Anaïs et Tenderness

Très bon concert ce soir....... à la télé :-)

J'ai découvert Anaïs. En fait, je crois que j'avais entendu une chanson d'elle avant. "Christina". Je n'avais pas poussé plus loin. Mais ce soir, j'ai vraiment découvert l'artiste et ce qu'elle est capable de faire sur scéne... toute seule. impressionant. (c'était ce soir sur W9)





et puis les 2 sites:
http://anaisinyourface.free.fr
http://www.myspace.com/anaisinyourface

Sinon, autre découverte musicale du moment, An Pierlé et le nouvel album. en fait surtout une chanson. J'ai entendu "Tenderness" sur France Inter et ça m'a bien plu. j'adore les 4 accords du couplet...

L'album est tout nouveau donc pas encore sur Radioblog... et sur leur Myspace, y'a pas "tenderness".
http://www.myspace.com/anpierleandwhitevelvet

The lake house - This Never Happened Before

I watched "The lake house" in the plane back home, from HK to London.

Really liked the following song:
"This Never Happened Before" by Paul McCartney



Lyrics:
I'm very sure, this never happened to me before
I met you and now I'm sure
This never happened before

Now I see, this is the way it's supposed to be
I met you and now I see
This is the way it should be

This is the way it should be, for lovers
They shouldn't go it alone
It's not so good when your on your own

So come to me, now we can be what we want to be
I love you and now I see
This is the way it should be
This is the way it should be

This is the way it should be, for lovers
They shouldn't go it alone
It's not so good when your on your own

I'm very sure, this never happened to me before
I met you and now I'm sure
This never happened before (This never happened before)
This never happened before (This never happened before)
This never happened before (This never happened before)
This never happened before

Go Elong!

Interesting post again at "Migrant Worker" about Elong, the online travel agency and its plane ticket service, here in China.

But I have a totally different feeling about Elong. I actually like Elong and use it all the time. I wanted to post about it so I guess now is a good time.

I 'm booking my plane tickets by Internet because I want to buy it at the best moment. Discount are coming and going away quickly. So with Elong, you can check the price 1 month before and check it again 1 week before from your computer, and if you know the kind of discount you can get, it can be very rewarding to wait or to hurry to buy it. Of course, there are many surprise: "What??!! where is my 70% discount i thought i'd get"

One thing that happened: I had booked the ticket 1 week in advance and i found out about a great discount 2 days before the flight. I could call Elong and cancel my ticket, and book the cheap one. Of course, there is a trick: my cheap ticket was delivered to me but i had to normally pay for it. To get refund, you have to go to their local office (they have one in Chengdu, Kunming...) and there is a 5% fee.

Elong has the best site, according to me. Fast, easy to use... and clear. Better than Ctrip, better than Yoee. (i think Yoee doesn't have a delivery service everywhere). You can really consider the price, the time of the flight and make your choice, the company...
Why the company? Sichuan Airlines has free transportation to and from the airport in Chengdu if you have a ticket which discount is not superior to 50%.
Ctrip is so messy!

Now let me mention some of Even's critics:
- Yes, the English page is terrible as you can't enter Chinese characters. They really should fix that! You can't input your address in Chinese, you can't input your Chinese friends name. But actually, it's not a big deal. Yes, Elong Beijing office will call you and make sure about your booking. If they need the Chinese, they ask you to do that by email (it happened to me) or something else. At that time, they also make sure about the delivery(time and place). From experience, this is quite annoying as Elong Chengdu office will call you if these details are unsure or doesn't satisfy them...
- Not all the staff can speak English, but normally it's no problem: Beijing office call is done by somebody who can speak English. Yes, I had some call from the Chengdu office or the delivery guy... in Chinese. But I could always rely on a colleague, friend, passerby or my poor Chinese:

"- shenme shenme... feiji piao... shenme shenme?
- aaaaah feiji piao, duiduidui!
- shenme shenme... zai bu zai?
- zai zai zai! mei wenti!
- dui ba, xie xie..."

Free Chinese practice for me ;-)

- They do have to deliver to you right away. Well, I think the solution is to find somebody you trust (and is willing to pay for you in the 1st time) they can deliver to... on the webpage, you can actually give the address and contact of another person. Very practical.
- They don't guarantee the price of the ticket. It did happened to me, once or twice (it was also on short notice: on the day of the trip). But i wouldn't say it happens often. In that case of short notice, I think I would call Elong directly, I wouldn't wait them to call me back after my booking. (They do have a booking phone number)

Ok, i didn't try Ctrip. And ok, there might be several phone calls involved but for me, the point of ordering online, is that I can compare price and time and do it when i want.

Some facts (not really related to Elong actually)
-They have the good discounts (like the one you will find elsewhere). I know about the Chengdu-Kunming flight (you'll guess why). The full price is 700 RMB. I could get 210 RMB tickets sometimes. That's about 320 RMB with tax.
-The Fuel Tax has doubled from sept 1st. from 30 Yuans to 60 yuans. And I think the airport tax is 50 RMB. (Total tax is 110RMB).
- Price in Summer were really higher than now. No 70% discount at that time...
- I could get good price, even during the October golden week.

Other Elong anecdotes:
- My first time I knew about Elong was in France, 6 Month ago. I was looking for a ticket from Shenzhen to Kunming. They called me to ask me for my credit card number. At that time, I didn't know if I could trust them so I finally found another solution.
- Elong sponsored an episode of danwei tv show "sexy beijing".
- On the homepage there is a very attractive offer:
Beijing--London(RT) ¥2430
I guess I'll know if it's true only when I'll try to get it. Sounds too cheap to be true.


And another mention of Migrant Worker today on the web: see see Gokunming today's post.

GoKunming gets RSS

GoKunming: Kunming news, events, travel, business, living:

Welcome to GoKunming RSS feed!
For now, only one RSS feed, for the general kunming news section of the website (blog).
I remember when i first discover this website (at the very beginning i believe), i was already hoping for it.

Eco-tourism in south-west China

Interesting article about Eco-tourism featuring Wanglang Nature Reserve in Sichuan. (but mainly about Yunnan)
Can China embrace eco-tourism? | 生态旅游在中国可行吗?
"Tourists are choosing the holiday that involves the least effort, and China's eco-tourism sector is suffering as a result. Sichuan's Wanglang Nature Reserve is a haven for giant pandas. Since 1996, Peking University professor and panda expert, Lu Zhi, has been promoting eco-tourism to the area. But the lack of dramatic scenery and the need to spend time outdoors in order to see the pandas mean that Wanglang still lacks the number of visitors it deserves. The same could be the case in Yunnan."

Talking about copyrights and Ghibli...

Talking about Copyrights issue and "studio Ghibli" (see my last post), here is what you can find in a Pizza Hut of Chengdu for Halloween decoration. (picture on the right)

At the first glance, I recognize Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, a somewhat famous japan animation movie, and her cat. Yeah, the cat is obviously the same, no doubt. Here is the original, the spanish poster (don't ask why) and a picture of the cat. Don't tell me they didn't took it from there!

When Copyrights start to be a problem....

Email from youtube:

"This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Studio Ghibli Inc. claiming that this material is infringing..."

So byebye to:

Harmony 02:48

Porco rosso / Brandford Marsalis

Tags:

miyazaki amv music jazz

Added: November 12, 2005, 12:20 PM From philou155
Views: 2,740 Rating: 13 ratings
(4) comments

I put my other AMV in private video. I guess if they can't find it, it will be ok. Wanna first make sure i kept a version on my hard drive.

"Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account."

don't want this to happen...

Funny enough, this is the second time in 1 week I've been told to remove contents i had on the Internet. well, this time, they did it for me, and ask me to clean my account. (the other copyright problem: i had pictures on my picasaweb album from a "big environmental ngo", i just upload in "private mode" to send to colleagues, and make our work of gathering pictures easier) . I guess I'm a big copyrights dangerous criminal.

