Wolong National Nature Reserve  is a protected area located in Wenchuan country, Sichuan Province.Wolong National Nature Reserve houses more than 150 highly endangered giant pandas.On 5.12 earthquake,3 pandas were missing,5  staff members were killed,14 houses were all damaged.

Here is a picture of a panda seeing a policeman after the earthquake.

Though the other 86 pandas in Wolong had no casualty,the origin place of the pand’s  food,bamboo,was affected by the earthquake.

The wild giant pandas are still at risk.Concern about the lovely ancient animal,giant panda.

中文

Read on »

Welcome to any first time Travvie (Travel Blog Award) visitors. I thought it might be good to share with you the brief history of the Dreamblogue and how it came to be.

The Blog of Dreams began innocently and with a very small scope: Yanzhi and I were teaching in Macau, and as part of a class project in Global Internet Marketing we organized a blog project. Both of us and our students were frustrated by the stereotypically negative and uninformed commentary found on so many blogs about China–no this week is not new in perceptions if western media coverage. In the spirit of creating a positive voice for China and raising some money to help with charitable causes, we created The China Dreamblogue,. It was to be a site that focused on creating 100% positive China content and a mission to create educational opportunities for Chinese students and a chance for an international audience to find out more about what is right with China.

Soon the “Dream Team” team exploded with ideas for promotions and getting people around the country involved. We worked on a Technorati campaign to get favorited, participated in contests, and held our own photo contests to get people involved. Everyone was excited and happy that we were brainstorming creative ways to engage, not isolate China and its people.

During this same time in China, Yanzhi had become connected to a group of women he began to call, The League of Extraordinary Chinese Women, cancer survivors who had banded together to provide each other with strength, support, and encouragement during a times of deep t crisis. Yanzhi also introduced me to his former student, Coffee, who I later taught. She was and is a remarkable woman who has overcome bone cancer and a leg amputation to train for a professional UN translator certification program in French and has been an intern with the blog for over a year.

Entranced and empowered by the positive force of these women living their lives with freedom and courage, Yanzhi and I decided to take inspiration from these women and other people who were willing to live out their dream. As a part of our pro-China campaign, the two of us had a mission: we as two American teachers would travel around the country for a year on sponsorship from ethically responsible businesses and institutions. Our plan was to visit every province an interview someone from each province and at least one person from each of the fifty-six ethnic minorities in China.

As we began our travels, we also planned to use the Dreamblogue to do good in China. Knowing about the remarkable number of students and new graduates in China who struggle to find jobs, we agreed that we would begin an internship program that would teach students about online marketing, digital media, and professional/corporate blogging, all skills which are extremely important in China’s growing Internet environment and a skill set which few people in China have. So far, we have trained a number of interns and worked with them to develop their skills and knowledge in regards to digital media. We have focused on finding and working with students of remarkable ability who have little chance to take part in the remarkable changes and opportunities available in China.

As an additional part of helping people to achieve their dreams, we have continued to seek out schools and regularly post information on the blog about top schools around the world that are well-equipped and suited for Chinese students, such as the Cal Poly Orfalea School of Business. To this day we have had a number of students who were part of the Dreamblogue get in to top schools around the world, including the University of Michigan, UCLA, Columbia University, Ohio State, Purdue, and others.

To this day, Yanzhi and I have completed about a third of our journey, taking time to continue to accumulate material on the Dreamblogue about different aspects of China, running our photo contest here, and continuing to work with our interns to help them find schools and develop skills in digital media.

I met this morning with two Chinese Sea Turtles: both recent graduates of the University of Michigan. They are part of the organizing team for a new NGO with a powerful mission. They are tasked with providing teachers and training for 100 children orphaned by the Sichuan earthquake and now living in Beijing, aiding schools in the quake zone that have teacher needs, and the giving of time and talent to a hospital for young amputees in Chengdu.

