Romania was created from the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1859, and gained true independence in 1878. Having been part of the Allied Powers in WWI, in WWII Romania allied with the Axis powers, only to be overrun by the Soviets in 1944. Under the Soviet occupation the Communist People’s Republic was formed in 1947. Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu took power in 1965, ruling in draconian fashion until his overthrow and execution in 1989. Former Communists were finally removed from power in 1996. Romania joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.

In 1989 Romania had a largely obsolete industrial base unsuited to the country’s needs. The country came out of a recession in 2000 thanks to strong demand in EU export markets. This has been followed by good growth and strong domestic activity in construction, agriculture and consumption. In 2005 the currency was revalued, making 1 “new” leu worth 10,000 “old” lei. Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007, when the IMF praised the country’s recent reform efforts.

Romania is in southeastern Europe, with an area of area 237,500 sq km, and borders with Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, and 225km of Black Sea coastline. Its climate is temperate, with cold, cloudy winters with frequent snow and fog; the summers are sunny with frequent showers and thunderstorms.

The central Transylvanian Basin is separated from the Plain of Moldavia on the east by the Carpathian Mountains and separated from the Walachian Plain on the south by the Transylvanian Alps.

The population of Romania is 22.2m who speak Romanian, with some also speaking Hungarian or German.

The capital is Bucharest, a city of contrasts and contradictions. Alongside the splendour of Ceausescu’s palace there are the bleak and dreary remnants of the communist era. Lately, property has become the city’s hot ticket, with new developments selling out and demand rocketing. Supply in the city is not enough to satisfy demand from the 2.4m inhabitants so new developments like Basarabia Boulevard are going to prove popular.

Located in downtown sector III, a popular are of the city, the new residential development has commercial outlets and is near a new hypermarket. This development is bound to prove popular in a country ready to go skyward in property!

Listening to Mihaly Tapolyai is like hearing a panoramic of Eastern European history. He is a psychiatrist adventurer who likes to be where the action is. As a young man he resisted the Nazis and the Communists, smuggled Bibles when they were contraband, spent time in prison, took part in several freedom movements, and was present when Russian tanks rumbled into Prague to quell the Czech Rebellion. After the following interview, when war was tearing through Kosovo, he sent me an email expressing his sadness at not being able to get through to Yugoslavia where he has spoken at several conferences and knew people who were in need.

One of his books, Hymn from Prison, is a fascinating tale of his faith, dependence on God, and impact on the lives of others during his incarceration for trying to cross a border during the days of Communism. He has been active in developing the Hungarian Christian Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship, has worked in prisons, counseled and preached to traumatized victims of war in several eastern European countries, and become a pioneer radio broadcaster, hosting the first calling program in Transylvania, Romania.

He has practiced as a Christian child psychiatrist and taught psychology and counseling at the State University of BabesBolyai as well as the Protestant Seminary in Cluj, Transylvania. Mihly Tapolyai lives alone in a third floor apartment in Budapest. Standing in his apartment late one night, we looked at the snow covered park below, aglow in the faint light of a street lamp. I stand here often and watch the children, he said. It is a scene that brings peace to a lonely old man. He may be elderly and lonely, but he continues to make a difference as an unsung hero in his part of the world.

*Tell us about your background.*

*MT:* I was born in Hungary, in the region of Tokaj, which is famous for wine. I went to university during the WWII and finished at the University of Budapest Medical School just after the war. It was very hard, but we made jokes about the problems, even about the bombing.

*Was Hungary at war on the German side?*

*MT:* Yes. After the WWI, Hungary was divided into six parts. Some areas went to Slovakia, some to Yugoslavia, others to Austria and Poland. The only part that remained was in the center. It was just for cows and farming. We were surrounded by a federation of anti-Hungarian countries such as Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia, who wanted to divide the country further. But before the WWII, Hitler came down to the Hungarian-inhabited regions to bring us political justice so we were on the German side during the war.

*How did you get into psychiatry?*

*MT:* After I got my diploma in 1947, I became a village doctor, a general practitioner because I enjoyed helping people in the small villages. Then, after three years of country practice, I went to the next town, got my specialization in psychiatry after four years, and three years later I got a neurological specialization. After several more years I got the child psychiatry specialization also. I still like to study, to learn.

*Were you a Christian during all this time?*

*MT:* In 1943, when I was 22 years old, a friend in the dormitory where I lived in Budapest gave a testimony about his conversion and guided me to listen to a very important medical professor who was a believer. I became a believer as well.

