September 2009 – Junjun's Home

H1N1: Is It That Serious?

自从今年春天在墨西哥第一次爆发了H1N1（国内称甲型H1N1，此处简略）以来，世界范围内就开始了第一轮的传播。只是第一轮传播似乎并没有波及到中国大陆。援引大陆媒体的报道，中国大陆出现的似乎多为输入型病例。然后，随着最近各个高校，尤其是北方高校的广泛传播，H1N1这个消失了几个月的关键字再次出现在了互联网和人们的面前。而专家们对即将到来的十一长假忧心忡忡，很多高校甚至于取消了十一长假。

今天武汉的天气很好，大清早就阳光灿烂，但是关于H1N1的消息却不是如阳光般那么惹人喜欢。WHO的总干事陈已经于早些时候承认了第二次甲流的爆发。而北京等地已经开始了甲流疫苗的疫苗接种工作。如2003年的SARS那样，可以料定的是，北京的甲流感染群仍旧是最庞大的。其原因有几个：

北京是首都，每天从全国各地甚至于世界各地来往的旅客非常多，而H1N1本身具有1-7天的潜伏期。在潜伏期内的携带病毒者往往难以发现。待发现时，病毒已经一定程度上散开。在如此高人口流动率，且具有高人口密度的地方，H1N1的瞬间大规模爆发似乎也很能理解。其实这也可以解释为什么日本的疫情如此严重，因为东京等日本城市的人口密度绝不会低于北京。
另一个原因则是新闻管制方面的问题。这个在国内大众媒体是一个“潜规则”，也是往往不敢提的。如SARS在北京的爆发，一开始从卫生部长到各级官员均矢口否认，后来不记得是CNN还是ABC把数据给捅了出去，而且其时北京疫情已经相当严重，无法继续隐瞒，才不得已公开。记得SARS爆发后的第二年，也即2004年，美国Science期刊，一份科学类的顶级学术期刊上曾有一个短讯，报道了中国两位学者曾对中国的SARS疫情进行了流行病学调查，并写成了报告投递给了英国的一份重要期刊。但是三个月后作者却要求撤稿，理由是“Governmental Regulations”。这样的管制后果是严重的。广大不了解真相的市民往往会忽略自我保护的必要，从而大大增加了感染的风险。

相比较城市的爆发，高校的爆发可能会有更严重的问题。自从1990年代末中国高校开始扩招，现在中国的高校已经人满为患。一旦在高校中大规模爆发，其扩张程度将是令人乍舌的。早先香港学校的爆发，以及现在中国北方的爆发都说明了这一点。其实除了人口密集问题，高校还有一个更严重的问题，那就是行政效率低下以及后勤保障落后。这点在武汉等二线城市的高校更加明显。试想，在大规模爆发之时，各项指示和工作无法按时传达和执行，大学医疗机构缺乏足够的专业人士和医疗器材来应对，后果将如何？诸位不言自明。

但是令我们感到惊奇的是，与墨西哥一墙之隔的美国，对于H1N1的反应却出奇的平淡。尽管美国各州感染人数大幅攀升，CNN等大型媒体却永远没有将其作为一个流行话题来报道。而我美国的朋友对此的反应也颇为平淡。H1N1在他们眼里不过是一个平常的感冒。我想这与他们本身的个性和美国高级的医疗保障有关吧？毕竟治疗H1N1的“达菲”正是从美国进口，而中国现在则是以紧急情况为由而直接复制，否则我等国民根本无法抵御在知识产权保护下的药品售价。这就是为什么我们的感冒药效果总是不是那么理想，呵呵，谁让我们用的是20年前的东西呢？

Personal Website in China: How Far Can It Go?

China, quite an unique country that owes dual standards on the information regulations. That is, the restriction on the public discussion on some political affairs and issues tend to be mitigated when there are some large international conference holding, like the passing-by Olympics. But for other days, all these restrictions remain. The access to various websites, including blogspot.com, wordpress.com, and facebook are totally abandoned. However, the restriction can be far more than this if you are holding a website for yourself, and unfortunately, you are using a domain hosted by Chinese companies and they are settled on a server in China (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are excluded). The government can offer you strict supervising especially when you are writing political articles.

