“The New Sanxia” 3D movie media event

I was very fortunate to participate as the only foreigner in the making of the 3D HD movie on “The New Three Gorges”, in early November 2015. I still have to work on my well over 1000 pictures.
On 15 December 2015 a Media Event was held in the CCTV Media Center (Fuxing Road) to introduce the movie, “Discovering New Three Gorges”.
See some pictures of the event, some screenshots of parts of the movie and parts of the magazine introducing the movie.

I met many of the experts and film crew and we had a lively banquet later on.
As far as I understand, the movie should come out in March, in several episodes and will be shown on CCTV. Oh boy I am a bit nervous about all that as they forced me to do nearly all the interviews for the movie in Chinese and well, I think my Chinese is still very mamahuhu.
To have an idea about the many exciting places we visited, see this posting. Those were shots made in a previous shooting and they will be mixed with the footage we did.

https://www.wenjuan.com/s/yuyEza/

Yeah, I am not not I am now an “actor”.
More about my findings in another post to come about the seminar of the Leisure Industry (16 January 2016).

Sino Matters: great Christmas reunion

I missed it in 2014 but this time 7 December 2015 I made it to Kurt’s great Christmas party where I could meet the teachers and other students of this exceptional school in Beijing to learn Chinese.
See: https://www.beijing1980.com/learning-chinese/

I wish they had more lessons – I would gladly continue!
Nice opportunity also to meet some well known personalities of the Beijing foreign community, and friends.

Why we can’t survive without Google (and sex is good for seniors)

The Chinese dinosaurs want to isolate the brainless Chinese (that is at least what they think about our friends) from the international Internet. Yeah, they need to remove “foreign influences”. Sorry but your Baidu and others do not give us the needed results to do our jobs. A survey done recently by the European Chamber confirmed that business feels poor Internet and all the censorship do seriously affect business.
Who can survive without Google? That is what we need for search, maps, pictures, cloud back-up and so on. The Chinese Internet becomes more an Intranet. Forget cloud services.
Follow some examples of what Google search does for us.

1.
One morning we had a power cut in the office. When power came back I noticed my external USB hub (providing 4 USB ports with external power) was dead. As I had problems in the past with those hubs I thought, oh well, the power cut busted it. I changed the hub to no avail. Then found out one of my USB ports on my MacBook Pro was dead and the hubs were all fine. I thought, well I better go to Apple Shop to get it fixed. But then, hey, better ask Google. And the replies cam in after 1 minute of search:
“After the first two weeks, my USB Ports stopped working. Just a while ago I’ve tried PRAM Reset, and it all worked out. For that:
Restart Hold the keys Command + Option + P + R (holding the keys when the Apple sign doesn’t appear yet on the screen). After the restart all USB ports started working again.”
So, no need for repair!

2.
One of my precious antique clocks got stolen, still trying to figure out what happened and where (long story). As it is a unique piece (belonging in the Forbidden City Museum) I was thinking of registering the theft so it would be known internationally for auctioneers and others. But how to do? Go to the police? Where? How?
Ask Google!
Two minutes later I had found the website of “the Art Loss Register” http://www.artloss.com/en.
And I have already registered the clock with all details.

3.
Discussing with Chinese friends, the topic came up that seniors should avoid sex after 50 and with age should go down to, well, never do it, as it is “bad for the kidneys”. Is that true? Obviously not, but once you Google it and dig deeper you can find both the Chinese and Western opposing views. Obviously seniors can and should have sex whenever they can.
See here one of the many search results:

Government of Canada’s Role:
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada work together to promote, improve, maintain and protect the health of Canadians. Together, they gather and disseminate information on healthy, balanced lifestyles – including the sexual health of Canada’s seniors.
http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/health-sante/sexual-sexuelle/senior-aine-eng.php

And the TCM view:
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are various ideas about how often an individual can “safely” engage in sex without damaging his or her essence and thereby contributing to premature aging and sexual dysfunction. Dr. Sun Si Miao, a physician and Taoist of the Tang Dynasty who lived from 580 to 682 (101 years), gives the following guidelines for a healthy amount of sexual activity. TCM recommendations given over 2500 years ago:

  • Teens:  Contrary to what the media pressures us to believe in today’s society, in Ancient China it was thought that teenagers didn’t have enough strong, mature energy to engage in sexual activity yet.
  • 20′s: It is healthy to have sexual intercourse once every 4 days.  Engaging in sex more frequently at this age runs the risk of prematurely depleting Kidney essence.
  • 30′s: Once every 8 days
  • 40′s: Once every 16 days
  • 50′s: Once every 20 days
  • 60′s: Once a month, if the individual is fairly healthy.  If the individual had a history of health disorders or generalized weakness, then only occasional sexual activities was recommended.
  • 70′s: Whether healthy or not, sex would use up too much energy therefore sex is not recommended at all.

Obviously following those “tips” from some people who lived thousands of years ago explains it all… As if humans did not evolve.
In other words, if one needs information about health, medicine and related Google gives you a broad picture.

150624 baidusearch

Now Baidu, what do you have to say? Well I tried but while some search results do pop up in English, Baidu remains too Chinese and one has to go through lots of crap to find relevant information. The screenshot is from page 5 or something. And I wonder how many of those links do actually work without a VPN, another major issue.

Another well-attended LPS Beijing event in Legendale Hotel

I was invited so many times that ended up going… To see how this overseas luxury property exhibition was doing now. I attended one of the very first ones, many years ago. Unfortunately I have still to earn more millions to be shopping in that exhibition…
For sure, now more popular than ever and the official VIP opening on 24 April was crowded, with many familiar faces.

The hotel is also, well, “different”. Luxury that does not please the taste of everyone.
I made a quick round in the exhibition, the only stand of my interest was Portugal – a destination well regarded by retirees.
I did not see a Belgian stand, or I missed it.

Home Plate BBQ and EventBank

I discovered Home Plate through a social event of Rotaract and it was a pleasant surprise. A bit hidden in the no-name compound where The Bookworm is located, you actually need to look for the sign of The Loft – the restaurant does not exist anymore and for some obscure reasons the management of the compound does not want to remove it.
My favorite dishes are the Pulled Pork Plate and (a bit more modest in size) the Pulled Pork Sandwich. They have a range of home-brewed ales. And several American souces. You need to ask the waiter for the “day list” of beers hidden in his pocket if you want to discover an off-the menu beer.

During a previous evening, 10 April,  I met the owner, Victoria Rong, sitting on the right in the picture. Very friendly and modest, at first I thought she was an extra waiter… Good management I call it.
On 27 April thanks to my friend Kyle I took part in the EventBank Pre-Launch Dinner & Networking. Too much food, lots of beers. Interesting presentation by the CEO, Eric L. Schmidt.
See their website: www.eventbank.com
They offer some interesting solutions for companies organizing events.
As it happened, many familiar faces. Beijing can be a small world.