The New York Times Don't Care About Chinese New Year/People

Yesterday was Chinese New Year.
I don't expect the Times to have an article on the front page, but I do expect a picture, maybe the size of a postage stamp about the New Year, on the Metro Section. But guess what? Nothing. I am going to cancel my freaking home delivery, now that they are raising the price and don't give a $hit about Chinese people. The 7-day home delivery price is $9.65 effective February 6.
The Chinese New Year parade is as far as I know only limited in downtown Chinatown around Mott Street, a few blocks here and there and in some other Chinese enclaves in Queens and Brooklyn. Perhaps the Chinese should take up a whole freaking section of the 5th Avenue just so we get some attention and press coverage. Perhaps not.
Updates: I searched the nytimes.com online edition, no coverage either.
To read about the Chinese New Year, you have to read the free newspaper like amNewYork or the New York Post or the New York Daily News. Good things I was actually there to enjoy the festival, because you just can't read it on the Times.
I used to not care about the Chinese New Year. But now I am converted. Perhaps I have gotten older and have two children. I plan to go to Chinatown on every Chinese New Year as long as I am in the city.

St. Patrick's Day Is News Worthy in NYT's Book

The New York Times mentions the annual St. Patrick's Day on today's paper.  So apparently it's news worthy.  Whereas the Chinese New Year is not and has not been so.  Being a Chinese American I am frankly disappointed at the Chinese New Year coverage or actually the total lack thereof from a major New York newspaper (A22 on print).

On the web:  A Shorter Parade Means Less Green for Some on St. Patrick's Day.

For Chinese New Year coverage, you have to see it on my blog.

Year Of The Ox

After my perennial complaints on lack of coverage of Chinese New Year in The New York Times, the publication finally did the right thing and ran a piece on Chinese New Year titled, fittingly, Year of the Ox Is Looking Inauspicious, with accompanied multimedia content.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year.
This is the Year of the Pig. I have no idea what it's supposed to mean, I hope it will bring me good luck.

Christmas, Lost and Remembered

Christmas to us kids was about giving the prettiest Christmas card to the girl you secretly adored but would never admit or even let her know.  Well I don't think if I ever had one--I still can't admit it, I am just that shy.  You also exchanged cards with all your friends but that's just to cover up and divert others from the only card you ever truly wanted to give.  That was a time when nobody had yet discovered a make-up festival called Valentine's Day which was so designed by merchants to make money and to make all the singletons weep.  So Christmas was the only big day for us kids, to have some fun exchanging tacky cards with even tackier handwritten messages like "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" no matter the card had that same exact message already printed in the front and the fact that we saw each other every day.  Of course all these crazy card exchanges within a classroom of some forty pupils began in early December and ran on till the climactic festive finale that was our grand Christmas party production in our make-shift auditorium inside our seedy school.  I don't remember back then if I knew of, let alone sent or received any Hallmark or any import fancy cards that actually broadcast class and taste.  All I remember were glitters, lots of them.  Looking back, they were kind of cool in their own silly tacky way.  You know whenever you look back in time you kind of look through things with a nostalgic filter which invariably aestheticizes and makes everything oddly beautiful.  Me and my sisters gathered our stacks of Christmas cards from friends and relatives and hopefully secret admirers, and hung them up on some strings we so artfully arranged on our window so they garlanded like a Christmas tree, only there wasn't any real Christmas tree except strings of Christmas cards with glitters and childish blessings.  We lived in a crammed apartment in a neighborhood where people had very modest means.  But Christmas was the time of the year every window from every household wanted to look its best or richest: that would be a small plastic fantastic Christmas tree with lightings! The decoration was so good nobody wanted to ever take it down until some months later,  when an even greater festival, so mega and so important that deserved and demanded the Japanese NHK Red and White Song Contest broadcast, Chinese New Year came along.  I still love and yearn for Christmas cards, with or without glitters.

