Chinese Beauty and Culture (May 23rd 2012)

my dear friends and family

chinese beauty

today i went to the shanghai museum and would like to share a photo of a female chinese statue in the tang dynasty.  in those days, fatty and plum women are considered beautiful.  if she still exists, no one will give her a second look, hahahah.

even up to the early seventies, chinese guys still preferred women to be 'round and lustrous', like a pearl, unfortunately i grew up tall and thin and i felt quite inferior then.

Chinese culture

am now reading a book called 'the ugly chinese' written by a chinese writer in taiwan 20 yrs ago who pointed out all the shortcomings in chinese people and chinese culture. 

in the early days, we,chinese, had been taught only to 'release 30% of our words', and we were told never speak our mind.(unfortunately i am a special breed)

this writer says: there are psychiatrists in the US, however we chinese will not have psychiatrists, because when we see a psychiatrist, we will have to speak the truth.  however chinese people do not want to speak the truth, if he has pain in the butt, he will say there is pain in the ear.  if a woman dumps him, he will say that its he who dumps the woman. so how can a psychiatrist provide treatment???

i find this very funny, and quite true.

lydia

Goodbye Shanghai (May 24th 2012)

my dear friends and family

today i am leaving shanghai.  will give u some brief intro about this city with photos.

the city

its a huge huge city, great effort has been taken to modernize, clean and beautify.  most streets are tree lined. u can find almost any branded goods here.  the underground is well developed and normal ticket is about $Y$3-4.  there are stations everywhere.  very convenient.

taxis start from Y$14 and a 40 min ride costs about $70.  taxies from airport to city is about $180.

huaihai road

a commercial street with high class shops similar to the central commerical district,  queens road central,  in hong kong but much much wider.  10 min from my hotel.  a nice walk, tree lined, very clean.  there is a 1930 old school building right in the middle, there is also an outdoor cafe, quite european feel.

the underground

the underground is modern, efficient and clean.  what impresses me is that, at one of the stations, they put up an exhibition of paintings by picaso and zhang daiqian (a very very popular chinese painter) side by side together along a long long underground passage

my hotel

its modern, clean nice and centrally located.  i booked in for a king room for Y$650, as i had stayed there before and i was happy.   this time upon checked in i found that the room 1510 has a very pungunt smell from the ducting.  i tried to put up with it but at 12 midnight, i could not sleep and the hotel agreed to change me into a one bedroom suite, at no extra charge.

this reminds me of the chinese culture i mentioned earlier.  most chinese people will just put up with it.  my husband, andrew, a typical traditional chinese guy, will get angry at me for requesting a change if he was here.   he is the one who tolerates, tolerates until he cannot tolerate any more, then he will start tolerating again. 

well, maybe this is why our marriage works. hahahahahaha

pan fried bun

a very popular shanghainese dish.  i bought 4 for $5.5 at a little tradtional store along the street.   its crispy on the outside and there is hot juicy soup with meat inside, yummy.

the bund

famous for its old buildings, very pretty, especially at night.

soong chin ling's residence

wife of dr. sun yat sen, the founding father of the Republic of china.  very patriotic.

all in all, my impression about this city is good and i am proud to see the new developments in china and the effort the government is taking to improve the country.

am attaching some photos of the above. for some reason, i cannot log into picasa album and just have to attach individually.

cheers

lydia

my dear friends and family

 

today i am leaving shanghai.  will give u some brief intro about this city with photos.

 

the city

 

its a huge huge city, great effort has been taken to modernize, clean and beautify.  most streets are tree lined. u can find almost any branded goods here.  the underground is well developed and normal ticket is about $Y$3-4.  there are stations everywhere.  very convenient.

 

taxis start from Y$14 and a 40 min ride costs about $70.  taxies from airport to city is about $180.

 

huaihai road

 

a commercial street with high class shops similar to the central commerical district,  queens road central,  in hong kong but much much wider.  10 min from my hotel.  a nice walk, tree lined, very clean.  there is a 1930 old school building right in the middle, there is also an outdoor cafe, quite european feel.

 

the underground

 

the underground is modern, efficient and clean.  what impresses me is that, at one of the stations, they put up an exhibition of paintings by picaso and zhang daiqian (a very very popular chinese painter) side by side together along a long long underground passage

 

my hotel

 

its modern, clean nice and centrally located.  i booked in for a king room for Y$650, as i had stayed there before and i was happy.   this time upon checked in i found that the room 1510 has a very pungunt smell from the ducting.  i tried to put up with it but at 12 midnight, i could not sleep and the hotel agreed to change me into a one bedroom suite, at no extra charge.

 

this reminds me of the chinese culture i mentioned earlier.  most chinese people will just put up with it.  my husband, andrew, a typical traditional chinese guy, will get angry at me for requesting a change if he was here.   he is the one who tolerates, tolerates until he cannot tolerate any more, then he will start tolerating again. 

 

well, maybe this is why our marriage works. hahahahahaha

 

pan fried bun

 

a very popular shanghainese dish.  i bought 4 for $5.5 at a little tradtional store along the street.   its crispy on the outside and there is hot juicy soup with meat inside, yummy.

 

the bund

 

famous for its old buildings, very pretty, especially at night.

