It was a very nice welcome back to The University of Hong Kong. I enjoy living on campus and they kept my "old" office in Cyberport. This is where I spent my working day. Winter here feels like spring time in Germany and I had lunch on the Seaview Terrace. But just looking out of the window, is already very nice. This is how winter should look like.
View from my office at Cyberport 4 (Hong Kong Island)
We ended the Christmas days with the Villa Musica chamber concert in Engers Palace, which is just 20 minutes drive down through the forest, just at the right Rhine river bank. And just one day after, finally the winter kicked in with snowfall. Very nice. If winter at all, then it should be with snow. Now the morning walk to the (indoor) pool goes through a beautiful winter forest scenery. We also had very nice reunions with friends, and slowly 2014 chills and the new year can come.
Engers Palace: a former hunting residence of the Dukes to Wied.
A Merian illustration of Engers castle.
Early morning walk after the snow came.
White Christmas has been still a reality in Westerwald (Germany) for quite a while. But this year interestingly there are 7 - 8 degree Celsius during daytime and night temperature not far below that, and well above zero. No frost. The general weather pattern of this region is, that we have wet Westerly winds at the end of December. So, it is not unusual that frost comes only in early January, when winds turn to East and North-East. But still, this is unusual that in the time associated with winter, you have Daisies in the garden and trees still with flowers. For the bigger picture: if this is climate change, then the first predictions I heard in my Meteorology classes at Cologne University in 1986 actually are coming true. Should the others also come true, then we are in a deep mess.
Christmas view 2014 in Westerwald (Germany)
Not exactly a white Christmas
It is nice to be back in Germany for Christmas. I enjoy the atmosphere. Some people blame it to be too commercial these days. But it is your own choice: it is supply and demand, on any market - also the Christmas Market. Demand seems to be not that big, as many shops go in with heavy discounts, already before the feast. For me, as an orthodox atheist, Christmas is a cultural event, which is deeply rooted in Europe. And I like it. I think, that's what Alain de Button calls "Atheism 2.0". We strolled around the Christmas Markets and yesterday went to the Christmas Concert in the State Theatre in Wiesbaden. Quite fun. Have not been in a civilized concert for a while.
People doing the last Christmas shopping on December 23rd in Wiesbaden, as seen on a ferris wheel ride.
Preparations for the Christmas Concert in the Wiesbaden State Theatre. View from the loge of William II. It is better than our seats, I have a say.
Yesterday we unpacked our sea shipment, which brought most of our belongings from China to Germany. It was a shock. Some boxes must have stood in water for weeks. Opening them, the odor of mold was everywhere. Clothes, shoes, bags, suitcases where completely covered with black and green fungus. You can not stay close to them without a face mask. It is a complete loss of everything. All what's left are the things we brought with us in our suitcases. This was not a self-organized move, but a service provided by one of the "best of the best" relocation companies. It is hard to believe this, when you see the condition of the items. I wish I would have organized it by myself. Seeing all material memories on a pile of stinky trash, is sad. I never had many things, but they were all carefully selected and carry memories of people and places and the ones who made them. For Feibai, all she brought to her new home and life, is gone.
Nearly nothing survived this.
I never thought, going North (or South), you can actually get a jet lag. Well, go to Copenhagen in mid December and you will. The days are really short. But even with the lack of daylight, I liked Copenhagen a lot. It is quite a "cool" town and again, compared with Berlin (which has a hype these days), Copenhagen wins for me. I held a seminar on the future of the Chinese Automotive Industry at the Asian Research Center of the Copenhagen Business School. We had a very friendly welcome, and people were extremely knowledgable in the lively discussion. Friends showed us around the old meat packing district, where we went to an excellent fish restaurant. There are all kinds of corners, which are becoming interesting in town. We will return in summer.
Nyhaven morning view
A very interesting exhibition in the Danish National Museum on the pros and cons of fur fashion, in the light of the Greenland industry.
