MY TRIP IN CHINA

MY 4TH DAY IN CHINA - LEIFENG PAGODA

Dear loving readers,




The above photo is taken at Leifeng Tower, Hangzhou and a very significant and inspiring revelation which I like to share with all of you. I hope it will inspire you, the same way as it inspired me.

Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002. Thereafter, it has been a popular tourist attraction. From the above photo, you may notice that there are elevators to bring its visitors to the foot of the pagoda. Here, i realized that is even more glory than its past glory before it collapsed. The reconstruction with modern features such as autonomous elevator and lift, air conditioners, televisions and speakers, make it better in serving its visitors.

Similarly, this principle may apply to life. When we are disappointed in life, it may be a good beginning for us, the same way as this pagoda, we may bounce back and stand up a higher level than the level you were before the fall.

Therefore, we should treat the ups and downs in our life as part of life processes, which make us even stronger to face new challenges. It is not material how many times you fall, what is more important is that you are able to bounce back and climb up to a higher level than you were before the fall. You should not be distracted by a fall, but rather treat it as an adversary, which is meant for good - to make you even stronger than before. A good new chapter is beginning rather than the ending of the beautiful story.

Trust you too have learned a good lesson from the series of events this tower had gone through.

The information below, extracted from Wikipedia is for your further reading pleasure.

Leifeng Pagoda (traditional Chinese: 雷峰塔; pinyin: Léi Fēng Tǎ) is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou. Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002, since when it has been a popular tourist attraction.

Original

The original pagoda was built in 975 AD, during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, at the order of King Qian Chu (born Qian Hongchu) of Wuyue. It was built to celebrate the birth of Qian Chu's son, born to Huang Fei, one of his favorite concubines. The Leifeng Pagoda was an octagonal, five-story structure built of brick and wood and with a base built out of bricks.

During the Ming dynasty, Japanese pirates attacked Hangzhou. Suspecting the pagoda contained weapons, they burned its wooden elements, leaving only the brick skeleton, as can be seen from Ming paintings of the West Lake.

Leifeng Pagoda was one of the ten sights of the West Lake because of the Legend of the White Snake.

Later, due to a superstition that bricks from the tower could repel illness or prevent miscarriage, many people stole bricks from the tower to grind into powder. On the afternoon of September 25, 1924, the pagoda finally collapsed due to disrepair.

As for whether there was a mausoleum below, this was debated for years until finally radar was used to investigate. On March 11, 2001 the mausoleum was excavated and many treasures were found, most notably a gold and silver coated hair of the Buddha.

Reconstruction

In October 1999, the provincial and municipal governments decided to rebuild Leifeng Pagoda over the ruins of the old one. The new pagoda opened on 25 October 2002. It is composed of a 1400 tonne steel structure with 200 tonnes of copper parts. It contains four sightseeing elevators, and modern features including air conditioners, televisions and speakers. At the entrance of the pagoda there are two autonomous elevators to carry visitors to the pagoda's foot.

The original base of the pagoda is kept in good condition as well as the treasures discovered in an underground chamber.

I shall download the photos taken around this area later on as I have some difficulties in doing so.

Thanks for your time and look forward to hearing from you,


James Oh

MY 3RD DAY IN CHINA- PARK

MY 3RD DAY IN CHINA - PARK

Dear valued visitors and readers,

Due to summer season there, we woke up early in the morning due to longer daylight hours and sky was bright even in the early morning. On our way to catch a bus to Jiangsu Water Town Zhouzhuang, we saw lots of people were performing their daily morning exercise at the park, so we decided to walk around the park.












People were doing their morning exercise near the Cross.







People were performing their daily exercise at the arch of the park.

What really caught my attention most is the Chinese brush writing.





The master of calligraphy was practicing his writing on the floor.

The big brush he used amazed me because it was filled with water and environmentally friendly as the wording will not stay on the floor. Innovative and creative way.


