Panjiayuan - when these three Chinese words comes, no more explanation needed, because it's so famous that is almost common known to all, at both home and abroad.

Although I was born in Beijing, I haven't been to Panjiayuan. In fact, I have strong desire to be there, and many times I went past the door of it, but I did not enter it for hastily coming and going.

Recently, I have many chances to go there for the reason you've already known. It's also a happy trip to me, so I brought my camera with me, and took pictures at all time.

I'd like to say loudly: Hello Panjiayuan, I have finally arrived!



I've met the person who is playing Chinese Pipe three times. First time, he was playing a Chinese Pipe; Second time, he was playing a Chinese flute; and third time, I saw him in panjiayuan.com>>, he was playing a cucurbit flute.

Oh my god, how great he is. I think Panjiayuan must be a place hidden lots of talents.





GUCCI in Panjiayuan.





Russian Doll with Chinese characteristics.





Outdoor market is everywhere in most parts of Panjiayuan. It's really very hot under the parasol in the mid-day summer sun.



A short noon break. The Panjiayuan Flea Market starts at about 8 o'clock in the morning on working days. But on Saturday and Sunday, It's special to start at around 4 or 5 o'clock. Around noon, sellers will have lunch and take a nap, because it's too hot in mid-day of summer, but sometimes security guard wake them up for avoiding unnecessary property loss.

I've made some bottom images for CHIBOO>>. All the three colors come from the logo of store.

As you see, the price of books has been determined basically. Do you think the price is too high for a second hand books? In fact, it's postage included. For original edition, the price is much lower than regular price and similar products', in addition, you can also receive a discount (from 5% to 30% off) on purchases in some cases (more information>>), so I think it's truly acceptable.
               
                       
                       
                       
                       
After I have finished all images, I found a terrible thing that I have no free space to store them. Problems continually emerge, so keep on trying! I've written an introduction for CHIBOO>>.

==Intorduction Start==

大家好，欢迎来到启步(RiCHI's BOOks) 

本店主要面向学生、外语（英/日）学习者以及阅读爱好者（但不止于此），经营日英原版及中文文艺社科类二手旧书。 

本店报价包含邮资，配送统一采用快递方式，同时遵循“总价满40元，九五折；满80元，九折；满150元，八折；满200元，七折”的优惠策略。
同城（北京）买家可自取，购书总价一次性作七折计算。 

如果您对本店有什么好的想法和建议，请畅所欲言。

==Introduction End==

Oh, I tried to add links for further introduction, but failed. It seems links to other website are not allowed in Taobao.com, sigh, which distractes me from plan.

How do you think about it? Any idea and suggestion is welcome.

CHIBOO has been online already, the webaddress is http://shop58763310.taobao.com, but the store is almost empty. I've learnt that it's not easy to start up a store, because registration is just a begining, although you have tasted a lot of troubles, such as creating an account of online bank, then getting name authentication and so on, and, actually, there are much more things to do next, writing store introduction and public notice, making dispatching rules, setting price for each book and releasing all of them to the net... I still have a long long way to go now.

Firstly, to make a logo for my store.

Then I have been to Panjiayuan Flea Market twice, I will tell you later, and bought some books for sale. I added these books in my Second-Hand List>> on Douban.com, you can get there to see whether there is anything interesting you. In addition, if you have any suggestion, please kindly let me know, thank you.

I was shocked. Am I superficial and ruthless?

To find out an answer, I decide to make a survey here. If it's not too much trouble to you, please help to tell me your first thought about the comics below. (PS: If you can not see the image, please click HERE>>)






This is how the story goes.

I saw the post in Chen Xiaoqing's blog>>, which was firstly posted by Milk Pig>>. Both of the two person could be considered as big names in cultural communities of China. And they are all moved by the comics above. I understand what they want to say is whatever mistakes you've done, mother will forgive you, again and again and again... At the same time, some others think it tells a type of abnormal behavior. These are two totally different views on the comics, and what's your opinion?

I said I learn one thing from it - bad son comes from kind mother. Then some one replied, what I've said is only one side of the story. What about the other side? He/She didn't explain in deail. My understanding is "bad son comes from kind mother" is a cold side, "mother will forgive every mistakes you've done" is the warm side he/she hinted.

But, I can not stand his/her idea. I think my view covers both bad son side and kind mother side. On the contrary, "moving" supporter emphasize kind mother, while "abnormal" supporter emphasize bad son, so they are one-sided.

I was shocked when I found that so many people said they were moved, that I was confused and willing to know whether I am superficial and ruthless.

Just as most office workers, my life is always as prosaic as purified water with little change - day after day, work and read, do  sports when I get back home early, or go to an occasional concert as a present to myself. Sometimes, long-lost friend might send a greeting, hey, dear, how are you today? with my answer following Oh, not bad, the same with yesterday. This is my ordinary life, but it has changed in the past month.

For some reasons, I transfer to another ream and start new work. Everything is new, no matter duties, tools or skills. But I have no much time to study and adapt myself, then got right to work again with little experience for heavy workload and urgent schedule, which makes me nervous and anxiety. I had to work overtime, even weekend days, to make sure everything would be finished on time.

