fulltimestudent

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Posts by fulltimestudent

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  52

  Having fun in China

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  a tourist seems to get carried away with his visit, but his video gives a good overview of modern china.

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  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe4rij0icjw .

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  fulltimestudent

  More on what you can see at Chengde:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkbOFqi7eY0

  and a story of more vandalsim - this time by the Japanese.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mzCnGqSAcM
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  52

  Having fun in China

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  a tourist seems to get carried away with his visit, but his video gives a good overview of modern china.

  .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe4rij0icjw .

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  fulltimestudent

  The Ming dynasty was the last native Chinese dynasty to rule China. Dynastic histories are quite complicated, so I will not attempt to explain it, but just to note that the Ming were succeeded by the Qing, from a Jurchen family of the Aisin Gioro clan, north of (then) China proper. Nurhaci, the man who developed the ambition to conquer China, put together a coalition of northern and Mongolian tribes that would prove strong enough to fulfill his ambition. Part of his diplomatic work was to make alliances with Tibetan tribes. Nurhaci died before it all happened, but under his third successor and his regent, they finally succeeded, and the Manchu Emperor Shunzi became the first Qing Emperor of China. He was also known as the Kangxi Emperor

  This is his portrait:

  

  BTW, some Christians believe Kangxi became a Christian - I do not believe the stories. Why? We have records of some of his conversations with Jesuit missionaries. On one occasion, he asked Jesuit Verbeist, as to why God had not forgiven his son without making him die. Kangxi notes that Verbiest tried to answer, but that he (Kangxi) found the answer incomprehensible. On another occasion he notes that he would gladly witness some of the miracles the missioareies talked about, but that they could not produce any.

  On ano0ther occasion when the problem of Chinese rites was an issue. Kangxi observes that, De Tournon, the Papal legate sent by the Pope (and, whom Kangxi treated with great kindness) was a biased and unreliable person who muddled right with wrong. Astutely, Kangxi knew the church had ulterior motives in sending De Tournon and was not being honest with him over the rites controversy. on another occasion when the Catholic Bishop Maigrot takes Kangxi to task for 'false worship' Kangxi notes that Maigrot was ignorant of Chinese literature and couldn't even recognise one Chinese character, yet pretended he could discuss the falsity of the Chinese moral system. He also criticises the intra church jealousies and quarrels (which was at the heart of the rites controversy. And again, Kangxi, wrote:

  "Since I discovered on the southern tour of 1703 that there were missionaries wandering all over China, I had grown cautious and determined to control them more tightly. (he) decides to only grant residency to those who were prepared to say that they will not return to the west.

  Kangxi later made a decision to approve Ricci's position in the Rites controversy and required all missionaries to agree. those who would not he ordered to be deported.

  He was succeeded by the Qianlong Emperor,

  

  and, its these two Emperors who vanquished the last Ming hold-outs and expanded the borders of China, to where they are today. Of course, in the 3000 year history, the borders of China changed often and most parts of modern China had previously been under either direct rule or influence. But what we see today was the direct political consequence of the Qing. In the process however, of extending Qing rule, the Qing came more and more to be Chinese themselves.

  What you can visit in Chengde, north of Beijing, was part of the Qing ideology campaign to hold their diverse empire together - hence the 'little' Potala Palace in Chengde. Some say that it was built specifically for a visit by the Panchen Lama in 1779-80. But that is not entireoy clear. The Panchen Lama died in China, anyway.
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  52

  Having fun in China

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  a tourist seems to get carried away with his visit, but his video gives a good overview of modern china.

  .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe4rij0icjw .

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  fulltimestudent

  If you thought of the Potala palace in Lhasa - yup, that's it.
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  52

  Having fun in China

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  a tourist seems to get carried away with his visit, but his video gives a good overview of modern china.

  .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe4rij0icjw .

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  fulltimestudent

  Ha! Some time at last to post more about visiting Beijing:

  One place I've wanted to visit is the city of Chengde, just a few hours north of Beijing by train. It was a former Imperial hunting lodge for the Emperor (in Qing times), so there's another palace, but more interesting some concrete evidence of the closeness between the Qing Emperors and the Tibetan Dalai lama. This closeness was the result of an alliance between the Jurchen tribes that became the Manchu and tthe Dalai Llama of that time. I'll add to that later.

  What do you think of when you see this pik?

  
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  9

  The lonely skull of a wandering European, found at Taree, NSW

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is believed to be the skull of a white (european) person, who should not have been where the skull was found.

  that's because, australians generally want to believe that the first europeans to live in australia came after captain cook.

  that view, is likely to be a bit of jingoistic rubbish, but it serves the cause of white nationalism.

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  fulltimestudent

  This is believed to be the skull of a white (European) person, who should not have been where the skull was found. That's because, Australians generally want to believe that the first Europeans to live in Australia came after Captain Cook. That view, is likely to be a bit of jingoistic rubbish, but it serves the cause of white Nationalism.

  The skull was found near Taree, NSW and has been dated to belong to a person born around 1650.

  You can read the story in this Australian Geographic version of July 3, 2013. Web-refererence: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/ancient-skull-could-rewrite-history.htm

  The writer does point out. ...

  Dutch explorers made the earliest European landings in Cape York, in Australia's far north, and the country's west in the 1600s. These expeditions aren't believed to have reached the east coast.

  But, I suggest there were likely many more possibilities, and that the easy part of the story (if the testing stands up ) is to locate this person to the vicinity of Australia. The really difficult part would be to imagine this person's travel to get from northern Australia to the north coast of NSW.

