A taste of American Politics Part 2/3

With all of the squabbling and political mudslinging, there seems to be a trend of making China as a scapegoat for America's economic problems. While Chinese outsourcing is certainly a major part of the massive decline in US manufacturing jobs, you can't pin the collapse of the housing market or Wall Street market dives solely on them. Thank God this will be over in a few days. If Im not mistaken, political TV ads are banned in the UK and many other countries. We need those laws here.

First, some Pics:

And lets finish off with some NMA Win

Lucky Numbers

Chinese can be very superstitious, even when it comes to things like numbers. Many buildings in China have missing floors. When numbering them, architects tend to skip floors with unlucky numbers. Below are some lucky and unlucky numbers. Note: the homophones are for Mandarin only, they may mean other things in other dialects.

2 (二 èr)
Two is a homophone for “Jade, Pearls, Luxuriant growth” symbolizing wealth. The phrase “good things come in pairs” is of Chinese origin. Two means a pair, meaning it is good.

3 (三 sān)
The character for the number three is similar to the one for birth (生 shēng), and is therefore associated with life.

4 (四 sì)
Four is the unluckiest of numbers, because it is associated with the word for death (sǐ). Many buildings in China don’t have any floors that contain the number 4 (4, 14, 24, 34 40–49).

5 (五 wŭ)
Five could be considered both lucky and unlucky. It is lucky because it is associated with the five elements in Chinese philosophy, but that’s a story for another day. It is unlucky because it is a homophone for “dirty, filthy, foul, insult, disobedient, disappoint, to hate, mistake”

6 (六 liù)
Six is quite lucky, as it is a homophone for “lovely, beautiful, gold, fluid”.

7 (七 qī)
Also considered the luckiest number in the west, seven can be considered lucky and unlucky. It is lucky because it can mean “peace, fine jade, neat, even, togetherness”. It is unlucky because the 7th month of the Chinese calendar is “Ghost Month”. Seven is also a homophone for “grief, mourning, coldness, ridicule, to abandon, to put to rest”

8 (八 bā)
Eight is perhaps the luckiest number in Chinese culture. It sounds similar to “prosper” (发 fā) and “wealth”. Two 8’s next to each other (88) bare a visual resemblance to the character for “double happiness” (囍). Some have gone to great lengths to use the number as much as possible for good luck.
• The United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Beijing is flight 888
• A man in Sichuan paid 元1.8 million for the phone number 888-8888
• A Hangzhou man offered to sell his license plate: A88888 for 元1.12 million
• The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur have 88 floors
• TD Bank’s Chinatown branch auctioned off the safe deposit box 888

9 (九 jiŭ)
Being the highest single digit number, nine is associated with royalty (.i.e. the Emperor) and is a homophone for “long lasting”. It might be etymology of the Kowloon peninsula in Hong Kong. Kowloon is Cantonese for “Jǐulóng” meaning “Nine Dragons”.

Combinations of numbers can also form homophones with hidden meanings. Some are a real stretch though.

88 (八八 bā bā)
Beyond the fact that 8 is lucky, "bā bā" sounds like "bye-bye" and therefore is often used to say goodbye when logging out of internet chat rooms.

520 (五二 wǔ èr)
Its a real stretch but some Chinese believe the word for 520 sounds like "I love [you]" (wǒ ài).


510 (五一 wǔ yī)
Another homophone for "I love you"


There are probably hundreds of others out there. Virtually any number or number combination can have some abstract meaning.

GET OFF YOUR CHAIR'S NOW!

From Gizmodo:

Well, stories don't get much worse than this. A 14-year-old boy in China was killed when his chair exploded, sending chunks of metal into his rectum. The bleeding this caused killed him.

The alleged explosion came from the gas cylinder that was in the base of the chair, the part that allowed the user to adjust the seat up and down. The canister gets compressed when you sit on it, but can it actually create enough energy to make the seat cushion explode like that and kill a man? I doubt it, but this is what people are reporting.

