Dot of the World

Xin Nian Kuai le

2006-01-31T07:57:00.000Z

Xin Nian Kuai le (Happy Lunar New Year)!!

I have already come back to Hong Kong for good. I miss my London life a lot. My previous homes, the places I have been to, and all the friends I met in London in the past few years, are always in my mind.

My special tributes have to be sent to you. Thank you for giving me a lot of unforgettable experience. I do remember the time we chat with each other, and the moment we had, wherever in GC, in CSSD, in LICC, in CIAC, in Playback, in restaurants, in pubs, in churches, in the community centres, or any other places.

My dear friends, how are you?

29 January 2006 is the first day of the year of the dog. For Chinese people, we usually visit our relatives at their homes with presents and red pockets. We have New Year food like turnip pudding, taro pudding, sticky sweet year-pudding, and fried dumpling stuffed with sugar and peanut. We would say some greeting words like “Gong Xi Fa Chai” “Long Ma Jing Shen” “Wan Shi Ru Yi” to greet each other. People love dressing in red or other bright colours, which represents good luck and joy.

I have not celebrated the Chinese New Year for three years since I went to London. It was a wonderful time to see my relatives again. We updated our own recent news and showed our love and care to each other. My aunts and cousins were glad to see me, as we have not had such a sharing for a long time.

The tradition I found outdated and boring, is now turning to be a precious moment that I treasure a lot. I realise that the familial bonding is very important to the Chinese people, most modestly, is meaningful to me.

I have just written a New Year poem (hehehehe), which I would love to share with you:

Visits were made in the past few days,
many greeting words I had to say.
“Gong Xi Fa Chai” I said the most,
for greeting each other to earn at most.

Grandparents, uncles, and aunts
with many cousins running around,
gathered merrily in a small place
to eat, to drink and to play.

My aunt handed me a cup of tea,
for greeting me “Wan Shi Ru Yi”.
She gave me a pair of red pockets,
and wished me to earn a full basket.

Amongst all the relatives I found
the smallest infant who was playing around
She giggled and showed me her purple coat
Asked me whether it was beautiful

Her lovely face always makes me drown
Nothing I can say but only kiss sounds
When she shouted “aunt, aunt”,
Such satisfaction I have never found.

In the Chinese New Year we should stay
with the family members in home places
To love, to share, and to greet
each other for the prosperous days.

Make Poverty History vs WTO

2005-12-22T23:53:00.000Z

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Trade Justice Movement statement on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong (18 December 2005)

NO END TO POVERTY AS RICH COUNTRIES REFUSE TO DELIVER TRADE JUSTICE

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong (13-18 December) could have been a turning point in making poverty history. Rich countries had the capability to correct some of the gross imbalances in world trade at a strategically important moment in the so-called Doha ‘development round’ of trade talks. But the potential for justice for the world’s poorest people was squandered.

The WTO meeting failed to deliver the trade justice deal needed in 2005 to make poverty history. The intransigence of rich countries means the agreement reached is far from just for the poor of the world.

The positions taken by the major developed countries in Hong Kong favoured the rich over the interests of the world’s poor.

Outrageously, the developed countries, particularly the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), tried to use the WTO meeting to aggressively push forward their agenda to open the markets in developing countries for the interests of their corporations. This shameful abuse of power showed no respect for poor countries’ right to decide their own trade policies to help lift millions of people out of poverty and stop environmental damage.

Rich countries did not end the dumping of their agricultural products in developing countries. The EU and US have retained domestic agricultural subsidies that damage poor and vulnerable farmers in developing countries. Given this, the agreed date for ending export subsidies of 2013 amounts to a symbolic gesture. Until the dumping of all subsidised crops and products on to poor countries’ markets is ended, small-scale farmers face worsening poverty.

In one area trade justice campaigners have been calling for, special measures to protect vulnerable farmers in poor countries from liberalisation, there was some useful progress.

Despite standing together, the demands and concerns of developing countries have been repeatedly sidelined. In Hong Kong, strong-arm tactics and pressures were used to obtain agreement to the market-opening proposals of the developed countries.

