Oh So Sensitive

This might be old news. When talking about Shangfang, a Beijing University Professor and scholar claims that 90 percent of those repetitive shangfang people are psychologically paranoid. Shangfang is a Chinese word, meaning skipping local judiciary and seeking justice from a higher authority, usually in Beijing. His claim stirs a big commotion.

If you've used Baidu Tiebar, an easy to access forum that is associated with the Chinese search engine, you have probably encountered its "sensitiveness". "Protest" (抗议）obviously is a sensitive word, along with "government" (政府), while complaint (控诉) is ok. Baidu self-imposed so many sensitive words that it's difficult to carry out a normal conversation without using some acronym. Although using sensitive words doesn't mean you can't post them, it means the post needs "editor review" before it can go through, at some point, you just say: f..k this and give up.

Modern technology actually acerbate the censorship problem. When the human were in control, at least they would decipher the true meaning of your message. "Language crime", although egregious, was actually rare. Machine intelligence on the other hand can't differentiate between you protesting someone doesn't blow you a kiss, or protesting some social cause. It makes online communication so much more difficult. True, Baidu might be the biggest offender when it comes to sensitive words censorship, there are many more influential liberal sites out there. But I see this self imposing trend spread to others, like Douban.

In such an environment, it's pretty much given that you are a bit paranoid or compulsive if you insist getting your message through by jumping through all the hoops.

That brings us back to that claim about repetitive shangfang persons. It may well be true that many of those repetitive shangfang-ers are a bit psychologically compulsive. If that Beijing U scholar has any academic credential, I should give him some benefit of doubt. But the question we really should be asking is: what makes them compulsively wanting to skip the local judiciary. What's the injustice that makes them paranoid?

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Dark Comedies in Crisis Time

These are the times of dark comedy. They make you laugh out loud, and deeply sad at the same time. Even the best New Year's Movie wouldn't have scripted it. (This year's Chinese New Year's Movie, If You Are The One wasn't very good.)

From CNN, the story of Chinese mistress contest taking tragic turn:

A married Chinese businessman who could no longer afford five mistresses held a competition to decide which one to keep.

...

When the economy soured, the businessman apparently decided to let go of all but one mistress.

He staged a private talent show in May, without telling the women his intentions. An instructor from a local modeling agency judged the women on the way they looked, how they sang and how much alcohol they could hold, the Shanghai Daily said.

The judge knocked out Yu in the first round of the competition based on her looks. Angry, she decided to exact revenge by telling her lover and the four other women to accompany her on a sightseeing trip before she returned to her home province, the media reports said.

It was during the trip that Yu reportedly drove the car off the cliff.

If you think only laymen are able to provide laughs, you would be wrong.

Zhang Weiying, a prominent Chinese Economist who got his degree from Oxford and a proponent of market reforms, suggests solving China's consumption stimulus problem by giving each citizen a share of the massive foreign reserve. All government assets really belongs to the people anyway, he was quoted saying in open talks, so if we give it back to the people, maybe they can spend it as they see fit.

Hold on, Prof. Zhang, do you really understand what Foreign Reserve is? Official foreign reserve, although sounds like government asset, doesn't really belongs to the government. Every time someone, say an exporting company, brings in foreign currency, like Dollar, and he exchange it with the central bank to domestic currency creates foreign reserve. China has massive foreign reserve only because the central bank forces companies to sell most of foreign exchange holdings to the central bank, and China exports far more than imports. So, although those reserves are "official", they don't really belong to the government. For every reserve deposit that is created on the central bank's balance sheet, there is debt to the private sector in RMB created. If you were to everyone a share of the reserve, and he/she was about to spend it, which requires converting into domestic currency, you would end up creating money twice. Stimulating? Yes. But what a wonderfully messy world would it be.

Not to mention, the U.S. government and the whole financial world would be in panic. In normal times, it actually makes sense to leave the foreign currency and thus risk management decision in the private hands. But, not in crisis times. Imagine now again, an average person is allotted a share of $10,000. He would worry about the value of those dollar immediately. Now, given all the jittery about Dollar, and prospects of the U.S. bailout programs, he would most likely want to exchange at least a large share of that into RMB just to be safe. Since, nobody is stupid, they all know others have the same worry, the best way to preserve value is to run ahead of everyone else in selling dollar. Bam! you created equivalent of bank runs in exchange rate market. On the contrary, the current arrangement, however unsound it was before, has advantage of stability. The Chinese Central Bank has to taken into account the loss of value on their remaining large holdings when it plans to sell dollar.

Mr Zhang's suggestion seems to deserve a hearty laugh. But considering he is one of government's hey advisers, it is actually far less amusing.

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What does Obama want of China?

The evidence of policy stance of the new administration towards China is scarce. The only significant comment comes from Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary. In talking about the U.S. economic policy, he says that "strong dollar is in the national interest of the U.S.". However, turning to China, he also says of China "manipulating" its currency value, meaning, RMB needs to appreciate.

Now let's set aside first China's right to "manage" (as the U.S. often did during the 80s) exchange rates. Let's try to decipher what the heck he really means. So, in Geithner's mind, China needs to appreciate currency value against dollar, which is against the national interest of the U.S. Maybe he is being deliberately ambiguous? Not likely, he isn't Fed Chairman. Or he may imply the Dollar needs to be strong against other major currencies, like Euro, but weak against RMB. That would imply that RMB appreciates way more against the Euro, which doesn't seem likely, not to mention trillions of IOU notes U.S. issued to China - and continued Chinese support that needs for the new debt. Of course, in the event of RMB appreciation, it automatically deflates. Therefore, the only consistent interpretation, it seems, is that Dollar needs to be "strong" in order to support the bailout plan, but the U.S. wants to get an upper hand in the "currency manipulation" blame game, so it can pressure China to appreciate RMB and thus alleviate the U.S. debt burden later.