In other news, I am working from a beanbag from now on. Sweet merciful crap.

Apparently the air piston in some Chinese teenager's chair exploded and sent him to a brutal, bloody death. The piston shot out through the chair straight up his rectum. He ended up bleeding to death.

If you brought your computer chair for less then $50, Id buy a new one. Especially if it was made in China.

Shrapnel retrieved from his colon 

A taste of American Politics

Chinese Genetics

This is a follow up to the question on regional differences as well as my article on Asian eyes.

This is an article on Chinese genetics and what makes them unique. Its kind of tl;dr, but its divided into topics like "Yellow skin" and "Northern vs Southern". Read it here.

The Lamp Riddle

This lamp was advertised as "great for the kids bedroom!". However there is something wrong about this lamp. Im curious if any of you can spot what it is.

Check back at this post later for the answer.

Personifications of China

OK, China Hush stole this from Lengxiaohua, and Lengxiaohua stole this from Douban, so I should have the right steal it from China Hush.

This is artwork made by Douban user "Pharaoh". It is the personification of all most of China's provinces. I have no idea how accurate these personifications are, but its neat nonetheless.  

Chongqing: Sichuan’s younger brother, naturally keeps his words, very hospitable, loves to do house chores, loves to dress up and loves to eat hotpot. Often goes his brother’s house to eat and talk.

Fujian: a Very strong queen, because she was often in war, she has an aggressive personality, but she is very loyal to her boss. Used to love to fish, now very modernized; still holds grudges about Taiwan’s leaving.

Gansu: Warm young man, looks very normal therefore often is scared by Ningxia. Likes to nag, other than that has no other bad habits (but also has nothing else special) Likes to make noodles, because he stayed with Ningxia for long time started to like pigs for no reason.

Guangdong: A girl that eats anything… often has strangers at home but she never cares. Likes make things herself and then paste on the brand name logo. Loves comics (2d stuff) and often shows off her collections.

Guangxi: Gentle and beautiful girl, but is surprisingly strong and brave. Likes to stay at home, and every year there are many people swarming into her home to travel.

Guizhou: Good gentle young man, his actions are courteous, and slow. He is kind of lazy, likes to play jokes on people. He has multiple national origins.

Hainan: enthusiastic and honest young man, because of his special dark skin, he is often recognized therefore he feels a sense of pride. Loves his ocean and the coconut trees, very proud of his fishing skill and loves to invite others to his home.

Heilongjiang: A youth who is icy old, does not like to reveal his feelings, although sometimes has a headache because of Jilin he displays tenderness towards two of his brothers. Had a tragic past, likes cloves and has high alcohol tolerance.

Hubei: She is Hunan’s older sister, short tempered and easily gets angry. Although she is older, she can easily get into fights with others. The word she likes is “revolution”.

Hunan: warm blooded young girl, likes to try new things, acts all on her own, impulsive and hot tempered. Sensitive about her reputation, has leadership skills. Often are laughed at because of her flat chest by her sisters.

Jiangsu: Looks like a gentle and quiet youth, with a weak health and often coughs, but in fact deep down he loves to make others suffer!! He loves to use tough problems to create difficulties for others.

Jiangxi: Girl who does not talk much, and not good at communicating with others. Therefore often does things she does not want to do, and in a state of self-blame. Loves to keep fishes, has many china at home.

Jilin: Optimistic youth, bold personality but especially effective when dealing with women; likes to lend his helping hand when he sees injustice, but often gets into trouble; very loyal to his brothers, but slow to feel Heilongjiang’s tenderness.

Liaoning: General offensive of the Dongbie 3P party. Has firm and persistent personality like the steels. Loves erguotou (strong liquor), and has high alcohol tolerance. Sometimes thinks about the sad past. Takes care of two younger brothers; he is a tender and strong big uncle.

Macao: Girl with high vitality, very good at gambling. When loses she swears not to gamble again, but very easily set off fighting spirit, and forgets everything she said before.

