About the original banner
The original banner of this page is part of the work by Zhang Zeduan, a famous folk artist of the Song Period. Here is some information about the art and its author from wiki: Along the River During Qingming Festival (Traditional Chinese: 清明上河圖; Simplified Chinese: 清明上河图; pinyin: Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú) is generally attributed to the Song Dynasty artist, Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145). The painting captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing (near today’s Kaifeng). The theme celebrates Qingming Festival. The entire piece was painted in handscroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society (from rich to poor) as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city. It offers glimpse of the clothing and architecture during the period. As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered and over the centuries, and court artists of subsequent dynasties have reproduced several versions.
Kaifeng: A missing page from the dusts of history
It is extremely rare that the city of Kaifeng, the glamorous capital of the Song dynasty, has ever caught the attention from outsiders. Today, even many Chinese have no idea what achievements that dynasty and the city have accomplished. Part of this comes from its buried memories lost in the wars, floods, and missing pages of a long history. Yet if you ever look closer, you will be astonshied by its beauty, wealth and grande.
This article by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, is one of the reports that stimulate our thoughts as well as our visions.
China, the World’s Capital
By Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, 22 May 2005
From Kaifeng to New York, glory is as ephemeral as smoke and clouds.
As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China.
Kaifeng, an ancient city along the mud-clogged Yellow River, was by far the most important place in the world in 1000. And if you’ve never heard of it, that’s a useful warning for Americans—as the Chinese headline above puts it, in a language of the future that many more Americans should start learning, glory is as ephemeral as smoke and clouds.
As the world’s only superpower, America may look today as if global domination is an entitlement. But if you look back at the sweep of history, it’s striking how fleeting supremacy is, particularly for individual cities.
My vote for most important city in the world in the period leading up to 2000 B.C. would be Ur, Iraq. In 1500 B.C., perhaps Thebes, Egypt. There was no dominant player in 1000 B.C., though one could make a case for Sidon, Lebanon. In 500 B.C., it would be Persepolis, Persia; in the year 1, Rome; around A.D. 500, maybe Changan, China; in 1000, Kaifeng, China; in 1500, probably Florence, Italy; in 2000, New York City; and in 2500, probably none of the above.
Today Kaifeng is grimy and poor, not even the provincial capital and so minor it lacks even an airport. Its sad state only underscores how fortunes change. In the 11th century, when it was the capital of Song Dynasty China, its population was more than one million. In contrast, London’s population then was about 15,000.
An ancient 17-foot painted scroll, now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, shows the bustle and prosperity of ancient Kaifeng. Hundreds of pedestrians jostle each other on the streets, camels carry merchandise in from the Silk Road, and teahouses and restaurants do a thriving business.
Kaifeng’s stature attracted people from all over the world, including hundreds of Jews. Even today, there are some people in Kaifeng who look like other Chinese but who consider themselves Jewish and do not eat pork.
As I roamed the Kaifeng area, asking local people why such an international center had sunk so low, I encountered plenty of envy of New York. One man said he was arranging to be smuggled into the U.S. illegally, by paying a gang $25,000, but many local people insisted that China is on course to bounce back and recover its historic role as world leader.
China is booming now,
said Wang Ruina, a young peasant woman on the outskirts of town. Give us a few decades and we’ll catch up with the U.S., even pass it.
She’s right. The U.S. has had the biggest economy in the world for more than a century, but most projections show that China will surpass us in about 15 years, as measured by purchasing power parity.
So what can New York learn from a city like Kaifeng?
One lesson is the importance of sustaining a technological edge and sound economic policies. Ancient China flourished partly because of pro-growth, pro-trade policies and technological innovations like curved iron plows, printing and paper money. But then China came to scorn trade and commerce, and per capita income stagnated for 600 years.
A second lesson is the danger of hubris, for China concluded it had nothing to learn from the rest of the world—and that was the beginning of the end.
I worry about the U.S. in both regards. Our economic management is so lax that we can’t confront farm subsidies or long-term budget deficits. Our technology is strong, but American public schools are second-rate in math and science. And Americans’ lack of interest in the world contrasts with the restlessness, drive and determination that are again pushing China to the forefront.
Beside the Yellow River I met a 70-year-old peasant named Hao Wang, who had never gone to a day of school. He couldn’t even write his name—and yet his progeny were different.
Two of my grandsons are now in university,
he boasted, and then he started talking about the computer in his home.
Thinking of Kaifeng should stimulate us to struggle to improve our high-tech edge, educational strengths and pro-growth policies. For if we rest on our laurels, even a city as great as New York may end up as Kaifeng-on-the-Hudson.
This one is my favorite
Among all the NBA and Houston Rockets cartoons that Li Quan has drawn, this one is my favorite. A quiet and polite T-Mac exploded when Yao Ming was knocked down on the floor by the nasty Seattle Supersonics’ Collison.
Frame one: Hello everyone. I am Nick Collison of the Sonics. This is my story. Today became my nightmare because I faced Yao Ming.
Frame two: Cannot match the height…
Frame three: Cannot match the muscle…
Frame four: Cannot match the skill (Collison: Darn the author! Why did you draw my basket so tiny!)
Frame five: In order to end Yao Ming and end this nightmare, I have to use my other resources…Nasty foul…
Frame six: But, out of blue, here came Tracy McGrady! Since when has he become hot-tempered?