The New York Times Sucks

New York Times doesn't give a f.u.c.k about Chinese or Chinese New Year despite New York City has one of the biggest freaking Chinatown on Earth and it calls itself The New York Times.  The event wasn't even covered in their regional area section.  Anyhow, I did my part and "covered" the event as much as I could which is hardly good or enough.  The New York Times sucks ass.

Happy New Year

Happy Chinese New Year my dear readers.

Chinese New Year

DSC_4310
Originally uploaded by rnj97.

We have a good time enjoying the New Year festivities.

The Grand Tour - Evan Osnos

Here are passages I found interesting while reading Evan Osnos' The Grand Tour.  I much rather come up with original content but I can't so I am, rather shamelessly in my opinion, doing all these reblogging, retweeting kind of stuff, a better name for this kind of activity perhaps is curating I think.

Ten-year-old Liu Yifeng, who had a bowl cut and wore a black sweatshirt covered in white stars, smiled up at me and asked, “Do all foreigners have noses that big?”

“Besides, we’re too busy to travel the rest of the year.” We spoke in Chinese, but when he was surprised he’d say, “Oh, my Lady Gaga!,” an English expression he’d picked up at school.

He often referred to himself in the third person—Guide Li—and he prided himself on efficiency. “Everyone, our watches should be synchronized,” he said. “It is now 7:16 P.M.” He implored us to be five minutes early for every departure. “We flew all the way here,” he said. “Let’s make the most of it.”

He informed us that French scientists had determined that the optimal length of a tour guide’s lecture is seventy-five minutes. “Before Guide Li was aware of that, the longest speech I ever gave on a bus was four hours,” he added.

(“For six or seven years, I drove Japanese tourists all the time,” he told me later. “Now it’s all Chinese.”)

“In China, we think of bus drivers as superhumans who can work twenty-four hours straight, no matter how late we want them to drive. But in Europe, unless there’s weather or traffic, they’re only allowed to drive for twelve hours!”

every driver carries a card that must be inserted into a slot in the dashboard; too many hours and the driver could be punished. “We might think you could just make a fake card or manipulate the records—no big deal,” Li said. “But, if you get caught, the fine starts at eighty-eight hundred euros, and they take away your license! That’s the way Europe is. On the surface, it appears to rely on everyone’s self-discipline, but behind it all there are strict laws.”

“Throughout our trip, breakfast will rarely be more than bread, cold ham, milk, and coffee.” The bus was silent for a moment.

some of his older travellers used to have a habit of hiding cash in the toilet tank or the ventilation ducts. “The worst case I’ve had was a guest who sewed money into the hem of the curtains,

We headed for our first stop: the modest German city of Trier. Though it’s not quite a household name for most first-time visitors to Europe, Trier has been unusually popular with Chinese tourists ever since Communist Party delegations began arriving, decades ago, to see the birthplace of Karl Marx. My Chinese guidebook, written by a retired diplomat, said it once was described as the Mecca of the Chinese people

“In China, if you can get ten things for a hundred dollars, that’s still better than getting one thing for a hundred dollars,” Li said.

“We have to get used to the fact that Europeans sometimes move slowly,” he said. When shopping in China, he went on, “we’re accustomed to three of us putting our items on the counter at the same time, and then the old lady gives change to three people without making a mistake. Europeans don’t do that.” He continued, “I’m not saying that they’re stupid. If they were, they wouldn’t have developed all this technology, which requires very subtle calculations. They just deal with math in a different way.” He ended with some advice: “Let them do things their way, because if we’re rushing then they’ll feel rushed, and that will put them in a bad mood, and then we’ll think that they’re discriminating against us, which is not necessarily the case.”

Li made a great show of acting out a Mediterranean life style: “Wake up slowly, brush teeth, make a cup of espresso, take in the aroma.” The crowd laughed. “With a pace like that, how can their economies keep growing? It’s impossible.” He added, “In this world, only when you have diligent, hardworking people will the nation’s economy grow.”

