#There is China of course--but the situation there is different for a whole host of reasons

[delta-chan]

I have reached a zen state when it comes to the coming administration because I know that the majority did not vote for that motherfucker and when things get really bad a bunch of people that did--the low information ones who voted for him on looking "like you can sit down and have a beer with him" or what have you--are going to turn on him.

And taking a moment to really think about it, the US is too enormous to be ran effectively as an authoritarian state. There are far too many people, it's far too large, and making an enormous chunk of these people go hungry is calling for disaster. People can only take so much and when you anger and frustrate potentially hundreds of millions of people you are asking for their wrath to visit vengeance upon you. It doesn't matter if you control the military at that point--particularly if a large chunk of the military does not want anything to do with you and would rather not listen to the ridiculous and cruel orders you give them.

Rely on loyalists all you want. You are building an incredibly delicate thing that is fit to crumble under the weight of a space that's far too broad to manage at the level it needs to be for things to remain as you want them to. This place will collapse in upon itself as your administration cannibalizes one another. Whenever it will be you will fail--and you will get what you deserve, a vacuum left in your wake.

[ohnobjyx]

you answer about celebrities being prudent with dating got me curious as western boys in bands, especially in the rock/alternative/rap scene, seem to have a reputation for dating/sleeping around a lot, do asian idols just not date/sleep around a lot or are they just better at hiding it because they are expected to?

Hi, anon! I’m slowly working through all the asks, but I remembered yours when I was watching this week hotpot episode from SDoC S3 (I’m wondering if I should write a post compiling all the candies, but I have so many asks pending).

To start with the answer, let’s put the disclaimer first: I don’t know celebrities, I’m a simple fan just like all of us. Whatever they do in their private life it’s their own thing, and I just simply try to place an objective view of their situation here.

Just a clarification: when we talk about idol or celebrity, I’m talking about those that are pretty successful in the industry (with their number of fans ranking in the millions). These are the tip of the iceberg in the industry however. The bulk of them have less fans, but are also less subjected to scrutiny by the public.

1. First of all they are prudent because it isn’t widely accepted as “good” that people date/sleep around a lot, especially among the older generations. However, many young people also feel that it’s unacceptable, and their opinions may vary from “they must be very promiscuous or they flicker a lot” to “if they haven’t been able to keep a relationship for long, there must be a problem with this person”.

2. We’ve already talked about the fact that celebrities are expected to uphold a clear and good moral example for their fans. They’ll be heavily criticized if they do things that aren’t socially approved, and it’ll impact negatively on their work prospects. So, I suppose that in the case any celebrity did date/sleep around, they’d have to be masters at hiding their “affairs”.

Let’s just imagine how a male idol’s gf fans (the type of fans that fantasize being their idol’s gf) would react if their idol publicly dated around with many girls. I don’t think that would end well.

3. Like I said at the beginning, I’m going to talk about those idols and celebrities that have more success in the industry.

So, when we talk about dating/sleeping around, there’s something that we can’t ignore: time.

I don’t know about the workload of the boy bands (especially, as you said, in the rock/alternative/rap scene) but the workload of an Asian idol is terrifying.

Let me show you a few examples:

a. Even before he debuted in the boy band, dd spent almost everyday hours dancing, no free weekends and barely vacations, since he was 13 and entered the company. As a child, he got myocarditis when he was learning to dance. As soon as he got discharged, he went back to dancing, and spent his summer vacations (just a month in China, btw, August) dancing from 1 pm to 9 pm everyday, to recover the lost ground (this really was a test for his love for dancing, but just imagine it: he could do 8 hours a day just because he liked it, how many hours would he pull when pressed by the company?)

b. To anyone unfamiliar with Asian culture, the Lunar New Year’s Eve is the most important celebration in Asian culture, a night when family gathers together to celebrate the arrival of the new year. Asian idols usually are full of work, even that same night, so they almost never spend the New Year’s Eve with their families. A famed actress (in her fifties), once said in a program: “my father died last year... and one of the things I regret the most is that I haven’t spent a single New Year’s Eve with him in the last 20 years”.

c. In 2015, a year after his debut with Uniq, dd posted on w/ibo: “Just another year that I can’t be with my parents on New Year’s Eve... just a little sad” (and from what I know, he hadn’t spent a single New Year’s Eve at home since his debut).

d. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Running Man, another c-variety show that’s very popular in China (I recommended it, btw). They did a night-life special last year, and when the director announced the theme (that they’d start filming by 4 pm and continue through the night), the host were like “just that?”:

“Then like our usual jobs”, “I can stay awake longer than an owl”, “I’m also good at spending all-nighters”.

One of them actually said: it seems that they don’t really get what an actor’s job is... everyone say how many days and nights have you gone by without sleeping in you busiest times? Angelababy (that’s her stage name, yes): “When I was a model... I really spent  three days and three nights   without a single moment of sleep.” Li Chen: “Before I came here to film yesterday, I spent 4 days filming night scenes for my drama, so 4 nights without sleep.”

Song Yuqi: “If we count sleeping an hour a day... I went a full week without a full night of sleep. Yesterday was the longest I’ve been sleeping in the last month”.

Their attitude is what surprises me the most, to be honest... It’s like, “of course we would spend a whole night awake, no problem!”

e. One of the previous hosts from this show once said that from his daughter’s birth to her first birthday the amount of time he spent with her totalled to three months.

4. I actually remembered your ask yesterday when I was watching the hotpot episode because of this:

The hosts mentioned getting back at their hotels after filming at 6 am (I think they had been filming the episode during the day and most of the night, and wanted to film a part of the dance using the first daylight). Actually, dd was talking about ZYX making noise in his room practicing dance moves at 6 am (wtf dude, you just pulled an all-nighter, please sleep).

There was a stalker photo of dd taken at 3 am when dd was coming out of the filming site for SDoC S3, one of the other day (just imagine it: you’re leaving the workplace, after a hard day of work, and instead of getting into the car peacefully you have to escape from these people). 

This kind of workload is insane. When they aren’t filming, they are travelling to filming sites, filming tv shows episodes, filming commercials, doing interviews, photoshoots, practicing whatever show is coming up next, reading scripts, and a long list of things they do. Almost without a single moment to rest.

I remember an interview of another actor, in which he said that if he had a free moment in his schedule or a free day, he spent it sleeping and talking with his family.

I’m not saying that with this kind of schedule keeping a relationship is absolutely impossible, but it resembles greatly a long distance relationship, no matter where your home actually is. So dating around a lot is quite of... difficult? (at least in my opinion). And about sleeping around... maybe it’s just me, but if I had a free night with their workload... I’d pass out as soon as I was in my room, and that’s all the sleeping I can envision.

(Btw, this kind of work pace is a trend in China. I've been told that it’s actually common to have surgeons doing 36-hour shifts... here I was thinking that 24h shifts were outrageous).

5. However, it’s not impossible. It wasn’t so long ago that a scandal got out about an actor who was married and with an adult son AND still had time to keep a mistress.

I hope I haven’t rambled too much, anon, and that you find my answer useful!

Edit (thanks to @gremlin-02!): “you're missing the part about propaganda. chinese idols have to hold up "chinese culture/good morals/examples of good citizens" they are not gonna be promoting a play boy idol since it "corrupts" the family values and state system.”

You are absolutely right, and it’s also a point that supports the second part of this post. We tend to forget about it, but the national propaganda has shaped the country from its core. Without it, the country would be very different today. Not better or worse, just... different, since propaganda, for all its bad reputation, has played a large part in their economic growth and their position in the world economy today.

[recyclingbin]

The Ugly Truth About Korea: Racism

Growing up moving around England, U.S. and Korea, I was always taken as ‘ching chong Chinese’ or a ‘Jap’. What hurt me even more than the racist name calling was that my country wasn’t even known well enough to have a nickname. With the success of Samsung, Hyundai, K-pop and the Hallyu wave, this is not the case anymore. People still mistake me for Chinese or Japanese, but when I tell them I’m Korean, almost everybody knows the country now. As a child, this would have made me very proud, mostly because I wasn’t smart enough to think about the side-effects of my country’s development.

In the year 2000, during my freshman year of high school, my family moved back to Korea and I started learning about those side-effects. With the developed economy and improved education, Koreans didn’t want to work in manual labor anymore. Like history has shown in developed countries, those jobs were filled by immigrant workers from Southeast Asian countries or India. The name calling and harassment by Koreans were shocking. People would walk up to foreigners on the bus and tell them that they ‘smell’ and they should get off the bus and walk. There was an instance where an old man complained so much to the driver that the driver asked two Indian men to get off the bus. I knew exactly how those two men felt, but couldn’t say anything as it is considered absurd to question the elderly in Korea. I was seriously confused about the values I learned through experience and the values that everyone else around me seemed to have. The two never felt so apart. In the Korean high school history book, it even stated that Koreans are to be proud of the ‘single race’ nation (한민족 국가).

But as I had done growing up in different cultures, I learned to adapt to Korea too and the acts of racism that I occasionally encountered got muted away, until one day, when I was forced into an even worse situation that I remember clearly to this day. After graduating high school, I spent a lot of my time enjoying nightlife at Hongdae. I made a lot of friends that seemed to be into arts and culture and they seemed to be much more open to foreign culture and foreign people. One night, I was at a bar with some friends when a female friend of mine noticed a foreigner with dark skin drinking alone. Rap and hiphop was big back then and my friend showed an interest towards the foreign guy. She asked me to invite him to our table and we started hanging out. He did not speak any Korean so I had to translate between him and my friends. I failed to notice that after about 10 minutes, my friends didn’t like the translating situation and wanted the foreigner gone. Of course, I had to be the one to tell him. I could tell that he was trying very hard not to show that he was offended. I was so embarrassed about hanging out with racist friends and angry at the same time that those so called ‘friends’ had put me in that situation. I decided to leave with the foreign guy and repeatedly told him how sorry I was and how Koreans are not accustomed to having foreign people around. But somehow every word I said made me feel worse. I never went back to that circle of people after that incident.

At this point, some people might think that these are isolated incidents and shouldn’t be generalized to the entire Korean demographic. If you’re one of those people, here’s an even worse shocker. In 2004, a Korean comedian impersonated foreign workers on national television. Foreign workers were portrayed as having poor language skills and often ignorant and lacking common sense. What’s worse, the whole country loved it and “Sajangnim Nappayo”, meaning ‘My boss is not nice’, became a popular phrase in Korea. Think of Dave Chapelle’s jokes about African Americans, but told by a Caucasian. Children would yell this phrase to foreigners on the streets with a forced accent. The severity of racism and ignorance was incomparable to what I had been subjected to growing up in England or the U.S. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like living in a foreign country where literally the whole country would make fun of me for being a foreigner.

Believe it or not, racism gets even worse. In 2017, accommodating foreign refugees and immigrant workers became a huge issue in Korea. To be fair, there had been incidents where immigrant workers were involved in sexual offense cases. However, the discussions regarding this topic on national radio and television were shocking to say the least. Racist and nationalist comments were taken seriously by the show hosts and discussed as legitimate opinions of the Korean people. Some discussions were actually based on assumptions that foreigners are potential criminals. There was even a discussion about whether the economic benefit of foreigners working manual labor was worth the risk of the foreigner causing social nuisance. The reasons for opposing immigrants were so appalling that it was hard to believe that this was a discussion taking place in 2017. Even worse, nobody questioned the ethics of such ridiculous framing.

The problem is, those subjected to racism in Korea usually don’t have a voice that can be heard around the world. Most Koreans are very kind to people from western cultures. It’s the people from developing countries that are subjected to unspeakable acts of racism. Yet, earlier this year, some Koreans, with the help of another national television broadcasting service, MBC, accused KLM of acts of racism at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic. The reason was that the flight crew on one of KLM’s flights had posted a note on the lavatory door saying ‘for flight crew only’ in Korean. MBC immediately framed this as an act of racism and many Koreans were outraged. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about how Koreans were treating Chinese people at the beginning of the pandemic. There were even rumors online stating that Chinese people had to have used bats as sex toys to have had the virus transmitted to people. At the beginning of the pandemic, Asians were considered more likely to be carrying the virus. Even myself as an Asian living in Europe stayed away from other Asians in case they had recently been to China, Korea or Japan, where the pandemic was more serious than elsewhere. KLM ended up apologizing publicly in Seoul. Have I ever seen any Korean organization or company apologizing for racist acts? Never in my life.

As a child, I would have given anything to be from a country that is wealthier and more powerful so that people wouldn’t call me names. But with the tables turned, I feel much more disgusted to be associated to racists than being subjected to racism. Korea is the single most racist country I’ve lived in and the severity is incomparable to any form of racism I’ve experienced. This is a serious problem that even the government is failing to recognize. Historically, Korea has had problems after trying to shut itself away from the rest of the world. Korea is heading straight back to those problems and major drastic changes will be needed to avoid being left behind globally. I thought wealth and prosperity of my country would make me proud. What a short sighted thought that turned out to be.

Comedian Jung Chul-Gyu on KBS making racist jokes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veoPkZZUBgs

[derencetieng]

One Goal One La Salle!

The 2019 novel coronavirus, known as the COVID-19, is an infectious disease that originated in Wuhan, China. It can affect many people in different ways, and common symptoms of this virus are fever, dried cough, and tiredness. The continuous spread of the COVID-19 virus across countries has created a global health crisis that has alarmed everyone. On March 7, 2020, the first local transmission of the COVID-19 was confirmed, which placed the entire Metro Manila, followed by Luzon island, on lockdown. Safety measures were forced to exercise among Filipinos, such as requiring social distancing and wearing of face shields and face masks. Due to the worsening situation, schools are still closed, and students and teachers will have to continue to conduct their classes online. 

As for De La Salle University-Manila, it has been three terms already since the institution has started conducting online classes due to the pandemic by using different platforms to bring quality education to its students. However, the quality of education that the institution brings to its students in the physical setting is different from the online setting because there is no physical interaction between teachers and students, and lectures are limited. With this, DLSU has recently implemented a strategic plan for 2020-2023 to enhance the learning experience of students online that focuses on five key strategies, which are Accompaniment, Niches, Impact, Ministry, and Opening. Out of the five, the key strategy I believe that is geared towards maintaining DLSU’s position as a top university in the Philippines would be Opening. It is due to the fact as Dr. Gerardo Largoza has mentioned that it is expected that both study and work will be mostly online in 2021, and everything will not be the same after the pandemic. With this, to maintain its position, DLSU has to be innovative enough to give its students quality education in both settings by ensuring that they would still be able to grasp the lessons well and apply the ELGA in every course. I believe that accomplishing this is not as easy as it sounds. However, as long as the whole Lasallian community would help each other out by giving ideas, it can ensure that students will have a better learning environment and safe space even if they are in the online or physical settings. The students should not be only the ones to look at by the institution, but also the staff and the professors also by ensuring their overall health, safety, and capability as well. Many Lasallians are already asking, when will we be able to go to school again? If I would be the one to answer this, I think the safest answer would be when the pandemic is over. It is a vague answer, but this is the only best way that I could have thought of. If the institution would already allow physical classes while cases are still increasing, there may be a chance of infection inside the campus because many students come from different places. Indeed, the quality of education in physical classes is better, but we should prioritize our health during the pandemic. That is why the institution continues to do its best to improve the online learning system by making long-term plans to give us the best quality education.

On the other hand, the key strategy geared towards establishing DLSU’s international reputation and prestige would be Ministry. DLSU is not only known globally as being one of the top universities in the Philippines, but the institution is also known as a Lasallian school, founded by St. John Baptist De La Salle. We all know that our founder believes in the importance of education and its role in social change; therefore, he established schools globally. These schools are actively sourcing funds for scholarships to some of its students. With the key strategy of ministry, it aims to continue to live up to our founder's mission by continuously serving others and experiencing the grace of communitas by reaching out to those in need during the pandemic. As some students are experiencing financial difficulties, DLSU has made its payment scheme flexible, wherein they have offered three payment options and extension of payment without surcharge to students. Aside from this, they still continuously fund their staff and pay for the scholars even if they are also experiencing difficulties financially. I believe that the university's adjustments and decisions have made me not regret staying here as we can see their dedication to serve the community and give the best education to its students. 

To give a better understanding of the current situation of DLSU, provided below will be a SWOT analysis.

By looking at the SWOT analysis above, and if we measure how well it would realize the key strategies of the strategic plan made by DLSU, I believe that it will be around a 90% chance of success. The reason behind my answer would be because all issues that I have mentioned are mostly discussed in the strategic plan video. An example of this would be when physical classes are already allowed. The institution has a plan for it already. Another one would be the lack of resources from students and their teachers, the quality of the education in the online setting, and everyone's mental health. To address this issue, DLSU is already expanding its networks with industry partners and further professionalizing advancement to enhance the quality of education that students receive online. Aside from this, lenient deadlines are being imposed by the university on its students to make sure that requirements are not stressing them. Some of its services are also already accessible online. For the issue regarding the quality of education that students receive online, it cannot be addressed entirely as physical interaction is completely different from online. However, to slightly address this issue, one possible way that DLSU can implement would be to make all discussions interactive wherein students would not quickly lose their attention and learn a lot. Professors should also focus more on giving reflection papers instead of quizzes and research papers as students would be able to express their thoughts and learnings well through this type of activity. When it comes to supporting and serving the community, it has been started by the institution itself and numerous organizations where they host donation drives, and they can keep on implementing it until quarantine protocols are lifted. To summarize what was mentioned, I believe that DLSU will succeed in achieving its goals because as a research-based university, all the plans and improvements they are imposing are well-researched, well-supported and feasible. 