My excuse to studio ghibli... I'll never do it again ;-)

Ecologie en France

politicshow the french politic show : politique lyrics: Emission Spéciale > Soirée débat : l'écologie politique

Serge Orru - Directeur général du WWF
Philippe Desbrosses - Intelligence Verte
Philippe Quirion - Réseau Action Climat
Michèle Rivasi - CRII-REM
Daniel Richard - Président du WWF
Dominique Voynet - Candidate à la Présidence de la République - Les Verts
Corinne Lepage - Candidate à la Présidence de la République - Cap 21
Nicolas Hulot - électron libre (et think tank "comité de veille écologique")
Alain Bougrain-Dubourg - LPO
Dominique Belpomme - scientifique
Jean-Marie Pelt - scientifique
Gilles-Eric Séralini - scientifique
Julien Sage - Fac Verte
Yann Werhling - secrétaire national des Verts
Eric Delhaye - Porte-parole de Cap 21

et Denis Cheissoux, France Inter

Kenny Garrett

Adblock

"URBAN JUNGLE" Feat:Kenny Garrett & Roy Ayers.
i was emailed this by the guy who posted the video on youtube. Great stuff!



Kenny Garrett Interview about new album.

Beyond The Wall [...] inspired by Chinese music and philosophy.

Snack food in China

Very good article again on chinadialogue.net about Food Safety.

small interesting introduction on snack in China:

China's food fears (part one) | 中国的食品安全恐慌（第一部分）: "Perhaps the biggest difference between food in the West and in China is that Chinese people like to eat lots of little snacks whereas Westerners prefer one ‘main meal’. In the West, restaurants and fast food outlets produce standardised meals, where quantities are strictly regulated. But the Chinese have a long history of eating snacks. Traditionally an agricultural country, when farmers went out onto the fields, they would bring snacks with them to eat and to share with friends, or would swap them with farmers from neighbouring villages. The quality of the snack was important – it would indicate how skilful the wife was in the kitchen and help the family to maintain their ‘face’. So over the centuries the quality of these snacks became better and better, so that gradually, all over China, one could find snacks that were both delicious and safe. "

Then, it is about Pickle... Sichuan Pickle. Made here in Chengdu. very interesting as well! I will be thinking about this article every meal for a while!

Sichuan wiki.... well, not exactly but...

Interesting use of a wiki by american exchange students in Sichuan University!
Main Page - UW-SichuanWiki: "Welcome to the wiki of the University of Washington-Sichuan University Research Exchange.

This website is the compilation of wisdom from previous exchange students who have volunteered to share their knowledge with others in hopes to make their time in the exchange more productive and more enjoyable. We have specifically compiled this information in wiki format so that it is easily accessible and future students can continue to contribute. The wiki philosophy is that everybody has the freedom to share information. If you see a mistake on these pages or something lacking, then jump right in and edit it!"

Photoblog / Huajiao

Check this photoblog for pictures of rural area in Sichuan. Nice captions! (couldn't leave my comment but will try again later)
Dan's China Days: Policy in practice:

"The municipal leader of He'ai town, a single mother, with her only child. The town meeting hall behind her is emblazoned with the slogan, 'Carrying out the One-Child Policy is China’s basic national policy'"


update:

Dan's China Days: Huajiaoping village: a difficult life: "One of village's few sources of income is the sale of huajiao (known in the West as Sichuan peppers, and after which the village is named), for which they can earn six yuan per kilogram"
wow, that's cheap huajiao! Carrefour is helping selling huajiao from communities living around the Nature reserve in Minshan area (sichuan), in partnership with a WWF project.

wow, that's cheap huajiao!
Final price this year is around 100 yuan per kilo in Carrefour. It's very high this year because of poor weather and good quality (sic). Farmers can get more than 50 yuans.

HuaJiao (Sichuan Pepper)
Originally uploaded by Philou.cn.

Suez/GDF: article du monde diplo

A lire:
Suez va-t-il avaler Gaz de France ?:

"Le 7 septembre, le gouvernement de M. Dominique de Villepin a soumis à l’Assemblée nationale un projet de loi pour la privatisation de Gaz de France (GDF) afin de permettre sa fusion avec Suez. Pourtant M. Nicolas Sarkozy, alors ministre des finances, avait assuré en 2004 : « Je le redis avec force : conformément aux engagements du président de la République et du gouvernement, EDF et GDF ne seront pas privatisées (1). » Le projet de loi supprime l’obligation pour l’Etat de détenir au minimum 70 % du capital de GDF. Celui-ci pourra ramener sa participation au sein du nouveau groupe à 34 %. A quelques mois de l’élection présidentielle, ce transfert au privé du contrôle de l’un des derniers grands groupes industriels publics inquiète jusqu’au parti majoritaire, l’Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP).

En dépit du résultat du référendum du 29 mai 2005, indice d’une opposition populaire aux orientations libérales des gouvernements européens, l’un des premiers actes du premier ministre nommé au lendemain de ce scrutin, M. de Villepin, a été de confirmer l’entrée en Bourse de GDF, puis d’EDF. Le 25 février 2006, sur fond de manifestations contre le Contrat première embauche (CPE), M. de Villepin a dévoilé le projet de fusion de GDF avec Suez. Depuis, le groupe privé n’a pas ménagé ses efforts pour convaincre les parlementaires. Au point d’inviter certains de ces représentants du peuple à assister, en juillet dernier, dans les loges privées de Suez, à la finale de la Coupe du monde de football…

[...]"

Je n'avais pas remarqué le "carnet" du Monde Diplomatique qui resssemble à un blog. J'aime bien! Je crois qu'ils appellent ça "La valise diplomatique". Pas mal du tout.
Et moi qui est reçu ça dans mon Gmail... Bien sûr, il faudrait s'abonner pour les supporter.

"Plus que jamais, au milieu des turbulences que
traverse la presse française, les abonnés sont
les meilleurs garants de notre indépendance.

Soutenez-nous, abonnez-vous :
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/abo

Lecteurs solidaires :
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/abo/solidaires"

Streaming music websites...

This website called blogmusik is quite nice. it seems people have been talking about it since July 13th.

It is interesting that it actually takes the Radio.blog database. without mentionning it for now. maybe, this new website is not only taken its music from there. But where else could they take the music from?

I suspect the website to french, because of its french version and because french blogs talking about it are numerous. Also, on the radio.blog forum, there is a thread in french about it. couldn't find one in english.

The good thing about this website is the ability to get a link for a song and share it easily. For example, here is one: http://www.blogmusik.net/?urlIdSong=102397
I could get this link very quickly.
I've blogged here tracks from Radio.blog before but blogmusik will be more easy for beginners.

Then, here i wanted to blog the track so you can listen to the song directly, without leaving this site, but radio.blog is down for maintenance....

About the song:
Well it's a new song from JJ, to me. it's about the 3Rs, yes: Reduce Reuse, Recycle!!! cool song.
3Rs by Jack johnson


Also, I could find this link using google, i couldn't find how to access it from the page.
http://www.blogmusik.net/music-genre.cfm


[update:]
Now it's on Techcrunch!

My free Tripper Map

Get your own Flickrmap!

I knew this website but didn't know they made a free version. they support the new flickr geo-service, which is cool.

aaah! Elaine!

Nice news from Elaine...
"Seinfeld" veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus wins Emmy | Reuters.com: "Former 'Seinfeld' co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the Emmy Award as best actress in a comedy on Sunday for playing a divorced mom looking for love on her new CBS show 'The New Adventures of Old Christine.'

