Helping Children to Learn Chinese Language -Childbook.com an Online Chinese Book store

Book Talk: "China Watcher-Confessions of a Peking Tom"

I wish I could go... Book Talk: "China Watcher-Confessions of a Peking Tom" at USC on April 1st.

Looks very interesting!

Labels: china's future

China - The upcoming superbubble?

Interesting point of view. The article also mentions how China has under appreciated their currency, as well as the problem of inefficient growth.

China: the coming costs of a super bubble - China may seem to have defied the recession and the laws of economics. It hasn't. When China's bubble bursts, the global impact will be severe, spiking US interest rates.

Labels: bubble, china's future

Business Sours on China

Business Sours on China on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Good article that covers the high/lower points including:

What the article did not mention is how the changing of China's top leadership in China may be influencing the current economic nationalism and merchantism in China.

Labels: china's future, US Chinese Image

China's Currency & The Big Mac Index

There have been several articles about how China's currency is being deliberately undervalued as a way to keep China's exports at a high level. By having an undervalued currency China's exports are more competitive due to this cost advantage. The IMF has a report that China's currency is undervalued, but the Chinese government has been blocking it's publication.

A more useful tool I have found for comparing currencies is The Big Mac Index published by the Economist. The Big Mac Index compares the cost of the Big Mac in different countries. Per the index, China's currency is undervalued by 49%. Paul Krugman uses 20 to 40%. Other countries that are competing with China, such as Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia also have undervalued currencies. Krugman also has a interesting technical explanation on why it does not matter if China starts to sell it's US treasury holdings - China's Water Pistol - Paul Krugman Blog

Another good article that mentions the IMF and China - China Uses Global Trade Rules to Its Advantage - NY Times.

Labels: china's future, Chinese Economics, US Chinese Image

Learning Real Chinese

I was wondering which textbook was being used :-)

Has Chinese become the language of corruption? Global Times.

I have such mixed feelings on this quote from the article. Sad, Amazement, & humorous at the same time.

Chinese language learners are now attempting to learn the so-called Chinese wisdom of twisting rules and playing dirty tricks, just like Little Zhao is taught to do in "Funny Business" dialogues. My friend said he found them quite useful and practical when it came to doing business in China.

When I was teaching ESL there were no dialogs like that. I don't believe any of my Learning Chinese Curriculum has this type of practical Chinese in them. Even if I have a series called Practical Chinese and New Practical Chinese Reader.

Labels: china's future, Learning Chinese

Real Estate Bubble in China?

Market Defies Fear of Real Estate Bubble in China

Amazing how high the prices are. $45 million price tag for a duplex is one example. And I agree, when the rents are so much lower that usually signals a bubble.

And from this pdf on construction in China, the law seems to still be a bit chancy in the area of property rights.

Labels: bubble, china's future

WalMart & China's Environment

Wal-Mart compels Chinese vendors to meet higher standards - Washington Post

Key Points:

"Wal-Mart says if you're over the compliance level, you're out of business. That will send a powerful signal."
If Wal-Mart were a sovereign nation, it would be China's fifth or sixth largest export market.
Three-quarters or more of China's wastewater is not treated.
Wal-Mart has more than 10,000 suppliers in China. In addition, about a million farmers supply produce to the company's 281 stores in China.
Working with the Ministry of Agriculture and large independent cooperatives and distribution companies, Wal-Mart is trying to cultivate healthier farm techniques, with less pesticide, more organic fertilizer and more efficient water use.

On why WalMart is doing this my opinion is it makes business sense. So much of pollution is wasteful that actually costs a company money that is done for short sighted reasons. By increasing the efficiency and reducing waste, WalMart is actually making their suppliers have a lower cost and increases the competitiveness of WalMart. WalMart is doing the same in the US.

Labels: china's future, walmart

Young, educated and jobless in China

Young, educated and jobless in China - LA Times.

An estimated 3 million jobless or underemployed college graduates in China, products of a mass social experiment by central planners to churn out more professionals for China's economic development. Nicknamed the Ant Tribe, after the title of a recent book documenting their struggles, they now constitute a vast army of educated young people whose growing restlessness worries the Chinese government.

There is a limit on what state control and direction can do. My thought what China needs to do is encourage entrepreneurship and increase intellectual property. The current system favors the families and businesses that are well connected.

I just learned about the eight immortals today, who they are, and their descendants. Interesting what this says about China's economy.

Labels: china economy, china's future, Education

China, Silicon Valley, & Solar

Good article from the Mercury News - Silicon Valley faces fierce global competition in cleantech

Key Points:

China views cleantech as a gold rush that will propel Chinese companies to world-domineering status.
Lawrence Berkeley's Wiser noted that Chinese government policy supports local companies and that it's often cheaper to buy homegrown technology, even though foreign-made products may be more reliable.

Labels: china economy, china's future, solar

China's Me First Attitude

The danger behind China's 'me first' worldview - Washington Post.

Good article. This is a very good paragraph:

Unlike the isolationist America First movement of the 1930s, China First does not mean global disengagement. It does mean engagement on China's terms. China accepts and supports the existing order when that serves its needs, as when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Otherwise, it plays by its own rules and norms.

I was just helping my daughter with US history from WWI through the 30's that have shown the isolationism that has been such a part of American history (basically the US wanted to be left alone until WWII showed this was not possible). China on as noted in the article needs to generate massive amounts of jobs. If China does not, there will be a change of government. Basically the bargain of the Chinese government with the people, an updated mandate of heaven, is continue to make our economy and China strong. Economy translates as more exports to generate more jobs in China along with the raw materials needed to produce the goods. China Strong translates as putting China's interests first and being strong with other countries diplomatically.

Chinese public opinion through the Internet has a strong impact and keeps China's government with a me first attitude. As the school system indoctrinates a strong sense of China's historically being taken advantage of by other countries (Opium War, Japanese invasion of China, carving up of China by foreign countries, sack of Beijing etc.). The increased US dependence on China for financing the US deficit has increased the perceived power within the Chinese government itself.

Labels: china's future, US Chinese Image

China's Trains

China's creating a huge network of high speed trains, as France and Japan have. The existing trains are already competing with plains.

Goals:

Create a nationwide network of high speed trains in China.
Create a domestic industry for High Speed Rail for exporting.
Increase efficiency of China's transportation system. The advantage that by having separate rail lines for passengers this increases the freight capacity of the freight lines. High speed rails may also reduce the need for some roads.

Challenges

High maintenance cost of the rails. Due to the high speed the rails need to be kept in perfect shape.
Potential subsidiary issues - The question that I truthfully have not figured out is the cost compared to air planes and cars with the hidden subsidiaries and costs that each have, how do these compare to the cost of a high speed train. For a high speed trains to be successful there needs to be a highly populated urban areas as well as feeder public transportation (translation, most of the US does not have this as compared to Europe and Japan where the economics make more sense).
Cost of tickets at the current average wages in China.

China Sees Growth Engine in a Web of Fast Trains - NY Times.