I suspect this would be the central theme in US-China relationship during early part of the administration. It would be very interesting to see how this plays out.

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China's New Year Shopping List

With a retrenching U.S. economy and stash of foreign reserve. What's on China's new year shopping list as "Niu (ox)" year approaches? Early indications are that they are not blowing cash on the wall street, like what Japanese did in the nineties. In stead, China keeps her eyes on talent and human resources.

Reports of CIC (China Investment Corp.)'s headhunting in New York has received some media coverage. With much less fanfare, Chinese colleges and universities are making a major push to hire faculties on the U.S. academic market. Record number of schools were present in this year's ASSA meetings (for Economics, Finance, and Social Science). With many of the U.S. markets in hiring freeze and improved incentive packages, they expect better success than previous years. According to a Dean of Beijing University, China has large demand for fiscal theorists now that government surplus creates a happy problem to have, but a problem nevertheless. Even Chinese astronomy observatories are throwing a banquet reception in the field's U.S. annual meetings. Not to be left out, Chinese industries are also quietly making the recruiting push, they don't usually make high-profile noise, but they pop up here and there.

I am not sure this is due to low risk appetite in overseas investing or simply brilliant strategic planning, or, China learning from the experience of the Japanese, but this is not the first time Chinese sophistication surprises me. Cue the Mastercard ads...priceless.

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Here and There

• A trip to grocery store, $68.
  A cup of Spanish Latte, $3.80.
  Keeping the marriage between men and women? $75 million.
• If politicians like an average voter can not be trusted to lead, can you trust voters to pick the right person?
• Taiwan, violence broke out upon Chinese official's visit to negotiate direct trade deals. A CCTV female reporter was also attacked during the "siege". Taiwan may think of itself as a vibrant democracy, it has much to learn from the relative tranquility on American streets where close to half of the people don't agree with the person elected.
  
  If the government should be "by the people, for the people", what if "people" are unruly and violent, happy to take cheap shots, being exploited by politicians in the process?
  
  I'm not sure what exactly people on the Taipei streets wanted to achieve, it seemed like a whole a lot for nothing, but here are some perspectives from the top, take your pick:
  Ma Ying-jeou:"Tsai(DDP Chairwoman) was responsible for (instigating) the clashes."
  Tsai:"The government that forces people to go into the streets should be held responsible." Hmmm, I'm disappointed in Cornell (where Tsai got JS.)
  
• One way to weather the storm in an economic downterm is to take money from haves to have-nots. Then the economic wheel can keep turning. Fiscal stimulus may be one politically acceptable way to do that. By fiscal expansion, government debt would be later financed by increased taxes, which would be shouldered of larger proportion by high-earners, or if not sufficiently financed, would cause inflation, which would bring savers' real wealth down. Large inflation is as ugly as a recession, so is to be avoided. Therefore, the tax burden is to be shared one way or the other.
  
  While the U.S. congress is contemplating a second stimulus, Chinese government unveils a large stimulus package, featuring mostly State-driven investment project. The success of it depends on who it really benefits - it should be the poor - and how it will be financed later.

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Next Big Step in China?

This autumn is a bit extra chilly. I don't hear the topic of trade policy and China from the presidential debates when turmoil on the Wall Street is all the rage, but let's not lose sight on changes in China that could have potentially significant effect on the world economy for years to come.

China is said to address agriculture policy on the coming parliament conventions. The new policy would "allow agriculture land to circulate". Many believe the wording is a cover for capitalization of the agri-land, and a prelude to complete privatization.

Whether privatize or not, a new wave of land concentration and corporation of agriculture production are in sight. Many of those who are now called "migrant workers" will then simply be called "workers". Many of them, for one reason or another, will sell their land asset and become permanently labor force, whether in urban factories or on the newly formed agriculture corporations. Many of the young in China's rural areas have already left their home. Years after, a young man who wants to start up on agriculture will have the same problem as young ones in Indiana - it's difficult to get into since land will be difficult to lease or purchase. After the private capital pours into agriculture, there will be no longer an excuse to keep the price of agriculture products down, thus changing the relative price of Chinese economy. And since China is so big, it will have profound effect on the world economic structure too. [On a side note, the word "farmer" will no longer has a connotation of slightness in China.]

It's hard to judge if the new direction of the policy will be successful. But if the process in the cities are of any guidance, we can probably anticipate that the increase in productivity and the economy will be there but rights of individuals will be encroached in many cases. As economists would say, economists care not the redistribution problem until there is a crisis.

It all seems remote compared to the financial crisis we are in. However, some argues what happens in China is the single most important factor shaping our changing world. The integration of China into the world economy has realigned world's manufacturing industry and jobs; the cuddling of foreign capital and poor protection of workers rights has put pressure on the negotiation positions American workers are in; etc. The dead-weight will be cast, the credit issuance will resume. The next step of what China is going to do will have prolonged effects for years to come.

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Topsey Turvey Economics

funniest news piece about the economy on Sina Finance. Translated into English, it reads:

President of SoHo China, Pan Shiqi, in pleading for government help in the real estate market, warns that suffering of developers would lead to higher housing prices, not lower. Houses, he says, like coal, pork, and baby milk formula, will have higher prices when supply shrinks.

I have to solute him for not mention just one non-durable product, but three as comparison; I'd also solute him for understanding concept of higher price with negative supply sift. However, before doing that, he needs also assume the market for housing, a durable good, is in equilibrium - then why the hell he cries for government again? China has been worrying about an American style meltdown originated from real-estate market, and this quote can be viewed as an empty threat from the troubled developers.

