Trip Planner

Gang's friend told us there are cheap flights to Hawaii recently. Since Gang's passed his qualify exam and I still remain jobless, we find now a good timing to do some traveling. When I recall all the travelings we've done together, Gang's always the idea-creator, and I'm always the trip planner.

The first trip (by trip, I mean more than 2-hour drive, which excludes San Francisco, point Reyes, etc.) we did together was to 17 miles. We didn't do any homework before going there. We drove along the sea with Strongy. It was freezing. The biggest discovery on that trip was Gang's infatuation with almond. I brought a can of nuts to snack on the way, and Gang kept asking me to feed him with almond when he was driving.

The next one was much longer. When my mum visited us in the summer, we went on a road trip to Las Vegas and then Los Angeles. This was the first time that I actually did plan a trip before setting off. The first step was to read other people's traveling blogs and to figure out where we would like to go. After determining the route, I started bidding hotels along the way, making sure each hotel was no more than 300 miles apart to avoid fatigue driving: for example, we stayed in Bakersfield in central California after visiting the Hearst Castle and left the rest 200 miles to Las Vegas for the next day. It was a great trip. I served as a tour guide with my cheat sheets which included highlights of scenic sites, attractions and restaurants.

After this nine-day trip, Gang and I took several other road trips to San Diego, Mono lake, Seattle, Grand Canyon and Arizona. Last summer, we stayed in Geneva and took several trips to our little neighbors - Lyons, Marseilles, Interlaken, Zurich, Lucern; and a longer train trip to Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Schloss Neuschwanstein, Munich, Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan. This year, we also rented a car and drove to Gettysburg and Lancaster in PA from Princeton, and later took a 10-day trip with mum and Joop to Niagara Fall, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and DC. I printed a 16-page trip agenda with two appendixes for my family, but I think only Joop was patient enough to read it.

Trip planning helps avoid some unnecessary spending. Even the same hotel can be priced differently on different websites, and some hotels have good promotions during a certain season while some overcharge customers during weekends. The prices of renting a car also vary across companies and pick-up/return locations. Booking things in advance reduces costs and saves time. When we were traveling in Vatican, I felt so lucky to have reserved tickets for the Vatican Museums and avoided queuing up for hours. Trip planning also provides a general flavor of the places I'm about to visit. Cities are more or less the same, but the stories behind them are quite different. If you're more interested in history and culture, trip planning can be very helpful in revealing the stories behind and spice up your journey. For national parks, you may want to better arrange your time and make sure you won't miss some highlights.

It's true that trip planning can take a long time. But I also find myself getting part of the joy in traveling from planning the trip. All those introductions about new places arouse my curiosity and make me more excited at the coming trip. Sometimes it's annoying to decide between too many choices when facing a limited time (like in Rome). Hum, maybe I should make this my job.

Chinese Halloween

August 31st, which is also July 14th on lunar calendar is a traditional Chinese festival - Zhongyuan Festival, one of the four Ghost Festivals (GF) in China. The other three are March 3rd, Qingming Festival and Octorber 1st (all in lunar calendars). In these days, the door to the underworld is open and ghosts can come back to the earth and wander like human beings.

According to old legends in Taoism and Buddism, ghosts leave the underworld at night. They dress like normal people, and especially enjoy walking around night markets after long and lonely days in the netherworld. That night, ghosts can lead normal people's lives - they bargain with street vendors, play games, buy snacks and drink alcohol, except that you can't find their shadows in the streetlight. And if you happen to join them in drinking, you may want to watch out not to go back to the underworld with them at daybreak in drunkenness. That's why sometimes people set off firecrackers to scare away ghosts, making sure they're drinking with their fellow humans. Children and women are warned not to stay outside too late as they are more vulnerable to be attacked by ghosts. Another custom is to offer sacrifices and burn paper-made notes (currency in the underworld banks) to ancestors, as they will visit their descendants that day and it's our responsibilities to serve them something nice, and assure them good lives in another world. Also, people believe that in the gloomy underwater world lies the bridge to the hell and most ghosts can be found in rivers or lakes. Thus they also go to riverside and put lanterns on the water with candles lit inside as a way to comfort wandering souls and to wish them better lives after reincarnation.

People in other countries also wonder about afterlives and show their respects for deaths. In Japan, people celebrate Obon Festival in mid August. Obon originated in India as a Buddhist festival to expiate sins of the deaths. It spread to Japan through China and became the second biggest festival in Japan. The entire vacation lasts about 7-15 days, people reunite with their families and visit ancestors' graves together. Obon Festival is when Yama, the king of the underworld, goes on vacations. Therefore the unshackled ghosts are released to the world and many of them choose to visit where they used to live -  I mean, the earth. During the Obon Festival, people dance in Yukata, holding memorial ceremonies for the death and praying for good fortunes in the coming year. Similarly, Japanese also believe that their ancestors will visit them during the festival, thus they hang lanterns in front of houses to show ancestors the way. In the fiction I'm reading recently about Abenoseimei, a famous Onmyoji in Heian Era, people in Japan used to sit together in Obon Festival and take turns to tell ghost stories. As one finished his story, he blew out the candle in front of him. After all the candles went out, it was the time for ghosts' parade (Hyakki Yakou百鬼夜行). The earth was occupied by ghosts who lived and talked like human beings. Everything came back to normal after the dawn, but people had to carefully avoid coming across ghosts at night.

