Last posts on china

ABOUT ASIA-PACIFIC TOURISM TRENDS

2011-11-04T12:20:57+01:00

Dear all,

Attached a statement delivered last week at the 5th UNWTO- PATA Forum (Guilin, China, 26-28 Oct 2011)

PACIFIC ASIA TOURISM TRENDS . GUILIN FORUM.pdf

Your comments are welcome

West-East Gas Pipeline in Mid-Asia

2011-09-04T07:14:00+02:00

West-East gas pipeline of China is laid across Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and part of China.

CNPC venture with country governmental companies in Kazakhstan from 2008 has built up 2 gas pipelines in Kazakhstan with length 1300 KM each, and is completing the construction of a metering station and gas compressing stations along the lines in Kazakhstan, totally 5 gas compressor stations and a metering station.

Design and construction guidelines made up by Kazakh local and Chinese Design Institutes and endorsed by ILF Engineering group. Suppliers of process equipment chosen worldwide – Rolls Royce, General Electric, Schuck, others.

For those technicians who are involved in international construction design study in mid-Asia particularly we hereby propose the wide range of materials showing explicitly the engineering ideas implemented with all specifics like drawings construction guides, welding,etc.

AGPCA-M-CS-PR-0011-004-1_EN -Welding Procedure.pdf

МАЗ9025-1050API-65СБ А3-6л.pdf

INSTALLATION OF A GAS TURBINE - Procedure.doc

АGPCC-E-CV-DW-0109-005-0 - Plan.pdf

For any details please contact: designerdrawings@yahoo.com

Assange was arrested, next is me?

2010-12-15T13:13:00+01:00

I guess not, but I did kind of similar thing to what he did. But much more minor scale.

An Australian whistle blower site manager, a former hacker was arrested for alleged sexual offense filed by Swedish police. Since US government information he leaked in collaboration with US military serviceman caused turmoil worldwide, this arrest is considered politically motivated. I think it is.

I secretly interviewed with US miliatary serviceman in order to get sensitive information of his organization.

If you are interested, please read the below article.

Interview with CVN 73 Nuclear Reactor Crew

What Mr. Assage has done is controversial, can it be part of free speech or promotion for transparency government, or threatening national security?

It is interesting to know there are people in the U.S., who support Assange. That is great thing about the U.S. Micheal Moore is one of them.

As Moore describes, what if some necessary information was open in public, we could have avoided tragedy or change the course of the country. History tells that is true.

Last Sunday I attended the speech event of Nanjing massacre survivor. The massacre was committed by former Japanese imperial army in former capital of China, Nanjing, December 1937. Her parents were shot to death by Japanese army men when her family evacuated to the air-raid shelter. They found the evacuees and shot bullets to them from the shelter entrance by machine gun. Later they poured gasoline into the shelter and burned the dead bodies in it.

Something like that has been happening on and on in recent Iraq and Afghanistan but has been never publicised until Wikileaks released.

"Leaking war crimes is not crime" is right!

China and Japan

2010-10-17T05:17:51+02:00

The relationship between the two nations got worsened.

Both sides are afraid of the other's imperialism. China experienced invasion of Japanese army 65 years ago.

Japan learnt how Tibet has been treated by China in postwar era, which was typically described in the film, "Seven Years in Tibet."

What a mess!

One thing for sure is that we, Japanese should rethink how to deal with Chinese. It seems China cannot be good friend and market for Japan any more.

That does not mean we should rely on the U.S. again because they are more dependent on China than Japan is.

Maybe the most potential one may be South-Eastern nations. We also have to boost domestic demand.

Will China be the next bubble to pop?

2009-07-09T00:16:00+02:00

Ok ... I know that it has been a long time since my last post but quite frankly I have not found much that I wanted to write about. Over the past few months all we have heard in the financial press has been about so called "green shoots" popping up all over the financial landscape. These clowns would have you believe that all is back to "normal" and it is only a matter of weeks before the previous high of 1550 on the S&P 500 is reached once more. I have just been sitting back and waiting for signs that things are not quite so rosy and that we may see another shock to the system.

China (of all places) may be the next bubble to pop which would send shock waves throughout the financial world. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (SSEC) has already fallen from a high of 6000 in October 2007 to a low of about 1500 in November 2008 for a drop of 4500 or 75%. Since then it has regained 33% of its loss to close above 3000 ... a gain of 100% in only 8 months time. Not only is their stock market on a tear but there seems to be a massive bubble in real estate as well. The China Daily reports that house prices in Beijing are now increasing at 6.5% per week (not a misprint) after nationwide property prices fell for seven straight months . See the MarketWatch report at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/beijing-central-property-prices-up-65-in-a-week

Also the BBC news is reporting that China has suffered an embarrassing fail in its recent one year government bond offering of 28 billion Yuan (US$ 4.1). This is a small amount and was only yielding 1.06% but a fail in a government bond issue is not something that you read about every day. China was apparently trying to put the breaks on the economy (lightly) by trying to soak up this small amount of Yuan. The fact that the issue failed to be fully subscribed indicates that the market was unhappy with the interest yield. China cannot afford to raise interest rates in this worldwide economic crisis. If it does it will send shock waves throughout the world financial community. So far this is just a pimple on the backside of the ruling oligarchy in China but it could easily morph into a festering boil. Keep a close watch on this one.

Read the BBC article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8139902.stm

Gerry

Real Conversations: Tiananmen Square Massacre 1989

2009-06-05T01:39:00+02:00

"WHY DO YOU WEAR THAT??!!"

"YOU THINK IT WAS A GOOD THING??!!"

With palpable shock on her face and genuine fear in her voice, she told me off like an angry mother to her mischievous son.

If you were in China you would be in jail, she said with a frown.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy protest in Beijing and its tragic end. The single life-changing event of my generation.

To commemorate, I went to work today wearing my version of Jeff Widener's icon photo depicting a column of Communist tanks crushing the Chinese character "people".

One thing about working in a lab is that I'm always surrounded by scientists from mainland China. They were clearly uncomfortable when I talked to them about June 4th. Although most of them were mere bystanders during the incident, a few were actually there in the capital demonstrating and had to cope with the bloody aftermath.

To my surprise, not everyone was sympathetic to the 89' student movement. One was positively hostile even. But for sure, none of them has any problem enjoying freedom and liberty now that they're part of the democratic society of America.

Here are their stories and opinions, uncensored.

"We thought we were so powerful. We thought we had the whole world behind us."

"We thought by protesting we could solve all of China's problems, the political problem of having a centrist government."

"I was at home studying English but my boyfriend was there at the square the night before it happened. I remember calling him on June 2nd and there was this rumor that the Army will enter and take over the campus (Peking University) and arrest us all and send us to Tibet or something."

"At the front, we had innocent students who had read about Western ideas. Behind them were these bad people, the mob, trying to take advantage of the situation. The government lost control and, of course, they had to turn to the military for help just like any government would have."

"Shocking? Of course it was shocking! We have not seen that kind of blood shed within the city walls of Beijing for almost a hundred years before that."

"Those 18 yo in the Army has never pulled the trigger at anyone, so they were scared. Most the students have never seen a gun before. When somebody point a gun at you, you won't even know where to hide."

[VP: How would you respond to people who refer to June 4th as a riot?]

Well towards the end, we saw people being set on fire and burnt alive. That one guy was wearing this army uniform and, sure, anyone can wear that type of common cheap green color clothing. But it was just horrendous to see burnt bodies being mutilated.

[VP: Did it change your life in any way? You came to the USA soon after. Was that why?]

"Well no. I was born "an American" (laugh), even though I was born in China, cos I was always interested in Western cultures. The world outside was just so much more interesting then our own. I have always wanted to come regardless."

* * *

"After that year we all became very practical, focusing on making (sign: money) and see how the economy took off?!"

* * *

One of my classmates, she got arrested.

* * *

"No I wasn't but my husband was there in Beijing."

* * *

"I was finishing my Master degree in Shan Dong. My tutor was this hot-blooded idealist. They all went to Beijing to show support, so my classroom was completely empty. None of my friends died cos they came back early."

* * *

"People are more rational now."

* * *

"Democracy?! Just look at Amerca. This democracy is just an illusion. Look at South Korea, look at Taiwan. They have democracy but the governments are just as corrupted and chaotic." [a Communist Chinese]

* * *

"No, you can't mention June 4th officially. But it has somehow got more relaxed now. One of my lecturers even spoke about it in class."

