Never Forget 9/18...

Since we started to blog, on blogspot, on sina, or before that on wordpress, there are a few annual posts that are included every year and while this year circumstances prevented it from going up on the right day, it isn't because we forgot. The invasion of China and the brutality of the Japanese is something that is often overlooked overseas. Even with the release of movies like "Nanjing", it is still not an issue that gets enough play and too often foreigners don't understand why Chinese are so sensitive when it comes to issues of Japan, yet there are large swaths of the Japanese population that deny (or don't even know) the atrocities their nation committed during World War II. What makes it worse is that this policy is often one that has the support of the government. We must never forget the Holocaust, we must also never forget the slaughter that Japan perpetrated on China, that all began on 9/18/1931.

A Dream Worth Dreaming!

The US airline, Jetblue, has recently issued a passenger's "bill of rights" that includes:

• Travel vouchers will be awarded to fliers with an amount scaled to the time of their delay.
• Travelers are entitled to a full refund if their flight is canceled within 12 hours of its departure.
• Passengers are to be deplaned if a flight has been grounded for five hours.

Furthermore, the "much asteemed" Chicago City Council, having tackled the "evils" of foie gras (still bitter about this) are moving on to the "friendly skies" and have put forth a plan to make any airlines who want to fly into Chicago abide by a passenger's bill of rights.

How far are we from having a national passenger's bill of rights passed by Congress? Is it even thinkable in China?

Having flown a lot in China and the US (though not so much in recent years), I can say it is absolute hell to fly domestically in China, far worse than anything in the US. First, when you aren't talking about the "big 3", airports are far from the gleaming facilities they are in the US. Departure times are basically taken as suggestions rather than a schedule. There was a period when I flew to Shenyang on a regular basis and every flight I took out of that airport would start boarding at or after the time the flight was actually scheduled to leave.

The worst, though, has to be flying from Beijing to Hohhot. Now, I absolutely hate flying and would have been more than happy to take the convenient and reasonably priced train, but time constraints forced me to the air. The flight was delayed 8 hours and it got so bad that they actually rounded us passengers up on a bus and took us to an airport restaurant for a meal. During that meal, I heard from passengers who flew the route on a regular basis and they were saying the typical delay was 4-8 hours, though one recently experienced a 12 hour delay after having just flown in from Europe. I'm not sure if things have improved since then (this is a few years ago), but I would still advise taking the train for this route.

Saturday Photo Thread: Spring Festival Edition

Dumplings
Zhenyang Rd, Shenyang - August 2004

Walk Away From Me My Love...

I just came across these pictures of the demolition of Wulihe Stadium in Shenyang, which occured this afternoon. Many Chinese, especially soccer fans, will never forget the name "Wulihe," because it is where, in October 2001, China ended a 44 year drought and for the first (and so far only) time in history qualified for the World Cup. The play of "Milu's army" along with the excellent support of the Dongbei fans was truly something special.

I'd visited Wulihe a number of times and on the last visit, I was pretty shocked at how far it had detiorated. No ticket offices, no concession stands, and worst of all, NO LIGHTBULBS IN THE MEN'S BATHROOM!!! With Shenyang hoping to host some of the 2008 Olympic events, Wulihe was slated to be renovated, but the decision was ultimately made to destroy it and build a new stadium in its place. Much like when Chicago faced the destruction of Chicago Stadium and Old Comiskey, Wulihe was a total dump, but its a place that holds so many good memories and so its hard to part with...

Some personal pictures:

yes indeed, I Love You, Shenyang!

ＵPDATE: this from Li Tie's blog (one of the players who was on the pitch during those fateful Qualifying games in 2001) on Wulihe's demolition. A quick translation of what he said: I knew this day was coming for some time, but now that its here I still feel a bit uncomfortable. Wulihe is a place where I accomplished a dream of mine, it is a place that has offered me much happiness, one that I will never forget. I don't know what will become of this place in the future. If this lucky place could be turned into an apartment complex that would be great, I could buy an apartment and live here. Its interesting to think about.