One would think that based on those two great truths that the Commonwealth Bank would have the organizational and managerial flexibility to deal with any situation to arise, but apparently they do not - OR - they don't wish to! But you just have to wonder if at the end of the day, the whole issue is not just about "a shortage of competent staff" and a lack of good old fashioned customer service.
Years ago we had to disable comments at kingscalendar because of all the pornographic spam. Today spam filters keep out the unwanted people and allow the rest to make comments, to post to Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
I've written a number of articles in the last months about my life (this year) in China. Those stories relate to the frustrations of dealing with the Stupidity or Malevolence of the Commonwealth Bank Australia, the frustrations of Murphy's Law in traveling, and the frustrations of dealing with an old computer, but after my most recent article (read 'laugh') in relation to the Commonwealth Bank Australia's New CEO's Asian plans, I decided to write this article and make it a companion piece to perhaps give the Western Armchair 'know-all' a glimpse of how frustrating the little things of life which are so taken for granted in the west, can be a right royal pain in the ass in China.
In the telling of this tale I will be drawing from my experiences both in Baotou City in Inner Mongolia, and Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province.
If the Commonwealth Bank Australia intends to do business in Asia, then I think it is going to need to know a lot more about 'providing customer service' and 'dealing with foreign realities on the ground' than they do at present.
Essentially, this article is about those realities on the ground.
Currently my credit card account is suspended because the Chinese government has blocked my email account. That's it in a nutshell. I can't access the account and the Commonwealth Bank not only refuses to deal with me via my hotmail account but also refuses to deal with me through the email service within my allegedly secure Netbanking system. Suffice it to say, that in China, the internet and email accounts are not as reliable as they are in the west. This is one of many things of which some westerners may be unaware.
Internet related problems.
I have previously written about how that wonderful Mr. Kang of the SuZhou Computer Repair service has looked after me so I won't bore you with that tale, but my internet problems did not cease when he fixed my computer.
There were 3 distinct periods in 4 weeks during which I could not access the internet. The first time lasted a week. It took that long for the telecom guy to come and attend to the problem. He tried to tell me that I needed to buy a new modem, but it was his company that sold me the bloody modem when they installed the line. I refused to part with cash of course, and called my Foreign Affairs Officer at school, who told the man - whatever it was he said.
A week went by and I lost the internet again, this time for about 4 days. The technician came and fixed the problem and told me that it was a problem caused by my computer. I spoke to Mr. Kang and he said that that was ridiculous.
A week later I lost the internet for the 3rd time and did a song and dance at the telecom office and next afternoon the guy came to see me. When he entered my apartment I shoved my phone in his face and told him to speak to my computer repair man and tell him what the problem is.
He told me to wait a minute while he fiddled with my computer, and then he went downstairs. Thirty minutes later he returned and informed me that everything was now OK. It was an outside line problem. All up that month I lost about 14 days of internet use.
Air-conditioning and Central Heating.
Last winter in Baotou, where the temperatures were between minus 20 and 30 degrees, the whole floor upon which I lived was without central heating. It was actually warmer to go outside and stand in the sun. All winter! 'So Sorry! Central Heating is not working!'
Suzhou is nowhere near as bad as Baotou, but it does get cold and so air-conditioning is reverse cycle allowing for warm air to be circulated in your room in the winter. (But only if you are rich enough to afford it! My privately leased apartment does have it.)
One Friday morning, just before leaving for school, I lost power to the air conditioner and other electrical goods in my apartment. After classes I took off for Jiaxing and didn't return till Sunday night. Monday morning I went to the realtor and informed her and was assured that there would be someone at my apartment that evening to fix the problem. Each day on the way to work I called in to say that the guy hadn't turned up and by Thursday I was 'hot' but only under the collar.
The guy finally turned up Saturday afternoon at about 5pm and after 5 minutes of playing around with the air conditioner and the power point, had everything working again. Wonderful! The following Sunday it died again. This time I was able to call him directly and he soon arrived and fixed the problem and then called the 'landlady' and gave her a blast about the fuse boxes. He told her that she needed to fix them. An hour later, the power went out again and even though I was using nothing in the apartment, the fuse box was sizzling.