Don't ask Chinese real estate tycoon about economics.

It reminds me of a research paper by Chicago economist. The gist of that thesis is that inequality isn't as bad as previously believed when measured in real consumptions because the rich buys differently. While the poor has enjoyed steady or declining prices as a benefit of Chinese exports, the rich has not been as lucky - the price of luxury cohort of the same goods don't decrease as much.

The consumers of China's contaminated diary products, because they can not afford the more expensive foreign brands, would surely disagree.

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Post Olympics Entertainment

The fun of Olympics dwindles, along with mid-night TV watching. Propaganda from China is being replaced by propaganda from Denver. My brother, having attended games, now hold definitive bragging rights against me. So, I'm left to find my own post Olympic entertainment.

The press doesn't disappoint in providing entertaining material. Thomas Boswell provides a laugh or two by ruing over his Olympic experience and trying to find a negative thesis. Beijing must have done something right if Mr Boswell has only a small laundry list to complain on: Security personnel not allowing him to jump over tapes for the short cut; buses ferrying media persons for being too punctuate; people saying hello even without best command of English. He then uses his imaginative skills to parley all these experienced into his grand thesis, that's worthy of a chuckle. Oh, and everybody smiled, it's just too perfect. Mr Boswell would make a good psy-fi director - mindless robotic drones beaming smiles everywhere, while a plot against humanity brews.

Time UK doesn't miss the train in providing good laugh. I'm not sure I can qualify to pride myself as wide-eyed, but Martin Samuel's column leaves me clueless. The success of the games is attributed to the oppressing making the oppressed "march in unison, drum, smile, dance, mime, jump through hoops if necessary". Aside from the mystery of volunteer hostess " stripped naked for the judges" that is promoted (does it pass the smell test?), the article comments:

Nothing can be decided by an oppressed people... What happens next in China is no more determined by its citizens than the destiny of Iraq was in the hands of Iraqis.

For a minute, I think Royal Marine would be in Tianjin harbor in 24 hours to liberate the Chinese people. Then I wake up to the reality of 21st century, not 1800s.

Actually, the two gentlemen have made some good points, but the clueless-ness nevertheless betrays them and reduced the articles to good entertainment. Judging from comments online, few take them seriously. I only wish my brother and friends in Beijing wouldn't get a bigger chuckle than me. That would be unfair.

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Grab Them Golds

A quick look at the medal count standing, you find leading countries are United States, China, Australia, France, Russia, South Korea, Germany, Japan, Britain, and Italy rounding out the top 10, with the first two in a pack of significant margin. Ladies and gentleman, that's almost your list of G-8 with China as 'guest observer", with Aussies of Commonwealth standing in for their Canadian brethren thanks to their performance in the pool. Only the Koreans are not economically or politically as influential. Conspicuously missing are India and Brazil, two important emerging markets in the BRIC block that many thought of being on the short watch list of G8 expansion.

Some "angry elitist" in China have vehemently protested that the medals had little to do with them so they could hardly got into the spirit of the Games, except...venting. As far as netizens go, the western press talked about "angry youth", a name implying overt nationalism, they missed the other part of the story: for every radical nationalist there seemed to be an equally radical bunch who took the baton from whatever was criticized of China from the West and took it to another extreme level. The Chinese mockingly called them, most of whom never set a foot in the outside world, jingying - or "elite".

The criticizers pointed out that medals are worthless, because they were not representative of how athletic or fit the Chinese were. They had a point. But these games were never meant to be a gauge on how athletic or fit a nation was. Otherwise, Finland should have won the gold of fittest nation, with Canada not far behind. The leading country in medal count, the United States, is also the world's leading country in obesity. The Michel Phelps and Usain Bolts of the world are never meant to represent mere mortals like us, or even whether a sport is practice by the people. They are what they are, games, and competitions.

A member of Canadian Olympic committee was outlining the strategy to improve Canada's medal counts: ID talent, get them into the "system", etc etc, as I typed. Whatever "system" those athletes are in, those games are not only for the national glory, it's also about pushing personal limit, achieving the best. How can anyone not be touched and emboldened by those marathon women filing in the stadium after running 26 miles, battling extreme fatigue? "You not only became a champion," the person in the TV said, "but also found a better self."

..........................................................................

TV Scene one: Tennis, women's single semifinal. The crowd was raucus. Loud chants of "China Jiayou" and "Lina Jiayou" can be heard between plays, sometimes even before the play was over. Some Russian accented "Sa-fi-na~" could be heard streaking out too. Given the atmasphere of the Olympics, tameness wasn't bo be expected, but this crowd was clearly not of your typical French Open. Safina stringed a couple double faults. Maybe the crowd noise was getting to her a little bit, but she kept her cool. Then, Li na charged to hit a overhead. The collective "woo" in anticipation could be heard from crowd. Out of bounds! Li Na was noticablly annoyed, she turned her head to the crowd and cursed out a grumbled "shut up". The crowd went dead. Lest she forgot, she proved she was a member of the crowd too.

TV scene two: Rowlling, women's double skull. CCTV camera was focusing on the Chinese pair who was targeted as haing "gold potential". Cameras were so busy chasing gold potential events that an earlier pair event didn't got broadcasted live. Minutes later, the Chinese got only to the fourth. The ancor in the studio annouced:" It's regretful, but it's O.K., actually China won a silver unexpectedly in an earlier rowlling event." The tape began to roll. No embarrassed TV crew faces could be seen on screen.