More of Houston Rockets cartoons
What a game yesterday between the Rockets and the Suns! Tracy McGrady nailed 39 points with this super cool spirit, and the entire game was so exciting! My favorite cartoon artist, Quan Li (http://blog.sina.com.cn/dazuiquan), drew a Matrix like McGrady. Never thought about it but then, it is so McGrady!
Someone has a talent for NBA cartoons
One of my favorite cartoon artists is Li Quan (http://blog.sina.com.cn/dazuiquan). His nick name is “Big Mouth Quan”. He draws a lot of cartoons about NBA games, with, of course, particular attention to Yao Ming and T-Mac’s Houston Rockets. He is pretty fast and the cartoons are quite funny. For this one, you know which team the Rockets played with.
Miss the trip to Hawaii
My daily calendar has a picture of tropical fish. So I scanned it, cropped it and posted it. This picture makes me missing these days spent at Hawaii with Nick. Especially the snorkeling fun we had together at Hanauma Bay. Although getting there by bus in the morning was quite an experience (we ended up walking more than 30 minutes to the reserve after having to take a different route of bus because the time we wanted to be there was too early for the bus schedule), it was really worth it. I miss the snorkeling fun. Most importantly, I miss a real vacation.
Enjoy this life
I previously watch the Rockets’ games because of Yao Ming. I still like him, but I also like a lot Shane Battier. He seems to me a quiet type, but he always gets this key moment of a game, and he can grab it and turn the game around. He may not appear to be the glamorous one if you count the statistics, but he will always be there when you need him the most.
Battier has an endorsement deal with a Chinese sport shoe brand Peak. So he keeps a Chinese blog (http://blog.sina.com.cn/battier). It is kind of funny that his post is in English, and then there is a Chinese translation (his friend’s English is pretty impressive: the translation is very neat).
I enjoy reading his posts. I particularly like these thoughts he posted today:
“It is nights like those that make you realize that life is just not about your personal goals and performance. I believe that life is more about sharing and enjoying the journey of life with others that you respect and like to be around. You might have all the success in the world, but if you have no one to share it with, then the success you experience will not taste as sweet.
When times are tough and you might be struggling with different issues in life, it is the comfort and company of others that can help you through the difficult times and help you look forward to the better times. I am lucky I have people to share and enjoy the journey with on the Rockets.”
The behavioral side of the frequent-flier program
Almost everyone was impressed, if not surprised, by my enthusiasm about the frequent-flier program. Nevertheless, as I always told them, compared to these real ”die-hard” fans, I am truly ordinary.
I have seen people flying from Spain to Japan and then turning back immediately, just to collect enough miles to maintain their status. All they talked about during the flight is how to manage elite status (which is quite educational).
A friend of mine once was about 3,000 miles short from the so called “million miles club” of the United. She proposed a vacation in Tucson, Arizona with me, and she would fly from California via these bizarre routes to get there rather than a direct flight. Not to mention this happened just a couple of days before the United filed for bankruptcy.
Another time when I was flying from Minneapolis to Indianapolis, the New Yorker sitting next to me was also addictive to the flier program. He collects not only miles but also hub stops. So to achieve his gold status, he took an around trip between New York and San Francisco, with connections at Minneapolis, Detroit, and Indianapolis.
My friend has done some interesting work in this area of consumer behaviors. I asked him to email me this old article from New York Times, which featured his research (see below).
For me, I am not sure whether I would agree with the equivalence between the experiments and the actual program. Through a calculative mind like mine, I have long reached a conclusion: If you do travel a lot, the benefit of sticking to a frequent-flier program far exceeds the cost. At least far more than the Haagen-Dazs icecream. 
Using Ice Cream to Understand Frequent-Flier Miles
By David Leonhardt
New York Times, April 25, 2006
To understand the appeal of frequent-flier miles, it’s worth considering an experiment that some researchers did on a Midwestern college campus a few years ago.
Students were given a choice between two simple tasks. One would take six minutes, and the students were told that they would get a gallon of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream as a reward. The other would require seven minutes of work, and the payment would be a gallon of Haagen-Dazs pistachio.
Not surprisingly, since the second option involved more work and a less popular flavor, only about a quarter of the students chose it.
But the researchers also repeated the experiment with a couple of tweaks. In the new version, the six-minute task led to a payoff of 60 points, and the seven-minute task brought 100 points.
The researchers then told the students that anyone who finished with between 50 and 99 points would be given a gallon of vanilla ice cream. Anyone with 100 points would get pistachio.
Practically, there was no difference between the two experiments. But the outcomes ended up being very different.
With the lure of points added to the mix, more than half of students chose the longer task and the less desirable pistachio prize that went with it. Independent of their actual value, “points” apparently give people some satisfaction.
That’s just one reason that frequent-flier programs have been so successful for so long. The ice cream experiment was done by Christopher K. Hsee, Fang Yu, Jiao Zhang and Yan Zhang, all of the University of Chicago.
A trip to Sichuan in July
I finished booking these tickets. It took an entire afternoon. Going through as many as possible these discount travel agents for lowest fares, especially this time it is a trip for two. The airfare deal is pretty nice, but we end up leaving a couple of days later than we originally planned because these deals are sold out on that day. The conference is to be held in Sichuan. Last time I was there, I visited a smaller research center outside Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. That center is also funded by the United Nations, and you can observe these baby pandas playing around just right in front of you.
Can I hug them? Well, it is kind of tricky. My friend told me later: if you donate $100, then they let you wear a type of blue colored protective outfit, and you can hug the baby pandas. I am still regretting day and night that I did not do that when I visited Chengdu last time. So this trip, I am prepared!
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