One thing I do miss about America is the grand amount of community and continuing education available to virtually anyone and much of it for free. I was stumbling through Illustratrator’s newest release on MAC yesterday and bemoaning the fact that even a book on the subject would be hard to come by or too expensive to ship or pick up in Hong Kong.

Coincidentally, two colleges contacted me about the possibility of low-residency Masters and Doctoral programs and Continuing Education. One school is based in the UK and one is in the US. Both have good reputations and a comprehensive offering of courses. Both asked me if I thought they could be successful in China with the expat community. I answered honestly that I hadn’t a clue, but that I would ask you.

Let me know your thoughts and please feel free to add a response or two to the poll.

The original League of Extraordinary Chinese Women lost one more member this week. Ms. 珍 (Zhen) , first from the left, succumbed to breast cancer that spread to her liver for want of appropriate treatment.

The unsinkable Ms. Yue is the remaining survivor of her chemotherapy group. None of the women to date have been able to raise the funds needed to acquire the very expensive drug Herceptin needed for a chance of staving off the disease. It is the only available agent that can treat HER2 breast cancer in early and late stage development, but is quite expensive. This blog has raised only a fraction of the monies needed for these brave ladies.

I was given great life lessons by Ms Zhen, woman who remained ever positive about her chances for recovery. I have no doubt that she survived long past expectations because of her zeal for life, the friendship of the other League members and Chinese traditional medicine combined with what western medicine she could afford.

Ms Zhen, a victim of cancer and an ailing health system in China, leaves behind a loving husband, a boy 14 years old and a girl now 19 year of age.

In memoriam Onemanbandwidth and The Dreamblogue will not post new entries for the next three days.

China Chinese Women Cancer Cancer Treatment Roche Breast Cancer Women Lonnie Hodge Cancer Treatment Hercpetin

Have picture of the Middle Kingdom you like and want to share with the world?

OMBW will sponsor a contest that will run all year and culminate in a coffee table book that will raise funds for China charities and the Literacy Group The Reading Tub.

It is simple:

Send your best shot of people, places or events in China to: dreamblogue@gmail.com with the information required below. We will post several shots, once a week, on OMBW and on http://blogof dreams.com where you and your friends can vote for your favorites. The top 250 will make it into the book. There is NO entry fee.

There will be prizes, yet to be decided, for the winners, links back to blogs or sites if requested, contributor copies of the coffee table book. All rights are returned to the creator upon publication and you are free to multiple submit your work to other sites, magazines or contests. First prize in each division will be an expense paid week on the road with Yanzhi and Dawei and the Dreanblogue Team during their charity and friendship tour of China

Ideally there will be three divisions:

Hobby Photographer: You take pictures for personal enjoyment and you have a shot that you would like to share with the world

Amateur: You aspire to be professional and have a bit more experience or training than do most of us in the amateur ranks

Professional: You get paid for your work, but are willing to share it with us at OMBW and the Dreablogue so we can raise a few dollars for charity

We will try to post new pictures once a week on Friday. The rules:

Make the photos as Web-friendly as possible: No more than 450 Pixels wide please. If you win we will ask for the high resolution file.

Include the following information with your email:

• Real name
• Division
• Province where picture was taken
• Name of Photo as you want it in the ALT tag
• Your location and email (not to be published)
• Your desired screen name for voting and picture tags
• A short statement giving us permission to place the picture on OMBW and The China Dreamblogue during 2006-7
• Your blog or website URL, if there is one, to which we should link the photos

Look for the first photos next week!

This is the China Dreamblogue, a home for the wandering adventures of Yanzhi and Dawei. For the next year, we will make our way across China and speak with people from every ethnic group and every province in China about their life, customs, and traditions. Our goal is to create an understanding of China in full and to create a life on the internet for China that matches the diversity and beauty of China’s people, customs, culture, and tradition. We will include photos, cartoons, maps, stories, recipes, interviews, and heartsongs on topics as varied as Chinese astrology, Chinese cooking, humor, and other inter-cultural issues.

As we travel, we also have other missions to complete. We will create blog posts about our journey, but we also want people from all over the world to participate in this blog by sending us photos, maps, information, captions, cartoons, comments, and anything else you want to add. In addition, you will have a chance to vote on where we go next.

A slogan we have at the Blog of Dreams is “One Dream, One Web.” This slogan reflects one of the goals of the Dreamblog: to create space for fair, open, and honest exchange about China. Too much of the Western world focuses on the negative about China. We want to support net neutrality–making space on the Internet for positive news about China.

We also want to use this blog to generate money…for charity. As this blog grows in internet power, it will generate more and more advertising revenue. We want to make sure this money goes towards people in China who need it most. We’ve created a system where we won’t touch the money–it will go directly to the people doing the work to make life in China a better place for deserving people who cannot afford items we take for granted—like books. We will include profiles of groups we give to, like Volunteer English Teachers, The Library Project, and The League of Extraordinary Chinese Women. We will also have a system where you can send money through our site to different charities that do work in China.