“Feel the openness of the city!” Cameras whirred, and he pointed out that central Paris had no skyscrapers. “In Shanghai, unless you’re standing right next to the Huangpu River, you can’t get any sense of the city, because there are too many tall buildings.” Europeans, he added, “preserve anything old and valuable.”

“We cast aside our three core ideas—Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism—and that was a mistake. We were taught Marxist revolutionary ideas from 1949 to 1978.” He paused and watched his wife and daughter snapping photographs at the railing, an orange sun sinking into the city beyond them. “We spent thirty years on what we now know was a disaster,” he said.


Several in our group told me how sorry they were that we weren’t stopping at a place called Aotelaise. The name baffled me. Someone explained that it’s a new Chinese word: “outlets.”

“Can a place where workers go on strike every day grow economically? Certainly not,” he said. “People here are strangely used to it. Their laws on public demonstrations are very mature. As long as you apply to the government, you have the right to protest on a predetermined route.” This is their “routine way of demanding their rights,”

In one of Marie Antoinette’s chambers, the Salon des Nobles de la Reine, he pointed out a blue vase of “beautiful Chinese porcelain, which was stolen from us and brought here.” The Hall of Mirrors, he said, was host not only to royal galas but also to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, in June, 1919—a notorious document in Chinese history, because it allowed German territory in Shandong Province to be placed under Japanese control.

Zheng said her countrymen have come to believe that “if you don’t elbow your way on to everything you’ll be last.” A car paused for us at a crosswalk, and Zheng drew a contrast: Drivers at home think, “I can’t pause. Otherwise, I’ll never get anywhere,”

At the very moment that American parents were wondering if they had something to learn from China’s purportedly hard-nosed “tiger mothers,” Chinese parents were trying to restore creativity to the country’s desiccated education system.

When Promise finally put down his wilted copy of the Wall Street Journal, there were no trumpets. He said simply, “When I read a foreign newspaper, I see lots of things I don’t know about.”

Memo To UBS Staff

Yes, you may wear red undergarment should you desire to do so on Chinese New Year Day (or any day of the year). It's OKAY.

Hey, it's Chinese New Year

It's the Year of the Dog.
Gung Hey Fat Choi to all.

Big Wong

The Obligatory Big Wong shot on Chinese New Year Day. No, he is not Big Wong, the restaurant is. Big Wong and some Chinese restaurants are just better in more than one way. Like the wait staff would automatically give the kids glass of water instead of tea or let you ask them. Something simple like that a lot of restaurants don't do.

Chinese New Year Resolution

As a Z-list blogger (you can't go lower than that), I will continue to blog the only way I know how by substituting substance with shallowness, facts with fictions, in-depth analysis with ill-informed opinion and absolutely refuse to use the exclamation mark.

Got to go to party now.

UPDATE: Just came back from the swamp that's called New Jersey. We were invited to have dinner. You know I will go anywhere there is free food, and be grateful and thankful that we are actually welcome. I won't take that for granted.

Weekend Leak

Yet more email leaks from the Internet gutter ...  I have made an effort to redact any source out to protect the innocent and rearrange the email exchange some what chronologically for easier comprehension.  The exchange touches on different topics concerning modern China.




中國當代藝術家艾軒，艾未未均為艾青之子。 另有一子艾端午移民美國紐約，是專職的風水師


Damn, it's seems that Uncle Sam accept all kind of expertise
[redacted]

From: [redacted]
To: s[redacted]
Subject: RE: 回覆： Fwd: 回覆： Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 21:14:11 +0800

under until today, my colleague told me Ai has been stayed in US for more than 10 years, like [redacted], Ai also has a brother, in New York


