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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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Sep 13

Given the recent post on the verdict in former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Bian’s case, I thought another topic on Taiwan would be a good idea. The proposed China-Taiwan Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement is a key piece of legislation for Taiwan’s future and therefore worthy of discussion.

A question I’ve increasingly asked myself is whether this is a win-win agreement for Taiwan as the KMT and other Pan-Blues would have it, or actually win-win for a handful of big companies and lose-lose for smaller, local businesses. AFP have an article on the ECFA and its potential impact on this part of Taiwanese industry. Continue reading »

Sep 12

In the continuing saga that is Chen Shui Bian’s colorful life, a trial court in Taipei sentenced Chen to life in prison yesterday as the first phase of his dramatic corruption and embezzlement trial came to an end. Chen’s wife, Wu Shu-chen, received a life sentence on corruption charges. Their son and daughter-in-law, convicted of money laundering, received relatively lenient 2 1/2 – and one-year terms. Continue reading »

Sep 09

Four In Urumqi Indicted Over Needling Pedestrian:

According to Xinhua News on 9/7, prosecutors in Urumqi indicted 4 people over Shaoximen needling case on 9/3. This is the second case of needling the Urumqi prosecutors have filed.

Suspects Abdul-Rusuli Abdul-Kedl, Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Razzaq, Abdul-Keyoumu Abdul-Aufu, Abdul-mithi Mamati, around 9/3 10:30 followed a woman (surname Lee) into pedestrian underpass in Urumqi’s Shaoximen area. When they passed Lee, Abdul-Rusuli Abdul-Kedl with help of three others, stabbed Lee’s neck with a hyperdermic needle.

Withe the help of the crowd, the four were caught at the scene. On the 3rd they were detained by Urumqi police on the charge of endangering public safety. On the 7th, the case was moved to the prosecutors, and the four were offcially arrested. Urumqi police carried out the order on the 7th.

Urumqi prosecutors said, these four suspect ignored established laws, needling women in the public, severely distrupted social order with serious consquences. A crime has clearly taken place, with concrete evidence.

Sep 05

Following the earlier riots in Xinjiang in July, there has been more unrest in the province – at least five people have died, with more injured. The BBC has picked up on a Xinhua report that says the top official for Urumqi and a Police chief have been fired. Continue reading »

Aug 31

Many in the “West” criticize China’s media as a “mouthpiece” for the Chinese government.  The article below is a translation of an opinion piece carried on People’s Daily by ChinaNewsWrap.com.  It is urging Chinese citizens to refrain from making fun of South Korea’s recently failed rocket launch as well as to not make disparaging remarks about its Asian neighbors.

What do you think?  Is this good for society?  Should the “West” do more of this type of “propaganda?”

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Aug 28

Dalai Lama is set to visit Taiwan next week. The Dalai Lama has been invited a group of local DPP officials representing several southern counties – where DPP support is especially strong.

The Dalai Lama has visited Taiwan twice, once in 1997 and 2001. However, soon after Ma took office on a platform promising to amend ties with the Mainland, a request for the Dalai Lama to visit was turned down by Ma, citing the timing as not proper. A Dalai Lama visit then could have derailed Ma’s plan for closer ties with the Mainland – and still has the potential to do so the same. Continue reading »

Aug 27

We’ve had many discussions here on Chinese Nationalism. Last year, Chinese nationalism was stoked in the aftermath of the West’s response to the riots in Tibet and in the lead up to the Olympics. Many in the West chided China on a host of issues – from domestic human rights abuses to China’s policies in Africa. Many viewed with wary eyes the rise of Chinese nationalism, with some depicting Chinese nationalism as a force for instability in the world – some going as fars as comparing Chinese Nationalism to Hitler’s Naziism. Many painted the notion of Chinese Exceptionism (the vague idea that China occupies a special place in history and has a special role to play in the world) in dark, ominous terms. Continue reading »

Aug 25

In 2007, China had 20+ million new brokerage accounts opened in that one year.  Total stock accounts topped 100 million that same year.  Also, around 2007, China had roughly 80 million middle class citizens.  While this extrapolation is not scientifically based, I would venture to say that the number of Chinese investors in 10 years time will be staggering.  My assumption is that the number of Chinese citizens continue to graduate into middle class will be proportional to China’s GDP growth.  The number of middle class income earners will likely be equal to number of investors.

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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 20

I have been critical of a previous post by Steve, which (from my perspective) seemed sympathetic to those who may be jockeying for political gain on the back of people’s misery in the wake of the recent Morakot tragedy in Taiwan. I don’t have time to translate all the reports I read or see on T.V., but here is an article by Cindy Cui that offers a more balanced perspective regarding both situation on the ground and current political fallout (Cindy has written many DPP leaning articles in the past, by the way).  I am quoting her article published today in Asia Times in full: Continue reading »

Aug 17

Louis Yu’s Indie Podcasts

Written by: Steve | Filed under:culture, General, media, music | Tags:, , , ,
8 Comments » newest

Louis Yu It’s not often a guy working on his PhD in theoretical computer science is also one of the hottest Chinese DJs in North America, but there’s always an exception and Louis Yu (余雷) fits that role. Originally from Guilin, China,  he’s currently in Vancouver, Canada studying at the University of Victoria while also doing a weekly podcast featuring world indie music.

