|
Ceramic Artist Dou Jinjun
In an east Beijing suburb, a modest bungalow houses a thriving pottery workshop owned by Dou Jinjun. For the last 20 years, the 42-year-old artist has channeled his passion for sculpture with a wide range of materials. Dou's designs embody a rural style with yet a touch of sophistication, a combination rarely found in today's pottery market.
Dou Jinjun has been playing with various materials: wire, tree roots, sand; but mostly with clay, for more than 20 years. He's a qualified ceramic artist, a sculptor of clay, a potter whose works are more decorative than utilitarian.
His slovenly appearance doesn't do justice to the delicate and sophisticated skills Dou commands when crafting his clay figurines. The muddy but dexterous hands give birth to many lifelike pottery figures imbued with rustic aesthetics.
Dou's free and bold approach is evident in his choice of subjects.
His subjects span a kaleidoscope of fields: historical figures, Peking Opera characters; countryside youngsters and even matchmakers. Each of the clay figures is heavily charged with his love for pottery and an undeniable urge to create.
Ceramic Artist Dou Jinjun said, "Once I read a book on Peking Opera. I thought that I could start with making the characters. Zhu Geliang was my first figure. The creation went smoothly. I devoted myself to the work, feeling very excited."
British painter Joshua Reynolds once said that a mere copier of nature can never produce anything great. This view is echoed in the making of Dou's pottery figures.
While drawing much of his inspiration from Peking Opera, a welcome respite enjoyed by Dou, his clay figures differ from their originals in many ways. And an exact grasp of his subjects' nature makes his clay figures speaking portraits of their originals.
A fine example is the pottery figure of General Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms period. While Guan Yu suggests bravery and good fortune for Chinese people, the General is always on the move in Peking Opera. But Dou deified the general and made him a sedentary figure. The finished work is quite a chunk, contrasting sharply to the two shrunken soldiers nestled beside his knees: Guan Ping and Zhou Cang. His eyes were also made following the dramatic stage effect of Guan Yu in Peking Opera.
Ceramic Artist Dou Jinjun said, "The inspiration drew on a couple of aspects. From painting I learnt to get a grasp of a subject's essential features. And I borrowed from Peking Opera the character's costume, makeup and paraphernalia."
Dou's free country upbringing in east China's Shandong province is echoed in the bucolic beauty of his works. The rough and shaggy surface of the clay figures correspond to the unaffected and rugged character of their creator. Most of his works are barely glazed, due to his penchant for unadorned beauty.
None of Dou's figures are made following a set path. His free and casual approach to ceramics sets each apart from the other, making each individual figure a unique creation of its own.
Ceramic Artist Dou Jinjun said, "I don't feel easy and happy when I create. But I know that, when I create, something inside me is being released and realized."
Sticking to a mantra of Less is More, the single-minded artist never dashes off a work in a hurry. Each piece is sketched well before it appears in clay. And a work as large as Guan Yu usually takes months of tinkering. Many of his figures could fetch a staggering eight to 10-thousand yuan or around US$ 1,200 in galleries. But for him, the mass market is never an option.
Dou once received an order to make 500 identical clay figurines, but he turned it down. The enterprising artist fears that too much repetition will get in the way of his creation.
Ceramic Artist Dou Jinjun said, "The emphasis is now on creation rather than making money. Why? Because I feel that I am at an age to create. Making money is not my business."
Despite all the passion Dou pours into his clay figures, he would actually prefer to be called a sculptor rather than a potter. For every work records each step in his chain of thought.
And clay is among a variety of media Dou uses to put his ideas into practice. The single-minded artist is satisfied with sculpting, despite the limitations of the medium.
Ceramic Artist Dou Jinjun said, "Clay is only a temporary medium for me to sculpt. I also work on other materials like wire, and glass-fibre reinforced plastic. I will consider making a copper or even stone sculpture in the future. I am sculpting on all possible medium."
In a room replete with his own creations, Dou finds no better enjoyment than to sit and ponder over his next work.
(CCTV August 3, 2005)
http://chinese.blogdrive.com
The past few weeks have marked two significant milestones for Robert S. Xu, founder, chairman and CEO of Kingdee International Software.
On July 20, the company completed its share-listing shift, from Hong Kong stock exchange’s Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) to the main board, and then Monday the company celebrated its 12th anniversary.
