US Congress and China

An ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”

What about doing business in China. Here is food for thought:

U.S. trade with China has declined, even as Beijing deals with strains on its own economy.

US Congress on Business in China

Admin:
I try to stay out of politics with the Toiurguizhou Web site. After ten years in business, this is the only “Dot Com” I know of that isn’t blocked.  Well this last post might be considered a little political, but desperate times call for desperate measures . . .

The Ultimate Competitor

During the Beijing Winter, Olympics February 4 to February 20, 2022, I was watching sports on TV and, of course the news. In the middle of those two weeks of competition I saw the Russian leader show up in Beijing. He wasn’t there to cheer on the Russian Olympic Team. He came to  talk about friendship and alliances with the Chinese leader. Ukraine was on their minds and perhaps a little “Chinese Island” which was wrongfully separated from the mainland. These two guys announced that they were friends and would be working together going forward. That little Chinese island was really part of China, as much as the Ukraine was really part of Russia . . . same, same.

I remember thinking “What are they doing here?” The Russian team has been banned for cheating in prior Olympics. Perhaps the Chinese leader was using the Olympics as a  prop, a “media event” to call attention to the friendship of the two countries. Russia and China were going forward into the future as cooperating friends. That made sense. Russia has natural resources and a lot of land. An alliance between China and Russia would be mutually advantageous. What better way to advertise this alliance than with the Olympics?

Still I was put off by the Russian Leader, a “Notorious Thumper” and a cheat, coming to share the limelight at one of the greatest competitions of good will in the world.  The Olympics, the event that had banned the Russian Team.. Do we know what the two leaders were planning? Perhaps another media spectacle to call attention to themselves. We don’t know, but they were very likely planning something . . .

“Sports” is an activity that is used to promote human accomplishment, the ultimate competition. Yet we have other competitions as humans, like education, the arts, science, and technology. All of these go better with teamwork. Almost every aspect of human culture and  accomplishment goes better with teamwork. I will always remember a music teacher that I met at Oakland University who told me that no matter how good of a musician thatyou are, you are still limited. You can’t make music as well as a good band when all the musicians are “on,” a TEAM.

We have seen this kind of teamwork create excellence, greater than one person can achieve. We have teachers traversing the world, creating the best education. We have seen this in science and technology when smart  people from all countries work together, collaborating to advance humanity. These competitions are making better lives for us all when we do it right. It takes more than one person to create a blockbuster movie that spans cultures around the world. This is where communications technology shines. “The Media” can enhance our lives, make a lot of money, as well as promote friendships, teamwork, and competition.

But what  commands more attention and makes the most money? No more dancing around this subject . . . The biggest competition is:

WAR (Click Here)

Lyrics:

War, huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, oh hoh, oh
War huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it again y’all
War, huh good God
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me

Oh, war, I despise
‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
War means tears to thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go off to fight and lose their lives

I said
War, huh good God y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, just say it again
War whoa Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker

Oh war, is an enemy to all mankind
The thought of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest within the younger generation
Induction, then destruction who wants to die

War, good God, y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it, say it, say it
War, uh huh, yeah, huh
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker
War, it’s got one friend that’s the undertaker

Oh, war has shattered many young man’s dreams
Made him disabled bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious to spend fighting wars these days
War can’t give life it can only take it away, ooh

War, huh, good God y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it again
War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker

Peace love and understanding tell me
Is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way

War, huh, good God y’all
What is it good for?
You tell ’em, say it, say it, say it, say it
War, good Lord, huh
What is it good for?
Stand up and shout it, nothing
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker

Seventy Percent Recovered — Covid-19 Update 20200410

This post has been five days in the making and still isn’t done.  The darn Iphone, that new model that is so “user friendly” has been fighting me on givng up the videos that really make this post come alive . . . I will add the video and photos later in the interest of time . . . jsp20200416.

My unscientific reckoning is that Guiyang has recovered to about 70%, of the economic activity prior to the outbreak.  The virus is about 99% destroyed. I believe that perhaps this is a fair proxy for the other areas in China. This 70% is my guess of the back to work people. Business is not good because a lot of people lost money.