* * *

"Yeah I was there, until the night before it happened..."

"About... 20 meters away from me, there was a row of soldiers with their rifles pointing towards us. One of them was holding a flag up. Should the flag ever come down, they'd fire right away (and they did on the wee hours of June 4th)."

[VP: There were 150,000 people in Hong Kong, attending a candle vigil.]

"Yeah. I'm glad... saw it in the news."

"But I'm also kinda worried. Even in Hong Kong, the central government seemed to have infiltrated the system (and try to suppress the memory of June 4th)."

"These kids (new students from China) they don't know anything about it. Even if they've heard of it, they won't understand the true meaning of the event."

[VP: Has it changed your life?]

(nod slowly whilst staring away)

[VP: Have you changed your perception of the events over the years?]

"Nope."

[VP: Do you ever think about it?]

"It's something that you can never forget. You just... live with it."

[I have a lot more questions for him. My sister wants me to tell him how very proud we are of him, but I just had to excused myself before he got too overcome with emotions...]

It's been 20 years, but for some, the memories of the brutal past are still haunting as ever.

PAKISTAN WAR FUELS INTERNATIONAL TENSIONS

2009-05-14T13:37:00+02:00

P.Symonds has been just to the point while exposing US' designs and stretegy. You see how it all fits in. You see what's behind all the hu ha about terrorism. You unleash terror so you get away with terror. Age old imperial game but this time Washington’s moves will not go unopposed...

BY: Peter Symonds

Comments by China’s ambassador in Islamabad last Thursday highlight the reckless character of the Obama administration’s escalating intervention in Pakistan. By pressuring Islamabad to wage an all-out military offensive against Islamic insurgents in the Swat Valley and neighbouring districts, Washington is not only destabilising Pakistan but raising tensions in a highly volatile area.

Speaking to Pakistani business leaders, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui pointedly voiced concern about the growth of “outside influence” in the region. He singled out the US in particular, saying that China was worried about US policies and the presence of a large number of foreign troops in neighbouring Afghanistan. While reiterating China’s support for “the fight against terror,” Luo declared that US strategies needed some “corrective measures”. He added, “These are issues of serious concern for China.”

Luo’s unusually blunt remarks came just one day after US President Obama spoke to his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao. While a number of issues were discussed, the escalating war in Pakistan was clearly high on the agenda. This first publicised phone call between the two men came as Obama met with the Afghan and Pakistani presidents over US strategy in the two countries. While Hu reportedly offered his cooperation, Luo’s comments express China’s underlying fears over growing US influence in South Asia.

Last week’s tripartite summit in Washington signalled a major upsurge in military violence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Under intense pressure from the US, the Pakistani army has launched a large-scale offensive against militants in the Swat Valley in which hundreds have already died and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee. The summit, however, involved more than discussions on military cooperation, outlining comprehensive plans for the closer economic and strategic integration of the two countries into an American sphere of influence.

China, which has longstanding ties with Pakistan, is obviously disturbed by these developments. As Ambassador Luo told his business audience, more than 60 Chinese companies are involved in 122 projects in Pakistan. He noted the “close liaison” with Pakistan over the security of over 10,000 Chinese engineers and technical experts in the country. In fact, Beijing has previously insisted on reprisals over the abduction and killing of Chinese citizens by Pakistani militants as well as military action against Islamic Uighur separatists from western China taking refuge in Pakistan.

More fundamentally, Beijing regards Islamabad as a crucial partner in its own regional strategy. China devoted considerable resources to building up Pakistan as a counterweight to India after the 1962 Sino-Indian border war. Pakistan is the largest purchaser of Chinese arms and, according to the Pentagon, accounted for 36 percent of China’s military exports between 2003 and 2007. Chinese technical assistance was critical to Pakistan’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.

In return, China received the green light to build a major naval/commercial port facility at Gwadar, a coastal town in Baluchistan. The port is the linchpin of Beijing’s “string of pearls” strategy to establish access for its expanding navy to a series of ports along key sea routes across the Indian Ocean—above all, to protect oil and gas supplies from the Middle East and Africa. For its part, the US, which regards China as a rising economic and strategic rival, is determined to maintain its military, including naval, predominance.

US-China tensions over Pakistan only highlight the deeply destabilising role of Washington’s aggressive intervention, firstly in subjugating Afghanistan, and now in seeking to bring Pakistan more directly under its sway. The escalating conflict in Pakistan is a direct product of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, which the Bush administration forced Pakistan to support under the threat of becoming a military target itself. Widespread opposition inside Pakistan and Afghanistan to US actions has fuelled a growing insurgency that threatens not only the US occupation of Afghanistan, but a full-scale civil war in Pakistan.

US imperialism, under the Obama administration, is determined to exploit the very disasters it has created in order to advance its strategic interests throughout the broader region, especially in energy-rich Central Asia. By doing so, Washington is fundamentally altering the precarious strategic balance and threatening to draw the other major powers into the vortex.

China is not alone in its fear of US designs in Central Asia and the presence of large numbers of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US has been seeking to establish military alliances and economic ties with the newly established Central Asian Republics. Washington exploited its invasion of Afghanistan to establish military bases in Central Asia for the first time. Afghanistan and Pakistan also provided a potential alternate pipeline route to extract energy riches from the region. In response, China and Russia, which both regard the region as their backyard, came together in the Shanghai Cooperation Group to counter expanding American influence.

Neighbouring India is also watching events in Pakistan with trepidation. While quietly applauding Washington’s pressure on Islamabad to wage war against “terrorism”, New Delhi is concerned that Pakistan’s closer incorporation under the American umbrella may lead to the downgrading of the US-Indian strategic partnership, which only developed in the late 1990s. The weakening of rival Pakistan, against which India has fought three wars, is no doubt welcomed in New Delhi. But its replacement by a US client state, or worse its collapse into chaos, would only confront the Indian establishment with new uncertainties.

The entire region remains a potential powder keg. The Cold War certainties that divided the world between the Soviet and Western blocs have been replaced by new tensions and rivalries. Tentative steps by India and Pakistan to resolve their longstanding disputes, especially over Kashmir, have all but stalled. Efforts by China and India to improve relations have moved slowly. Each continues to eye the other with suspicion and to intrigue at each other’s expense in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Burma.

The most explosive ingredient in this volatile mixture is the attempt by US imperialism to use its military superiority to offset its long-term economic decline. Far from easing tensions, the installation of the Obama administration marked an aggressive new turn in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan aimed at advancing US ambitions. Last week’s comments by China’s ambassador are another sign that Washington’s moves will not go unopposed.

Select Cosoft to be your outsourcing department

2009-03-27T09:51:00+01:00

Cosoft Co. Ltd., China based Offshore Outsourcing Company, provides BPO and ITO services to customers worldwide. We specialize in:BPO- Data Entry- Call Center- Internet Research- Accounting ServiceITO- Web Development- Website Design- Customized Software Application- iPhone & Android Development- IT Consulting & StaffingWe understand the keyword in outsourcing is ‘Customer Satisfaction’. Our clients across the world in US, Canada, Spain, UK, Australia, Singapore and China would vouch for our highly qualified and technically skilled outsourcing experts and experience, which are the key to our success in the field of outsourcing.Maximize on the benefits of outsourcing with Cosoft, our outsourcing team prepared to confront challenges from any part of the globe.For further details or discussion, please visit us at www.co-soft.net or contact us directly.Contact:Tel: +86-22-8988-1518Email: info@co-soft.net URL: www.co-soft.net

Christina Is a Genius!

