In fact, his teaching about money and financially literacy have increased in popularity, especially among younger people who apparently are more concern about their financial future than the older generation. We can see that Mr Kiyosaki’s  board game, Cash Flow 101 is being played by community groups, including the Mensa groups.

In Mr Kiyosaki’s books, he mentioned the story about his rich dad and poor dad. The poor dad is his real father, a Japanese American who was one time the superintendent of education department in the state of Hawaii in US. The rich dad was his best friend, Mike’s father. The man who owned a lot of lands in Hawaii, and was the richest man in Hawaii. Apparently, Mr Kiyosaki disagreed with the poor dad in terms of financial management. He described his own father’s view about money as obsolete, industrial age ideas. The old idea was about gaining financial security through employment, benefits or retirement pensions. He compared that idea with the teaching of his rich dad. According to Mr Kiyosaki, his rich dad taught him about becoming business owner and investor, and advise him against becoming employee for life. Being a business owner in his term means people who form corporations rather than being self employed. he advocates mindset change as the first step to financial freedom. The ideas of the two men form the core discussion points for his deliberations in series of best selling books he has produced.

Perhaps the best known teaching in the Robert Kiyosaki book series is the “Cash Flow Quadrants”. He divided the money activities of the people into four separate quadrants.

The groups on the left side of the quadrants are:

• Employees – people who are having permanent jobs and receive monthly paychecks, e.g. factory workers, engineers, teachers.
• Self-employed – people who rely on their own skills for their businesses, e.g. doctor, lawyers, consultants.

The people of the right side are:

• Business owners – people who own businesses and have other people running for them, e.g. owners of corporations.
• Investors – the capitalists, people who invest their money on other people’s businesses, real estates, stocks and etc.

He suggested that the people on the left side of the quadrants to consider moving to the right side to avoid being “brutalized” in the new information age. In order to do that, these people will need to be psychologically and habitually prepared for the changes. They need financially education in order to make the move successfully. Those were the main essence that he tried to teach in his books and the Cash Flow board games. He gave very practical advice about talking “baby steps” in making the change. He spoken out against people who “hide under the bed” and do nothing when opportunities arise. He also pointed out critical weakness in people who try to be rich but end up being “cheap”, people who try to “keep up with the Joneses”, and people who are “skeptics” or “gamblers”. With detail descriptions about the physiology of different groups of people, Mr Kiyosaki was able to drive home the key message about physiological and emotional preparations to “be rich” rather than to “act rich”. He believes that through mindset changes, one will eventually find his or her own paths to financial freedom.

Although Mr Kiyosaki’s rich dad teaching has gained acceptance all over the English speaking world, his teaching also created controversies and invited criticisms. One of the controversial points he made was that “the school teaches people habits to be poor”. In his argument, he used the examples of rich personalities like Bill Gate, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs who were school drop-out. His arguments was echoed by other self-made financial experts, such as Marco Robinson. However, the argument may encourage young people to use it as an excuse to drop out of school. Having said that, the argument has its positive effect in challenging the rigid traditional education systems. Our education urgently need to be changed to meet the new information age learning requirements.

Perhaps the most vocal critic against Mr Kiyosaki’s teaching is John T. Reeds. Mr Reeds is another real estate investor and book author that can be considered as the counterpart of Mr Kiyosaki. Mr Reeds have the same knowledge about real estate investment as Mr Kiyosaki, hence he knew how to validate Mr Kiyosaki’s teaching. Obviously, Mr Reeds have doubts over Mr Kiyosaki’s stories about his rich dad, the investment and his experience as an investor. He pointed out that Mr Kiyosaki was more of a salesman and motivational speaker rather than a financial expert. He thought that Mr Kiyosaki earned his wealth through book sales and perhaps multilevel marketing rather than investments.

Perhaps the most controversial of all, was the allegation that Mr Kiyosaki’s rich dad was not real. Mr Kiyosaki has never reveal the identity if his rich dad or his best friend, Mike. Reported, when Mr Kiyosaki was continuously being queried about his rich dad, his response was “Is Harry Potter real? Why don’t you let Rich Dad be a myth, like Harry Potter?”

Nonetheless, in my opinion, regardless of whether he has told the truth or has created fictional stories about his investments and his rich dad, the books still have very high educational value. He put his rich dad’s (or maybe was his own) teaching into philosophical mode rather than laid it as step-by-step guides. In this way, there is more room for imagination. Readers have the chance to create and expand their own ideas based on the foundations suggested by Mr Kiyosaki. I think that is the main feature that makes his books to become long lasting best sellers even after the first book has been published more than 10 years ago.

Robert Kiyosaki used the oriental approach to portrait his thought. For example, the principle of “Yin” and “Yang” to contrast the differences between his poor dad to his rich dad. He used the Chinese word for “risk” (危机) to suggest that in every crisis, there is an opportunity. He did mentioned about learning from failures, hence if you have not succeeded after learning from him, it would mean that you have more to learn, and you can’t blame him for your failure. He smartly put himself in a position that he would not be wrong regardless of the outcomes as we apply his teaching.

