Tim Wang's eLearning Blog

The Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping recently launched the project proposal on a Chinese version of “Google Earth” which is based on an existing program designed and implemented by Chinese scientists called “Geo Globe”. The project will focus on sharing the geographical data in order to blend in commercial and community services.

Google Earth fans would notice that the satellite view of all cities in North America, you can almost see the license plate on each automobile. But the satellite view of the Chinese cities on Google Earth is much fuzzier. To be precise, the image data used in Google Earth for the Chinese cities are only 240 meters / cm and 8000 meters / cm for rural areas. This is because Google fetches the data from commercial companies and there are many limitations and cost considerations.

The Chinese National Survey and Mapping database has high quality and accurate GIS data over China, they have great advantages in producing a more precise “Google Earth – China”. The data obtained by Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping are collected from a variety of geographical mapping methods including both ground-based GPS mapping and aerial mapping.

There are strict laws in each country on the precise scale of GIS data being published for commercial and civilian use. Most countries limit the scale to 30-50 meters / cm. The United States government requires special approval on using any data with a resolution higher than 0.5 m. This is why Google Earth generally use image data with a resolution of 0.6 meters.

I suppose it’s a positive thing for the Chinese government to recognize a higher resolution of satellite image data is appreciated by civilian. Knowing Google Earth is capable to generate over one billion U.S. dollars on ads, it’s not surprising to see local versions of similar applications in China and India with the support of the local government agencies.

At present, Geo Globe is in an internal testing stage. It is being used by Heilongjiang Geographic Information System, Hydro department in Fujian and the National Defense Department.

Ever seen 8000 people painting together? Here you go. There were 8000 students taking an entry exam for their admission to the Shandong University of Arts. During the exam, the 8000 applicants were requested to paint specific subjects using pre-defined techniques. The exam took place at a convention center in Jinnan, the capital city of the Shandong province.

The annual Chinese Spring Festival Gala on CCTV is probably one of the most popular TV program world wide. Considering a high percentage of the 1.4 billion Chinese in China and millions around the world have watched it on multiple media platforms in the past 24 hours. The following is one of the best performance from the gala. The name of the dance is "City Transactions" which describes the revolution of the Chinese cities and the people within. It's a dance well designed with multimedia displays and amazing stage technologies. Make sure you watch it at HD quality!

watch the original youtube clip for wide screen and full screen experience.

Oh, btw, Happy Chinese New Year, the year of OX!

I have just surprisingly learned that the Chinese online education service provider – Cerbibo, has recently announced to sell 53% of their shares for the total of 10.3 million Yuan, which is only equivalent to 1.51 million US dollars. It seems the other 47% shares will also be given to the buyer for the completion of the transaction. Cerbibo is co-founded by Blackboard (the leading provider of e-Education enterprise software applications and services in America and Europe) and CERNET (China Education and Research Network, the largest Education network service provider in China). It was seen as the “dream marriage” in the Chinese e-Learning industry when the company was first formed back in October 2003. However they seems have tumbled upon some serious marketing difficulties in China.

According to the information published on the China Beijing Equity Exchange website, the total asset value of Cerbibo is 12.4 million Yuan (US $1.82 million), company debt exceed 8.8 million Yuan (US $1.29 million), the appraised value of the company is only 1.88 million Yuan (US $275,660). The annual income of Cerbibo in 2007 was 16.67 million Yuan (US $2.65 million), but the total profit was in the negatives: -1.75 million Yuan (US -$0.28 million), which means the company was operating at a loss.

I think Cerbibo’s down fall is the result of the philosophical and structural differences in the e-Learning industry between east and the west. For example, through the past exchanges with the Chinese institutions, I have observed that the Chinese online education industry focuses strongly on:
- synchronous teaching/learning methods
- heavy media components in all online courses
- mobile technology being used in eLearning
- learners appreciates flexible learning with a low cost operational infrastructure

However, the core software provider of Cerbibo, Blackboard in this case, has always focused on enterprise level solutions, self-study aspects and completely neglected the area in media and mobile technologies. Their synchronous teaching tools stay put with text chat! On the other hand, the back bone service provider CERNET is too big of a giant to provide the right marketing directions for Cerbibo. This also raise an alert to the mother company of Cerbibo - Blackboard Inc. Ever since they acquired WebCT, the company has grown so big and so fast. Can they keep their finger on the pulse of the global e-Learning marketplace? We shall wait and see...