艾未未為艾青與高瑛之子，1957年於北京出生[12]，其妻為路青，目前居住在北京草場地村。[13]反右期間，艾青一家於1958年被流放新疆，艾未未在新疆石河子居住十六年，後於1975年全家返回北京。[14]
1978年，入讀北京電影學院，同期的學生包括中國導演陳凱歌與張藝謀。 [15]1981年至1993年居住美國，主要居於紐約，曾就讀紐約帕森設計學院。後因一門課未通過被學校停止發放獎學金，於是離開學校，並因此成為了非法居留者。[16]他混跡於紐約，他的公寓成為了許多中國未來的藝術家們在美國的中轉站。1987年，在美國舉辦《舊鞋、性安全》藝術展，被藝評家稱為「引人注目的新達達主義」[17]。在紐約，他也是一位積極的街頭抗議者，參與了許多街頭的抗議活動。1989年，在六四事件中憑著美國政策得到美國綠卡，1993年4月，父親艾青患病，他返回北京照顧父親並同時放棄了美國居民身分。[18][19]


那你老哥認為老艾抵撚死?
[redacted]

> Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 09:36:57 +0800
> Subject: Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
> From: [redacted]
> To:[redacted]
>
> 敢拽老虎尾巴的艾未未，常常打擦邊球，終於令共產黨忍無可忍，胡溫連劉曉波都不怕，哪會怕艾未未。
>
>
> 2011/4/7[redacted] :
>
> under until today, my colleague told me Ai has been stayed in US for
> more than 10 years, like [redacted], Ai also has a brother, in New York


[redacted] has some points in this email
[redacted]

Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 19:03:44 -0700
From:[redacted]
Subject: Re: Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
To: [redacted]

[redacted]has always this little red guard thing going on. In a way, if one is to go against the Chinese government, one is asking for it. So in that sense. He deserves it, knowing too well that the Communist won't forget or forgive. Most people will just STFU all things considered.

共產黨啊, 青面獠牙, 共妻共產, 太可怕啊

別忘了，老弟，你現在喝的是共產黨賣給你的水，90%
吃的是共產中國出產的食物，你可以不喜歡共產黨，甚至妄想光復大陸，但不能逃避以上的事實，除非你像[redacted]老弟一樣住在[redacted]。我的論點是：我們都要學會怎樣跟共產黨相處，因我們都活在共產黨轄下的香港，除非你願意跟劉曉波、艾未未一道做烈士。

我這樣説夠清楚了嗎？我不是紅衛兵［可能以前是］，但抹殺中國共産黨這90年來在中國所做的一切，也比毛主席的紅小兵高明了沒多少。你們説是嗎？

BTW, July 1, 2011 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the CCP
-- Chinese Communist Party.

[redacted], when you settle in London after your retirement, you may
consider starting an international crusade against the CCP and its
rule in China and we'll see whether there's still a market for that.

精誠團結, 同心同德, 一年準備, 两年反攻, 三年掃漡, 五年成功


It's not for me to say. I could march to the Central Government
Representative Office here and pelt stones into its compound but it
wouldn't help a bit. Ai should have known full well there might be
consequences to what he did considering that fact that he's in China
instead of New York City. What's the surprise here, buddy? Tell me.

It's for the Chinese people as a whole to say whether they still want
the Communists around. Look what's happening in Libya. Maybe by
that time, Uncle Sam and NATO or even the UN [which is a bit remote]
would be willing to lend a hand to the Chinese uprising against the
CCP. You and I may not be able to witness that day, pals. Keep
praying, [redacted]. That's the best thng you can do while you're still
residing in the HKSAR. [Emphasis on SAR]

Tell me, [redacted], how many f**king years have passed since the
following slogan was evoked. You haven't grown up at all. Do you
know the CCP is celebrating its 90th anniversary on July 1 of this
year. I dare say not a single person in Taiwan believe in the
following BS any more.
The Chinese don't deserve democracy. They are an inferior people. They are only interested in eating, shitting, having sex, quarrelling amongst themselves and backstabbing his/her friends. The Chinese deserve this communist virus. After all the countries have thrown it out as an ideology, these backward people still use it (or stfu as the common people) as controlling its people. This all comes down to thousands of years of oppression and feudalism. Lucky us that we (or our parents) got outta of China. But in Hong Kong. Not for long. We are going to be increasingly like them.>

痛心疾首

Like it or not, [redacted], a Royal Society report shows China pushing UK
into third place in scientific publishing and predicts it will soon
surpass the US as early as 2013. I'm sure this is sad news for you,
the Queen's subject. That said, I don't think you'd argue with the
Royal Society.

