YOGAYUGA

I joined a baking class today, and baked my first Mango Napoleon! I followed the recipe and teacher’s instruction. It wasn’t difficult. It turned out much better than I thought actually. My parents like it. They said it tastes very delicious and just right, not too sweet as those in restaurants. I will learn to bake coffee cheese cake and apple crumple next time when I have time again. It is always nice to cook yourself delicious food. Homemade food and cakes are always healthy as you can control the ingredients. I am pleased with what I have done today. ^_^

There are millions of Chinese toys being recalled by the US recently. UK and Australia are also involved. Personally, I have my own opinion on this issue. I am also in the industry. I can see the problems occurred in both buyers and sellers.

Chinese production needs to be under strict control policy. This is the overall understanding of buyers worldwide towards Chinese market. The labour cost is low, so the production cost is low. This is why Chinese production is popular. Eg. Chinese production costs USD0.30/plush toy vs US production cost USD10.00/plush toy It’s a big difference. Strict policy is very much related to the production cost. If strict requirement needed to be achieved then certain policies should be adopted before products shipped aboard. A piece of plush toy is qualified to pass the standard international safety testing, which should cost USD1.00 - USD1.50/pc. If buyers gave a high price for purchasing, the factory will use high quality raw material to produce. But if the price was low, then they can only use inferior materials for production. This is the matter of fact. You get what you pay. Sometimes, it is really not a good idea to bargain too hard with Chinese manufacturers, as buyers will risk getting shoddy products.

Per my personal experience, every production of 100,000pcs of toys required two details testing conducted by international safety service before everything shipped to the U.S. If the quantity is up to 500,000pcs, then it will require three details testing to be conducted as well as factory audit. There will be up to 10% - 20% of products being tested and inspected randomly in one shipment. More testing conduct, more costs need to pay. It’s all about money issues. All qualified testing are well covered such as high lead content, physical and mechanical testing, packing evaluation and heavy metals analysis. If any of these couldn’t be passed, none of pieces can leave China. Design problem can also be tested under these criteria. We don’t allow suppliers to send us samples for testing. We appointed our testing service to collect samples on site. No one can cheat. This is adopted and restricted by our clients in the U.S. The testing service is appointed by them. They limited any chance of getting risk. They pay much more on their products, but we all are safe. No one will make any compensation in the end. They really get what they should have.

I am not trying to say who is making mistake, but I honestly don’t understand how come those big brand toy companies would have these problems occurred after they had their products on shelves. All the problems they are facing now, they can solve them right at the beginning. They are buyers, so they can control what they get. They just need to conduct very tighten control plan for every single detail process. It certainly requires them to pay much more on their production costs. Some toy recalls are actually back to 2003, then certainly they hadn’t done much control planning. The victims are consumer in the end.

Chinese production really needs to be controlled and strictly instructed according to my experiences. You need to tell the suppliers “YOU HAVE TO DO THIS” “IF YOU DIDN”T DO THIS, WE CAN’T HAVE OUR BUSINESS MAINTAINED” I always tell my suppliers they have to pass this and that, otherwise, they will pay all failure charges. I must tell them fact rather than let them to take everything too easy. It’s always very tough situation in Mainland production.

Regardless of what the issues are, I don’t believe Chinese production is all bad. It needs support and instruction of international partners. It needs smooth communication and co-operation of various parties solving these issues. Once mistakes made, there must be improvement. It could be an unlucky period for Chinese production, but it’s also a good way to step forward, and learn. This is how I think.

Old lady: Good Afternoon! Lately, I found some fruits missing. I saw you walking in, so I just followed you. Oh!…I am sorry to disturb you. (she said with smile)

Me: Oh! I come here occasionally. My mum asked me to pay our respects sometimes. I didn’t take any fruits at all.

Old lady: Oh! I am sorry to disturb you. No, no, no…I don’t mean you…

Me: It’s alright……don’t worry about it!

She still smiled, and left……

There is a little local temple in my village, which has over 100 years of history. It’s one of the well known local historical architectures in H.K. It’s nothing religious. It’s actually part of the traditional custom of people who originally live in this village. People pay for their respects by visiting from time to time. My mum said since we live in this village, we should pay our respects by visiting sometimes. The old lady who lives in a house, where is very near to that little temple. She saw me walking in, so she followed me. I guess she thought I was the one, who took the fruits inside the temple. It’s a Chinese custom that people like placing fruits in the temple for paying their respects. I guess the lady’s fruits had been taken by people who walked pass. She wanted to know who did such things. It must be people who live in the village. After I got out, it was interesting that she was still outside the temple. She wanted to talk to me. She apologised again for her mistaken thought. I told her I live in here. I also told her that my dad does bring her old newspaper and magazines from time to time. She realised immediately who I am. She said she knows my dad and mentioned my mum is a very nice person. She asked me if I am their eldest daughter or the youngest one. I told her I am the eldest. She told me she is very pleased that I do visit their temple. It means that I do respect the people who are originally from this village. The temple is their historical heritage. She found very rare that outsider would visit village’s heritage. This lady is from this village originally. She does collect old magazines and newspaper to sell to recycling collector. This is what many old people do in HK especially for those who live in the village. It’s one of their ways to spend their time. Money earning may not be the major purpose.

