Chinese cities you've never heard of, but should know - Part 5

The city featured in this installment isn't a city yet. It is a cluster of cities in southern China that will one day in the not-too-distant future be, at 42 million people, the largest city in the world.

From The Telegraph:

City planners in south China have laid out an ambitious plan to merge together the nine cities that lie around the Pearl River Delta.

The "Turn The Pearl River Delta Into One" scheme will create a 16,000 sq mile urban area that is 26 times larger geographically than Greater London, or twice the size of Wales.

The new mega-city will cover a large part of China's manufacturing heartland, stretching from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and including Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing. Together, they account for nearly a tenth of the Chinese economy.

Over the next six years, around 150 major infrastructure projects will mesh the transport, energy, water and telecommunications networks of the nine cities together, at a cost of some 2 trillion yuan (£190 billion). An express rail line will also connect the hub with nearby Hong Kong.

"The idea is that when the cities are integrated, the residents can travel around freely and use the health care and other facilities in the different areas," said Ma Xiangming, the chief planner at the Guangdong Rural and Urban Planning Institute and a senior consultant on the project.

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There's no doubt that there will be plenty of people willing to populate this new monstrosity. Tens of millions of people flock to Chinese cities every year. Everybody in China wants to get in on the new opportunities city life provides.

The audacity of this plan is startling. This project in southern China makes previous large infrastructure projects - the Panama Canal, the US interstate highway system, and even the Three Gorges Dam - seem like child's play. The logistics involved with creating such a vast "city" is on a totally different plane from previous man-made ventures.


Image of Shenzhen from Reuters

Reading this story today, I immediately thought of some of the words President Obama said last night in his State of the Union address. From near the end of his speech talking about the need for the US to become a more competitive nation:

We should have no illusions about the work ahead of us. Reforming our schools, changing the way we use energy, reducing our deficit — none of this will be easy. All of it will take time. And it will be harder because we will argue about everything. The costs. The details. The letter of every law.

Of course, some countries don't have this problem. If the central government wants a railroad, they build a railroad, no matter how many homes get bulldozed. If they don't want a bad story in the newspaper, it doesn't get written.

And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth.

The Entire Transcript

There's no question who these words were targeted towards. China is a challenge Obama has to deal with every day.

Obama spent last week schmoozing President Hu here in the US. He surely hears everyday from disgruntled voters out of work due to "jobs being shipped over to China." Forty-seven percent of Americans believe, incorrectly, that China's economy is the largest in the world.

I was moved by Obama's speech last night. I've seen many mock his "Sputnick-moment" rhetoric. I'm also not sure that the post-partisanship he's pushing for is going to last. But I appreciate the, to borrow a word I've already used in this post, audacity of what he said last night.

No matter what one thinks of Obama and his policies, he proved last night that he understands what has made the US what it is. His exhorting of innovation and ingenuity in the face of strong challenges from abroad was inspiring.

Is China's economy and world influence going to surpass the US in the coming decades? Most likely it will. Considering its population, it's not that surprising that it would. But even if it does, I think there's something to what Obama said in his speech.

China's economy can and will continue to boom. It will build cities and undertake projects that put America to shame. No matter how big it gets, though, China's citizenry is still not going to have basic rights that citizens of the US and other democracies enjoy. No amount of development or wealth creation will ever be able to make up for the basic freedoms denied in China.

Recap of Obama's Trip

One of my favorite podcasts - The New Yorker's "Political Scene" - did a great job discussing Obama's trip to China this past week. The conversation can be heard here.

Evan Osnos, The New Yorker's main China writer, knows his stuff.

Obama to Meet His "Chinese" Family

Obama is going to meet his half-brother, who lives in Shenzhen, this coming week while he's in China.

From The Telegraph:

US President Barack Obama hopes to meet his half-brother Mark Ndesandjo and his sister-in-law during his first official visit to China. Ndesandjo and his Chinese wife live in Shenzhen - a southern city neighbouring Hong Kong - and plan to fly to Beijing to meet his famous relative.

"It will be the first time for Mark to introduce his wife to President Obama," a spokeswoman for AmCham in South China said.

Ndesandjo told China's state-run Xinhua news agency that he wanted his wife, who is from the central eastern province of Henan, to meet the US president as "she is one of Obama's loyal fans".

Ndesandjo, son of Obama's late father and his third wife, Ruth Nidesand, also said that he was delighted that the president was taking the opportunity to see China for himself during his first visit to Asia.

"I am very glad that he is coming here himself to experience Chinese culture," he was quoted as saying.

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Last year about this time, I heard a lot about Obama's "Chinese brother" from my Chinese co-workers and friends. At first, I didn't know what they were talking about. But then I learned about Ndesandjo. Obama's relationship to Ndesandjo and Ndesandjo's relationship to China are, indeed, unique.

I think that this personal connection to China could help Obama's relationship with the country. Such ties to a place undoubtedly change one's perceptions. Of course, there's a lot that goes into the relationship between China and the US and such a connection isn't going to have that much influence. But it could have some.

As I've said many times, I'm confident that the US/China relationship is going to be the most important bilateral one going forward. Obama seems to be doing a good job so far towards China (China's still buying US debt, tensions relatively low, etc.) in a very turbulent time and I hope that such can continue.

Listening to the Chinese

The Obama Administration attempted an interesting public relations experiment yesterday.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Image from Ironicsurrealism.blogvisits.com

China’s bloggers are a focus of organizers of President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit, echoing similar efforts by the administration to use social-media tools to communicate with Americans.

On Thursday, U.S. State Department officials held simultaneous press briefings for a select group of predominantly Chinese bloggers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, giving a rundown of the U.S. president’s China schedule and took questions from the bloggers.

The attendee list included many influential bloggers, such as journalist Michael Anti, who blogs about freedom of the press, and Rao Jin, whose Anti-CNN Web site scrutinizes China coverage by the news network and other foreign media.

