We’ve been featured in 21st Century! Read the story here and tell us what you think:

China Dreamblogue 21st century

Thanks to Charlie Shifflett for his faithful reporting.

Recently, I spoke with Coffee, a former student of Liu Yanzhi, about the scholarship she received and about the dreams she wants to achieve. As some of you know, Coffee is a university student in Guangzhou and lost her leg last year to cancer. Though she spent months out of school, she studied over summer to make sure she graduated on time, and has now received a $20,000 USD scholarship to study French and learn to how to become a UN translator. I wanted to share this conversation I had with Coffee.

Dawei: Tell us a little bit about the scholarship you received to study translation.

Coffee: Yeah，I should say‘ thank you’ to my French teacher, he is so kind. He has high expectation on us and so he is strict with us in class, but he is easy-going after classes. I know what it means the moment he decides to grant me this opportunity. I will not let him down. Of course I will grab this opportunity to improve my French proficiency.

Dawei: Will you tell us about your dreams for yourself and why you wanted to study translation?

Coffee: I am always ambitious, I want to learn more about the languages and the cultures about the world, and I want to be a bridge between China and other countries in the world, to be a translator. I am fond of French; Luckily, I got this chance, thanks to the kindness of one of my former teachers at my school. I am now taking French as a second foreign language, and I will keep improving it.

Dawei: What are your dreams for your family and community?

Coffee: Yeah, I’ve been dreaming of changing the condition of my family for a long time. Dad and Mum are now getting old, and they have been swinking all their lives, it’s high time I did something for them, I want to make their lives better, and enjoy their lives in their old ages. I am now living in a small village, it’s far away from Guangzhou, most of my peers receive a secondary school education, and then pour into the job world. I am the only one to get a college education in my village. I hope I can change all this, and to make more children get access to higher education.

Dawei: Dreams are often held back by fears. What is your biggest fear about your dreams, and how have you overcome it?

Coffee: I always tell myself not to put all the eggs in one basket. I am always trying different ways to do things better, to be frank，when striking for my dreams, I am not fear of anything. I have confidence on myself. And I wish I could get a job as a translator, that’s the first step of fulfilling my dreams.

Dawei: What do you encourage others to do in order to achieve their dreams?

Coffee: I want to do my best and to be excellent and to show people life is to be conquered however hard it is. As long as you have a will, nothing is difficult. It is important keeping optimistic while facing difficulties.

Dawei: What do you hope to do with your scholarship and after you complete your training?

Coffee: I will keep on learning , as the saying goes : It’s never to late to learn. It does not mean my French proficiency is good enough after attending the training, there are lots of things I need to learn about. I hope I can learn more during my work. And I know clearly that to be a good translator, I should keep renewing my knowledge.

Keep Dreaming:

Read on »

China Daily Photos: Tibet, Shanghai, Beijing

Today’s photos of the day come from Beijing, Shanghai and Tibet and were taken by one loyal reader, Elvina Trixie, and one newcomer, G.M.

The first two photos today come from Elvina Trixie. This photo was taken in Tibet:

The second photo is called “Zeile Geit” (美好时光) and was taken in the Shanghai Art Museum:

Finally, G.M., a native Canadian, sent us this photo of a lotus at the Beijing Summer Palace:

Vote for your favorite photo:

[poll=10]

Remember to keep sending photos to !

To help our readers who aren’t as familiar with Chinese geography, we’ve decided to start including a daily Chinese map. Thanks to the University of Texas Library for helping to supply us with these maps. Maps will be both modern and ancient, and show famous geographic, travel, and historical locations in China. We will be sure to include maps of the 22 mainland provinces as well as the autonomous regions–Guanxi, , and Inner Mongolia as well as the Special Administrative region for Hong Kong and Macau. We hope this series can be of use for China travelers, expats coming to China, for China business, and even for explaining to a new friend where you come from or where you’ll be teaching, whether it’s remote Gansu or downtown Chongqing.

Click to enlarge:

Readers are welcome to send their own maps in as well to be featured on the Dreamblogue. Send your favorite, most interesting, most curious, or most-useful maps to .

