Jaap 雅普 Grolleman
@jaapgrolleman
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From a town called Hattem to Shanghai. Writing about China on
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Joined May 2009
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@naval
I heard about a Mandarin who spent years fishing with a straight needle instead of a hook. People wondered and the story spread, reaching even the emperor, who came to look. “What do you expect to catch with this hook?”, he asked. The answer came serenely: “You, my emperor.”
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Yesterday I asked a few friends from Suzhou (100KM from Shanghai) whether they had heard anything about the protests and they said no. I asked them to open their WeChat Moments and it was just normal pictures of kids, foodies, autumn scenes, etcetera.
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A trip to a deserted old town today, in the far southeast of Shanghai.
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Snow in Nanxiang (南翔镇) ❄️ An over thousand-year-old town in northwest Shanghai, home to the xiaolongbao (小笼包).
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Endless PCR tests and stress from potential lockdowns, and no timeline or hope offered to when or how zero covid will end. But even though the resentment is widespread, without a VPN it's very hard to know what's going on.
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When walking in downtown Nantong — a city near Shanghai across the Yangtze — I saw a statue of a foreigner, and then on closer inspection discovered it's actually a Dutch guy: Hendrik de Rijke. A deep rabbit hole followed.
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Just watched "Farewell My Concubine" (霸王别姬). Right away, I just want to watch it again from start to finish. What a masterpiece from 1993.
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From our compound's WeChat group, taken at the entrance gate. People coming back from their stay at a quarantine center are sprayed with some disinfectant before they can enter.
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The compound next door here is going wild. Someone went to a Suning store and everyone has been locked down for another two weeks. "解封! 解封! 解封!" (Release, release, release)
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Locked down again for two days (?), because of a positive case in our compound. The gate is flooded with people bringing reasons to leave — work, school, an operation in the hospital — but none of the 3,000 people that live here are getting out.
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We’re in Anshan Village (安山村), a two hours drive south of Shaoxing in Zhejiang. There’s an old walking path here (安山古道) here that’ll soon be flooded by the placement of a dam — so a colleague advised me to walk it, now there’s still the chance.
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A two-bedroom apartment in Shanghai for 3,400 RMB per month (472 USD), yeah it's possible.
A search through several apps, then a broker, then a pasted poster and haggling.
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Very surprised to find coffee in between Ningguo (宁国) and Lin‘an (临安), half an hour away from any highway. We are the first customers of today. The sign says: "Americano isn't bitter, life is".
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Photos & videos of our compound (in Yangpu) being barricaded are shared in our compound’s WeChat group. We’re not allowed out anyway, but soon there won’t be much freedom left to strip away from us. Our silent period has been extended so we literally cannot decide what to eat.
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I love what Tiantai (天台) has done to its city center. No flashy LED lights in all kinds of colors as you see in many other cities — but flowing water, rock, sand, and minimal lightning. Zhexi Old Street (赭溪老街). Stunning.
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Visa center in Zhangjiang (Shanghai), one month ago versus today.
I ask: "Where are all these people going?", and the lady says everyone's here for holiday visas ("出去玩啊!").
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International school headmaster in SH: "Not so many foreign teachers now, even after covid. Very hard to get them cuz the reqs are higher, like has to be native English speaker. Also they cannot have black skin. Parents won't like it, they'll worry their children will be scared."
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Friend is taken to a facility for close contacts. (Product pictures always overpromise.)
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We accidentally stumbled on what might be the area with the most preserved old buildings in Shanghai: Gaoqiao (高桥古镇), in the far north of Pudong.
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A bit underwhelming and this won't get any 'tech media coverage', but I just printed a document (in color) for 2 RMB by scanning & transferring & paying with my phone through WeChat.
In the middle of a xiaoqu in Suzhou, with around 8,000 people living here, I think.
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Here we are, Pudong. I'm about to fly home to the Netherlands. First time seeing my parents, sister, and brother in almost four years.
I couldn't sleep last night, I'm so excited, but also sad it has taken this long.
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Applied in March, and finally got my passport back with a long-awaited & highly coveted sticker ✌️
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Going around on WeChat: Notices on apartment doors with variations of "不做核酸" (We will not do a PCR test).
