Pre-flight blog

Looking back at my Taiwan blog I find it truly amazing that less than a year ago I was in living my life in Taiwan soaking up the wonders, and joys of Asia; and also discovering a little bit about myself along the way. But that was then and this is now, and this blog is for my trip to China. I depart tomorrow and head for Shanghai where I will be visiting with some friends that I met while in Taiwan, and while at Sen Lin Hu the Chinese summer camp I worked at this summer. After Shanghai, I am off to Beijing where I will be studying at Beida（北京大学). I will be taking two classes taught in English, and a Chinese course. When I am not at school I will be conducting my internship with CNN's Beijing Bureau. I am not entirely sure about what I will be doing with CNN but I am ready for any and all adventures.

There is no mistake that I have chosen red to be the color this blog. Much like a hong bao (red envelope) that is giving during to children during Chinese New Year, or the lanterns that hang in the temples. Red is the color of luck, it represents the desire for prosperity and happiness. I hope that my trip to China is filled with both of those things. This blog will chronicle my time in China. I hope to use this as an outlet for my adventure, for a way to observe and comment on China (or at least Beijing), and the lives of the common folk, the Laobaixing (the old hundred names). It is getting late right now, but I just wanted to get this blog "officially" up and running. Look for plenty of posts in the near future. Thank you everyone for your support, and I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in Beijing, China.

Gao Jian

高健