Thank You Video to the Medical Teams

I don’t know the origin of  this video, but it appears to be of American origin, based on the dialogue and the apparent native American accent.

Recently I witnessed a commotion in downtown Guiyang where there were a lot of honking horns and police were standing at attention, saluting.  There was a traffic procession. It turns out that the doctors from Guiyang who went to Wuhan to fight the virus were returning home after about one month on duty. They were being given an honorable welcome home from the local people.

A Message from the Publisher

March 2, 2019
To:          Whom it may concern
From:    John S. Porter, Publisher of WWW.TOURGUIZHOU.COM

Re:         Support for www.tourguizhou.com and the video: “Robo Cars of China”

The Tour Guizhou system of web blogs and chats is intended to create space online information about Guizhou people (including foreigners) our shared culture, food, education, natural beauty, technology, doing business, wine, minorities, and many other things. I have been coming to Guizhou, helping teach English and sharing the culture of Guizhou. I like informing western, English speaking, peoples about Guizhou. I have been coming to Guizhou for nineteen years (first visiting Guizhou to teach in the year 2000) and  I have actively promoted Guizhou online through the www.tourguizhou.com web site for the last seven years. There is also a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tourguizhou/

My background in the USA has included data processing, community leadership, and, as a community leader, I helped create a transportation authority which provides bus transportation to the Grand Traverse Bay (GTBay) region. GTBay is in Northern Michigan of the USA. For a period of time, I was Chairman of the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA).  That is why I am so excited about the Big Data and transportation innovation in Guizhou.  I recognize its potential in bring us all closer together by advancing the quality of our lives, not just in Guizhou, but also the world.

The video “Robo Cars of China” is an attempt to merge many of my ideas about China and the West into a coherent concept of cooperation, friendly competition, and inspiring young people to engage the new technologies. I want the young people to prepare themselves in an enthusiastic and collaborative way. A key element to this cooperation is “Technology English”. As engineers work together, they soon discover that their English teachers didn’t prepare them for collaborations on technical issues using English. English teachers are typically not engineers. For almost a year I have worked on this video about Guiyang and its robotic car basic research.

The video is staged in Guiyang, promoting Guiyang to the tech community, but also it teaches “Technology” English.  It blends technology English with an interesting cooperation and competition, all taking place in Guiyang. It is an English teaching document, a technical document, and an effort to inspire the young. It is also a promotion of Guiyang, China, and  the cooperation that is growing between and among different countries.

The Tourguizhou web site stresses the lifestyle in Guiyang which is geared to young professionals who want to live in an interesting and progressive culture. Guiyang combines tourist attractions with a progressive technology culture. I have enjoyed telling this story on the web, and the video is my most ambitious effort yet. Unfortunately, I have been forced into retirement by operation of law. At age 68 I am faced with returning to my home country to find work in order to sustain myself. My work in promoting technology and Guizhou will draw to a close unless I find support from the Chinese government and the Chinese businesses that value collaboration with the West. I think Westerners should also have an interest in promoting this kind of cooperation as well. Any thoughts on grant ideas or other support are requested and appreciated.

usainfo@yahoo.com

usainfo@yahoo.com

Soccer — A Guizhou Issue ?

I have friends that are very into soccer. They play and even talk about coaching kids. The article below came as kind of a lightening bolt. How many out there think this is a good idea for Guizhou People? Perhaps there is funding to help coach the kids coming up. Please let me know at: tourguizhou@gmail.com .

Jack

Bloomberg, on China Soccer <VPN Required- see text below>

soccer1
Bloomberg•October 16, 2016 [https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-10-17/a-fifa-boost-for-china-s-soccer-goal]
China’s Soccer Goal
Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s new president, has ambitious plans. They are, however, easy to execute and may help further the goals of some of the soccer body’s major sponsors.
Planned total of teams in World Cup: 48
For a start, Infantino is pledging to invest $4 billion to increase the number of football participants to 60 percent of the world’s population, from the current 45 percent. Guess what: He doesn’t have to spend the money. More Chinese kicking a ball around could get him to his target in one move.
Coincidentally, that would fit well with the strategy of Wang Jianlin, China’s second-richest man, whose Dalian Wanda Group in March became the first major sponsor of FIFA since a criminal corruption scandal overwhelmed

