Iwasaki was the most famous geiko in Japan until her sudden publicized retirement at the age of 29. Known for her performances for celebrity and royalty during her geisha life, Iwasaki was an established heir or atotori to her geisha house (okiya) while she was just an apprentice.
It depends on how many people you have to share the cost of hiring a single geisha. The going rate here in Tokyo for a mid-tier geisha is about JPY200,000~JPY300,000 (US$1,700~US$2,600) for a 2–3 hour performance. Usually they will want to come in pairs.
So, if you have ten people present, then, yes, including food, JPY50,000 (US$435) per person is reasonable. Since I’m in the travel business, when I complained to a mama-san about the high cost of a geisha, she pointed out to me that the kimono can cost up to a million yen (US$8,700) a piece, and the hairdresser runs JPY50,000 per engagement.
Then there are the people behind the geisha to help her learn and practice, someone has to run the business, and they of course need a cut. So, all things considered, it isn’t that bad.
There is a trend in the Japanese tourism industry to present actresses as geisha. That’s kind of upsetting and disrespectful to professional geisha, who spend a good chunk of their lives learning dance, music, and the nuances of their position.
But as demand for “geisha performances” increases with the increase in tourists visiting Japan, the pressure to provide more cost-effective services is not far behind. The difference in experience between the two, is noticeable, and just like art, why buy a fake if your group can afford the real thing?
https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-an-evening-with-a-geisha-cost
Learn how to make classic Sriracha hot sauce at home with this recipe, either with fresh or fermented chili peppers. It’s so easy and tastes better than anything from the grocer. I love homemade Sriracha hot sauce.
It’s sriracha time, my friends, so get your taste buds ready. I don’t think there is a whole lot I can tell you about sriracha sauce that you haven’t already heard.
Sriracha has seriously taken the nation by storm in the last 5 years or so, overflowing from grocery store shelves and finding its way into a myriad of mass-made products, from potato chips to beer.
It’s so ubiquitous now here in the states, it’s practically become synonymous with the term “hot sauce”. This is not a bad thing! I should provide a bit of history, though.
The Origins of Sriracha - Famous “Sriracha” sauce is named after the town of “Sri Racha” in Thailand where it originated, but this is not what we consume here in the United States. The stuff you get from the store is produced in California with red jalapeno peppers and has deviated quite a bit from the original Thai recipe.
The sauce we get here is thick, like ketchup, where the original has a thinner consistency. This recipe will produce a Sriracha sauce closer to what was originally intended, though you can easily thicken it up with more peppers and less vinegar, or adjusting your cooking times.
What Types of Peppers Are Used for Making Sriracha Sauce? Here in the United States, red jalapeno peppers are used to make sriracha sauce, though Fresno chili peppers make a fine substitute. You can also use red Thai chili peppers to make your own sriracha hot sauce.
Realistically, you can use this recipe and techniques to make a sriracha-style hot sauce from any type of chili pepper, though your results and tastes will vary from pepper to pepper.
Of course the heat level of your sriracha sauce can vary based on your pepper choice, but some peppers have thicker walls and are therefore meatier, and will produce a fuller sauce. I suggest going with red jalapeno peppers first, then experimenting from there.
For this particular batch, I used a combination of different hot red peppers grown in my garden, including red jalapeno peppers, and the results were out of this world. So delicious!
You can make your own sriracha sauce at home with either fresh or fermented peppers, though I suggest fermenting. I have made this both ways and prefer the fermented version.
Fermenting the peppers breaks down the carbohydrates and converts them to acid, which mellows the peppers considerably, affecting the overall flavor. I suggest trying the recipe both ways, with and without fermenting, and see for yourself which version of sriracha you prefer.
I’ve include recipes below to make sriracha both ways. Yes, there is an obvious difference between the sriracha you get from the store vs. your homemade version. The homemade sriracha has a thinner consistency and isn’t quite as sweet, though you can adjust sweetness easily by adding more or less sugar.
You can also adjust the thickness of your final sriracha sauce by adjusting the amount of peppers used in the recipe, by adjusting the amount of vinegar used, and also by adjusting your cooking time. Simmer the sauce longer to thicken it up if you’d like.
The choice is yours. Would I say homemade sriracha is BETTER than what you get in the store? Personally, I like my own homemade version better, but I wouldn’t throw away my bottle of Huy Fong’s rooster sauce! I mean, major KUDOS to David Tran for giving us a sauce that made Americans realize there is more to condiments than ketchup and mustard.
If you run out of sriracha sauce and need a good substitute, you can use a good Garlic-Chili Sauce, or consider using Gochujang, Sambal Oelek, or making your own fresh chili paste.
Harissa could work in a pinch, but you can always use a Louisiana Style Hot Sauce in place of the sriracha, depending on the recipe. It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. It’s all about the acidity.
To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 4.0 or so, to account for errors. If you’re concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph. Sauces made with fermented chili peppers will last even longer.
The best ph meters that I recommend are from Thermoworks. Get yourself a ph meter from Thermoworks today. I am a happy affiliate. I find them locally sometimes, but I also order through Amazon. Here is a link to some bottles I like (affiliate link, my friends!): Swing Top Glass Bottles, 8.5 Ounce – Set of 4.
Aside from drizzling it over anything you please, here’s a post I did about How to Cook with Hot Sauce. As if you need even MORE reasons to eat hot sauce. LOL. I hope you find it helpful!
Wow, this really does taste different from what we get in the store. It is definitely similar, close in flavor, but I like this version so much more. Learn how to make classic Sriracha hot sauce at home with this recipe, with fermented chili peppers. It’s so easy and tastes better than anything from the grocer. I love homemade Sriracha hot sauce.
2 pounds mixed red chili peppers red jalapenos are preferred, though Fresnos or red Thai peppers are great
1 quart unchlorinated water
3 tablespoons sea salt
4 cloves garlic chopped
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 cup rice wine vinegar
Instructions - First, ferment the chili peppers. Process your fresh peppers in a food processor. If you don’t have a processor, use a mortar and pestle or simply finely chop them. Pack them into a jar, leaving at least 1 inch of head space.
The peppers may rise a bit when fermenting. Next, mix 1 quart unchlorinated water with 3 tablespoons sea salt. Pour just enough brine over the peppers to cover them, pressing them down a bit as you go. It is important to keep the peppers covered with brine to avoid spoilage. Check this daily.
Screw on the lid and set the jar away from direct sunlight to ferment for at least 1 week. Ideal temperatures are between 55-75 degrees F. The most active fermentation period is between 1-2 weeks, so be sure to monitor it during this time.
“Burp” the jars often by unscrewing the lid a bit to let out some of the accumulating gases. Or, use an airlock or membrane for easier fermenting. See our page, “How to Make Fermented Pepper Mash”, for further instruction.
After 1-2 weeks, the fermenting activity will diminish and the brine will turn cloudy and taste acidic. Pour the fermented peppers, including brine, into a pot along with the garlic, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vinegar. Bring to a quick boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes to reduce a bit and let the flavors meld.
Cool slightly then add to a food processor and process until smooth. Strain the mixture to remove the solids. Pour into hot sauce bottles and enjoy. Prep and Cooking times do not include the 1-2 weeks of fermentation time, so keep that in mind.
Makes about 2 cups of sauce or so. For storage: Vinegar affects acidity levels. Homemade sauces should be kept at 4.0 ph or below to keep longer term.
If your hot sauce is not acidic enough, add more vinegar to bring the ph down. Keep in the fridge for freshness and longer keeping. You can also bottle your sauces with proper procedures.
You can also place Saran Wrap on the surface of your chili mash while it’s fermenting you keep them submerged. Just make sure you press the wrap directly on the surface and try to push out as many air bubbles as possible.
I spent several years in Thailand not too far from Sri Ratcha. It has always annoyed me a bit that the Sri Ratcha sauce so famous here is not the real deal (but good none the less). So I was pleased to see that someone knows this.
In case anyone is interested, I have bottle of the Panich brand sauce here. There are at least two brands exported and this is the less popular (and IMO less good) of the two. The ingredients list: “Spur” chili at 45%, water 21.6%, sugar 17%, garlic 10%, salt 5%, acidity regulator (acetic acid, aka vinegar) 1.4%.
