2 months after the last CC, here I am again, from Gate 19 of Shanghai’s International Airport! In one hour I’ll be flying to Europe on holiday. I hope to catch up with some of you in Berlin!

First of all, I’m fine: despite the SARS panic throughout the globe, here life goes on as usual. The Chinese are totally cool (maybe too cool?) while foreigners are haunted by relatives and friends calling from Europe and wanting them back. Up to now, there APPEAR to be no cases of SARS in Changzhou or in the Jiangsu Province.

While the Chinese travel uncaring throughout China, I prudently postponed my trip to Guangdong and spent the first sunny weekends of Spring to explore Changzhou by bike and visit Qingdao, which turned out to be an extremely pleasant place to be.

Qingdao

Qingdao is conveniently located on the coast, North of Shanghai and South of Beijing. I was mainly impressed by 2 things:

- it’s the first real “sea town” I visit in China

- It almost felt like being in Germany

  Beach Nr.6 in Qingdao

Let me explain this last statement. The Germans governed Qingdao for fifteen years at the beginning of the century and left permanent signs of their passage: the most important brewery in China (Tsingtao), German architecture all over town, protestant and catholic churches and… even taxi drivers fasten their seatbelts!

(ok, this was slightly overstated: they don’t fasten them for real, but at least they fake it. I automatically fastened mine and I didn’t get the astonished look I always get in Changzhou when I do).

  Sunset in Qingdao

For other pictures of Qingdao click here.

The new CBC canteen

The biggest news of the last two months has been the introduction in CBC of a canteen for “Foreign and Chinese superior directors” – as the sign reads. Of course this title applies to all foreigners with no exceptions: even the Grades (like me) are admitted.

The initial idea had been to include one Western dish in the menu. After three days of Chinese experiments (and after half of the Italians decided they would rather not have lunch), I asked out of curiosity and they explained to me that there was indeed a western dish: spring rolls. Aha.

Now when we want a break from fried Chinese specialties me and the other Grades eat some fruit on the riverside of the Imperial Channel (one of the most important commercial routes, connecting Beijing all the way down to Shanghai). It can be a very noisy picnic, with the roar of the boat engines in front of us and the noise of the cars headed to Nanjing behind us.

Nonetheless observing the channel can be very interesting - some very interesting loads pass now and then – but earplugs are highly recommended.

     the Imperial Channel

Physical Exercise

If you happen to be up early, walking in a Chinese town (it rarely happens to me), you will notice that Chinese, especially the elderly, have a very profound culture of physical wellness. Parks and gardens are full with people exercising (typically Taijiquan, but if you are lucky you can see spades).

Sword Taiji Quan

Every day at 7 pm, around 20 old ladies meet near my hotel and do some exercises on the sidewalk in front of the supermarket. Sometimes they use red handkerchiefs or fans.

In the next pics, the 10 minutes of morning exercise for the employees of a department store on the main square of Changzhou.