Asianature’s Blog

First of all, you must have observed some changes to this blog. This is mostly thanks to TBlog which have done great work over the past couple of years to donate to us such a wonderful system. While it did take a long time to get it up and running, it was definitely worth a wait. I still think that this is one of the best ways to blog about things that are important to you. Such as nature issues from Asia in this exiting example.

And the great news is, that it’s running on WordPress. Which gives me a lot of new opportunities to expand the site, or just think of fun things to do with it. While there are some limitations, namely those of my own coding skills as a simple nature blogger. Thanks to the wonderful and “new to me” world of plugins, I can do a lot of things that don’t require any special skills. And best of all, I have found discount coupons for most of these software.. so in case you are interested in them yourself, here is a little introduction. Or if you know anything about them, or have any suggestions… don’t hesitate to leave me with a comment on them.

GeoTargeting Pro Plugin

This looks like a great plugin for those who are in global scheme of things. It’s not just Asia that we are talking, but also on the reading end we have so many different nationalities. My idea has been to localize content, with this geo targeting method you can choose what kind of text or content you show to blog readers. It all depends on their location, which is mostly calculated from the IP address of the user. I am very exited to try out and see what I can do with this, as the pro version seems to be much more customizable. I can make groups of countries, so that for example all asian countries, and all western countries are in one big group for easy management.

Perfect SEO Url Plugin

Running an e-commerce software of some kind is a huge dream of mine. The natural choice for people who are into WordPress is the WooCommerce internet shopping solution. This plugin gives me huge control over how I sort my products, as well as how the permalinks are sorted. While I haven’t been that much into SEO, it’s about time I get into it as soon as I start my ideas within the world of e-commerce. When it’s time to talk money, it’s better to invest on an excellent plugin such as the Perfect SEO Url should be!

So, thanks a lot and enjoy. Hope that the new improvements will be helpful for both me and my dear readers! <3

Darren Heng

It's me again, Darren. It's been mad busy lately, constantly traveling between China and Japan because of work. As someone who is deeply concerned about nature and world politics.. sometimes taking so many flights just makes me stress about the impact I am having on our environment. I guess that is one reason why I started this blog so I can at least make one good contribution in raising awareness towards environmental issues. The climate is a very important thing, but the reality is that most people cannot do much about it because they are just too busy with trying to make a living. Such is the case for myself as well unfortunately.

But the good things is, that there is a lot of nightlife in China that can take your mind off such big issues for a while. Not forgetting them completely, I was once again tempted and went to see the best acrobatic show in Beijing to catch one more glimpse of the amazing troupe. Of course, because I had been to Chaoyang Theatre before, I had to make some excuse to go again. And soon I figured out a little plan, which was to get together a good group of friends and the theme of our night would be to "forget world politics for one day". Or as jokingly we later changed the name to "just one day".

Especially the commercial world is something that takes you a bit down at times, since there is so much greed in this world. That very greed is probably having the biggest effect on all the wrong doings in this world. Everything is possible to fix and make much, much better, yet that force is so powerful that at times it feels like there is nothing we can do. But it's not like there is one single force that would fix everything in once, everything has to be done in balance, unity and respect towards each other. While at the head of the Chaoyang Theatre management, there is someone who is making huge profits. For the acrobats down below, or above on the stage it is a little bit of a different story. Not getting paid much is something that can even help you to have more pride and enjoy what you are doing. I know this first hand for having conversations with them. At least, that's what some of these famous Beijing acrobats are saying.. that being able to perform at the best show in Beijing is enough for them. And having tremendously enjoyed it now twice, I really respect them and that's for life, not just for one day! =)

We had such a great and memorable night and now, I am ready to go on with my work life with new energy and inspiration. Best regards, Darren Heng.

While I do love the community here at TBlog and it's simple enough for me to use. I have to admit that there are some problems with the interface and I am having trouble doing some more complex things. Like adding a photo to my profile, or creating an "about me" page for example. Since a few people I asked, I thought I would just simply make a post about how you can get in touch with me.

Oh & here is my picture for those who are curious who is behind these writings!

My name is Darren. It's actually my real name, not just a Chinese version. I guess my parents liked English names and wanted me to be good in English. Well, so I became as they wished!

To contact me, I recommend just plain old e-mail. My address is: xindays@reincarnate.com

If you want my address, or phone number: just send me an email and I will send it to you. Anyway I have two, one in Japan and one in China. So better first ask in which address I am going to be right!

Thanks!!

Darren Heng

A lot of people claim to be natural. But is this naturally so? Heh, heh. Nice punch line wasn't it. Well, a lot of things are not natural in this world. Actually it is pretty much difficult to think of anything as natural, if you consider human manipulation as non-natural. But there is quite a conflict here, since officially it is so and people who make some very unnatural things are claiming that they are simply doing what human history has done since the cave man.

This is just an excuse of course and the reason why I think we should start thinking out of the "natural" box. In fact, the business behind the word itself has become so huge that it's difficult to know how to trust. In fact, it has become increasingly clear that it's better not to really trust anyone. Especially those people who claim to be "all natural".

And don't get me wrong, I have nothing against naturalism. I have many good friends who are. Just I think we can go beyond that. The starting point is understanding what is for our benefit and what not. Anything with commercial value, is possible to have non-benefit. You can go as deep as you want, to finding problems with anything. That's why it's really up to the individual.

However, I just wish that people could be more aware of it all. That's all!

Best regards,

Darren Heng

PS. Sorry it's been a while =)

It's time to turn our attentions, once again towards mainland China. With all it's achievements as well as failures, it's really an incredible country to be in right now. Well, in fact it is having a very large scale impact, so even if you don't live there you will still be hugely effected by it. However, I would like to talk from the perspective of living there, which is a pretty amazing experience not only for the expats but even for the Chinese themselves.

