The Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2010

The
The Norwegian Nobel committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 to Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese political activist who is currently serving a 11-year prison sentence in China for trying to push for human rights for the Chinese. There was an angry reaction from the Chinese government when this award was announced.. They went on to boycott the award presentation held on 10th Dec in Oslo and pressured some other countries to do the same. China hinted at souring diplomatic relations with Norway and even launched their own alternative prize to the Nobel. You can see some of the details in the videoclip below.

I for one think it is rather sad how this whole thing unfolded. Being of Chinese origin, I am proud of what China has achieved in the past decades in economic and social development. The rise of China clearly reflects the ascent of the East to balance the dominance of the West. Which is exactly why I think the Chinese leadership needn't have taken such an extreme position. If they had simply stated that they disagreed with the Nobel Peace Prize this year and stayed away, the whole thing would have blown over very quickly. But their reaction actually called more attention to the award.

Of course, I also believe the Norwegian Nobel Committee is fully entitled to choose whichever recipient they like. And I must say they have been rather good at picking controversial candidates ... like in 2009, they chose Barack Obama as the Peace Prize recipient - a thinly veiled rebuke of George W Bush's regime.

But let me hasten to add that this blog is not meant to be a political commentary. What I really wanted to highlight here was the musical extravaganza of the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. Cisco has been a global sponsor to this event for the past decade, and in conjunction with our Public Services Summit, we invite senior level customers to attend this.

The hosts for the 2010 Concert, held on the evening of 11th Dec at the Spektrum arena in Oslo, were Denzel Washington and Anne Hathaway. And the artistes performing included: Sivert Hoyem, Florence + the Machine, Colbie Caillat, India Arie, Jamiroquai, Robyn, A R Rahman, Herbie Hancock and Barry Manilow.

Here I was just before the concert started ...

Other shots of the audience before the concert  ...

The Norwegian royalty arrive, together with the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Then came the two superstar hosts, Denzel and Anne ... let the show begin !

Here are a few videoclips showing a few of the performances I liked ...


First ROBYN ...



Next we had FLORENCE + THE MACHINE ...

Then we had JAMIROQUAI ...

Then A. R. RAHMAN with his "Slumdog Millionaire suite" ... I love the energy of " Jai Ho" !




Finally the highlight by BARRY MANILOW ...

and another one by Barry ...

Well, hope you liked those as much as I did.

...

World Fairs and the Shanghai Expo 2010

.
Let's begin with a bit of history ... The names "World's Fair", "World Fair", "Universal Exposition", and "Expo" have all been used to refer to the various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom in 1851 under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations".

Photo (1) : Crystal Palace, London in 1851

It was supposedly the brainchild of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, and was the first international exhibition of manufactured products. As such, it influenced the development of several aspects of society including art and design education, international trade and relations, and even tourism. It became the precedent for the many international exhibitions, later called "World's Fairs", which were subsequently held to the present day.

The second World's Fair, held in 1855, was in Paris. The third went back to London in 1862. Subsequently it was Paris (1867), Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), Sydney (1879), Melbourne (1880), etc. In 1970, it was held in Osaka, Japan. I remember because I was there as a child with my parents. The last few Expos have been held in Hannover, Germany (2000), Aichi, Japan (2005) and Zaragosa, Spain (2008).

Last month I had the opportunity to spend a day at the Shanghai Expo 2010. We got there just as it opened at 10am. Most of the expo is on the Pudong side, with a smaller section on the Puxi side (Pudong and Puxi represent respectively the areas to the east and west of the Huangpu, the river that cuts through Shanghai).

Photo (2) : Map of Shanghai Expo 2010

Overall a very impressive showcase, with throngs of people visiting.  I reckon this could become the most visited Expo ever! Here's a selection of photos from our day at the Expo ...
.

Photo (3) : At the China pavilion (I didn't go in as the queue was about 4 hours long)

Photo (4) : I love the architectural designs !

Photo (5) : At the Malaysian pavilion. Negara ku .......

Photo (6) : Some shots with the Malaysian dancers performing outside

Photo (7) : This is the Singapore pavilion, supposedly shaped like a music box

Photo (8a) : This realistic looking tree roots lie within the Cambodia pavilion.

Photo (8b) : The Kingdom of Cambodia pavilion

Photo (9) : G'day mate, here's the Aussie pavilion

Photo (10) : With colleagues in the Estonia pavilion

Photo (11) : In front of the Latvia pavilion

Photo (12) : UK Pavilion

Photo (13) : With a colleague outside the Cisco pavilion

Well, there are obviously many, many more pavilions and sights that I won't be able to show ... so if you do have a chance, go visit it yourself. The Shanghai Expo 2010 is open until the end of September 2010.

.

Resolutions for 2010

How quickly another year passes by. As I reviewed my list of resolutions for 2009, I was not unduly surprised that I didn't achieve all of them. But just having achieved slightly more than half of them was satisfying enough. And some of the ones I did achieve were very meaningful.

One very significant one was the reunion of former classmates from the 1970s. My class reconnection blog was more successful than I had dared imagine, and finally on 23 Dec, we had a wonderful reunion dinner with almost 70 boys in attendance, not to mention 8 teachers. Another extremely meaningful achievement was making significant progress in our genealogical research. I've now discovered more relatives in Sabah than I ever knew my whole life.

For this year, I'm whittling down my list even further and here it is ...

Health
- make more progress in staying healthy, through diet and workouts
- complete dental work (which started in 2009)

Personal
- make more progress with Mandarin and another language
- reading focus in 2010: History, Wine, Photography & Photo/Video Editing

Professional
- make sales/business development impact on 3 countries
- get professional book manuscript-ready
- update and put "E-Gov in Asia" online (carried over from 2009)
- (re)launch professional blogsite

Family
- get the three Family Tree drafts to shareable form (by mid 2010)
- take two family holidays (possibly one of my life journeys)
- get father's book published

Financial
- improve financial position

Social & Spiritual
- more involvement in meaningful charity work
- explore more community networks


Wish me luck, and stay tuned for mid and end year reviews ...