Party To Cadres: Rectitude At Home=Soft Power Abroad

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 25, 2012

Soft Power: Teach The Masses, Make Money

I was as appalled as anyone at reading about the forced abortion of a 7-month old fetus in Shaanxi. The only good thing perhaps is, as The Economist reports:

Even three years ago, Ms Feng’s suffering might have gone unnoticed outside the remote village in the north-western province of Shaanxi where she lives—just another statistic in China’s family-planning programme. But her relatives uploaded the graphic pictures onto the internet, and soon microblogs had flashed them to millions of people across the country. Chinese citizens expressed their outrage online. It is not just the treatment of Ms Feng that they deplore. It is the one-child policy itself.

The Internet has become a true force for disseminating information of all sorts that calls out government misdeeds. But, does the government care? Turns out, yes.

On the heels of reading this, I came across a truly enlightening article from the ever excellent China Media Project, ‘Where Does Soft Power Begin?’ 

The article riffs on and explains (and translates) a recent piece in the People’s Daily, ‘The Government Must Consider the International Implications When Dealing With Domestic Issues,” which takes that forced abortion on head on:

More

Ai Weiwei: Bad News And Good

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 24, 2012

In the past few weeks, news about Ai Weiwei has spiked. Here are a few articles with the bad news:

Now some good or at least interesting news:

China’s Cooking The Books Again, All Is Well With The Economy (In The Last Act)

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 23, 2012

Keith Bradsher

Keith Bradsher, in ‘Chinese Data Mask Depth of Slowdown, Executives Say,’ another of his excellent articles, pulls out Li Keqiang’s well-known comments:

An American diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks shows that Li Keqiang, widely expected to become premier of China this autumn, said in 2007 that he regarded China’s broad measures of economic growth as “ ‘man-made’ and therefore unreliable.”

Mr. Li told an American diplomat that he looked instead to three indicators that he described as less likely to be fudged: electricity consumption, volume of rail cargo and the disbursement of bank loans.

And, whether taking Mr. Li’s advice or just using good common sense, analysts of the Chinese economy have relied these and similar measures to try to get a sense of how China is really doing. Now, Mr. Bradsher calls into question one of those crucial measures, electricity consumption: More

‘Thoughts on the Retirement Living World China Conference in Shanghai’

Posted by Joe Christian on June 22, 2012

At the invitation of my colleague and friend, Ben Shobert, I prepared the article below for posting on the Asia Healthcare Blog, which Ben manages. It summarizes my thoughts on the Retirement Living World China conference in Shangahi that I co-chaired and spoke at last month, as well as what I see as the current state of the seniors housing industry in China, a topic that I have previously written about on ChinaDebate  I wanted to share this with the broader audience of China Debate, as I think it might be of interest to you, given the importance of the topic in China. More

The Monk And The Monkeys: One Million Views On ‘Sina’ Since Yesterday

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 21, 2012

Monkey King

The association of Buddhism and monkeys began more than 2,500 years ago with the teachings of the Buddha himself. He described each of our minds as the ‘Monkey Mind,’ like countless monkeys jumping about, seeking attention, and generally creating confusion in our heads.

That association was most famously described in the Chinese novel, The Monkey King, or Journey to the West. The novel has become the subject of Chinese opera and now in this age, movies and cartoons. (Below is a video clip from showing the Monkey King’s encounter with the Buddha.)

But, of all these, the best encounter of Buddhism and monkeys I’ve seen is a recent video, courtesy of NBC’s Behind the Wall,  of a hapless, but remarkably well composed Chinese monk trying to give a lecture.

And, here’s the video from China’s Sina. By the way, it went viral with over a million views since it was posted yesterday.

Here’s some background on the video: More

‘How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression’: Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 20, 2012

‘The results are clear: posts are censored if they are in a topic area with collective action
potential and not otherwise. Whether or not the posts are in favor of the government, its
leaders, and its policies has no effect on the probability of censorship.’

This from ‘How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression,’ by Gary King, professor at Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard, and others.

I learned of this paper in an arresting post, ‘Harvard Report Suggests China’s Censorship Not Aimed at Suppressing Criticism of Government,’ by Rick Martin on the TechInAsia blog. Mr. Martin quotes, as I do here with approval: More

‘How Global Companies Take Aim at China’: Interview With John A. Quelch

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 19, 2012

John A. Quelch

I haven’t read ‘All Business Is Local: Why Place Matters More Than Ever in a Global, Virtual World‘ by John A. Quelch. But, I intend to based on an interview he had with David Barboza, ‘How Global Companies Take Aim at China.’

Here’s my favorite of the Q & As:

Q: Several executives working at American consumer brands have said their China operations are less profitable than the United States or European operations. Why is that? Is it that they don’t yet have scale in China or is there some other reason?

A: There are two explanations: the price competition from local brands of increasingly better quality with lower cost structures than the global brands plus the need to develop brand presence in less prosperous regions that are more price-sensitive. It’s also good practice for them not to brag about their China profits. That may attract the attention of local rivals and their friends in government.

The others are varied and incisive. Mr. Quelch left Harvard Business School to become dean of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. HBS’s loss.

Let me know what you think of the rest of the interview and the book.

End Of The One-Child Policy Coming?: Aljazerra Looks At The People And The Issues

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 18, 2012

Aljazerra’s ‘China: Unnatural Selection’ puts human faces on the impact of China’s one-child policy, as well as discussion of the policy issues.

Bringing Up Little Maos In Hacienda Heights: Report From The Daily Show

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 17, 2012

‘Socialism Studies’ on the Daily Show, starring Jon Stewart, is really funny and a little scary. Some of the grown ups should return to Hacienda Heights middle school for a world events refresher, especially the China chapter.

‘Aasif Mandvi exposes the communist threat as Hacienda Heights introduces a Chinese language program to middle school kids.’

Just as kids who study German become Nazis, and who study French become …. (watch and learn), and who study Chinese become Chinese communists.

‘China Closes Window on Economic Debate, Protecting Dominance of State’: Ian Johnson–Or, Maybe Not

Posted by Malcolm Riddell on June 16, 2012

Zhang Weiying

Ian Johnson, two days in a row, two interesting people.  Today is Zhang Weiying:

‘Few people illustrate this conundrum better than Zhang Weiying, a 53-year-old Peking University professor who is probably the closest China has to an economic dissident.’

More on Dr. Zhang here.

And the subject, ‘China Closes Window on Economic Debate, Protecting Dominance of State’:  More

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