The conduct of the EU negotiators was in such direct contrast to their stated commitment to development, that the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (of which MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY is the UK arm) demanded Europe’s trade commissioner Peter Mandelson remove the white band he wore in Hong Kong.

EU decision-makers have been quick to echo the words of trade justice campaigners when responding to the demands of the general public in 2005 but they have not changed their policies and practices.

The eyes of the growing global movement for trade justice will remain focused on the decision-makers who were in Hong Kong. Trade justice is crucial to make poverty history. Campaigners, encouraged by the solidarity shown across developing countries, will continue to stand alongside people across the globe in calling for an end to unfair trade.

As the WTO reconvenes at its headquarters in Geneva, we will continue to press the UK Government to act on all issues we are calling for - not just agriculture – in order to deliver trade justice as negotiations continue. It is equally vital that the UK Government take the necessary action within the EU to deliver a fair deal in these talks. We are not satisfied with empty rhetoric and political posturing. We need to see that they have a concrete understanding of the issues and the actions they must take to deliver trade justice.

The end of the Hong Kong WTO meeting marks the start of a renewed call from millions of people around the world as part of a bigger and stronger global campaign for trade justice.

The responsibility for the WTO failing to deliver trade justice in Hong Kong rests with rich countries. In Hong Kong, rich country governments did not show willingness to deliver trade justice. They have to take responsibility for the fact that the WTO, once again, failed to make the necessary changes to the unequal world trading system.

In 2005 G8 and other rich country leaders made several statements of principle against forced liberalisation and economic policy conditions attached to aid and debt relief. For developing countries to be able to protect and cultivate their economies, these words needed to be turned into action in Hong Kong. The need for such action is even more urgent as negotiations on the rest of the WTO round continue.

The continuation of injustices in trade will perpetuate poverty for generations. The progress in 2005 through increased aid and cancellation of some debt will not make poverty history without trade justice being delivered and no longer delayed.

For further verdicts and reports on the WTO from Trade Justice Movement member organisations see www.tjm.org.uk.

The demands of the campaign

For the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong (13-18 December 2005), MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Trade Justice Movement called on the UK Government and its partners in the European Union (EU) to:

• Stop pushing poor countries to open their economies through world trade talks and respect poor countries' right to decide on trade policies to help end poverty and protect their environment

In particular, the UK Government was called upon to use its influence within the EU to:

• Allow developing countries to shape trade policies that protect vulnerable farm sectors and promote national industries
• Allow countries to choose the best policies for poor people and the environment in services such as water, health and education

Throughout 2005, MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Trade Justice Movement demanded an end to the export and other subsidies that result in dumping, damaging the livelihoods of poor rural communities around the world.

Outcomes at the WTO Hong Kong meeting on the demands of the campaign

The right for developing countries to choose the best policies for poor people and the environment in services such as water, health and education

The services negotiations were one of the most contentious of the WTO meeting. Developing countries came under immense pressure to open up their markets to the developed countries’ multinational companies.

Despite their repeated rejection by developing countries, proposals put forward by developed countries continued to reappear in the declaration undemocratically. This result will threaten essential services throughout the world as poor countries will be pushed into negotiations that could see essential services such as water, health and education opened up to foreign competition. The outcome could also now impact drastically on the freedom of governments to choose pro-poor public policies.

The right to protect vulnerable farmers and promote national industries

The WTO meeting introduced the most extreme method of cutting the tariffs that stop industrial goods flooding into poor countries and destroying the sustainable development of their local businesses. This unfair competition from the established multinationals of rich countries raises the threat of massive job losses and lost revenue to poor country governments. What emerged in Hong Kong was the spectre of de-industrialisation rather than development.

There was some progress at the WTO in deciding the ways that farmers in poor countries might gain special protection. However, while useful, much remains unresolved and the threat to rural livelihoods in poor countries remains from liberalisation and products being dumped into their markets.

