'Taiwan Threat to Attack Shanghai Angers China' says Reuters. Oh really? I thought they might send them a thankyou note and box of mooncakes...
China Daily also reports - watch out for all the super-emphasised phrases in quotation marks eg. Taiwan's "Parliament". Could say the same for "People's" "Republic" of China, but that's by the by.
Difference of reporting is worth noting - see how China Daily suggests that Taiwan would strike Shanghai pre-emptively, while Reuters says it would be as a response to an attack on Taipei. Strangely, I don't believe either of them.
Missiles is another thing I omitted from my very flawed analysis of the military situation. After all, Taiwan appears to have already built a missile base close to the mainland. In effect, if they have enough missiles with sufficient range, they could do a lot of damage to each other.
The main kind of damage the missiles would do, however, would be economic and political. I severely doubt that either the PRC or Taiwan have much in the way of pinpoint accuracy - even the US, despite all its boasts to the contrary of 'surgical strikes' etc. doesn't have a perfect capability.
So what would be the purpose of striking Taipei or Shanghai? I don't see an awful lot. Hit either and you're likely to more or less bring down the economy of either Taiwan or the PRC overnight. Foreign companies, investors and shareholders are going to flee like little girls. This foreign teacher certainly will.
So in a way, the missile threat is an effort to advance a sense of detente. Whatever the conventional military capabilities of either side, and the possibility of a successful invasion, there is little either can do with an economy in ruins and a population in severe unrest.
The PRC here may have the advantage since it will have a tighter grip on its citizens and army should it wish to effect an invasion. But I still don't see the point in invading Taiwan if it and the PRC are in economic freefall.
It's an arms race - the US is building Taiwan's military strength with $18.2 billion worth of kit - presumably to include PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries. The new chairman of the CMC, Hu Jintao, has also pledged to build the PLA's technological capability.
Capability, capability, capability. Cost, cost, cost. Eventually, one side will run out of money, just as in the Cold War.
Let detente prevail.
The knives are out again for Living in China. Initial criticisms are levelled by Brainysmurf and taken up by Peking Duck. Also alluded to by Simon World's Asia by Blog and Danwei.
My response as posted in the comments sections of the first two are reproduced below. But it's also worth saying that the fact that people are talking about it means they still think it's worth talking about.
Living in China is new. It's different. It's not always going to meet everyone's expectations. The important thing is that people have to work at it to keep it going.
I'm guilty of not always putting the hours in - especially when you look at the dedication of Michael Darragh and Brad Ferguson who have not just put in time but money too.
It's kind of sad that people are so ready to sling the mud but not to paint the wall. LiC can be great again if people can set aside personal vanities and scores and help the whole thing out. In a way it is a poisoned chalice - a site that aims to bring together bloggers doesn't necessarily appeal to the vanity that drives them (myself included).
So what do you say?
Like anything it needs time and effort from everyone concerned - and most of all that includes the people that criticise.
My own comments below:
It's a toughie guys, and despite being the manager of Living in China to an extent I have to agree.OK, so a bad workman blames his tools. And a really bad workman blames the other workmen. Now I've got that out of the way, can I try to objectively discuss a couple of the problems that I think are causing the malaise.
1. Lack of interest and participation. It's a group site and if people don't want to write original material for it, I can't make them. And since the original flurry of interest since the site's conception (by Adam Morris of Brainysmurf, it would unfair not to mention, though the building of the site was taken up by others) about a year ago, interest has died off.
There was a direct correlation between interesting articles on the site and site traffic, and when the site traffic goes down people lose interest too.
2. No reward. People are selfish - it's not a criticism, it's a fact of life. Good writers would rather write good articles for their own sites first rather than for a group site which brings no direct reward in terms of readers or comments.
Lately I and Ralph Jennings of Laowiseass have been looking out for good content on other sites and (with permission) cross posting it. The idea is to attract attention to what people write, especially lesser-known bloggers, but as you can imagine it's a very laborious task.
