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3月22日 E-Gay with E-Bay ?Some Good News early this week with perhaps a small light looming on the financial horizon for this website. We sold our first book through the well-known auction-site E-BAY !
 Cheers !!You may have been wondering what we have been doing all the time, when nothing seems to be changing on our website and all you hear is stories on the City and photos of Xi'An.
 Well, true .. last few weeks have mainly been spent on sorting endless amounts of photo's (more about this later) and the reading of various books (Zheng He , Kangxi - Emperor of China + Tales of the Qing Court) but - yes, there was one more activity. What we didn't mention was another slow and annoying process, but .. it finally bore fruit. New from DrBen.net's - China Report Online Store : Selected Books from our Inventory directly on E-Bay !What makes us extra happy and not a tad bit proud is that ALL our products have never before been offered on E-Bay (they have a registry yes, of course) AND we sold our first item - the Chinese version of knowledge on Admmiral Zheng He - within 48 hours. Now, Let's work from that !! (Products in our Online Store are priced lower - help us and buy ! you'll get a unique book for sure).
Hmmm- Unfortunatly, I must say- I found out that eventhough we are a registered company with VAT and everything, we are still required to "score points" and so... untill we have 5 satisfied customers, we are only allowed to "auction" some of our lot on E-Bay.
 Hmmm, neeedless to say - Sheng (=Doc Ben  ) is entirely not satisfied with that ! It is obvious we need to be able to put our entire inventory online for a fixed price. Now it seems like we are already a bit E-Gay, but it's annoying to hear we still have to earn the Title of E-Gay-Lord, or so. Another sore point is how your supposed to cough up and pay even if your goods aren't bought from their auction.  This actually means, if you offer worthless goods you're only bound to lose money. What a system !!Sigh-- Breath deeply Benni
...Okay so far the news on that. You are still welcome to support the financial part of our website by ordering some of the so far quite unique books from our online store.
In Other News - A laugh from the Dutch Governement, who's Tax Agency is sending us an information letter on how , as importers/exporters of products from China, we are supposed to pay taxes (Environmental Cost) of the destruction of packages that are not added by us, and discarded by our customers, the 3rd party. Yes, if you actually deciphered what I just wrote, you can now break out in
 tears or amazement. Apperently the tax desk has a found an amazing NEW WAY OF DISCOURAGING Dutch companies from even starting business in The Netherlands. Pffff.... How many books did we sell so far? Hmm, i can still count them on two hands. And then - how many Dutch customers did we serve ? NONE .... Nevertheless, I suppose under the f*#k*n'-Kyoto agreement (Kiddyoto for short) or something, The Dutch Governement wants to be the first to tax their business on this remote crap.
Go-od ! One would think that the one delivering the trash would be taxed by the amount, but I suppose such a simple solution would be out of the question in this over-regulated country.
As a result we already regret ever talking to the tax agency (surprise...) and have started thinking hard about closing shop and re-opening in Hong Kong or mainland China a mere 3 months after official registration. To be honest - we wanna make money by selling fun and/or interesting products, not solve administrative puzzles and tear-jerk at other peoples idea of a bad-practical joke. Or what is it?12月29日 Next Review- Great Wall of China Documentary by Discovery ChannelStill cold in The Netherlands, with minus 6 celcius now on the meter and new snow expected I am feeling hefty urge to stay indoors. No business deliveries today, pleazzze... The streets are icy and it's dangerous. I therefor did exactly as planned, stayed near my gas stove and kept going with reviews for the newly added products in our Online Store. As I am also temporarily very much done with the early years of China's Communist Revolution and suchs a serious subject as the author Israel Epstein and his chinese writing and communist career,I decided reading another PFS book was not an option at this Time. On the contrary, this cold day obviously called for a more fun subject to dream about. Browsing through my chinese-movie collection I soon let my eye fall on the (offcial) Discovery Channel DVD Documentary on the Great Wall of China. Here below follows the review result for the Online Store:
Passing from the Eastern Ocean at the Korean Border to the Taklamakan Desert of Western China the Great Wall is the longest manmade structure in world history. Running near 8000 miles and surviving countless of centuries the Wall is a legendary wonder that defines China and the rich history of chinese civilization. Follow the life's work of Great Wall explorer and photographer Cheng Dalin as Discovery Channels Top Director Peter Spry-Leverton follows him to the most beautiful and historic sites on the Great Wall explaining legends and facts of chinese history and the important role of the historic wall. A great lesson in chinese history, a journey of chinese dynasties, and the silk road. Full of beautiful images. Includes remote parts of the wall. Bonus footage on Beijing the Imperial Capital, Chengde, and Silk-Road stops Yungang (Datong) and Dunhuang.This is the official Discovery documentary on the Great Wall of China. - English Language Subtitling - DVD package comes with colorprinted 51 page bilingual booklet with full text of documentary in english and chinese (mandarin) languages.