Ending the export and other subsidies that result in dumping

The EU and the US have retained the right to keep their domestic agricultural subsidies that damage poor and vulnerable farmers in developing countries. This means the dumping of agricultural products will still go on. In this light, a 2013 end date for the export subsidies is too late to be much more than a symbolic gesture. Until all dumping of subsidised crops and products on to poor countries’ markets is ended, poor farmers will be pushed further into poverty.

The strength of the campaign for trade justice

Campaigners in the UK and global civil society demanded throughout 2005 that rich countries fundamentally change their approach to trade talks for trade justice to be delivered and a genuine pro-poor trade deal to be reached.

2005 has been a unique year in the global fight for poverty eradication. Trade justice has the potential to play the leading role in making poverty history. Changes in international trade policy could dramatically improve the lives of millions of the world’s poorest women, men and children.

Over 35 million people worldwide took action this year to demand changes in international trade through the groups and alliances worldwide that are working together in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty alliance that includes MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

Campaigners across the world called for trade justice – for trade rules and policies that ensure the right of developing countries to pursue their own development agendas, putting their people’s interests first.

Ahead of the December 2005 WTO meeting Nelson Mandela said: “In Hong Kong there is a chance to make decisions that will lift billions of people out of poverty. Trade can be part of the solution to poverty but at the moment it’s part of the problem. Hong Kong is a chance that must not be missed. The whole world will be watching.”

The world was watching. But rich countries did not make the decisions that would start to lift millions of people out of poverty. Instead they chose unjust trade policies.

The global campaign for trade justice continues into 2006, galvanized by both the need to win against such resistant opposition and the strength of the campaign so many more millions joined in 2005. Political leaders will see increased pressure on them to not act undemocratically against the interests of the world’s poorest people but to finally deliver trade justice. We will not give up until this victory is won.

UK Government

In 2005 the UK Government changed the language it uses on trade justice. This included positive public statements on reducing European agricultural subsidies, a changed policy position on conditionality (the strings attached to financing) and new important statements on stopping forced liberalisation. The Trade Justice Movement and MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY urgently called for these statements, particularly that of no forced liberalisation, to be put into action at the WTO ahead of and at the Hong Kong meeting.

In April Prime Minister Tony Blair signed the Africa Commission report which states: 'Forcing poor countries to liberalise through trade agreements is the wrong approach to achieving growth and poverty reduction in Africa, and elsewhere.' Labour's 2005 election manifesto stated: "We do not believe that poor countries should be forced to liberalise." However, these words have been frequently contradicted by the actions of the UK Government and the EU in trade negotiations at the WTO.

In services negotiations, the UK Government verbally committed itself to opposing mandatory approaches. Yet the EU continued to demand mandatory targets for the liberalisation of trade in services at the WTO in direct opposition to the explicit call of developing countries that this was unacceptable. This was just one example, amongst many, of how the promise of a ‘development round’ turned into a betrayal by rich countries of the needs of poor countries.

Did the UK Government do anything to stop the forced liberalisation agenda of the EU on industrial goods and services in Hong Kong? There is certainly no evidence that it did. The UK did support the right of developing countries to protect key farm products. This was a direct result of pressure from MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Trade Justice Movement.

The Government’s promise to the UK electorate on no forced liberalisation was undermined by the EU’s favouring of corporate interests at the expense of both the millions of people living in poverty around the world and of the environment.

The UK Government’s commitment to making poverty history through trade justice and no forced liberalisation will be tested immediately in 2006 as trade talks move back to the WTO headquarters in Geneva.

Life In The 1500's

2005-08-14T18:16:00.000+01:00

AN EMAIL SENT BY A FRIEND, VERY INTERESTING:

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how Things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their Yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they Were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the Body odour.

Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all The other sons and men, then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.

Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.

When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

Hence the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing.

As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.

Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.

Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon."

They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the
loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and re-use the grave.

When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it
through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that History was boring?!!

Educate someone...Share these facts with a friend

A Prayer for London

2005-07-08T11:51:00.000+01:00

God of all,

So much has happened this week that it's hard to take it all in. Our hearts have leaped for joy and ached with pain. Amid the turmoil, help us to know your peace – which surpasses all understanding.