3. Petty arguments. The comments on this and on Richards site are just and fair and I accept the criticism, but in the past there has been some real sourness (the 'censorship' and 'community' arguments can be seen elsewhere) that frankly puts people off.
If I was a new blogger, a bit nervous about the whole venture, those kind of tirades would put me off altogether.
4. Lack of focus and direction. No matter what is said on this topic, it is going to annoy people. Some will agree, others will vehemently oppose it.
The question is in some ways the question of 'what is blogging anyway?' Living in China exists to serve China bloggers. On occasions I have personally followed topics of interest such as the Typepad block etc. and at those times it's been a good site - as a representative voice for China bloggers as a whole whatever their complexion.
But most of the time there is nothing to focus on. LiC is simply a tool for people to use as they see fit. I would like it to promote all bloggers writing about China - but it has to be proactive rather than reactive. Simon World, Danwei and others already have analyses of other peoples' blogs and long may it continue.
For everyone's reference, there is and always has been a statement of policy at http://www.livinginchina.com/about.html and http://www.livinginchina.com/membership.html
Noone ever read them, choosing instead to say they didn't exist!
5. The new publishing system. Like others I'm no technophile and the incredibly hard work that Michael Darragh and Brad Ferguson put into the new system may have backfired somewhat. It was supposed to be a more functional alternative to Movable Type but I'm worried that people are afraid to tackle the system. There's still a number of bugs and glitches too that don't help.
6. Me. I reserve this till the end since it's the point people will remember, not because it's least important. I had hoped that after a few months of a guiding hand, LiC would run itself and that people would post material on it of their own accord. They didn't. It was a miscalculation.
I'm not paid to do this, and not every hour of my day can be spent working on LiC. Since March I've started dating a girl who doesn't really appreciate being left alone while I tinker on a computer screen for hours! I work during the week, I have frequent problems with my laptop and connection not to mention all the issues of blocking. And sometimes I just want to watch a DVD, read a book or sleep.
I also haven't sent a 'newsletter' e-mail for a while, which has reduced awareness I suppose - but then again chances are no-one read them anyway...
So I haven't spent as much time on LiC as I should, and for this I apologise to all. But at the end of the day, it's not my site - it's everyone's. If the content were just my writing or just my selections it would be 'Living in Phil's World' - it's not and never was meant to be that. I have my own blog if you're interested in me.
If anyone does wish to take over the reigns, I'd be very happy to help and transfer the job to them - my e-mail is below. But for all the problems I list above, the biggest is lack of interest from people - and it's become a vicious circle.
I would love LiC to keep going and still believe it's a worthwhile project - does anyone else?
Phil Sen
Editor - Living in China
phil at livinginchina dot com
So pithy, concise and to the point it's worth quoting in full:
International Herald Tribune (via AFP)BEIJING A 14-year-old boy picked by China to become the second-highest spiritual figure in Tibet used his first public interview to lavish praise on the Communist Party, the Xinhua press agency reported on Sunday. He was chosen by as the 11th Panchen Lama at a Beijing conference in 1995 after the exiled Dalai Lama designated a different boy as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.
The boy said in an interview with Xinhua that he was pleased with the levels of social stability and economic development in Tibet. "We wouldn't have made all these achievements without the good leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the support from all the Chinese people and the painstaking efforts of the Tibetans," he said.
Speaking to Xinhua during a visit to Tibet, he said that he would promote social and economic development in the Himalayan region.
The boy, who is widely seen as a Beijing puppet, rarely appears in public. He has received almost all his Buddhist education in Beijing, where he has also undergone political education. He was staying at the Tashilunpo monastery, in Tibet's second-largest city, Shigatse, Xinhua said. The press agency said that crowds of Buddhists were lingering outside his residence, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. The Dalai Lama's choice, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, disappeared from public view in 1995 and is believed to have been under house arrest ever since.
Not that you'd expect a 14-year-old boy to come up with any incisive political commentary anyway, whether or not he is the mystical chosen one of the CCP. Perhaps they think he's a reincarnation of Mao Zedong.
The original Xinhua article is right here. Worth a quick look for his inanities about war and peace.
