French Tourism focus on Chinese outbound market

French Tourism focus on the Chinese outbound market

At Tourism Conference 2014 were concluded last week in Paris, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius announced, on behalf of the French government, an arsenal of new measures for the promotion of tourism to to revitalize the French tourism and transform it into a major strategic area so that France retains its position as the leading tourist destination in the world. The implementation of these new measures should bring concrete benefits to tourists visiting France.

Chinese outbound market

At the closing ceremony of Assisi, Laurent Fabius said that the aim was that France "remains the first tourist destination in the world", and the minister has presented in detail the new strategy of the French government for the development of tourism-oriented around five key guidelines covering the entire chain of the tourism industry, namely: tourism resources quality and diversified, improved reception, scanning, enhanced staff training and the right to public holidays. Since his appointment in April as head of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development newly redesigned, Laurent Fabius, in charge of foreign trade and tourism, spares no effort to "sell" the French tourism seizing every opportunity. "France has rich tourism resources. It is the largest tourist destination since the 1980s, "he has said.

Tourism provides nearly 2 million jobs in France

"But what is regrettable is that France occupies the third place in terms of tourism revenue, behind the United States and Spain, and although the country hosting the largest number tourists, "says he. Naturally frustrating situation for the Minister, who is very attached to the concept of "economic diplomacy." At present, tourism provides nearly 2 million jobs in France and the sector accounts for only 7% of French GDP. Tourism as a strategic sector for France and further promote employment and economic recovery are the main motivations behind the decision of the French President François Hollande to erect tourism "great national cause."
At the closing ceremony, professionals and managers of French tourism repeatedly used the terms "Chinese market" and "Chinese tourists." Last year, France has welcomed 1.5 million Chinese travelers, and a new record could be established this year, because of the fiftieth anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations. The considerable increase in the number of Chinese tourists and the huge potential of the Chinese market are subject to great attention to France.

Laurent Fabius and the Chinese VISA

Regarding the issue of tourist safety of current concern Chinese travelers, Laurent Fabius assured that the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve had planned an increase of 20% of police force in the major Paris attractions as well as the creation of specialized brigades of land to the Gare du Nord and the Champs-Elysées. Laurent Fabius also said he had asked the telecom operators to study and develop specific computer systems to send SMS in Chinese Chinese tourists upon their arrival in France, to tell them that contact in case of emergency. He added that it should also send SMS to travelers before their departure for France to provide important information. According to him, the logic is very simple because "the traveler will not return if they are not satisfied." While the UK has recently announced its intention to launch measures to simplify procedures for visa applications for Chinese tourists, France initiatives will increase the attractiveness of French tourism, reflecting a some hidden rivalry between the two countries. After all, who would pass up a colossal than the Chinese group tourists

See also :
http://ins-globalconsulting.com/blog/content/work-visa-china
http://ambafrance-us.org/

Textile workers paid Higher in China than in Eastern Europe

Textile workers paid Higher in China than in Eastern Europe 

A survey conducted by the Clean Clothes Campaign in ten eastern states members of the EU, including Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia showed that working conditions are sometimes worse than in China and Indonesia, explode the myths about the "Made in Europe" label.

Companies such as H & M, Zara, Hugo Boss, Adidas and Benetton pay their workers in Eastern Europe and Turkey, the legal minimum wage, which is under the poverty line as defined by the European Committee of Social Rights .
Moldova and Ukraine have the lowest net minimum wage to € 71 and € 80 per month respectively. Croatia has the 'highest' of the study area with € 308 per month, which is still "well below a living wage," the study showed.
In China, the minimum wage is 175 € and 196 € in Malaysia.
"By profession I am an economist. But due to lack of employment opportunities that I sew. Here, people work like robots. No rest. Nerves are ruined, the eyes are spoiled, "said one anonymous Bulgarian worker on the website of the campaign. Interviewed workers also complained of not being able to take days off, or even get sick. Romanian workers admitted that, despite the lowest minimum wage is so low, they were not yet able to earn that amount, and were forced to work overtime, the researchers write.
These workers are often forced to work up to 200 hours per month, the survey found. A Bulgarian worker even said to have worked "up to 400 hours per month." "In practice, the minimum wage is often the ceiling instead of the bottom line for wages," according to the Clean Clothes Campaign.
Three million garment workers
The Clean Clothes Campaign, composed of trade unions and NGOs in 16 European countries, found that formal and informal, three million workers are affected by these working conditions drama. Given the average of three people per family in the area, meaning that nine million people depend on the garment industry and footwear.
"Wages of poverty in this sector therefore have a direct impact on the livelihoods of those 9 million people and limit their chances of overcoming poverty and homelessness to poverty", highlights the report.
Disclaimer of pregnancy Hugo Boss
For women, the working conditions become worse, the study showed. In addition to often being sexually harassed by their employers, a group of Turkish workers admitted "signed a pledge not to fall pregnant in the next five years" in their contract with Hugo Boss. "One of the workers surveyed said one of his colleagues decided to have an abortion because she feared losing her job because of" breach "of the contract," the study said. In many countries, women are the sole breadwinners, having to take care of their parents and their children at the same time. Many are also single mothers, and having a contract - a contract - this is their only chance to get paid health insurance, as is the case in Macedonia.
"Testimonies of women show the compression triple, triple burden they feel: who is responsible for the family by doing paid work, care work, and growing vegetables to subsidize their low wages," the Clean Clothes Campaign writing.
The strong dependence of women on their use is an additional opportunity for these employers to put pressure on women workers to accept worse working conditions, they conclude.
A survey of four production sites Hugo Boss Croatia and Turkey also showed that workers were denied the right to collective bargaining, workers were intimidated, and women have been victims of sexual harassment. In an email response to EurActiv, the company said it "rejects the allegation and referred evidence has never been shown to us. Hugo Boss works with selected manufacturers with which the company has established relationships confidence for many years. for this reason, companies are well known to us. accordance with our social and safety standards will be monitored regularly by independent external audits as well as our own team Hugo Boss "consultants. In most of these countries, laws have been put in place to make it more difficult for unions to be accepted as they propagate anti-union sentiments and employers have had an anti-union pressure "always justified by the difficult situation sector and international competition. "
"The unions expressed ruin businesses [...] and the government interferes pro management," the researchers found.