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Sports, History and What the Ceremony Really Gives

If you ask a Chinese what the most touching moment in the opening ceremony was, most of them will give the answer:"during the A Hymn to My Motherland by a 9-year-old girl". It's a song most of Chinese who have connection to the new Republic can sing along. Part of the lyrics goes: Hymn to My Motherland, returning to the prosperity and a strong nation again.

To give a analogy to what history and tradition brings, let's turn to sports for a moment. Any fan of College Football can tell you what tradition means. It allows historical power houses like Alabama a chance to rebuild their program in times of decline. It allows Michigan be an attractive destination for coaches after some lackluster seasons. In an radio interview of a coach from a big-time program, a reporter ask the coach, "what allows your players always seem to be able to come back from a disappointing start of the season?" The coach replied, I paraphrase, "it's the tradition we have, it gives our players both motivation and confidence they need. 'You are suppose to be good, otherwise you are not deserved to be in this great school.’”

Same goes for nations.

What does the opening ceremony with all that history and culture behind it really brings? You can point to the soft power China projects, you can point to the promoting the understanding of Chinese cultural around the world, you can even point to staging by the Chinese government. But ultimately, it boils down to that lyrics. The pride in historical achievements both motivates Chinese people to "restore the glory", so to speak, and gives them enough confidence of "can do" attitude, which is an invaluable asset and can't be measure by GDP. The culture brings an anchor of self-identity.

That's what touches people in that song.

[p.s.] Michael Phelps, yeeho.

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The Bird Nest is...Empty!

I have a friend who always tells me artists are big Huyou - the Chinese term for deceit. "The more famous ones are the bigger huyous" he would say, "they appeal on a higher level."

Not sure how much his views had influenced me, but when NYT published an Interview of Ai Weiwei, an artist whose name is associated with the design of Bird Nest and a classmate of Zhang Yimou, I flocked to see what his huyou was. The NYT's blog called Ai "Bird’s Nest Designer", but a more proper term would be "artistic consultant". Although I guess he won't protest being called designer, only that he has an issue with Olympics, calling it a "pretend smile".

Q: What inspired you in designing the National Stadium? Can you describe the design process?

Ai Weiwei: The design concept for the National Stadium came from a complete “emptiness,” when Herzog & de Meuron and I were talking about the initial plan before we started on the actual design. We emptied our minds, which made it possible for us to find the best points from aesthetics and practicality. The rationale of the structure, its exterior and interior appearance, called for a maximization and unification of aesthetic functions and actual needs. The sense of totality was critical in the initial conception of the design. During the process, we were anxious and excited. We hoped to produce a language that possesses a unique form that is able to support many functional requirements. The entire design process was carefree and fun, it seemed very clear and obvious, free of any obstructions of traditional notions.

OK, so the design concept for the National Stadium came from a complete “emptiness”? What's inside emptiness? Does emptiness has emptiness? Is the steel beams emptiness? Aside form the usual cliches that follows, the whole answer leaves me feeling pretty...empty. Hmm, artistic talking, pretty huoyou.

Q: Are you going to the opening ceremony?

Ai: I’m not attending the opening ceremony, I’m not interested in it, and I haven’t received any invitation. If I need to be more clear on why I’m not willing to be part of the ceremony, it’s that I think it’s too far from the spirit of freedom. I’ve always thought of this ceremony as a product of government bureaucracy, rather than a natural celebration and expression generated among free citizens. I feel that there are too many regrets in this ceremony, which could make me unhappy.

Was it really "I’m not interested in it" or "I haven’t received any invitation."? Now I was really confused. Was he really trying to distance himself from the Olympics after he joined the design of the stadium and reaped financial and press gains? If not for the "designer" title associated with the stadium, few Chinese would have known his name. His double position was very much Chinese. Chinese intellectuals have a tradition of accusing others, say deploring the lack of free speech, and turning around doing exactly the same. All artists are expected to have an edge, but still...Can you say Houyou?

Ai went on to say people in a society that didn’t have democracy were not possible to get excited and cheer for the game - facts not withstand, and thus the term “pretend smile.” But by that time, I've lost interest in further reading.

For the record, out of all newly built stadiums, I like "the cube" the best.

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The Myth and Common Sense

It's fun to check your level of common sense, especially when it comes to China.

Let's first be entertained by a story straight out of the Jame Bond movie - if you so wish to think. An UK band gets their name right: Panic! at Disco. It's reported a Shanghainese disco bunny compromised an UK government official. A top aide to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was seduced by a hot woman he met in a Shanghai disco, who came back to his hotel room. In the morning, his (unencrypted) Blackberry was gone.

With my common sense, I see it no more than an extra curriculum activity by shrew "service provider". There is no ethnic code in Shanghai sex deal world that a women won't nick your cellphone or other valuables.

But it doesn't prevent UK officials to extend their James Bond pedigree and painted it as a honeytrap operation. "A senior official said yesterday that the incident had all the hallmarks of a suspected honeytrap by Chinese intelligence", as Times UK reported. Maybe when you are an UK government official, your common sense is wired differently.

The same panic was shared by U.S. government officials. There were numerous report about their hysteria about Chinese cyper espionage. I will care not to list them, you can just google for it. Almost every official has had some sort of claim about his laptop being compromised during trips to China, the most famous being allegations that US Commerce secretary's laptop was hacked during a December trip to China.

The common sense here is that China's web space is ripe with all sorts of malware. If you plug your laptop into China's network unprotected, chances are your computer will come into contact with some sort of malware or spyware within minutes. That has happened to me before. Or if your computer is protected, the firewall will have a line that such such ip address tries to contact your computer without authorization. On the other hand, it would be extremely difficult for the Chinese government to pinpoint your laptop on the open net if you are mobile and gets online possibly from anywhere. But maybe senators and secretaries are not tech savvy enough to know?

