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POPSCorruption and Conscious in China Although it at first seems appealing to have public officials take responsibility for the disasters that slip by one their watch, it may not be the best course of action. For instance, there was a baby food scandal in 2004, and the government reacted by holding people responsible - heads of companies and several public officials were executed. But now a similar problem is happening again. Why? Because by holding an individual responsible for what is a societal lapse, it allows everyone else to keep on doing business as usual without addressing the fundamental underlying problems. In the case of corruption or dereliction of duty, the communist party's punitive actions have not served as a deterrent, quite the opposite. Perhaps we should also consider this in our own context, for we all own a small part in the disasters we blame on our politicians.
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POPSWalking Across Asia This is the blog of a guy walking from Beijing to Germany. He started out about a year ago, and so far he's walked most of the way across China. He is a trained Cinematographer and is intimately familiar with China. As such his daily blogs thus far have been a fascinating way to truly get to know the REAL China, as well as seeing some beautiful pictures. If you want to know China, read this blog. It's an amazing guy, on an amazing adventure, and moving slowly, by walking, he is able to see really deep into the local culture.
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POPSBeijing's breath-taking new library (Pictures by yours truly) So "Phase II" of the National Library of China just opened down the block from my apartment, and it is absolutely amazing. Filled with open space and natural light, it is gigantic yet personal, with the feeling of a pavilion. Long lines of sight that stretch uninterrupted out into the city blur the division between indoor and outdoor. Their website is also pretty cool - in English, and with lots of digitized collections, making it worthwhile for anyone wanting to learn more about China.
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POPSThe Rise of Fascism in the 21st Century Jim Yardley is a very astute China observer, and this article hits the nail on the head. Surging Chinese nationalism is reaching frightening proportions. We seem to have forgotten that communism hardened by nationalism turns into fascism. I believe the current political climate in China of frustration, insecurity and aggressive racial pride is very very similar to the agitation for Fascism that took place in Europe and Asia in the 1930s.
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POPSCome See The REAL New China! Jia Zhangke looks at what's really there, rather than what he wants to see. That's something more people should do. On the one hand, he doesn't flatter global capitalism, but he's not blind to the essential progress that China has made either. China's underground auteur may well be a better anthropologist than entertainer. Although his movies sometimes dwell on the mundane to the point of being unwatchable, they are invaluable documents on the true nature of China's modernization. So few people understand what the "New China" is, but it's all here for anyone who bothers to look. He is the definitive realist of his generation, and a strikingly insightful observer of the human condition. His quotes throughout the article are all gems, but too numerous to clip.
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POPSWhere the Heck do Fortune Cookies Come From? (In Bed) Confucius say: "Oh man, why don't you f***in' stop it? Sh**, this is too f***in' big for you, you know that? Who did the baking, who made the fortune cookie, f*** man! It's a mystery! It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma! The f***in' bakers don't even know! Don't you get it?" (In Bed) - David Farrie Apoplectic Ethno-Culinary Conspiracy Theorist
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POPSWrong on Taxes: Bush sells America to China Romney says McCain was wrong to vote against Bush's tax cuts. If he really believes this, then he is not a true conservative. What is the truth about Bush's tax cuts? Bush slashed the revenue of the US government to help rich people get richer. This means the government has less money to spend. But he is the greatest spendthrift in the history of American Presidents. So who is paying for all of Bush's spending? It isn't Romney, who is getting millions back in tax cuts. It's the Chinese, who are buying US Treasury bonds to gain power over the US. Look at the numbers. the Chinese have almost literally financed the Iraq war. A true conservative spends money when he has it, and when he doesn't, he works for more. Bush's extravagance has sold our economic independence to a rival nation. Does this sound like treason to you? Because it sure does to me!
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POPSWow! Orientalism Still Lives! Just how much cultural violence can a travel journalist do in just 36 hours? When he's not playing up the in-born psychological traits of the Chinaman in his natural environment, this guy is romancing up the seedy side of the city. Notice he struggles to describe a neighborhood without including references to prostitution? I ran a bar in Sanlitun, and sure we had whores, expatriates, and Nigerian drug dealers. So does America! That's life in a public high-school! There is an insane level of romanticization and Orientalization of China. Everyone's dreams of striking it rich in the wonder economy guided by the ancient stratagems of Fu Manchu. Seriously, does nobody realize: its too good to be true? China is just a normal country, like any other.
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POPSChina: Surreal Power without Leadership or Direction That's the most startling thing about the Chinese government: yes, it may be powerful, yes, it may be authoritarian, but the stark reality is: NOBODY IS DRIVING THE BUS! Successively weaker leaders with successively more hollow agendas have diluted the power of China's Communist government into a byzantine colony of rubber-stampers and paper-pushers. This makes them infinitely more dangerous. At this point everyone is ambitious, nobody is even remotely qualified, and very soon it will be every man for himself. All those people betting on some Oriental Wisdom, counting on some crafty plan that the Chinese government has cooked up, don't hold your breath, or your stock options. China lurches blindly into the future, and it will lurch blindly backwards when the momentum fails and cooler heads prevail.