Reported at Bloomberg.com, China is going to guest at the G7 meeting next week.
Interesting, the Washington meeting of the US, UK, Canadian, French, German, Italian and Japanese ministers is going to take place on China's national day.
A few years back, eyebrows were similarly raised when Russia was invited for the first time and the former Soviet has since taken its place as a near-permanent member.
It does have to be said, however, that China can neither claim to be a democracy nor a true market economy. The WTO has criticized the PRC recently for its lax copyright law enforcement etc. But the invitiation is surely another sign that China can no longer be ignored.
"With China also invited to join part of the meeting, next week's G-7 statement could be more influential than usual,'' Goldman economists Binit C. Patel in London and Dominic Wilson in New York wrote in a note to clients.
What then of China's propensity to ignore everyone else? Despite being a permanent member of the UN Security Council since 1971 (when it replaced the 'ROC' Taiwan) China has regularly abstained from decisions, for example on Sudan/Darfur.
The footnote to the article is also of interest:
Last September in Dubai, the G-7 began calling for all nations to introduce market-based exchange rates. Taylor said today the Chinese government had taken steps to introduce a looser currency regime, yet refrained from setting a timeframe."There is movement toward a flexible exchange rate,'' he said. "The Chinese are aware of the importance of moving.''
The International Monetary Fund has also called on China to drop the yuan's peg, saying a flexible exchange rate would help the government to cool an economy that expanded 9.7 percent in the first half. Still, voluntary moves to more flexible currencies by 20 nations in the 1990s had little impact on growth and inflation, the IMF said today in its semi-annual World Economic Outlook.
China should raise interest rates for the first time in nine years to cool the economy because inflation at 5.3 percent is too high, the ADB said today. The government so far has relied on lending and investment curbs to curtail growth.
With economic and military power also comes geopolitical responsibility. In fact, China's responsibility to the world is dovetailing with its responsibility to itself - if China goes down, we all do. I wonder whether what the Chinese finance minister will be chatting about at dinner that night - the RMB exchange rate is going to be a big topic, I reckon.
The PRC's participation in the world economy must be two-way - let's hope the G-7 meet-up gets the ball rolling.
The Guardian's all-singing all-dancing new blog reports a story from Taiwan (via Reuters). The government wants to save up for US$10 billion worth of military hardware and is saying that this is merely what its people spend on tea.
Just imagine how much the PRC would make if it asked everyone to donate what they spend on smoking each year to the PLA's coffers. My guess is with around US$100 per smoker that could tot up to at least $US60 billion which is significantly more than the entire defence budget of Holland...
Alternatively, it could just ship the ciggies over to Taiwan where they'd have just the same effect. Smoke 'em out!
Today is International Peace Day, apparently. Sorry but it kind of passed me by.
Let's take a very quick look at the stories that are in the news, let alone the countless conflicts that aren't.
Iraq: A British hostage awaits his inevitable beheading in terror. Bodycount so far - US soldiers 1034, British 66, other coalition fatalities 69. And who knows how many Iraqi combatants and civilians of whatever persuasion? 10,000? Ah, who really cares, it is International Peace Day after all.
Sudan: Well, this a place that's never really known peace during my lifetime. Current controversy about sanctions isn't going to achieve very much about from harming the people it's designed to help. As sanctions always do. I can't see anyone striding bravely into Sudan like the Man With No Name. It's far too messy for that.
Chechnya: Any conflict that involves terrorists walking into schools and shooting kiddies in the back is one too many for me.
Afghanistan: Still ain't over. About 135 Americans and Allah knows how many locals.
Nepal: Maoist insurgency continues.
Kashmir: Bound to flare up again sooner or later.
Columbia: Drugs means death.
Anything I've forgotten? Surely have. Well, it is International Peace Day.
Russian oil giant Yukos has just cut off some of its supply to China, reports the IHT, pushing up worldwide prices to $46 a barrel again.
The reasons, it would appear, are more related to Russian internal politics than international relations, but it highlights the dependency of China on oil. Power shortages are becoming a major issue over here with all kinds of dicatets flowing from the authorities in attempts to reduce over consumption.