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This symposium with bloggers, along with the meeting with Chinese youth that Obama (says he) wants to have, is very progressive. Bill Clinton had similar open discussions when he visited China in the 1990s. I like to see Obama trying to connect with Chinese people directly. Based on the general positive things I heard about Bill Clinton, I think that Chinese people appreciate these kinds of gestures and attempts to hear what they have to say.

I hope that the upcoming trip goes well. Even if Obama's domestic numbers aren't as meteoric as they were before, he's still a huge asset to America abroad.

It'll be interesting to see how forceful Obama is in China next week. In the past, democrats have been far more critical of China than republicans. Particularly on human rights, democrats have traditionally been more willing to stir the pot than republicans, who were happy to see China's role as a trading partner expanding.

Like Clinton and Pelosi were earlier this year, I would not expect Obama to cause much trouble. He knows that the US needs China on board right now. I can't imagine that the US can or will be combative or overly ideological right now.

Obama's Prize

The announcement of Obama's award is perplexing everyone in the world, including the Chinese.

From AFP:

WASHINGTON — China's dissidents are voicing unease about President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, saying that the award could have been effective in promoting human rights in their country.

...

Huang Ciping, an engineer turned activist who is executive director of Wei's Washington-based foundation, said that China "has come to such a turning point that the prize might have helped."

"The Nobel Peace Prize committee has the full right to decide to give coal to those who suffer and struggle or to present flowers to the powerful," she said.

But she said of the decision: "It is both a pity for the Chinese people and a danger to world peace."

Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of China's Uighur minority, congratulated Obama but called on him to use the added prestige to put pressure on "dictatorships like China."

"I am very happy that he got it. Now he has to do something with the award. It raises expectations on him to stand up for oppressed nations," she told AFP.

Read the whole article

I was shocked to hear that Obama won the Nobel Prize yesterday. My first reaction to the news was like many others, "What for?" From the sounds of it, such was Obama's reaction too.

Domestically, Obama really doesn't need this right now. It gives his right-wing critics more ammunition for the idea that he is some kind of messiah-like figure (and this is a meme that American's have been pretty open to accepting). But unlike wing-nuts, I don't think Obama deserves any criticism here. It's not like he lobbied to win this thing. The award was given to him unprovoked and it's obvious that it caught Obama by surprise, just like it did everybody else.

I believe there is truth to what the people in the above article are saying. The opportunity cost of Obama winning is great. There are lots of people, especially within China, who are deserving of the award.

Hopefully, this award spurs Obama and America to improve itself. For better or worse, the US President is still the most important person on the planet. If the prize can kick-start a renewed spirit here, Obama could prove to be a great selection.

US Losing Luster

When it comes to the question of which country the rest of the world would rather be with - the US or China - the choice is not as easy as it used to be.

From Korea's Chosun Ilbo:

Image from china-briefing.com

The American "hegemony" is receding, leading economist Jeffrey Sachs said Tuesday in an article for the Financial Times on the G20 Summit held in Pittsburgh. The article was titled "America has passed on the baton." In mid-September, 16 U.S. intelligence agencies released a document which pointed to Beijing as one of Washington's main global challengers in the future. All this shows that the U.S. is on the ebb in the 21st century, while China's international standing and influence are rising rapidly.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. has concentrated foreign policy attention on the Middle East, which it pointed to as the source of terrorism, but has paid less attention to Asia, Africa and Latin America. By contrast, China has been expanding its influence and raising its profile in those areas.

Citing Asia as an example, Newsweek said Asian nations are being asked to decide where they stand between the U.S. and China, as these two powers are building their respective alliances and engaging in fierce competition. All this was sparked by two military exercises staged in Asia in 2007. One was Malabar 07, an exercise initiated by the U.S. and joined by Australia, India, Japan, and Singapore. The other was the Peace Mission 07 under China's initiative and joined by members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The SCO is a group formed by Beijing and Moscow in 2001 ostensibly dedicated to combating terrorism. With the exercise as momentum, weaker Southeast Asian nations such as Burma and Cambodia as well as Central Asian countries came under China's influence, experts say.

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"Either you're with us or you're against us."

That doesn't have quite the same bite after Bush and his administration took their eye off the ball (China) and focused solely on "killing the terrorists" during their reign. Thanks for being such a visionary leader, President Bush.

The move away from China towards America isn't solely limited to alliances and political support. Businesses across the globe are lining up with China too.

From AFP:

ISTANBUL — The nascent global recovery is dividing Latin America between economies that pay the price for ties with the United States and those that benefit from growing links with Asia, experts said.

"The US economy is getting better, but with a lot of uncertainty along the road," Nicolas Eyzaguirre, the International Monetary Fund's Latin American director, said at a conference Friday in Istanbul.

"The effect on Latin America will be very different depending on what's your level of policy preparedness and what's your linkage with the US and vis-a-vis Asia," he said.

In its economic forecasts published Thursday, the IMF said that Latin America had begun to recover from the global economic crisis and would post growth of 2.9 percent in 2010.

But there were wide disparities, with countries such as Mexico, which depends heavily on the United States, losing out and others like Brazil benefiting from rising exports to China.

The United States is the epicentre of the crisis, while China is leading global growth.

...

Goldfajn, a former deputy governor Brazil's central bank, said Brazil used to export mostly to the United States, but "China is overcoming exactly now the US as our main export destination" for the first time in the country's history.

The economist said that generally the region's economic health depends on the degree of economic links to the United States, saying Colombia, Brazil or Argentina were at a safer distance.

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The awarding of the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio was a substantial repudiation against the US. The rest of the world is not in awe of the US' greatness any more. It's gotten so bad that Obama's visit and impassioned plea to the IOC was rewarded with being the first site to be eliminated. I understand that there were a lot of politics not related to Obama behind the decision, but there's no doubt that Chicago being eliminated first was a substantial, symbolic slap in the face.

America is way off of where it was even a decade ago. It's hard to see how or when it will get back to where it once was.

China is on the rise and is going to continue to be a yin to America's yang.

Obama in November

Obama is going to make it over to China in November.