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POPSOops! Yahoo! could get me tortured! So apparently Yahoo! is named after the noise a journalist makes when the Chinese police break his arms in prison. Way to go you guys! Serriously, I don't know how these people sleep at night. I'll never use Yahoo mail and I don't suggest anyone else do it either. If they'll turn you over to the secret police in China, don't be surprised if they're willing to do it in your country too.
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POPSEtherial Culture Trups Marxist Materialism More important than the political or economic failures of Marxism, I am struck by it's philosophical failures. Societies boldest and bloodiest push to eradicate superstition and a belief in the intangible nevertheless fails within the period of a single lifetime. Traditional cultures that Marx derided as primitive and oppressive inevitably re-assert themselves, but why? I think it is because Marx missed the extremely nuanced subtlety of their appeal, and that these "primitive" institutions are in fact far more complex than Marx could appreciate. It is the cynicism and condescension in Marxism that in the end turns out to be "primitive." It fails to appreciate that other ideologies have been changing, evolving and surviving for thousands of years, developing potent appeal and a certain degree of metaphysical truth.
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POPSSavage Capitalism in the Post-Communist World
Although China has grabbed most of the headlines for poisonous toys, Russia has quietly gone to pieces as well. What is happening in these countries is not merely the residual effects of the failure of communism, it is a violently selfish mentality, perhaps born in the desperation of bread lines, but now blooming in the vacuum of law and order created by the collapse of the Communist system. In China and Russia both we see the values espoused by George Bush and his Neo-Conservative gang taken to their horrific logical extreme. Customers have become a commodity. Wealth is the only guarantor of safety and power. Corporations and corruption rule the government. The fanatical pursuit of wealth for its own sake has taken over, leaving the average citizen to fend for themselves in a frightening wilderness of indifference and exploitation. The blazing fires of this economic explosion are fueled by an icy detachment from the basic human traits of empathy and compassion.
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POPSTorture & Enemies of the State Of course we only might torture terrorists who are enemies of the state. After all, we're doing this to protect America, right? But the VERY important question is: who is an enemy of the state? How do you know you aren't one? In China, in the name of protecting the state, they are torturing and imprisoning environmental activists like Wu Lihong, and journalists and anyone else who doesn't jump on board the "Harmonious Society," "One World One Dream." Especially people who embarrass the government. And how do you know that won't happen to us? Let me illustrate the slippery slope in three steps: 1. We torture terrorists 2. Because of extreme groups like Earth First, "Eco-terrorism" becomes a major concern for Bush in his third term. ;) 3. Moderate environmental groups are conflated with the radical ones, meaning everyone who ever signed a Green Peace petition or wears a hemp "head covering" is a suspect terrorist. If you condone Guantanamo, remember this: you might be next.
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POPSThe Imminent Collapse Of China Contrary to popular myth, the Chinese have very little common sense when it comes to business. Virtually no Chinese-run company is internationally competitive. What's driving the Chinese economy? Pixie dust: The collective power of 1.3 Billion pairs of hands clapping to keep Tinker Bell alive. The business world is as riddled with corruption, nepotism and waste as the government. Often times, there is no difference at all between state and industry. This will end the same way it did for America in the thirties: with collapse. Investing in companies based only on enthusasim, nationalism, or just excitement and ignorance. (Gee, I'd really like to buy some stocks but I don't know which ones, oh well, let's get these, they have a pretty color, and your cousin works there, doesn't he?) I'll say it on the record right now: stay away from China if you have a business. Do everything you can to insulate yourself, because this is one house of cards that's gonna come tumbling down, and
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POPSMeet the Guy who makes the "Special Sauce" at KFC For the record I would like to state that: I did not produce sub-standard (poisonous) food products! I am not the man in this picture! I am not currently being held in a prison in Tongbao village, in rural Zhejiang Province. The police are not censoring this message! My human rights are not being violated! I do not DESPERATELY NEED SOMEONE TO COME RESCUE ME! ;)
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POPSTalking Sense: An Alternative to Sanctions and Bombing These days it seems most people can only think in terms of either sanctions or bombing. If we cannot bomb them, then use sanctions; if we sanctions don't work, we must bomb! This is a horrific false dichotomy. Bombing and Sanctions are both barbaric and uncivilized. They hurt average people, and in the history of civilization, neither has proven particularly effective. A true diplomat thinks of ways to resolve problems through helping people, not hurting them. Diplomacy appeals to humanity, rather than brute appeals to force, be they military or economic. Bernard Kouchner is the first real diplomat I've seen in a long time. Hats off to you! This should also remind us that our plan to sanction/bomb Iran is totally futile and simply leading us down the garden path to our own destruction. Has America learned nothing from the way Bush manipulated us with Iraq? Why are people falling for the same trick again with Iran?
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POPSBut the Chinese Don't Eat Fortune Cookies!!!! The funny thing is that there are no fortune cookies in China. I just spent the whole day trying to explain them to a class full of Chinese college students, and they just could not understand what the point was. A number of them thought it sounded kind of dumb! I for one have always wanted cynical fortune cookies that say things like: "Confucius say: Vinnie will be waiting for you out front, take the back door!" "This is bad week for operate heavy machinery for you" "Now is good time to buy life insurance, while you still can." or simply: "Duck!"
