April 19, 2011 · 3:47 pm

First impressions of Shenzhen

I flew down from Beijing to Shenzhen today for a 48 hour visit to meet with colleagues at the University.  This evening my good friend Man Xu kindly took me for an exploration of this extraordinary city.  Until 1979 when it became China’s first Special Economic Zone, it was little more than a fishing village just to the north of Hong Kong.  Over the last 30 years, it has come to symbolise China’s energy and dynamism, becoming one of the fastest growing cities of the world.

Thanks to Jack’s suggestion, I took the opportunity to visit the digital rabbit warren that is Huaqiangbei, where you can buy everything, and copies of everything, electronic that you could ever want – apparently except any accessibility related hardware!  Given my interest in disability, we explicitly asked repeatedly whether there were, for example, any Braille keyboards or other assistive technologies, but no-one seemed aware that such things could exist.

And then we visited one of the smart new malls (MIXC), replete with numerous luxury stores rather putting London’s Bond Street to shame! The wealth that has accumulated here in such a short time, fueled by the city’s high-tech industries and banking sector is quite extraordinary.

Oh yes, and why is it that so many models on the advertising hoardings across China are ‘Western’ and blonde?

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April 16, 2011 · 2:50 pm

香山公园 A day in the Fragrant Hills

I had to take a break from working and see something of China before I leave in ten days time – and so we headed to the Fragrant Hills to the north-west of Beijing today.  We caught the 696 bus just outside the university – squeezing onto an already overcrowded vehicle – and slowly, slowly made it eventually to the East Gate of Xiangshan after about 90 minutes.  Traveling on the buses is definitely an adventure in itself – and hanging on to the rails as the vehicle stops and starts meant we were exhausted before we arrived!

The gardens were very crowded, and there were many people also walking up to the top!  It took us about an hour to reach the summit, and we ate our sandwiches in a small pagoda just to the north with magnificent views.  On the way back down, though, we managed to find a longer route around the south-western wall which was almost deserted!  The Hills are definitely not somewhere that most European’s find their way to – no-one else from Europe was on the buses, and we only saw one other European all day!

Hopefully the pictures below capture something of the rugged beauty of the Hills.

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April 13, 2011 · 1:25 am

圆明园 Yuanmingyuan Old Summer Palace Ruins

After a hectic week at the excellent Association of Commonwealth Universities’ Executive Heads conference in Hong Kong, where I fear that my views on the future of higher education might have been a little too provocative, we arrived back in Beijing on Saturday.  Another glorious day on Sunday tempted us to walk north of the Peking University Campus and explore the vast 350 hectare Yuanmingyuan Park, or Garden of Perfect Splendour.  We managed to escape the crowds, and wandered leisurely around the lakes and ruins of what was once one of the most splendid of all Palaces and Gardens – known in its heyday as the “Garden of Gardens” and the “Versailles of the East”.  The summer resort of the Emperors, it reflected the sumptuosness of the Qing court in the 18th and 19th centuries, but was looted and burned by a British and French force in 1860 during the Opium Wars.  This wanton destruction, albeit in retaliation for the torture and execution of a small group of British and Indian troopers who had been sent to negotiate with the Chinese, is widely criticised as having been barbaric, and an act of vandalism.  Victor Hugo thus described it as ‘Two robbers breaking into a museum, devastating, looting and burning, leaving laughing hand-in-hand with their bags full of treasures; one of the robbers is called France and the other Britain”.  It is now difficult to imagine the scale and beauty of the Palaces and Gardens, but a model gives some indication of their magnificence and extent.  Today, in places where their predecessors were never permitted to set foot, thousands of people now share picnics, enjoy the spring blossom, fly kites and just walk amongst the ruins, reflecting on their past glory and on the changing balances of political power throughout history.  Having the previous weekend visited the New Summer Palace which was built to replace Yuanmingyuan, our visit to the Old Summer Palace gave rise to many complex reflections.

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April 7, 2011 · 9:29 am

Juliano Mer Khamis killed in Jenin

It is with very great sadness that I reflect here on the murder of Juliano Mer Khamis, the Arab Israeli actor and one of the founders of the Freedom Theatre, who was killed on the 4th April in Jenin.  He was shot by a masked gunman who fired five bullets into the window of his car.