Keep Dreaming:

Today’s Photos come from Elvina Trixie and Barbara Octaviani were taken in Shanghai (上海). Two of the photos come from the Yu Gardens (豫园).

The first photo today from Elvina Trixie is called “Yu Gardens Shanghai:”

More photos after the jump.

Read on »

For those of you dreaming of going to America to study: We have posted pdf files of the guides in English and in Chinese (see the sidebar for Chinese)…

Study in the US part 1

This is a guide to undergraduate study and educational opportunities in the US. You can find Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian versions of the text here: Undergrad Study in the US.

Study in the US part 2

This guide explains the process of applying for and preparing for graduate study in the US. It includes information about admission, types of institutions, degrees, course loads, and grading systems. It will also discuss the different academic culture in the US and the US academic environment. It also covers specialized programs of study in the US: US nursing school, American law schools, US veterinary medicine, and American dentistry. You can find versions of the text in Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian Study in America: US graduate degrees.

Study in the US Part 3

This guide provides thorough descriptions of short-term study options in the US, such as: high school exchange programs, work and professional exchange programs, vocational and technical programs, short-term university study, and professional study. You can find versions of the text in Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian here: Study in US: Short-term US study.

Study in the US part 4

This guide provides important details on preparing for study in the US, such as obtaining a visa, predeparture information, housing in the us, and travel to the us. You can find versions of the text in Arabic and Russian here: Study in the US: US Visas, Travel to the US, living in the US..

Keep dreaming:

Because we are kicking off our trip in Guangdong province, today’s feature photos all come from Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province. Credit goes to one of our loyal readers, Jade, for providing us with this pictures of everyday campus life. The first picture today is called “Campus Life Florist:”

The second picture featured today is called “Campus Life Basketball。” See the pictures after the jump.

Read on »

Today we are featuring photos posted on our Over the Wall group on Facebook.

This photo comes from Nathan Beauchamp Mustafaga and was taken in Shenzhen:

A photo and caption from Paul James:

“This is the Hua Pagoda in Xi’an at night. This near the south gate of the inner city of Xi’an. This is not to be confused with the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an as well, which dates back to the Tang dynasty. Though I don’t have any pictures of that particular pagoda, it’s quite an impressive site, with amazing stamina. In 1556 a massive earthquake hit this area, which killed an estimated 800,000 people (to date, the most devastating earthquake in human history) The Wild Goose Pagota withstood the earthquake. But the force of it was so outstanding, that it went from around 17 meters high to 15.5. The earthquake shook it so much that it settled into its foundations 1.5 metres! Amazing!”

The last photo we’ll show today comes form Zine Van Der Walt and was taken in Kaifeng, Henan Province:

Until the photo contest begins, we’ll continue to run a daily contest for you to vote on your favorite photos:

[poll=7]

Keep voting and sending photos to !

And of course, keep dreaming:

One of the many goals of the China Dreamblogue is to create a strong, pro-China internet presence in the blogosphere. To do this, we need your help. And as we create our pro-China network, we would also like to help the people who want to be part of this network by giving them a way to increase their SEO power and their ability to monetize their site. Sound complicated and difficult? The process is deceptively simple and powerful.

We’ve created an idea called link it forward. Similar to the internet memes and the Thinking Blog tag that recently moved through a number of English-language blogs about China, our idea will travel rapidly through pro-China blogs. In addition, this idea will help to create links–as many as four thousand–to your site through a trickle-down method.

There are five simple steps:

1. Take this list of 8 blogs and put them in a post on your blog. The first three blogs, Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, and Sinotrading, remain on the list.
2. At the top of the moveable list, put a link to your blog.
3. Remove the link from the bottom of blog.
4. Send your updated list to at least five other people.
5. If you want, create a new moveable list of five blogs you think deserve some links. Be kind and include the permanent list as well.

Perma-List:

• Onemanbandwidth
• The China Dreamblogue
• Sinotrading

The Moveable list:

• The Hao Hao Report
• East South North West
• The Cal Poly MBA Trip
• China Law Blog
• The Opposite End of China

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 525, and the fifth 2,625. Your grand total (should everyone follow Link it Forward) will be 3,305 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.

To monetize your blog or site please click on the links found on the front page of this blog.

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！