I got paid by tutoring a girl Chinese for the first time this afternoon.
She was my classmate in last semester and also my friend, who is going to China with Baylor Chinese oversea study program this summer for several weeks. That is why I accepted the a lot lower price than average to tutor her. Passionate or curious, having interest in another culture should always be encouraged. Especially for some Americans, I have to say, because they seem to be too privileged to notice the rest of the world nowadays.
Sometimes, I am a little hesitated to mention this topic with my American friends, simply because our nature of pride. Who wants to be criticized? However, there has been a couple of times, I got really frustrated.
Once I was interviewed by a junior student from International Study major, who was doing a research on Chinese culture for a project. Noticing her academic background and field of study, I bet you would not feel less awkward as I did when you found she actually was so lack of basic knowledge of China that I couldn't answer her deep interview questions which were obviously prepared from her professor without introducing many common senses.
And that doesn't only happen to knowledge of China.
I prefer to categorize it into individual differences. After all, there were more Americans also shocked by Miss teen South Carolina, even though one fifth American cannot locate the U.S. on a world map.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
International Crew
Today I went out with Robyn and Adolpho to interview on the issue of the largest beef recall in American history.
This is my second day in KWTX, but my first day to come out with a reporter for interviewing. Although I was doing a weekly feature story program in China, which also involve interview part a lot, but the whole process was a little different from what we've done today, with a news perspective. The biggest difference is the time, since quick and efficient move is highly expected and strictly required when we are making the interview package for news. We usually spent a whole day in interviewing and shooting video when we were out for the feature stories, and another one or two days in writing stories, editing videos and other production work before finally got into broadcast part. But all of these should be done in several hours if you are doing a news report, although the amount of work would be less.
This leads to a relatively efficient interview that I appreciate most. You need to get into the point real quick, which requires your preparing ahead as much as you can, and having the ability to dig enough on what you want at the same time control the rhythm of the talk.
Interestingly found our crew is really international when we were introducing ourselves: Robyn is from Zimbabwe, I am from China, and Adolpho originally was from Mexico, although he has been to U.S. since two years old.
This is my second day in KWTX, but my first day to come out with a reporter for interviewing. Although I was doing a weekly feature story program in China, which also involve interview part a lot, but the whole process was a little different from what we've done today, with a news perspective. The biggest difference is the time, since quick and efficient move is highly expected and strictly required when we are making the interview package for news. We usually spent a whole day in interviewing and shooting video when we were out for the feature stories, and another one or two days in writing stories, editing videos and other production work before finally got into broadcast part. But all of these should be done in several hours if you are doing a news report, although the amount of work would be less.
This leads to a relatively efficient interview that I appreciate most. You need to get into the point real quick, which requires your preparing ahead as much as you can, and having the ability to dig enough on what you want at the same time control the rhythm of the talk.
Interestingly found our crew is really international when we were introducing ourselves: Robyn is from Zimbabwe, I am from China, and Adolpho originally was from Mexico, although he has been to U.S. since two years old.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
IOC gives go-ahead for blogs at Beijing
By Karolos GrohmannReuters Friday, February 15, 2008; 9:59 AM
ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee on Friday gave the green light to allow blogging at the Olympics for the first time, issuing guidelines for this August's Beijing Games.
Athletes have long demanded they be allowed to write their blogs -- on-line journals of personal opinion or reflection -- during the Games but the IOC was concerned these could potentially infringe on copyright agreements and private information.
In a series of guidelines, the IOC said blogging would be allowed during the Beijing 2008 Olympics as long as individuals writing the journals keep within the IOC format.
"The IOC considers blogging... as a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism," the IOC said.
"It is required that, when accredited persons at the Games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience," it said.
Bloggers during the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics are banned from posting any Olympic Games visual or audio material and any confidential information on third parties.
Athletes or officials who blog can only post still pictures taken outside accredited areas or their own pictures taken within these areas that do not contain any sporting action.
The IOC is eager to protect rights holders as Games broadcasting contracts are worth several billion euros.
Blogs should not have exclusive agreements with any company and there should be no commercial reference or advertising either, the IOC said.
Blogs should also adhere to the Olympic spirit "and be dignified and in good taste."