The myth is not limited in the James Bond world. Apparently it can be propagated in the bar world also. South China Morning Post reported a story that Beijing authorities are to ban Blacks (Chinese don't usually bother to call blacks "African _" because racial tension with blacks was a no issue historically with China) and Mongolians from bars During Olympics, based on one anonymous source. The stories was subsequently debunked, but still managed to catch some fire among some media and blogs.

My common sense tells me there is no way Chinese authority would pursuit such a policy during Olympics when a significant proportion of Olympic athletes are of African ethnic origin and are likely to frequent bars. Not to mention Beijing will be under the whole world's watch during the time. My common sense also tells me there's virtually no way to successfully tell Mongolian women from Chinese women from the looks. But apparently common senses of SCMP's reporter and quoting media's are very different and, should I say, unique.

Beijing was notorious for lax in enforcing the rules. And Western press often rightfully pointed it out. Now that in the wind of Olympics, China begins to enforce formerly lax enforced visa laws, Washington Post calls it China growing unfriendly to foreigners. And enforcing rules to shut down a foreigner owned club that lacks performance license catches the attention of the Time. Sure, it brings some inconvenience to some individuals, but my common sense tells me no matter what intentions are, a rule is a rule is a rule. Protest the rule if you must, but don't protest the enforcement of it as unfriendly. My common sense, as I know of China, also tells me that foreigners have long enjoyed super-national status in China, Chinese have long been very friendly to them. In fact, many foreigners working in China are doing so without proper visa or documents. They are staying on tourist visa but earning money in China. Oh, they are not doing hard labors as many Chinese do also. Where did the rule promoting western media go this time around? For visa, I believe average Chinese traveling to Europe or America have to jump through far more hoopla than foreigners to China. Just ask any random Chinese. In fact, there was an article on this blog of a rant by a famous Chinese sports reporter of American visa officials' attitudes. But these seem completely escape the media. The unfriendly article is particularly funny because it was frequently said of China as Xenophobia on those papers, yet the story turns out so many foreigners who are working in China illegally and live comfortable lives, including the lead-in story. But, somehow, the fault is still on China.

Of course, Chinese can probably do more. Beijing's People's University sent out students from its Sociology Department to observe people's public conduct and concluded that manners had greatly improved. For me personally, I wish Chinese have learned how to wait a line. I was in a double-line waiting for taxi dispatches in Beijing airport a couple years ago. A Beijing young man cursed out almost looked like wanting to start a fight because I was not taking advantage of the spaces in front of me in the parallel line, waiting instead patiently the man in front of me. To him, it slowed him down. Of course, he saw me as a Chinese. There's no telling what he would do if I was actually of different skin color. My guess is he would be less rude. That's a myth now, but also my common sense.

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The seat-belt story

From inside JinMao Tower, a picture she took

Ask my friend who was recently back from China what was her most remembered impression about China. She told me it was the confusion of identities, sometimes people took her as an American, other times people took her as a Chinese.

She told of the seat-belt story that She was unexpectedly pinned down to be American. It was in Nanking. She fastened her seat-belt as soon as she got on a taxi without even thinking much. Little would she expect that it would trigger taxi drivers long talk about all things Chinese and American. As it turned out, she was the first passenger who fastened seat-belt that taxi driver ever carried, although the "fasten your seat-belt" sign was preen on the glove box. The taxi driver went on to have a full lecture on how Chinese were too smart for their own good and never respects little rules. (China has now the most moto accidents in the world.) When my friend indicated she was Chinese also, he insisted that She was American, not Chinese.

This reminds me of a story told on James Fallow's blog. Roughly, Bus drivers in China were hit by an extra cut on highway fees because highway fare collectors were not well paid, they in turn changed the route to detour on crappy roads and waited to take on extra passengers, to make their ends meet. It seemed nobody was seriously enforcing the existing rules and those practices are implicitly understood. And nobody was willing to face to his own responsibilities first. The result was very unefficeint outcomes and wasting of time. Most people who had taken long-distance small buses could tell the same experience.

So maybe small changes will come, since that taxi driver recognized fastening seat-belt as responsible thing to do, and even admirable in his eyes.

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Here comes communists

Poster on the picture left says "No service for communist bandits", and the board across the top the of the shop on the right says, "President Chiang, Communist Bandits have landed". Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of Nationalists who lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan sixty years ago.

We all know about the historical direct flights between Mainland China and Taiwan by now, and how local community leaders and businesses are doing what they can to accommodate, and to attract more mainland tourists.

But these pictures are much more interesting. Besides the amusement value - calling mainland tourist "communist bandits", a term used by then-in-power nationalist government - it's also much more encouraging than the official propaganda.

The official happy-all-round picture that's painted surely doesn't represent the whole truth. Besides, most of about-face work is done to attract businesses, and has little value in evaluating where the cross straight sentiment is going. Those posters, however, shows some Taiwanese still regard the mainland as the renegade force, just as mainland see Taiwan as a renegade island. Although the second poster is suspicious of marketing motive.

If there is still quarrel, there is still family. It's when disagreement becomes polite smily faces that two sides go their seperate ways.

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Action Art

You call me crazy, I call it art.

Hollywood's KongFu Panda is sweeping through China, and a Chinese artists' boycotting of the movie quickly becomes news. Zhao Bandi, who advocates the boycott by writing public letter to the authority and using his own blog as a fighting ground, is an action artist, or performance artist.

Because of his work of goofy performance arts, some wiser bunch suspects the boycotting itself is his form of action art, perhaps referring to many boycotts of french products and others following the Olympic Torch episode. However, he emphasizes he isn't performing and really means it when being interviewed. "Hollywood movies," he says "is representative of homogeneous American culture." And he wouldn't let his beloved panda, whose image appears in almost all his action arts, be used and demeaned.