The Freedom Theatre has reported this tragic murder as follows: “Murdered the leader, thinker, fighter Juliano Mer-Khamis, Director of The Freedom Theatre, Jenin Refugee Camp, Occupied Terrirtories of the West Bank, Palestine. Today, the 4th of April 2011, at  16:00 o’clock at the entrance of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp, a traitor’s hand shot and killed the Palestinian thinker Juliano Mer-Khamis who was stopped in his won car while driving along with his baby son and babysitter. Juliano was shot in his head and died in few instants, the remains of the bullet shot the babysitter in her arm. Juliano Mer-Khamis, actor, director, film-maker and cultural activist, son of Arna Mer and Saliba Khamis, was one of the founders of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp in 2006. All his life Juliano longed to fight against occupation using the arts as a model of social change. The people in the camp refused what happened and called it “a coward’s act”.  The Palestinian Authority are doing an investigation and have contacted the Board of Management of The Freedom Theatre”

The Freedom Theatre was set up in Jenin in 2006 as a drama and community centre.  Juliano’s mother, Arna Mer, had previously worked there as a peace activist.  The theatre has done a considerable amount of work to foster peace, in circumstances that were never easy.  One of its recent projects was an initiative to empower young people in Jenin through the use of ICTs, and I was absolutely delighted to be able to include a short case study on this, written by Jonatan Stanczak, Ziad El-Khatib and Mohammad Moawia, in my recent book on ICT4D.

It is hugely sad to hear of the violent death of someone who worked so tirelessly for peace across cultures, ethnicities and religions.  Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him, my thoughts are with his family and friends.  Let us hope that his death – amongst so many others in Palestine in recent years – will not be in vain, and that others will relight the candle of peace that burnt so brilliantly in his life.

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April 3, 2011 · 1:46 am

颐和园 – Spring at the Summer Palace, Beijing

After the rain on Friday night, the warm sun came out again on Saturday, and we left the PKU campus for a few hours to wander around the monuments and gardens of the Summer Palace.  Just a few stops on the subway north-west from Peking University East Gate station, we arrived at Beigongmen, and explored the numerous buildings, winding paths, and museums at Liheuyan.  Particularly impressive were the Hall of Dispelling Clouds and the Pagoda of Buddhist Virtue, but the replica shops along Sizhou Street, either side of the canal in the north, were also interesting and surprisingly picturesque.  A great deal of restoration work was done in advance of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and the green, gold, blue and red painting on the buildings was resplendent in the sunlight.  This contrasts greatly with the much less restored buildings of the Garden of Virtue and Harmony.  It made a lovely day out, and a good escape from the tyranny of e-mails!

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March 31, 2011 · 8:49 am

Google and privacy

I am often criticised for my concerns over Google’s ethical claims. Most people seem to like the apparently ‘free’ services that the company offers, and are not greatly concerned about the implications of sharing private information with a corporate giant that claims to do no evil.  I was therefore very pleased to see a report yesterday on the the BBC’s news site that Google is to be audited over privacy concerns relating to its social network Buzz.  Highlights of the article noted that:

  • “Google will be subjected to independent privacy audits for the next 20 years over charges that it “violated its own privacy promises”.  The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that the search giant wrongly used information from Google Mail users last year to create its social network Buzz”
  • “When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honour them,” said Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC. “This is a tough settlement that ensures that Google will honour its commitments to consumers and build strong privacy protections into all of its operations.”
  • “Buzz’s launch in February 2010 came under heavy criticism from users. According to Google, the system was designed to bring together members’ personal and private lives. One widespread complaint was over a feature that allowed it to publicly list other Gmail contacts a user was most frequently in touch with. While this feature could be turned off, the default setting was to leave it on – potentially revealing a user’s contact with an ex-spouse, employer or similar.”
  • “The FTC said “deceptive tactics” were used to populate the network with personal data gained from use of Gmail, and that when users were given the change to opt-out of Buzz, they were still enrolled in some of its features”
  • “The FTC said Google violated its privacy policy which stated: “When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information.”
  • “Reflecting on the latest settlement, Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy, product and engineering, said: “We’d like to apologize again for the mistakes we made with Buzz. “While today’s announcement thankfully put this incident behind us, we are 100 percent focused on ensuring that our new privacy procedures effectively protect the interests of all our users going forward.”