Hugo Boss Germany rejected the study's accusations in an emailed response to EurActiv:

“We clearly reject the allegation mentioned and a proof has never been shown to us. Hugo Boss is working with selected manufacturers, with whom the company has established trustful relationships for many years. For this reason, the companies are well-known to us. Compliance with our safety and social standards is monitored regularly in independent audits by external consultants as well as by our own Hugo Boss teams.
Our Hugo Boss social standards are based on the conventions of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and they entail numerous measures to ensure minimum wages and regulated working hours, health and safety at the workplace and the prohibition of child labor.
There can be no talk of illegal practices towards our workers and there can also be no talk of paying poverty wages, as we take strict care of our partners complying with at least the legal minimum wage, as is usual for the industry and the entire sector.”

The study also showed widespread "practice of wage theft" in the region, such as theft of leave, cash payments, non-payment of social security contributions, misuse of probation and learning arbitrary deduction for various reasons. There was also pay discrimination and minorities, refugees and migrants.
recommendations
The Clean Clothes Campaign calls on governments and the European institutions "to the minimum wage immediately spend at least 60% of the national average wage and require multinational companies accountable for their actions along the supply chain and to ensure that brands respect the rights and the rights of workers "
source 
http://daxueconsulting.com/the-electronic-component-market-in-china/
http://machine-technologie.blogspot.fr/2014/06/la-chine-se-robotise.html

Volkswagen Kombi stop touching farewell commemorative video "wishes"

Volkswagen Kombi stop touching farewell commemorative video "wishes"

Volkswagen Kombi at December 31, 2013, in Brazil officially discontinued, so far, the car 63-year epic journey came to an end. Volkswagen Kombi classic "van" experienced scenery 63 years, has set off a hippie family, set off surfers, also is developing practical models of consumers.


Kombi van in the historic occasion of discontinued Volkswagen models launched to commemorate this section advertising campaign. After collecting himself and to the world Kombi story, the film called "wishes" (Last Wishes) commemorative video talk from the perspective of the Kombi parting words.



source：
http://yingxiao-daren.com

http://blog.163.com/gyz521125zyg@yeah/blog/static/91786993201452011743442/

Ten Chinese tourists travel vacation destination

Ten Chinese tourists travel vacation destination

According to experts in the global hotel booking site Hotels.com Chinese New statistics show that the National Day Golden Week, close to tourist destinations in Asia to attract Chinese tourists visiting to become the biggest winner, charm underestimated.

Hotels.com statistics in China during the most beloved tourist destinations outside the National Day, the nine Asian cities including Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok is among the top ten. In addition to the exclusive big half in Asia this year, Chinese tourists visa relaxation of the United States a place among the U.S. cities of Las Vegas National Top Ten Chinese tourists travel destination fifth place, while other cities in the western countries missed the top ten list.

Source：
http://www.parisshoppingtour.com/ch/index.html
http://tripsinchina.wordpress.com/

Future tourism APP book ratio will be more than 60%

Future tourism APP book ratio will be more than 60%

qunar.com CEO Zhuang Chen Chao in the "2014 Netease future technology summit" to share the three major trends in the online travel industry development and upgrading, including the phone book, dynamic programming, and personalization.

The first is the phone book, Zhuang Chen Chao think in the next five years airline tickets, hotel reservations will be based entirely online, which accounted for completion by the mobile client will be as high as 60% -70%. "At present, China has nearly 50% of ticket orders are completed online, online orders accounted for some of the lower areas of the hotel. Accompany the mobile Internet trend, flights, hotel reservations can be better used in mobile scenarios, so the phone will be trend of the industry, the market will expand 3-5 times the cake, these increments almost always on the phone to complete. "

Zhuang Chen Chao example, where to order tickets for the newly launched phones in the past year, sales increased by 12 times, in May this year and the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, ticket sales reached 100,000 middleweight, to multiple growth next year will be more than 20 times.

