Last night I watched a small documentary by a Dutch filmmaker about a small street (hutong) nearby the new National Opera House in Beijing. It gave a short view into the lives of several Chinese people living in the street. The oncoming pull down of their houses was a leading theme throughout the documentary, but it seemed to play only an inferior role in their daily lives.

It is not surprising that I watched a film about China four days before the opening of the Olympic Games. As Chinese (in particular inhabitants of Beijing) have experienced a flood of Olympic news and commercials all over the last year, we are now inundated with news about China. Today's news broadcast opened with our minister's opinion about China's compliance with human rights and closed with a picture of our Dutch football team in Tianjin.

All eyes are on China. If I like, I can watch a tv-program about China every night. Some programs are criticizing china's policies, others are depicti

I am still reporting on my holidays. For it will take another couple of weeks before my studies start again. Last week I was invited by a friend to join her on a horse riding trip for several days. As it would be my first time to sit on the back of a horse I was a little hesitant, but I decided to take the challenge of doing something new. Fortunately, my inexperience was not too big a problem and I actually enjoyed the horse riding. My friend has done lots of tracking by horse, besides it was not her first time to teach someone the basics of horse riding, so we did not face any unexpected difficulties on the way.

Every day we traveled by horse and searched for a camping place at night. Most of the times we asked horse owners for a meadow to keep our horses and set up our tents. This way of traveling is not quite common over here, but many people were willing to help us out. Often they were actually excited by our courageous and 'unprepared' way of traveling. The day I arrive

It is hard to imagine that just one week ago I was still in Beijing. Within one week I have been submerged in the Dutch society again. I must admit that on my first trip through the Netherlands I mistook some strangers for friends. As if my brain had to switch from Asian to European faces.
Although the country and all place are still the same, all my family and friends have passed a year full of new experiences just like I did. My younger brother finished his first year at secondary school, my sister became chairman of her university's study association, my brother built a terrace on his new apartment, my mother moved to the city, my father has a new job. Their lifes went on while I was away.

My experiences lay far away in China and therefore are easy to vanish, but I try to keep hold of them. A good thing is that most people are interested in my stories. Most of them want to verify whether rumours about Ch

I am back at last. I had to stay another night at Helsinki before I could finally embrace my family, but it was worth waiting for. Now I am staying in my mothers new apartment in Rotterdam. Yesterday night I watched the first Dutch football match at the same time as my neighbours. The street was empty and the chanting could be heard from everywhere.

 

Once I made a comparison between Rotterdam and Shanghai, however being here feels completely different. I do have to get used to this new place. Instead of other people staring at me, I am now staring at other people on the street. They are just a few, but so various. Some of them are Chinese. I cannot resist looking at them. I try to see my own country through the eyes of a native Chinese. What would surprise him most? The colourful society, the private cars, the pet shop, the flower shop, the prices. For sure the prices shock me most! My hotel room in Finland was paid for by the airlines, but my phone cal

One cold day last winter I met a Chinese boy from Guangzhou. We had a little chat, he gave me a song to listen and we exchanged our phone numbers. Afterwards we kept contacting each other. Initially I was planning to visit him in Guangzhou, but I never got that far South. The boy was a little disappointed not to see me again, so he wrote me a letter, sent me some pictures of himself and a small Chinese notebook to keep my memories. I was very delighted to recieve his letter. He filled several pages telling me about himself in Chinese. Underneath you can find my answer to his letter. It is my goodbye letter to China and all my Chinese friends. After ten months amongst Chinese people I am going back to embrace my family again!!

 

Zhengzhou, Henan Province，2006年6月2日

Dear Richy,

Thank you so much for your letter, the photos and the small present you sent to me. I really enjoyed reading the story you told me about yourself and I appreciate yo

Suddenly there are too many adventures to share all of them on my blog. Therefore I will just tell you my latest adventure. During my last day with Yvonne we had a short stop in Changsha (Hunan province) to wait for our next train. While Yvonne was trying to get over the shock of another, identically crowded and noisy Chinese city, I had a short conversation with a Chinese boy. He advised me to come back to Hunan and visit the holy Buddhist mountain, little south from the city. Willing to listen to his advise, I returned to Changsha after the weekend and got detailed instructions from my new friend how to get to Nanyue Mountain.Writing this I am staying at a farmer's home halfway the mountain. Local people are running some kind of Bed & Breakfast to lodge the visitors on the mountain. My host family is very hospitable and their house is located in a beautiful valley. I was lead to this place by the host, who goes out every day to find new guests. Besides the host and his wife, t

'The great (...) construction by the Chinese people on the mighty Yangtze river will surely be written into the water development history of the world as a brilliant example.'

It takes three hours by boat to pass the Three Gorges Dam. In four steps the boat is lifted upto the upstream water level of the Yangtze river is. The upstream resevoir lays about 100 meter above the downstream river. Sailing over the upstream part of the river the boat floats over places which used to be human settlements about one decade ago .
I just returned from a three day boat trip on the Yangtze river together with a Dutch girl from Wageningen (Yvonne). Two Dutch girls on a boat full of Chinese tourists. In this context Yvonne seemed as a mirror to me. Although we first got to know each other in China, we share the same friends and a similar background. Among all those Chinese people the contrast became very clear. At once I realised what things are so typical Dutch about her and