http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/ en Copyright 2007 Wed, 01 Aug 2007 01:41:27 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Um~It's nice to watch a band show live. But I'm afraid that I'm not such a big fan of jazz though. Honestly speaking, I usually fall asleep when I hear jazz. Is that because it's too relaxing??? I don't know. But you know what's the funniest thing about this jazz night? The kids of the base player's. They are really cute and naughty. And they keep making funny noises and climbing on the floor the whole night. That's really funny...They deserve the most wonderful "players" tonight. By the way, James is sick today. Sorry to hear that. Bless him. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/08/jazz_night.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/08/jazz_night.html Wed, 01 Aug 2007 01:41:27 +0000 DIdn't I mention that there are really really a lot of stuff that are made in China? It is true. So amazing to see such a huge amount of things with made in China on it. That's Sino-US economic relations. I actually tried to avoid buying things that are made in China, because it seems a little bit stupid that you come such a long way only to buy your homemade stuff. but ...anyway, I still bought a few things that have made in CHina on it. Because it's hard to find one that is not made in China. I'm actually very delighted to see that Chinese products go that far. But on the other hand, I started to feel sorry for Chinese industry because as one of our guest speakers says, money does not lie in manufacturer. Instead, money is in the brand name, the design, etc. So even we have so many things that are made in China. Chinese people don't actually get all the profits, but only a very small slice of the cake. That's too bad. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/made_in_china.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/made_in_china.html Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:53:57 +0000 Today we have 2 lectures both from Taiwanese. Wow, I guess there are really a lot of Taiwan people who immigrated to America. They are very smart, of course. The first one from United Commercial Bank looks smart and serious. There're certain people that you can simply tell from their appearance and behavior that they're smart. Well, he's a banker, definitely good at numbers. Me, too. But he's making money and I'm spending money. The second one from Philip Morris is really a funny guy, totally different style from MR. Yu. Mr. Yang has very strong Taiwan accent and he's inherent of Taiwanese humor. We all like to have him with us. He's been in US for about 20 years and he's now a Senior Director in Philip Morris. He doesn't seem that sharp and smart as Mr. Yu looks, instead he looks like he's Mr. Nice, very kind and funny. But to be a senior Director, I'm sure he's very good at personnel. He can have very good relationship with people. Um...It's fun to judge people this way especially when they are all so successful and special. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/funny_guy.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/funny_guy.html Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:15:28 +0000 I decided not to cook today, or maybe tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. So I brought a big bag of food here. Unfortunately, no food in the lab. Poor me~~~~ I started to think that maybe I am really a shopholic. 'coz whenever I go into a shop, shop for clothes or grocery, I can NOT help buying things. Horrible...The best that I can do? Leave my credit card and cash! http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/nothing_new.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/nothing_new.html Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:48:24 +0000 After a long lecture about business, I feel lucky that I didn't pick up business as my major. Gosh, it's pretty hard. I still don't really understand what is the process management. The professor mentioned that IBM people know how they work as process management in the most beginning. I doubt it. I think that the idea of porcess management is rather new but IBM has been there for years! So how come that these people knew it already? But anyway, maybe people have this idea of horizonal working process for a long time, they just didn't systemize it then. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/business.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/business.html Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:43:48 +0000 Thanks for Hannah's concern. I definitely want to know more about America and I have been comparing situations between US and China. We surely have discrimination against women in China. And I think it's more serious there than that in US because people don't even feel that they are being discriminated! I think it's very important to wake up public concern and conscience. And there are lots of women and children being sold. Women are sold to rural areas to be wives of some men or I don't know, maybe sex slaves, or worse, to be prostitutes. It's so evil! Some women are tormented by husbands. They might be biten or raped or discriminated by husbands. But many of them prefer to keep such things to themselves since they consider it a scandal and some of them simply don't know what to do. I actually want to do more to help more Chinese women to protect their rights by engaging in law areas concerning women. But I guess probably the most that I can do is to help women get more money and the right to stay with their kids when they divorce. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/to_hannah_women_in_china.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/to_hannah_women_in_china.