One of his students sweated profusely while practicing brush writing. On inquired, I was told that he needs to stand properly so as to have the right posture to write with full concentration on the word. He also needed to stand in a way that enable him to move freely, yet firmly when writing. He will then enjoy every brush of his writing and the peace he obtained is marvelous - that's the way to keep him fit and healthy. He even taught me a few steps and I did enjoy it. I found him very humble and cheerful, as it was reflected on his face.







I ponder how wonderful it will be if we can keep the elderly person to stay healthy and happy by teaching them to have such meaningful morning exercises. It will help them stay active and healthy; so as everyone can have a better life.


Thanks for your time and have a fruitful day,


James Oh

MY 2ND DAY IN CHINA, SHANGHAI PEARL TOWER

MY 2ND DAY IN CHINA, SHANGHAI PEARL TOWER

Dear loving readers and visitors,






The two photos were taken at the second upper ball of the TV tower above the ground. You may notice that I was standing on top of the transparent glass floor.


For those who fear heights, perhaps you may try out my little advice. Do not look down on the transparent glass, which make you frighten. But you should look direct at the glass window and walk on top of the glass floor. Look down slowly at the moving vehicle just below the glass floor. Amazing that the fear which trouble you much earlier has disappeared. This small exercise has proven that you can overcome anything if you could shift your mind set to other things that are pleasing to you. It also well illustrated that the real or perceived danger of what you think of is equally powerful and can be treated as a threat to you if you are not handle it with care. This shows how important is the control of your mind and emotion. Do not let others to manipulate you.

This similar principle can apply to life as well. Do not focus on something that is painful to you because it brings hurt to you. It may stir up your emotion and make you blame others for causing such pain to you. If you allow that to happen, then you may be easily manipulated and made use of by others for their selfish agenda. Be aware of such dogs.


As such, just stay focus on something healthy and you will be rest assured that lots of things are not that bad as what you first thought. Just like the above example, the fear is not real, but if you are not careful, you may perceive it as real.




Cultural show outside the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower.




Me at the museum of old town at the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower.


Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Lujiazui is located in Pudong New Area on Century Avenue One. The construction was began in 1991 and was finished in 1994. The main structure of Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower is 350 meters high; it is the third largest TV tower all round the world besides Toronto's TV Tower of Canada and the Moscow TV tower of the former Soviet Union, and the first one in Asia. Oriental Pearl TV Tower is comprehensively used for sightseeing, meeting, exhibition, meal, shopping, amusement, lodging and TV broadcasting. It has been the symbolic building of Shanghai in 21st century. Currently, the number of passengers and tourism earnings are ranked the second place in the world. It is only inferior to French Eiffel Tower.


The revolving Oriental Pearl Restaurant is located on the upper ball 267 meters of the TV tower above the ground. It is the highest revolving restaurant in Asia. Its business area is 1,500 square meters. It is able to accommodate 350 guests for dining. Restaurant at the same time can offer delicious set meals and Sino-foreign self-help dish. More than 100 kinds of delicacies are supplied without interruption.Simultaneously sharing delicacy and scenery with our best friends or lovers will be a romantic experience.


Shanghai city-history exhibition hall is also located in the Oriental Pearl TV Tower with an area covering over 6,000 square meters. It is for history education, culture, appreciation, tour and amusement. It is an innovative display. At night, seeing Oriental Pearl TV Tower far away presents you a colorfulness and attractiveness structure with neon-light illumination.


Thanks for your time and trust it is of assistance to you,


Look forward to seeing you again,

MY FIRST DAY IN CHINA, HANGZHOU AIRPORT

MY FIRST DAY IN CHINA, HANGZHOU AIRPORT

Dear loving readers and visitors,

Although, we have missed the last bus from the airport of Hangzhou to Shanghai; which left before we cleared our way to the Exit 1 of the airport; it did not affect us at all. At that time, we had a choice either to catch a taxi to the city or put a night there before departing to Shanghai the next day. Alternatively, we find another mean of transport to Shanghai City.

