Nanjing is 189 miles (306 km) NW of Shanghai

The pleasure to revisit Shanghai with high-rise skyline, a symbol of booming prosperity, lies in observing the contrast between the civility of the buildings on oneside of Huangpu River and the glitzy towers across the water. The nicknamed Venice of the East is the canal town of Suzhou, the birthplace of my paternal ancestors. Gondola is canal boat in Suzhou. My maternal forebears were in Hangzhou. I had elevator ride to the 88th floor to the Jinmao Tower, the tallest building of China and one of the tallest in the world. Credit must be given to American architects. The cost is $540 million with 1379 foot (421 m) I had a most spectacular view with a food court in the basement and Starbuck nearly on the embankment. Early morning exercises of folks in Shanghai can be seen along the waterfront promenade of The Bund, Shanghai. The Wu dialect of Shanghai can be understood by folks in neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. Cang Jie, the minister of the Yellow Emperor, was supposedly inspired to invent the Chinese script after seeing bird and animal tracks in the snow. Writing was elevated to an art form and 4 tones of Mandarin are musically sounded."A Glimpse of the Chinese Language" in English is dedicated to better understanding of the Chinese language to Westerners especially to Americans since it was published in 1965 by The RAND Corporation in Santa Monica,California. RAND is known as a Think Tank to think ahead for all endeavors of humankind for better way of enrichment with more intellecual understanding in academic settings or otherwise for positive senarios.
Li Bai(AD c.701-761) was a prolific poet and Du Fu(AD c.712-770) was considered as a Confucian scholar with virtue. His poems displayed enormous erudition. My mother expected me to follow the steps of Li and Du with my given name "Shihao," i.e. the hero of poetry. In the Garden of Bai Juyi (772-846) in Loyang,Henan province,I happened to see the wooden plate with the words "Li du er xia jian shihao" thereby I discovered the background of my name. But I am not a poet but a lifelong student.
Confucianism started with Confucius (551-479 B.C. who was a thinker and teacher whose philosophy was known to stress family obligation and good government based on the principle of "Ren ye dao de" i.e. benevolence,righteousness and morality.
Chun Jie,Chinese New Year is a time when bonuses are given and debts to be settled. Chun Jie occurs with the first new moon after January 21st, which will be Feb. 18th in 2007 and Feb.7th in 2008. It so happens that my trip to China starts from January 21, 2008 to February 18, 2008 with good luck and blessings to remember custom and traditon of China. I left China in 1947 and I have been in the USA for six decades. Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao. January 8, 2008 at 1.33 p.m.