Taiwan Welcomes Panda's On Opening Day

A little girl hugs a giant panda at the entrance to the Tuan Tuan & Yuan Yuan Panda exhibit at Taipei Zoo on Monday during the opening of the panda exhibit. A young girl touches a giant panda as her father wearing a panda hat waiting at the entrance to the panda exhibit.

Thousand of visitors seen the two pandas for the first time on Monday during the start of Chinese Lunar New Year

More here from Taipei Times---Crowds Pack Zoo on Panda's
First Day

Xin Nian Kuai Le---Gong Xi Fa Cai

May you have a safe, healthy, prosperous year, with good fortune and happiness always !

Hau Sheng Hospital, Hello Kitty Maternity Care

Helly Kitty is the latest addition at Hau Sheng Hospital Maternity Ward providing comfort to anxious mothers and guests. On Tuesday, a nurse in the new Hello Kitty Ward, shows a mother
her new born.

A giant Hello Kitty is dressed in a pink doctors uniform greets visitors in the lobby, while colorful murals are found in the recovery rooms, nursery and elevator doors.

More here from Yahoo News

Sheng Ri Kuai Le! From Lan

Sunday was my Birthday and my good friend Lan sent me this along with the following, I appreciated her kindness and thoughtfulness so much, I wanted to share it with others.

Your as unique as you are a great friend. Thank you for being in my life and supporting me. You've helped me to understand and encourage patience. I'm grateful for who and how we can be for each other.

Many warm Wishes !

Your lucky to be born close to Chinese New Years, it shows how special you are and the transition your life means.

You are the jade stone that stays strong and still through any mold, shape and structure. You are unique and ever appreciated. Not for the mold and shape but for the beauty that you reveal.

Happy Birthday !

Xiexie---Lan

Earthquake Ready School For Sichuan

The catastrophic Sichuan Earthquake killed more than 80,000 people on the 12 May---in November, I wrote here that more
than 19,000 students lives were lost when the magnitude 8.0
quake struck.

Subsequent to the earthquake, investigations revealed that shoddy construction played a significant part in the massive loss of life, dozens of initiatives were undertaken hoping to build stronger buildings to prevent a future tragedy.

One of the most elegant and poignant design projects led by prominent Japanese Architect Shigeru Ban together with a team
of Chinese and Japanese students, are erecting temporary but resilient school buildings.

Shortly after the devastating earthquake, Ban arrived in Sichuan to propose the idea to the local government, once approval came, Ban assembled a group of people to get the project underway.

More here from Zhu Tao Blog

A Daughter's Wish For Her Father

Dad I miss you so much! I am still doing my best to call for
help for you and the many other Practitioners in China.
Someone mentioned to me recently, "Xiaodan, if your Dad
knew what you were doing at the moment, he would be really proud."

I speak often about your story to others to awaken their kindness and conscience but who would know how many hardships that I have to overcome throughout the entire course of my journey ? I hope you are free, that is one of my three wishes on my last birthday.

With Love,
Xiaodan

More here Help to Free my Dad

PRC Vows New Crackdown On Google

Via AFP

China announced on Monday that it was cracking down on major websites including search engines Google and Baidu, claiming that its because they spread pornography and other material that may corrupt young peoples minds.

PRC has in the past attempted to clamp the lid down on the Internet but leaks keep springing up. Reporters Without Borders, have described PRC as the "enemy of the Internet" because of its censorship policies.

On the 21 December, I wrote here that Chinese authorities have started to block access to the New York Times, while it is one of the most politically liberal if not the most liberal newspaper in the USA it is hardly a pornographic publication.

Free speech is essential in the pursuit of learning, every idea or thought is not an avenue of incitement, censorship only results in the pursuit of finding cracks in the Great Firewall of China.

Help Free Zhiwen Wang

Wang Zhiwen has been detained by PRC since 20 July, 1999 because he is a Falun Gong Practitioner and his daughter is
seeking the help of others to win her fathers freedom.

Help to Free Zhiwen Wang

Chinese Honey Latest Food Safety Concern

Via Parker, Waichman & Alonso, LLP

Tainted Honey is the latest healthcare concern from PRC, during the last 10 years a contagious bacterial epidemic infected bee larvae in hundreds of thousands of bee hives resulting in the majority of the honey production to be cut by two thirds.

While Chinese bee keepers could have destroyed the infected hives, they instead applied a dangerous, extremely toxic banned antibiotic.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration says that tainted honey is high on its watch list.

China has been known to launder honey through third countries to avoid U.S. import fees and tariffs and some of the honey from China has been mislabeled from Russia or from countries that have small bee populations.

Only a small fraction of the honey imported to the U.S. is inspected and the United States has not legally defined honey, posing challenges for enforcement agents working to keep tainted honey out of the country.

Related: Yesterday I wrote here Chinese Authorities detain parents of Children sickened by tainted milk.

KMT Echos Calls By Hu For Reunification

Via AFP

KMT on Thursday echos PRC President Hu Jintao call to end hostilities, understand one another for each others mutual benefit---Translation: Reunification with China

Music to the ears of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who promised PRC last Summer, that if elected he would pursue a
One China Policy "stipulated in a set of institution of understanding between China & USA." What that actually
means is anyone's guess?

Good Bye freedom & democracy in Taiwan, its been good knowing you.