About ten days ago I got caught in a traffic jam. I really do hate Guiyang trafic jams. This was the first one in about six weeks. It meant that people are getting back to work.  The theaters are closed, no concerts, large gatherings are prohibited, and to some extent, some restaurants are still closed. Schools are expected to begin opening next week. In fact there are two grades, for age 15 to 17 that are already open.  They are studying for the national exam..

A friend of mine has closed his restaurant and moved away because business was bad, even though it was legal to open.  Most people are still wearing their face masks. Of course in the the restaurants masks are not particularly useful.  I believe people are also still shy about going out to restaurants because they don’t want to get the virus. We have had little sign of the virus for weeks now. It is clear to me that a complete job of virus eradication can take place in six to eight weeks of intense effort. Then you must be on guard for hotspots. It probably isn’t possible in the USA. I have friends that are outraged that our Governor wants people to stop golfing until the the virus is under control.

There is confidence in the public that the virus is not a significant danger right now. There are people standing in groups in public places, some with masks and others, not. This video was taken about April 8.   Huaguo Yuan Shopping area They seem to have the confidence that the very strict methods for controlling the virus will work, and can be reimposed should there be a flairup. Every taxi, bus, or train has a cell phone scan to make sure contact tracing can be done should someone get sick.

On the Bus

Public buildings have the same kind of cell phone ID and location scanning. If someone gets sick, the government will trace the people that the sick person came in contact with. The video below was taken about a week ago and, about April 10 and shows the scanning process as well as the casual nature of the “Social Distancing” Chinese style.

I think that Wuhan was shut down on January 23 and Guiyang was shutdown about January 26.   About this time I got a phone call from the local police.  I didn’t know that they were police.  Usually when somebody calls me speaking Chinese I don’t understand what they are saying.  I just say in Chinese that  I am a foreigner and don’t understand what they are saying.  Then I hung up.  This person persisted and called me again.  This time she called me by my Chinese name.  So I decided that since only  the people with my Visa knew my Chinese name, I assumed they were police.I struggled through the Chinese and managed to talk to them about what they were thinking.  They have a list of all the foreigners living in Guiyang.  They called every one of us.  I checked with my friends and they all received a telephone calls like this.  A friend has a legal visa to live in China but he has not registered with the local police department. I don’t know if he got a call.

So the phone calls from the local police served several functions. They wanted to make sure that I was OK, that I was wearing a face mask, and to update their list as to where all the foreigners were living in Guiyang.  I confirmed my English and Cinese names, my phone number, my WeChat (similar to WhatsApp) address, my emergency contact, etc. I really didn’t know how to explain to the police that I didn’t have a good face mask. I was using a scarf at the time. As you would expect, all the stores were sold out of facemasks. I finally was able to ask them if they could get me a face mask. They said that they didn’t have any extra face masks. I decided to just contnue searching.  Of course that was rediculous. The last thing anybody wanted was a foreigner going from store to store, without a mask on, looking for a facemask. After I hung up, an  hour later a policeman showed up at my door and gave me facemask. That was a good solution.  He was the guy in charge of the neighborhood police, and I was able to meet him and get his WeChat address.  We took pictures of each other. We then saluted rather than shake hands at the end of the meeting.
As I write this on April 12, Guiyang seems pretty normal.  I am fairly well known in my neighborhood and I feel safe.  I’ve lived here for three years and people recognize me.  I think that’s because I’m very fat and very white, and have a big nose (Chinese often comment on how fat I am and what a big nose I have).  So I feel like it’s no problem for me.  I have seen some information about blacks who have been targeted as being Covid-19 carriers.  There has been some racist views online that has made it uncomfortable. In some cities blacks in particular, especially in Guangzhou there has been some trouble . . .  Nigerian blacks being evicted.  Hopefully this will diminish as the memory of the virus diminishes.  If it grows then I can see how whites could also be targeted.  It was particularly difficult when some of the Chinese were accusing the U.S.  of a bio-attack.  In response our leadership (the USA President)  labeled the virus the “W***n” virus, or the “Ch***se” virus. (Incidentally, sometimes the “bots” are set up to block inflamatory language on websites coming into China. I use *** because I don’t want this page to be blocked.)
There seem to be two impediments to a rapid return to prosperity right now.  Restaurants are open, but business is not so good. As my friend, the restaurant owner, pointed out, people lost a lot of money during the six to eight week shutdown. They just don’t have a lot of extra money for discretionary spending. The second block is a bit more difficult. the Chinese still have a very significant dependency on international trade for income.  As the borders around the world are closed and airlines shut down, China is losing a lot of income. Accordingly, a full recovery in China depends on an expansion in world trade, and recovery in its major trading partners. The world trade leader  is the USA, and the USA is still failing after three and a half months. World trade was falling prior to the Covid-19 due to the trade war. There is no coherent plan of attack on the virus.  This bodes ill for the future of the world economy, and the USA economy in particular.