The objectives of the DLSU strategic plan does promote the objectives of “good goods,” “good work,” and “good wealth” as embodied in the Six Practical Principles for business since first of all, the school was able to maintain solidarity wherein they hear the concerns of the students such as the ease of workload, extension of payment deadlines, and suspension of classes if necessary. Having an institution that listens to its students is essential since it shows that the school does not invalidate the students' needs. Aside from showing solidarity to its students, DLSU has also shown it to its employees wherein despite not conducting physical classes, staff and professors were still employed and were also given the right to voice out their opinions towards online learning to come up with a better solution to solve existing problems that the institution is facing. The objectives of “good wealth” was also shown through DLSU’s strategic plan since it focuses on all of its key stakeholders and not just one. The proposed strategic plan mentioned that its goal is mission continuity and disaster recovery plans. This goal of theirs shows that the strategic plan's target is not only for the students but also for the professors and staff of DLSU and the public. Moreover, I believe that the strategic plan's objectives will help me become a good business leader as embodied in the RVRCOB Code of Ethics since the plan’s objectives lean towards the quality education that students in DLSU receive through rebuilding and continuous innovation. It teaches us that we have to always consider our key stakeholders, such as the public, as future business leaders, whenever we make decisions. Therefore, every business decision we make should refrain from unfair competition, harmful business practices, and promote human development inside the organization and follow the laws. Aside from this, by being innovative enough, one can significantly impact society, such as what DLSU is trying to do right now with its strategic plan. They continuously strive to innovate new ideas to maximize their learning, even if classes are being held online. Simultaneously, the school still lives up to its mission of being a Lasallian school by continuously serving others amid the pandemic. As a student of DLSU, my unique contribution to the university's success in achieving its objectives would be through giving feedback through my professors about online learning and the way they teach. Giving feedback is a huge help, especially when it comes to constructing a learning plan in the online setting as professors would be able to determine the students' concerns and suggestions and may raise it to the dean. Aside from this, it also plays a vital role in education, as providing feedback would make the institution adopt new feasible and effective plans sooner and avoid repetitive mistakes. On the other hand, as a stakeholder of the institution, the plan will also benefit me since education is vital, especially when I enter the business world. If I would receive the same quality of education that one receives in the physical setting, I would better understand the lessons more. I can more likely apply all my learnings in the business world, so I find the strategic plan crucial to my professional career.

To summarize everything, the pandemic has affected every country's sector, such as the education sector. However, to cope with it, DLSU has been trying to continuously improve the system of online learning to provide quality education to its students. They have recently proposed a strategic plan. By looking at it, I believe that the plan has a 90% chance of success as the institution was able to tackle the problems the school is facing and weaknesses identified in the SWOT analysis. DLSU is striving to provide quality education to the students because of the importance that education plays in every student’s life. Education is essential to everyone as it is the key to having a better life, and it can also improve the country's condition. As students of DLSU, we should continue to do our best and study so that it would be our turn to give back to the community and help those in need in the near future. Indeed, the pandemic has paused our everyday lives, but this does not signify that we should not continue to live life to the fullest. Life is a lesson. Every day, we learn how to live, love, and we continue to learn.

[maidenxfmight]

penny for your thoughts

Tagging: @jeangrcysummers & Kara When: The day the siege started Where: Central Park (it all happens in Central Park) What: Jean tries to understand why Kara has changed. Warnings: Blood mention, death mention Word Count: 4,231

JEAN: Something was wrong. Something was wrong far beyond the general anxious gnawing Jean had at her gut since the United Nations meeting gone wrong, since Mystique dropped that man to the ground and Jean was left wondering what kind of army she’d signed up to, what price she would pay for achieving freedom for her people -- that was if this plan of Erik’s actually worked. If they got to the end of this and still had nothing to show for it, what would Jean do then? What would the next step be?

The future had never seemed so uncertain, and Jean was the woman who had died more times than most of the students could keep track of.

In the midst of the chaos of her life, there had always been lynchpins, points of contact, anchors that she could come back to. Scott. Rogue. Illyana. Erik, when he returned. Charles. Kara. Kara Danvers, who looked her straight in the eye and said that the Phoenix, what it made her do, changed absolutely nothing about their friendship. Kara who provided a home, right from their first meeting. Kara, who made Jean feel like she was alive again, instead of masquerading in the place of a ghost.

Kara, whose aura she could pick up on, even dimly, across cities, countries, continents. Kara, who Jean knew like the back of her hand.

Kara, who had changed. It was a dangerous move, to return to the Institute and use Cerebro to search for her. It was putting people at risk, it was opening up the shield to potential Sentinels, it was stupid by all tactical considerations -- but love made people stupid. And Kara was someone Jean loved, someone she considered family.

As it turned out, she could’ve just looked at the news.

Central Park. It couldn’t be anywhere but Central Park.

(Bullets flying, blood staining the grass, that sound of a disembodied scream that turned out to be her own, an Enforcer falling to the ground and then disintegrating into dust.)

Jean swallowed all of that back, landing lightly on the grass.

“Supergirl,” Jean called out, allowing the name to reverberate through psychic channels, too -- but she couldn’t get through. Kara’s natural immunity seemed to have been bolstered, shifted in the past few days. “It’s Jean. Can you hear me?”

KARA: Somewhere overhead, a helicopter beat a sharp staccato against the mid-afternoon sky. Kara could hear each blade as it spun, the heavy, rapid breaths of the news crew in the cabin. Their lens made a soft scrape as the cameramen spun to zoom. Their hearts beat too fast: scared.

She was a reporter, she knew what message was being broadcast to the world. Another superhero out of control, more collateral damage, more reason to control them. Her fingers curled into her palm, her head tilted to the helicopter as it circled above her. At one point, she may have written a story about how they misunderstood, but now...

She was tired of trying to convince them. They didn't care that she was a refugee, that she liked chocolate pecan pie, and she considered herself a Gryffinpuff. They didn't care that Gabbie just wanted people to look at her like she wasn't something to fear, or Peter had a right to his identity. They didn't care that Scott died in love not too far from where Kara stood, and Jean only ever wanted to love him back.

They didn't care. They only cared about what they could do. And in that moment Kara could do so much. She thought about wrapping her hands around the landing skids and dragging it back to Earth. They metal would give so easily. She could...

Jean's voice broke through, more than just aloud. Something prodded at the edge of her consciousness and her thoughts derailed. Her gaze dropped, squinting to find Jean landing on the grass just through the trees, and she smiled. She caught, just for a moment. No one had approached her since Alex the night before, and there was Jean. Of course there was Jean.

(A part of her screamed, if anyone would understand what was happening, how her mouth formed words she didn't want, how her hands had pulled apart struts even as she fought so hard not to–)

She was in front of her in a moment, "This is awfully public of you. Are you here to try to talk some sense into me, or is this just a check in?"

JEAN: Everything was supposed to be coming together. The rest of the city was living life on a knife’s edge, never entirely sure of where the next chess piece would move, but Jean was on the inside of this one -- she knew where she needed to go, knew what needed to happen, knew that the outcome would be the same even if they were forced to improvise on the finer details for part of the way. This was supposed to be, at least for her, the wind down. It was supposed to be where everything slotted into place, where the gnawing anxiety that had been building in her chest since Central Park started to wane.

Instead, it felt like everything was falling apart.

The first person she thought of when this happened, naturally, was Kara. Kara, who maintained something of a distance from her life in the Institute, who represented someone outside of mutantkind who looked at Jean and saw all of her and accepted her anyway. Kara, who was her friend, her sister, her family.

She didn’t realize until she investigated further that those bridges falling weren’t the work of the Brotherhood, or the defected X-Men. She mentioned it, albeit briefly, to Scott, who knew nothing -- enough of a warning bell that she knew asking Erik would give her nothing but more questions. So she investigated for herself.

And now she was standing face to face with Kara, and her voice didn’t sound like Kara. It didn’t feel like Kara. This force pressing back on Jean’s psychic push, the natural Kryptonian immunity seemingly bolstered by something that wanted her out, that wasn’t normal. Jean never looked deeper into her friend’s mind than she was asked to -- but the option was there. The option was there because they trusted each other. Jean hoped that would stand by her now.

“The latter,” Jean replied, “unless you feel like you need some sense. I’m not entirely sure I’m the right person to give it.” After all, what had she done for the past few weeks that indicated she was good at thinking things through? Every action Jean took only seemed to lead to more problems, or encourage those around her to take a situation and make it worse. “What are you doing, Kara?”

KARA: There was something nagging on the edge of her mind, and she knew it was Jean. It was different than the fight she'd been waging with herself for days. It was different than Alex and her gun, or Lar and his papers and that look. It was something she didn't feel very often, not even with Jean, who respected her boundaries better than most.

It meant Jean didn't know, and oh, that was interesting. Maybe Erik did have something he couldn't stand to lose.

"I'm–" Failing, somehow. Thoughts slipping one over the other, unable to grasp more than the ones that hurt. And Jean was right there, pressing in. Somewhere Kara screamed; she could imagine Jean pressing each bad thought down, one by one. Untangling the web so she could just think, just for a moment. She could apologize, or run, or fling herself into space until she didn't feel as much like tearing the whole world down to make a new one. But red outlined her veins and the screaming was smothered.

"I'm remodeling." She spun with a grin, squinting at the buildings around her until New York was nothing but skeletons. The bridges in the distance were warped steel and iron, and smoke rose steadily from various incidents throughout the city. She settled on one building, seventy-stories high, the inside wrecked. "I think L-Corp is a bit of an eyesore, don't you?"

Erik had cautioned her to wait, and her mind easily wavered from Lena. Jean had been at the United Nations. Jean had been on the news, she didn't flinch. Kara wondered if she was following orders, or if she believed just as passionately as Erik. Or if, like Kara, their goals would only run parallel for so long.

"I'm doing just fine, Jean. Having the time of my life, actually. Don't you have better things to do?"

JEAN: She didn’t enter minds without permission. She did, once, a long time ago -- she was a child without a notion of how to control these new abilities, and everyone’s thoughts blurring into hers. Sometimes they were like bulls in a china shop, tearing through her memories, their psyches confoundingly present. Other times, it was far more sinister. Their ideas, their concepts, slid into Jean’s thoughts and wrapped around her own mind. They made her feel as if they were hers, and before long, she didn’t know what was really Jean Grey and what was something else.

Maybe that’s why she was the ideal host for the Phoenix in the first place. Maybe that’s why days and nights disappeared into darkness, why she woke up in the morning and knew, instinctively, that she had been somewhere, done something, that she couldn’t pinpoint. Jean knew what it was like to be in the backseat of her own body, screaming that they were headed for a cliff, powerless to stop it.

She didn’t know why she was thinking of that now. She didn’t know why Kara -- her friend, her sister, bridesmaid at her wedding and co-parent to her cat -- would be pushing back this ferociously now, why her voice would be sharp where it had once been warm, but jumping immediately to something like that…

It was paranoia, from watching Erik. Paranoia, from seeing how Scott was growing more and more obsessed with plans, staying awake late into the night, seeming almost startled when she passed him a cup of coffee. Paranoia from seeing herself.

But this wasn’t Kara. Jean pushed just a little more as she stepped forward -- and pain rippled through her own temple. Resistance. Strong resistance. Kryptonian level resistance if Kara was really trying to keep her out.

“What kind of remodeling?” Jean asked, keeping her voice casual, as if she was asking her friend for a Starbucks order. “You know I’m not great with interior design, but maybe you can let me in on it.” She followed Kara’s gaze towards the skyline, still keeping her form in the periphery of her vision, and saw the familiar logo. “Well,” Jean said, thinking back to Erik’s rage about Lena Luthor, about the Sentinels, about what she had said on the matter -- that the woman deserved what she got.

Jean wasn’t so sure about that, now.

“I can think of worse places,” Jean commented. “Luthor … you’ve spent time with her before, right?” Supergirl always seemed to be there when Luthor needed help. Jean wasn’t going to act like that was a coincidence. Kara turned back to her, and Jean sucked in a breath. It was uncharacteristic, a bit like a slap in the face, but she could take it.

She could take it now she knew what she was dealing with.

“You’re not yourself, Kara,” she said, simply and firmly. Her voice softened as she continued. “I know what it feels like, to be … to be angry. Believe me, I know. But I can help you. I can help this all go away, you just need to let me in.”

KARA: "On Krypton, we didn't have all of these blocks. Our buildings curved." She could almost see it, tracing the bend of her family home with a finger. Her voice was almost gentle for the first time in days, and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. She didn't want to see it anymore. She was so tired of painting Krypton in shades of red and orange, of covering her canvasses and hiding them in corners because Rao forbid someone were to walk in. Someone who didn't know. Someone who didn't agree.

The sky was blue, and the buildings were blocks, and Kara was still the last one who cared.

"I could see all of them from my bedroom window, all the pods, the lights." She paused, her hand dropping to her side. For a moment, her veins glowed red, her hands clenching into fists. "We also didn't hate each other just for being who we are."

She caught again on L-Corp tower. There was so much about this world she'd grown to love. It was amazing how so much of it could be erased in moments. Just one word, built upon one too many missteps. She didn't want to remodel. She wanted to tear it all down. She wanted to dig her fingers into steel until it warped and tore. Again and again until the world broke or she did.

Jean might know what it meant to be angry, but their anger came from different places. It aligned at times, of course. They both lived in a world that punished anyone who dared to be normal. They both knew what it was like to hide. They both hurt in ways that couldn't be described or quantified, it just was. Jean was born into a world that had already decided she shouldn't be there.

Kara could still remember a world that had loved her, and she lost it. And she never had a choice.

She never had a choice.

"I'm more me than I've ever been." She looked to Jean again, eyes traced in glowing red. One hand lifted to rub at the slight prick at her temple, taking a step closer. "I'm finally helping myself. I'm– stay out I don't need you, Jean."

JEAN: Jean couldn’t read her friend’s mind,  couldn’t get past the invisible wall that she’d formed between them, and she’d always promised herself that when someone said no she would listen. When a friend looked her dead in the eye and said get out, she would.  Telepaths had an even greater responsibility than most mutants, she knew that — and she also knew that right now, she had a responsibility to her friend, to her fall, to the city, to bend some of those rules without breaking them.

“It sounds beautiful,” Jean replied, voice thick. “Maybe you can show me those memories, sometime. I would love to see it.” Life had been so hectic since their respective secrets came out. Jean learned Kara’s identity in a hospital room when they were uncertain if Alex would even wake up. Kara learned about the Phoenix over orange juice only a few weeks before the world fell apart. They knew each other, but they hadn’t had time to talk about it, not really.

Jean knew that look in Kara’s eyes. She’d seen it reflected in the mirror a million times — and she’d seen it in the faces of her husband and mentor in the past months since Central Park, too.

Was it the bird? For a brief second Jean reached to her,  but the flames didn’t lick against her skin. There was energy here, palpable and unnatural, but not cosmic fire.

“Okay,” Jean said, taking a step back, hands up as she moved. “You’re doing what you feel is right. Why don’t you tell me what that is, Kara? We can fix this, together. We can fix all of it.” Jean sucked in a breath, letting the silence sit between them for only one tense moment. “Burning the world down,” she started, “will not bring you peace.”

KARA: "Then what is supposed to bring me peace?" Kara took a step forward, brows drawn together, hands restless at her sides. "Putting on a pair of glasses, pretending to be human? Making myself less every day because if I don't someone somewhere will punish my family for it?"

Kara thought of Krypton. She thought of curved spires and the markets at street level. She thought of Rao's prayers, and how her family would recite them every night. And she felt peace, then. With her mother's soft voice guiding her through words born into her she was home. Soft and warm under Rao's light. She hadn't fully realized how much she'd missed it until Reign, and then Lar came into her life. It was something lost among the stars; she'd shifted and changed so much she'd nearly forgotten it was a part of her.

And truly, it was lost. Her family had turned there backs the moment she'd spoken Magneto's name. Lar's heartbeat had faded not long after she'd shoved his proposal against his chest.  Alex held a gun to her chest. There was only Kara, and her memories, and a world that insisted it didn't want her. It didn't want her prayers, or her history, or her culture. It stole the word 'alien' and morphed it into 'roach' and wrote it on protest signs to wave in Central Park. If she was going to find peace, she was going to have to make it.

"Besides," she pulled in a breath, steady, letting her hands unclench, "Isn't that what you're doing? Searching for peace in war?"

JEAN: It had always been different for Jean. She could pass, where other mutants within the Institute were forced to be recognize for what they were, outed by their appearance or abilities that couldn’t be hidden behind measures of control. When Kara tales about a pair of glasses, about blending into human life, about denying her true self so she could live in peace, Jean understood that — but that didn’t mean she could let her friend keep going.