*What did you do once you had completed all your training?*

*MT:* I came to Budapest and tried to work here, but slowly I also became involved in rescuing prisoners. My first rescue mission began during the war. The Christian students used to visit the Jews, examine them, and bring them medication. We had to keep passports and switch passports to save people who were guarded by SS soldiers. This was my first inspiration to do this work. And after the war, when the communists took over and the Russians were here, I decided to do something similar with Christians. It started first with my own pastor, who had been sentenced almost to death because he supposedly had formed a conspiracy, but it was not true. I had a team of young people, and we started smuggling Bibles, bread, food, and small written tracks to the many Christians who were put in concentration camps.

*You smuggled things into those concentration camps? How did you get out?*

*MT:* The same way that I got in! Under the wires. That was my mission. I think we helped a lot of people.

*Were you also practicing psychiatry at the time?*

*MT:* Yes, on the weekends, I went to the countryside and visited my clients in the name of the church. Sometimes I took letters hidden in my shoes.

*Did the authorities know that you were doing this?*

*MT:* No. Once I was caught, but I resisted with words. That was in the 1950s. In the 60s, I smuggled Bibles into Romania. One time I was caught at the Romanian border with the Bibles. I was arrested, I escaped, I was again arrested, and I was imprisoned in Poland. I wrote about this in a book called Hymn from Prison.

*Remember how Paul and Silas sang hymns? How long were you in prison?*

*MT:* Three months, but Amnesty International intervened through the help of Dr. Paul Tournier! He wrote this letter: Thank you for your kind letter, and I am in great sympathy with you. I remember with honor your father. I sent your letter forward to Amnesty International, which will be the most able to help. With best wishes to you, very sincerely, Paul Tournier. One of my own children wrote to him.

*So you were practicing psychiatry, doing evangelism, and smuggling Bibles all at the same time. When you were practicing psychiatry, was it uniquely Christian in any way? Did you bring your faith into your counseling?*

*MT:* Of course! For example, we had special healing conferences for a week in the summer regularly. I have been doing this for 50 years since 47 or 48. Every morning we have a Bible study, that is problem oriented. Then, later in the morning, I give a lecture. The next conference, for example, has the theme Healing for Nervous People. We will talk about why people are nervous, how to handle loss and frustration, ways to cope, and issues of maturity and identity. After the lectures we do role playing, and in the evening before going to bed, we have a devotional meditation, a short preaching, and praying together.

*When you studied psychiatry, the theories you studied were opposed to religion. You were a Christian. How did you bring your faith and your psychiatry together?*

*MT:* In those early days, the pastors and churches ignored the human soul. They knew much about hermeneutics but did not understand people, emotions, or the causes of human actions. One pastor said to me We learned in the theological seminary that Freud, Jung, and Adler the classical psychologists were not just atheists but occultists. I replied that these people searched for the truth in the occult, ignoring the church. But they were able to explain things that the church could not. For instance, Freud spoke about emotions in ourselves that we cannot control but that possess us.

*Was it difficult to practice Christian psychiatry in Eastern Europe?*

*MT:* Yes, after my arrest I stayed in Hungary for two years, but there were some provocations, and I did not want to die, so I escaped to the West with the help of a Venezuelan Indian doctor. He had come here to learn how to make his country communistic, but he became a Christian through my testimony. He helped me escape. If I had been caught, I would have been in prison for life, because I had already been in prison. Instead I went to Paris and then to America, where I lived for eight years and worked in a mental institution in Cleveland. Later I was invited to be a counselor in a church, but they did not report me to the Social Security people and never paid me anything so I did not have money. Even now I have no pension.

*What you think about Christian psychiatry and Christian counseling today?*

*MT:* Here in Hungary, counseling is very structured, very theoretical. I prefer the practical American counseling system. It is pure, clear, and really helpful. I am trying to make some changes here. Tomorrow evening, for example, some young pastors will come who are very interested in counseling. They are good Christians, but they have lost contact with the world. They cannot relate to the very atheistic and almost demonic world around them. Christians here are overly pious, and therefore isolated from the realistic life. In Hungary, we need teachers who teach sound spirituality.

*I know you have a radio ministry, you still do the conferences, and you meet with pastors, but what else can be done to make Christian counseling better in Hungary?*

*MT:* Hold conferences. But there is a big resistance on the part of the churches. Many of the positions in the churches were filled by the communist party, so they don’t trust others and they are not trustworthy.

*What about young pastors of good churches? They teach from the Bible and talk to their parishioners on Sunday. Cant they help individuals or couples who have problems?*

*MT:* They could, but they do so without training or qualifications. They do what they do instinctively.

*Let me ask you about Hungarian psychiatrists and psychologists. How do they respond to somebody like you being a Christian?*

*MT:* They accept that I am a Christian, but they ignore me. Sometimes I get resistance, most often from Christians. They say, You have this call-in radio program that does counseling. I was born here, I lived always here, but nobody has ever asked me to say a word on the radio. You came here from America and now you are always speaking through the radio. What you do is terrible. You have not mentioned your wife.