I have no idea what “spur” chili is, and there is no Thai on the label, but I will guess that it is the large ones called chee faa (reach for the sky). Red Jalapeño seems like a decent approximation. I am going to be in Sri Ratcha in a couple of weeks, I should try and get a tour of one of the factories between seafood feasts.
I have a question, as the recipe is a bit confusing in one regard. Are you making a mash ferment or fermenting the peppers whole? With the mention of brine, I’m assuming whole, but you also recommend your “how to make pepper mash” page as well. If you are making a mash, it is understandable that Leah’s ferment went bad, as getting a liquid to sit above a mash isn’t an easy task.
A lot of people have a tough time keeping the peppers beneath the brine. Glass weights are useful, or baggies filled with water, even grape leaves. You can rough chop the peppers to help keep them down. You can ferment whole peppers, but should poke holes in them. You just won’t fill as many in the jars because of the size. You can fit more chopped peppers.
I enjoy reading about peppers, but even jalapenos give me pain, how do you guys do it? I read that hot ones will destroy the sensitivity of your taste buds. Hi, Mooselips. No, peppers don’t destroy taste buds, but you do build up a tolerance to spicy food.
The more you eat, the more you need to get the “burn”, and for many people, it becomes a little addictive. If you step away from it for a while, your tolerance drops.
I used to eat WAY hotter food, but since I’ve dialed back a bit more and consider myself more of an 8.5 out of 10, which is still pretty darned high to most people. I just love it.
I’m at the phase where I’m fermenting the peppers but when I mix the peppers with the brine they aren’t staying underneath the brine because the brine and the peppers are mixed together. Am I doing something wrong? Will the fermenting work if the peppers are mixed with the Brine and are on top of the fluid?
Leah, the peppers really need to be below the brine liquid, or you run the risk of infection. Try filling a baggie with water and stuffing it into the top of the jar to keep everything down below the brine. See if that works for you.
The bag trick did not work. There is mold growing. I should toss the whole batch right? Leah, if it’s definitely mold, unfortunately it’s best to toss it. You don’t want to mess with mold.
Can I use some frozen peppers mixed with the fresh to get up to the 2lb mark? Yes you can, Michelle. Just thaw them out first. Let me know how it turns out for you.
This is great! I didn’t have that many peppers, so I scaled the recipe by tasting. It’s really good, just the right heat. I wish I could get it to taste like the Rooster.
I tasted them side-by-side and mine needed more garlic. But there’s something else with Rooster I can’t put my finger on. I would LOVE to recreate that sauce.
Thanks, Mitch. This is more like the original sriracha sauce. The rooster sauce is thicker and sweeter. If you’d like to get closer to that, I would use more peppers and not strain the whole thing, just process it until it is smooth and thick. Also, try adding honey or sugar to see if you can get closer to that flavor. Let me know how it goes.
https://www.facebook.com/gigiyoungdotcom/
Hi Mike, I love your site- just found it recently but am trying and enjoying things almost daily. A quick question- I don’t see the sriracha recipe for NON fermented peppers even though you say you’ve included both- am I missing it somehow?
Bill, to make an unfermented version, start with adding the fresh peppers and other ingredients first to a food processor. Process until smooth. You can strain out some of the pulp if you’d like for a smoother sauce.
Then, simmer the sauce about 10 minutes to cook through. Here is a recipe to follow for Superhot Sriracha, but just use the red jalapenos or Fresnos for a milder, more common version. Enjoy! Let me know how it turns out for you.
Hi Mike, thanks. I screwed up because I only had a handful of thai chilis and I added garlic sugar and vinegar then processed and THEN simmered it ….got the directions reversed.
Anyway the result is an extremely hot concoction that looks a lot like your garlic chili sauce. I will add a pin head’s worth to anything that needs heat, and try again later.
Are red jalapenos just more mature green ones? I’m in a smallish city in Canada and all I can get are the green ones. Thanks again! Bill, sorry to hear. You can always reprocess the batch and mix it with another milder batch to balance it out. Yes, the red jalapenos are more mature.
I fermented the chillis no problem, but the sauce and the vinegar separated after I bottled it and its water thin. Andre, you will often notice some separation. I believe you may have strained out too much of the pepper content. Let me know.
I made this recipe recently with fermented home grown super chilies. After staining the solids, the sauce was as thin as water. Great flavour and heat, but how can I thicken this into more of a sauce?
David, you can always add some of the strained pulp back into the sauce to give it more body, or try straining the whole mix with a sieve that isn’t quite so fine. You can also save the pulp to use in other recipes. I particularly like to dehydrate it and use it as seasonings.
See my post on How to Dehydrate Chili Peppers and Make Chili Powders. There’s plenty of life left in the pulp! I hope this helps! The vinegar really destroyed this batch. I’m going to try it again without vinegar. So long as you ferment peppers, is the vinegar really needed? It really tasted awful.
Josh, you don’t need the vinegar, but check your final acidity if you want to keep it longer. It should be 4.0 or below, 3.5 ideally. I’ve made this many times and love it with the vinegar.
I’m wondering if I can make Sriracha with reconstituted chipotles in it? I was thinking about 85-90% fresh peppers and the rest the reconstituted chipotles. I would also use the water from reconstituting as part of the brine water. My biggest question is will the chipotles effect the fermentation process?
Maureen, you can ferment dried pods. I would totally try this. Let me know how it turns out for you. Every time I try this the peppers float to the top leaving an inch or so of brine at the bottom.
How can i make sure they stay covered? The last time i had some mould on one of two jars, i dont think it was the white yeast film, and as i don’t do any other fermenting I cant help be nervous.
Paul, I use a small glass weight to keep the peppers pressed down in the jars. It works the best for me. Some people use a large cabbage leaf. You don’t think the mold was kham yeast? Kham yeast is common and can just be wiped away from the top.
I would scoop away the mold and inspect the ferment with all of your senses. Does the ferment smell bad or off? Does the brine taste very bad? It should be acidic and a touch bitter. Do you see actual rot? These are things to look for.
Can the bottles be processed in a hot water bath to extend shelf life? Preservatives? Roger, absolutely. You don’t need preservatives. Check the ph of the finished hot sauce. It is ideal at 4.0 and below, which is acidic enough to preserve it. I keep mine in the refrigerator for extended life.
I’m living in Vietnam and every grannie at my local fresh food market has home made sriracha for sale. i go there a lot and like to sample the offerings of a different vendor each time. now every time i go there they are pretty aggressive flogging me those old used water bottles full of orange sauce. i think i may have started a trade war!
That’s interesting! They must realize Americans go a bit crazy for their sriracha. I wish I could try some of those from Vietnam! Does the boil at the end mess with the “pro-biotics” you got in the fermentation? Can you skip the boil if you ferment?
Dru, you don’t have to cook fermented peppers. They can be eaten as they are, just like other fermented foods. The cooking melds everything, but not necessary for consumption. Let me know how it goes.
Fermenting another batch of this stuff (I try every time I see the red jalapeños or Fresno chilis in season) – and I might boil half of it, certainly to reduce/thicken at the very least, and just bottle the other half – and COMPARE.
It seems like the final cooking stage would destroy any probiotic benefits. Water boils at 212F and simmers at 190 F. Probiotics are destroyed at 115 F. I would skip the cooking stage. Just my 0.02
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/homemade-sriracha-hot-sauce-recipe/
Fellas, we know that we can be a bit judgmental, but first impressions are the most lasting. That's why we feel it is our obligation to point out when the hem length of your suit is all wrong or to run in the opposite direction when we detect Merrells on your feet. And whether you realize it or not, your facial hair also says a lot about you.
The editors here at HuffPost Style have a strong attraction to scruffy-faced guys (read: Ryan Gosling) because they appear to be the most easygoing and laid-back.
However, after recently chatting with Allan Peterkin, a pogonologist (aka beard scholar), Dove Men+Care facial grooming expert and author, the confidence of a mustache-wearing male like "Sons of Anarchy" star Charlie Hunnam is turning us on.
An "older" man's beard. "I think the association for a lot of people is that it's scholarly beard, or academics often have those beards," says Peterkin. "Full beards also have religious associations (think of Moses or Jesus). So that one comes with a lot of historical weight. It's a bit of an old-fashioned style but we certainly see young men wearing it these days."