From Reuters:

Image from France24.com

BEIJING, Aug 22 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will visit China in mid-November, the new United States ambassador to Beijing said on Saturday, setting a date for a big summit likely to tackle the global economy, North Korea and climate change.

Washington's new envoy to Beijing, Jon Huntsman Jr., told reporters Obama "is going to be visiting in the middle of November", but he did not give specific dates.

Until now, neither Beijing nor Washington has publicly given such a firm time for the big visit.

It means the U.S. President is likely to go to Beijing and perhaps other regional capitals after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit in Singapore on 14-15 November.

Huntsman, speaking at his residence after arriving in the Chinese capital, said relations between the two economic and political powers were improving.

"By the end of the year, we should be in better shape than ever before between the United States and China," he said, in a speech that switched between English and fluent Mandarin Chinese.

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It'll be crazy when Obama comes over here. I can imagine that China, on the whole, will be pretty fired up. I don't hear about Obama that much anymore over here, but I think he's still a fairly popular guy.

I know that Obama's numbers are down now in America. From what I can tell, a lot of people are very underwhelmed with how he's doing. I'm having a bit of trouble gauging his performance and America's reaction to him from China. I'm looking forward to immersing myself into more American news and politics when I get back to the States soon.

Cruisin' on E-Bikes

This won't really surprised anyone who's been to China the past couple years; electric bikes are really popular over here.

From The Associated Press:

SHANGHAI — It's a simple pleasure, but Xu Beilu savors it daily: gliding past snarled traffic on her motorized bicycle, relaxed and sweat-free alongside the pedal-pushing masses. China, the world's bicycle kingdom — one for every three inhabitants — is going electric.

Workers weary of crammed public transport or pedaling long distances to jobs are upgrading to battery-powered bikes and scooters. Even some who can afford cars are ditching them for electric two-wheelers to avoid traffic jams and expensive gasoline.

The bicycle was a vivid symbol of China in more doctrinaire communist times, when virtually no one owned a car. Even now, nearly two decades after the country began its great leap into capitalism, it still has 430 million bicycles by government count, outnumbering electric bikes and scooters 7-1.

But production of electric two-wheelers has soared from fewer than 200,000 eight years ago to 22 million last year, mostly for the domestic market. The industry estimates about 65 million are on Chinese roads.

Car sales are also booming but there are still only 24 million for civilian use, because few of the 1.3 billion population can afford them. And unlike in many other developing countries, Chinese cities still have plenty of bicycle lanes, even if some have made way for cars and buses.

"E-bike" riders are on the move in the morning or late at night, in good weather or bad. When it's wet, they are a rainbow army in plastic capes. On fine days, women don gloves, long-sleeved white aprons and face-covering sun guards.

One of them is Xu, on her Yamaha e-bike, making the half-hour commute from her apartment to her job as a marketing manager. She had thought of buying a car but dropped the idea. "It's obvious that driving would be more comfortable, but it's expensive," she says.

"I like riding my e-bike during rush hour, and sometimes enjoy a laugh at the people stuck in taxis. It's so convenient and helpful in Shanghai, since the traffic is worse than ever."



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A few months ago, I bought a mountain bike from a friend of mine who was returning back to America. The lightly-used bike, an XDS MA530, cost less than half of what I would've bought it for new. It's the best bike I've ever owned. It's a 21-speed, has shocks, and disc breaks. Here's a stock photo I just found of it on the internet:



While it is an old-fashioned pedal bike and not an electric one like those featured in this article, I can definitely relate with that last quote of the abstract above. Cruising around on a bike is vastly superior to riding other kinds of transportation.

As the article mentions, Chinese streets are well-equipped with bike lanes. Just about every main street in Xi'an has a small bike lane off to the side of the street for two-wheeled traffic. This makes cruising around (relatively) safe and quick.

I can get from my apartment into the city to meet Qian at work in about fifteen minutes on my bike. On a city bus, the trip would take at least twenty minutes (if I don't have to wait very long for the bus to come). And while a taxi would be faster than my bike, it'd cost about 15RMB ($2). So I view my bike riding as the best way for me to get around the city.

One of the interesting aspects of my bike riding in Xi'an is that I wear a cloth mask covering my mouth and nose as I cruise around. After I began riding several months ago, I realized that my throat would hurt after being out on the streets. Particularly after riding on a typical gray and smoggy day in Xi'an. I found wearing a mask really helps though. Sometimes I'll ride for a while, reach my destination, and then take off my mask only to find that the air outside actually stinks. But I hadn't realized this until taking off the mask.

It sounds as if the electric bikes are helping out with this problem of terrible urban pollution. Although the bikes are not a long-term pollution prevention because the bikes still require electricity (provided by, more often than not, coal-fired power plants in China) and have serious problems with disposal of the large batteries (that is discussed in the article above).

Despite the problems associated with electric bikes, they're a step in the right direction. I really enjoy seeing them on the streets of Xi'an. I have no problem being passed by an electric bike on the streets of Xi'an. A gasoline-powered one shooting exhaust in my face is another story all together.

And I can't expect all of China to stay content with pedal bikes like I am at the moment.

Obama's Blockberry

I guarantee this wouldn't have happened to John McCain. Obama's been Shanzhai'd!

The picture and story below are from The Wall St. Journal's "China Journal:"

It’s the biggest product launch of the year: a Chinese company is selling a BlackBerry-like device with promotional assistance from none other than the President of the United States.

Okay, not really. But that’s the idea behind this ad, the latest emanation from China’s zany shanzhai culture, a mixture of old-school copycatting and arch parody.

The ad promotes a smartphone called the “BlockBerry旋风 9500” (旋风, xuanfeng, means “whirlwind”), that more-than-slightly resembles the BlackBerry Storm, Research In Motion’s (RIMM) first touch-screen device, released last fall. The touch-screen BlockBerry purportedly runs on Windows Mobile software, has WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G wireless capabilities, and comes in six colors, from purple to champagne. “Obama’s BlackBerry. My Blockberry旋风 9500,” reads the tagline below the president’s photo (which is inverted, apparently by a sloppy layout designer, with the American-flag pin backwards on the wrong lapel). China Journal admittedly hasn’t verified this with Robert Gibbs, but we’ll go out on a limb and say that Obama’s presence in the ad is unauthorized.