Followed by a tour of dynamic programming, in a dramatic change. The traditional ticket pricing, marketing programs are very complicated, on the one hand is not enough dynamic programming, and does not reflect the current market structure, the introduction of a more advanced stage OTA revenue management concepts, to do real-time search through dynamic pricing behavior of consumers, submitted for airlines and hotels, and improve overall profitability, which also is a major change in the industry.

Once again, socialization, personalization trend, due to the tourism products and services will be more focus on the user experience, so these new products like Uber would overturn the car rental, hotels and other companies, the tourism industry innovation around these directions will be carried out in the future.

source
http://www.fazhongzhijia.com/
http://www.traveldaily.cn/

Jingdong 618: Save money fighter

Jingdong 618: Save money fighter

"Save Money" has been the theme of business promotion, in order to attract consumers in the marketing war, we must "save money" in a different way.

Jingdong latest on-line advertising 618 anniversary film, we can see Jingdong on the "save money" to abandon the concept of "how much money you could save," spread the inertia of thinking, but wonderful in the end by telling the audience can save money in life to what extent the province to achieve instant results attract attention.

This series is currently in "save money, so why" as the theme has started running commercials on television and major video sites, and synchronize promotion letters on weibo and other social media.

Jingdong few pieces of this TVC with a simple lens and humorous way, the "save money" to the extreme performance, the audience laugh at the same time, points out the "save money， so why" promotional theme.

http://v.qq.com/cover/a/anih5b8xz9cdw7z.html?vid=r0129ctg2r5

http://v.qq.com/cover/a/anih5b8xz9cdw7z.html?vid=l0129ficl3g


http://v.qq.com/cover/a/anih5b8xz9cdw7z.html?vid=q0129fj0utu

Why Tour China?

As a tour operator to China for the past 25 years, I have  come in contact with many people  who inquire about China.  Sometimes one partner is not as excited about going on a tour as the other but is going along with it.  Mostly it is a lack of information or pre-conceived ideas about China but both become excited about their trip when they return.  I have travelled throughout China for 26 years.  During the off season my wife and I have travelled to many other countries for several years.   Although each country has it's distinctive culture and sights; China I think has the most diverse sights to offer with over 57 different nationalities each with it's own culture and dress. You can visit as many as 20+ cultures in one or two provinces.  As example, one culture does not marry and lives around a fairy tale like lake in the mountains.  Another once a couple marry, the man retires and the women do all the work. :-)  Another culture the men sleep in one room and the women in another and each has a different entrance to their house.  These are just examples.  Each area of the country is quite different and there is so much to offer.  I have made over 50 trips to China and I never tire of my travels there as there are always new things to see and do.  I retired early at 47 from a business career and needed something to do.  I visited China with a business friend in 1989 and saw first hand a country in transition from ancient ways to modern ways and wanted to watch the progress of this large country.  It has been exciting to say the least to watch both their economic progress as well as the social changes such as the one child policy amongst others.  As they have had more exposure to the West, the changes in China have been rapid.   I continue to scour the countryside to find places that are not changing as fast since the young people want to leave the countryside and go to the larger cities for as they say  "For a better life".  Ancient China with all its fantastic sights and modern China with their fast trains, modern airports, (continued below)

architecture, and preserved sites has become a mecca for tourists from all countries.   Be sure put China on the top of your list of countries to visit in the future.  You can check my web site at  

www.interlakechinatours.com 

Hanhan microblogging marketing

"Will be no subsequent period, sometimes together, July 24 release." - At 9:05 on May 29, a famous writer, director, racers, thousands of otaku father Han issued such a micro-blog. After 24 hours, a good report card was born: 330000 forwarding, 90,000 comments, and 150,000 points praise. So far, the amount forwarded this microblogging has more than 37 million times.

Forwarded within 24 hours 330 000 What is the concept? Another strong opponent of the data may be used as reference: When GJM released "Little Age 3" trailer microblogging forwarding number within 24 hours of 26 million people, the official micro then said excitedly, "Crack the record, simply can not stop down. " The amount of microblogging forward Han "no period after" catch-up this figure, only half the time.

Yes, in terms of social media alone, "will have no period" has been created in the history of the most popular trailer. Han is how to do it?

the video：http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzE4NjI4ODQw.html
No period after the pilot trailer

If you put half a year ago - at that time, "no period after the" No boot - Han microblogging probably will not appear so grand. January 6, 2014, Han announced his directorial identity. After six months in the number of newly released microblogging Han almost more than the sum of the past. This is also the Han since April 1, 2012 since the reopening of microblogging, microblogging issued the highest frequency for some time.