If rich dad is actually a fictional character that Mr Kiyosaki made up, then rich dad represents an “imaginary mentor” that comprises the collective wisdoms that Mr Kiyosaki has learned throughout his life. Some of them are old common sense that we tend to ignore most of the time. Even if the character is not real, the wisdom presented were interesting enough for strike our minds and break us free from old thinking. It is up to us to validate Mr Kiyosaki’s teaching and make our own decision. After all, he did mentioned that he operated in grey area, where there is no right or wrong.

Even if you think that all his teaching are untrue, one thing we could still learn from Mr Kiyosaki is on how to tell an interesting story that last for a long time.

Recommended reading:

Board game for financial literacy:

Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the relative height from mountain peaks to river valleys can be as much as 3,000 m.

It has the highest number of ethnic groups among all provinces and autonomous regions in China. Among the country’s fifty-six recognised ethnic groups, twenty-five are found in Yunnan. Some 38% of the province’s population are members of minorities, including the Yi (彝), Bai (白), Hani (哈尼), Tai (泰), Dai (傣), Miao (苗), Lisu (傈僳), Hui (回), Lahu (拉祜), Va (佤), Naxi (纳西), Yao (瑶), Tibetan, Jingpo (景頗), Blang (布朗), Pumi (普米), Nu (怒), Achang (阿昌, Jinuo (基诺), Mongolian, Derung (独龙), Manchu (满族), Shui (水), and Buyei (布依). Ethnic groups are widely distributed in the province.

Speaking about Yunnan, there are a couple of things that will automatically flash in my mind: the majestic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain ( 玉龙雪山) , natural caves and rock formations, Lijiang Impression performance by five hundred local farmers and workers, ancient cities of Lijiang (丽江) and Dali (大理) , and naturally gifted singers performing their folk songs about their lives.

We arrived at Yunnan through its capital city, Kunming. The weather was just nice for us. Kunming is reputed as a “spring city” as it has spring like weather throughout the year. Kunming is the political, economic, communications and cultural center of Yunnan, and is the capital of the provincial government. It was important during World War II as a Chinese military center, American air base, and transport terminus for the Burma Road. It is the leading transportation hub (air, road, rail) in South West China, with a rail connection to Vietnam and road links to Burma and Laos.

Nevertheless, the city did not leave much impression in my mind as it seemed to another typical Chinese cities after Beijing. Modern buildings were everywhere. The traffics were as chaotic as any cities. The air was polluted and dusty. Having said that, the Kunming authority has put in a lot of efforts to transform the city into an Eco-town. It could be evidence by the solar energy usage in the city. Almost every building in the city was equipped with solar panels.

The area around Kunming is the territory for the Yi (彝) people. Traditionally, women of the Yi people work in the fields to support the family. The men enjoy good leisure lives playing music, playing chess, reading books and making painting. It seems bizarre in our modern society, which emphasize on women’s rights. However, it has been the way of life for the people here, even until these days.

Nearby the city, there were magnificent natural attractions, such as the Western Mountain Dragon Gate (Longmen), Jiuxiang Scenic Area (昆明九乡风景区) and the amazing rock formations in Stone Forest (石林 Shilin).

The Western Mountain Dragon Gate is situated on the west bank of the Dianchi Lake. It was built on the steep rock hills, the carved stone Dragon Gate consists of the major part, which was cut in the years from 178l. Each of the statues and temples were painstakingly carved onto the rock at high altitude. Jiuxiang is known as the museum of karst caves, which boasts its caves as the largest in scale and number (there are about a hundred karst caves) and has the most wonderful in-cave scenes in China. Stone Forest is a UNESCO listed site of remarkable Karst geography. The impressive rock formations around the area have made it a tourist attraction for people around the world.

From Kunming, we took a four hours coach tour to the ancient city of Dali. The scenery during the journey was not less impressive than the Dali City itself. Along the journey, steep mountainous terrains, folk houses, farms and cone fields were sceneries that kept visitors from getting bored in the long journey. One could imagine how difficult the people in the past who need to travel from one city to another without modern vehicles and road facilities, which could take days and months for them to arrive at their destination.

City of Dali was unique in its own way. The city is located on a fertile plateau between the Cangshan mountains to the west and Erhai lake to the east. It was traditionally settled by the Bai minorities (白族). Dali is the ancient capital of both the Bai kingdom Nanzhao, which flourished in the area during the 8th and 9th centuries, and the Kingdom of Dali, which reigned from 937-1253.

