Xiaoping Li

In my first a few years in Canada, I admired the celebration of Christmas. The Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer, gifts, turkey dinner, carols, church services, Christmas-themed movies, Christmas songs. There was a system in this celebration! In comparison, the Chinese New Year celebration seemed haphazard. There were no dedicated songs, no celebrating figures such [...]

Last Sunday, when I drove pass by Mississauga Road and Hwy401, I decided to visit the building where I worked for nearly six years from 1993 to 1998. I lost my way. I drove around with many U turns for about 10 minutes before locating the building. It has been nearly 13 years since I [...]

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I became aware that an “old man” in my neighbourhood was bedridden. He couldn’t go to the public outhouse in our neighbourhood like the rest of us did.  He needed someone to stay at home to look after him around the clock.  I wondered what was [...]

On Feb. 25, 2011 The Globe And Mail published an article reporting a finding that Canadian born visible minorities earn less than their white counterparts.  Specifically, Chinese earn 8% less, South Asians 13% less and blacks 19%. I accept the reality that there exists racial discrimination in Canada.  I accept this challenge in my life.  [...]

There are many challenges in my life that I once resented and now have accepted. They are: 1. I am short, only 163cm tall. When I was in Wuhan University in China, there was a popular saying among the students: a young man shorter than 170cm is considered semi-disabled in the dating scene. 2. In [...]

Mid July.  It was the second last day of a seven-day rock climbing and mountaineering course in Jasper.  A couple of my classmates broached with me the idea of paying tips to our instructors.  I declined to participate.  Despite that I liked our instructors very much, learned a lot from them and appreciated their answering all the questions I [...]

I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau yesterday.  As I toured the two camps, I was shocked to see the amount of human hair, the shoes and the suitcases from the victims.  They speak the volume of the systematic killing.  While I wondered what evidence the holocaust deniers have, I also wondered what the museum for the Nanking Massacre for [...]

I am inspired by Al Gore’s challenge for the Americans to go carbon free in 10 years! This is how the U. S. can once again become a world leader. I am also worried about the massive production of cars in China.  It almost seems that China is taking in such near-obsolete gasoline driven machines from [...]