I think [redacted]would also like to reconsider the proposition that the
US system is the best one to harness and harvest the best minds in the
world, or words to that effect.

I know for a fact that there's rampant fraud and plagiarism in Chinese
academia. Be that as it may, China is still poised to be world No. 1
in R&D.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/mar/28/china-us-publisher-scientific-papers

http://pressroom.ipc-undp.org/2011/news-science-peer-review-and-scientific-publishing-china-poised-to-overhaul-us-as-biggest-publisher-of-scientific-papers/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110329/sc_afp/britainchinausscienceresearchinvest_20110329074459

http://indiglit.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/in-2-years-china-will-surpass-the-us-in-science-research-2/


驅除馬列, 恢復中华, 反共抗俄, 殺朱拔毛



That's fair comment, buddy. Do you guys still remember what 林沛理 said
about the Apple Daily in HK:

“對於《蘋果日報》日後的發展，最大的關鍵在於它把「人」看成什麼﹕
是愚民、笨伯、消費者、經濟人，還是一個公民社會的成員、一個雙肩承擔得起民主政治責任，也因此是應該得到民主的群體(a people
deserving democracy)。”

In order for democracy to prevail in a place, you've got to have
people who are 一個公民社會的成員、一個雙肩承擔得起民主政治責任，也因此是應該得到民主的群體。


2011/4/8 :

The Chinese don't deserve democracy. They are an inferior people. They
are only interested in eating, shitting, having sex, quarrelling
amongst themselves and backstabbing his/her friends. The Chinese
deserve this communist virus. After all the countries have thrown it


[redacted]is the only educator I know who comes out in support of those guys. But he is not a chancellor or anyone. And we are in Hong Kong. In 1919, Mr Cai Yuan Pei 蔡元培， the chancellor of the Beijing University stuck his neck out for the students. He had no fear of the warlords. We all stfu.
>
Behind closed doors, I think many [redacted]in HK are at least as
brave as Sir [redacted]. But are they marching to the Liaison Office of
the Central People's Government in the HKSAR in protest, probably not.
Ask [redacted]if you don't believe what I say.
[redacted]. C'mon. I agree China is making a lot of headway on a lot of fronts. But go and live there for a while and you will see what kind of a society there. People are indifferent, just getting by with the communists controlling everything. This environment is not conducive to the development of ideas, the information revolution. In the west, people like to emphasise the CONSUMERS in China. But the fact is China still can't get its domestic consumption up. Most of the people are still poor, getting by. The buyers you see on Canton Road don't represent China. At most it is the 1% (albeit 13 millions) of China who have become rich. As a system, it is built on shaky ground. That is why the communists are so nervous about those dissidents.
China also won a lot of gold medals at the Olympics. That is good. But does that mean China have a sporting culture? Do the Chinese enjoy sports? Do they have the time to do sports? ...

ask yourself, why don't you send your kids to those pro-communist schools, I am sure that they can teach your kids how to deal with communists much better than [redacted]

Of course there are many. But will you find a chancellor in HK, in the safety of hk that is, who is willing to come out to comment on the goings-on in China? That is why I like Mr Cai a lot. He is a great person. Not Chinese. By the way, he was buried in HK, at a cemetery near Aberdeen.
>
> 寄件者: [redacted]
> 日期: 2011/04/08 星期五 下午 12:00:42 HKT
> 收件者: [redacted] ,
> [redacted] ,
> [redacted] 
> 主旨: Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
>
> Behind closed doors, I think many educators in HK are at least as


at least one, 王友金, the Mainland law expert, I watched his interview in NOW TV yesterday, he stands for Ai


here is Professor Wang

王友金，著名法律學者，中國維權律師關注組顧問、中國政法大學客座教授，是公共專業聯盟的成員之一。他在劉曉波獲得2010年諾貝爾和平獎的時候曾經到挪威示威。

[redacted], that is right. Those guys have more moral courage than those in HK. This One Country Two Systems is not going to work. In a way, the Hong Kong people have very bad rulers. We are losing our values. Slowly but surely, we will be just like China. Let's turn the lights off.