Probably the most famous landscapes in Dali are the three Buddhist Pagoda build during the Tang Dynasty. The pagodas were believed to be able to suppress natural disasters, especially earthquake and flood. The Pagodas are current located into the Chong Seng Temple, which was built at the later date. Chong Seng Temple consists of main temples located at the top of a hill behind the pagodas, and a huge Chinese garden surrounding the three pagodas. The compound is so huge that shuttle services need to be prepared for visitors intended to visit the main temples at the hilltop.

We stayed right in the heart of ancient city, which has been converted into shopping streets with countless shops, restaurants and pubs. Because of the presence of the western pubs and restaurants, that features western-style food, music, and English-speaking business owners, the main street is named as the ”Westerners’ Street” Influx of tourists in the recent years has brought about new lives to the old city. New working opportunities in tourism and retails were created, attracting locals and outsiders to move into the city.

Dali is predominantly occupied by the Bai people (白族). They have unique building design preference. Majority of the walls of the bulidings are in white colour, with considerations been made on the direction of sunlight, and effects of wind to the occupants. Our hotel was a typical Bai architecture, with garden, walking paths and lotus ponds. Although we were only there for one night, it was my favourite hotel during our stay in Yunnan.

From Dali, we continue our journey to our last destination Lijiang city (丽江市), where a well-known UNESCO heritage town lies.

Lijiang city is very much a typical modern city with large department stores, complexes, shops, banks, offices and restaurants. However, it has a very unique heritage old town in the city. The town has a history going back more than 800 years and was once a confluence for trade along the old tea horse road. The Lijiang old town is famous for its orderly system of waterways and bridges. The old town of Lijiang differs from other ancient Chinese cities in architecture, history and the culture of its traditional residents the Nakhi ( 纳西) people.

Lijiang old town, rebuilt after devastating earthquake in 1996, was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 4, 1997. Since then, the local government has taken more responsibility for the development and protection of the old city. Lijiang’s tourism also boomed, and travelers from around the world flooded in. Although many locals fear that due to much of the development, the old town of Lijiang will lose its appeal. Nevertheless, despite the invasion of external cultures, credits must be given to the local authority for making such an excellent job in preserving the original buildings and roads of the ancient city.

Lijiang is largely occupied by the Nakhi ( 纳西). They are thought to have come from Tibet, and traditionally maintained overland trading links with Lhasa and India. They have the same tradition as the Yi people, where married women will work most of the days except during Chinese New Year, while the men will have all the time to enjoy themselves.. Of course this tradition will slowly change as the new generations start to adopt the new values and cultures, when Lijiang opens it’s door to the outside world.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5596m) near Lijiang was one of the main reasons I joint the tour to Yunnan. Having been to Jungfrau (4158m) and Mount Kinabalu ( 4095m), Jade Dragon Snow Mountain would be the highest altitude challenge for me. The cable cars took us to 4506m above sea level, and the visitors were allowed to walk on the wooden path leading to 4650m point. Although we did not climb the mountain by foot, the fact that I could walk at the highest ground above the sea level provided me with personal satisfaction. It was an early autumn, hence there was no snow except at the peak. The sky was clear and the views were really magnificent. Nevertheless, rugged rocky terrains, strong wind and the lack of oxygen up there reminded us about the harsh condition, and that Mother Nature was not to be taken lightly.

After descended from the snow mountain, there was another highlight in Lijiang waiting for us. A massive performance knows as the “Lijiang Impression?(印象丽江) was simply amazing. The show was choreographed by the legendary Chinese director, Zhang Yimou (张艺谋). The use of Jade Dragon Mountain as the backdrop was an excellent idea. Instead of hiring professional performers, local people who were farmers and workers were trained to carry out regular performances to the visiting tourists. It has shown that there are so many hidden talents in this big country, and one would wonder what surprises the Chinese are to bring us next.

Lijiang is also home to the Jade Water Village and Dongba cultural centre. These are other attractions not to be missed while visiting Lijiang.

After Lijiang, we headed back to Kunming, before taking an international flight home. Our journey in Yunnan was brief. There are still many places and things in Yunnan that we have not seen. Nevertheless, the passion of the people in defending their original ways of life left a deep impression in me.

There are locals who have lived in this land for lives, who have never been to the outside world. However, they seemed to be happy. Life has not changed much since hundreds of years ago, while the outside world strives for fast progress. Ironically, the Yunnan culture is considered “new” and “unique” to the outsiders just because it managed to avoid the so call “progress”. Perhaps we should re-examine what we are looking for in the name of progress. While creating innovations and new ways of live, we need to be careful not to forget our roots. Traditions need to be preserved so that people have even more choices, more variety in life, and create more colours to our world.

Reference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunnan

http://wikitravel.org/en/Kunming

http://wikitravel.org/en/Dali_City

http://wikitravel.org/en/Old_Town_of_Lijiang

http://wikitravel.org/en/Nakhi

The Wikipedia article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Date visited: October 2009

At individual level, every one of us feels the insecurity. Job security has become the things of the past. We are more likely to lose our job in any professions then before. As many governments are having problem supporting too many staffs and their pensions, even civil servants have felt the threat of losing their jobs .