今天早上我和两个中国的“海归”见面.他们都是密歇根大学的毕业生,现在在一个非政府组织的组织队伍里工作.这个新的非政府组织现在有一项新的任务-为100个现在住在北京,在四川地震中变成孤儿的孩子提供老师和培训,支援灾区急需老师的学校,以及利用他们的时间和能力在一间成都的医院为截肢者提供服务

I too have been part of the planning committee and have volunteered my Internet and educational skills to help recruit short-term and long-term help for the group.

我也一直是组织委员会的一分子,利用我的互联网和教育技能,义务为团队招募短期和长期队员提供帮助.

Teachers in every discipline and at every level of education are needed for in-province and Internet distance learning. English teachers will not need a to speak Chinese, but other disciplines will require fluency in the subject matter.

< ![endif]–>

现在我们需要各个学科和各教育水平的老师参与到省内和互联网的远程教学中.英语老师不要求会说中文,但是其他学科的老师需要能用的流利中文进行授课

Volunteers who feel they need preparation before heading into Sichuan and other affected areas will be trained in teaching methods, first aid, trauma counseling and critical incident stress de-briefing.

对于觉得在去四川和其他受灾地区之前需要一些准备的志愿者,我们会提供教育方法,急救,心里创伤咨询, 危机情况压力处理减压方面的训练.

You may leave your name, email, and teaching area of interest and in the comments section of this post if you’d like to be contacted. Your information will not be published on this blog. You will be emailed and asked for a resume and your expected availability so we can best match you to schools/students. Volunteers may come for training and a visit of the area before accepting an assignment.

如果你有兴趣和我们联系,你可以在这篇文章的评论区留下你的名字,电子邮箱,和刚兴趣的教育领域.你的信息不会在这博客上发表.我们会通过发邮件来索取你的履历和你能工作的时间.这样我们可以最好的安排你到最适合的学校,教最适合的学生.志愿者在决定接受工作前可以先来进行培训和去将要的工作地点观看

A tribute to the victims Called Love and Hope and written by popular singer JJ. You don’t need to know the language to understand this video rife with both heart-wrenching and triumphant images familiar to those of us living here.

这是一段向受害者表示敬意的视频,名字叫做爱与希望,作曲人是流行歌手林俊杰.就算你不懂歌曲的语言,你也能感受到其中令人心痛欲绝的情感和鼓舞人心的力量.

1.4 Million people in 4,000 villages were financially ruined by the earthquake ongoing aftershocks. There is much to be done for several years to come.

持续着的地震余震使4000多个村庄的1400多万人蒙受巨大的财产损失,在未来的几年,我们依然有很多的工作需要做

I recently received some information from Tom, our friend from the Library Project, sent us some fantastic news about the Library Project and its latest developments.

“The past three months have far exceeded the The Library Project’s goals and expectations. There is so much to share – from our new home in Xi’an, China to an incredible list of schools benefiting from our support – so let’s get started.

“In September, The Library Project donated our first library to a Chinese countryside elementary school. The Xin Xing Elementary School is located an hour outside of Xi’an, in the ShaanXi Province. Over 500 students in grades 1-6 attend the Xin Xing Elementary School. During our pre assessment we discovered the school library’s uninviting environment and general lack of age appropriate books. Most of the books in the existing library were written for high school or university students with a total of less than 50 children’s books for grades 1-3.

“The Library Project provided 500 children’s books for grades 1-3 and a child-safe reading area with comfortable and colorful furniture. We provided a wide range of children’s books including: history, science, short stories, fairy tales, “pinyin” books for very young readers, children’s dictionaries, children’s reference books, and an assortment of comic books. We also provided a full set of children’s encyclopedias for older students. Every book was in full color and of the highest quality. The Library Project provided colorful child-safe tables and chairs, posters and a globe to populate the previously empty room. Once the library was completed, we held a party to celebrate our accomplishments with the children. Twenty “star” students were chosen to participate in arts, crafts and games. One of our activities had the children draw their “dream library”. We learned that most children want a library located outside consisting of colorful books which float in the air. (We’re working on that concept for a future library.)

“Without a doubt The Library Project has improved the level of education that the Xin Xing Elementary School provides to its students.

