Posted in china, economics, politics, tagged china, east asia, economics, greater east asia co-prosperity sphere, international relations, japan, korea, politics, taiwan on June 20, 2008 | 2 Comments »
A sense of community elusive in East Asia
The article above is pretty interesting in it’s criticism of Asian countries for failing to put aside the past and move forward as a community like what Europe did/is doing. Here’s an excerpt:
To be blunt, there is no community. Each of the major countries - China, Japan and [...]
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Posted in china, culture, economics, tagged china, economics, food, meat, mobile, prices, telecom, unicom on May 31, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The Rise of China and Meat Prices
Back when I was in California growing up, my parents would occasionally take us out to eat at western restaurants or fast food places. I was generally able to finish my food as a kid, but my sister used to be able to eat only a spec of food before she explodes [...]
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Posted in china, culture, economics, olympics, politics, random, tagged china, olympics, politics, economics, yao ming, earthquake, hackers, democracy, sports, liu xiang, black taxi on May 28, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Alright, I kinda wanna talk about something other than the earthquake, so here are some random things I’ve been thinking about.
First of all, there’s sports. A lot of people in the United States like to call Yao Ming and Liu Xiang tools of the CCP. I mean they really don’t have much personality when compared to [...]
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A Wake-Up Call to Guangdong
So here’s another article related to the current rise in grain prices. This time, it talks specifically about my beloved ancestral home’s province - Guangdong.
Sadly, I don’t have much time to write today, so I’ll just leave with that link.
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When I first came to China in 2005, I basically assumed that everything in China was cheaper than back in the states. I mean with an exchange rate of $1:8RMB, China having low inflation, and everything being made in China (no extra costs from tariffs or transportation or middlemen), it seemed to be a pretty [...]
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Posted in china, economics, tagged china, economics, inflation, peasants, politics, prices, rice, rising, smuggling, wheat on May 5, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Cracking Down on Grain Smugglers
Well, I had a feeling this was going to happen. What’s that scientific term called again… you know, like it explains the reason why when someone farts the smell spreads across the room? I don’t think it’s osmosis… it’s something else, but I can’t remember.
Having low grain prices was used initially [...]
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China may lease foreign fields
Wow, this is pretty interesting. So China plans to rent land from other countries, grow food on it, and then ship the food back to China to decrease grain prices. At first glance, this would seem like globalization at it’s best: I mean without low transportation costs, how else could this [...]
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Carrefour to Scrap Sales
Damn, I was actually kinda looking forward to this. I mean sales of up to 50% from May 1st to the 4th? There’s so much stuff I want to get, like a welcome mat, a nice blanket, a fan for the coming summer, yogurt, Kirin milk tea, cheese, ham… oh, and tuna [...]
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So I’m currently reading China: Transitions and Growth by Barry Naugton. (Not a bad read, a little academic and dry, but not bad) I’m currently on the part about the urban-rural divide and he mentioned that in 2005, there was going to hukou reform in three provinces. The reforms were supposed to remove the distinction [...]
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China’s Stock Market Falls in Half in Six Months
Oh dear me, I soooooo called it… but then again, it was so bloody obvious that everyone called it. So I still remember distinctly back when I was hanging out in hot and humid Guangzhou getting my knee looked at by this old doctor dude. There were all these [...]
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