Thank you for Bob Geldof, and for Live 8. Please don't let the passion and creativity of such a beautiful event be lost, but let its chords of hope continue to reverberate throughout the world.

Thank you for the 220,000 souls who took part in the biggest peaceful demonstration ever seen before a G8 summit. We pray that their presence on Saturday in Edinburgh will help to persuade the leaders of the G8 that we all want to Make Poverty History.

Thank you, too, for the privilege this country has in leading the G8 at this time, and for the conviction of the Prime Minister and Chancellor to put climate change and poverty at the top of the agenda. We pray that all the planning, diplomacy and effort will not go to waste, despite the events in London. May good, yet, come out of evil.

Thank you for the joy and surprise of London's Olympic victory. So much effort, again, which has the potential to change so many lives, especially in the east end. Thank you for the power of sport - to unite, to uplift, and simply to help us smile through harder times. It's a gift from you.

And thank you that you do not leave us when the world seems to come crashing down around us. We pray, within the sadness, confusion and horror of yesterday's bombings, that your spirit will comfort those who mourn, heal those who are hurt, and strengthen those who feel weak.

Help us, somehow, to love our enemies, and in so doing, to bring heaven a little closer to our broken earth.

And as Bono, who has helped to challenge and encourage the G8 this week, sang in London recently:

Take this city -
A city should be shining on a hill.
Take this city,
If it be your will.
What no man can own, no man can take.
Take this heart -
London's heart –
Take this city, and keep it safe.

Amen.

-A Prayer said by London Institute for Comtemporary Christianity

Nightmares

2005-05-26T22:19:00.000+01:00

I have been on my job for a month already.

I am right now a women’s worker for a Women's Support Project, which aims at providing support for Chinese women in the UK who are victims of domestic violence and relationship breakdown, and raising awareness and understanding of the issues of domestic violence and other women’s issues in the Chinese community.

What I had done has been a nightmare to me. I cannot imagine how I have been passed through this month. Facing total different job nature, working in an unfamiliar environment, handling complicated family issues, grasping as much as I can on the benefit systems, the job almost made me crazy and overwhelmed my whole life! Tears and tiredness be with me every day. I have never been such exhausted in work.

What are my job descriptions indeed? I have to advise clients on housing, welfare, employment, legal, immigration and health issues, to accompany them dealing with those matters and make the necessary referrals; to provide emotional support, to keep up to date on changes in legislation and statutory benefits that affect Chinese women, to manage volunteer training and supervision; and assist in raising funds as well. WOOOOO!!! Quite a lot!! I know nothing in all these areas! I am so frightened that my ignorance would make worse of the clients' lives! I feel so stressful!

When I met the clients, I found that I had strong counter-transference from time to time. I felt really pain in the process. The clients' stories let me see the cruelty of the real world. It is not so easy to face the dark side of human nature. Be honest, I do not really want to do this job (who loves to see danger and hurts every day?), but I “believe” that it is part of my UK training -- God may use it to heal me thoroughly regardless of how much I can offer to others.

If so, how can I say NO then? Of course, I know that I have choice in every bit of my life. I nonetheless trust that God is preparing good things for me in this job. How stubborn am I! What I can do is to try my best, and try my best, until the day I cannot bear anymore. May God protect my clients as well as me from any harm and danger.

A passage in Bible does give me great encouragement:

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us - trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us - he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
(2 Corinthians 4:7-12)

Dear friends, may you also find strength in your work when you feel down.
“While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!”

Working Life in London

2005-04-12T00:41:00.000+01:00

I had had an interview right before I flew to Hong Kong weeks ago. This interview totally changed my plan in the near future.

As my student visa would end at the end of March while I am still studying a short course in London, I planned to have my vacation in Hong Kong for weeks. Even though I planned to go back to Hong Kong for good after summer, I chose to go home during the Easter break and spend time with my parents. Going home and meeting friends is a symbol for me to celebrate the completion of my master degree.