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I wanted to post something more substantive today, but couldn't resist highlighting this ad. It cracks me up.

I've talked a few times before about Shanzhai culture in China. Coming from a country that is one of the biggest enforcers of intellectual property rights in the world, this culture continues to amaze me. It is literally everywhere on every street in Xi'an. Fake everything everywhere.

I couldn't help but laugh a couple times as I read the Shanzhai Wikipedia page:

The use of “shanzhai” became popular with the outstanding sale performance of “shanzhai” cell phones. According to Gartner’s data, 1.15 billion cell phones were sold worldwide in 2007, and according to data provided by the Chinese government 150 million “Shanzhai” cell phones were sold in the same year, thus making up more than one tenth of the global sales. [3]

The market for “shanzhai” cell phones lies not only in China, but also in the surrounding developing countries in Asia or even third world countries in Africa. The outstanding sales performance of “shanzhai” cell phones is usually attributed to their low price, (usually lower than $50), multi-functional performance and imitations of trendy cell phone design. Although “shanzhai” companies do not use branding as a marketing strategy, they are known for their flexibility of design to meet specific market needs. For example, during Barack Obama’s 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign, “shanzhai” cell phone companies started selling “Obama” cell phones in Kenya, with the slogan “yes we can” and Obama’s name on the back of the cell phone. [4] They also designed “ Bird Nest” and “Fuwa” (福娃) cell phones in light of the Beijing Olympic Games.

...

Shanzhaiism 山寨主義 is a philosophical term denoting a Chinese style of innovation with a peasant mind-set. Western style innovation cannot be developed in China. In the Web2.0 era, most products and services are produced by the west. It seems that China has no say and no way in the Web2.0 era.

Shanzhaiism has a long tradition. Products needed to be designed to suit peasants which account for most of the Chinese population.

Shanzhaiism has an equivalent English term: tinker. Lacking a garage, they build products in villages in the mountain that have stockade houses. However, with shanzhaiism in mind, people can produce fake and pirate products in a massively organized way.

...

The frequent reference of “shanzhai” cell phone on internet and in traditional media made people started labeling low-cost imitation cultural activities as “shanzhai” as well. Some of the most well-known events include, “Shanzhai” National Spring Gala (“山寨春节联欢晚会”), “Shanzhai” Lecture Room (“山寨百家讲坛”), “Shanzhai” Olympic Torch Relay (“山寨奥运火炬传递”), and “Shanzhai” Nobel Prize (“山寨诺贝尔奖”). One thing these events have in common is that they all imitate high-end, popular yet authoritative events in which grass-root power usually has no participating role.

While the purpose of above mentioned “shanzhai” events are arguably just for the participants to have fun and to experience being the authority, other “shanzhai” cultural phenomenon, like the “shanzhai” product, is profit-oriented. One example of such is that some low-end performing agencies will hire people who look like pop stars to perform in rural areas, where people cannot afford to watch the performance of the actual stars. Thus “shanzhai” Jay Chou( “山寨周杰伦”), “shanzhai” Andy Lau(“山寨刘德华”, “shanzhai” Faye Wong(“山寨王菲”)s’ performance can be seen in many underdeveloped places in China.

Shanzhai is definitely ingrained into Chiense culture. As China develops and becomes wealthier, it's going to be interesting to see how this culture develops and how the country deals with the phenomenon.

Economic War Games

The financial crisis is causing the US to rethink just about everything it does. One of the most important areas being reconsidered is its planning for future wars and its best options for combating future enemies.

From Politico (h/t to The Automatic Earth):

Photos from The Daily Mail and AP

The Pentagon sponsored a first-of-its-kind war game last month focused not on bullets and bombs — but on how hostile nations might seek to cripple the U.S. economy, a scenario made all the more real by the global financial crisis.

The two-day event near Ft. Meade, Maryland, had all the earmarks of a regular war game. Participants sat along a V-shaped set of desks beneath an enormous wall of video monitors displaying economic data, according to the accounts of three participants.

“It felt a little bit like Dr. Strangelove,” one person who was at the previously undisclosed exercise told POLITICO.

But instead of military brass plotting America’s defense, it was hedge-fund managers, professors and executives from at least one investment bank, UBS – all invited by the Pentagon to play out global scenarios that could shift the balance of power between the world’s leading economies.

Their efforts were carefully observed and recorded by uniformed military officers and members of the U.S. intelligence community.

In the end, there was sobering news for the United States – the savviest economic warrior proved to be China, a growing economic power that strengthened its position the most over the course of the war-game.

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Is there even any question at this point in time as to whether China is a superpower or not? It looks like China may even be able to overtake the country that's been the superpower for the past twenty years - the United States.

The Politico article goes on to talk about the lessons learned from the exercise and some reasons why the Chinese were, in fact, the winners of the simulation.

At the end of the two days, the Chinese team emerged as the victors of the overall game – largely because the Russian and American teams had made so many moves against each other that they damaged their own standing to the benefit of the Chinese.

Bracken says he left the event with two important insights – first, that the United States needs an integrated approach to managing financial and what the Pentagon calls “kinetic” – or shooting – wars. For example he says, the U.S. Navy is involved in blockading Iran, and the U.S. is also conducting economic war against Iran in the form of sanctions. But he argues there isn’t enough coordination between the two efforts.

And second, Bracken says, the event left him questioning one prevailing assumption about economic warfare, that the Chinese would never dump dollars on the global market to attack the US economy because it would harm their own holdings at the same time. Bracken said the Chinese have a middle option between dumping and holding US dollars – they could sell dollars in increments, ratcheting up economic uncertainty in the United States without wiping out their own savings. “There’s a graduated spectrum of options here,” Bracken said.

Indeed, the US is in a precarious situation. It's gambled its future on backing up toxic assets and saving its failed financial systems. It now is married to possible adversaries because those countries are financing its "economic recovery" packages.