A man who's stuck in the past. "This [facial hair style] hit in the mid-1990s. It was a bit of a statement then, but it's sort of become the overly done expression. Some men still wear it, but one guy I interviewed said, 'If your dad and your dentist still have goatees, it's time to change your look,'" says Peterkin.
A man who is up on the latest trends. "If you just scan men's magazines -- Esquire, GQ, etc. -- probably every one to three ads have a guy with stubble as the main expression.
Sometimes you see it superimposed with a mustache on top or with bigger side burns, but stubble is sort of the base," says Peterkin. "The only misconception is that people think that it's easy and you just roll out of bed. But you do have to maintain it."
A man who likes to have fun. "Everyone thinks of Elvis when they think side burns. I think college campuses and hipsters in Brooklyn are where men experiment with it the most. It's a playful look," says Peterkin.
A man making a pathetic cry for attention. Peterkin says, "It's for a guy who wants to push the envelope and also wants to be asked about his facial hair. Everything has been done under the sun, so I think men are sort of looking for what's the thing that they don't see on their street or in their workplace."
A man who is a bit cocky. "Historically, it's had the baddest rap of all the facial hair expressions. Then in the '70s, the mustache took on a sexual connotation -- there was the swinger mustache, the porn mustache and then the gay/bisexual mustache," says Peterkin.
"The mustache comes with all that baggage, but it's eased up recently because of charity movements like Movember. I think younger guys who wear it are confident enough to believe that you can read their mustache in any way and not really care."
A man who is rebellious. "This one was always thought of as the biker mustache and then the wrestler. Or whenever a famous person like Hulk Hogan adopts the style, it becomes associated with him," says Peterkin.
A gentleman with a big heart. "What comes to mind for me is a Victorian gentleman with a monocle or the a general in the North called 'Burnside.' But it's a very Victorian expression," says Peterkin.
It also gave us the horseshoe mustache. The horseshoe was popular among cowboys who worked in the Wild West and continues to grace men’s faces to this day. And it’s just what its name suggests: a full mustache that looks like a horseshoe.
What the Horseshoe Mustache Says About You - If you’re wearing a horseshoe mustache, you’re probably a tough guy of some kind. Or, you’d like to be a tough guy, and you hope your mustache is helping to affirm your toughness. Or, you’re a biker.
A lot of bikers – that is, men who ride Harleys – wear or have worn a horseshoe mustache. You badass. It’s not something you’ll wear to the office, but you probably don’t work in an office, anyway.
What Face Shape Best Fits the Horseshoe Mustache? Men with rounder, more oval faces do well with the horseshoe mustache. In many cases, the wider the face, the better the horseshoe looks.
How to Shave the Horseshoe Mustache - Just to give you a better idea, the horseshoe mustache is shaped like an upside down ‘U’ around your mouth and down the sides of your chin. Tradition has it that an upside down ‘U’ represents bad luck, but we’ll let wearers of the horseshoe style debate that.
The best way to get the horseshoe is to grow a full beard and develop the style from there. Shave your cheeks and the chin area just below your lower lip. You’ll be left with a trail of hair that runs from the sides of your lips.
Next, shave the line of the mustache just at the jawline because you don’t want the ‘horseshoe’ running down onto your neck. Finally, shave the width to your liking, although experts suggest it should be no longer than a quarter-inch across. If you want to keep it looking ‘neat’, then you should trim the sides a couple of times per week.
What Famous Celebrities Wear the Horseshoe Mustache? Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan has one of the most recognizable horseshoe ‘staches in modern culture. Actor Paul Rudd wore a half-horseshoe (also known as the “Dallas mustache”) in the comedy “Anchorman.”
https://www.baldingbeards.com/facial-hair-styles/mustache-styles/horseshoe-mustache/
Honey ants, also called honeypot ants, are ants which have specialized workers that are gorged with food by workers to the point that their abdomens swell enormously. Other ants then extract nourishment from them, through the process of trophallaxis. They function as living larders.
For more than 1,200 years, anyone who wanted a government job in imperial China had to pass a very difficult test first. This system ensured that the government officials who served in the imperial court were learned and intelligent men, rather than just political supporters of the current emperor, or relatives of previous officials.
Meritocracy - The civil service exam system in imperial China was a system of testing designed to select the most studious and learned candidates for appointment as bureaucrats in the Chinese government. This system governed who would join the bureaucracy between 650 CE and 1905, making it the world's longest-lasting meritocracy.
The scholar-bureaucrats mainly studied the writings of Confucius, the sixth-century BCE sage who wrote extensively on governance, and of his disciples. During the exams, each candidate had to demonstrate a thorough, word-for-word knowledge of the Four Books and Five Classics of ancient China.
These works included among others the Analects of Confucius; Great Learning, a Confucian text with commentary by Zeng Zi; Doctrine of the Mean , by Confucius's grandson; and Mencius, which is a collection of that sage's conversations with various kings.
In theory, the imperial examination system insured that government officers would be chosen based on their merit, rather than on their family connections or wealth.
A peasant's son could, if he studied hard enough, pass the exam and become an important high scholar-official. In practice, a young man from a poor family would need a wealthy sponsor if he wanted freedom from work in the fields, as well as access to the tutors and books necessary to successfully pass the rigorous exams.
However, just the possibility that a peasant boy could become a high official was very unusual in the world at that time. The examination itself lasted between 24 and 72 hours. The details varied throughout the centuries, but generally, the candidates were locked into small cells with a board for a desk and bucket for a toilet.
Within the allotted time, they had to write six or eight essays in which they explained ideas from the classics, and used those ideas to solve problems in government. Examinees brought their own food and water into the room.
Many also tried to smuggle in notes, so they would be thoroughly searched before entering the cells. If a candidate died during the exam, the test officials would roll his body in a mat and throw it over the test compound wall, rather than allowing relatives to come into the examination zone to claim it.
Candidates took local exams, and those who passed could sit for the regional round. The very best and brightest from each region then went on to the national exam, where often only eight or ten percent passed to become imperial officials.
History of the Exam System - The earliest imperial exams were administered during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE) and continued in the brief Sui era, but the testing system was standardized in Tang China (618 - 907 CE).
The reigning Empress Wu Zetian of Tang particularly relied on the imperial examination system for recruiting officials. Although the system was designed to ensure that government officials were learned men, it grew corrupt and outdated by the time of the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1912) Dynasties.
Men with connections to one of the court factions - either the scholar-gentry or the eunuchs - could sometimes bribe the examiners for a passing score. During some periods, they skipped the exam entirely and got their positions through pure nepotism.
In addition, by the nineteenth century, the system of knowledge had begun to seriously break down. In the face of European imperialism, Chinese scholar-officials looked to their traditions for solutions.
However, some two thousand years after his death, Confucius did not always have an answer for modern problems such as the sudden encroachment of foreign powers on the Middle Kingdom. The imperial examination system was abolished in 1905, and the Last Emperor Puyi abdicated the throne seven years later.
https://www.thoughtco.com/imperial-chinas-civil-service-exam-195112
They remove the ‘filling the blanks’ and dictation from memory of the classical texts to commentary of the classical texts, commentary of the current events, and the suggested solutions to remove the evils in the society. It is the application of your understanding of the Classical Texts to solve the present problems rather than just a test of memory.
Well, it’s an interesting question and I bet even most of native Chinese don’t know the answer:D Since I’m from China and not very good at academical English, my translation below maybe inaccurate. But I’ll try my best.
Usually an Imperial Examinations in early Song Dynasty consists of three questions. The first one is 赋(Ode). The second is 诗(Poem). And the third is 论(Discourse).
赋 requires candidates to write an ode on a certain topic with limited rhythm. Usually the topic is of traditional Chinese philosophy theories or philosophical metaphors. There is a sentence with eight Chinese characters to tell the rhythm limit and also act as prompt.
诗 requires candidates to write a poem(usually five Chinese characters per line, and I don’t know if seven Chinese characters poems are allowed) of a given topic. The topic is quite varied , I have seen topics from military music to noble etiquette in different examinations. This poem is short than the 赋(Ode).