Louis-Dreyfus, who played self-absorbed Elaine Benes for nine years on NBC's smash hit 'Seinfeld,' is the first of that show's cast to find success in her own prime-time series, after previous solo attempts by former co-stars Michael Richards and Jason Alexander flopped.

She previously won the Emmy as best supporting actress in a comedy for her work on 'Seinfeld.' Her first return to series TV, starring as a nightclub singer on NBC's 'Watching Ellie,' failed to get off the ground."

The show:

Chimp Conference...

Interesting post on the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog.
Too bad the text is not available in the blog. I mean, i love Google Earth but my laptop is slow, so i don't want to launch it just to read a blog post. Hopefully, Google maps now reads kmz files:
http://www.janegoodall.org/news/gombe-blog/New-Postings/August06/08-29-06.kmz - Google Maps

un extrait du post:
"Today was the first day of the conference and it started with a bang. It was an exciting morning as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spoke with us during the opening of the meeting. It was certainly an honor for him to join us and it was reassuring to hear him speak about his commitment to conservation in Uganda, a place of rich primate diversity. Dr. Jane Goodall also spoke to the congress. In her tradition, she opened her speech by giving a pant-hoot, the chimpanzee greeting, and invited the congress attendees to respond with the answer of their study species. It was wild to hear the entire conference answer Jane! It was most moving to hear Jane talk about her experiences over the years and how the field of primatology has grown from her first meeting of just 10 scientists in the 1960s to an international meeting of more than 700 people in 2006."

[update]
I really love Google maps, look at these 2 links:
Overview of the posts location in Africa
Zoom on the Chimpanzee's habitat. woaw, the nice beach...

Maps in China

Xinhua - English: "Foreign organizations and individuals, who engage in surveying and mapping in scientific research and teaching programs, travel or exploration, must obtain approval from the government and accept supervision, the State Bureau of Survey and Mapping said.

The number of foreigners conducting surveying and mapping in China is on the rise and many field projects have been carried out illegally, which have threatened the security of the country, according to the state bureau.

[...]

Earlier this year, two Japanese scholars were fined a total of 80,000 yuan (10,000 U.S. dollars) and deported for collecting materials and coordinates of an airport and water facilities in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It was feared their results could be put to military use.

The bureau notice said that foreigners who illegally survey, gather and publish geographical information on China will be severely punished.

Chinese partners or translators will be fined if they fail to stop illegal mapping activities as soon as they find out about them.

Details of regulations on how foreigners can conduct surveying and mapping in China will be announced soon by the State Bureau of Survey and Mapping."
_____________________________________

"foreigners who illegally survey, gather and publish geographical information on China"
Mmmm, of course, i'm not concerned! I don't "survey". I do feel i'm gathering and publishing though... ;-)

Other blog post about this (about Google Earth)
Another one (Single Planet)

WWF map

WWF - Selective map of flagship WWF projects around the world
woaw, cool map. Not i'm not ironical, it is not so bad!

Many maps i could find in the nature conservation area were very poor, very slow... compare to what could offer Yahoo or Google maps. But this one, is not so bad.

Arg, the Minshan area hasn't a little red cross. I guess it's not flagship. (i though it was)

Funny to notice the amount of "red cross" in Buthan. I thought there were doing pretty well there, towards environment i mean... do "they" really need WWF or WWF need some model projects?

Giant panda cited as global most sightworthy animal

People's Daily Online -- Giant panda cited as global most sightworthy animal: "According to a recent survey conducted by a global environment protection organization, China's giant panda and the Amazon rainforest in South America are elected as 'the most sightworthy animal' and 'the most sightworthy natural sight' respectively."

Strange they don't mention WWF directly.

That's the survey:
http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/best_place_species/index.cfm
and that's the result:
http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/best_place_species/current_top_10/index.cfm

i was going to say: "there is no date, who knows how long the survey as been running here."
actually, there are some details:
"Page last updated: August 29, 2006." that's for the "survey".
"Page last updated: August 23, 2006." that's for the result.

Anyway, i don't really understand of 1. the survey 2. the article.

If the article mention WWF, everything (the behind) would be much clearer to me.

Chinois sortis de la pauvreté

Un séminaire à Chengdu dans le Sichuan (22-23 aout)
En 20 ans, 100 millions de Chinois sont sortis de la pauvreté: "Depuis longtemps, le gouvernement chinois travaille inlassablement pour éradiquer la pauvreté et améliorer les conditions de vie des paysans. Au milieu des années 1980, il a fondé un département spécial chargé de venir en aide aux pauvres, et a déclenché à l'échelle nationale une lutte organisée et planifiée contre la pauvreté.

Selon les statistiques récentes du Bureau du Conseil des affaires d'Etat pour la lutte contre la pauvreté, à la fin de 2005, dans les 592 districts recevant la plus grande aide de l'Etat, 79% des villages sont maintenant desservis par la route, 95,8% des villages par l'électricité, 70% des familles paysannes ont accès à l'eau potable, 73,8% des villages sont reliés au téléphone et 87,6% des villages reçoivent les programmes de TV."

The black-necked cranes of Shangri-la

WWF - Buddah birds: Protecting the black-necked cranes of Shangri-la: "A rare species endemic to the Tibetan Plateau, the cranes have also achieved something of an iconic status in the tiny village of Hamagu, on the edge of the Napahai wetland in Shangri-la County in China’s northwest Yunnan Province. Here, villagers are tying their fortunes to the cranes’ popularity as they are becoming more and more of a tourist attraction. But those small fortunes will depend on how well the bird’s habitat is protected."

Flickr geotagging: Impressive

Great shot - where'd you take that?: "Flickr's great for exploring photos by photographer, tag, time, text and group, and now it's also great for exploring photos by place. There are a couple of short video tutorials (or "screencasts") which give the 90 second overview on how to geotag your own photos and how to use all the controls for searching and exploring geotagged photos. Watching them first will give you all of the information you need to get up and running.

If you want just jump in on the exploration side, here's the place to go: http://flickr.com/map"

"geobblogers.com" is back! well, kind of... it's a big new step for geotagging pictures.
Many new features make the experience very pleasant. (grouping pictures with the zoom level for example).

Well sure, it's yahoo maps, not google maps... but can't wait to use it. maybe yahoo maps are not so bad ;-)

Anyway, there will still be a way to see the same pics on a google maps, i guess.
Well, if you'll excuse me, i feel like geotagging now!

[update]
a nice link of my new flickr map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philippe/map/
but i'll suggest fo there instead. (you can zoom in and out and filter to get the pics you want, and then link to the result by using the "link this", great simple feature. will we be able to embed this in a website soon?)

There is a lot to read about this. Here is a good place to start.

I'm only wondering something. I haven't found any comments about that, but it seems that if you use flickr tool to "geotagged pics", you will not give them the tags as geo:lat=xxx and geo:lon=xxx...
I think that means that, contrary to my "there will still be a way to see the same pics on a google maps, i guess.", it will be impossible to see the newly geotagged pics using the cool geotagging tools like Yuan.CC Maps. and that sucks.

[update 2]
ok, i could finaly find some info about this. it's there:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/geotagging/discuss/72157594255303300/
There is an API. The geotag-tools dev will have to adapt their tools.
Another important adress, the group discussion about Flickr API:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yws-flickr/

To sum up:
Yes, the geo:lat=xxx and geo:lon=xxx are not used by Flickr but it is still working and you still be able to get the location from the FLickr API and display it on another map.

[update 3]
great post again on the Flickr blog:
http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2006/08/geotagging_one_.html

[update 4]
I wasn't the only one (of course) to pick up on the geotag format choose by flickr:
http://www.ogleearth.com/2006/08/flickr_maps.html
In the comments, Rev Dan Catt! (the geobloggers guy) he says he will be blogging now.