On the trade front, if nobody knows if an American is sick with a virus, no American will be permitted to cross the border of a foreign country. This is a very, very uncomfortable situation for people trying to predict the future economic activity in America or China. Will the USA continue to be a trading nation? Three months ago the USA was the world’s largest economy and the world’s most active trading nation. Three months or three years from now, who knows when this situation will be resolved?

China is steadfast in fighting the virus. About a week ago I went  to my old residence, a factory. The factory has rooms for workers, and I rented two of them. When I moved into my new place, I left one room and saved the other for storage.  I have a friend with a lot of books that I stored for him and he pays the rent. My friend saved all his books for over 20 years and thinks he is going to return to China and use them, or maybe donate them to a worthy cause. (Ray’s Library ) I also have some of my stuff stored in there as well. I hope to use that room if I am told to leave China, currently scheduled for two months from now.  A week ago, when I went to check out the books and my stuff in storage, I was stopped at the Bazhai Road checkpoint. That checkpoiont is about 1/4 mile from my current residence. The security in China is still very diligent, protecting every neighborhood from any possible source of virus. They wanted to know who I was and what was my business there.  I told them that I was there to check my stuff that I had in storage.They called for backup and asked me to sit down. I refused.

This was my old neighborhood and people knew me. I had bought veggies and eggs at the old outdoor market I used to shop at. I had the eggs in my back pack.  I was afraid that if I sat down, then I would forget about the eggs and eventually lean back, crushing the eggs in my backpack. I was asked to wait and several times I was asked to sit down. I refused. I usually do what I am asked to do by the authorities, but this time I was a bit annoyed and was really worried about crushing the eggs. While I was waiiting for the beaurocracy to do it’s thing, My old student came by and just hung around. This was  three years ago that I lived in that the factory apartment and the landlord’s daughter had studied English with me. I didn’t recognize her with her mask, and she had grown from 14 to 16. She hung around and confirmed that I did indeed have an apartment in her neiighborhood. While we were waiting, my old landlord (her father) showed up and only stayed for a little while.  A little while later, the guy that used to sell me my drinking water came by and said “Hi”.

When the little boss from  the police showed up (the backup) he was talking on the phone for some time and then asked me if I wore glasses. I said yes, sometimes I do for reading, and I showed him  the glasses. He pulled up a cell phone photo of me wearing glasses, with the big boss of the police department.  The big boss remembered that he had a picture of me. They confirmed that I hadn’t gone anywhere outside of the neighborhood in the last 14 days and that I lived in the neighborhood. From then on, it was no problem.  My former student accompanied me throughout the neighborhood. I bought some beer from a tiny little grocery story next to my old apartment and of course the student carried the beer. I had brought the wrong key to the apartment and we had to talk to “Grandma” who I had left an extra key with. I got into the apartment and confirmed that everything was ok, and selected an old full lenght mirror that had been in storage. I was done.

Before leaving I surveyed Ray’s old library and asked my old student if she needed any English books. She said she already had too many English books, thanks but no thanks.  Then I noticed the algebra/trig book. It was an English/American math book. I asked her about her age and she was sixteen, just the right age for algebra and trig.

Back in the USA I had a very small robotics business and one of my friends was a Chinese native PhD, in the Oakland Univesity Engineering Department. He had told me that he was the “go to” guy when Chinese engineering students needed help with math. The Chinese that come to the USA are typically very good in math. The only problem is that they learned math in Chinese, rather than English. These kids have a terrible time transitioning between Chinese and English math. My PhD friend helps them with the transition.

Anyway, I asked my old student how her math was, and she said just so so. I told her that she needs another Algebra/Trig book at her age and I pointed out that an English math book might help her understand the math better also. Her English was pretty good. I told her that Ray wanted her to have the math/trig book, but if he asks for it back, then she must give it to him.  She was so happy. I hope it helps her. She might be another imported Chinese engineer. Heaven knows our STEM program in the USA could use a boost!