论 requires candidates to write a discourse according to a brief statement given in the question. Here is an example: The Imperial Examination of 8th year of Tiansheng Era(AD 1030, 天圣八年 in Chinese) has three questions.
The first is 藏珠于渊赋以君子非贵难得之物为韵(Write an ode about hiding pearl in the abyss, rhythm limited in 君子非贵难得之物). 君子非贵难得之物 means ‘Gentlemen do not consider rare things important’.
The second is 翠旌诗(Write a poem about emerald feather flag), and the third is 儒者可与守成论(Write a discourse about ‘Confucian scholars can help with preserving the achievements’).
Of course everything has an exception. The Imperial Examination of 4th year of Zhiping Era(AD 1067, 治平四年 in Chinese) has only two questions and both of them are 赋(Ode).
After 3rd year of Xining Era(AD 1070, 熙宁三年 in Chinese), the Imperial Examination are changed as one of the Wang Anshi's reform methods. According to historical records, the examination changed its format without any advance notice and as a result all candidates and examination officials are in confusion.
The examination has only one question called 策论(Discourse on Politics). The question is written in Classical Chinese with about 100 Chinese characters. And candidates are required to write an article in Classical Chinese with more than a thousand Chinese characters.
If you can read Classical Chinese and want to learn more, there is a book named 中国状元殿试卷大全(Collection of Top Answers In China Imperial Examinations) published by Shanghai Educational Publishing House. This book contains all the Imperial Examination questions from Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.
It was different in different dynasties. Here are the questions in the last imperial examinations(1904). My translation may not be accurate but you will get the idea.
I. Provincial exams
II. Metropolitan exams (held every three years in the national capital)
Part one: History
Zhou dynasty and Tang dynasty had weak central governments and strong local governors while Qin and Wei were the opposite. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these two.
Jia Yi talked about “three example and five bait”( The barbarians admire our culture so we give them nice food, beautiful clothes,women and music, palaces with servants, appeasements to make peace with them) Ban Gu thought it was a joke.
Yet Duke Mu of Qin used it to make peace with Xi Rong (Western barbarians), Zhong Hangyue used it to warn Xiong Nu ( not to be controlled by China). Discuss why this might not be a bad idea.
Discuss: ZhuGe Liang did not have the heart of Shen Buhai and Shang Yang (both Legalists), but used their methods. Wang Anshi used their methods but did not want to admit it.
Discuss: Pei Du presented (the idea) that the prime minister should be able to discuss plans with sages and advisers in his own house. (At Pei’s time every discussion needed to be done at court before the emperor).
Discuss: Northern Song dynasty allied with Jin( Jurchen people) to attack Yan and Zhao, Southern Song allied with Yuan( Mongols) to attack Cai (Jin’s last city).
Part two:Politics - Schools are made for three reasons: educate the people, train talented people and revitalize the industries.....Which of these three is the most important?
Far western countries’ foreign policies often use the name of “protection” but end up gaining a lot of benefits. Please use examples from the past century to prove this.
When Japan began its reforms, they employed westerners thus they became strong. Now Egypt also employed more than 1000 foreigners but ended up losing money and power and remains a weak state. Discuss the reason behind this.
Zhou Li( a classic about propriety ) wrote about agricultural policy in the most details and among the Hundred Schools of Thought there were the Agriculturalists.
Nowadays, countries do researches in agriculture, focus on men rather than weather, the basics are: Land,capital and labour. Only a intelligent person may use them wise. Now we are going to make agriculture an essential subject. Discuss the ways to teach people agriculture .
America has used the “Chinese Exclusion Act” to prohibit Chinese workers. Now ten years has pass and the terminal day is close. Use international law to rebut the old treaty and revise it to protect overseas Chinese.
Part three: Classics - Questions related to “Four Books and Five Classics”(The following three lines are translated by James Legge. Gathered from Chinese Text Project).
Explain these lines: What the Great Learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence. *From: Da Xue (”The Great Learning”).
He stands erect in the middle, without inclining to either side. How firm is he in his energy! *From: Zhong Yong (“The state of equilibrium and harmony”).
Bringing together all the people, and assembling in one place all their wares. They made their exchanges and retired, every one having got what he wanted. *From: I Ching “Book of Changes”.
III. The Palace Examination ( held every three years in the Imperial palace and often supervised by the emperor himself). The way of the rulers is to care for their subjects as fathers care for sons. Though residing in palaces, they must consider the lives of millions of billions.
Only local prefects know best the pain of the people. In Han dynasty the central government used “the six laws” to supervise the local prefects, but gave them the power to inspect and govern. This is not unlike today.
However, now we see local prefects often cheat and lie to the central government. How may we put an end to this kind of practice? The society is changing fast, and talents are needed everywhere. Schooling, police, negotiation and technology, these cannot be managed by people without education.
If we want to appoint people with great tasks, we must first broaden their horizon. And this job relies on local officers. Yet, instead of training and examining people, what they have done are often dead letters.
The central government asks with sincerity, and they respond with sham. We need good ways to urge them. In Han dynasty all officers were from native people. Should we follow this practice?
In ancient dynasties (Xia, Shang, Zhou) servicemen came from peasants. After the Well-field system and the GouXu system ended, conscription started. Was it because the situation has changed? (*Examples from Han, Tang, Song military systems, this is a bit hard to translate)
Compare the military systems of Han, Tang and Song dynasties. What can we learn from them? The Power of the military comes from knowledge, and knowledge comes from education.
Many countries around the globe became powerful through acknowledging the importance of military. Many of their officers know military, and physical education starts from children. Since we are learning from them, shouldn't we find the deeper reason?
The chapter "Tai Zai" from "Zhou li" described nine laws to manage the treasury. Does this have any similarity with the budgets management of foreign countries? (*Quotes from Su Shi and Zeng Gong on funds) Can you extent their points?
Can we reduce expenditure by reducing extra staffs and governmental spending and is there a good procedure to do so? We will broaden incomes by adding agricultural, industrial and commercial departments. Can you devise specific plans to manage them?
How scholars do, depends on how they are educated (* Scholars would usually become officials and politicians in ancient China). The ancients learned Li (Confucian), Han dynasty valued MingJing (Confucian Classics) and used Xiaolian to recruit officials, while Eastern Han valued JieYi (continency and righteousness).
In Tang dynasty writings (poems/prose etc) became a fashion and in Song dynasty scholars with great moral arose. Can people learn goodness by themselves, or do they need great teachers to guide them? Now if we want restrain the spread of evil thoughts around the country and encourage Confucianism, what can we do?
https://www.quora.com/What-types-of-questions-were-asked-on-Imperial-Examinations-during-the-Song-Dynasty
Even if you had success cramming for college finals, experts warn not to try that tactic when taking the MCAT. Med school admissions experts say premeds who have received good grades in college shouldn't assume that they can easily achieve a high score on the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT.
The MCAT is harder than a traditional college test, partly because the MCAT is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary exam that covers multiple science subjects, such as biology, physics and chemistry. In addition to testing scientific knowledge, the MCAT tests verbal skills by requiring premeds to read and interpret social science and humanities passages.
The MCAT is also much longer than a typical college final. It lasts approximately seven and a half hours for test-takers who use the optional breaks between various sections of the exam. Experts also warn that the test is more of a marathon than a sprint and that achieving an exceptional MCAT score demands intellectual endurance.
Another challenging aspect of the MCAT is that it's designed to determine whether a student has absorbed the intricate details of a technical field like organic chemistry or biochemistry.
Plus, the MCAT is concept-focused and information recall usually isn't sufficient to come up with a correct answer to an MCAT question, though memorization may help premeds answer certain MCAT questions quickly.
Experts emphasize that being able to remember facts from undergraduate science courses won't automatically result in a high score, because the MCAT requires students to demonstrate mastery of their premed courses by using the concepts taught in those courses to solve problems.
Manage Time for MCAT Success - The MCAT test creators "don't reward you just for knowing something," says Petros Minasi Jr., director of premedical programs at Kaplan Test Prep. "They reward you for knowing something and being able to apply it. That's how you get questions right."
Minasi says the MCAT's emphasis on problem-solving and analysis is designed to reveal whether an aspiring physician has strong critical thinking skills.
