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Friday, December 21, 2007
Train to Shanghai
Another child!
At most conferences, Lauren and Nicholas are able to find other wives and children to hang out with. They were not successful in doing this at the ICCM. At tonight's banquet, Nicholas finally met someone to talk to, Guofang Wei and Xianzhe Dai's 10 year old son. They got along very well. Below is them sitting together on the bus taking us back to the university after the banquet.
Luckily, they're going to Shanghai next week, too. So I think we'll try to meet, to let the kids hang out more.
Luckily, they're going to Shanghai next week, too. So I think we'll try to meet, to let the kids hang out more.
Banquet
There was a really nice banquet tonight. At our table were...
Guofang Wei (UC-Santa Barbara), Siye Wu (University of Hong Kong), Wei-Dong Ruan (Korean Institute of Science and Technology)...
Conan Leung (Chinese University of Hong Kong), and Jaigyoung Choe (Korean Institute for Advanced Study and a former colleague of mine at Rice)
I forgot to take pictures of the food. Above is a delicious chicken stew that seems to be a standard here. One thing we got that I found surprising were whole steamed crabs, which we had to break apart and eat with our bare hands. The Chinese at the table were bemused when I told them I thought Chinese never ate with their hands and were able to eat everything with chopsticks and their mouths.
Here is Yau giving a speech.
One impressive aspect of the conference is the number of people who either were or are affiliated with Columbia. At my table alone, Wu, Ruan, and I were all at Columbia.
Guofang Wei (UC-Santa Barbara), Siye Wu (University of Hong Kong), Wei-Dong Ruan (Korean Institute of Science and Technology)...
Conan Leung (Chinese University of Hong Kong), and Jaigyoung Choe (Korean Institute for Advanced Study and a former colleague of mine at Rice)
I forgot to take pictures of the food. Above is a delicious chicken stew that seems to be a standard here. One thing we got that I found surprising were whole steamed crabs, which we had to break apart and eat with our bare hands. The Chinese at the table were bemused when I told them I thought Chinese never ate with their hands and were able to eat everything with chopsticks and their mouths.
Here is Yau giving a speech.One impressive aspect of the conference is the number of people who either were or are affiliated with Columbia. At my table alone, Wu, Ruan, and I were all at Columbia.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Breakfast at the Lily Hotel, continued
Here are more items from the breakfast buffet that I never take.
Pseudo Western stuff like sausages.
Rolls, bread, cakes.
Corn on the cob and yiou-tiao, which are puffy fried pieces of dough. Actually, one of my favorite Chinese breakfasts is dou jiang (hot soybean milk), yiou tiao (puffy fried pieces of dough), and shao bin (a flat flaky bread coated with sesame seeds). But yiou tiao on its own is not as attractive to me.
Noodles and stir-fried cabbage. They sometimes also serve celery.
The omelet station.
Pseudo Western stuff like sausages.
Rolls, bread, cakes.
Corn on the cob and yiou-tiao, which are puffy fried pieces of dough. Actually, one of my favorite Chinese breakfasts is dou jiang (hot soybean milk), yiou tiao (puffy fried pieces of dough), and shao bin (a flat flaky bread coated with sesame seeds). But yiou tiao on its own is not as attractive to me.
Noodles and stir-fried cabbage. They sometimes also serve celery.
The omelet station.
Breakfast at the Lily Hotel
Every morning we get a breakfast buffet. The room comes with free breakfasts for only two people, so we have to pay 20 RMB (about $3) for a third one. Here are some photos of what we can choose from.
Steamed dumplings of different types. The most interesting are: a pumpkin dumpling, which I haven't tried yet but is shaped and colored to look just like a little orange pumpkin; a "mixed flour dumpling", which seems to be made out of rice flour (it is more glutinous in texture than regular wheat flour dumplings) and filled with spicy pickled vegetables; and a black rice cake.
There are always two different types of gruels. Today we had the normal rice gruel (rice cooked with excess water so that it ends up being soupy) and black rice gruel (I have no idea what this really is). On other days, we get a millet gruel, which resembles grits. I always have a couple of bowls of this with pick
Hot soybean milk and some other sweet soupy thing. I always have a bowl of the soybean milk. It is served without anything added; you can make it either sweet by adding sugar or salty by adding scallions and soy sauce. I always drink it plain.
