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Jun 09

In the midst of the concrete and steel jungle that is the Shanghai World Expo, stands the Indian Pavilion, the ‘greenest’ of them all, built entirely of environment-friendly materials, showcasing India’s unique brand of Culture, History and Soft Power and offering an unprecedented opportunity to further improve Sino-Indian relations

The Expo has finally come to China. A largely forgotten event in most parts of the world, it has been rejuvenated, on a scale in which no other country could even dream of. A record number of 192 countries and 50 organizations have registered, the highest in the Expo’s history. Most people hadn’t even heard of the expo before it came to China. The verdict is clear – The Expo needed China as much as China needed the Expo.

It has been described by the Chinese government as “a great gathering of world civilizations”,  and is an excellent opportunity to improve ties between two of the oldest – India and China.

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Dec 19

Apparently, after much drama, intrigue, and sleepless nights, we have some sort of agreement at Copenhagen. We’ll probably get the text of the Copenhagen Agreement soon. But I think the gist of it is as follows: Continue reading »

Oct 09

Below is a short article on China’s state of Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) under Kyoto Protocol, and future of China’s low carbon, green development:

http://www.epciu.com/Html/0908/17/3471B33FF1937070.html

Carbon Trading Prelude To Low Carbon Economy

Environmental China, 8/17/2009

(Carbon trading market is a hopeful prelude to “low carbon economy”. Beijing Environmental Exchange CEO Mei Dewen says China, being the nation with largest carbon resource, has tremendous development potential in carbon trading. Thru Clean Development Mechanism, in 2012 China may receive 1.8 billion tons of carbon trading credit, as much as several hundred million USD.)

China’s carbon-based economy is a must, says Mei Dewen. Establishing exchange, develop products, speedy connection with international channels, Mei believes, developing market and pricing mechanism, attracting qualified financial institution and enterprises, is central to the future of carbon-based economy.

As 2005 Kyoto Protocol framework relates to China, in recent years, global carbon trading and marketplace had exponential growth, From 377 million Euro in 2004 to 91 billion Euro in 2008, with expert projection of 140 billion Euro in 2012, surpassing oil market as largest marketplace.

Carbon trading and derived financial market is on the horizon. According to World Bank’s estimate, half of the 5 billion ton emission reduction target by developed nations will be realized from CDM, and China have the potential for 35% to 40% of the global CDM.

However, financial development area is lacking, Mei Dewen says. Although China has the largest carbon capital, carbon economy and carbon trading are left and rigt legs, without support from carbon economy, China will lose out on carbon trading like pricing mechanism, and lose out on opportunity in development of new financial sector.
Currently, carbon trading is mostly monopolized by developed nations, such as ETS in EU, ETG in UK, and CCX in US. Although China has established environmental exchanges in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjing, these 3 exchanges are limited to conservation and environmental protection technology transfer transactions, and still far from monetizing on carbon trading. China’s carbon marketplace development not only far behind developed nation, it’s even behind India.

In concrete terms, China’s carbon trading is akin to farm commodity market, while India’s carbon trading has elevated to level of currency market. Mei says, India’s carbon marketplace development is more advanced than China, in terms of trading platform or CDM capability. India’s carbon credit is 2-3 Euros more per ton than China.

Oct 06

Recently there have been some discussion on China’s rapid development, industrialization, increased pollution and destruction of environment such as deforestation. Not being knowledgeable or ever being interested in the subject, I decided to look for answer to the question – Is China recklessly polluting the planet? Continue reading »

Sep 14

main_educationIn the second part of our interview with Robert Compton, We delve more deeply into his film “Two Million Minutes” which looks at the pre-university educational systems of India and China and compares them to the equivalent curriculum in the United States. Some of the topics discussed are:

1) What are the comparative number of science courses taught in high school and the amount of time spent on the social sciences and world history?

2) What do Indian and Chinese educators see as the areas most in need of reform within their own schools? Are there myths within the Chinese and Indian educational establishment as to their own perceived weaknesses?

3) How are China, India and the United States approaching the key 21st century industries, especially the ones concerning environmental and energy issues?

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Aug 20

President Hu recently met with a delegation of ethnic minorities from Taiwan, and pledged further support from the mainland for whatever help Taiwan may need.  Ethnic minorities in southern Taiwan, living often in remote villages, were the hardest hit group in Taiwan by the recent typhoon. Here is a translation of a story on the People’s Web by China News Wrap:

Hu meets delegation of ethnic minorities from Taiwan

Hu meets delegation of ethnic minorities from Taiwan

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Aug 17

From August 6-9, southern Taiwan was hit with the worst typhoon in 50 years. Per the Associated Press story:

“Morakot dumped more than 80 inches (two meters) of rain on the island last weekend and stranded thousands in villages in the mountainous south. A total of 15,400 villagers have been ferried to safety, and rescuers are working to save another 1,900 people. The storm destroyed the homes of 7,000 people and caused agricultural and property damage in excess of 50 billion New Taiwan dollars ($1.5 billion), Ma told the security conference.”

