Black Swan : Black or White

Dear Friends,
   image from www.wwt.org.uk
 
Swan is always associated with the color White for a long long time, until someone spotted a black swan in Australia.
Some may argue that black swan is NOT “swan” because it does not have color white that has been very much a package of  “swan characteristics”. Maybe it should be called [...]

PRC : 60th Birthday (一甲子, “yi jia-zi”)

Dear Friends,
   image from shanghaiist.com
Today  The People’s Republic of China celebrated its 60th birthday. It is a spectacular, comparing the moment Chairman Mao Zedong declared the birth of the PRC and how far China has come to achieve against the various odds.
Some people have tried to explain that “中国” is short-form for ”中华人民共和国 ”, which of course [...]

Tail of Summer Heat: 处暑 (Chu Shu)

Dear Friends,
   image from biggestmenu.com
Didn’t realise that we are more than 2 weeks past 立秋 (“Li Qiu”, Aug 7).
立秋 (Aug 7) this year is kind of interesting because at 12:34:56 hour that day, we have a number line 12:34:56:7,8, (200)9. Sorry for digression.
I have addressed the meanning of 立秋 (“Li Qiu”) in posting Character of Autumn.
One [...]

The Empire Strikes Back

Dear Friends,
 
 image from www.coverbrowser.com

Went to cinema for “Red Cliff 2″(赤壁:決戰天下) yesterday, the trigger for  writing this posting. Important as it is with the problem so close to us, find it rather hard to write to creat a higher awareness on avian flu. Most think it is about the birds, not us humans.
The resevouir of H5N1 is [...]

Strengthen your Middle Qi

Dear Friends,
 As per posting 己丑年 (Ji Chou Year) : 2009, Year of Ox, the Middle Qi is vulnerable here. We have elaborated how the 5 Qi’s interact with each other in posting Revision : 4 Seasons and 24 Jieqi (节气) and other previous postings.
Here’s a simple formula to strenghten your Middle Qi.
1. 党参  (dang shen)            9g
2. 炙甘草 (zhi gancao)      6g
3. 大枣 [...]

Revision : 4 Seasons and 24 Jieqi (节气)

Dear Friends,
Just couple of diagrams to refresh some of the ideas discussed in past postings.
image from www.coa.gov.tw
Traditionally, the 24 Jieqi diagram should be reversed, i.e., Chun-fen （春分) on the left hand side and Qiu-fen(秋分) on the right hand side with an clockwise direction. (In the above diagram, it moves in anti-clockwise direction, starting from Qiu-fen).
To [...]

己丑年 (Ji Chou Year) : 2009, Year of Ox

Dear Friends,

image from www.dailymail.co.uk/news
Yesterday was December 26. It was Boxing Day.
It was also the 1st day of 12th Month of Chinese Calendar. So 春节, “Chun Jie”, Chinese New Year) is just a month away.  It is Ox Year.
For purposes of observing the cosmic forces of 己丑年 (Ji Chou Year), it will start  from Jan 20 [...]

冬至 (“Dong Zhi”) – Longest Night in Northern Hemisphere

Dear Friends,

image from yeinjee.com/food/2007/12/

Today is December 21, 2008, the Winter Solstice of  this Wuzi Year.
This is an important day in a year, and should be celebrated with enthusiasm and optimism.
冬至 (Dong Zhi) literally means the Peak of Winter, when the night is the longest in Northern Hemisphere in the year and thereafter it will get [...]

ch request 2 : Leadership and Crisis Management

Dear Friends,
  image from www.britannica.com.
 
The last 10 days have seen quite a few crises for leaderships all over the world to deal with :

contaminated dairy products from China,

the melt-down of US financial sector,

badawi fighting for another day in office,

run on Bank of East Asia (my friend’s Uncle’s bank !)

Typhoon Hagupit blasting ROP, HK and Guangdong,

etc etc [...]

What’s in a name ? That which we call a Rose

Dear Friends,
    
image from  www.bbc.co.uk /  asymptotia.com/ publicoccurrenc
 
There were much racist remarks in the bolehland of late. Be it a sign of increased polarisation or crude political plot, it is timely to Have a Pavilion and look at this from a distance.
I have commented earlier about the story of the seven blind men, each insisting that his [...]