The Halloween in the US and other western countries is quite different in the way of respecting the deaths, maybe due to the difference in religions. Both Zhongyuan and Obon are meant for families to memorize ancestors while Halloween is more like a ghost version of Disneyland for kids. (Well you know better than me.) I must admit I was really surprised to see how happy people are in a ghost festival when I saw kids in costumes running around with jack-o'-lanterns and candy bags during my first Halloween in the US in 2009.
                                                                                                             
At the end of the blog, I'd like to list a few taboos for tomorrow (Zhongyuan Festival):
- Don't burn large bills (I mean "paper-made notes") only, as ancestors may come back for changes;
- Don't hang wind chimes above the bed, they may attract ghosts to your bedroom;
- Don't leave your clothes outside as they may be "borrowed" by ghosts;
- Don't stay up late, you may see too much;
- Don't pick up money on the road, it may be left for bribing officials in the underworld (corruption is everywhere);
- Don't call your friends by full name, it may be heard by some wandering souls.

A $700 Bill

I was reading Abenoseimei when receiving a mail from Aetna, my health insurance company. I visited my OB last month and got vaccination as she suggested. The bill I received cost me around $700, with the charge of vaccine at $70, the "administrative cost of vaccination" of $60, and an absurdly high cost of "office visit". It took me one and a half hours to appeal a review, which will take another 7-10 business days to give me feedback.

The health insurance system is one of the most confusing things in the US. It looks like that the hospital redefined my maternal visit to a "counseling" because the OB gave me some suggestions on pregnancy, which as a result excluded my visit from insurance coverage. I do hate reading the 30-page insurance policy and couldn't really figure out the differences between all sorts of visit. But I can't see how helpful it is to separate medical care from medical advice as both contribute to patients' health and address the same problems. Last year I came across a similar issue when I got food poisoned on the plane and was sent to emergency service after landing. The doctor was obviously too used to emergencies that she did not even show up until half an hour after my check-in. In the end I couldn't bear the pain anymore that I just asked her for some pain-killers. The unpleasant visit cost me more than $400. And now it surprises me again with a $700 bill for vaccination.

I remember when I saw a doctor in Beijing, it never took me more than one hour. I was informed of the payment before I decided to receive the medical care or not - if it was far above my budget, I could ask the doctor for alternatives. The insurance plans were much less complicated as well - you pay a certain amount at your visit, and a little more at pharmacy. The advantage is that you are fully informed of the charges, and there is no need to waste time on arguing against either the insurance company or the hospital; and the disadvantage is that some people are unable to get treatment because they can't pay at the counter. Of course it's too bad if lives are not saved due to financial concerns, but it's not less evil if people are deprived of the right to know how much they are to be charged.

As a warning, it's pretty risky to visit hospitals outside the school if you're covered by student health plans. I never paid a penny at Princeton Health Center, but when I saw a doctor in the bay for similar purposes the charges become ridiculously high. I suppose this is a different rule in this continent, inconvenient as it is, leaving me no choice but to better understand its functioning. I just switch to Gang's plan at Berkeley, which does offer a better coverage in the bay area and free access to health center in Berkeley (at a higher cost of course).

(This is a little bit off the topic, but today I also received a mail from superior court in Alameda County, asking me to appear for jury service next month. I'm not even a U.S. citizen! It's funny that I haven't enjoyed the rights of U.S. citizens but are already required to meet the obligations.)

(Source: http://goo.gl/bTwt0)

Reliable Source

About two decades ago, people received news from newspaper and TV, both of which were either dominated by big news corporations or governments. Nowadays, internet provides multi-channels for news delivery. News portals are still controlled by big corps, but audiences have more choices: rather than subscribing to one to two newspapers, they can browse news in almost any website they want to. More importantly, the development of social media changes the traditional unidirectional way of spreading news. Everyone on internet can be news publisher and commentator, and this change already starts to break media monopoly and offers different perspectives on a same issue.