Han humor is consistently sharp text style, which makes him a natural built-in "Satin Hands" attribute. So, when Han improved after the microblogging activity, everything moving in the direction of the masses loved. For the "satin hand" evaluation, so Han responded ↓

A person becomes satin hand is not difficult, the difficulty is to let a group of people to become satin hand. As often in micro-Bo Han po few stills, microblogging under review were slowly changed ↓

In this case, users are beginning God replies trend has now towering, Han also noted that his choice is: courage from black, to continue the challenge. This is the result of the challenge ↓

In Han's "provocation", netizens comment gradually collapse, simply can not stop. Large piece is hand eagerly eyeing comments only stay mettle, fame. For example, this ↓

Such ↓

There are so ↓

Even just send a simple reply punctuation is still difficult to escape the fate of God ↓

After promotion to the national father and Uncle Brother ↓

Obviously melancholic content or would lead to such comments ↓

So since Black became a habit ↓

When netizens have forwarded as a habit, "under a" hot is not difficult to foresee. "Will have no period" Pilot microblogging released the night before, Han microblogging notice: "fixed gear trailer, tomorrow 9:00 See bless me not to upload the wrong video.." Fans immediately reply quipped: " satin hand who open tomorrow at nine-time test. remember to bring the ticket and 2B pencil. "

Whether intentional or unintentional, Han microblogging gradually became a fertile ground for the growth of the satin hand, the exposure also increased significantly, which is "no period after the" microblogging outbreak has laid a solid foundation. Of course, in addition to the hands and love pink satin, Han their influence and power of its circle of friends also not be underestimated. Through the "no period after the" pilot microblogging large third-party data analysis software, transponder 33 million people, more than 30% of the figure is made up of people and add user-contributed V, Overheating Ningcai Shen nearly 8,000 large V, "New Weekly" and other media officials are involved in the topic of micro-propagation.

So, microblogging play well what is the use? Listen to the other associated data: "no period after the" trailer was released, within 24 hours Youku trailer-on-demand will reach 3.4 million peak, more than the sum of Youku notice 24 hours after the annual peak-demand film. As the final box office, guess what?

source：
http://www.adquan.com/post-8-27607.html
http://marketinginchina-gary.blogspot.com/

Travelzoo: The world will greet the new wave of Chinese tourists

Travelzoo: The world will greet the new wave of Chinese tourists

 The world's leading online travel site Travelzoo Asia Pacific markets open up in 2007 to recommend Special features of tourism products, Travelzoo Asia Pacific CEO Ye Tiancheng those who want to help and guide the new generation of Chinese tourists began traveling around the world for the first time.

Travelzoo Asia Pacific currently has 3.6 million users, with offices in the Asia Pacific region 5. The difference is that the traditional travel agency, Travelzoo to provide users with a limited, high cost of travel and gourmet special offers every week. 叶天成 said Travelzoo Asia Pacific revenue was 20 percent of the current annual growth, so do the expansion in preparation. He talked with reporters Pacific tourism market prospects and the company's business plan.

Q: How do you see changes in the next decade, Asia-Pacific tourism market is going to happen?

A: Asia-Pacific tourism largely depends on the momentum of high economic growth. China itself is a very big tourist market. Chinese first-tier cities tourists generally younger, have a higher disposable income. They prefer to explore and adventure, a high degree of freedom of the individual tend Walks, by their own travel arrangements.

Tier city's economy is also rising, affluent mainlanders still swim team produced mainly by tour bus, in the Chinese outbound guided tours, group tours are also extremely concerned about this kind of price, 50 yuan for the difference will be very different.

Currently 70% of outbound travel team, 30% is a personal exercise. This is 30% of the population concentrated in the exercise of first-tier cities, and the growth rate than the team travel much faster. Number of exercise of 60% of the annual increase in the next decade but will show explosive growth.

Q: For this is being done overseas travel market to prepare?

A: Everyone is talking about Chinese tourists, who want to give the impression that the Chinese people to leave hospitable. Chinese tourists Hotel Group prepared a Chinese tea room, also has a large breakfast gruel, shops and reception Chinese people have the habit of Chinese staff, to facilitate the exchange of Chinese tourists. This is the case in Australia's Gold Coast, 80 Japanese tourists received another similar, however, and many shops and restaurants began offering Japanese prices and menu.

There are many tourists personalized requirements. Traveling by car, critically swim, especially to overseas study tours tours. These are clear, the purpose of a strong tourist types.

But national tourism destination if there is sufficient capacity to accept so many Chinese tourists do? We take Hong Kong as an example. Now you see more and more of a boutique hotel and serviced apartments in mainland greet visitors. Short rent serviced apartments in the past usually accrue at least three months, and now has been shortened to five days at least. These are the Chinese mainland tourists to make a response to market demand.

Q: How do other countries in the Asia-Pacific market?

A: Asian emerging markets will be the driving force for growth in the next decade global tourism. American and European markets have been quite mature. Information from emerging markets shows that people in these countries want to go out and see the world. How do we guide and help them travel? How to provide a convenient tool for them, let them travel easier?

We can give these Walks Chinese guests a chance, for example, can go to Madison Square Garden Arena to watch a NBA basketball game, and the United States Travelzoo users to enjoy the same price. Ctrip and eLong can also get a ticket, but because they are through intermediaries, the fee would not to our advantage.

Q: Travelzoo Asia is how to expand the business? What are the competitors?

A: We have 3.6 million subscribers in the Asia Pacific. Of which one million users in Japan Japan, China 1.1 million, 440,000 Hong Kong, Australia has 750,000.

