Home Is Where The Heart Dwells

My friend here in New York is an amazing guy. He knows everything happenning in the city everyday and has a gift of organizing things. So with a companion like him, my life could not be dull.

A list of what I have done so far:

1. Great Adventure in Six Flag (a theme park full of roller coasters);

2. Museum Day (a mile long of museums including Metropolitan Museum) ;

3. Movie “Cars”;

4. Off-Broadway Show “Burleigh Grimes”(B-, a story of greed in Wall Street);

5. Off-Broadway Show “Tail”(B+, a story of 5 dogs);

6. Ferry tour to Staton Island;

7. Brooklyn Bridge and Pizza trip (yummy food);

8. Governors’ Island tour;

9. the movie “Kill Short” (C, Free Screening but bump into a bad movie, though);

10. Movie “Superman Return” (B);

11. Broadway Show of “Tazan” (A, Disney product, we got an orchestra seat in the very center);

12. Movie “Fast and Furious III” (B);

13. “Macbeth” (B+, central park);

14. Radio Centre: Gretchen Willson–country music (B+ considering a free CD);

15. Movie “Natrio Libre” (B+);

…

Besides these, I also attended a training program of moot court for city prosecutors as an witness. The prosecutor is a real one, and the judge is a senior prosecutor…

When Dean Elena Kagan said “HLS is like New York”, I thought it were fetishism of big cities, or maybe just brag of her own hometown, though nothing else she had said left me such impression. I would like to be a duff rather than a city-lover. Having been in Beijing for 8 years and visited Shanghi for countless times, I had lost intrest in big cities. New York should be one of them, I thought.

But the past four days in New York changed my attitude towards big cities. The first thing produced such an effect was the subway. I was afraid of subway in big cities, but New York was not that bad. I found stations easily and changed a train without constantly looking for help from others. Even after I made a mistake, I got back to the right train soon–with an unlimited week pass. I forgot to mention the reasonable price of the pass, which costed me only $24.  The second thing was the food. In the past 4 days I tasted at least 4 different flavors, delicious and cheap. The best food, which must be Chinese food, dwells in every corner of the city. The third might be the efficient management of the city. Take, the free event, as an example. The city held a Museum Day yesterday. It was very, very fun. Today I spent half an hour in line in the Central Park and got two tickets for a Shakespere Show in Delacorte Theatre. There are a lot of free events during the summer. Without efficient management, it just could not happen.  Now I am sitting in the New York Public Library, again for free. I ordered a book on Foucault and in 10 minutes it reached me.

What makes New York a great city, a free and dynamic place, full of energy?

Maybe it can be attributed to the mayors. My friend, a New York citizen of real sense, told me what had been done by the mayors. For instance, Giuliani, formerly the head of police in New York, improved the public security of the city; the current mayor Bloomberg, formerly a business man, has adopted the idea of managing the city as efficiently as managing a company. The famous Central Park, a classical design for big cities, was built with the support of  Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.  

(Intro of Giuliani,see http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/giu0bio-1)

More, if not just governmental officials, could be found from ordinary people. I saw the ordinary people’s history in New York, from Museum to the details of life here.  In one of the museums, the changes of neighbourhood were documented and photographed, providing a vivid history for ordinary people in the neighborhood. The graffito, which still can be seen today but rarely, became an image of the city, created by people and for people. It is these people in the city makes me surprise–energetic, diverse and creative.

According to the US Congress Executive Commission on China(CECC), a local Chinese government Luohe in Henan Province committed another persecution for Chinese Christians.

It is not an exception, but almost normal. CECC listed several other recent persecutions no less severe than this one. A Christian legal aid organization has jump in to help.

China still has a long way to go to stop persecution.

http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=53957 

Government Harassment and Detention of Protestants Resumes in Late April

Officials detained Chinese Protestants on five occasions since April 26, according to reports by the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.
On April 26, officials detained pastor Liu Yuhua at the Linchu County Detention Center in Shandong province. Officials accused Liu of involvement in “illegal business practices.” According to CAA, Liu had printed and distributed Bibles and other Christian literature free of charge. According to a CAA source, officials searched Liu’s office without a search warrant and confiscated cash and banking records. Article 111 of China’s Criminal Procedure Law requires a search warrant. The charges against Liu are similar to those against Cai Zhuohua, a house church pastor who had printed and given away Bibles. In 2004 officials charged Cai with illegally operating a business, and in 2005 he was convicted of this charge.
On May 10, officials raided a house church Bible study session in Suqian city in Jiangsu province, using electric shock batons on some of the church members. About 60 believers were present, and officials interrogated 11 pastors and house church leaders, including South Korean pastor Cui Rongbo, and pastors Cai Zhirong and Wu Changle. On May 11, officials ordered Pastor Cui to leave China within 48 hours.
On May 12, officials harassed and disrupted a meeting of the Chenhang house church in Shanghai municipality. Officials ordered members of the house church to stop meeting.
On May 16, officials raided a house church Bible study meeting in Shanghai municipality. Officials detained Pastor Zhang Guangming from Henan province and Pastor Ye Shengchong from Zhejiang province. As of May 18, officials continued to hold one of the two pastors.
On May 18, officials detained Pastor Chu Wei in Beijing. A house church leader from Anhui province, Pastor Chu had come to Beijing to obtain legal advice for a house church group in Henan province. An official told Chu that he had been detained at the joint request of the Henan and Anhui Public Security Bureaus. Officials interrogated Chu for four hours and then released him.
Officials detained unregistered Protestants in November 2005, in December 2005, during the Christmas season in 2005, in January, in February and March, and again in late March. CAA reported no detentions of Protestants between March 23 and April 26; Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the United States between April 18 and April 22.

For more information on Protestants in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(d).

It is said the day of Harvard graduation always rains. Were it true, the past day was a pretty friendly day. Though it was raining all day, at least it neither soaked us nor disturbed us in listening to President Summers’ solemn claim of our graduation. Rather, it did some good for the marching process. Because the rain limited the range that lawyers would usually be, it made small clusters among the slowly marching crowd. Personally I think it is a better environment for having a good talk than the class day party two days ago.    After the lentitude and enjoyable marching, we finally reached the Tercentenary Theatre, which was actually an open area (what an odd name!). For the first time I saw so many Harvard students together. Robust, noisy and ambitious. A symbol of such features were the KSG students’ holding a small globe (It is a Harvard tradition for the schools to hold something in the air at the time their degrees are conferred). It was so vivid for the perspective, prospect and pride of Harvard students.  I was holding a toy gavel. A little bit tedious.