In addition to that, we have the Baby Boomer generation, who constitute the largest population in generation group, are moving into retirements. Moreover, life expectancy has increased to above 80. Globally, the number of people age over 60 is expected to double to 2 billion, or 22 percent of the population by 2050. The following generations, namely Generation X and Y are taking out the responsibility to support the large boomer age group. Slowly, Generation X is moving towards retirement as well.

Hence, everyone knows too well that we cannot depend on the government or our employers for survivals. We will have to change the way we think about the methods to support our livelihoods. That is why everyone is seeking to be become “financially independent”. However, the terms have different meaning to different people. Some may think of getting a good job; to be his or her own boss, run a business, become an investor, win a lottery, or inherit wealth. Realistically, winning a lottery or inherit wealth are something near impossible for normal people. Hence, the former four types of approaches are more achievable.

According to the author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, Robert Kiyosaki, there are four categories of people, which can be represented by four separate quadrants. The groups in the left side of the quadrants are:

• Employees – people who are having a job, e.g. factory workers, engineers, teachers.
• Self-employed – people who rely on their own skills for their businesses, e.g. doctor, lawyers, consultants.

The people of the right side are:

• Business owners – people who own businesses and have other people running for them, e.g. owners of corporations.
• Investors – people who invest their money on other people’s businesses, real estates, stocks and etc, e.g. people like Warren Buffet and George Soros.

According to Mr Kiyosaki, the people on the right side have better chance to achieve financial independents as compared to the people on the left side of the quadrants. He used the term “financial freedom”, but I would assume he also refer to the people who are seeking financial independent through efforts to increase wealth. In his definition, being financially free means one can still have the income to survive even if he or she stops working for at least 6 months. To be totally financially free, one will need to have passive incomes that allow to him or her to make a decent living without having to work for life.

If we look at the population of each of the group mentioned above, we can easily identify the “Employee” as the largest group compared to others. Being an employee is what we are taught to become in school, our teachers are employees, and this is where fresh graduates obtain their experience, and probably declare “financially independent” from our parents. It seems to be the easiest way to start after departing from the student lives.

However, I think the idea of financial independent or financial freedom has great influence in people’s thinking nowadays. We can see so many young people who have started their own business even when they are in college. I think people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Robert Kiyosaki have inspired many of them.

Young people adapt fast to the new environment.  I have no worry for them. I think the worry should go to people in Generation X and the Baby Boomer, who are moving towards or have past the retirement age. Many of them are employees of government offices or large corporations. As we know, the every governments of the world is cutting down its allocation for pension, and large corporations hardly promised any retirement supports for their employees who are reaching retirement age. The children of these employees will have a hard time supporting so many old people of the previous generations. I fear that old generations will not be able to live with respect and dignity, and may be treated as burden by their own family and the society. Hence, while most young people dreamed of being financially independent and financially free, I think there are even more urgent needs for the older generation, namely the Boomer and Generation X to achieve financial independent during the old age.

Having said that most Boomer and Generation X are not financially trained to be business owners and investors. As we know, the ventures in the right side of the quadrants are known to be risky. People need to fail to learn the tricks to be successful. They need time and money to learn from failures, but those are precisely what these generations may not have.

To be financially free, one needs to have passive incomes that generated from business or investments. The traditional business and investment models may not be suitable for our older generations. Hence, I would recommend two “information age” models, i.e. multilevel marketing and internet marketing. While these models do required efforts, but they are less risky, as little monetary investment is required. Depending on the characters of the person, multilevel marketing will be suitable for people who enjoy meeting and talking to people, whereas internet marketing will be suitable to thinkers and writers who like to channel their thoughts through words and multimedia.

These methods will allow the older generations to continue to contribute to the society even when they are in the seventies and above. Knowledge and wisdom accumulated through years of experience will enable them to excel even with competitions from the younger groups.

Having said that, there is still works to be done to create an environment that make it easy for people, regardless of old or young to achieve their financial independent through methods that suit them. In our evolving new economy, nobody should be left out of the main streams in the society. The opportunity should be equal for people in all generations to achieve financial independent and subsequently, financial freedom. It is up to us to create this environment.

Due to its association with the historical events, countless of movies have used the location for their stories. Hence, I have seen Tienanmen Square on movie and TV screens many times before I actually went there. To see a place in the movies suddenly appear as some thing real before my eyes was an incredible experience. There was a sense of achievement to be able to set foot on Beijing, knowing that each step I made, might had landed on the footsteps of the people that I’ve read in books, who were here long time ago.