Monday night the landlady's husband and an electrician turned up and spent about an hour working on the fuse boxes and fixed the problem. And this is now my cue to tell you about the Water Problem - or more correctly - the hot water problem. Actually the lack of Hot water. The electrician explained to me that my apartment did not have an electric hot water system installed.
The Value of Solar Hot Water Systems
In Baotou I lived on the 6th floor of an apartment building and in addition to the central heating problems in winter, there was an additional problem, which was that often there was insufficient water pressure in the building, which meant 'No Water.' In Baotou, whenever I had water, I had wonderful hot showers. When I didn't, I had to dip into the big water storage bucket.
In Suzhou, I don't have that problem. There is always water. But Hot water is another question.
My apartment is located in a little village area which has undergone a tremendous facelift since I arrived in September. I am actually luckier than most residents because my apartment is owned by a soldier - an officer - who installed, in addition to the washing machine, refrigerator, and air-conditioning, a solar hot water system, but, like the rest of the residences, there is no electric hot water system. That means that there is only hot water when the sun shines.
I don't know where I wrote it, but the fact is, that during these cold winter days, there is no sun, just clouds. The night sky however is perfectly clear but that doesn't help heat the hot water. Point being: Like everyone else I have to boil up pots of water in the morning or evening so that I can have a wash.
China may appear to be a modern country, and in fact she is developing quite well in that direction, but if you have never lived as an ordinary Chinese person lives, then you really don't know what life is really like.
The Commonwealth bank (although they failed when they tried to call me in Baotou on a landline) expect me to be able to just pick up my non-existent house phone and give them an allegedly 'free call.'
The Commonwealth bank (although they have been told that I can't access it) expects me to access the internet and my kingscalendar email account as easily from China as I could in Australia.
They either haven't a clue about what constitutes 'real life' in China, or they expect me to break the Laws of China and invest in one of those systems that can bypass the Great Firewall of China. Not only would that be illegal in China, but if I had access to my credit card to purchase one of those systems, I bloody well wouldn't need to 'cause my credit card wouldn't be suspended!
When I got the internet connected I had no translator with me and had to do everything in Chinese so forgive me if I don't understand it all too well, but this much I did understand: There was one fee for just an internet connection, and a larger fee if I wanted to have a house phone. Question? Does your bank expect you to install a house phone before its representatives will talk to you? Surely not!
But my personal problems aside, I can't help but wonder what type of minds these 'retired to their own rectum' bank johnny types actually have. Has no other person in the world yet had the experience where they had a difficulty with their bank and could not use a landline to call, and could not access their email accounts?
Perhaps not! But the law of unintended consequences dictates that no one can foresee all the possible stuff-ups that an implemented system might encounter, and Murphy's Law dictates that whatever can possibly go wrong, one day will.
One would think that based on those two great truths that the Commonwealth Bank would have the organizational and managerial flexibility to deal with any situation to arise, but apparently they do not - OR - they don't wish to!
But you just have to wonder if at the end of the day, the whole issue is not just about "a shortage of competent staff" and a lack of good old fashioned customer service. I know in Australia that the Banks believe that they are a law unto themselves and that the legal system is nothing more than their personal 'rubber stamp,' but if they think a Chinese or other Asian person is going to 'shut up, bend over and take it in the ass' like we westerners do in Australia, then I think that Mr. Ian Narev, new CEO of the Commonwealth Bank Australia, is in for one hell of a surprise. Maybe he needs migrants to teach him how to do his business.
It was decided that unshod horses would not be allowed to be used in commercial ventures. People couldn't ride horses for a living; salesman couldn't load goods onto their horses; and horses could no longer pull carts. While it all seemed quite logical and humane, the unforeseen consequence of the law was that the supply of goods into and out of the town began to dwindle, until in the end, business after business went bankrupt. As time went by the whole city went bust until the only ones left were those who could not afford to move, and one of these was our blacksmith. One day, considering that since the council itself was now gone, the blacksmith decided to restart his business.
Today, I am using a recent letter from Jerry, to tell a story – a sad story. It is a story rooted in Ancient and Modern Chinese Culture. It is a story of an impossible love. It is a story I have heard so many times before, of families who refuse to allow their children to love whom they will. It is a story about how in the 21st century, Chinese children must still obey their parents and marry the one of whom the parents approve.