*MT:* My wife was a nice person, and I loved her. After three years in Romania, she asked me How long should we live here? That was a big misery at that time. She said to me, You work here among these people who want to stone you. And I said, Well, this is my task, I have to stay. She left me and ran back to America, where she found a counseling position with the Mennonite church. She does not want to come back. But if I go there as a 77-year-old person, what can I do in the United States? I cannot start a new life. I have no Social Security. I have more security here, and I can continue my work in Yugoslavia, Romania, Slovenia, and in other places where people need my help.

*What would you say to Christian counselors in the United States?*

*MT:* I read American books, but most authors want to please the evangelical mentality. As it happened here with the communists, everybody uses the same phrases, the same words, the same expressions, and thinks in the same ways. We central and Eastern European Christians have experienced such horrors, wars, deportations, and concentration camps that the ideal lemonade pictures we get in books can never grasp us. These books deal too much with self-justification and turn everyday readers against God. Life is harsh here. We need realistic answers from the Scriptures. I am a Hungarian by birth, but I became also an American, so I know both sides, and I love both. My heart is Hungarian; my mind is mostly American. I like the American life style. But I cannot go back now. How could I exist there alone? So I am here, ready to share in writing, in speaking, in helping. Online Christian Counseling is a nice way to get suggestions.

Stasis is a concept that is used continuously by whose following a spiritual path, or those working self help programs, but it is seldom called Stasis. It is an important concept and understanding Stasis will help people understand why they are working a particular way.

Stasis has several meaning but in this context is an internal that is held constant by a force around its boundary. Suppose you have a population of people and they are held constant by a political entity. At first the stasis is easy to maintain because the difference inside the stasis is not very different to outside the stasis. But as the world changes the pressure for change within the Stasis increase and more control has to be used to hold the Stasis constant.

At some point the control fails and the Stasis explodes. In the physical world revolution, uprising and civil wars are the result of the controls needed to hold the Stasis constant failing. Communism failed when the internal need for change become stronger than the force keeping it contained.

For the individual the concept of Stasis is equally relevant. Someone works at a job they hate. At first it isn’t too bad, but the pressure builds until there is an explosion. Married couples do nothing to solve the problems building in there marriage until it all blows up and the marriage is over.

To be successful on our spiritual path it is essential to keep the boundary between our inner life and our external life free of control. If we don’t pressure will build and when control fails there will be an explosion. If something goes wrong in our physical world it has gone wrong. And if getting upset or angry is an appropriate response then get angry.

If we attempt to pass it of with some spiritual platitude or saying, (everything happens for the best), it will place pressure on our spiritual being to conform to an ideal that is not realistic. If we make a mistake than accept we have made a mistake. Learn from it, try to avoid doing it again and move on.

The alternative is to give ourselves a hard time because we are on a spiritual path and we are supposed to know. Each time we give ourselves a hard time the pressure will build.

Then there will be an explosion and we will abandon the spiritual way because we are not good enough. Nobody on this earth is perfect. The spiritual path is not about perfection, it is learning to do the best we can.

The way to deal with the pressures of the physical world so that it does not put pressure on our spiritual being is to learn, accept and move on.

Everything on the spiritual path is the same concept repeated in many different forms. Learn, accept and move on. This is how to deal with stasis in all its forms. The worst thing we can do is to try to force ourselves to conform to an idealised perfection that cannot be achieved.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, now available in audio books format.

Without knowing the background of The Crucible, at first sight, the play seems to depict the story of witch trials which it is reported took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.

These trials were founded on the testimony of a young girl, Anne Putnam, who stated that she had seen a group of people holding rituals which included consorting with the devil. She also claimed that they were residents of Salem, and that they were conducting black Sabbaths, which is a term for the assembly of witches.

Resulting from her testimony, Samuel Parris, a clergyman of English stock, was responsible for the prosecution of scores of so called witches in this New England state. As a result, the Salem jury returned guilty verdicts and at least nineteen defendants were put to death by hanging.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, a time when contemporary America was paranoid with the fear of communism. It was a time when Senator Joe McCarthy spearheaded a ‘witch hunt’ of his own, hunting down people who were deemed to have communist views or who formed alliances with known activists. This witch hunt has been described as ‘McCarthyism’ and was almost a reign of terror, as many guiltless people were branded as Anti-American as a result of false accusations, the spreading of malicious rumours bordering on mass hysteria. Many Hollywood actors suffered accusations which had adverse effects on their careers. Even Arthur Miller came under McCarthy’s spotlight and for a time was accused of having left wing sympathies. He was called before the House of Representatives and cross examined.

In reality, Miller wrote The Crucible as a satirical commentary of McCarthyism and made use of the Salem witches trials as a metaphor. He uses the Salem events to satirise the ongoing frenetic attempts to lay the blame for the problems facing society on the irrational conduct of a minority of narrow minded individuals.