Tienanmen Square was a witness to modern political and social movements that helped to shape the China today. You can have your own interpretations about the legitimacy of these movements. The fact is that, heroes and villains in real life are not as distinctive as they are in movies. Like it or not, these events affect the people in the country as well the rest of the world in one way or another. Among the recent incidents:

• The May Fourth Movement (五四运动） in 1919 that saw upsurge of Chinese nationalism represented by the middle class, intellects and cultural leaders, against the weakened government that had made various concessions to foreign powers.
• The Demonstration of December 9, 1935 that sparked the resistance of the people against the Japanese invasion.
• On 1st October 1949, Chairman Mao proclaimed the birth of “New China”, the People’s Republic of China.
• The most recent students’ pro-democracy protest in 1989, which called for democratic reform within the government. The protest had not succeeded, but it has brought new awareness to both the Chinese people and the government about the need for continuous change.

The Story of Tienanmen Square captured in Wikipedea:

The Tienanmen Gate was first built in the 1420s in the Ming Dynasty. During the demise of the Ming Dynasty, heavy fighting between Li Zicheng and the early Qing emperors damaged (or perhaps destroyed) the gate. The Tienanmen square was originally designed and built in Beijing in 1651. It was enlarged to its present size (four times its original size) and cemented over in 1958.

British and French troops who invaded Beijing in 1860 pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning the gate and the entire Forbidden City down. They decided ultimately to preserve the palace and to burn instead the emperor’s Summer Palace. The Qing emperor eventually agreed to let the foreign powers establish headquarters in the area. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 the siege badly damaged the office complexes and several ministries were burnt down. In the conflict’s denouement, the area became a space for foreign troops to assemble their armies and horses. It was cleared in due course to produce the beginning of what is now known as the Tiananmen Square. The Square, however, was not officially made until the PRC took power in 1949

Heading north through the Tienanmen Gate, the legendary Forbidden City appeared before my eyes. Red brick walls, golden roofs, huge squares, broad doorways and heavy red doors, those were few characteristics of the buildings of the Chinese Palaces.

If I were born at the time when emperors ruled the country, it would be unthinkable to have thousands of commoners freely explored the city.. Any one who dared would have been prosecuted before he or she actually stepped into the perimeter. It took courage and scarification of many people for years for ancient rules to change and for progress to reach the state where we are today. It reminded me of a Chinese proverb, “The predecessors planted trees, and the successors enjoy the shade”. We are the successor that enjoyed the fruits provided by our predecessors, at the same time, we should also be predecessors that contribute to the future generations. I guess that is the cycle for progress.

The city can be divided into outer court and inner court. I went through the courts from the Tiananmen Gate towards north like other tourists, passing through layers of buildings, including a few palaces with the emperors’ seats and tables that were once used for their daily routines.

The northern part of the area is the imperial garden. I was told that many huge rocks in the garden were transported from distance lands, taking several years of journey before they reached the city and were placed into the garden. The concept of time was quite different from what we know today. Today we have the power to do things at a speed unimaginable by the people living in the past. However, the power comes with responsibility. If we are not careful, it may not benefit us but speed up the destruction of our own world.

Passing through the garden to the Gate of Divine Might in the north was the river that was once used to protect the Forbidden City from intruders. The red walls surrounded that city lies quietly along the river. Many tourists dispersed while exploring the palaces, regrouped here while waiting for their transportation for the next destination. For my destination, I have decided to take a taxi and headed towards the Beijing World Trade Center to see the modern city of Beijing.

Facts about The Forbidden City in Wikipedea:

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

The Forbidden City is the world’s largest surviving palace complex and covers 72 ha. It is a rectangle 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west. It consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms. The Forbidden City was designed to be the center of the ancient, walled city of Beijing. It is enclosed in a larger, walled area called the Imperial City. The Imperial City is, in turn, enclosed by the Inner City; to its south lies the Outer City. The Forbidden City remains important in the civic scheme of Beijing. The central north-south axis remains the central axis of Beijing. This axis extends to the south through Tienanmen gate to Tienanmen Square, the ceremonial center of the People’s Republic of China.

There is another side of Beijing, which is less iconic, but reflects the ambition of the Chinese people who want to reach out to the world after many years of isolation. Modern skyscrapers, hotels, and corporate buildings have filled the Beijing skyline. The Chinese are anxious to tell the world how much they have progressed, and they have done that beautifully through the 2008 Beijing Olympic showcase. Obviously, the world  likes to see a progressive China, which is open and less intimidating. However small the steps were, let’s hope for the better future for the country and the people.

Date visited: September 1998 and April 2007

Jiufen is full of old buildings, which have been refurbished into shops, restaurants and kiosks offering famous Taiwanese delicacies and crafts. Tea houses are everywhere. They offer traditional Chinese tea drinking experience to the customers. The tea houses are well decorated with unique themes. Some tea houses provide gardens, patios and balconies with excellent views of the hills and the surrounding. The customers can enjoy scenic views of Jiufen while enjoying nice tea and good food.