Even during the viewing of this magnificent hour long documentary I had to break away to make an update of our Introduction to the Great Wall at historic Badaling Passage. I learned plenty of new facts as I had never studied the wall in such detail, yet. Discovery Channel truely made a great film with solid information and even better scenery. Watching this documentary made my jaw drop ! I loved each and every section, but must admit .. the part on Dunhuang, last stop before entering the Taklamakan Desert, truely fascinated me. They have a great wall fortress at this oasis city of which of course I had already heard some. But after viewing this film I am convinced I would love to explore and photograph in and around Dunhuang, the small Oasis City once a stop on the ancient Silk Road.
An excellent product, even better than expected from Discovery. 11月2日 This week - Many New Book & Film additions to our Online Store!Please browse through our Online Store for the latest New Titles in our (online) Catalogue. New Additions include a high number of new Books and Titles from the Peoples Friendship Studies (PFS) series, among which "The Stillwell Papers", the personal Reports from Joseph Stillwell, leader of the United States of America Mission to the Chinese North-China Front. Other worthwhile titles are "I visit Yenan", a very interesting account from Israel Epstein, reporter and later Chinese Citizen and Member of the standing committee of the Chinese Communist Party, "Lost Chance in China - the world war 2 dispatches of John S. Service" and many other titles. Other non-PFS series books, mainly in the section Tourism & Travel (souvenir) have also been included. Last but not least - a modest number of New Additions to our Chinese Cinema and Film Collection. More to be selected and included soon! As of yet, no reviews/descriptions of the newly added books & films. Please give us some time to add these to our Online Store. All Titles are personally selected by Doc Ben & Staff, then read, viewed and reviewed for your convenience. Thank you for your visit to our growing website and Store at www.ChinaReport.com ! 9月23日 A New www.drben.net Logo and new Menu's !During this unexpectedly short interruption ... - Thanks for the quick repair patch homestead (wow only 12 hours!)- Doc Ben somehow managed to land himself in a creative mood and, in a lost moment, produced himself a fun new and appropriate site Logo (see below). In honour of Herge' and his creation Flying Reporter TinTin ("Kuifje" in Dutch), who have been a large inspiration for my travels in general in some of adventures in China in particular, we hope we created a fun and easily recongizable "shield" to crown our work. This is also a tribute to China reporter's Edgar Snow and James Bertram who may have been inspirations for Herge's "TinTin at la Lotus Blue". Et voila' - enter the drben.net logo!
Of course then came the hard work. We just spend 10 hours uploading it to half (?) our pages, then crashed completely and slept the whole day. We now continue uploading menu's finally reconnecting a string of Reports created earlier, before domain change (to ChinaReport.com). Slated for "re-connection" are 1) Vibes, at the now threatened Cultural Colony 798, in Beijing's Dashanzi Art District (Chaoyang). Next visit to Beijing we should re-visit or explore if it is still there. 2) The Police Museum, on the Former Legation Street, now Dongjiaomin Xiang, still a lesser known Museum of Beijing. 3) Ox Street Mosque (Niu Jie Libai Si), of which we now have full materials.4) an older Report still without text on the Dongjiaomin Lane Catholic Church, a relic from the Legation's and Missionary days. 5) Jingshan Park with favorite look-out spot Wan Chun (Everlasting Spring) Pavilion. 6) Our multi-paged report on well-known Liu Lichang Culture Street. Although full of over-priced crap, Liu Lichang still is one of my favorite spots. I always visit to take in the genuine athmosphere, browse the nearby Hutong, and .. yes, of course - try and find that one cute or special souvenir that no one else found. Liu Lichang is also a great place to find books. Many from my collection were bought there.