One of our goals is to create a dream list: we will ask people to submit their dreams and if ad revenues support it, we will grant their wish.

Finally, we want to create a better and stronger internet presence for China. We can do this and help you out with Link It Forward, a unique way we’ve created to build a stronger internet presence and network throughout China.

Join us on our journey to give China and its people an electronic introduction to the global internet community.

OUR #1 GOAL IS TO BE THE TOP RANKED SITE FOR LINKS AND FAVORITES IN TECHNORATI. HELP BY CLICKING THE FAVORITES LINK AND BY GETTING OTHERS TO DO THE SAME. ALSO LINK TO US AND JOIN OUR LINK IT FORWARD CAMPAIGN. THERE IS A BADGE ON THE SIDEBAR YOU MAY DOWNLOAD AND USE ON YOUR SITE!

WE NEED EDITORS, PHOTO REVIEWERS, TRANSLATORS, PR HELPERS, AND LINK MASTERS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED LEAVE A COMMENT. IT WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED, BUT WE WILL CONTACT YOU!

This link is now on the front page….Leave your comments there please!

One of the goals of the China Dreamblogue is to create a strong, pro-China internet presence on the Internet. To do this, we need your help. And as we create our China friendly network, we would also like to help the people who help us get to the top of the rankigs. The process is simple and powerful.

We’ve created an idea called Link it Forward, similar to internet memes. “Link it Forward” will travel rapidly through pro-China blogs. In addition, this idea will help to create links–potentially thousands–to your website.

There are six simple steps:

1. Take the two lists of blogs below these instructions and put them in a post on your blog. The first list of three blogs, Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, and Sinotrading, should always remain on the list.
2. On the second list, put a link to your blog at number 1.
3. Move each of the other links down one step on the list. The first blog becomes second, the second becomes third, etc.
4. This means the number 5 link has successfully completed its cycle.
5. Send your updated list to at least five other people and as many as you want. The more people you send to, the more links you will get. If you have a hundred people you want to send this to, go ahead!
6. If you want, create a new list of five blogs you think deserve some links. Be kind and include the permanent list as well.

Remember, please don’t change the permanent links or add a number six link. Also, all of the advertising money generated from the permanent links goes to charity. You are free to do as you will with the money you earn from Link It Forward. We will list some places you can go to monetize your site.

Permanent List:

Onemanbandwidth

The China Dreamblogue

Sinotrading

The Moveable list:

Your blog

four of your friends’ blogs

The numbers work out well for you. You will have approximately five rounds on the list.

On the first round, you’ll get five links.

On the second, you’ll get 25 (each of the five people you sent the list to will get five more people to put your link on their site).

The third round nets you 125, the fourth 625, and the fifth 3,125.

Your grand total (should everyone follow Link it Forward) will be 3,905 links. And if you get linked to again by another blog, you can start the process all over again to earn another 3,000 links. With a few thousand links, you can begin to generate money from your site via Google Adwords. Go to Google Adwords button at the bottom of this site now to begin to monetize your site.

This is for fun. This is to promote positive value for pro-China blogs in Western search engines, to raise money for China charities and needy people on the three permanent blogs (they donate their ad monies to charity) and to make China blogs more popular all over the Internet.

Let’s link it forward!

To monetize your site click on the links provided on the front page of Blog of Dreams

China Dreamblogue的其中一个目标是在因特网上创建一个强大的，支持中国的互联网。实现这个目标，我们需要你的帮助。在我们建造我们中国的友好互联网的同时，我们将会帮助那些支持我们的人，把他们的博客推到网络排名的最前列。这个过程既简单又有效。

我们已经有一个构想，称为“链接在一起”（Link it Forward），与“网络媒母”（internet memes）相类似。“Link it Forward”（ 链接在一起）会以很快的速度在支持中国的博客上移动。另外，这个构想可以使你的网站的链接数量增加几千个以上。

以下是六个简单的步骤：

1. 按照以下的说明列两组博客的目录然后放到您的博客上。第一组名单是三个固定的博客：Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, 和Sinotrading。这三个博客的连接必须永远的保留和不可改变。
2. 在第二组上，把您自己的博客连接放在目录的第一位上。
3. 把所有在第二组目录上的连接排名依次向下移动一位。即排第一的移到第二位，排第二的移到第三位等等（第五位的移到第一位）。
4. 这就是说排第五的应该要完成一个循坏回到第五的位置上。
5. 将你的更新了的列表发给至少5个其他博客。您发的越多，您就能获得更多的链接。如果您有一百个人，那就快点去做吧。
6. 如果您想的话，还可以另外创建一个您认为有价值的列表。请也同样包括那个不变名单（即onemanbandwidth, china dreamblogue 和 sinotrading）

请记住，不要改动或者改变第一组名单和不要在第二组名单上加上第六个链接。同样，通过第一组名单所得到的广告收益将用作慈善用途。而从第二组“link it forward”上所得的收益将有您自己支配。我们会为您列举一些能够推算您自己网站价值的地方。

