An ordinary Chinese family in Shanghai

When I have been organizing the Asia Pacific QA Manager's Meeting to be held annually in Shanghai for the past several years, I developed a friendly relationship with this small business owner Mr. Zhao Qiang and his wife.  They print and bind the meeting booklets to be handed out to meeting attendees.  Their shop is right across from the hotel I stay every time when I am on business in Shanghai (Hongqiao Marriott), and that was how I first found them the first time.  They are simple and hard working people.  The wife is quiet but very helpful.  The husband sometimes grumbles about the government, and how hard it is to sustain a small business.  They had a son last year, a boy born in the year of Tiger.  So this March when I was in Shanghai to host the APZ QA Conference for the last time before retirement, I met their son.  I gave him a red envelop of 100 RMB.  Mr Zhao and his wife's faces brightened up and smiled widely.  The parents are so happy, not because of the money but rather because of the friendship I have shown to them.  It proves once again how precious it is to be connected with other human beings even in some very small ways.

I love the hair cut of the little boy!