Like anywhere else (until someone actually bothers to come up with an alternative) China's economy is entirely dependent on oil. Anyone who believes that US intervention in Iraq is completely unrelated is fooling themselves. Oil matters.
So it begs the question - if China's demand outstrips supply as it surely will, what will they do? Correct me if I'm wrong but China isn't big on its own indigenous resources. So what then? The Spratleys? Movements west into Uzbekistan etc.?
Hopefully someone somewhere is weighing up a better option than this, but sonner or later oil is going to be as big an issue in China as it is in the US.
Try this. UK newspaper The Guardian, always a great source of information, yesterday featured a major article about the collusion between the UK and China on rubbish dumping.
The gist is that all the crap the UK wraps up in black bin liners is being shipped over here where frankly, no-one cares. It's a win-win situation, assuming you're a corporate giant or government official with nothing to lose.
What the Chinese are after are plastic bottles etc. which are reprocessed presumably to turn into more cheap plastic bottles and nasty little toys.
One thing that I'm fairly convinced of in China is that when when I chuck out cans and bottles, someone, somewhere will use them. It doesn't seem to be the case in Shanghai, but in Xi'an for example there's urchins roaming the streets on the lookout for plastic bottles - presumably they get a couple of fen per bagful.
One ragged and possibly mentally-ill tramp jumped onto the train once as it stopped at Suzhou and grabbed every bottle from hard seat - regardless of whether it had actually been discarded or was still in use...
I'm all for recycling, so in a sense it's not a bad thing, and something that should be done more in the UK but the article asserts it's not being done in the name of environmental awareness but pure profit.
In casual conversation with a colleague today we discussed the profit mentality that pervades China - it's at the expense of the safety and welfare of the common people who do the work, the customers who deserve better quality, and of course the environment which answers back even less than the proletariat. Profit, profit, profit. Something's got to give.
But what I'm also getting at is that if you're on the mainland, for part of the day you couldn't read the article. Or at least I couldn't myself. It's worrying - has the great firewall developed a method to selectively block certain stories that are critical of China, or even articles in the mainstream press that even dare to mention China? Have a go - click here and tell me if the text loads quickly for you.
Either no-one else has spotted this yet or I'm again a victim of my own overenthusiastic misinterpretation again. But it looks like the old guard leader Jiang Zemin has finally handed the reins of power over to the newer guard, Hu Jintao.
It's reported in China Daily (so it must be true) but Hu Jintao is now head of the CCP Military Commission. Isn't this the chairmanship that finally gives him ultimate authority, without Jay Zee's sticky fingers holding him back any longer?
Let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree.
So, it would appear that pro-democracy candidates have done less well than they hoped in the Hong Kong ballot. Beijing's favoured party, on the other hand, seems to be doing better.
And there's also reports that the ballot was not properly managed, with ballot boxes overfilled, thus necessitating a recount.
All of this reminds me of something. All we need now are rumours of hanging chads and disenfranchised minority voters. Know what I mean?
After two months off. God help me... getting up at 7.15 am again.
Once again I'm teaching 'Western Culture', Journalism and Spoken English. The first is as always a nebulous concept to say the least. Here's my take on it, lifted from the Powerpoint presentation I gave:
Why Should We Learn About Western Culture?
Firstly - why not?
Practical reasons:
Globalisation
China is and always has been a global 'player'
You are students on an international course
In your careers you are likely to encounter foreigners or even travel abroad
Abstract reasons:
History is full of suffering – some of it due to ignorance and misunderstandings of different cultures
To develop further, China should learn from the successes and failures of other cultures
Education is not just about books and exams.
'I am not an Athenian or a Greek, I am a citizen of the world.' (Socrates)
What is Western Culture?
Try to define Eastern culture...
What about Asian culture?
What is Chinese culture?
What is Shanghai and Jiangsu culture?
