Changing China
Giant on the move
from Africa News blog:
Was South Africa right to deny Dalai Lama a visa?
By Isaac Esipisu
Given that China is South Africa’s biggest trading partner and given the close relationship between Beijing and the ruling African National Congress, it didn’t come as a huge surprise that South Africa was in no hurry to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama.
Tibet’s spiritual leader will end up missing the 80th birthday party of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a fellow Nobel peace prize winner. He said his application for a visa had not come through on time despite having been made to Pretoria several weeks earlier. (Although South Africa’s government said a visa hadn’t actually been denied, the Dalai Lama’s office said it appeared to find the prospect inconvenient). Desmond Tutu said the government’s action was a national disgrace and warned the President and ruling party that one day he will start praying for the defeat of the ANC government.
It’s the second time the Dalai Lama has been unable to honour an invitation to South Africa by Tutu after failing to make it to a meeting in 2010.
South Africa will certainly win more plaudits in Beijing, which last week agreed to $2.5 billion in investment projects with during a visit by South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
But pro-Tibet activists say South Africa is undermining its credentials as a country of freedom and democracy, established after the end of white minority rule a generation ago.
from George Chen:
China is still waiting for inflation to peak
By George Chen The opinions expressed are the author’s own.
How time flies. It's already the end of August and speculations naturally arise about what China's inflation reading will be for this month.
The most optimistic view these days is that the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) could decline to below 6 percent. The most pessimistic view I've heard is that growth has slowed down in August, but probably only to 6.2 percent or 6.3 percent.
But, why should we care about the August CPI so much? One month cannot tell the whole story.
The reason we care so much is because if the August CPI growth slows down (we will see the official release of August economic data in the coming weeks), it's good news for the central bank as well as for the ordinary people in China who have been fighting with fast inflation for more than three years already. But, it's not good enough.
Yesterday, amid market talks about August CPI, I heard something interesting from Mengniu, China's top dairy product maker: "We are confident we can at least maintain (first-half) margin levels in the second half," Mengniu Chief Financial Officer Wu Jingshui told reporters after the company's first-half earnings release. He added the company might raise product prices and adjust its product mix to offset an estimated 3 to 5 percent rise in raw milk costs in 2011.
Snowboarding the Bird’s Nest
Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium, the tangled steel structure that starred as the focal point of the 2008 Summer Games, has been dressed up for winter in hopes of drawing post-Olympics visitors — and their cash.
Transformed into a winter-themed sports park, the stadium — which in its glory days packed some 80,000 cheering spectators into row after row of seats — now includes snowboard and ski slopes inside the inner ring, as well as a short toboggan tube, all covered in man-made snow.
But judging by the turnout on the opening weekend, when media representatives outnumbered paying visitors, this white Christmas wonderland faces a tough challenge to escape the stadium’s legacy as a big, white elephant.
The 180 yuan entrance fee (about $26) is one barrier to making the snowy playground a financial success. A young mother who brought her son said she reluctantly paid the fee only because the stadium has a special status among China’s famous cultural sites. Other visitors said they were taken aback by extra fees charged inside the venue.
Families got into the spirit, posing in front of giant Christmas-themed snow sculptures and were treated to a variety show featuring the standard Chinese lineup of Kung-Fu displays and acrobatic routines. Even so, set against a backdrop of fake snowy mountain peaks cradled by the stadium’s empty seats and steel girders, the show was a dull reminder of the venue’s spectacular Olympics opening and closing ceremonies that dazzled the world in 2008.
-Reporting by Beijing newsroom
Photo credit: The Bird’s Nest stadium, which has been rarely used since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, has had machines making artificial snow to cover the infield to create the winter playground at a cost of around 50 million yuan (US$7 million) in an effort to attract more tourists during the quieter Christmas and Chinese New Year season. REUTERS/Loic Hofstedt
The Battle for Beijing’s Air (video)
On the first day of the Copenhagen climate change summit, Beijingers were experiencing what authorities called a ‘slightly polluted’ day.
Air quality in the capital has improved, thanks in part to the movement of factories elsewhere and new traffic restrictions first experimented with ahead of last year’s Olympics.
Official weather monitors boasted over 80 percent ‘blue sky days’ in the first half of this year – the best air quality in over a decade (though the reliability of results is disputed – see the US embassy monitor’s take on Monday’s air quality here…)
With an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 new cars hitting the city’s roads every day, residents like Mr. He (see video) are still waiting for a breath of fresher air.
Photo credit: Reinhard Krause
Beijing City’s pollution is not caused by the huge amount of private cars, but also from the emission of industrialcities around Beijing, like the heavy industry cities of HeBei and Shanxi provinces.
Only restrict the private car usage, can do little help to improve the air quality. The local govt is diverting attention from their weak and imcompetent in the problems of economy devpt.
Chicks love vegetarians
Want to be sexy? Then don’t eat meat, says Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu.
“Vegetarians make chicks happy” is a new People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign fronted by Hsu, better known in the Chinese speaking world as “Big S”.
PETA hope the actress, who shot to fame in the hit Taiwanese soap opera “Meteor Garden”, will appeal to younger Chinese.
The beauty and the beast will appear in magazines and on websites in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong over the next few weeks.