When we stopped by at one of the teahouse, I had the chance to capture moving cloud that slowly covered the surrounding, including the teahouse we were in. The pictures captured the moment when this happened. After just a short while, we had lost sight of the sun, and the surrounding turned dark. However, it revealed the different charm of Jiufen. We left Jiufen in the evening, while the drizzle continued.

According to Wikipedia, Jioufen, also known as Jiufen or Chiufen (Chinese pinyin: Jiufèn), is a mountain town in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County near Keelung, Taiwan. During the Qing Dynasty, there were nine families in the village, thus the village would request “nine portions” every time shipments arrived from town. Later Jiufen (“Nine portions” in Chinese) became the name of the village.

Jiufen was only an isolated village until n gold was discovered in the area in 1893. The village was developed into a town, and reached its peak during the Japanese rule. Many present features of Jiufen reflect the era under Japanese colonization. During World War II, a POW camp named Kinkaseki was set up in the village, holding Allied soldiers captured in Singapore (including many British) who worked in the nearby gold mines. Gold mining activities declined after World War II, and the mine was shut off in 1971. Jiufen quickly went into decline and forgotten.

In 1989, Taiwanese director, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s movie “A City of Sadness” was filmed here, and became a big hit in the theaters. As a result Jiufen revived its popularity. The nostalgic scenery of Jiufen in the film charmed many people into visiting Jiufen. In the 90s, Jiufen experienced a tourist boom. Retro-Chinese style cafés, tea houses, and souvenir stores bearing the name “City of Sadness” were built. At present, Jioufen is a renowned tourist attraction of Taiwan. It draws many tourists from Taipei and abroad, especially during the weekends.

Date visited: April 2007

Let us look at examples about traffics. People obey traffic laws because they are afraid of being fined for not being compliance. For example, drivers comply to the speed limits because they are afraid that if they go beyond the speed limit, the police or speed cameras would detect their vehicles, and they would end up receiving tickets. Cars are parked at proper parking bays because the owners are afraid that if they don’t, the vehicles might be clamped. If this is the mentality that people based on, imagine a situation when the laws are not enforced. For example, with the absence of the police, speed cameras and traffic wardens, people will do anything they like. At one instance, I over heard a group of people discussing about beating the speed camera by driving faster than the speed the camera can detect. Their idea amazed me, as it would have totally defeated the real purpose of why the laws are enforced in the first place.

In the world of investment, stock market is an excellent indicator to gauge the confidence and fear of the investors. While real estate properties, gold and oil prices are largely governed by the rule of supply and demand, they are also influenced by the sentiment of the investors as well. When crisis emerges, for example a war threat, the usual reactions are that the stock prices, real estate properties will drop, gold and oil prices will rise. These reactions are influenced by both opportunities and fears. People who have positive thoughts will capitalize on the opportunities, while people who are motivated by fear will withdraw from the market as they are worry of losing. In actual fact, the latter will lose out even more as they reacted based on their fears rather than facts.

If you remember the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, there was a presidential poll carried out by the previous Iraq government for the one-candidate presidential election. People showed up in thousands to cast their votes. As everyone might have guessed, the Iraqis had voted 100% to re-elect President Saddam for another seven years term. I remember seeing an Iraqis official told the disbelieved western media on TV, “You may not believe it, but it’s true, everyone loves President Saddam Hussein…” Few years after the event, the American and its coalitions invaded and overthrown the Iraq government, as the latter was accused of possessing the “weapons of mass destruction.” If you have watched the reactions of the Iraqi people at that time, people showed up in thousands on the street celebrating the downfall of Saddam Hussein. They showed how much they had hated him and welcome the invaders. These are the same people who have given President Saddam 100% support during his heydays.

Based on the above separate situations, I could not help but to be amazed by how people think and react to the situations. When a car owner is motivated by fear, they do not regard safety as the main priority while using the roads. They would seize opportunity to break the rules for their convenience whenever possible. The investors motivated by fear will react irrationally when crisis emerges in the market place. The people fear of their dictators will have  decision swings when the power of the oppressors diminished. Fear based decision has contributed to the creation of negative decisions and wrong actions being made every day in our lives, and yet many of our decisions cannot escape the influence of fear.

Having said that, some people would argue that fear has its positive effects on us as well. For example, fear helps us to avoid potential dangers; fear of law makes our society in order; fear of being into poverty makes us work hard for our family; fear of getting bad grades motivate students to study; and the list could go on and on. However, my point is that fear should not be the ultimate root of our decision, the source of our decision should come from the core principles we believe in.