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I must have seen the Great Wall a thousand times. In school books, Mulan, Age of Empires, Discovery Channel, murals, and cheap reproduction paintings.
But now that I'm actually here (Jinshanling 金山岭), I can barely believe this has actually been built.
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If there’s ever a post-apocalyptic world, I think it’ll look like the outskirts of Shanghai’s Pudong district. On my ride, I see fishers, goats, highrises, and empty playgrounds.
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A shushu grabs my bag: “Where are you from?”
I’ve no idea where this is going, but I say I’m from the Netherlands, to which the man replies: “Oh, bordering Germany and Belgium. 40,000km².” I admit to him that don’t even know that last part. (Later I google it: 41,850km².)
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Strategy resources 🎓 I made a list of reports, articles and quotes from
@undermanager
@BBHLabs
,
@tomfgoodwin
,
@tomroach
,
@The_IPA
,
@markpollard
,
@davetrott
,
@tommorton
,
@RouserJP
,
@robistyping
and more.
➡️
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Foreigners often lament the loss of old areas, but we do so with a luxury that many Chinese don't have. People move to cities and these rickety buildings are too old, energy inefficient, and most of all: too low-rise.
What can I do? I just take a picture before it's all gone.
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About to meet relatives with questions such as "What's China like?" and I'm struggling for answers.
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Day 50 of the lockdown and I got a rare “临时出门单”, so I walked around the Yangpu district for a few hours, which is the hardest-hit area in Shanghai now.
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Vaccination started, also in our compound now.
For your first shot you'll get a can of milk & a can of porridge. Those over sixty also get five rolls of toilet paper.
Lots of seniors getting their first shots today.
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Forget about Anfu Lu, Tangxia Gonglu (塘下公路) is my favorite road in Shanghai.
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My first visit to the US.
Growing up in the Netherlands meant watching American movies, series & video games, so being here is super exciting.
Impressions:
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We live on the thirteenth floor. This is how they fix the airconditioner 😬 No safety rope. 我了个去!
I asked: "You aren't afraid?"
Him: "Nah these buildings are ok (还好)."
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Looks like we're about to enter a whole new era in China. These ads are now shown in elevators; covid prevention/treatment medicine for kids.
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Feels like another milestone in my now six-year-long Chinese learning journey: Two days of management meetings, all Mandarin. I could follow everything well, just had to check a few words in Pleco.
This is West Lake, one hour after midnight, when we just finished on Friday.
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Positive cases in our building + seniors who keep smoking in the staircase. We're now using a rope (ethernet cable) from our bathroom window to take deliveries (inspired by neighbours).
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Mood is definitely improving around Shanghai. Here’s a compound celebrating its last building being set free with Radetzky March’s in the background.
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So before getting off work, I was informed we have a close contact in our building and that we need to be locked down again.
Bought some fresh food, and brought coffee & books from the office. They say two days, but I've prepared for two weeks. Not just food, but also mentally.
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Neighbors see others buying fridges or freezers and wonder whether they too should stock up. Because regardless of whether a new lockdown is on its way or not, the panic in the air does feel that way.
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18:43: The holiday starts! Train tickets are all sold out, so first leg of the trip is 100KM cycling to Suzhou through the night. Then by car to Xuancheng (宣城).
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I wanted to go to the old village of Hengmian (横沔古镇) in Shanghai Pudong, but couldn’t really find it. Still a nice walk along old buildings, gardening plots, highways, and power lines.
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Another trip to Laoximen today. The area of old Shanghai is under demolishment, and although it’s been a slow process of already five years now, some parts are already gone, others vacated, while other parts still have people living in them.
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One of the most common questions I get is “Why don’t you just move?”, and sometimes it’s even asked as an honest question.
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Western history books and articles about Shanghai often start with “Shanghai was a small fishing village until the foreigners came in the 19th century.”
But this isn't true. Traces before the arrival of foreigners remain visible today, if you start looking for them. 🧵
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China. Where you browse a super formal website of a huge holding company. Then you scan the QR code to ask a question on WeChat and the profile that loads is a lady named "Give you a chestnut" with a cartoon cat avatar.