2008-10-04T05:19:00+02:00

I'm dating a crazy-super-hacker-nerd . . .. . . or maybe that was a dream.Regardless, Christina has found a way to get around the troublesome Chinese firewall: Hotspot Shield. The purpose of Hotspot Shield is to protect your computer while unsecured (or even secured) wireless networks via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Basically, it sets up a private little connection between me and the Hotspot hub, which, in turn, is connected to the intertubes. This protects my intertubing from any eavesdroppers that might want to know what I'm doing, as well as protecting passwords, bank accounts, etc.It is, in a sense, my own private tunnel under the Great Firewall. See, the firewall doesn't monitor private networks, so as long as I'm hooked up to my VPN, the Chinese won't be monitoring what I'm doing. And as long as they aren't monitoring what I'm doing, they won't be blocking my searches because the firewall only blocks what it knows is in violation of its definition of "decent." If it doesn't know what something is, it doesn't bother with it.Booyah.So now I am able to see my blog. And Christina's. And anything else on the internet. Wee!It just makes the Chinese firewall all the sillier. It took Christina an afternoon to figure out how to thwart it. Two minute download, seconds to install: open access to the internet. It begs the question of why they should even bother censoring the internet at all. Whatevs. I don't care anymore. The only price I have to pay is a slightly annoying bar across the top of pages I open that asks me if I want to invite any friends to the Anchor Free Hotspot Shield Network. Free and open access to the internet? That's a price I'll gladly pay.

Chinese Blog!

2008-09-21T11:42:09+02:00

Hello, hello, hello!Christina and I have successfully made it to Anyang, Henan Province, China. Hoowah! It was a crazy long journey (we woke up in order to catch our 6:30am flight at 3:30am on the 17th, finally pulling up to our apartment in Anyang at 1:00am on the 19th--that is, after a flight to Toronto, a four hour lay-over, the flight to Beijing, and a six hour drive to Anyang--jet-lag doesn't even come close), but now we're finally starting to settle in and we have the internet working and I can update the ol' blog. I wanna give Christina a chance to putz around on the intertubes, though, so that's all I'll say for now. But there is much more to come, so check back with me tomorrow.Yay for China!

Holy IMAX Theatre, Batman!

2008-07-25T21:25:00+02:00

A great burden has been lifted from my shoulders. But we'll get to that in a second.Hello, readers! So it's been over a month since my last post and for that I am sorry. I've been packing up and getting rid of all my earthly possessions (I'm down to books, DVDs, a couple instruments, and my bed) and Christina and I have been trying to do as much as possible in Chicago before we leave. She, however, has found the time to update her blog and even make a pretty design for it, so I thought I should pick up the slack as well.Our departure date draws ever-closer, though not as close as you might think. Unfortunately, due to the Olympics, China is restricting the number of people it is allowing inside the country, which means Christina and I will be going there in the middle of September now--not August as originally planned. Alas, our leases are still up come August 1st, which means we will now be spending six weeks--not two--at our respective parents' houses (hers in Minnesota, mine in Texas).So that blows.However.All is not gloomy in the Land of Chris, for, as I stated earlier, a great burden has been lifted from my shoulders. You see, ever since nerding it up with Batman graphic novels, I have grown ever-more dissatisfied with the Dark Knight's portrayal on that silverest of screens. Yes, Burton's was good--great, even--but it was also cartoony and lacking the depth that many of the better graphic novels have achieved. And so, I resolved myself (I'll say, around the release of Batman Forever) to writing the Batman I wanted to see on film. This even went so far (and I am sadly serious) as to sketching out a prologue and loose plot structure for said film.Then Christopher Nolan started making them. I remember walking into the theatre for Batman Begins and knowing (having never seen the movie) that it would be the best Batman movie ever made. Similarly, I remember this past Tuesday, walking into the IMAX theatre at Navy Pier, and knowing (having never seen the movie) that The Dark Knight would be the best Batman movie ever made.I was right. On both counts.The Dark Knight is literally everything I have ever wanted in a Batman movie. So much so, that I can't imagine any other movie (even one made by Nolan) doing anything more to top it. They understood, on a fundamental level, the relationship between Batman and the Joker. They understood Harvey Dent. And they didn't pull any punches. Oh, the spoilers I could sing!Heath Ledger is as good as everyone is saying. His Joker erases all others from existence. It is incredible how scary and funny--he's really, really funny--he is able to be.I also had the pleasure of seeing the film on a screen six stories tall. That certainly added something to the experience.I love this movie. I no longer have to write my own Batman movie--one that does justice to all of the character's potential--because Christopher Nolan did it first. And better than I could have ever possibly hoped.See this movie. Seriously. See it twice. You will want to.

Feisty Exchange on Doping, China, and Rowing

2008-06-03T21:15:00+02:00

Check out friend Mary's blog, 50 Eggs. She posts about the recent New York Times article on the Chinese rowing program (China is going full-tilt after sports that offer multiple medals). Featured prominently is Igor Grinko, a former Soviet, then former U.S. sculling coach now a head coach in China. Many of my former rowing teammates rowed under him when he was coaching U.S. national team sculling prospects in Occoquan, Virginia, starting a couple of years before the 1992 Olympiad. It was a somewhat uncomfortable fit all round, but he was a coach with proven success, and there were high hopes here.

Mary has some personal experience with Igor. And she respectfully pulls no punches. He replies! Fascinating!

What do you think? Is China doping its athletes? Did the Easties do it back in the day?

Earthquake....

2008-05-16T01:30:00+02:00

So sad to hear about the quake in China. This news that I've read really touches my heart because most of the victims were children...

Tiny Bodies in a Morgue, and Grief in China

By JIM YARDLEY

Published: May 15, 2008

JUYUAN, China — The bodies are everywhere. Some are zipped inside white vinyl bags and strewn on the floor. Others have been covered in a favorite blanket or dressed in new clothes. There are so many bodies that undertakers want to cremate them in groups. They are all children.

“Our grief is incomparable,” said Li Ping, 39, eyes rimmed red, as he and his wife slowly, carefully pulled a pair of pink pajamas over the bruised, naked body of their 8-year-old daughter, Ke. “We got married late, and had a child late. She is our only child.”

The earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on Monday has so far claimed more than 19,000 lives across China, and thousands more people remain missing or trapped beneath rubble. But the awful scene at this local morgue is a sad reminder that too many of the dead are children in a country where most families are allowed to have only one.

These children symbolized the earthquake’s seemingly indiscriminate cruelty. But the cruelty, in the eyes of their parents, was also man-made.

Several schools in nearby Dujiangyan collapsed while classes were under way. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited two of them, including Xinjian Primary School, where parents say officials told him the death toll was 20 pupils.

“I am Grandpa Wen Jiabao,” the prime minister said as he watched two children being pulled from the rubble, according to Xinhua, the official state news agency. “Hold on, kids! You’ll definitely be rescued.”

But enraged parents interviewed at the morgue on Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning say local officials lied to the prime minister to hide the true toll at Xinjian, which they estimate at more than 400 dead children. Several parents blamed local officials for a slow initial rescue response and questioned the structural safety of the school building. They were also furious that officials forbade them to search for their children for two days and then allowed access to the bodies only after the parents formed an ad hoc committee to complain.

“Before Wen Jiabao came, the whole school was filled with children’s bodies,” said one mother who sat outdoors at the morgue with her husband in the early morning darkness beside the covered body of their 8-year-old daughter. “Her father and I had stood outside the school since the earthquake. We pleaded with the government: ‘If she is dead, I want to see the body. If she is alive, I want to see her.’ ”

Her husband, a thin man, leaned forward into the yellow light of two candles. “We’re telling you the truth,” he said. “Get the truth out.”

The morgue is an hour outside Dujiangyan on an isolated rural road, yet the parking lot was filled at 1:50 a.m. on Thursday. Parents and other family members clustered around the bodies of their children. Some burned fake money to bring their lost child good fortune in the afterlife. In one room, 25 small bodies were scattered on the floor. Some children had already been taken away; an empty white body bag lay near a sneaker and a filthy pair of boy’s trousers. Some families had placed flowers or incense inside empty water bottles as makeshift memorials.

“There are more in there,” said a man, pointing to a rear door. He walked outside to a walkway and paused. Scores of bodies, covered with sheets, were lined in two long rows on the concrete floor. Others were placed in an adjacent room. Parents sobbed or sat silently beside bodies.

“They are all students,” said the man in the blue shirt. “Look,” he said pointing to a red and white jacket folded beside one body. “That is the school uniform.” He pointed to a Mickey Mouse backpack. “There is a book bag.”

The two rows of bodies came to an open door that led to the large steel furnaces used for cremation. In China, the dead are almost always cremated fairly soon after death. Usually, there is enough time for funeral ceremonies and rituals, but parents said that officials were worried about cremating so many bodies before they started to decompose. So some parents have been asked if their children can be cremated with dead friends to save time.