Seeing how poorly the Pentagon has handled the wars its been mired in so far in the twenty-first century, I'm concerned about how my country would conduct itself if the world economy continues to tank and countries across the globe get increasingly desperate.

Sure, W. is no longer the president. But I haven't seen profound change from Obama and the way he's running things. From the guy in charge of the financial systems to the guy in charge of the military, Obama seems to be very conventional in who he's chosen to help him run the country.

I admit that things are getting better with Obama as president. But to say that the status quo has been completely changed from the Bush presidency just doesn't seem to be true to me. And in the end, the president can only do so much as one person. Even if Obama is leaps and bounds smarter than Bush, if the people around him are the same people who helped run America into the ground with the previous president, well, that's a serious problem.

The fact that these war games brought in such a wide variety of people and agencies shows that the battlefield in future conflicts will be exponentially larger than where soldiers or war vehicles rove. The institutions that Obama builds and that work for him will be the ones that determine the future of the US.

Obama and Hu at the "G2" Summit

The two most powerful people in the world met yesterday.

From AFP:

LONDON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama and Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed to fight protectionism and work to improve military ties at their first face-to-face meeting in London on Wednesday.

Obama also accepted "with pleasure" an invitation to go to China in the second half of the year, the White House said after the pair met ahead of the Group of 20 summit.

The leaders agreed to "strengthen ties at all levels" ranging from the economy to fighting terrorism, and would expand consultations on "non-proliferation and other international security topics," the White House said.

"The two sides agreed to resume the human rights dialogue as soon as possible," the statement said.

A recent US Defence Department report warning of China's growing military power angered Beijing. China cut off military exchanges last year over the planned US sale of weapons to Taiwan.

But the statement said: "Both sides share a commitment to military-to-military relations and will work for their continued improvement and development."

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As the Financial Times put forward, this week is all about the "G2," not the "G20:"

The meeting yesterday between Barack Obama and Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart, on the sidelines of the G20 summit had been described by some as "the G2" and marked the first encounter between the two men.

During the meeting, Mr Hu stressed China's commitment to strengthening macro-economic control and expanding domestic demand, the White House said. The two leaders agreed to work together to renew world economic growth, strengthen the financial system, and establish a "strategic and economic dialogue" group that would first meet in Washington later this year. The White House also announced that Mr Obama would visit China in the second half of the year.

But with China demonstrating that it now wants to play a much more decisive role in international economic affairs, their meeting may have also set the tone for the rest of the London summit.

While talk of an emerging "G2" ignores the increasingly multilateral basis of financial diplomacy, it does reflect the reality that, on an increasing range of international issues, little can happen without agreement between the US and China first.

...

"In my 16 years of covering China I have never seen the country approach an international forum in such a proactive way," says Dong Tao, economist at Credit Suisse.

"China has traditionally been passive on the international stage, being a listener rather than an opinion leader, but this time it's different. China wants to make sure [its] voice is being heard."

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The Chinese media seems to have given approval on the talks.

From Xinhua News:

BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The summit between the two presidents of China and the United States, the largest developing country and developed country, is well timed and bears special significance as the world is bogged down in the worst economic crisis in decades, analysts say.

On the sidelines of the G20 summit in London, Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama held their first meeting Wednesday, focusing on actions to fight the devastating global financial crisis.

Many observers believe the summit came at a right time when the Obama administration just took office for a short time and the China-U.S. relations are to embrace a new start.

Pei Minxin, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said "it is a positive sign for China and the U.S. to have a better start under the Obama administration, compared with the same period under President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush."

"Overall, bilateral relations have been proceeding in a stable manner despite a few rows since President Obama was sworn in January," Pei said.

"Obviously, both sides have a strong will to push bilateral ties forward towards a healthier direction...and a strong indicator of it is the unexpected success of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to China in February," he added.

As chief U.S. diplomat, Clinton initiated the judgement that "U.S.-china relationship is the world's most important of the 21stcentury."

Read On

Agreed upon at the talks were an increase in scope when it comes to US/China meetings and summits.

From The Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Wednesday it will continue high-level talks with China started under the Bush administration, but will only hold one per year while expanding the scope beyond economics to foreign policy.

Announcing the change, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the first meeting in the new administration will take place this summer in Washington.

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson began the high-level talks in 2006 during a time of growing tension over America's soaring trade deficit with China. American manufacturers charged that China was manipulating its currency value to gain trade advantages.

Paulson sought to use the talks to bring pressure on the Chinese to allow their currency to rise in value against the dollar, an effort that was only partially successful.

In the Bush administration, the discussions took place twice a year rotating between China and the U.S. The Obama administration has reduced the number to one and elevated the role the State Department will play in the discussions. Treasury and State now will share responsibilities for guiding the talks.

Administration officials said the changes were being made to broaden the discussions between the two nations. While the talks would only occur once a year, the administration plans to have that session take place only after extensive preparatory work by officials in both countries.

Read On

Although yesterday's meeting was a big show and surely lacked any hard-hitting substance, I'm happy to see that it went well. There is a lot of pressure on both sides to push the other. US/China relations, like they always are, will probably be the touchiest they've been in some time during the financial crisis.

Being vested in both countries, I hope that the two leaders can step up and be great leaders in terms of their balancing of this delicate relationship.

I wonder if Xi'an will be on the list of cities that Obama visits in China later this year. It would be quite the trip to see Obama here in Xi'an. While Xi'an may not be the most important or strategic city for Obama to visit, it does have the Terracotta Warriors!!1!



Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea came to Xi'an in 1998. They visited the terracotta warriors, spent some time in a poor Shaanxi village, and spoke from atop the South Gate of Xi'an's impressive Ming Dynasty City Walls.

President Obama, Mark's China Blog officially welcomes you to Xi'an.

Chimerica to the Rescue?

Harvard history professor, Niall Ferguson, posits that the most important concept propping up the world's economies and social stability today is "Chimerica."