Due to our languages constraints, we understand that it is not convenient to look for a hotel at that hour in the city, which is about 40 minutes drive from the airport. Moreover, it was summer time and school was off then. So, we decided to let the broker, who claimed he can arrange a transport for us to Shanghai, do the job.

It took us about two hours from the airport to Shanghai. The journey turned up to be a pleasure one as we met an Indonesia student, who majored in Mandarin there, and we made new friends and have good laughs on hearing his experience in China.

Here, my purpose of sharing this experience with you is that whatever unpleasant thing you encounter, always remember to look up for something pleasing to you rather than let that unpleasant incidence bother you.

Finally, we reached my friend's younger brother's condo safely. There, we put two nights and really had a very good rest before we began our trip the following day. Thanks to his brother who offered us good hospitality and also acted as our tourist guide for our two days trip in Shanghai city.

Below are the photos taken at his condo.



Outside of the condo




Bathroom




Kitchen



Living room



Thanks for your time and wish you have a day of abundance of everything.


James Oh

MY SECONDARY SCHOOL AND ITS FOUNDER

Dear friends, Lately I drove back to my hometown and all of a sudden, there were some inspiration,  flashing out some sweet old memories during my stay in Penang. As a result, I wrote  several articles on those matters. The photo above taken when I was in Remove 4, 1974. The above photo, taken in the year of 1979 when I was in Form 5 Science. The above photo taken during our School Fun Fare Festival. Today, the article I am going to share with you my secondary school where  I spent six good years there, i.e. 1974 to 1979 ie. none other than Heng Ee  High School. It is located on Hamilton Road in the George Town area and  is relatively close to Penang Free School, one of the oldest schools in  Penang and I don't think it needs any further elaboration. However, it does  not apply to my school which does not have such a long historical  background. As such, I will cover some of its unique story and hope you  are enjoy reading it. This school has its own uniqueness in the sense that its ground is divided into  2 sections: one side comprises the school administrators' rooms, teachers' room,  staff room, cafeteria, foyer, school hall, blocks of classrooms, computer rooms,  living skills rooms, science laboratories and a football field while the another side  comprises a small car park, basketball courts and a volleyball court. This piece of  idle land has been acquired subsequently for expansion of the school. It has been  conveyed to us when I was studying there, but it had been acquired many years  after I left the school. When we talk about this school, one major component which cannot be omitted is  its founder. I believe this great man should deserve more coverage as he had  contributed significantly to our society and the school in particular. Do not forget  that being a foreigner and establishing a Chinese School in a foreign country is  definitely not an easy task. Thank God for his persistence and endurance  throughout his journey of struggle. Mr Goh Boon Poh is currently the principal of this school. The photo, above, shown the front view of this school The school was founded in 1957 by the late Datuk Father Arthur Julien, a Belgian  missionary who arrived in Penang from China in 1952. He had also established the Heng Ee Primary School and Heng Ee Kindergarten in 1952 and 1969 respectively.   There is no surprise for him to be awarded a Datukship for his significant  contribution to our society. Some of you may able to see that being a westerner  and wanting to establish a Chinese school in a foreign country certainly impose a  great challenge to him. He used to share with us the challenges he had gone through  when we attended his classes once a week. I always salute him for what he had done,  but he always attributed this values with the Chinese values, which I find lots of  similarity. No wonder that he spent lots of his time to master Mandarin and he can  speak even better mandarin than I do. I found him to have even a deep understanding  of Mandarin and our cultural values. He made himself so humble that we could treat  him as a friend, who always stand by to assist us in any way he could. I recalled that  he even convince the headmaster at that time to allow us to make use of the classroom  during the school break for our revision as he knows that majority of the students are  from lower income group and many of us do not have proper place to study at home. To reduce the consumption of electricity, he even offered us his room to smaller group  of students who wish to come at night to study in the school. He always keeps the school  expenses to a minimum as this school only received very minimum funding from the  government despite it being designated as a national school. Most of the expenses are bored  by public donations. The great man had impacted my life a lot .I always looked upon him in  my life of struggle as well. It is truly blessed to know this great man at our young age  despite me being  always a shy pupil, who chose to struggle silently than to share it out with  others. I have only been transformed after I accepted Christ as my Savior.   On my way back to Kuala Lumpur, I asked for the guard’s permission to enter the school  compound and take the photo of the little statute resembling him standing at the open space  between the school front and the other building.  Though he had gone, but his spirit of  dedication  to serve the needy students are beyond words. I can vouch for him – being the  man who walk  his talk - uses every possible means and assistance he can have to reach  out to those students in need, regardless of race and social status. This made most of  us  students feel proud of him. I recalled a few of us have approached him to borrow the classroom for prepare for our  school examination. His smiling face well indicated to us that he was more than happy to  do so and truly understand our difficulty to study at home. I learnt that he also offered his  room, at the school, to students who truly need a room to study which otherwise was not  available at their own homes. He seemed to know every need of his students. He gave us  all the necessary encouragement when we were saddled by unfortunate incidences. He  always shows us the way and always standby to give the necessary encouragement that  could cheer our hearts and souls.  NO wonder that lots of us loved him very much and he gained our highest respect.  Though he had gone, but his spirit and name will be always remembered.  He was always very proud of this school, for being able to use Mandarin language as a  medium to conduct classes here as he found that this language has lots of high values that  need to be preserved. He used to describe all these values and cultivated them in our lives  despite being a foreigner to us. We can sense that his love conquers all barriers and we are  always looked upon him for such a cheerful spirit. He does not always look cheerful and  energetic, but he was always willing to offer his hands to anyone who needs his assistance. It was learnt that he contributed the entire heritage of 50,000 pounds he received from his  father to this school. He can speak mandarin very well and he faced a great challenge when  he initially raised funds to build these Chinese school from the Chinese community. Firstly  people are doubtful of him for being Westerner and willing to build Chinese schools in foreign  land.  Thank God for his endurance throughout his challenging years and today his name will never  be forgotten. Though the statue subsequently built after his death is no comparison to his  contribution to this school, it will serve as a remembrance of his great work, He can be  remembered as a model to the world at large. Before we put an end to this article, we urge those who know about his life to contact us  either via comments or email to jamesoh2003@yahoo.co.uk or bthongoh@hotmail.com so  that we can blog more about his life and his great contribution in the internet sphere.  Thank you for your kind participation. We look forward to hearing from you,  Your Chief Servant, James Oh Founder and Group CEO Skype me at james.oh18