That was a small gesture of offering a math book to a young girl in a poor part of China.  A math book helps women in general, letting her know that she is important. It also helps the USA attract students, and even future scientists who speak English, I hope.  Perhaps this young Chinese girl can take the bit in her teeth and help turn around the USA brain drain. Articles about the H-1b American brain drain shows us just how fast national fortunes can turn around. Now, rather that attracting talent from around the world, the Trump administration seems to be doing its best to get rid of immigrants, no matter how much they might contribute to our economy in the West:

 

Big Data Expo 2019 Comes to Guiyang

The Big Data Conference was another success and an eye opener. There were flashy displays, like the Pixmoving Autonimous Vehicle presentation and utilitarian displays such as bridge inspection and coordinated facial recognition software for China’s Skynet camera set.

The Big Data sign was very interesting.  It looke like it was made out of toy blocks and you really didn’t see the whole message unless you were standing right in front of it.  Seen from any other angle, you only got part of the picture.

More on the Big Data Conference can be found at: China Daily– Big Data

Also: E_Guiyang

 

Leaving the Big Data Conference was exhilarating:

Robo Cars of China is now on Youtube!

Here is a link to each module. The modules go from about three minutes to six. There is a little summary of the content with each link.

Robo Cars of China in 9 Episodes(Youtube):
1
Jack goes to China and learns about autonomous car R&D (Open Source). Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, this is the big push in China, and automated vehicles are data intensive.
https://youtu.be/kQBQtQj-RKg
2
Jack explains the organization of the video and gives some terminology.
https://youtu.be/BGOzcatJ9hk
3
Jack meets “Chase” for the first time and finds out about the “Hackathon” and creation of self-driving, open source software by the participants.
https://youtu.be/CAcAFtHxRzM4
4
How does Guiyang compare with other Chinese cities for technology? How did PIX  present itself in May at the Big Data Conference?
https://youtu.be/fqXTlncr8-g
5
Jack meets Nancy Lee. Nancy is the Marketing Manager for the Pixmoving Company. She told me a lot about PIX, driverless cars, and their open source (freely shared) software strategy.
https://youtu.be/KEvSAg7DA_c
6
Nancy explains how the Hackathon participants help to spread teh open source software around the world. She also introduces the Donkey Car competition.
https://youtu.be/yfkDfBpUwCs
7
The Donkey Car copention begins and the logic of the Donkey Car is explained.
https://youtu.be/uTNkVqp-AqM
8
The Donkey Car competition is in high gear with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Meet the Clark Brothers, the American team.
https://youtu.be/bZaPWaSt2U4
9
The Donkey Car competition concludes. Clark Brothers, the American Team tell how they came to China for this competition and a little more about the industry progress. https://youtu.be/VHoZwwVukKE

Autonimous Vehicles (AV) and Testing

The following article relates directly to the testing and implementation of AV in Guiyang. It is worth thinking about:
Link to Original Story

Forget Self-Driving Cars. Bring Back the Stick Shift.

Technology meant to save us from distraction is making us less attentive.
By Vatsal G. Thakkar
Dr. Thakkar is a psychiatrist.March 23, 2019

CreditPaulo Keller/EyeEm, via Getty Images
CreditCreditPaulo Keller/EyeEm, via Getty Images

I was backing my wife’s car out of our driveway when I realized I wasn’t watching the backup camera, nor was I looking out of the rear window. I was only listening for those “audible proximity alerts” — the high-pitched beeps that my car emits as I approach an object while in reverse. The problem was that my wife’s car, an older model, doesn’t offer such beeps.

I had become so reliant on this technology that I had stopped paying attention, a problem with potentially dangerous consequences.

Backup cameras, mandatory on all new cars as of last year, are intended to prevent accidents. Between 2008 and 2011, the percentage of new cars sold with backup cameras doubled, but the backup fatality rate declined by less than a third while backup injuries dropped only 8 percent.

Perhaps one reason is, as a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration put it, “Many drivers are not aware of the limitations” of the technology. The report also found that one in five drivers were just like me — they had become so reliant on the backup aids that they had experienced a collision or near miss while driving other vehicles.