Wow, he is serious!

But hold on. Who is to say his public denial about performing an action act isn't part of the whole scheme? isn't in itself part of the art? That's the beauty of permanence art - you are never sure which part of his action is art and which is not! So the thought goes, all the way to the deepest Chinese philosophical thinking.
More over, when you join the discussion, or join to criticize, ridicule him, as many media and blogs do, you become part of the action. Brilliant.

I'm not sure Zhao himself realize that. But looking from afar from my angle, China today is a giant stage of action art.

Just recently, a young writer, Hanhan, opens his usually boasting mouth again on TV, pronouncing many prominent literary figures in history - not only those acclaimed ones in the new republic but also many classical ones in dynastic history - overrate and not good at language. Fine, he is entitled to his own opinion, although his remarks are often of bad taste. The curious thing is that his remarks stirs an echo. His fans trumpet him as a hero, others reply serious arguing in favor of those classical writers, still others denounce him. The fact that Hanhan is just a character and likes to provoke seems escape everybody. Beijing Youth Daily even organizes a multi-page discussion of the topic!

Every society has its characters and oddballs. The more open a society is, the more chance of such oddities are, and the more tolerant the public of it. The uniqueness of China seems to be high the media attention and public participation of those. Energies are spent on trivial acts, as if all member of society are part of some action art. Westerners charge Chinese being "sensitive" and "overreact", but they don't know many Chinese create the same way to the trivial issues within.

Part of the reason, I speculate, is the unprecedented freedom of speech Chinese enjoy, and the same time the boundaries of free speech. Because of free speech, everyone has an opinion and seems excited to expressed, often in an extreme way to attract attention and being unique. And because of the limit of it, more energy is paid to seemingly trivial debates.

The slow unfolding transition, the so-called reform, also has a toll on people's nerves and culture. In a way, the Chinese are putting into a slow cooking furnace where every aspects of the society has a side of new and another of old,it challenges the norm of language and behavior contently. Looking outside of it, you see a giant stage of action art. Even the language is fluid. Maybe one day, Chinese will simply use mistress for mistress, in stead of the more colorful er nai, meaning second breast literally, a term that reflect the more innocent and righteous majority's contempt.

Art is not always easy to be understood, and sometimes has a thin line from strangeness. I'm more in anticipation of Wall-E.

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Is grass greener on the other side?

For a new documentary comparing education in India, China and America, yes seems to be the answer to the question. The film, Two Million Minutes, has drawn mixed reactions from academics.

I am not experts. But having experienced both, I have opinions of my own. If education is a pyramid, American education is loosely plowed at bottom but shining on the top, while Chinese education is rigid on the bottom but petered out at the top.

Before college, Chinese students works far more harder than American counterparts, often to an unnecessarily daunting level. For Americans, only those "nerdy" types concentrate a lot on studying before college, but the rope begins to tighten up in the college. For Chinese, much of the work is done before college, so college is a time to "have a life" besides studying, although job competition makes their life relatively harder than it used to be. At the post-graduate level, such as Ph.D., the rigorousness of Chinese program is no competition to the American. Also, Chinese education is comparatively more goal oriented while American education emphasizes more on the ability to learn.

I had seen some American business graduate student having no slightest clue what square root is, which would be unthinkable to a Chinese - he would have had no opportunity of graduate education in China. But I guess that student finished up his education and got through life just fine, by putting in continuous work. Whatever the route it takes, that seems to be the point of education.

You can watch the youtube trailer here.

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Eats, Drawings, and Denominations

I had General Tao's Chicken(左宗棠鸡) for lunch. And I got my hands on, finally, some Sticky Rice Bun(粽子)- which is said to be related with Qu Yuan - yesterday.

It reminds me how many Chinese dishes are said to be related - innovated by or made famous - with famous names. We have Dongpo Pork and West Lake Sweet and Sour Fish(西湖醋鱼), of which recipes are said to be invented by the Song poet Su Dongpo according to The Gay Genius. Of more recent genre, you can always point to Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork(毛式红烧肉). Infamous persons made their names to the food table too; Chinese cruller，also known as the more original name You Char Kway in Singapore, is originated from Infamy. Even Spinach and Toufu Soup has this legendary story of QianLong Emperor.

Is that because Chinese people like to practice romanticism on dishes, or they are naturally good in marketing? Whatever the reason, you better make your name onto the food table if you want to ensure yourself a place in the Chinese history!

Now I'm sitting here trying hard to figure out a similarly storied "western" dish from my daily manu - New York Steak, Alfredo Meatball, Fried Mahi-Mahi, etc. - I can't think of any, yet. They are blend, but straight forward. If you have any idea, please let me know.

[update: Chicken Without Sexual Life is now off the menu. Beijing suggests English translation of Chinese dishes for Olympics]

On the left is an interesting video produced by DanWei about graffiti art in China. I have to say, while I appreciate the diversity, I'm not impressed. Most of those works I see in the video, the style, the lettering, aren''t that different from the African American graffiti art. Why would I want to see emulations from hip-hopping Chinese kids when they are as if straight from New York City, just not as "street" and authentic? Now that if they have distinct Chinese flavor to put up as street mural, it would earn more respect, at least from me.

In other news, some Chinese "scholars", mostly media people really, are calling for putting ancient heroes on the money. Times, in its usual clueless-ness, is reporting it as if the change is imminent, and totally misses the political flavor in the proposal. Truthfully speaking, I have no definite stance on the issue. And I doubt anybody has real idea how some of those ancient figures really look like aside from imaginative depictions. My issue with those put forth the proposal is that they call themselves "scholars". Since when are media personalities qualified as scholars? I know the term intellectual is now cheap, but is it that cheap? Well, here are some fascinating photos of bank notes in Chinese history.