Initially, reviews of his play were met with poor reviews, until in 1953, it won the Best Play Tony award. The play has garnered international acclaim and its premise has been compared to many situations where human rights have been violated. It has been performed in many countries and its relevance is and will persist while societies are punished for speaking their minds and criticising authority.

The Crucible now features on the recommended reading list of many high schools and universities in America because of its literary position and because of its portrayal of an era in which many Hollywood actors became the target of McCarthyism through an extensive over reaction to an imagined left wing crisis.

Thankfully, students can now listen to The Crucible in audio books format, dramatised by Stuart Pankin, Jerome Dempsey and cast.

Animal Farm is one of the two greatest works of George Orwell, the other being 1984. Animal Farm makes satirical allegories of the totalitarian communism of Soviet Russia. The novel is regarded as one of the all-time bests ever written by any author.

Animal Farm is a novel of betrayed revolution. It presents the corruption that followed the revolution led by Lenin.

In Animal Farm, the characters are animals and human beings. Among the animals, many of them are pigs, who are more often than not rulers. Apart from pigs, we see three main horses, a donkey, a goat, some puppies, rats, the sheep (plural number), a raven, a cat and hens.

The animals are more allegorical than real. The interpretation of the meanings is often left to the reader, but generally the consensus is that they represent different classes. Again, the humans represent another class. Thus, the novel demonstrates multiple classes.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others.

All animals are supposed to be of the same class, but in reality, some animals are of superior class.

Pigs: Old Major represents Lenin/Marx. He had introduced the animals to the song Beasts of England. Napoleon (allusion of Stalin), the villain, a Berkshire boar, gets more powerful gradually, with help of the puppies whom he uses as secret police. He drives out Snowball (allusion of Trotsky), from the farm and uses dogs to enforce his dictatorship. He changes the commandments to allow him have privileges such as eat on a table. He and the other pigs learn to walk upright and behave like those humans against whom they had revolted. Snowball, allusion of Trotsky, was working for the good of the farm and had won over most of the animals hearts, but was driven out by Napoleon and his dogs. Napoleon also had spread negative rumors on Snowball. Squealer (allusion of Molotov) is Napoleon’s minister of propaganda, and his main assistant for all practical purposes. He uses statistics to confuse the animals and show that they had improved quality of life, and the animals, with little memory of life before revolution, accept. Minimum is a poetic pig representing all the admirers of Stalin inside and outside Russia.

Humans: Mr. Jones, a heavy drinker, the disposed tsar. His attempt to recapture the farm is spoiled by the Battle of the Cowshed (Russian Civil War). Interestingly, Napoleon eventually becomes as much a drunkard as Jones. Mr. Frederick, the tough owner of Pinchfield, a neighboring farm, represents Hitler and his farm represents Nazi Party. Mr. Pilkington is apparently nice but is shrewd. He and Napoleon draw the Ace of Spades (the highest card in a card game) and begin a bad fight, symbolizing the tensions between US and Russia. Mr. Whymper (loosely alluring Western intellectuals) is hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in the human society.

Horses: Boxer is the hardest-working entity in the animal farm. He is dedicated to the success of the farm. Boxer invests all his loyal, kind, dedicated self to the farm’s “good” as portrayed to him by the farms leaders. His hoofs eventually splits and he is sent to death by Napoleon when he could not work any more (and Napoleon spread the rumor that he died peacefully in a hospital). “I will work harder” was the motto of Boxer in any tough situation, and his brain-washed trust was shown by his maxim “Napoleon is always right”. Clover is Boxer’s companion. She works with Boxer and loves him and cares for him, and takes the blame on herself when Boxer splits his hoof. She is deeply respected by the three younger ones who eventually take Boxer’s role. Mollie is a third horse – a self-centered mare – who wears ribbons in her mane and eats sugar cubes (lives a life of luxury), and is pampered by humans. Later she leaves for another farm seeking better comfort.

Other animals: Benjamin, the wise donkey who could read also, represents the Jews and lives till the end of the novel. Muriel is a wise old friendly goat like Benjamin, but dies earlier in the novel from old age. The cat represents laziness, the rats represent some arbitrary people who roam around, the sheep represent the masses (and Napoleon manage the sheep such that he is supported and believed by them) and the hens represent the rich peasants. Moses is an old raven (bird) that sometimes visits the farm from Sugarcandy Mountain, a place where the hard-working animals go after death he claims. The puppies are the ones that Napoleon specially raises and makes a secret police out of them. They become one of the backbones of Napoleon’s power in the Animal Farm.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of communism is the equal sharing of miseries – Churchill

There is a nursing home in Wuxi called Liang Xiao (name changed). It is located down a side alley off a busy street not far from the central train station. Like most acute care facilities in China, it is a gray and depressing place with little apparent security and wholly inadequate patient supervision. I don't know when Liang Xiao was built and the distressed nature of the buildings offer little clue; most public facilities (with the notable exception of important government offices) are poorly constructed, it could just as easily be 10 years old as it could 30 years old. In all, Liang Xiao seems as hopeless and miserable a place as are its despondent and forlorn patients; fragility seems the least of their ailments as patient quality of life is non-existent. To be fair though, Liang Xiao did have an uncommon amount of activity and the type of motion that suggests design; but it wasn't clear at the time just what it was all about.