So how do you expect me to teach Western culture? It's a nebulous concept…
Yes, all of the above is a facetious approach consisting of trick questions designed to get the students to engage brains, but from my foreign perspective it does really raise a point.
What is Chinese culture?
Is it a mixture of Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist beliefs? Is it a politically charged blend of Maoist Communism and 21st century capitalism with a Chinese face? Or does it really exist at all?
Did, during the course of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese succesfully eliminate the old culture and what, if anything, was it replaced with? There's enough MacDonalds, Buicks and baseball hats around to really make you ponder.
Conclusion - I have no idea. I've been here one whole year and not a clue. Answers on a postcard please...
From the goodness of my heart, a couple of links.
Firstly to Simon's excellent Asia by Blog, which is frankly the first place you should start your surfing day. Already syndicated on Living in China, Simon's asking for trackbacks in return for what is a useful service and evidently very hard work. Only too happy to oblige.
Then on to new guy Dave in China - a new teacher at my school. Seems like only a year ago I was in his shoes... which of course I was.
And finally to a praiseworthy project which in its audacity and sheer insanity that rivals even my own in staying on here for another year is well worth a look. Old signals comrade Tim Nicholson dropped me an e-mail from India yesterday - he is driving to Oxford. From Oxford. From Oxford UK to Oxford NZ to raise funds for the Red Cross. In a Morris Oxford.
You can visit his and his colleague's site Oxford2Oxford.co.uk here, though inexplicably you need a proxy to view it in China (try this link here instead).
A shameless bid for more hits by posting cute pictures of our new kitten.
Zapata - named after the Mexican revolutionary / hideously crowded and overpriced themed Shanghai nitespot beside Sasha's on Hengshan Lu - is about two months old. Simona and her flatmate took him in last night after hearing about him from a friend.
His incredible liveliness is all the more amazing considering he has a broken tail and is partially blind.
Zapata's hobbies include biting and scratching fingers and toes, voracious eating, running in random directions, bumping into things and falling over.
Click the pics to enlarge!
Half of Shanghai is underground.
So it seems when you view it from below, lying in the back of a removals van. Girlfriend Simona moved her belongings from storage in my flat the other day to a plush new pad in the Huashan Lu area, but there wasn't enough space in the vehicle cab for me so I was relegated to the back with all the boxes of superfluous shoes and make-up.
There I lay, looking up through the van's skylight. It was a clear day - the skies have been unusually blue these days up until the recent bout of rain. And almost everywhere you drive, you are under a second roof.
It seems that half of Shanghai is an elevated road. The city is so dense that they had to build it twice - one on top of the other. Though the standards of construction may well be shoddy, it's still a marvel of engineering. The roads twist and turn above your head, lined with straggles of vegetation, putting Birmingham's famed 'spaghetti junction' to shame. Let's face it, we're in the land that invented spaghetti and Shanghai's roads are one big bowl of noodles.
At dusk, look up towards the flyovers and you may see the darting shapes of the bats that live in the eaves, jinking and diving as the hunt.
In so many ways, Shanghai is the true-life city of Bladerunner - shining skyscrapers, flickering advertising, rampant traffic, constant darkness and the oriental contrasts of rich and poor set against the backdrop of a many-tiered urban landscape.
Gripe as I do, it's a fascinating place.
Beyond the pale. My failure to understand two of the world's most common, important but obscure languages - Chinese and Computerese - is really getting to me now.
This site is now attracting about 30-40 spam comments per day. There is an IP banning facility on MT but it's laborious to use. However, deleting the comments manually is almost equally laborious.
And the spam is so annoying. I don't want viagra, tramadol, cialis or any other old-wives' erectile disfunction medication. I don't want to play poker or blackjack online. I don't require any satellite dishes or storage containers, thanks. And I certainly do not need to enlarge my penis. I ask you...
So why don't you download a program to eradicate all this, you say? Well, I can't. My computer won't satisfactorily download anything at the moment - always an error message when you click the .exe. I've tried turning of the virus scan but no effect. And I've no idea how to fix the problem since my operating system is in Chinese...
Any tips, I'm all ears, cheers.