  Here's what I wrote for my university study group:

  I do not think we should be surprised to find evidence of Europeans in Australia before the accepted time periods. Some humans have always been wanderers. ( The migrations of pre-history that led to the populating of the planet surely testify to that). If the current opinion, that the found skull belonged to a person with European parents who was born circa 1650, stands up to later testing, we have to explain the persons presence on the North coast of NSW. I stated previously, that it should not surprise us. The reason for my statement is that we already know that Europeans were in the vicinity of Australia well before that date. We know of three WA European shipwrecks before the mid sixteenth century. Magellan had 'found' the Philippines by 1521, di Legazpi founded Cebu in 1565, de Neira's expedition sighted and named Santa Isabel Island in the Solomons in 1565. Another access approach must be from the Indonesian archipelago. In 1803 , Matthew Flinders sighted a Makassan Trepang fleet in northern Australia. Some academic studies suggest these fleets started visiting Nthn Australia circa 1720, but an Indonesian scholar believes there is evidence for an earlier date of 1640. Accepting, for this discussion, the earlier date, its relatively easy to believe that Europeans from either the Philipinnes or the Indonesian island colonies could have been in northern Australia in the mid 17th C, although, if so they left no known traces. We also know that some Europeans were accessing China during the Yuan dynasty, some seeming to have utilised the Arab-Indian-S.E.Asian-Chinese shipping networks. And a SMH news item, in the issue of May 1, 1937 discusses traces of Spanish shipwrecks in the Torres straits. Another perspective places Russians on the Pacific coast by 1639. The great littoral trade routes of East Asia could have allowed north-south access. So (to me) the easy part of what may be the story of the person behind the skull, is to land that person in proximity to the Australian mainland. The really difficult story, and I stress 'really difficult,' is to imagine that person's journey to the vicinity of Taree, NSW. And, if one person could make that journey, there could have been others, unknown wanderers of the planet whose remains are lost forever.
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  34

  Who Taught You The Truth(tm) OR Who Counted Time, On You?

  by LoisLane looking for Superman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mom's lover would bring his handsome youngest son, to our house, and along with my dad, would study with my brother, sister and i. wed 7 pm.. next an elder's wife, who was a regular pioneer and worked part-time, who had a daughter my age, came to our house, after school wed. ruth was the head of the house and wore the pants.

  her husband was part of the 3 men who sat on all judicial committees in our congo and would tell ruth everything, which in turn ruth would tell the sister's.

  ruth was very pious but at the age of 15 gave birth to her only child, and beat on her daughter all the time, never letting her forget what "trouble" her only daughter caused her.

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  fulltimestudent

  Did it all to myself - so bloody stupid
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  41

  Drive by shootings the new Aussie craze in Sydney!!!!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  lived there for 10 years till 2005 nothing....now every night a drive by shooting up a house.

  what happened sydney!

  we feel like te us now..

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  fulltimestudent

  Sadly Sydney has become a city with a lot of areas you just don't go to.

  Yup, Pickler - like the city or the cross on fri/sat night. Its not the shootings that scare me - they seem to have clear targets, and I'm seldom surprised by the identity of the people living in the houses targeted.

  It's the brutal violence of young guys, pissed out of their already midget-sized brains, who are (it seems) prepared to randomly and violently king-hit some other young guy. I do not understand the boiling rage that must be part of the psyche of these people.

  A singaporean friend says, what can we expect. Singapore's streets are safe places to be at night, because the police stand no-nonsense and the courts back them up and the death penalty is applied if the crime merits execution.

  I started argueing with him that the death penalty was inhumane. But I now have to admit he's right.

  Various rape/murder incidents by criminals on parole, demonstrate the ease with which these criminal can manipulate their assessors. Light sentencing (my Sg friend calls it, a slap on the wrist) makes it all worse. Our governments can no longer act as protectors of honest citizens.

  I'm calling for Joe Stalin's remedy - a machine gun and a brick wall !!!
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  An impressive kid in Egypt ... I wish he was my kid - I'd feel proud

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  see if you agree with my assessment.. .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qedm2prnv1i .

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  fulltimestudent

  See if you agree with my assessment.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QeDm2PrNV1I
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  9

  More Crap in NK- Appropriately, Kim Jong-eun Visits a mushroom farm.

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  everyone must have heard the funny about being treated like a mushroom, (kept in the dark- and fed bull-sh*t), so appropriately, news piks have come to hand of king kim iii visiting a mushroom farm:.

  this must be his arrival, with his usual detachment of military officers who are always present wherever he goes.

  it is not clear whether they protect him or make sure he doesn't say something they don't want him to say.. .

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  fulltimestudent

  My thnks to the UK Independent for publishing the piks

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/such-a-fungi-north-korean-leader-kim-jongun-laughs-as-he-is-mobbed-by-screaming-crying-women-during-visit-to-mushroom-farm-8713837.html?action=gallery&ino=1
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  9

  More Crap in NK- Appropriately, Kim Jong-eun Visits a mushroom farm.

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  everyone must have heard the funny about being treated like a mushroom, (kept in the dark- and fed bull-sh*t), so appropriately, news piks have come to hand of king kim iii visiting a mushroom farm:.

  this must be his arrival, with his usual detachment of military officers who are always present wherever he goes.

  it is not clear whether they protect him or make sure he doesn't say something they don't want him to say.. .

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  fulltimestudent

  But the best part is always at the end, when the royal visitor is swamped by young ladies who are allowed to touch the royal bits.

  

  I hoped you have learned something about NK from this. Do you think the general population is just waiting for a chance to overthrow the rule of King Kim III?

  You also will note how the Kings' behaviour conforms to the behaviour pattern of your own political leaders when they visit some local centre.