In China, where government has firm control over media, the new and expanding Weibo (Chinese twitter) has largely changed the way people receive and share news. In comparison to the mainstream media overwhelmed by political jargon and empty talks, Weibo users always publish short and easy-to-follow news and comments: with a 140-word limit, the publishers have to make each news concise What's more, because of the relatively loose censorship on Weibo, some news that are banned in paper media survive in Weibo. Though most of them are deleted in the end, people who glimpse the news before their disappearance are informed, and further disseminate them in their own way, like taking screen-shots and publish pictures to avoid keyword-filtering systems. Therefore Weibo has become one of the main news resources for many Chinese, young generation in particular, as people believe that they may have access to some uncensored facts there. I don't read People's Daily or Global Times frequently, but I do follow the main media and celebrities' accounts on Weibo, and skip over their posts every day.

Social media like Weibo shouldn't become the main sources of information - just like people won't rely on twitter for news. Since every Weibo user acquires the authority of publishing news, the information spreading out there is perhaps far from "reliable" as rumors can be found everywhere. But when people are so tired of political leaders' speech and esoteric reviews which always occupy front pages of newspapers that they don't even mind spending time on filtering Weibo news, it's time for media corps and their government regulators to redesign their development strategies. It looks like people no longer buy the propaganda, but are more fond of news that reveal the "truth". By truth, I don't mean unbiased news - such news never exists, but at least it shouldn't twist facts or shun to reporting scandals and other "negative information."

I'm always surprised at how the newspapers and TV programs report the news in the US and by supplying different, sometimes even conflicting news become reliable sources for American audiences. News corps controlled by different political parties and interest groups provide different perspectives to social hotpots, which jointly give audiences different pieces of a full picture. Some people choose to read what they believe is true (I mean reading the newspapers which share similar ideas as them), but some choose to be exposed closer to facts by expanding their information sources. Social media opens the door to multi-channels of information delivery, but how to balance the choices and efficiency of news reporting may be key to producing reliable sources in the future.

Another Accident

36 out of 39 passengers were killed in a highway collision between a bus and a methanol-loaded tanker in Shaanxi. The accident happened at 2am in the morning, most people were burned to death in sleep. This is neither the first nor the biggest traffic accident of its kind in China in recent years. Overload, overspeed and fatigue are three main reasons that keep experienced drivers from normal operations of automobiles, let alone handling emergencies. To maximize the profits of transportation, many bus companies, long-distance transporting ones in particular, choose to load more passengers than allowed. Meanwhile, to accompany the schedule of passengers, many coaches operate at night, known as "red-eye buses." Drivers who own salaries by distances also have motivations to finish the same distance within less hours, which end in pervasive overspeed.

After the news was released, local governments responded very quickly and claimed to regulate the passenger transport industry soon. There is rumor that one of the plans is to cancel "red-eye buses". This policy, if put into effect, may be effective in keeping tired drivers from working all night, but will make it less convenient for passengers as well as exacerbating daytime traffic congestion. Moreover, if transport companies can't afford the increase in costs by replacing red-eye coaches with those in normal hours, they may resort to further overloading passengers in each bus. In this case, risks are not reduced, but transferred from fatigued driving to heavy overloading.

From the perspective of economics, government should facilitate effective allocation of resources rather than hindering them. Night transportation has been proved effective and cost-saving. (Just think of how much more you need to pay on hotels if red-eye flights across coasts are cancelled.) What really contributes to the accident is the long hours that drivers need to work. If two drivers can divide the work originally assigned to one, the accident rate may be reduced accordingly; or if a driver can get enough rest before setting off, he may suffer less from forcing himself to drive during sleeping hours. Of course this will increase the operation costs for transportation companies, however given the potential damages caused by fatigue drivers, these costs may well worth it.

Therefore it's very interesting to see that Shaanxi government did not even discuss the feasibility of correcting the market by issuing a upper limit on each driver's working hours, but went directly for sub-optimal. The reasons behind the decision could be: (1) the concerns over administrative capacity: it's much easier to ban red-eye buses than to regulate drivers' working hours; or (2) trying to show sufficient determination to eliminate similar accidents in the future as this one has already drawn too much attention on a provincial government, thus they have to look tough to the public. In either case, it's just another typical example of how the government are steered by media in decision-making and successfully messes up the market again.

It is an encouraging change for the Shaanxi Government to respond to media and the public quickly, and show some senses of responsibility for public service. However there is still a long way ahead for the governors to understand the role of government in a market-oriented economy and how to balance market leverages and government regulations. When Republicans and Democrats are in the lengthy fight on the size of the government, we are just starting to draw the line between the government and the market. A little too late, but good to have a start.

Ice Age

Gang and I went to watch Ice Age 4: Continental Drift yesterday at AMC. It was late at night, only four audiences (including Gang and me) were watching the movie - probably due to the fact that most kids had gone to bed already at that time.  It's no longer surprising as the first one of the series: the mammoth is tough but gentle, the sloth is more of a hindrance than a help; Diego finally finds his love and the squirrel fails to get the cone - as always. But its producer, the Blue Sky Studio successfully offers audiences a hilarious movie with witty dialogues and imaginative characters. Everyone knows the end even before they start watching, but the 90 min is still quite enjoyable. As a consequence, I can't recall much from the movie, but a few dialogues during watching.

