It is very hard to tell why it happen, but it is becoming the truth that the weather is now becoming quite curious. Taking the recent days of Suzhou as an example, a city can seldom see snow in early spring, is now snowing around the Spring Festival. In fact, rolling back to the days that we have past years, some curious things can also still be reminded, e.g the snow in November of Wuhan. Admittedly, it is the first time that I see the snow at the Spring Festival in Suzhou.
Following are some pictures that I took in my flat through the window at about 2 a.m. It is really a difficult to take a photo with the exposure time of 1.6 seconds. And with a photo on the grass in front my house, you can see it more clearly.
The snow is not stop until the second day, though the snow on the roads has been wrapped, those on the grass and roof remains. In fact, this sight reminds me of the old days when the snow disaster happened in 2007. According to the CNN that the US is also snowing heavily in US this year.
These are two photos that I took the second day. For large pictures, just click on them.
However, there is a Chinese old saying goes that, with the heavy snow, you are expected a prosperous new year. I do wish this saying would promote me of my dream come true this year!
Time has been passed over the 12:00 point and now it is the last day of the 2009 and we are welcoming the first day of the new year, according to the traditional calendar of China. Just like the westerners are caring much on the Christmas and New Year’s day, that the Chinese have paid adequate attention to this festival for thousands of years. However, the Chinese New Year is a bit different from the others. More precisely, I find no feeling that I am welcoming an important festival. Instead, I have received some unexpected gifts for my coming new year.
The poor weather these days
Such feeling may be partially due to the poor weather that most regions in southern China are suffering. It is curious that the weather of this winter is so abnormal that you can hardly judge whether you are living in spring or winter. The temperature of Suzhou yesterday has been raised to 17 degrees while it drops to 3 today. It is just like that we are drawn back from the spring to winter. So, definitely, it is very hard to keep a good mood in humid days. I am really quite interested in how the Britain overcome such influence from the weather to their moods. You should know that such humid weather is quite normal in England.
Concerns on admission to graduate schools
The application of graduate schools is also making me feel increasingly anxious. Anyway, a lesson that I learned in this process is quite similar to what Kuan told me before. That is, never try the thing before you are fully prepared and understood. The weakened economic conditions around the world is really a bad news for my application. A special funding for overseas research student has been abandoned. And there is no news now for the schools in Asia.Frankly, comparing to the different systems, for PhD programs in business school. The schools in US and Asia are definitely choices. I can hardly understand why there is no requirement for publications to the PhD students in UK and Australia. While, for candidates, it is quite a good news, since they won’t have to lead a life that is fully composed with paper writing, and they may thus have a excuse to stop reading papers. While, when graduated, I am quite worried about the employment of these students. Concerning the immigrants policy in UK, most graduates may have to come back to China. However, a PhD without papers of high quality may have to face a nightmare when applying for a teaching position.
Dissertation
The dissertation is also a terrible experience for me. Though with the skills that I have mastered in the past two years, working as a research assistant, the accomplishment of such a dissertation would not be a problem, it is becoming a problem as well. The most definite reason for this unfortunate is my timing arrangement as well as the concerns on the dissertation itself. Frankly speaking, timing is really a great problem for me, reading books, papers at the same time has been a great job, I have to spare some more time for my writing.The paper is also encountering its own difficulty. Following my research interest in the past few years, the topic of my dissertation is also about the timing patterns of the annual reports. However, to construct a paper with recognized quality, solid foundation on theory and hypothesis development is quite essential, as I have suggested to my colleagues. However, with the theory that I have mastered, considering the behavior via the timing pattern is a too superficial decision that it fails to dig into the nature of contemporary research. Obviously, the essential factor that are affecting the investors’ protection should be the earning information, while the timing patterns is only a behavior that is influenced by the similar root.
My Wish for the New Year
Anyway, things have to be dealt with regularly no matter how boring and difficult they are. Following the tradition of the Chinese New Year that I should establish my own wish for the coming year, I do wish I can be admitted to a recognized graduate school, or alternatively, be offered an accepted industrial position with average salary that I can consider my house compensation and marriage. This is of great priority.
A story on Yangzi, a deaf girl, who spent her 15 years on learning how to speak, by observing the mouth behavior and feeling the vibrancies of throat with her hand, was introduced in a documentary broadcasted tonight in CCTV 4. It is so moved a story that I am fully impressed. Just imagine the difficulty for a girl to learn to speak without any direct information from her ears! What’s more impressively, she can talk to the journalists with comparatively fluent Chinese, and getting to know what the question is by observing. An early news report in 2004 is avilable online by clicking here.