I'm stating it as a fact [i.e. a Royal Society report shows China has
pushed the UK into third place in scientific publishing and predicts
it will soon surpass the US as early as 2013], buddy. We'll have to
wait and see how future generations in China fair. China is still a
backward and autocratic country, no doubt about that. But the
country as a whole has gone a long way toward modernisation and has
made huge impacts on people's livelihood in the last three decades.

Pro [redacted], my old school chum, travels a lot and far and wide in China.
He gave lecture in Jinan and Wuhan recently about social work. He
even surmises that a people's revolution is imminent or not far away
in the Mainland. In his own words, the CCP and its many local
branches have created lots of powder kegs all over China -- sound
familiar? Remember Gordan Chang?



If they offer IB Diploma courses and teach entirely in English, I'd
consider doing so.

2011/4/8 [redacted] :

ask yourself, why don't you send your kids to those pro-communist
schools, I am sure that they can teach your kids how to deal with
communists much better than [redacted]
The problem with Gordon was that he said it 10 years ago. He was dead wrong in the last 10 years. But now I think it is the time to go short on China. Yes, it has co-opted the 1% rich into its ranks. But the seeds of in-stability have been sown. There is going to be more and more unrest. Guys, you have to remember that the CCP has to keep the growth rate at 8% to keep the country 'stable'.
>
> 寄件者:[redacted]
> 日期: 2011/04/08 星期五 下午 12:15:58 HKT
> 收件者: [redacted],
> [redacted] ,
> [redacted]
> 主旨: Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山 >
> I'm stating it as a fact [i.e. a Royal Society report shows China has
> pushed the UK into third place in scientific publishing and predicts
> it will soon surpass the US as early as 2013], buddy. We'll have to


Yeah, [redacted], add one more imperative for Premier Wen, he's got to
keep house prices down in Chinese cities, big and small, costal or
inland, for a swelling rank of urban dwellers.

In the meantime, the US federal government is threatening to shut
down, as it had done briefly before back in 1995.
The problem with the people in hk is: they don't read history books. They would like, their children as well, to go to business schools. But they don't know Chinese history. They don't read the history of the CCP. They don't know the nature of the CCP. In my view, the CCP is just another dynasty in the Chinese history, just like the Qin, the Han, or the Qing dynasty. After a while, from 50 years to 250 years, another dynasty would come up. Revolutions take place. Anywhere from one quarter to half of the population would be wiped out in the turmoil. That is why the Chinese are inferior. They never learn from history.
>

Be that as it may, another dynasty or not. Who can tell what's going
to happen 200 years from now? The United States of America has
lasted 234 years. Meanwhile, everybody is predicting China's rise
and the descent of the West in the 21st Century.


As food for thought, some [redacted] have left these comments under the
Guardian article:


"Leondeinos -- 28 March 2011 11:18PM

It's not surprising to see that China has moved forward in scientific
publication, both in quantity and quality. What makes the prognosis
worse for the US than implied here is the growing scorn toward
education, in general, and science, in particular, in the United
States. The Congress is full of ignoramuses who, for example, don't
(won't) understand climate change, evolution, the underlying problems
with nuclear power, or the fallacy of missile defence. These
nincompoops have great power and are using it to great effect. Support
for public education is being cut back massively in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and Ohio, not to mention the more familiar fundamentalist
anti-evolution states to the south and west, where the anti-science
battle has been running for years.

This means that the trend reported by the Royal Society will continue,
with additional, far more important evidence of loss in American
scholarship showing up over the next twenty years. By then, the real
bill for today's budget balancing stunts (in a country that is not
poor at all) will come due."