The fact that our brains so easily overdelegate this task to technology makes me worry about the tech industry’s aspirations — the fully autonomous everything. Could technology designed to save us from our lapses in attention actually make us even less attentive?

Uber’s march toward a self-driving car hit a major speed bump last year in Tempe, Ariz., when one of its self-driving Volvos struck and killed a pedestrian. While a lot of focus was on how a vehicle with cameras and radar sensors could completely miss a human being on the road, less has been said about the failure of the most intricately programmed system in the vehicle — the brain of the human in the driver’s seat.

An investigation revealed that the driver was watching Hulu until the moment of the crash. Because the human brain is impeccable in its ability to filter out extraneous information, thistype of behavior should have been predicted. During normal driving, our brains are in a near-constant state of vigilance. But let someone or something do the driving for us and this vigilance easily fades.

Something similar seems to have happened with a handful of fatalities involving Tesla’s Autopilot mode. It seems that the drivers made little to no effort to intervene.

The introduction of safety technology has resulted in unintended accidents in other contexts as well. In December 2017, a patient died at a major medical center when a nurse searched for an anti-anxiety medication in an automated dispensing cabinet by typing only its first two letters. She chose the first drug that appeared in the results — Vecuronium, instead of Versed. Vecuronium is a paralytic drug that is sometimes used in executions.When it was administered, the patient’s vitals crashed and she died within days.

Technology seems to have turned against us once again in the deadly crashes of two Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts. In October, pilots on Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia seem to have struggled against the plane’s supposedly lifesaving technology. Investigators suspect that sensors incorrectly interpreted the plane’s ascent as too steep, causing the plane’s “maneuvering characteristics augmentation system” to kick in. It brought the plane’s nose down, ultimately into the Java Sea at 450 miles per hour.

Boeing had begun to develop a software fix, but it wasn’t ready in time for Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which just this month crashed, possibly because of the same bug, killing all 157 people on board. In these cases, no one can criticize the pilots for failing to pay attention. Still, the crashes were a wake-up call, especially because pilots weren’t required to be trained on the new technology.

Though a supercomputer will always surpass the human brain in terms of pure speed, the brain is beyond complex in its ability to reprioritize salient data inputs from multiple sources. If one input becomes less relevant, our cognitive systems shift their attention to the next most relevant one (which these days is usually our mobile devices).

But there’s one feature available on some cars today that can increase a driver’s vigilance instead of diminishing it — the manual transmission.

A car with a stick shift and clutch pedal requires the use of all four limbs, making it difficult to use a cellphone or eat while driving. Lapses in attention are therefore rare, especially in city driving where a driver might shift gears a hundred times during a trip to the grocery store.

I’ve owned a stick-shift vehicle for the last 20 years. I bought my first upon graduating from med school — a used 1994 BMW 325i. Years later, my best man wrote “just married” on the back windshield, and the next year my wife and I drove our newborn son home from the hospital in it.

Sadly, sales of manual transmissions are falling, and many automakers, including Audi, are discontinuing the option in the United States. It appears that I’ll have to keep my 2013 S4 model until 2026 if I want to teach my kids to drive a stick.

When I bought that first five-speed BMW, my dad cautioned me about safety, thinking that driving a stick would be more distracting and less safe. He was wrong. Though research on the safety of manual transmissions is scant, one study on the driving performance of teenage boys with A.D.H.D. revealed that cars with manual transmissions resulted in safer, more attentive driving than automatics. This suggests that the cure for our attentional voids might be less technology, not more.

Tour Guizhou in the News

Recently I had a reporter talk to me about my web site and little robot car video. There were a lot of  quesitons and I had to kind of give up my life story.  So finally the article came out and I am told it is quite complimentary.  I don’t read Chinese much, so I  trust that is was a good article.

When I was talking to the reporter I tried to promote my video, “Robocars of China“. Apparently this is highly specialized interest film. That is filmspeak for boring.  It seems like everybody I talk to says  that they have seen part of it. So if you weren’t already interested in high tech startups, the Guiyang Big Data project,  driverless cars  (cars that drive themselves), or learning technology English, you might not be interested in this video.

Even more disappointing than months of work maybe down the drain, people don’t seem to even like my handwriting with the Chinese lettering brush (maobi). They say the music and handwriting is kind of a waste of time. Well, enough about the video, I was happy to be interviewed by the Guizhou Evening Newspaper.