“I know what it’s like, keeping yourself under control. Every single day, you ... you can’t even breathe in case you take down a building with you, in case you brush a little too close to someone and ruin their life. I get that. But Kara, lashing out won’t get you anywhere. It only ends badly.” Jean had died before, when she leaned into that fear, into her anger. She had burned up on the lawn and she came back, only by the grace of an entity she still couldn’t completely figure out the intentions of. “You’re right. I am fighting a war. But I’m not doing it alone.”

Jean took a small step forward, hand up. “You are so powerful,” she said, “but your true strength always comes from the people who love you. You taught me that, more than anyone. If you want to fight, you can fight with us. We are making a world better for everyone who is different. We are forcing them to give us a place to rest. You can help with that. Don’t let the pain force you into doing this alone.”

KARA: I'm not doing it alone.

Kara's apartment had a revolving door, and it wasn't because it was a particularly nice apartment, or a convenient location. It was average, and out of the way. No, it was because for so long, Kara had loved everyone she could, everyone who needed it. She'd fostered a home and called her friends family. El Mayarah meant stronger together, it meant hope, and it was one of the few things she could take from Krypton and embody entirely. She'd crawled out of a pod and watched Kal fly away, and decided she wasn't going to let anyone ever feel unloved or unwanted.

For a moment, Kara caught. Jean had a family and a purpose. She had Scott, and Erik so obviously loved her. They were fighting for their family, for the people they loved, so they may live in a space safe for them. Late nights with tea and a purring super cat said Kara was a part of that family. But–

"I asked my family." Kon told her to get out, Alex held a gun to her chest. Kal was only ever a cape on a television screen, there only when it best suited him, and gone before she could ask him to stay. Donna was off putting the pieces she'd left behind back together, and hadn't truly talked to her in so long Kara wondered how they'd let so many miles grow between them.

She couldn't hear Lar's heartbeat anymore.

She wanted her family. Stronger together, she thought. She wanted them to understand her anger just as well as they understood her hope. She wanted to tell them about Krypton, to see the same vision for the future she did. She wanted curved spires and marketplaces that smelled of food Earth couldn't even dream of. She wanted her dad and his lab, her mom's arms around her. She wanted, she wanted all these things she could never have, and it hurt.

It hurt until she couldn't hold it anymore, and when she broke she was answered with guns and lit eyes and 'not like this, Kara.' "I asked my family, and they said no. Why don't you tell them we're supposed to be stronger together." Kara pulled in a breath, fingers flexing at her sides. "What was your goal here, Jean? Stand here and tell me I'm loved, and it'll all be okay? We'll figure this out together? It's not enough." She took a few steps back, shaking her head. Something tugged at her, something that said Jean had understood better than anyone else. Jean actually said things that mattered.

Jean had sat across from her and talked of anger, and how hard it could be to control. She wasn't just reaching a hand out because she wanted Kara to stop, she was reaching a hand out as someone who could see her, honestly see her. And Kara rallied, she tried so hard. Let her in, let her in, but her thoughts tumbled away. "Unless you have something more productive than 'love bonds us all,' I think we're done here."

JEAN: Jean was a scientist. She was a soldier. She’d been a part of the X-Men since before she was anything else, and that meant logic and pragmatism needed to be at the forefront of everyday life. In the Institute, they put a target on their own backs in order to prove to the world that mutants were there to protect themselves, yes, but also humanity — to prove that they weren’t there to propel evolution forward, or to wipe out other races in an attempt to save their own.

That meant that her heart should never outweigh her head, but it did, constantly and consistently. Jean acted on her gut far more than she did on tactical expertise or reading the terrain. She fought on her own terms, allowed the auras of the people around her to guide her actions. It was only when she took that feeling out of it that things started going wrong. When she looked at the logic of a situation, like the decades and centuries of mutant suppression and discrimination, and figured that nothing would change in her lifetime, in any of their lifetimes, that they were doomed to live half an existence for as long as they were allowed before dying a premature death. When Jean allowed herself to see only in facts, hope diminished, and people got hurt.

People were getting hurt now. That was never Kara’s intention. It wasn’t just a smiling girl in a karaoke bar that drew Jean to Kara — she knew that the second the truth came out in the hospital, and then over the island counter in her kitchen. They were more alike than they ever thought. “I can do that. We can work it out, together. You could come with me, and we could talk to them.” There was nothing that couldn’t be solved if they worked together. (Was that hypocritical to say when Jean’s family reunion turned into a civil war in New York? When what they accomplished together was only more bloodshed, albeit with good intentions?) “Your family love you, Kara. You’ve formed something here that people can only dream of. I know what you’re going through, but we are never better alone.”

There was a moment, just a split second where Jean stepped forward and Kara didn’t increase the distance between them, a brief instant where she saw something shift in her friend’s eyes. She reached for her hand, and then Kara was gone, in a burst of speed she’d never seen before, not this close.

We could follow her, a voice whispered. Jean would. She needed to. Kara was her friend, her sister, the woman she wanted by her side on the best day of her life and every day before and since. We could follow her, but you don’t want to do that.

The wind picked up, blowing through the park. The grass shifted, and Jean was back in that moment, blood soaking into the dirt.

We have other battles to fight, it said, and you need to save your strength.

It was right. (It was always right.)

It was time to pay Erik a visit.

[metalandmagi]

Fall 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Wondering what anime to watch now that the jam packed summer season is over? Never fear, we’re into the fall, and there’s even more great shows this season! It’s my last rec list of the year so we’re in the home stretch now!

Full disclaimer, this season is packed with great shows, but a lot of these are not available on Crunchyroll...so here’s a link to a list of where you can watch everything legally on streaming! And I’ll but an (*) by everything that IS on Crunchyroll.

And here’s my recs for every season this year:

Summer 2019

Spring 2019

Winter 2019

And here’s my master list for 2020

New shows!

Chuubyou Gekihatsu-Boy (Outburst Dreamer Boy): A comedy in which a normal girl just wants a peaceful high school life, but finds herself surrounded by a group of ridiculous, overly dramatic boys who are all part of the “hero club” who try to make her school life better by helping her make friends. This is all well and good, but all the boys are delusional in one way or another. For example, one thinks he and his friends are basically Power Rangers, and another is obsessed with fabricating dramatic fake anime backstories for himself. It’s Ouran High School Host Club without the hosting. It’s absolutely hilarious, but it’s really flying under the radar because it’s not on Crunchyroll.

Kabukichou Sherlock: A surprisingly comedic modern version of Sherlock Holmes that takes place in the seedier portions of Japan in which a bunch of the city’s quirky detectives try and hunt down Jack the Ripper. I was not expecting this to be nearly as good as it was. The characters are great, Mrs. Hudson is a transvestite cabaret singer, the soundtrack is bomb, it’s an original anime by Production I.G. AND SHERLOCK EXPLAINS HIS DETECTIVE PROCESS THROUGH MYSTERY SOLVING RAKUGO!!!! 

Babylon: NO, NOT FATE BABYLONIA! This is a mystery/thriller involving a case of illegal clinical research for a pharmaceutical company that leads down a rabbit hole full of murder, suicide, and political intrigue. IT’S LIKE DEATH NOTE AND MONSTER HAD A BABY AND IT’S FREAKING AMAZING! I haven’t been this interested in a mystery/crime anime since Erased. The first episode will definitely leave you...hanging…. The only problem is it’s not on Crunchyroll, so I have a feeling most people won’t know about it because it’s on freaking Amazon Prime!

Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align): A coming of age sports anime in which a boys soft tennis team sucks so bad that the school will disband them if they don’t win a tournament. And the team captain is so desperate for serious members, he literally pays his childhood friend who recently moved back into town to play on the team. And said childhood friend has an incredibly interesting backstory and struggling family life that ropes you in right away. How is soft tennis different from regular tennis? No clue, but this show is awesome! You can tell by the first episode it is going to be a great coming of age story, with more mature themes of abuse and class difference.

And it’s not the only sports anime with Sora in the title...

*Ahiru no Sora (Sora the Duck): Another sports anime, in which a short, spikey haired boy wants to play basketball (yeah yeah very original) but discovers that his high school basketball team is full of punks! It’s basically what would happen if Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a basketball player. The first few minutes are basically every sports anime you’ve ever seen, BUT it really lives up to its potential by the end of the first episode. It has a likable protagonist, good animation, and the female characters all wear realistic clothes to play basketball in! If you’re a piece of sports anime trash like me, this is definitely the show for you!

No Gun Life: In a detective noir world where everyone has basically become a cyborg, a guy with a gun for a head works to uncover the plans of an evil organization.  That’s it, that’s the whole thing. It’s made by Madhouse AND IT’S A CYBORG WITH A GUN FOR A HEAD! What else do you need?!

Beastars: IT’S JUST ANIME ZOOTOPIA! I’m not even kidding. It’s a school based mystery involving anthropomorphic animals who are faced with the murder of one of their classmates and the disruption of the peaceful coexistence of all types of animals in the school. It involves the whole predator vs prey dynamic and how appearances are deceiving, all with a jarringly serious tone considering everyone’s an animal. The only thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the use of 3D animation...which I notoriously despise no matter how great the show is. But even I am willing to put aside my hatred to keep watching this anime. The characters are interesting, it’s shot really creatively, and I love how ridiculously seriously it takes itself. Apparently it’s going to be on Netflix at some point.

*Shin Chuuka Ichiban (True Cooking Master Boy): It’s Food Wars’ less porny sibling that takes place in 19th century China, where a young boy named Mao is a master chef who travels around spreading his love for cooking! This is a reboot/continuation of an anime based on a manga from the 90s so there’s a really fun retro art style that’s nice to see updated. Apparently it picks up in the middle of the original story, but I haven’t felt like it’s necessary to see the source material to enjoy it or understand it. Also the soundtrack is bomb! It’s a great shounen to watch if you want more cross-cultural cooking anime that’s not straight up porn in your life, and it will definitely make you hungry!

Next seasons and Continuations!

 And don’t forget the summer leftovers, and some shows are getting continuations!

*Chihayafuru season 3: This is an incredibly fantastic underrated sports/club anime about a girl named Chihaya who struggles to find members for her karuta club after her best friend who made her fall in love with the game moves away. Never heard of “karuta”? It’s a physically and mentally challenging traditional Japanese game involving 100 poems written on cards that the players must memorize and locate before their opponent….it makes more sense when you see it I promise. This show is goddamn amazing, with incredibly realistic characters, an amazing game that most people don’t know about, gorgeous animation. It’s hilarious, it’s dramatic, it’s sad, and it’s uplifting all at once. 

This doesn’t premier until October 23, (so you’ve got time to binge the first 2 seasons!) but this is by far my most anticipated show of the season and quite possibly the entire year! I’VE BEEN WAITING SO MANY YEARS FOR ANOTHER SEASON, AND I’M SO PSYCHED!

Kono Oto Tomare (Stop this Sound) season 2: Speaking of club related anime, in case you missed the first season earlier this year, this is an anime about a boy who tries to recruit members for his high school koto club after all his senpais graduate. What’s a koto club you ask? It’s a large Japanese string instrument that no one cares about or plays anymore of course! Their club is endearingly terrible, with literally only one competent person on the team, but they’re aiming for nationals anyway, because...of course they are. This show seems pretty textbook at first, but it really grows on you the further you get. There are great character dynamics, it’s fun, it’s sweet, and there’s cool music that people don’t hear a lot of! If you like sports or club focused anime, give this one a chance!

*Dr. Stone: An action adventure in which all of humanity is mysteriously turned to stone one day. When a genius high school boy named Senku and his….not so genius friend Taiju awaken 3,700 years in the future, the two must rebuild civilization and turn the world back to normal with the power of science! I know pretty much everyone is watching this already, but I just want to reiterate how amazing it is. It is mysterious, educational, hilarious, and it really makes you think about civilization as we know it today. It was one of the best (if not the best) new show of the summer, and I’m so glad it’s getting a full run!

Vinland Saga: THE VIKING ANIME IS GETTING A FULL RUN!!!!!!!! In case you missed this gem in the summer, it’s a historical drama about a young boy named Thorfinn and his journey to avenge his father’s death and become a great warrior. And it’s all while traveling with his enemies through Northern Europe. It’s a fantastic dark, realistic story in a historical setting that filled the void left by Dororo. Plus it’s animated by Wit, so it looks beautiful. The music is great, the characters are intriguing, the story is interesting, AND IT HAS AN AMAZING ANTAGONIST! It has hype written all over it, so I’m pumped for the rest of the season! Unfortunately, you can only find it legally on Amazon Prime, so that’s why no one’s watching it.

*Fire Force: The (unfortunately timed) action/drama where fire fighters with super powers must protect Tokyo from people who are spontaneously combusting and uncover the evil rooted within their own organization. It’s made by the same person who created Soul Eater, and it definitely shows. The animation is high flying and out of this world. It’s worth watching for the action alone. But be warned, the plot and characters are it’s biggest weakness. It will jump between gratuitous fanservice and hijinks and then rocket into moral dilemmas and disturbing situations with no warning. BUT I still like watching it for the action, and in these later episodes the plot has steered itself back on track a lot more, and I’m way more interested in where the story is going now. I’m hoping that means the second half will give us a better sense of the characters. It also has a top tier muscular waifu! 

*My Hero Academia season 4: I’m sure everyone’s already going to be watching MHA, but I guess I’d have my anime fan badge revoked if I didn’t at least mention this one. I may not read the manga, but I know this arc is going to be a good one! I firmly believe this will be a modern classic, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s really worth watching.

And that’s it for this season. I’ll probably do a list at the end of the year of my top shows of 2019, but otherwise, see you in the winter of 2020!

[stuartja06-blog]

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[brynandchristopher]

The (temporary) end of an era

Well, it’s certainly been a while since we last wrote. We apologize for the delay, we’ve been busy transitioning from New Zealand life to Australia in the last month or so, and then from Australia back to our homes in the last few days, and just haven’t gotten around to writing. But now we’re back! First and foremost, Chris and I are safe, happy, and healthy. It is a crazy time that we are living in right now, but so far we have remained physically unaffected by coronavirus and are keeping our fingers crossed that it remains that way. We are in good health and taking all of the necessary precautions to stay safe in this time of chaos and uncertainty.

In our last post, we had just bid Madeline farewell and were beginning the process of selling our van, Sweetie, in Christchurch. We gave ourselves ~2 weeks before departing to sell the van in hopes that would give us enough time to meet with prospective buyers and try to make some of our money back before taking off for Australia. In New Zealand, there is a bit of a boom and bust cycle in regards to van prices due to the major influx of backpackers at the beginning of the summer and mass exodus at the end of summer. Additionally, most backpackers take a similar route to the one we took - flying into Auckland, exploring the north island, heading down south, flying out of Christchurch - resulting in a huge supply of backpacker vans in Christchurch and not very much demand. We were aware of this cycle going into our trip and knew we wouldn’t get a full return on what we spent, but we were hopeful we could get at least half of our money back to put towards our next van in Australia. Our first few van showings were slightly disheartening. We received significant interest via buy/sell facebook pages and other websites where we posted ads, but when we met in person for test drives and viewings everyone seemed very nit-picky about small things that hadn’t mattered much to us. We soon realized that backpackers looking at vans at the end of the summer could afford to be selective because of how many vans were available to them at a low cost. We didn’t let them get us down though, and after 4 or 5 days of showings we met an Israeli couple around our age that was interested in buying Sweetie. Chris negotiated with them (definitely not my forté, Chris is the master haggler between the two of us) and we were able to get a little more than half of what we had spent. We spent a day driving around with them for a test drive, mechanical inspection, and eventually a transfer of ownership, and by that evening it was time for us to part with our beloved Sweetie. She was a real trooper and everything we could have asked for for our very first car, we felt lucky to have had no car problems for the whole 3 months (which cannot be said for many secondhand backpacker campervans). We were sad to see her go but happy to be leaving her in good hands for her next adventure :)

It was a relief to sell the van in the first few days of our arrival to Christchurch, but we soon realized we had a lot of time on our hands for the next 10 days without a vehicle to go anywhere beyond the city. We stayed in a hostel in central Christchurch for 3 nights and spent a few days exploring the sights of the city. We walked through the botanical gardens, visited the local museum, explored the shops, and hung out around the hostel. One day we went to a climbing gym and spent a few hours bouldering, a hobby that both Chris and I had missed since our travels began. Once our time in the hostel was up, Chris’ dad, John, helped us out with some points so we could stay at the Double Tree Inn for 2 nights. After living in a minivan for 3 months and then staying in a crowded hostel for a few nights, the Double Tree felt luxurious and plush. We were very grateful to be staying in a nice place for a few days and have a bit of a break from the backpacker lifestyle - thanks Wan :) 

For the remainder of our time in Christchurch, we booked a cheap AirBnb on the outskirts of the city. We were beginning to get a bit restless - while Christchurch is nice enough, New Zealand isn’t exactly famous for it’s beautiful cities and we felt like we had explored most of what it had to offer. I spent most of our days there starting to look online for vans and jobs in Australia, and Chris played a lot of Pokémon ;) I had applied to a few live-in nanny jobs in Queensland, where we were hoping to post up for a few months to save up some money, and I heard back from the one Chris and I were most excited about. The family of 5 lived on 7 acres in a sleepy beach town called Kinka Beach about 7 hours north of Brisbane, and it seemed like we would be a good fit for what they were looking for. After a few emails back and forth, the mother, Olivia, and I spoke on the phone for a while to sort out the details and get to know each other a bit. Originally Olivia and her husband, Darren, weren’t looking to have a couple, but when we told them of Chris’ handyman/DIY construction experience, they figured they could use his help on some projects around their property in addition to my help with their 3 kids. We agreed on an arrival date in early April and planned to stay in touch until then. Before we knew it, our last night in New Zealand was upon us and we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant a few blocks away from our AirBnb. We ordered a few different dishes, which were fantastic, and recounted all of the unforgettable memories we made in the beautiful country of New Zealand. It was a sad goodbye but we were looking forward to our next adventure in Australia. 