In another recent report from the BBC, it is also interesting to note that the US Department of Justice has approved a New York court ruling that blocked an agreement between Google and publishers over the publication of books online.  As the report noted, “An agreement between Google and publishers over the web firm’s publication of books online has been blocked by a US court. The web giant has scanned millions of books and made them available online via its eBooks platform. Google had negotiated the deal to settle a six-year-old class action suit claiming infringement of copyright. But the New York court said the deal would “simply go too far”, giving Google an unfair competitive advantage”.

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March 31, 2011 · 2:05 am

北京大學 – Life on Peking University Campus

I have been here for 10 days – amazing how quickly the time has flown by.  Given how tired I am, though, I guess it has been time very well spent!  Life – both intellectual and quotidian – is intense.  The campus itself is a great place to work, and the buildings and lake on the northern part of the campus are lovely places to walk in the early evenings to relax. It is fascinating being on campus, and very much living surrounded by the students.  Reflecting on my time here so far, the following spring to mind:

  • spring is advancing – blossom buds were just opening on a tree as I walked to work this morning
  • good to see somewhere else that matches my own usual ‘office’ day from 8 in the morning until six in the evening (although they do have a two hour lunch break)!
  • walking across campus to work in the morning, students and bicycles are enthusiastically everywhere- long before their peers would even be awake on the Holloway campus back home!
  • the first thing to be done on getting into the office is to fill one’s hot water carrier (thermos equivalent) from the tank and then make a cup of green tea – which is subsequently refreshed throughout the day
  • the intellectual vitality and curiosity – amongst students and staff – is so refreshing! UK students – at least many with whom I come into contact – have much to learn from the commitment and dedication of their peers here.
  • yesterday’s session with ‘my’ group of Master’s students was on research design – and it was great to explore aspects of Habermas’s work with them, and briefly summarise my critique of grounded theory.  They are so knowledgeable about much existing European social and educational theory!  It’s a real pleasure to work with them – and my concerns that my participatory ‘teaching’ style might not be acceptable were certainly ill-founded.
  • much exciting research is being done at the Graduate School of Education – and I am having really useful (if a bit exhausting) discussions with colleagues about everything from designing online surveys, to the use of mobiles for schools and parents to communicate, to the government’s plans to have interactive whiteboards in every classroom!
  • the IT services are great – thanks to the IT Service@Peking University.  It is brilliant to have wireless access in my office and ethernet in our hotel room.  Mind you, I do wish that I did not have so many e-mails from my other lives that need to be answered!
  • The diversity of places to buy food is overwhelming – there are just so many, and such a diversity of different tastes and textures
  • I even bought a very palatable bottle of Great Wall Cabernet Sauvignon on campus last night for RMB 34 (about £3.50) – the first wine to have passed my lips since arriving!

The photos below give just a flavour of the diversity and intensity of life here.  Thanks to all those who have made Pam and me feel so welcome here at Beida!

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March 27, 2011 · 2:32 pm

八達嶺 – The Great Wall at Badaling

An early rise, and then a couple of bus journeys north took us to the Great Wall at Badaling.  Without Chen Fei to guide us, we would never have found our way there and back by local transport!  However, this definitely added to the adventure.  On arrival, we chose to head south-westwards up the Wall, rather than north-east where most of the other visitors seemed to be heading.  Even in March, though, the Wall was crowded, as the pictures below illustrate.  It is an amazing construction, and it is hard to imagine the scale of the effort that went into its creation! Building the Wall across such inhospitable environments was an extraordinary feat!

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March 26, 2011 · 1:48 pm

故宫 – The Forbidden City

When I first visited Beijing in January 2004, I remember being amazed by the grandeur and beauty of the Forbidden City, experiencing it on a very cold day with almost no-one there.  Returning today, in late March, the queues to enter were long, but the Palace somehow swallowed them all up.  It had lost nothing of its impressive beauty and splendour.  As well as the sheer scale of the buildings and courtyards, much of its beauty lies in the detail of the paintings and carvings.  It is the small hidden courtyards of the north-eastern corner where much of its special enchantment can be found. The Forbidden City is by far and away the most impressive building complex I have ever visited.

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March 24, 2011 · 12:21 pm

First signs of Spring at Peking University

The blossom has just started opening around Weiming Lake on Peking University’s campus.  It’s a beautiful place simply to wander around in the early evening before the sun sets and the temperature drops to around freezing.

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