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:03:43 +0000 The weekend in Virginia Beach is definitely fun. First of all, I don't care much about sun burn. A little dark skin is ok for me. But now the half dark and half not is pissing me off. Since I wear sun glasses, the lower part of my face is darker. It's very, very weird. Everything is perfect except that. We had a fantastic dinner at Fish Bones. We had a seafood buffet there. The scenery is great and the wind is cool. I've never had such a huge crab leg in China. Nor have I ever seen such big waves in China. Is everything in America large size? Just kidding. Anyway, it's exciting to fight against the giant waves. Erick is awesome. He is the giant actually. He can stay still when a huge wave hits him. I guess he enjoys the feeling that he conquers the waves. Other ladies are having fun enjoying sunbath. Kit and I rent bicycles and ride around. It is really fun. We even have different bikes in China! I've never tried this one that doesn't have extra brakes on where our hands hold. It's simpler, I like it. You know what's greatest for me? I can wear bikini and walk around without being criticized. People don't do that in China because people are gonna stare at you thinking that this woman is crazy. It's great to feel free here and do some new stuff. Americans in my opinion are more open minded and more tolerent of exotic things and different opinions. That's why I'm considering further study in US. My father actually planned it when I was high school suggesting that I come here to have high school but I refused because I was too young then and my whole life was there. But now my friends are all around the world pursuing their study. So I guess maybe it's time for me to do mine here. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/va_beach.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/va_beach.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:40:49 +0000 Sure enough, the lectures today on politics doesn't interest many of us. Personally, I want to engage more in politics, but not to be a politician because I think that there's kind of stereotype, which affects me of course, that says politicians are nasty. It's a fact that some officials in China have been involved in corruption. And there's difference between corruption and bribe. Some may accept small bribes but that doesn't mean he's corrupted. My father works for our government all his life. In his opinion, there are rarely any government officials that do not involve in any bribe. Because situations in China are very peculiar. I'm not that sure about it the states. The long history of feudalism in China definitely breeds bureaucrat. In ancient times, officials expected to see some gifts or anything given by people to show that people respect him. And by providing gifts or bribe, people feel reassured since the official knows what you want and he's gonna help you. Nowadays in China, it's hard for a government official to remain that straight and clean all the time because if you want to be clean and stay out of those so called nasty business of corruption, then I'm afraid that you will soon be squizzed out of the official circle for your uncorporation. Believe it or not, government officials more or less accept bribes. If the bribe is not that big, then the law won't punish it. So then thing goes on and on. Strangely, I'm not that opposed to it, the bribe thing. Because sometimes it is so hard to define a gift and a bribe. Is dinner a bribe? Probably not. But that's how people are doing nowadays. They invite the officials to a dinner, then they eat and drink and talk about the "business". It almost becomes a custom. Chinese people talk about business at dinner. After seeing this, you may already think that politics in China is not so nice. The reason why I want to involve in polictics is that I want to issue my opinion and feel that kind of power. Professor Wilstrom is right. Politics is about power. And power is definitely a strong motive for all of us. Everyone more or less is driven by the power in different areas. Students having intensive reading classes from BFSU all read the article about the 5 things that push people forward. Power is definitely the most important one. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/corruption_and_bribe.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/corruption_and_bribe.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:15:52 +0000 Today's lecture is more interesting than anyone we've had these days. Probably it's because I am a female. This lecture seems to be more concerning about us. I've heard a lot about feminism in America, about how aggressive these women are, about how the things they've done. But I believe it is no wrong for women to fight for equality since sexual discrimination exists all over the world. We women have to do something about it otherwise we have no way to change it. The stereotype that women are weak and they need men's protection and being a mother and wife is their inherent job is deeply rooted in some people's mind. Even I myself have been affected by it. I believe many people have the same case, they've been blinded by this idea yet unconsciously. Physically speaking, women may be weaker than men but it is not absolutely right. Like what if the man is disabled. And even women are weaker, they don't necessarily need the so called men's protection which confines them in houses and prevents them from entering society work. I wish Dr. Fronc had more time to talk about Victorian Time which we have learned in our intensive reading. By the way, let me make a brief introduction of our English classes. We who major in law, and other students major in journalism and international relations have to receive the formal English Major classes in the first 2 years. So it's like we're having double majors then. In the first year, we have intensive reading, extensive reading, writing, listening and oral classes. Intensive and extensive reading is about literature. The only difference is that we read only chapters or simply articles from contemporary English writers and analyze them in class, studying about the themes, the technique of writing and the grammer etc, while in extensive classes, we