Labels: china's future, trains, transportation

China Milk Scandal Update

Sad...

China charges tainted milk scandal activist - UK Telegraph.

I translate this as free speech is allowed in China as long as you stay within certain boundaries. IE don't embarrass the government including their image such as having a web site discussing 300,000 children getting poisoned by melamine. And the route cause of this is a feeling of insecurity by the government.

Labels: china food safety, china's future, US Chinese Image

China v USA

Good article...

China v USA: more than froth and bother - UK Telegraph.

I am also worried about US China relations.

Labels: china's future, US Chinese Image

China Leading in Green Energy

Known:

China has a huge demand for more power plants so they are buying 9X more than the US.
The Chinese government is also pushing green energy (10x the investment of the US).
Lower cost of manufacturing.
Plus rare metals used in the generators.

Therefore:

Chinese has become the largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world.

Results:

Great for China
Worrisome for the US.

Reference:

Good article - China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy - NY Times.
China's Rare Earth Update
China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals
China's Green Power Investment
Red to Green China - A new Sputnik

Labels: china's future, chinese environment

Avatar 1, China 0

China's government official story is that Avatar in 2D was not doing that well so they pulled it.

But the movie the Chinese government is pushing, Confucius, got a rating of a 4.4 (very unlucky number) of out 10, where Avatar was rated 9.6 on a popular Chinese movie site (similar to Rotten Tomatoes). And Avatar is still doing double the business of Confucius in it's first three days. The result is many movie theaters are still showing Avatar in China in 2D.

Moral - leave those blue aliens alone. If you saw the movie you would have known that...

China’s Zeal for ‘Avatar’ Crowds Out ‘Confucius’ - NY Times

Related Post:

Avatar's Lucky Chinese Numbers

Labels: china's future

China's Cyber Merchantism

Mercantilism is where a country deliberately pushes the exports of products from their country while keeping imports to a minimum.

With security breaches the great thing about it is there is 100% deniability. There is always a chance that your country is being framed. And with the 100% deniability, there is no downside to Cyber Merchantism for a country. What is the cost of stealing competitive information (oil reserve information) from a US Oil company that can help your own domestic oil industry on bidding? None, since nobody can prove your country did it.

For any software used in China that uses encryption, the Chinese government requires a company to turn over the keys (access) to them. The US has similar requirements for criminal investigations through court orders. What happened with Skype for example in China, was somebody was monitoring conversations and scanning them for keywords, and then copying them. The challenge is what happens when the Chinese government favors domestic competition over your foreign site?

An example of this in China was initially Google's site for a while was being forwarded to a competitors. So if you typed in Google.cop Baidu would come put. Another example was when Google.cn was shut down due to pornography.

From a software prospective China was going to require that all PC's be installed with software to filter the Internet. Unfortunately it seems the software, Green Dam, had large parts of it copied from a US Software Cybersitter. Currently Cybersitter is suing for $2.2 Billion dollars over this. Since Green Dam has no foreign assets I don't see a cost for them copying the code. Cybersitter is also going after PC Manufacturers who installed the software that have foreign assets such as Sony, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, etc.

What is happening in the hacker attacks is an outside entitity is gaining control of a computer. Making it into a zombie, which then gives them access to the network that computer is on. And specific people are being targeted using a combination of human engineering and zero day flaws. Through E-Mails sent directly to a person using their name and having a subject line that appears real, with a link or attached pdf, that when clicked on gives control of the computer.

And the sophistication of the hacking is amazing with different groups being involved in different areas. One group does the initial penetration, and then another group would search out needed information, and a third group would actually move the information out.

Why would a country do Cyber Merchantism? The simple answer is to give their own industry help. And this applies from raw materials, manufacturing, to the information economy. The goal of China's government is move up the economic value food chain, to advance from being just a place for low cost hub for manufacturing, into a producer and developer of high technology products.

I found this quote interesting:

“The China threat is constant,” says Shawn Carpenter, principal forensics analyst for NetWitness, a cybersecurity company. “If there’s valuable intellectual property out there, there are people in China and elsewhere who want to take it. It’s the new battlefield – low risk and low investment with high gain.”

References:

US oil industry hit by cyberattacks: Was China involved? - Christian Science Monitor

In Digital Combat, U.S. Finds No Easy Deterrent - NY Times.

Google Attack Part of Widespread Spying Effort - IDG

China Issues Sharp Rebuke to U.S. Calls for an Investigation on Google Attacks - NY Times.

China retreats on Internet Filtering Software China Requires Censoring on New PCs

Labels: china economy, china's future, Chinese Economics, google

Google China History

Good history of Google's involvement with China - The Google-China Challenge: How It Came to This by JR Raphael, PC World

Labels: china economy, china's future, google

China, WTO, and Google

Article from the SF Chronicle suggesting the US Government can file a complaint with the WTO (World Trade Organization) on China's Great Firewall as an unfair trade device.

China's Great Firewall impedes foreign trade - SF Chronicle

Labels: china's future, google

Google, China, and the US

In follow up to the hacking of Google by Chinese hackers, the US government has taken up the issue of Internet Freedom and in a speech, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton specifically named China.

The Chinese complained about the speech.

I found the Chinese arguments interesting, but weak:

The Chinese Internet is open
The American demand for an unfettered Internet was a form of information imperialism
The U.S. campaign for uncensored and free flow of information on an unrestricted Internet is a disguised attempt to impose its values on other cultures in the name of democracy,
the United States employs the Internet as a weapon to achieve worldwide hegemony

Note the use of the word "imperialism"

The question is what will happen now:

Will US Chinese relations be hurt?
Will this start a trade war?
Is Google going to leave China?
Will Chinese citizens get upset about the censoring of the Internet?

References:

China Says U.S. Criticism of Its Internet Policy Harms Ties

Labels: china's future

Avatar's Lucky Chinese Numbers

Notice how the number of screens is a lucky number in Chinese. 6, 2, and 8's are all considered lucky numbers.

8 has the same sound as wealthy.
6 in Chinese means smoothly, works great, etc
2 is lucky, since there is a saying that good things come in pairs. Double Happiness is an example of that.

Avatar' pulled from 1,628 Chinese movie screens - LA Times.

Per the article Avatar has been pulled from the screen in China due to the issue of resettlement as well as competition to China's own film industry.

Some other possibilities on why the message of Avatar is disliked by the Chinese government:

Environmentalism - Avatar is very pro environmental, where China's government has a higher priority on their economy, than on the environment.

Challenge Authority - Avatar promotes not following the dictates of a central authority and the evil of big business (the rebellion by the main characters against the human company.
Indigenous People Rights - A touchy subject in China.

Labels: china's future

China's Science Headache

Two articles that raise troubling questions on the issue of science in China. The article in the NY Times brought up a lock of the challenges that China has. They are using an industrial model for scientific research. The challenge is there is also a culture of many scientists for papers at any cost. The cost being a bit of faking.