Ningxia: a quiet man, don’t know what he is thinking about most of the time, his action is also unpredictable. Has specially feeling for pigs. Often carries different kinds of kitchen knives. Used to hang white fabrics at home and scared off Gansu.

Qinghai: Lazy young man looks lethargic and does not talk much all day long, therefore feels almost non- existence. Likes to stay home and likes to eat salty food, even the lake at home are salted. And another lake at home disappeared for no reason, everyone was puzzled.

Shanghai: Very bright and capable young man, fast paced, typical impatient hothead and absolute perfectionist. Does not allow himself or others to make mistakes (often troubled because of this) Seems to be surprisingly weak when taking off his glasses. Annoyed when called a “sissy”, loves to be elite and modern.

Shanxi: Loves money as much as she loves her life, often with a smiley face, but that is the weapon she lures the customers to buy her stuff. Carrying an abacus at all times, very business minded.

Sichuan: Arrogant young man with a rich family, has very bitter tongue and very competitive, somewhat narcissistic. Surprisingly tender to small animals. Recently he is healing wounds at home. His interest is cooking. Often plays MJ with little brother Chongqing, Hunan and Hubei.

Tianjin: Cute and confused little girl, originally already grew to be a maiden but because her brother Beijing was not happy about her height, she voluntarily shrank herself. Likes older brother very much; likes gentiana, and likes to give strange names to her home made buns. Sometimes her thoughts will automatically switch to high dimensional spaces.

Xinjiang: Young man with mood swings, very enthusiastic, but don’t know why recently likes to fight and separate the family… loves to dance and make wine and goes to everyone’s home to sell noodles and roasted lamb skewers.

Xizang (Tibet): Naturally gentle and lively girl, very tall and has an unhealthy obsession with cleanliness (mysophobia) therefore her home is always clean. Has a long dark history, so sometimes turns evil. Likes to sing and drink barley wine.

Yunnan: Natural young girl, very friendly to people, optimistic personality and has wide range of interests. Good at singing, dancing and art needlework, likes small animals. Her blood line is complicated and her pet phrase is “may become good friends”.

Zhejiang: a very weak girl, looks like an honor student, good at poetry and math (business), timid and cries a lot, loves to wear silk (chi-pao) mandarin gown and hold a small fan.

Beijing: Once had world’s great prestige of the imperial style but because of narcissism and not working hard he became weak and went back to his infant stage… Now grew to be a very arrogant child, working hard planning on “how to go back to being an adult”. Likes barbeque duck, recently troubled by a pile of old stuff at home.

In this next one, you can easily tell the artist is a Mainlander.

Taiwan: flirty girl (has a sex appeal), couple years ago had a fight with older brother then swam to the other side of the shore and went to Laomei (USA) family. Recently Laomei’s finical situation is not good so she starts to want to go back to big brother’s room…

Daily Comedy

Taiwanese Animation is such full of win.

Problem China?

From China Hush:

“Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on Friday October 8, 2010, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Obviously China is not happy about this, no news about the Nobel Peace Prize is reported on Chinese media; the name “Liu Xiaobo” along with “Nobel Peace Prize” became sensitive keywords which will give you empty search result on Baidu. The following article is probably the only thing you will find on China’s news sites.

(From Xinhua News) Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Chaoxu said on October 8, the Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo is completely going against the purpose of the award, and also is an insult to the Peace Prize.

On October 8th, the Nobel committed awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. During the Q&A sessions Ma Chaoxu said, the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded “to someone who promotes national harmony, international friendship and disarmament; someone who works hard on holding and promoting peace meetings”, which is Nobel’s wish. Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced to imprisonment for violating the Chinese Law, his behavior was going in the opposite direction of the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee awarded such person is completely going against the purpose of the award, and also is an insult to the Peace Prize.

When Ma Chaoxu answered the question of whether Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Peace Prize will affect Sino-Norway relations, he said, in the recent years, Sino-Norway relations have maintained sound development, which is beneficial to the interests of both countries and both countries’ people. However the Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo is completely contradicting the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize, and also will damage the Sino-Norway relations.”

