Today's Links: Microlending Alibaba, measuring economic recovery, and misquoting Mao
- Grameen China & Alibaba’s True Ambition [CNReviews] "Grameen Trust of Bangladesh and Alibaba Group just announced the launch of the Grameen China initiative, that will be run by the Grameen Trust, with an initial charitable gift of $5 million from Alibaba Group. The New York Times highlighted this gift as a sign of a shift by Chinese corporations toward charitable giving… While altruism may be a motivating factor, Alibaba also stands to gain unique insights into serving the very poor by partnering with the Grameen Trust. I believe that this announcement represents an important strategic thrust-not just corporate philanthropy-that belies Alibaba’s intention to be the dominant B2B trading platform serving small and medium sized businesses (SMB/SMEs) globally."
- Can China's Economic Recovery Last? [Newsweek] "In response to the economic crisis, China deployed massive fiscal boosts, aggressive expansions of credit, foreign-exchange interventions, and tax rebates for the export sector. The short-term results have been impressive. The Asian Development Bank projects China's GDP to grow by 8.2 percent in 2009 and 8.9 percent in 2010—up significantly from forecasts made earlier in the year. The result: job creation. As The New York Times pointed out last week, the image of workers streaming back into Chinese factories stands in sharp contrast to the United States, where the unemployment rate continues to march toward double digits. During this week's G20 summit in Pittsburgh, China will have more weight to throw around on everything from climate change to macroeconomic imbalances. How should we interpret China's swift recovery from the financial crisis and what it means for the future? Here the consensus breaks down into different camps."
- "The Chinese people have stood up": The famous Mao slogan, that he never even used [SCMP] "The slogan is a manifesto of the "Chinese dream", which aims to bring back the power and prosperity that the country had historically enjoyed. The propaganda machine has created many slogans in the past six decades, but this is one of the few that struck, and remain in, the hearts of ordinary people… Yet there is one problem. Mao did not say it in Tiananmen Square. He did not say it on October 1, 1949, either. And some historians say that - like "Let them eat cake", which Marie Antoinette never said, and "Play it again, Sam", which Humphrey Bogart never said - Mao never said the quote attributed to him."
- 12 Injured as Restaurant Explosion Rattles Beijing’s Nerves [New York Times] "At least three people were injured Friday morning in what the authorities say was a gas explosion that leveled a restaurant in a busy shopping district in central Beijing. The blast, coming less than a week before elaborate celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, rattled the capital, which has been under intense security restrictions."
- From American soldier to Communist cadre [Guardian UK] "Sidney Rittenberg arrived in China with the US army in the 1940s. Ahead of the country's 60th anniversary, he recalls playing rummy with Mao Zedong ... and reading the Guardian in the Communist heartland"
- Chairman Mao's grandson holds same military rank [Global Times] "Reports that Chairman Mao's only grandson was promoted to the rank of major general was dismissed as false, the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po said on Thursday. Some media reports, both in China and abroad, said that Mao Xinyu, 39, was promoted from senior colonel to major general, thus possibly becoming the youngest to hold that rank in the People's Liberation Army. Mao's secretary, Guo Jingliang, confirmed on Thursday that despite being introduced last year as the deputy director at a department on war theory and strategic research of the Academy of Military Sciences, Mao still holds the rank of senior colonel."
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