Dr Stephen R. Convey once talked about “Principle Centered Leadership” in his book. People who make decision based on the truth – the “true north” principles will not be easy sway by worries and negative thoughts. This implies that there is universal “goodness” that we can follow that will not change due to external factors around us. The principles should benefit everyone and not only for our selfish gains. For example, when we follow traffic regulations, our decision should originated from the truth that we care about the safety and convenience of general public rather than fear of being fined. When we make our financial investment, deep down in our core, we need to have the intention of generating wealth to help our family and people around us, and not for personal greed, which is actually motivated by the fear of losing. If we are unfortunate enough to come under an oppressive power, even if we are not able to immediately confront the oppressor, we must resolve to stay alert for opportunities may arise to make good of the situation, and help to ease the suffering of other victims whenever we can.

No doubt that we will still have fears in our lives, and they will be of great influence on how we decide, but behind these fears, we need to back them up by core principles. We must make sure that our decisions originated from these principles and nothing else. Then, only we can safely said we do not regret our decisions. It is impossible to list all principles that should guide us in our lives. However, according Dr Covey, we can find out if we live based on principles by observing our characters. There are three character traits:

• Integrity – are we able to keep meaningful commitments and promises?
• Maturity – are we able to step out of our self-centered perspectives and to develop meaningful relationships with others.
• Abundance mentality – do we believe that there is plenty out there for everybody, and do not worry about other people taking away our shares?

If the answers are “yes”, then we have freed ourselves from fear based decision trap and achieve principle based characters. A word of caution, even if you found that you have achieved principle based characters now, it does not guarantee that you will stay principle centered for the rest of your life. We could be on the right track today, and making wrong decisions again tomorrow. We need to have constant reflections about our decisions.

On the other hand, is the worry about “losing our principle based characters” a type of fear? I would say yes, but the fear is backed up by the resolution of wanting to stay on course towards the truth in you.

This is actually an incredible finding, let me tell you why…

The popular beliefs in our society largely have been based on the “materialism” philosophy. According to materialism, the only thing that exists is matter or energy. Human’s consciousness about the world is created through our interaction with the material. In other words, the material determines consciousness. Without being too philosophical, let me give an example. This may not a good example, but it may be easier for people to relate. “We need to have a lot of money (material) before we can feel happy (consciousness).” Although not all people fully agree with materialism, but we cannot deny that  most of the time, we are “materialistic”; while at other time, we can be “spiritual”.

There is nothing wrong of being materialistic. We could not have developed so much if we did not make use of matter and energy around us. However, our progress is accompanied by problems. For example, global warming due to the way we use the matter and energy resources. Our family ties are weakening because of our quest for wealth and material achievements. Perhaps we are going too far on “materialism”, and need to balance it with “spiritualism”.

The problem with spiritualism is that it is hard to be scientifically proven. In religions, we were told stories about the signs of God, and how prophets that have used their power to change physical things with their thought. We have also seen magic being perform that give us the illusion that certain people’s minds can change physical things. However, we still think that those are rare cases. Most of the magic will not happen to us in our daily lives. Dr Masaru has given us a hope that we could be wrong. Human consciousness can actually change the state of the water crystal. If our thought can change the state of the water crystal, think of what it can do the other things around us. If all of us think of loving kindness, we might have created a much beautiful world.

However, there are criticisms about Dr Masaru works. He has been criticized for not having sufficient control on his experiments and not sharing enough details of his approach with the scientific community. Hence, the skeptics thought that he chose to see what he wanted to see in his experiments. Nevertheless, we are not here to discuss the credibility of his findings. What I would like to point out is the power of collaboration. If all of us think the same way, and Dr Masaru is correct, our thought is going to influence the world the way we want it to change. On the other hand, if Dr Masaru is wrong, we have nothing to lose. Our positive thought could help to motivate each of us to physically work towards what we want the world to be. In that sense, consciousness can change material world. The important point is that we do it collaboratively, and not individually. That is why I believe in the power of prayers, regardless of whether we are more incline towards materialism or spiritualism.

I think Dr Masaru’s finding, whether proven to be true or not, has contributed to building a hope for better future for human being. All of us have the same big dream, but we have chosen to work differently in our approaches. You may notice that I have not moved away from the idea of collaboration. I think this is the only way that we can generate positive impact to the world and provide us with the better future.

Human has limitations. There are always somebody or some things out there, which are better. When we strive towards perfection, we will stumble onto obstacles. Some of the obstacles can be overcome, but many are too hard for our capability. No matter what happen, we cannot stop moving, otherwise our lives will be empty. Hence, the only way we can do is to live the best we can.

I created this blog seeking to create an environment that will trigger life-changing experience. Deep inside, I know that I have to start somewhere. I do not have perfect English, nor do I have great writing skill, but I cannot wait until I have learned perfect English before I start blogging. I cannot wait until I know how to write like a writer before I start writing.

I do not think I have enough wisdom to teach anyone about lives and how to change their lives. However, I cannot wait until I am wise enough to teach the world, which will probably never happen. I believe I can create an environment where we can learn together through words, pictures and videos that touch our hearts.