PS. Neither Blackboard nor CERNET has publicly announced anything in regard to the share transfer, all information were collected through the China Beijing Equity Exchange office. The original source of this news is in Chinese which can be found here:
http://it.sohu.com/20080818/n258963630.shtml

Well, according to CBC, the Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony was SPECTACULAR! Combined with the 8 minutes show provided by London, the hosting city of the 2012 Olympics, it was a magnificent show bridging the east and the west! Here are some shots from the closing ceremony, credit to Xinhua Net. The ceremony started at 8:00 PM Beijing Time, 5:00AM Vancouver Time.

I woke up at 5:00 AM Vancouver time to watch the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony and I am glad I did. It was a magnificent show! Hope the following images will encourage you to watch it later if you have missed it! I have recommended all of my friends to watch it tonight when NBC shows it again.

A few hours ago, some one left a comment on my blog, that's how I first found out about the earthquake. Here's the original post:
"At that time, i was sleeping in my bedroom.My school were in Chongqing. At first, i thought i were having a dream ,but after a short time, i realized it was an earthquake. It was much noise outside.All the people flooded from the building. I just took a trousers with bare foot and jump out of my bed. Everyone was nervous and anxiety. It looks like the end day of the world. After a few minutes, people remembered calling the friends or families how they were. But they found the cell phone cannt be used. After a long time, may be half an hour, the communication was recovered. You can see nearly every one were calling. Some were afraid, the other were exciting for it was his first time:(. An hour later, people came down, but a few stay outside still. How terrible the noon is!" - 05/12/08 @ 02:44 (Vancouver Time)

This is a rather power earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9! Equivalent to 250+ Nuclear Bombs... The death so far has been over 8,600.

While many western people are wondering, "what's the big deal of Olympic?", there are 1.2+ billion people (1/6 of the entire world population) busy preparing for the event without any doubt and hesitation in their mind that this is THE most important event of the year - Beijing 2008 Olympic. There were over 30 major cities celebrated 2008 New Year's Eve with great wishes to the coming Olympics. Here are some photos from "the bell" at the:

Opening Ceremony 200-5000 yuan ($27-$667), August 8 20:00-23:59
Closing Ceremony 150-3000 yuan ($20-$400), August 24 20:00-23:59
Archery 50-100 yuan ($7-$13), August 9 to August 15
Athletics 50-800 yuan ($7-$107) August 15 to August 24
Badminton 50-500 yuan ($7-$67) August 9 to August 17
Baseball 30-150 yuan ($4-$20) August 13 to August 23
Basketball 50-1000 yuan ($7-$133) August 9 to August 24
Beach Volleyball 50-400 yuan ($7-$53) August 9 to August 22
Boxing 30-400 yuan ($4-$53) August 9 to August 24
Canoe 30-80 yuan ($4-$11) August 18 to August 23
Kayak 30-100 yuan ($4-$13) August 11 to August 14
Mountain Bike 30 yuan ($4) August 22 to August 23
Cycling Road Free ($0) August 9 to August 10 and August 13
Cycling Track 50-100 yuan ($7-$13) August 15 to August 19
Diving 60-500 yuan ($8-$67) August 10 to August 23
Equestrian 40-400 yuan ($5-$53) August 9 to August 20
Fencing 50-100 yuan ($7-$13) August 9 to August 17
Football/Soccer 40-800 yuan ($5-$106) August 6 to August 23
Gymnastics (Artistic) 50-300 yuan ($7-$40) August 9 to August 19
Gymnastics (Rhythmic) 100-400 yuan ($13-$53) August 21 to August 24
Trampoline 50-100 yuan ($7-$13) August 16 to August 19
Handball 30-300 yuan ($4-$40) August 9 to August 24
Hockey 30-150 yuan ($4-$20) August 10 to August 23
Judo 50-200 yuan ($7-$27) August 9 to August 15
Modern Pentathlon 30-200 yuan ($4-$27) August 21 to August 22
Rowing 30-80 yuan ($4-$11) August 9 to August 17
Sailing 120-600 yuan ($16-$80) August 9 to August 21
Shooting 30-50 yuan ($4-$7) August 9 to August 17
Softball 30-120 yuan ($4-$16) August 12 August 21
Swimming 30-800 yuan ($4-107) August 9 to August 21
Synchronized Swimming 60-500 yuan ($8-$67) August 18 to August 23
Table Tennis 50-800 yuan ($7-$107) August 13 to August 23
Taekwondo 50-200 yuan ($7-$27) August 20 to August 23
Tennis 100-600 yuan ($13-$80) August 10 to August 17
Triathlon 50 yuan ($7) August 18 to August 19
Volleyball 50-800 yuan ($7-$107) August 9 to August 24
Water Polo 30-400 yuan ($4-$53) August 10 to August 24
Weightlifting 30-200 yuan ($4-$27) August 9 to August 19
Wrestling 50-200 yuan ($7-$27) August 12 to August 21

