China does a lot of social experiments, including the current Social Credits scheme in Beijing and Shanghai. China experiments with democracy in some cities, with neo-Maoism-collectivism in others, like Chongqing, and with a variety of forms of new social engineering, including rampant capitalism in Hong Kong and here and there. It's a big culture/society and so does massive billion people trials over many years. Of all the people in the world, China studies the Chinese most. At the same time, it has more higher educated and well informed economic analysts of, say, Australian and UK economics than either the UK or Australia have, or could ever have. China studies urban pacification as well. I recall during the 2012 riots in Bangkok, the first-on-the-group foreigners were plane-loads of Chinese tactical analysts, studying the impact of the rebellion, and analysing everything the combatants did. The Chinese invest in Knowledge of other people, as well as themselves. They are a new and old and remarkable and unique human civilisation. One would find most Chinese to be a bit dubious about social experiments like Western democracy when the last really big 'social experiment' most recall and remain damaged by, is the horror of the Cultural Revolution. I guess the Chinese Nation could fall apart, and this is about as likely as Hawaii gaining independence from the USA...or Tibet gaining independence from China, or Canberra in Australia becoming the property of the local indigenous folk...all these things could happen, yeah, but none of them ever will happen.

Katie Melua - Nine Million Bicycles

Joni Mitchell - Hejira (1976) Full Album

The concern regarding having a referendum in Australia to change the Constitution to recognise Aboriginal people as being here is this: You have to win the referendum. As shown by the Brexit referendum, the will of the people is not something one can rely upon. If you lose it, then that's that. You don't get another shot at it. The usual policy of any government here is, when faced by a call for a referendum, is to fund both sides of the argument so that people have a clear and informed base on which to make a choice. This is why Australia is not a Republic, because Australia rejected the notion, and why we not fully separate as a nation from the UK. A referendum sounds like a good and progressive idea on recognising Aboriginality in Australia, but only if you win the referendum, only if you trust that the majority of Australians think like you do. The history of referenda in Australia is that most don't get up.

I see the Hong Kong Government has put away the extradition agreement with the mainland, and I think that this is a shame, really. Many people commit atrocious crimes, paedophilia, rape, murder etc in the Mainland and then find their way to Hong Kong as an escape from trial and punishment...and for these most serious and horrible crimes, they can't be extradited to be on trial at all. I really don't know why Hong Kong people wish to protect these kinds of monsters and criminals.

Whatever the motivation for Trump meeting Un, it is a good thing to do. North Korea is the worst government on Earth, true, and then comes Saudi Arabia. And Trump is probably the worst President on earth. Still, It's always best to talk rather than kill.

General Muttering Afternoon. Getting things in order. Plan is to fly out to Guangzhou Monday AM, connect to Shanghai, overnight in Shanghai Monday midnight, drop off about 50kg of extra luggage to family, then domestic air to Shen Yang midday Tuesday, then an AirB&B in NE China. The AirBnB apartment in Shen Yang looks like a cross between Zen and the Art of Oddness and Hello Kitty, and is unrealistically inexpensive, so that it may not actually exist. Then a few days there, go to the wedding, see family, then back to Shanghai see family, a few days there, then home and back to work. In preparation for this, apart from the heart attack two months ago, I caught the flu this week so have been holed up at home sneezing and snotting around in a zombie like fashion trying to work out if the zombieism relates to the lessening of the damaged pumping heart's blood supply to the old brain, or just the flu. I expect its a combination. It all augurs pretty well for our first holiday in about 3 years since coming to Melbourne and finding work, and working, and then...getting sick, working, pushing back on creditors etc. So: passport & visa, yes. Some tablets, oh yes. Some tissues, yes. Some nitrolingual spray, yes. Some spare Yuan. From time to time in life I've had PTSD/Depression/whatever and tend to agree with Mr Leonard Cohen when he said that as he got older, the connecting pathways in the brain that bring about depression tend to get burnt out. Mine have. Last night we drove into the city centre in Melbourne to pick up a Certificate for daughter noting her excellence in sound engineering in a Nepalese video, so we can deliver it to her in Shanghai. Then we had some Japanese food. The cost of the meal and the cost of parking the ute was about the same...$30 each. Nothing cheap about Melbourne. I was muttering and grumbling for sometime before realising that everything was basically okay...and, in its way, remarkable. Today I have swanned about in my Chinese winter Pyjamas and fluffy slippers all day, and drove to the bottle shop dressed that way and bought a bottle of Guinness and a packet of cigarettes. I did this to be culturally prepared for Northern China. Tomorrow, Sunday, is packing the luggage day and writing down numbers of things that may be important. Who knows? Hopefully, in the time available in Shen Yang, in the Hello Kitty AirB&B I will have a nap, transcend the usual, and become self-aware for ten minutes before getting hungry for street noodles and fried snakes on sticks. I will smoke ten Pandas for you.