holiday time..

Last week was the last week before the holiday (celebrated because of international labour day, though its the least important of the 3 national holidays in China) and so when I cycled back yesterday night there was even more traffic as usual from everyone working late to finish their work, and then heading out of Beijing. I was getting emails at midnight about the upcoming conference I am organising on May 21st! (granted I was also receiving and replying to emails on a friday night, but we are going out tonight).

Its very enjoyable speeding along overtaking all kinds of traffic -though the faster one goes, the more alert one needs to be to the taxis that cross 3 lanes to stop and pick someone up, or the old lady who'll just get of her bike in the middle of the bike-lane for no reason, or the potholes that seem to be everywhere. I've long held that drivers in China are good drivers: they have to be in order to survive. The thing most drivers are best at is using their mirrors. Since no-one, literally no-one, has any idea what indicators are for, this is totally necessary. For cyclists is tough, because you spend most of your time looking out for signs of crazy drivers changing lanes and pulling over, and without indicators being used, it makes life harder!

I explained to Leon that we have a 'cycling profficiency test' in the UK, where people can get some training on the 'rules of the road' and practise indicating, or an understanding of how to fix their bike. Its optional of course, and i don't remember knowing of anyone else who took it (apart from me), but it helped a lot. In the UK it might not be that important as most people that can cycle (adults anyway.. on the main roads) can drive too -so they understand about roundabouts, indicators etc. In China, people on their bikes can't drive. If they could afford to they would, of course, join the 1,000+ new cars every day on the streets of Beijing. Thus the cyclists cannot understand concepts of going in a straight line, of looking over their shoulder etc.

My little rant over, we are sort of preparing for our upcoming 4 day cycle ride...towards a place called longching gorge with various outdoor sports activities nearby we could do. not sure if we'll get there in a day, but who knows...

Woke up this morning to hear that the EU Constitution is being brought back. Now, I have always been quite pro-EU, IF it could behave responsibly, and since half the member countries are going backwards in today's globalised world, there seems little chance that the EU will go forward, or even agree on any direction to go in! Thus until someone sorts this issue out, lets keep common agreements for another time... Also heard that Scolari rejected the offer of being England coach. great. I am all for having a manager with no experience but lots of passion. Same with players: its always the young ones who are exciting -its only a matter of time before Roony turns into Owen, who is turning into Shearer. All great players, but as they age, they get lazy and less innovtive/exciting. Although it is scary that I am about 4 years OLDER than Rooney. yikes. The big question for May is will Spurs get into the Champions League? Well I am just happy we are getting into Europe through the league for the first-time in my lifetime I think! (even if it ends up as UEFA cup)!.

To end on a more china-note. I use Accuweather to tell me the weather (a little icon is in the bottom of my screen showing me the weather for each of the next 3 days) and it tends to predict 20-25 and varying degrees of sun. But when it comes to the next day, actually Accuweather says 'foggy' and 12 degrees. You can read the next paragraph to discover why:

Despite plans to improve air quality, Beijing had 11 fewer clean air days in the first quarter of 2006 compared to 2005, and has fallen even further behind since the beginning of April, statistics from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BEPB) show. To the end of March 2006, Beijing had only 51 "blue-sky" days, where the air quality does not exceed pollution standards, compared to 62 such days in the first quarter of last year. Despite having unhealthy air quality 45.3% of the time, the city has enjoyed stretches of clean air. During the 10-day National Party Congress at the beginning of May, Beijing enjoyed nine clean air days and only one day that exceeded air quality standards. BEPB denied suggestions that any special measures were taken to improve air quality during the conference. (This congress is an an annual event when the local representatives from all around the country come to Beijing)

success

...well, of a kind. 2 weeks ago we found out our bid to the UK government's Global opportunities Fund was successful, enabling us to continue the work I started and make it bigger and better. Actually I got back home at about 2am drunk, to check my mail and find out the news. "Lets celebrate" said Peter. "um, I'm already drunk, how about we celebrate another day?" I replied!

It also means I got paid finally, so I rewarded myself with this bike, which cost about 1 fifth of what it would in the UK and reduces my cycling time to long-distance destinations by about 40%. It feels fantastic, and looks great too!