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POPSCommunist Personal Adds One of the most sinister legacies of communism is the odd side effect that its radical materialism wound up oposing beauty, love and sex. To this day, Chinese people will insist that traditional Chinese culture does not have a concept of love, that romance is a western notion, and that Chinese marriage is purely an arrangement out of social obligation. This is of course not true, but two generations have now been born under Communist propaganda, and that's long enough for them to forget which values are traditionally Chinese, and which ones are communist indoctrination. It's ironic to me that the reality of Communism is anti-love, anti-peace, probably anti-flower. The truth is that Communism is an ideology that is obsessed with money, materialism, and warfare. Understanding this explains a lot about the current socio-economic milieu in China and Russia.
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POPSRupert Murdoch Loves The Communist Chinese Government Does politics really make strange bedfellows? Is it so odd that Murdoch should support another corrupt, brutal and authoritarian goverment? We should read this and ask ourselves: what is it that Rupert Murdoch and his ilk really believe in? Are they really conservatives or simply autocrats mascarading behind a "small government" agenda? What is meant by "small" anyway? From one angle, the smallest government possible is a single dictator, while the largest government possible is a democracy where everyone holds equal share in the governance of their society.
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POPSIs China Developing? This raises the next important question: is China's economic growth real or just a neo-liberal fantasy? Friedman and others have said that China is catching up to the US, but is that really the case? Certainly, they are making money, but without a free and dynamic society, it seems to me that it will be impossible for China to ever take the lead. It will continue to make money as the world's factory for a bit, but eventually it will become to expensive and the jobs will move elsewhere. To survive that transition, (which even America is struggling with right now) the country will have to step forward with innovations and new ideas of their own. I don't believe China is ready to do this, nor will it be in the forseeable future. Thus, the idea of a "flat" world is a dangerous day dream. China's rapid development is a siren song luring the greedy but not savy into an investment disaster.
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POPSIs India really developing? This raises an important question: is India developing or just getting richer? Foreign Affairs called it "a roaring capitalist success story" but I wonder if that's accurate. As I understand it, capitalism is about free and open competition in a fair marketplace. How can there be true competition when half the population (or more) lives in abject poverty. I would call this "mercantilism" not capitalism. If you ask me, the gap between rich and poor is anti-competitive, it insulates and entrenches the extremely wealthy, and thus erodes the dynamic elements of competition that are necessary for capitalism to function properly. Just because someone operates for profit doesn't make them a capitalist. Just because a country is making money right now doesn't make them a success. (We should also be asking these same questions about China. The long-term Growth potential we dream of in these countries may be limited by their failure to develop a middle class.)
7
POPSOuyangwulong Suffers the Wrath of Global Warming! This year the summer weather patterns came 26 days early in Beijing. We've been above 95 degrees for the last 4 days, and it's just going to get hotter through to monday. This breaks the 1951 record for the month of June as the hottest June ever recorded in Beijing.
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POPSThe US & China: Military Diplomacy As I have argued before, I believe China's military spending is not a genuine threat, but instead an effort to be taken seriously internationally, and esspecially to impress America. At their core, they want cooperation and friendship with America, but they have a funny way of persuing it. However, the Chinese can be very responsive if you show them just a little bit of respect. They are very sensitive to gaining or losing face. John Denver visited this country once more than twenty years ago, but the Chinese were so touched that they all still know the words to "Country Road Take Me Home" by heart! I am impressed by the diplomatic restraint and good judgment that Defense Secretary Robert Gates seems to be showing on this issue. If only we could start using the same level-headed judgment on Iran and North Korea...
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POPSBeijing Going Green? A lot of good stuff in here detailing how Beijing is trying to go green in an attempt to improve air quality. Mostly pictures of a recent convention held in Beijing.
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POPSUnrest in China Few people appreciate exactly how wild-west it is out here. I'm going to do some checking on this topic in particular, and I'll comment with more details if I can find them...
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POPSCase Studies in Accountablity (Part II) For those curious as to what will happen when the Chinese government gets to the bottom of the other food poisoning scandals, just look at this guy's face. China regularly executes government officials and business leaders for serious cases corruption. Although I don't support the death penalty, it stands in stark contrast to America, where we tend to find ways to avoid accountability through political spin. It seems today that entrenched politicians and their corporate allies in America flaunt their corruption, expecting us to dismiss disasters like the miss-management of the Hurricane Katrina disaster as something we can do nothing about. Is it really true that we can't expect anything better from our government?
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POPSDemocracy Inaction This does raise an interesting question, namely, does voting make a government Democratic? Consider Japan, which is heavily jerrymandered, and the entire political process has been engineered to promote incumbents. Despite regular voting, the same party (the LDP) has controlled the country for all but about 6 months of the last 50 years. And what of America, where far less than half the eligible voters participate in elections? Can we say that it is truly a democracy if none of the people vote? In fact, we should be very worried about the existence of a "Voting Class," and be very concerned about what are the social characteristics of the large group of people who do not vote. To write them off as slackers dismisses the inequities that are alarmingly inherent in our society.
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