The company has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1993, when Kingdee was a small latecomer to the ERP software market. But thanks to Xu’s abilities as a manager and strategist, Kingdee has grown by leaps and bounds to become a major local and emerging regional player.
Kingdee's success in the past two decades has been firmly rooted in the China market. The first stage in the company’s success was its capturing of a large market share for its Windows-based financial software in 1995, in competition against Beijing-based UFSoft, then China’s leading management software provider. This development in China’s enterprise software market led industry insiders to refer to Kingdee as No. 1 in the south, and UFSoft as No. 1 in the north.
After establishing itself as a major China player, Kingdee then went on to make itself the China leader in the late 1990s, with its financial software now having been adopted by more than half of the Fortune top 100 Chinese companies.
Kingdee's growing sales drew the attention of IDG, which invested a large sum of money in the company and helped improve its management with international ideas and practices.
By sustaining the fast pace of business growth, Xu was then able to list Kingdee on the GEM in 2001. Since then Kingdee's net profit has been soaring. Revenue reached 294.5 million yuan (US$ 36 million) in 2002, and jumped to 445.9 million yuan by 2004.
Convinced by the company’s outstanding sales growth and surging profits, the company’s shareholders finally gave their approval July 11, 2005 to move the company to the main board.
At the listing ceremony, Xu outlined his new strategy for Kingdee: "We'll make use of our new platform to enhance Kingdee's profile ... leverage on the capital markets to build our future, be dedicated to our mission of 'Enable Customer Success,' ... with an aim to become No. 1 ERP vendor for SMEs in the Asia Pacific region."
Xu was born in Yuanjiang City, Hunan Province in 1963. After graduating from the Computer Technology Department of Southeast University in 1983, Xu continued his studies at the Finance Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, where he was tutored by professor Yang Jiwan, a prestigious accounting theory scholar.
After receiving his masters' degree in 1988, Xu was given a job by Shandong Province's Taxation Bureau — though he only stayed two months. What caused his departure was a phone call from a former classmate who was then in Shenzhen.
"This is a bustling and hustling boom city. I just bought some second-hand appliances and clothes. You feel like you are in the United States when you are here," his classmate chattered over the phone.
Itching to get himself a piece of the action, Xu asked his tutor Yang to help him with the decision: "Go to Shenzhen. It’s a heaven for young people."
On arriving in Shenzhen, he found work with an accounting firm for three years. It was not until 1991 that he plunged himself into the "sea of business," a Chinese term which refers to giving up government jobs and starting businesses.
At the age of 28, Xu started his first business with a loan of 5,000 yuan — Aipu Computer Technology. The company's primary business was selling PCs, although this early business experience was to prove a bitter experience when his first big deal turned sour.
Xu was trying to sell 40 computers to a company in Hainan Province, but the company secured other deals when Xu brought the computers there. As he had no signed contract to fall back on he could do nothing but swallow his loss — an unsettling episode which he says has given him painful stomach trouble ever since. But despite this setback, Xu ploughed on, and fortunately he found another buyer with the help of a friend and made his first 100,000 yuan.
"The final result was not bad, but I paid a high price," said Xu, reminiscing about the experience. "I learned from this experience that credit is very important to a businessman."
Just two years after starting his first business, Xu founded Kingdee International Software on Aug. 8 1993 with joint stock from foreign investors. At that time, a fistful of other financial software developers had carved up the China market, including both big multinationals and homegrown players such as UFSoft, Wangneng and Anyi.
But despite being a latecomer, Xu believed innovation would bring Kingdee fame and fortune. Just two years into Kingdee's history, the company released its first Windows-based financial software, winning the company widespread market recognition as a new industry challenger. It was a good start for Kingdee.
In December, 2000, Kingdee launched its flagship product: Apusic Application Server version 1.0, a kind of middleware which provides an effective and highly reliable platform for customers to run, implement and develop distributed applications when constructing new business systems.
The product has since evolved and now been adopted by many large corporations and State-owned organizations such as the People's Bank of China and Beijing Highway Bureau.
Kingdee floated on Hong Kong stock exchange's GEM on Feb. 15 2001. Although this listing raised just 90 million yuan, Xu looks back at the move as a significant step for the company, which was far more than just about fund-aising.
"It was a right decision to float Kingdee so soon," Xu said. "It made overseas investors get to know Kingdee and it also brought greater vision to the company."
In 2002, Kingdee's sales reached 3180 million yuan and in the same year the company acquired Beijing-based competitor Kaisi.