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Aug 16

Aug 12

Few years ago I visited Chengdu and drove all the way to Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟).  I got a chance to see the pristine side of Sichuan province and a number of local performances.  I stumbled upon this music video by Tibetan Chinese singer, Kelsang Metok (格桑梅朵), “Falling in Love with Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟).”  It gives a great intro to that region and reminded me of many things I saw during that trip.
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Jul 01

*** ( NOTE : This is an addition to the 2nd “follow-on” article I wrote recently. I would highly recommend you read that article first before starting this one if you haven’t already. The purpose of this article is to answer a couple of questions raised by some readers. ) *** ( click here to read that follow-on article )
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Jun 27

*** ( NOTE : This is the 2nd and last “follow-on” article of the parent artcle titled : Putting the Sichuan Quake into Perspective“. This 2nd “follow-on” article, like the 1st one, is NOT meant to be a stand-alone article. I would therefore highly recommend you read that article before starting this one. The parent article is only 1 page long, and should provide the context in which this article should be viewed ) *** ( click here to read the 1st article ) Continue reading »

Jun 24

*** ( NOTE : This is a follow-on of the artcle titled : Putting the Sichuan Quake into Perspective“. This 2nd article is NOT meant to be a stand-alone article. I would therefore highly recommend you read that article before starting this one. The 1st article is only 1 page long, and should provide the context in which this article should be viewed ) *** ( click here to read the 1st article )
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Jun 22

( Note : This is a re-post of the same article taken from the blogsite : chinablogs.wordpress.com dated May 10, 2009. You are most welcomed to give your feedback using the Comments section here or on my above blogsite. You may also find the comments and my feedback on the above blogsite interesting. It includes an interesting comment from an American with first hand experience of the quake. )

***

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Jun 02

Over the past year, we have had many heated debate on issues related to Tibet. Little has been discussed, however, on how to move things forward. To me, it is more important to address grievances of the common Tibetan people than to win historical or political debates. Furthermore, it should be recognized that the discontent of Tibetan people are genuine and the current governmental policies are at least partially responsible. Sticking one’s head in the sand or blaming the all the troubles on outside forces will not solve any real problems in Tibet.

I am the person who believes communication, dialogue and mutual understanding are the best route to solve complicated ethnic issues. So it gives me great hope that Gongmeng, a Chinese NGO, took the initiative to provide an in-depth analysis of the social and economical challenges faced by Tibetans. I think this report will signal the beginning of a new bottom-up approach to solve the mistrusts demonstrated on both sides. The initial steps will be small and the progress will probably be slow, but, let’s get started!
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May 12

Saving Grace

Written by: berlinf | Filed under:Environment, General | Tags:,
39 Comments » newest

This post was a translation from Li Chengpeng’s blog as part of our effort to memorize the tragic earthquake one year ago.  The author Li was a sports commentator who later on became active in other public spheres.  After the Sichuan earthquake, he went to Beichuan as a reporter as well as a volunteer.   As far as I know, this blog post had not been published anywhere other than his blog.  However, I find it to be a touching story of the human spirit  when faced with such disasters, and the miraculous impact a good conscience may have.

Original title: 北川邓家”刘汉小学”无一死亡奇迹背后的真相  (The truth behind the zero death miracle of the Bei chuan Liu Han Elementary School)

Today, I am not going to write how many died. It pains me to write about these today. Let me talk about miracles. Continue reading »

Jan 20

Too often when we discuss Tibet, we reflexively focus our attention on the political spat between the CCP and the Dalai Lama.  However, Tibet is much more than the current political spat.

For one thing: there is the people; the indigenous culture; the land – and of course the important environmental role the Tibetan Plateau plays in regional as well as global environment.

The following is a video from Asia Society on the Peril the Tibetan Plateau is under – as well its implication for all of us in light of global climate change. Continue reading »

Jan 17

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Huaiyuan Lou Tulou; built in 1907

We’ve had discussions about Hakka culture in the past with several of our commenters being of Hakka ancestry, so I wanted to show some photos taken by Ted of tulou (土楼; 土樓) in Fujian province. 60% of Hakka are from the Xingning/Meixian area of Guangdong province and over 95% of overseas Hakka were originally from that region, but tulou exist only in Fujian.

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Dec 20

China’s journey of reform and opening up over the last the last 30 years have definitely been, if nothing else, colorful and eventful.  Last week, Chinese officials marked the 30 year anniversary of China’s reforms and opening up with a series of meetings and speeches. Continue reading »

Dec 15

And now for something completely different!

After sailing across the Pacific Ocean in a 15th century Chinese junk, Captain Nelson Liu and his crew of seven on the Princess Tai Ping spent their last few days at the San Diego Maritime Museum before making their way to Hawaii and eventually back to Japan and Taipei.

The 54 foot, 35 ton Fujian style warship, built and launched from Xiamen using the same materials as their ancestors, is following the conjectured route of 15th century Chinese admiral Zheng He who, according to some theories, may have arrived on the North American West Coast long before Cabrillo.

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Oct 02

Whatever your views on the proper role of government in societal, cultural, and economic affairs, few would argue against the government’s role (if not duty) in helping to confront the myriad environmental problems facing modern industrialized societies. Continue reading »

Sep 10

America has the Bald Eagle, a powerful symbol of might, individuality, and freedom — even if Benjamin Franklin thought it was a bird of “bad moral character” inferior to the Wild Turkey.

sparrowWhat does China have as a national bird? Well, it doesn’t yet.

The house sparrow, so common in China, and named one of the four vermin during the 1950’s (and killed en masse), has received a plurality of votes among ten birds in an unofficial online poll for China’s national bird. This has stirred up a conversation online about what constitutes a national bird, and more interestingly, about the national character and outlook of the common Chinese people.
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