In this publication, we offer 1) “The US is waging war on Chinese hi-tech, but it can’t thwart Beijing’s ambitions on its own” by Joergen Oerstroem Moeller; 2) “Why pick on Huawei when all advanced technologies, including those from the US, carry security risks?” by Peter Kammerer; and 3) “China urges US to accept others' technology progress” by Xinhua.
In the Music Section, we have “Dance of the Golden Snake” (“Jazz版 《金蛇狂舞》 指揮/閻惠昌 《Dance of the Golden Snake》” :
Enjoy!
A Ghost in Old Town San Diego
by
George Lam
Over 120,000 Chinese tourists visited San Diego, California in 2016 and it is not slowing down. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is a popular stop on the visit. Travel programs in China have shown Old Town, and often include Racine & Laramie, the 1867 tobacco and pipe shop on the plaza there. Racine & Laramie was originally built as a home in Old Town before 1840. By 1867 it had become a tobacconist and gentleman's gift shop. After a fire in 1872 it was reconstructed over original foundations one hundred years later in the early 1970s. The store has even used antique fixtures throughout to recreate the shop as close as possible to the original. Besides being an authentic old West experience it is occasionally haunted.
No one knows why the store is haunted, but apparently it is. One manager met a spirit on the stairs so often she refused to go up to the office any longer. People have heard footsteps going from the stairs across the wooden floor to a window seemingly to gaze out.
After 40+ years of occasional visits from the spirits there emerged a photo of what appears to be a gentleman with a mustache, cravat, and fedora. Taken one evening looking from the main shop into the cigar room, he looks out of time and place and isn't a reflection. Also, since you can see the picture on the wall through him, he isn't in the next room - at least in a physical sense.
There seems to be more than one ghost, but do not always show themselves. They seem to like quieter times and spots in the store. There are smells of cigars when no one is smoking. There are footsteps when no one is there. If you visit the shop and hope to meet one of their shy ghosts, go sit in the lounge, relax, chat with others who are there. Perhaps you will experience their spirits, or perhaps even meet a ghost like the one in the photo here.
Attached see store outside and in as well as the "ghost."
Ghost photo by Maritza Skandunas.
Andre Faucon
faucon@inbox.lv
Photo 1 Our friend can be seen as a white shadow over the pictures on the wall.
Photo 2 Inside the store. The wood stove is the only heat in the building. The fixtures are all authentic and you won't get much closer to traveling back to San Diego around 1870 than being here.
Photo 3. The store is made of adobe and sits on the plaza inside the State Park.
Photo 4. There is a real wooden Indian out front of the store. It is a great place for a photo. Called Chief Golden Bull, he was carved by Native Americans in the North West United States.
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