TONG SIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL, PENANG

My dearest friends,

The photo of the above school was taken recently when I made my trip back to my hometown, Penang. If you have read my preceding articles, you may probably realised that this trip has brought back my old sweet memories.

This school has reminded me of my six good years of receiving my early school education there, throughout 1968 to 1973. I was only standard two when the racial riots happened at 1969. Thank God that my belated father had rescued me from my school. 

There are about five bus stops away from my house to this school. I recalled at times I walked back with my two schoolmates occasionally, whom I still contact till date. We used to walk back because there was only one type of bus we could take from our school to home, i.e. Bus No 9, which routes take about half an hour a trip. At that time, the weather was not that hot and we took about 15 minutes to walk a single way, through some short cut path.

Three of us met in China when we made a trip about a year back to visit my friend's brother, who is still working in China. Whereas both of us are in Malaysia. Three of us have different faiths, despite beginning with the same faith. Both of us migrated to Kuala Lumpur about two decades ago, whereas his younger brother was working in Penang prior to his employment in China. 

I recalled many years ago, prior to my graduation from the university, I met up with several of my old school mates to organise a reunion. However, I did not join them because my lessons started much earlier than the reunion date. Thereafter, I did not hear from the rest of them.

As I write and post this article of this school in the hope that I be able to contact these group of people again. Who know, we might take up other challenging work to track back the history of this unique school, which I think we all know very little of. 

Append below is the group photo of my schoolmates which I have kept with me for the past 37 years. Please leave down your contact details via comments or email to me at jamesoh2003@yahoo.co.uk or bthongoh@hotmail.com. 