At the same time, the JLPT approached. It's held once a year before, and twice since year 2009 - in December, as usual, and July. No plan is adequate enough, because you never know what could happen to you next. As you might guess, I had no much time for reviewing at the last moment, and I must be in a trance so that I even forgot to take the admission ticket. Though hope is frail, I didn't want to be a deserter, either. I asked a half day off to deal with trivial personal affairs, thank god, everything was going well.

All right, to be frank, I must confess that I am really a luck dog, the experience on the exam day was no less than a legend.

First, please allow me to say a few words about the admission ticket, on which there is personal information, time & place, as well as notice and caution. It tells me I have to arrive examination center before 8:00. In my experience, to be on the safe, I once got there around 7:30, and kept waiting till 9 when exam began. So I remember the exact exam time is one hour later than the one printed on the admission ticket. For this reason, I can earn more sleep for fresher mental state. But, I confused the time as 8:30, and mistook the exam would begin at 9:30.

When I arrived at examination center, it was almost 9:00. I found there were no people waiting for enter permission, everything went as usual. Is date wrong? I scared. Could it be yesterday??

No. A janitor helped to confirm it was the right day, then she told me the exam had begun. Oh my god, I cried, while I was rushing into the building to search for my room. I didn't know what time it was, what all I had known is I was late. When i got to the third floor, there was a checkpoint to check my admission ticket, and body temperature, to make sure I was an examinee, rather than a H1N1 victim.

Are you an examinee? A male teacher noticed me. Yes, I answered. No more words later, he led me to my room which had been filled. All examinees were waiting. For what? I though, in my muddled state of mind. The 2nd Part? Has the 1st part finished already? -- There are three seperate parts (vocabulary, listening, and reading comprehension) which are held one by one. No more time, no more time to image any more, hurried up to check addmission ticket and ID card, then prepare whatever I need, stationery, water, watch and calm mind.

Facts proved that, I missed nothing. After I took my seat and got prepared, the vocabulary exam began. I tried to focus my attention, while a storm swept my face, but it was highly effective, my head could never be more clearer any more, the feeling was great and made me relaxed very much, so that the result was much better than I've thought.

Enter the test room no later than 10 minutes after the test starts. I found the sentence on the admission tickets later, which I had never noticed at all before. So close!

Recently, I'm reading the Les Miserables>>, I like the story very much, especially the end of the Part Three. Jean Valjean was kednapped as "the generous man from the St-Etienne-Church" for blackmail, Thenardier, who once changed his name, uncovered his true identity, which put Marius into a dilemma, while Jarvet, Valjean's deadly rival, was getting closer and closer... Stop, stop, stop! Don't you think you have talked too much about it from Les Miserables in Concert>>? Yes, I know, but I can not stop, actually, there are much more stories than I've written down, that's because I'm completely insane. It moved me, and encourage me to defense of rights in real life. I've learned so much from it which makes me get stronger.

A new column is coming, it will contain every details about the CHIBOO - Richi's Books.

Mmm... Let me see, I think the story should start from...

One day, I met Vivi online. She is one friend of mine, who I seldom see. So we exchanged news about recent situation with each other.

I said, I wanna start up a store.
Online? She asked.
Yes.

It's very common to start up a store online in China now. Global economic crisis gives rise to a job losses, it becomes more and more difficult to find a satisfactory job, or even a job, especially for the college graduates without any work experience. Government encourages job-waiting youth to become self-employed. Starting up an online store to do C2C business seems a good choice for its low threshold.

What's Scope? Vivi asked.
Maybe ... Books? My reply was not for sure.
What about purchase channel?
I have no any idea about it at all, I am only vaguely aware that given my character, I think I should go it alone and start my own business.

What has been always bothering me a lot is that I don't submit to any kind of compromise which makes me deeply uncomfortable. Although I don't believe astrology, it gives an explanation that Leo is always as proud as Lucifer. Going it alone, starting my own business is just what I want to do now. I have thought it over again and again, but it's nothing but an idea in my mind, till now, it becomes more concrete and clearer.

I think clothes is a better choice, Vivi suggested, the purchase channel is your aunty.

As she said, clothing store must be much easier to start up for me than books store, because my aunty is a senior clothing wholesaler, in other words, the purchase channel is readily available with no worries about getting cheated or picking styles.  But I choose books at last, I think I should do something I've known well and been interested in, so that I'm willing to devote all my enthusiasm into it.

Several days later, I talked about the same topic with my sister.
I want to start up a books store online. I said to her.
Really? She showed her big surprise. The same with my friend! She said. She start up a book store too.
Then she sent a picture of the shop to me.
The shop is not my type, small and common, but I felt strongly envious, because someone close have done what I want to. I can not stand for waiting any more, Nike tells me, just do it!

Will you succeed? I asked myself this time.

Of course, It's great to manage well, but even if not, it's also great to own such many good books at a low price, and all in all, in both cases I will gain invaluable experience. For the reason above, maybe I do not succeed in your opinion, but I will never fail in my opinion.

