Chinese Walking, Why Do They Do That?

When you come to China, and you should. you will notice some things. No I am not referncing the debilitating smog, nor the inability to take a stroll along Wangfujing on a Sunday, but you will notice that in a country of 1 340 000 000, they all are basically clones. Of course some are tall and some are short and some are ugly and some are uglier and some are skinny and some are fat but in many respects, they are a nation of duplicates. Take, for instance, the gait of the common chinaman. Self-conscsiouly stooping their shoulders, they then shuffle thier feet, propelling their waifish thin bodies along all the while scanning to the left and the right as if cautious of where their next ass beating will come from. If I were a cartoonist, I’d draw them as follows This generalization, really only applies to the men of course, as the women are a different ballgame entirely. To watch a Chinese woman stumble along in high heels is almost an excercise in masochism. Yesterday I walked behind a woman who seemed to be turning her ankles with each step. Glancing at her ankles reminded me of a four year old learning to skate…. Alhtough I have never worn high heels, I would suspect that due to the physics of the design, a modification of my gait would be in order were I ever to undertake wearing them. I do know that my leg movements are modified somewhat when I wear my beloved Doc Martins and my sneakers, so wearing heels must also require a modification. The typical chinawoman, however, has never learned this convetion. It would appear that after stuffing their flabby toes into miniscule shoes, they then propel themselves along as if they were back home floundering along the Lake Erhai mud-to me the term trucker, and trailer come to mind… I guess I shouldn’t judge as I am but a barbarian in a land of thousands of years of culture and old stuff that was supposedly invented by some ancient Chinese sage, but I really have to wonder wtf they are thinking as they clomp along like that….

China and Thug Financing

During the Olympics China had a little problem with the torch. Many countries used the passing of the torch to show their displeasure with the Chinese government and her less than human practices. China’s response was to surround the torch with 4 bodyguards or thugs. Some US TV personality then called the Chinese communists, thugs or hooligans or something, and uncle chicom was pissed, his feelings were hurt. I guess the announcer should have said he was referencing China’s financing of despotic governments, then the word Thug would be appropriate. ========= The Beijing Consensus-new (Stefan Halper) There are numerous cases like the government of Chad. In each the syndrome is similar. Beijing no longer seeks to export communism or actively undermines the liberal international order, but it can and does offer autocrats and governments somewhere to run when they fall out with the West.5 As James Mann wrote in 2007, pick a dictator anywhere on the globe, and you’ll likely find that the Chinese are supporting him.6 Since the end of the 1990s, Beijing has constructed a string of alliances across the globe, drawn from nations shunned by the United States and the West.7 Examples provided below extend across the globe from Venezuela to Angola to Iran to Uzbekistan to Burma.

Benevolent China and Africa

From The Beijing Consensus- (Stefan Halper) Before the terms of the loan could be finalized, however, Angola suddenly broke off the negotiations. Why? Because the government had received a better offer from the Export-Import Bank of China (China-ExIm). In contrast to the IMF package, this deal came with no conditions for economic transparency or better governance. Instead, it offered an interest rate payment of only 1.5 percent per year over seventeen years. In return, the Angolan government agreed to provide 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to China, with a clause mandating a rise to 40,000 bpd soon afterward.11 The consequences speak for themselves. In the following five years, the Angolan economy lost around $4 billion in oil revenues to graft, which amounts to roughly 10 percent of the country’s annual GDP.12 In 2005, the international corruption watchdog Transparency International accused China of turning a blind eye to flagrant and large-scale corruption in Angola. It also placed Angola as 151st out of 158 countries reviewed in its 2005 annual corruption index.13

China and Copying- Chinese Wine

Here is a castle in China. It’s a place where according to the Chinese, they make wine exactly like it’s done in France. They say the temperature and humidity is the same and thus the wine will be too. I guess they do not consider that in France, the ground is saturated with nutrients and not toxic slime and chemicals, that enter the typical Chinese grape….

China

Neurotic China- Peaceful and Harmonious or Warring State?

Below is an excerpt from an article which states that the braintrust in China is preparing for military conflict in every direction. To me this is odd, as in one breath they talk about their peaceful rise, and in the next they discuss military action. This is like Chinese life. If China were a human it would have split personality disorder.. excerpt from here: ” “In the coming five years, our military will push forward preparations for military conflict in every strategic direction,” said Liang Guanglie in an interview published by several state-backed newspapers in China. “We may be living in peaceful times, but we can never forget war, never send the horses south or put the bayonets and guns away,” Mr Liang added.