Because a doctor's job often involves diagnosing a medical patient who presents a long list of symptoms, experts say it is essential for premeds to demonstrate their ability to recognize patterns.
Danielle Purtell, a first-year medical student at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, says that MCAT questions often bombard test-takers with a series of facts, including both important information and extraneous details. The job of an MCAT test-taker is to determine which facts matter or are irrelevant, she says.
The same issue-spotting skills can be applied to clinical diagnosis courses, Purtell says. "Patients give you a lot that you don't need and you have to read between the lines to glean out what's important and what isn’t," she says.
Purtell adds that it's prudent for premeds to focus on studying the science subjects they didn't excel at in college. A knowledge gap in one science discipline will not only hurt premed students' ability to answer an MCAT question on that subject, but also limit their odds of getting the correct answer to an interdisciplinary MCAT question.
Experts warn that premeds who were capable of cramming for a college final and getting an "A" on that final would be unwise to try that strategy when preparing for the MCAT.
Purtell advises premeds to schedule their MCAT test date months in advance, taking into consideration how much time they can realistically expect to study per week. She also suggests taking an MCAT prep course.
Dr. McGreggor Crowley, a pediatrician who earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and an admissions counselor at the admissions consulting firm IvyWise, says premeds often spend months preparing for the MCAT and use a variety of test prep techniques, such as taking practice exams, enrolling in prep courses and using question banks.
"The exam is focused in that it tests specific, advanced knowledge about a subject, and it is broad, in that test-takers must understand a wide range of material from seemingly disparate subjects," Crowley said via email. "If anything, it's more like a cumulative exam testing multiple years of college classes," he said.
Purtell recommends that premeds spend at least 300 hours prepping for the MCAT. She suggests using those hours efficiently by focusing exclusively on the topics that are tested on the MCAT, and not memorizing details that are unlikely to be tested on the exam.
"The beauty of the MCAT is you don’t have to know everything about everything," Purtell says. "You just have to know the hot topics and what in med school we call the high-yield info about all of the subjects, because the high-yield info is what they’re going to pull those interdisciplinary questions from."
Experts say that strengthening your grasp of the big ideas that are tested on the MCAT (think: how electric voltage works) is more important than memorizing nitty-gritty details, since the test is more focused on analysis than the regurgitation of information.
Minasi says one way to get a good sense of which topics are fair game for MCAT exam is to look at the prep materials produced by the organization that creates the MCAT - the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC. The AAMC's What's on the MCAT Exam? webpage includes a comprehensive list of the topics tested.
The MCAT includes many interdisciplinary test problems, which require premeds to use concepts they learned in several science courses, Minasi says. Premeds should take note of concepts they've seen in multiple science classes, because those concepts have interdisciplinary relevance and thus are likely to be addressed on the MCAT, he adds.
https://www.instagram.com/dewdropdwelling/
For instance, the MCAT usually includes questions about oxidation and reduction and the electron transport chain, because those two concepts come up in many science classes, he says.
Crowley says that premeds often give short shrift to the importance of the verbal questions on the MCAT and fail to adequately prepare for the critical analysis and reasoning skills section of the exam.
"One major issue I see is that STEM-focused students brush off or deprioritize the humanities and social science parts of the MCAT, often to their own detriment," Crowley said via email. "When they get their MCAT scores back, the score distribution is lopsided as a result.
Taking strong, challenging social science and writing classes and preparing ahead of time for these aspects of the MCAT can help buff up those sub scores, and in the process, help convince admissions committees that a biology or chemistry major is multifaceted and not one-dimensional, capable of understanding the psychosocial complexities of the patients they treat," he said.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/articles/2018-04-09/why-the-mcat-is-harder-than-a-typical-college-exam
More than thirty-five years later, we still remember the day we arrived to Pulau Bidong. February 17th, 1981 is a day that’s inked in our hearts.
It was the beginning of a new journey for us. We arrived at the island with just the clothes on our back, and nothing else. But we had freedom, and the promise of a better life! (The $10 my mother gave to me was taken by the pirates).
I spent a number of days in Sick Bay hospital to recover from the trip. I probably weighted less than 70 lbs. when we first got there. Eventually, I recovered and was lucky to be assigned to live the longhouse section, a newly built housing on the hill.
My brother went the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office and got some old clothes for us. They were too big for me, but you made do with what you had.
Pulau Bidong was jokingly referred by the refugees as “Buon lau, Bi dat”, meaning a sad place. It’s a temporary stepping stones for everyone to get to our final destination. Living conditions on Bidong were terrible. The island was probably less than a mile square, and was divided into sections A through G, as I remembered.
Refugees onto the island lived in makeshift huts made of woods from the forests, sailing fabrics, tarps, etc. Beds were made out of things such as bamboos, salvaged timbers from wrecked boats.
Trash & litters were everyone. The toilets were anywhere you picked on the hill. It was nicknamed “Kiss me” hill because it was littered with toilet papers everywhere on the hill.
At night, most people only had candle lights, except for the longhouse section, which had neon lights. All food and clean water had to be imported from the mainland. Drinking water was rationed, and we had to go stand in line receive our daily allowance. Water for bathing, washing clothes, had to be collected from wells.
There was no fresh food available. All we were given to eat were can foods of three varieties: chicken, peas, or beef. They weren’t bad at first, but after eating the same can food days after days, months after months, they became unbearable.
Fortunately, my brother made friends with a bunch of teenager fishermen. They were from Phu Quoc, a Vietnamese island off the coast of Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.
Their small boat was still in good shape when they got to the island, so every day they went out and caught fresh fish and often gave us some. My brother Tuan made lots of friends on the island.
He joined the club of youth Vietnamese (Thanh Thieu Nien Thien Chi Bidong) established to help other refugges. He first met his wife, Loan, at a birthday party of the club Vice President, Hiep.
The VP introduced my brother as one of the best coffee makers on the island. Her family journey to freedom and promise of a better life are not much different than ours, where three young sisters left behind families, risk their lives crossing the ocean, not knowing for certain where they would end up.
As the club only had about 15 members, they quickly got to know each other and became good friends. At the time, however, another club member, Lan Anh was font of my brother.
There wasn’t much to do on the island. I spent most of my days just exploring the island, mostly just people watching and swimming in the ocean. Young adults were given tasks such as clean up, repairing houses, etc. I was exempted from it because I was too weak.
There were English classes to prepare people for resettlement, taught by Vietnamese volunteers who knew some basic English. I never bothered to attend any of those classes. Representatives from Western countries including US, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Australia, England, Denmark, etc. came and interviewed people.
Those who were lucky would get offer for settlement. There were some people that were living on the islands for years and no country wanted them. There was a PA system around the main parts of the island.
On certain day of the week, the authority would announce names of individuals who got leave the camp to go to their settlement countries. It’s always a mixed emotion to listen to the announcement on the PA – disappoint when you are not on the list days after day, happy for someone you know get called, but at the same time sad that you may never see them again.
Traditionally people held send-off parties the night before to say good byes to friends. We would gather under candle-lit lights, singing songs, discussing about what the future might hold for us. We would ask them to mail letters to our family for us when they settle in the new country.
That was the only means for us to communicate with family back home, we hand letters to people who left the island. The PA also used to announce when new boats arrived. When that happened, people would gather on the beach to see if they recognize any of the new comers.
After 4 months on Pulau Bidong, our names were finally announced on the PA. At dawn one morning in June 1981, my brother and I walked out on the jetty and got on a boat to take us to mainland where we boarded a bus to Kuala Lumpur.
Chi Loan & Lan Anh came out to send us off (the photo taken when we left Pulau Bidong was with Chi Loan & Lan Anh by his side). Coincidentally, a week later, we ran into Chi Loan and her two younger sisters again in Kuala Lumpur. They were just a week behind us in transit.
We spent a few days there and then air transported to a refugee processing center in Bataan, the Philippines in preparation for final settlement in the USA. Our arrival to Bataan was at the beginning of the monsoon season.