Two months ago, I made a trial to send out some application forms for seeking jobs in order to gain some interview experience, albeit with a "playful heart". I haven't received any news until the time I received an email which asked me to go for an interview.

My flight was scheduled on Sunday and the interview was taken on Friday, two days before I flew to Hong Kong. When I received the email notifying me to have the interview on that Monday, I felt so ambivalent and apprehensive.

When I knew that I would leave this country soon, I started to miss this place as well as the friends I met here.
When I believed that I might have the opportunity to stay here for a bit longer, I realized that I really want to go back to my hometown, to speak my own language and to return to my normal daily life. I thus prayed to God, ‘if the stay is not your will, please don't give me any offer’.

The post that I applied was a women’s worker in a Chinese Centre. I will work with the Chinese women who suffer from domestic violence. It will be a heavy task to me, I guess. To be honest, I had not strong determination to get this job. I took the interview with a prayerful heart. I trust that God has been guiding me throughout the years and He will do so as well. During the interview, what I could tell were only the truth and my struggles, e.g. I did not know a lot about the social welfare systems in UK. I was not sure how long I could commit to the job.

The interviewers, unexpectedly, told me right after the interview that they would like to offer me the job. I wondered why they gave me the offer so promptly. I did not think I had a good interview, as I behaved as a naïve person and I did not show strong ambition to get the job. Interestingly, the interviewers told me that they appreciated especially my honesty. HA? It, to me, appeared to be a dramatic and puzzling scene.

I was really shocked by this unexpected news. I thought I would then know the result after I arrived in Hong Kong. I could thus make the decision after discussing with my friends and mentors in Hong Kong. The offer, however, was given right after the interview. Does it mean that my stay in London is God’s will? Or, God grants me totally free-will and thus accepting the offer could be my mere choice? I was overwhelmed by all that I had faced before my Hong Kong trip. Although I said 'yes' to the interviewers at that moment, I prayed and shared it with many people in Hong Kong and I wish I can see clearer what God wants me to do in my next journey.

I, in peace, finally accepted the offer and I already get the work permit. I will start working soon. I believe that it will be a total new experience to me and it will bring me many new challenges to work with English-, Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking people in the western world. I feel really apprehensive but excited to take this challenge. Being a working lady is so different from being an overseas student here. I will really "enter" into the UK systems.

Life is full of adventure. I am looking forwards to experiencing my new working life ahead. May God's strength and wisdom and love be with me always. Amen.

At a crossroad

2005-03-09T14:39:00.000Z

I appear to be at a crossroad about my future.

I have already finished my Master course and the result will be announced in mid-Mar. I don't really know about my next step. God appears to be so silent in this period of time.

I have really learnt a lot in London. I can observe how the great politicians build up this metropolitan city with a flourish. There are so many things happening here everyday. I can meet Nelson Mandala in Trafalgar Square. I can see quality TV productions in BBC. I met such wonderful people in the CMW and the Sesame course.....I ask God, 'have I finished learning already?' 'do you still want me to learn more from this city?' Do I still have to wander around the desert or is it the time for me to go home to serve my people?

I love my own city. I love Hong Kong. Every time, however, when I look into my strength and my weakness, I found myself so inadequent to do anything for my city, even more, for my country. Of course, Stott's quote always appears in my mind,"I can't do everything but I can do something".

I thus will go back to HK for a few weeks and I will talk to some mentors of mine. Then I wll come back here to finish an Arts Policy course that I am taking until June (hahaha...maybe you find that I am a studyaholic!).

In the coming 2-3 months, I will try to seek jobs in both London and Hong Kong, to see how God lead me in his way. I know that my final place in my own city, but I don't know whether my training period has almost finished or not.

Every route is perfect for me, provided that it is God's way.