Ecological degradation in Wolong NR

Entrez PubMed "Ecological degradation in protected areas: the case of Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas.": "It is generally perceived that biodiversity is better protected from human activities after an area is designated as a protected area. However, we found that this common perception was not true in Wolong Nature Reserve (southwestern China), which was established in 1975 as a 'flagship' protected area for the world-renowned endangered giant pandas."

Ecotourism (via singleplanet)

Ecotourism is more than just a label: "According to Jiang Mingkang and Wu Xiaomin, researchers with the Institute of Environment Science under the State Environmental Protection Administration, 22 per cent of natural reserves have seen damage to the species or biosphere specially protected in them due to tourist activities, and 11 per cent of the reserves even saw an overall deterioration of resources.

Jiang and Wu attributed the damages to three causes: an overload of tourists and their activities in the reserves, lack of careful tourism planning and strict supervision and the excessive presence of buildings.

Deng Bing, a graduate student from Peking University specializing in tourism planning, stayed in Jisha village in the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Area, a natural world heritage, for more than a month for her survey.
[i don't understand what this paragraph is doing in the article]

Boiled down, real ecotourism has rarely materialized. It is distorted into mere tourism in these protected areas, which either damages the natural resources or hurts the local community's culture or traditions.

Researchers have had made numerous suggestions to decision-makers on the topic of how to strike a balance between natural reservation, economic growth and community development with ecotourism."

Biogas stoves in panda habitat

WWF Internationnal has a group on Youtube.com!!! and look what i've found... (i'm gonna try to know more right away)

HK

Been to HK, got a visa.

- Train from Chengdu to Guangzhou was nice. Almost 40 hours but it was no problem. Surprisingly.

- Then HK. From Monday to Friday. Expensive to stay there but so many nice places to see. Met some interesting people as well... I'm thinking about the Filippino people we had lunch with, it was nice meeting these people, and hear their stories. I'm also thinking about the Indian people in Chung King Mansion where our "hotel" was.

- The passeport/visa was finally no pb. I thought it would when the chinese administration ask me to "repair" my passeport(my picture is a little "off"). Happily, the French Consulat was not too far. They said they didn't repair passeport and that they would have to make a new one (an emergency one) and reporting that to the chinese administration solved the problem: "ok, ok... no pb"

- 3 days to get a passeport actually means: if you give it monday, you'll get wednesday. pretty fast. Because of giving it wednesday, i got it friday, then we hurry to get out of Hong Kong.

- Here is a map to go from Wanchai MTR station to chinese admnisitration where to get a visa for china in Hong Kong.

- Bus from Guangzhou (Train/Bus station) to Shenzhen Airport is actually a bus to Bao'an. When you see the airport, ask for getting down... not like me. i thought he would stop there ;-) it's 50 kuai.

- the cheap way we used to go from Luo Hu Custom to Shenzhen airport: Metro (5 kuai) to the "windows of the world" the Public Bus (327? ask for it. 7 kuai) but be carefull. it takes a certain time (2 hours?).



sechina tagged map by user - Tagzania

Nausicaä

«Nausicaä», matrice de l'univers Miyazaki:
A lire!: "Ce manga écologico-apocalyptique extraordinairement touffu, infiniment complexe et idéologiquement raffiné, publié en noir et blanc a connu un succès phénoménal au Japon avec quelque 10 millions d'albums vendus au fil des parutions. On peut le lire en français dans une version en sept volumes édités par Glénat."

Les routes mènent les villages pauvres vers la prospérité

En Chine.
Le Quotidien du Peuple en ligne-Les routes mènent les villages pauvres vers la prospérité

Extrait:

Sun Xianjiu est un instituteur retraité vivant dans une vallée reculée du fleuve de Dadu, dans la préfecture tibétaine autonome de Ganzi, dans la province du Sichuan.

il faut près de deux heures pour que les villageois puissent atteindre, par delà la colline et la vallée, le district voisin de Caoke, qui est relié au comté de Shimian par un sentier de montagne.

"Notre village avait la réputation d'être un village de célibataires," poursuit Sun. "Nos filles préféraient se marier à l'extérieur, alors que les filles extérieures ne venaient pas (au village) en raison de notre faible niveau de vie."

L'article est mal écrit (et divisé en 3 pages) mais on comprend qu'une route a été construite pour relier le village isolé.

Beaucoup de villageois sont devenus riches grâce aux transports. Ils transportent des produits locaux, tels que les herbes médicinales traditionnelles chinoises aux villes et aux comtés, et rapportent les produits de nécessités quotidiens.

La préfecture tibétaine projette de dépenser 4,5 milliards yuan (US$550 millions) sur la construction d'infrastructure de transport, une augmentation de 38,2% au cours des cinq dernières années.

"Les fonds pour la construction des routes proviennent de trois sources : les subventions du gouvernement, les crédits bancaires et les honoraires d'entretien de la route," explique Xie Nengjian, un fonctionnaire avec le Bureau des Communications de Sichuan.

Libération.fr

J'aimais bien le site de Libé. C'était avant. J'y allais souvent, surtout à partir du flux RSS principal qu'ils avaient avant*.
Je m'étais réjouis de voir plein de flux RSS nouveaux et différents (pour pouvoir triller les informations qu'on veut lire: terre, cinema...). Je m'étais dis que si ça ne marchais pas** c'est parceque ce n'était que le début...
Je m'étais aussi dit que les commentaires sur les articles étaient une bonne idée.
Je suis un peu moins chaud là. les flux RSS sont toujours un bordel monstre. Les commentaires sur les articles sont parfois interessants mais là, je viens d'en voir un disparaitre. un commentaire que j'aurais aimé lire sur cet article mais qui a disparu...
«Désormais exploiter chaque goutte»: "Soyez le premier à réagir" c'est maintenant ce qui apparait. bon, allez, on va dire que c'est le commentateur qui c'est dit que finalement, il voulait que personne ne lise son commentaire...

Le commentaire était intitulé W.W.F. et l'aperçu que j'en avais (les premières lignes), c'est que l'article était remis en question. Je voulais voir si WWF était critiqué...

update:
* je recevais dans mon bloglines pas plus d'une dizaine d'articles dont je lisais les titres puis certains articles qui m'interessait. J'avais un point de vue rapide des news importantes de la journée...
** Maintenant, le même flux RSS me donne tous les articles de Libé, donc beaucoup de déchets (bourse, sport...). J'ai essayé les autres flux, mais ils me donnent la même chose la plupart du temps ("culture" par exemple)... mais ça a l'air de s'arranger. Par exemple, le flux RSS "Internet" a l'air de marcher maintenant.

[update 2]
Les commentaires sont là. Notamment celui intitulé WWF. Surement un petit problème technique.

Les charlatans du tourisme vert

Les charlatans du tourisme vert: "Labellisé ou non, l’écotourisme doit cesser de tromper son client. L’activité n’est pas une solution universelle qui peut s’appliquer partout : il n’est pas possible de reconvertir tous les peuples qui vivent près d’un site archéologique ou dans une forêt primaire en « guides » sous prétexte de protection ou de développement social. Le gouvernement du Chiapas mine dangereusement l’avenir en misant, si vite et si mal, sur la case « écotourisme ». Et, de même que le commerce équitable n’a pas enrayé la crise du café dans la région, l’écotourisme « frelaté » ne fera pas grand-chose contre la pauvreté."

L’Asie manque de femmes

L’Asie manque de femmes:

« Quel genre de femme je souhaite ?, s’étonne un jeune Chinois d’une trentaine d’années. Peu importe ! Il est tellement difficile de trouver une femme aujourd’hui. J’en veux une, c’est tout ! » Dans nombre de pays d’Asie, trouver une conjointe n’est pas si simple.