The phenomenal rise of blogs and their growing sphere of influence beyond the small group they were initially intended for had alarmed the IOC, especially ahead of the Beijing Games, which have been under fire due to China's human rights record and its crackdown on on-line dissidents.
Technology has made it easier and faster to blog with on-line athletes' personal diaries on the rise during the last two Games, the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Turin Winter Games. All those blogs were not officially approved by the IOC at the time.
(Editing by Alison Wildey)
ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee on Friday gave the green light to allow blogging at the Olympics for the first time, issuing guidelines for this August's Beijing Games.
Athletes have long demanded they be allowed to write their blogs -- on-line journals of personal opinion or reflection -- during the Games but the IOC was concerned these could potentially infringe on copyright agreements and private information.
In a series of guidelines, the IOC said blogging would be allowed during the Beijing 2008 Olympics as long as individuals writing the journals keep within the IOC format.
"The IOC considers blogging... as a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism," the IOC said.
"It is required that, when accredited persons at the Games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience," it said.
Bloggers during the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics are banned from posting any Olympic Games visual or audio material and any confidential information on third parties.
Athletes or officials who blog can only post still pictures taken outside accredited areas or their own pictures taken within these areas that do not contain any sporting action.
The IOC is eager to protect rights holders as Games broadcasting contracts are worth several billion euros.
Blogs should not have exclusive agreements with any company and there should be no commercial reference or advertising either, the IOC said.
Blogs should also adhere to the Olympic spirit "and be dignified and in good taste."
The phenomenal rise of blogs and their growing sphere of influence beyond the small group they were initially intended for had alarmed the IOC, especially ahead of the Beijing Games, which have been under fire due to China's human rights record and its crackdown on on-line dissidents.
Technology has made it easier and faster to blog with on-line athletes' personal diaries on the rise during the last two Games, the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Turin Winter Games. All those blogs were not officially approved by the IOC at the time.
(Editing by Alison Wildey)
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Valentine's Day
Today is a good Valentine's Day for me, not because I didn't get any flowers or Chocolate from my "significant other", but because I formally started my internship at KWTX, Channel 10 in Waco, TX.
It's still not too late to start my third course of this semester, although 4 weeks or almost one quarter of the semester has been passed. At least I hope not!
I will get the credit for the course from this internship, but more important for me is the practical experience in News Room, which could equip me and add some weight in my resume for the big internship at the end of the program as well as my future job.
As Rick Bradfield, News Director of KWTX, answered me, "you can learn as much as you want, and as less as you want."
All right. Let's roll.
It's still not too late to start my third course of this semester, although 4 weeks or almost one quarter of the semester has been passed. At least I hope not!
I will get the credit for the course from this internship, but more important for me is the practical experience in News Room, which could equip me and add some weight in my resume for the big internship at the end of the program as well as my future job.
As Rick Bradfield, News Director of KWTX, answered me, "you can learn as much as you want, and as less as you want."
All right. Let's roll.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Spielberg Drops Out as Adviser to Beijing Olympics in Dispute Over Darfur Conflict
By HELENE COOPER
Published: February 13, 2008
WASHINGTON — Steven Spielberg said Tuesday that he was withdrawing as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, after almost a year of trying unsuccessfully to prod President Hu Jintao of China to do more to try to end Sudan’s attacks in the Darfur region.
Mr. Spielberg’s decision, and the public way he announced it, is a blow to China, which has said that its relationship with Sudan should not be linked to the Olympics, which have become a source of national pride.
In a statement sent to the Chinese ambassador and the Beijing Olympic committee on Tuesday, Mr. Spielberg said that his “conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual.”
“Sudan’s government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these ongoing crimes but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there,” the statement said. “China’s economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for change.”
Responding to Mr. Spielberg’s action, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, “As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair to link the two as one.”
Mr. Spielberg had written to Mr. Hu about Darfur twice in the past 10 months, his spokesman said, taking China to task for its “silence” while Sudan blocked the deployment of international peacekeepers and expelled aid workers from the region.
In September, Mr. Spielberg also met with China’s special envoy to Darfur at the Chinese mission to the United Nations, said Mr. Spielberg’s spokesman, Andy Spahn.
None of those efforts yielded the results Mr. Spielberg wanted, Mr. Spahn said. In the meantime, Mr. Spielberg had come under increasing pressure from advocates working on Darfur, including a campaign by the actress Mia Farrow, to drop his association with the Beijing Olympics.
