Thursday, February 17, 2005

via: t-salon, read the post: CCTV 9 Dialogues

At one point, Kuhn said that what we see in today's China is an unprecedented system in world history. It is not Communism anymore (and this comment went unedited!) however, people in China are free to call it whatever they like - including "Communism". In between these comments, the host asked whether it is the name or substance of the system that matters and said that the name of the system is an important topic in China.

never heard of that was an important topic here. people seems just indifferent to how the system and the party are named. in the end, what matters is the content, not the name.

posted @ 7:10 PM

via: usa today, read the article: here

A study released last month by the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission links the loss of 1.5 million U.S. jobs directly to our growing trade deficit with China. Far from taking only low-wage jobs, China is emerging in such fields as semiconductors. As China moves up the economic food chain, our deficits will grow and put strain on the dollar.

the exports from china to the states are mostly low-priced goods, so i doubt how much harm will that do to american workers, and as i know, china is still far behind of the states in fields like semiconductors. even someday china does gain a capability to design and manufacture semiconductors and sell them to the states, i am 100% sure that process will require china to buy many things from the states in return, so the trade won't be imbalanced.

Reining in our budget and trade deficits is a start. Using our position as No. 1 customer gives us leverage to press for rules that give our companies a shot at the Chinese market without having to transplant pieces of our economy to their playing field. At home, we have the power to rein in U.S. companies that willingly shift homegrown technology abroad. One possibility might be to tax the goods such companies ship back to the U.S. market.

that's why chinese firms are trying to diversify overseas markets. the author seems live in his own world and doesn't take the possible reactions of china into account, and most important, the business has its own logics, the politics can't become the master of business, otherwise, the business dies.

posted @ 6:37 PM

via: yahoo news and der spiegel

in an article titled "China's Consumer Society Booming ", the author tells us that:

China has surpassed the United States in consumption of every basic food, energy and industrial commodity except oil.

The Chinese have overtaken the Americans in refrigerators, watch 1 1/2 times as many television sets and use 1-2/3 as many cell phones. Only in automobiles does China still lag, with barely one-tenth the number of motor vehicles the United States has on its roads.

The report was issued on the day the Kyoto Protocol was enacted by 35 industrialized states. The protocol is designed to cut into pollutants caused by fossil fuels, the so-called greenhouse gases.

Planet Earth as seen from a European Space Agency weather satellite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

the spiegel article "The Coming of Kyoto" says:

Scientists predict that some countries, like the Maldives, could be rendered uninhabitable in as few as 50 years. Most scientists believe these developments are the direct consequence of climate change and global warming.

i don't know how many chinese can relate the possible disappearance of a tiny country with their everyday life, but just as the yahoo article indicates, with the control of more and more natural resources, it's time for chinese to have a sense of responsibility, a higher awareness of environmental protection.

posted @ 5:59 PM

yesterday our a-yi came back from her spring festival holiday and took every local specialty from her hometown to my home. you won't believe it - old farm chicken, old farm duck, salted fish, salted ham, bamboo shoots, fresh tea, peanuts, 100 rural eggs, etc.

i can't recall when was the last time somebody send us fresh food as gifts. but anyway i love it, those foods are 100 times better than those from the supermarket. let my "80% no-meat" diet go to hell 发贴心情

posted @ 5:34 PM

via: liuzhou laowai, read the post: Improve your vocabulary! Or be shot!

liuzhou laowai has found another precious stone from the web, this time it is from a PLA site, and the stuff for a good laughter is called "Military English". let's enjoy:

67. You are defeated!

你们被打败了!

68. You have been surrounded!

你们被包围了!

69. Give up, no harm!

缴枪不杀!

70. We don't kill our captives.

我们不杀俘虏(战俘)。

71. We treat POWs well.

我们宽待俘虏。

72. Hands up!

举起手来!

73. Put your hands up!Higher!

举起手来!举高点儿!

74. Come out and surrender!

出来投降!

actually i found a similar post last night, it's about some of the most frequently made mistakes by english learners like me, take a look here: 发贴心情 The English Learner`s Guide to Chinglish 中式英语之鉴

posted @ 4:59 PM