« 我 心 目 中 的 理 想 伴 侶 ？ » 一 年 紀 三 十 多 的 中 國 男 人 驚 訝 表 示 ， « 你 可 知 道 ， 今 天 女 人 難 覓 ， 只 要 好 運 找 到 一 個 ， 我 就 娶 了 . » 在 許 多 亞 洲 國 家 ， 娶 妻 可 非 易 事 .

(sorry, no english version. have to pay for this one)

Don't ask the book's author 'Why did they . . . ?' She is wondering too.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Gedo Senki, a First Response: "Don't ask the book's author 'Why did they . . . ?' She is wondering too."

The "Brief history" part is very interesting:

"Twenty or so years ago, Mr Hayao Miyazaki wrote me expressing interest in making an animated film based on the (then only three) books of Earthsea. I did not know his work. I knew only Disney-type animation, and disliked it. I said no.
Six or seven years ago, my friend [...] told me about My Neighbor Totoro and we watched it together. I became a Miyazaki fan at once and forever. I consider him a genius of the same caliber as Kurosawa or Fellini."

Where you get disappointed by Ghibli's behaviour:

"It was explained to us that Mr Hayao wished to retire from film making, and that the family and the studio wanted Mr Hayao's son Goro, who had never made a film at all, to make this one. We were very disappointed, and also anxious, but we were given the impression, indeed assured, that the project would be always subject to Mr Hayao's approval. With this understanding, we made the agreement."
[...]

"I am sorry that anger and disappointment attended the making of this film on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
I am told that Mr Hayao has not retired after all, but is now making another movie. This has increased my disappointment. I hope to put it behind me."

Where it gets "juicy":

"I did not realise that I was speaking to anyone but him and the few people around us. I would have preferred that a private reply to a private question not be made public. I mention it here only because Mr Goro has mentioned it in his blog.

So, in the spirit of everything being public all the time for fifteen minutes, I will give a fuller report of my first response to the film:" [...]

It seems there is many comments in Japan about the "controversy". One fan writes:

The ones affected the most are in a sense the most open and innocent. They only know that they have been moved, are happy and relieved when the boy lays aside his guilt and anxiety at the end, and so hurt by the more objective viewpoints that they tend to go on the offensive. Some are still willing to think, some are swayed by your comments (which they read with a dictionary) — and sadly some can't abide any criticism of the movie, protecting the director and blaming its incoherence on the books. Even so, they all are victims of the chain reaction which started when too much responsibility was shouldered by someone not equipped for it.

Ouch!

Hong Kong or Macao?

Well i think it will be HK. Don't know the consequences of the big Typhoon Saomai on the trip. it's not a small one it seems.

Well, it should be fun. I tried to plan everything carefully. It should be enough. I'm going to try to find where is Nathan Road.

Blogspot in China - it works?!

Could access blogspot from Chengdu, China. isn't that weird? is it unblocked?
cool anyway. now I can see how bad my blogs look. I thought it was because of using proxy before, but now, no excuse. I'll have to do some edit work on my template...

let's do some research:
http://google.com/blogsearch: blogspot china unblocked

first post is 21 hours ago from now
ah yeah! that's good news.

Black Eyed Peas - Sexy

Got this music in my head today...

Girl u really got me goin
Outta control
I dot know what im doin
Lets let it go
And do what we do best
Take off our clothes
We look better undressed

lyrics





don't worry, i'm ok. it's just that i saw the part of "be cool" where they dance on this music. Travolta, and the blond girl...

I saw it there by the way:
http://go.6to23.com/badshow/xc/dance.htm
http://www.xicaojie.com/forum/forum-/dispbbs.asp?boardID=68&ID=24747&page=1
Chinese remix of video of people dancing in movies. xz send it to me.

RADIO.BLOG.CLUB - Balkan

Damned, i need some music.

My Internet connection is not good enough for pandora. That's really a shame because i think it's the "number 1" solution.

I still have a hard time using last.fm... although the new last.fm software to track the music you're listenning looks good and simple. i still don't know for sure if it works coreectly.

Then, the alternative: radio.blog!
Improving slowly, but still improving. you can now test radio.blog 3.0 on the website.

Last time, i tried to blog a track (when this feature was brend new) and it didn't work. well, it seems it's now easy to do so!

Nu River:“Nobody has told us anything.”

Report from the Nu River: “Nobody has told us anything.” | 怒江，江水能变“石油”吗？: "This past Chinese New Year [January/February 2006], I travelled to the Nu valley for the fourth time. Over a two-week period, I interviewed people in 100 households that would have to move if proposed dams, such as Liuku, Yabiluo, Bijiang and Maji, are built. Survey and drilling work is already under way at those sites. "

Nu River
Open letter
UNESCO World Heritage site

The Author: Yongchen Wang is a Beijing-based journalist and founder of the environmental group Green Earth Volunteers. This article is an abridged version of one originally published on www.threegorgesprobe.org, which monitors the impacts of (and alternatives to) China’s big dams and water projects.

Hong Kong Google Maps Mashups

a post written for me as i'm going to Hong Kong in less than 2 weeks...

Google Maps Mania: Hong Kong Google Maps Mashups [Anonymoused]: "Pongu's Travel Community is a Google Maps mashup of notable Hong Kong attractions and locations and nearby hotels to these sights. As you hover over a pin the location name is given with options to zoom to that location or link off to a page to read more detail and photos. It's a nice little mashup to browse around on if you are traveling to this area."

link not anonymoused (if you are outside China, you'd better use this link)

MDP dans le sud-ouest de la Chine, avec la France

Radio Chine Internationale: "La France a signé mardi, à Beijing, avec le ministère chinois des Sciences et des Technologies, un projet de Mécanisme de Développement Propre (MDP) dans les quatre provinces du sud-ouest de la Chine, à savoir le Sichuan, le Yunnan, le Guizhou et le Guangxi. Avec, à la clé, un investissement de 1,1 million d'euros."

"Ce projet MDP sera particulièrement centré sur l'efficacité énergétique du charbon ? ce qu'on appelle le « charbon propre » -, l'énergie hydraulique, la biomasse et l'assainissement municipal liquide et solide."

"La France, pour sa part, estime ne pas s'être trompée puisqu'elle mise beaucoup sur l'essor économique de cette zone"

"leurs régions inhabitables"

Déplacement d'un million d'habitants démunis des minorités nationales: "Depuis 2001, la Commission d'Etat pour le Développement et la Réforme a consacré 4,8 milliards de yuans au déplacement des habitants d'ethnies minoritaires démunis, soit 85% du total des fonds de déplacement destinés à lutter contre la pauvreté, a indiqué Zhang Mao.

Un millions de nécessiteux de neuf provinces, dont la Mongolie intérieure, le Guangxi, le Sichuan, et le Nixia ont bénéficié de cette assistance, quittant leurs régions inhabitables. Leurs conditions de vie et de production se sont sensiblement améliorées, ce qui leur a permis de se débarrasser de la pauvreté."

"la grande région autonome tibétaine"

Un article signé réfute "la voie intermédiaire" du dalaï-lama: "Après la fondation de la République populaire de Chine en 1949, ont été créés huit départements autonomes tibétains, un département autonome tibétain et Qiang, un département autonome tibétain et mongol et deux districts autonomes mongols et tibétains dans les provinces du Qinghai (ouest), du Gansu (nord- ouest), du Sichuan (sud-ouest) et du Yunnan (sud-ouest), en plus de la région autonome du Tibet. On a également établi des districts autonomes d'autres nationalités dans des départements autonomes tibétains. "

Summer Grass Winter Worm

Summer Grass Winter Worm - Treehouse Cityguide: "'Worm grass' is not really a plant. Known by Tibetans as 'summer-grass winter-worm', it forms when a parasitic fungus hijacks and devours the bodies of ghost moth larvae that have burrowed into the alpine soil for up to five years. It then steers their bodies to the surface so it can spread its spores."

