Writes of Passage

南京江北新区图书馆 石佛大街与万寿路交叉口

A new library in the North of River newly developed area in Nanjing: people are waiting for  the opening at 9am every day, and rush in to grab a seat or two!

… 一哄而上 crowd up (?) describes acting rashly and simultaneously without organization and preparation. 一哄而上的抢独立空间座位  a rush to grab independent seats. … in a library!

曾祖周馥 Great Grandfather Zhou Fu

偌大的江北图书馆，所有合适的地方都设置了座位，读者每天逾3千人，暑假更多。能够在这样设施舒适现代、书香气息浓郁的场馆里，拥有一方独立的空间，一坐一天，尽情的享受研学的快乐，是很惬意的。每天上午九点开馆，一哄而上的抢独立空间座位的事，是领略过的。
​每次来图书馆，图1～4所示的固定场所，总能看到这个阳光帅气、读初二的少年。好奇的问他怎么保证有这个固定的位置？回答是，整个暑假里，他父亲每天帮他抢座位，中午送来饮食，下午六点闭馆才接他离开。
好​刻苦认真的孩子，好一个望子成龙的父亲，真心祝福！

Maimai St, 40号香山公园内 邮政编码: 100093
Haidian District, Beijing

… more old pix here

One of the parks I went often: taken there by family members; on school outings; going there with friends and schoolmates. The foliage is particularly enchanting. It’s also known as Fragrant Hills, Western Hills.

It came from an imperial garden (1186) at the foot of the Western Hills in the Haidian District, not far from Wanan Cemetery.

Nowadays, people mountain people sea 人山人海. The last time I was in Beijing, shortly before outbreak of Covid-19 (2019) and saw the tour buses lined up the narrow streets when I went to visit my ancestors at WanAn Cemetery.

A few places I still remember:

• 香山碧雲寺
• 鬼见愁, the main hill 香山的主峰,又叫香炉峰,海拔557米

One kind of dumplings is wonton (云吞 by Cantonese). According to this baike post, huntun came first then evolved to or branched out to jiaozi 饺子. Whichever came first matters little, they both are my faves.

I like both wonton and jiaozi but with store made wrappers, I usually find wonton skins are better while jiaozi’s round skins are way too large.

What’s your favorite?

We usually went to have lunch at Moscow Restaurant, either before or after visiting the Zoo.

I’ve been HD customer practically since I arrived in New York, started from painting my rental room with a roommate. In the 1980s, it was pleasant and a great place to be. It started in 1978 by five founders, one of them is Ken Langone (1935-) who wrote I Love Capitalism!: An American Story, in 2018.

Then Jack Welch’s underline Robert Nardelli (1948-) took it over in 2000, till 2007. During this period, it was no fun shopping at HD because he cut back on experienced staff, using part timers who careless or not knowledgeable enough to help. He was left go in early 2007, with $240m severance package. The stock price under Nardelli remained same while Lowe’s doubled.

I’ve two books on Jack Welch (1935-2020), both published in 2022, Home Depot is a topic in the book, especially Gelles’, who was more critical toward Welch.

• The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles
• Power Failure by William Cohan

I begin to visit HD often since 2022, and find it to be decent again, although not yet 1980s level. At the same time, I feel Lowe’s isn’t as good as HD.

Flooring, they care LifeProof.

1 Wenjin St,
西安门 Xicheng District, Beijing, 100034.

This is a public park evolved from an imperial garden northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing, west of Jingshan Park in the heart of Beijing.

By Aileen Wang

No.1 Zhongguancun South Street
Haidian District 1/F,
Beijing Youyi Hotel,
Beijing 100873 China

It
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This was the old imperial family home where emperors had ruled since 1420. It’s the center of Beijing (east of Zhongnanhai 中南海), flanked by Jingshan Park, Beihai Park, Zhongshan Park and Imperial Ancestral Temple 太庙.

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The park was a former imperial altar, that is southwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing.