Dr. Mark Nan Tu

There was a light rain this afternoon. The haze that has covered the city for the past week was cleared a bit. The following picture was taken at the ChaoYang (Sun) Park this afternoon. The blue sky came out. According to the weather report, it is going to be fine by Saturday. I just hope that there will be wind by then. The wind will surely clear the haze. A sunny day with blue sky will be even better. Beijing with little or no popultion will be the best for the long run.

Taken on July 29, 2008 in Chaoyang

The weather is hot and humid for the past few days. There is a dense haze covers the city with visibility no more than a few hundred meters. According to the official reports, the haze is a mix with humidity and air pollutant. There is no wind and so the pollutant stays in the haze.

China Daily says that officials are considering emergency plans to reduce the pollution. The plan may include measures such as cutting off 90% of the private vehicles on the street and temporarily shutting down some factories surround Beijing. This actually means a near complete shutdown of the Beijing transportation and limit most of the local resident’s lives, a dramatic and very alarming measure. The effectiveness of such measure remains to be seen and the internet BBS is already filled with the negative concerns with such a unpresedented measure.

I took the following pictures while I was hiking up the fragrance hill today. Comparing this picture with the picture that I took about two weeks ago (on July 12), one can easily see the haze that covers the city. Beijing living in Beijing for the past 4 years, I personally feel (without stringent statistics to backup), the clear air day (defines a day with no visible haze) has increased over the years. But with the haze like this, there is a lot to be down during and after the Olympics.

July 28, 2008 taken from the Frangrance Hill (Beijing, China)

July 12, 2008 taken from the Frangrance Hill (Beijing, China). I wish the Beijing sky is always like this.

I went to the Tang Concubines Action Musical Show

I went to watch the Tang Concubines Show. It is an action musical show which means the show combines Chinese Gongfu, martial art, acrobats, singing, musical, costumes and scenic design into a sound, light and action show.

The show is a full 2 hour none stop stimuli to the eyes and ears. The story line is rather simple. It portraits the lives of the two famous women in the Tang Dynasty (618-906AD). I have seen many of these similar shows around China. This

Beijing Wangjing Park is not located in Wangjing area. It is located in Dashanzi area, very close to the world renowned 798 art district and the airport expressway. It is rather a small park. Outside the park is the Maple Villa.

The park has very few visitors. The entrance fee is 50cents RMB. There is a pond and some Chinese corridors and pavilions inside the park. However, the park is not well maintained. The paints from the pavilions are pilling off. The grass is growing wildly in the pond. The park is rather clean which is positive.

According to a bulletin board at the park entrance, the park was a result of 30 million RMB investment in 1997 by the Chaoyang municipal government. However, the lack of funding for maintenance and improvement is evidence everywhere inside the park.

Wangjing park from Google map

The entrance

The sign says no swimming, no fishing

The Beijing Sun Palace Park is located at inside the east 4th ring (opposite of the IKEA building). The Chinese name for it is: Beijing Tai Yang Gong Park. I searched online and could not find a proper English name for the park. So I translated the Chinese directly into English as the Beijign Sun Palace Park.

The park is free and properly maintained. It is a popolar place for the locals. There is a playground with a

With the 2008 Summer Olympcs coming up in less than 20 days, Beijing is making the final preparation. The Beijing Botanical Garden is no exception. Lying in the foot of the West Hill of Beijing, Beijing Botanical Gardenhas by tradition been engaged in the conservation of the native flora, especially plants from northern, northeastern and northwestern China. The Garden is putting on an impressive display of flowers and plants with Olympics theme.

The Lying Buddha Temple inside the Beijing Botanical

Laughing Ghost Stone

Beijing City from the Frangrance Hill

It was a very fine day today. I just came back from Shenzhen yesterday. I really missed hiking events in the weekend. I decided to go to the Fragrance Hill today. The traffic condition on the east 5th ring was pleasantly good. It was a smooth sailing. Leaving WangJing, I arrived at the Laughing Ghost Trail in less than 30 minutes.

The temperature reached 35 degrees. There was a light breeze. Because of this, it actually did not feel that hot. I spend 30 minutes hiked to the Laughing Ghost Stone (500meters above the sea level or 400 meters above the starting point). The visibility is exceptionally good. I could see as far as the International Trade Center (GuoMao), almost 30 km away. The touch shaped tower close to the

Last time I came to Hong Kong was in 1993. I passed through it when I came back to Shenzhen from a visit to the US. I stayed in the Holiday Inn at the Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon Island. I went to visit the Ocean Park and went walking along the Victoria Harbor. However, I did not get a chance to visit the Harbor at night.

During the past 15 years, two additional attractions were added to the Hong Kong, the Avenue of the Stars and the Disney Land. However, the Victoria Harbor night cruise is on the top of my to do list in Hong Kong.

The Victoria Harbor is world-famous for its stunning panoramic night view and skyline, particularly in the direction towards Hong Kong Island where the skyline of skyscrapers is superimposed over the ridges behind.

We boarded the Star Ferry at around 7pm. It started to rain soon after we set off. The sky became dark. The neon lights on top of the skyscrapers were turned on. The reflection of the building lights on the water is amazing. Occasionally, we were overtaken by other cruise boat.

The ride on the boat was about 1 hour. We turned around in the harbor which allowed us to have the view for both sides of the Harbor. This is certainly the most impressive scene during my Hong Kong visit.

Repulse Bay in Chinese is Qian Shui Wan, which means shallow water bay. Repulse Bay is in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District. Because the desirable surroundings, the area has the most expensive property price in Hong Kong, only matched by the Victoria Peak.

We arrived in the late afternoon in a hot and humid weekday. There was not much visitors as the beach is mostly empty. There was a life guard on duty. The beach is rather short at most 2km in length. On the one end of the beach is the Tin Hau temple which has two huge goddess statues, a standing Kwan Yin and a sitting Tin Hau.

Repulse Bay also features some of the interesting architecture. There was a lotus shaped hotel tower which was said to belong to now deceased Hong Kong Tycoon Nina Gong. There was a new shopping center constructed along the beachfront.

Hong Kong is a very small city. The Repulse Bay is also very small. Hong Kong was once a bridge that connects the West (developed countries) and the East (Mainland China). With the opening up of the mainland China, Hong Kong needs to offer more value to attract investment and talents.