The cross cultural and pan-Pacific ties that bind us may save the world someday. Some people don’t know how it works. Here are two articles that mention the Flying Tigers:
On Saving Americans
and
JTP7 Jesse Pitts – Hero
From Guiyang with Love is a history of pieces of Guiyang. For those who know Guiyang, it is nostalgia for what has passed. It gives a current view of the history of China. This is more about the place in Guiyang where we used to shop for flowers and birds . . .
Ray is a friend from my Guiyang history that has been mentioned here many times. You can find out about Ray, a little bit, by searching “Ray Mahoney” in my search box on this site. He is now publishing a newsletter called “China Shorts” which is getting increasingly interesting. Hopefully he won’t get this website banned if I put some of his info on here. Here is a sample:
“Ch shorts: “China seals city as its worst virus outbreak in a year grows”; “Asian American Characters On Screen Are More Likely To Be Laughed At Than Laughed With”; video: “Asian Americans Reflect On TV Characters That Shaped Their Self-image”; “Tokyo Olympics: Taiwan stars trolled by Chinese nationalists”; “Harris will reject China’s claim in the South China Sea during trip to Asia”; “Sorry, America: China’s leading the real Olympic medal count”; “Macau to test population after four new COVID-19 cases”; “UAE rolls out Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 3-17”; “Germany to offer booster against COVID-19, vaccines for children”; FP Africa Brief: “Ghana doubles down on homophobic laws”; “‘Gold Diggers’ Captures The Weight Of The Model Minority Myth Sanjena Sathian’s riveting debut novel is already being developed into a TV series by Mindy Kaling’s production company”; “The Entire Population of Wuhan is Getting Tested for COVID-19 – More than a year and a half after the . . .”
If you have an interest in his newsletter or if you want more published on this site, please let me know with an email to: My Email Address and I will forward your message appropriately.
Upon me first arriving in Guiyang I often exercised my innate curiosity, trying to ask the locals about names of places and their connection to history. What I usually got as an answer was “it’s just a name, it means nothing” or, “it’s based on the phonetic sound of the characters, they are random”. I assume many people would just give up, but having my academic background and having dealt with similar responses in the past, I knew these were not the right answers. . . .
CALL Now 18685141973
So the party is in the bag, and the garage sale is on life support. Staging a garage sale is more difficult now than I expected, but it is not surprising in retrospect. (visit http://www.tourguizhou.com/garage-sale-in-guiyang-wudang/ ) for details COVID is always with us, even though out on the streets we see about 10% masked people. We haven’t heard of an infection in Guizhou since about April, and we can usually go about our business, wearing masks on public transit and enduring the “heat gun” temperature checks as well as the health pass cell phone scan when entering many transport vehicles and public places. So it isn’t surprising that people would hesitate to come to my apartment to view my goods. As of now, I am asking people to look at the pictures and call me at 18685141973 if they want to buy. If you can send the money by WeChat I will work with you on delivery or a time for pickup — Probably early Monday afternoon.
Here is a sample of what is available:
These two tables and 6 chairs has served me well with students for circular seating close to students or friends. Suggested for 300-400 RMB.
Notice that there are three sets of speakers shown, a whiteboard, about 20 markers with extra ink, two tables and six very sturdy chairs. The printer is available and might work with a little TLC and new printer drivers.
Actuallly the compuer monitor is available Monday evening.
Click on image for bigger picture
The Microwave, Oven, Water heating machine, Bicycle, one sword, a weight belt White Board and markers. Bike Chain, free printer Aloe plants, and a lot of teaching stuff are still available. There are Five shelves and a bunch of kitchen stuff available. I want the stuffed animals and puppets to find a good home.