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Holiday, History, and What do we learn

Its Dragon-Boat Festival day, and I'm reading up on history of Song dynasty.

The day, also called Duan Wu, is to commemorate the great romantic poet, Qu Yuan, who drowned himself when his State was conquered by the Qin the Emperor I. In an attempt of cultural revival, the Chinese government has made the day a national holiday. It's rather a curious choice for me, since I remember when I was little, not much celebration was on other than eating wrapped rice bun, comparing to other traditional holidays. I saw more dragon boat race in America than in China. So, maybe that's another export-reimport thing.

Talking about cultural revival, don't be surprise if you see two Chinese argue passionately over which dynasty was the best, the strongest. Was that Tang when the empire had reach as far as the central Asia? Was that Song when a rich civil society was at its peak? Or was that Ming when governing cabinet was nearly as modern as the current British installment? You won't find short of people who wish to be teleported back to ancient China as well. It can all get a bit silly sometime, but people are reading up history, often not content in relying on the official version taught in the school. It helps anchoring the value system and finding the roots in this ever globalized world.

Among those revivals, various ideas of political Confucianism are also proposed. But to my disappointment, most of them don't know what they are talking about, and they don't go beyond what was understood hundreds years ago.

Let's get this straight first, what best describe the current Chinese political system? IMO, it should be authoritarian meritocracy. At the core, it is not much different from the system that was practices in Confucius China hundreds years ago. As an interesting side-note, the concept of middle-class society (小康社会）was an ancient Confucius concept also: tend to their own parents, son their own son, work hard for selves (各亲其亲，各子其子，货力为己). It was in contrast to the Great Unity (大同） concept: tend to not only own parents, son not only own son(不独亲其亲，不独子其子).

However, Confucianism and democracy - if not American style - isn't mutually exclusive. A related interesting article from Guardian states that the Chinese authority survives by buying off the middle-class. It sees through the typical Western "communist" lens, rather than seeing the power structure as a morphing authoritarian meritocracy. It should also be noted that "buying off the middle-class" is exactly how Western style democracy works.

Some of the challenges that faced Song administrators also face todays Chinese power-that-be. For example, how to guarantee smooth power transition? How to govern efficiently locally and how best deal with the central government's relationship with the local's.

Of particular interest to me, is the role of information in structure design. In the recent earthquakes, we have seen how easily rumors arise, how difficult it is to verify and root it out. Correct information is also central to the governing of an authoritarian meritocracy. In Song dynasty, officials fortunes rose and fell along with difficult-to-verify reprimands (谏), especially for those in the remote areas. Modern communication makes the top-down management more efficient, but it still has severe limitations. So, local monitoring, or democracy if you want to put it, is most useful and urgent on the local level. And it should enhance the governing tremendously. Then there are rule of law, transparency, accountability, and balancing of power, and all that, if it ever comes to fruition.

[update: A diversified China with strong local content is also on full display with the new argument over the origin of Dragon-Boat Festival. Su Zhou, city of the ancient Wu decent, recently claims that the festival is originated from commemorating Wu Zixue, a famous general in the ancient state of Wu.]

As the man who is to be honored on this holiday said: The road is long and winding, We'll seek up and down(路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索).

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
ps: Some funny comment on the internet about Qu Quan's poem, LiSao(离骚）.

• I bow to Qu Yuan. It's so long, I can never memorize this before I die.
  我这辈子死之前肯定背不出来
  - by a student
• How many xi(兮）is it there in the poem? Inserting many xi(兮）must be a way to get more publishing fee by ancient people - by a random writer.
  屈原多写几个兮多挣几个稿费
  

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天涯观察：王石事件乱弹 {Unthreading a donation episode}

[English summary]
{On Tianya, issues around an donation episode were hotly debated. Comments from Wang Shi, president and CEO of WanKe, a leading real estate company, irritated the online community. Wang's claim that the company's donation of RBM 2m to the Earchquake relief was adequate and his employees shouldn't be burdened with donations in excess of 10 Yuan was vehemently refuted. His remarks met not only contempt but also verbal abuses. At the core of the debate seemed also lie the differences of the starting points of the two sides. While Mr Wang mainly viewed quake donation as public relation and business lubricating strategy, like any other donation before, netizens demanded real philanthropy matching the real magnitude of the disaster.

It's easy to dismiss the episode as collectivism thinking vestige. Americans would be puzzled and appalled by the moral reprimand of not donating enough. However, like many things in China, it goes more complicate than that. One has to unthread the rapidly changing social structure puzzle to fully understand the underlying cause. The real estate giants in China, where not long ago all real estate property rights belongs to the state, are big beneficiaries of the changing system that short changes ordinary people in favor of development. No real estate developer, especially those established from early stage of economic reform, can confidently claim it never received favorism or bended the system. It is thus more understandable that the public who get the short end of the reform stick demand more social responsibility from those new riches. The social divide and sense of higher justice induce the easy venting verbal attack.

