Space for Niels Peter

As probably foreseen: New Year resolutions are poised to fall...... and mine did! I had the good intention to contribute to my blog more regularly than the last year or so, but that was January 3. And the blog has not heard from me since... today is May 14.

And it is Springtime in Kongens Lyngby. Second half of April was like eternal sunshine that lasted well into May... then one rainy and windy week, and the last few days the Sun has returned, while Nature have greened.

On April 17 I was put on a diet and so far I have lost 8 kg. Springtime in my body? Let's see, I have a goal of loosing 25 kg altogether before new Years Eve this year! Still 17 kg to go then...

But in other areas - work life, love life, family life - Spring has yet to come! Spring is a wonderful word and a wonderful idea full of energy, readiness and promises... the waiting is almost over, it's just around the corner, in a short time... everything will bloom and blossom. And life will once again be full.

In an old religious song it says something like "Your tomorrow you have not seen, your yesterday is no more"; that's where I am at the moment... but it's Springtime! Asylgade in Kongens Lyngby, May 11, 2009.

Almost one year... well, 10 months and two weeks... have passed since my last contribution to my weblog here. And a lot of things have happened in that span of time. Maybe I will return to some of it in later postings, but here I just want to tell, that I have left China - my home for 12 years! - and settled in Sweden, so future postings will not specifically be about "My life in China", but everything seen from the perspective of the wonderful Swedish countryside in Österlen/Skåne just outside the small town of Tomelilla. I feel I have arrived in Paradise. Although I know I am not dead yet. These last 10 days in "Paradise" have seen the most wonderful weather with the sun shining from the clear blue skies, nature awakening and blooming. From my garden terrasse I have an astonishing view over the yellow rapefields, the green trees around, the green grass and the red tulips in my garden... and then the very blue skies where no clouds dots the panorama, except the condense tracks after the airliners that soundlessly pass by up probably some 10 kilometers in the skies. Only the noise from the occasional car that pass by on the road outside my garden break the silence... well, silence a la Nature! Because there is a host of birds around. Rooks! And they are not silent of course. But what a contrast to Beijing! Here at Övrabyborg more airliners silently cross the sky above on their journeys from East to West or West to East than cars passing by on our local road! I hope you can visualize the scene. The stage is set for the next part of my life. And I will regularly tell you aout it here on my weblog. Have a wonderful Whitsun - tomorrow morning there should be plenty of opportunities to see and experience the sun "dance" as it raises on the horizon.

Ever since May 8... the day after the Chinese May 1st-holiday ended... there have been an inferno of drilling noise and hammering all around me here in my apartment from around 7.30 in the mornings till 19 in the evening . The neighbours seems to be tearing down everything in their apartment and rebuilding, remodelling, renovating or decorating. I don't like early mornings, and to be woken up at 7.30 of a non-stopping drillingnoise is not my cup of tea. And there was no diffrence on workdays, Saturdays and Sundays! Unbearable! But now finallly it seems to be coming to an end. But this is just a sign of the development of China, the higher incomes and for many wealth, that people can buy their apartments and shape them as they want. 10 years ago there opened a large Do-it-yourself building market just of Chaoyang Road in Beijing almost in Tongzhou, but it was probably premature for it closed down again after only one or one and a half year of operation. Others have taken over in the recent years, such as Ikea and B&Q, as the sale of houses and apartments have boomed... and the decoration and renovating business flourishes. Where most Chinese people until a few years ago had very limited living space... only space enough for some beds and a small dining table and of course a colour tv-set, apartments are now becoming attractive homes with modern bathrooms, well equipped kitchens, bedrooms enough for the whole family and a real living room with sofa and comfortable armchairs, carpets on the floors or wooden flooring, and instead of the white chalked walls with nothing on to liven up the room - or at most a poster of Mao Zhedong, Chou Enlai or Marx - people are now buying paintings, framed pictures and other decorations for their acrylic painted walls. And where the room before was lighted up with a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, now there are lamps and chandeliers galore. And what was unusual 10 years ago: Inviting friends to your home has become common now. After former premier Zhu Rongji in 1997 and his government decreed that from then on Chinese people should be homeowners and disbanded the practice of the workplace providing accommodation, while banks introduced loans for buying homes, more and more luxurious apartment blocks have been built while the prices have skyrocketed. Yes, China is fast becoming a nation of homeowners, who take pride in their homes. But it seems that not all developers have had a sound financial foundation to build on.... after more than 8 years with a "skeleton" high-rise building on the corner of Gongti Bei Lu and San Li Tun Nan Lu, where nothing happened to finish the construction... it looked terrible all these years... the building was recently finished and will soon be occupied. What a relief. But In Liangma Qioa Lu next to the huge Kempinski Hotel a mammoth development was started some 5-6 years ago, and the buildings seemed to be finished 3-4 years ago, at least on the outside. But still there is no sign of life or activity in or around the enourmous buildings, that are decaying... probably there were no more money to finish the development for (as was the case with the above mentioned building until a new company took over). That is a stigma on the area, where also new Embassies (like US Embassy) are being built. Not all developers are as solid as Soho's mr. Pan Shiyi.