Bill, a good friend of mine, who is also a fan on programming and internet, stopped his website recently due to the delete of his account by his ISP, 000space. Unlike the previous accidents that he suffer, his confidence and courage on working for his cheerful site eliminates. A notice about this has been put under his domain. I am quite depressed to see this happen, with the reason that, the blogs that we build-up, as the only free space for our minds and thoughts, has gone totally. I really cannot tell why he can suffer this, illegal contents? That cannot be a good answer, since he is a man that never overlook the protection on copyrights. The only explanation can be available is the attitude from the ISPs overseas to the customers in China.

As is discussed above that when constructing a website in China, more broadly, constructed by Chinese citizens, the web site needs to apply for a license from the government as well. For blogs, there can be some additional measures besides the basic one for all the websites in China. The absence of such a license for the website in China can be serious:

The space host for your website can stop the service of your site unless you successfully applied the license for it. It is a sufficient way to enforce the webmasters to apply such license. Still remember the crash in 2005 when plenty of website were closed in quite the same period?
If your domain is hosted by an agent in China, they can stop your service as well due to the similar reasons. What’s more, your domain can even be forbidden and your whois record be deleted when the regulator regard it as necessary. Several examples like this are available through the internet.

Based on these reasons, most webmasters take the following steps to avoid the supervises from the government since it can seldom bring managers benefit but only trouble.

Take the international domains, but not the Chinese ones with ‘.cn’ at the end. With suitable coupons, the annual fee for a .com domain can be as cheap as 3 to 4 dollars, or even cheaper. And you will never have to worry about the stopping of the service unless you are willing to.
Host the websites overseas. For most webmasters who are not willing to apply for a national license, this is quite a substantive way. Some wealthy managers can purchase paid spaces for their sites, but for the others like me, we can only afford the free space. Then the problem on the stability of the website comes. Some websites can be deleted only depending on the mood of the ISP and you can hardly get any compensation from them. There is quite a large opportunity that you must hold, especially for the users of free space.

It is really a hard job for the webmasters in China to maintain their own sites. It is a kind of job that can hardly bring in any commercial benefit especially at the very beginning. The only factor that promoted the development of such sites in China is merely on the persona interest. I really don’t know how far the website for the Chinese web managers can go? More practically, how long can my blog maintain? It is a difficult question to answer.

As a final, wish all the web managers good fortune and enjoy the pleasure during the challenges to the difficulties.

Postgraduate Student: Shall We Take It?

最近总是有很多师弟师妹在问我是不是要考研，事实上，我很难回答这个问题。毕竟，我已经是一个研究生即将毕业的人了。同时正如我的导师所言，所有的决定只能是由自己来做的，而不是由别人可以代劳的。所以呢，我也只能对两者进行比较，却不能代替本文的读者来做出是否读研的决定。我坚信，命运掌握在自己手中，而不是被别人所掌控。同时，鉴于我对会计专业更了解，我在下文中的分析多以此为例展开。

对于读研的动机，其实可以分为两大类：第一类人是对研究和学术有着执着兴趣的人，他们往往希望通过读研而后读博来完成自己心中的梦想。我并不否认这一类人的存在，他们往往能够成为所在学科领域的领军人物。但是，不得不承认的是，这类人太少了。而另一类人，则构成了考研的大多数人，他们的动机往往非常功利，或者客气一点说，是比较实用主义的(Pragmatic)。他们往往希望能偶取得更好的工作而去攻读更高的学位，甚至不惜花大价钱去读博士。这里，我无格评论他们的对与错，但是不可否认的是，这种实用主义的读研观很大程度上削弱了研究生对自己所学内容的忠诚度，而这种忠诚度的缺失很大程度反映在了上课的出勤率，论文的质量，科研的质量，甚至于老师的备课态度等。据统计，我国现在已经成为了世界上生产博士的第一大国，似乎已经超过了美国。但是在博士生的水平上，我们却与人家相去甚远，这与我们的态度不无关系。

