厚积薄发: accumulating steadily

Ray War

"How to settle conflicts?" I've been asking this question for a long time without actually knowing what "conflicts" looks like, until today. What might introduce conflicts? The most general reason is differences in interest, different way of looking at things. Different interest will lead to different list of task priority, and people always take more care about the first thing on their priority list. I don't know which is right: to consider more about self-development or consider more about project progresses? Right, you might say: "of course, we should put project progresses before self-development" But, what if the project is not so important? What if you always have to sacrifice your opportunities of self-improvement for projects? So you'll have to work out a way to balance this two. The first choice is to find a "win-win" solution. Step 1. What does the other people who have a problem with your decision/choice need most? Don't be blinded by bias. Most of the people are kind and they do not intend to be a barrier on your way. However, conflicts arises because most people tend to see the cause appear to be, instead of the root cause. At least at the first sight. Step 2. Communicate with the people of conflict, identify the root cause of conflicts together (communication is important, you have to double check whether you've totally understand what the people's concern is). The tip is: don't get irritated, don't label other people. Step 3. Try to see whether you can settle the root cause of conflict using alternatives, instead of compromizing. If you cannot do it yourself, you might find a better solution by interviewing senior people. Step 4, propose the solution, and see if the others are fine with it. If not, go back to step 2. The above is the lesson learned from my own experience, documented here for future references.

Finally, I have the time to write something about the Huangshan Trip out team just took early this month. It was a great trip of course, having the opportunity to go out with colleagues. The most interesting parts during this trip were reaching the summit of TianDuFeng and getting up early to do some photographing in XiTang. Originally, we didn't have Tian Du Feng (天都峰). It was at our persistent request that the guide finally gave up and agreed to let us go. It was early in the morning and there was a mysterious blue mist around us, making Huangshan more or less like a fairy land. Sometime on the trip, we had to literally "Climb" using all the four of our limbs. I enjoy conquering the summit of a mountain very much, especially the feeling of looking down along the road that I've covered. And I guess this is why I thought this is the most interesting part of the trip. The other thing that was impressive on the trip is that we had a chance to see the typical "water village" （水乡）- Xitang (西塘), and taste the loneness and leisure that never belong to big cities like Beijing. It was early in the morning again (I think I love "early in the morning" because I am never a morning person), the whole village is soaked in quietness to the most tiniest part. People on the way is not any more consist of tourists, with people who go everywhere but keep nothing with them when they go away. We were talking all the way about spending a week or more in the village, staying in the family motels by the river and see how different life can be different for us. My desire for shopping was finally awoken, hanging from one shop to another in the village, attracted by everything, even though some of them are available in Beijing. Like I always say, souvenirs are special not because they are only available somewhere, but that they are bound with memories. Or am I wrong? Are you able to buy a piece of table cloth in Beijing which is bought from Xitang? People say this is non-sense, yet I love it. And right, with the help of my newly bought Pentex K100D, the beauty of Huangshan and Xitang is framed somehow, 最近玩得比较疯，去了好多地方，山西+黄山+杭州，小试了一下新买的相机，有点飘飘然了：）

Selection