I had 2 very close friends from China - both came here to persue post-seconary education. Both were middle or upper middle class, were smart, etc.

Both had great respect for Mao and "all the wonderful things he did" for China.

It also turns out, that both had complete ignorance about Tiannemen Square, had no idea what happened there. Both thought it was lying or exaggerating about it until I lent them a book (Red China Blues) about it.

I take respect for Mao from Chinese people with a grain of salt. It's tragic how little they know, how strong the propoganda machine is.

Wow, I really cannot imagine London so empty, especially in the west end, it boggles my mind. How freeing it must be to cycle around such a grand city while it's so empty!

I want this to be my wedding song. SERIOUSLY.

I agree with the commentor above, the author of that blog post is being INCREDIBLY melodramatic.

Century egg is amazing in congee. It does not taste or smell rotten, sulfurous, or foul in any way. The texture is odd, and if you have food color issues, seeing it as purple or brown can throw you for a loop.

It's just fermented food. Like any other fermented food.

@eileen...

What rock do you live under? I mean, with the mortgage crisis in USA, all I hear about on the news are people who are living in their cars because they can't afford their homes - to the point where some cities are reserving parking lots as safe places to park/sleep at night. Let alone, the long standing use of a car as a primary place to sleep/live amongst homeless people for ages...

Just because you have a car, doesn't mean you have a home.

My house was broken into last year. Granted, I wasn't home at the time, but I was shaken. Terrified they'd come back. Thankful I wasn't there, curious if the guy was armed (in Canada, probably he wasn't). Disappointed at the "loss of stuff" - jewelry, electronics, etc.

Would I kill the guy over it? Hell no. Does someone deserve to die because my stuff is gone? No way.

These guys were LEAVING the house they'd broken into - not on their way in. No one's life was in anymore danger. No way did they deserve to die in that moment, at that man's hand.

I mean, come on, it's STUFF. Just stuff. No matter how much it 'means to you' or how hard you worked for it, it's stuff. Does someone deserve to lose their life over stuff?

One of the most valuable lessons I learned through being broken into was forgiveness. The person who intruded on my property obviously need the stuff, or the money for the value of it more than me. Somehow in their life, they were more desperate, more unstable, more drug addicted, more unemployable, more lonely. Something was very wrong in their life, and that is very sad. I would NEVER wish death on the person who took my crap (no matter how valuable). Instead, I wish them the best of luck at turning their lives around.

For the record, the police were able to recover some of my missing items.

@ Neatoramawontsendmeapassword

Here's a post someone made on another forum (about domestic violence amongst Indian relationships) that sums it up quite well:

i was once asked by a white woman, who positioned herself as an expert on india based upon her 2 week vacation to the sub-continent, if dv was/is more prevalent in india because of the custom of arranged marriages. obviously, her question is incredibly flawed in many, many ways. it also shows a complete lack of understanding of what dv is. yes, it can be generally said that there is perhaps more public awareness of the negative consequences of dv in the U.S. vs. India BUT this does not negate the fact that the same patterns of gender oppression that exist in India -exist in the US. This sort of odd 'faux multiculturalist' thinking is obviously v. v. dangerous as it absolves americans (as well as good middle class south asians) from "tending their backyard"- and allows for righteous and condescending finger pointing, such as: "these poor third world women they are soooo oppressed" OR "these poor peasant women they are soooo oppressed."

@Neatoramawontsendmeapassword

Well well, it seems we are from the same part of the world - we are both from Vancouver.

And while there has been a large amount of highly publicized domestic abuse/murder cases here, there are some things you should note:

Just because they are all brown ppl does NOT mean that they are all Indo-Canadian. The lady who was an elementary school teacher who was murdered? Ismali Muslim. Not from India, generally from Africa. And, all the Ismali Muslims I've ever met, had "love marriages".

And just because the media likes to jump on the bandwagon of those who are murdered who are brown, what about all of the many many women in Vancouver/BC who are murdered by their boyfriends/husbands that isn't huge in the news?

What about the white woman who was shot in the face and left wrapped in a mattress on Powell street 2 years ago? She was a tugboat operator, murdered by her boyfriend. That wasn't in the news, I know about it though b/c my boyfriend at the time, his mom worked with her and knew her.

Or what about that man who murdered his wife then himself on the Island last year? I believe they were white - and likely a love marriage.

I know alot about domestic abuse issues - ESPECIALLY in Vancouver, b/c I work in this area, and am a past victim myself.

I'm not saying that there is a Vacuum of abuse in arranged marriages. But I am saying that especially due to the publicized cases here, in my field of work, we have seen A LOT of racial profiling, discrimination, and unjust assumptions made becuase of a few highly publicized cases. We see women "trapped and unable to divorce" of every colour and stripe, with every type of marriage.

I know people in Vancouver who have had arranged marriages. The concept of arranged marrige works for those in a different cultural paradigm, different mindset about family and different mind set about love.

I'm not saying it's for anyone, but the way you talk about it is as if it's a failure for everyone, that it's a terrible thing. And it's not all the time. There are many people who chose it willingly, and are very happy.

@ Neatoramawontsendmeapassword

But marriage, even in "Western" forms, isn't just about love and attraction - or it shouldn't be, and it hasn't always been. If marriage is just about love and attraction, then it's time to get divorced once one or the other runs out, or temporarily dries up.

Marriage even in the western sense, while not arranged, used to be about children, parternship, co-operation, hard work, sense of duty, and obligation. That is why our parents parents were able to be married for 50,60,70 years. When love or attraction dried out, they knew/understood/realised/whatever that there was more going on, more reason to stick with it.

I know several people who are in arranged marriages, and when asked, they talk about how you can 'learn to love' some one, about how you grow to appreciate another human being, about how just like every other family member you didn't choose but somehow love, it is the same with a pre-chosen spouse. Many of the people I know who are in arranged marriages have the happiest, healthiest, most open marriages I know.

And to use the excuse that women in arranged marriages are unloved and abused, I say that there are probably JUST AS MANY women in non-arranged marriages that are unloved and abused. The abuse comment is a weak one that discriminates culturally. Just because the marriage is arranged, does not mean the culture condones such actions.