I was invited to visit Liang Xiao as a result of one of their nurses having read contacted me via Weibo, the Chinese Twitter. We arranged our visit and scheduled the trip for an early afternoon arrival. Our hosts were the doctors and nurses who run the facility and we were told, the "Chairman" of the company. This last bit of information was curious as I was under the impression that all nursing homes were owned by the state. The purpose of our invitation was to learn if there was any opportunity for us to consult and assist Liang Xiao with their interest in upgrading their geriatric care program.

Shortly after our arrival and once done with the ceremonial exchange of business cards, fanfare of good wishes, obligatory sip of tea and taste of fruit, we were offered a tour of Liang Xiao which we graciously accepted and were told that Mr. Chang would be slightly delayed. Twenty minutes into our tour the Chairman arrived with an entourage of 6 men attending to his calls, carrying his 3 briefcases and just generally making a scene about his arrival. Clearly, the intended impression to be conveyed by this activity was that Mr. Chang was exceedingly important and a much too busy person with whom to be trifled. Our tour guide noticed Mr. Chang's entrance and nervously diverted us from our route to the courtyard in the center of Liang Xiao where a brief introduction was to be made and photos taken. Mr. Chang was given our brochure by one of his assistants and as he read it out loud, he shook each of our hands. Once the introduction was complete, Mr Chang insisted that our tour be postponed until later that afternoon and we should all, at once, retire to the luncheon which had been especially prepared for us.

Our lunch cleared up the mystery of the "Chairman" as well as Liang Xiao's noticeable bustle and opened a door into what might well be the future of nursing homes in China. Calling Mr. Chang a businessman is a profound understatement, as he is more aptly described as one of China's new generation of ravenous entrepreneurs, a new breed of savvy and sharp-eyed capitalists who can spot opportunity a mile away. Mr. Chang's story begins a couple of years ago when the 12th 5 year plan was being written and the government began to allocate funds for the development of senior living facilities. Through what I can only imagine is a carefully constructed and meticulously maintained, salubrious network of political and business contacts (the guangxi must be legendary!) In Wuxi, Mr. Chang crafted himself an opportunity from the ruins of Liang Xiao. And while Mr. Chang doesn't know a thing about nursing care or even the management of such a facility, we must always remember the 4th philosophy of the Joy Longevity Club …. General Tsao's copycat chicken with tasty sauce.

Through grants available via the Ministry of Civil Affairs and more importantly private investment, Mr. Chang is slowly turning Liang Xiao around, and even though it may not look like that today, having been to many other nursing homes in China over the past two years, Mr. Chang is clearly on the power curve of his industry. What is even more curious is that Mr. Chang has also "purchased" shares in Liang Xiao and through his private company "owns" a substantial minority stake. I use the quotations for effect here as I have no idea the inner machinations of how he managed this or the details of the structure; like many things in China the means justify the end and it is likely all informally arranged between him and his local government friends. These particulars notwithstanding, it is the big picture that is the point here: Chang is moving an industry that has long been mired in the stone age of China's dismal legacy of anemic public healthcare. Mr. Chang and those who come after him in Wuxi (not to mention the 39,545 other public nursing homes in China) will no doubt profit handsomely from their efforts and they should; theirs is truly a herculean task.

This all reminds me in a way of Li Cunxin's gripping autobiography Mao's Last Dancer (and subsequent film adaptation by Bruce Beresford in 2009). In his book, Li Cunxin is born into a poor family commune in a small rural village in Shandong Province, where he is destined to work in the fields as a laborer. At first overlooked but eventually selected after suggestion by his teacher during a school visit, Li seems bewildered by the gruff preliminary inspection screening at the province capitol city of Qingdao. He is selected to travel to Beijing to audition for a place in Madame Mao's Dance Academy, and is admitted to its ballet school after passing a series of physical examinations. Years of arduous training follow, until his initial mediocre performance is finally overcome due to inspiration from a teacher's devotion to classical ballet as opposed to the politically motivated, strident form favored by Madame Mao. His determination and courage leads to him being grudgingly permitted by the Academy to travel abroad to Ben Stevenson's Houston Ballet company as a visiting student for three months. In the United States, he begins to question the Chinese Communist Party dictates upon which he has raised, detaches himself from his political past, defects and flourishes as a dancer.