http://www.tourguizhou.com/garage-sale-in-guiyang-wudang/
Tool bag
about 20 markers with extra ink
I am returning to the USA We will have a party at the Old Obsession Bar:
There will be Jazz. Played by these guys:
These are full songs. They take awhile to download:
You Don’t know what its Like Aint No Sunshine
Sports Stuff: Suggested 150 for all
Two staffs – 70 RMB Each
Numchucks
3 Japanese Swords (blunt edge, not a weapon)
Bushido Book
Kitchen and Food
Older – Elecric Hot plate – 25 RMB
Newer – Hot plate – 125 RMB
Blender/Chopper/Juicer 3 items
Juicer – 50 RMB
Chopper 100 RMB
Blender with extra blades 140 RMB
All of the above 200 RMB
Oil filledHeater — 225 RMB
Bag of tools
Pliars, vice grips, hammers, screwdrivers,etc
— 75 RMB
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如果你想租一套好房子，有一个好房东，请联系我：johnsporter@gmail.com.处置遗留物品地址同上。
If you need a good house with a fair landlord, talk to me: johnsporter@gmail.com
This is the same place as the garage sale location.
I recently had a Covid test, just being safe. There was no line at the Medical College Hospital. It took about five minutes. The results were available within 24 hours and the total cost was less than 14 US dollars. The results are below:
It is troubling that in the USA I have heard of prices from $300 to $500 for tests that are not as efficient. I have heard of insurances that have charged the US goverment $2000 and more for such tests. Note that there are two “genes” tested for which helps avoid false positives or false negatives. Apparently both genes are present in the case of a positive Covid-19 test. Because China is taking the virus seriously, and has scaled up both training and equipment, there costs are significantly lower than in the USA. As reported below, there has been a recent outbreak in Beijing, associated with one of Asia’s largest food markets. I have confirmed from a Shanghai friend that Shanghai life is still relatively “normal” as is Guiyang.
In China there is a newsletter for foreign teachers, and here is their recent coverage on Beijing’s status. Taken from a Wechat Blog . . .
Beijing conducts mass testing
5 days ago
Beijing tightened measures to cope with the new cluster of local COVID-19 infections as the number of confirmed cases in the city rose to 79 from Thursday to Sunday and up to 100,000 social workers joined communities’ epidemic control work.
The capital reported 36 new patients with COVID-19 on Sunday, the majority of whom worked at or had been to Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing’s southern Fengtai district. In addition to the confirmed cases, another seven are asymptomatic infections under medical observation.
Xu Hejian, a spokesman for the municipal government, said this outbreak is closely related to the Xinfadi market, and the government will employ the strictest investigation to find the source of the infection and curb the spread of the virus.
Nearly 8,000 people who run businesses or make purchases in Xinfadi had received nucleic acid tests by Sunday and have been transferred to isolation locations for centralized medical observation.
Up to 90,000 residents living in 21 communities near Xinfadi and Yuquandong-another market whose operations have been suspended due to the new COVID-19 infections in the capital-are receiving nucleic acid tests. All those communities are closed and under strict management.
Around 200,000 people had been to Xinfadi since May 30 based on a citywide data collection campaign. Those people will get nucleic acid tests and, meanwhile, must stay at home for self-observation.
“By 2 pm on Sunday, we had completed nucleic acid testing for 29,386 people who had visited the Xinfadi market in the past 14 days,” said Gao Xiaojun, a spokesman for the Beijing Health Commission. “Out of all the samples, 12,973 came negative and the rest are awaiting results.”
“Beijing will raise the prevention level of all communities by resuming temperature checks before entering and disinfection of public areas,” said Xu Ying, an official at the city’s antivirus leading work group. “Places for cultural events and entertainment will suspend operations,” Xu added.
He said that on Monday, nearly 100,000 social workers were mobilized in 7,120 communities and villages in Beijing to help fight COVID-19.
Go from Zhongshan Donglu in Xiaoshizi down Caijiajie, beside the China Construction Bank (the diagonal one) and go to Wenbi Jie. Go up the hill to the T and turn left. It is across from the public restroom.
Call EMMA at 17585676109 for more information, and be sure to ask about any current specials. There is a Wechat scan the code below:
There are some electric cars that don’t travel so fast as to require a driver’s license on the streets of Guiyang. A friend of mine sells motor scooters and also has a line of electric cars. I had a chance to talk to Sarah about her little car products and made a short video about these surprising vehicles. The two things I found most interesting about these cars are the low price and the range of these “hybrid” vehicles.
