Wangjianshuo's Blog Meetup

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2003-12-16 23:43 · Meetup

I always feel excited when I am thinking that there are many frequent readers and friends around this website. I also got a lot of email asking about “how about we meet next week?” or “I will be in Shanghai around ****, how about we meet and talk?”

I also have been waiting to meet some of my friends face to face if possible. I know many are in Shanghai already, while others, like Carroll and Xu are in California and Japan…

Maybe we can hold a very small gathering to celebrate the opportunity of being in the same city and knowing each other. It must be fun and memorable.

What do you think of the idea? It may not be a bad choice if the meet-up happens next Friday, December 26, 2003, at the Starbucks Metro City Store? Meet-up starts at 7:30 PM. Only one participant will make me happy enough. If you want to come, please post a comment on this page.

FAQ

Q: Why Meet-up?

A: Why not? But it is just a very casual gathering and having a cup of coffee. The world is small. Why not gather and know each other?

Q: How many people will be there?

A: Two persons are enough for the gather. But open to more people. However, less than 10 is preferred.

Q: Who should attend?

A: I will not say anyone should attend. It will be very good if you are a frequent reader of this blog.

Q: What is the time and location?

A: Time: 7:30 PM, Friday, December 26, 2003

Location: Starbucks Metro City Store (out of Exit 10 of Metro Xujiahui Station)

Q: I cannot catch it. Is it possible to choose another time?

A: Yes. It is possible. But unless there is a very good reason, I prefer to stick to the date.

Q: What do you mean by small world? You have mentioned it many times.

A: Yes. It is true. I have a “small world” sections at the end of this page.

Q: Will Wendy be there?

A: I am not sure. I didn’t check with her yet.

Q: What will be the topics?

A: There should be a lot of things to discuss - the city of Shanghai, the blog, the weather, the culture shock, where to go and play… anything that is fun.

Q: Should I have dinner first?

A: Yes. We will not have dinner together. You need to buy yourself coffee.

Q: Any lucky draw?

A: Yes. I am thinking of what the big prize will be. (Don’t have high expectation. I am not as rich as Bill Gates)

P.S. Small World

This world is full of miracles and chances. I have a good friend Cuanyu who left comment on my board to claim that guy on the background of my picture was him. Thus we have met with each other in Riwa and then connected via Internet. I have a nother friend Michael from Shanghaiexpat.com. He met my collegue at the air plane from San Fransisco to Seattle! Now, this is the third miracle: Run was telling a story that George read this blog and found out *Run *was in Munich, Germany and they finally met:

…Talking about George, it´s a miracle. I cannot believe this happened.

  • Somebody recommend Jian Shuo Wang’s log (www.wangjianshuo.com) to him

  • he visited Jian Shuo´s blog site

  • he found my blog (www.run2me.com) and visited it

  • he observed I was in Munich that days

  • he contacted me via BBS board and email

  • we got connected in MSN and made an appointment in the Central Station in Munich … the place we have been there before

  • we met near the gate of the train to Swan Castle finally!

It’s a miracle! I cannot believe it happened without a phone call for two persons who never know each other meeting in a place they have never been there before! but it happened in the Interget age!

Quoted from Run2me.com

The world is small right? By of Six Degree of Separation theory, any one can know any one within 6 loops. True.

Update Wonderful MeetUp December 31, 2003

The meet up turned to be very successful. Read the story and see the pictures here: Wonderful Meetup on December 26.

22 Comments
Oh, I *love* this post! There are so many reasons. First of all, although I would dearly love to come to your meet-up, I'm afraid it will just not be practical to arrange a flight to Shanghai for the day after Christmas on such short notice. But airports are also a wonderful place to meet already-friends, and soon-to-be friends in person, and I certainly hope that if you, Wendy, or any of your good friends is passing through SFO, SJC, or Oakland airports in the Bay Area, you will let me know so we could try to arrange a greeting. AND, about your "small world" theory...Jian Shuo, you will remember that the reason I first found your blog is that I was searching for information about Shanghai which I might have been coming to visit last summer. Well, the young woman who interviewed me for that program, (which, sadly, had to be cancelled because of SARS) has become a dear friend-to-be (we've only met briefly twice now, but from the first time felt a very strong connection), and she came to our tree-trimming party on Sunday :-) She was born in Shanghai, and her family is still there, and the next time we get together, I know we will talk about you, and your blog, and your wonderful city. And the last reason I so love this post is that you have reminded me that it's time to get busy planning for the trip to New Zealand we will be taking in February. We have friends on the North Island and will stay with them for the first week, but after that, our plan is to stay with strangers! Why would we do that, and how is that possible? Well, I don't want to advertise for any websites on your blog, and since we have never done this before, I can't really offer a "testimonial" anyway...but if you google for "global freeloaders" you will find out about a project that was started by a great-thinking (I think) young man in Australia with the intention of making the world a smaller more personal place for travellers. We're definitely going to try it out, and I will let you know how it goes. I'm sorry this comment got to be so long, but I'm excited about your idea to meet your readers. I'm quite sure there will be pictures :-) Have a great time!!
— Carroll · 2003-12-17 00:32
Doh!!!! So close but no cigar. I've been hoping to meet you for some time now Jianshuo, but looks like my trip to SH in January will be too late for this meeting. Have fun at Starbucks!

