The Elephant Story

The Thirtieth Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Jul 15, 2019 | 0 comments

Several days prior to the thirtieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the author was sitting in a hospital with a prominent Chinese physician and dear friend discussing the consequences of dehydration following a family member’s e-coli bacteria infection. He related his personal experiences as a young boy in a remote Chinese village when his physician was being persecuted by the Red Guards during the cultural revolution. His family spared what little money they had to buy sugar and salt to save their son from dehydration following a bacterial infection. He drank that mixture with water and re-cycled his urine...

Has Beijing Become a Bastion for Fashionistas? (Chapter III)

Jul 08, 2019 | 0 comments

The third chapter in our Beijing Fashionista trilogy centers on timepieces. It is something not everyone gets as to why one needs an expensive watch when most of them at any price range keep adequate time. Moreover, how important is it that the time be that precise after all? Therefore, you would have to presuppose an expensive timepiece is needed to set yourself apart from the common riff-raff. These issues present a complex conundrum to the wealthy young Chinese trying to evidence pride in the “coolness” of modern China but not being able to fully showcase their level of wealth....

Has Beijing Become a Bastion for Fashionistas? (Chapter 2)

Jul 01, 2019 | 0 comments

In the previous blog, we commented on the evolving trend in China on the part of the younger generation to design and create their own fashions. It may be generated more from a sense of pride in their own creativity rather than making more acceptable fashion available to those who are not members of the wealthy elite. The most well-known shopping area in Beijing is Wangfujing Street which may have millions of people there daily though it seems to lack the panache of Fifth Avenue. Moreover, not all of the fashion styles may appeal to western tastes. Recently, New York...

Has Beijing Become a Bastion for Fashionistas? (Chapter 1)

Jun 24, 2019 | 0 comments

Increasingly, one encounters a new breed of high-end, young Chinese wearing western designer clothing, massively expensive watches and carrying only the best luggage. Moreover, there is a trend among the younger Chinese that they are developing a sense of pride in their own ability to create Chinese high fashion clothing lines. Further, that concept may be expanding to include other luxury goods. As the author has had over 25 years of experience in China with some 100 trips to Beijing in connection with an oil exploration and development effort in Mongolia, there has been a very compressed explosion in some...

Where Have All the Elephants Gone?

Jun 17, 2019 | 0 comments

Historically, Laos was known as the land of a "Million Elephants" or literally "Lan Xang" in the Lao language. Obviously, that was a bit of an exaggeration for a country that small, much like the "Emerald Buddha" that the Thais plundered in Laos. The conquering Thais evidenced their "compassionate" Buddhist faith by building the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok to enshrine the stolen image which was in fact, jadeite, and not carved from a giant emerald. Interestingly, the "Emerald Buddha" was much like the holy grail to the Thai people and the people of Lan Xang. For 214...