Biscuet.com

China is advancing at a rate that will make your head spin.  If you’re a little behind the curve on understanding the rapid rise of China then the video below will help you catch up.  Here’s a sneak peak: The latest economic research tells us that China will surpass America as the world’s #1 economic superpower by 2020.  What are the implications of that for Americans?  One implication is that the world will soon (and already is in many ways) look to China and the rest of east Asia as the global influencer.

Here are some trends that i’ve been watching in the past year or so that are evidence of China’s increased rise as a global player (this not on the video and are freebies from me):

- The rapid rise of globally recognized athletes. (Check out Li Na in the Australian Open) (Keep an eye on a Chinese golfer to soon rise to the top… just a little prediction from yours truly).
- The ever-growing popularity of the Chinese film industry.  More and more A-list American celebrities are taking roles in Chinese films that are being produced by Chinese producers/directors.
-  The increasing voice of China’s netizens (bloggers/”citizens of the Internet”).

Watch the video. Well worth the 20 minutes.

Chinese President Hu Jintao recently visited America for the first time since 2006.  It’s a big moment for U.S. – China relations.  Of course, there are differing views as to the actual significance of the visit and what will tangibly come out of it.  I don’t think you can argue that when the top 2 superpowers of the world get together it’s a big deal.  In case you haven’t been able to keep up with the meetings in D.C. then check out these links to some articles i’ve been reading that i think are good at shedding some light on Hu’s trip to America.

Chinese President Listens to U.S. Lawmakers’ Complaints

Why is Hu Jintao Going to Chicago?

How Will Hu-Obama Summit be Remembered?

Chinese Public Kept in Dark on Hu Jintao’s Human Rights Admission

Here’s a little tidbit of what i’ve been reading this week:

- If Asia does not lead the way, we need to accept that the threat of climate change and other environmental challenges wIll only get worse. [Download the PDF]

- The Crisis in the Chinese Soul – Excellent article, but i think it’s important to note that i don’t necessarily fully subscribe to all the points that are made.

- Loving the City Long Term – A fantastic article by Anthony Bradley.

- Lastly, on my flight from Chicago to Beijing i watched a documentary called “Waiting for Superman”.  It’s a well-done film about the American public school systems.  It’s eye-opening and inspiring.  Our schools are failing at adequately educating America’s children and i’m wondering if anyone is willing to step up and help them out.  Many have tried and no one has succeeded yet.

I’m not much into resolutions, but i like goals.  I’m sure “goal” and “resolution” are loosely synonyms, but resolutions only come once a year; goals can be anytime.  So now, two weeks into 2011 i want to tell you about my new goal.

My goal for 2011 and hopefully for forever is to buy a unique piece of art in every country that i visit.  I’m not exactly sure where this year will lead me, but wherever i go i hope to walk away with a piece of art that reminds of that visit.  I want a home that has beautiful works of art hanging on the walls to remind me of beautiful places around the world.

That’s all for me, maybe i’m too simplistic.  Do you have any cool goals for 2011?

Oh my goodness. Two weeks without a blog post is nearly unheard of around here.  I made a new friend recently who came up to me in a crowd of people and said, “You don’t know me, but i read your blog and i just wanted to say hello.”  That was so touching, but i immediately felt bad because i knew i wasn’t writing enough.

It’s hard to say a lot of words right now because there seems to be so many words to say.  I’ll give you a very brief recap of the last 2 weeks, but if you’ve been around me in person then you know that writing these bullet points is a little like trying trying to fit a gallon of water into a teaspoon.

• I hosted a friend from China for 10 days who was invited to attend a conference in Atlanta. Her presence literally changed countless lives.  There’s no way to measure the ripple effects of her story.
• I attended the same conference as my friend from China.  Life-changing.  WOW! Massive. Overwhelming.
• Spent a week after conference traveling from city to city; giving my Chinese friend as many opportunities as possible to share and meet with others.
• It snowed like crazy in Atlanta, which is very unusual. Now i’m hanging here because the roads are too icy to drive on.

Like i said, writing those bullet points is like trying to pour a gallon of water into a teaspoon. I apologize if those seem dry and lame, but there just aren’t words to do it justice.  Thanks for sticking around. I just wanted to write a few words to let you know that i’m still alive. And i can’t think of a better place to be stranded that right here in Atlanta among close friends.

What’s next? In a few days i’m headed back to Beijing to repack and then swing down to Chiang Mai, Thailand to prepare for a conference.  I’m excited for the days ahead and look forward to writing more thoughts along the way.

