The ambience on campus has changed. There are no longer classes this semester. Most students still have to go through a couple of exams. Since wrapping my classes up for this semester, I haven’t even set a foot in the buildings in which classrooms and offices are situated. Instead, I’m winding down. Whilst winding down, I turned one of Changchun’s bookshops upside down. The purpose of the exercise came down to getting my hands on exactly the right book to read over the summer holiday.

A lot of thought has gone into it. During my first semester in Changchun I read a few novels penned by Chinese authors. However, I don’t wanna overdo it with Chinese literature. Changing track may be the right thing to do every now and then. After doing some digging, I managed to unearth the right book for this summer holiday. It brings about the perfect change. When crashing out on my couch, I read Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. You need no reminding. The title and the plot ring a bell.

Gone with the Wind revolves around Scarlett O’Hara and her relationships with Rhett Butler and Ashley as well as Melanie Wilkes. The plot’s set around the American Civil War. That’s exactly the reason why I’ve picked the book. I’ve always felt drawn to the Confederacy. Please don’t give me a whole load of bloody rubbish along the lines that I’m a racist or…..Black cronies of mine in the city of gold took me to shebeens in Soweto before most folks outside South Africa had a clue about shebeens.

Be that as it may. My sympathy for the Confederacy kicked in when I turned into a Johnny Cash fan as a student. The Man in Black mentioned Robert E. Lee in one of his songs. I didn’t have the foggiest clue about Robert E. Lee and did some digging. American readers need no filling in. Robert E. Lee served as senior military adviser to Jefferson Davis, the only President of the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee once in a while outmaneuvered his superior adversaries from the North in the Civil War. After all, he enjoyed the reputation of a savvy and shrewd tactician.

Financial Cooperation In Greater China

Even though the turf looks entirely different, savvy and shrewd business dealings seem to be playing out in Greater China. Fubon Financial, said to be one of Taiwan’s largest banking outfits, looks set to acquire a stake in Xiamen City Commercial Bank. Xiamen City Commercial makes the cut for a rather smallish and regional bank, not a national or global player. Yet an educated guess relays to me that this acquisition’s likely to be the first step towards plentifully more financial cooperation across China and Taiwan as well as Hong Kong and Macau. We shall soon discover…..

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