I see Mr. Chang as China's healthcare Li Cunxin; a charismatic, determined soul who sees more and desires a better circumstance for himself and his business and is frustrated with the status quo. The big difference between Li Cunxin and Mr. Chang is that Mr. Chang Chang no longer has to defect to realize his ambition; China has learned to provide opportunities for those who are motivated enough.

A short injection of China's nursing home history

In 2000, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced the "Star Light (Xing Guang) Program" whereby the Ministry allocated 20% of the social welfare lottery fund to build community welfare facilities for seniors. From 2001 to 2004, the Chinese government invested a total of 13.4 billion yuan in this program and built 32,000 "Star Light Centers for Seniors." I want to thank Leung-Wing Chu, FRCP, and Iris Chi for this information as they did a great deal of research in this respect. The services of these centers are overly broad with multiple functions and cover family visits, emergency aid, day care, health care services, and recreational activities to over 30 million elders. At the same time, the government also increased its investment in building nursing homes to provide institutional care for older people in the "Star Light Program". Another program, the "Beloved Care Engineering" program began in 2005 and is aimed at increasing the number of nursing homes and encouraging good nursing home care quality through a government-sponsored Elder Care Foundation. These facilities range from senior citizens' lodging houses (apartments), older people homes, and nursing homes for the aged, which serve to meet elders with different functional abilities and financial backgrounds. The building of older people homes in rural areas was also encouraged for persons who can avail themselves of the "5 guarantees" which, when translated, are the basic needs of "food," "clothing," "accommodation," "health care, "and" burial service ". Those who can usually find their way into such accommodations are usually former revolutionary guards, government employees or other "proud" occupation. By the end of 2005, there were 39,546 institutions providing vastly different types of services for seniors with most providing subpar care, when compared with their Western counterparts (an admittedly unfair comparison). In total these institutions provided 1.497 million beds.

If providing nursing homes was the only issue then China would be well on her way, however that is the least of concerns. As with most endeavors on the mainland, human resources or lack thereof is usually the issue that trumps the best laid plans. The major source of healthcare workers are (often called "bao mu" in Chinese) laid-off workers in previously state-run factories, migrant workers from rural villages or unemployed ethnic minorities. They often do not have any training in elder care or nursing home care before they start working in the nursing homes for older adults. For laid-off workers, 1 to 2 days of short training in basic personal care is provided free of charge by some local government agencies, for example the Labor, Social Security Bureau, China Committee on Aging, and Women's Federation. However, none of these workers are required to have formal training in geriatric care before they enter into their work. As a result, the quality of care is grim and dangerously low. These workers are often required to pay a fee for these training courses and as this imposes a great financial difficulty, they usually do not enroll before they commence working. Such labor also presents other issues for working in nursing homes; different language or dialect, customs from those of urban cities' older people and cultural prejudices of patients who often dislike their care being given by "bao mu".

We haven't yet begun our work with Mr. Chang, although I am confident we will do a great deal with him. And as you can imagine, the benefits of working with such a person extend far beyond simple contract remuneration. His highly choreographed performance to date in raising Liang Xiao from little more than a living graveyard to real, albeit spartan, nursing home is nothing short of virtuosic.

Charles Spencer Chaplin, born on April 16, 1889 in London, England, is considered as the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen. He was not just a comedian, actor and a performer but also a thinker who had the power to realistically reflect and reasonably exaggerate contemporary issues that could draw people to witness and understand the issues through his performance.

He was, thus, a writer, a director and a producer who also acted and composed the music and rendered the sound effect that was so relevant during that silent era. Being the son of parents who were entertainers in their own right, Charlie Chaplin, as he is popularly known began his career as a performer at the tender age of eight. By the age of 25 he has traveled extensively and had already made over 35 films. By then he had gained considerable command over filmmaking. His craving for perfection made him one of the most demanding ones in Hollywood. In spite of being the star performer in his films he understood the importance of every character in the scene. He would shoot and print dozens of times before okaying on one or totally reorganizing or recasting the film over again. Though this was tough and arduous for his team, they would still admire every stage of this creative architect. They all knew that once the film was ready and released it would bring success and smiles for all.

Though later in life Charlie Chaplin and his contribution to art and cinema received world acclaim he had during his life his share of pain and controversies. He was charged of being disloyal to England, accused of spreading communism in America, discriminated on grounds of being un-American, indicted for aiding the Russian struggle, declared an undesirable alien and was also severely castigated for his caricature of Hitler in the Great Dictator . For all this he and his work did take a beating. Added to this was his discontented personal life. Joan Barry whom Charlie had momentarily dated sued him for pregnancy. This and later divorces from his wives ended up in him doling huge sums of money as compensation.