Is science from China in danger of going down the same path of food safety in China? Will there be a contaminated milk type scandal in the sciences that will taint science in China? Lancet and Nature both had editorials after 70 papers with fake data were withdrawn. It's disturbing that in a survey more than half of scientists in China, knew of someone faking data.

Labels: china food safety, china's future, made in china

Google vs. China - Even More

Methods - Why IE 6
One of the methods used in the hack was an Internet Explorer flaw. For such a high profile hack, flaws like this are basically one time use. Because after they are found the flaw is fixed. Microsoft supposedly will be issuing something on Tuesday for this. By clicking on a link from an E-Mail from a trusted source (fake E-mail), the hacker then could use the computer remotely.

Lesson - don't click on any link and/or attachments unless you expect them.

Companies Affected (known out of 34):

Google - Access to activist E-Mail accounts
Adobe - Seeking possible hacks into Adobe Reader and Acrobat they could use to enter other systems.
Juniper Networks - Probably just IP. Juniper is a the cutting edge of the hardware for the Internet.
Legal Firm representing a firm suing China for $2.2 Billion
Yahoo (rumor)
Symantec (rumor)
Northrop Grumman (rumor)
Dow Chemical (rumor)
Rackspace (hosting company used to transfer information)

History

Hacking into 100 Silicon Valley Companies in July 2009 using a pdf attachment
Obama and McCain Campaigns Hacked in 2008
May 2008 - Dalai Lama Hacking
US Secretary of Commerce Laptop hacked in China. June 2008.
November 2007 - US & British Businesses doing business in China were targeted.
Going back to 2005 per an article for hacking by China.

References:

More details emerge on Google hack - SC Magazine for IT Security Professionals
Behind the China attacks on Google (FAQ) - CNET
China-based Google attacks similar to prior ones
Security experts dissect Google China attack • The Register

Labels: china's future

Google Vs. China Continued

Good article that I agree with - Google Takes a Stand by Nicholas Kristof - NY Times.

Currently there are an estimated 130,000 people in China working for the government censoring the Internet. From chatrooms to search to even instant messaging to a Golden Shield between China and the rest of the world. It's very high tech.

My opinion is China has more to lose from Google leaving, than Google does. It would be a huge hit to China's reputation and it would also remove competition (that are heavily favored by the government) from it's home based competitors to Google. From Google's prospective it helps their reputation in the main markets where they get the majority of their income. Google Chinese revenue is $310 million, which is 2% of their overall revenue.

Another factor that has not been mentioned is many users in China go around the great firewall to use Google's products. Someplace I read that 20% of Internet users in China have a Google E-Mail account, yet Google does not offer this within China. Side note, Google now encrypts all Gmail Accounts automatically, used to be not automatic.

Labels: china's future

China and Google

The interesting question is by being publically embarrassed by Google's accusations, what is China's leadership going to do?

Basically hackers from China hacked into Google and stole source code and got into at least one Gmail Account. China's government has seen hacking as very useful. From hacking into US Presidential candidates computers to better understand their position, to the Dalai Lama hacking. There has also been a huge amount of hacking for gaining foreign technology, especially from defence firms in the US. Since hacking can rarely be traced to an actual person, there is a huge amount of plausible denial.

Links:

Google’s Threat Echoed Everywhere, Except China

Google Exit Threatens Chinese Internet, Analysts Say

Foreign Companies Resent China’s Rules

Labels: china's future

China Awakens or a Bubble about to Collapse

Two very different views on China:

Who’s Sleeping Now? NY Times by Thomas Friedman. A positive article about China and how they are doing a great Green Leap Forward.

The other is Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China also from the NY Times. The position in the article is China is over inflated with dodgy numbers and is Enron, except on a national scale.

Labels: china economy, china's future

$2.2 Billion Lawsuit

Wow on the amount! The filtering software had a lot of US code in it.

My guess is the US company won't have much luck going after the Chinese company that wrote the software (no US assets or sales in the US), but going after the hardware vendors that are included in the suit sounds like it has more potential.

Reference:

US software firm sues China over Green Dam piracy The Guardian

This is about the software the Chinese government wanted to force on all PC's in China.

Related Posts:

Labels: china's future

China's fear of Charisma

Some questions to consider...

1. Why did China's leadership have junior government officials handle the negotiations in Copenhagen? Reference - How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room - UK Guardian.

2. Why was President's Obama in China not given the same opportunity to address the Chinese nation that President Clinton had?
Obama charisma? China keeps it in tight check. - Christian Science Monitor

4. What is the background of China current leadership?
Chinese Rising Leader Is Economist, Not Engineer - Forbes.com

5. If you are dealing with a charismatic leader, what is the best way to make sure your decisions are not affected by their charisma?

6. Who was the last Charismatic leader in China?
Mao

My thoughts:

China's current leaders are Engineers. Engineers are stoics in philosophy. Engineering that likes to base decisions on facts, and want to avoid group think. Note that Herbert Hoover was the last US President that was a Engineer. Mao was the last charismatic leader of China and the current leadership was alive during the cultural revolution. The Chinese leadership has also studied what led to the fall of the communism in Eastern Europe, including President Reagan's famous speech of "Tear Down this Wall".

The way to avoid being influenced by a charismatic person is use an intermediary. This way you can avoid the direct charismatic effect. The US in Copenhagen was not allowed to deal directly with the Chinese leader after an initial meeting, but with a series of intermediaries. Negotiations were also done around the US with India and Brazil (negating the charisma factor by not allowing it's presence). China also ran the clock out at Copenhagen, minimizing the possibility of an agreement that was forced by charisma. During President Obama's visit, China was also very careful to limit his uncontrolled access to the Chinese media.

A SWAG based on the above:

China's leadership is afraid of the impact of President's Obama's charisma as shown in actions during Copenhagen's negotiations and his visit to China. Their goal is to limit his ability to use his charisma that would be negative to their interest. Be it an environmental structure that may have negative impact on China's growth (part of the Heavenly Mandate, or how the government keep's it's legitimacy is through good economic growth in China) or through direct communication to the Chinese people that promoted areas that the current Chinese leadership does not want promoted (such as democracy, environmental, etc.). The leadership has direct experience on what a charismatic leader can do (Mao was extremely charasimatic and responsible for the Cultural Revolution). For this reason, China's leadership is extremely careful in limiting the ability of President Obama to influence China through his charisma.

Labels: china's future

People's Processor

People’s Processor: Embrace China’s Homegrown Computer Chips from Wired Magazine.

This makes more sense now...

China Blocks Tech Imports with New Rule

And the fact that PC's have become so powerful, that you don't need the latest and greatest processor to run them (Vista was an exception, but if your using Linux and/or Windows XP).

Basically China is trying to make it so it does not need to import foreign technology, such as Intel chips that are not mostly designed in China. I was going to say designed in the US, but then I remembered how Intel has design centers around the world

Labels: china's future

China & Copenhagen

The climate summit in Copenhagen reminds me of Rashomon.