Here is a snippet of his explanation on his theoretical entity in a recent article from Globalinvestor.com:

...

Heather Scoffield: Is the U.S. able to escape with less pain (in the current financial crisis) because it has more resources to throw at its problems?

Niall Ferguson: “Partly because they can throw so much at it, and they can do it at a lower cost than anybody else, because the U.S. retains the safe-haven status, which makes the world so unfair. Here is the world's biggest economy, which gave us subprime mortgages, rampant securitization, the collateralized debt obligation, Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch. It is, in a sense, the fons et origo of this crisis. And yet, because it retains safe-haven status, in a global crisis, investors want to increase their exposure to the U.S. Hence, the dollar rally. Hence 10-year Treasuries down below 3 per cent yields. It's almost paradoxical that an American crisis ... reinforces the status of the United States as a safe haven.”

Heather Scoffield: Surely that safe-haven status would be revoked if China loses faith in the U.S. ability to finance its debt?

Niall Ferguson: As you know, Chimerica – the fusion of China and America – is one of my big ideas. It's really the key to how the global financial system works, and has been now for about a decade. At the end of The Ascent of Money, I speculate about whether or not that relationship will survive. If it breaks down, then all bets are off, for the U.S. and indeed for Asia. I think that's really the key point. Both sides stand to lose from a breakdown of Chimerica, which is why both sides are affirming a commitment to it.”

“It's very interesting that the Chinese in the last week were saying such soothing things around the [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton visit. This was only days after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used the dreaded ‘m' word – currency manipulation.

Heather Scoffield: Why would the U.S. administration poke a stick in China's eye like that?

Niall Ferguson: “You obviously have to recognize that Democrats have been more hawkish on China for some time, than the Republicans ... But I think Tim Geithner is smart enough to know that this is a very dangerous game to play and I would be very surprised if you heard that word again pass his lips.”

Heather Scoffield: Did the Clinton visit improve the China-U.S. relationship?

Niall Ferguson: It looks like it....The line is very clear from China. They've consistently made their position clear. They want the status quo. They do not want this thing to break down... It's a very good bilateral relation. That bilateral will is important here. The Chinese believe in Chimerica maybe even more than Americans do.

Read the full interview here

Before finding this article, I'd never heard of Ferguson. Based on a cursory glance at his Wikipedia page, it sounds like his career is not without controversy. He's been accused by some of being a right-wing apologist for the US "empire" and a sloppy academic.

So I'm not sure exactly what to say of Ferguson as a source of information. Saying that, I found this interview very thought-provoking. This probably is not much of a surprise to readers of this blog who've witnessed me trying to make sense of the financial crisis over the past few months.

Although the idea of "Chimerica" surely would freak out a lot of people both in China and the US, I quite like the idea. It is very reassuring to me.

On a personal level, I like the idea that the two countries I'm connected to at the hip have a very good reason to keep good relations with the other. And then aside from my personal biases and on a more intellectual level, I find Ferguson's idea of Chimerica, on it surface, to be quite logical. The world's only current superpower and the superpower-in-waiting seem to need each other pretty badly.

In a financial sense, I believe the Taoist yin yang is a pretty good way to think of the countries' relationship.

The US is addicted to debt and consumption. Meanwhile, China has the world's largest population and is a nation of savers. The US demands an unbelievable amount of stuff that it can't afford. China has the ability to produce that stuff as well as finance the US' debt. The US gets to keep its incredibly high standard of living and China stimulates the demand its rapidly-growing exporting-based economy requires.

Both countries win.



In the last question of the interview, Ferguson again touches on Chimerica:

Heather Scoffield: We've discussed many possible nasty outcomes to this crisis. Is there a way out?

Niall Ferguson: “We've discussed two reasons to non-suicidal. I'm trying to stay cheerful. One is that Chimerica is holding up. The Chinese don't seem to want to get divorced from their American spouse.”

“The other is that this isn't leading to World War Three or Four, depending on how many world wars you think there have been. There will be instability, but I don't see that instability producing something as huge as the 20th century conflicts. But it's hard to see a simple and quick macroeconomic happy ending. That I really struggle to visualize.

...

For the sake of my two countries - China and America - as well as the rest of the world, I truly hope that this Chimerica marriage of convenience stays in tact.

One could very well argue that this yin and yang relationship got us into the crisis in the first place. So it might be tempting to think that it could be a good thing to end it now. But when I look at the broad picture and the possible consequences of a fracturing of the two counties' ties, I'd take my chances of Chimerica.

Although it's been a rocky, bubble-based relationship so far, it makes sense to me that Chimerica could thrive in a more sober, post-2007 financial crisis.

Clinton Throwing Around Chinese Idioms

During her trip to China this week, Hillary Clinton took on the daunting task of using four character Chinese idioms.

From McClatchy Newspapers:

Here's a lesson on when to use Chinese proverbs and who to use them with.

Short answer: It's probably best for Westerners not to try to out-proverb the Chinese, especially when speaking with Premier Wen Jiabao.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just passed through China, and she displayed a propensity to throw Chinese proverbs into her public statements, exclaiming at one point: "I love Chinese proverbs!"

She tossed out her first Chinese proverb before even departing on her weeklong trip, and in some ways it was apt.

In a speech on U.S.-China relations to the Asia Society on Feb. 13 in New York, Clinton used the aphorism "tongchuan gongji," which means roughly "when on a common boat, cross the river peacefully together." The proverb was made famous in "The Art of War," the book by the ancient philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu. Most listeners probably got the gist of what Clinton was seeking to say: The United States and China have common problems and should work together.

Like most Chinese proverbs, this one contains four characters (and four syllables) but is loaded with historical and literal meaning.

Read On

The article goes on to show that while Clinton was making her points with the idioms, the phrases she used usually had double entendres which didn't help her case or was immediately out-proverbed by Premier Wen.

Studying four character Chinese idioms is something I have a bit of experience with. Using Chinese idioms is a very important step in learning Chinese. One's proficiency in Chinese is directly linked with one's ability to use idioms.