And where can you find his 30 minute weekly podcast? It’s right here on  www.wooozy.cn where you can catch this week’s show plus access the archive for all previous editions once you’re hooked. The difference with Louis’ show is that all the introductions are in Mandarin rather than English. It’s his way to bring a new style of music to an audience more familiar with Asian pop in a easy to digest manner. Starting in September, he’ll be switching to a show highlighting an equal balance of both Western & Chinese music.

Lou was kind enough to share his thoughts on China’s current music scene. As he is a Chinese expat very familiar with indie music throughout the world, I felt his opinions would be a nice contrast to the western voices we’ve heard reporting from China.

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Aug 16

Aug 14

It was not that long ago the “Western” media constantly talked about how insolvant many of China’s banks were, and that they were choked full of bad loans. Obviously, the irony of it was they were talking about their own banks! Continue reading »

Aug 13

17m Now that many non-Chinese have moved to China and many native Chinese live throughout the world, cross cultural dating has become far more common. For someone leaving mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore and moving to a western country, what are some of the cultural pitfalls and traps you need to avoid and adjustments you need to make? For someone moving to any of those four areas, the same questions apply. Are the “rules” different for Chinese women dating outside their culture as compared to Chinese men doing the same?

My direct experience isn’t too pertinent since I met my wife in Phoenix and she had already been living in the States for nine years, but there were still many adjustments we (mostly I) had to make. She was the first Asian woman I had ever dated so I didn’t fall into the “yellow fever” category. However, when I was living in mainland China and Taiwan, I had a chance to observe, ask questions and learn more from others involved in cross cultural relationships.

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Aug 11

Well … we’ve had several discussions (in the comments section recently) on political reform and the CCP.  Here is an interesting article I ran across today at Asia Times on people’s perception of government officials in China:

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Aug 08

Where in China is Xu Zhiyong?

Written by: Raj | Filed under:General | Tags:, , ,
117 Comments » newest

(Hat-tip to Richard on the Peking Duck for writing on this last week.)

According to reports last week, the legal school and legislator Xu Zhiyong was led away by Police sometime on the morning of Wednesday 28th August. His whereabouts still seem to be unknown – his brother said that he had been charged with tax evasion.

It is hard to see how this isn’t linked to Xu’s work in helping people the State would prefer carried on with their lives like good little citizens, rather than pursue legal recourse against some sort of injustice/embarrassing matter that officials or local/central government would prefer to see the back of. But whatever the reason, this is not good for China’s future. Continue reading »

Aug 05

郭宝锋, 你妈妈说言论自由有合法的限制, 不包括煽动,危害公共秩序的言论 – 你忘了死厨师案件吗?

她也说你不应该翻发假证据, 指责警察轮奸, 尸奸, 并涵盖了轮奸.  据美国计划生育组织这案件于宫外孕是一致的. 警方调查严晓玲的男朋友,他们的朋友,尸检,也证明她的死亡原因是子宫外孕,  卵管破裂,大量出血,休克.

你指责验尸官拔出子宫毁灭证据,但是,你知道拔出器官是尸检标准?你 Google 一下  “Rokitanski metnod” 好不好? 这和你认为严重轮奸可以打破卵管显示你缺乏基本知识.

郭宝锋, 你妈妈叫你不要诽谤警察.

Aug 05

In recent days, there have been widespread and unchallenged reports of Rebiya Kadeer’s accusation in Japan that 10,000 Uighurs disappeared overnight in Urumqi on July 5. I can not find a transcript of Ms. Kadeer’s press conference speech. The following, from the Guardian, is one of the more detailed and also seemingly the most critical account of her accusation:

“Almost 10,000 people attending the protests in Urumqi disappeared in one night,” Kadeer, president of the pro-independence World Uighur Congress, said. “Where did they go? If they died, where are their bodies? If they were detained, where are they being held?”

It was unclear where Kadeer got her numbers from.

Continue reading »

Jul 30

China-America story compare

Written by: Charles Liu | Filed under:-guest-posts, General | Tags:, , , ,
No Comments » newest

Here are two stories of neglect and abuse, both involving children:

China: six year old locked in chick coop for a year

US: three children locked motel bathroom for a year

Thou oceans apart, both are tragic, inexcusable, and similar in terms of public reaction, sympathy for the victims, and reflection on each’s values.

Jul 28

Few threads ago, I brought to FM readers attention that WSJ had held a “debate” between two Indian nationals (college-age students in fact) on whether economic sanctions can drive democratic change in China.  The “debate” turned out to be pretty ignorant – so WSJ essentially pushed it aside (I think that was their reason) – WSJ readers bashed the debators – and – handful of FM readers (those commented anyways) agreed that the debate was indeed ignorant. Continue reading »