soccer2the organization and led to the ouster of longtime president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter. Jack Ma, the nation’s richest man, followed suit in courting the federation.
When he announced his cash injection into the soccer authority, Wang said that having multiple sponsors “will help China bid to host the World Cup.”
That remains to be seen, but another of the aims Infantino laid out on Friday may at least help the world’s most populous nation return to the World Cup, in which it participated just once, without winning any games. The new president plans to increase the number of teams in the event to 48 from the current 32.
Ranked 78 by FIFA, China still has to work on its national team to reach the World Cup, even with the greater number of participants. But from a statistical perspective, a 50 percent increase in the number of available seats increases the odds that the nation makes it.
That’s just what Xi Jinping needed. The avowed soccer fan has declared football a national priority and harbors an ambition to see the country host and win the World Cup. Naturally, it makes sense for people in the private sector to help him get there.
The China team’s recent losses to Syria (really) and Uzbekistan indicate that the only way is up. As FIFA continues to grapple with the fallout from the corruption scandal, it needs supporters with deep pockets such as those in China. This is the start of a long friendship.
– —

 

 

Saving a Library

Ever since Alexandria, we in the West have had a thing for libraries, those depositories of human knowledge.  I recently joined a group of those that have saved a library. When Ray caught TB, he had to make a quick escape, leaving his library behind him.  I’ve estimated about 100 boxes and about a ton of books.  That may be a biased figure.

After two moves, the books are now safely housed in a warehouse situation at a cost of 160 rmb/month. I’ve learned a lot about employing Chinese labor during these two moves, with the last move, up one story from my apartment, costing 160 rmb.

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Teachers Needed

 NOTE: The following was provided by Mr. Pan, who is working hard to bring education opportunities to remote areas of Guizhou Province. I have discussed his project with him several times and wish him success.  ….  Also, I have listed this post under categories of  Education, Do-Gooders, and Jack, which I believe to be appropriate. . .  Jack

 

YY English Learning Center offers English language services to children and youth in remote areas in Guizhou Province, China.  Our mission is to bring equal opportunity of education and exposure to children and youth of remote regions in Guizhou Province.  YY works together with local schools to bring quality English language instructions to children of minority ethnic origins, and to children that are “left behind” by parents who find jobs in coastal areas in search of a better life.  More than 80% of our student population are ethnic minorities, and more than 70% of our student population are “left-behind” children.
 
YY English Learning Center currently operates in Luodian County, Duyun District. We are also in the process of expanding to other regions including Weining, Pu’an, Shuicheng, and Libo. We are providing supplemental English classes focusing on listening and speaking.  In Luodian, we have enrolled more than 400 primary school children ages from 6 to 12, and close to 100 middle school children ages from 12 to 15. The numbers are still growing!  
 
Our classes are structured to bring out the best of Chinese style classroom teaching, native speaker classroom teaching, and native speaker on-line teaching.  While the Chinese teacher provides the basic structure and drilling of the English language, the on-line teacher provides the authenticity and accuracy for the class.  The native speaker brings in the dynamic effects of the language learning process and a level of connectedness.  Our approach has proven to be effective.
 
We are in dire need of native speakers that can do on-line teaching through Skype Monday through Friday afternoons.  Classes are 40 minutes each with some 20 students, focusing on elementary listening and speaking.  The class schedule for each day is 4:40 – 5:20, 5:30 – 6:10, 7:30 – 8:10, and 8:20 – 9:00. YY can compensate teachers up to RMB120 (USD20) per class. The classes are assisted by an assistant teacher for the best results.
 
We are also looking for guest native speakers on weekends to visit Loudian, a beautiful place in the Southern part of Guizhou.  We will provide transportation, accommodations, and stipends for speakers.  And we can arrange sight-seeing and family visits if requested.
 
If you are interested, please contact Mr. Lili Pan at +86-189-7496-7777, or email him at lilipan@ymail.com.  

Christmas Santa Was Cool

I had a chance to play Santa at a couple friends’ schools20141228_150048This is Christine. She wanted a laptop, so I let her sit on my lap.