From the revenue point of view, China and Japan each accounted for 33% of our Asia-Pacific business. Ctrip and eLong services in the Chinese domestic market services, we have some competition and TripAdvisor, but the amount they are run, and we are very precise. In addition, tourism is our rival Yahoo, OTA, although some other contenders, but they also buy traffic from us.

Q: How to expand your business?

A: Travelzoo development for 15 years and survived the previous global economic crisis. The reason we survived is simple: stick quality content.

We release products must undergo a rigorous evaluation, research and testing. We only publish high-quality products, in order to retain high-quality subscribers. These two basic principles, is the holy grail Travelzoo went today.

Large domestic Internet companies Sina and Ctrip and we are trying to do similar things, but they tend to no avail, they are difficult to grasp the key elements of these special offers. Every week, we spent 20 effort behind the product and the workload is huge.

The next phase of growth should come from Travelzoo strategic cooperation with local Chinese companies. Many Western companies trying to enter the Japanese and Chinese markets, but all ended in failure because it alone.

After eBay has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in China, the result is not a player worthy of attention. Google in China is not worth mentioning. U.S. online travel giant Expedia to form a joint venture to enter the Chinese market, the situation is not good. TripAdvisor TripAdvisor is in China. These companies are underperforming in China.

We do not intend to complete the next stage on their own alone. We look forward to seek further growth of strategic cooperation, and this partner will realize the value of Travelzoo bring Chinese tourists.

source：
http://www.traveldaily.cn/article/80715.html
http://touristchinese.wordpress.com/

Interaction with followers on sina weibo

Interaction with followers on sina weibo

When a company decides to create a weibo account, the brand building and selling products are the main goals. And no matter which is the priority, you should have a large number of followers. How to interact with them and maintain the influence among these people become essential for the company.

Pay more attention to the followers. Some are really customers, and some of them might not be potential customers, but they do keep in touch with your brand and products. There is a great chance that they might provide an access to your targets. So keep patient and select some tweets to reply or retweet which is easy to explain your products or raise a good reputation of the brand. Make it a continual move and cover utmost followers, showing your respect and sincere.

Act professionally and interesting. The brands well-known as their good performances on weibo like durex and T-mall. They tweet interesting pictures and some jokes created by themselves adding their own styles. Creativities and interesting things keep followers’ attention and professional tweets and replies help build brand reputations. Some companies could give advice for unique products’ features, and that will help to establish the authority in the industry and develop closer relationship with the customers and followers.

Target clearly. The account should find a group of potential customers or people who cares about these products. Understanding what they really want to know, and release the exact information they need. Thus it will be efficient to spread the right content to the right people.

Bring benefit to your followers. There are all kinds of activities online, they encourage and reward retweeting spreading the brand or a certain product. This will bring a large scale of attention for some time. Followers look through your content and retweet to their friends, appealing more audience for your public account. Maybe you can get an opportunitiy to release some QR codes or discount in the online shops,

Set up some groups to guide. Groups are rarely seen on the weibo marketing, but when you as a public brand account reply some questions directly explain the confusion coming from potential customers professionally, it will show an image that your company is mature skilled and willing to help. And when a company is not advertising blindly all the time, the audience will think of it trustworthy and helpful, which is good for it to run some activities in the long term.

Cave of a Thousand Buddhas, Goddess of Mercy, and Reflection on Time in China

It's been a while since I last blogged, but let me share with you some of our recent experiences.  We had a really fun Easter and the kids decorated small baskets for the Easter bunny.  Evelynn and Lucy kept asking if the Easter bunny would come to China.  I explained that I was fairly certain he would be coming to China.  They then said, "Isn't the Easter bunny a girl?"  I told them no and that he looked a lot like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  Stacie says I use too much humor that goes way over their heads, but I'm doing it to amuse myself, not them.  We ended up having three different Easter parties.  The first was done through the American Studies Center.  We invited students from HNU and other members of the community and their children to dye Easter eggs and to do an Easter egg hunt.  Our egg hunt got rained out and we had to do it indoors, but it was still fun.  The better Easter egg party was done at a local park called Wang Ling near our apartment.  All of the small children from Annie's class and their families got together to dye eggs and again to have an egg hunt.  It was really fun.  There's not much to say about it as it was very much like something we would do in America, except with Chinese people everywhere.  I've posted some pictures of it below. We also went down to the Parreno's house in Xiangtan and did an Easter egg hunt with them.  It was really a nice visit because spring was in the air and there were these beautiful pink blossoms on many of the trees.  After such a freezing winter, we have all been very happy to see so much vegetation coming back.

We also had the opportunity to travel to another city in Hunan province called Loudi.  It is the hometown of a former student of mine, Xue Fang (Alice), who I recruited two years ago to come to SUU.  For some reason, she felt so grateful for me "making her dream come true" to go to study in America and wanted to repay our family somehow.  We really tried to be her family and help her feel comfortable when she was at SUU and she REALLY wanted us to go to Loudi to meet her family so they could show us some things in their area.  To be honest, it is sometimes hard to travel on these smaller excursions with all the children and they get really tired, but we try to be strong because these opportunities will not come again.  Although we had some reservations about traveling to Loudi (which we really knew nothing about other than that Alice's family lived there), we ended up having such a wonderful time.  It was a beautiful city that was very clean by Chinese standards and not as crowded as other places we have been.  Also, being in the heart of Hunan province, it was very green and lush.  We were surprised and very impressed.