Parents say they were only allowed to begin identifying their children on Wednesday. The bodies had remained inside the gated grounds of Xinjian Primary School for two days until officials began transporting them to the morgue on Wednesday.

The earthquake struck at 2:28 p.m. on Monday, and many parents rushed to the school. Xinjian had about 600 pupils, ages from roughly 7 to 12. When parents arrived most of the building had collapsed. They frantically pulled away bricks and chunks of concrete with their bare hands.

“We pleaded with the administrators to help us,” said one mother, Chen Li, 39, who came to the morgue on Wednesday to identify her son, a sixth grader. “We yelled, ‘Where are the soldiers? Send them to help us!’ ”

Parents say neighbors and students from a nearby college arrived by 4 p.m. to help with the digging. Local officials and school administrators also came but then left after inspecting the site. Two more hours passed before a large group of paramilitary police officers arrived and told the parents to leave because the area was too dangerous. Parents were relocated outside the school gate, unable to watch as the officers began digging.

Ms. Chen said her son, Zhang Yuanxin, was discovered the same day as the earthquake but then left uncovered in the rain with other bodies on the playground. She said two trucks arrived Wednesday and carried away bodies shortly before Mr. Wen arrived for his inspection.

“I think there were 50 bodies in two trucks that were carried away,” Ms. Chen said. “I asked those people, ‘Are you taking the bodies away?’ ”

But she said local officials lied to her and said they were only taking away tents.

Parents say they became so angry over the situation at the school by Tuesday that they formed the committee and complained to local officials. Officials in Dujiangyan could not be reached for comment, but parents say the officials relented on Wednesday by moving the children’s bodies to the morgue and providing shuttle buses for people waiting outside the school.

At the morgue on Wednesday, parents walked through rooms lined with bodies on the floor, lifting sheets in the unwanted search to identify a lost child. Cai Changrong, 37, held an urn containing the ashes of his cremated 9-year-old daughter. His wife, Hu Xiu, could not stop wailing.

“We didn’t find any bruises or injuries on her body,” said Ms. Hu, the mother. “But she lost all her nails. She was trying to scratch her way out. I think my daughter suffocated to death.”

Several parents wanted an investigation into the construction quality of school buildings in Dujiangyan. They say six schoolhouses collapsed in the city, even as other government buildings remain standing. One man said officials built two additional stories on the Xinjian school even though it had failed a safety inspection two years ago — allegations that could not be verified.

Mr. Li, the father dressing his dead daughter, also said he believed that the school was poorly built. He arrived at the school minutes after the quake and spent the next four hours searching for his daughter. His forearms were bruised and his fingernails were split and bloodied from digging.

He proudly handed over his cellphone and showed a picture of his daughter, Ke, taken last week. But Thursday morning, he and his wife were preparing for her cremation. They struggled to slip her into the pink pajamas and then dressed her in a gray sweatshirt and pants. Her mother placed a white silk mourning cloth under her clotted black hair.

Mr. Li said he lost his job in 1997 and had been living on a meager welfare payment. He said the school was filled with children from poor families. “My daughter was a very good student,” he said. “She was a quiet girl, and she liked to paint. We’re putting her in these clothes because she loved them.”

He said he was angry and sad. He said his daughter’s body was still warm when he found her at the morgue on Wednesday. He wondered how long she lived beneath the rubble. And then he turned away, leaning down slightly, and whispered in her ear.

“My little daughter,” he said quietly. “You used to dress yourself. Now I have to do it for you.”

Leaping Calendars, Batman!

2008-03-01T05:05:00+01:00

Well, I thought I'd post something today, seeing as it isn't a leap year every year and wouldn't it be lovely to have a February 29th in the archive.So here we are. Not a whole lot going on . . . well there is one thing. It's pretty inconsequential but, you know, I thought I would just throw it out here since I got nothing else going on. Christina and I have officially decided to pursue positions teaching English in China. Hoowah! We've actually been preparing resumes and such (sending them out, etc.) for a few weeks now, but it's official because we have both told our parents.So there's that.We'll be gone for a school year. Right now we're just sending our info to as many universities as we can find, hoping to get the best deal that we possibly can. We are both super excited, and our parents are (thankfully) very supportive of the arrangement. Her parents seemed a little concerned about how I would make it, but other than that . . .Pretty exciting. And I'll be sure to tell you all about it (assuming their pesky firewall doesn't block blogspirit . . .).

Festivals and Picnics

2007-08-14T19:50:00+02:00

I saw the film 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama yesterday. It was, as the advertising said, part travelogue, part biography, part politics (primarily between China and Tibet), and partly these questions and answers for the Dalai Lama, the supposed reincarnation of the Buddha, although this Dalai Lama (the 14th reincarnation, Tenzin Gyatso) contends that he is just a regular guy and not divine.

I went to the film thinking that the DL's responses to the 10 questions would be the highlight, but they were the least interesting part of the film to me. The most intellectually interesting for me was the history of China's occupation of Tibet and the brief biography of the Dalai Lama himself. The most sensorily interesting was the landscape of both Tibet and Dharamsala (India), which is the home of the Tibetan government in exile and therefore the DL's home; it reminded me of the mountainous terrain of Into Great Silence, except that the Indian and Tibetan landscape is like a de-nuded version. The most affecting aspect of the film was the light-hearted, rather child-like quality of the Dalai Lama.

The questions and answers were these (as best I can recall, and not in order):

* How can we be non-violent in the face of violence?

Actually, it's OK to hit someone who is hitting you. Violence in the cause of self-defense is OK, because otherwise how would you live to get your point across another day? (Yes, he said this.) But don't destroy your foe, because in our interconnected world, to destroy the other is to destroy the self. Doing harm to so-called enemies ends up harming us. Killing others is "out of date" (that seemed to be a code phrase for "bad" in several instances, and it seemed laughable in this instance -- was it ever really timely?)

* Why do the poor seem happier than the rich?

They have less to worry about, less to have to hold on to and protect. The rich want more and more and are never satisfied. (Filmmaker Rick Ray seems to base his assumption that the poor are happier simply on his observation that they smile more, and more widely, than the rich.)

* Is there hope for peace in the Middle East?

Yes -- they should all have more festivals and picnics, get to know each other, and then try to talk about the hard stuff. Later, the DL's personal secretary commented that the DL himself doesn't enjoy festivals and such, although the Tibetans have a lot of them and he attends many. This interested me, because I also have a (vague) belief that fun public events are a good way to build community, and yet I don't like them myself. In the DL's case, his distaste may come from his always being the centre of these celebrations, having a leadership role and all the expectations that come with that.

* Should we engage China?

Absolutely. The DL doesn't advocate boycotting products from China but rather engaging with China -- not only in terms of commerce, but more importantly, in terms of democracy. The film explains that the young DL trusted the Chinese at first, to bring desirable modernisation and technlology to Tibet while leaving Tibet's customs and tradition alone. He believed that until Mao leaned over and whispered in the DL's ear that "religion is poison" and must be expunged from a society. Even afterwards (and perhaps still), the DL wrote lots of letters to the Chinese leaders, not willing to disengage even with a government that has exiled him and many others, that massacred his people, that's turned Ladakh into a tacky Chinese tourist town complete with spy cameras and military police in monks' clothing, that tortures and executes those who don't follow the party line.

The DL will tolerate no violence against the Chinese in his name, and he has spent time counseling monks who have been tortured by the Chinese and who no longer believe that peace works, to persuade them that violence doesn't work, either. Violence, the DL says, is powerful in the short-term, but in the long-term, it's Truth that wields the true power.

Although the film does rather paint the Chinese as evil to the core and the Tibetans as hapless victims (endlessly swinging their hand-held prayer wheels), the DL at least makes a distinction between the Chinese government and the millions of ordinary Chinese, whom he says would welcome democracy.

* Should Tibet's traditions be preserved?

The DL said that some should, such as close family bonds and reverence for sentient life, and some should not, such as the way women have been treated and the caste system (they are "out of date").

* Why do people in the West, who have so much freedom, seem so angry and commit so much crime? (Or something like that ... )

Greed, limitless desire, and lack of self-discipline. Actions and speech are not disciplined, so if we feel 'negative emotions' or strong desires, we express them without considering the consequences to ourselves and others. Self-discipline is needed.

