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Published: November 27th 2012
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Shi Shi Shi Shi
I read a narrative, set at a time during the 1950's when there was some interest in "Romanizing" the Chinese written language, when some scholar wrote a 250 word paragraph only using the sound "shi" to point out the challenge Thanksgiving, 2012 We had Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday as Thursday was just another work day here. Our custom has been to have Mexican; once we realized how many ingredients cross over to Chinese (beans, tomatoes, hot peppers, corn and corn meal, cilantro, onions, rice) it was a natural. This year, in a change of pace, it was wok-pizza, with olives and mozzarella from Carrefours, Argentine Malbec, and Tsingtao beer. We had as our guest our newly re-acquainted friend from decades ago, Louis Berney. Louis is a journalist and is teaching journalism at the Guangzhou University of Foreign Studies. Alas, no football to be had!
Sometimes, walking down the street or pedaling my way through traffic, I imagine that all 1.4 billion Chinese are there with me. There are JUST SO MANY PEOPLE here! Today, along with my trusted assistant, we were making our way from the drug treatment clinic where I had just consulted for the afternoon, and we stood stock still on the sidewalk as people exited the bus, others were alighting and others just milling around. Compounding the problem was the fact that it had been raining and the mere threat of percip causes a rainbow of
Yea, why not?
I have noticed a dramatic improvement in the use of English on apparel, I guess this is an exception umbrellas to sprout like so many toadstools in a hardwood forest. Given the height differential between yours truly and the average resident, I am constantly being jabbed in the eye by the protruding ribs of the protective devices. I have taken to ambling sideways down the pavement, neatly turning the protuberances aside with my shoulder.
The weather has taken a decisive turn here, rain and cool, highs in the low 60's, which doesn't sound too shabby for our Vermont friends but since nothing is heated, and the doors and windows are always thrown wide open, one never gets warm. I can sense the burgeoning tightness in my shoulder blades, a consequence of having a steady level of "holding" as a gird against the cold.
Tomorrow we leave for four days to attend the wedding of our young friends WANG Junfang and LIAO Huanbiao. We first met them almost seven years ago and although they have officially wed (go to the government office and fill out the paperwork) this event is a family affair, done on a date regarded as propitious, by whoever calculates those sorts of things. Ellen and I are then headed to a holy Buddhist mountain
Pubic Health Catstrophe
When we first came to China, it was very rare to see a woman smoking, now hardly a day goes by when I don't. Cancer is already the leading cause of death and the smoking rate among adult males is around 65% where we are almost certain to freeze our butts off, as we will be about 750 miles north of here, but still south of the Yangtze, the official demarcation line between heated and not heated buildings.
Military conflict between the US and China? Many here see the Obama “pivot” to Asia as a clear signal that the US is determined to check China's rise with a military buildup in the region. Forget for the moment that the US spends 47%!o(MISSING)f the
world's total military expenditures and that China spends just 10%!o(MISSING)f what the US spends on military. There are now US bases, or agreements to use facilities in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam (!), Taiwan and Guam. American forces are in Afghanistan (which shares a small border with China) and military relationship are strengthening between the US and India. Imagine a comprable Chinese incursion into the Western hemisphere, troops based in Mexico, deep water access to ports in Bermuda, and nuclear weaponed submarines patrolling off the East Coast.
Anti-missile defenses are being deployed and are regarded by military experts as especially destabilizing as they make possible a first strike
My heart goes out to you
Lavish displays of foral art in the floral district against China. China has long ago renounced first use of nuclear weapons, something no American administration has ever done.
And then there is history; looking
here you can read a somewhat unusual listing of US military interventions around the world since 1890. It is unusual as it includes domestic uses of military in strike breaking. By comparison China has been mostly the victim of foreign incursions, something the US has not experienced (with the exception of Pearl Harbor and some Pancho Villa incursions), since the War of 1812. China's post-1949 wars have all been border wars as it sought to re-assert control over areas that had been traditionally under China's suzerainty. (I am not discounting China's reprehensible conduct with its own people, whether it is the Uighurs in Xinjiang or the Tibetans on the Tibetan plateau, but I am also not brining up slavery, the massacre of Native Americans, nor the interment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War 2.)
It isn't hard to see that this history and this military imbalance, coupled with the “pivot” to Asia and the anti-Chinese rhetoric that permeates the political discussion in the US (from “stealing our jobs on the” on
Shape up outside a bank
A frequently encountered scene, al in height order, in this instance a good natured run down of the day the so-called labor left to “they aren't playing by (our) rules” on the business center to “they're Communist who won't let people worship as they please” on the religious right) might cause concern in the Chinese body politic about US intentions. One sure way to sap the drive to reform here is to allow the Chinese leadership to whip up nationalist fervor, and thus uniting many disparate elements in this politically diverse society.
By the way, clicking on any photo will bring up a larger image as well as access to all 16 photos attached to this posting.
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