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My favorite place in Shanghai. Every visit feels spiritual. We all come to watch the river, to cool down our bodies. Most of the people here are migrant workers, but underneath the stars, we’re all the same, and the view is identical for everyone.
(Near 向阳村.)
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Not sure about a decade ago, but the whole China's bystander effect is kinda BS.
Just took a turn too fast on my bicycle, front wheel slipped and I slid across the tarmac. Both people who saw it came to me asking if I was OK.
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Now, when speaking Dutch during phone calls with my mom, I'm unconsciously using Chinese interjections such as 嗯嗯嗯(Ń ń ń), 对对对(duì duì duì).
My mom asking me: Are you ok?
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Lunch with five government representatives from Rizhao. Not a sip of baijiu, just orange & corn juice (and tea). I’ve been reading all these expat-written books about China about how this was supposed to be a drinking battle but none of that. One said, "Yes, times change."
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I was curious about the many dabai's in Shanghai and found one in my compound who was happy to sit down with me to tell me why he signed up & more.
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The logo of the Shanghai bicycle brand Yongjiu ('Forever') is so elegant. It's simply the Chinese name (永久), combined with the infinity symbol, which also creates a bicycle. Penned in 1980.
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In 2017 I decided I wanted to move to China and I started to prepare myself, trying to understand the culture and market. I had nobody to really guide me, so I dived through books and started following websites.
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The visitors are outnumbered by staff, who are busy swiping Douyin. But of course, it’s only a rainy Thursday in Zhenjiang (镇江) in the Jiangsu province.
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All the Chinese I encountered in two weeks in the Netherlands.
1. This is a Chinese store near my former high school, named after the Chinese city Wenzhou (温州). When I entered, the owner was calling (via WeChat) with his family in China and later we spoke about living in
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I actually like moving. Yeah, it's a bit of trouble, but you get a whole new neighborhood to explore.
New roads to cycle, new shops to search for stuff on the shelf, and new restaurants with new dishes to try.
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Yeah covid dominates all the conversations in Shanghai, so I wanted to share about a park near where I live that re-opened after a long renovation. It's beautiful and packed with happy people, but when I was about to leave all the gates were suddenly closed and nobody allowed in.
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Again to Fengxian (奉贤区) today. It's part of Shanghai, but maybe the fact it doesn't feel that way is the best part about it. So in love with this place. I know my obsession won't last, but there's so much to explore.
The museum bundles a lot of places we've already visited.
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Mini views into Chinese life. Anecdotal, generalizing, not-special, etc etc — simply my observations of life in Suzhou and Shanghai.
(To be expanded.)
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Peppers & church.
Pudong is really like no other district in Shanghai.
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From zero to working proficiency level Mandarin (meetings & writing emails), in four years spending some of my evenings each week (~700 class hours).
Bit of a long read with many references, for those interested:
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Made this entirely unscientific graph about progress in learning Mandarin (~800 class hours in 5 years) and updated 'My Chinese Learning journey':
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Lady laughing: "You take a photo? What is interesting about this place?"
A market in Chuansha (川沙十八铺农产品批发市场).
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28 years in the Netherlands and I only needed 1 bank account. Now already onto my 3rd bank account in China.
(Not because I have so much money, but because employers often want you to open an account at 'their' bank. Luckily the fees are basically zero.)
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While they have statues abroad, barely anyone in the Netherlands knows about Hendrik or Johannes de Rijke. Me neither, before stumbling on Hendrik's statue along the Hao river in Nantong.
A longer, more detailed article:
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On Sunday, I spoke with someone holding an event in Shanghai about whether to let it continue or not. She said: "We should let it continue, let life get back to normal."
Tuesday now. Infections are spreading like wildfire and the mood has turned, and the event has been canceled.
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I've found that if you get far enough away from the big city, you get lots of space — not just physical but mental as well. My mind can wander, I can gather my thoughts, and all the worries from the city look insignificant here.
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Ok let's do this, Shanghai Yangpu to Suzhou Yuanqu!
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Saturday stroll in Shanghai.
The Little Peach Garden Mosque (小桃园清真寺), and the mosque for women (清真女寺) next to it. They're operating but just closed when we got there.