The train ride to Loudi was about 2 hours and Lucy and Evelynn were thrilled to take the slow train.  They were really disappointed when we took the high speed train to Beijing and then the slow train from Beijing to the Great Wall was set up like airplane or bus seating.  They wanted to ride on the slow train that has the bunk beds stacked up and they jam huge crowds of people into them.  In essence, they wanted the REAL Chinese train experience. Well, they got their wish.  We ended up riding the whole way to Loudi on these bunks and we all faced each other and talked.  Alice brought some duck meat that we snacked on and it was super spicy, but delicious.

When we got to Loudi, we were greeted by Alice's parents and they were immediately super sweet and hospitable.  They drove us to our hotel and we discovered that it was more expensive than we thought and they paid the difference.  Then, Alice's dad picked up a giant suitcase we packed for the whole family (very heavy) and he would not let me help him at all.  They were so concerned about how comfortable we were.  The rooms were very nice and spacious and we were very comfortable.  We did so many things while we were in Loudi that it's hard to list them all, but let me give you some highlights.  The most extravagant thing we did was took a paid tour from the city of Loudi to this incredible cave system.  The bus ride there was so fun because the entire tour was booked out by Alice's dad, who brought all of his friends and their family.  So, everyone was comfortable with each other.  The tour guide wanted us to entertain the guests by singing.  I'm sure my face exhibited complete shock when the tour guide wanted me to sing an American song to the passengers.  I think Stacie jumped in and helped me because I was struggling, but we managed to belt out Jingle Bells.  They loved it, cracking voices and all!

Once we arrived at the cave, we had to take a boat to get inside and then we could walk once we were inside.  The cave is said to have like a thousand buddha faces inside.  We saw many that were man-made and others were apparently "natural."  It kind of reminded me of the people seeing mother Mary's face in the grilled cheese sandwich.  If you look hard enough, you can see anything.  Alice kept telling me that this rock or that rock had Buddha's face in it.  I kept saying, "I don't see it" or "I think that's a bit of a stretch."  I know Alice pretty well now and feel comfortable telling her what I think, but I think Stacie might have thought I should just humor her.  It was a pretty impressive cave system with many unique and beautiful rock formations.  Sometimes the ceiling would drop very low and I would walk hunched over for hundreds of yards at a time.  That was a bit of challenge.  After the cave, we went to this enormous statue of the Goddess of Mercy.  As soon as we got out of the car, we all said "Wow, look at that huge statue!"  In the beginning, we had no idea where they were even taking us or that this statue even existed.  I had never heard of it before.  You can see from some of my pictures how spectacular it is.  Alice's parents told us that it hasn't been open to the public for more than a couple of years, so it's still new and not crowded.  I even tried to look up some information on it when I got home to our apartment and there wasn't much about it.  We felt privileged to be able to see it.  We had to climb hundreds of stairs to get to the top.  Once we were up there, we relaxed for a while and Nicolas did a wushu (kung fu) demonstration for all the other people at the top.  I thought it was very social of him and they loved his performance.  He had people clapping and congratulating him on having such good skills for a foreigner.  The view from the top was amazing.  There is a giant pond below the statue and we did not realize until we got to the top that the pond is in the shape of a giant lotus flower.  We've seen some beautiful things in China (especially with Zhangjiajie), but this view from the mountains outside of Loudi was some of the most stunning scenery we have witnessed.

We also did some other really unique and fun things.  We went to a 5D movie, which might be a little unfamiliar to you.  They also have 7D movies here.  If you have ever been on the Star Tours ride at Disneyland, you know something about how this works.  They put you in some seats that move mechanically with the motions on the screen.  During one movie scene where we flew over a volcano, we could smell something burning and when we went through a blizzard, they would blow snow out the ceiling at us.  The children absolutely loved it.  We also rented four seat bicycles and rode up and down the main river in Loudi.  We also had some quiet and more intimate moments with Alice's family.  They are such good people.  Alice's mom was very affectionate with the little girls and would hold Evelynn's hand as we walked various places.  Alice's dad would perform magic tricks for the boys.  And, Alice' grandparents invited us over for some delicious food at their house.  In short, we are so glad we went.

In terms of work and school, things have been much smoother this semester for me.  They dropped my course load down to a reasonable 3 classes (120 students) as opposed to the 7 classes (350 students) last semester.  I could totally handle it and manage my ASC responsibilities.  My student assistant, Karisa Rosander, has been amazing and all I really need to do this semester is be helpful at various activities and address any concerns that the higher ups might have about what we are trying to accomplish.  The highlight of the semester at the ASC in my opinion was a mother's day event that we held where we invited a Chinese mother and an American mother to speak to HNU students and members of the community about cultural differences in attitudes about motherhood.  Stacie and her dear friend, Lily, were outstanding.  I was so proud of Stacie for how much confidence she exhibited in talking to these young students about the importance of families and how much joy she gets from mothering our children.  At one point, a girl said "I'm afraid to have a baby because it's so painful and my body will change" or something like that.  Stacie looked right at her and said: "Let me tell you something...motherhood is NOT a disease!"  She said it with so much passion I was really proud of her.  She explained to these girls that they should not worry about the potential difficulties of pregnancy and that in the end it was all worth it.   I recorded the entire presentation and plan to transcribe it for our children. They did not attend the event because we wanted Stacie to be able to focus on her speech and the children would be absolutely bombarded at an activity like this. Unfortunately, the American Studies Center has persuaded some schlup from America to be the Father's Day speaker this month.  Any guesses who that might be?