Despite having created a multi-million dollar company, Xu felt the need to broaden his understanding of business. So he decided to go back to school and learn by starting EMBA classes in July 2002 at the China Europe International Business School, from where he graduated last year.
"I went there to proof my business notions and learn from others' experience," said Xu.
But study didn't distract Xu from his Kingdee responsibility. With his hard work and flair for managing growth, Kingdee's sales had climbed by 270 percent from 2000 to 2004 with a growth in post-tax profit of 250 percent, and earnings per share have risen 190 percent since the listing. During the same period the business's operating cash flow grew from 13 million to 1170 million yuan.
Steering through the wake of bankruptcies that have befallen many of the early ERP software market leaders, Xu has navigated Kingdee into clearer waters where the company now finds itself one of the top two ERP developers. It's far from plain sailing from here, as Kingdee now faces fiercer struggles ahead as the company competes with much larger and more competitive rivals from both home and abroad.
But Xu believes he may have found a new course to charter for continued growth: service.
"Service in the IT industry is not as good as in other areas because there hasn’t much competition," said Xu. "Now our earnings from service only account for 26 percent of total revenue but we hope to increase it to 35 percent in the following years."
Asked what is most important to Kingdee's success, Xu's quick reply is his 3,000 employees.
"Every one of them is equipped with technology and management knowledge," said Xu. "If they take initiative and work hard, Kingdee will grow even more rapidly. So my top priority is to help and motivate them to work hard."
The company has an informal approach for a China company — Xu asks all his employees to avoid using his title and to simply call him Robert, and when he speaks to his staff he uses their English or Chinese given names.
To motivate Kingdee employees to give the company their all, Xu has adopted a "five-item" strategy for rewarding his employees and satisfying their needs, so they can focus themselves on the job. The five items are Houses, money, cars, spouses and children.
Millionaires are not a rare breed at all within the company, with some key employees having been awarded as many as 50 million shares since the company's 2001 listing.
Xu believes financial rewards are just part of the equation for a happy workforce, however. He defines the Kingdee culture as "love, credit and innovation." "The reason I put 'love' before the others is that the company should sincerely care about its employees, then they will have the motivation to contribute and innovate."
Mentioning the internationalization of Chinese companies, Xu compared it to climbing mountains.
"Wang Shi, Vanke's chairman, once told me he only climbed seven to eight hundred meters every day when he went climbing, while many other people climbed a lot higher than that," Xu said. "However, Wang later conquered the roof of the world — which many others have yet to do. That's because it takes time to be able to climb high — one needs to persevere. So Chinese companies should persevere and gradually strengthen themselves before they go global."
If you haven't already guessed, Xu's allusion to climbing mountains is a dead giveaway as to how he likes to spend his time when he's not tied to his work — the Kingdee chairman and CEO is a sports lover, with a penchant for golf, mountain climbing, swimming and basketball.
He also professes a weakness for motivational and business books, citing two favorite recent reads as "From good to great" and "Create Values for Customers."
But Xu admits that as a busy man he rarely spends time with his family, although he is able to reconcile this with his belief in the importance of family — and he said he would try to make it up to his family. But maybe not quite yet: "I want to work and enjoy life in full swing," Xu said. "Though I'm a middle-aged man, I still want to live an energetic and distinctive life."
(Shenzhen Daily August 9, 2005)
Spacewalking astronaut repairs heat shield
Spacewalking astronaut Steve Robinson plucked a couple of loose fibre strips from Discovery's belly Wednesday in an unprecedented repair to the shuttle's heat shield.
"I'm grasping it and I'm pulling it and it's coming out very easily. Beautiful. Nice," Robinson radioed as he pulled the material out from between the heat resistant tiles on the shuttle's underside. "It looks like this big patient is cured."
With fellow spacewalker Soichi Noguchi watching from a perch on the International Space Station, to which Discovery is docked on the first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster, Robinson was lowered on the station's robot arm to an area below Discovery's nose.
Moving deliberately, he used his gloved fingers to tug out the two strips with surprisingly little effort. Robinson carried a small hacksaw, scissors and forceps in case he could not pull the strips out.
The strips, made of ceramic covered cloth, are thought to have come loose from their adhesive bond and, although protruding only 2.5 centimetres, NASA engineers feared they could change the aerodynamics enough during landing on Monday to cause dangerous heat damage to the shuttle.