Two articles:

I have read 3 versions so far what happened. One is basically it's China's fault the Copenhagen resulted in a meaningless agreement. The other is China was defending it's economic growth against attempted secret meetings and agreements by other governments. The third version is the third world scuttled the agreement due to not getting enough payment from the first world.

Labels: china's future, chinese environment

China's Rare Earth Update

Another article - Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined Destructively - NY Times.

Key Points from the Article:

The mining of these rare elements is dominated by criminal gangs in China.
China has the majority of mines for these rare elements.
The rare elements are key for green technologies.
China is attempting to restrict the exports of these rare minerals to increase their industrial exports (4 steep cuts in 4 years, this year was 12%).
The mining destructive for the local environment.
Up to half of the rare earth exports from China are smuggle out.
It will take years for Western Suppliers of rare earths to get into production.

My previous posts

Labels: china's future

Unemployed College Graduates in China

China's Ant Tribe: millions of unemployed college grads - CS Monitor.

Many recent college graduates in China have been unable to find jobs. Six million graduated last summer, and 2 million of them are still looking for jobs. 33%. And there is worries this may cause political stability issues.

Last year 66.7% of college graduates in the US had jobs within 6 months of graduation (which is about the same as for China) from a LA Times article.

Labels: china's future

China's Labor Exports

China’s Export of Labor Faces Growing Scorn - NY Times.

To summarize, China's state run companies when they set up operations overseas use a lot of Chinese for contruction and running operations they set up, instead of locals. This is building up a backlash in countries that have high unemployment rates.

I did not know about Vietnam, but I have read of problems in Africa with Chinese operations not hiring local people.

Labels: china's future, Racism

Chinese Nationalism - The Great Treasure Hunt

Chinese Team Searches Museums for Art Treasures - NY Times.

When my wife was in England during college 20 or so years ago, she was invited to a person's house to see some artifacts from China. She refused since she did not know the person, but may be they really did have some artifacts. The old summer palace in Beijing was looted by British and French troops in 1860.

From a political view point getting back artifacts that were taken while China is weak shows how China is now strong enough to get the respect it deserves. The challenge for China is the lack of investment on keeping the artifacts and historical sites they do have safe. There is such a focus on new and modern.

Labels: China Politics, china's future

Leading Economic Power in the World

Per this article, 40% of Americans over 18 thought it was China. Actually the leading Economic Power currently in the world by GDP is the US. China currently has about 25% of the GDP of the US.

But, with articles like this - World's Top Polluter Emerges as Green-Technology Leader - WSJ.com I can understand why so many would view China as the leading Economic Power. So many goods are made in China, but the key point that is often forgotten is in many of them, the value add comes from the US, where China is contributing low margin manufacturing. China is working hard to move up the food chain to higher value added goods. China is still growing, while the US is still in a nasty recession. One site did some analysis and estimated that China's GDP would overtake the US in 2026, but acknowledges their is a lot of uncertainty.

I could not find the actual Gallop Poll, but these are some other ones that are interesting:

Labels: china's future

China Blocks Tech Imports with New Rule

Interesting - China purchasing rule angers foreign tech companies and a International Business Groups Urge China to Cancel Procurement Policy.

A government agency (not sure if this includes government owned companies) under the new rules can only buy products that “have Chinese intellectual property and proprietary brands,” and intellectual property must be “totally independent of overseas organizations or individuals.”

My guess is this specifically aimed at Cisco and US Software Manufacturers.

Basically give up your intellectual property rights if you want to sell to us. This could also apply down to a chip level on electronics...

Labels: china's future

China has more English Speakers than India?

Interesting article. The article mentions that China has a better level of schooling in English overall than in India as the reason that China may have more English speakers than China. It would have been nice if there were a few more facts about the growth in Learning Chinese around the world and how this compares to other languages.

English is essential, but is no longer enough - Business Day.

Labels: china's future

Karl Who?

From Slate Magazine. Good article. It would have been interesting if the article had gone into more of the experiments in democracy, how the party has reacted to this over time, and their analysis of the fall of the Berlin wall.

Karl Who?China is a Communist country, but I have yet to meet an actual Communist.

Labels: china's future

US and China Competiveness - Briibery

It seems the mine in Afghanistan I mentioned in this post - China and Afghanistan that is worth $2.5 Billion dollars, it was secured due to a $30 Million bribe to the minister of mines in Afghanistan.

Does the ability and willingness to use bribery give Chinese companies an unfair advantage in corrupt countries over US companies? In US companies, bribery is illegal and employees can go to jail if convicted of bribery. Even if a third party handled the details and it was known by the parent company.

In a presentation called Closing the Responsibility Gap from the Drucker Institute, over $1 Trillion in bribes are paid a year and 1 in 10 people last year had to pay a bribe. Yes, I have seen the presentation three times and I am a board member for the Drucker Society of LA so I am a bit opinionated on ethics (very important) and bribery (huge cost to a society).

Reference - Washington Post - Afghan minister accused of taking bribe $30 million payment alleged Massive mining project awarded to Chinese firm

Labels: china's future

China Ministry: See US Becoming More Protectionist

From the Wall Street Journal - China Ministry: See US Becoming More Protectionist

And I agree with the Chinese ministry. First it was Chinese tires, the steel pipes, and next looks to be coated paper and some phosphate salts.

Another article that has more details China's Blunt Talk for Obama.

I hope the current US protectionism is just temporary politics to get support from US unions for the health care reform.

Previous Posts:

Labels: china's future

Chinese Export Opportunity from Wisconsin

Nice feel good article about how many in Wisconsin see China as an export market. China is the third largest export market for US goods. "The Chinese Are Coming" was the title of a session in late September in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling per the article. This is due to the increase in undergraduate students from China.

In Wisconsin, looking east to Chinese buyers - Washington Post.

Labels: china's future

Credit Cards, China, & Bankruptcy

I did not realize that China does not have a law for bankruptcy for individuals. One was put in place in 2007 for non state Enterprises. It is helpful to keep in mind that it took 100 years for the US to get a functioning bankruptcy system. Bankruptcy is mentioned in the US constitution, but vaguely.

With the low trust society in China, credit cards and bankruptcy are challenging issues.

An article I came across that mentioned this - Chinese credit card debt mounts from CNN. The lack of credit cards in China from what I have read has been a real problem for E-Commerce operations there that sell goods.

Labels: china's future

To Many Chinese Malls?

I have noticed in the Rowland Heights area there has been a lot of overbuilding of strip Malls. And still more have opened and the result is a lot of for lease signs.

China seems to have similar issues with over building. Chinese Luxury Mall Calamity at the PekingDuck.

The shops/malls that are succeeding are those that offer a good value. There is one Chinese restaurant in Rowland Heights that has super long waits, while others are empty.

An article that is thought provoking - Is China headed toward collapse? from Politico.

Labels: china's future, chinatown

China and Afghanistan

I did not know that China has a $3.5 Billion Dollar investment in Afghanistan for developing a copper mine! The Economist mentioned it in an article. The comments on the article brought up some good points.

Banyan Having it both ways - The Economist.