It often rained nonstop for days at a time. Unlike Pulau Bidong, which was dry & brutally hot desert island, Bataan climates, food, and cultures were closer to Vietnam. Life there was better than Pulau Bidong.
https://www.facebook.com/gigiyoungdotcom/
People were generally happier than those at Pulau Bidong because they knew for certain that they had been accepted to US, Canada, Europe or Australia, as this was the final leg of the journey to prepare them for settlement.
The camp had multiple neighborhoods, each with twenty to thirty buildings, with multiple housing units. We lived in bunk houses in section 8, shared with another family. Our housing section did not have running water. Every day at 4 pm we had to go get drinking water from a fountain in a public WC.
Chi Loan’s family soon arrived at Bataan, as we were all heading to the US. My brother and one of his friends, Phuong, came to greet them at the arrival center and led them to their housing section 6. They were lucky their housing section had running water.
Every day we would do to a food distribution center to receive food allocation for the day – mostly consisted of fresh vegetables and fish. Here we met people from all walks of life who fled their homelands to look for a better future.
My brother used to go to section 8 to hang around with friends from the youth club. He often stayed for lunches with Chi Loan & friends. We went through medical screening, attended English as a second language (ESL) classes.
There were also classes that taught basic daily life in a western country, such as how to shop at super market, etc. The camp was next to a very wooded forest, with streams, waterfall, etc. Sometimes we and our friends would go look for young bamboo shoots to eat with our meals.
My brother and I volunteered to work at the UN processing center, since we already knew some English from back home. Chi Loan volunteered to work at the hospital. The group of friends often went to the streams to have lunch together, and to avoid the afternoon summer heat.
My brother’s friendship with Chi Loan eventually blossomed into love. On her birthday on July, the group bought sugar & flour and baking power to make cake for her. He made a red rose for her out of paper.
Chapter 5: The Final Chapter - We spent the next four months in the Philippines, and on October 1981, all of us -my brother, Ch Loan and her two younger sisters, and myself – boarded a charter plane to fly to San Francisco. My brother went to vocational training school and started working as automobile technician so he could make money to help the family.
He & Chi Loan got married in 1987. I was the only immediate member of the family that was able to attend his wedding. I finished high school and went on to study electrical engineering at University of California, San Diego. My brother fixed up an old car and drove it down to San Diego to give it to me so I could commute to school.
Every holiday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, spring breaks, etc. I always came and visit him because he was the only family member in the US. I graduated from UCSD with honors in 1998 and continued with graduated school. Anh Tuan and Chi Loan came to my college graduation.
He was so proud and happy for me. I got married & continued to live in San Diego until present day. My brother eventually was able to sponsor our family to the US and we reunited with them in 1990. He opened his home to our family and supported my younger brother & sister until they were able to stand on their own feet.
For the next twenty-seven years, he continued to touch the life of many people. He & Chi Loan raised two wonderful children, Christine & Ben. His home was always filled with joy and laughter, it was a gathering spot for all family and friends for all occasions. He welcomed everyone into his home with open arms.
Anh Tuan was diagnosed with lung cancer in the spring of 2016. He fought a courage battle over the course of a year. I spent many days besides his hospital bed during his final days. My love and respect for him grew stronger and stronger as each day went by.
I witnessed his courage and strength, I witnessed his kindness & generosity in the face of adversity. People say that a person character is most recognizable not in good times, but in tough times.
I learned so much from my brother from being with him in his final days. He always made a point to shake hands with doctors and nurses, even when he was in pain. He put on Patriot jersey and watched super bowl with friends even when he was on the respirator. He reminded us to bring in the favorite dish for the Vietnamese doctor in the ICU.
I saw the tremendous impacts that he has made on other people. Throngs & throngs of people came to visit him days after days. I realized that Anh Tuan was not only my big brother, he was a big brother to everyone in Chi Loan family.
At the end of every visit, I promised my brother that I would be back to see him again, and he would wait for me. Today, I said goodbye to my brother for the last time.
He squeezed my hand tight during his last moment as I whispered to him “ Rest in peace, my brother. No more pain. No more suffer. We SHALL meet again.”
Anh Tuan passed away in the early morning of March 25, 2017. But his spirit will always be with me and many others. I am so proud to have a brother like Anh Tuân.
Chương 5: Trại tị nạn - Hơn ba mươi lăm năm sau, chúng tôi vẫn còn nhớ ngày chúng tôi đến Pulau Bidong. Ngày 17 tháng 2 năm 1981 là ngày khắc ghi trong tim chúng tôi. Nó là khởi đầu của một cuộc hành trình mới cho chúng tôi.
Chúng tôi đến hòn đảo này chỉ với quần áo trên lưng, và không có gì khác. Nhưng chúng tôi được tự do, và những hứa hẹn của một cuộc sống mới tốt đẹp hơn! (10 đô la mẹ tôi cho tôi đã bị cướp biển lấy mất). Tôi phải nằm ở bệnh viện Sick Bay nhiều ngày để hồi phục sau chuyến vượt biên.
Barbara Marciniak
Tôi có lẻ cân nặng dưới 70 lbs lúc chúng tôi mới tới đảo. Cuối cùng, tôi hồi phục và may mắn được cho tạm trú ở khu nhà dài, khu nhà mới xây trên đồi. Anh trai tôi đến văn phòng Cao ủy Tị nạn Liên Hợp Quốc (UNHCR) và xin được một số quần áo cũ. Chúng quá rộng cho tôi, nhưng có được cái gì thì xài cái đó.
Cái tên Pulau Bidong đã được gọi một cách châm biếm bởi những người tị nạn là "Buồn lâu, Bi đát", có nghĩa là một nơi buồn bã. Nó là một bước đi tạm thời để mọi người tiến đến đích cuối cùng. Điều kiện sống trên Bidong rất khó khăn. Hòn đảo này có lẽ khoảng dưới một dặm vuông, và được chia thành các khu từ A đến G, như tôi nhớ.
Những người tị nạn trên hòn đảo sống trong những căn lều tạm bợ làm bằng gỗ trên rừng, vải buồm, tấm bạt, vv Giường được làm từ những thứ như tre, gỗ lấy ra từ những chiếc tàu đắm. Rác bẩn vương vẩy khắp nơi. Nhà vệ sinh là bất cứ nơi nào bạn chọn trên đồi.
Ngọn đồi được đặt biệt danh là "Kiss me" bởi vì giấy vệ sinh xả bừa bải khắp mọi nơi trên đồi. Vào ban đêm, hầu hết mọi người chỉ có đèn cầy, ngoại trừ khu nhà dài là có đèn neon. Tất cả lương thực và nước sạch phải được mang vào từ đất liền.
Nước uống được phân phối, và chúng tôi phải đứng xếp hàng để nhận khoản trợ cấp hàng ngày của chúng tôi. Nước để tắm, giặt quần áo, thì được múc lên từ giếng. Không có thực phẩm tươi.
Tất cả những đồ ăn được phân phối đều là đồ hộp gồm ba loại: gà, đậu, hoặc thịt bò. Lúc đầu ăn cũng không đến nỗi tệ, nhưng cứ ăn cùng một thứ đồ hộp sau nhiều ngày, nhiều tháng, ngán chịu không nổi.
May thay, anh trai tôi đã kết bạn với một đám dân thuyền chài. Họ đến từ Phú Quốc, một hòn đảo của Việt Nam ngoài khơi Campuchia ở trong Vịnh Thái Lan. Cái tàu nhỏ của họ vẫn còn tốt khi đi đến đảo, vì vậy ngày nào họ đi ra biển bắt cá tươi và thường biếu chúng tôi một ít.
Anh Tuân của tôi có rất nhiều bạn bè trên đảo, đó là nơi anh gặp vợ anh, nhưng tôi không biết chị ấy lúc đó. Tôi đã dành hầu hết thời gian để đi thám hiểm hòn đảo, nhưng thường là chỉ đi nhìn ngó người ta và đi tắm biển.
Không có nhiều chuyện để làm trên đảo. Những người trẻ tuổi thì được giao nhiệm vụ như dọn vệ sinh, sửa chữa nhà cửa ... Tôi được miễn trừ vì tôi quá ốm yếu. Có nhiều lớp tiếng Anh để chuẩn bị cho người ta đi định cư, do các tình nguyện viên người Việt Nam có được một số tiếng Anh cơ bản.