I’ve started an experiment on my computer that i’m becoming quite interested in.  The fact is that i was becoming pretty bored with my selection of music on my computer and at the same time i was running very low on hard drive space for other things.  So, my solution was that i took all of my music off my computer and started this experiment.  The experiment is to see if i can fulfill my desire to listen to music by only relying on online sources like Pandora.  So far it’s going well.  As i type this i’m listening to the Mumford & Sons Pandora station and loving it.  Don’t freak out though, i didn’t delete all my music, it’s all safe and sound on an external hard drive.

Below is a screenshot from the bottom of iTunes.  The 9 songs are: 2 lectures that i just downloaded yesterday and 7 songs that i need to help me prepare for an event in Thailand coming up in a few weeks.

What do you think? Will this be successful? What are your favorite online places for listening to tunes?

My Mom called me a week or so ago when i was in Colorado for a few meetings.  I was having a burger at Five Guys when the phone rang.  I thought she was just calling to make sure my flight got in okay and all that, but then she said, “Earl is in the hospital and i just wanted you to know that it’s not looking good.”  She went on to explain that they weren’t sure if he was going to make it through the night.  Then my Mom told me something i’ll never forget.  She said that while she was in the hospital room with Earl he pulled her in close and said, “Tell Jonathan that I love him.”  That’s me, in case you thought my real name is Biscuet.

Earl lived a life that exemplified how to love people in a genuine way that gave others value and dignity.  He spent his whole life making other people feeling special.  He visited hundreds or maybe thousands of people in the hospital.  He watched many people die, including his own wife.  He served his country in the US Army and traveled the world as an Army chaplain to make sure our soldiers felt the love of God while they fought for their country.  I’m proud and honored to say that Earl was my friend from when i was a baby until his death.    He was a close friend to our family, someone we always looked forward to seeing at every opportunity.

At today’s celebration service we remembered the life of Earl and we heard marvelous stories of the humble life he led.  Many people don’t know the remarkable accomplishments that he had in his life because he wasn’t the kind of man to boast about himself, but rather he wanted others to feel the warmth of the spotlight, the warmth of gratitude, and the warmth of love.

During the celebration i had a couple of thoughts.  The first thought was about how only Earl could preach at his funeral.  When my Mom called to tell me Earl was in the hospital i remember her telling me some of the things he wanted at the funeral because he had already planned the whole thing.  I know what my Mom was saying; she was telling me that he picked the songs and planned how things would happen.  But in my mind all i could think about was, Duh, no one else could plan Earl’s funeral except Earl.  The preacher who speaks at the funeral can’t make stuff up about Earl’s life; he can only talk about the life that was lived.  The stories aren’t fake stories; they are stories that explain Earl’s life and why he was a man of faith, love, and joy.  Earl’s life wrote his funeral.  All of our lives are like that.  When i’m in a box on a stage it’s too late to make my life count so that people will say nice things.  We spend our lives writing our own funerals.

My second thought during the celebration was about how i felt during Earl’s last days.  I remember thinking about how he must be ready to go.  He lived a long, full, and enriching life.  He loved well and was loved by all.  If the love of friends and family is the most valuable thing on earth then Earl was among the wealthiest.  So in his last days i remember thinking about how i wanted to encourage him to go on to heaven. He’s done here and we are thankful for his time, but it’s now time to go.  I think if many of us had final words to say to Earl we would have said, “Go now.  You’ve been a good and faithful child of God.”  And in that same instant when he passed from this earth to the heavenly realm, Earl would hear God say, “Come on in! You’ve been a good and faithful child.”

Yesterday i had a random thought that most likely won’t make any sense, but i have to share it anyway because if it does make sense to you then i’m a genius.

I was thinking about the phrase, “Thank you” and how it’s translated to other languages and how it’s pronounced in each language.  Bear with me.

In English it’s “Thank You”
In Chinese it’s “Xie Xie”
In Spanish it’s “Gracia”
In French it’s “Merci”
In Italian it’s “Gratzi”

I’ll stop there because that’s enough examples for this sociological experiment.

My theory is that when people were creating their language they would typically be happy when saying the word “thank you”, thus causing them to smile when speaking.  Go back over the list above and slowly pronounce each word and you’ll find that they are easy to pronounce and the sounds roll off the tongue better if you smile a little while you say it.  I don’t think this is an accident.  I think it’s because back at the formation of our languages we smiled while thanking others so the words used to say “thank you” generally involve a smile for the best pronunciation.