10:00 PM Update:
I finally got a look at the article in the translation software. Obviously, machine translation has a ways to go . . . For better or worse, here it is:

###########

In the confession of Guizhou,
foreigners wrote thousands of “love letters”!

When Guiyang meets Michigan, what sparks will it shine? In recent years, with the development of social economy, Guizhou’s beautiful landscapes and humanities have frequently entered the international arena. American Jack walked Guizhou for 20 years, built websites, wrote articles, made videos… with more than 1,000 special “love letters”, “confession” Guizhou, also promoted Guizhou to the world.

Love at first sight

“I came to Guiyang in 2000. I didn’t want to leave when I came.” The 68-year-old Jack came from Michigan, USA. In 2000, Jack came to Guizhou Normal University as an English teacher as a volunteer, and spent his free time with his friends. Jack said that Guiyang is beautiful and mysterious, and it immediately attracted him.

Before coming to Guizhou, Jack thought that the place he taught was an occluded place, but he did not expect that Guizhou was so beautiful, everywhere was beautiful, people lived slowly. He said that he likes to see Guiyang people rolling their trousers and rolling their sleeves to eat barbecue. After eating, they pick up their clothes and pat their stomachs. This is completely different from the rhythm of life in the United States.

In the past few years in Guizhou, Jack walked through thousands of Miao Village, Qingyan Ancient Town, Huangguoshu Waterfall, and Liupanshui Small Village. Jack, who was deeply influenced by Chinese culture, also gave himself a Chinese name, Tang Zhihu. In addition to traveling, Jack also has a big hobby – write an email, and occasionally write a message to a friend. He will use his Guizhou dialect to say hello to his friend in the mail. “Are you eating?”

▲ Jack gave himself the Chinese name, on the left is the handwriting of Jack’s friend, and on the right is Jack’s own handwriting.

Persevering love

In the past 20 years in Guizhou, Jack can be regarded as an “old Guiyang person”. He likes to eat Bean Rice Hot Pot, Huaxi Beef Powder, Intestines, and the degree of spicy eating can already beat many foreigners. Except for the spicy chickens, the others are not in the air. He also likes to take the bus. He said that different people can be observed on the bus.

On one occasion, Jack waited for the bus in Taiyingpo. As a result, there was a bird on the tree. The bird pulled a sputum and put it on his suit. Jack was very excited. “That is the biggest and darkest bird dropping I have ever seen.” . Jack said that he later got on the bus, someone gave him a tissue, and someone gave him money to buy clothes. He thought it was very interesting and very moving.

Until now, Jack has spoken English with friends every week, learning Chinese and English from each other. He can speak some Chinese, and whenever someone asks him to speak Guiyang, he says “tooth”, “a lost”, “I know”…

Jack said that Guizhou is not only attracted to the human landscape, but also fascinated by the development of science and technology. “Guiyang’s university is developing and Guizhou’s development is also very fast”. Jack saw the establishment of Guiyang North Station, Metro Line 1 and Big Data, and witnessed the rise of the city. I don’t know how much to witness in Guiyang in the future. miracle.

He wants to live in Guiyang

Before leaving the United States, Jack was the chairman of the US Sea Transportation Authority, so he was particularly interested in Guizhou’s big data and traffic. Jack himself is also a computer programmer. In 2012, Jack created his own foreign language website – visiting Guizhou, his website.

(Note on translation: Besides the obvious differences in language and machine translation, I have one correction: I was Chairman of the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) of Traverse City, Michigan, USA.

 

 

 

New York City Science Teachers and Tourguizhou

The techy RoboCars of China  video was invited to the Science Council of New York City Annual Meeting, but we couldn’t go. Instead we sent our business cards, specially designed for the Annual Meeting event coming this April 6. It is particularly exciting for fans of Guiyang because there are potentially thousands of New York City young people that can be exposed to the technology of China’s Big Data Valley as featured in the video. Further, through the www.tourguizhou.com website, the full range of the Guizhou portfolio will be featured.

For information about the event and the Science Council, visit:SCoNYC .

I believe China and the West can learn a lot from each other. Perhaps the Science Program in NYC can learn something from Guizhou! Here’s the card:

(Click Thumbnail for Full Sized View)

This conference is hosted at the famous Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan .  More about Stuyvesant can be found at: More about Stuyvesant

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