Youku About Electric Cars
Youtube About Electric Cars
On March 23 I went to dinner with some Chinese at a restaurant here in Guiyang. It’s the first time that I went out to dinner here in China in the last two months. About ten days ago I was in a very significant traffic jam. Guiyang, China has an expression “Cool. Cool. Guiyang, traffic jam heaven.” (It actually rhymes in Chinese.) I hate the traffic jams. There are way too many cars and not enough capacity in the roads. When the virus hit there was about 4 weeks when the roads were almost empty. There was a car or truck every two or three seconds on a six lane road , a road that ofen has traffic backups. It is strange how the emotions work. I actually really enjoyed my first traffic jam. It meant that the worst was behind us in the quarantine. Since that time there have been almost no new cases of Covid-19, except for the imports of people returning to China from overseas.
As I write this, I remember a young lady I worked with in 2003, my first teaching gig in China. She complained a lot about the relatively harsh conditions we experienced as teachers in a new school. That school wasn’t set up for foreign teachers. We were in lockdown for the SARS quarantine. A doctor came to our room every morning and tested our body temperature. We were told that Guizhou was the only province in China to avoid getting the SARS virus. This was attributed to the large amount of Zheergen (a fish smelling herb – yuxingcao 鱼腥草) eaten by the locals, as well as a large amount of Moutai a favored drink of the locals. Moutai is a 106–proof liquor produced locally in Guizhou. No matter how much you drink, you don’t get a hangover because of it’s purity. It is possible that there is a point between very drunk the next morning and dead, where you might get a hangover, but I never found that point. I accidently tested that limit one evening, but that is another story.
Getting back to my original digression, the complaining young lady refused to honor the lockdown and against the “recommendation” of the school leaders, she travelled to another city. Upon returning she was locked in her room for thirty days and had no teaching responsibilities for the duration (I think it wasn’t a full thirty days, as the administration relented). She wasn’t paid for that time off. My room was next door to her and I spent time with her, even though she didn’t like me and the reverse was also true. We did have a TV with very few English language shows. I will never forget her excited laughter when we turned the channel and found a football game (football season was over). She said, “Wow! Its football! I don’t even like football! The moral to the story is that we can all adjust our thinking as times require. It is nothing to fear.
As of March 26, travel is getting more convenient, but the entire situation is monitored. Most public places test your body temperature and your cell phone scans report your location when entering buildings or using any public transport. Everybody still wears masks. You can feel that the country is starting to roll again. I offered a toast at the dinner the other day congratulating China on behalf of the American People for being almost free of the virus. Oops. I didn’t get the reaction I had expected. They all drank to my toast, but I could tell that the extreme quarantine had taken its toll and and that the pain of this “fight the virus” was still fresh. Also, there is a lot of propaganda about blaming America for this bio-attack on the Chinese homeland and it’s people. There will be a lot of work to do if we are to recreate an ongoing work relationship here. It will be hard to accomplish, but the US and China together can help humanity advance. If we don’t, we won’t.
If there is a takeaway from this rambling narrative, I have been locked up twice over the 17 years, and it isn’t so bad. There is an incredible solidarity of people working together, empathy for each other. There is a lot of free time, with not very much to do. It is good to have some time to think, to remember what is important. My point is that China has come through this challenge in about a six-week period after taking a massive hit in Wuhan, a transportation hub with a population of eleven million. The coordinated counterstrike by the Chinese Government has the virus on the run. The Chinese are still vigilant, but we can see the economy picking up rapidly. The people are getting more confident. China has survived the same hardship that the US is facing. As long as you have electricity, food, sewer and water, access to health care, and the other necessities (cell phone and internet) by working together you can survive. The fear of the unknown is holding the US leadership back from doing what is necessary in my opinion.
I completely agree with the assessment of Bill Gates, who has been spending a fortune to fight sicknesses around the world. He says we can’t just ignore the bodies piling up in the corner. Restarting the economy without a China style lockdown probably won’t work as planned. People will overwhelm the health care system, all health care services. Health care professionals will get sick. The economy will fail anyway because the economy needs healthy workers. The “herd immunity” which is a central feature of the plan may not matrerialize for years. Also, anticipated vaccines might not be right around the corner. We know that a full commitment to fight the virus will yield favorable results within six weeks of beginning. We haven’t begun to fight. It is time. (Come on US !)