Day 3 新桥镇 — 云浮市 42公里
昨天入住酒店时有两个酒店客人和我们搭讪，他们说在酒店附近有个100多年历史的小街道，挺有意思的，建议我们去看看。于是今天上午先去那里逛一下。这条街不是很长，一个看起来很大的新教堂在街道入口处右边，一个很老旧的教堂在街道入口几步的左边。旧教堂显然没有继续在运作，被围栏围了起来，我想可能是因为太旧，或者有破损不安全，或是去的人越来越多，旧的不够用，所以盖了新的。这里大部分房子都是旧骑楼，也要几栋看出来是后来新建的现代楼房穿插其中，看起来像90年代或2000年左右建的。我想以前这条街应该很热闹，这里的骑楼有马来西亚建筑的风格，Jerry说也像澳门许多建筑的风格。100多年前的普通老百姓是没有能力建造这么漂亮的房子的，建这些房子的人应该比较富裕。时光荏苒，人类繁衍了一代又一代，祖先们留下的点滴和足迹演变成历史被流传下来被后代传颂，这些建筑是历史的见证。街道很安静，许多房子已经空置，没有人居住了，只有少数老人仍留守旧居。几个老人在屋前聊天，我和她们聊了一会，她们告诉我现在仍住这里的只有为数不多的老人了. …

Despite all the rhetoric, if anyone cares to look, they will see that, year on year and month on month, trade between China and the USA is increasing. Don’t believe me? Check the US trade department’s own figures here: https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html So decoupling is not an eventuality on anyone’s mind right now but…

I’m going to go hypothetical and ask a question that would make both economists and psychologist squirm. The economists will say it can’t ever happen and the psychologists will say it’s could happen but will end badly. Let’s just ask it anyway:

What will happen if China gives…

My wife writing about our bike ride in Southern China

Day 2 佛山高明 — 肇庆高要新桥镇， 72公里 Day 2 Foshan Zhaoqing to Gaoyao Xinqiao Town 72km

我们今天想去的地方是思劳镇，有85公里。早上在路边吃了个拉布粉，老板还送了碗猪骨熬的面汤给我们，太好了。出发没骑两步，我的大腿肌肉就开始酸痛，这是正常反应，想着只要不需爬坡或过桥就可以了。惊喜无处不在，骑了大概20分钟，前面出现一座桥，好吧，上。和昨天的两座大桥比起来，这个勉强算中桥吧，昨天最长那座桥有1.7公里长。过了这座桥往西去云浮的方向，骑着骑着，忽然闻到酱油味，然后前面出现了“海天酱油”的字样，我们一直骑，看到马路两边都是海天的工厂，还分了A厂和B厂。

这次骑行，我明显地比19年那次骑得慢，是慢很多。上次我要不和Jerry一起骑，要不我在他前面，就算是在他后面也不过相隔1到2米，整个骑行我都是紧紧的跟着他。这次Jerry一直在我前面，每过10来20分钟分钟他看不到我了就停下来等我。唉，拖后腿了，还好这次我们没有任务，只是为了自己而骑行。到了中午12点，在一个加油站停下吃点零食，休息个10来分钟，然后继续向前。大概一个小时后我们离开佛山，进入肇庆市高要区。上午路况不错，很多直路，今天天气不冷也不热，很舒服，只是我除大腿酸痛外，屁股也疼。有时候骑久了想站起来还得小心翼翼，不能一下子站起来，要忍着呼吸两秒，小心的稍微动一下屁股，然后再起来。Jerry在前面等我，他说1:30了，眼看着就要进山，刚好这里有个餐厅，我们要不先吃饭，怕进山后没有餐厅。这个决定非常正确，因为后面真的没有餐厅了。我们基本都在上坡，不断的向上走，我又回到了比蚂蚁爬稍快一点点的前进速度。

Suddenly, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has been thrust into the limelight but who are they and why does it matter?

They are important in the world of cotton — just like coffee and timber — cotton is grown in places where poverty exists. India, Africa, the US Southern States and South America. Wherever a marketable commodity and poverty exist together there are always ample opportunities for exploitation. So, “non-profit organisations” (NPOs) spring up in the industry to help “for profit” organisations maintain an ethical façade. For the cotton industry, BCI, a Swiss based NPO is the “go to” organisation. Growing…

Hi Ding, thank you so much for your personal insights. I can imagine the fun and the feelings of playing around with the soldiers and the disappointment you felt when you suddenly found them gone. I'm sure they had about as much idea as you had about what was going on.

It's a sad day in China's history, lessons were definitely learnt and, sadly the price was high. As a foreigner, who has made China his home, I would love to know more about the truth and less about the propaganda China has been through. I know it's been a…

As Submitted and published by People’s Daily China 16th March 2021

Foreign media misrepresents China and governments interfere in China’s internal affairs; of these there can be no doubt. Misrepresentations from ill-informed primary sources quote and requote each other, feeds are provided to mainstream media and passed to subsidiary outlets, creating what appears to be a legitimate narrative of a genocide from coming from almost every news source.

This massive amount of disinformation means readers believe there must be some truth and creates a need for representatives in government to feel obliged to act. What politician has the time to…

Vaccine Diplomacy, is such an important word that it’s even got its own Wikipedia page, defined as “the use of vaccines to improve a country’s diplomatic relationship and influence of other countries”.

What’s amazing is that when China states it will donate vaccines to 53 countries, western media finds a way to write the headlines as a bad thing[JG1] . Their usual methodology is to write something like this: “…but critics have accused China of vaccine diplomacy to win political influence”. With the exception of the reporter who penned the article, no critic is ever bought forward to pronounce any…

A recent speech by China’s foremost diplomat Wang Yi caused me to stop and think about what’s really happening in China and why China is struggling to come to terms with how they are viewed by the “Western world”.

I also genuinely feel misunderstood. Chinese media know me as a tourist who cycled through Xinjiang several times. They like to get a foreigner’s perspective on what I saw and what I believe is going on. They see me, I think, as a rather harmless, innocuous but believable (to them) English gent who enjoys spending his free time on cycling trips…