Smoking out the flu
Suffering from a bout of winter flu? Chinese traditional medicine has its own answers – you can rebalance your bodies’ meridian with moxibustion, the smoky twin to acupuncture, or bleed the bad toxins away with wet cupping.
The practice of burning moxa, the herb mugwort, above or on the skin can treat many ills, according to moxibustion therapist Fan Changwei.
Usually associated with just needles, acupuncture in fact consists of two elements, demonstrated by its Chinese name “zhen jiu”. “Zhen” is the inserting of needles into acupoints in the body and “jiu” is moxibustion, the burning of moxa over the body.
Fan plans to use the moxa as his own vehicle to battle winter flu, including H1N1. He advises a moxibustion treatment which focuses on the Shenzhu acupoint on the upper back, believed to strengthen the immune system.
Or there is the more invasive option.
Wet cupping is said to be good for respiratory conditions.
If it is well done, then it doesn#t hurt. And it coures effectively. I have seen that in China very often and one time I was treated in that way by myself.
Obama at the Great Wall
Aides say U.S. President Barack Obama really enjoys sightseeing breaks during the hectic schedules of his foreign trips, since they let him clear his head.
The blustery wind on the Great Wall on Wednesday may have helped as well, as Obama broke away from tour guides and walked alone for a few minutes to Badaling’s third watchtower.
Mao said “Bu Dao Changcheng Fei Hao Han” which can mean “You aren’t a great man until you’ve been to the Great Wall” but also implies “You aren’t a good Chinese until you’ve been to the Great Wall.”
Nixon said “I think you would have to conclude that this is a Great Wall and it had to be built by a great people.”
And Obama?
“It’s magical. It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on Earth is not that long and we better make the best of it.”
He hadn’t brought a camera, but he did seem reluctant to leave, instead posing for photos with American and Chinese ambassadors.
Check out this funny post: http://barackoflove.wordpress.com/2009/1 1/18/hidden-potus-crouching-tiger/
An Unlikely Couple
Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, arguably the world’s two most powerful men, stand shoulder to shoulder for their respective national anthems in Beijing on Tuesday.
But there are few smiles ahead of a morning of bilateral meetings on everything from the value of China’s currency to global warming. With their nations’ fates so bound to the relationship, and faced with the challenge of juggling trade and Tibet, it’s anyone’s guess what’s going through their minds.
It doesn’t help when a slightly disorientated Obama bumps into Hu’s back. But the Chinese President comes to the rescue with a gentle tug in the right direction.
“Which way are we going?” Obama asks Hu (who is not known to speak much English) as they leave their joint press briefing.
The question others may be asking is: “Who’s leading whom?”
Photo credit: David Gray
Obama should have arrived Beijing one day earlier to rehearse this welcoming proceedings and so save himself from embarrassement in bumping Hu’s shoulder. Or the rehearsal may take place inside White House with Gary Lock prior to this trip.
On Obama’s trail in Beijing
Guan Yongning is a senior cameraman with Reuters Television in Beijing . In 15 years in the field, he has covered stories ranging from natural disasters to politics and major sporting events. Guan was one of the chosen few reporters able to follow U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit in China up-close. He tells the story of what reporters have to go through to capture a few precious shots of the U.S. leader.
The reporters able to cover Obama’s visit up close might be considered the lucky ones. Following the American commander-in-chief means long hours working days, skipping meals, lugging around heavy gear and enduring the harsh Beijing winds. But would they give up the chance?
U.S. expats discuss Obama’s visit over a beer
Beijing’s local Americans believe Obama can maintain his popularity with the Chinese public just as long as he focuses on their main interests - trade relations and the fate of the huge Chinese holdings of U.S. government debt.
Tim’s Texas BBQ restaurant offers Beijing’s several thousand expat Americans grilled ribs, beer and live TV coverage of the President’s visit to China, from November 15 to 18. Chinese President Hu Jintao and American President Barack Obama are expected to discuss a wide range of issues from trade to currency imbalance and climate change to human rights.
Changing China
Interesting,
I live in the mid west, since 2001 this area has suffered greatly, last good job I have had was in 2001. This week I looked at the Jobs for area, 26 listings, for a town of 0ver 100,000 people.
I haven’t had insurance since 2001,I haven’t been to the dentist in years. My wife a teacher, of course an over paid occupation. We cannot sell our house to move to a different area.
If you go to WAL MART you are attacked by people JUST PLEADING FOR A FEW DOLLARS, some very good folks all in the same boat, I used to finance Category Eight Trucks.
I WAS just turned down for a job shoveling turkey guts……$9 hr
I have three kids, no extras in our house, mortgage payment, not much more than rent would be…………….no new cars, and me as a father, cant even get a fast food job…………(changing China……….Hmm)
GM has now shipped most of the Jobs to India, didn’t we win there.
Im all for another another bailout of a heartless bank.
since 2001 our gas a doubled, groceries have double, my wife makes $2600 more a year than in 2001, but her insurance on the kids is now up to $400 up 76% since 2001………….. and not a Job in site to keep us above water. This is how you truly come to faith.
Yet through God somehow we are making it.
Back to Changing China (hurray for O’Bama)
I Wonder if you can eat a Nobel Peace Prize
So what if the world community had ignored apartheid for all those years? Now what country has the guts to stand up for some principles or is that no longer important to them?