对于前文所述的第一类人，那么，在一个不错的导师的指导下，他会有如鱼得水一般的感觉。以会计学为例，本科阶段的教学内容，对大多数学校而言，是基于实务的，而很少涉及理论。如：财务会计，管理会计等，在一些财经类院校，则往往开设一些补充的偏向理论的内容，如会计理论，会计史等。而在一些综合性的大学，这类课程往往会被金融，经济，管理等一些实用性更强的科目所取代。这就是为什么综合性大学的会计学毕业生尽管没有理论深度，却具有很好的基础知识铺垫。但是进入研究生以后，本科阶段所缺的理论知识会通过不同的渠道补上来，如课堂学习，文献阅读，甚至于一些公共培训项目，如香港中文大学每年会在上海国家会计学院举办对大陆商学院的青年学者培训。另外，一些高级别的学术会议也会成为学习的有效渠道。如本人就在某个会议上知道了需要去重视分析性研究（Analytical Research）而不仅仅是经验研究（Empirical Research)。而若你有不错的经济学，数学或者计算机编程方面的背景，那你会感觉相当不错。

但是对于第二类人，也就是研究生中的大多数，学术对他们并没有太强的吸引力。而研究生的学习，其实更多的是充当了一种就业的缓冲剂。大多数人会利用这三年来学习英语，通过一些更高级别的考试，如雅思，托福，托业，甚至于GRE和GMAT，毕竟英语在如今的就业中是一张王牌。对于会计学院的学生而言，注册会计师，俗称CPA，也是一个非常具有人气的考试。每年5月一过，你就会在自习室里看到CPA大军的出现，这种盛况一般会到9月中旬结束。然后第二年重演。如此周而复始，永不停息。其实对他们而言，研究生并没有真正学到什么，而事实上，他们可能也没指望去学那么多。更多的，他们是在为自己的就业做一些更现实的准备。

所以，在读研究生之前，想清楚自己到底想干什么，或许是一个更为明智的决定。当然，此文只是个人的代表观点，仅供参考

Mobile Phone Service: When Monopoly Meets Economy

With the development on both economics and technology that the cell phones are becoming daily communicating tools for both college students and people nowadays in China. But for college students like us, with quite limited financial competence, and can afford not much payment on such service, special packages that can significantly reduce such cost are quite welcome. But due to its monopoly position, the service fee is still quite high in some regions, especially some undeveloped regions like Hubei that can even contradict with the local living cost level. Here what I mentioned in following text are of the service from China Mobile, the largest service provider on wireless connection in China.

Apparently, the pricing of the cell phone in China has been reduced significantly. Still remember the first time that I get my first cell phone from my daddy, when we preferred to send short messages with each other, without any call due to the high cost and dual-paying policy. That is, you are entitled to pay no matter whether you are making a call or just receiving one from others.

Then it comes to 2005 when I went to Nanjing for my continuing study in Ginlin College, NJNU, where the receiving fee were waived for a limitation on time for 500 minutes under a special package for college students. It is the most cost-effective package that I met even till now. We can make a local call with the rate of 0.2 yuan/min and 0.3 yuan/min for a long distance call in China. And as an important content within this 20-yuan package, we were entitled for 400 free messages no matter who the receiver is, and whether he is the customer of China Mobile or not.

Then in 2007, I came to Wuhan for my master’s degree in ZNUFE, where I suffered the expensive cell phone service. According to my previous experience, I firstly selected the “M-Zone”, a special package designed for college students. But soon I found great problem:

High Rate. Comparing to the similar service that I have used in Nanjing, the rate for local call here is 0.25 yuan/min, and there is no discount rate for long distance call. It is quite common to see students using IC cards to make a call at a public telephone, but such sight has been eliminated in Nanjing;
Limitation on Short Message. Comparing to the package in Nanjing, the price here is cheaper, with 15 yuan /month, including 200 short messages, but be careful! A MESSAGE TO THE CUSTOMERS THAT ARE NOT SIGHED WITH CHINA MOBILE IS NOT INCLUDED!
Forbidden on Roaming. This service is only available for 5 months a year, for two important vacations, summer and winter. If you are willing to travel to other places other from vacations, you are suggested to transfer your package. It is quite an incomprehensive decision.