Tôi không bao giờ bận tâm đến việc tham dự mấy lớp học đó. Các đại diện của các nước Tây phương bao gồm Hoa Kỳ, Đức, Pháp, Na Uy, Thụy Điển, Úc, Anh, Đan Mạch, vv đã đến và phỏng vấn mọi người. Những người may mắn thì được nhận đi định cư.
Có nhiều người sống trên đảo nhiều năm và không có quốc gia nào muốn nhận họ. Có một hệ thống loa phát thanh xung quanh các phần chính của hòn đảo. Vào một ngày cố định trong tuần, cơ quan thẩm quyền sẽ công bố tên của những người được rời trại để đi đến các quốc gia định cư của họ.
Nó luôn là một xúc cảm lẩn lộn lúc nghe thông báo trên loa phát thanh - thất vọng khi ngày này qua ngày khác bạn không có tên trong danh sách định cư, vui mừng cho người quen được đọc tên, nhưng đồng thời cũng buồn rằng bạn có lẽ không bao giờ gặp họ nữa.
Theo truyền thống, người ta tổ chức các buổi tiệc tiễn đưa đêm trước để nói lời tạm biệt với bạn bè. Chúng tôi sẽ tụ tập dưới ánh sáng đèn cầy, hát các bài hát, thảo luận về những gì có thể xảy ra trong tương lai. Chúng tôi sẽ nhờ họ gửi thư tới gia đình chúng tôi khi họ định cư ở quốc gia mới.
Đó là phương tiện duy nhất để chúng tôi liên lạc với gia đình ở quê nhà, chúng tôi trao thư tay cho những người rời đảo. Loa phát thanh cũng được dùng để thông báo khi có tàu vượt biên mới đến. Khi đó, mọi người sẽ tập trung trên bãi biển để xem nếu có người quen nào tới đảo.
Sau 4 tháng trên đảo Pulau Bidong, tên của chúng tôi đã được loan báo trên loa phát thanh. Vào một buổi sáng sớm tháng 6 năm 1981, anh tôi và tôi bước ra cầu tàu jetty và lên phà để đưa chúng tôi đến đất liền, nơi chúng tôi lên xe buýt đến Kuala Lumpur. Chúng tôi tạm trú ở đó vài ngày và sau đó lên máy bay tới Bataan, Philippines.
The Refugee Camps - Written by Jimmy Tran ( Tuân Derrick Tran younger brother)
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222993715457137&id=1406856282
RUPERT NEUDECK- ĐẠI ÂN NHÂN CỦA THUYỀN NHÂN VIỆT NAM
Ngày 31.5.2016, tại bệnh viện Koln ở nước Đức, đã có một trái tim nhỏ ngừng đập ở tuổi 77. đây là một tin gây rúng động cho nhiều cộng đồng, đặc biệt là người Việt Nam di tản, hiện đang sống tại Đức, vì người đó là Tiến Sĩ Rupert Neudeck, một nhà Thần Học Công Giáo, một nhà báo, nhà hoạt động xã hội.
Những năm 70-80 của thế kỷ XX, do phương tiện truyền thông bị hạn chế, cũng như tin tức về người vuợt biên rất nhạy cảm theo quan điểm của nhà cầm quyền, nói chung chưa có Facebook, Twitter… như thời bây giờ nên những vụ đắm tàu, cướp biển tấn công, hãm hiếp người di tản, một số nước châu Á cho tàu quân đội ra xua đuổi tàu chở thuyền nhân khi vào lãnh hải của họ… ít người biết đến.
Nhưng, lúc đó, ở các nước phương Tây, tin tức này là thời sự, nó cũng như cảnh ta đang xem trên tivi mới đây về những người dân Somali, Lybia vượt biên chết hàng loạt trên biển.
Tình cảnh thê lưõng cùng đường bị xua đuổi như tội đồ của họ đã đánh động trái tim của tiến sĩ Rupert Neudeck. Nó thúc đẩy ông dấn thân hành động bằng cách kêu gọi chính quyền Đức, cộng đồng xã hội, tôn giáo, các bằng hữu hãy cứu giúp những thuyền nhân Việt Nam đang bị nạn như thuyền hết xăng dầu, lương thực, chết máy, bị cướp bóc… đang lênh đênh trên biển.
Khi bị nhà cầm quyền từ chối, ông không nản lòng, mà đã cầm cố ngôi nhà của mình, kêu gọi bạn bè thân nhân góp tiền của để đóng thuyền ra khơi cứu người Việt Nam.
Câu chuyện về người có trái tim nhân ái này được ông Franz Alt, sau này là giám đốc đài truyền hình Baden, kể lại vô cùng ấn tượng: “Ông ấy gõ cửa xin tôi phát lời kêu gọi cộng đồng, tôi bảo không thể làm thế được vì một ý kiến cá nhân.
Ông ấy kêu gào: “Chẳng lẽ chúng ta cứ nhìn thảm cảnh như vậy mỗi ngày sao ?” Tôi trả lời: “Tôi có thể làm được gì ?” Ông ấy trả lời: “Tôi có thể cầm cố ngôi nhà đang ở để khởi sự cho chuyến đi biển.” Tôi đành nhượng bộ trước quyết tâm của con người này và cho ông ấy hai phút để phát sóng.
Đúng vậy, sau lời kêu gọi trên đài, chỉ ba ngày sau, cả nước Đức đã hưởng ứng với số tiền đóng góp lên đến 1.3 triệu mác ( tiền Đức thời bấy giờ ) để thuê chiếc tàu CAP ANAMUR đầu tiên ra khơi vào ngày 9.8.1979 với sứ mệnh cao cả là cứu vớt người Việt Nam gặp nguy khốn trên biển Đông.
Tiếp theo đó là thêm hai chiếc Cap Anamur được hạ thủy nhờ vào sự ủng hộ của những người có từ tâm. Trong thời gian 7 năm hoạt động ( 1979-1986 ), tổ chức Cap Anamur đã cứu vớt được 11.300 người vượt biển trên 223 chiếc ghe / thuyền và hầu hết được định cư tại nước Đức.
Để làm được việc này, chính ông cùng với nhà văn Heinrich Boll, đoạt giải Nobel năm 1972, và thân hữu đã thuyết phục thành công chính quyền Đức cho thuyền nhân Việt Nam được nhập cư vào nước này.
Được biết ngoài việc cứu giúp cho người Việt, tổ chức do ông sáng lập đã có hoạt động giúp đỡ nạn nhân chiến cuộc tại Somali, châu Phi, Afganistan, Pakistan. Để tỏ lòng trân trọng công lao to lớn của ông, nhà cầm quyền Đức đã tặng ông huân chương Chevalier cao quý, nhưng hai lần ông từ chối.
Chính ông đã đánh động lương tâm của nhiều người, trong đó có người Mỹ và người Việt Nam tại Mỹ. Năm 1979, chính Tổng Thống Mỹ Jimmy Carter đã ra lệnh cho 5 tuần dương hạm đi cứu vớt những thuyền nhân và cho họ được nhập cư vào Mỹ.
Hãy tưởng tượng 11.300 người, từ năm 1979 đến nay, gần 40 năm, số lượng này tăng lên bao nhiêu, nếu tính luôn việc họ bảo lãnh cho người thân từ Việt Nam sang thì có hàng chục ngàn số phận đã đổi thay từ nhân duyên này.
Ông kể về thời niên thiếu của ông: Lúc còn bé, thời Đệ Nhị Thế Chiến, ông và gia đình đã nhỡ một chuyến tàu tỵ nạn và chuyến tàu xấu số đó trúng thuỷ lôi của Hồng Quân Liên Xô, chìm ngoài biển, mang theo trên 9.000 người.
Có lẽ biến cố này đã gây ấn tượng quá lớn với một cậu bé để, khi trưởng thành, nó thôi thúc ông làm một nghĩa cử gì đó cho những nạn nhân trên biển cả chăng ?
Ông ra đi về nơi thanh thản sau khi làm được việc lẽ ra của Thượng Đế, là đem sự sống lần thứ hai cho hàng chục ngàn người, và, nhờ đó, ông trở thành bất tử.