In my first installment here on this Blog, I mentioned, that learning to speak English had almost become a "religion" for many Beijingers here prior to the Olympic Summer Games next year. I find that praiseworthy, that so many people want to be able to communicate with us foreigners, who does not speak Chinese. Of course it is. Although the Chinese language is the language in the World that is native to the largest number of people, Spanish the second native language and English only the third... English is of course the most spoken language in the world, because so many people, who have other native languages - as myself - can speak English as their second language. Chinese business people have to be able to communicate properly with foreign business people, taxidrivers have to be able to communicate with their foreign passengers, staff at hotels and restaurants, tourist attractions, shops that cater for tourists or other foreigners have to be able to communicate with their customers. Police and other authorities also have a need of communicating with the foreigners who come to China... and the expected massive flow of visitors to Beijing during the Olympic Summer Games will find that very helpful and convenient, that so many can speak English. But I am worried for all the children, who are forced by their parents to take all these extra classes in English. According to a recent survey in eight cities of China, including Beijing, more than half of all children between 4 and 12 years attend extra-curricular classes, and most of them in English classes. The survey shows that 39,8 % of the 4 to 6 year old attend extra classes, 51,9% of the 7 to 9 year old and 61,9 % of the 10-12 year old ones have to attend extra-curricular classes. Chinese schoolchildren even without extra classes do not have time to play with other children or for relaxation or hobbies. So for more than every second child in the urban areas of China there is even less time for play, hobbies or relaxation. In my opinion that is a catastrophe for the healthy development of the children. Yes, children of course have to learn, but as it is already, schoolwork for Chinese children is a heavier burden than for children in almost all other countries. While adults - parents - have free time and weekends, children have very little. And that is not healthy. I think it will backfire, when the children have grown up without a real "childhood". China of course needs well educated people, but China also need creative, imaginative, self-thinking and individualistic people, who are able to socialize and cooperate. Childrens play and hobbies (of their own choice) in reciprocality with other children foster creativity, imagination and individuality, but also the ability to socialize (get along with others) and cooperate. One thing is that China's one-child policy since 1973 fosters the "Little Emperor's/Empresses" (the one-child policy have been good, not only for China but for the whole World!), but that parents rob their children of their natural childhood and thus never becomes "whole persons" is unforgivable! I honestly doubt if any 4 to 8-9 year old one by herself or himself are so interested in English language, that they voluntarily will take extra-curricular classes in English. And I know for a fact, that this is not the case for the 9 to 12 year old ones! I love children (I am the real Santa Claus of Beijing - see the photo!) and have been persuaded to teach some extra-curricular English classes. And for me it is fun. But I know from the reaction and remarks from the children, that this is not the way they want to spend their weekends! And in my opinion - I am a father of two children and grandfather to four, so don't tell me, that I don't know what I am talking about! - neither should they spend their weekend filled with extra classes. No matter how great ambitions the parents have on behalf of their children. Lost childhood!