Taking a sight on the economy development data such as CPI and GDP, you will find Hubei is owning quite limited economic conditions, which, reasonably interpreted, means a lower consuming level comparing to the regions of Shanghai and Jiangsu, where there are offering cheaper packages and the average cost on mobile communications. I don’t know why such thing can happen, but I suppose the only explanation as monopoly.

Accounting Research in China: Graduate Students

It has been approximately two years since the very first touch on the contemporary research of accounting through a talk to my present tutor, Prof. Wang, a young scholar. Until then I found the existence of a new methodology called “Empirical Research”, a kind of methodology that adapts the data from the capital market for some test on the conclusions from other kind of papers, usually analytical ones in US and narrative ones in China. But the popularity of such methodology apparent brings the students of accounting, like us, great challenge with following reasons:

Most graduate students of accounting here in China, is mostly owning the background of arts, that is, they seldom getting full and sufficient training on science, such as computer programming skills and mathematical models. But unfortunately, the very fundamentals of empirical research requires skills on programming and mathematics, otherwise, you may have to confront great trouble when dealing with data and models.
Without sufficient knowledge on mathematics, they seldom have good opportunity to take some course on branches of mathematics, such as real analysis, game theory, differential equations, etc. These courses provide fundamentals for research tools in the subject of economics, which is widely used in analytical accounting research. That can partially explain why there is little analytical researches in China.
Unlike the students in US that are entitled of excellent computer competence, we feel great trouble on programming due to insufficient trainings in high school and college. Undoubtedly, most modules that we use are available through the internet, but we fail to get a chance for some modifications that promote our efficiency. And, improper program sometimes can even abandon a good works that should have been published sometimes. The only cause for this is the poor computer competence.

Though so many problems occur, they can hardly be obstacles for researchers in accounting, except for the students like us. The limitation on skills of data management and statistical model selection can be easily solved through the cooperation among scholars, which is getting popular in China. But such cooperation among students is still quite seldom to see. I personally interpret it as the following reasons:

Very few students can fully master the knowledge needed for a qualified research under a present style of higher education that enforce much on books but seldom focus on usage.
Cooperation can cause some conflicts, such as the name rank for publications, which are to be crucial criteria for researchers and students.

Besides the problems on technology and background knowledge, funding should also not be overlooked. As a graduate student, getting the chance for some top-level academic conference seems to be beneficial. But such opportunity is quite rare in China especially for the students who are qualified and willing to join some international conferences. For this, I often admire my friends in Hong Kong and Taiwan since their abundant funding from their department. An apparent example for this is the refusal of funding for my participation of APJAE symposium from a leader of my department last year, with the only reason that I am a student, but not a faculty!

For followers who are willing to pursue their masters’ and PhD degree on accounting, you are suggested to get a good professor, and prepare yourself sufficiently for fundamental knowledge. They are both easy to solve. But once you are willing to learn more from others from conferences, it can be difficult under most occasions unless you are following a good professor who are about to pay the travelling cost for you.

Writing a Thesis: Format or Content?

自从一周前从苏州飞回武汉，我就一直过着三点一线的生活：宿舍——食堂——教室。似乎已经有很久没有过过这样的日子了，最近的日子还是在3年前我在南师大准备考研的时候了，不过区别在于，现在在我面前的书籍全都是英文，相同的在于，两者都是研究生入学考试。只是突然要面对一场本该面对英语为母语的学生的考试，心里的不适和胆怯总是难免的。更何况，我已经有过了一次不是那么成功的尝试。

这两天终于受不了了整天面对英文，而正好老板也催着我们要开始毕业论文的写作，于是决定利用中午和晚上的休息时间来做点论文，也算是一种调节和休息吧。俗话说，好事多磨，没想到我一开始就遇到了一件令我非常不痛快的事情——论文格式。首先声明的是，我并无意去诋毁或者否定某些老师和教授的工作，只是对其实用性进行一些有益的探讨。

按照我的习惯，我首先在网上寻找检索毕业论文的模板。但是很可惜，或许是由于我能力所限，我并没有找到一个像样的模板，而只有一个长达20页的格式说明。这份说明极大程度上体现了写作人的严谨工作作风，严谨而稳健。该说明从文章用语，标注，以及文中引用等各个方面进行了详细而严格的规定。乍一看，这不是一份毕业论文的模板，倒是像一份排版工的工作内容。有兴趣的同学可以从这里下载：点此下载