Here are pickled vegetables that you eat with the rice gruel. In front are ordinary boiled eggs. Next to it is an empty bowl that usually holds small cakes of fermented tofu, which is also eaten (in small quantities) with the rice gruel. I also usually have half of a salted duck egg, too.
Here is the stuff I never take. On the lower level are salad ingredients (all raw so very dangerous!) and bowls of mayonnaise-like sauces. On the upper level is yogurt. Yogurt and milk have become quite popular, which is a little mysterious since most Chinese are supposed to be lactose intolerant.
Steamed dumplings of different types. The most interesting are: a pumpkin dumpling, which I haven't tried yet but is shaped and colored to look just like a little orange pumpkin; a "mixed flour dumpling", which seems to be made out of rice flour (it is more glutinous in texture than regular wheat flour dumplings) and filled with spicy pickled vegetables; and a black rice cake.
There are always two different types of gruels. Today we had the normal rice gruel (rice cooked with excess water so that it ends up being soupy) and black rice gruel (I have no idea what this really is). On other days, we get a millet gruel, which resembles grits. I always have a couple of bowls of this with pick
Hot soybean milk and some other sweet soupy thing. I always have a bowl of the soybean milk. It is served without anything added; you can make it either sweet by adding sugar or salty by adding scallions and soy sauce. I always drink it plain.
Here are pickled vegetables that you eat with the rice gruel. In front are ordinary boiled eggs. Next to it is an empty bowl that usually holds small cakes of fermented tofu, which is also eaten (in small quantities) with the rice gruel. I also usually have half of a salted duck egg, too.
Here is the stuff I never take. On the lower level are salad ingredients (all raw so very dangerous!) and bowls of mayonnaise-like sauces. On the upper level is yogurt. Yogurt and milk have become quite popular, which is a little mysterious since most Chinese are supposed to be lactose intolerant.
Lost causes
There is a rather odd but interesting looking book published by springer called "Lost causes in and beyond physics" by Streater. It is about non mainsteam theories that the author considers to be hopeless and beyond redemption. It is a rather remarkable book because ideas are presented to be knocked down rather supported.
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Ancient history of Chinese mathematics according to Yau
This morning, Yau was walking by me when he turned to me and said, "I'm giving a talk tonight on the history of Chinese mathematics." I asked where; he told me it would be on the 5th floor of the math building. I decided I would go; Yau always has interesting things to say, no matter what the topic. But I figured it would be an informal lecture to a small audience. What was I thinking?
After dinner, I decided to take Nicholas along. When we arrived on the 5th floor, I saw Zhongmin Shen talking to some people. He turned to me and said, "there aren't any seats". I assured him that there were people bringing up more chairs. But when Nick and I entered the lecture hall, we realized that a few more chairs just wasn't going to be enough. It was literally wall-to-wall people. Every seat was taken, and people were lined up against the side and back walls. The extra chairs that were brought in were for the "foreign VIP's" only. I took a look around and decided that Nick and I could sit on the floor in front of the chairs.
The lecture was very interesting, especially when Yau would interject his own views about China versus other countries and cultures. He is not afraid to talk about when China did things detrimental to itself. What was also fascinating and very convincing to me, despite the lack of explicit evidence, is the cross-fertilization of knowledge, including mathematics, between the different civilizations even thousands of years ago.
The man with his hand on his chin is the number theorist John Coates. Further down to his right is Henry Pinkham of Columbia.
There was even a television cameraman filming the audience and Yau.
After dinner, I decided to take Nicholas along. When we arrived on the 5th floor, I saw Zhongmin Shen talking to some people. He turned to me and said, "there aren't any seats". I assured him that there were people bringing up more chairs. But when Nick and I entered the lecture hall, we realized that a few more chairs just wasn't going to be enough. It was literally wall-to-wall people. Every seat was taken, and people were lined up against the side and back walls. The extra chairs that were brought in were for the "foreign VIP's" only. I took a look around and decided that Nick and I could sit on the floor in front of the chairs.
The lecture was very interesting, especially when Yau would interject his own views about China versus other countries and cultures. He is not afraid to talk about when China did things detrimental to itself. What was also fascinating and very convincing to me, despite the lack of explicit evidence, is the cross-fertilization of knowledge, including mathematics, between the different civilizations even thousands of years ago.
The man with his hand on his chin is the number theorist John Coates. Further down to his right is Henry Pinkham of Columbia.
There was even a television cameraman filming the audience and Yau.
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