Maybe I'm not sure how long the way is, but I'm sure it's there leading to my dreams, starting up a books store with free expression of personality is one of them.

So here it is, CHIBOO, the Richi's Books, is the first step on my way.

Competition is everywhere.

Joyo(Amazon)>> and Dangdang>> are two leading B2C websites in China with similar business scope, marketing model and user group. They seem to be twins, just as Coca cola and Pepsi cola, Mcdonald's and KFC, Rejoice and Pantene ...

One day, I heard that many bestsellers in Joyo started to be sold at a bargain price for sales promotion. Fortunately, It's just around my payday. So I made moves when it's necessary to make moves without any hesitation.





Then, after I had placed the order, I noticed that, in fact, the price in Dangdang for the same book is also not high too much. I felt shocked suddenly - have I paid a higher price?

For an answer, I paid a little further attention on the price comparison between Joyo and Dangdang, and finally found an interesting phenomenon.







Got it?

The prices of the four books I bought in Joyo are all 0.1 Yuan lower than Dangdang's.

Tiny difference ushers a rat race.

Thanks to Britain's Got Talent>>, a TV program from the distant England which is now coming more and more popular in China mainland, and Auntie Susan's wonderful show>> make me start to know about the Les Miserables in Concert>>.

Before I watched the stage musical, I have not read the masterpiece from Hugo and know little about the story, although my mom recommended it to me many times that it's really a great work.

Today, both of the story and the music of the musical of Les Miserables move me deeply. I have a strong desire to tell you how much I love it and to share it with you.

I'd like to recommend some fragments to you, which make me a profound impression,
04 I Dreamed a Dream>>. Solo from Fantine.
10 The Confrontation. Duet from Jean Valjean and Javert, a very heated argument.
11 Castle on a cloud. Solo from young Cosette, very beautiful child's voice. There are two children in the whole musical, a boy and girl. To my surprise, they are young, but very professional.
12 Master of the House>>. Solo and Duet from Mr. and Mrs. Thenardier. They are villains, so that the two performer have no opportunity to join in the final chorus. But the performance is excellent and the music is great, funny and vivacity, which make the dark theme a little bright. Viewers are easy to take part in its atmosphere, laugh and beat time.
15 Stars>>. If Valjean is a good man, as his sworn enemy, is Javert a bad man? I don't think so. He follows his way tenaciously, because he think it's right. So he pray to stars that he will arrest Valijean to do his duty. But he don't understand the world has been changed, so he kill himself at last.
17 Do You Hear The People Sing?>> Chorus from everyone. No more words, just listen it, because it's great.

Now, If you feel interested in it, the easiest way is watching online, here is the Part I>> and Part II>> on Youku.com, or downloading>> on VeryCD.com with Emule>>.

Are you patient enough to wait long time for curtain call? There are 17 "Valjean"s from 17 countries, sang the same song of Do You Hear The People Sing, in 17 languages. Ok, here it is:


Do you hear the people sing

Do you hear the people sing
Singing a song of angry men
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes

Will you join in our crusade
Who will be strong and stand with me
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free

Do you hear the people sing
Singing a song of angry men
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes

Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Some will fall and some will live
Will you stand up and take your chance
The blood of the martyrs
Will water the meadows of France

Do you hear the people sing
Singing a song of angry men
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes

PS: Is there anyone who can tell me who is the composer of Les miserables, Weber if someone else?

May 2nd. It was the second day of the May Day holiday.

Mom said, "Let's go to the Botanical Garden! Will you?"
I thought I could not throw a wet blanket on her passion, so I said "Yes", although there are countless "No"s in my heart actually. : P

Every bus, going to Xiangshan(Fragrance Hill, it's quite near to Botanical Garden) directly, was crowded. For a relatively comfortable trip, I decided to take another busline, and then change to the right one on half way.

So we went to Summer Palace instead, because the bus was so empty(relatively, in fact, not very much) that we made the mistake of thinking that there are fewer people in Summer Palace than Botanical Garden.



But when we arrived at there and had a glimpse in through the gate, "perhaps, the Botanical Garden can be a better choice?" I said to myself, "the area is much bigger, at lease."



Many vendors converged on the bus station outside of Summer Palace to sell kinds of goods, but they are not welcome in some certain area and kept off.





Finally, we arrived at the place of dream.



Although it was around mid-day, people's enthusiasm was much hotter than the weather.



Returning is also a big problem.

Whichever bus you take, there is a long long line waiting for your joining.

How people mountain people sea it was!

I once saw the same situation when I was little. At that time, there was no line at all, but endless chaos and crowd. Today, some ten years later, civilization seems to become better and better than ever before.



"Ten Yuan, to the No. 1 subway." Unlicensed cabs parked along the roadside, and drummed up their business. If you are not patient enough of prolonged waiting, maybe, I said maybe(no experience, no voice), it will be a win-win-win choice for unlicensed cab drivers, tourists and mass transit system.

A lovely smiling face.



Actually, everyone desires happy times to enjoy themselves in rarely holidays.



Besides the water, into the nature, to be a traveler.



To see how ants move house,



Or some different sunshine.