Hmmmm-
But let's not get lost in dreams. To work! 6月20日 Resolved Payment Problems Online Store + New AdditionsSome New Additions to our Online Store ! Adding a variety of new VCD's + DVD's and ... not un-important: finally resolving all payment problems (Paypal) with our Online Store ! You can now finally buy anything you like, while more additions, a selection of rare and/or interesting source books from China -used and checked by Doc Ben himself, follow shortly. Store additions are - 1) 12 Girls Band "Beautiful Energy" DVD - includes Miracle, Freedom, Take Five,Flower & Youth, New Classicalism, Alamuhan, Liu San Jie, Chase, Hepbeat, Spirit Dance, No Word, Hang Rila , 2) 12 Girls Band "Shining Energy" DVD - includes Reel around the Sun, Only Time and many other songs , 3) 12 Girls Band - "Live - at Budukan Japan" SRS Surround DVD , 4) The Ming Tombs VCD Virtual Tour with In-Depth historical backgrounds on The Ming Tombs (more than just a tourist chat) , 5) Beijing Scenery DVD 1 - "Wanfujing" , a rare DVD explaining the backgrounds on the Now modern and reopened Ancient Shopping Street of Beijing with lots of historic details and footage from the Streets New Official Opening , 6) The Potala Palace Documentary DVD - An original documentary from CCTV (China Central Television) with Mr. Chen Zhen who dedicated 5 years of study and discovery to describe the Potala Place and Xizang (Tibet) in detail for You in this special DVD, 7) Giacomo Puccini's "Turandot", played at The Forbidden City Music Hall, an awesome Performance in a Magical Place. First Updates after Return to Netherlands HQSuffering from severe Jetlag today, I still managed to get Online the First ChinaReport.com Updates after our Latest China Recon Trip (12Th May > 18Th June 2005). I also finally Fixed all PayPal problems with Our China Report Online Store. You can now order ! Behold - New Doc Ben photo's in our China Report-weblog (Blog) ! See Doc Ben in Beijing, on Business, with his charming Beijing Bureau Chief Caroline Wong. See Doc Ben ready to conquer the Xian City Walls by Bike, and last but not least - See Doc Ben in some special scenic spots at Chengde City, better known as Fleeing the Heat Villa, or Chengde Imperial Summer Mountain Retreat - a truely great small place in North China. Enjoy ! 6月19日 Back in the USSR- Hmmm- Netherlands I meanSunday 19Th of June 2005. Just arrived back in my Office / HQ in the Netherlands. Start of new Work, new Updates and some major new Challenges at ChinaReport.com - Wish you all a Happy weekend and Stay tuned for Lotsa News! 6月17日 Doc Ben returning Home to The Netherlands
Thank you for your visit(s)!! New Photo-Equipment for even Better Results
6月10日 China stay extended untill June 18Th for Business Purpose
6月7日 Hier moet u even van mee Genieten / Enjoy this JokeGeachte heer Nijhoff, This is a letter from my so-called Exam Committee (The Blood Council), ordering me to return to their little provincial hospital to finish my education in Medicine. An education I already finished 2.5 years ago, Oddly, I passed ALL exams 2.5 years ago with full grades. Unfortunatly eversince... this committee has been waging some kind of personal grudge against me. It seems, merely for having an intelligent opinion, something highly unwanted in a Doctor(?) in "their" hospital. Even a lawsuit could not break their powers, which have nothing to do with kindness to the fellow man, nor with any student democracy or rights. The laugh is... now, 2.5 years after i inserted my last infuse into some patient (I did help a stewardess in need, while 10 kilometers over Kazachstan) -> They want me to return and pass the 1st exam in the 1st internship in 6 weeks, which is only half the time available for the Internal Medicine "internship". In my opinion- If they refused me my diploma for fear of endangering "Public Health" (a hollow phrase with these "Doctors" at the wheel, I know by now), why ... o why... is it now going to be less endangered by calling me back and handing me a diploma 2.5 years after leaving practice?? As a professional Doctor (regardless of the opinion of my exam committee), the mere suggestion that this could work is an abomination above all others earlier purpotrated. I am really glad I am NOT going to be one of my own patients ! But then.. it has long been obvious my feelings or opinion do not matter to these "Professor Doctors". Doctors practicing in-house politics, or Doctors just