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<!doctype html><html lang=en dir=auto><head><meta charset=utf-8><meta http-equiv=x-ua-compatible content="IE=edge"><meta name=viewport content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1,shrink-to-fit=no"><meta name=robots content="index, follow"><title>In China | On My Mind...</title><meta name=keywords content><meta name=description content="In China - On My Mind..."><meta name=author content="Gary Allen Vollink"><link rel=canonical href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/><link crossorigin=anonymous href=/assets/css/stylesheet.min.043dbe50dd3b5aeece8e1fd6b52fdb9ce2bb5c714d321cc709b5e740e61345eb.css integrity="sha256-BD2+UN07Wu7Ojh/WtS/bnOK7XHFNMhzHCbXnQOYTRes=" rel="preload stylesheet" as=style><link rel=icon href=https://blog.vollink.com/favicon.ico><link rel=icon type=image/png sizes=16x16 href=https://blog.vollink.com/favicon-16x16.png><link rel=icon type=image/png sizes=32x32 href=https://blog.vollink.com/favicon-32x32.png><link rel=apple-touch-icon href=https://blog.vollink.com/apple-touch-icon.png><link rel=mask-icon href=https://blog.vollink.com/safari-pinned-tab.svg><meta name=theme-color content="#2e2e33"><meta name=msapplication-TileColor content="#2e2e33"><link rel=alternate type=application/rss+xml href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/index.xml><noscript><style>#theme-toggle,.top-link{display:none}</style><style>@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){:root{--theme:rgb(29, 30, 32);--entry:rgb(46, 46, 51);--primary:rgb(218, 218, 219);--secondary:rgb(155, 156, 157);--tertiary:rgb(65, 66, 68);--content:rgb(196, 196, 197);--hljs-bg:rgb(46, 46, 51);--code-bg:rgb(55, 56, 62);--border:rgb(51, 51, 51)}.list{background:var(--theme)}.list:not(.dark)::-webkit-scrollbar-track{background:0 0}.list:not(.dark)::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb{border-color:var(--theme)}}</style></noscript><meta property="og:title" content="In China"><meta property="og:description" content="Gary Allen's Blog"><meta property="og:type" content="website"><meta property="og:url" content="https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/"><meta property="og:site_name" content="On My Mind..."><meta name=twitter:card content="summary"><meta name=twitter:title content="In China"><meta name=twitter:description content="Gary Allen's Blog"><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"In China","item":"https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/"}]}</script></head><body class=list id=top><script>localStorage.getItem("pref-theme")==="dark"?document.body.classList.add("dark"):localStorage.getItem("pref-theme")==="light"?document.body.classList.remove("dark"):window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)").matches&&document.body.classList.add("dark")</script><header class=header><nav class=nav><div class=logo><a href=https://blog.vollink.com/ accesskey=h title="Home (Alt + H)"><img src=https://blog.vollink.com/AllenWrench.gif alt=logo aria-label=logo height=35>Home</a>
<span class=logo-switches><button id=theme-toggle accesskey=t title="(Alt + T)"><svg id="moon" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentcolor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M21 12.79A9 9 0 1111.21 3 7 7 0 0021 12.79z"/></svg><svg id="sun" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentcolor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="5"/><line x1="12" y1="1" x2="12" y2="3"/><line x1="12" y1="21" x2="12" y2="23"/><line x1="4.22" y1="4.22" x2="5.64" y2="5.64"/><line x1="18.36" y1="18.36" x2="19.78" y2="19.78"/><line x1="1" y1="12" x2="3" y2="12"/><line x1="21" y1="12" x2="23" y2="12"/><line x1="4.22" y1="19.78" x2="5.64" y2="18.36"/><line x1="18.36" y1="5.64" x2="19.78" y2="4.22"/></svg></button></span></div><ul id=menu><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.com/post/ title=Posts><span>Posts</span></a></li><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.com/tags/ title=Tags><span>Tags</span></a></li><li><a href=https://home.vollink.com/ title=home.vollink.com><span>home.vollink.com</span></a></li></ul></nav></header><main class=main><header class=page-header><div class=breadcrumbs><a href=https://blog.vollink.com/>Home</a></div><h1>In China</h1></header><article class=post-entry><header class=entry-header><h2>One Year Ago</h2></header><div class=entry-content><p>One year ago, I arrived in China. I cherish the time that I spent there, and wish I had more time to spend there.
Due to a number of issues that are beyond my control, the possibility of me getting back to China for any length of time in the future is greatly diminished.
I consider several of the people that I met in China to be close friends of mine to this day....</p></div><footer class=entry-footer><span title="2008-10-14 22:46:00 -0500 -0500">14 Oct 2008</span> · 1 min · Gary Allen Vollink</footer><a class=entry-link aria-label="post link to One Year Ago" href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/2008/10/one-year-ago/></a></article><article class=post-entry><header class=entry-header><h2>30 Days</h2></header><div class=entry-content><p>Haidian District
Beijing, China
To My Readers… I have not posted in 30 days. Sorry about that…
For someone who reads my blog, but has not spent time in North America, something is missing. That person is without an understanding of the North American version of ’expected’. Many of my posts, especially my earliest posts, are written from a North American perspective on what is ’expected'.
For those of you who actually know me well, I probably mentioned that I wanted to use this site to capture first impressions… things that I found interesting, because they are different from the way things are where I come from (the US)....</p></div><footer class=entry-footer><span title="2007-12-11 12:00:00 +0800 +0800">11 Dec 2007</span> · 2 min · Gary Allen Vollink</footer><a class=entry-link aria-label="post link to 30 Days" href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/2007/12/30-days/></a></article><article class=post-entry><header class=entry-header><h2>YongHeGong, Lama Temple</h2></header><div class=entry-content><p>Near ShangDi November 9, 2007
A very brave woman at work once asked me if she could show me around to some sights. So, this Friday we agreed to meet on Saturday morning, and she would show me around the area of the Lama Temple.
Morning Meeting November 10, 2007
We agreed to meet at a KFC (not “the KFC”, but one a block away) between 10:30 and 10:45. She arrived about 10 minutes after I did apologizing that she was very late....</p></div><footer class=entry-footer><span title="2007-11-11 14:00:00 +0800 +0800">11 Nov 2007</span> · 3 min · Gary Allen Vollink</footer><a class=entry-link aria-label="post link to YongHeGong, Lama Temple" href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/2007/11/yonghegong-lama-temple/></a></article><article class=post-entry><header class=entry-header><h2>Note on Photos</h2></header><div class=entry-content><p>There are many pictures that I have posted to the photos site that are not visible to the general public.
http://photos.vollink.com/
If I know you, you can sign up for an account, then Email me your login name. I will then enable your account to see the rest of the photo collections. This includes categories like, “Friends at Work” and “Friends at Hotel”.
If I don’t know you, you can still sign up for an account, but you’ll get no benefit, and will have given your Email address to another random site on the internet....</p></div><footer class=entry-footer><span title="2007-11-11 12:00:00 +0800 +0800">11 Nov 2007</span> · 1 min · Gary Allen Vollink</footer><a class=entry-link aria-label="post link to Note on Photos" href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/2007/11/note-on-photos/></a></article><footer class=page-footer><nav class=pagination><a class=next href=https://blog.vollink.com/in-china/page/2/>Next »</a></nav></footer></main><footer class=footer><span>© 2025 <a href=https://blog.vollink.com/>On My Mind...</a></span>
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