Becoming something…

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To get things started:
*VIDEO - Yangzte Notebook: Part One

This report helped me summarize a few things that I’ve been trying to share for a while. Part 2 will be coming soon.

At the heels of another decade of record-breaking growth China continues to follow the philosophy of economic growth that emphasizes the sacrifice of people now for greater advances later. The argument also becomes clear that this is true of their use of the environment as well. Expand supply to meet demand, a style of command and control that doesn’t take into account the scarcity of resources. The basics of economics become lost on minds expecting to exploit now and recover later. As fields of groundwater pumps come up empty, old reservoirs are polluted, and nearby regions are experiencing water shortages as a result of water diversion around Beijing, China’s pampered capital, the new solution is to divert water from the Yangtze River made possible by the Three Gorges Dam project.

Thanks to the upcoming Olympics you will begin to see many stories that expose a bit more of the underbelly of China’s dealings. Charles Gibson started his introduction to these video segments (seen above) something like this, “We have done many segments about the colossal economic growth of China, this report will show us the other side…” The International Olympic Committee has requirements about press and expects China to comply.
(1) Where’s the IOC’s Voice on Press Freedom in China?
(2) China, IOC Flailing In Response To Protest

China’s economic growth is rooted in separation. To “ease” the country into capitalist growth they put all their marbles in one bucket called special economic zones (SEZ). Benefits provided by these areas included things like low taxes, subsidies for development, and longer government land lease agreements. These SEZs began on the coast and in the capital and moved slightly inland. Even with some recent evening out, the capitalist “bug” never caught on elsewhere in the country as incentives rooted investment in now already economically networked and viable city centers.

What is surprising? What would you like to learn more about?

Part One - A river of example
Part Two - A river of example - mismanaged
Part Three - A river of example -damned

There were a few comments on my entry regarding my site being blocked in China. I figured the whole issue deserved a blog entry, especially since controlled free-speech isn’t something we can all relate to very well. I’ll begin with the cut and dry of the situation but also direct you to my own personal knowledge and some interesting articles.

Now to the questions posed specifically about my site and why it might be banned. There are a few possible reasons:
1) My content has been read randomly by government moderators and has been blocked because of content.
2) Automatic filters picked out specific keyword combinations from my entries and deemed the content inappropriate.
3) My blog runs on a WordPress.org platform. This is important because I know that all WordPress.com hosted blogs are blocked.

[Note] My chances of “detection” on any of those three counts was increased by the fact that my site is a blog. Blogs, forums, and other discussion formats can be closely watched and quickly banned or event destroyed if hosted in China. Subversive or dynamic sharing of information is the most threatening. Even texting has proved a recent challenge to the Chinese government as it as been used to suddenly form public protest through instant coordination (but don’t worry, they are working on systems to monitor that too).

So I could have been blocked for hosting a blog, using WordPress, or based on content.

I hope this answers any questions and brings up many more. Please read further, Continue reading »

Despite blatant issues, China still has a political agenda to try and prove their safety concerns. A rare seen expression of caution for this week’s current event,  Chinese Reject Imported Meat.

China has been blatantly putting its goals for economic growth at a premium while ignoring possible negative externalities. It is the policies themselves that in effect have further divided and created a rocky situation for China’s future. It is caused by the mess of being decentralized, having split urban and rural policies, locked in low-end industry, globalization and a division of benefits in which the exploitation of resources isn’t even evenly split among the rural and urban citizens. There have been changes in policy but no actual direction in enforcement.

Even though I study Chinese (Mandarin), I’ve always talked it down as being such a big opportunity.  Since I had studied abroad there, China has always stood out as having a list of unresolved issues.  They might have the money to make the Olympics in 2008 look good for Beijing and China but the issues are real and intense.  It can be overlooked in the new and be a lot to follow.  Most people see China as a land of growth and opportunity but with limited resources, social unrest, and the recent scandals with botched products there are still many obstacles to overcome.  Each year there are more and more protests reported and recorded by the central government. You can assume underreporting and poor documentation of these things anyways. Recently over 70,000/yr. major protests were recorded. There is a high level of uncertainty with China. Hopefully these quotations can evaporate the dream clouds that many see over China.

Continue reading »