At this point, the Coronavirus panic was beginning to ramp up. We were only experiencing it secondhand, as it hadn’t become a problem at all in New Zealand yet, so it didn't really feel real until we got to the airport. There were increased screening and security measures when we arrived to Australia, questions about where we’d travelled recently and separate lines for people who had been to China, Italy, Iran, or Dubai. This, of course, was only the tip of the iceberg and our nervousness about the situation began to increase. My parents were supposed to be visiting about a week after we arrived to Sydney and we weren’t sure what would happen in that time. Fortunately, we had a safe and isolated place to stay in Sydney for the week - my Dad’s childhood friend, Rob, lives in a beautiful downtown apartment in the heart of Sydney and was gracious enough to host us. For the first few days we got to know Rob over dinners and wine and he gave us advice for places to check out around the city. We walked through the beautiful botanic gardens, along the harbor to see the Sydney Opera House, and spent a day soaking up the sun at Bondi Beach. We were primarily in Sydney to start our hunt for a new van, so we met up with a few different sellers that we’d been in contact with to test drive and scope out our options. Because we would be living in this van for a longer period of time, we were hoping to upgrade on a few things that Sweetie didn’t have - a bit more space in the back, a high roof, and an indoor kitchen. We liked 1 or 2 of the ones we viewed in the first few days, but nothing was really checking all of the boxes that we were hoping for. 

Three or four days into our time in Sydney, it became very apparent how seriously the world was reacting to Coronavirus. Everyone was being sent home from work, businesses were closing, and fewer and fewer people were out on the street each day. Before we knew it, travel restrictions and bans were being put in place by many countries, Australia being one of them. With very heavy hearts, my parents had to cancel their trip to come and visit us for 2+ weeks. We were all pretty heartbroken about the situation, all of us had been looking forward to the trip for months. I was craving a taste of comfort and home that I knew would come from spending time with my parents, and I knew how excited they were to take a much deserved break from work and go on a big adventure across the world. I soon found out that my sister, Maggie, was also going to surprise me and come along with them (I had suspicions all along (; ), which only made it harder. It was a major disappointment on both ends, but it was out of our hands. 

Feeling a bit deflated and sad, we continued our search for the right van. When we came across a van that was everything we were looking for but a little bit out of our price range, we figured we might as well take a look at it and see if we could negotiate our way down. We met with the owner of the van, a Spanish guy named Edgar, who was trying to get out of the country as soon as possible because his visa was about to expire. The van was perfect, we fell in love with it immediately. It had a solar panel on top that powered a refrigerator, water pump for running water, power outlets, and cabin lights, had a whole indoor kitchen set up, and had a semi-high roof. It was in great mechanical condition and had very low kilometers compared to the majority of the vans we had looked at. We spent a day or two going back and forth with Edgar about the price and eventually we came to an agreement- we were now the proud owners of a 1999 fully outfitted Toyota Hiace Campervan! We named him Rollo, a viking name that we felt was well-suited for our van.

A day or two later, Chris and I went through a few hours of panic about coronavirus and whether or not we needed to make the difficult decision to end our trip and go home. It was poor timing to go through this decision making process, as we had just invested the majority of our money into a new home on wheels, but it was an option we knew we had to seriously consider before carrying on with our travel plans. We went through many different hypothetical scenarios, weighed all of the pros and cons, talked it out with friends and family, and eventually came to the decision that we would wait it out in Australia for now. The situation worldwide was changing every day and the uncertainty was scary - our first instinct is to be around our family in a time like this - but we knew we had a safe place to hunker down for a few months with our nannying family in Kinka Beach. With new border closures and travel restrictions being put into place, we decided we would leave Sydney and head straight for Kinka Beach without making many stops in between. Before we left, Rob recommended a hike close by in Royal National Park to the beautiful Figure Eight Pools. These series of pools were formed along a rock shelf of the coastline from centuries of pounding waves and receding tides. When the tide is low enough, you can walk out on the shelf and take a dip in the crystal clear waters of the Figure Eight Pools - take a look at our pictures and you’ll understand the name. We had never seen anything like them before, it was a really cool adventure. After swimming in the pools we spent a few hours on the beach before making our way back to Sydney.  We had our last dinner with Rob and he was nice enough to send us off with a basket full of van-life essentials - we were beyond grateful for his hospitality and generosity over the course of the week and hoped to visit if we’re back in Sydney again :)

Chris and I hit the road and began our 3-day drive up the east coast of Australia. On our first day, we stopped in to visit with my great-Aunt, Nancy, who lives in Newcastle a few hours north of Sydney. I had never met Nancy, only heard about her secondhand from my Grandad and the rest of my Dad’s family, so I was very excited to finally get to meet her. Chris and I spent an hour or so with Nancy, chatting over tea and walking through her magnificent backyard garden. It was wonderful to meet her and exchange stories of our travels, I hope to stay in touch in the future. After saying our goodbyes, we continued our drive north. We felt a bit melancholy as we passed exit after exit for all of the places we were supposed to be staying at with my parents, but we were doing our best to stay positive. We knew how lucky we were to have found a beautiful new van and to have a safe place to go to in a time of crisis. We stayed overnight in free rest-stop campsites along the way and made it to Kinka Beach after 3 long days in the van. 

Olivia and Darren, the parents, greeted us and we spent an hour or so getting to know each other and taking a look around their property. They own a coral selling business where they harvest small amounts of coral from the Great Barrier Reef and then propagate it in tanks on land to sell to aquarium owners, pet stores, etc. Their property had an old aquarium on it that they were going to convert into a coral-growing space because it already had the tanks and requirements needed for their business. The aquarium was accompanied by a giant concrete whale that you could go inside - it was as big as a house and definitely a trademark of the Kinka Beach area. It was a funky property but we liked it, and we got along well with Olivia and Darren. Because we had been in Sydney and traveling around, they asked us to keep our distance and self-isolate in our van on their property for the first week that we were there, which we of course were fine with. We spent the week going to the beach, stocking up on food essentials, and relaxing in the van. As much as we tried to keep our distance, the older two of the children were very curious about the two new van-dwellers on their property. They would sneak away from their parents to come and say hello, and took a liking to us right away. Our new names were ‘Nanny Chris’ and ‘Nanny Bryn’, it was very cute :) The week of isolation passed and Chris and I moved in to the family’s house. The family also had a separate unit on their property on the second floor of the aquarium that Chris and I were planning on moving into but it had some damage from a cyclone a few years back. Fixing up the separate unit was going to be Chris’ project for the few months that we were there, and he dove right in once we got settled. For the first few days I was with Olivia and the three kids - Henderson or ‘Hendo’ (4), Israel (2), and Kingsley (12 weeks) - playing in their blow up pool, jumping on the trampoline, reading books, and watching movies. The kids were adorable and (mostly) well-behaved, and Olivia and I got along great. I spent my birthday with the kids, and Chris and I snuck away during their nap to have a pizza beach picnic where he gave me a guitar!! I had expressed the desire to start learning throughout our travels and he remembered, it was a very sweet and thoughtful gift <3 The family surprised me with birthday cake and songs later that night and made my birthday feel special, even if it was under somewhat different circumstances than usual. 

A day or two into the job, the same anxieties that Chris and I were having in Sydney began to creep back up on us. Coronavirus continued to ramp up, and our fears of being far from home grew with it. We worried about being stuck in Australia if they cancelled all outgoing flights and not being able to return to the US if family or friends got sick, or what would happen if we needed to be hospitalized abroad. Mostly we just felt scared, anxious, and homesick being in an unfamiliar place during a time of such panic and crisis, and it was seriously impacting our ability to enjoy our time there. The family had also asked that Chris didn’t get a job in the community, as they had young children and a baby, and wanted to limit potential exposure to the virus. This would mean we wouldn’t be making very much money, and we knew we needed to resupply our funds if we wanted to continue to travel. At the same time, we were scared by the prospect of traveling if we did decide to go home, which would mean exposing ourselves to airplanes and airports. It was risky and we didn’t want to bring the sickness home to anyone or put others at risk. After a few wrenching days of going back and forth about it and talking it through with Olivia and Darren, Chris and I made the difficult decision to sell the van and go home. It was a heartbreaking goodbye - the kids had begun to get attached to us, and us to them - but after lots of hugs we bid farewell and headed south towards Brisbane to sell Rollo. We stayed at a campground and arranged a few meetings with interested buyers, and after a day we made a quick sale to a Dutch backpacker couple. The next morning we were on a flight to Sydney, where we spent the night, and then carried on to San Francisco the following day. After the 13+ hour flight to California, Chris and I parted ways - I flew home to Boston and Chris to Salt Lake City. It feels strange and sad to be apart after spending literally every hour of the day together for 5+ months straight, but fortunately (and unfortunately, I suppose) we have quite a bit of experience with long-distance. We know it’s not forever and we are staying positive and looking forward to spending time with our families after being away for so long. Both of us are currently self-quarantining in our homes - I’m up in the creative room in my house for the next two weeks and Chris is confined to the basement at his house. We’re both feeling very lucky that our houses are set up in a way that allows us to be physically separate from our families while still being able to visit from across the yard or between rooms. We know not everyone being affected by coronavirus is afforded that same luxury, so we are counting our blessings and keeping ourselves busy for the next 14 days. 

Unfortunately this will likely be our last blog post for a while. But don’t worry!! Our travels will continue once we’ve saved up a little more money, and we will be sure to post here when that time comes :) We are relieved and happy to be home and are looking forward to better and brighter days. Thank you to all of our friends and family who have kept up with our travels in the past 5 months, it has been filled with more joy, wonder, and adventure than we could have ever imagined. We feel so lucky to have people in our lives that we can share those experiences with, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Stay home, stay safe, and stay healthy!! 

With love,

Bryn and Christopher

[hellohongkong-blog2]

COVID-19 19: Laura Cozijnsen

“Laura you are being irrational you wanted masks but you got disposable gloves!”

To start off the COVID-19 19 interview series, I invited Laura Cozijnsen for a discussion at her office in Tsim Sha Tsui on a Thursday morning. Laura is the founder of Lighthouse Consultancy,   a communications consultancy delivering diverse public relation campaigns and events with high profile clients such as Tai Kwun, HKUST and HKIA. Alongside Laura’s entrepreneurial success at Lighthouse, she is an award-winning MC and public speaker hosting events such as the 2010 Expo in Shanghai. With Laura’s longstanding involvement and commitment for Hong Kong’s communications industry, this interview hopefully reveals a glimpse into the potential changes and innovations Lighthouse Consultancy and the larger creative industries will have to go through in order to adapt with COVID-19. And as much as it is important to consider the new corporate strategies set in motion, I also wanted to know how Laura was personally coping with the pandemic whether it be with how she greets her dog when she comes back from work or on the political nature of the face mask. Everyone in Hong Kong has their own memories of SARS and now COVID-19, and this is Laura Cozijnsen’s:

T: Reflecting on the past, what was your understanding and experience of SARS in 2003?

L: 2003, I was working for a media company starting in Hong Kong.  I remember vividly that it was very scary. The times were scary. Scary in a sense, there is almost like this fog of fear around hong kong. I think it was scarier then now. I remember vividly because my role back then was a regional role. I had to travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We had a few trips planned before SARS. There was this Singaporean company who called us and said “please don’t come to Singapore, you are from the SARS zone”. And I felt so bad, we always felt so welcomed to have meetings and then we could dine out. And then all of a sudden all we got was “you’re from the SARS zone”. It was also a time when I felt…we felt collectively sad. And the loss of medical professionals - the doctors, the nurses and the caregivers all live in our memories. And of course Amoy Gardens and the area around it, no one wanted to be near the buildings. That was how scary it was.

T: I wrote an essay before this all happened - an essay focusing on illness narratives. I wrote about how prevention was also part of an illness really, because it was a social reaction. So I wrote about the prevention methods in the United Kingdom versus Hong Kong. It reminded me that one time, I told my mom that I was going to a birthday party buffet in the Metropole Hotel in Mong Kok. I didn’t know at the time, because they changed their names and everything. So my mom was like “What’s wrong with you?”.

L: I think it was different from now. SARS was more a Hong Kong/China thing. At the beginning of coronavirus, it felt very much the same. There was China and there was Hong Kong. No one knew that it would blow up in the rest of the world. And now it felt like it was the whole world going through this. And from a financial perspective, it’s worse now. Because SARS was just here, and now the rest of the world. I think, is this nature’s way of telling us like “wake up”. No one can escape.

I had a friend in the UK that caught coronavirus. She is from Hong Kong, she works in London. Her mom visited her in January and her mom came back early March, after staying with her for two months. And the tests at the airports, she was confirmed as a case. And then my friend started feeling coughs and heavy breathing, and it was only then that she realised that she might have coronavirus. She was not tested, because they said we do not have enough test. So the numbers…what does a number mean?

T: You touched on it briefly, but how has it changed in 2020? And especially in the earlier months, when it felt so much more like an “asian problem”. What was your perspective in Hong Kong?

L: I thought it would be like SARS. Okay, as long as we continue doing the precautions we will be okay. But then there was also this scare of the lack of masks. Everybody was trying to get a mask. You know the internet meme of “two boxes please”? When someone says, I have a source and then you respond with “two boxes please”. That has become a joke amongst friends but that was the most scary. Because we had no idea we would need so many masks. And it was Chinese New Year. The Wuhan lockdown was 25th of January. And that really sent a message. I should send you my Facebook Live, I did a facebook live on the survey results. It was amazing, the day Hong Kong people started wearing masks was before the Wuhan lockdown. So why would we know, how come we can predict that we need to wear masks? It was before the first confirmed case in Hong Kong. So there was this collective memory of this type of illness, and the knee-jerk reaction of us needing to do this.

This was so funny, one day like many others I was trying to get a box of mask for myself and my mother who does not live with me. I went all over the neighbourhood trying to get masks. We ended up at a grocery store, and the saleslady said “We ran out of masks, why don’t you get some gloves?”. I think the irrationality got the better of me, I bought two boxes of gloves. So it’s still sitting in my kitchen, unused. That was the moment where I realised “Laura you are being irrational you wanted masks but you got disposable gloves!”. I think it was also realising that the death rate in Hong Kong was much less than SARS in Hong Kong was reassuring. But yes, that was the early days.

T: Especially the HKU Prevention of Diseases department, they continued to speak out even after Carrie Lam was asking citizens to not wear a mask. And the team at HKU, they were like “please wear a mask!”.

L: There are so many mixed messages! I think a lot of them come out and say “don’t wear a mask because there is a shortage”. If you don’t have enough stock, you should be clear about it. We have stock for how many days, what’s the best alternatives. You cannot say you do not have to wear one, it is irresponsible. When you look at the statistics, how the growth was being contained in certain cities you realise mask wearing helps. When you look at the President of the United States, he does not even wear a mask, he does not wear a mask in the hospital.

Which brings to the question - how do we select our leaders, how are our leaders being selected and why are they our leaders?

When I was writing my thesis, inevitably people would start talking about the Anti-Mask Law, last year in Hong Kong for the protests. But I think as researchers in that role, we report what is being brought up. And its totally okay, with people there has to be politics.

I think we should provide all medical and sanitation staffs a bonus and a longer holiday after this. Because they work their asses off. I’ve got close friends working in public hospitals that were so stressed, understandably stressed. You also see the beauty of someone going into the Dirty Team with SARS experience, bringing in new nurses and doctors who do not have SARS experience. Hopefully that would educate them and help them understand what it is like. There is a good thing going on as well, those who have experienced it say, “I need to do this because I want the second and third generation of caretakers to know what it's like.”.

T: Going on more of a business perspective, since industries have been pushed into a digital realm during COVID-19, how has that changed working in event management?

L: I think there are a few layers, when you see something that is such a change that is so abrupt. I would think the first thing to do is internal stabilising within the company. In early Feb, we talked about how COVID-19 would affect us as an industry and what we have to brace ourselves for. Every month we have a “situation room meeting”. We basically talk about how business is, what it is going to be like. So internal is phase one. The second is facing external but not in terms of switching gears but understanding what our clients are facing. Because we are all human. They might be afraid of losing their job or bottom line. So really understanding their concerns is what is important. And the thought then would be to switch gears or to think about new things. It would hopefully in the next year that hybrid events could be an option. Once we have this, we can go back and have internal education and the talk yesterday for clients we can reassure them and tell them that we have done this before.

