12:32 PM View

 No more teaching this term.  Just as well.  The students are in Summer mode.  The teachers can only get more fed up with them.

I’m not going back to school this afternoon.

I wrote the following on the request of Mr Xu of the Jiangyin People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries:

It was a great honour for me to be invited to a Dragon Festival event held by the Jiangyin People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on June 8.  During the event, I learned some things about the history of Jiangyin, was presented some facts and figures of Jiangyin’s development, saw how the Jiangyin government takes great care of its citizens, and was introduced to a stunning example of Jiangyin’s industrial development.  As in the previous events held by the Association, I was overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the Jiangyin people.

I have always been fascinated by Jiangyin, having first visited the city in 2004.  From the beginning I was impressed by its location and its development.  Going to E’bizui park and standing on the shores of the Changjiang river (I grew up thinking of it as the Yangtze, on of the great rivers of the world) for the first time, was a breathtaking experience and one I still enjoy.  At the park, one can see and sense the Chinese economic miracle as exemplified by the Jiangyin Big Bridge and the boat traffic.

Besides this park, which I consider my favourite in China, I have discovered more and more in Jiangyin that impresses me.  The continual upgrading of the infrastructure of Jiangyin, whether with the building of the stadium, the constant construction of modern buildings and factories, the improved road system, the new high-speed train station and the Metro line to Wuxi makes me think that Jiangyin should hitherto adopt its old name of Jiyang which means prosperity.

When learning of Jiangyin’s old name, during the event,  I was also presented with data about Jiangyin’s impact on the Chinese economic miracle.  Jiangyin has an economic impact on China’s total economic growth that is four times its proportion of China’s population.  This fact supports what I have always felt about Jiangyin: it is a small city that “punches above its weight,” and it is one that it has been my great honour to visit, reside in and work at.

Andis Kaulins

A Canadian married to China.