Fornew readers and those who request to be “好友 good friends” please read my 公告栏 first.

Few people alive today remember the day this happened (a few years ago a  Chinese newspaper survey found that 75% of the Chinese population do not  know the event/date “nine-one-eight”. Only people of my age lived   through the Sino-Japanese war of occupation and events of World War II. Approximately 140,000 people were killed by one nuclear bomb the first time such a weapon was used. Yesterday, President Obama visited this city and madean eloquent speech about the horrors of war http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/president-obama-historic-speech-visit-hiroshima-article-1.2651798 and stressed the goal that our world must work towards a nuclear weapon free society. In this connection, one cannot help but empathize  with unfortunate people the world over (the refugees crossing and dying in  the Mediterranean Sea,the prosecuted minority in Myanmar, the Syrian people caught up in a civil war,and so on . . .) and grateful for our own lucky star and good  lives.

The entire speech is avaliable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNzt7gVz56c which unforunately is a 27 minutes Youtube video that is blocked in China. Except for stirring emotions, there is not a single word that China should find offensive in the speech. I hope some reader can provide means to  jump this firewall.