Since very young, we were told by our parents that we should be determined individuals. What is determination? In a dictionary that is formed since our naive brain when being a lad, it means permanent sticking, without allowance on simple giving up and unapproved failure. I don’t know if it is related to a special culture or a generally accepted virtue. But I am for sure on its root in Chinese culture with the proof of the early education that is from my grandma and parents. Numerous stories in children books tell us to be determined. In my mind at that time, all the great scientist are of great determination.
Admittedly, such story is a great power for my later study, though they have been gradually eliminated from my mind with the growing on age. But the story that I got on CCTV today bring me back to this topic. And unfortunately, I found I am not that determined when I get older. An accidental search on Douban.com for the read books bring me back to the old days when I was study at high school. At that time, my brother received his offer to University of Ohio, and then his American dream started. The event is a great shock for me, and I was getting aware that I should learn English well. Such belief and strong motivation directly bring me inexhaustible power, and thus render my determination of studying English. The result for my efforts are quite pleasant, my English was boosted, and the benefit from my English excellence is available even today!
But such determination is not available for me anymore. I don’t know if it is the reasons on social environment or just some personal reasons. I am not that ideal and naive any more for imagine my future life in decades after, and I would never set a remote purpose that I shall fight for, like my English study in high school. What I am caring more is about the present situation, e.g. job seeking, graduate school entrance, PhD programs overseas, etc. Admittedly, concern on present situation is not a fatal mistake, it reflects the fundamental desire for the survival of an individual. But the problem is, I have lost my desire on remote plans, only a confusing framework for my present situation is available.
We are living in the emerging market, and incomplete human characteristic may be partly an important feature to such setting. But I don’t know if it would be of severe consequence when increasingly social members are losing their remote plans and then belief and determination. Indeed, such effect can be widely amplified.
PS:Since today, The QQZone would be synchronized with the blog, but I would not take any adjustment for synchronized posts on QQZone for any format settings.
For most students like us, who were born and grew up in a city, participating state-owned schools, from kindergarten, primary school to middle school and university, it is hard for us to imagine the ‘citizen-managed’ teachers. The only impression for me is from the documentary films. But a recent notice on the future of these teacher bring such persons into our sight. It is the headlines of the journals and newspapers bring us the opportunity to take a consideration of all these teachers. Prior to the start of this article, I do wish all these teachers everything goes well. They have devote too much to the development of the education in China.
Citizen-managed Teachers and Their Past
Citizen-managed teachers, a special group of teachers that is widely seen in rural regions of China, forms a significant portion of the teachers in less developed regions of China. Unlike the teachers who are holding an official certification from the Ministry of Education, these teachers are taking their teaching positions in quite weak conditions, and are awarded quite little salary, which is about 1/4 to the certificated teachers, though their responsibilities on teaching and their loyalty on students are identical. The asymmetric role on their output and input is an essential feature for these teachers.
The citizen-managed teachers are rendered due to the demands from the comparatively weak economic conditions in some regions. Due to the schools in China are mainly state-owned, the salary for the teachers, especially those for primary and middle school, are from the government. The salary for the teachers is an important portion for the expense on education in annual budget for the government, both the central and locals. For those regions that can hardly support this salary in their budgets, citizen-managed teachers are employed. Their salary are mainly paid by the local village and the school they are working for directly.
For decades, the poor situation for these teachers are focused, and numerous films, documentaries and reports were published. With the concern of the financial constraints that are frequently suffered in those regions that the citizen-managed teachers are mainly distributed, these teachers may suffer from low payment for their salary, and they may not receive the medical insurance and pension plan from the government. For them, they have devoted too much to the education career.
The Contributions of the Citizen-managed Teachers to the Education in China
Though the development of the Chinese economy since the Open Door Policy from 1979 has promoted the civilization process of major cities in China, and the population living in metropolis and medium cities has been rapidly increased, the population of the rural regions is still dominant. The statistical showed that the amount of citizen-managed teachers was to be over 4.8 million in 1977 and this number was reduced in the near decades but it is still a large number due to the financial conditions.