David
— David · 2003-12-17 06:10
Carroll, I have been in SFO Airport for three times ( http://www.wangjianshuo.com/personal/places/seattle/sfopvg/index.htm ) for my trip to Seattle. I will certainly happy to meet you at the airport for the next trip - for me, SFO is almost sunny but there is no personal connection there before. I think we will produce many photos during the events and maybe post it here.

David, it is a petty that you cannot catch this event, but I think there are more events like this in the future. Have a nice trip to Shanghai.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-17 09:22
Hi Wang:

I'd like to catch the meeting, we man chat on msn (stonesee@hotmail.com).

BTW: Your FAQ is so funny:)
— stonesee · 2003-12-17 10:30
Hello Wang,

As I wrote to your about my plan trip to China. Well, I changed my intinerary because of the wheather. I want to travel light and cheap :-). So I went to Ho Chi Minh for a week and spent 1 week in Xiamen, Fujian province. It happens that there are lots of thing to see in this province that I can not fly to Shanghai. I have a great time in Xiamen. I went to stay in the Tu Lau (Hakka's earthen house) for 1 night.

After my visit to Xiamen, I plan to visit other area like Yun Nan area, Beijing and Shanghai for the flight back to Singapore.

I read your bloq and noted down the 10 RMB hotel as reference for my future trip there.

Regards,

Tiur
— Tiur · 2003-12-17 12:14
Hehe. Don't count these 10 RMB hotel - the conditions are miserable. Everything is cheap there since the annual income of people there is less than 2000 RMB
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-17 12:27
A question about the "Best Blog" voting...I just went to that site to check on how you were doing and I see that you are also nominated in the category of "Best Asian Blog in English as a Foreign Language". Do you also want people to vote for you in that category? At the moment, it is a much shorter list of nominations, and with 45 votes in that category you would already be in the number one position!However, even with all the other nominations in the "Best Mainland China Blog" category, you hold the 4th position at the moment, which (I think)is great! I went ahead and voted for you there too just in case. :-)
— Carroll · 2003-12-17 12:46
Yeah, ok, I am the George that met up with Run, Wendy, HW in Munich. :-) Although I will not able to make the blog meet on the 25th (I work in Redmond) but i will see you in the Shanghai very soon. Ask Run, you will know what i mean.

George.
— George · 2003-12-17 13:15
Carroll, actually I didn't know someone nominated me in the Best Asian Blog in English as a Foreign Language category. I didn't expect that. :-D I am very happy with the current ranking of my site in the Best Mainland China Award.

George, I will check with Run for it.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-17 21:57
Would like to come to the meet-and-greet -- I'm currently working in Suzhou. However, I'll be going home for the holidays Dec 24-Jan 1！ Hope you have another one of these in future ;)
— 柯轩 · 2003-12-18 09:31
wow, such a cool event.

en..i'm going to Lijiang tomorrow and if i could be back before friday, i may come for a greeting.
— tutu · 2003-12-18 09:50
I'll try to catch it.

I plan to travel to Shanghai next week.

But maybe won't be there on Friday.

It depends.

Anyway, I'm glad to meed you, Jianshuo.
— Ginn · 2003-12-18 12:48
Have arrangement prior it already, now try to cancel it.

Like to meet you all there.
— sophie · 2003-12-18 13:04
Good idea ! I intend to come back since the coming spring, so I lood forward to attending next time. Have a amazing meeting !
— Xu · 2003-12-18 17:58
Here is a summary of the attendants for Dec 26 as of today.

*Carroll* NO

- Wanted to come but cannot :-D I would definitely very happy if we can meet someday in either SFO or Shanghai.

*David* NO

- Too late to come. Thanks for letting me know that.

*Stonesee* YES

- May come. Cool!

*Tiur* NO

- good trip to Xiamen, Beijing and Yunan. The intinerary looks excellent - you have explored the best of China.

*George* NO

- will visit Shanghai soon but not on Dec 26. Then talk to you later

*柯轩* NO

- having holiday after Dec 24. Then talk to you the next time.

*tutu* MAYBE

- may come if coming back from Lijiang before Friday

*Ginn* MAYBE

- depends on the plan

*sophie* YES

- cancelled previous plan and will join to event. Thanks so much!

*Xu* NO

- coming back this spring and I may think of a meet up next spring.

Note: This is just a causual meet up and you can still show up at the last minutes (before we leave) or don't show up if there is any change. Take it easy. :-D
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-20 00:07
Would love to come, but will only be back in Shanghai by the end of February. Hope to have another chance then.
— Fons · 2003-12-20 08:06
No problem. There will definitely be other chances.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-20 20:20
I was a professor in Electronic Engineering from Toronto. I use your blog regularly for updates on Shanghai. I am here now on a short visit. I will bring a friend along to your coffee meeting. She is a reporter at FORBES.
— Ghee Teh · 2003-12-21 11:20
Ghee, You and your friend are welcome to the meet-up! I have met with a FORBES journalist with name Robyn.

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20021218_forbes_interview.htm

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20021219_forbes_interview_cont.htm

:-D
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-21 21:11
would love to meet you and your other readers but my hubby will be in shanghai for the holidays and we might go to guandong on the 26th. but hope there will be another meet up. have fun and merry x'mas!
— elizabeth · 2003-12-22 19:33
Have a nice time at Shanghai and enjoye yourself.
— Roger · 2005-10-03 19:31
Just taking a quick coffee break and wanted to post a hello
— young woman · 2005-11-14 08:40