(Dung Cao Tran)
https://www.facebook.com/kim.l.tran/posts/10223079554203052
Rupert Neudeck was known for his humanitarian work, especially with refugees. He started his career as a noted correspondent for Deutschlandfunk, a German public broadcaster. Later, he focused on assisting those fleeing conflict.
Rupert Neudeck (14 May 1939 – 31 May 2016) was a German journalist and humanitarian. Neudeck, together with a group of friends, formed the committee "A ship for Vietnam" and chartered for the rescue mission the freighter "Cap Anamur".
He did humanitarian work in this project that aids refugees. He also founded "Grünhelme e.V." (Green Helmets; voluntary association) for rebuilding schools, villages, and ambulances in destroyed regions.
Rupert Neudeck (German: [ˈnɔʏdɛk]; 14 May 1939 – 31 May 2016) was known for his humanitarian work, especially with refugees. He started his career as a noted correspondent for Deutschlandfunk, a German public broadcaster. Later, he focused on assisting those fleeing conflict. He was noted for his role in assisting thousands of refugees from Vietnam in the late 1970s.
Neudeck was a winner of numerous awards, including the Theodor Heuss Medal, the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights, the Erich Kaestner Award and the Walter Dirks Award, and was co-founder of both the Cap Anamur and Green Helmets humanitarian organizations.
Neudeck was born in Danzig, then the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), and lived in Danzig-Langfuhr (now Wrzeszcz) until 1945. In the final months of World War II, when large numbers of German civilians were being evacuated from eastern Germany, his family had received tickets for the passenger ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff, which left Gdingen (now Gdynia) on 31 January 1945 and was sunk by a Soviet submarine with huge loss of life. The Neudecks missed the sailing, which probably saved their lives.
He studied various subjects in West Germany, including law and Catholic theology. Neudeck decided to work in journalism, first as a student editor at the University of Münster, then professionally for Catholic radio. In 1977 Neudeck became a correspondent for Deutschlandfunk.
In 1979, Rupert Neudeck and his wife Christel, along with a group of friends, formed the committee "A ship for Vietnam" and chartered the commercial freighter Cap Anamur for a rescue mission to Southeast Asia. The mission eventually saved more than 10,000 Vietnamese boat people fleeing Vietnam after the war.
Following the Cap Anamur missions, he continued his humanitarian work on various other projects that aided refugees. The Green Helmets (Grünhelme) Association, founded in 2003, is dedicated to rebuilding schools, villages, and medical services in various war-torn regions, particularly those in Islamic countries.
More recently, he worked to aid Syrian refugees. He was listed on Unsere Besten ("Our Best"), a German poll similar to 100 Greatest Britons. In 2005, Neudeck was featured in an interview on the Vietnamese entertainment show Paris By Night 77, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the work of the Cap Anamur Committee.
Neudeck's humanitarian efforts continued up to the time of his death. Most recently he assisted with the emigration of refugees from Syria and Eritrea to Germany.
In 2014 Neudeck received the Dr.Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by Alexandra Hildebrandt. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights. Neudeck died on 31 May 2016, from complications after heart surgery, aged 77
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Neudeck
In some of the most desolate areas on earth there are astonishing natural features and geological wonders. The Ennedi geological features in the African country of Chad are a prime example.
These are a series of extraordinary natural formations that were shaped by the elements over millennia. Because of their remoteness, however, they have rarely been explored or visited. The Ennedi rock formations were granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2016.
Home to Unique Species - The geological formations are located on the Ennedi Plateau in the Sahara Desert, which is 5000 feet (1524 meters) above sea level, and as large as Switzerland. The spectacular formations are a result of unique geological processes that took place over millions of years.
The plateau and its formations came into being in the Paleozoic era, also known as the ‘era of ancient life’ which lasted from 550 to 250 million years ago. At this time the ocean covered much of what is now land and covered all of the modern Sahara Desert.
Over time the waters receded to reveal remarkable sandstone formations, shaped by the tides and the waters of the dried-up ocean. Since then these formations have been sculpted by the winds of the desert.
The plateau has a unique ecosystem in that it still has freshwater, especially in gueltas (desert ponds). This has allowed many unique species that went extinct elsewhere, such as the endangered West African crocodile and Sudan cheetah, to survive in the Sahara.
The Ennedi Plateau is a relic of a by-gone world, when the Sahara was green and supported many different species of fauna and flora, before the onset of cataclysmic climate change. The area was once a vital part of the trade route that crossed the Sahara, and is still regularly visited by caravans of camels.
A Paradise for Rock Climbers and Adventurers - Among the features of the Ennedi plateau are towers, pillars, bridges as well as arches and the reason it is likened to a rock labyrinth is because of the multitude of gorges and deep valleys.
Many of the formations are bizarre and unearthly. Some of the rocks and geological features are thin and narrow like spires while others are pillars with large rocks caps which resemble gigantic mushrooms.
There are also examples of spherical rocks perched on narrow fingers of stone, and a vast numbers of sandstone pillars. The great Aloba arch which is nearly 350 feet (106 meters) high, is the world’s largest natural arch, although it is only one of the numerous astounding rock arches on the plateau, many of which have been climbed by visiting rock climbers in recent years.
Another remarkable structure on the Ennedi plateau is the circular Gweni-Fada feature which is 8.6 miles (14 km) wide, but not the result of geological processes. It is a crater that was the result of a gigantic meteor impact eons ago.
Ennedi Plateau’s Ancient Rock Art - The geological formations are famous not only for their weird and wonderful shapes, but also as the location of many examples of ancient rock art - an estimated 8000 examples.
They were created up to 8000 years ago and are images made by a pastoralist people who once thrived in this area before climate change turned it into a desert.
Images of elephant, giraffe, and other wild animals adorn the rocks while other paintings vividly depict the lives of prehistoric people - scenes of warriors, cattle herders, hunting, and dancing women. The rock art at Ennedi gives us a glimpse into the Sahara when it once had a lush climate.
Getting To the Remote Ennedi Rock Formations - The formations are in the north of Chad and are quite remote. The tourist industry in the country is underdeveloped due to poverty, conflict, and banditry.
There are, however, organized tours of the Plateau which allow visitors to see the outstanding geological formation, fauna and flora, and the prehistoric rock carvings. These guided tour of the Ennedi Plateau collect visitors at the Chadian capital airport.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places/ennedi-0011416
The Richat structure - The famed lost city of Atlantis may have been found in a rather unlikely place - the Sahara Desert. According to a YouTube clip uploaded earlier this week that's found a massive audience online, the remains of the ringed city Plato spoke of in the fourth century BC can be found in the African country of Mauritania.
And it's been hiding in plain sight this whole time. "We've been looking in all the wrong places for its location since everyone assumes it must be under the ocean somewhere, such as in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea," says the host of Bright Insight YouTube channel, known only as Jimmy.
Instead he proposes a strange formation known as the Richat strucuture, or the 'Eye of the Sahara', is the mythical city's true location. He says it is not only the exact size and shape Plato said it was - 23.5km across and circular - but mountains he described to the north can be seen quite clearly on satellite imagery, as can evidence of ancient rivers, which Plato said flowed around the city.
Scientists are yet to figure out exactly what created the Richat structure, saying while it looks like a crater, there's no evidence of any impact. Plato said Atlantis was destroyed in a "single day and night of misfortune" and sank beneath the waves.
The scientific record does show the Earth underwent significant climate upheaval around 11500 years ago, when Atlantis is alleged to have disappeared. Jimmy also points out satellite imagery that resembles the aftermath of a tsunami unlike anyone alive today would have seen.
"Doesn't the entire region look like it was blasted by flowing water or a tsunami?" As the video goes on, Jimmy manages to weave in Greek mythology, birth rates, plate tectonics and more, crafting a convincing argument that not only is Atlantis real, but above land and still visible today.
Most experts believe the tale of Atlantis was merely that - a tale. In recent decades, a number of places have been singled out as potential sites - including Crete, the Atlantic and even Antarctica.
A full-length documentary backing the Richat theory was released in 2011, but has only a tiny fraction of the views on YouTube that Bright Insight's 20-minute clip has racked up in a matter of days.
Is this Atlantis, hiding in plain sight in the Sahara?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/09/is-this-atlantis-hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-sahara.html
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