In a symbolic victory for human rights in China, political dissident Liu Xiaobo has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. Despite threats from the Chinese government, the Peace Prize Committee awarded him the prize along with $1.5 Million cash, both of which he is unable to claim. Liu created Charter 08, a manifesto signed by thousands of Chinese calling for political reform. In response, the Chinese government did what it always does in this situation. They arrested him, gave him an unfair trial, and threw him in jail for 11 years. After he was awarded the prize, his wife disappeared, likely by the hands of the CCP. China also summoned their ambassador to Norway and said the award would hurt Sino-Norwegian relations, despite that the Nobel Prize Institute is independent from the government. The last time China was this mad was in 1989 when the Dalai Lama got the prize, but that was 20 years ago and the Tiananmen Square Protests were taking place, putting China in poor position to lash back at Norway. That has apparently changed now, and I bet next time a Chinese dissident is awarded the prize, the diplomatic consequences will be more severe.

New York Times

Asia Sentinel

Chinatown from your Desktop

The Huffington Post has posted a photographic walkthrough of China's American colony (also known as San Francisco Chinatown). More than 50+ photographs give one a detailed look at the beauty of the oldest Chinese community in the America's, from the comfort of your computer.

Enjoy!

A Walk through San Francisco's Chinatown

China Aid

I raged at this article:

“China spent tens of billions of dollars on a dazzling 2008 Olympics. It has sent astronauts into space. It recently became the world's second largest economy. Yet it gets more than $2.5 billion a year in foreign government aid — and taxpayers and lawmakers in donor countries are increasingly asking why.”

Apparently China is classified as a “developing country”. While this may have been true 10 or 20 years ago, China’s poverty rate today is below 2.8% according to the UN Development Programme.

This classification as a “developing country” also allows China to get away with murder in regards to the Kyoto Protocol and other climate treaties.

However instead of going toward relieving poverty, China spends most of this “aid” on building its military and infrastructure.

Over half of its foreign aid, $1.2 billion, comes from Japan, which has the worlds largest budget deficit. This is mainly reparations for the massacres during WWII.

Oh, and heres a figure to piss off TCG:

The United Kingdom provides over £10 million a year of aid to the communist state

Washington gave over $65 million to China in 2008, mainly for targeted programs promoting safe nuclear energy, health, human rights and disaster relief (as if thats where the money is actually going).

I cannot believe taxpayer dollars for development aid are going to China of all places. Im even more amazed that this aid has continued despite the economic recession.

China also borrows more from the World Bank then any other “developing nation”, $1.5 billion annually. China takes in all this money while at the same time showing itself off in the Olympics and the Shanghai Expo. China also gives massive mounts of aid to Africa while at the same time asking for more aid for itself.

Its good to know that a portion of our paycheck goes toward funding an oppressive authoritarian regime.

One Defends and the Other Conquers

The year is 1991. The Soviet Union has fallen and Operation Desert Storm is nearing its end. If you were a high officer in the People's Liberation Army, you would be shitting your pants.

You have just lost your most powerful ally and you are forced to watch as US forces lay waste to Saddam's armies, who are using technology similar to your own.

This was the reality for China at the time. It is likely that this is what triggered China's massive military growth since then. Over the past 20 years, the Pentagon has become increasingly concerned over the growth of China's military prowess.

As you may have been able to tell from my post on Red Dawn, the astonishing rapid growth of China’s military is of serious concern to me. I recently came across an article on China’s new Dong Feng 21D SSM. US security officials believe this missile is capable of sinking a Nimitz class Aircraft Carrier, something no country was ever capable of doing. It has always pondered me as to why China would need such sophisticated military equipment. China’s only real “enemy” is Taiwan, but they pose almost no threat. This could only mean that China feels threatened by the the US and the Western powers in general, but China has no reason to feel threatened by America as long as they do nothing too aggressive on the world stage. That brings up the question, what are China’s long term intentions? China’s military spending has had an annul increase in the double digits for over a decade. China claims all of that money is going toward “defense”, but as I said above, defense against what? Why do I feel this kind of military build up has been done before? By a certain island nation not far away less than a century ago?

