Posts about 'China'

Mirage off Penglai

Saturday, May 13th, 2006

Back in the day, I lived in a pretty obscure part of China: Yantai, in the eastern Shandong province. Not a lot of news comes out of that part of town, so I pay attention when something interesting crosses my wire.

In Penglai, a town we went to visit with our Huaying and Nanshan kids, they apparently get very impressive mirages. You should click through and check out the pictures.

Here’s a picture of me in Penglai, with one of my Nanshan students:

Jason and Nanshan student at Penglai

Here was the rest of the class:

Jason and Nanshan student at Penglai

By now, all these students should be just about ready to graduate.

More China.

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San feet high and rising

Friday, July 4th, 2003

This is a outstanding article from the New Yorker about a community fleeing the Yangtze River, as it rises behind the new Three Gorges Dam.

The river hits the vehicle’s left front tire at 8:07 p.m . The men start to load the furniture; the sky grows dark. “Hurry up!” Ou Yunzhen says. Nearby, Zhou Shurong and her five-year-old sister, Zhou Yu, stand the way children do when they sense anxiety in adults: perfectly still, arms straight at their sides, eyes unblinking. At eight-twenty-three, the water reaches the left rear tire. The television is the last object to be loaded; it is placed with care in the front seat, next to the girls. At eight-thirty-four, the driver turns the ignition. As the truck rumbles off, the water reaches the top of the hubcaps.

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