Is Chengdu the place to be?

The Peking Duck: Is Chengdu the place to be?: "Chengdu's economic boom can also be seen in the towering new five-star hotels which host a growing number of foreign trade delegations drawn to the river city, teeming with new restaurants and luxury retail boutiques."

Where is home again?

Where is home again? @ John Biesnecker dot com:

“home is where the heart is”

Mao, de la légende à la magie noire (encore le Monde Diplo)

Mao, de la légende à la magie noire:

Le livre de Jung Chang et Jon Halliday (1), dont la traduction vient de paraître, a été encensé par la presse française. Aux Etats-Unis, il fut sévèrement critiqué pour carence de démarche scientifique (2).

"Chang et Halliday démontrent que certains épisodes de la Longue Marche ne sont que légendes, comme le fameux franchissement d’une passerelle suspendue, à Luding, sur le terrible fleuve Dadu, par vingt-deux éclaireurs qui seraient parvenus à traverser, accrochés aux câbles du pont, sous une pluie de balles. Peut-on en conclure pour autant que la Longue Marche fut une opération dirigée à distance par Tchang Kaï-chek qui aurait favorisé le passage des communistes dans des provinces dont il prenait ensuite le contrôle en les poursuivant ?"

"Chang est, par ailleurs, l’auteur des Cygnes sauvages (5), un bouleversant témoignage autobiographique sur la famine du Grand Bond en avant au Sichuan, et sur la terreur bureaucratique des années rouges. Le livre qu’elle écrit avec Halliday constitue sa vengeance contre le responsable de ces désastres. Ce qui explique son ton passionné, polémique, pamphlétaire. Mais l’historien doit avoir l’œil sec et le regard froid."

Washington State, l'état de nature

Le Monde.fr : Washington State, l'état de nature: "Parfois, en parcourant cet Etat grand comme le tiers de la France, on a le sentiment de remonter le temps, de découvrir les Alpes suisses ou savoyardes telles qu'elles étaient il y a deux mille ans. "

China faces new cotton pest

New Scientist Premium- China faces new cotton pest - News: "The farmers are being forced to use vast amounts of expensive insecticide to eradicate them, all but removing the economic benefits of growing GM cotton in the first place."
(article for paying subscribers)

China Finds GE Cotton is Damaging the Environment
(organic consumers association link with xinhua article)

Fascination et diabolisation: La Chine (le Monde Diplo)

Lecture sur la Chine (dans le monde diplomatique, voir références des livres sur leur site)

Expansion chinoise: Par Martine Bulard

Si l’on en juge par le nombre de livres publiés, la Chine, longtemps ignorée, déchaîne désormais des passions en Occident. Parmi cette abondante littérature, le livre de John Gittings, The changing face of China (1), sort du lot. Fin connaisseur de ce pays, il retrace l’histoire des « deux révolutions chinoises », celle menée par Mao Zedong, et celle qui a commencé après sa mort. Gittings part de cette « Chine nouvelle », que le Grand Timonier « prétendait construire grâce à l’alliance des travailleurs et des paysans », pour aboutir à la « Chine du nouveau millénaire », avec sa croissance effrénée mais également la « triste situation des travailleurs », singulièrement celle des migrants, la montée de l’insécurité sociale et les problèmes de l’environnement. Loin de tout manichéisme, Gittings montre le changement des mentalités et l’arrivée de générations souvent plus soucieuses de prospérité que d’idéologie.

Centrant leur propos sur la mondialisation et ses conséquences pour des pays comme la France, Philippe Cohen et Luc Richard (2) se sont attachés à décrire les dégâts de l’expansion chinoise, à l’intérieur comme à l’extérieur. Les auteurs s’appuient sur des témoignages souvent poignants pour souligner la soif d’enrichissement d’une petite couche de la population, à l’opposé de l’exploitation et de l’extrême dénuement de la majorité des Chinois. Ils pointent du doigt l’engouement de l’Occident pour ce nouvel eldorado. Dommage que, pour les besoins de leur démonstration, ils en arrivent parfois à diaboliser une expérience chinoise plus contradictoire qu’il n’y paraît.

Sur la Chine vue par les Chinois, outre l’excellent travail, déjà un peu ancien, de Chaohua Wang, qui, dans One China, many paths, a rassemblé les textes d’une quinzaine d’intellectuels (des plus critiques aux plus intégrés), Alternatives sud publie les points de vue d’auteurs chinois, sur la Chine rurale, le développement inégal, les syndicats, les femmes (3)... Certains textes sont parfois convenus, mais tous donnent une idée de l’état de la réflexion à l’intérieur d’une partie de l’élite. Autre Chinois, mais contraint à l’exil, Cai Chongguo (4) s’attache à démontrer que le développement et l’ouverture économiques n’engendrent pas automatiquement la démocratie.

[...]

News pour le Sud-ouest de la Chine

Canicule dans le sud de la Chine: "Le sud de la Chine souffre une nouvelle fois de la chaleur. Lundi à Chengdu, dans la province du Sichuan, la température a atteint 38,5 degrés, un record pour cette période de l'année jamais atteint depuis 30 ans."


Seisme dans le Yunnan: "Au sud-ouest de la Chine, 22 victimes ont été confirmées dans le séisme de magnitude 5,1 sur l'échelle de Richter qui a secoué samedi matin le district reculé de Yanjin dans la province du Yunnan.
Le séisme a fait s'effondrer plus de 1 400 maisons dans 13 communes du district dont la population s'élève à environ 350 mille personnes."
in google maps
USGS


Côtoyer le Nujiang au Yunnan: "La porte d'entrée de cette gorge qui garde une profondeur moyenne de 2 000 mètres, c'est Liuku, une ville située à dix heures de route de Kunming, la capitale du Yunnan."

Sexy Beijing - Lost in Translation - Danwei TV

no comment! just watch it...

Giant Panda Sanctuary inscribed on World Heritage List

IUCN News - Giant Panda Sanctuary, Malpelo Island and Kvarken Archipelago inscribed on World Heritage List: "Giant Panda Sanctuary, Malpelo Island and Kvarken Archipelago inscribed on World Heritage List"

Following a year long, rigorous process, IUCN, the technical advisory body on natural heritage to the World Heritage Committee, presented the results of its evaluations of 9 nominated properties today.

“This is a great success for China , the World Heritage Convention and for conservation in general,” said David Sheppard , Head of the IUCN delegation in Vilnius . “It shows how the World Heritage Convention can encourage governments to ensure the greatest level of protection for globally important sites.”

After today’s decisions by the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee, the World Heritage List now includes 162 natural properties. The Committee continues to meet in Vilnius until the 16 July and is also considering the inscription of cultural sites onto the UNESCO List.

http://www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wheritage/wh2006photos/whphotos2006.htmlwe

Funny thing: the website page had this title:
"World Conservation Union launches new project to prevent illegal forest activities in Ghana"
will they change it?

[update:]
wow! i forgot to quote the best part!

The Committee applauded the tremendous efforts of China for their excellent nomination protecting key habitat for the endangered Giant Panda. This nomination was presented for the first time some 20 years ago, but the Government of China was requested to bring forward a larger nomination and address management issues, which it did successfully.

whc webpage:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/266

[update2:]
articles:
http://china.org.cn/english/2006/Jul/174491.htm

"We thank the Chinese government for submitting such a good application to the WHC to enrich the World Heritage List and its tremendous efforts to protect such a precious site of bio-diversity," the WHC said.

"That's why UNESCO's World Heritage Center was keen to put it on the list," she added.

