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There's a general energy in the air over Obama's upcoming visit. Judging by the many, many taxi and motorcycle drivers who have conversations with us to the effect of "美国好," Obama has become a cultural icon for the Chinese. While the American president represents a polar change in policy and practice for Americans, the Chinese seem to view him as an intelligent and fair man who will directly or indirectly help China in its ascendant world superpower-dom.
There have now been nine confirmed cases of H1N1 on th Chinese mainland, with two new patients cropping up in Beijing and Fujian province over the weekend. In Fujian, a two-year-old girl tested positive for swine flu after returning from the U.S. with her family via Hong Kong. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the confirmed was a 46-year-old man surnamed Zhang who had flown over from Canada. Unfortunately, he took the subway several times before showing symptoms, possibly contaminating all of Beijing. Meanwhile, there are two suspected cases in Zhenjiang province and Shanghai. The Zhenjiang patient is a 19-year-old boy who came to New York. The Shanghai case is a 30-year-old Chinese man working for an Australian company who flew in from Melbourne. So far, swine flu has claimed no casualties in this country. Source: China Daily
What if the U.S. broke up (much like the Soviet Union did in the early 1990s)? According to one Russian professor, it means that Governer Ahnold may need to learn Chinese.
The deviant little grass mud horse has struck again - only this time, it's a real alpaca rather than an internet one that's the center of this controversy. According to Forbes Asia, two Chinese men used an elaborate scam to trick an oblivious 74-year-old Tennessean Alpaca farmer into giving them business visas.
Remember the government's proposed 45 billion yuan effort to ensure that the rest of the world sees a media more aligned with what the central politico wants it to see? It's started!
Rebecca MacKinnon, formerly CNN's Beijing bureau chief and now Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong, writes an open letter to President Barack Obama in the Huffington Post, In Talking to China, Remember its People. She encourages the president to adopt a more nuanced view of the Chinese citizenry:
The point is that while these people are not citizens of a democracy, they are by no means an undifferentiated mass of brainwashed drones. Despite often crude censorship of the Internet and state-run media, despite manipulation, intimidation of dissidents and political astro-turfing of the blogosphere by paid commentators, there is no unity of thought in China today. Civic minded citizens manage to hold wide-ranging debates on the Chinese Internet, in living rooms, dormitories, office break rooms, and classrooms about many public issues. Reading the Chinese blogs I've found all kinds of views about you and your new administration. Many are inspired by your personal story and the idea of truly equal opportunity that you represent. Others hope that you will be more forthright and principled on human rights issues than the Bush administration was. Others are very concerned that you will be protectionist in order to help the American people in the short run, and that this will hurt the Chinese people economically. Others lament cynically that no matter what happens, the rich and powerful in both countries will be the relationship's main beneficiaries.She also recommends that the president harness the power of the Internet to engage the Chinese public:
Just as you have used new technology to engage with the American electorate, your China policy can be greatly strengthened if you conduct a real conversation with the Chinese people. Listen as much as you talk; provide a much-needed platform for open discussion. The U.S. embassy in Beijing should build a Chinese-language website modeled after change.gov, focused not just on U.S.-China relations, but on the range of concerns and interests - from environment, to food safety, to factory safety standards, to education and real estate law -- shared by ordinary Chinese and Americans. Some linguistically talented State Department employees should start blogging in Chinese. Open up the comments sections, see how the Chinese blogosphere responds, then respond to them in turn. Translate some of the Chinese conversation into English for Americans to read and react, then translate it back. Sure there will be censorship problems on the Chinese side, but if enough Chinese find the conversation important and relevant to their lives, the censors ultimately won't be able to stop it. Nor should they want to if they're wise - because the resulting conversation would help both governments build a more stable and rational relationship that would truly benefit the people of both countries.
Yes, indeedy, change is coming to the US of A and people, you'd better believe it! If Sen. Nancy Jacobs, Sen. Barry Glassman and Del. Wayne Norman, three Harford County, Maryland Republicans, have their way, it is soon going to be ILLEGAL to sell an American or Maryland flag made outside the country (ie., China), and all flags displayed on state property must be manufactured in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Said Sen. Nancy Jacobs to the Baltimore Examiner: "It just seems rather unpatriotic to be buying flags made in China... It's important to a lot of people. Basically, I'm happy that this starts the conversation on buying American." She proposed the general prohibition because she was asked to by "a good friend of mine who happens to be a union leader and who believes very strongly in buying American products." According to the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, the US imports about $5 million worth of flags each year, mostly from China. The association boasts of a wonderful programme that certifies that every step of the flag-making process -- fiber, dyeing, weaving, sewing, staff-making -- is completed in the US so that bored inmates at the Maryland Correctional Enterprises have something to do. Addendum: Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap writes in to inform us that as of late 2007, it's been illegal to sell Chinese-made US flags in Minnesota. Here's what he wrote last year.
