by and large, here is where I am at.

I have lived here for 23 of the last 26 years, 20 years straight, and that is nearing it's end.

BUT, no one who has experienced what I have, can be anything but impressed, amazed, filled with total disbelief at the pace of type of changes that have occurred across this country in that period of time. The sheer number of public works projects, engineering, bridges, subways, high speed rail, power plants (nuclear and coal), that have been built would take more than 100 years in the US with our current ways of doing things... you can see in some small sense the value of CENTRALLY planned government.

That said, I am impressed by the sheer scale of those things, not the government behind them. I am a firm believer that if the US wanted to do all those things, in the same time frame, and had the same motivation to do so, we would do them all, and potentially BETTER, because one of the problems with the projects here is that people can't just bid the job and do it, they have to cut corners, and sometimes, that means a bridge fails, or a high rise apartment 26 stories tall tips over, or something else. People are 'punished' (think executed) if death results, spend years in prison if it's just an economic loss.

To me, it's good for any country to grow, change for the better, make life for their people better. So I'm not against all that. They proved it means very little when they will lock up their biggest city for a 'cold'.

Then let's talk business. I do not root for this team when it comes to business. They cheat, they lie, they go back on their agreements and then the terms are still negotiable after the ink dries. If you get a low price, you get what you pay for, it isn't a real savings. If it's sounds too good, it is. And they are dangerous, the economic power of this country is it's real weapon. Anyone selling property, a business, or taking 'assistance' from a ChIn#se3 entity is headed for a takeover, or some kind of pressure to support the political agenda. You can see the slow spread like a cancer across the pacific as they offer financial 'aid' to small Asia Pacific countries and build properties there.

In sports, they are worse than the Utes., I want them to lose, I want them to lose the medal count, I want them to fall off diving boards, mess up the balance beam and uneven bars, and I want them to fall in speed skating. I don't want them to qualify for the WC, I don't want to hear about it. You should try enduring an Olympics here, and I think any American that performs for them should have their passport pulled and sent off. I do not cheer for them, and I do cheer for American born Chinese who want to represent them.

Now, you ask why then would I be here. Because my friend, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I believe in personal revelation. I believe, no, I know, that I was meant to live and work in China. Looking back, the signs are so very clear. We know were were supposed to come, live, work, serve in the church, see miraculous things happen in the lives of a lot of people. And we have waited patiently to know when it was time to go... and it's almost here.