* Will there be another Dalai Lama?

The Tibetans chose a panchen lama, the monk who leads the search for the next dalai lama, but the Chinese have imprisoned him and his family and he has not been heard from in years. The Chinese have chosen their own panchen lama, whom they say will chose the next (Chinese-serving) dalai lama. The DL hopes there will be another (true) DL but he said it all depends on the will of the Tibetan people.

* How can you be so tolerant of other religions and faiths?

The DL believes there is good in every religion. He has been to Jerusalem twice, often participates in interfaith services and ceremonies, and has met people of all faiths who seem peaceful.

* Can we save our environment?

He didn't answer that, but he did say that to do so, we have to reduce the population. "Quality is more important than quantity!" the DL exclaimed, and laughed. He noted that Buddhists believe that each human life is precious, but now each life is threatening the life of all humans on Earth.

Obviously, I've forgotten one ...

As Holly Fulgham says in an article on the film, filmaker Rick "Ray does an undeniably fantastic job of showing His Holiness in a genuine light. Little effort is made to convince the audience of his character, and we are left to absorb the smiles, laughter and wisdom he exudes. As the movie shifts gears toward the interview portion, it seems that the questions and answers become irrelevant, and the most important thing to take away is a new attitude." This is how it feels to me, too.

The Dalai Lama comes across as a man who is playful, optimistic, light-hearted, spontaneous, curious, open, steadfast, and slightly weary. The quality of his that most impressed me (though it wasn't evidenced in the film, just remarked on by his close associates) is his quickness to adopt another's opinion or belief the moment it seems correct or right to him. He is said to be very willing to be convinced.

7 reasons to buy electronic products from China

2007-08-07T08:30:50+02:00

7 reasons to buy electronic products from China-----Rihey Digital. CO., Ltd China has become the world's largest maker than any other country. In making consumer electronics, producing more MP3 Players, Digital Cameras, Video Players, Electronic Gadgets, and other high tech products Have you ever wondered how you could buy direct from the source in China and make your own profits from this economic miracle?1. Hottest Unseen Consumer Electronics and GadgetsIf you work together direct with suppliers in China you will be ahead of your competition. You will be able to buy many cutting-edge consumer electronics, long before they arrive in the retail stores back home. And you'll have the chance to check out the newest products before they are even released.2. Don’t Worry, They Speak EnglishMany trading companies and wholesalers in China are already experienced in dealing day to day with their foreign customers in English. And if you are lucky, you will be able to find partner companies in China which are wholly run by Europeans or Americans. Many of them will provide just the same quality of service and support as you would expect from anyone back home.3. Isn't China On The Other Side Of The World?You can already see "Made in China" labels everywhere you go. Thanks to international logistics companies like EMS, UPS and DHL practically any country in the world can receive consumer electronics straight from China. Wherever your customers are in the world, your next buying opportunity will be in China, especially with the increasing number of Chinese wholesale drop-shippers opening their services internationally.4. Wholesalers, MOQIn most manufacturing sectors in China, suppliers require a minimum order quantity (MOQ) for their products before the production process even starts. However, recently it's become much easier to order smaller quantities of electronics: wholesalers such as Chinavasion.com and Rihey are the leaders in this field. You want one sample, you got it. You need 20 pieces for your online business? No problem! Online wholesalers are opening the electronics market for small to medium business like never before.5. Can They Drop-Ship in China?The traditional trade triangle of wholesaler – retailer - customer has been revolutionized through the Internet. Now at last you can ship direct from China to your customers worldwide without touching the products. (Just in case profiting with Chinese Wholesalers wasn’t a big enough opportunity already.)6. How Do I pay them if they’re In China?With online wholesalers you can usually choose to pay in many international currencies, and even submit payment “the eBay way" - through Paypal secure online ordering. Paypal offers total protection for buyers, and dealing with their approved online electronics wholesalers will give you extra peace of mind.7. The Bottom LineChina has been described as the world's factory. The unbelievably cheap production costs for consumer electronics in China are well known to everybody. Online wholesalers simply let you put those products straight in your cart, without all the hassle – and middlemen – normally associated with the import trade. With no sales taxes added or hidden charges, the price you pay… well, it will speak for itself.A strong relationship with an electronics wholesaler in China will let you reap rewards for years to come.To get access to real-time prices for wholesale electronics direct from China, register now for free at http://www.rihey.cc

WAZHUA community : a MyBlogLog for the Chinese blogosphere

2007-08-02T11:20:00+02:00

A new online comunity , Wazhua (^_^), is changing the way people blog and interacts through the web in China and elsewhere. Developped by Simon Chan, Wazhua looks like MyBlogLog, but with an extra "manga" style. KmLabs has uploaded the interface in the right menu, at the "SocioBlogology" section, under the MyBlogLog widget. See the KM Labs Washua profile here.

By the way, "Knowledge Management" in Chinese is : 知识管理 (simplified chinese) or in traditional chinese : 知識管理

Zen Fighter

2007-07-10T14:29:02+02:00

Zen Fighter – The Chinese Zen ships are possibly the most formidable space craft in the Solar system. The pilot is installed in the ship as it is being built and becomes part of it. The ship is directly controlled by connections to the pilots brain and body. They are ghastly creations, but the use of the pilot him/herself as the ship's computer makes them extremely effective. Becoming a Zen Pilot is considered a great honour in spite of this.

finally I found you..

2007-04-22T20:07:39+02:00

most of my close friends probably know of my previous blog with Xanga.com and keep going back for more.. but sorry, I was too lazy to write more and until recently when I am back to the "writing mode", I found out that Xanga.com is no longer working within China, their server must have been blocked in China for some reasons.. (I must NOT write anything bad about the "middle kingdom" on my new blogSpirit since I've just found this great blog sites that works in China. Aliluyah!)2.09AM on a rainy Sunday night in Shanghai. I'm glad that I can post some shit online again and I'm getting sleepy

No journalists here

2006-10-09T22:14:07+02:00

I went to the Chinese Consulate today to get our visas. It's like going to the DMV, but everyone there is Chinese. The lines are long, the hours are short, they take a one hour lunch in the middle of the very limited hours, and they yell at you for having the wrong paperwork. There were two other non-Asian people there besides me. One was a priest; the other was a guy in front of me. I got there at 10 AM. They close at noon for an hour lunch. There were 30 people in line. By 11:15, I had made it almost to the front of the line. I thought I would have no trouble submitting my application before they closed.Then the guy in front of me took 35 MINUTES to submit his paperwork. There was much arguing. The clerk kept demanding paperwork from him. He would argue that he had already given her the paperwork; she would toss the pile of paperwork at him and demand that he find it. The guy would tell random people around him that he couldn't understand a thing the woman was saying (although I thought her English was quite clear) and say that he dreaded the idea of an entire COUNTRY with women like her. Based on comments like that, I was ready to be sympathetic to the clerk, but then she would find the missing paperwork on her side and demand all the paperwork back, then complain that things were now out of order. Ugh. At 11:50, the guy was finally done and she called me forward. I was convinced she was going to announce that they were closed, but she took my paperwork and reviewed everything. On the application, I had to enter my occupation. Her only question about the paperwork was, "You say writer – what kind of writer? Are you a journalist?" I assured her that I was in marketing, which she had me add to the application. And then I was done. I wait four days and go back to find out if I was approved. I've never needed a visa to travel before. Only two weeks left. I'm getting so excited about the trip.

Almost famous

2006-08-02T19:15:00+02:00

My friend Xiao called yesterday to say she was going back home to China for a month, on holiday. I met Xiao five years ago in Paris, August 2001. I was moving from a hostel to another one and ended up in her bedroom. There were three beds in that crappy room. The third girl was an unemployed,confused and a bit slow eighteen-year-old who let junk food rotten on her desk and had the habit of sleeping in her clothes (we learnt later she got herself pregnant and went back to stay with her mother...), the good thing was, she was hardly ever there. Xiao and I were a bit defiant at first. Xiao had been in France for just a year and had a terrible Chinese accent, I could barely understand what she was telling me... Day after day, we tamed each other and started talking about all kind of stuff, talking for hours. Then there was 9/11 and our conversations suddenly changed from books and exhibitions to imperialism and communism... It was really great to get things into perspective from a Chinese point of view. Who cared to wonder what the Chinese thought of 9/11 ? Xiao and I became inseparable, exploring Paris with people turning their interrogative eyes on her strange outfits. For Xiao is an artist. She is a painter. She is a poet. She is a film maker. She is a designer. She is a photographer. and so much more. Whatever you give Xiao, a word, a pen, a toy, even a condom, she will turn it into art, into something meaningful. Xiao has been in France for six years now and she has managed to get into one of the most wanted design schools in Europe, which means she will remain in France for at least four more years, to my greatest pleasure. I preciously keep all the things I have ever received from her... The letters she sent throughout the years, the drawings she made on pieces of paper, a photoshoot I made of her for fun, one day we were bored and this gorgeous glass she engraved for one of my birthdays...