Everything begins with the team, then to understand what the market and client wants and then do it instead of jumping right in. Because without an internal support or understanding you can never do it well. Of course during this time period, all companies are under a lot of stress. It is a time to tell people’s virtues and real characters.

T: Do you think it will change the future of physical events, do you think people will be less willing to participate since you do specific location based events?

L: I think there is going to be a push and pull. There will be a switch in terms of the proportions for a while. And if digital picks up and serves the purpose then we will see events in a different light. Digital events will become less of a ‘nice to have’ and more of a main thing. The benefits have not been capitalised before. I do think that physical events are important because we are human beings, we crave social interactions and seeing each other. But it will be very different.

T: Thinking about your colleagues at work, since they are younger do you think their understanding of SARS is vastly different to yours?

L: I don’t think a lot of them remember, I think at least you have to be 30 years old to have good memory of SARS because it was 17 years ago. To pick up a new thing it does not necessarily have to be for young people, you might see older generations willing to pick up new things. It does not mean that young people will be more accepting to change. So I think the future of education is about growing a generation of agility, flexibility and change. Instead of having to tell students to take ten subjects and pass all of them.

T: How have you and your personal circle (family and friends) been coping with COVID-19?

L: It’s interesting, I get to see more friends now than before. We will call each other more. Before, I had a busier schedule. I do not think that without COVID-19, I would have met so many friends if that can be considered a plus. Family - my mother has been through SARS, she is okay. She has more supplies than she needs, but her only thing is that she is a big church person. So I was teaching her how to use Facebook to watch mass.

T: My grandma does that too! She tells me, “Yes we can go to mass together online!”.

L: I think that has changed, my mom is 78 and she can still learn which is pretty amazing. I also think the world has slowed down. And for us to realise when there is less work, what is important. It is the friends and family that we have. I have friends who paid horrendous amounts of money just to get their kids to get back on the soonest flight. I asked them, “Can you wait for a week? It would be maybe 1/10th of the price.”. And they responded with, “No it must be today.”.

T: This question is more of a precursor to developing one of my other projects, something I want to extend beyond this interview series: In terms of understanding the political nature of the mask, what is your opinion on Hong Kong’s culture of donning masks?

L: I think mask wearing in Hong Kong is a constructed social defence, because that is something we can do. It is almost like psychologically I can do something about it. SARS has redefined for us what a mask is. Because it used to be if you were sick or for a medical staff. But now after SARS, if it is the flu season, you see a lot more people wearing masks. Especially now, according to my research, it is 96% of Hong Kong people wear a mask. Maybe every now and then before the pandemic, someone wearing a mask would be not judged that much. So in fact, the social judgement can change. And not to mention last year, the anti-mask law, and now people see differently. It is something that we feel i can control - both on a hygiene level and on a choice level. So I will do it.

T: How do you feel about the anti-mask law? How did others go about it? Because when I first heard of that law I wondered what people who were sick would go about their day. Even if you were stopped by authorities how can you really prove that you are sick?

L: Personally I was quite resistant to the anti-mask law because I think it is a personal choice. Of course there is a discussion with those who would be held responsible in the eyes of the law with those participating in unauthorised rallies but I still think this is a human right. I think we should want to choose whether we want to wear a mask or not. Of course if a police officer needs to check my HKID for whatever reason, they can request me to temporarily take off my mask. But you cannot say you cannot wear a mask. It’s like if its for religious purposes, oh you cannot wear a veil. It just does not make sense. Or by telling people that you cannot wear a mask it makes people want to wear a mask, its a kind of reverse psychology.

T: I would like to talk about the situation in Mainland China. There are videos on the Internet of people coughing on lift buttons. Now, I do not know if these videos are one hundred percent real or staged. But even the very act of filming it or recording it from a security camera, what does that mean for the health and safety for people living their day to day lives?

L: I feel the most sorry for the people in Wuhan. I think they would require a lot of support after this because it is like where the nuclear bomb hit, right? You didn’t know it was happening, it happened, you didn’t know how to react, you didn’t know who to trust, and you’re just trying to fight for your life. And it is so sad to see videos of people living there and reporters trying to cover footage, its such a quiet city. It is a city that needs a lot of love. And politics is one thing but we always need to remember we are all people, whatever political affiliations we have we are human beings. And imagine that feeling in Wuhan, is like the feeling of being in SARS in Hong Kong. Like, “Fuck, what’s going on? What’s going to happen next?”. I still remember during SARS when I go home, I’d take off all my clothes and then run straight to the bathroom and take a shower before I’d play with my dog. And my dog would be looking at me like (makes confused face). Even now, its not as serious. I would go home, wash my hands and then take off my mask and change into home clothes and then I’ll play with my dog. But she still looks at me confused. And I’m sure people with kids as well. Just imagine doctors and nurses with kids, they (kids) don’t understand. If this is happening to us, we aren’t even in the epicentre. Imagine those in the epicentre.

T: I remember when they did the lockdown in Wuhan, initially they said it was two weeks. But when I saw the lorries barricading the city. I thought to myself, “This is not for two weeks. This is something very serious.”

L: I think for us in communication there is a lot to learn. How should we communicate? What should we communicate? And I think the Taiwan government this time has done a good job. There is so much to learn from them, how they communicated, what to say and what not to say. It is not a parental way of ruling, it is more like how can we work together. I think it is a lot to learn in terms of communications and media.

[kimjongdaely]

Hello, I sincerely hope you're doing fine what with all the hate you've been getting recently. I also hope your anon askers realize that they won't be able to get their points across well if they don't engage you in proper debate. The hate they're so freely giving away just diverts the attention from the real issues and I just wish they'd have decent discourse with you if they want you to rethink your opinions. Btw, i'm the anon who mentioned about research being important and I just want (pt1)

(Pt2) to raise some more points just to draw background as to why violence is actually necessary in this situation. I'm not for violence, never was and never will be but I understood the necessity of it when I studied Political Science and History in uni. Btw, my uni's known to host activists who fight for rights and push for legitimate welfare. I used to be one of the people who hated activists because I thought violence would never be the solution to anything. However, what I learned from

(Pt3) my classes showed me that politicians are like a whole breed of people on their own. Their plans are elaborate and believe it or not, many of them have done so many unimaginable things. If you research about politicians, you'll find out that many of them are corrupt and can get a person killed in an instant. I get that you want to try to resolve the problem peacefully but it's never gonna work in this particular event. The risk that comes with China's intentions are far greater and more

(Pt4) sinister than we can all imagine. What I'm trying to say may seem laughable to you and that's understandable because we, regular citizens, really won't be able to physically grasp the depth of corruption and dare I say evil that comes with politics. It even sounds like a fic sometimes, because that's how dramatic and eventful politics really is. If you are open to understanding why violence is needed here, I suggest you read up on the Philippines' EDSA revolution 1 and the Stonewall. They

(Pt5) may not be of the exact same nature, but you'll find that most things produce the same outcome and often stem from politics. If China wins, the situation will become much worse because by then, they will have more control over the lives of many people. This doesn't just involve those who seem to be directly involved, but rather, the situation encompasses everyone in those territories. I'm so sorry for the long messages, but I do hope you take time to read my suggestions. Also, I hope

I didn’t get the 6th message, sorry. You can try sending it again if you like.

The politicians have SUCH ELABORATE plans, and most people can’t see the strings pulling on HK right now. I fills me with so much sorrow to see how blind people are, so naive to think that HK will succeed when in reality, they are merely puppets, pawns for a much more grand scheme. HK’s riots, in my humble opinion, aren’t just for the people but are egged on my various countries because ALL of them want power, and HK’s mess will create the excuse they need. Again, this is my personal humble opinion based on what I’ve heard and seen.

And I hear what you’re saying, anon. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, experiences and opinion. There are many occasions where, yes, when it comes down to it, violence is needed. But not in this case. Why? Let me explain.

Once again, I will make a comparison. Have you played any games? Like Pokemon perhaps? You are at level 10. You go into a Gym to battle the Gym Leader or whatever Boss you’d like. They are level 100. That’s the difference between HK and China right now. You fight the Boss, and you lose immediately. Now, can you kindly tell me why this outcome happened? Why, it’s because your level isn’t high enough, of course! One single strike from them will cause you so much damage but a hundred of your strikes will deal very little damage for them. So what am I saying? Don’t fight the boss until you’ve leveled up, or else loss is inevitable. Do you see what I’m saying? Do you see my point? The only thing I see is people getting hurt for no goddamn reason. They hurt, cry, scream and the end? They never get what they want. China still comes in, the level 100 boss, still defeats you, still imprisons or kills you. You’ve lost so much for the same outcome. Can you understand my sorrow now?

[script-a-world]

If a whole ethnic group were to be driven from their home and trapped in a cave, would it be plausible for them to regain sovereignty status once they were freed? An entire kingdom was banished, and then sealed away. Their former holdings are all taken. I looked it up with micro-nations and the cheapest way for them to get land on which to stake a kingdom would be to actually Build it like the Palm Deira. Would it be possible to instead retain sovereignty while integrating with society?

Lurelay: Possible? Yes. Plausible? Not really, unless they have some powerful and influential outside help on their side. Most of all it would just be incredibly difficult.

Let's start with some definitions first, both from Wikipedia:Sovereignty defines itself as “the authority of a state to govern itself or another state." / "supreme power or authority."

Now what is a state? “A state is a compulsory political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a certain geographical territory.”

The point "geographical territory“ is of real importance here. Unless a very kind outside power with an affluence of land decides to grant them their own territory in their own right, they would have to either stay in their cave or reside in a foreign land which may or may not grant them the right to self-govern to at least some extent but with no hint of sovereignty. Or they would have to take territory by force, which seems unlikely in this scenario.The other issue is that one of the key factors that make a state a state is the acknowledgement of other nations. A real life example to look into here would be Taiwan. Taiwan fulfills pretty much every single textbook requirement for a state – if it weren't for the fact that most other nations simply don't acknowledge it as a sovereign state and instead group it in with the territory of the peoples republic of China. 

All questions about building an island aside – most countries still claim some part of the sea along a certain radius of their coasts as their own territory. No one would be too happy if a random group of forgotten cavemen suddenly started building their land right behind their harbors.  

Where would they get the resources to build an island from in the first place?  

These are all questions you would have to consider in order to make this scenario plausible. 

Saphira: The answer isn't No. There is a way to do it, but not because any of us know of a way.

The answer can't be No because there has to be a way. From there, it stops being world building and starts being Character Growth, Plot and Moral Expression.

Feral: So the closest thing to why you are describing from history, as far as I can think, is the establishment of the State of Israel after WWII and some North American indigenous tribes.

In general throughout history when invaders come in and exile a people, the exiled have not been able to reestablish sovereignty there or elsewhere.

The establishment of Israel in 1948 was complicated and controversial and still is. Major factors in the founding of the state were the British Mandate following WWI and the attempt by the British, with the support of the US, to maintain control in the region after WWII. I recommend  learning more about Mandatory Palestine and the State of Israel.

You might hear that some Native American tribes are "sovereign" from the United States government and that they are also fully enfranchised citizens of the United States. According to various treaties, this is generally the law, giving "sovereignty" to reservations, which really means joint jurisdiction between the tribal government and federal government. (Of course it's important to remember that the tribes did not choose to live on reservations; it is a form segregation and oppression). In practice, Native American communities tend to be the most impoverished and disenfranchised communities in the country. See recent news on Standing Rock and the suppression of Native American voters in North Dakota during the 2018 election.

So, yeah, if you're looking for historical examples of this happening successfully, you're not gonna find a lot. As for whether you can write a people taking back their native land and reestablishing their sovereignty as a plot... that depends wholly on you.

Tex: Something this big is rarely able to be accomplished without outside help, especially if they're cut off from their physical resources such as land. However, that level of action is usually political in nature and has a social cost - there is rarely, if ever, genuine, random kindness from political powers, especially in situations where an entire nation is forced out of their home.

The scenario you're giving us looks to be near the end of a dispute between... I'm assuming only two entities? What led up to this situation? Was this completely out of the blue? How quickly did this conflict escalate? What are the primary factors that led up to this scenario? Are other entities (governments, mercenaries, provocateurs, etc) involved in this conflict? To what degree? This kind of large-scale, physical reaction doesn't happen randomly or abruptly, and the lead-up is the majority of the context that determines how the rest of this situation plays out.

I'm going to err on the side of caution and assume this was an act that occurred during a war campaign, and that this might or might not have been one campaign during the course of an entire war, which might have been preceded by an escalation of conflict that presumably stemmed from some disagreement that was attempted by at least one side to resolve diplomatically. Because... diplomacy is way cheaper than war, and a popular option between feuding governments because war means raising taxes and it takes a lot of effort to convince your taxable population to empty the coffers and send people outside their home. (The topics of standing armies, ally formation/maintenance, and organization of campaigns with multiple entities are pertinent but too long to discuss for this question.) 

Is the cave on their land? Someone else's? If someone else's, are they neighbors? Allies? Or enemies? Was anyone else a witness to this act? How does the conquering of these people - and I'm assuming their corresponding lands - affect international relations? Because you can't just up and shove people out of their home (which... must be a tremendously coordinated and expensive effort, by default) without somebody noticing. There's going to be a huge economic shift that, depending on who did this conquering and how influential these conquerees were, can have a ripple effect to people that have barely interacted with the conquered group on any level. And realistically speaking, it's cheaper for the conquerors to kill the population off, enslave them, sell them, let them retain a degree of autonomy but raise taxes that benefit the conquering nation, or some combination thereof in order to sufficiently recuperate the costs of such a large-scale invasion and make the venture profitable for their own people. 

Speaking of somebody noticing this, the ethnic group might or might not be able to rally others to their cause. Unless these others are solidly allies - with no blemishes upon the ethnic group's record that might be brought up - they would need to convince others that this cause is a profitable idea somehow. If they can talk fast enough and make enough promises (negotiation of new trade policies, the marriage of some daughters in the royal family, taxes, etc), then the idea of loaning out an army, a diplomatic envoy, or something even cheaper like weapons/other supplies is possible. The amount of preexisting goodwill, combined with what the ethnic group can promise in recompense - as well as how well their potential allies might believe they can carry through on them - is an important context to consider.  

I mention the above for several reasons. For one, those are the traditional methods for both conflict and conflict resolution (of a sort) on large scales such as the one you're mentioning. For two, micronations are generally unstable due to lack of global recognization and are economically dependent on their neighbors/host nations. For three, Palm Deira is physically connected to a preexisting kingdom, to which it is legally the property of that kingdom - it's not just floating out there in the middle of some body of water that's up for the taking. For four, unless you're willing to upend nature to create brand new landmasses, it would take way more technology and other resources than is available to most people - something that has the potential for causing major ecological damage that will make a lot of people very, very angry with you. It's a lot easier to take less destructive political routes to retake one's lands - in almost any era of human history - than it is to just... make new land. 

As for retaining sovereignty while integrating with (another's) society - while possible, it's usually politically counter-productive and will cause friction with the host nation(s), which will sour relations between the two groups and if left unmitigated will result in another conflict that will push your ethnic group out. Some integration is expected, and as many nations are also built and bound by their own cultures, similar cultures mesh better than non-similar ones. The more commonalities there are between the two groups, the better it is for everybody involved. Historically speaking, integrations between significantly different ethnic groups are difficult to succeed at unless sacrifices of some cultural nuances are made on both ends, and if there are frictions between major cultural norms, resentment eventually builds into a conflict that may escalate into a war. 

[bookofjin]

Liu Yuan founds the fourth Han

Narrative and discussion

Situation autumn 304

Liu Yuan's earliest followers

Most of Liu Yuan's earliest followers who are mentioned by name in the sources came from the royal Liu clan, and initially carried traditional Xiongnu noble titles. According to JS097, below the Shanyu, the Xiongnu leaders were ranked as follows:

1-2: Worthy King賢王 of the Left and Right

3-4: Yili King奕蠡王 of the Left and Right

5-6: Yulu King於陸王 of the Left and Right

7-8: Jianshang King漸尚王 of the Left and Right

9-10: Shuofang King朔方王 of the Left and Right

11-12: Dulu King獨鹿王 of the Left and Right

13-14: Xianlu King顯祿王 of the Left and Right

15-16: Anle King安樂王 of the Left and Right

Worthy King of the Left (Rank 1), was usually reserved for the Shanyu's designated heir. The Liu Yuan biographies states that Liu Yuan had inherited this title from his father, Liu Bao.

JS102 states that when Liu Yuan was appointed Northern Shanyu, his son Liu Cong became Worthy King of the Right (Rank 2) - Liu Cong might have been Liu Yuan's most talented son, but he was not his firstborn. When Liu Yuan became to Great Shanyu, Liu Cong became Luli King鹿蠡王, I believe this title is the same as JS097's Yili King奕蠡王 (Rank 3-4)

Liu Xuan, Liu Yuan's uncle, was Worthy King of the Right, either from before or from Liu Yuan arriving at Lishi. Probably this is the reason for Liu Cong's apparent demotion.

