Highlights of the BeiJing 北京 2008 Paralympics Opening Ceremony (HD)

JinShanLing to SiMaTai, north east of Beijing city. The last film shows various sections of the Great Wall as seen from a 'toy' helicopter. If you can, please support this site with a donation - thank you !

Relax on peaceful rides along beautiful winding rivers through lush vegetation and karst peaks. GuangXi province, south China.

A picturesque ascent. Part of the ZhangJiaJie scenic area.

With Walk East ... XiJiang QianHu, Miao village ... 'Little ShangHai' ...

Experience the rich culture and breathtaking scenery ...

China's meritocracy versus Western Elite rule (with a 'vote' of which brand of the same thing can be made every 4 or so years). Is the Western 'vote' simply a way to get one's complicity into a governance that will never really be your side ? Spoiler - the Western model 'wins' the debate - but it is an audience of long brainwashed Westerners - lol ; ) * Try to play. Google doesn't like to play ball with China related videos unless they are clearly anti. No thumbnail or bad sound, etc (plays ok as of 26th August 2020) ... Bonus video, with Professor Zhang WeiWei & Professor Timothy Ash (a Munk debate). Which one works for an elite and which for the common people ... Looks like the video version has been 'black-holed' : (

With Wei's Travel ...

[May 15th 2017] Heat-wave ahead ! Summer is hotting up in BeiJing this week - into the high 30s C (90s F in old money). Keep cool (keep hydrated), be cool (sensible, giving and creative), keep in touch (we love your feedback and input), and above all - love life (live more; BE love) ... Like our site ? - help us with a donation. Something to share ? - your own film or something you like - let us know ! To have and to be - huh ? The two big verbs - to have and to be ... Thinking through this seemingly abstract concept could change your life, for the better. Two very different ways to live; or rather - really live or not really live. To have is good, to a point; but can be a holding onto more than we really need, and a baggage of the past dragged into the future that prevents us living in the real now. For what we 'have' is not just physical stuff - it is also the clutter and beliefs in our mind. To be, is to live, free of the past and all that we 'have' (and 'know'). Live more ... be more ... Listen less (to others and beliefs), and look more (and think more, based on what is, not on what you have heard). Someone once said that to love is much better than to be loved; to give so much better than to receive (have); and so it is with to have and to be ... To be is the way. Everything taken, comes to an end. Everything given ripples through time for an eternity. To ask for nothing, and give all - that is love. To be, not to have. ~~~ You might like to read Erich Fromm's To Have or To Be, and The Art of Love, which also explore this concept, and is essentially what the Buddha told us. Easy read; concise and potent. Also good reading : Jiddhu Krishnamurthi - for example, Commentaries on Living (three easy read volumes), and Alan Watts - for example, The Way of Zen.

With Wei's Travel ...

YT comment : dominique ridoux : True story: I once visited a couple of friends in their flat in downtown Shanghai city. When I arrived the whole street was under construction, the road, the side walks, everything... We had lunch, played mahjong, then dinner. When I went out after the evening dinner, the street was completely finished! New asphalt, sidewalks paved and new trees planted all the way. I even went back thinking my friend's building had 2 entrances... The big difference with us in Europe is when a decision is made the do some infrastructure work, they will put as many workers as needed to do it very quickly, they cannot afford to have streets blocked for weeks in a city of 23 million people like Shanghai. In China everything is about efficiency because they have no other choice. Can you afford to queue for tickets and so on in a city of 23 millions? No! Ok, let's all use Wechat and Alipay to increase efficiency... Done in a few years! Almost nobody is using cash anymore in China! They apply the same mindset to everyday activity, may it be transportation, food industry or even paying your taxes! The result is (as far as I am concerned) a full body check (including check in, CT scan, blood work etc) in less than 2 hours including a complementary breakfast for less than 400 Euros. Or Visa application done in 20 minutes. All car parkings are using plate recognition technology decreasing time wasting again and again. High speed train are efficient, can move large amounts of people at a fantastic pace. Also as mentioned by many people, they build "hubs", you get out of the train and you have 2 or even 3 subway lines to bring you to your final destination, more and more you even have the airport hub at a walking distance! We have a similar hub in Paris (CDG with RER and TGV within the airport walking distance) but the size of it in Shanghai makes it spectacular! YT comment : rhn94 China spent 1 Trillion USD over 10-15 years building this network, that is 1/4th the cost of the Iraq War the US paid. YT comment : Pal Sih China is building their country. USA is destroying other countries. YT comment : thata xx The best part of China's high speed train is you can order food from any of the restaurants in the station on your phone and designate at what time during which stop to have it delivered to you. During the 2-3 minutes stop, your food is already there waiting to be distributed to you on the train. I miss it so much.

North east Beijing. An area of disused factories born again as galleries, cafes, bookshops, boutiques ...