. What's the truth? Maybe those who goes clubbing may know better. Your views?Shanghai’s rich kids party at clubs where showing off is half the fun

Melbourne is a multicultural city but one nationality is fast dominating the landscape.http://www.sbs.com.au/news/map/where-australias-immigrants-were-born-melbourneAccording to a CNN report on the "millionaire visa": (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/04/world/asia/australia-china-immigration/)Chinese are the biggest group to apply for Australia's 'millionaire visa'High wealth individuals must invest $A5 million in Australia to get a visaThose investing for more than four years are eligible for permanent residencyChinese are the third largest immigrant group in Australia after the UK and NZ The 2001 Australian Census list Chinese in Australia as coming from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Australian)Country/Region Population Country/Region Population Mainland China 132,020 East Timor 4,880 Hong Kong 59,810 Philippines 2,230 Malaysia 51,910 Thailand 2,210 Vietnam 41,230 Laos 1,450 Taiwan 21,520 Burma 1,030 Indonesia 19,620 Mauritius 820 Singapore 19,120 South Korea 190 Cambodia 9,500 Ghana 110The Chinese have never shy away from emigration ever since the gold rush days. They can be found from New York, USA to Johannesburg, South Africa. They have not been known to accept their fate. They're better know to take fate in their own hand and strike out a new destiny in a distance land.Their hardwork, perseverance and survival instinct makes them adaptable from Indonesia to India.Just like the Jews, the Chinese also have a similar disapora all over the world summarised neatly in the phrase 四海为家.

I came across this interesting poster posted by a facebook friend and thought I'll repost it.It nicely summarised what I've been saying all along with regards trying to think beyond what you are currently doing and be brave to explore new areas. I said brave because many are unwilling to make mistake. They fear failure. They want to get 100 marks for everything. The only sure road is the road you walk everyday. You can be a perfect walker on that road but you will never discover anything new; not the bird in the bush nor the flower that bloom in spring. Yes, the walk to discover the chipping birds and unfolding flowers takes you through muddy track and gives you mosquito bites. Yes, it is not as perfect as the walk along the familiar aisle of of a cool shopping mall. Yes, it will not provide you the ever familiar cafe for you to rest and drink your cafe latte. But it does transform you from a frog in a well to a bird with wings to wander round the wonders of the world. Through the wind and storm of new discovery, you encounter pain and through the pain the joy of success. Every new "misteak" you make is a new lesson learnt. Every new lesson learnt brings you new experience. Every new experience gain is a new brick in building a stronger and more resilient character. The character you develop years later comes from all the pain, the mistakes and the uncertain road you took. You have created a new YU! That is the purpose of education.

China factory blast reveals lax safety measures at work sitesSome residents near the Kunshan factory expressed their concerns,"There are lots of factories around us, we are really afraid to be frank. The regulators come and go, but are they really doing their job?" Now, this is a factory blast that resulted in 69 death and more than 120 injured. The explosion was apparently caused by the presence of combustible dust that was generated in the production of aluminum car wheel for car makers such as General Motors and Volkswagen. Accordingly to expert: Combustible dust is a widely known industrial hazard that has led to deaths at factories around the world, including in China. Safety experts warn that in the absence of good ventilation a buildup of heat, oxygen and a material, often dusty particles such as pulverized metal, can spark massive explosions without warning.China Daily highlighted lax safety as an issue in this accident. However that is not the root of the problem. There are safety measures in place and checks by local authorities. However safety measures on powerpoint presentation are pretty useless unless properly enforced. If the person charged with policing the safety measure close one eye because of the close guanxi (relationship) with the person he is checking, then all these safety measures are just paper exercise. I've raised this issue in the blog Why guangxi is bad for proper check and balance. Instead of professional check and balance on workplace safety, guangxi becomes the main tool to "manage" safety issues. When safety inspector are employed, guangxi became the means to get employment bypassing more professionally qualified staff. Instead of check and balance and transparency in safety inspection and review, guangxi and gifts becomes part of the "normal" worksafe inspection process.Guangxi is great as a networking tool to get ahead in employment and business. However when used extensively throughout society and is being viewed as a normal behaviour in workplace as practised by everyone, it starts to weaken the foundation of quality, reliability, safety and trust that underpin the confidence of both consumer and citizen of the company or the government department.I'm not saying all factories are like that. I'm not saying all safety inspection works this way. All I'm saying is that one or two bad apples can wreck alot of damage as can be seen in the recent explosion at Kaoshiung, Taiwan caused by an underground gas leak.Now, my question to you is this - What happen if, instead of this metal factory, this is an accident in a nuclear plant near Shanghai?Latest update:http://shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=233418The following were found to be safety issues prior to the blast. Whether it be ignorance, laziness or closing of one eye because of close guangxi between inspector and the factory staff, safety is not someone else problem. It can become your problem if you or your family or friends are also working there or passing by there when the blast happens. -- Design and construction of the factory buildings had failed to conform to safety provisions. -- The workshop was overcrowded with too many processing assembly lines. -- There was a shortage of dust removal equipment at the site. -- There was substandard electrical equipment at the factory site. -- Work safety measures had not been strictly implemented. Accumulated dust and powdered metals had not been cleaned in a timely manner, which led to the combustion of particles. Can't I just working normally in a factory without worrying about whether it's safe to work there?Can't I trust the safety sticker I find on electrical equipment and feel that it's safe to use?No, safety is not just someone else problem.