Wedding Anniversary

This year was our 26th wedding anniversary with no big celebration. We went to Morel's Belgium Restaurant in Beijing. We are looking forward to celebrating our anniversary next year in our usual tradition of Thanksgiving in Corning, NY and dinner at Pierce's 1894. Maybe we will visit Pierce's at Christmas time in 3-4 weeks.

http://www.pierces1894restaurant.com/

Visit from Kennett Square

Good friends from back home in the US visited with us in Beijing, November 15th to 26th. The visit included shopping (of course); good meals; good historical sites; and of course good companionship. BF showed them our Beijing favorites during the weekday.

It was nice to share with our friends what life is like here in Beijing. Below is a sampling of the things that were experienced.

The guys also went to Xi'an for a Saturday trip to the Terracotta Warriors (like going to Chicago for the day).

Gan en jie

Happy Thanksgiving. It was a work day in Beijing but a few of us celebrated Thanksgiving lunch by having chicken wings at the Beijing Hooters.

BF and our US friends who are visiting......... we had take-away pizza and a quiet night for Thanksgiving dinner.

Can't wait to celebrate Thanksgiving with tradition back in the US next year.

US Trip in November

BF went to the US to be with MF for his knee surgery. He is getting to be very experienced with joint surgeries (just had shoulder surgery last Christmas). He is going to a Baltimore doctor and hospital as opposed to Philadelphia this year (proximity to school). Surgery during the Christmas break was out this year as he needs to attend class in South America to satisfy his graduation requirements during the Winter break. His on November 8th went well according to his surgeon. Now he needs to undergo physical therapy.

I love the "yes" handwriting on the left knee and the "no" handwriting on the right knee. Better safe than sorry.
While in the US, BF had an opportunity to spend time with EF and celebrate her 20th birthday. Happy birthday E. (although, I know you do not read this blog)! ! !

Senior Management Meetings

We had senior management visit us in Beijing for the early part of the week. Here is a candid picture at the St Regis restaurant, Danieli's:

Democracy in China

Our English paper, the China Daily had a very good whitepaper report this week titled "China'a Political Party System". The basic political system in China is a Multi-party Cooperation System, (better sounding name for Communist Party of China - one in the same though) according to the Chinese Constitution. This is different than the western two-party of multi-party competition systems.

So here is where the constitution gets interesting and reads, "The People's Republic of China is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants." The whitepaper goes on to explain, "The government system that accords with such a form of state is the system of people's congresses, and the political party system that accords with it is that of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC. The systems of people's congresses, multi-party cooperation, regional ethnic autonomy, and self-governance at the primary level of society together constitute the kernel and fundamental framework of China's political system, and are the embodiment of socialist democracy".

Do you follow all that ......
So here are the names of the other political parties that are consulted by the Communist Party and how large the membership is (total of 707,000 out of the 1,300,000,000 people in China which is .05%:

• Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK)
  RCCK recruits members mostly from people who have relations with the former Chinese Kuomintang, those who have historical or social relations with the RCCK and those who have ties with Taiwan. The RCCK currently has branches in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. Party membership numbers 81,000.
• China Democratic League (CDL)
  The China Democratic League was secretly established on March 19, 1941 in Chongqing, and was then named China Democratic Political League. The CDL is mainly made up of senior and leading intellectuals in the fields of culture, education, and science and technology. The CDL now has branches in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. Party membership numbers more than 181,000.
• China National Democratic Construction Association (CNDCA)
  The China National Democratic Construction Association was founded by a number of patriotic industrialists and business people, as well as some intellectuals in Chongqing on December 16, 1945. The members of the association are mainly business people.
  The CNDCA has branches in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, and more than 108,000 members.
• China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) Founded in Shanghai on December 30, 1945, the original members of the China Association for Promoting Democracy were mainly intellectuals in the fields of culture, education and publishing. Currently, the CAPD has branches in 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, with a membership of over 103,000.
• Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party (CPWDP)
  Deng Yanda, a leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang, held the first national cadres' conference of the Kuomintang in Shanghai on August 9, 1930, and at the conference the Provisional Action Committee of the Kuomintang of China was founded. On November 10, 1935, it was renamed the Chinese Action Committee for National Liberation. On February 3, 1947, it was renamed the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party.
  Its members are mainly senior and leading intellectuals in the medical field.
  The CPWDP now has branches in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, with more than 99,000 members.
• China Zhi Gong Dang (CZGD)
  The China Zhi Gong Dang was founded in October 1925 in San Francisco, USA, under the sponsorship of some overseas Chinese societies. In May 1947, the party held its third congress in Hong Kong, and reorganized itself into a new democratic party.
  Its members are mainly from the middle and upper social strata of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives. The CZGD now has branches in 19 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, with more than 28,000 members.
• Jiu San Society
  At the end of 1944, a number of progressive scholars organized the Forum on Democracy and Science, to strive for victory in the Anti-Japanese War and political democracy, and to develop the anti-imperialist and patriotic spirit of the May 4 Movement of 1919. In commemoration of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and in the world anti-Fascist war, on September 3, 1945, it adopted the name Jiu San Society ("Jiu San" means September 3 in Chinese). On May 4, 1946, the Jiu San Society was formally founded in Chongqing. Its members are mainly senior and leading intellectuals in the fields of science and technology. The Jiu San Society currently has branches in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, with more than 105,000 members.
• Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (TSL) I can't believe this exists in Mainland China and these people would actually be listened to.
  The TSL was founded in Hong Kong on November 12, 1947 by a number of Taiwan personages engaged in patriotic campaigns after the February 28 Uprising of the Taiwan people that year. The TSL is composed of people from Taiwan. The TSL now has branches in 13 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government, with a membership of over 2,100.
• Personages Without Party Affiliation
  During the New Democratic Revolution (1919-1949), the famous personages without party affiliation were generally called prominent public figures. Since the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was founded in 1949, the category of "democratic personages without party affiliation" has been set up. Currently, those who do not belong to any party but have made positive contributions to and have a positive influence on society are categorized as personages without party affiliation. They are mostly intellectuals. numbers of members not given
  

Elevator Numerology

In the US it is not unusual to see a floor 13 missing from a high-rise building. In China it is not unusual to see floor number 4 or 14 missing. At our office in Beijing we are on the 20th floor of what is really a 17-floor building. We are missing Floors 4, 13, and 14 (I guess they want to accommodate both western and eastern idiosyncrasies with numbers).

Here is a little explanation on Chinese number 4 and 14:
The number 4 is seen as bad luck especially in dialects where its pronunciation is homonymic to the word "death" (死). In fact, many apartments in China do not have a 4th floor due to the substantially lower property values.

Number 14 is considered to be one of the unluckiest numbers in Chinese culture. Although 14 is usually said as "shi si," which sounds like "ten die", it can also be said as "yi si" or "yao si", literally "one four". Thus, 14 can also be said as "yao si," literally "one four," but it also means "want to die".