Liu Hong was Yulu King of the Left (Rank 5)

Liu Jing was Yulu King of the Right (Rank 6)

Liu Yannian was Dulu King of the Left (Rank 11). TPYL preserves a snippet from his SLGCQ biography. Liu Yannian's parents died when he was 14 sui, so Yannian grew up with his uncle – he and Liu Yuan apparently were not close relatives. Later on Yannian's son Liangsun and his uncle's grandson were kidnapped by a man-eating (!?) thief, it seems both the uncle and the uncle's son had died by this point. When Yannian pursued and pressed the thief to release his cousin's son rather than his own, the thief released both.

Wang Yu

Among Liu Yuan's earliest followers was also one Wang Yu from Jingzhao in Guanzhong. Wang Yu has a biography in JS089, the collected biographies of the Loyal and Righteous. I believe his biography derives from the SLGCQ.

Wang Yu's parents died while he was still a child, and he was forced to seek hire as a sheep shepherd. But he became so distraught at not going to school that he lost the sheep he was supposed to look after. When the owner confronted him with it, Wang Yu offered to sell himself into slavery to pay for the sheep. A local gentleman, Xu Zizhang, was so impressed that he paid off the sheep and provided Wang Yu with the same education as his own children.

Wang Yu grew to a height of 8 chi, and his beard was 3 chi long. He married a niece of Xu Zizhang.  The Grand Warden of the commandery, Du Xuan, appointed Wang Yu his Master of Accounts, this was one of the highest positions on the commandery staff.

Later on Du Xuan was demoted to Prefect of Wannian, a county in Jingzhao, the reason is not stated, but he apparently kept Wang Yu on his staff. When another county Prefect, Wang You came to visit him. Du Xuan did not go out to meet him in person but sent Wang Yu instead. Previously when Du Xuan was Grand Warden, he had been Wang You's superior, but now they were equal, and Wang You became angry that Du Xuan would not meet him in person. Wang Yu was furious and drew his sword, quoting the old saying “When the Lord is humiliated, the Subject dies.” Wang You, rather than humiliate his former lord, should try speaking to Wang Yu's blade instead. Wang Yu would have killed him if Du Xuan had not come down and begged him to stop.

Wang Yu was later recognized for his abilities by the Minister over the Masses, Wang Hun (sigh), and became a county Prefect. Wang Hun was Minister over the Masses from 290 until his death in 297. Sometime after that, Wang Yu joined Sima Ying at Ye, who appointed him General who Excites the Martial.

When Liu Yuan had been appointed Northern Shanyu and was about to leave for Lishi, Wang Yu advised Sima Ying that he should be sent along with him to press him on. Sima Ying agreed and appointed Wang Yu General who Rout the Caitiffs.

Early warfare against Sima Teng

There seems to have been some fighting between Liu Yuan and Sima Teng's forces after Liu Yuan's arrival at Lishi.

According to ZZTJ085, Liu Yuan dispatched the Yulu King of the Left, Liu Hong, with 5 000 elite cavalry to join up with Wang Cui, one of Sima Ying's generals, and resist Sima Teng. However Wang Cui was defeated before Liu Hong could reach him, so Liu Hong had to turn back without accomplishing anything.

According to WS001, Sima Teng asked the Tuoba Xianbei for help against Liu Yuan. In response, Tuoba Yitou came south with a host of 100 000 cavalry, surely a vastly exaggerated number, and routed Liu Yuan's forces in Xihe and Shangdang. WS001 dates this to after Liu Yuan taking the title King of Han at Lishi, but I believe this is an inaccuracy by WS001, and that it really refers to Liu Yuan becoming Shanyu. The other sources are all quite clear that Liu Yuan only became king after Emperor Hui's return to Luoyang.

The Tuoba in the early 4th century.

During the 3rd century the Tuoba branch of the Xianbei had settled in the former Han commandery of Yunzhong. In the early 5th century they would eventually conquer northern China found the Northern Wei empire. The history of Northern Wei is chronicled in the Weishu, written by Wei Shou during Northern Qi, a successor state of Northern Wei.

The early history of the Tuoba before the founding of Northern Wei is covered in the first scroll of the Weishu, titled the Preliminary Annals. Weishu and the Preliminary Annals have been roundly criticized for exaggerating the power of the Tuoba, and treating them as a dynastic empire rather than a tribal confederacy, including titling the Tuoba chieftains as emperors.

At the beginning of the 4th century leadership of the Tuoba was divided among three chiefs, Yitou (“Emperor Huan”), his younger brother Yilu (“Emperor Mu”) and their uncle Luguan (“Emperor Luguan”). Though WS001 considers Luguan the senior among them, Yitou may have been the one actually most powerful.

Fall of Sima Ying

Meanwhile, things had not gone well for Sima Ying. Wang Jun had appointed his Master of Accounts, Qi Hong, to lead his armies, and Qi Hong defeated all of Sima Ying's generals sent against him. As Sima Ying prepared to retreat to Luoyang, his remaining soldiers abandoned him. In the end Sima Ying fled with Emperor Hui and only small retinue. After an arduous journey, they arrived in Luoyang where they were greeted by Sima Yong's general Zhang Fang. Sima Ying's time as an independent actor was over.

Liu Yuan breaks with the Jin

We are told that when Liu Yuan heard of Sima Ying's defeat, he complained that Sima Ying was a man of small talents, who had ignored his advice and been defeated as a result. Still, he felt himself bound by his promise to help him. Liu Yuan therefore prepared to send Liu Jing and Liu Yannian with an army of 20 000 against the Xianbei.

At this point Liu Xuan protests against further allegiance to the Jin. The Jin have lost the Way, the Sima clan is tearing itself apart. Clearly Heaven has abandoned Jin, this is the moment for the Shanyu to restore the Xiongnu to independence.

In his reply, Liu Yuan asks why he should be content with just being Shanyu of the Xiongnu. Emperors have come from the barbarians in the past. He already have an army of 100 000, and one of the Xiongnu is worth ten of the Jin, destroying the Jin will be like snapping deadwood. At best he could become the new Emperor Gao, Liu Bang, the Han founder, at worst he'll be the new Cao Cao. The differences between the Xiongnu and the people of Jin could be a problem. However the Han still has a high reputation, as shown by how Liu Bei could hold out while controlling only a single province. Liu Yuan is himself descended from Han princesses, and in the past the Xiongnu Shanyus had sworn to be brothers with the Han Emperors. When the older brother dies, the younger brother inherits, Liu Yuan can take up the legacy of the Han and satisfy the people's expectations.

Yu the Great was the legendary founder of the Xia, while King Wen was the founder of the Zhou. I am not sure why Yu is said here to have come from the Western Rong and to have been born among the eastern Yu. Shiji claims Yu was the grandson of Emperor Zhuanxu while King Wen's ancestors came from the Wei valley.

Zhaolie, “Bright and Ardent” was the posthumous title bestowed on Liu Bei as Emperor of Han.

The Later Ruler is Liu Shan, Liu Bei's son and successor. Since he surrendered to Wei and died a retired pensioner of the Jin, he had never received a posthumous title as emperor. In his Sanguo Zhi, Chen Shou titles Liu Bei and Liu Shan as the Former and the Later Ruler as a way to recognize  them as rulers without accepting their legitimacy as emperors.

Founding the Fourth Han

After this, Liu Yuan started the formal process of founding his new state of Han. He moved to Zuoguocheng, located not very far from Lishi, I guess due to that site's status as the former seat of the Southern Shanyu. There he built an altar at the southern suburbs and formally acceded as King of Han. His ascension document, quoted in JS101, is basically a mini-history of Han.

Taizu, Emperor Gao, Liu Bang (r. 202 – 195 BC), is of course the founder of the whole Han. He is often known as Gaozu, but that is strictly speaking not one of his official names.

Taizong, Emperor Xiaowen, Liu Heng (r. 180 – 157 BC) is credited as a benign ruler who brought stability to the realm after the fall of the Lü clan.

Shizong, Emperor Xiaowu, Liu Che (r. 141 – 87 BC), during his long reign the Han empire expanded in all directions. The ascension document states that he “repelled the yi”, most famous among these yi were of course the Xiongnu, Liu Yuan's own anscestors. Tang here refers to the legendary Emperor Yao.

Zhongzong, Emperor Xiaoxuan, Liu Xun (r. 74 – 49 BC), has a reputation as a hardworking emperor who promoted and listened to good officials.

The Three Kings I assume is synonymous with the Three August Ones, who together with the Five Emperors in traditional historiography were China's earliest ruler. These were succeeded by the Xia, Shang and then Zhou, whose ruling house was the Ji clan.

Emperor Yuan (r. 48 – 33 BC) and Emperor Cheng (r. 33 – 7 BC) were rather run of the mill emperors. The short reigned Emperor Ai (r. 7 – 1 BC) was succeeded by the child-emperor Emperor Ping “the Pacifying Emperor” (r. 1 BC – 5 AD). Emperor Ping's death opened the path for his regent Wang Mang (r. 9 – 23 AD) to end Western Han and found his own Xin empire.

Wang Mang's reign ended in natural disasters and rebellions. The chaos that followed ended with Liu Xiu, Shizu, Emperor Guangwu (r. 25 – 57), reuniting the empire and becoming the second Han founder.

The reign of his two successors, Xianzong, Emperor Xiaoming (r. 57 – 75) and Suzong, Emperor Xiaozhang (r. 75 – 88) were considered the golden age of Eastern Han. Emperors He (r. 88 – 106) and An (r. 106 – 125) again were pretty average rulers.

We then jump ahead to the Yellow Turban rebellion in 184 of course was a severe blow to Han. Criticizing the eunuchs and Dong Zhuo is obligatory. Since idea here is to continue the legacy of the Han, Cao Cao and his family are also cast as usurpers.

Liu Xie, Emperor Xiaomin (r. 189 – 220, d. 237) was the final Eastern Han emperor, who after sepnding most of his life as a puppet ruler, abdicated in favour of Cao Pi and Wei in 220. He is usually known as Emperor Xian, “the Presenting”, the posthumous title conferred on him by Wei. However, as Wei is to be considered illegitimate, he is here instead referred to by the posthumous title given him by Liu Bei: Xiaomin, the Filial and Dismayed Emperor.

As mentioned above, Zhaolie was Liu Bei's posthumous title, while Liu Shan did not have one, so he's referred to as the Later Emperor. Shu-Han fell to Wei in 263, 41 years before Liu Yuan taking the title of King of Han.

Liu Yuan also took other formal steps to found his new state. He proclaimed a general amnesty, adopted Yuanxi as his own reign title, and also gave Liu Shan the posthumous title of Emperor Xiaohuai.

He also built temples to the eight emperors highlighted as especially worthy in the ascension document, the three Founders and Five Ancestors. The first and second Founders are Emperors Gao – Taizu, and Guangwu - Shizu. The third founder is Liu Bei whose temple name was Liezu烈祖 – the “Ardent Founder”. There is some uncertainty when Liu Bei acquired this temple name, it is not recorded in the SGZ. It is possible therefore that it was Liu Yuan who first established Liuzu as Liu Bei's temple name. Curiously, Liezu is not recorded in JS101, not in the ascension document or elsewhere. Liu Yuan does however refer to Liu Bei as Liezu in JS100.

Liu Yuan also established his wife Ms. Huyan as Queen. Huyan was also the family name of Liu Yuan's mother. Note that Queen Huyan was not the mother Liu Cong. Cong's mother's family name was Zhang.

Appointments

JS101 also records appointments to the three highest court officials. It seems Liu Yuan followed the Western Han system for his court ranks, where the Imperial Chancellor ranked highest, followed by the Imperial Clerk Grandee and third the Grand Commandant.

Liu Xuan, the Worthy King of the Right, became Imperial Chancellor.

Cui You of Shangdang became Imperial Clerk Grandee. According to JS101, Cui You had been Liu Yuan's teacher, and must have been a very old man in 304. He has a biography in JS091 probably derived from the SLGCQ. Cui You had been an official at the end of Wei, eventually becoming magistrate of a minor county, but had to retire due illness and poor health. He however continued studying into his old age, compiling a Chart of Mourning Clothes. JS91 records that he declined the appointment as Imperial Clerk Grandee, and died at home on an unspecified date, aged 93.

Liu Hong, the Yulu King of the Left, became Grand Commandant.

ZZTJ085 lists some further appointments to some lower-level posts. I suspect most, if not all, of these appointments have been added from individual biographies. As such, some of these appointments may have taken place later.

Fan Long became Great Herald, Zhu Ji Grand Master of Ceremonies. These were two of the Nine Ministers. Fan Long of Yanmen and Zhu Ji of Shangdang had been fellow students of Cui Yu with Liu Yuan. Fan Long has a biography in JS091 probably derived from the SLGCQ. Fan Long lost both parents by the age of four and grew up with a distant kinsman. He became a scholar and wrote on the Spring and Autumn annals and the Rites. When the Jin civil wars broke out, Fan Long avoided involvement. He and his friend Zhu Ji were once walking in the mountains when they saw an old man. The old man asked what the two dukes were doing there, then he disappeared. Both Fan Long and Zhu Ji were later made dukes by Liu Yuan.

Cui Yizhi and Chen Yuanda became Gentlemen of the Yellow Gates. The Gentlemen of the Yellow Gates were attendants and advisors of the ruler.

Cui Yizhi of Tunliu in Shangdang is mentioned early in JS101 as one of the judges of characters who assessed Liu Yuan in his youth as an extraordinary person. I could find no other mention outside the ZZTJ of his appointment to Gentleman of the Yellow Gates.

Chen Yuanda was Xiongnu of the Rear Section. (The same as the Southern Section? Or maybe the Northern Section?) He as a biography appended to JS102, probably derived from the SLGCQ. His original family name was Gao, but apparently his birth month was in some way inauspicious to his father, so that it was changed to Chen. Chen Yuanda grew up orphaned and impoverished, but did still found the time to study.

His biography in JS102 is mostly a collection of stories involving him and Liu Yuan or Liu Cong. According to one, when Liu Yuan was Worthy King of the Left, he summoned Chen Yuanda, but Yuanda did not answer. When Liu Yuan became King of Han, people said that he would not get a new summoning now. Chen Yuanda replied that he had recognized Liu Yuan's worth a long time ago, but had not answered the summons because there was nothing he could have helped him with, a latter would surely arrive within two or three days. The summons from Liu Yuan came that evening. Another story records Chen Yuanda's answer to a question from Liu Yuan on why he had accepted a position as low as Gentleman of the Yellow Gates.

Liu Yao became General who Establishes the Martial. This introduces the final of the Han-Zhao rulers. Liu Yao has his own Yearly Annals in JS103. His early life as narrated there have many common elements with those of Liu Yuan and Liu Cong.

Liu Yao was a relative Liu Yuan, though the specific link, or even the name of Liu Yao's father is not recorded. It is told that at the age of eight sui he accompanied Liu Yuan on a hunt. When thunder shook the tree they were standing under, only Liu Yao of the party remained composed, which caused Liu Yuan to exclaim that his cousin was still alive. This cousin was presumably Liu Yao's deceased father. The precise word used for cousin here congxiong從兄 might even indicate that Liu Yao came from a senior branch of the family to that of Liu Yuan.

Liu Yao's height is recorded at a very impressive 9 chi, 3 cun (c. 225 cm!) which makes him the tallest man on record in the Jinshu. And when he was born with white eyebrows and a red shine to his eyes. Like Liu Yuan and Liu Cong, Liu Yao is said to have mastered both the civil and martial arts. He was was good with both the draft and clerical styles of calligraphy, a very strong archer, and could recite military books from memory.

One story tells that Liu Yao would scoff at Wu Han and Deng Yu, two generals instrumental in the founding of Eastern Han, and compare himself to Yue Yi, a statesman and general of the Warring States era, and Xiao He and Cao Shen, the famous chancellors from the founding of Western Han. But only Liu Cong agreed with Liu Yao's high estimation of himself, comparing him favourably to Shizu (Guangwu of Han) and Wu of Wei (Cao Cao).

As a youth, Liu Yao travelled to Luoyang, but was convected of an unspecified crime and sentenced to execution. He managed to escape and hid in Zhaoxian in Lelang in the far north-east. There he took up job as a county soldier until an amnesty allowed him to return.

At this point Liu Yao apparently thought that the times he lived in would not tolerate a man of his ability, so he hid in the Guancen Mountains, from where the Fen river springs, and spent his time playing the zither and reading books. One night, two boys came, claiming to be messengers from the King of Guancen, I assume the local mountain god, bringing a magic sword as a gift.

