Sample: Wildlife

In the big woods, another spring will bring new leaves to the towering Nuttall oaks and sweet gums and centuries-old bald cypresses. Black bears will emerge from their dens in massive hollow sycamores, and bald eagle chicks will beg for food from their parents. Swallow-tailed kites and Swainson’s warblers will build nests, cottonmouths will uncoil and set off in search of unwary bullfrogs, and wood ducks will lead their young across bayous that are home to alligator gar as long as kayaks.

-Mel White, The Ghost Bird, National Geographic, Dec. 2005.

Shuan Yang Rou

In Beijing, an international city in China, you can find many kinds of cuisines around the world, while, Shuan Yang Rou, instant-boiled mutton slices, is one of the finger-countable local flavors. After I first tried it when I came to Beijing ten years ago, it becomes one of my regular dining-outs. Outsiders often mix it up with hot pot, a flavor originated from Chongqing, a municipality in the southwest of China, whose pot contains thick soup, hot and spicy, while the pot of Shuan Yang Rou contains only clear water, and every taste is in a dish of special sesame jam, which is usually the top secret of a restaurant, since it can lure fussy goers far away. You fetch a piece of mutton, usually transported from the grassland of Inner Mongolia, with chopsticks, and put it into the boiling water for a little while, then, get it out and put it into the dish of sesame jam, and it is ready to serve. The action, Shuan in the clear water, is quite easy to learn, and people put a different meaning to this little verb, cheated or befooled, i.e., you are asked to do something but finally you get nothing reward at all.

Sample: Introducing People

Borge, 43, lankily erect, fair-featured, and self-possessed, with long, ropy arms and cinnamon hair, was known, among other things, for his obsessive preparedness; he was a study in Nordi cool. Mike, 39, a dark-featured, dimpled South African-born Swiss, tightly muscled and with gigantic thighs, had a zesty kinetic spirit that gave the impression of a bull in a china shop; he thought of himself as a hot Latin and was more inclined to wing it. You could see the stamina shining out of his eyes. Thomas, 39, a compact and talkative Swiss, quick to laugh, with twinkly blue eyes and an underlying edge, was fastidious about safety and had a professional alpine guide’s love of detail. At one point, he was a prospective third partner on Mike and Borge’s trek to the Pole in the dark, but, for reasons which will be explained later, they went their separate ways.

Marguerite Del Giudice, Arctic Dreams & Nightmares, National Geographic, Jan., 2007.

From Home to Office

The office of Qilinsoft is located at Wangfujing, the downtown of Beijing. Everyday I take subway Line 13 from Huilongguan station, a large community in the north of Beijing, to the eastern terminal Dongzhimen station, located at the northeast corner of the Second Ring road. There, I change to subway Line 2 to south, and arrive at Jianguomen station, an interchange station. Without exiting the station, I change to subway Line 1, and arrive at Wangfujing station. Follow the sign of the exit to the Oriental Plaza. The office is on the 16th floor, Block E1.