Strength to Love

2005-02-26T23:43:00.000Z

"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” Romans 12:2

I recall what I have been inspired by the sermon of Martin Luther King, in the book of 'Strength to Love'. I was really touched by his words and wanted to quote some paragraphs in his Sermon of the ‘Transformed nonconformist’:

'In his essay, “Self-Reliance” Emerson wrote, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” The Apostle Paul reminds us that whose would be a Christian must also be a non-conformist. Any Christian who blindly accepts the opinions of the majority and in fear and timidity follows a path of expediency and social approval is a mental and spiritual slave. Mark well these words from the pen of James Russell Lowell:

They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think;
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.

‘By opening our lives to God in Christ we become new creatures. This experience, which Jesus spoke of as the new birth, is essential if we are to be transformed nonconformists and freed from the cold hardheartedness and self-righteousness so often characteristic of nonconformity. Someone has said, ‘I love reforms but I hate reformers’. A reformer may be an untransformed nonconformist whose rebellion against the evils of society has left him annoyingly rigid and unreasonable impatient.

Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit. The transformed nonconformist, moreover, never yields to the passive sort of patience which is an excuse to do nothing. And this very transformation saves him from speaking irresponsible words which estrange without reconciling and from making hasty judgments which are blind to the necessity of social progress. He recognizes that social change will not come overnight, yet he works as though it is an imminent possibility.'

I prayed to God, please help me not to have any excuse to do nothing, even more, not to speak irresponsible words, and only may He lead me to serve him in his way!

Rilke poem from H

2005-02-09T18:09:00.000Z

"God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousnes.

Give me your hand."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~
(Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

This is a poem given by my psychotherapist.
I miss her very much. We have finished our regular meetings since the last Christmas. I am glad that I could have been meeting her in London in the past year and we had a very close sharing time. I could share with her all my dreams and all my fears. She knows me quite well after a year's sharing. The time chatting with her was very treasureable.

In this poem, the phrase I like most is 'Just keep going. No feeling is final'.

H, I miss you!! This feeling is definitely not the final!

The World Forum on Theology and Liberation

2005-01-24T11:56:00.000Z

The World Forum on Theology and Liberation is taking place in Brazil, city of Porto Alegre, 21-25 January, 2005.
Live webcast
Daily reports and further info

Information was provided by my Brazilian friend

Just some recent news

2005-01-20T09:40:00.000Z

I haven't updated the Dot of the World for ages. As I keep focusing on writing my feelings and thoughts in Chinese. It's so interesting that I have to write and to think billingually since I have been living in London.

When I designed the blogs, I believed that I had to make an English column, so that my non-Chinese friends can also keep in touch with me through this blog.

I really love my life in London. When the Master course draws near to an end, I start to think of my future. Will I stay here for a little while? Or will I go back to serve Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is always in my mind. I love her. However, I found that I am so insufficient to do anything. I feel like I am a sponge which wants to absorb everything in the sea of knowledge.

There are a lot of dreams at nights. I mingled all people and places of Hong Kong and London in my dreams. Sometimes I have almost mixed up the reality and the dreams too. I felt like I am living in two realities, maybe, in both virtualities. I keep pondering on the issue of cultural identity. Who am I? The only answer is that I am just a dot in the world.

After the CMW course, I pray much more earnestly to God and I hope that he will guide me through in my pathfinding journey so that I can contribute myself to the world. I am still learning how to think of the world in the creation model. I am still thinking of Stott's double listening. I hope to do more integrative studies on theology and world knowledge.

How are you lately?

Bush, God and the Media

2004-11-03T17:23:00.000Z

I cannot really understand politics. Maybe I know it only as well as general Hong Kong people do. My society is not a very good platform for me to grasp the fuller meanings of politics, although I want to learn more of it. I can see from the TV programs that the two parties of Bush and Kerry are nervous about the selection result. Paradoxically I am happy for the sadness of the supporters of Kerry, because at least they know whom they are crying for. It is marvellous that citizens can have expectation on the government and her officials.

From watching Michael Moore’s docu-drama of Fahrenheit 9/11 and the “God Bless America: With God on our side (Broadcasted in Channel 4), I have learnt something although I still could not understand much about politics: I could see the power of media, how it controls the world. The former film highlighted the selfishness and egocentrism of Bush, but the later one extolled Bush’s religious piety, supported by a large groups of religious leaders.