Leaving Amsterdam, after a week in town and a little trip to the countryside and coast in a small Fiat 500. I really like the practical and liberal mindset which is shaping the town. There is a lot less whining than in Berlin and other German cities. It seems, that if you smoke Cannabis all day, then you chose that as a lifestyle, and not the society made you a victim. But actually, I have not seen many people doing this anyways and the topic itself seem to excite tourists more than locals. The town is quite energetic and mixes history and innovation in a very nice manner. The practicality of Amsterdam also appears to be different from what I experienced in Hong Kong, which I found one dimensional and far too commercial. Even Amsterdam is also a traditional place of traders, still the mindset is far less speculative than in Hong Kong. Sure, the Dutch experienced their first reported economic bubble market crash in 1637, in what was called “Tulip Mania”. Dutch tradesmen know very well, that they have to find something innovative to source if they want to stay competitive. Last but not least the Netherlands have excellent Universities and own capabilities to do so. My impressions are just the ones of a short visit, and far away from a general judgement. But what I have seen, I liked - except the weather. But that’s fine.
Arrived Amsterdam, not on a business trip. The first impression of the city is, that it is a mix of all the nice sides of Berlin, and Hamburg. By this, I for sure do not mean that is like a German town, but these are the reference points which first came into my mind, arriving from Germany. Amsterdam is nice, lively, people are friendly, and I love the canals, which are here called 'gracht'. Our accommodation is just in a half basement room along Achtergracht, furnished very functional, but nice.
Visited the Rijksmuseum in the morning, and enjoyed the Rembrand and Vermeer paintings, among many other objects. My favorite Vermeer, The Geographer, is not exhibited here, but ironically in the Staedelisches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt.
A few weeks ago, I posted some lines on the Chambre a Arles, by Vincent van Gogh, which I like a lot. I look the chance to walk over to the Vincent van Gogh Museum to see the painting. It is very nice. Much brighter than the reproductions I have seen before. The museum rules do not allow to take a photo, but I bought myself a postcard. I like the atmosphere of the room and I will explore this picture a bit more, to understand why I like it so much. This should actually include a trip to Arles in Southern France to see the Yellow House. Elizabeth Briel pointed me at an interesting article on van Gogh's bedroom series: A comparative study of Vincent van Gogh’s Bedroom series by Ella Hendriks, Leo Jansen, Johanna Salvant, Élisabeth Ravaud, Myriam Eveno, Michel Menu, Inge Fiedler, Muriel Geldof, Luc Megens, Maarten van Bommel, C. Richard Johnson Jr and Don. H. Johnson.
It was quite a museum day, and in the late afternoon we went to Body Worlds. This is really a fascinating exhibition plasticized humans and body parts. I felt the overlaying topic "Happiness" a bit artificial, but the exhibits and the related information was very interesting. I have done a preparation course in the medical school at Cologne University many years ago (back when Universities were still Universities, allowing all qualified students to study anything). But back then, I was so involved to make good academic use of the allocated body, that a lot of details slipped my attention. Very interesting to visit, in deed.
Evening view on the Main Building of Mannheim University in the Palace.
After spending the week in Bonn, I gave a talk on the current reforms of Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) at Mannheim University Business School on Friday, and taught an introductory lecture on “Doing Business in China” for the Mannheim-ESSEC EMBA students over the weekend. The latter brought me to a small place in the beautiful Pfalz region, called Asselheim. There were nice and interesting classroom discussions, as the students were experienced and many of them well-travelled. Some though were slightly stunned by how different a realistic view on China is from a romantic one. I tried not to touch on the pseudo-cultural propaganda which they might have heard in a Confucius Institute, or the burp on “Guanxi” propagated in second grade management literature. Instead I told them, what my insights are and how things work (or don’t). Hope this provided them a short cut and helps practically.
Now is the Sunday of the Second Advent, and Christmas is approaching together with North-Eastern winds. So, the chances of getting a white Christmas are getting higher.