Robinson was the first astronaut in the 24-year shuttle programme to spacewalk to a shuttle's underside and, once there, the first to fix the heat shield during flight.
In a press conference from space on Tuesday, Discovery astronauts said they initially had misgivings about Robinson's spacewalk because they were not convinced it was necessary. But, they said, they supported it because it seemed an easy thing to do.
NASA admitted it did not know if the protruding strips were a danger to the shuttle, but after 2 1/2 years of work and US$1 billion spent on safety upgrades since the Columbia disaster, the agency was taking no chances it could lose another shuttle to heat damage.
Agency officials said on Tuesday they are even considering another spacewalk tomorrow to fix a protrusion in an insulating blanket outside the shuttle commander's window.
Source: China Daily
Although astronaut Steven Robinson removed two gap fillers from Discovery's underside, a ruffled thermal blanket below the shuttle commander's window worried mission managers at NASA.
Engineers informed the shuttle crew on Wednesday there was a chance that a fourth spacewalk might be needed Friday to deal with the torn thermal blanket.
They said the blanket does not pose a danger to overheating. However, engineers are performing tests overnight to determine the likelihood of the blanket coming off during the shuttle's descent and becoming a source of debris.
The 50-centimeter section of the blanket could rip away during re-entry, whip backward and slam into the shuttle, perhaps causing grave damage, NASA said. Engineers expect to know by Thursday evening whether the danger is real and whether any blanket trimming is required.
In a Wednesday afternoon briefing, NASA's deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said a team of aerodynamic engineers are working around the clock to perform several tests with three sample blankets.
The team will try to replicate the damage and simulate the shuttle's descent in a wind tunnel to learn how the insulating material might react. The aerodynamics team is seeking to understand when, if at all, the blanket could tear away and what size piece or pieces could come off.
Meanwhile, the mission control team is developing a plan for a potential additional spacewalk repair for the thermal blanket, Hale said.
NASA hailed shuttle crew's third spacewalk as "an excursion in the history books." The spacewalk featured the first-ever on-orbit repair of a shuttle's heat shield and attachment of a stowage platform onto the International Space Station.
The heat shield repair efforts occurred quickly and just as planned on the shuttle Discovery's underbelly. Robinson removed gap fillers that were protruding from two areas between heat-shielding tiles on Discovery. He gently tugged the gap fillers until they came out.
After he removed the second protrusion, Robinson declared, "it looks like this big patient is cured."
Robinson also took pictures of Discovery's heat shield before leaving the area and returning to the payload bay. Meanwhile, fellow spacewalker Soichi Noguchi provided communications and visual support to Robinson and flight controllers.
The first task of the spacewalk was the installation of the External Stowage Platform-2 by Robinson and Noguchi. They were assisted by the International Space Station's robotic arm. Then, Noguchi installed a materials exposure experiment on the Station's exterior.
In other activities, Mission Control asked the crew to use the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to inspect insulation blankets under the commander's window on Discovery. Cargo stowage continued on the Space Station, NASA said.
Source: Xinhua
South Korean famous scientist Hwang Woo-suk showed his masterpiece on Wednesday to local and foreign reporters at the campus of the Seoul National University -- a three-month-old cloned male Afghan hound named "Snuppy".
Snuppy is the first cloned dog in the world.
The famed international journal Nature published an article about Hwang's new research in its latest edition issued on Thursday. And Hwang asked reporters to embargo the report of Snuppy until early Thursday.
After Wednesday's press conference, Hwang's team let Snuppy, the donor dog and Snuppy's surrogate mother - a Labrador, to meet the reporters.
The puppy looked very alike the donor dog. Both have black, long and thick coat, both have relatively small heads contrast to their big body.
The nearly 40 centimeters tall Snuppy currently has a weight of 11 kilograms, a normal level of its age.
"DNA analysis of the puppy showed them to be genetically identical to the donor dog - an Afghan hound," said Hwang at the press conference. Hwang's research teams again used the somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technology to clone an Afghan hound.
One year ago, Hwang stunned the world by announcing his team successfully extracting stem cell lines from cloned human embryos.
According to Hwang, his team first took an ear-skin biopsy of the male Afghan hound. Then they injected the somatic cells into oocytes procured from female dogs which were already squeezed out their nucleus.
A total of 1,095 reconstructed canine embryos were transferred into 123 female dogs. But only three were confirmed pregnant, and unfortunately, one fetus miscarried.
