Life of a Typical Chinese person-How Different We Are

My Peers in China are not like my peers back home, this is part of the reason for my post the other day about having shared life experiences upon which to base a friendship. Although they are normal functioning members of society, what they and their families have endured are almost beyond my imagination. My best friend’s great-grandparents were affluent. Upon the seizing of land by the communist party, they were jailed and the father killed/died, the youngest member of the household had to support the family.My friend harbors no ill will and simply says, “no Mao, no China” Another good friend was also from an affluent family who lost it all during the same time, her grandparents were both killed by the party. She has a strong dislike for all that they stand for. Friend three lost her father to the cultural revolution, she is brilliant and so was her dad. He was taken away, jailed and died. She is now a member of the party but not active in politics, she doesn’t say much about it. Friend four is the father of a friend who say a man beaten to death during the cultural revolution all because he left his house wearing a yellow coat. At this time only 3 colors of clothing were allowed, yellow was not one of them. He thinks Mao was good, but made some mistakes, he witnessed it all, the cultural revolution, the problems at TS. etc Another friends father was in the military. He is a bright man and his father as well, he suffered little as his father was an officer, he is a great guy and not a member of the party. A lady who I know is proud to be a member of the party. Her parents were both in the Red Guard, a group who she claims was nothing more than the Chinese version of the boy scouts- no shit she told me that I know another woman whose family was rich, and perished during the great leap forward, their land taken. Her father was poor, joined the army when he was 16 and married her mom who had been rich. She is fiercely loyal but not a member of the party. If we dont talk about the Olympics or current events, we have nothing in common. ps. this is what the chinese that you meet on the streets grew up with. This is what the ruling party was formed under, these principles, these rules, these actions. You may want to ponder this…

Angry China. Tons of Cops and The Nobel Prize

Right now China is a little on edge, there are cops all over. With the announcement of Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Prize, the chicoms are more than a little miffed. Most of their concern is not about yours truly, nor those of us who can intellectualize what is happeneing, we, of course are in the minority. The real concern is all of the folks who could ‘get out of hand’, and cause problems. In order to prevent this, the police are out in full force. The word is that the cops have been telling business owners to be careful, look for large groups gathering and to not allow this or to call the authorities. The impact to a person living her now is that it feels as if you are on lockdown, as if you feel a tension in the air. The unwritten rule right now would be to walk, keep your head down and shut up, kind of like back in the days of the cultural revolution. Yesterday I saw some cops frisking a group of guys, asking for their ID and such. This place can be truly bizarre.

China Jailed Nobel Winner- Following the Nazis?

China’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiao Bo cannot accept his prize, he’s in jail now. Apparently this isn’t the first time something like this happened, the Nazi’s once did the same thing. excerpt: “It will be the first time the award will not be presented to the laureate since 1935, when imprisoned German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky was prevented by the Nazi regime from attending.

Toxic Chinese Food- Get Yer Imports Here…

Consider this to be a letter from the future, i can just see this coming, but first some background on China and their land. Pollution has made cancer the leading cause of death in china, and its not just in the air but ground as well. The land is so toxic that much of the ground water is not potable and probably is beyond help. The impact of this pollution has extended to the fruits, vegetables, even the tobacco. It has been proven that All chinese branded cigarettes have up to three times the level of lead cadmium and arsenic of other brands. The problem is that all of those toxic substances leak into the ground then leach into the fruits vegetables and plant matter. We as humans consume that matter and we as humans suffer. In 2009, the USA exported U$6 billion in fruits and vegetables and imported U$16 billion, of that part we imported, China represented 7%. Chinese do not buy chinese fruits and vegetable, given the chance, yet we so readily import them and all their toxic constituents. I can see this headline in the future: March 2011- “HIgh Levels of Lead and Toxic Metals Discovered in Import of Chinese Fruits and Vegetables” The problems will be blamed for birth defects, low birth weight and cancer, just like they are in China. China will claim that we must share in the blame as it is our fault that they have turned their land into a toxic dump, producing things for wal-mart and the like. And maybe they are right, maybe its our fault. Until we get our heads out of our collective asses and force them to be a responsible member of the world, we must live like they do in China.

Irrational China Cuts off Trade Talks with Norway, Because of Nobel Winner

In what can only be called China showing its true self to the west, China has cut off trade talks with Norway all becuase they have awarded the Nobel Prize to Liu Xiaobo, a jailed chinese dissident. excerpt: ” China’s Communist government has lashed out ferociously since the award was announced, each day ratcheting up the rhetoric. Foreign embassies in Norway have been warned not to attend the Nobel ceremony or risk unspoken “consequences.” China has already broken off trade talks with Norway. The foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, denounced the Nobel committee members as “clowns” and accused them of “orchestrating an anti-China farce.”

Excellent Post on the Chinese Buying GNC From the USA

Here is a great post from here, pass it along… excerpt: China’s Bright Food Group Co is near a deal to buy U.S. vitamin retailer GNC Holdings Inc, giving the well-known foreign brand a potential entry to China to cater to the country’s growing middle class. Under the deal being discussed, Bright Food would purchase GNC for $2.5 billion to $3 billion, a source familiar with the situation said late on Monday in the United States. via China’s Bright Food close to GNC deal: source – Yahoo! News. It sounds as though the idea behind this merger is to market the U.S. supplements in mainland China (the PRC). I have no problem with that. My main concern is that they may begin to switch more and more to using Chinese ingredients and suppliers for internationally marketed product. continue here

China Redefines the Meaning of Cancer Sticks- Chinese Cigarettes

i have a friend who told me that Chinese fruits and veggies are fresher here than in the USA, the problem, she said, was that due to the toxicity of the ground here, it is dangerous to consume their food for prolonged periods of time. Apparently this is true, as it has been proven -see below- that due to pollution, Chinese cigarettes have a higher level of toxic substances than do those in the west. The reason is due to pollution from the earth being sucked into the plants. excerpt here and here: “A new international research project has found high levels of heavy metals in Chinese cigarettes, with some containing three times the level of lead, cadmium and arsenic of Canadian brands.All 13 Chinese cigarette brands have elevated level of heavy metal”