China recently introduced a new giant bus - "The Super Liner" with a capacity of 300 passengers and 25 meters long (13 meters longer than a regular bus). The first operational "super bus" was seen today in Hangzhou, a city very close to Shanghai. It looks like a train running off the track. The bus stations must be half block long as well. I really admire the driver of this one.

The official language training service provider to the 2008 Olympic - EF announced recently that they are launching the "Mobile English Platform" which aims to deliver multimedia language training contents to mobile devices. Considering the 450+ million mobile phone users in China, plus the enthusiasm of learning English for the 2008 Olympics, this service will certainly penetrate a large crowd.

Beijing officials have just revealed the 2008 Olympic Torch design and the planned route of the Olympic Torch Relay. I like the torch design a lot. Both the shape and texture are beautiful. The “Propitious Cloud” texture is a traditional Chinese symbol of peace. I am glad they didn't use any Chinese Dragon or Phoenix symbols which is too much of the old Chinese imperialism. According to the Chinese press, the design was done by Lenovo and the torch implementation was done by the Chinese Space Research Lab.

The Beijing Olympic torch relay, which will travel the longest route and involve the most people in the Olympic history, will display the beautiful Chinese scenery and rich culture to the world, as well as spread the ideas of peace, friendship and harmony. - Jiang Xiaoyu, BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Games).

The Olympic Torch Relay is titled as “Journey of Harmony”. It will begin on March 30th 2008 from Athen, with the lighting of the flame at Olympia. A grand launching ceremony for the torch relay will be held in Beijing on the following day to mark the start, with the flame heading for its first stop Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 1. A split of the fire will be preserved to accompany the professional mountain climbers to the highest point of earth – Mount Everest at Himalaya.

The entire Olympic Relay will take 130 days traveling 137000 kilometers. The official web site of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay is at: http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn

A press release in regard to the 2008 Olympic tickets was made today by the Beijing Olympic officials (BOCOG). Olympic fans from the world can now register for their tickets purchases starting today. According to the press release, 75% of the overall tickets are reserved for the audiences in China and 25% of the tickets are aiming for the foreigners. There are over 700 million tickets available in total. This means the Beijing Olympic 2008 is expecting for over 175 million visitors around the world.

There will be three phases of the ticket purchasing process. From April to September 2007 is phase 1. October to December 2007 is phase 2 and April to the 2008 Olympic date (august) is phase 3.

Phase 1 is a lottery process, BOCOG is accepting ticket application requests through this ticketing website and designated Bank of China Olympic Ticket Outlets throughout China. Applications for any over-subscribed sessions will enter a random selection. Whether you submit your application early or on the last day, you will have an equal chance of securing tickets.

Phase 2 is “first come first serve” process where fans can purchase ticket through official web sites and banks. 50% of the overall tickets are expected to be sold in this phase.

All remaining tickets will be sold in phase 3 at the competition site or local ticket masters.

The official 2008 Beijing Olympic tickets purchasing information can be found at:

http://www.tickets.beijing2008.cn
you can choose the English version at the top left of the home page.

A tip for North American fans, you might want to try the web site in day time (8:00 AM to 3:00 PM) or the site is extremely slow. And sometimes inaccessible.

Just how serious can a soccer fan be? Well, here are some examples from Chinese soccer fans facing the World Cup: a man saves his TV from his own burning house and rushing to an electricity plug; another one quit his job in order to watch the tournament freely; others make deals with their wives to do all house work during the month so they can follow the games uninterrupted. Here is the full story:

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing soccer fan refused to let the small matter of his house burning down disturb his enjoyment of Tuesday's World Cup match between France and Spain.
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A fire broke out in a hutong in the center of the Chinese capital at 3am local time Wednesday -- kickoff time in Hanover -- and gutted the traditional courtyard dwelling, the Beijing Daily Messenger reported.

