NLC Games held today

The Ninth Games of National Library of China began today at the stadium of Renmin University of China.

Today's weather is not very good. All the staff attended the opening ceremony in the rain.

Prof. Yuan Mingdun passed away

Prof. YUAN Mingdun (1928-2010), former chairman of the Department of Library Science, Beijing Normal University, passed away last week. His farewell ceremony was held yesterday at an hospital.

Prof. Yuan was an early researchers in computer languages, library automation and MARC formats.

National Standards for CNMARC Format in Progress

The two China national standards for CNMARC bibliographic and authorities formats began early this year.

They are supposed to be based on the newly revised UNIMARC formats (bibliographic format, 2008, and authorities format, 2009).

I am chairing the drafting of the authority format, and Mr. WANG Dongbo is chairing the revision of the bibliographic format.

The translation of the UNIMARC Authorities Format is about to be completed. I hope the job could be done in the next year.

Lea Salonga and Miss Saigon

I finally found a DVD of Miss Saigon from a friend. It is the version of the performance at Fullerton Civic Light Opera on September 16, 2005. It is the only one I can find with the full stage performance of Miss Saigon, but I don't like the actors very much.

Some months ago, I got a DVD The Heat Is On: The Making of 'Miss Saigon', which describes the first performance of the musical in 1989, with Lea Salonga playing Kim. However, The Heat Is On contains just some pieces of the whole musical, and I cannot get a general idea.

Lea played Éponine in the Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert in 1998. I like her very much, even more than the roles of Fantine and Cosette.

Long holiday for the National Day

Today is the second day of the long holiday for the National Day (October 1).

The long holiday is a good opportunity for me to recover from intensive and busy work, enjoy life with family, and find time to do something left behind.