While sometimes we see huge leaps of development, sometimes we see huge decline. It is approximately three weeks that Google has been blocked by the great firewall of China. Which means, that academics, students as well as some of the million of other internet users there are unable to access important documents. Every single Google service is blocked in China at the moment, while everyone waits for the ban to be lifted.

Our good friends in Shanghai have reported that the VPN circumvention is working rather well in these days. At least compared to previous sanctions that took place last yer during the big meeting in Beijing. It kind of proves the point on how you cannot close one tap without opening another. But as Show Shanghai has stated, the attempts at the moment are some of the most drastic that have been seen in the history of the Great Firewall of China.

These measures have also been referred as the "century of humiliation", that the government will look back and regret that they have ever done this which ultimately prevents China from growth and competence. So for example, if a researcher in China wants to access Google documents in order to develop nature friendly technology. He will not be able to.

As absurd as this seems, the ban is not expected to be lifted anytime soon. However, there no doubt that it will be lifted in the future. The government transparency has been proved false yet again. Thus any promises of cleaning up the air in Shanghai or Beijing for example is nothing that can be believed in.

If the Beijing government were to publicly state the reasons and causes that lead to the block of all Google services in China, it would be fine. However, this is yet another technique to keep people in the dark, unfortunately so.

I wanted to take this opportunity and tell a bit about my background and not just blog anonymously. My name is Darren Heng, and I am interested in Asia as well as everything that has got to do with nature, or our planet and the people who live within it. Now that's a pretty broad description, but I cant help it. I've found the many so called “environmentalists” or just about anyone concerned with global warming has a way of dividing things between “good” and the “bad”.

I however think that for us to actually solve some issues in this world, we should broaden our thinking and think of everything as a whole. The decision is simply a trap in my opinion.. so that you can feel good about something. Being on the right side. But until everyone is on the “right side”, which is not something fixed or something you can define.. you can only let it flow. So until then, there is no resolution to the nature problems we face today.

That and the combination of me living in several Asian countries has led me to look at the issue from this angle. On this blog. Hope you enjoy it, sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier.

I'll be sure to tell you more later on! Some personal background as well!

Sincerely,
Darren Heng

When I think about the nature of people in Asian countries.. I think of Peking Opera. Loud, colorful, speaking strange languages, musical, dancing and knows Kung Fu! Of course these are some pretty odd stereo types, but when I went to see some theater in Beijing, I realized that this view is not TOO FAR from the truth.

This "theater personality" as I like to call it, is what I love about a lot of Asian countries. Especially China. It creates a lot of problems, while it solves many of them at the same time. I would say that the problem solving part is head on, full steam!

This deep personality has created a strong industry of money makers, a lot of them who like to recycle. Fighting for the last can or plastic bottle can be quite a scene in Beijing for example. Such a scene is not too far from one in Peking Opera

While a lot of people see money as something that destroys our nature, and even culture and the roots of a country. In China people truly know how to put things the other way.. the profit way. And that includes ecological values as well. Recycling is simply profitable!

I always found recycling in Japan a very interesting issue.. it's quite unique, sometimes it causes problems, sometimes it's simply brilliant. Sometimes it's efficient and some times it just doesn't work out. Although these problems are common with recycling all over the world..

You cannot recycle plastic bags, you need to buy the bags that you put the trash in.. and those bags have the recycling fee included in them. You also have to write your name on them to not cause confusing emotions in case there is a problem. A lot of things are recycled, with different days.. from few times a week to once a month depending on the article.

Majority of the trash is to be burned, however I've heard that it's so expensive to burn the trash that not all of it ends up as it's intended to.

The biggest problem that I have personally encountered, is the inability to collect trash outside of ones home premises. If I pick up a trash from the forest, supposedly I should carry it back home with me.. even if I'm far away. Leaving it next to the trash collecting point will leave as the responsibility of someone else.. it's a difficult situation.

For many, traveling in Asia is work related. Theres lots of explotation of resources going on as well as good things.. novel things. Business as usual they say. However trips do wear out and one needs to kick back and relax from time to time.

In such a chaotic and dirty country as China there is plenty of beautiful nature to go around as well. But going out the woods is not the option for most people and one has to stay in the cities. But without a doubt there is not a lack of things to do, such as the Beijing Kung Fu Show which is a highly entertaining performance.

In fact, seeing the show in Beijing got me thinking about the connection of history and nature. How an ancient art such as Kung Fu is connected with the planet a method to find purpose in the meaning of living in the planet. This beautiful story was a classic. The struggle to become something with purpose is a path that connects us all. However a lot of us have forgotten it and do many things without purpose.

This makes us wasteful and inconsiderete not only towards the planet but to the fellow being as well. It can be anything from kung fu to meditation to gardening. As long as there is the spirit of meaning one can fully enjoy life. All this is good to remember especially on those business trips that have such an influence in the world today.

For the good and the bad, radiation concern has been a raising issue for these few years now. Awareness however has not increased significantly enough to actually make an impact on nuclear policy. The Japanese government remains to keep a strong hold of the countries energy policies.

Any object against the system is considered an instruction to the peace of the nation. Despite this it has become increasingly difficult for the Japanese government to deny the accusations. To keep it’s strong stance, the government has started to admit certain faults in order to not loose their face over the matter.

However is is ridiculous to think that the people in power would be willing to risk their status by admitting the truth behind the issues.

Energy policy in Japan is something that is no longer sufficient when dealt within the country. Without the influence of international decision making, it’s difficult to see any hope for the future.