Who is with God on one’s side? Who Bush the man really is? I cannot really understand. I will start to learn this world, created by the media, nourished by the media, which may be very different from the reality.

布殊．上帝．傳媒

我對政治，可能正如一般香港人，總是不明所以。好想了解多些，但總是覺得我們的社會沒有給過我們一片可以成長的土壤。在電視上看到美國國民為兩個陣營的緊張情緒，看到克里的支持者臉上的悲哀和無奈，我倒為他們高興──起碼他們知道他們支持著什麼，為誰而哭泣。對政府、對在位者有所期待，總算是一件好事。

對於布殊還是克里，我仍是不能理出什麼意見來，只是在學習著，學習著，試圖理解什麼是政治。剛看了Michael Moore的電影《華氏九一一》 (Fahrenheit 9/11) 和一套紀錄片 “God Bless America: With God on Our Side” (broadcasted in Channel 4)，更深明白的不是政治上的誰是誰非，反而是傳媒的影響力。前者描繪布殊為自己利益的苦心經營，後者則請來大量宗教領袖高舉布殊的宗教性，欣賞他對上主的絕對服從。

誰是誰非？布殊是在打宗教的旗號，以謀私人利益？還是如宗教領袖們的看法，他對他的使命立場堅定，為真理而「企硬」？傳媒的力量，其影響之大，真是前可見古人，後可見來者──想見什麼，就有什麼！我們又怎樣理解這個被傳媒創造出來的世界呢？

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一個華裔美國基督徒對大選的反思

The old culture is dying?

2004-10-31T18:18:00.000Z

'When the forms of an old culture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure.’
- Rudolph Bahro (A German ecologist)

The modern world has passed away; and the post-modernity is leading the world. This world seem to be in a very paradoxial situation. It's brand- new era, but it's chaotic. It's full of creativity, but it appeared to be far from God. Where are we going to? Which hero we are waiting for?

Or the world is waiting for 'a few people who are not afraid to be insecure' to establish a new order to this world?

Here are two very good articles (click the links):

The Emerging Church: A Pig in Lipstick?
'...'Where is this emerging church? How long do we have to wait before there's a sign? Or are we just too busy kicking the existing church to death?'....'It is arrogant to think we have the right to "transition" the church', said Mark Pierson. The problem is that 'too often we have simply changed the church by putting lipstick on the pig'. .... Mark suggests that the church has spent too much time and effort in adopting 'packages from the USA' in a simplistic attempt to re-invent itself....'

Jacques derrida - positively deconstructed
'Justice, said derrida, cannot be deconstructed -- is this not the way of the gospel?'

Tweenies & kidults

2004-10-28T13:13:00.000+01:00

Post War Consumerism and the Youth Market

'The most anxious identity crises tend to occur in adolescence but it is easy to see how this stage can be exploited by marketers. Artificially delaying the arrival of adulthood, and thus extending the period of identity exploration, is an obvious ploy, seen in Disneyland but in many other contexts as well'. - David Lyon, Jesus in Disneyland

We haven't been aware of the power of the iconolatry of youth. The eight years-old girls want to be the eighteen youngsters (tweenies) while the young adults also want to stay at their eighteen's (kidults). All people want to be the teenagers, in the consumeristic world.

What the world is like now?
Youthfulization??

Think of D. Bonhoeffer....he talked about the adulthood of our age. I am afriad that we have been regressed to an eariler stage.

how do u think?

Environment and our faith

2004-10-25T14:06:00.000+01:00

Today I have attended a lecture talking about Christian faith and the environment.

It raised a very good point about why the church involved so little in environmental protection. It was because the church focus too much on the human-oriented evangelism and souls matter.

However, we have to see the bigger creation of God.
Adam, was made of dust/dirt. We are just part of God's creation, more or less the same as other animals, plants.....
We are prestigous because God has asked us to rule over and preserve the land.
....

Where have we been?