Beating to Submission

The authorities are worried about June 4. They wonder what people have in store to mark the anniversary that rocked the leadership and the world 20 years ago.

But the government will do all it can to suppress any mention of it.

At this year's Qing Ming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day on Saturday, Beijing encouraged its people to not only pay respects to their ancestors, but to also remember those victims who died in the May 12 earthquake.

However, one elderly man chose to remember other victims.

Sun Wenguang, 75, is a retired professor of Shandong University. He chose to mark Qing Ming by paying respects to Zhao Ziyang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China who visited the students during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and to Zhang Zhixin, a dissident who was killed in the Cultural Revolution.

Not only was Sun's taxi followed by nine cars sent by the police, but he was later attacked, where the assailants threw him down a two-metre drop and brutally beat the old man, breaking three of his ribs.

He is now recovering in hospital, reportedly unable to turn his head, but is in stable condition.

Sun is no stranger to surveillance and trouble -- he has been imprisoned many times in over 10 years for his opinions on political issues and has written books that have been published in Hong Kong.

Why are the authorities so scared of this elderly man? Are physical beatings really necessary?

This only shows the government is still doing everything it can to hide the truth, which will eventually come out whether it likes it or not.

While 1989 is a grave mistake that will never bring back the lives lost, China needs to come to terms with this dark event in history. Only then can the country really begin its ascent onto the world stage as an accountable power.

Forget Spring, Summer is Here

The window of my apartment building faces east. So in the mornings, I get a very bright wake up call courtesy the Sun at 6am these days.

And today was especially warm -- 27 degrees!

Spring has evaporated into the heat and is quickly being replaced with the beginning of summer and it's only April.

Needless to say by the time I walked from the subway station to the office, my back was already sweaty and needed a drink to cool down.

The rest of the week looks to be about the same... ah Spring, we hardly knew ye.

Picture of the Day: Heading for a Bargain

Today I wandered around Panjiayuan with some relatives who are in town.

I told them about the antique flea market in the south east of the city which piqued their interest and so they had to check it out.

I like to go there periodically just to see what's for sale and if there are any new items I haven't seen before.

As some antique experts have pointed out before, about 99 percent of the stuff sold there is fake, so make sure you bargain for the best price.

And in one of the rows of vendors, I spied the two bronze heads of the rat and the rabbit that were up for sale at the Christie's auction in late February.

Cai Mingchao may have left the auction world in disgrace thanks to muted public opinion on his so-called "patriotic act", but someone else can bargain for these imitation animal heads at a much lower price, as long as they're willing to pay up.

Bureaucratic Bumbling

My move to the new apartment went well -- I mean the actual transporting of my stuff from one place to another.

And now I have lots of stuff all over the one-bedroom flat and it's going to take me a while to sort through everything.

My new place doesn't have much storage space which means either buying more shelving or boxing stuff up -- or going minimalist and purging even more stuff.

I've decided to do the latter, and it's going to take a lot of determination! Do I still need those worn out pair of shoes? Yes! Do I need this sweater even though I haven't worn it in over a year? Hmmm... maybe.

Hopefully I'll get the culling done in the next few weeks and then the place will look... less cluttered. The only thing that looks good so far is the bedroom and walk-in closet. The living room is a bit of a mess...

However, when it came to begin the process of moving my boxes and suitcases of stuff into our small moving van, you'd think you just load up and go.

But the young uniformed security guard at my building tried to explain to me that he needed to make a list of all the things I was taking out.

Excuse me?

I didn't quite understand what was going on and he dragged a guy out from the management office to speak to me.

This other young guy tried to look more authoritative, again saying that he needed to make a list of all the things I was taking before I could actually move out.

I said, I'm not moving my landlord's stuff out, I'm moving my own stuff out!

He again tried to explain that it was a procedure that had to be done with my landlord present otherwise he would have to stop my move.

I was dumbfounded, while one of the movers tried to smooth talk him, saying we're only taking a few things today and will come back later, when this bureaucratic process can be finished off.

He still wasn't satisfied and I had to explain to him that it wasn't me renting the place -- it was my company who rented the place from my landlord and no one in my company had explained the process of moving out to me at all.

I said that I would come back Tuesday to sort everything out with him, including paying water fees for the past two years and any other outstanding fees.

All the while the movers continued carrying my things into the van and after a while the guy from the management office gave up trying to stop me -- what could he do really? And he said the matter would be settled on Tuesday.

I still don't understand what he needed to do, but I'll let my company sort that out with him.

And then when I got to my new apartment, the security guard said we needed to get some kind of form filled out at the management office to allow us to use the service elevator!

This time the security guards were polite and two of them escorted me one after the other to the place.

When I walked down the stairs I could see the guy in a suit lying on the sofa for a snooze, but when he saw me coming, he quickly got up.

He filled out a small piece of paper and asked me to put my name on it.

Do you have a lot of stuff? he asked.

I asked him what a lot meant.

He then asked how many times I would need to use the elevator and I said once or twice?

"Oh then that's fine," he said and then told me to give the piece of paper to the person manning the service elevator.

The movers had already moved my things to the service elevator, waiting for me to give the slip of paper to the woman who refused to let them in the lift without it.

So when I leave this new place, I have to fill out that same kind form that the first apartment had wanted...