I don't agree with the last line of the article. It is thought provoking. rising powers have always hitched a ride on the back of declining ones.

Labels: china's future

China and the Berlin Wall

I find it amazing how China's government has survived and changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall. A good article in the Economist.

Keep calm and carry on - How Deng Xiaoping neutralised the country’s worst moment. China's reaction to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

It's amazing the different path that Russia and China have taken since then, and how successful China has been in growing their economy.

Labels: china's future

More US Duties on Chinese Imports

The US is now applying duties to imports of Steel Pipes. $2.6 Billion worth of imports.

This tit for tat I am finding scary...

China brands US ‘protectionist - Financial Times.

Labels: china's future

Chinese Education Secretary Replaced

China Dismisses Its Minister of Education - NY Times.

I am curious on how much impact this position actually has. The issues of low quality and not enough jobs for college graduates are systemic. It's important for China to fix this, but I am not sure with the decentralization and corruption how much is really possible.

Labels: china's future

Chinese on the Web in 5 Years

What the web will look like in 5 years
ReadWriteWeb.com reports Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions a radically changed internet five years from now: dominated by Chinese-language and social media ...

and this:

Five years from now the internet will be dominated by Chinese-language content.

Interesting... Mr. Schmidt is a very smart guy. Something to think about.

Another reason on Why Learn Chinese

Labels: china's future

China's Pirate Headache

Time line so far:

1. A Chinese ship was taken over by Pirates. Oct. 19th.
2. China's military said they would take back the ship.
3. China refused military help from the US, Britain, an/or France
4. Now the ship is anchored off a Somalia town and China is in secret negotiations. Oct. 27th

Personally, I don't see any good face saving ways for the Chinese Government on this mess. I hope I am wrong.

Labels: china's future

Saluting Cars

NY Times article - Salute All Cars, Kids, It's a Rule in China.

Take awys

Shows lack of feedback avenues on local government officials.
Shows how press and web users can impact in a positive way.
Shows the power of local officials.

Labels: china's future

Red Dawn 2010 with China as the Invader

I saw the original Red Dawn in 1984 opening night and the audience cheered when the Russian translator was killed. The tanks and BMP's they used were amazing on the accuracy. I saw it on discount recently and bought it to show my daughter and have a talk about the times that produced this movie and the Cold War ideology and fear of the Soviet Union at the time.

Now a new Red Dawn is being produced with the Chinese as the invaders.

I"ll b honest - I just don't see China in the role of invading the US. Taiwan, that is a threat. Teaching lessons to countries close to it - India and Vietnam has also been done. Building up a the military is along term goal that was shown in the recent China's Anniversary parade.

But invading the US?

If you want to do what if scenarios may be theoretically possible in 25 plus years if everything went wrong for the US (great Depression in the US that somehow does not affect China, so China's economy continues to grow and the US collapses). But the truth is the US and China is so intertwined with our economy that is just not possible.

Another scenario is a coup or new leadership that is bent on replicating the outbound spread of communism as the old Soviet Union did. Again, China is much more interested in economics now, rather than conquering nations. Conquering neighbors is more headache than it used to be and actually costs money, instead of makes the country money. And with the Chinese people being promised and expecting a better standard of living, I don't see China spending twisting their economy as the Soviet Union with the focus being on the military that resulted in a poor economy, and did not produce Military equipment as good as the US.

A third scenario is some new technology upsets the military balance with the US and China. But of the ones possible I don't see how this would allow for a Chinese invasion of the Us. An interesting one is a anti-carrier ballistic missile developed after President Clinton had 2 US carriers sail near Taiwan that changes the situation on defending Taiwan. Question is what US technology is going to counter this one (none yet).

Labels: china's future

China's US Oil

China's oil companies, under heavy pressure to get more oil reserves to feed China's growing economy ares looking to buy some of the leases for oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Interesting, since the oil pumped from the Gulf currently supplies 50% of the US.

I am not sure how the US congress is going to react to this. It should be interesting!

Labels: china's future

Articles about China - separating truth from bias

I am confused... The article looks very good, about a movement in China in the Christian Science Monitor, yet there is a major piece of information left out of it. Once I found that out the article may be biased.

Why is the person writing this? Initially I though the article because the author is working on a Master's at George Washington University. For a Master's Degree at most universities you need to do new research in an area. This article appears to be based on the research the author is doing for her Master's.

But I did a quick google search because I wanted to know more about the person. The author definitely has an axe to grind on China.

In the article if this had been mentioned the author's affiliation, I would have appreciated it. Instead of finding it out by accident.

I am leaving out a few keywords because I need to focus on what my online Chinese bookstore does, which is sells Learning Chinese Materials, not politics.

Even if politics is so interesting! Disclaimer - both my parents have Masters in Political Science and I passed the Social Science Teacher's test by taking the test, where my education is in Business and Engineering.

Labels: china's future

College Bribery in France - Chinese Students?

Head of French university suspended - Toulon campus accused of bribery in accepting students from China - Washington Post.

I am not sure what this says about China.

Labels: china's future

China and the Environment

A recent article from the NY Times is very hopeful on reducing Global Warming due to the actions that China has started to take. International Energy Agency Sees Gains in China It also noted how the global recession has also helped slow the rate of pollution growth down.

China sees Green Technology as a key area for future economic growth, and a great way to develop an industry is increase domestic usage. Examples of this are requirements for solar hot water heaters (California should do this, Israel does), increased energy efficiency standards, and higher gas mileage requirements.

Labels: china's future

Solar Tarrif on Chinese Products

From the Mercury News - Unexpected tariff on solar panels may further strain U.S.-China trade relations

Not good...

What happened was since solar panels have gotten more complicated, the category they are categorized in has changed to electrical generators, and resulted in an increased tariff. The eventual result will be Chinese companies will just do final assembly in the US to avoid the tariff. But, since the change in classification and the affected companies did not know, their are penalties that may be liable due to the past due tariffs. And with many solar companies selling at a loss, this is like rubbing salt in a wound.

Labels: china's future

Why Chinese Joint Ventures Fail

Great article from the Wall Street Journal - Danone Pulls Out of Disputed China Venture

What was unusual about this one was how public it was.

Key Points from the article:

Founder of Wahaha won in Chinese Court by playing on the Nationalism angle, while Danone won internationally. Translation - rule of law is poor in China.
The founder of Wahaha sold Wawhaha products that were made in his own factories, while per the contract Danone owned 51% of Wawhaha. Translation - Rule of law is poor in China. I have heard so many stories of factories having two exits for products, one for those made legally, and another for those made illegally. Or of two shifts being run. One during the day for products produced under a licensing agreement, and the other for products made outside the contract. Which brings up the issue when is a fake a fake, when it's made in the same factory? Another story was a company made a device in China, the manufacturer then when directly to department stores and took away their market. After that their are many products they refuse to make in China due to the potential of this happening again.
From the article about pitfalls of Joint Ventures - Partners have stolen corporate secrets, cheated and otherwise sabotaged a venture, while legal avenues have had little effect on disputes over operations.