Here’s a few more pictures which are representative of venue.

training programs for rural English teachers in Guizhou – interview with Dorothy & Frank Kehl – A Life Connecting China, Aug 2014

Dorothy & Frank Kehl – A Life Connecting China,
Aug 2014 interview on Blue Ocean Network (BON), Beijing.
Topics: Volunteers from Hong Kong, the United States and Canada helping rural Chinese English teachers. Also, US-China relations since the 1970s.

Dorothy Kehl is an ESL teacher who retired from Brooklyn College. Frank Kehl is an anthropologist who retired from Baruch College, CUNY. Both have been active in promoting US-China educational exchanges, in recent years in summer educational programs in Guizhou, Shanxi and elsewhere.

Interview uploaded at: http://www.bon.tv/shows/level/2014-8-9/1407642956322.shtml

Frank Kehl can be contacted at:  <fkehl@us-cx.com>; Dorothy Kehl at:  <dorothykehl@hotmail.com>;

Renee’s Letter

Hello jack,

 I hope you won’t feel this is a bit abrupt. My name is Danqi Yu, or you could just call me Renee. I am actually a native Guiyang ren.[Person] 😉 I grew up there and left for my undergrad degree at Macau.
I just wanna say thank you so much of doing such a great blog about Guiyang and guizhou province. It is really awesome to have someone who cares about my hometown so much and provides so much detailed information to other people, like me.
I’m currently studying in the United States at New York City, majored in nonprofit management as my master degree. And I was doing research on volunteer opportunities in Guiyang because my summer vacation is coming and I’m planning to go back to Guiyang.
I saw you have a section as “Do-Gooders”. So I was just wondering is there anything that I could help in this summer? I’m a Chinese native speaker and pretty fluent in English. I’d like to join any kinds of volunteer programs or anything related to event planning and fundraising.
Thank you so much for you time on reading my super long email. Have a great day!
############
Reply:
Renee,
Thanks for you kind note about my blog.  Yes, there are a lot of needs in Guizhou, but the devil is in the details.  How can we get young and ambitious people from around the world to become interested in China and Guizhou in a way that helps Guizhou and help China lift itself up? It’s like a room full of smoke. You have a big problem, but you just can’t wrap your arms around it.
I am an English teacher at Guizhou Normal University and have taught English in Guizhou on and off over the last 14 years. One of the most exciting projects that I have seen is the Forerunner College http://www.forerunnercollege.com/EN/ . A group of university teachers took a bus down there to have a look. We were each greeted by the President and founder of the place as we got off the bus. Wow. First impressions really do last.
This college is a total charity based college and it gives free education to students who might not have another way to go to school. I have taught countryside kids and privileged kids, rich and poor. It’s a paradox in a way, but money is wrecking a lot of kids. It’s not just poverty that is hurting Guizhou, but the value system that some privileged kids are coming up with. That is why I am excited to hear from someone like you, obviously privileged, but with a service oriented attitude. Oops. I am digressing . . .
I spoke with teachers from Forerunner College and, after only a few hours visit, I think I know what might be happening there.  First, the place is full of kids that are really excited about learning. Second, there are a lot of young, altruistic volunteers. When you have a huge concentration of kids that have only one chance to be successful, they work like crazy. The culture is extremely productive. Third, I’ve heard that some privileged kids have been permitted to attend under a tuition arrangement. I was told that their attitudes are a little different than those of the main body of students.
I’m not sure if the Forerunner College is accepting very many tuition based students. I am not sure about their attitudes. I’m not sure if this admirable charitable organization has some financial trouble, forcing a conversion to a tuition based finance system. What I fear, however, is the possible loss of the countryside student culture. If you are rich, and your child has study habits that prevent him or her from going to a credible university, you shouldn’t be permitted to buy him a place at a charitable school, a school that is intended to uplift kids from poverty. I don’t know if this is true at Forerunner, but that is what I fear.
So I believe that the Forerunner College might be a chance for you to help with this fundraising problem, if you can find a way to participate. Can you wrap your arms around a roomful of smoke? I would hate to see bad study habits infect the students of Forerunner College. I don’t want their financial status to oblige them to accept tuition based students.  I hope they find a way to fund their operations charitably, helping the kids with the greatest need. It is a wonderful experiment, and perhaps people like you can come to their aid.
Jack

BMIC project — Bangladesh-Myanmar-India-China corridor; 440 million people in Yunnan, Bangladesh, Burma and Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar and the northeast region

India and China Seek Economic Integration Via Burma, Bangladesh

By NEETA LAL / ASIA SENTINEL|  Nov 6, 2013 |http://www.irrawaddy.org/china/india-china-seek-economic-integration-via-burma-bangladesh.html  and www.natunbarta.com/english/business-and-finance/2013/11/0…

The recent endorsement by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of a multibillion dollar construction corridor encompassing Bangladesh, China, India and Burma—if it materializes—could redraw the economic and geopolitical map of Asia.