Of the four marriages he lost three wives, two by divorce and one lived only for three days. For all these stress it is said that his hairs had prematurely gone gray. Perhaps for all these reasons Charlie never was flamboyant or even fashionable in spite of being a celebrity and a millionaire all his life. After the failure of his last film "Limelight 'and expelled on political grounds by America, Charlie Chaplin gradually secluded himself and went into self exile. After leaving the United States in 1952, he lived in Britain and later in 1953 moved to Vevey, Switzerland where he died on Christmas day in 1977.

Decorated by Academy Awards, the Oscar for life time contribution and Knight Commander of the British Empire this legendary artiste still lives on to give enjoyment more that he himself could ever find.

Cynical Realism – The History & Concept
The Republic of China saw a major upheaval and a contemporary movement in Chinese Artistry in the beginning of 1990. Since, the Cultural Revolution in China, there existed a beaten path and line for artists. This movement broke away all the shackles of the collective conservative mindset and concentrated on new themes. The artists took a pot shot on socio-political issues and events from the beginning of revolutionary China until date. The new angle and the point of view for all those events and happenings of Chinese history and present were visited. Contemporary artists in Modern China projected the changes in China, through their paintings, a reflection of 'grassroots' pain, uncertainty, and cynicism. Often humorous but always trying to send across a message to the viewer, Cynical Realism really gave a fresh lease of life to Chinese Art, especially painting. From Communism to industrialization and modernization they took it all with equal fervor.

The Artworks
Cynical Realism was in many ways, a strong reflection of the western influence on the Chinese art and culture. Chinese art historians and critics named it "Western Gaze." It was indeed the influence of westerners. The volume of buyers from west enforced the faith of the artists that their work is in demand. The exhibitions of these paintings were organized on foreign soils. Artist Fang Lijun (born 1963), in October 2006, organized the first solo show in Mainland. His 'baldheads' are internationally accepted icons of Contemporary Chinese Art, Cynical Realism to be specific.

The Artists
As always, Cynical Realists are heavily criticized for the western influence in their artworks. These artists however, stay unfazed and are persistent on their efforts. Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun (born 1962), Yang Shaobin (born 1963), Wang Jinsong (born 1963), and Song Yonghong (born 1966) are some of the most famous Cynical Realists. They started their creative journey together, bonded together in bitter poverty, painting, drinking, and cavorting on the fringes of modern Chinese society.

Conclusion
According to Aldous Huxley, "Cynical Realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation." For China however, this excuse is the new golden pig. The market for Cynical Realism is thriving and ever growing. The commercial appeal for these paintings is rising. Cynical Realism today, enjoys the reputation as an identifying tangent of Chinese Contemporary Art. They fetch the highest of prices globally.

In China, the government is quite worried about Internet addiction and no matter what you think about that, there is a good case for such policies as limiting Internet time by the citizens, for instance, if everyone is busy online, they are not working or producing.

Many condemn China and say the reason they wish to limit Internet Cafe time is to prevent the people from getting information about the outside world or learning that folks out there want to recruit Chinese citizens to undermine the communist government.

One could suppose that this is a real fear of the Chinese Leadership, however eventually information will find a path, it always does, it's kind of like water in that regard, it always finds a way and it never stops flowing. Is the Chinese government just paranoid or is this a real concern?

Will productivity be lost to the Internet, will the Internet cause the fall of the Communist Regime in China? No, probably neither will occur. China will change over time, the Internet is not going anywhere. Some 300 million people in China use the Internet, that's equal to the US Population, so there are more people on the Internet in China than in the US.

That number will only grow so it will now be impossible for the US to ever catch China in the number of Internet users. So, even if China limits the time allowed at Internet Cafes, for whatever reason, it's not going to change the Internet, change China or slow their online growth there. Think on this.

"Achievement makes the man, not man the achievement" says Milovan Djilas in his biography of Tito written shortly after the latter's death in May 1980. At the time of his death over 122 representatives from all over the world gathered to pay homage. This contrasts with the present day where there was hardly any commemoration of his death anniversary. It shows that his image has not withstood the ravages of time and only proves the adage of the poem on King Ozymandias that the "paths of glory lead but to the grave."

Having said that it might appear strange to talk of Tito now. After all neither he nor his creation Yugoslavia exist. So why talk of them at this juncture? True I'm only considering the topic from the perspective of the biography I read of Tito. Apart from the Balkans has been traditionally a tinderbox. Twice there was mayhem in the region in the twentieth century. In 1914 it precipitated the First World War and in the 1990s a devastating civil war erupted there that marked the end of Yugoslavia as a nation.