I know this is a long blog already, but since we are winding down and I'm not sure I will have time to write another blog, I want to reflect a little on our overall experience here.    We have had a wonderful time overall in China, but our life here as been fraught with many difficulties as well.  I think it would be challenging for a single individual to adapt to a new culture, but it magnifies the challenge when you bring young children into the equation.   We were surprised to find that our children adapted much easier to their surroundings than we thought they would.  Now that we are in our last 3 weeks here of a ten month journey, we often reflect about what we have learned here.  First, we feel that we have experienced a level of kindness here that we have not seen before in America. There has been an outpouring of love and hospitality toward our family that truly makes us want to be better people when we return to the U.S.  We have also learned that there are specific nuances within American culture that we never think about that guide how we behave, how we make decisions, and how we communicate with others. I brought this unique set of assumptions about the world with me when I came to China and some of these attitudes clearly did not jive with the people in China.  I was initially surprised at how rude and inflexible the Chinese were in negotiating certain aspects of my job here, but over time I realized that I needed to adjust my thinking to accommodate a different worldview.  Now, I find the experience of communicating with the Chinese to be only slightly aggravating rather than completely paralyzing (joking a little obviously).  When I asked Stacie about her experience in China overall, she simply said she was "really glad she came" and that "she grew so much from the experience."  We often discussed certain metaphors in our family to help us cope with the challenges.  We describe our time in China as sort of like panning for gold.  You have to scoop up a great deal of seemingly useless dirt and mud to start extracting the gold flakes.  At times, it seemed our experience was all dirt and mud (such as freezing to death in our apartment with uninsulated walls  and trying to cook in our kitchen with a single hot plate), but then we would see these great aspects of Chinese culture that will forever change us.  We've seen the natural beauty of the physical surroundings here (Zhangjiajie--the inspiration for the film Avatar), learned to speak Mandarin very poorly, visited historic sites like the Great Wall, and spent time with real Chinese families and friends.  As a homeschooling family back in the U.S., we could not think of a better way to teach our children about their place in the world and how they can impact others in positive ways.

I also think my perspective on the world has actually broadened in a variety of ways. I now realize that there are some absolutely beautiful things about American and Chinese cultures, but also some less desirable things about each culture.  The Chinese have security and safety, but less personal freedom than Americans.  Americans have a great deal of freedom, but sometimes abuse that freedom.  Our family is squarely in the camp that chooses freedom in spite of its limitations, but it has been fascinating to live amongst a people that are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.  We knew once we started hearing Chinese people compare the tyrant and architect of the Chinese cultural revolution, Mao Zedong, to George Washington that we were clearly not on the same page politically or culturally.  We also discovered that the Chinese lead a much more simple life and I believe the simplicity can sometimes lead to greater happiness.  However, it's also difficult to live in a country that doesn't have the conveniences that we were used to back home.  The lessons we learned from this are: 1) We freely admit that we can't wait to go back home to have some of those conveniences; and 2) We could do with a lot less in our life and still be happy. It's an interesting sort of contradiction. The experience also refined my personal perspective on life and what is important. There is an incessant need in Chinese culture to be as successful as possible and this usually means monetarily.  I think it comes from most families having only one child and it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the one child to earn enough money to take care of his/her parents and also grandparents.  Seeing this really solidified my previous outlook that our relationships with others (particularly our family) is the most important thing and that success is a means of cultivating some happiness, but is not paramount when it detracts from other life pursuits.

I think I've also changed a great deal as a teacher too because China has such a drastically different educational system, it has really forced me out of my comfort zone.   The style of teaching and learning are completely different from America.  The Chinese teachers stand at the front of the room and talk (well I guess some teachers still do this in America) and the students simply listen.  There is typically very little, if any, participation from the students.  They will not raise their hands to ask questions and a class "discussion" is a really painful endeavor to try to instigate.  My teaching style in America consists of lecture, discussion, and many examples to illustrate key concepts. I try to make it an engaging environment when I can by bringing in news clips, videos, and popular culture examples to help student make connections.  In China, I tried to do the same thing, but was met with abysmal failure in the beginning.  I could not get the students to laugh at any of my jokes, discussions were painfully one-sided, and students had little interest in applying any of their new knowledge (they just want to memorize and regurgitate for the exam).  However, over time, the students warmed to my unorthodox and very foreign teaching style and would eventually speak up, albeit somewhat reluctantly, in class.  We ended up meeting in the middle and they learned some things about not only my discipline of Communication, but about alternative styles of learning.  And, consequently, I learned how to be a better teacher by realizing not all my students are alike even back home and that I need to be a bit more flexible in my approach to education. 