Labels: china's future

Analysis of Chinese Anniversary Parade Symbols

BBC Article with great pictures - China's symbolic celebrations

Another BBC article made a key point:

At the 50th anniversary a decade ago, 24,000 soldiers took part in the celebrations. This time, only 8,000 marched past. The emphasis has shifted from manpower to technology.

A though provoking analysis from the Wall Street Journal with the following key points on the parade -my thoughts below in italics:

1. The Chinese state will try to project strength.
China is projecting strength as a way showing legitimacy for the party through playing up the nationalist angle.

2. the Chinese state, for all its apparent might, is deeply insecure.
Andy Grove of Intel had a book with the title, Only the Paranoid Survive. I believe this describes the Chinese leadership, especially with how so many other communist governments have quickly collapsed (like Romania). So I agree with the insecure part.

3. The Communist Party is becoming increasingly divorced from its subjects.
I am not sure on this. The party seems to be very in touch with it's subjects, it may not be reflected in the official media, but they know where the challenges are in China. Environment, Corruption, and the Economy and dealing with these is a challenging balancing act. Act to harshly against corruption which goes very high in the Chinese government and you could discredit the party. Environment verses jobs. And keeping a high rate of economic growth to keep the Chinese people happier.

Labels: china's future

China and Iran

Interesting article from the Washington Post - Oil, Ideology Keep China From Joining Push Against Iran

Title is not that great. I would change it to self-interest keeps China from joining the push against Iran. The self interest for the Chinese Government is keeping the Chinese Economy in the best shape possible.

Labels: china's future

Another Scam E-Mail

New scam I have not seen before...

I did a bit of Google-ing on this since it was a new one. It seems they used to say Dear Manger and used a hotmail address in the past.

Ray

From: =?gb2312?B?U3Bhcmsg?=

To: sales@childbook.com

Subject: childbook

Dear childbook Team,

Good day to you

We received a formal application from Netlon Company are applying to register " childbook " as their website and internet brand name in European, American and Asian area on Sep 29th 2009. During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged Netlon Company has no trade mark nor patent even similar to that word. Hence we need you confirmation for two things,

First of all, whether this alleged Netlon Company is your business partner or distributor in business world.

Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains and internet keyword.

(.eu/.asia/.cn/.com.cn/.com etc)

This is a letter for confirmation. If we haven't receive your reply. We will automatically confirm application from Netlon Company after this audit procedure.

Yours Faithfully,

spark

Registration Commissioner

China Anti-Cybersquatting Organization

'Tel: +00852 8135 9416

Web: www.mwwgroup.cn

Confidentiality Statement:

The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or other action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this message in error please be advised of your obligation to immediately notify sender of the error in transmission, and to destroy all associated documentation.

Labels: china's future

Mixed Race in China

Good article to read - Can a Mixed Race Contestant Become a Chinese Idol?

But there is a lot of food for thought in the article. She was brought up by her Chinese Mother, her Father is African American, and she was in the top 30 for an American Idol type show.

My daughter is mixed so I found the article very interesting. May be Taiwan has a slightly different attitude on race because President Chiang Kai-shek's son, the third President of Taiwan, married a Russian lady he met while studying in Russian.

Labels: china's future

National Day Parade - 60th Anniversary

The number 6 in Chinese is lucky because in Mandarin it sounds like sleek or fluid. In other words everything is working smoothly, which is always nice for business! Of course in English the number 6 has a few issues (Book of Revelations 13:17-18).

So the 60th anniversary of the found of the PRC is a big occasion. Some pictures that show how serious the Chinese Government is taking this. There is also a report that China is using models from as far away as Singapore for their women soldiers.

Some items I am not 100% clear on, and my guesses:

The question is why is China making this such a huge deal by showing lots of new military equipment?
My guess is for internal nationalism showing how far China has advanced.

Why is Tian'anmen closes to visitors as National Day countdown begins?
To avoid possible embarassment

Why were 3 Japanese Journalists beat up for taking photos of the parade preparations?
This one I don't understand, there are so many pictures in taken with cell phones and such this does not make sense.

Labels: china's future

Red to Green China - A new Sputnik

I have been seeing articles about this for a while and Thomas Friedman's column is very convincing to me. Friedman: New Sputnik

He see's China's government focus on green technology as a new Sputnik, and with the US not even aware how how China is focusing on the future, while the US is focused on older industries.

Labels: china's future

China’s Threat Revives Race for Rare Minerals

China’s Threat Revives Race for Rare Minerals - NY Times.

The law of supply and demand still works! China was going to stop the export of rare earths used in many high tech areas, but because of the threat a lot of new sources are being developed and a bit of anti-Chinese purchasing of mineral properties abroad has happened.

Basic Physics - For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Labels: china's future

Chinese Adoption - Explosive Article on LA Times

Explosive...

Chinese babies stolen by officials for foreign adoption - LA Times.
In some rural areas, instead of levying fines for violations of China's child policies, greedy officials took babies, which would each fetch $3,000 in adoption fees.

China needs to do something about their corruption issue. This is a bad situation for all involved, and I don't see any good solutions.

In a perfect world all adopted children and "possible biological parents" would have DNA testing done. But, unfortunately this is not going to happen. China's government, in my opinion, is going to want to sweep this under the rug as it is the 60th anniversary of the revolution and attempt to contain the scandal and minimize any unfavorable publicity.

Related Posts:

Labels: china's future, chinese Adoption, chinese corruption

Economic Vandalism - China US Trade Dispute

I am very worried about a possible trade war with the US and China.

The Economist cover story - Economic Vandalism.

The cover on the economist is disturbing, as it should be. The summary I agree with 100%:

A protectionist move that is bad politics, bad economics, bad diplomacy and hurts America. Did we miss anything?

Relevant Posts:

Labels: china's future

World’s largest solar research center — in Xian, China

Interesting for what this means:

world’s largest solar research center — in Xian, China

From Thomas Friedman's column - Have a Nice Day.

My take on it:

China is a source of relatively cheap Engineering.
Huge demand in China for solar technology due to government requirements for Clean Energy.
US is lagging behind in the Solar demand.

Labels: china's future

Chewy Chicken Feet May Quash a Trade War?

I disagree, this is a lot bigger than the article suggests. The strong and fast reaction of the Chinese government shows this..

Chewy Chicken Feet May Quash a Trade War - NY Times.

Labels: china's future

Good article - China-U.S. Trade Dispute Has Broad Implications from the NY Times. The one part is missed was how fast China responded. Announcement by US was made Friday night, and Chinese response was by Sunday. Very unusual speed...

And on the other side... Tire Tariffs Are Cheered by Labor

Labels: china's future

China's Response to Tire Tariff

Trade War?

In latest export salvo, China takes aim at U.S. auto parts and chicken products - LA Times.