I discovered this when i was thinking about how my Chinese teacher taught me to pronounce the “Xi” sound in China.  If you aren’t familiar with the Chinese Pinyin system, it sounds like “She”.  So because thank you is pronounced, “Xie Xie” or “Sheyea Sheyeah” (uhh, sorta) then my teacher would always tell me to smile.  If i pronounced it wrong she would remind me that i wasn’t smiling enough.

So, lesson learned.  Linguistically, and socially, it’s important to smile when you say thank you.

The other day i got an email from a good friend who lives in another city in China.  She was writing to update me on a weekend retreat she had just returned from.  She went down to a beautiful town with loads of natural beauty that is sometimes hard to find in the concrete jungle of the city.  It was an all women’s retreat with probably 20 women.  They had a special speaker who flew in just for the retreat to speak to these women and encourage them.  My friend wrote to me about how this speaker was a creative type with funky nail polish and hair that seemed to be everywhere and perfect at the same time.  She told me this speaker has traveled to dozens of countries and seen many great things in her life.  I love imagining what this woman was like.  You know, very soft spoken like she’s not talking to you as much as she’s talking to your soul, but you can tell she’s also a bit of a wild card; like she might say or do something totally off the wall and a little hair-brained.  I bet she has dozens of lives worth of experience and knowledge and wisdom.  I can picture those 20 ladies leaning in close to catch the wisdom and insight that must have been spewing from this globe-trotting, life-living, storytelling speaker.  As the weekend came to a close my friend that wrote me the email went to the speaker to thank her for her wisdom and encouragement.  When they hugged to say goodbye the speaker lady whispered to my friend, “Be free, be brave.”

And i simply love that.  And those are my words to you today.  Whatever circumstance you’re in.  Whatever this week has in store for you.  Be free, be brave.

There are many people in my life who help me along the way; and the good Lord knows i need as much help as i can get.  I could write a blog post a mile long to say thank you and acknowledge those who have been an integral part of my life.  This post isn’t about that.  It’s about a few people who have helped me and who are also doing some pretty cool stuff.  You can see ads for their cool stuff over in the sidebar on the right.  I’ll just run through them quickly:

Engage :: This is a very cool opportunity that i had the chance to help out with last summer.  It involves 3 weeks of teaching an English camp for high school students in Hong Kong, followed by a one week trip to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia, or mainland China.  We had a great time and i was privileged to be there.  I’m looking forward to it again next Summer.

Darnology :: The brainchild of my friend, Brett; Darnology is a graphic/web/technology solutions company.  Brett is a genius.  It’s as pure and simple as that.  He and i get to work together on a daily basis as he helps me create stunning graphics and websites for the NGO that i get to work for.  If you need anything to look good, stand out, and draw a crowd then Darnology is for you.

Apps Jr. :: Also the brainchild of Brett; i couldn’t leave this off the list.  Although it doesn’t directly relate to me because i’m not a child, nor do i have any children, but i’m just so proud of Brett for creating these genius apps for the iPhone.

Stephen DeVries Photography :: Stephen is a brilliant wedding, event, and photojournalistic photographer.  His work has carried him all over the world and i’ve had the privilege of watching his skills develop over the years.  He does stunning work and is loads of fun to hang out with! (And he takes pictures of me for free when i’m in the US!)

Bedouins International :: This non-profit organization was started by Stephen DeVries after he and i, along with a large team, went to Reynosa, Mexico to paint murals on the walls of an orphanage.  It was a beautiful example of using art to bring healing and reconciliation to a broken situation.  Stephen decided that art and media can be used all over the world in every organization to tell stories and bring restoration.  That’s what Bedouins does. They use their gifts of filmmaking, photography, web and print design to tell stories of what some of the most amazing non-profits in the world are doing.  I have the privilege of being on the board of directors for this outstanding organization.

SpeakerWiki :: Started by my good friend, Taylor; this website helps organizations, events, schools, and churches find their next keynote speaker to match whatever needs they may have.  Taylor says this is the future of the booking agency for speakers and i believe him.  I added Taylor as an advertiser on my site because he’s been a great friend to me over the years and his passion for entrepreneurship is contagious.  Whenever i need a boost of energy as an entrepreneur i always turn to Taylor for an inspiring conversation.  He sees the world through a different lens that’s hard to explain, but it’s loads of fun to see through his lens sometimes.  I also love it because he often pulls all-nighters in America which means we can talk on Skype in the middle of the afternoon Beijing time – a welcomed distraction during my day.