Because we know you've all been searching high and low for it, here's a video of President Obama's inaugural address with Chinese subtitles that we found on Chinese video site Youku. The video is complete and includes Obama's references to "fascism and communism" (censored by Chinese media) but the Chinese subtitles leaves "fascism" intact, editing out only the "communism" [insert whatever joke you like here]. For your convenience the full transcripts of Obama's speech, in English and Chinese are included after the jump:
If you were jam packed into Glamour Bar with 600 other people earlier this morning, watching President Barack Obama being sworn in, you might have been a little too dizzy with euphoria (and possibly heatstroke) to notice particular segments of his 18-minute inauguration address -- specifically, ones that likely caused the head honchos in Beijing to collectively cringe.
Danwei directed us to the embedded six-month old video of a short local NBC News piece on a Chinese-made three-wheel "car" available from a dealer in Webster, New York (it's actually available in several places in the U.S., like Michigan). The Webster dealer (we think this is his MySpace page ... yes, MySpace) claims women love the Wildfire WF650-C. The jury is still out on that one.
We’re hunting for a Project Champion, an American corporate executive most likely, to get us started (i.e., $250,000 to organize, plan, and create enough documentation to pursue serious funding). Although an old law prohibits government funding, we have good connections in the new one and that could change. Unfortunately, they aren’t in charge until February, two months into the one year left for us to do anything of quality.
The road to Obama's inauguration has the world equally fixated as the election itself. Jeffrey Garten, former undersecretary of commerce under the Clinton administration poses an interesting proposition: that the President-elect, in his first presidential trip abroad, makes China the first stop. Not only that, Garten says Obama should bring his all-star cast to Beijing: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his appointed ambassador.
Just in case you were looking for it.
“I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see.”
After winning one gold medal and six total medals on Saturday and then seven golds and 14 total medals on Sunday, China is making a serious run at coming out of the Beijing games with the most gold and most medals overall. As of 11:00 pm Beijing time on Monday, China leads the Olympic gold quest with 39 gold medals, 17 more than Team USA's 22. In terms of overall medals, China trails the USA by five, with the Americans taking 72 compared to China's 67. China won four more gold medals Monday, plus a silver and a bronze, but all the talk was about the medal that China was hoping to win more than any other — the men's 110 meter hurdles. As reported here and across global media, Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang has withdrawn from the event in which he won gold during the Athens games four years ago. China has already far surpassed its 32-gold, 63-overall medal tally in 2004. In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, China had 28 golds and 59 medals overall. China is seeking to become the first nation other than the United States or former Soviet Union to top the gold medal standings since Germany in 1936. In 1984, the U.S. (aided by the Soviet led boycott) won 83 golds and 174 overall in Los Angeles. The U.S. won 242 medals overall in 1904 in St. Louis.
Is the air quality at the Beijing airport really that bad? The New York Times has the story (and some photos):
That's right, expert auditors sports prognosticators PricewaterhouseCoopers have already determined China will out-medal the United States, 88 to 87. Says, the AP, "The report lists significant factors behind a country's performance at the Olympics since 1988, including population, average income level and being the host nation." We're still rooting for September.
"What he's doing on Nepal is what we think the international community ought to be doing, which is approaching the Chinese privately through diplomatic channels and sending a very firm message of concern for human rights, a concern for what's happening in Nepal, urging the Chinese government to understand that it is in their interest to reach out to representatives of the Dalai Lama, and to show, while the whole world is watching China, that they are determined to treat their citizens with dignity and respect. There is an opportunity here. And if countries are really concerned about Nepal, we shouldn't have this sort of non-issue of opening ceremonies or not. They should do the hard work of quiet diplomacy to urge the Chinese government -- in their interest -- to take advantage of this opportunity to do something,"
She's just jealous Baidu didn't choose her. From ESPN.com:
What's interesting is this: the headline says that there are at least one million female sex slaves in the US. And the first paragraph of the article goes on to say that these figures from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which estimates that anywhere from 100,000-3 million underage people are somehow involved in prostitution in the US.
"China has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest Internet market by number of users, a research firm said on Thursday."
"China's inflation likely hit a new 11-year high of 8.3 percent last month on the back of rising food prices, state media reported Sunday, triggering speculation of a modest hike in interest rates."
By Wm Patrick Cranley
This video clip from MSNBC has one shocking statistic — China has one third of the world's smokers. That's 350 million, more than the population of the United States. This also comes as news to us: that Beijing is going to ban indoor smoking from May, ahead of the Olympics. Whether this will work remains to be seen. One restaurant chain that has enforced the smoking ban ahead of schedule is already complaining that it is losing business and that customers have deserted it in droves.
By JFK Miller
By JFK Miller
62 year old Guangzhou man is New York City's Sad Panda
China: Nine nations in one?
Midweek Music Preview: Free tickets to Au Revoir Simone, Gaslamp Killer
Electrolist: Berlin 8-bit retroblaster tonight
Interview: Rich Medina funks up the Shelter
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