I know sometime soon, Xiao will be big. I have known it from the start. And I know all those things will be invaluable... not that I would sell any of them, of course, for noone could cherish all those memories as much as I can. I look forward to seeing her again.

Aroma & Pharm Chemical

2006-05-31T08:10:00+02:00

Aroma & Pharm

http://www.aromapharmchem.com Zhejiang Winsun Imp.&Exp. Chemical ltd. Chinese manufacturer and exporter of Vetivert oil (cas 8016-96-4), Heliotropin (cas 120-57-0), Guaiacol (Cas 90-05-1), Camphor (Cas 76-22-2), Chloraminophenamide (Cas 121-30-2), Vanillin (cas 121-33-5) and more.

Aroma
Aromatic chemicals
Essential oils
Food Ingredients
Forest chemicals
Pharm

Communist Cathederals, Western and Soviet, Plus a Lake

2006-05-21T06:30:00+02:00

The Companions of tdaxp and His Lady, a friend from Tianjin and another from Singapore, left today back to their hometowns. Lady of tdaxp and I had both grown accustom to them around, and the constant hubbub of a full apartment is surprisingly painful to miss. It turns out that the Church I saw off Wangfujing is actually the East Church, or Saint Joseph's Church. It's one of the four main CPCA pseudo-Catholic churches around Beijing. Saint Joseph's was built in 1655. Today we went to another, the Western Church. The Western Church is the youngest of the four "directional" churches, built in 1723 and repaired in 1912. It's appearance is sadly abused. We also saw another abused Cathedral of sorts -- the very Soviet Beijing Exhibition Center, celebrating a political philosophy (International Communism) more forgotten than Christianity could ever be.

The "front" of the church is only available by walking into a drug store's gated parking lot. A kind guard -- and so far, all Chinese guards have been kind, allowed us to walk the parking lot for a few minutes to get a shot.

Is there a risk manager in-house?

2006-02-24T11:30:00+01:00

This week should be a week to remember in corporate gouvernance. Amidst disturbing news, we have heard about the resignation of RadioShark CEO, David Edmondson, under investigation for "errors in his resume", harsh criticisms for the way U.S. companies conduct their business in China. This has later led to Google business legitimacy being questionned over ICP licence validity (Internet Content Provider licence) in China and in the U.S. over ethical matters. But perhaps the worse of it all is the crucial day for RIM (Research In Motion, Blackberry) in the U.S. as it awaits from a court decision on whether or not they have to discontinue their operations there. Now all these tragic events, which have a direct impact on brand image for RadioShark and Google or strategic business results in the case of RIM, but certainly financial ones for both could and should have been prevented if risks had been managed appropriately.

Google rely on its "niceness" image to appeal to users and should have therefore done everything to protect it. Instead, to say the least, they have put themselves in a delicate position. On one hand, they are now under scrunity of their users to see if they sticks by their own ethics and on the other hand, Google have lost tremendous bargaining power in their negotiations with the Chinese government who has legal ground to potentially shut down Google.cn website. Google's move to display the message that the search results were being censored in China, is certainly seen as a defiant one by the Chinese authorities and not a sensible one in a country where "loosing face" is the worse possible offense. No surprise then in the response made. Google headquarters might be tempted to fight this one off on legal ground but no doubt that their Chinese Operations CEO knows better and will try to convince them to return to the negotiations table. The ten-year-old company has already learnt one valuable lesson in doing business in China: Do not force an issue publicly upon your negotiating partner.

RIM... How on earth could a company put in jeopardy their very existence?! Has RIM ever considered the risks other than immediate financial provisions during the four-year raging legal license infringement battle that opposed them to NTP? Well they might now! As they face a threat to be shut down in the U.S. in just 30 days. Customer confidence would be destroyed beyond repair in the U.S., brand image will suffer as legal actions might be looming in other countries, and yes immediate financial distress will materialise.

Risk management is not a useless/meaningless function. It is there to assure the continuity of a company. Management at sight or in a constant lower possible costs only lead to aggravated management issues and escalated financial distress. Hoping that this will be remembered as corporate strategic decisions are being made.

Skeptical of the Chinese Economic Miracle

2006-01-11T06:20:00+01:00

Dissecting the 'Chinese Miracle'

By Peter Zeihan

The "Chinese miracle" has been a leading economic story for several years now. The headlines are familiar: "China's GDP Growth Fastest in Asia." "China Overtakes United Kingdom as Fourth-Largest Economy." "China Becomes World's Second-Largest Energy Consumer." "China Revises GDP Growth Rates Upward -- Again." Everywhere, one can find news articles about China, rising like a phoenix from the economic debris of its Maoist system to change and challenge the world in every way imaginable.

But just like the phoenix, the idea of an inevitable Chinese juggernaut is a myth.

Moreover, Western markets have been at least subconsciously aware of this for a decade. More than half of the $1.1 trillion in foreign direct investment that has flowed into China since 1995 has not been foreign at all, but money recirculated through tax havens by various local businessmen and governing officials looking to avoid taxation. Of the remainder, Western investment into China has remained startlingly constant at about $7 billion annually. Only Asian investors whose systems are often plagued (like Japan's) by similar problems of profitability or (like Indonesia's) outright collapse have been increasing their exposure in China.

Once the numbers are broken down, it's clear that the reality of China does not live up to the hype. While it is true that growth rates have been extremely strong, growth does not necessarily equal health. China's core problem, the inability to allocate capital efficiently, is embedded in its development model. The goals of that model -- rapid urbanization, mass employment and maximization of capital flow -- have been met, but to the detriment of profitability and return on capital. In time, China is likely to find itself undone not only by its failures, but also by its successes.

The Chinese Model

Until very recently, China's economic system operated in this way:

State-owned banks held a monopoly on deposits in the country, allowing them to take advantage of Asians' legendary savings rate and thus ensuring a massive pool of capital. The state banks then lent to state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This served two purposes. First, it kept the money in the family and assisted Beijing in maintaining control of the broader economic and political system. Second, because loans were disbursed frequently and at subsidized rates -- and banks did not insist upon strict repayment -- the state was able to guarantee ongoing employment to the Chinese masses.

This last point was -- and remains -- of critical importance to the Chinese Politburo: they know what can happen when the proletariat rises in anger. That is, after all, how they became the Politburo in the first place.

The cost of keeping the money circulating in this way, of course, is that China's state firms are now so indebted as to make their balance sheets a joke, and the banks are swimming in bad debts -- independent estimates peg the amount at around 35-50 percent of the country's GDP. Yet so long as the economic system remains closed, the process can be kept up ad infinitum: After all, what does it matter if the banks are broke if they are state-backed and shielded from competition and enjoy exclusive access to all of the country's depositors?

This system, initiated under Deng Xiaoping in 1979, served China well for years. It yielded unrestricted growth and rapid urbanization, and helped China emerge as a major economic power. And so long as China kept its financial system under wraps, it would remain invulnerable.

But the dawning problem is that China is not in its own little world: It is now a World Trade Organization member, and nearly half of its GDP is locked up in international trade. Its WTO commitments dictate that by December, Beijing must allow any interested foreign companies to compete in the Chinese banking market without restriction. But without some fairly severe adjustments, this shift would swiftly suck the capital out of the Chinese banking system. After all, if you are a Chinese depositor, who would you put your money with -- a foreign bank offering 2 percent interest and a passbook that means something, or a local state bank that can (probably) be counted on to give your money back (without interest)?