The yellow Labrador gave birth to Snuppy on April 24, 2005. One month later, the second cloned dog was born. But it died on day 22 due to aspiration pneumonia.
Hwang said the importance of the study of cloned dog is mainly the therapeutic cloning.
Hwang said dogs always have the same illness as mankind, such as diabetes. The research establishes the possibility for production of genetically identical animal models for the study of veterinary and human disease processes and treatment pathways.
Hwang's team has already successfully cloned sheep, mouse, cow,pig, rabbit, cat, mule, horse, deer and rattle in the past eight years.
But the professor said on Wednesday he gave up the research of cloning primates because he deemed that the primates can not be cloned with current technology.
The scientist added that he "will concentrate on researching the stem cells of monkeys, but will not attempt to clone a primate".
Hwang also declined to reveal what his next target of cloning and the current status of his canine stem cell research at the press conference.
Source: Xinhua
From April 26 to May 3 this year, Lien Chan, chairman of Taiwan-based Chinese Kuomintang Party (KMT), led a delegation to visit the Chinese mainland, his wife Lien Fangyu has written the book "Half-a-Century Meeting" on her experience and recollection of this visit. On the eve of the publication of this book, the couple, Lien Chan and his wife, recalled this historic visit and respectively wrote about their complicated feelings as they set foot on the soil of the mainland. On August 2, Taiwan "United Daily published these together on its "supplement". Full text of Lien's article is hereby published to feast our readers.
This year, I have finally for the first time set foot on the land on the other side of the Straits.
That is not only my personal experience in my lifetime just as "a swan's footprints left on snow and mud", it also marks the trace of the forward march of our times. Before departure, some people cheered me, some held different views, that became the focus of public opinion for a while. Although my visit may be given thousands of interpretations, I have a clear mind and pure thoughts about it. I merely want to do my bit for peace and for people on both sides of the Straits. I am not writing history for myself, I am holding myself responsible to history, I firmly believe that a correct evaluation will be given by history on the journey of peace made by the KMT delegation I led to the Chinese mainland!
Traveling from south to north and west to east over the past 40 years since the marriage between me and my wife, I don't know how many countries we have visited, we have experienced numerous sceneries and human and natural landscapes, but had never had an opportunity to step on the land of the other side of the Straits. Before I laid down party and government work, I was finally able to lead my family to go personally to Xi'an, where I worshipped and paid respect to the tomb of my ancestral grandmother. Despite our late coming, we have fulfilled the long-cherished wish of the descendants of the Lien family, which is an expression of the good will of the descendants. I believe the five-point statement on common promotion, reached between me and Mr. Hu Jintao, leader of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in particular, will have far-reaching and irreplaceable impact on future development of cross-Strait relations.
Seemingly familiar scenery, fresh and amazing feelings
My native place is Tainan, Taiwan Province, but I was born in Xi'an. My father was a Taiwanese and my mother was a northeasterner. My parents knew each other in Beiping on the eve of the anti-Japanese war, after marriage they gave birth to me, a single son, my name was given in advance by my grandfather Mr. Ya Tang. That's why I say the history of my growth is actually a small epitome of the general modern history of China.
The mainland visit this time happened to be the 60th anniversary of the victory of the anti-Japanese war. I haven't gone back to my birthplace for 60 full years, therefore, before I set out for this first mainland visit, I had mixing feelings, and I felt the visit was of serious significance. But when I had really set foot on the land of the other side of the Strait, I found many, many sceneries were fresh, curious and even surprising to me. I had never returned to my birthplace for 60 years, but my wife went to Shanghai twice in one month, this opportunity is wonderful indeed.
The sceneries I saw during my first mainland visit seemed to be familiar to me. Despite the long separation in terms of time and space, in my reading of books and talks with old friends, all these seem as if I had paid many visits there. When I returned to the place where I was born and grew up, the strange fellow villagers accorded me warm welcome, besides mixed feeling of surprise and joy and the uttering of deep sigh, I still had some doubtful, dream-like sentiments, just as the circumstances and sentiments described in the poem of Du Fu (712-770) , a poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which runs:"neighbors crowd round the corners under the top of walls; they sigh and sob with sniffing; they talk till the dead of night with lights in hands; sitting face to face they appear as if they were in dream and sleep."