由于我没有在文章写完以后集中调格式的习惯，相反，我更喜欢在开始写作前确定所有要素的样式，然后在写作中直接套用，而避免打断自己的写作思路。但是随着我定义格式的深入，我发现，这份格式的实用性大有问题。尽管我自以为Word水平还过得去，也比较了解论文写作的一些工具，如MathType和Endnote等，但是要做到基本符合此文档的格式，还是花了我好几天时间。主要问题如下：

作者显然没有理科背景。如果该说明的对象是一篇纯文字的论文，那么，这个说明的实用性没有任何问题。但是现在会计学的主流方法更多的是使用经验研究和分析性研究（大陆少），在有数学公式（以Mathtype对象为例，Aurora也类似）的情况下，直接对文章行距进行倍数规定是不合时宜的。因为此类对象的插入会由于Word的自动功能而导致行距出现不一致。此时只有精确定义行距方能解决此类问题（如18磅）
对于公式对象，文章要求使用公式编辑器进行编辑。事实上，作者没有考虑到Word 2007的情况。Word 2007的公式编辑器采用了全新的定义方法，从而导致很多早期版本的编辑器无法识别，故而大量的国际顶级期刊都明文禁止使用（如AER，QJE等)。而且Mathtype才是推荐使用的工具（尽管公式编辑器就是此工具的免费版本，但是功能差得很远，如快捷键等）。另外，也需要区分公式是文内（Inline）还是单列（Display Equation），这是因为援引惯例，后者需要编号，而前者则不需要。而将公式编号写为（式 2-1）实在也是一种不伦不类的方法。尽管我在Mathtype中成功定义了此格式。
参考文献处理。我不知道作者是否习惯于手工输入参考文献。只是在参考文献中不注明年份和页码实在是一个不专业的行为。至于格式输出，用Endnote倒是不难解决，只需要改一个style文件即可。我使用的是JAPP的修改后版本。
最后一个总问题，则是表格字体。正文4.5号的字体与表格6号的字体差距过大，个人认为5.5号或者5号更好，同时反差不至于如此强烈。

对于这样一个复杂的格式，我不禁要问，我们到底是在写论文呢，还是学习排版？或许有人会说，两者皆重要。事实上，当你花费了过多的时间去修改论文的格式，而不是内容；当答辩老师在抓住你文章中多敲的某一个空格不放手，却无视了你文中重要的模型和结论，你会做何感想？不客气地说，这是一种本末倒置的行为。当然，作者制作这份说明也是出于好意，希望学院的毕业论文可以更好看。对此，我的建议是，何不制作一个公开的模板供大家下载？熟悉Endnote的同学都知道，该软件本身就携带了大量的模板可供使用。而这样可以使作者更关注文章内容。

国外的大学一般会要求学生使用Scientific Word来写毕业论文，因为这是一个基于Latex的专业学术写作工具，而基于此的模板制作和使用也相对简单。尤其是对于一些新手而言，这种模板可以直接按部就班填入内容，编译即可得到很不错的格式。国外的大多数期刊也都要求使用此类工具写作。然而可以预见的是，学院的老师绝对不会采用此类方法，原因有二：一是软件售价过高；二是他们没有学习新东西的动力和必要的好奇心

写作本身是痛苦的，但是也是欣慰的，因为我们可以通过此方式将我们所作所想展现给大众，但是当过度要求的格式影响了我们的写作激情和思路的时候？我们该何去何从呢？

Happy Teacher’s Day: A Belated Wish

It has been approximately 20 years since my first step into the kindergarten as a young student, and many teachers have come and go, who taught me piles of knowledge, ranging from elementary ABCs to advanced skills, from fundamentally ethical principles to professional trainings. It is the teachers that bring me to my present situation. Thanks for their kindness and hard-working. Wish they happy Teacher’s Day!