When the landslide happened at the beginning of the movie (as continents drift), all the animals looked panic. I asked Gang: "Earthquake?"

"No, Climate change." He answered assertively.

At the end of the movie, all the animals successfully defeated pirates and emigrated to a new land. At the entrance there is a weird statue holding a torch.

"Statue of Liberty!" Gang laughed.

And I agree with him. This is such an American movie!

With world-class animation technologies and production teams, American animation thrives without any rival over the past few decades. Besides the Ice Age, the Lion King in 1996, Shrek in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003, Garfield in 2004, Madagascar in 2005, Cars in 2006, Wall-E in 2008, and recent Rio and Kungfu Panda, have shown the evolution of American animations: better pictures, more dimensions, but always the same ideas. Designed for both young and old, these movies are embedded with core values of human society: love, friendship, dream and freedom (and eulogy for the US sometimes.) Equipped with these universal values and stunning pictures, American animations spread out theaters very quickly - just like how fast-food conquers the world. People have fun when watching it, and better still, they don't need to think to understand them.

In comparison to the popularity of movies with straightforward expressions of mainstream values, another form of animation, represented by Hayao Miyazaki's movies, is declining. Tonari no Totoro, is the sort of movie which requires the audiences to take time to see another scene behind the pictures. A similar animation, Mary and Max (2009) which told a touching story between two pen pals was also under-appreciated. It looks like people are reluctant to spend two hours tearing for two cartoon characters.

This is a regrettable trend. However we can't blame producers seeking after fast-paced narrative and plain stories as I'd assume they are only catering audiences' tastes. When we are too busy to think and too stressed to laugh, all we look for in a theater is relaxation. Take a seat, have some popcorn, and have fun.

Ethics and Law

A recent news in China reports that a young man refused to offer his seat to a woman carrying a 5-month infant on the bus (in China it's not requested by law to offer seats to disadvantaged people.) The outraged husband slapped the young man in the face fiercely. With a bleeding nose and broken glasses, the young man got off the bus, leaving shocking audiences and controversy behind.

Ethics and laws are viewed as two molds that shape people's behavior in a society. Laws, made on the assumption of evil human natures, forbid people from committing malefaction; on contrary ethics believe in the goodness of people and encourage them to promote these virtues and help others. In a society, the minimum requirement for its citizens are to abide by laws, i.e. do not harm other people; and in a well-functioning one, incentive mechanisms are developed to encourage people to do good. For example, in the US, if you violate laws, you may be indebted to fines, community work or even imprisonment. But if you've got involved in charity ("ethics"), you are rewarded with honors and tax exemptions. In other words, it's your responsibility to abide by laws, but it's your choice to follow ethics.

Different as they are, the lines between ethics and laws are blurred in China. The terribly flawed and powerless Chinese legal system appeals for heavier reliance on ethics to regulate people's behavior. After decades of propaganda on setting high moral standards, two parallel but very different standards are formed in evaluating people's behavior. On one aspect, laws are ignored in many fields. People find it "normal" for government officials to take bribery although it obviously violates the Civil Servant Law; and the public also finds it a good deal for victims if the murderer offers to pay tens of thousands of dollars to reach a out-of-court settlement despite the fact that the murderer should be sentenced by law. Laws are effective in regulating the mass, but not the rich or the powerful. On the other aspect, ethics are highly respected. People condemn those refusing to give seats to elderly, and denounce those who do not donate to the disadvantaged groups, although these people do much less harm (if there is any) than the corrupted officials or rich murderers. I remember in May 2008, soon after Wenchuan was hit by a 8-magnitude earthquake, China's Democratic League (CDL) organized a donation from its internal employees. It should be a voluntary activity, however it was made compulsory as each employee's donation was publicly announced. (peer's pressure!) Later I learned that CDL was not the worst, some organizations even deducted "donations" from their employees' salary directly. A voluntary charity was turned into obligation. This is a typical transposition between ethics and law.

There is an old saying in China: curfew for the common people, but the governors can light a fire (只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯). The public observes social norms carefully, for fear that their moral standards are not high enough; while elites play around laws, knowing all the rules are made to fool the mass. Back to the story mentioned at the beginning of this blog, later it was released that the young man was handicapped too. However, too embarrassed to defend himself or to report to the police after being beaten because of "low morals", he chose to stay silent. Regardless of being handicapped or not, it was NOT the young man's obligation to give up his seat under current law though it would be laudable if he did. However, the husband who mete out punishment can be suspected of committing the crime of intentional injury. Both of them are victims of the double standards in China today, who are confused by the difference between ethics and laws, and ignorant of their rights and obligations.