Time for another business trip...

At noon, I arrived at this small coastal city, once a beautiful place in my imagination, only to find a shabby small township in Liaoning province. The first time as it is to me, I've known about the city for a long time ( perhaps from the time I was in high school), partly because it is one of the important zinc mines in China.

I'm here for the same reason: to visit my customers and introduce our new product to them. To my regret, the guy I wanted to see was heavily engaged in meetings and couldn't spare a minute to see me.  I just had a brief talk with him over the phone.

In the evening, I had dinner with a technician, another local friend of

The city is now becoming one of my frequented places now.  Almost every month, I have to come here...to visit one of my customers. To tell you the truth, I don't like the city at all: dusty and dirty, and as crowded as Beijing. Almost everywhere there will be traffic jam: because the local government is trying to refurbish the city, maybe. Roads have been digged up, which has been quite some time since the first time I was here. The streets and lanes seem to be in such a mess you can easily get lost.  And what's more, I'm feeling quite uneasy with the strange accent of the local dialect.

Before I came here, I jus

I received an email notice from the mailing system of another blog of mine http://allensbj.blogspot.com. An anonymous buddy made a very well-prepared and elegantly written comment on one of the movie reviews published in that blog. However, I failed to log on after repeated attempts. I came to realize what had happened to it: It has been blocked!  Same thing has happened to my 'new' English blog again! Previously, another English blog of mine has shared the same fate.

It seems quite normal now. I found youtube.com could not be accessed, either.  I'm feeling the strong censorship of our government, though I've never put any sensative issues in my blog before.

At the beginning of the conference call with our Canadian customer this morning, we chatted about the weather. Amazed at what I told her about the scorchingly hot day in beijing recently, she said with an air of pride how pleasant it was in Calgary. 19~25 C, how cozy it is!

I've been to the city three years ago, and can feel what she told me.  I was not impressed by the city itself, which looked like many of medium- or even small-sized Chinese cities: wide streets and neat roads,  with fewer people, however.  Winter Olympics was once held there ( I forgot when, though),maybe due to its extremely cold weather in winter.

What impressed me is something  else.  It was early September when we got there. 

Long time no see...

Spring is coming, but I've been too busy to enjoy the fantastic views of early spring. I have to work, work, and work....This year, I have to go to more places...the regional markets that I'm in charge of. My region is mainly in the Northeast, and I have been there several times since end of last year...several big projects are ahead for me to take care of, and make sure they will not slip away from our biz plans.

Beijing is already in the booming spring now. The trees are too eager to show their green leaves to the warm air. It seems the light and tender green suddenly turns into a darker color, as they are in the summer. How time flies, and a quarter of a year has passed.

Spring in Beijing often seems so impatient to leave us and summer just rushes in. Last week, I went to the Yuan Dadu

More surprising delight is coming!

When I pulled the curtain and opened the window in the morning, I was overjoyed to see so much snow outside. The snow began to fall from yesterday and probably never stopped with just a short suspension yesterday afternoon. It began to fall again in the evening. When I reached home from work, I was almost embraced with those tiny snowflakes all over.

I took several pictures with my cellphone from my window to keep such memorable scenes forever. It seemed everywhere was blanketed with thick snow. How wonderful!

It is really amazing! God is so generous he finally brought us some snow at the beginning of the year....And, it's snowing rather heavily this time!

In the weak twilight early this morning, I saw the ground downstairs covered with a thin layer of snow. The snow visited us quietly during the night. When the outside was clear enough, I saw snow everywhere: the meadow, the pavement, and the cars. 

The snow is so precious to me. I remember I took my son to the so-called 'Snow Carnival' in the Olympic Green. I really felt sorry to see my son so overjoyed playing with the artificial 'snow'.

Now the snow is coming! It is such a joy seeing those tiny fluffy flakes dancing around you, by itself

(From Google.com)

The tragedy swpet down when we Chinese were celebrating the Lantern Festival, and the time when we were embracing the biggest moon in 52 years. It was reported that one  firefighter died and about 30 others were injured.

The fire burst out around 9:00pm last night, when people were crazily lighting the fireworks.

I can see the building every time I go to work. It is very close to my office.  The following picture was taken with my ce

Today is the Lantern Festival, a day marking the end of Chinese lunar new year. People are back from home and begin their work for the new year, refreshed from reunion with their beloved family.

Some friends have knocked off early in the afternoon, while I have to work a full day. How lucky they are!!

To my delight, I've already received greetings from some old buddies faraway, which I truly appreciate.

Happy Lan