Recently, I often see my wife buried herself on the desk writing diligently, her passion and silly disposition gives me a near and dear feeling as of the situation of our studying hard together when we were young reappeared before me. In those years we got to know each other by the US Michigan Lake, I served in succession as teacher in the University of Wisconsin and University of Connecticut, Fangyu also studied for academic degrees at Minnesota and Connecticut universities. In order to write out good dissertations, my wife was eager to do that work, she consulted reference materials again and again, and repeatedly confirmed them before she sat down to write the theses. This time after we came back from the mainland, our studies were already piled up with various kinds of materials, I am happy to see that she again took up her pen to write down her feeling about the tour.
I recall that in the summer of 1968 when we were ready to go back to serve in Taiwan, so in our way back we first went from the United States to tour Europe for 40 days, leaving our footprints everywhere in Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Thereafter, my wife wrote the book "Notes on European Tour" in response to the invitation of the Crown Publishing. At that time I discovered that Fangyu was fond of writing, and noticed her power of minute observation and her fine and fluent style of writing.
Unfortunately in the past five to six years, I was twice busy for election campaigns, and she also lent me a helping hand in this regard and thus threw away her pen, this is what I feel sorry for her, and is where I am unworthy of her help.
To be frank, I am a man of a relatively strict personality, while she is always romantic and dreamy, we have been able to live and work hand in hand for 40 years without grievance and remorse, we need to tolerate and support each other before we can get over enmity and concert our efforts in dealing with things foreign. I owe a lot to my family during my 30-year career of official work, fortunately, my clever wife and companion helps me educate and bring up our four children and look after my mother in her advanced age, relieving me of any worries behind, so that I can concentrated on my political career. After I decided to leave my party post, I hope Fangyu can have more time to pick up her pen again and enjoy the pleasure of writing.
This time I saw that she was actively sorting out the materials concerning our mainland visit in order to leave behind a record evidence of history, as her nearest partner, I am deeply honored to be the first reader of her work.
This situation reminds me of the fact that after having experienced the ups and downs of the political circles over many years and the rises and falls of world affairs, I all the more feel that my family members are the dearest and most lovable, "my wife draws on paper a composition (chess game), and my young son makes a fishhook out of a needle", the quiet, comfortable family life makes me feel joyful and satisfied.
The two sides of the Straits join hand to make money from the world
The journey of peace is an unforgettable travel. Before our departure, I had made much mental preparation for the speech to be delivered at Peking University and speeches to be given on dozens of occasions, as to the trouble taken by my wife for my traveling bag, I came to have a full understanding of her intention only after I read the descriptions in her book. What's worth mentioning here is that before we left Taiwan for the mainland, I simply had no idea that I would be asked to inscribe on different occasions. Therefore, for the contents of the inscriptions, whether on board the airplane, in the train and even in the hotel, her warmhearted help had fortunately relieved me of embarrassment.
In Houzaimen Primary School, my Alma Mater in Xi'an, as we saw the situation of girl and boy students writing with brush, my wife and I were deeply moved. Calligraphy and poems are treasures of Chinese culture, in those years when the cultural revolution (1966-76) was raging on the other side of the Straits to destroy the four olds (old ideas, cultures, customs and habits), Taiwan was actively pushing forward the movement for the renaissance of Chinese culture; but today when students of the younger generation on the mainland are studying ways to retain Chinese culture, Taiwan launches the "de-China" campaign, and Eight Diagrams culture is prevalent. Can such a contrast be described by the two words "sorrowful and traumatic"?
Although I had the feeling of regret over the late meeting in my first mainland visit, it, however, proves the correctness of the saying "seeing is believing". Having traveled personally, the experience I gained naturally is different. The progress of a country requires an environment of peace and stability, as well as lofty ideals and courage and vigor to press construction forward. Taiwan's past economic miracles and the rise of the Chinese mainland's strength in recent years are both attributed to a stable internal environment, a strong ambition and an operational team under correct leadership.
The trip also gives me a better understanding that "upholding peace, reciprocity and win-win cooperation" is the only way for Taiwan and the mainland to take. "Taiwan and the mainland join hand in cooperation to make money from the world" is the call I openly gave in Peking University, which has gained extensive response from people across the Straits. I also pledge that in the remaining years of my life, with my knowledge and experience, I will contribute my own energy and efforts to the major program for peace across the Straits and for the prosperity and mightiness of the Chinese nation. Perhaps the peaceful road is rough and bumpy and there are still many difficulties to be overcome by the two sides of the Straits, when opportunity arises, I wish I would visit other cities of the mainland, so that I could travel wider areas and see more things, to ensure that I take root in Taiwan, have the mainland in mind and the world in view.