Here is a nice write-up on Chinese idioms from Chinese-tools.com:

Four-character idioms, or chéngyǔ (Traditional Chinese: 成語; Simplified Chinese: 成语, literally "to become (part of) the language") are widely used in Classical Chinese, a literary form used in the Chinese written language from antiquity until 1919, and are still commonly used in Vernacular writing today. Classical Chinese can be compared to the way Latin was used in the Western world in science until recently. According to the most stringent definition, there are about 5,000 chengyu in Chinese, though some dictionaries list over 20,000.

Chengyu are mostly derived from ancient literature. The meaning of a chengyu usually surpasses the sum of the meanings carried by the four characters, as chengyu are often intimately linked with the myth, story or historical fact from which they were derived. As such, chengyu do not follow the usual grammatical structure and syntax of the modern Chinese spoken language, and are instead highly compact and synthetic.

Chengyu in isolation are often unintelligible to modern Chinese, and when students in China learn chengyu in school as part of the Classical curriculum, they also need to study the context from which the chengyu was born. Often the four characters reflect the moral behind the story rather than the story itself. For example, the phrase "破釜沉舟" (pinyin: pò fǔ chén zhōu) literally means "break the woks and sink the boats." It was based on a historical account where General Xiang Yu ordered his troop to destroy all cooking utensils and boats after crossing a river into the enemy's territory. He won the battle because of this "no-retreat" policy. The phrase is used when one succeeds by burning the bridge. This particular idiom cannot be used in a losing scenario because the story behind it does not describe a failure.

Read On

When it comes to using idioms, my lack of proficiency in Chinese really shows. I can maybe use about ten in daily conversation. Off the top of my head, here are a few of the ones I could come up with:

入乡随俗 - (ru xiang sui su) - "When in Rome, do as the Romans." - The word "Rome" is not in this idiom. Literally, the idiom reads something like, "When entering a village, follow their customs."

- 重色轻友 - (zhong se qing you) - "Lover is more important than friends." - I suppose this is the exact opposite of the English idiom, "Bros before hos."

- 张三李四 - (zhang san li si) - "Any Tom, Dick, or Harry" - This idiom is funny to me. Literally it reads, "Zhang three, Li four." The idea behind this idiom is that Zhang and Li are probably the two most popular sur names is China.

- 马马虎虎 - (ma ma hu hu) - "Alright" or "OK" - The literal translation of this one is pretty awesome - "horse horse tiger tiger." This one is really easy to use in daily conversation.

- 人山人海 - (ren shan ren hai) - "A large crowd" - This one literally reads "People mountain, people sea." An interesting way to say, "China is way too crowded."

- 人生如寄 - (ren sheng ru ji) - "Life is short" - I don't really understand the logic behind how these characters mean this statement. Just have memorized it.

- 无处可去 - (wu chu ke qu) - "No place to go" - I like how this one sounds. The phrase is very logical to me too.

I'm near certain that my Chinese will never get to the point where I'll actually be able to throw around Chinese idioms with any sort of regularity or skill. The ability to use idioms really is vital to being a Chinese speaker. I'm not going to get too caught up in the difficulty of using Chinese idioms though, I'll still be able to make strides in Chinese. Just won't ever be the next Da Shan or anything.

Other than Clinton's attempted usage of Chinese idioms, I vaguely kept up with her trip to China. It sounds as if the confident and rather blunt Clinton accomplished what she went to China to do. Pragmatism and keeping China on board with funding the United States' ever-increasing debt and spending certainly was the focus.

Currency Valuation Rhetoric

China had an interesting reaction to Obama's new treasury secretary nominee's criticism of its currency's value.

From Bloomberg:

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- China took Barack Obama’s views on the yuan seriously. So seriously that it is doing the exact opposite of what the U.S. president would like.

China let the yuan fall the most in a month on Jan. 23, right after Timothy Geithner, Obama’s pick for Treasury secretary, relayed Obama’s campaign position that China was “manipulating” its currency. The reaction was China’s way of telling the new U.S. leader what he can do with his foreign-exchange views.

What should currency traders do now? Is a trade war brewing between the world’s No. 1 and No. 3 economies? Is the yuan about to strengthen? Will Obama risk the ire of the most populous nation to make good on his protectionist campaign-trail rhetoric? Perhaps the answer is for everyone to relax.

Read On

Obama can't serious think that China would revalue its currency to accommodate America's wishes. No, China has its own problems to be worrying about.

Obama's rhetoric surely is in preparation for the protectionism he's about to implement.

I can't quite comprehend why he, or any American consumer, has problems with China's manufacturing. I understand that a young Chinese boy or girl is assembling the products instead of an American man or woman. But America doesn't want to pay a lot of money for cheap goods. Americans thoroughly enjoy Walmart's shelves being full of cheap products made by the Chinese.

America cannot have it both ways. I'm going to get a kick out of the sky-rocketing prices that Obama is going to try to fight after he enacts his protectionist policies.

I suppose in the long run that getting cheap crap to be more expensive will help ween America off its addiction to consumption. That would be a good thing.

But I can't imagine the coming protectionism fulfilling its intended purpose: creating more American manufacturing jobs.

奥巴马 a Best-Seller in China

Today, Barack Obama will become the 44th president in United States' history. As an American, I am so proud of my country.

Apparently China is intrigued as well.

From AFP:

BEIJING -- Young publisher Han Manchun was so taken by U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's ideas that he decided to have one of his books translated — and created an unexpected hit in China.

...

The Chinese version of the book — identical to the original, according to the wishes of Obama's representatives — was published in September.

The first 30,000 copies were snapped up rapidly, and the publishing house has had to re-print it several times.

A total of 100,000 copies have now been sold, without taking into account the pirated versions on the streets, and it is now one of at least 10 books on Obama available for sale in China.

According to a survey released before Obama's election win in November, the former senator was popular with urban Chinese because he represented “the 'American dream' due to his vitality, black skin and special upbringing.”

Read On

After such a depressing and awful four years under George W. Bush, the energy that is surrounding Barack Obama is so wonderful and refreshing.