Termed “an international gateway to South Asia,” the BMIC corridor, as it is known, was the highlight of Li’s recent visit to India. The Chinese premier’s office commented that the link “will surely release enormous growth energy and provide new vitality for the Asian economic integration and global growth.”

Statements like this are the usual hyperbole of state visits and must be taken with skepticism. But this time China, over recent weeks, has publicly unveiled a huge burst of ambitious plans to further draw East Asia, including both South Asia and Southeast Asia, into its economic and political orbit.

“Connectivity” is China’s new mantra and the focus of Beijing’s long-term planning and strategic thinking, extending a web of rail, highway and air links all over the region and recently, during the visit of President Xi Jinping, offering an infrastructure bank to help build it. Given the region’s considerable natural resources, and China’s need for them to fuel its industrial growth, planners have all roads pointed toward Beijing.

The economic advantages of the corridor—covering 1.65 million square kilometers, encompassing an estimated 440 million people in the regions of Yunnan, Bangladesh, Burma and Indian states like West Bengal, Bihar and the northeast region—are gargantuan. Besides access to myriad markets in Southeast Asia, the link is also expected to enhance the transportation infrastructure and creation of industrial zones.

…With labor costs rising in China, labor-intensive industries such as textile and agro processing will eventually be shifted out of China to newer regions that offer labor at relatively lower costs. “This will lead companies operating in China to give priority to the trade corridor region given its established infrastructure, improved logistics and ease of access,” he added.

India’s isolated eastern and northeastern states also stand to gain by higher trade and connectivity with China and the rest of Asia…The bridge dovetails well with India’s own “Look East” initiative and regional plans to help the BMIC grouping. China and Bangladesh have already been pressing India to improve and upgrade existing road and other traffic network on its territory, with a view to facilitating more border trade and strengthening the local economies involved.

 Ethnic minorities areas in Guizhou map -dark blue-Miao; dark green-Buyi; pink-Dong; light green-Yi; brown-Tujia; light blue-Gelao; yellow-Shui

24-Zig along the Burma Road (滇缅公路24拐)
“The “24-zig” is in Guizhou Province, it has 24 sharp bends on a high mountain. The Burma Road was largely built by Chinese during World War II to bring supplies to beleagured China, to help Chinese resist the Japanese invasion.
(from www.chinawhisper.com/top-10-most-dangerous-roads-in-china )
– – –
Historic ’24-zig’ Rediscovered on Stilwell Road

August 15, 2002, China Daily, english.peopledaily.com.cn/200208/15/print20020815_101492…

People can see a famous old photo on websites about World War II: convoys of US GMC military trucks snaking up a steep zigzag road in southwest China’s mountainous region.

It illustrates the crucial lifeline that linked the Chinese battlefield with allied forces 57 years ago. The road, nicknamed “24-zig” because it has 24 sharp bends on a high mountain, was believed to lie on the famous Stilwell Road, also known as the Burma Road.

Along the road, mountains of guns, bullets and food were carried by US trucks to China to fight against the Japanese troops.The “24-zig” was so geologically typical and a symbol of the times that its fame was soon spread worldwide by the international media.

However, after the war ended half a century ago, the precise location of the “24-zig” faded from memory. Many Chinese, Japanese and Westerners tried to pinpoint it along the Stilwell Road and the Burma Road in Yunnan Province, but it seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Guo Shuya, a Chinese expert in World War II history, has been studying the road for many years. In 2001, he happened to get a piece of information from Japan that the “24-zig” was not on the Stilwell Road as many experts believed, but actually on another road in nearby Guizhou Province.