I can understand that the managers of the building worry you're moving out without your landlord's knowledge, but why should be onus be on the management office? They should really be concentrating on making sure the property is secure and fix things like the elevator that hasn't been working for the past several months, not chase you down to do paperwork that really is none of their business...

Moving On

I've just finished 98 percent of my packing in my apartment.

My friend helped me tape up boxes and pack up kitchenware, and odds and ends, then moved all my suitcases and boxes into the living room to get ready to move tomorrow morning.

I can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated in two years.

However, I can't survive without my vacuum cleaner even though I don't have disposable bags for it, and I need the humidifier in the winter when the air is really dry. Pots and pans are a must along with bedding, clothes, coats, shoes and even a tennis racquet.

In the last few weeks I've "stolen" a few cardboard boxes from the office and disposed of old clothes, newspaper clippings, old magazines and shoes. And yet I still have a mountain of stuff.

But from tomorrow I'll be starting a new life -- a new job and a new apartment.

I left my office for the last time today, with tears welling up as I said goodbye to people I'd seen day in, day out for the past two years.

They learned a little bit of what foreigners think of China and the finer points of English, while I got to know what young people in China are like and issues that concern them.

Many came by my desk to say goodbye, giving me their cellphone numbers to keep in touch, and a few even giving small gifts, from a mug and a key chain, to a jade bracelet.

For them it was only a small token of appreciation for the help I'd given them in my time there, and it was overwhelming for me to realize how much I'd affected them professionally and personally.

After I settle into my new home, I'll be energized to give as much energy, passion and devotion as I have to my old job to my new one.

My new colleagues are eager to learn and I'm just as enthusiastic to give too.

Although I'll miss my coworkers and all the work we did together, it's time for me to move on and take on a new challenge.

Honouring the Dead

Qing Ming or Tomb-Sweeping Day is this Saturday. It's a traditional Chinese holiday where families visit the graves of their ancestors.

They literally sweep or clean the tombstone, bring some offerings, like fruits and chicken, wine and other favourite foods. Buddhists also burn stacks of money for heaven, paper clothes and paper shaped like gold ingots to those in the afterlife.

Some westerners think it's wonderful that there is a dedicated day for the Chinese to remember their loved ones, though China only started observing it last year after the change in the Golden Week holidays.

Nevertheless, this year the government is pushing for remembrance of those who died in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan.

Although the first anniversary is a few months away, state-media organizations are being sent there to cover the event.

Why is the government doing that? We have not forgotten the victims, especially those students who died in allegedly shoddily-built schools. Their parents are still demanding the government release the exact number of students who perished, and yet their request is unanswered. Instead they are hushed up or forced to find other outlets to release their frustration.

China is also encouraging people to remember those who died for the revolution. It has set up a website where 'netizens' can leave patriotic comments. And speaking of martyrs, a TV series about Lei Feng, a selfless soldier who was devoted to Chairman Mao but died at the age of 21. He has grown into a cult hero and recently his image has been revived.

However, famed Olympic diver Tian Liang will play the young Lei, but this has created controversy in online forums. Some feel Tian, who has made a lot of money through endorsements is hardly a suitable choice to play Lei, who was known for being thrifty.

While we'll have to see if Tian does make a convincing Lei, it's interesting to see how people feel about a wealthy athlete playing a young patriotic soldier.

In the west we do sometimes raise an uproar about how much an actor is paid, but if they're good, who's to say how much they're worth? And does their own personality really matter?

But for the Chinese, playing a real person means that actor has to be true, inside and out.

Perhaps that's the best way to remember a loved one.

Turning up the Heat

Some people think the G20 summit in London will actually be the G2 -- the spotlight on presidents Hu Jintao and Barack Obama.

While it will be the first time the two meet, there are a lot of expectations that the United States and China will work out a strategy to get the world out of the economic doldrums.

In recent days China has been trying to push the US off its footing, with Chinese bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan suggesting that a "super-sovereign reserve currency" replace the US dollar.

While Zhou spun it by saying the goal is to "create an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run," US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke oppose the idea.

However, there are some European states that are interested in the shift too, but this radical proposal with significant economic and political implications may take time to be realized.

So what does China do in the meantime?

The Middle Kingdom has begun signing swap agreements with Hong Kong, Indonesia and now Columbia so that there is no need to do business in US dollars anymore, but in renminbi.

But despite these memorandums, China still continues to buy US Treasury bonds, now estimated to be at $2 trillion. It has become inextricably linked to the US whether it likes it or not.

When I first arrived in Beijing, I remember reading articles proudly spouting how much China had in US reserves. I wondered why China was so eager to put all its eggs in one basket -- why not invest in other currencies? Or better yet, take a few billion and improve its woefully inadequte healthcare and education systems?

Now two years on with the global financial crisis, the Chinese are wondering why their investments in the US have gone sour and why China keeps pouring money there. They also wonder even though China has this mind-boggling amount, why is the country still relatively poor?

The heat is on which is why Chinese leaders are also turning up the temperature with the Obama administration. From the beginning China has blamed the global economic downturn on the United States and its frivolous spending, but really, it's that consumption that has fueled China's economy.

So many contradictions, yet no easy answer.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything comes out of the G20 summit. We, the world, are tired of the photo calls and other pithy statements.

We want change, and we want it now.