The Chinese are well aware of their problems, and perhaps their greatest asset at this point is that -- unlike the Soviets before them -- they are hiding neither the nature nor the size of the problem. Chinese state media have been reporting on the bad loan issue for the better part of two years, and state officials regularly consult each other as well as academics and businesspeople on what precisely they should do to avert a catastrophe.

The result has been a series of stopgap measures to buy time. Among these, the most far-reaching initiative has been a partial reform of the financial sector. The government has founded a series of asset-management companies to take over the bad loans from the state banks, thus scrubbing them free of most of the nonperforming loans. The scrubbed banks are then opened up so that interested foreign investors can purchase shares.

So far as it goes, this is a win-win scenario: Foreign banks get access to assets in-country before the December jump-in date, and the state banks avoid meltdown. In addition, a measure of foreign management expertise is injected into the system that hopefully will teach the state banks how to lend appropriately and -- if all goes well -- lead to the formation of a healthy financial sector. At the same time, the deep-pocketed foreign companies come away with a vested interest in keeping their new partners -- and by extension, the Chinese government -- fully afloat.

The only downside is that central government, through its asset-management firms, assumes responsibility for financially supporting all of China's loss-making state-owned enterprises.

But this rather ingenious banking shell game addresses only the immediate problem of a looming financial catastrophe. Left completely untouched is the existence of a few hundred billion dollars in dud loans -- linked to tens of thousands of dud firms for which the central government is now directly responsible.

Which still leaves for China the unsettled question: "Now what do we do?"

Two Opposing "Solutions"

As can be expected from a country that just underwent a leadership change, there are two competing solutions.

The first solution belongs to the generation of leadership personified by Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, and could be summed up as a philosophy of "Grow faster and it will all work out." It could be said that during Jiang's presidency, while the leadership certainly perceived China's debt problem, they -- like their counterparts in Japan -- felt that attacking the problem at its source -- the banking system -- would lead to an economic collapse (not to mention infuriate political supporters who benefited greatly from the system of cheap credit).

Jiang's recommendation was that everyone should build everything imaginable in hopes that the resulting massive growth and development would help catapult China to "developed country" status -- or, at the very least, raise overall wealth levels sufficiently that the population would not turn rebellious. In the minds of Jiang and his generation of leaders, the belief was that only rapid economic growth -- defined as that in excess of 8 percent annually -- could contain growing unemployment and urbanization pressures and thus hold social instability at bay.

The second solution comes from the current generation of leadership, represented by President Hu Jintao. This solution calls for rationalizing both development goals and credit allocation. The leadership wants to eliminate the "growth for its own sake" philosophy, consolidate inefficient producers and upgrade everything with a liberal dose of technology. Key to this strategy is a centrally planned effort to focus economic development on the inland areas that need it most -- and this entails tighter control over credit. Hu wants loans to go only to enterprises that will use money efficiently or to projects that serve specific national development goals -- narrowing the rich-poor, urban-rural and coastal-interior gaps in particular.

There are massive drawbacks to either solution.

Regional and local governors enthusiastically seized upon Jiang's program to massively expand their own personal fiefdoms. And as corporate empires of these local leaders grew, so too did Chinese demand for every conceivable industrial commodity. One result was the massive increases in commodity prices of 2003 and 2004, but the results for the Chinese economy were negligible. China consumes 12 percent of global energy, 25 percent of aluminum, 28 percent of steel and 42 percent of cement -- but is responsible for only 4.3 percent of total global economic output. Ultimately, while "solution" espoused by Jiang's generation did forestall a civil breakdown, it also saddled China with thousands of new non-competitive projects, even more bad debt, and a culture of corruption so deep that cases of applied capital punishment for graft and embezzlement have soared into the thousands.

Yet the potential drawbacks of the solution offered by Hu's generation are even worse. In attempting to consolidate, modernize and rationalize Jiang's legacy, Hu's government is butting heads with nearly all of the country's local and regional leaderships. These people did quite well for themselves under Jiang and are not letting go of their wealth easily. Such resistance has forced the Hu government to reform by a thousand pinpricks, needling specific local leaders on specific projects while using control of the asset management firms as a financial hammer. After all, since the central government relieved the state banks of their bad loan burden, it now has the perfect tool to strip power from those local leaders who prove less-than-enthusiastic about the changes in government policy.

Or at least that is how it is supposed to work. Local government officials have become so entrenched in their economic and political fiefdoms that they are, at best, simply ignoring the central government or, at worst, actively impeding central government edicts.

Hu's team is indeed making progress, but with the problem mammoth and the resistance both entrenched and stubborn, they can move only so fast for fear of risking a broader collapse or rebellion. And this does not take into consideration Beijing's efforts to strengthen the Chinese interior -- where the poorest Chinese actually live. Complicating matters even more, Hu's strategy relies upon the central government's ability to wring money out of the wealthy coastal regions to pay for the reconstruction of the interior.

That has made the coastal leaders even more disgruntled. However, they have come upon a fresh source of funding, replacing the traditional sources of capital that now are drying up as a result of the personnel changes in Beijing: the underground lending system, which was spurred by the official government monopoly over banks in years past. The central government now estimates that the underground banking sector is worth 800 billion yuan, or some 28 percent of the value of all loans granted in country.

Dealing with Failure -- And Success

The question in our mind is which strategy will fail -- or even succeed -- first. If Jiang's system prevails, then growth will continue, along with the attendant rise in commodity prices -- but at the cost of growing income disparity and environmental degradation. The likely outcome of such "success" would be a broad rebellion by the country's interior regions as money becomes increasingly concentrated in the coastal regions long favored by Jiang. And that is assuming the financial system does not collapse first under its own weight.

Local rebellions in China's rural regions have already become common, but two of are particular note.

In March, the villagers of Huaxi in the Zhejiang region protested against a local official who had used his connections to build a chemical plant on the outskirts of town. When rumors of police brutality surfaced, some 20,000 villagers quite literally seized control of the town from 3,000 security personnel. Before all was said and done, the villagers invited regional press agencies in to chronicle events in the town that had told the Politburo to go to hell, and started burning police property and parading riot control equipment before anyone who would watch. They actually sold tickets to their rebellion. Huaxi marked the first time local officials actually lost control of a town.

Then, in December, protests erupted against a local official in Shanwei, who had similarly lined his pockets with the money that was supposed to have been made available to farmers displaced by his expanding wind-power farm. The local governor figured that since he was investing not just in an energy-generating project in energy-starved China, but a green energy project, that he would have carte blanche to run events as he saw fit. He was right. When the protests turned violent, government forces opened fire -- the first authorized use of force by government troops against protesters since the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989.

Such events are, in part, evidence of a degree of success for the strategy espoused by Jiang's generation. The grow-grow-grow policy results in massive demand for labor by tens of thousands of economically questionable -- and typically state-owned -- corporations. This, in turn, draws workers from the rural regions to the rapidly expanding urban centers by the tens of millions. The dominant sense among those who are left behind -- or those who find their urban experiences less-than-savory -- is that they have been exploited. This is particularly true in places like Shanwei, on the outskirts of urban regions, when urban governors begin confiscating agricultural land for their pet projects.

But for all the complications created by Jiang's solution to China's economic challenges, it is Hu's counter-solution that could truly shatter the system. In addition to dealing with all the corrupt flotsam and high-priced jetsam of Jiang's policies, Hu must rip down what Jiang set out to accomplish: thousands of fresh enterprises that are unencumbered by profit concerns. A steady culling of China's non-competitive industry is perhaps a good idea from the central government's point of view -- and essential for the transformation of the Chinese economy into one that would actually be viable in the long term -- but not if you happen to be one of the local officials who personally benefited from Jiang's policies.

The approach of Hu's generation is nothing less than an attempt to recast the country in a mold that is loosely based on Western economics and finance. Even in the best-case scenario, the central government not only needs to put thousands of mewling firms to the sword and deal with the massive unemployment that will result, it also needs to eliminate the businessmen and governing officials who did well under the previous system (which did not even begin to loosen its grip until 2003). And the only way Beijing can pay for its efforts to develop the interior is to tax the coast dry at the same time it is being gutted politically and economically.