[clubofinfo]

Expert: It’s more than doors between government and the businesses that they supposedly regulate that go round and round.  One of the other swinging doors is between the Democratic and Republican Parties. A second door Perhaps the best known case is when Al Gore ran for president in 2000, he picked Joe Lieberman as his running mate.  Then, in 2008, Lieberman showed up at the Republican national convention to endorse John McCain for president.  Between those two campaigns, John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, was rumored to be leaning to ask Republican John McCain to be his running mate. Had Al Gore won, Lieberman would most likely have been the subsequent Democratic nominee for president.  Had John Kerry won with McCain on the ticket, McCain would have been the heir apparent to the “Democratic Party” crown.  Whether Lieberman or McCain, Democrats across the country would have been told to bow in reverence to their party’s red-blue nominee for president. This was hardly the first time such a switcheroo blossomed in American politics.  In 1864, Republican Abraham Lincoln dumped his sitting vice-president to ask Democrat Andrew Johnson to be his running mate.  After Lincoln’s murder, US voters, who had selected a Republican to be their president, found him replaced by a Democrat. Though such examples at the presidential level may be enshrined in history books, they happen all the time at the local level.  In 1963, the Texas Young Democrats allowed high school chapters for the first time.  I was 15 years old then and organized the state’s first Young Democrats chapter at Lamar High School in Houston.  We invited a teacher who had been elected to the Texas Legislature to speak to our chapter on “Why Am I a Democrat?”  His answer was simple.  He was a Democrat because that was the only way to get elected in Texas of the early 1960s. The next year, he came out as a Republican.  That was the time of the exodus of southern Dixiecrats from the Democratic to the Republican Party. Fast forward half a century and I was the 2016 Green Party nominee for governor of Missouri.  I participated in the debate with Democrat Chris Koster and Republican Eric Greitens.  Greitens, riding the election on Trump’s wave, has since become internationally infamous for an affair in which he allegedly tied his victim to his basement exercise equipment, hit her, took nude photos of her, threatened to publicize the photos if she ever told anyone what he did, and continued various sex acts without her consent. During the campaign, both the Democrat and Repubican made TV ads showing themselves with automatic weapons.  Besides being partial to gun violence, they had something else in common.  Both had switched parties.  The Republican Greitens was a former Democrat and the Democrat Koster was a former Republican.  Like most others greedy for power, they decided which way the winds were blowing, calculated where they could most effectively hustle votes, and adjusted their public images and party affiliation accordingly.  (Greitens resigned as governor in May 2018.) Flip-flops between the corporate parties are hardly peculiar to Missouri.  Evan Jenkins was the runner-up in the May 2018 Republican primary for the West Virginia US senate seat.  Jenkins had been elected as a Democrat to the West Virginia legislature, but hopped to the Republican side to win the third district US house seat in 2014. During the 2018 race, the former Democrat boasted a perfect rating from the National Rifle Association as well as a 100% “pro-life” record saying, “I am a West Virginia conservative who is working with President Trump each and every day for our shared conservative values.” That was nothing new for the state.  Its billionaire governor Jim Justice started out as a Republican, became a Democrat in 2015 to win the governor’s race and switched again to the Republicans in 2017 to bask in Trump’s glow.  These people are as dedicated to the colors of their party as a chameleon is to staying green when it’s opportune to turn yellow. The original door Do you remember when the “revolving door” was first noticed?  It was due to people like Michael R. Taylor who rotated between regulatory agencies and the corporations they were supposedly regulating.  Taylor began as a Monsanto lawyer.  Then he became a staff lawyer for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and helped it to hassle Amish farmers for selling whole milk while giving companies like Monsanto the green light to sell genetically contaminated products without labeling them.  Then, he cycled back to Monsanto, becoming its Vice President for Public Policy.  In 2010, he flipped back to being the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Foods. The scenario was quite a bit different for Richard Gephardt, former speaker of the US House and darling child of business unions and anti-NAFTA coalitions in the early 1990s.  When I was working with Public Citizen to oppose NAFTA, a friend who had just been to Mexico told me that Gephardt had spoken in Monterrey promising to get NAFTA through the US House.  So I spent several afternoons at the Washington University library until I found the Mexican paper Excelsior recording his comments. I documented Gephardt’s statements in an Op-Ed piece in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of June 1, 1993 and reported his two faces during the next Public Citizen conference call.  There was stony silence for several seconds.  Then Lori Wallach let everyone know “Dick Gephardt is the best ally in Washington that we have.” Though Gephardt gave clear warnings of his true colors, leftists paid to lobby politicians had a devout faith that an ally scheming to stab you in the back is better than no ally at all.  A few years later, the left did turn on Gephardt – but only after he publicly displayed his contempt for progressives.  In 2005, he abandoned his distinguished career as public servant and formed Gephardt Government Affairs which allowed him to pocket almost $7 million lobbying on behalf of clients such as Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Visa Inc and Waste Management Inc. Of course, Gephardt was not the typical revolving door guy.  Instead of being an agency bureaucrat      he was elected to public office.  And he did not wait to resign from his governmental post to serve industry because he was apparently working both sides regarding NAFTA at the same time. A third door This brings us to a third way the door revolves  – the way that policies and practices get tossed from one corporate party to the other.  When I was a kid, the saying went “The Democrats bring war and the Republicans bring recession.”  But no more.  With rapacious Wall Street increasing its appetite for expansion as its human host decays, the Democrats and Republicans shadow box to see which can simultaneously be more violent and make the quality of life deteriorate faster. Perhaps the old saying stemmed from the way Woodrow Wilson won the presidency with the slogan “He kept us out of war” and then proceeded to take the US into WWI.  A few decades later Lyndon Johnson ridiculed Barry Goldwater’s threat to bomb Viet Nam back into the stone age.  After LBJ won the election, he did his best to carry out Goldwater’s plan. For about half a century, the Republicans won the reputation of being the most anti-Communist.  Yet, it was John and Bobby Kennedy who tried to invade Cuba, went off their chain to pit bull Fidel Castro, and began the very long series of attempts to assassinate him. Years later, the rapidly anti-Communist Richard Nixon ascended the throne, recognized China, and visited Beijing.  In case you missed it, the right-wing Nixon reversed course and realized a progressive idea.  It was hardly the only positive event that happened during the reign of one of the most degenerate presidents of all time.  The following occurred during his presidency: end to the Viet Nam war, beginning of the Food Stamp Program, creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, passage of the Freedom of Information Act, formal dismantling of the FBI’s COINTEL program, decriminalization of abortion, creation of Earned Income Tax Credits, a format ban on biological weapons, and passage of the Clean Water Act. One of the crowning achievements during the Nixon era was the April 28, 1971 founding of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  Shaun Richman describes in The Unionist how OSHA “has the authority to promulgate industry-specific workplace safety rules and to fine companies that violate them. The law also provides for workplace safety inspectors, whistleblower protections for workers who report potentially unsafe conditions and legal protections for workers who go on wildcat strikes to put an end to a dangerous situation.” Do Democrats in power provide some sort of assurance because they “call for” more environmental protection than do Republicans?  During the 1990s, St. Louis environmentalists were trying to block the construction of a dioxin incinerator.  There was a Democrat in the White House, a Democratic Governor of Missouri, and a Democratic County Executive.   We persuaded the Democratic majority on the County Council to pass an ordinance requiring dioxin incinerators to operate according to EPA standards, which seemed like a victory since no incinerator can meet those standards. We stopped going to County Council meetings because we thought we had “won.”  Then the Council repealed the ordinance we had lobbied for.  Bill Clinton got his Missouri dioxin incinerator.  When do Democrats stab you in the back?  Whenever your back is turned. In 2018, Donald Trump is justly despised because of his racist hate campaign against people of color, especially his ripping immigrant children apart from their parents and putting them in cages.  But let’s not forget the continuity between Obama and Trump.  As Tina Vasquez writes in Rewire News: When he first announced DACA in 2012, President Obama boasted of ‘putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history.’ Obama sought to ‘centralize border security’ on the pretext of deporting violent criminals and gang members—now Trump’s cause … The anti-immigrant zeal that Trump used to get elected is in many ways closely aligned with the history of America’s immigration system, which gave priority to white immigrants and sought to limit entry by other groups. Every administration, Republican or Democrat, has maintained this system’s injustices. A major difference between the two presidents is that press outlets like MSNBC tended to ignore actions by Obama but shrieked in horror when Trump followed suit.  Clearly, the outrage against Trump positively lessens the attacks, but it makes one wonder: If a Democrat replaces Trump and commits the same atrocities against immigrant children, will media again muffle its anger? These examples of Democrats and Republicans swapping platforms and policies do not even scratch the surface.  Their views are so interchangeable that one could write a 10 volume collection of the way they imitate each other and still barely cover the tip of all the stories out there. Progressive Democrats? Does this mean that there is no one running for office as a Democrat who sincerely wishes to move in a more progressive direction?  Of course not.  There are many, many candidates who start out running for local office as a Democrat and stay at the bottom of the Party’s hierarchy because it is structured to keep them there and use them as bait to lure and defang other progressives. Progressive Democrats at the base level do not script the Party’s major directions, which is as firmly controlled by big business as is the direction of the Republican Party.  While they may propose reforms in their communities, they must march in line with candidates for national office if they are to get funding to run at a higher level.  Those higher-up Dems are the ones most skilled at collaborating with Repubs, echoing their policies, and even fluttering over to the GOP side if the time is right. While the Republicans and Democrats are able to twist and turn on any dime lying in the street, there is at least one item for which they have a mind-meld.  The top concern of their corporate benefactors is “How do we reverse the gains of the New Deal?”  Bosses of both parties seek to undo the New Deal – the biggest difference between them is how to pull it off. The Dems generally use finesse with a stiletto, carving out gains one-by-one, weeping and sobbing as they do so.  The public face of the Repubs screams in delight as it whacks off gains with a meat cleaver.  The difference in rhetoric is vastly greater than any difference in the end result.  So many politicians can alternate policies and, at times, party affiliation because they see elections as a thermometer measuring if it is the hour for the delicate blade or the butcher knife. The great virtue of the Democrats is creating hope.  The great virtue of the Republicans is being a bit more honest about their long term goals.  The perception of vice or virtue in either depends on the mood of the observer. Do Democrats and Republicans quarrel with each other in front of TV cameras?  Obviously yes – but it’s merely a mock lovers’ spat crafted for public consumption.  Once the cameras are off, they embrace in excited passion while collapsing onto the bed of cash provided by corporate donations to both parties. In our darkest hour Understanding that the unified goal of both parties is to turn back New Deal gains leads us to ask how those victories were won.  It was because of the massive strikes, exploding labor movement, and unprecedented growth of the Socialist and Communist Parties that made a New Deal necessary.  Key corporate players decided that it was more discreet to allow some demanded changes than to suppress mushrooming mass movements. Hop forward to the Nixon years.  The many accomplishments won during his term were not because that vicious anti-communist fell on his knees, beheld a shining light, and vowed to tread the path of righteousness.  It was due to a strong labor movement, a massive anti-war movement following on the heels of the civil rights movement, and a growing women’s movement demanding reproductive freedom (along with many other more radical movements). Hop forward again to the depravity of the Trump administration.  As humanity faces extermination from increased production of fossil fuels, opposition bubbles up at an equal rate.  Even though Republican state legislatures agreed to continue undermining public schools, in Spring 2018 teachers decided that they had had enough. West Virginia had a Republican governor and a Republican majority in both houses of the legislature.  But West Virginia teachers went on strike anyway and were followed by teachers from Oklahoma and other states likewise dominated by anti-labor Republicans.  Even though illegal, the strike won because teachers stood together with janitors, bus drivers, food service workers and other state employees. As Bruce Dixon laid it out in Black Agenda Report: …successful strikes are possible wherever an overwhelming majority of the workforce is committed to it, whether or not those workers are in a ‘right to work’ state, and whether or not the strike is endorsed by their union if they have a union at all. Neither of West Virginia’s two teachers unions endorsed the strike, and the leaders of both unions initially and repeatedly attempted to ‘settle’ it for far less than the striking workers demanded. The three revolving doors are just other ways that big business manages government while pulling the wool over people’s eyes.  Corporate flunkies transfer between their bosses and agencies to ensure agencies do their bidding.  Professional politicians go back and forth between parties according to their career opportunities.  Parties grab policies from each other to see who can hoodwink the most voters. The Democrats and Republicans are parts of a single gestalt that creates the illusion of meaningful difference when there is none.  If you are part of an organization that gets caught up in the revolving door, don’t keep going around in circles – find another way out.  In times of the darkest despair, solidarity is still the road to victory. http://clubof.info/

[isiso8]

STATE OF AFFAIRS

Exposed: Secrets Behind Victoria’s Police State

OCTOBER 4, 2021NO COMMENTS

Exposed: Secrets Behind Victoria’s Police State

By Melbourne National Review

In the state of Victoria, Australia, it’s becoming a little difficult to ignore the fact that some of the harshest virus lock-down measures in the world are being implemented for some of the lowest case numbers and fatalities in that very same world, and that it’s all being enforced by an all to often violent, and sometimes mysterious state police force.

While it goes without saying that elderly lives matter, do a daily handful of elderly deaths really warrant the shutdown of one of Australia’s busiest cities?

Clearly something is rotten in the State of Victoria.

What is the Strong Cities Network (SCN)?

In trying to understand why Australia, and Victoria in particular, seem to be coming under an unusual, and unnecessarily heavy police-state, dig a little deeper, and it becomes obvious as to what’s happening.

In 2018 Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews sold out Victoria to an initiative called the Strong Cities Network (SCN). Moreover, Melbourne, under Premier Andrews’ leadership, was host to SCN’s 2018 global summit, the same year Andrews signed over the entire state of Victoria to the globalist initiative.

So what is the Strong Cities Network? The SCN is a now five-year-old program that claims;

“The Strong Cities Network is the first ever global network of mayors, policymakers and practitioners united in building social cohesion and resilience to counter violent extremism in all its forms. “

On the surface that sounds great, right? Nobody wants to see violent extremism on the loose, however, the devil is in the details ��� “violent extremism” is another one of these nebulous terms that can be applied to anything, such as an uprising against tyranny, or those with the ‘wrong’ political views, such as anyone right of Stalin in 2020.

So the focus of these initiatives may appear to be countering dangerous extremism, but their definition of extremism, and their focus, is the populist right, as well as opposition to the globalist agenda. After all, we’ve seen 3 months of some very violent extremism in the States at the hands of neo-marxists, yet the SCN have been nowhere to be seen.

The SCN is governed by global NGO’s, and aims to share policing tactics and intelligence, provide oversight, and essentially establish military-level equipped privatized police forces, all of which they don’t do, according to their myth-busting PDF. The lady doth protest too much.

Victoria is the only state in Australia to have signed on thus far, as can be seen in SCN’s list of member cities. Strangely, The entire STATE of Victoria is mentioned as a member in this list of cities. Victoria is a state, and not a city.

SCN’s influence over Victoria’s police may explain the Police’s response at Melbourne’s Freedom Day Rally, wherein many police acted violently, and with a sense of impunity when beating people. Some police were dressed in black with black riot-squad like vehicles, and didn’t have the Australian police logo on their uniforms. Instead they have a rectangular patch on their backs, easily removed or changed, as it is attached with Velcro. The patches differ in colour, and seem to me to be more for the purpose of tactical identification in the field amongst the different Public Order Response Unit squads.

Victoria police are always dressed in navy blue, with the insignia on the shoulder. The sinister, black dystopian uniforms and vehicles seem to be a new addition to Australia, and they’re known as the Public Order Response Unit. These ‘black shirts’ are SCN.

There are now countless disturbing videos online of Victoria Police going inexplicably to far in their lockdown policing duties, going as far as to kick people in the head, arrest pregnant women at home, harass more pregnant women out for exercise, choking people, kicking down people’s doors, smashing car windows to drag citizens out of their cars, storming the iconic Victoria market in full riot gear, and generally behaving like a certain gang of enforcers in Germany during the 1930’s, drawing attention and serious concern globally.

Who runs the Strong Cities Network (SCN)?

So who runs the Strong Cities Network? SCN is an initiative of London-based think tank; the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) – whose mission statement is to “Power Solutions to Extremism and Polarisation” – again more vague language that can’t be quantified, but can be applied to whatever public activity they choose.

So who’s the Institute for Strategic dialogue (ISD)? From ISD’s site;

“Founded in 2006, ISD is now the leading global ‘think and do’ tank dedicated to understanding and innovating real-world responses to the rising tide of polarisation, hate and extremism of all forms. We combine anthropological research, expertise in international extremist movements and an advanced digital analysis capability that tracks hate, disinformation and extremism online, with policy advisory support and training to governments and cities around the world. We also work to empower youth and community influencers internationally through our pioneering education, technology and communications programmes.“

An archived page that has now been scrubbed from the ISD’s website makes explicit in the language that the SCN belongs to ISD.

Dig a little deeper into the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), specifically their ‘Partners and Funders‘ funding page (whole section now scrubbed – links to archived copies), and then things start to make sense; it’s a who’s who of globalists. Under the ‘Foundations‘ sub-section, you’ll find George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, under ‘NGO’s‘ you’ll find United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and those familiar with the true agenda of the totally corrupt UN will not be surprised to see them involved, and the usual suspects are lurking in the section titled ‘Private Sector‘; Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, etc.

But perhaps most disturbing for Victorians is that under the section ‘Academic Institutions‘ on the now scrubbed Partners and Funders page on ISD’s website; only 5 academic establishments are listed globally, yet two of them are Australian Universities. And listed in the ‘Governments and Intergovernmental Organisations’ section is ‘Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria, Australia’ – Premier Dan Andrews.

And of course George Soros is involved with his insidious Open Society Foundations, along with nefarious Big Tech, but in addition, among ‘NGO’s and Think Tanks’ on ISD’s partners page is the dubious Brookings Institute, as well as Chatham House, and the UK’s RUSI – all NGO’s with the same mission statements; to influence public debate, and counter ‘extreme dialogue’, ‘hate speech’, ‘far-right extremism’ etc – all euphemisms for anticipated dissent. Of course, trying to find any sort of definition of ‘hate speech’ or ‘extreme dialogue’ on their websites is a fruitless task, as again, the language is deliberately vague so it may be applied when needed.