The US applied a Tire Tariff and China is now responding with this, on top of the WTO appeal. I believe that the past humiliation of China by Western Powers (see Qing Dynasty and Modern Chinese Nationalism) will make it so China sees the need to retaliate to prove that the Chinese government is not allowing the United States to take advantage of China. My guess is the US executive branch was more focused on Health Care and using this as a feel good way at minimal cost to look tough on trade , and misgauged the reaction from China.

Personally, if I was in the US government I would become very worried about this development...

Labels: china's future, Chinese History, US Chinese Image

Qing Dynasty and Modern Chinese Nationalism

This article is fascinating for what it tells you about China's nationalism:

Qing Costume Dust Up At Elementary School - Danwei

A question a non-Chinese may ask, is why is there such strong feelings over the Qing Dynasty with:

An author being slapped? The schools web site being hacked? The Qing's being called barbarians?

The Ching or Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China (no, we are not going to argue over whether any Chinese governments since the 1911 revolution were dynasties, or certain leaders acted like emperors). The Qing dynasty was from an ethnic group called the Manchus, that are a small minority of Chinese (just under a million), or less than 1% of China population. During the Qing Dynasty China was humiliated by foreign powers, including the Opium War, Boxer Rebellion, Japanese occupation of Taiwan, and the Sino Japanese War.

After the dynasty was overthrown the Treaty of Versailles gave the German possessions in China to Japan and the US support of Taiwan in 1949 and the 1969 Russian border incident all impacted China. The acts that Japan did during WW2 (rape of Nanjing for example) are seen as foreign powers humiliating China.

The end result is there is a very strong degree of nationalism in China and anger at how China was humiliated in the past. Part of the communist parties way to keep in power is by using Nationalism and the need for a strong China to keep in power. The danger of course, is if they are seen as not Nationalistic enough. The rise of the Internet and texting has made managing this balance, of enough nationalism to keep China united, and not to much to upset neighbors has been challenging as seen with the relations with Japan.

Labels: china's future

China May Appeal Tire Tariff to WTO

China May Appeal Tire Tariff to WTO - Something to keep your eye on. The WTO does take a while to act, which may help politically. This way both sides can claim victory while the WTO is evaluating the case.

Labels: china's future

China Alarmed by US Money Printing

From the UK Telegraph - China Alarmed by US Money Printing

China is a huge investor in the US and is being briefed at the highest levels on the US government financial plans.

Interesting quote:

"He who goes borrowing, goes sorrowing," said Mr Cheng.

It was a quote from US founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Labels: china's future, us

China Web Sites Seeking Users’ Names

China Web Sites Seeking Users’ Names - NY Times

I would not be surprised if this changes...

Labels: china's future

Critical Phase in China US Relations?

Envoy's Challenges in China Wall Street Journal

Interesting quote:

Relations between China and the U.S. are at a critical phase, with the next few months likely to test whether the two sides really have built strong and lasting ties, said the new U.S. ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman Jr.

And what is being listed as priorities? Climate change, the global economy and military ties?

My opinion, #1 priority for China is the economy.

Military is interesting, but does not involve the US besides having the US sell as little military equipment to Taiwan as possible for the near future, while China upgrades their military slowly, but surely.

Climate Change, on paper this is a priority for China, but with the economy currently I wonder...

Labels: china's future

China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals

China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals - NY Times. It seems because China is willing to accept environmental damage that produce more of these rare metals (my take on the article). Interesting since the rare earths are used in magnets that are used in more efficient electric motors used in hybrids, windmills, etc.

And China may be able to leverage this to help it's manufacturing area...

Labels: china's future

$100 Billion Spy Case

Wow on the accusation and in my opinion, this is becoming a lose lose for China. They are being forced to buy on the spot market and Rio Tinto is not going to refund them $100 Billion.

A SWAG...

China's central government is setting a situation where all Chinese companies will be forced to negotiate as one body. And may be, the individual steel companies in China are controlled by different players (state governments, that have a lot of political power. And this is a way for the central government to stop the smaller companies from negotiating directly with foreign iron ore producers that undercut China's negotiating position in the past.

Article from the NY Times, minus my SWAG - China Says $100 Billion Was Bilked by Rio Tinto

The official reason is Rio Tinto did espionage by finding out to much about China's iron ore requirements. Of course, the problem in a non-democratic country is what is a secret, and what is not. And since this is often a gray area, authorities can decide what is a secret after the fact. And since this is a states secret trial, the government does not need to supply what their charges are. It's times like this I deeply appreciate the US constitution with it's rights to a trial by your peers, habeus corpus (produce the corpse), and due process.

Another theory is payback by China to Rio Tinto for refusing to be bought by China and getting a better deal.

Labels: china's future

China's Green Power Investment

China is investing 10X as a percentage of GDP on green tech as the US.
China is going to generate 150,000 jobs through wind power that is 5X as much power as the US has currently.
Chinese cars are 1/3rd more fuel efficient than US cars.
In 2009, China will abate 350 Million tons of Co2
China is home to one of the top 5 manufacturers of Solar Cells in the US.

From an article in the Washington Post by two famous Venture Capital investors on how the US is falling behind in green technoogy.

Doerr and Immelt: Falling Behind on Green Tech - Washington Post

Labels: china's future

Panda Hugging? New Term for US China Relations

First time I have read of Panda Hugging, that is where the US government is accused of focusing on China, instead of helping US manufacturers. The argument being that China is unfairly targeting the growth of the manufacturing industry, at the cost of the US of theirs. And that is it strategically important for the US to keep a good manufacturing base.

China's Gains in Manufacturing Stir Friction Across the Pacific - Wall Street Journal.

Labels: china's future

China Could Use Some Honest Talk About Race China's Ethnic Challenges

China Could Use Some Honest Talk About Race - NY Times.

Interesting editorial comparing how the US reacted to riots in the 60's and how China has reacted to their recent riots. A good read.

Labels: china's future

China Seeks Assurances That U.S. Will Cut Its Deficit

China Seeks Assurances That U.S. Will Cut Its Deficit NY Times.

I find the title just amazing Who would have thought just a few years ago. How times have changed...

And this is my #900 posts.

Labels: china's future

Stealing their Future

I read so much about corruption in China that I am usually not surprised, but this is horrible.

Files Vanished, Young Chinese Lose the Future - NY Times.

The education files that are so important to future advancement have been stolen and sold by corrupt officials. Dooming the people without them, to low paying jobs. Even if they have graduated college. Very sad..

Labels: china's future

China's One Child Policy Tweaked?

Shanghai Tweaks One-Child Policy - NY Times.

This is a major change, but it makes sense since Shanghai has a lot of money, and as incomes go up usually the number of kids goes down.

The root issue is China's population is rapidly aging, and there is no social security set up. The percentage of people over 65 being 25% of the population by 2050. So will China get rich enough to pay for them? Other countries are having similar issues, such as Japan and Italy with an aging population.

Labels: china's future

More Rio Tinto

Per the WSJ the price of raw ore has been increasing, hurting China's economics due to the Rio Tinto debacle.