The recent Wang Shi episode reflects two major issues China faces: the rule of law and education failure.}


最近因为地震， 多去了几次天涯。发现那里最红的，就是王石捐款事件。当然说讨论算好听了，更多的是公干。该如何评判这一事件的双方？像所有中国的事一样，一句话两句话说不清楚， 必须剥开蚕丝的看。

王石者，万科房产的董事长。因为登山等活动也成了公众人物。万科捐200万，以及后来的追加措施都是以公司的名义，其实非个人行为，王的一番言论却使大众的矛头指向个人。美国人基本是看不懂的，连我也略感糊涂。不管是9/11还是Katrina, 美国人从来没有对任何公司或个人有道义上的要求。捐款本是自愿的事，就算王某发表了一些不合时宜的看法，为什么会引来恶语相向？美国人大概也就耸耸肩。是什么让这么多网民觉得骂人和施加语言暴力是天经地义的事，就算报纸评论也站在网民一边，认为“逼捐”有理？

双方看起来你来我回争论相当热闹，但我并不确定他们从一开始就知道双方的要义。王以企业家的精明睿智提出的负担论显然指的是捐款作为企业形象策略社会关系润滑的作用，不然何来负担二字？而网民所要求的则是发自内心震撼的慈善；虽然说的都是捐款。唾沫横飞于网民而言集体主义的潜意识，极强的民族归属感都是因素，但更深层的道德推断原因还是来自制度。中国房地产业从土地国有开始， 其发展盈利无不拜制度所赐。万科作为早期进入市场的企业，更是享受了近乎垄断的制度利租得以资本积累。十有八九在它发展的某个时期'bend the system'过。 在制度改革中拿面包棍短端的普通民众自然对类似企业的社会责任有更高的要求。当然这话题能得到持续关注也不排除有商业竞争因素，在现在中国的网络环境里这并不奇怪。

可是集体无意识语言暴力又怎么解释呢？从一个方面来说，这是民众对权力弱小的变相发泄。从另一方面，这也是一种教育失败。实事上这种语言暴力让他们在有些貌似正确的时候在外人看来很显幼稚。

震后种种道德争论到底反映了什么问题呢。作为爱因斯坦的葱白者，我们能不能找到一个中国目前最关键的问题？爱因斯坦的e=mc2一个重要的魅力就是简洁，在相对论之后老头子把生命的后大半辈子耗在了寻找说明宇宙规律的单一的理论上。也许我们同样找不到单一的答案。看起来教育失败和法制欠缺是两个不错的候选者。这两者却像双胞胎，很难fe分开。

以法治国在任何时代都很诱人。问题是rule of law需要巨大的运行成本（数数美国的律师人数），而且法可能被少数人或集团劫持。在秦就变成了苛政。孔子提出的补充办法是用道德用仁。道德仁治也需要成本。古代的皇帝可不那么容易当，他不仅要处处作道德的表范才能全民向德，还要时不时受太傅御史们的批评，从而影响精英政治团体到普通民众。而现在这个系统打破之后，法治需要填充的各个领域基础既不结实也没有支付巨大成本的准备。教育失败也体现在在执行法和运用法上，让法治更遇阻力。

比较美国和中国的网上政治辩论是件很有意思的事。美国人喜欢举例引证，左右猛拳但从不摘下手套。中国网民则更辩证，热烈之中带着深深的愤世嫉俗。两国人都对政府抱有健康的不信任，但美国人更主动check the facts, 中国网民相对比相互间更“信任”，人云亦云起哄跟风更多。这很大程度上也和我们的教育有关系。中国的学校里比较少注重列参考书目，校对注明出处。美国则从小更注重这方面的习惯训练。中国的网络上不需要芭蕉扇都能飞出五百里。

担至少在self-reference上大家是一样。在西方从九零年代开始有条格言叫Godwin's law: 随着网络争论时间的持续，用纳粹或希特勒来做比较的概率是百分之百。这句话在中文网络同样适用--只需要把纳粹改成红卫兵。这个词也被一些支持王石的人所使用。到最后人们总是回到自己最熟悉的环境和历史。

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Hooters and the cultural deficit

A moment of silence for the perished.

Now something more light-hearted.

If you go to the Beijing Olympics this summer, you can not only taste a slice of China but also find comfort in...hooters, which opened last year. Where else can you find a lame place where waitresses dancing to 80s pop songs like YMCA? Not even in America.

The fact that Beijing has the Hooters and the Hooters hasn't met much objection is not surprising, given the extremely pro-business regulation there and not much else. To quote some Chinese hooters girl, "In China, there aren't many feminists". Besides, sexual content in restaurant and entertainment business isn't exactly new in China's homegrown industry. In fact, I recently find that China has legitimized soft-porn industry too, only under the disguise of fine art nude photography.

A somewhat more interesting question is why the homegrown businesses have to feel the need of keeping sexual undertone somewhat underground but the foreign incorporated firm can trumpet sexuality (We don't find any 奶子饭店，do we?). Well, that requires smart marketing, self regulation and corporate standard. Like many things in China, there's regulation swap in work - yielding profits to foreign firms in exchange for better regulation and business practice.

I'm a bit surprised that Hooters is able to marketing itself as "American Spirit". But maybe not. The so called cultural deficit has been huge for China. To get a grip on this, you only needs to walk into a Chinese book store and an American Barns&Nobles. The amount of translated American publications along with its original version is huge. The same can't be said about Chinese books. (Hong Huang mentioned about this also in her recent msnbc interview.)

So the real interesting question is: Are they really able to understand the U.S. through watching American TV soaps and going to Hooters? On the second thought, maybe not, seeing how many people think Sex and City represents typical America. Shanghaiist has a very interesting, though a bit old, interview of a Chinese college hooters girl who was encouraged to worked there by her parents, who though hooters represent American value of "passionate and friendly", like..."mayflowers". It confirms also the genius-ness of South Park. Just like in Raisin, customers who want to flirt are encouraged to "come back".

At least, unlike Hooters in America, Hooters Beijing doesn't have DVDs of hooter girls for sale. Then again, they are unlikely to find so many double-Ds in China too. In other words, not much "hooters"*.

*hooters is American slang for breasts.

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