“We didn’t stop there. In October The Library Project completed a phenomenal feat of donating three libraries in three days. The libraries are located at three different elementary schools in the countryside of Xi’an: the Si Qing Elementary School, Bai Lu Yuan Elementary School and Mi Cun Elementary School. Furthermore, all the items donated were upgraded from our previous library. We provided higher quality books, better seating, sturdy wooden tables and bookshelves custom made at a local factory, and we even found cacti and plants to put on the tables and shelving.

“Providing three libraries in three days pushed us both mentally and physically. We had a team of over 20 volunteers helping with the delivery of the materials, setting up furniture, sorting books, and playing games with the kids in their new library. Through our experiences we learned this one simple fact: that when The Library Project arrives in a countryside school, the students go absolutely crazy. The madness usually begins when we pull up in our large truck and the children come running out of their classrooms.

“For our next goal, I need your help. In the past we have benefited one school at a time and now we are looking to help an entire school district. We want to make a clear IMPACT on the level of education an entire school district will be able to offer its students. Our first school district we would like to help will be the Ba Qiao School District (the same school district where our last three elementary schools were located).

“The Ba Qiao School District is an hour outside of the Xi’an city center. This area was hit very hard by the closure of state run factories over the past twenty years. Because of the closures and the lack of work, the average annual income is less than 2,000 RMB ($266), and there is very little hope that things will change for the better in the future. To learn more about the Ba Qiao School District, please click here.

“If you are interested in Adopting a Library or adopting a group of schools through our Adopting a School District programs, please click here for more information. You can also send me an email at [*tom@library-project.org* ] to ask any questions about the library adoption process.

“Furthermore, our website has been updated and improved to help both large and small donors have a better idea of exactly how their financial contributions are put to work. We also added an Adopt a Library page for those who would like to provide an entire elementary school with a library. The page also contains information on the Ba Qiao School District. Everyone who donates to the Adopt a School or Adopt a School District programs will receive a Library Completion Report for the specific library that you supported, along with a beautiful hardcover book celebrating our past libraries and the communities and schools we have worked in.

“I am very happy to announce two new additions to The Library Project’s team. Jenny Wang is our first full time employee in China. Jenny is from Hunan Province and has lived in Xi’an for the past ten years. A short list of some of her accomplishments these past few months have been getting us a 20 – 65% discount on children’s books at the country’s largest chain of bookstores, managing our growing list of partners in China, spearheading the completion of our first four libraries in Chinese countryside elementary schools, and doing non-stop assessments of schools and orphanages. Welcome aboard Jenny!

“I am also very happy to announce that Kevin Kruse has joined our Board of Directors. Kevin Kruse joined in August and has been an incredible addition to the team. Kevin has been instrumental in helping create a solid business foundation for The Library Project. He was also our first donor to support our Adopt a School District program. To learn more about Kevin, please check out his bio by clicking here. Welcome Kevin!

“Lastly, please check out some of our new products for the holiday season. We created 50 book, 100 book, 250 book and 500 book gift cards available at $1 a book. Each card also has a beautiful picture of a past library we have donated. The gift cards are a perfect holiday gift idea. To check out our new online store, please click here.

“Your help is greatly appreciated. Click here to make a donation and help give the gift of education and opportunity to a child in Asia. As a result of your donation you will receive photos and a Library Completion Report on the library you helped make a reality. Your donation truly does make a difference.

“The Library Project is a non-profit organization. Your donation is 100% tax deductible. Thank you in advance for your kind support of our efforts.”

Sincerely,
Thomas Stader
The Library Project
Founder

中文

A few months ago, Yanzhi and I met Thomas Stader, the man who created The Library Project. His project donates books and libraries to underprivileged schools and orphanages in the developing world. Stader created this project because he believes education is the key motivator to breaking the cycle of poverty that exists in the developing world. For him, education is change. The Library Project accomplishes its work by getting the local community involved through book drives and awareness raising, establishing bi-lingual libraries, and partnering with local orphanages and schools.

I recently received a note from Thomas that he has built a new library, and I’d like to share what he sent to us.

“Everyone at The Library Project are very excited to announce that we have provided our first library to a countryside elementary school in China.