The SCN riot squad never seem to be around when far-left extremism is on the loose though, such as the ongoing rioting. I’m sure a deep-dive into some of these NGOs would connect Bill & Melinda Gates and the Rockefeller Foundations everywhere. What we’re seeing is the globalists’ parallel governance network and structure at work, undermining the nation state, as they have been doing for a very long time, and as always, on the sly.

So as Australia recently discovered, the curfews and lock-downs in Victoria are not based on the Chief Health Officer’s advice, but rather Premier Andrews put them in place of his own accord.

Andrews has always been very interested in top-down authoritarian style governance – in 2016 Premier Andrews toured the New York Police Department’s ‘Real Time Crime Center‘ surveillance facility during a visit to the United States, tweeting that soon Victoria will have ‘one of our own’;

In 2017 Victoria Police were set to bring in the twenty-four hour system to Australia, with a new $15 million Monitoring and Assessment Centre, modelled on the New York center. In addition to all of this, Andrews allocated almost $600 million AUD as part of a ‘public safety package’ in the 2016-17 budget. This was in addition to the $2 billion already spent on 3,200 new police officers.

What was Andrews preparing for?

The Australian Freedom Alliance, 13/Sept, 2020;

Andrews spent $2.6 Billion of tax-payer’s money on stocking up on surveillance, riot equipment, and 3,200 extra police, then once in place he handed Victoria over to the globalists.

Do you still Stand with Dan and his absolutely remarkable Nostradamus-like foresight?

Commentator Robert Bridge drew attention in his August article; ‘Letters From Melbourne, a ‘Ghost Town Police State’ Under Brutal Covid Lockdown‘, to the fact that cities and countries that have signed on to China’s Belt & Road Initiative seem to be not only hit hardest by the virus, but all enthusiastically followed China’s instruction and embraced heavy lock-downs based on little or no scientific data. Italy would be another prime example.

Michael Spenger details China’s campaign to sell lock-down to the world in his excellent article; China’s Global Lockdown Propaganda Campaign.

Anika Stojkovski, a corporate compliance and governance consultant, based in Melbourne, wrote the following to Robert Bridge in an email;

“I sensed there was something very wrong with all this and predicted what is happening now,”…“I could tell they were lying.”

“I really think there is more to it and it is all about total control and heading towards the agenda for us all to be vaccinated… [Victorian Premier Dan] Andrews says he wants every man, woman and child vaccinated. There is no vaccine!! So will we be kept in isolation till when?”

Speaking on the medical situation in the city, Stojkovski was struck by the fact that; “all consulting rooms in hospitals are closed, and all appointments are conducted by specialists by phone.”

“This still doesn’t add up … they are not admitting to hospital for Covid unless severely ill with life threatening symptoms, while most people cannot be tested for the virus without traveling beyond the 5-kilometer point.”

Andrews has a long and close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), ensuring that it’s China who fills contracts for Victorian infrastructure and manufacturing deals, but yet he has always been very secretive about who he meets with in Beijing, and what is discussed.

Asked why the memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreement between Victoria and Beijing needed to be secret, Mr Andrews said “That’s the way all memorandums of understanding work and we’re not about the change that policy,”.

In terms of geopolitical significance, this is huge; Victoria is the only Australian state to formally sign on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and as far as Australia is concerned, this contradicts the position of the Federal Government to not join the BRI, as it raised serious geo-strategic concerns.

According to a report by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the BRI Framework Agreement “places Victoria in an awkward position as Australia has formally signed onto the ‘Blue Dot Network’ with the US to assist in developing infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region to counter the BRI.” The Blue Dot Network is perceived as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

There is talk of the Australian Federal Government cancelling Victoria’s secretive BRI agreement, and in response, Andrews has vowed to double down on Victoria’s commitment to the BRI. At the very least, the timing of an agreement between Victoria and communist China, happening just months before the economic shutdown of Melbourne over a minuscule increase in C19 deaths, is curious.

Victorians should spend less time listening to Andrews on contact tracing, and more time on tracing the contacts of Andrews.

Project Gen V;

But what I missed in November 2017 was the exciting news announced by Premier Dan Andrews in this Facebook post (now deleted);

His post linked to an article behind a paywall that outlined project Gen V, which aims to track the lives of babies from the time they’re born until their old age to identify causes of disease and complete interventional trials and prevention of disease. And guess what; along the way they’re creating a huge database, specifically of baby’s born in Victoria between 2020 and 2021. Coincidently, another government that has accelerated collection of citizens DNA recently is The Chinese Communist Party. (Victorians – I did some digging and it appears you can opt-out of this program, but you must articulate it).

So to summarize; Dan Andrews, with his extended powers of lockdown until late 2021, is turning Victoria into a prison, along with the destroying personal freedoms and liberties, and all before your newborn baby’s foot ever touches the earth, and he stated the intention back in 2017.

For what it’s worth – Victorian police must legally provide you with name, rank, and station, in writing, when requested under the Crimes Act 1958 – SECT 456AA. If they refuse to do so, or provide false information, they are guilty of an offense.

Original Source: https://www.melbournenationalreview.com/state-of-affairs/exposed-secrets-behind-victorias-police-state/

[seoulfulcity]

May 29, 2018: Take Me to Macau and Guangzhou, China

你好,

"Don't be scared when a Cantonese talks to you. They are not yelling or are mad at you, that's just how they talk" - an ancient proverb.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018: Our Hong Kong trip ends with a ferry ride to the neighboring Macau. Tracy took initiative to book the hotel for us to stay in Macau - Sofitel, a hotel chain I'm very familiar with. We arrived in a sweltering 109-degree weather. Now, I'm from Los Angeles and we experience heat waves going as high up as 110 degrees, but Macau was insane. The heat was turning my skin red fast and sweat constantly dripped from my head. We were about to do a walking tour around the city under this weather.

Luckily, our hotel was situated close to the Senado Square - an area in which Portuguese influence is very palpable. I entered Macau with no idea of what the country has to offer. Is Macau a beach city? Is it a vacation place? Is it a shopping country just as Hong Kong? I had no expectations.

Voila! I came into Macau and everything was in.... Portuguese. Bus signs, warning signs, street signs, instructions, and almost, if not everything, is in Portuguese. Once again, I found myself in a huge state of culture shock. I vaguely remember learning about the Portuguese taking over East Asia way back in history, but I did not realize its culture is still as alive as ever in Macau.

I actually thanked a person in Portuguese instead of Cantonese, and they were able to understand me. Obrigado is all I needed to survive Little Lisbon.

What makes Macau very different than Hong Kong was the ubiquitous Catholic references in every corner. The streets were named after Catholic saints. Images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary were plastered against the wall of every Chinese restaurant we pass by. No signs of Buddhism at all.

It would have been a very intriguing history and culture to learn about prior to visiting the country given the fact that is is nothing like any of its neighboring Buddhism-heavy countries.

Nonetheless, one day and one night in Macau is enough to explore and fall in love with the country. Tracy had me and Simi try the place where they're known for their beef intestines, liver, heart, and tongue. Let's leave this story with the note that I had an interesting tasting experience

The free sample culture in Macau competes against America's culture. The country is known for its jerky - different flavored beef and pork jerkies are open for everybody to taste. There is this bakery chain that stacks open boxes of cookies and breads for everybody to grab. Frankly, Simi and I scoured through the whole bakery, sampling each cookie more than twice - we ended up saving our lunch money!

Even though my blog about Macau is not as long compared to my other blogs, the country does not fall short on beauty and surprises. Macau is the place where you fall in love with its people and its Portuguese-heavy history. This is the country where European-Asian fusion food is the most delicious. This is the country where the beautiful European culture and language fuse with the ancient and timeless Asian tradition. Macau has a lot to offer if people are willing to accept them with arms wide open.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018: Our hotel in Macau offers a ride to the Chinese border for free, in which we happily utilized. The biggest worry I've had in the past few months was China. Being an American, everybody already has a generalized idea and fear with what happens in China. To name a few fears that people have mentioned prior to my departure from Los Angeles

China is filled with scammers and you have to constantly be wary of your surroundings.

Language barrier is the most terrifying thing - nobody will be able to help you since English is not widely taught; and apparently people are too impatient to even bother with a translator.

The Great Firewall. Enough said.

China has a history of tracking its citizens, and visitors need to buy things that could prevent identity theft.

Pollution. The internet needed me to buy a thick face mask to protect my respiratory system.

The hot and humid weather is unbearable. You won't be able to do a lot with how much energy you're wasting by just sweating.

Wild dogs carrying rabies everywhere, children pooping in street corners, squat toilets, and basically the complete opposite of the magnificent America. Apparently the whole country is uncivilized and unsanitary.

The food and water are very dirty. They apparently boil sewage water for consumption and the oil they use for street foods are months old. I was suggested to bring different medications for diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux, and all kinds of drugs for future stomach problems.

The people are mean and unforgiving. They will yell, hit, and shove as an instinct.

Overall, China is going to be a scary place for a first-time solo traveler.

So yes, I had fears crossing the Chinese border. Oh, a lot of fears. We expected our Chinese trip to be one big Murphy's Law, which states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

That law came into light when we went through customs.

I usually don't cross a country via a physical border - I accomplish it by flying and flight attendants would provide us the proper forms to fill out for customs. The bus from our hotel didn't provide it, so it never occurred to us that we needed to fill out forms - yes, we are actually first-time solo travelers.

Fear #2 seems to always make its way into our daily routine while we're here in China. The man responsible in customs for foreign passport holders was not very content with the fact that we made a mistake with forgetting to fill out the arrival form; his anger escalated when he couldn't communicate with us properly in Cantonese. He handed us the arrival form - I'm being nice here since he basically threw it to us from the window - and we filled it out. We passed customs and took the bus from the border to Tracy's second hometown of Guangzhou, or Canton as how I grew up knowing it as.

A little Philippine food discussion - I grew up with one childhood food only, Pancit Canton. Pancit is the Filipino term for noodles and Canton is the origin of the plate. It is my go-to food when I was young, and even until now. Pancit Canton is my favorite noodles.

So, imagine being in my feet, in Canton, and the first meal I had was noodles. The noodles native to Canton. This is the original Pancit Canton. My poor heart could not handle the joy.

Guangzhou is very reminiscent of the Philippines. The streets, the weather, the food, the culture, and the people. This entire trip is one big trip down memory lane; and since my ten-year anniversary of immigrating to America from the Philippines was approaching and not once have I visited my country, Guangzhou compensated for the homesickness.

Our first day in Guangzhou was nothing less than memorable. Tracy's uncle is a competitive cyclist, so he was excited for us to bike with him around Guangzhou for a few hours. Unlike Hong Kong and Macau, Guangzhou transportation culture revolves on bicycles. Everybody owned one. Going to work, going to school, going to the park. Everything is accessible via a bicycle, and the Guangzhou streets were set up to prioritize cyclists.

We cycled between cars, joined the traffic, had access to the pedestrian side walks, and beat the heat by speeding through the Pearl River (Zhujiang) with its cool misty breeze.

I've noticed that the Cantonese in Guangzhou have a very active lifestyle. Transportation via an automobile was very rare. Jogging and running were encouraged since people of all ages jogged as a group, free public aerobic exercises and tai chi at the parks and the sidewalks for those who aren't able to withstand a long run, and of course - what would Guangzhou be without its bicycles? From what I've seen that night, the Cantonese people are very communal. Everything had to be done as a community. They gave off a really welcoming and inclusive vibe.

"Why does it matter if you're a foreigner and can't speak Cantonese? Come celebrate life with us! Life is too short to be individualistic and doing things on your own! Let's do it together, as one big Cantonese family!" That was the biggest impression I had with the Cantonese people.

食在广州 (Chi zai Guangzhou) which means "Eat in Guangzhou. The city prides itself on its food. I was constantly reminded that I will never taste anything as good as Guangzhou cuisine - and boy, they were perfectly on point.

Tracy's family were so welcoming and hosted a huge seafood dinner for us in the heart of the seafood market. Her grandmother went out to purchase the fresh food, handed it to the cooks in the restaurant and they set up a grand display of seafood of every specie.

Throughout the next two days, Tracy's family fed us local foods from the spiciest restaurant in all of Guangzhou to food native only to the area. We had three large meals on our last day with her family, and Simi and I would joke about how this would provide us enough calories and energy to last us our entire Chinese trip. Tracy's family would remind us every chance they could that there will be no food up there in Beijing - or at least not as good as in Guangzhou.

Nonetheless, Simi and I were right. It's been three days since we left Guangzhou and we've only eaten two meals and we're still not starving. Our meals in Guangzhou actually lasted us a few days!

I could not fail to mention the idol culture in China, which is strikingly similar to my experience in Seoul. Faces of Chinese idols were plastered and shown (in really bright lights) in every corner - Zhang Yixing, Wu Yifan, Lu Han, Wang Jiaer, and Oppo just released a set of posters featuring the biggest Chinese stars, such as Karry Wang from TFBoys and Li Yifeng (and boy, Oppo posters were everywhere). Guangzhou's obsession is not on par as in Seoul, but I'm expecting the idolization culture to be so much worse in Beijing. It felt familiar - in a very isolating country where the language and the people remind you everyday that you're foreign with no direct association to anything and anybody - it felt familiar. Zhang Yixing, whose face I see everyday on my home screen, and Li Yifeng, who taught me some basic Chinese from his dramas - the celebrities' faces gave me the sense that everything is not so foreign after all. And that's all I've been craving since I started my trip - familiarity. It's been a while since I've understood the language around me and it makes me feel very isolated. Everyday is a culture shock and adjustment that it gets mentally draining sometimes. I'm going to continue being out of my bubble all of summer, so I suppose a sense of comfort, even just for a day, would suffice.

Tracy and her family left for Cambodia the morning we were leaving Guangzhou. Our train to Hunan was not until 8 PM, but we decided to get to the train station eight hours early to give ourselves a lot of time to get lost and make some big mistakes. In the train station, we found out Guangzhou's main form of scamming to cut in front of the lines.

The first incident was when we were in line to pick up our train tickets and this seemingly-innocent woman, in her early to mid twenties, was panicking to me saying her train leaves in 25 minutes. I tapped Simi on the shoulder to let her in. Simi half expected for some good karma to come back to us.

Not even ten minutes later, a guy did the exact same thing - his train was leaving and he's running late and needed to cut through the line. The people in front of us obliged.

Then, another older woman followed the exact same scheme. Then an older man. By that time, the people in line were unforgiving and did not let them through. The scammers argued with the people on the ticket window, showing them proof that they were indeed late. The argument every time ends when the person in line let them retrieve their ticket in a half-annoyed face and a deep sigh.

Guangzhou Station was large, with so many rooms for foreigners like us to make mistakes in. None of the signs were in English besides "entrance" and "exit". We had to learn how Guangzhou Station and Zhangjiajie Station were written in Chinese characters. All the instructions for ticket purchases, waiting, and boarding were all written in characters very foreign to us. This is when we found ourselves lost in a sea of people rushing into a station they're very familiar with - unable to communicate with us with their lack of knowledge and willingness to speak English.

People constantly dismissed us when we start our sentences with "excuse me". People back off in fear that we were somehow foreign scammers, trying to trick them in a language they're unfamiliar with - it's a scary feeling for them and for us.

Though, once in a while, people would whip out their translations to help us navigate through what we needed to be done. We have our offline translations ready for anyone willing to take the time to read what the dictionary and the app concocted.

Our lives were saved when a Chinese woman who spoke amazing English walked us into the station, get into security, and helped us to the waiting room and made sure we were in the right spot. This was within an hour before boarding. Can you imagine? We were lost and helpless for seven hours - it was a tiring (and scary) day. Simi actually said that if we missed our train to Zhangjiajie, we should just go straight to the destination right after, Fenghuang.

Nevertheless, we made it to our train where we were assigned hard sleeper beds. The bunk beds are set up as three (the lower, middle, and upper bunk beds, two sets per area where we face each other). It was about an overnight 12-hour train ride to Zhangjiajie. At least we were comfortable, right?

Our adventures with the language barrier did not end here. Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang are not metropolitan cities, where English is spoken everyday. It gets more interesting! I need to learn more basic Mandarin, at least enough that could help us navigate through an area with minimal use of translation apps. Though right now, I'll stick to my poorly-translated Chinese sentences. Until then!

谢谢,  Chris 「克里斯」

P.S. I am currently writing this blog on a slow train from Huaihua, Hunan to Chengdu, Sichuan. I share one corner of the train with six other people and we're all facing each other, so I'm not only uncomfortable, but my arms are tiring from holding up my phone to write this blog. There is no table within my reach that I could rest my elbows with and the seats don't recline, but nonetheless, I plan to discuss the ten fears I've mentioned about China right after I leave the country. Were they rational? Did I need to be fearful that much going into the country? What could I have done to possibly ease down the fear in the future, or to the prospective Chinese travelers reading this blog right now?