Some teachers in my primary school, among the ones that taught me, changed my life greatly. The first one is an old math teacher, Mr.Zhou, who was the headmaster of my primary school. It is him that draw me the interest on mathematics. It is the old time when the Olympic Contest on Mathematics are still for interesting and involves no commence, which differs from that of today. I did participate some contests but gained nothing. The only thing i get is the experience on exams. I don’t know why there are so many parents and children are mad to this contest, and spending great money on that. In my opinion, mathematics can, and only can be depended on interest, but not on training.

And, Ms Luo and Mr.Xu, my headteacher in primary school, also bring me great influence on my education. Unlike who I am today that seems to be more bright, I was only a shamed boy in primary school that don’t speak much to others. Mr.Xu paid much attention on my diet and study during her spare time, and, it was her that firstly taught me how to husk the apple. Meanwhile, I got adequate scold as well due to my dishonesty, which follows the nature of the boys. But Mr.Xu apparently taught me on how to be a man, to be encouraged and bright. But unfortunately I have lost the contact to him.

Mr. Liu, a computer teacher in Children’s Palace of Jinchang Distinct, brought me the very first touch to the computer in 1996, when computer in China is still quite a precious toy. Occasionally I got a recommendation from my primary school that promoted my first education on computer, though the skills that I learned is quite rough, nothing except typing English letters. While it is the typing skills that learned when I was a boy that bring me great convenience today, such as taking online tests of GRE and TOEFL as well as writing papers and programs. Later I got the training on fundamental theories, operating system, word processing and data management from him and obtained my first certificate of computer skills in 1997, when I graduated from primary school. But I can hardly contact to him as well.

In my past study of years, I came across great number of good teachers including my present professor, but it is all these teachers in my primary school changed my life greatly. I appreciate the kindness and honesty of my teachers heartedly. As a final of this post, wish all the teachers, no matter if you are mine or not, a happy Teachers’ Day!

Back to Wuhan: My New Start

终于完成了这个被我舍友成为神经病的活动，挑了武汉最热的日子回来。呵呵，不过天公总是很眷顾我，这不，武汉开始降温了，呵呵。

终于没有发生航班延误，我所乘坐的厦门航空公司的航班很准时的降落在了武汉天河机场，可喜可贺啊。唯一美中不足的就是武汉的路实在是太堵了。

其实萧山机场也是个不错的机场，尽管规模不能同浦东国际机场同日而语，但是现代感也很强烈。

这是机场的一角，怎么样？还是很赋有现代感的吧？不知道为什么，我总是很喜欢这种金属的质感。

这就是我坐的飞机啦，呵呵，普通的波音737，没啥好说，不过呢，厦航的飞机还是很新的，不像南航和东航的比较破，呵呵

正如一些网友所言，厦航提供的餐饮是不错的，相比较南航的饼干和东航的面条，厦航提供的还算丰富，呵呵，另外，他们实时提供飞行高度方面的数据，这点，我只在去年的国际航班上见到过，国内的么，大姑娘上轿——头一回。

今天一路上的经过的地区都是多云的天气，不过漫天的云朵还是很好看的哦

空中鸟瞰武汉，也别有一种感觉，无奈是多云天气，感觉雾蒙蒙的，不太清楚

最后几张是降落时候拍的，本来以为不能用，不过看空姐没管我，应该没事儿

终于回到了阔别三个月的学校，同时也搬进了7楼的新宿舍，尽管爬楼比较累，但总是会适应的吧，呵呵

Wal-Mart in Suzhou: A New Branch

今天下午去了趟现代大道新开的沃尔玛分店。该店实在是新，新到了连沃尔玛中国的官方网站上都查不到它的踪迹。随着这家沃尔玛的开张，这个区域内大型超市已经形成了。其中有世界排名第一的Wal-Mart，有排名世界第二的Carrefour，以及法国超市欧尚和一家本土超市。真不知道这些经营者为何去如此选址，显然这不是一个很好的经营策略。因为这种选址会导致产权外化（Externals of Property Rights）会非常严重，当然，从一个整体来看，这些Externals可以相互write off，但是对每一个经营者而言，这种外化显然会带来经营的风险。

我与Wal-Mart的第一次接触是在2005年。期间我在南京上学。当时每每去新街口，Wal-Mart总是我们的最后一站。我们会在那里采购大量我们的日用品，然后带回仙林。其实现在想来，我很是佩服当年的勇气，如果现在，我难保会不会有那个勇气带着一大包东西转公交车。况且经历过的人都知道，70路公交车的拥挤程度永远是一场噩梦。

