My old friend in Melbourne Mark has drawn my attention to this recent BBC feature report on Australia's new Opposition Leader and Labour Party chief Kevin Rudd who, according to Mark, shares some nearly unbelieveable and very striking similarities with me in terms of multicultural outlook, language skills and interests in the history of other societies in the region although Rudd is " white " and I am " yellow ".

Well, there are certainly many similarities among individuals in different societies all over the world but very often only the supposedly characteristic differences of our groups are exaggerated and even fantasised in negative light in political rabble-rousing.

General Pace visits Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum

Visiting a graveyard during Chinese New Year

A multiethnic, multinational campus in China

In memory of my Jewish teacher Herb Feith

Overcoming cultural barriers in Down Under

As teachers' 'good boy' in Monash High School