第一组（长期不变得目录）：

Onemanbandwidth

The China Dreamblogue

Sinotrading

第二组（可更新的目录）：

您的博客

您朋友的博客

如果理想的话，您大约会有比从前翻5倍的链接量。

第一个循环，您会得到5个链接。

第二个循环您会得到25个链接（跟您建立链接的那5个人每人会给您带来5个新的链接）

第三个循环您会有125个链接，第四个有625，第五个有3，125个。

如果每个人都按照Link it Forward的方法，您最后会得到3，905个链接。如果您同时又跟其他博客建立同种方法的链接，您将会得到另外3，000多个的链接。有了这上千个的 连接，您就能从Google Adwords（Google搜索引擎营销）那里得到相应的收益了。现在就请按本页底部的Google Adwords按钮来看一下您的网站的价值吧。

这是为了兴趣；这是为了提高中国博客在西方搜索引擎的排名；这更是为了中国的慈善事业出一分力（因为限定组中的3个博客将会把全部广告收益捐献给中国的慈善机构）；同样也能增加中国博客在互联网上的知名度。

让我们一起link it forward(链接在一起)吧！

“In China many families live in extreme poverty. This is especially true of the mountain villages of the Guilin/Yangshuo area of Guangxi Province where many farm families live a meager existence on a bit of land. They struggle to pay the school fees for their children to go to the local elementary school.”

–from the Volunteer English Teaching Program

China teems with travel wonders and   woes. I had made plans with friends to head to Vietnam for the Chinese New Year and ended up, because of visa troubles, in Yangshuo, Guanxi province, home of the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat and the unbreakable Chun Li.

While the trip was a cascade of logistic mishap after mishap, the beauty of the karsts and the uniqueness of the people I met–from a Guangzhou leather factory owner to a crew of Dutch HKU students–all gave me reason to be thankful for my fiasco.

During my stay in Yangshuo, I had the good fortune to meet Laurie Mackenzie, a man who, like me, is an accidental expat: he decided to come to China on little more than a whim. A retired professor and former officer in the Canadian army, he’s been here for five years building a network of schools and volunteers to help poor villagers and children learn English skills. But he is not on a mission of religion, Americanization, or exploitation–he is on a mission of heart.

Yangshuo is dense with tourists almost year-round, and its offers of spectacular scenery, excellent mountain climbing and hiking trails, and good-quality, inexpensive food and lodging draw tourists not just from China but all over the world. By offering economically disadvantaged children and families English lessons and opportunities for sometimes-shy Chinese children and adults to interact with foreigners, MacKenzie opens up economic possibilities for these families and children. MacKenzie also works tirelessly to secure donations that allow for these students to purchase the basic resources they need for school–pens, paper, books, and other supplies. “Poor schools do not have resource materials,” says MacKenzie on the Volunteer English Teachers website. “Classroom equipment is a sheet of plywood painted black and some coloured chalk. It is often impossible for parents to buy the note books, pencils etc. that every pupil needs.” MacKenzie, his wife, and his volunteer staff of Anglophones from around the world do everything they can to help these motivated children realize their potential.

Children at the VET schools learn oral English through games, songs, and activities like choirs (as seen above). I end this article with some words from MacKenzie about why he chose to begin this work and why he continues:

“The cycle of poverty can only be broken through education. Poor peasant farmers struggle to pay the annual school fees for their children to go to primary school but very, very few can afford the higher costs of sending the children to Junior Middle School or beyond. We know that if the children can learn to be comfortable with foreign visitors and speak some English they will be able to get work. Volunteer English Teachers are committed to helping these children realize a better future. “

I went to the hospital a few weeks ago to visit one of five of my students afflicted with cancer this last year. And my heart hurts since returning.

A former student called me to ask if I remembered another classmate nicknamed “Coffee.” Of course I remembered the 1/500 treasure: A delightful girl with a fervor for learning, who had been a second year English major at my school. I try to remember most of my students, but Coffee was easy: She often emailed me with serious questions about cultural issues and after several meetings, at her request, we changed her English name to one better suited to a Business English major.

And I remembered that pretty young Coffee came from a poor rural family and had an older brother and sister. It was this knowledge that especially dismayed me when I was told that she had been diagnosed with bone cancer. I knew instantly that not only would she suffer ostracism associated with being handicapped in China–It it is an enormous social burden that she would not be able to afford to lighten–but the costs will prevent treatment that could help minimize her disability in this hyper-vigilant culture. Her father, aware of the same, took more than half a day to accede to the surgeons requests for a consent form to remove Coffee’s leg.

It takes no special education to know the shame and hardship ahead for his daughter and family. Please don’t judge him harshly. He loves his daughter and has already invested his life’s savings to see her through three years of college. He is back at home while Coffee’s mother must pay a daily fee to maintain all an day and night vigil at the hospital. They live two hours and many, many years away from China’s third largest metropolis.
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