After receiving word that Mr. Spielberg had done just that, Ms. Farrow was jubilant.
“His voice and all of the moral authority it gives, used this way, brings a shred of hope to Darfur, and God knows, rations of hope are meager at this time,” said Ms. Farrow, a good-will ambassador for the Unicef who helped start a campaign last year to label the Games in Beijing the “Genocide Olympics.”
The actor Don Cheadle, a co-founder of Not On Our Watch, a Darfur advocacy group, said he hoped that Mr. Spielberg’s actions would force China to rethink its position. “One guy like Steven in a position like that is like 100 other guys,” he said. “Those are the kinds of moves, that if they catch fire, and other people think of boycotting, or refraining, the cumulative effect could be something that potentially could change the calculation of that government.”
Mr. Spahn said Mr. Spielberg planned to encourage others to do more to pressure China on Darfur, but he did not offer details. Advocates said they hoped to enlist help from corporate sponsors of the Olympics.
China has fought attempts to link Darfur to the Olympics, but it has also responded at times to the pressure.
Last year, shortly after Mr. Spielberg’s first letter to Mr. Hu, China dispatched a senior official to Sudan to push the government to accept a peacekeeping force and appointed a special envoy.
But the Sudanese military has continued its attacks there, as recently as last week.
David M. Halbfinger contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
Published: February 13, 2008
WASHINGTON — Steven Spielberg said Tuesday that he was withdrawing as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, after almost a year of trying unsuccessfully to prod President Hu Jintao of China to do more to try to end Sudan’s attacks in the Darfur region.
Mr. Spielberg’s decision, and the public way he announced it, is a blow to China, which has said that its relationship with Sudan should not be linked to the Olympics, which have become a source of national pride.
In a statement sent to the Chinese ambassador and the Beijing Olympic committee on Tuesday, Mr. Spielberg said that his “conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual.”
“Sudan’s government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these ongoing crimes but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there,” the statement said. “China’s economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for change.”
Responding to Mr. Spielberg’s action, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, “As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair to link the two as one.”
Mr. Spielberg had written to Mr. Hu about Darfur twice in the past 10 months, his spokesman said, taking China to task for its “silence” while Sudan blocked the deployment of international peacekeepers and expelled aid workers from the region.
In September, Mr. Spielberg also met with China’s special envoy to Darfur at the Chinese mission to the United Nations, said Mr. Spielberg’s spokesman, Andy Spahn.
None of those efforts yielded the results Mr. Spielberg wanted, Mr. Spahn said. In the meantime, Mr. Spielberg had come under increasing pressure from advocates working on Darfur, including a campaign by the actress Mia Farrow, to drop his association with the Beijing Olympics.
After receiving word that Mr. Spielberg had done just that, Ms. Farrow was jubilant.
“His voice and all of the moral authority it gives, used this way, brings a shred of hope to Darfur, and God knows, rations of hope are meager at this time,” said Ms. Farrow, a good-will ambassador for the Unicef who helped start a campaign last year to label the Games in Beijing the “Genocide Olympics.”
The actor Don Cheadle, a co-founder of Not On Our Watch, a Darfur advocacy group, said he hoped that Mr. Spielberg’s actions would force China to rethink its position. “One guy like Steven in a position like that is like 100 other guys,” he said. “Those are the kinds of moves, that if they catch fire, and other people think of boycotting, or refraining, the cumulative effect could be something that potentially could change the calculation of that government.”
Mr. Spahn said Mr. Spielberg planned to encourage others to do more to pressure China on Darfur, but he did not offer details. Advocates said they hoped to enlist help from corporate sponsors of the Olympics.
China has fought attempts to link Darfur to the Olympics, but it has also responded at times to the pressure.
Last year, shortly after Mr. Spielberg’s first letter to Mr. Hu, China dispatched a senior official to Sudan to push the government to accept a peacekeeping force and appointed a special envoy.
But the Sudanese military has continued its attacks there, as recently as last week.
David M. Halbfinger contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
Blizzard blocked the way home of millions of labors in China
Jan, 2008
Thousands of labors were trapped in Beijing Train Station, trying to buy a ticket to home.
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