“There are over 500 students, grades 1-6 that attend the Xin Xing Elementary School. One third of the students that attend Xin Xing Elementary School are worker children. Worker people are people that do manual labor in China. Their jobs can be anything from building highways to building apartment blocks. They tend to be migratory, going where the work is, and once the work is finished they pick their family up and go again where the work is. Because the area around the Xin Xing Elementary School was declared a Special Development Zone by the Central Government, there has been an influx of Worker Families and their children. As you can imagine, this puts an added strain on the school budget that the administration must balance at the Xin Xing Elementary School.

“Even with this added strain, the Xin Xing Elementary School has an incredible school administration with the Vice Principle named Mr. Zhong being a key player. We met Mr. Zhong one day during the Summer Break when we showed up unannounced and he welcomed us at the gate. He was alone, cleaning the school in preparation for the approaching Fall Semester.

“During our Pre Assessment we found the school library located in a dirty room on the fourth floor of the school. Even though it was dirty, the books were all very well kept, in new book shelves the Central Government had just provided. Their collection of books numbered 3,000. This sounds like a very impressive number, but the books they had in the library were almost completely inappropriate for the children attending the elementary school. Most books were written for High School or University students, or were published in the 1970s and were showing their age. There were no more than 50 children’s books for grades 1-3. The library room also lacked any comfortable furniture for the children sit on.

“On September 25, 2007, The Library Project provided 500 children’s books for grades 1-3, and also a child safe reading area with comfortable and colorful furniture for the children to be able to sit down and read a book. We also provided a full set of children’s encyclopedias for the older learners. After the furniture and books were setup, we held a party to celebrate the children’s new library. Twenty “star” students were chosen to participate in arts, crafts and games. Everyone had a great time.

“Most importantly, the administration really saw how much the children enjoyed their new library. The Xin Xing Elementary School administration made a plan to make sure every class has an opportunity to use the library once a week.

“Without a doubt The Library Project has improved the level of education that the school provides to its students.”

If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Stader at: .

Read on »

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.

In a series of articles about our sponsors, we’ve decided to begin with The China Business Network, a website devoted to helping entrepreneurs in China make important business connections and create exciting opportunities here in China. Created by Christine Lu, The China Business Network has a large media, podcast and content network it uses to promote businesses seeking to operate in China. Now that network can help our sponsors, too.

The China Dreamblogue has partnered with The China Business Network, and now our sponsors will have the opportunity to enjoy an interview on their networks, and readers can look forward to regular updates about the Dreamblogue on CBN.

Interested in helping to sponsor the Dreamblogue? There are several things you can do.

First, WE DO NOT ACCEPT DONATIONS. If you are interested in donating money, please contact one of the charities we support, The Library Project (run through the 501(c)3 charity Nomadic Marketing) or The Reading Tub. The China Dreamblogue offers services-for-fee and service-for-service exchanges with sponsors. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, we are looking for the following things:

• Individuals and Businesses: Link to us and favorite is on Technorati by clicking on the tab in our sidebar!

• We badly need 2 laptop computers–One of the current computers running the Blog of Dreams, Yanzhi’s prized Macbook, suffered a cracked screen and our second laptop caught a fatal virus, SO we are searching for laptop computers that will help us continue to create the Dreamblogue and maintain its content and projects for you while we travel.

• 2 high quality cameras to help us document the beauty of the people and places in China we encounter.
• 1 high quality digital movie camera to help us record the stories of the dreamers we meet along the way
• audio and video editing software to help us present the dreamers’ stories to you
• Educational institutions in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand interested in attracting talented Chinese students to their universities
• Travel insurance to help keep us and the dreams we carry safe as we travel
• Airplane flights and acomodations from a travel company willing to help us arrange the legs of our journey
• Quality English-language training centers to help students prepare for their journeys to study abroad
• Other businesses willing to help individual dreamers achieve their dreams

Please note that we will give away all of the equipment and extra supplies at the end of the China Dreamblogue travels to our supporters and dreamers.

Interested parties can read more about sponsorship details here: Travel China Blog Proposal. Contact or if you or your organization are interested.

Keep Dreaming.

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 !