Oh thats right! Japan! Despite having no real enemies, Japan spent the latter part of the 19th century building its military, with the intent of creating an empire in the pacific, particularly in attempt to usurp China as the reigning power of the eastern world. Surely enough, Japan soon invaded China in the first Sino-Japanese War, starting a deadly chain of events that would eventually lead to the Pacific War.

Now switch the positions of China and Japan, and keep in mind Japan is used by the United States to assert its influence in the pacific. Scary isn’t it? It leads me to wonder if China is attempting to challenge America’s influence in East Asia. So far it is only doing so through intimidation, but it doesn’t take much for things to turn bloody. Im not so sure China is intending on creating an empire, but they certainly see America as a roadblock in asserting dominance in East Asia. It seems like this military build up has the intention pushing America out through intimidation and if necessary, through force.

For those conspiracy theorists out there who want to dig into this topic more, there are some interesting documents worth reading:

United States Department of Defense: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China

This is an annual report to Congress issued by the Pentagon that assesses the threat posed by the PRC as well as other concerns regarding the People's Liberation Army.

A Critique of the China Threat Theory: A Systematic Analysis

China the US and Clashing Aims: A rising Superpower confronts a fading one

WikiLeaks - Category: China

The Rise of China a Security Threat?

World War III anyone?

Say No to Mandarin!

There is a war of words occurring in China. Literally. Since the PRC’s founding, the communist party has been pushing the country to adopt Putonghua (common speech) as a way to promote national unity. Putonghua is the establishment of adopting Beijing Mandarin as a lingua franca for all Chinese. While over 53% of Chinese already speak Mandarin natively, half of 1.3 billion people is still a lot. As a way to push Putonghua, the PRC government has banned using any dialect other than Mandarin in all television broadcasts, with the exception of Cantonese and Wu (Shanghainese) as they are the largest of the minority dialects. Non-Mandarin dialects are also discouraged in the public education system. Students can have their grades penalized for using Cantonese or other dialects.

Recently, the people of Guangzhou took to the streets under rumors that their TV broadcasts would mandate Mandarin. Many feel that the government is trying to replace all other dialects with Mandarin and that it will lead to a loss of identity.

While I agree that a national language is crucial for a strong unified nation, a national dialect is a little more of a hairy issue. In a country as vast and diverse as China, it becomes even more complex. In Imperial China, people rarely ventured far from their home villages (except for the Beijing bureaucrats). This resulted in thousands of dialects in different pockets all over China. It wasn’t unusual for the town over the mountain to speak another dialect. Ever since the Ming Dynasty, the government has tried to implement Beijing Mandarin as a national dialect. From then to the present day, it has been mostly successful. 53% of China speaks some accent of Mandarin but it took over 700 years. In the southeast of China, the mountainous terrain had isolated most communities from these national language efforts until modern times. As a result, lands from Shanghai to Guangxi still hold on to these pocket dialects, and they have firmly resisted Putonghua.

China and Nuclear Weapons

China’s nuclear weapons program began shortly after the PRC’s founding. Mao Zedong believed China would never be taken seriously without nuclear warheads, and that they would be under constant “nuclear blackmail” from the US. With the help of the Soviet Union, China built its first nuclear reactors. They also relied on the Soviets for nuclear materials such as yellowcake. After the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960’s, China had lost its assistance from the USSR, but was determined to “break the west’s monopoly on nuclear weapons”. On October 16, 1964 China detonated its first atomic bomb, code named ‘596’, in Lop Nur. Within a few years, they tested their first hydrogen bomb and created warheads for ICBM’s. 