至于第二次的接触，则是在Honolulu。当时是我从购物中心出来，却跑错了方向，而误打误幢遇到了一家山姆会员店和Wal-Mart广场。后来带给朋友们的礼物多来源于此。其实数年前在南京Wal-Mart的感觉并没有让我对这个世界第一大超市有什么感想，毕竟他的货物，服务，价格等等与其他超市，比如金润发（苏州叫做大润发）并没有实质性差异。但是这次却大大的改变了我的看法。美国Wal-Mart，的确如其网站所展示的那样，货物玲琅满目，而且很多商品都是1，2美元的小东西。同时，货物涵盖很全面，从钥匙扣，CD一直到笔记本电脑一应俱全。而且人气非常高，在Wal-Mart绝对可以看到在美国难以见到的排队景象。

今天的苏州Wal-Mart之行，则是我第三次接触这家超市。步入园区的这个超市，崭新的货架，以及Wal-Mart那具有标志性的蓝色色调给我留下了很深的影响。但是我实在是搞不懂这个店的店长为何如此急匆匆的开业，在外部装修和内部装修都没有彻底结束的情况下。不知道谁来为顾客所可能遭受的慢性笨中毒来负责呢？其实这家店应该目前是试营业状态，经营问题还是很突出的。主要有：

物价偏高。相比较与周边的Carrefour, 大润发，欧尚和家乐福，目前他们的物价实在是没有什么让人心动的地方。据我的观察，面包，糕点的价格都不低，日用品的价格也并没有优势。不过曾有文章表示中国的落后的物流系统很大程度上制约了Wal-Mart的发展。或许正是这个原因削弱了他们的低价吧。
货物并不充足。我很容易注意到很多货架有售罄的情况。事实上，在Wal-Mart今天的人流情况下，这种情况不该出现，或者说，他们后勤人员并没有及时把货物补充到货架上，而且货架的服务员和导购员设置混乱，过秤处长队现象明显。或许这也是他们试营业所需要发现的问题吧。
收银员素质低下。注意这里我不是说收银员的人品，而是讨论其业务能力。说实话，我实在难以把世界第一大超市同一名动作缓慢，容易出错，且不会使用顾客信用卡的收银员联系起来。真不知这种工作效率如何面对中国春节之前的购物狂潮，呵呵

俗话说，千里之行，始于足下，希望苏州的这家Wal-Mart一路走好，给苏州市民提供更多的实惠和帮助吧。

Flight Change: An Alternative Choice

There are only 3 days left for my summer vacation due to my schedule of going back to Wuhan to continue my preparation for GRE and my admission to the graduate school. Everything seems quite okay and I am just wondering what to do as my plan when back. But everything changed when I get a short message from the China Southern Airline that my scheduled flight has been delayed due to some reason to 9 p.m. And two choices are offered: I can either accept the change, quite arbitrary, or to cancel that seat.

If there is nothing urgent as my classmates, such as GRE exams, I would directly postpone this flight but continue to stay at home. But now I have to go back on time, since I don’t want to suffer the same situation as that happened in June. A direct consideration on train directly draw me to a check on the timing schedule, but unfortunately, the only train to Wuhan would be arrived at 10:30 p.m in Hankou, no earlier than my flight.

While fortunately I get the flight from qunar.com, a famous search engine in China for hotels and air tickets, that there is a 300-yuan ticket from Xiamen Airline to Wuhan. Though it is a bit expensive and I have to go to Hangzhou to take that flight, it is acceptable, comparing to the price that can be twice of much from other airlines. Wish this flight would not be cancelled. I really don’t want to stay in a bar at the airport for hours.

So I firstly asked the refund from the China Southern Airline.

And then make an new order from Xiamen Airlines, frankly speaking, their website and ordering system needs to be improved.

Comparing to the delay that I suffered, the informing in advance is a progress on their service, but in fact, some compensation to the customers should be offered as well according to the conventions of airlines overseas. For this, the companies in China needs to be improved. And, why not send me an email but a short message to my cell phone?