Guo went to Guizhou and sought help from elderly drivers, and they told him the “24-zig” was in a county named Qinglong, two hundreds miles away from Guiyang, capital of Guizhou.

Guo made his way to Qinglong where he rediscovered the “24-zig”.

“I have solved a riddle that has puzzled people worldwide for half a century, ” he said. “It seems that we still don’t know very much about World War II.”

The Stilwell Road was a single road built in 1944 between Indiaand China’s Yunnan Province. However, the international community usually regarded all the traffic networks in southwest China as being part of the famous road, which was named after Joseph Stilwell, commander-in-chief of the China-Burma-India war theater.

“The ’24-zig’ is indeed in Guizhou, and it can be seen as an extension of the Stilwell Road,” said Zhou Mingzhong, an official with the Guizhou Transportation Bureau.

He said that the road was built by US troops and remained undamaged. These days curious drivers usually ride on the historic road for fun.

“Currently, Guizhou is investing heavily in a campaign to build new roads. However, we will preserve the “24-zig” according to its original look,” said Zhou, adding that “it is a relic of World War II, and a symbol of Sino-American friendship”.

= = =
The Burma Road

for good photos see: http://www.tinyadventurestours.com/Eng/Destinations/BurmaRoad.html

The road was constructed between 1937 and 1938 during the ‘Second Sino-Japanese War’ by combining existing roads and tracks and upgrading them for use by heavy transports and even building completely new roads and bridges. This all through an area in which till then hardly any roads had existed. The purpose of the road was to keep supplies coming in while the eastern sea ports of China were controlled or blocked by Japanese forces.

The road got closed off by the Japanese occupation of Burma and western Yunnan. Control over the road resulted in critical battles like the battle at the Huitong Bridge and the battle at Songshan Mountain in the Gaoligong mountain range.
During the second world war American engineer regiments constructed a new road from Ledo in India across Burma to connect to the original Burma Road. The combined road got named “Stilwell road” after American General ‘Vinegar Joe’ Stilwell.
Burma road at present. The present day enlarged and improved Burma Road crossing the Gaoligong mountain range near Longling.
At the turn of the century the British had attempted to extend their rail network from Lashio in Burma into Yunnan but had given up because the terrain was one of the hardest in the world with many mountains and big rivers to cross. The only east/west connection was the ‘Southern Silk Road’, a combination of footpaths and horse trails leading to footbridges and ferry crossings.
The Burma Road was constructed by an unskilled local labour force of thousands recruited from the various tribes living along the route. The tools used were local farming tools and complicated constructions were avoided by letting the road hug the higher parts of the mountains and avoiding the valleys with rivers and streams as well as muddy flat lands as much as possible.

Nowadays.

Over the years the road got widened and paved with cobble stones but the road in its full length does not exist anymore as such. National road G320 incorporated parts of the old road and some parts got abandoned. Now the new G56 four lane motorway replaces the G320 again. This modern, road with many bridges and tunnels, makes it possible to drive the entire length of the old Burma Road in hours.

from “Kueichou – An Internal Chinese Colony,” by J E Spencer, Pacific Affairs, vol. 13,no 2,(Jun,1940), pp 162-172 quote from pp. 167.  See whole article free with Google Books, http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2751051?uid=3737800&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102539382847
photoBritish in 1942 traveling through Guiyang to the Burma Road, escaping Japanese takeover of Hong Kong, see: http://www.hongkongescape.org/Legge.htmtrade routes in the Yuan dynasty – Note “Southwestern Silk Road” thru Yunnan.

Chinese archaeological writer Bin Yang, whose work, ‘Between Winds and Clouds; The Making of Yunnan’, (Columbia University Press,2004) and some earlier writers and archaeologists, such as Janice Stargardt strongly suggest this route of international trade as Sichuan-Yunnan-Burma-Bangladesh route. According to Bin Yang, especially from the 12th century the route was used to ship bullion from Yunnan (gold and silver being among the minerals in which Yunnan is rich), through northern Burma, into modern Bangladesh, making use of the ancient route, known as the ‘Ledo’ route. The emerging evidence of the ancient cities of Bangladesh, in particular Wari-Bateshwar ruins, Mahasthangarh, Bhitagarh, Bikrampur, Egarasindhur and Sonargaon are believed to be the international trade centers in this route. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Silk_Road )