Wish you all very best and look forward to hearing from you,

James Oh

Your Chief Servant,

James Oh
Founder and Group CEO

Skype me at james.oh18

http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

PERAK CAVE, IPOH

Dear Friends,

This is the place I used to buy pomeloes on my way either back to Penang or Kuala Lumpur, where I am currently staying. The above photo of the Perak Cave, or Pek Lik Tong in the local Cantonese dialect is taken where I usually stopped by to buy pomeloes. 

Pi-Li Dong in Mandarin or  Perak Tong is one of the favorite tourist spots throughout the year. This cave temple has some historical facts which you may find interesting and memorable. Perhaps you may stop by or visit this wonderful cave. No surprise that this cave temple was visited by some great and unforgettable heroes like the Father of Modern China, Mr. Sun Yat Sun 1866-1925, influential intellectuals Hu shih (zhi) 1891-1962, Yu You Ren 1879-1964 and Chinese master artist, Zhang Da Qian (0r Chang Ta-Chien 1899-1983) etc. As a result, it can be easily ranked as one of the hottest spot among all the cave temples found in Ipoh till date. 

You may probably recalled that at one time Ipoh was relatively a remote mining town. Before the commodity price crashed in the '70s, Ipoh used to be  nick name as The town of the many Millionaires due to its enormous reserves of tin ores. The Chinese who invented the open cast mining method in the Kinta Valley Tin ore reserve Belt can even outperformed the tin ore output of the British designed Tin Dredging to a certain extent as this method is a much cheaper form of mining. 

During the height of the Chinese revolution, Sun Yat Sun sourced financial help from overseas Chinese and Ipoh is in no exception. He made visits here to ask for financial assistance from the rich local miners. The visit was probably followed by sequential visits by other Chinese intellectuals and high profile individuals which adds glamour into its formation.

It was learnt that Perak Cave was also developed by Mr. Chong Sen-yee, from Guangdong Province, China. He was the first person who discovered this remote location and hence applied to the authority for the cave to be converted as another cave temple for worshippers. Thereafter, he spend his life of half a century in developing the cave in stages. He then spent his later years writing poems. This great figure, who had so much passion and dedication to this cave project passed away peacefully in 1980. His Son, Mr. Y.C. Chong is heading the management of this well known Buddhist cave temple currently.

Though these people had gone, their works and legacy left behind to the future generation will not be forgotten. Take a tour inside this cave, there are so many great works  that are still intact. Discover it yourself when you are there.

Thanks and please do not stop here. Please direct your contacts or friends to read this article so that they will add this tourist spot in their next tour to Ipoh.