Former China Director of the WWF, James Harkness, said previously that the panda's territory was one of the most critical regions for bio-diversity conservation in the world. Its diverse habitats contain many rare and endangered animals and plant species.

The giant pandas and their habitat will be protected in the future not only in accordance with Chinese law but also international law.

As China is not one of the 21 members of the WHC, it did not submit a report on the site, Wang told reporters, adding that the WHC agreed to place the site on the list after deliberating a report submitted by international experts.

Experts said in the report that urgent improvements have to be made to protect the site. They proposed that construction and development inside the habitat area be strictly controlled.

In french:
http://french1.peopledaily.com.cn/Culture/4588996.html
http://www.chine-informations.com/mods/news/une-reserve-chinoise-de-pandas-inscrite-sur-la-liste-du-patrimoine-mondial-unesco_4898.html

World heritage new sites soon...

IUCN News - The World Conservation Union recommends three new sites for inscription on World Heritage List

One on the list is:
"Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary, Wolong, Mount Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains ( China )
The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary covers 924,500 ha including seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin Mountains . The Sanctuary includes more than 30% of the world's population of giant panda, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and constitutes the largest remaining contiguous area of panda habitat in the world. It is also the most important source of giant panda for establishing the captive breeding population of the species. In addition, the Sanctuary is home to species such as the red panda, the snow leopard and clouded leopard (all threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List), and is one of the botanically richest sites of any temperate region in the world or indeed anywhere outside the tropical rain forests, with between 5,000 and 6,000 species of flora in over 1,000 genera."

It's south of Minshan. both mountain names i found on geonames.org.
JiaJin for example gives this: http://www.geonames.org/maps/bkm384
or see bellow map.

there will be discussion about several already listed sites. one of them:
"Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas ( China)"
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1083

This map shows the "Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary" (3 spots on the south), the Dujiang Dam which is also a world heritage, Chengdu and the location of Wanglang Nature Reserve in Minshan (not to be mistaken with Wolong)


post1 tagged map by user - Tagzania

China & Environment website

China Dialogue: "China and the world
discuss the environment
中国与世界，环境危机大家谈"

via Danwei

Banyan Tree resort in Ringha, a high-altitude valley close to the nearby town of Shangri-La

The Observer | Travel | Height of luxury in Shangri-La: "Even when Tony Blair came to power, Shangri-La was still being described as the archetypal one-horse town. Back then, motorised travel meant flagging down a lift in the policeman's sidecar. The arrival of the Banyan Tree and the opening of a modern airport will ensure that Shangri-La quickly stumbles from the stuff of legend into the consciousness of a curious wider world. Like much of China, it won't stay like this for long."

The village that refused to die, Yunnan

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The village that refused to die:
The village that refused to die, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China

Mountain community fights plans for a giant dam, in a country that badly needs more clean energy

Jonathan Watts in Tiger Leaping Gorge
Monday July 3, 2006
The Guardian

When the hydro-engineers made their way up the steep, winding Himalayan road to Chezhou village, they knew that they could not expect a warm welcome from the residents.

They were coming unannounced to survey the site for a dam in Tiger Leaping Gorge - one of the deepest and most famous ravines in the world - that would submerge every house in the community and force locals to leave a mountain idyll that had been home to their families for generations.

But they did not anticipate just how determined the villagers were to prevent the dam from being built. All 10 members of the team were abducted and held hostage until government officials came to plead for their release. In a show of solidarity more than 4,000 local residents staged a demonstration.

The story of the Chezhou protest earlier this year is slowly spreading beyond this remote community and is now being told up and down the reaches of this spectacular gorge, which rises up 3,500 metres (11,500ft) from the Jinsha river to the peak of towering mountains in Yunnan province.

It is a sign of China's increasingly assertive environmental movement, which is using the law, the media and mass mobilisations to promote grass-roots participation in the decision-making process for big infrastructure projects.

North-west Yunnan - one of the most ecologically diverse and spectacularly beautiful regions in the world - has become a focus of the green movement. The provincial government recently announced that half a million people would be relocated over the next 10 years in a push to triple the output of hydropower, which energy-hungry China sees as a cheap, clean alternative to nuclear or coal-fired plants.

None would be as effective - or as politically controversial - as the dam proposed at Tiger Leaping Gorge. Towering 278 metres (912ft) high with a reservoir stretching back more than 120 miles, it would generate more power per cubic metre of water than other Chinese hydropower plant and help to alleviate the build-up of silt further downstream at the wider but shallower Three Gorges Dam.

But environmentalists say it would force the relocation of 100,000 people, destroy 200 species of wildlife, and threaten the growing tourist business in the Shangri-la region. "We live in such a beautiful place that we don't want to leave," Xiao Jialin, a Chezhou villager, told the Guardian. "We want the right to participate in the decision-making process."

Their protest appears to have worked, at least temporarily. The prefectural government has publicly stated that it will not push ahead with a dam if local people are opposed. The 300-strong survey team, which was previously working up and down the 100-mile area of the proposed reservoir, has also reportedly halted its work.

But the Yunnan government and the National Reform and Development Commission - the most powerful body in the central government - both favour a dam at the gorge. They are said to be paving the way for an announcement giving the go-ahead in 2008.

Yu Xiaogang, head of Green Watershed - a non-governmental organisation which runs seminars on environmental issues and residents rights - believes that Tiger Leaping Gorge is a key to green activism. "It is particularly important because there are many people there who are ready to stand up and protect their interests," he said. "We can't oppose all dams, but we want to stop the bad ones."

Local officials, who are supposed to represent residents, are reluctant to oppose higher authorities. "I am worried about the possibility of a dam, but we have been told there will be very little impact on the environment," said A Wa, head of the tourist bureau of Shangri-la.

Many visitors find it hard to imagine a concrete barrier across the pristine gorge. At the narrowest stretch, where legend has it that a tiger leapt the 35 metres across the roaring cascade, tourists now queue up to pose for photographs. "I am totally opposed to a dam here," said a visitor from Beijing, who declined to give her name. "China must do more to ensure that we live in harmony with nature."

But not everyone is against the project. Many locals are resigned to change. Some are building extensions to their homes in the hope that they will qualify for more compensation. Deng Xiaojia, who works on a trinket stall next to the site of the proposed dam, would lose both her job and home to the reservoir, but the 19-year-old is phlegmatic. "I would never find another place like this, But I would just have to move on."

The residents of Shangri-la are getting used to the damming of the many mighty rivers that flow through the area. According to Zeren Pingcuo, a Tibetan photographer and green campaigner, there are more than 40 dams either built or under construction in the area.

Among them is a hydropower plant close to the ethnically Tibetan village of Jisha, where residents say they have been forced into changes they never anticipated when the dam was proposed. In the past their dead were given river burials, but the bodies can no longer float downstream. So more families are now forced to use sky burials - leaving the bodies on the tops of mountains for birds and animals to feast on.

"It is very traumatic for the bereaved because we believe they will have a bad reincarnation unless the body is eaten in three days, which almost never happens," said a local, who asked to remain nameless. "Locals have had no say in the matter, but dams really have a big impact on the Tibetan way of life and spirit."

· Additional reporting by Huang Lisha

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L'abbaye de Cluny (Le Monde.fr)

Le Monde.fr : L'abbaye de Cluny cherche à se rendre visible:
LE MONDE | 30.06.06 | 16h16 • Mis à jour le 30.06.06 | 16h16
"Souvent, les touristes déambulent dans le centre-ville de Cluny en cherchant l'abbaye, chef-d'oeuvre de l'art roman. Sans se douter qu'ils sont en plein dedans - ou dans le peu qu'il en reste. D'où le souci du Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN), qui gère ce site, de ressusciter l'abbaye autrement que par des visites guidées.

