Summer is receding but before it's completely over I was able to catch the last outdoor symphony concert in a beautiful grove. The grove is deep with towering trees such that it can hold a few thousands of audiences and a full stage concert.

We arrived very early to avoid the traffic and to get the best seats. The grove has a 3 mile walking trails, which led to a very seclusive lake on its west side and a lovely meadow on its east side, the trail also went up to the slope of the surrounding area, where still had wild flowers, surprising and pleasant. Of course we explored every bit of the trail.

I was concerned if they would put up the same programs and performers for this outdoor concert as they did in the city Opera House, they did! The first half of the concert was the exciting Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, one of my favorites, the solo pianist, an Israeli young pianist, was very good but the orchestra was slightly lack of dynamic tension with the pianist, only slightly. The 2nd half was featured with Dvorak's beautiful Symphony No. 9 ""From the New World"", very moving, perfect! When it came to the end, the crowds simply refused to leave, so the orchestra repeated a very lyrical part of the 2nd movement as an encore, a beautiful ending.

这是几天前沿着海岸在雾天和几个朋友步行了大约20公里所看见和感受的自然风光 - 海风，海浪，海鸟，礁石和各种各样的野花，还有许许多多叫不上名字的植物...我的 Hiking on A Foggy Day 影集里有更多照片。

I have done several long hikes recently, this is one of them that I did a few days ago - a hike along the coast, about 20km(~12miles) long, on a foggy day.

It is not the first time I hiked on this trail, I have done it once before, with our "hiking troop" (16 people!) on a sunny day. I still remember the ocean was sparkling blue dotted with sea rocks washed by white waves - a perfect scenic picture. However the hike was at a quite fast pace, I wished we could have spent a bit more time to enjoy. Since then I have been thinking to do this hike again with just a few friends at a more relaxing pace ...

So here we are, just four of us back on this trail again in a foggy day (taking a slightly different route). The atmosphere was quite different this time - Under the misty veils the rigorous coastal vegetation on the small hills looks so lush green as if we walked into a botanic garden; the colorful wild flowers bloom abundantly, decorating the trails like welcoming smiles; The cool wind was a bit chilly but not really cold, making waves and sounds, and the air is so fresh, it was wonderful.

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一个月内再版10次，从首印七万加印至52万册的《中国不高兴》，从3月初一上市就引发世界性的报导热潮和大量评议。这是一本把持主流媒体的精英们害怕并大张旗鼓批判的书，一本通俗易懂，敢于质问中国当政者，直言内政外交的书... 这里是普通读者评论和完整PDF版本。

This new book has become an instant success in China, already sold over 520,000 copies since the beginning of March, 2009 (The publisher printed 70,000 copies for the first publication, but had to reprint 10 times in less than 45 days). Time magazine as well as other English media conveniently framed it as "nationalism", but, is it? Most Chinese, at least the majority, don't think it that way. Why? I guess, because Chinese people are indeed unhappy with the current situation. Chinese are no longer impressed by the official line of "economic achievement" because it was at the expense of our natural resource depletion, environmental degradation and social inequity expansion. Chinese believe this world could be far better than the current model and China should do better and do good for the people and for the world, such belief has little to do with "nationalism" but much to do with the basic value of Chinese civilization.

This book took a critical view of China's reforms in the past 15 years and I am sure it won't be the last one that takes such stand. It sharply criticizes China's political, economic and academic elites, who have misled the nation in the reform policies and they are especially responsible for the corrupted system and culture today which in some ways are similar to that of the Qing Dynasty - China's last dynasty.

People should read the book in original instead of reading the "news comments". The book is by no means perfect, it was written based on a group discussion of five intellectuals and some of the ideas may be too simplistic, however, the significance is that this book has caused tremendous debates among ordinary people about current policies and the nation's future, and it seems to be the first book that the government allowed to openly criticize its reform policies.

《中国不高兴》目录：

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