Today is Annie's last day of teaching her class and last day of tutoring her Chinese friend.  I finish my oral examinations on Monday and then will take about a week to grade them.  But, it's still a very busy month.  Our family is taking one last trip to Feng Huang (an ancient Chinese city) next week for 3 days.  Then, I go to an academic conference in Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) the week after that.  Once I return home to Changsha, I will conduct a few focus groups with Chinese students for a research project I'm working on and then we come home to America.  Everyone is a little anxious to return.   We are still having fun here, but it's hard not to think about our life back in America after being here for 9 1/2 month.  We only have 18 days to go, which seems crazy soon. 

They have grown a lot, but still no match for the strength of dad.

Lucy still not cooperating with pictures.

I'm always trying to convince these half Spanish half Ecuadorian children that America is the best country in the world.  Seems to be working.  Check at that flag she is waving.

Steins and Parrenos at Taozi Lake.

Lucy just loves Karisa and will follow her anywhere.

Newspaper clipping of first trip on the Changsha subway line.  They let all foreigners ride as a special promotion before the official grand opening.

Who invited the press?  Why are we such a big deal everywhere we go?

Decorating baskets for the Easter bunny.

The face says it all.

Annie teaching these children how to dye Easter eggs.

This guy in the middle is a total stranger.  He's just curious about what we are doing with these eggs.

Yep, we didn't invite them either.  Welcome to the party, pal.

Obstacle course at Wang Ling park is no problem for me even at 39 years old.

Stacie's first time trying stinky tofu.

Nicolas' first time trying stinky tofu.

Evelynn's first time trying stinky tofu.

Lucy refusing to try stinky tofu.

Cooking vegetables in a stone pot covered with foil.

Our makeshift ping pong table.

China is so second nature now.  Here we are in the train station waiting to go to Loudi.

Alice needed to take us to Loudi during the May Grave Sweeping holiday (like our Memorial Day) because she has school.  It was super crowded in the train station.

Here are the bunks on the slow train.

I nibbled a little on this turtle foot, but I kept hearing my cousin Lisa's voice in my heading saying, "How could you, Kevin?!" so I stopped. 

Nicolas eating squid in Loudi.

I love this picture.  It reminds me of the movie Reservoir Dogs.  If you haven't seen it, there is no hope for you.

Riding bicycles down by the river in Loudi.

The Chinese are very superstitious about the number 4.  Everywhere there would be a 4, they just put "f" for "four."

Beautiful spread of food at Alice's grandparent's house.  Wow!

Another picture with the grandparents.  Such sweet and kind people!

Well, if I forgot my underwear, I know my fancy hotel has me "covered."

We always run our kids around so much on these trips that by the end of the day they are wiped out.

View of the lotus-shaped pond from the top of the mountain near the Goddess of Mercy statue.

It's apparently good luck to rub Buddha's belly.

One goddess next to me and one behind me.

This Buddhist temple has like a thousand of these gold Buddha's.  Apparently, Chairman Mao with his supernatural powers (according to the Chinese) was able to determine which single one of these statues was real gold and the rest are fake.  Stacie must also have supernatural powers because she simply said, "I bet it's the one behind the glass."  It WAS.

Here, we are learning a little about the Buddhist temple.  People are inside praying, so it seems like it would be inappropriate to take pictures, but I did get permission in case you thought I was a total dunce.

Beautiful view of the Goddess of Mercy from the Lotus pond.

I'm not sure what Nicolas did to irritate this Chinese soldier.

The entrance to the cave about 2 hours from Loudi.

The Xue Family.  We have never received so much hospitality in our lives.

Two years ago, I met Alice when I came to HNU to teach for a month.  I recruited her to come to SUU where she came for a year and we got to see her there too.  Now, we are here in her home town.  It's nice to have good friends in China and America.

Ezra has an infected tooth and will need a root canal.  This picture is at our second visit to the Chinese dentist.  The first two trips were a little drilling and some treatment of an infection.  Then, next Friday they will do the root canal.  I hope they know what they are doing.  I have a little mistrust of Chinese medicine since nothing they have done for us all year has helped even a bit.  If it works, though, all three treatments cost 1000 RMB (about $150).  Pretty cheap for a root canal, right?  But, expensive if it doesn't work at all.  Poor Ezra! The picture above is Ezra holding the anesthetic that we had to purchase separately and bring to the dentist.  When they first started drilling without it, I was like "What the heck do you think you're doing?"  I had my friend who was translating tell them never again to drill without numbing.  They were like, "Well, if we want to be pampered, you'll have to pay extra for that!"  So, here is Ezra with his well worth it bottle of anesthetic for 40 RMB ($6.50).

I snapped this photo outside the window of a bus.  I just had to capture one of the hundreds of ladies riding around on scooters in their dresses and high heels.  A very frequent sight here in Changsha.

We see a lot of strange things in China.  This guys is headed to the market to sell his eels and he's just chillin' on the bus next to me.  Freaky.

I know public speaking and this one was awesome.

During the holidays, the trains are so crowded in China.  These guys don't have a seat so they have to stand for hours.