In fact, these teachers has taught quite a lot of students, and they offered the children in remote rural regions an opportunity for their knowledge. Those we can easily find fully equipped schools in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where students are enjoying good education quality and excellent instruments, the conditions in rural regions are still limited, especially for the primary schools. One of my classmate used to tell me that his primary school was set by his resident village, which is located in a local temple. And there is only one teacher, who teaches all the grades and subjects, including Chinese, Moths, Music and Sports. It is such teachers that promoted the development of the education and indefinitely, the development of the country, on various realms, including science, technology and economy.
The Mandatory Termination for Citizen-managed Teachers: Possible Reasons
A recent announcement from the Ministry of Education showed that the citizen-managed teachers would have to be terminated mandatorily if they are not able to transfer their identity to a qualified teachers in time. This transfer would consist of a series of exams for courses on pedagogy and an integrated investigation on their teaching performance. The exams sounds likely to be simple but difficult for those teachers since they seldom receive formal training for such courses. In fact, in my opinion, a mandatory termination for such teachers may not that stable. But I suppose this announcement may involve two following governmental considerations.
Consideration on Improvement of Education Quality
Frankly, the limited educational background fro most citizen-managed teachers can prevent them from improving the education quality. A statistics on these teachers shows that great partition of them are holding a high school diploma or equivalent. Though they may not face difficulty when teaching in a primary school, the enlightens on the students for broadening their horizon is a problem. In fact, the education quality on knowledge itself is undoubtedly important since it would perform a fundamental role in a student’s further study, the horizon should not be overlooked. And the termination may based on this consideration, since qualified teacher should know more besides teaching itself, ideally assumed.
Consideration on Employment for Newly Graduated Students
This consideration sounds more or less out of morality though it is comprehensive. For years, the employment of newly graduated college students has been a social difficulty. And such problem is more severe in normal schools. Since the unique institutional background that the teachers in most public schools are supported by the government, the total amount is more or less fixed. Such situation made the employment for students from normal schools a great trouble. I have ever studied in Department of Mathematics in a normal school, I clearly understand its difficulty. My friends are working in various teaching positions, ranging from teachers in kindergarten to high school.
Such difficulty on employment markets drive me to this direction. Terminating the citizen-managed teachers can provide more vacancies for these students. It sounds quite rational. Such solution can both reduce the difficulty of employment for college students and improve the education quality. But the question is, shall the graduates be willing to go to the rural regions for their career?
What Can They Do in Future?
For those teachers that are facing mandatory termination, it is obviously a tragedy. Since such termination mean they would have to transfer themselves to another industry. The process for such transfer can be difficult, especially when they are getting old, and they have devoted nearly all their best ages to their students. For younger teachers, who are in his/her 20s or 30s, taking some training, or obtaining a higher diploma would be a good idea. More directly, they can make full efforts on exams, pursuing to be a qualified teacher. While for the old ones, their lives may be a problem. They would be returned to the lives like their predecessors, leading their lives on the plants. I don’t know whether they should thank the government for such a release or not.
I don’t know why the governmental decision is always so arbitrary, from the Internet constraints, the controlling on the property market, to this termination for citizen-managed teachers. I suppose only when the government can fully make their decisions according to the wealth economics, the China can really be a developed country!
PS:Writing a structured blog is really a tiring job, but it does improve the readability.
If you are watching the CNN News daily you would find the earthquake that happened in Haiti some days ago is now a hot event. CNN, FOX, ABC and CBS are all focusing much on this event. Taking CNN for example, the most frequent channel that I am watching these days, they are broadcasting the news on this earthquake in 24*7 mode with frequent remote connection with the journalists in Haiti, delivering the latest news to the audio in front of the TV set. For the details and developing of this event, please visit related sites on CNN directly. In fact, the earthquake has been raised to the first rank for the hottest topics. The two following graphs on worldwide and China visits respectively provides additional evidence on this event.
This earthquake reminds me of the days when the earthquake happened years ago in Wenchuan, Sichuan of China. It was such a great disaster that the whole China was suddenly dropped into the sadness. As is told by a friend who was just a student in Sichuan that time, the earthquake would be deeply impressed in her heart that can never be forgotten. So now, I fully understand who would the Haiti be at present. Such feeling is enhanced when I saw the terrible videos through the CNN. The reports from CNN bring me a new understanding on the styles on the news delivery in US.