 

soong chin ling's residence

 

wife of dr. sun yat sen, the founding father of the Republic of china.  very patriotic.

 

all in all, my impression about this city is good and i am proud to see the new developments in china and the effort the government is taking to improve the country.

 

am attaching some photos of the above. for some reason, i cannot log into picasa album and just have to attach individually.

 

cheers

 

lydia

7.5 May 26th 2012

my dear friends and family,

the following is from a friend.  yes, we human beings all have frequencies, so lets try to keep up to 7.5, at which time not only will we be happy and healthy, we can also achieve anything we want in life.

人類也有其波段，其波段也有很多等級，例如勝了麻雀或中了彩票等等……我們便會升上最高的波段。7．5波段

第一，努力想一些開心的事情,如經常也有這樣的心態的話，快樂的事情會一個接者一個出現的。充滿生氣的表現其實也算是幸福，經常尋求幸福的人，他們的生命波段也是7.5級。

第二，對未來擁有希望，解明地具體地描繪未來，將這程式儲存在腦中.

在日本的神奈川有一位經營油漆店舖的人，在當時只是一介油漆人，那人決意：【20年後我一定要成為日本第一，世界第一的油漆人】現在那油漆人的願望真的達成了。概括以上的實例，進入7.5級的世界，是要想像開心的事，並對於未來抱著希望而做

7.5級的思想其實是人類最高狀態。人類擁有了不起的力量，可是因種種的原因不能發揮出來，去除了那些原因的話便會變成7.5級的想法，這是快樂的思考和未來的思考。

lydia

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octopus travel card 八達通

my dear friends and family

today i travelled on the MTR (underground) from home to causeway bay. on exit i found that i had lost my octopus card. as i was in a hurry i decided to buy a new one.

when i told the MTR staff that i had lost my card and had to buy a new one to exit, immediately she said that someone had just picked up and reported a lost card near my home. after some detailed questions, i was given a card with the same monetary balance as the one i had lost.

as this octopus card is money, (we can use it to travel or buy things). it is very hard to imagine that the person who found it is so honorable as to return the card to the MTR station.

a few years ago, when i was in south america, i had money dropped out from my jeans' pocket twice, and both of these times some strangers nearby picked up the money and gave it back to me. i always try to tell people that when we chant nam myo ho renge kyo (the lotus sutra), there are four bodhisattvas (angels) two in front and two behind to protect us. the above are classic examples of the protection given to me.

glad to share

lydia

我親愛的朋友和家人

今天，我從屋企附近乘坐地鐵到銅鑼灣。到達時我發現遺失了我的八達通卡。因我急着出閘所以決定買一張新的卡。當我告訴地鐵工作人員，我失去了八達通卡，不得不買一張新的卡時，她馬上說有人剛剛報導, 說在我家附近地鐵站內找到了一新遺失的卡。地鐵工作人員問了我一些詳細問題後，發給我一張具有相同貨幣餘額的八達通.

其實此八達通卡是錢，我們可以用它來坐車或買東西。而我遺失了的八達通卡尚有數百元餘額, 但有人竟然那麽誠實的交還地铁公司, 真是難从置信.

幾年前，當我在南美的時候，有兩次我的錢從牛仔褲的口袋裡跌出，但兩次都立刻被附近的一些个陌生人拿起錢，還給了我。我時常告訴大家，當我們唱唸南無妙法華蓮華經時，有四個菩薩（天使），兩個在前面，兩個在後面保護我們。以上是我受到保護典型的例子。

lydia

Undo edits

Piano Music

I love piano music.  Ever since i was a little girl I had always wanted to learn playing a piano.  However due to family situation (our father did not want to spend money on girls, i.e. girls have no status in the family), I never had the good fortune of learning .

Back in my mind, i had always wanted my daughter or my granddaughter to play for me and i tried to encourage them to learn to play piano. i even bought a white piano for my daughter. to my regret for reasons that they are not interested, they decided to stop their lessons after a few years.

yesterday i was asked to take care of a young lady sgi member, jessica,from vancouver who comes to sydney and was interested in visiting our sgi centre. during the tour of the centre, jessica was very happy to see a piano in our centre i invited her to play on the grand piano in the main hall, while i sat down to listen.

as i was listening to her playing my favorite songs, ie chopin nocturne, serenade...., all of a sudden, i was so touched that i was in tears. it seems as if my dream has come true. yes, i cannot play the piano, but i have a young lady so willing and happy to play for me! what great benefit, what good fortune i have.

seeing i was so emotional, she offered to sing for me, initially i said no because i had heard lots of horrible singings in karaokes and i did not want to torture my ears , however jessica said she likes to sing 'the phantom of the opera', now thats a different story, anyone who sings classical cannot be too bad, so i said yes.

as soon as she started singing, her voice was so beautiful that i was in awe. later she told me that she has been taking singing lessons too. after her singing, i felt very content,

i started today trying to help someone, ie jessica, and in the end, i got helped. i had the benefit of listening to beautiful piano music and beautiful singing.jessica has given me a lovely private concert!

this is our buddhist theory, when we set our mind to help others, it was us who got the benefit in the end.

glad to share.

lydia

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