The first week of my retirement from big corporate started in Bonn, the former capital city of West Germany, working on a small forecasting project for B+L Marktdaten GmbH. It is nice to have an interesting topic to think about, a quiet and undisturbed place to do so, and smart people to bounce ideas with. I like it much more than paying supplier to do work for me, which I actually would enjoy doing myself. We stayed in the Bonn University Guesthouse which is a quiet and convenient place to be. They also hosted a conference on core technology for electric mobility, and people were happily discussing their inventions for batteries, battery management systems, and also mechatronic solutions which could make electric cars much more easy to maintain than conventional ones. First snowflakes yesterday, were increasing expectations to probably have a white Christmas. Let’s see. The Christmas Market is already up and running here.
We made a surprise visit to my aunt Ruth Siegmund, who was exhibiting and selling her paper jewelry today in Sayn Palace just below Sayn Castle, which is the residence of the Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein. Feibai wore the paper earring Ruth gave her before as a present. They are made of a paper covered trunk of a grape. Painted red, looks like coral, but is much lighter. It is cooling down in Germany, after a really warm November. But whether we get a white Christmas, is still in the stars.
Paper Jewelry by Ruth Siegmund.
I am very sad that Richard (Dick) Jones left us on the night before, peacefully at home, far too early. We shared house and garden and the view on the South China Sea for three years on Lamma Island. Richard, a professional camera man, showed me how to use my video camera. Could not have learned it from anybody better. I really liked him with all his crazy, but at times also very normal sides. Now the island will be more quiet, but far less brilliant. The photo below, taken by Andy Maluche, one of his best friends, ... Richard's sleeping bag thrown from his home's rooftop into the jungle. Once again, Richard is gone with the wind. Take care. We miss you.
The forest was filled with fog this morning and the dew was dripping from the trees. No wind. No sun to be seen for orientation. If you take two times the wrong turn, you might get seriously lost. But we made it fine, up the mountain to a small hut running a simple restaurant. It is called "Koeppelhuette". Just before arriving there for lunch, we actually came out of the fog into the sunshine with a clear blue sky. It is a nice moment when the sun breaks through the haze and trees. This is Westerwald. It is a region, East of the Rhine and North of the Lahn rivers, with quite some reputation to be rough and cold, and where the smallest sunshine is touching. As I grew up here, it brings of course up all kinds of memories, and a feeling of home. I enjoy very much being back in nature. It has not to be a forest, but when thinking about criteria to judge which place might be nice to live in the future, pollution is a no go.
Since this weekend I am back in Germany, I spent my time going for long forest walks and picking up knife throwing again. It is a bit like golf, in terms of it needs a lot of practice and is mainly a thing you do in your mind and not only with your body. I can't say much about golf when it comes to technical terms though, as I only twice tried it at company outings. I was very good at knife throwing some years back. But now I have some handicap, in the sense of my coordination needs recovery. Also comparing knife throwing with golf, people doing knife throwing are much more interesting. Nobody does, knife throwing you might think. Well, "nobody" is more interesting than business people playing golf, believe me.
In the last weeks, during the APEC conference, we were spoiled with blue skies. But today Beijing put on its grey face again, as if it wanted to remind me, that it is really time to go. Something changed though, since APEC is over. The website of the American Embassy air quality monitor is censored now by Government Order. And the published reading for the city average shows AQI 78, which is now called “good”. Somehow I can’t match the view out of the window with the data. I must be just in an exceptionally bad area, if the city average is still 78. Happy for you guys out there in the rest of Beijing. And sorry for dragging down the city average.
My wardrobe and bed made a long way. Custom made in Hong Kong in Chinese Style, then shipped to Lamma Island, dragged by hand on a cart over the car-free tropical island. Later let down from the balcony on a rope to the garden, shipped first to Hong Kong Island and then trucked up to Beijing over about 2500 kilometers. And even more than that they have been part of my home, where ever they were. It is time to leave them behind in China, as that’s where they belong. I am very happy that they will go to a 200 year old Courtyard Hutong, which is owned and renovated by the grandson of a teacher of Deng Xiaoping, who went to France in the 1920s. As they always had contacts to foreigners, in the Cultural Revolution, they were accused of being spies and him and five other colleagues were murdered by his students. Now, Mr. Zhang, who is the grandson, is bringing the courtyard back to the spirit of his grandfather and host international travelers, who do not travel as “tourists”, but as guests. Once I was asked, why I don’t buy antiques. And my answer was, that I prefer to make things which are so good that they will become antiques. Perhaps, that’s what happened.