Undoubtedly, a comparison on the news reports and the governmental announcements can bring us better understanding to the differences between the culture in China and that of the West. The rescue of this earthquake is to be an opportunity for the US to exhibit both its respect on human rights as well as the high technology that is adapted in this rescue. Admittedly, the rapid response of the US for this earthquake lays on two reasons: one is its short geographic location, the other is the care about the US citizens in Haiti.
A first difference that I find on the news reports is its focus. In CNN reports, they are caring on two key points. One is the medical condition. We can see frequently from the remote connections to the Haiti where the journalists are concerning about the poor medical condition. There is no information on the doctors who are working for the rescue, even no interview, but only about the patients. Still remember what we saw in China? We were watching the efforts from the doctors who are working for the treatments, but no information on the patients and treatments themselves. Can the equipment and medical conditions satisfactory at that time? I don’t think so. The only explanation for this is that we are caring more about the individuals but the westerners are not.
The other difference observed on the news reports is about the children. The both the CCTV and CNN are caring about the situations of the children, they are still under some different. Similar to the attitude towards the medical conditions and doctors, one or two boys (girls) are presented as the symbol. But in a CNN report, we are informed that there are so many orphans now in Haiti, and they want help. A good example is the large photo on the front-page of CNN.
I don’t know whether it is from the difference on the cultural basis that renders all these differences. It is hard to tell which is better. But admittedly, the way that CNN delivers its news can bring its watchers better understanding on the whole development of an event. I am not an expert on media, and I don’t know if the medias in China should learn from CNN for a more transparent and effective way of delivering the news. But, I do prefer the CNN style.
The CNN reports bring me an associate product, the understanding of the unofficial organization in US. Still remember President Bush and Clinton? They have just founded a fund organization aiming at allocating donations and offering help for the sufferers in Haiti. A website named ‘Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’ has been settled. I don’t want to deny the political incentive of this fund, but they do good things.
With there would be more survivors in Haiti, God bless you all!
No one can deny the process of time processing, for which, the individuals like us, can only obey this regulation. Time pass smoothly no matter whether you are successful or not, no matter whether you are taking adequate care on it, and no matter whether you are young or old, boy or girl. Following my traditions, I would like to take a summary of my past year at last day. Taking a scan on the summary of mine in 2008 and 2007, I find, my 2009 is quite plain,there is nothing impressive to note, and honor to share with, except for something unpleasant.
The GRE, both the preparation and the two attempts,forms up the the mainstream of my life this year. Admittedly, GRE is the most difficult exams for the students in China because of two reasons. The first reason is that you are required to memorize and understand over 20k words. My first failure in this step is that I failed to make an in-depth understanding of the words, but only try to memorize them. But the problem is that without good understanding on the real meaning, you can hardly find the potential relationship between the words and hence you fail. Anyway, my writing skills is greatly improved during this preparing process. I can start to write my own formal English. Admittedly, without sufficient training on GRE training, I won’t finish my first English manuscript and the research proposal.
For academia, there is nothing important as well except for the training program in Shanghai, conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Due to the funding from my professor and the arrangements on my research, I didn’t go to any highly ranked academic conference, totally different from what I did in 2008. However, I have to say, not to flatter the faculties of CUHK, their lectures broaden my horizon on my research greatly. From their delivery, I learned the importance of fundamental papers, always those enlightening works that also own great amount of reference. Without sufficient understand on the previous literature, not only for my topic, but also the common backgrounds, I won’t be a qualified scholar and a qualified reader of the papers in top journals.
Though I get the scholarship, and the prize of honored paper from an internal conference, I am not satisfied. For the scholarship, I have experienced too much, much more than it deserved. Though the prize of the honored paper partially convinced myself of the potentials of research, that’s far from enough. I would not repeat all these trivialities. For those readers who are interested in further information, please refer to relevant posts.
The perspective of my 2010 is quite simple, just two English words-Go Smoothly!
At the end of my summary, I shall acknowledge the thanks to numerous people that have helped me in various realms. Some of these friends are Kuan Song, Prof. Wang Xiongyuan, Prof. Xu JIalin, Prof. Shirley J. Daniel, Zhang Peng, You Tingting, Guan Kaolei, Tang Jianxia, Zhuang Chunfang, Chen Wenna. Fundamentally,I shall express my thanks heartedly to my mama, papa, and the gone grandma. I wish and would keep appreciating your kindness in the coming 2010.