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Great Wiki Article.

Today’s featured article

Sun Yat-sen

Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary leader and statesman who is considered by many to be the “Father of Modern China”. He had a significant influence in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and establishment of the Republic of China. A founder of the Kuomintang, Sun was the first provisional president of the Republic of China in 1912 and de facto leader from 1923 to 1925. He developed a political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People which is still one of the guiding principles for Chinese governments today. Although Sun is considered one of the greatest leaders of modern China, his life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile as few of his visions for his country materialized. Sun was a uniting figure in post-imperial China and remains unique among 20th century Chinese politicians for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan. Indeed, soon after his death the nation plunged into Civil War. In the 1930s he was posthumously given the title “Father of the Nation” which is currently used in Taiwan. In the mainland, he is commonly referred to as the “forerunner of the revolution”.

http://www.wikipedia.com is a great reference site. http://answers.com is another

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Shanghai trip planning part 1

JY and I are thinking of making a trip to Shanghai to see her parents. We still haven’t decided whether to go yet, it really depends on how our baby’s ultra-sound result come out.

However, for the past few days, I’ve been researching traveling options, trying to make the flight from SFO to PVG (Pudong Airport) more pleasant.

There are a few options. It’s a really hard decision. United charges $5000+ for business class fair, Air China charges $3,000+. I’ve been thinking about creative ways to get the tickets so we won’t go broke before the baby even gets here.

The best option right now seems like United Economy Plus. These are special seats on United that gives you a few inchs of additional space, which will definitely help. It will also make upgrade to business class easier if there are operational upgrades available.

United just came up with a new plan that will sell you one year of economy plus access for $299. It applies to a Mileage Plus account holder, and allows the account holder and a guest to book E+ fares. It even works with Award Tickets.

JY and I can sign up for E+, get two tickets in E+ for our trip, then take operaitonal upgrades if offered at check-in. It’s the best I can come up with.

There are actually other options. If any of you have 90,000 miles with United, please contact me, I’d like to see if I can purchase them from you so I can get a business class reward ticket directly. If you have any United System Wide Upgrades, talk to me as well, I may want to buy a couple from you for the E+->Business upgrade.

Pray for us that the baby will be healthy and that we can learn the gender of our baby tomorrow.

A very helpful website for frequent flyer programs:
FlyerTalk

United Economy Plus