'Nous avons un double défi : les gens viennent ici pour voir un patrimoine médiéval qui a disparu ; et il y a à côté un bel ensemble du XVIIIe siècle qu'on ne peut pas visiter', constate Jean-Paul Ciret, le directeur du développement culturel du CMN.

De l'abbaye de Cluny qui, au temps de sa splendeur, après le X^e siècle, rivalisa avec Rome, il ne reste presque rien. Son église, la Maior Ecclesia, fut la plus grande de la chrétienté et le plus vaste édifice d'architecture romane. Elle se résume aujourd'hui à un morceau de transept : vendue à des marchands de biens après la Révolution, elle a servi de carrière jusqu'en 1823. Les bâtiments conventuels ont été maintes fois remaniés. Le vaste cloître du XVIII^e siècle ne manque pas d'intérêt, mais il est occupé par les élèves ingénieurs de l'Ecole nationale supérieure des arts et métiers (Ensam).

L'objectif du CMN est de présenter, en 2010 (l'abbaye aura 1 100 ans), un site plus étoffé et plus intelligible aux visiteurs. Avec pour ambition d'en accueillir 200 000 par an au lieu de 105 000 actuellement, au prix d'un investissement total de 25 millions d'euros.

Le schéma directeur, défini avec l'architecte en chef des Monuments historiques, Frédéric Didier, prévoit d'abord, à l'emplacement de la Maior Ecclesia, de dégager les perspectives et d'identifier par un marquage au sol les éléments d'architecture.

Ce traitement a déjà fait ses preuves dans l'avant-nef, mais implique, pour le reste de l'église, de démolir des bâtiments des haras nationaux édifiés au XIX^e siècle. "Le ministère de la culture doit racheter le terrain à celui de l'agriculture, explique M. Ciret. Le bras de transept restant, une fois restauré, sera ainsi lisible dans le plan global de l'église."

A côté, le CMN s'est allié à l'Ensam pour inclure dans le circuit de visite le cloître restauré, des éléments lapidaires issus de l'abbaye romane et un centre de ressources sur l'architecture, la décoration et les idées clunisiennes.

RESTITUTION EN 3D

Au-delà des murs, l'Ensam met son savoir-faire au service de la résurrection de l'abbaye. Spécialisée dans l'imagerie en trois dimensions, l'école de Cluny a fait de l'abbaye un site pilote en matière de restitution du patrimoine disparu. La 3D devient ainsi une alternative à la reconstruction - inimaginable à Cluny - et un complément à la maquette.

D'anciens élèves de l'Ensam ont réalisé un film en relief qui propose, sur grand écran, une visite virtuelle spectaculaire dans la Maior Ecclesia du XIII^e siècle. Sur le mur qui sépare aujourd'hui le cloître du transept sud, là où une porte conduisait autrefois les moines à l'office, une image numérique simule la perspective sur l'intérieur de l'église.

Un nouvel outil est à présent expérimenté : des écrans plats, montés sur des pieds pivotants, permettront bientôt de visualiser l'église, à l'intérieur comme à l'extérieur. Double performance : l'image en 3D suit les mouvements de l'écran et elle intègre la lumière naturelle pour restituer le site dans des conditions réalistes.

Les premiers essais sont convaincants. Reste à parfaire et à généraliser ce dispositif complexe et coûteux.

Grégoire Allix

Article paru dans l'édition du 01.07.06"

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Bloglines is getting better!

It seems bloglines has added a sound player!!! yey!

I was seriously starting to think to more to google reader (which has also greatly improved recently!)
I'm still trying to figure out how i can use both...

Mondial 2006: Italie

Mondial 2006: Italie, année zéro: "La rédemption par la victoire ou la grande cavalcade en enfer? C’est un truc dingo de qui se passe dans la Squadra azzurra, quand on y songe. Voilà une équipe, qui, en dépit des critiques sur son jeu, avance dans la compétition - servie par un tableau aux petits oignons faut bien dire- tout en vivant au rythme des secousses façon rodéo qui secouent le calcio. Voilà une équipe qui vit le Mondial comme un refuge, comme une parenthèse, avant le jugement dernier et n'en laisse rien paraître... ou si peu. Les 23 italiens sont quasi tous concernés par le plus grand scandale du foot italien, avec quatre clubs majeurs -Juventus Turin, AC Milan, Lazio Rome, Fiorentina- qui pourraient se voir rétrogradés dare-dare jusque dans les profondeurs de la série C.
Le jugement en première instance sera d'ailleurs rendu entre le 7 et le 9 juillet, soit... le jour de la fin du Mondial… Alessandro Del Piero et Gianluca Zambrotta ont quitté mardi le camp de l'Italie à Duisbourg pour se rendre au chevet de Pessotto, à Turin, après la tentative de suicide hier de l’ancien international turinois, responsable sportif du club. Aujourd’hui, la Gazzetta consacre ses huit premières pages à l’affaire Pessotto mais aussi au " Moggiopoli ", cette vaste entreprise de corruption qui déballe ses merdes, jour après jour, avant de revenir au jeu et de faire le point sur l'état de la squadra et de pointer les forces (défense) et faiblesses (attaque) de l'équipe en Allemagne… Et sur le pré, les Italiens sont toujours là, avec quoi dans la tronche ? allez savoir ? Et s'ils la gagnaient?"

crazy chinese commentator (3)

OK. Last post on this "Huang Jianxiang incident"... don't know why this story attracts me so much...

BBC SPORT | World Cup 2006 Blog | My soul is crumbling: " Penalty! Penalty! Penalty! Grosso's done it,
Grosso's done it! The great Italian left back! He succeeded in the glorious traditions of Italy! Facchetti, Cabrini and Maldini, their souls are infused in him at this moment! Grosso represents the long history and traditions of Italian soccer, he's not fighting alone at this moment! He's not alone!


More was to come when Francesco Totti converted the spot-kick.

Goooooal! Game over! Italy win! Beat the Australians! They do not fall in front of Hiddink again! Italy the great! Left back the great! Happy birthday to Maldini! Forza Italia! The victory belongs to Italy, to Grosso, to Cannavaro, to Zambrotta, to Buffon, to Maldini, to everyone who loves Italian soccer! Hiddink ... lost all his courage faced with Italian history and traditions ... He finally reaped fruits which he had sown! They should go home. They don't need to go as far away as Australia as most of them are living in Europe. Farewell!"

Crazy CCTV football commentator (2)

Crazy CCTV football commentator:
in the comment section:
"The Chinese commentary standard generally is abysmal....so many errors in names of players, facts and so on, plus an incredible lack of knowledge and expression...at least this guy was showing a bit of passion! My top two CCTV commentary bits:

Germany v Poland, 92 minutes, Germany snatch a late winner....we see the goal, get three replays, all the while the dude is screaming BALLACK! BALLACK!! INCREDIBLE!! BALLACK!! Problem was, Michael Ballack didn't get the goal, it was Oliver Neuville.....

Holland vs Portugal, 70 minutes
A dirty game, but very entertaining - alas the commentator was unimpressed by the play. After Deco hacks down a Dutch player, the commentator, in the most sneering way possible, says 'Chinese fans want to see exciting play and excellent teamwork, not such violence'.....pah! U ever seen a taxi smash mate??? There is nothing that the Chinese love more than gawking at a couple of guys going at it bell and whistle!!!

I've been so amazed and impressed by how my Chinese co-workers have got into this World Cup, such interest and enthusiasm....I guess ignorance of decent coverage is bliss."

and then:
"Angus: Ironically, Chinese fans seem to enjoy those kinds of mistakes - Han Qiaosheng is one commentator notorious for his errors, and seems to have made a career out of it: http://pianpian.160.cc/yourindex/aindex/a0001.htm"