Today, China is one of the five recognized nuclear powers. Its current stockpile is believed to be about 250 warheads. For comparison, the UK has just over 200, France about 350, the US has over 10,000 and Russia has almost 12,000 (enough to destroy the earth ten times over). 

China has signed and ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. China is also the only nuclear state with a ‘no first use’ policy, meaning they promise not to use nuclear weapons against any country unless nuclear weapons are used on China first. As seen in my very first post, China has ICBM’s that can carry warheads anywhere in the world except South America.

The ROC/Taiwan currently does not possess nuclear weapons. However in 1967, shortly after China’s hydrogen bomb test, the ROC began a secret nuclear weapons program. Out of the facade of creating energy, Taiwan was able to acquire nuclear materials from the US and Canada. By the 1970’s Taiwan was able to produce weapons grade plutonium in large enough quantities for a bomb. But the US soon found out about the program and pressured Taiwan to dismantle it in 1976.

There is currently no intelligence of Taiwan possessing a bomb, yet they do have the resources to construct one. The PRC has stated that possession of nuclear weapons by the ROC would be grounds for immediate military action. With that kind of threat breathing down their necks, I highly doubt the ROC would risk having a secret nuclear weapons program.

And now for some delicious footage.

Apparently this is from Trinity and Beyond a documentary on the atomic bomb. I have no idea if actual footage of the test exists. If this is real you can easily see the huge propaganda aspect of it.

They Say History Repeats Itself...

As Chang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Army lost more and more ground to the Communists, they retreated to the island of Taiwan where the government of the ROC rests to this day. Since then, it has been sort of a cold war over the Taiwan strait.

But what if I told you that almost the exact same thing happened 400 years ago? Well it did. In 1661 Zheng Chenggong or “Koxinga” a loyalist to the Ming Dynasty and Arch Commander of the Ming Army, wanted to do whatever necessary to resist the Manchu invaders that would later establish the Qing Dynasty. Even after the Manchu took Beijing, the Ming Emperor retreated to Fuzhou. However, his army was unable to resist the Qing forces, he was captured and executed in 1646. The last member of the Ming Imperial family, Zhu Youlang had fled to the southwest. Koxinga and the remaining Ming troops were cornered in Fujian Province and unable to help Zhu. By 1661, the Ming Emperor sought asylum in Burma. At first the Burmese king gave him refuge, but after numerous threats from the Qing, he was rejected and eventually killed by Qing forces. Meanwhile, Kongxia, seeing defeat as inevitable, evacuated his forces and other Ming loyalists to Formosa (Taiwan). At the time, Taiwan was under control of the Dutch East India Company. Despite being in the face of westerners, Koxinga was quickly able to annex the island as it was nothing more than a trading post with few military personal. After booting the Dutch from the island, he established the Kingdom of Dongning with the goal of reorganizing his forces to eventually recapture the mainland.

Chiang Kai-shek Kongxia died in 1662 of malaria. His son Jing then took over as leader. Jing had attempted several times to launch an assault on Fujian but failed miserably. He entered a depression, indulging in liquor and women until his death. After his death, the generals debated his successor, but eventually Zheng Keshuang took the throne. After losing the island of Penghu to a Qing invasion, Keshuang surrendered Taiwan to Qing rule.

The similarities are startling aren’t they? Koxinga is revered as a hero in Mainland China because he ousted the Dutch “imperialists” and brought the island into Chinese rule. He is also regarded by the Kuomintang as a patriot who went to every last length to protect the Ming throne and repel the invading Qing. They also frequently compare him to Chiang Kai-shek. There is also a shrine dedicated to him in Tainan city.

If history does indeed repeat itself, it is only a matter of time before Taiwan is annexed by the PRC. However, Koxinga did not have the potential backing of a military power (The United States) to act as a significant deterrent. Then again, it is a rule of thumb in Chinese history that eventually a dynasty loses the Mandate of Heaven and comes to an end. And eventually, the Communist dynasty (or as I call it the ‘Mao’ Dynasty) will also come to an end like all those before it.