I wanted to post a small photo gallery of some of our Saturday walks in Beijing. But since APEC is over, not just the smog came back, but also the Internet is more crippled than before. There has been a lot of cynical talk about Beijing being able to clean up its mess for the international conference, but not for its own people. But I think this was a very interesting experiment, determining how much industrial production, traffic reduction and economic activity actually has to be shut down or switched to something else to make Beijing healthy again. At least we have a data point now. Getting 50 % of cars of the road, is one of them. Closing more than 2000 factories is another one. Good to get a feeling for the magnitude. This needs more than just a few filters in chimneys and another subway line. It means a whole structural change, not just of Beijing, but also in the wider surroundings. And another datapoint we have, is to see how nice Beijing could be. When I had lunch with a friend last week, he named Beijing “The World’s Worst Paradise”. Compared with other cities, I agree.
As of Internet, a few days ago my VPN account expired and won’t expand its service only for a few days more until I leave. The the upgrade of my MacBook’s operating system seems not to be very helpful either. So, I don’t exactly know what cases the problem. Luckily, my website can receive mailed in posts, which do not require me to log on the system itself. That makes it easy to publish, as long as I can send e-mail. But the features are a bit limited. So, I don’t know what you see, until I have a chance to open my website myself again.
All I attach for now, is a photo of the small bridge in my favorite Beijing Park, The Temple of The Earth. More will follow, after we crossed the Great Chinese Internet Wall. I have seen this bridge many times and in different seasons, also with lush grass and bright flowers around. This time it is having the atmosphere of cut flowers after you had them for a week. Don’t want to let them go, but happily looking forward to go to the flower market again and get some new ones. That’s the mood I am in looking at the whole city these days. Time to leave in a few days from now.
Beijing made us really a wonderful farewell gift, as we are strolling through it this weekend under APEC conditions. As the impression often is shaped by how the whole experience ends, this looks like a perfect epilogue to our time in Beijing. Today we drove along the Changan Avenue, passing by Tiananmen Square to visit friends on the other side of the city. The sky was blue and the traffic in flow. The traffic management simply took half the cars off the road and put at least one traffic police every few hundred meters. The Tiananmen Square itself is heavily guarded by military and armed police. While we were driving along the landmarks of our memories of Beijing, we nearly felt like a "state guest" ourselves, even we were not in one of the black limousines, but just on the back seat of a shabby Hyundai taxi. Even the air is really clean in some areas you are advised not to open the window, as there are snipers on the roofs, which might misinterpret that move. Well, there is nothing I want less on my last days here than a nervous sniper. You can't have it all. But that's fine for me. As we say here: Ente gut, alles gut.
Interior design has been always a funny discipline for me. I have stayed in many business hotels and they must have been the result of such craft. But I mostly did not like it there. Well, the Shanghai Peninsula is okay, measured by facts. Everything perfect. At least I have a memory of it at all. But still does not feel like home. In the year to come, I will take a closer look at the accommodations we stay, and keep a photographic and written record on what makes them likable (or not). Benchmark for now, is still Vincent van Gogh's Chambre à Arles. Let's see what else I will find.
Vincent van Gogh, Chambre à Arles
When you are in the Hutongs, you know you are in Beijing. Generally outside the 2nd Ring Road, I would not even call it Beijing any more. It is something else. The haze in Beijing these days, which is a mix of smoke and fog, makes the small alleys even look more anachronistic, sometimes even spooky. My photo exhibition is still on until October 26th and this is my farewell to this place. Beside some business travel to Shanghai, I will be in Beijing handing over my duties to my successor. In the future, should I come to China, it will be unlikely Beijing. So I will use the last few weeks to manifest a lasting nice impression of this city, which has been my home for the last three years.