Some Mall in China

I’m Rick, I’m Juicy, I’m Suzie- Naming in China

Chinese all take an ‘English’ or normal name, it’s kind of like a right of passage. For those Chinese who are fortunate enough to have known civilized folk, ie foreigners, they have a relatively normal ‘English name’ such as Amy or Jessica. When left to their own devices, however, some Chinese go overboard and choose some bizarre names. Friends of mine know one-child burdens named ‘Satan, Thousand, Killer” and the like. One of the most frustrating things, however, is not their poor choice of names, but their incessant need to change them. Today your co-worker is Suzie, and suddenly she is Nina. Or you get a message from Lisa, who you once knew as Tyler who is now liz. In the end you can do nothing more than throw up your hands in defeat and make them tell you just who the heck they are and how they knew you anyhow. If you have never visited the land of graft and toxins then this post may make no sense to you and you thus scroll down to the photos I posted earlier.

Japanese Money in China- Reblogging a Comment

I’m going to reblog these stats from a comment on mylaowai.com. They refer to all of the monetary assistance that Japan has given their, dare I say, ungrateful neighbor – China. The post was good and addressed the issue of China’s coverage of the Japanese tragedy and then a comment was made about what Japan has given China. The following are the quoted statistics on just how much China owes her growth to Japanese investment. from here ‘soft’ Yen loans to China since 1979 were 3.3 trillion yen, unadjusted for inflation, up until FY2007. This represents 75% of ODA for the same period. It does not include FDI which is considerable. In addition, 145.7 billion Yen, unadjusted for inflation, in grant aid has been given, as well as 144.6 billion Yen, unadjusted for inflation, in ‘technical cooperation’ (building of airports, roads, etc). Japan has paid for the electrification of 5,200Km of railway lines, 60 large-scale berths for ships, Beijing’s China-Japan Friendship Hospital (treating 3,000 patients daily), has trained 15,000 personnel via the Japan International Cooperation Agency and 22,000 personnel via the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarships, and has sent more than 5,000 experts to China to help with various projects (all this as of FY2003). Loan aid was given for the following projects: Shanghai Pudong International Airport Construction Project (40.0 billion yen) Beijing Capital Airport Terminal Area Expansion Project (30.0 billion yen) Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport Expansion Project (6.3 billion yen) Wuhan Tianhe Aerodrome Construction Project (6.3 billion yen) Xi’an Xianyang International Airport Terminal Expansion Project (3.09 billion yen) Beijing-Qinhuangdao Railway Expansion Project (87.0 billion yen) Guiyang-Loudi Railway Construction Project (30.0 billion yen) Chongqing Urban Railway Construction Project (27.1 billion yen) Beijing Subway Construction Project (19.7 billion yen) Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway Construction Project (18.4 billion yen) Hangzhou-Quzhou Expressway Construction Project (30.0 billion yen) Liangping-Changshou Highway Construction Project (24.0 billion yen) Xinxiang-Zhengzhou Highway Construction Project (23.5 billion yen) Guiyang-Xinzhai Highway Construction Project (15.0 billion yen) Heilongjiang Heihe-Beian Road Construction Project (12.6 billion yen) Qinhuangdao Port Expansion Project (67.4 billion yen) Qingdao Port Expansion Project (59.7 billion yen) Huanghua Port Construction Project (15.4 billion yen) Shenzhen Dapeng Bay Yantian Port 1st Phase Construction Project (14.7 billion yen) Dalian Port Dayao Bay 1st Phase Construction Project (6.7 billion yen) Tianshengqiao Hydroelectric Power Project (118.0 billion yen) Jiangxi Jiujiang Thermal Power Plant Construction Project (29.6 billion yen) Wuqiangxi Dam Construction Project (25.2 billion yen) Shanhe Thermal Power Plant Construction Project (24.6 billion yen) Beijing Shisanling Pumped Storage Power Station Construction Project (13.0 billion yen) Weihe Chemical Fertilizer Plant Construction Project (26.9 billion yen) Inner Mongolia Chemical Fertilizer Construction Project (21.4 billion yen) Jiujiang Chemical Fertilizer Plant Construction Project (21.4 billion yen) Shanghai Baoshan Infrastructure Improvement Project (31.0 billion yen) Environment Model City Project (Guiyang, Chongqing, Dalian) (30.7 billion yen) Ningxia Afforestation and Vegetation Cover Project (8.0 billion yen) Xiang River Basin Hunan Environment Improvement Project (3.1 billion yen) Beijing Sewage Treatment Plant Construction Project (2.6 billion yen) Inland Higher Education Project (88.8 billion yen) There’s a lot more, but you get the point.

Small Chinese Eaterie

This place is off Dawanglu by SOHO in Beijing