Other things I have been up to included a day hiking with most of CSR team and a trip to Tianjin with 20 others to see some factories, attend a big Investment fair and get an office for the Tianjing branch of AIESEC, thanks to an alumni at the EU Chamber. This weekend was mostly spent cycling and trying out the new bike, whilst enjoying the beautiful weather. This week might be a little slow, but after the may holiday it will be a crazy dash to the finish with lots of travelling and activities; plus June spent in transition to my successor, Juan.

I suppose this week was the week when China really hit the big time: Its GDP for 1st quarter grew by 10.2% (apparently, even though the government is aiming for 8%) pushing it ahead of the UK officially into 4th place in the World and Hu Jintao went to visit Bush. Despite Hu making lots of concessions beforehand (releasing some political prisoners, being nicer to Taiwan, being nicer to the exiled Dalai Lama etc), the trip was still useless and achieved nothing (predictably) -not helped by the US government's ineptitude (woman shouting out about falun gong at the press conference, announcer calling the national anthemn with the name used by Taiwan -Republic of China- rather than the People's Republic of China, and Bush dragging Hu around)!

I am not sure what is going to happen, but it seems clear that the USA wants to remain the World's dominant power. China might not explicitly want the position of #1 (it has many of its own internal issues to worry about with a GDP per person still putting it at about 100 in the world!) and won't get it for a good 30-50 years more, but its still causing friction.. friction that won't go away. It seems everyone nowadays is competing for resources. Interestingly it seems that both countries inernational actions are more based on their domestic circumstances (either political or economic), and not what is actually best for their international relations. Surely this means that something has to give: domestic or international priorities?

Now it is time to try to find a job. then i might be able to write another 'success' post!

2

2 weeks after the last post:

2 conferences later (1 attended in fancy hotel with important people and 1 run for 420 students)

2 leaving parties later (1 for South Africa, 1 for Brazil -both for just a month or two)

2 birthdays later (mum and dad -and of course mother's day too!)

The conference I went to was incredible in terms of the content and the people. Extremely interesting discussions about the role of business in society, about energy and water, or about doing business in dodgy countries. The organisers, WBCSD, continue to impress me with their ability, reach, professionalism and output.

The conference I chaired and ran with my team-mates was exhausting: managing so many people, screaming to keep order, dealing with shitty microphones and saying goodbye .. its my last aiesec conference in any official capacity. But I'm excited: I feel like I'll be leaving in the summer having integrated somewhat issues of corporate responsibility into AIESEC, having left a small mark on some people and ensured that the local university branches buy into and actively are able to organise their own learning activities -and benefit from them. True, I could have achieved a lot more -but that's what the last 3 months are for!

Finally the rest of the team returned; only for us all to split up again for most of the next month as we go around all the universities (me included). Its great to hang out, chat and laugh. I guess we will miss each other. Certainly living for 11 months so close together, you get to be used to people!

Beijing is still so dry. it drives me crazy: electric shocks all the time (even when shaking someone's hand to say hello, sometimes!), dust everywhere, polluted skies frequently and little wind. The only excitement occured when somehow the dust got into the clouds and there was sort of snow (it was white that's for sure) but in the morning all teh cars look like they had been sandblasted. Car washes had a bumper day... and I think its a great business to be in, in beijing anyway!

Since my sister's short film is being shown in a cinema (rented especially) in a week or so, and having been speaking to the whole family about it for weeks, I have been talking to myself (and others) about making movies more and more. With so much travelling in China I started to become a bit of a photo boffin... not good photos, but a desire to try to take good photos! I've also watched many movies in the last 18 months or so. Readers will note that I have a certain affection for China and find it an incredibly interesting country especially in these periods of change. Combining all this together (plus no-one outside of China has a clue about China) creates a compelling case to make some interesting movies. It could be about wealth gaps, migrant workers, construction, hutongs, factory protests or so much else...

Throw in some personality to the characters, make the audience feel for them through their family or friends in film (or add lots of action) and there is a lot of potential for some interesting stuff. It might not be as powerful as 'the constant gardener' (truly fantastic film) or 'city of god' (even more fantastic), but you never know... certainly it would be possible to show how complex everything is.. from the role of the government to the inequalities or the trade issues and the resource problems. Anyway, some thoughts for the future if an occasion arises.