We are not originally from the village we live in. We bought house, and moved in. Village people have their own culture and traditional custom. It’s a good way that outsiders should understand and respect how original village people behave. Most of them are very simple and conservative, especially the elderly. If you respected their tradition, they would respect you in return. If you did something to harm their village, they would be against you together.

I am not surprise that she was curious about me. Outsiders usually are not interested in village’s heritage. Well, I am always capable adapted into others’ culture and tradition no matter where I am. I am happy to do so. ^_^

I bought a new book today on the book sales, The Rules of Life by Richard Templar. Those theories are great, very meaningful and useful. It is a book to teach you how to have a meaningful life with certain value; be good to yourself, and be good to others. It also teaches you how to be happy. There is only a line of difference between happiness and unhappiness. It all depends on how you choose it. It’s just a simple choice. Happiness is also part of theory of simplicity.

I bought quite a lot of books ages ago, but I don’t buy books much now, especially novels. I only buy when I really like it. I only like reading non-fiction books. Well, I used to read lots, and lots of novels long time ago. I read a lot when I was in N.Z. I borrowed lots of books from Wellington city library, which is located on Victoria Street, Wellington. It is the most stylish library I have ever been. It’s huge and well designed. You won’t miss any books in there. You can borrow up to six books each time during that period for two weeks. I sat there and read for the whole day during the weekend. Most of books I read were novels. They were classic stories. Some of them were romantic novels written by Barbara Cartland. Some were stories with history background. I liked reading history books a lot, but most were European and Asian history books. I had ever attended English Literature class. It was disaster for me. No kidding! I am definitely not good enough to read script written by Shakespeare, though I like the language. I quitted the class in the end, as I must fail in the exam. hahahaha!

I was sorting out my old books at night. I want to give some to Salvation Army. These books have been with me almost twenty years. My stuff is really full of history. Dear!! I will keep the best ones. Some are cook books. Most of them are about art and design. Some are actually out of publication. I also have a series of business magazines and alumni magazines, but I will throw them away.

I will keep following books. They are great books…America’s Glorious Quilts, Painted Country, Dictionary of Ornament, Vogue special edition for models and fashion during 1964 - 1994, History of Art……..After I sorted out what I don’t want, my sister came out from her room, and told me she wants most of them. L0L Well, anyway, it’s also good. Imagine how I shipped them back, it wasn’t funny at all. I shipped them with trunk box by sea. It is a cargo service you can ship your goods by sea with a box that you can place as much stuff as you want. There was no weight limitation for each box. It costed fifty pounds per shipment from U.K. to Hong Kong. It was the way I shipped my stuff back. I wonder if this service was still existed.

I found a great photo site that you can download images for wallpaper. It’s full of images of natural environment. Sometimes, I do imagine what the real scene looks like…..and how photographers capture those shots…..

Personally, I like wallpapers with sea and sky the best. I love looking at my laptop with sea and beach as a background.

My sister came home with a gift for me. She bought me a T-shirt from UNI QLO, which is a Japanese chain store selling clothes for men and women as well as houseware items. You can even find traditional Japanese costume in there. It’s an unique chain store selling stuff with low price range, but in reasonable good quality. I did buy my mini suitcase in their Tokyo store long time ago, which only cost me 1,000.00 Yen. It was just about HKD70.00. It’s great in value as now my suitcase still looks so new. Well, anyway, it’s hard to find anything broken from my belongings. I looked at my umbrella properly today, and figured out that it has been with me for eleven years. It still looks fine, and functions well. It walked me through many sunny and rainy days.

Okay, here is my new T-shirt from my sister. She knows I love this sort of traditional Japanese pattern. It looks very Japanese. I like its handmade paper tag. It says at the back of paper:

T-shirts based on the collaboration with Japan’s traditional companies and corporations dealing with history-rich products. They were designed through the fusion of each company’s originality and our creators’ ideas. These items are characterized by their Japanese-style prints and their richness in color tone.

My mum is amazing! She made us several different sizes of cosmetic bag with my old skirt. I was giving my old skirt to Salvation army last week, which I had for more than five years. My mum picked it up, and  cut it apart to make several bags with sewing machine. How great she is! My skirt is with me again! ^_^