The challenge is to keep this undeclared war at a tolerable level, even while ratcheting up pressure on the coastal lords in terms of both taxation and rationalization. But just as Jiang's "solution" faces the doomsday possibility of a long rural march to rebellion, Hu's strategy well might trigger a coastal revolution. As the central government gradually increases its pressure on the assets and power of China's coastal lords, there is a danger that those in the coastal regions will do what anyone would in such a situation: reach out for whatever allies -- economic and political -- might become available. And if China's history is any guide, they will not stop reaching simply because they reach the ocean.

The last time China's coastal provinces rebelled, they achieved de facto independence -- by helping foreign powers secure spheres of influence -- during the Boxer Rebellion. This resulted, among things, in a near-total breakdown of central authority.

Update: Curzon likes Stratfor, and SimonWorld likes the analysis.

Cab drivers from hell

2006-01-06T17:05:00+01:00

(I realize my posts have been on the more serious side lately, so here is an absolutely trivial post just to lighten the mood a bit...)When I got into the cab the other day and heard the rather techno-boppy music on the radio, I knew I was in for a ride. When I got out about 20 minutes later, I was thanking my lucky stars.I do not know what is it with some cab drivers that make them think they have the god-given right to veer recklessly on the roads. Especially in a place like Chengdu where the traffic is already so bad. Believe me, we were switching lanes every 5 seconds, whenever the opportunity presented itself. And there were times when we were even driving on the opposite lane so that we could overtake all the occupied lanes in front of us, so that we could squeeze into a small spot. Too close, I say. It also seems to be a particular trait of the local cab drivers to accelerate from traffic light to traffic light. I mean, he sees the red light less than 30 meters in front of him, yet he has to step on the gas, and step hard on his brakes, in order to reach the red light faster. Really, what is up with that? I bet the people who sell brake pads and related equipment are making tons of money… I have been getting car sick rather often these days when I get unto the cab. My expat friends and I have concluded that one of the requirements for being a cabby here is that you must be able to make your passengers step out feeling like they want to throw up. I guess that is my cue to take buses more often...

American Warship Enters Chinese Waters

2005-10-17T23:45:00+02:00

"US Warship Arrives In China For Visit," SpaceWar, 13 September 2005, http://www.spacewar.com/news/superpowers-05j.html (from Life from the FNDF).A nice complement to an older story about an American warship docking at Saigon:

A top grade US guided missile destroyer arrived at one of China's main ports Tuesday as part of efforts by the two countries to increase military-to-military exchanges.

The Guest of the People's Republic

The USS Curtis Wilbur, an Arleigh Burke class Aegis guided missile destroyer will spend several days at Qingdao, a key port of China's North Fleet, officials said.

The Host Port

"This is an opportunity for the US personnel to meet their counterparts in the People's Liberation Army navy," US navy officials said."The port call will provide the crew of more than 300 sailors aboard USS Curtis Wilbur a chance for sightseeing and cultural exchanges [and comparisons of rations -- tdaxp]."

American Sailors, Capitalist Flags

The USS Curtis Wilbur is deployed to the Western Pacific and operates out of Yokosuka, Japan.

It is part of the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier group.The destroyer is equipped with the Aegis Combat System which integrates the ship's sensors and weapons systems to engage anti-ship missile threats.

This is one reason why America is a better partner for China than Europe. We can sail to China. Hundreds of years after Columbus, the European navies can't.

Asian Geopolitics Roundup

2005-05-04T05:30:00+02:00

Korean troubles, Chinese scheming, Perisan bloggers, and more! May 3rd, 2005:Korea: Josh at OFK Fisks the New York Times' Nick Kristoff's criticism of Bush's Korea policy. Not that the Souks are helping. Between media lynching American servicemen and curtailing the free press, Seoul has other dreams than being a liberal democracy. Willl South Korea lose face if its soldiers liberate Nork concentration camps? And if that day does not come soon, who will be the next Pyongyang despot?China: DU notes that Chinese military jets are flying closer to Japan. If Beijing isn't careful, Tokyo could do something drastic like ditching Pacifism. Or even a revolution at home.Other Chinese endevours are smarter. Beijing is trying hard to woo the Taiwanese, but apparently not the Maoists. Simon reports that scary Philippine rebels are upset that China abandoned Maoism. I imagine Beijing's reaction would be the same as when the Nepalese crazies said the same thing: You guys are violent, but Mao was never violent.Iran: From South West Asia, Younghusband at Coming Anarchy looks at Iranian bloggers.On the lighter side, Mutant Frog offers tips for killing a hooker and getting away with it... eek!

South Korea: Not An Ally

2005-04-04T22:55:00+02:00

"Roh Hints at New East Asian Order," Digital Chosunilbo, 22 March 2005, http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503220024.html."Seoul Is Beginning to Reap What It Sowed," Digital Chosunilbo, 1 April 2005, http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200504/200504010037.html."U.S. to Scrap Ammo Reserves for Korean Army," Digital Chosunilbo, 4 April 2005, http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200504/200504040035.html."Korea Steps Up Military Cooperation with China," Digital Chosunilbo, 4 April 2005, http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200504/200504040020.html (from OFK).A state can be a positive force without being an American ally. While we distrust France, we recognize that the French economic engine is an important part of European trade. Likewise, India was a force for good in South Asia even when they were non-aligned. So when Korea hints at leaving the Japanese-American alliance

President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday the power structure in East Asia will shift depending on what choices Korea makes.At a graduation ceremony of the Korea Third Military Academy on Tuesday, Roh said Korea's new role was of a stabilizer for peace and prosperity not just on the Korean Peninsula, but in East Asia as a whole. "Korea will calculate and cooperate if need be, and move forward with its proper authority and responsibility," he said.His comments were being read as a pointed reference to the country's alliances with the U.S. and Japan rather than a mere statement of principle. Among core figures in the administration, there is growing dissatisfaction with U.S. and Japanese policies in East Asia, including North Korea.

or when Korea approaches the Chinese orbit

Military exchanges between Korea and China will intensify to a level similar to those between Korea and Japan, the defense ministry said Monday."China, more than any nation, wishes for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, so we plan to strengthen our military exchanges with China, including making defense minister meetings a regular occurrence," Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung told reporters. "There is a need to raise the level of military cooperation between Korea and China to at least that shared between Korea and Japan, and it's worth thinking about plans to help stability on the Korean Peninsula with China's assistance."

we should see it as a challenge, not a disaster. South Korea is still a force for good. But the alliance is over. American blood should no longer to spilled to protect South Korea.Fortunately, America has gotten the message

Lt. Gen. Charles C. Campbell, the chief of staff of the U.S. Forces Korea, said on Friday that 1,000 of the current 12,000 Korean employees of the USFK [United States Forces Korea, the American presence that protects South Korea under United Nations Command -- tdaxp] will be laid off and forces' support contracts cut by 20 percent over the next two years. Campbell also suggested relocating some key military equipment reserved here for an emergency from South Korea....Given that the U.S. has been telling us that even if USFK strength is cut, it will try to leave as much equipment here as possible, it is hard to believe that cost saving alone is behind the move. No: this looks more as though the alliance is beginning to slacken.The government must think carefully about the consequences, in terms of both responsibility and money, of advocating its "cooperative independent defense" and Korea's much vaunted new role as a stabilizer in Northeast Asia.

even if it means something as serious as this

The U.S. has unofficially informed Korea’s military authorities that it plans to scrap the War Reserve Stocks for Allies (WRSA) -- pre-positioned military supplies for use by Korea in times of emergency. But the Korean government and military say rather than destroy the stocks or ship them back to the U.S., Washington will ask Seoul to buy them.

That said, this is serious. This is a much, much, much greater rift than between Europe and America after the Iraq War. This is Korea saying it wants to shift sides, and America letting it. This is the greatest diplomatic gamble South Korea has ever taken and the greatest set-back for the Bush Amdministration, ever.

The World in Summary

2005-01-20T02:35:00+01:00

India and Israel strengthen military ties.Red China allows citizen to use and read TypePad blogs.Vietnam applauds U.S. trade relations, but complains about rules regarding catfish-dumping.Dozens die in another Salafist-Baathist terror bombing.There is a growing, interconnected world that peacefully pursues trade, freedom, and democracy. Not everyone is at the same place, but everyone is on the right track.While the tribal neo-Klansmen of Iraq kill people to drive out the world. To [re]impose a hateful tyranny on the masses who despire them.We are fighting for the free world -- for the globalized world. Our enemies fight against it.