One would think that based on those two great truths that the Commonwealth Bank would have the organizational and managerial flexibility to deal with any situation to arise, but apparently they do not - OR - they don't wish to! But you just have to wonder if at the end of the day, the whole issue is not just about "a shortage of competent staff" and a lack of good old fashioned customer service.
American Chinese cuisine is not quite the same as regular homestyle cooking back in Mainland China. I think that it might be wise to bring a Mainland Chinese cook back with you, unless you are ready to install a MacDonald's restaurant on site. But a major problem that I think Dr. Smith is likely to encounter, is that far too many Chinese students who have passed the International Language Tests in order to study overseas, arrive on campus without any ability at all to understand what is spoken, or to be able to speak English. Such is the state of those tests.
A common thread running throughout Yang Guangyou's work life is that employers expect and demand so much of him but have consistently discriminated against him because he has no college degree. He is a diligent worker, professional in his various supervisory positions and is quite at home conversing in English. As of December 2011, he is again unemployed. (January 6, 2012 - Received word that he is working in Tianjin.) Jerry's Story: When a boy is around the age of 20, his parents will find a person to introduce a girl to him as a wife. At this time the family of the male part will give 10000 to 20000 [rmb] to the family of the female part. Generally speaking , they will not change the relationship once it is built. After that, the family of the male part will collect money for the wedding, 20000 RMB maybe. But that is not enough because the female part usually ask for a new house which can be built around 100,000 RMB in that place.
With something like a 70% Rural Population, many kids grow up in the countryside, in tiny little villages, or larger but still small towns. They run, play, fish and swim in the nearby fields and streams. Probably most don't have running water in their homes, and certainly not bathrooms. The outhouse is literally the outhouse, and the waste will run off into some fish pond or similar.
In China, the rights of society take precedence over individual human rights. This, we Westerners call totalitarianism and from an ideological perspective, desire to destroy it right? But ask yourself this: "What does MY country promote?" In China, there are many social problems that similarly exist in your country, and these are slowly being dealt with. But it seems to me that while China's totalitarian regime is focused on making China a 'harmonious society,' that in the west, everything is aimed at promoting sectarian interests which divide society.
, 2006My Student friend has already 'cheated' in 4 exams this school year. Well, he doesn't actually 'cheat,' he just 'pretends' to be someone else, and does their exams for them. It's a simple process really. They merely substitute photographs in their identity cards. The first thing I had to tell him was that the reason I seem so happy, is that if I allowed myself to be controlled by all the 'negatives' that surround me, I would have to quit my job and go home. 'The Secret of Being Happy,' I informed him, 'is that happiness comes from within you. It is not the result of happy experiences.'
You may find this hard to believe, but Chinese students can memorise a 20 minute monologue - perfectly. They memorise their lesson texts. They might understand nothing. They certainly cannot commence at paragraph two or three: they must start from the first word and go through to the end. However, they can memorise perfectly. So this is what these two girls did.
Chinese Students: Chinese Youth: Problems of Chinese Young People. This file was intended to be added to on a regular basis. Unfortunately it wasn't. The friendship with Mingxing has however continued, and as can be seen in the photographs in the Confucious Temple article listed above.
As I turned in at the gate, I was dismayed to see people leaving. My arrival naturally evoked the expected 'LaoWei! LaoWei!' As I entered the church, the few people that were left rushed to greet me and began to explain in Chinese, whatever it was that they were explaining. My heavy sigh was sufficient to impress upon them my disappointment, and resulted in one man grabbing my overcoat and pulling me outside, whilst the rest pointed off in the distance. Ahah! I was being taken somewhere. We walked for about 15 minutes down the road. Now up to this moment I thought that Chibi consisted only of that part of it that I had already seen, but it actually continues on to a busier and more residential section, which is quite separate from that part next to the Museum/Park
Chibi is 20+ kms east of where I lived in Hong Hu, and I could ride my bicycle, take a taxi or catch a bus to the Barge Crossing. Of course one must then wait for the barge, and that can take some time. On the other side of the river it is just a case of walking a short distance to the museum and lookouts.
You will arrive at Taipa House Museum Area with so much to see. If you want to go into the Museum you must pay. But there is also much to see outside. This is a museum beside the A-Ma Temple on Macao Island. This sits on the waterfront and you can see Zhuhai in China across the harbour.