It seems in 1996 China did something similar, where they arrested a Royal Dutch Shell manager. Shell refused any further business negotiations till the person was released. China's international reputation, as seen in this editorial, A Pawn in a Political Game, is not doing well.

If I was an ethnic Chinese thinking about working in China, what happened in Rio Tinto would be of concern. I joke with my wife that I am safe to go work in China since I am White, where since she's ethnic Chinese (Taiwanese), she has a higher chance of being arrested in a business dispute.

Labels: china's future

China's Ethnic Fault Lines - Briliant Article

Excellent article - China’s Ethnic Fault Lines - Rising tensions and resistance to Beijing’s control challenge China’s ‘harmonious’ society.

The article was very educational for me about how language groups, such as Cantonese, are also forming groups within China and having more pride in their group. Traditionally China has been broken up into a couple states and the current huge configuration of China is relatively new. Thought provoking article showing more of the nightmares of the ruling party that has a primary goal of keeping China in one piece through economic progress and aggressive levels of nationalism.

Labels: china's future

China's Energy Future

China's Nuclear Energy Target for 2020 is 86 Gigawatts and Wind Energy Target of 150 GW by Next Big Future.

My opinion is China will actually meet these huge goals. I am surprised by how much Wind Energy they are targeting, but it makes sense to reduce their oil imports and clean up their air.

Labels: china's future

Protests growing in China

The number of protests in China is growing per some articles I read this morning. China no longer publishes how many protest there are. A protest against the death of a Shishou hotel worker in the province of Hubei. Seems to be the usual corruption issues as well as the killing of innocents is no longer as protected as it used to be due to Instant Messaging and the Internet. This is creating fast and widespread communication about problems that so far have not been able to be censored in enough time. The hotel is supposedly owned by the brother of the Mayor of the city, and since the riot is being reported in the Chinese press I would predict there will be a new May very soon. China's government hates publicity like this.

Per another article, Risky Business in the Streets, China is extremely concerned over rioting and has a special force of 100,000 trained for dealing with rioting, plus the army also has trained units. The fear is rioting may start going after more and more corrupt officials, and there is a huge challenge of corruption that reaches very far up in the Chinese government.

Labels: china's future

China retreats on Internet Filtering Software

Surprising... I did not expect this.

China backs away from Internet filter Washington Post

There were some good reasons to back away:

Filtering software had copied code from a US application and a lawsuit has been filed. Translation - bad publicity.
Lots of complaints within China on this.
US and EU outside of China were very vocal on this.

Labels: china's future

Iraq + Oil = China's Partner...

As Iraq Stabilizes, China Eyes Its Oil Fields - NY Times.

Interesting, but not surprising. China is very worried about making sure of a secure energy supply to keep their economy going.

Labels: china's future

U.S. Objects to China’s Web Filtering

U.S. Objects to China’s Web Filtering - NY Times.

Not sure how much good this will do. There is a lot of uproar within China on this issue. And it seems the software that is being used was also pirated from a US company (that is suing).

Labels: china's future

Women Imbalance - It's worse than you think

Some Facts:

1. 120 boy to 100 girl babies currently. China's Boy Surplus
2. As women have their own careers in Taiwan and Japan, the percentage that marry is decreasing. Birth rate in Taiwan is 1.1 per woman.
3. Women as their education increase marry at a later age.
4. Women when their are more men will marry at a later age per research in the US.

The first one, the gender imbalance is what everyone is talking about. Add items 2-3 and it becomes much worse...

Labels: china's future

Why is China not in the News?

There were a lot of articles going up to June 4th, the anniversary of Tienanmen Square, but since then there has been a lack of articles about China. Not sure why.

The top story in the NY Times that mentions China is China Faces Criticism Over New Software Censor (interesting story from so many angles, the NY Times only touched the surface). This is an interesting story Palau to Take Chinese Guantánamo Detainees. Basically the US had to pay $11 Million a person to find a place that would take them, since China regards them as terrorists.

Labels: china's future

China Requires Censoring on New PCs

China Requires Censoring on New PCs - NY Times.

So what do you do if your a Dell? Do you allow the censoring software to be shipped with your product, and then be labeled as abetting censorship? The challenges of doing business in China!

Google, Yahoo, and Skype have all run aground on similar issues.

Labels: china's future

Tiananmen Square 20 Years Later

I am surprised by inside of China what has happened since the protests 20 years ago. The huge change that has happened in a society that has become much wealthier/prosperous and in many ways freer (outside of politics). I did not realize that Tiananmen Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times was in the square that day. His OpEd remembering that day and the changes since then in China. Bullets over Beijing. I believe his wife is from China.

Labels: china's future

China and North Korea - What to do?

Good article about the relationship between China and North Korea and the options that China has and their probable response.

China debates its bond with North Korea - LA Times.

No mention of my idea where the US should address China's concerns if North Korea collapses. All China needs to do is recognize North Korean's as refugees. Perhaps if the US offered to pay all the care of them and help ship them to South Korea (who does not want the economic headache of a North Korean collapse right now).

Labels: china's future

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Book Talk: "China Watcher-Confessions of a Peking Tom"

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

China - The upcoming superbubble?

Business Sours on China

Monday, March 15, 2010

China's Currency & The Big Mac Index

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Learning Real Chinese

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Real Estate Bubble in China?

Market Defies Fear of Real Estate Bubble in China

Friday, February 26, 2010

WalMart & China's Environment

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Young, educated and jobless in China

Thursday, February 18, 2010

China, Silicon Valley, & Solar

Sunday, February 14, 2010

China's Me First Attitude

China's Trains

Thursday, February 4, 2010

China Milk Scandal Update

China v USA

Saturday, January 30, 2010

China Leading in Green Energy

Avatar 1, China 0

Avatar's Lucky Chinese Numbers

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

China's Cyber Merchantism

Google China History

Sunday, January 24, 2010

China, WTO, and Google

Friday, January 22, 2010

Google, China, and the US

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Avatar's Lucky Chinese Numbers

Monday, January 18, 2010

China's Science Headache

Friday, January 15, 2010

Google vs. China - Even More

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Google Vs. China Continued

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

China and Google

Saturday, January 9, 2010

China Awakens or a Bubble about to Collapse

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

$2.2 Billion Lawsuit

Saturday, January 2, 2010

China's fear of Charisma

Thursday, December 31, 2009

People's Processor

Sunday, December 27, 2009

China & Copenhagen

Saturday, December 26, 2009

China's Rare Earth Update

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Unemployed College Graduates in China

Sunday, December 20, 2009

China's Labor Exports

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Chinese Nationalism - The Great Treasure Hunt

Leading Economic Power in the World

Friday, December 11, 2009

China Blocks Tech Imports with New Rule

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

China has more English Speakers than India?

Karl Who?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

US and China Competiveness - Briibery

Sunday, November 15, 2009

China Ministry: See US Becoming More Protectionist

Friday, November 13, 2009

Chinese Export Opportunity from Wisconsin

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Credit Cards, China, & Bankruptcy

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

To Many Chinese Malls?

Monday, November 9, 2009