Somehow, I know that we need to move on, or else, life will be filled with emptiness. Feeling empty is scarier than death. Life has to move on whether we are ready or not. If there is one thing that I have learned, I have learned that we need to be the best humanly possible in everything we do.

The authourity has warned that population increase may not be a good thing. The indications show that a world of seven billion people pose many challenges, and countless opportunities to make a positive difference. The main worry is the scarcity of resources to support that ever-growing population. Most of the high growth populations are from the poorer regions. This will eventually create even greater problem in terms of food supplies, healthcare and social instability.

According to the experts, disaster triggered by the growing population will lead to a Malthusian catastrophe. Political economist Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) suggested that once the world population outgrows the food and energy supply, a catastrophic situation would occur.  Mass starvation and energy crisis will occur and trigger a decline in our population. In other word, we are heading towards a prospect of great misery when the world population re-adjusts itself to the “equilibrium” level.

While we seem to head towards a bleak future, there are critics who think otherwise. These people believe that rather than food supply determining population, it is the population levels that determine the production of food and energy resources. In her book The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure, Ester Boserup pointed out that “necessity is the mother of invention”. Due to the population growth, human will find creative ways by inventing new technology and applying new methods to overcome the limitations. This painted a positive picture of our future, which believe that human will prevail against the nature.

Nevertheless, I believe the future is neither all bleak nor rosy. While we are able to be more creative to overcome limitations impose by nature in certain areas, we have also experienced the power of Mother Nature over us. In addition, there are social causes for misery, such as ignorance, greed, bad government, unjust laws, or war, that cause even more lost of lives. We must put our knowledge into good use to reduce suffering of the people, and at the same time be mindful about our limitations. We have the power to make the world better, but our power has its limit.

We know where we are heading towards, whether we like it or not. We just have to be prepared to what is ahead. As the world population surpasses seven billion marks, I believe being collaborative in our approach will make us more effective in reducing the negative effects of growing populations. Even that will not be enough to change everything to our advantage. We just need to do our best and our best can only be achieved when we work collaboratively.

Nonetheless, we know that we have not seen the last of the Internet. The fiber optic cables remained intact. In fact, these cables have enable people from around the world to enjoy much cheaper Internet connection. In addition to that, with further advancement of technology, the networks went invisible. Wireless Internet started to roam the earth. New breeds of Internet based economic activities started to take shape. Social networking, web 2.0, infopreneur, affiliate marketing, viral marketing, and e-business have become widely known terms. One of the new marketing business emerged from the scene was the “Internet Marketing”.

Since then, Internet marketing has attracted many new players. Many have taken advantage of the new opportunity and make incredible amount of money. The fact that we can earn for living from the comfort of our home is very appealing indeed. However, Internet marketing experts have warned the people against the impression of making fast money. The business requires a lot of hard work and commitment. In fact, the failure rate of this business is very high just like any traditional business.

In a traditional product value chain, the manufacturers, marketers and distributors are paid due to their services in delivering value products to the consumers. These people are paid accordingly based on their contributions in delivering physical products to the customers. However, there is a group of people who have contributed their knowledge but may not be rightfully rewarded. Take a hypothetical example, A taught B the knowledge to run a business. B uses the knowledge to run a successful business and profited from it. In most cases, A will not be rewarded unless A is directly involved in the business. Hence, A as a knowledge worker is not rightfully rewarded.

However, we can see that it is changing right now. From online activities such as the Internet marketing, we can observe how knowledge economy takes shape. People who share knowledge are now being rewarded through Internet marketing activities. They have found the value chain of their own. It did not happen because of our meticulous plan; it evolved naturally as though it has a life of its own. No one is able to control the directions or the development. This is a good sign, as organic growth is usually more sustainable than artificial ones. A sustainable knowledge economy is indeed good news for the new knowledge workers, the Internet marketers whom we now call “infopreneurs”.

Inforpreneurs are the people who share and distribute knowledge to the world. Regardless of whether they create their own knowledge or simply taking it from someone else, they are helping people to learn. Their values are paid through advertisements; affiliate marketing, and subscriptions, perhaps many other forms. Hence, I consider inforpreneurs as a part of the contributors to the “value chain”, just like other distributors in the traditional processes.

I believe we still in the primitive stage of the information value chain. As the value chain evolved, we will be able to extend it further upstream to people who are not usually included in our mainstream value chain, for example, elderly people. Elderly people may not have the physical strength to contribute to the mainstream economy like they used to be. However, they have wealth knowledge that could be shared. As knowledge contributors, they need to be rightfully rewarded. In this way, we can extend the chain to enable wealth distribution all the way to the knowledge source. If the elderly people can use their knowledge as resources to gain financial revenue, they will not need to rely on their children or the government to support them during old age. This will be an effective way to resolve our problem about the aging society.