I love the moves that Obama has made coming out of the gate. I truly believe that the post-partisan rhetoric he's been espousing over the course of his career is not simply lip-service. I fully expect him to be all of America's president, not just the 53% who voted for him in November. The most recent poll numbers seem to suggest that America is realizing this as well.

Obama certainly has his work cut out for him: he's inheriting two wars, a fractured government, the environment at its tipping point, and the largest economic crisis (probably) ever to name a few of the most obvious things.

If there was ever a time in US history for us to have a great president, it is now. I'm cautiously optimistic that President Obama will be that leader.

I'm prouder of America today than I have been in years.

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity

Last week, President-elect Obama's newly appointed chief-of-staff, Rahm Emmanuel, said the following:

"Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste," Emanuel said. "They are opportunities to do big things."

This quote from Emmanuel reminds me of another Democrat from fifty years ago.

On April 12th, 1959 in Indianapolis, then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy said the following:

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and one represents opportunity.

This reference from Kennendy popularized the notion about the unique nature to Chinese's word for "crisis." Al Gore, Condoleeza Rice, and even the Simpsons have all used this idea. In fact, there is even a Wikipedia page entitled - "Chinese translation of crisis" - which gives information surrounding this translation.

Unfortunately, it appears as if this phenomenon is too good to be true.

A detailed debunking (one might say pwnage) of this translation can be found at the website pinyin.info from the Sinologist Victor Maer:

There is a widespread public misperception, particularly among the New Age sector, that the Chinese word for "crisis" is composed of elements that signify "danger" and "opportunity." I first encountered this curious specimen of oriental wisdom about ten years ago at an altitude of 35,000 feet sitting next to an American executive. He was intently studying a bound volume that had adopted this notorious formulation as the basic premise of its method for making increased profits even when the market is falling. At that moment, I didn't have the heart to disappoint my gullible neighbor who was blissfully imbibing what he assumed were the gems of Far Eastern sagacity enshrined within the pages of his workbook. Now, however, the damage from this kind of pseudo-profundity has reached such gross proportions that I feel obliged, as a responsible Sinologist, to take counteraction.

Read On

While my studying of Chinese is not anywhere near to the point of being able to fully understand what Mair is saying, I see his main points.

I know both the characters that make up the word crisis: 危机. I know 危 from the word 危险, which means "danger." And I know 会 from a variety of different phrases and usages: meaning to be able to do a learned thing, meaning something will happen in the future, and the words a "meeting" (开会), a "date" (约会), and "opportunity" (机会).

On the surface, I would say that Kennedy's interpretation of the word 危机 is correct. But I suppose that proves that my Chinese isn't that thorough.

I've asked Chinese people about 危机 before. They all agreed with Maer and said that I shouldn't read too much into this romanticized translation. Even after being shot down a bit from Chinese people, I still thought it was pretty cool.

Upon reading Maer's article though, I will all together drop 危机 from what I considered to be a "pretty interesting insight into Chinese linguistics and, possibly, Chinese people's worldview."

I'm also abandoning the notion I've flirted with for a few years which involved getting a small tattoo of 危机 on my back.

Oh yeah, and Emmanuel's quote from the beginning of the article also is not nearly as romantic as before.

We're all screwed on this economic crisis.

OBAMANATION!

Look at all that blue!

There wasn't much doubt going into the night what would happen, but this is still sweet.

I had an adult "English Corner" this afternoon. Believe me, the students I talked with understood the importance of this election. The ten or so students I talked with, ranging in age from twenty to forty years old, were so excited and proud about America's decision.

I've been on cloud nine all day.

Honestly, today's reminded me a lot of a day I had a few months ago:



Today has been such a happy day for me and my country.

My friends from a range of different countries - China, America, England, Australia - are all going out tonight to celebrate the victory. All of my friends from other countries are surprised and happy with the decision America's made.

I'll finish this post with a few pictures:








From Obama, Japan

The Chinese are Down With Obama

Having the support of Chinese citizens surely doesn't mean to much to Barack Obama, but at least it shows that I'm not the only person in the Middle Kingdom excited about the soon-to-be president.

From IPS News:

BEIJING, Oct 24 (IPS) - Beijing has a tradition of sound relations with Republican presidents of the United States, but the latest China poll shows popular opinion bucking the trend with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama becoming an "overwhelming hit" with ordinary Chinese.

The results of the online poll conducted on the China Daily website by the U.S. embassy here showed Obama enjoying a much greater lead over his Republican rival, John McCain, with the support of 75 percent of Chinese polled.

"Perhaps his age, energy and even complexion, which signify the U.S. dream, are more appealing to the Chinese," Song Zhiyuan, who analysed the survey, told the ‘China Daily’.

Rebecca Zhu, a 29-year-old bank employee, agreed. "No Chinese leader is that young," she said. "Obama is attractive because he is hip and unconventional. He has even used e-mails to advance his campaign."

The media has been awash with commentaries predicting a new, more sensitive America, vastly different from the country led by George W. Bush, should Obama win. The popular notion in China that the U.S. is out to impose its Western ideals on the world would take a hit with the election of a man of African descent.

"Many think that because of his origins Obama would be prone to considering other nations’ concerns better than McCain,’’ says Shi Yinhong, an expert on international relations at China’s Renmin University. "But for China the most important factor is that he might be more susceptible to our concerns regarding Taiwan."

Read On

It's not surprising that the rest of the world would like to see a fresh face in the Oval Office. The citizens of the world obviously don't see that freshness coming in the form of a McCain administration.

There are about ten days left until the election. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be having a blowout celebration on November 5th (I'll know Wednesday morning Chinese time who's won) with my friends, both American and from elsewhere, here in Xi'an.

Here is a major reason why I'm not completely freaking out:



These charts and detailed analysis can be found at the website: fivethiryeight.com. It's a must for any political/poll junkie.

Obama is obviously in blue. Sure, the election hasn't happened yet, but things are definitely looking good for Obama.