Source:People's Daily Online
In August when the sun is shining fiercely all over the world, in Japan, however, there is spasmodic cold current that sweeps over the islands there, a chilly verdict-reversing wind coming against the trend keeps descending upon neighboring countries, which chills the hearts of people.
On August 1, two conservative newspapers of Japan -- Yomiuri Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun -- simultaneously published a whole page of advertisement under the following headline: On August 15 that marks the 60th anniversary of the conclusion of the war, let's gather together in the Yasukuni Shrine to hold a 200,000-strong worshipping activity. The advertisement requests that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who has been visiting the Shrine four times "can continue to pay homage there this year". The sponsor is an organization called "let's all come to visit the Yasukuni Shrine".
In response, on August 2, the "Japan Diet Member Forum" and four other organizations, including one with 355 Diet members, all stepped forward to join in the chorus and issued a joint statement, urging Koizumi to pay homage to the Shrine in "a solemn fashion" on the very day of August 15. The aforesaid organizations all raised the slogans "Not yielding to foreign pressure", "Allow of no interference from outsiders and foreign countries". The notorious governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara, again wags his tongue in the advertisement, he not only asks Koizumi to visit the Shrine on August 15, but also has the impudence to prettify war criminals, asserting that they (Japanese aggressors who died in battles) "bravely laid down their lives for defending the homeland and for Japan's prosperity".
Not long ago, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) examined and approved the middle school history textbook that tampers with history, whitewashes aggression and denies the Nanjing Massacre and other crimes. This history-distorting textbook was recently approved by the Tokyo Education Committee and used in the middle schools and disabled persons' schools under its jurisdiction. Japan's minister of MEXT Nariaki Nakayama shamelessly declared, "At that time there was no such term as 'comfort women with the army' and it is wrong for something non-existent to appear in the textbook. It is a good thing to delete erroneous things from the textbook, and this should be affirmed."
The arrogance shown in the reactionary countercurrent of the Japanese political circle is really incomprehensible and astounding. Because this year marks the 60th anniversary of the victory of the world anti-fascist war, activities to rethink and mourn the victims are held in all parts of the world, at which participants all denounced and criticized the war crimes committed by fascists in those years. Just at this moment, Japan, the initiator of World War II in the East, is seldom seen expressing its sincere reflections on and earnest penitence for launching the war; it is also difficult to hear it express its sympathy with and apologies to the victims (the victims' claims for compensations were often rejected by Japanese courts); now it goes so far as to act perversely, challenge international justice featuring the intuitive knowledge of humanity, and have the front to ask Japanese prime minister and the general public to worship war criminals.
People notice that on August 2, Japan's House of Representatives passed a "resolution on the 60th anniversary of the end of the war", which once again falters out the words "deep regret" over the "suffering" brought on the people of various Asian countries. But compared with its resolution of 10 years ago, the present resolution deletes the words "colonial rule" and "aggressive war" that clearly define the nature of the war. This makes people doubt the sincerity of its apologies. People remember that the Jakarta Summit Meeting of Asian-African Countries held not long ago. Didn't Koizumi repeat the apology expressed by former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama? However, precisely on the same day when he gave his apology, over 80 cabinet ministers and Diet members visited the Yasukuni Shrine. For this, people have reasons to query: Can a country, that whitewashes and tampers with its history of aggression, a country, which is indifferent to and contemptuous of the feelings of the people of victimized countries, become a responsible permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations?
Source:People's Daily Overseas Edition
China succeeded in launching its 21st return science and technology experimental satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China Tuesday.
The satellite was projected with a Long March-2III Rocket Carrier at 15:30; about 20 minutes after it took off, the satellite entered the preset orbit, marking the success of the launching.
The satellite will be used to carry out scientific research, land surveying and mapping, and experiments in outer space. The Xi'an Satellite Measuring and Control Center will monitor the movements of the satellite.
It has been the 86th launching of the Long March series rockets, and it is the 44th successful space launch by China since October 1996.
In 1975, China launched its first return satellite from the Jiuquan base.
Source: Xinhua
|
Search This Site
Syndicate this blog site
Powered by BlogEasy
Free Blog Hosting
|