Beijing
(Note: Chiara Braccagni's articles are in both English and Italian)
A una di queste chiamate, ci fermiamo a fianco a una coppia di giovani. Non solo i due incauti avevano diversi sacchetti, ma portavano con sé anche una torta. Dopo varie discussioni con la bigliettaia perché la torta nel pulmino proprio non ci stava, provano ad aprire il finestrino e a passarla alla ragazza seduta di fronte a Justine. Visto che non riuscivano a spostare il vetro, sporgendomi, faccio alla bigliettaia: "Lo faccia passare da qui" (okkei, va bene, ho detto solo "da qui," il resto della frase era sottinteso!). Io, anima ingenua, credevo che una volta saliti i due giovani avrebbero trovato il modo di riprendersi la torta. E invece no! Mi sono fatta una decina di chilometri di strada sterrata con una torta gelato sulle ginocchia! E giusto per renderla ancora più precaria, era una torta a due piani con complesse decorazioni, tra cui un drago giallo con occhi e baffi di cioccolata. Avevo il terrore di spetasciarla. A questo punto, però, ridevamo da non riuscire più a respirare.
Mt. Tai is located in the center of Shandong Province, lying across the cities of Tai'an, Jinan and Zibo. Its main peak, Jade Emperor Summit, which is within Tai'an City, is about 1532.7 meters (5,029 feet) high. The mountain was once called Mt. Daishan, Mt. Daizong or Mt. Taiyue and was renamed Mt. Taishan in the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC). It epitomizes splendid Chinese culture and was listed in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List of UNESCO in 1987
Many people say that my cursive Chinese writing is just terrible scribble. Now I know that they are just jealous because I have mastered a unique form of calligraphy. Du Fu Selected Poems Translated by Rewi Alley Foreign Languages Press 2001
On the Matilda Trail by Captain Sandy Stewart. Today we are going to head north to Mt Isa, but before we go we have a few things to do. First of all we have to go to the FLYING DOCTOR HQ and thank them for the tip of when the plane was coming in. On our way back to town we went past the Vortex guns built by Steiger Vortex as a rain making exercise in 1902, it failed. We are now crossing over Lagoon Creek heading for Longreach. Cruising west 80 kms to Ilfracombe we stop to have a beer at the Wellshot Hotel and guess what! THE PUB'S GOT NO BEER.
Spanish Lighthouse at Corregidor Island had a signpost letting us know how far from home we were - The Centerpiece at the War Memorial for American Soldiers in Manilla - Corregidor Island Battery looking toward Batan - Military tanks at the Philippine Military Academy
When excavating workers discovered the original Royal road and archaeological viewing platforms have been set up from both above and beside the original road. No charge! You can go down the ramp and clearly see the road and the accompanying signs/ The Chaotian Gate - During the Zhizheng Reign of Yuan Dynasty it was renamed to Gongbei Tower. It was destroyed in the 10th year (1474) of Chenghua Reign Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the next year. The building was destroyed again in early Qing Dynasty and rebuilt in the 25th year (1686) of the Kangxi Reign Qing Dynasty. It is known as Drum Tower.
We spent quite a bit of time in Leifeng Pagoda before leaving to take a cab back to our hotel. On the way out we read all the signs about the Pagoda's history and the Story of Lady White Snake. We also stopped so that Mingxing could duck into a little temple beside the Pagoda. I took the opportunity to sit on a fence and have a cigarette. While doing so I notice 2 young couples at the entrance and one of the boys looked at me, smiled, said something to his girlfriend who then produced a camera and then made a beeline for me so he could have his photo taken with a 'real live foreigner.' We foreigners probably have our photos taken more often than movie stars.
Copyright 2017 is held by the nominated authors on this article page.
About The KingsCalendar Website
R.P. BenDedek (pseudonym) is from Brisbane Australia and has been teaching in China since 2003. He is the author of 'The Kings Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' - and -
Since 2004 he has been writing academic articles, social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both here at KingsCalendar, and formerly as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News (Maine USA) where from 2009 to 2015 he was Stand-in Editor. He currently has a column at iPatriot.com and teaches English to Business English and Flight Attendant College Students in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province People's Republic of China.)
BenDedek originally created the site to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran.' Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah. Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
(The Download book does not contain a section on Seder Olam)
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