Tito is considered Yugoslavia's founding father and it's believed it was the force of his personality that held it together. While the Comintern appointed him head of the Yugoslav Communist Party, or 'League of Communists' in 1937, subsequent to the Communists victory in 1944-45, he assumed total control. A control that lasted till his death in 1980 at the age of 88 years. Milovan Djilas however notes that it was a personality with limitations for example as a military strategist. Similarly while he was systematic he was not supported by party functionaries who were likewise. Where I don't agree with M.Djilas is in describing the Communists as a monolithic entity presiding over a plural entity. Let's not forget that in the Yugoslav context he was a 'Hu Yaobong' figure. Also as early as the 1920s and 1930s the communists were split between moderates and radicals. Similarly while Tito according to Djilas envisaged collective leadership after his demise, this wasn't in sync he believes with the party bigwigs and probably led to the rise of men like Milosevic. However I would attribute that far more to the strength of ethnic sentiment in Yugoslavia. It would be appropriate I think in this context to quote Aleksa Djilas writing in a recent issue of the magazine 'Foreign Affairs' in this context: "As time went on, the official concept of Yugoslavia became more and more emptied of the ethnic, linguistic and historical tradition common to all Yugoslavia's national groups. By the 1960s it was almost completely vacuous with Titoist ideology being substituted as a substitute. "

Democratization and the 1970 Constitution

Similarly it's been held that Tito was no democrat but let's not forget that the 1970 Constitution marked a significant step towards devolution turning the country into a virtual confederation. At the same time to go the maximum way down this road would have meant ending the monopoly of the Communist party over power which couldn't have been countenanced at that time. That was to come later with the revolutions in East Europe in 1989 and the disbanding of the Soviet Union in that form. Despite this, significant economic reforms towards decentralization were initiated in the 1960s. Whether those were real or cosmetic and resulted only in autarchy and duplication of efforts as Aleksa Djilas would like us to believe is a moot point. However as far as duplication is concerned there is much of that in free market economies as well.

Is there a legacy?

A more complex issue is just what is Tito's legacy? Unfortunately in concrete terms there is nothing except that he unified the Balkans under a single leadership as Ataturk did in Turkey. The difference of course is that Turkey lasted while Yugoslavia didn't.

In evaluating Tito's role we have to bear in mind that one man alone cannot make a country. Everybody has to unite for that purpose. From what events in the 1990s showed considerable elements of the population and their leaders were imbued with ethnic feeling and there seems to be substance in the belief that this was reflected earlier both in the party as well as the intelligentsia. Moreover Tito himself had the weight of history against him, having been born in 1892 in Croatia which was then a part of Austria-Hungary and having served in that country armed forces against Serbia in the 1914 conflict. The Comintern also played its role in the ideological deconstruction of Yugoslavia by considering it initially a 'prison of nations' and changing its approach only in the 1930s when it was deemed to be convenient as a barrier to Nazism and fascism. That as subsequent events showed wasn't the whole picture and it probably changed yet again with Tito's falling out with Stalin.

Be all this as it may there's no denying Tito was a remarkable leader. He ensured Yugoslavia was one of the architects of the non-aligned movement and enabled a relatively modest country to play much above its weight in world affairs. Therefore Robert West's perspective in his book 'Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia', that Tito's role is exaggerated and that it was held together only by the Communists and secret police is a simplistic assessment as Yugoslavia lasted a full decade after Tito's death. This brings us to the salient point that the process did end with the disintegration of Yugoslavia and that now a calculated effort is being made to deconstruct the image of its founder. This is important because we can't ignore the West's hostility towards Yugoslavia as having contributed to its disintegration. This is amply borne out by NATO intervention against Serbia in the 1990s civil war and the bombing of Belgrade as well as the selective arraignment of Serb politicians as "war criminals". We have to bear in mind that in war there are no heroes, only the dead and the injured and also that crimes are bound to be committed by one and all. This is particularly so in a region that has traditionally been on a "short fuse" (Achin Vinayak on South Asia). We can only hope it doesn't blow up again and cause a major international conflagration.

Finally this is a subjective account of Tito as it's littered with value judgments, perhaps not surprising as Djilas eventually fell out with the Yugoslav communists and Tito and was imprisoned in successive periods for his ideological tendencies. For those of you interested in a more factual understanding of the period can refer to Duncan Wilson's excellent account in his book 'Tito' Yugoslavia '. As a former British ambassador to Yugoslavia Wilson has brought a wide ranging perspective to the subject even if we may not agree with all of his observations, some of which he hasn't really explained deeply such as that Tito was always a 'soul partner' of the Soviet Union or that the Brionne meeting between Tito, Nasser and Nehru was more important to Nasser than Nehru. Nevertheless Tito is a wide ranging subject and there's no limit to the degree we can go into the subject and these books are a good beginning to understand him and Yugoslavia.