"A revolution is not a dinner party" --Mao Zedong. What a great guy, short and to the point. Mao is extremely popular, with his "cult of personality" and Little Red Book" of Maoisms, so I was baffled when I read that he was responsible for the deaths of about 38 million Chinese through debunk agricultural and political policies. Nonetheless, he is still the symbol of the Chinese Communist Party and China itself, so I figured this was a fitting picture for my first post. This picture was taken in the famous Tian'anmen Square, which is the world's largest public square and home to Mao's preserved body. When I arrived in Beijing, with legs severely cramped by 16 hours of flying, I was picked up by Helen (her Chinese name is Yinglian) and taken in her $40,000 BMW. After reaching her beautiful house, which was in a gated community where the security guards salute you everytime you drive by, I got the feeling that she had a little money when I saw the 2006 Porsche and Audi in the garage. She is so nice, she basically gave me free reign while in Beijing. Early on, I went for a run out of her neighborhood, past the staring eyes of many Chinese who had never seen a skinny white boy with short shorts and no shirt gliding past them on their way to work. However, when I tried to reenter the gated neighborhood, the security guards would not allow me. They knew very little English so I had to use my Chinese to convince them that I did live in there. I think they were a little surprised with my speaking abilites, and even I was a little surprised.