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The road and canal from Beijing to Nanjing used to have 46 post stations, and the 14th-century Yucheng station (盂城驿) in Gaoyou (高邮) is the best preserved one. This was for delivering letters as much as for letting the riders, boatmen, and horses rest.
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Incredible, no more scanning codes when entering our office building. It's like all brakes are off now.
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So I just moved across the river in Shanghai, from Yangpu to the edge of Zhangjiang in Pudong.
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We're in Jiangwan (江湾) in the Jiangxi province.
"Ayi, why don't you use a laundry machine?"
"This water is free."
"It's not cold?"
"We got used to it."
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炸米花 (puffed rice) made on the street in Chuansha (川沙). Bring your own oil, sesame, and rice or corn, and put your bag in the queue.
Great taste, especially when still warm. Crunchy and a tiny bit sweet.
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So
@chris__pc
just dropped by for some shots and then I just realized he’s the first person from outside this compound I’ve met in 60 days. Even if I cannot leave the compound myself, it's great to feel connected to the rest of Shanghai again, even if only a tiny bit.
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The playing, the rider, and the painted (Songjiang today).
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People who went through /are going through the Shanghai lockdown — did you guys learn anything from this?
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Just a Tuesday afternoon, a little after three. But then there's a message in our company's WeCom group telling us to pack our bags because there might be a covid case in the building. The whole building is rushing out.
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Weird but cool experience, to get off the highspeed train from Hangzhou in Ningbo, and then assemble your own bike. Off to Fengpuao Village (凤浦岙村) we go!
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This cola looks like vinegar.
(Old Chen Vinegar Coke (老陈醋可乐), launched as an April's Fool Joke, but found it at the FamilyMart yesterday. It does really have a hint of vinegar.)
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Things are getting better. Yesterday, first bread & real coffee in 35 days. Today, first time out of our apartment in 24 days — even though we’re told to keep it to an absolute minimum and of course cannot leave the compound.
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1550KM through Zhejiang & Jiangxi comes to an end, now back in Shanghai. Grateful I got to experience this.
Photos of Shen'ao (深澳) Shishecun (石舍村) Qiandao Lake (千岛湖) Jiangwan (江湾) Likeng (李坑) Chenjiapu (陈家铺) Xikeng (西坑) Yunhe (云和梯田):
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Two weeks in the Netherlands. We’re not that known for any 美食 (great food), and compared to Chinese food I’m sure it looks crude, but for me, it’s all real comfort food:
1. Real bread and real cheese 👌
2. Battered chunks of fish and tartar
3. My mom’s tomato soup
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@orangebook_
The Three-Body Problem, because science-fiction is best when it confronts big issues, when it sees us from the far-flung high-tech future, when it uses that lens to look at the present and see what makes us human. This series does that more than any other sci-fi book I’ve read.
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It's the first good weather weekend without covid restrictions, in more than a year. The parks and streets of Yangzhou (扬州) fill with people.
Dongguan Street (东关街) is 1146 meters long, and filled with the smell of fried food from both sides and people everywhere.
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1. You can only love things you can lose. I have never gasped for freedom this much, never cherished it to this extent.
2. Status games don't matter. What you'll miss are people, not things.
3. Life ticks away whether you do something with it or not.
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Maybe it's because I've just been on a long trip, but watching 'A touch of Sin' (天注定) made me feel like being on one as well — to a place I cannot go back to now. China in 2013: Shanxi, Chongqing, Hubei & Guangdong.
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So did I already do my last covid test? I hope so, I'm not sure. Before this year I never did one, now I've done +200 (antigen included) — but suddenly our office building no longer requires it.
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Squeezing into the subway before others have exited, smoking in staircases, parking on the bicycle lane. Etc.
China is extremely safe and full of cameras, but still, people break the rules all the time. There's frustration, but also freedom in that.
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I’m reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time and today in Ninghai (宁海) I felt much like Frodo (I’m even wearing a khotan jade ring (田玉) from Xi'an, albeit with a different purpose.
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The best thing about taking photos is that it gives you a reason to keep looking. The same today, trying to find and reshoot as best I could these 1986 photos of Tangzhen (唐镇), of all places. 国庆节快乐！
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Back home for the first time in four years. Things learned, forgotten, and felt.
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