Your Chief Servant,

James Oh

Founder and Group CEO

Skype me at james.oh18

http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

SUCCESS STORY OF SHANGHAI

Dear my friends, Shanghai Literally means “above sea” – no wonder it has so much to offer as  it is the city that never sleeps – exhilarating for those who seek an  active lifestyle. To facilitate its crucial function as a gateway to  China , it's integrated logistic and transportation systems manifestly  reflect this main heart of activities. Easy and excellent accessibility  by all modes of transportation, namely road, air, sea and rails is  crucial.    Not withstanding the fact that it has a super duper public  transportation system, it also has clean streets and surprisingly little  air pollution which is clearly in contrast to other major cities. The  city is also linked with thousands of bus lines apart from the  Shanghai Metro (subway) which has four lines at present. All these  facilities are made available for them to fuel demand of a highly  educated and modernized workforce. Such infrastructures are  crucially required to facilitate the movement of the labour forces  domestically as well as internationally.    Not surprisingly to note the world first of its kind, maglev railway  was erected there, from Shanghai’s Long Yang Road subway  station to Pudong International Airport. It takes only 7 minutes  to travel a 30 km journey with its maximum speed of 431 km/h.  Such an advanced and sophisticated transportation mode is  necessary in view of its huge population coupled with its  attraction as a favorite tourist destination. This city also has two airports; namely Pudong International  airport, caters for both domestic and international flights, served  as one of the most important hubs in China. Whereas Hongqiao  Airport is mainly used for domestic flight purposes.     To supplement its function as the gateway to China, numerous  elevated roads are also added, apart from the three railways  intersections in this grand city. You may find these elevated  roads appear in expressway-like road conditions (direction  separated lanes).  These bridges/multi level highways in the centre of this great  city, featuring the Chinese character “well”, link up the flow of  traffic from every direction. This zig-zag crossing afloat and  under the elevated highways truly reflected the glory of their  local architectural designs. If you were traveling at high speed,  you may feel like traveling on a roller coaster. Tunnels and  bridges cleverly creep in to link up certain areas such as Puxi  to Pudong. Everywhere you find big crowds of people, truly reflects its  real success as a tourists destination. Normally you may also  find parades of buses bring in and out thousands of visitors,  local and foreign, to and fro this grand city. As such, parking  problem becomes a norm here. To overcome this problem, the  drivers (locally called “Shi fu” or master) of all these tourist  coaches usually stopped their vehicles at the road side of the  main destination to drop their valued passengers. Thereafter,  they have to drive to a destined parking area, which is a walking  distance away from these tourist spots. What will happen if more  and more people, whom majority at present are still using  bicycles and scooters as their main mean of transportation,  upgrade to motor cars. Although it has well equipped with all these sophisticated  transportation infrastructure, ironically we find some of their traffic  rules are not in harmony with the international traffic laws.  Pedestrians who are used to normal traffic rules, usually have to  ensure that both sides of the traffic where two lanes of flowing  directly opposite to each other, are clear before crossing, they  have to be extra cautious especially when crossing the road.  Pedestrians are legally obliged to give way to the motorists  as the latter are legally obliged to slow down their vehicle,  but not obliged to stop even when approaching a zebra-crossing  – contradictory to the normal traffic rules. I was told that the  local authority is looking into the matter seriously. I guess it  is due to their own uniqueness where pedestrians and cyclists  at one time form the majority far beyond when compared to  motorists. That may be the reason why they think it is more  appropriate to shift the legal burden to pedestrians, rather than  the motorists. With the present situation, the Zig-zag traffic flow  has complicated the above problem especially to the pedestrians. Being one of its tourists’ main attraction spots, Shanghai Bund, is the  classic image of Shanghai. Here, you will find huge crowds of  tourists flooding the area day and night. It is worthwhile to note the  elegant colonial architectural buildings and the new futuristic buildings  actually blend in easy harmony, separated by the famous Huangpu river, being the main attraction. Naturally it never failed to attract visitors,  being individual or groups to snap their photos with such wonderful and  rare background of its kind. Taking a cruise along this famous river, which divide the majestic  buildings dating back to Shanghai’s grandest days and the latest  landmark area such as Oriental Pearl Towers and trade centre, you  may find some fun and excitement.    Alternatively, taking such a cruise at night may prove romantic  especially for young loving couples. The effect of the neon lights  from those elegant buildings along the river, may be viewed as if it  is candle lights from mighty candle stands. Just imagine you are at  that scene, staring at the beauty of the lighting while you let other  parts of body do the talking with your sweet and lovely partner –  a real romantic and joyful sensation. The breeze blowing towards  both of you, may add more sensation to their already intimate  feeling. By snapping a photo with such a memorial and sweet  moment is worth far beyond the effort.    For those who have already known of its port, being the largest in  the world as of December 2004, will not find any surprise to see  huge cargo ships frequently moving along this river. As such, taking  a photo with such unplanned cargo ship as a background would  become a norm here.    This never sleeping city brings in and out hundreds of thousands of  visitors either domestic or foreign daily. Coaches forming beelines  along the bund is a normal sight to the local people. Beggars; young  and old, able and disable, are also seen trying to take advantages of  the crowds. Your Chief Servant, James Oh Founder and Group CEO Skype me at james.oh18 http://liftyouup.blogspot.com