normally read a novel every other week and talk about what we read in class, sometimes we make presentations. In writing classes, we also have brain storming like we do here and we learn some techniques of writing. Listening is mainly to train us to understand news and oral is mainly encouraging us to discuss in English. But in second year, oral class is little different. It aims at debate. So we have to form groups to debate as part of our final exam. Wow, it seems that I've written a long article and not that much about today's topic WOMEN. Anyway, woman is not a man's pet. We demand respect and equal treatment but it does not mean that we deny that we are different. It's not like that "separate but equal". There are differences exist between these 2 sexes. And therefore woman may need more care than man like the leave they should take from work when they're going to give birth to a baby and they are not strong enough to be in the army. But they can be as intelligent as man. Woman today at work can even create better ideas than man, they do the management job, they are excellent in public relations and they're supervisors of some men. Women are as good as men in some field. It is a fact and no one can ever deny it. Democratic as US is, I think the development of feminism should be more developed. However in fact, the most developed country in this area is Sweden(or Swiss, I'm not sure which one it is)where half of its members of congress are made up of women. That is a big move! I guess the reason that America isn't that good in this area is because of the racial issue. It's still the major issue here. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/women.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/women.html Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:45:23 +0000 Last night we went to bowling and it was a great fun. Honestly speaking, I didn't expect it to be that exciting because I was dragged out of bed by my friend to join it so it was a little bit...u know . But anyway, it turns out to be fine. I got 2 strikes, which is really surprising because it's the first time that I play bowling. Good start! Erick is pretty good at that. Brian was also awesome in our team, but there's a SUPERMAN(he called himself this way) in our team from Fudan who has really done a brilliant job. I couldn't remember exactly how many strikes he got that night. Congratulations to all! It is even better than shopping. So today I am feeling much, much better ^_^ I hope I won't feel sleepy at class anymore.... Thanks for lily"s comment. I'm glad to see that you also have been freshed up now. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/bowling_night.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/bowling_night.html Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:36:05 +0000 The schedule is a little bit too tight. some of us are really tired. It's funny to see that this afternoon they brought red bull to the classroom. Hopefully, things will get better. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/schedule.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/schedule.html Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:42:59 +0000 I was just wondering why not watch Transformer? I am not such a big fan of Harry Potter. Instead I've been looking forward to watch this new film right before I came to US. Now we're just in the right place! so why not do it? http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/why_not_watch_transformer.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/why_not_watch_transformer.html Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:35:33 +0000 we just had another tour of VCU library, which really impressed me. I'm so glad that we can enjoy such a cool library even for a month! It's nice to know there's a library that people can actually talk with each other. And I especially like their study room here, where they have big screens for students so that they don't have to be so crowded in front of a normal size computer. It's even more awesome to see that students can make their own movies or mp3 here for free! I like doing such things by myself. PS: Dan is really a nice guide. Hope that I can come back here again after 2010 and see a brand big VCU library. http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/fancy_library.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/fancy_library.html Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:30:14 +0000 When I heard that we were going to shopping last night, I immediately decided to go. But Ningning was so determined to go to Wallmart. That's weird. But anyway, she still had to go with us at last and she actually shopped like crazy! Well, I have to admit that shopping is indeed the best cure for some people, esp. women. Who can resisted fancy clothes anyway~~^_^ glad to know that we're coming back to shop again. But my cold seems to get worse since I couldn't resist the temptation and got a bite of meat in the BBQ. By the way, good job, Erick! We all enjoy ur "work"^_^ To Hannah: Of course we have Starbucks in China and it is very popular too! But kind of expensive there. I haven't tried any one here in US yet...I just went to the one in the library and it is closedT_T Nice staying with u , Hannah! http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/shopping_is_the_best_cure_for.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/shopping_is_the_best_cure_for.html Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:18:41 +0000 It's cool, nice and clean. And here we can enjoy Starbucks coffee. Though I'm not that interested in comics, it's amazing to know that it has the largest collection of comic books in America. But why not build a restroom in every floor? That would be much convenient.^0^! http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/first_entrance_to_vcu_library.html http://blog.vcu.edu/yany/2007/07/first_entrance_to_vcu_library.html Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:10:57 +0000