Monday, April 30, 2012

That was then, this is now?

When my wife and I first moved to Beijing, I made the mistake of renting an apartment too close to Tiananmen Square. One evening after dinner, we sat down and to watch the nightly news on CCTV 9. A story came on asking various "random" people, "what are the 10 things you LOVE about China?"

My wife then said, "I can tell you 10 things I hate about China."
About 3 or 4 seconds later, the electricty to our apartment was completely cut off. Looking out the window, EVERY other apartment in the 200 unit complex still had power.

Sitting together in the dark, I looked at my wife and said,
"Welcome to China!"

Thankfully, our spying hosts turned the power back on after about five minutes. From that moment on, every time something strange or unusual happened in our lives, this blogger just repeated the phrase,
"Welcome to China!"


Click on image to open in a new window.

The above photograph shows the last paragraphs of a five page business report written by Thomas A. Worrall (Peter's Step-Great Grandfather) from the MacAndrews & Forbes Company office in Shanghai, China on October 23rd, 1926. This original report was mailed from Shanghai to the company's treasurer (Mr. F.J. Maginniss) in New York City.

"Gate of Heavenly Peace"
Original photograph taken by Thomas A. Worrall
(Peter's Step- Great Grandfather)
Circa October 1926
Tiananmen, Beijing (Peking), China


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