"When the neighbors shouted 'fire!', I took my little baby and ran out in my nightclothes," the man's wife told the paper.

"My husband paid no attention to the danger, just grabbed the television and put it under his arm.

"After getting out of the house, he then set about finding an electric socket to plug in and continue watching his game."

The anti-social timing of the matches broadcast from Germany, which is six hours behind China, has forced some Chinese fans to go to great lengths to follow the action.

One man quit his job in Beijing to return to his hometown Chongqing so he could watch the whole tournament uninterrupted.

State news agency Xinhua reported that the 23-year-old's boss at the IT company had offered him a pay rise, but he turned it down flat, saying the World Cup was more important than his job.

The Guangzhou Daily reported that local police were forced to release a thief arrested for stealing a mobile phone when the victim refused to press charges because he did not want to miss the start of a match.

Although there are also many female World Cup fans in China, one man in the southeastern city had to sign a contract with his wife agreeing to do all the housework during the month of the finals so he could watch the matches at night.

Another from Putian, Fujian province, took a less diplomatic approach, Xinhua reported.

When his cheers during the Argentina-Ivory Coast match woke his wife and she switched off the television, he locked her in their bedroom and settled back down to watch the game ignoring her loud protests.

A friend of mine sent a short msg to my cell phone 30 minutes ago about "an earthquake in BeiJing". She works in Zhong Guan Cun (Silicon Valley of China), Beijing and felt the shake on the 11th floor. It should been around 12:00 PM Beijing Time.

*** UPDATE:

Yep, Confirmed from Google News:

BEIJING - A medium-sized earthquake shook northern China on Tuesday, but no injuries were immediately reported, state television said.

State television said the quake was a magnitude 5.1 and struck around noon in an area of populous Hebei province, which surrounds the capital Beijing. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 4.9 and said the epicenter was on the Beijing-Hebei border, about 55 miles south of the capital.

The quake could be felt in Beijing but there were no immediate reports of damage.

A new career has been surfaced among the Chinese university and college students: chat with some one online and get paid! Just in case you wonder, no pornographic contents allowed in the service. The college students simply voice chat with the clients using standard video conference systems like MSN Messenger or QQ. The clients also have the option of asking the other party to play some online games (chess, MJ, Card Games etc.) along the way. The students who provide these services get paid at an average of 5000 Yuan (CAD $800) per month which is even more than what they could earn after the graduation. What are the clients looking for? Make some friends with the educated people and sometime seeking for some fresh ideas in life, according to the Chinese article... I am still a little skeptical about the service which I believe it can be easily abused and sometime bring dangerous to the service providers...

Every wondered where is the dirtiest city in the world? The answer is Lin Fen, Shan Xi, China. The world bank recently conducted a study over 20 most polluted sites around the globe, 16 of them are in China! And the top 10 are all from Shan Xi province. Lin Fen is a small city (20589 square meters with a population of 4.05 million)in Shan Xi. The city has quite a few heavy industrial factories. A CNN reporter went to the city for the follow up investigation, he only lasted one day and left the city with itchy eyes, chest pain and sour throat! The air and water are heavily polluted in the city. Residents complains that the local government knew about the pollution for long time but never did anything about it.

Steve Ballmer has signed a memorandum with China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) to help the Chinese government with the economic development in China’s rural areas.

"Microsoft will work closely with MII to reduce the digital divide and increase informatization in China’s rural communities." - Steve Ballmer

In this memorandum, Steve has promised that Microsoft will use technology to provide career training to thousands of educators in non-developed areas and will help the Chinese government to deliver distance education to hundreds thousands of students in the country sides. This echoes the recent polices on making rural development a priority.

Microsoft has also promised to train more than 70,000 software engineers through a combination of classroom instruction and distance learning. This deal seems to be a formal response to the high-profile April visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond. The Chinese government has promised to further enforce all government organizations use copy-righted software and strengthening the regulations on software piracy. Not to mention, Lenovo (the Chinese company who acquired IBM personal computer division) just signed a $1.2 billion deal with Microsoft.

The official Shaolin Temple web site (