practising Politics at all is a complete breach their Job ethics. It sickens me to the Bone Marrow, really. Mkes you wonder what is next - Priests that molest Children??? Why not The world will soon forget and move on anyhow. More on this subject undoubtedly later 6月6日 Changing Climates in just one hour and 40 minutesFrom the Torrential Rains in Xian 5月29日 New Contracts for Retail of Chinese Items through our Online StoreWe are very pleased to announce the signing of Final Contracts with our Chinese Suppliers of Cloisonne Ware. Already on display in our Online Store with some sample materials, our Cloisonne collection will be greatly expanded in the Month of June 2005. We also smoothed out some specific delivery and handling problems. Please visit the store in the second half of June, as we are now able to guarantee you a smooth delivery of ALL Cloisonne Products to your home (or Office) address anywhere in the World. A New Special Selection of Finest Quality Cloisonne, especially produced for ChinaReport.com/DrBen.net will be available shortly (June). 5月22日 New Book Titles available from China Report Online StoreTake some Time and Browse the Latest Books available from our Online Store ! Just in from Beijing, a new and growing list of expert publications on all Beijing Monuments, Landmarks & hotspots, used by ChinaReport.com Staff as sources to their website. Full Impressions of, Historical backgrounds in-depth, by Chinese Scholars and experts. Printed in China, delivered to your home and door by ChinaReport.com. Many books as yet unavailable outside China ! Only from ChinaReport.com / www.drben.net ! More books available soon ! |
Doc Ben is returning to The Netherlands to *re-organise The China Report Website (which is in disarray with faulty menus), * bring you many new books and other source materials through our online store as well as some other fun chinese products, * Set up his new Cooperation with RedBang.com. Taking RedBang to The Netherlands ! Expect new China Report upgrades, text, menu's and possibly photos, starting Sunday 19Th of June.
Starting tomorrow, june 18Th 2005, all China Report Photography will be modernised when we start using the new Photo-equipment. We will upgrade from the Sony DSC-F707, already an excellent 7.2 mega-pixel camera, to the latest Sony DSC, the F828. The F828, we expect will be with us for quite some time, giving us clearer view of targets, even higher resolution images (8.2 megapixel), and some new possibilities we haven't even studied yet! Our "old" DSC-F707 will stay in service, giving our on the spot China Reporter's (photographers) a chance to get us the latest news out of China directly from the spot where it happened or is going to Happen, covering more and different subjects than before. Almost live photography and coverage from Beijing China now possible, ofcourse under the charming leadership of our Beijing Station Chief Miss Caroline Wong.
Still not bored with China and with some excellent business proposals pending, we extend our stay in China for another 5 days. New updates, and a reconnection of all menus at China Report pending after our Return to our Main HQ in The Netherlands. I hear the weather in Europe still sucks, with a forecast of only 10 degress Celcius in the (no doubt) rainy Netherlands. We sympathise with you, but stay happily in much warmer and this afternoon even sunny Beijing ! More news or updates follow when possible and appropriate. 
We will slow down our reporting for a bit more enjoyment of Life (a small holiday), and the Celebration of the Birthday 
of our Beijing Bureau Chief Caroline Wong. Cu again! Happy Birthday Caroline ! As usual we wish you all the Best with all our heart.
If you re a patient of Dutch Mad-icine - Good luck, you will need it. We hope you make it out of the Hospital alive! If you don't believe me - 10 years in and around that place told me enough. You will see it for yourself from your hospital Bed.
(over 204 people Dead in South-China early seasonal floodings, 78 missing) we return to sunny and burning hot
Beijing. More photography and updates through this weblog (and later website) soon.
(our apologies for any earlier problems, doing business in China takes time, mutual trust and understanding rather than just Cash money. We are now able to guarantee first class priority handling by our producers under exclusive contract.)|
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