"Chadwick4th -- 29 March 2011 12:38AM

It's not a question of mental ability. Countries are obviously not
equal. China is in a developing stage after having gone through
numerous internal struggles, yet they are now 2nd in publishing
scientific papers and 7th in global citations. In terms of GDP per
capita, they are 93rd meaning they have less resources to educate all
of their students. Having a very poor (per capita), developing country
rise so quickly in scientific output is amazing. As a good comparison,
what rank is India on that list?

I can't even imagine where China will be when their university systems
develop further and their current graduate students become professors
since it takes many generations to develop a foundation for a
university system. China has done so in an amazingly short time."



If you believe all those stories, you would think the States is one of the most backward countries in the world. But let's face it, it is still ahead in everything. That country has the unique ability to renew itself, to change course. Most important of all, it attracts immigrants. Scientists, engineers, doctors love to go there from all over the world. My nephew would love to be one of them.
>

Of course not, I take it with a pinch of salt. Another guy,
probably in academia, has this to say:


"For those in the research community this comes as no great surprise.
Over 20 years in the US, the majority of students and post docs that
have passed through my lab have been foreign, with the majority of
those being chinese.

You make the point that the per capita output of publications from
China comes nowhere near that of the US. That's a fair comment.
However, you have to appreciate that a significant percentage of the
US research output is actually provided by foreign scientists, both
graduate students and postdocs. In years gone by, many of these would
have remained in the US to pursue their careers. These days more and
more are returning to their home countries. Indeed I know an
increasing number of senior scientists (at the full professor level)
who are returning over seas (myself included actually).

While US science is still exceptionally strong, it seems to me that
fewer and fewer US born students are considering careers in research.
This is hardly surprising given the paucity of entry level (assistant
professor) positions that are currently available and the difficulty
in obtaining research funding. A couple of years ago, the average age
for a first research grant from the National Institutes of Health was
43. This is a ridiculous situation given that the majority of us were
probably at our most innovative in our 20s and early 30s. My view from
afar is that the UK is in no better shape scientifically. The only
western country that seems to be maintaining its standing is Germany
(this is merely my impression).

Let me be quite clear, I don't think US science is going down the
drain. It is going to remain a powerhouse for the foreseeable future.
However, it is certainly going see increasing competition from the Far
East, and not just from China."


I tend to agree with the BRAIN DRAIN thing in the following comment:

"You bring up literacy rates yet that tells us nothing about the
university system. You think that being able to read makes you a
scientist? What nonsense. It's very well known that China's university
is not nearly as developed as those in the UK, the USA and Japan,
especially on the graduate level. Is that somehow surprising
considering they are 93rd in the world in terms of GDP per capita? How
can you fund quality education for so many students with that little
money?

Yes, the Chinese students in the top US universities are the cream of
the crop, which is an even bigger argument for why this is so
impressive. China has been experiencing brain drain to other countries
for many years now, and still their scientific production rises
relentlessly. As China develops and its education system develops,
it's going to have more top-level graduate level students going back
to China to find opportunities or choosing not to leave in the first
place. This happened with Japan as well of decades past.

In the next few decades, we are going to see a huge change in the
scientific communities of the world."

Every year, 6.5 million graduates come on stream in China. Many of them can't find work of any kind. Sexual work is work too. Also, as my goddess 曾子墨 said:
二奶不偷不抢， 何罪之有。


Do you know China builds its own boomers [nuclear subs carrying ICMBs
launched under water] and nuclear attack subs that fire cruise
missiles and super fast torpedoes, [redacted]? Where's the surprise
that they also build their own nuclear power plants? Yet, many of
those in China are made in France or the US.

2011/4/8 [redacted] :

Have you read the news in Apple Daily, even China can made Nuclear
plants, an ordinary guy like you and me, just pay RMB100 to those
"tourist guide" in Shenzhen, can gain access to those core area, I
mean their way of control, if any, thus almost no control at all no
matter how they set their strict standard
william
>
> 寄件者: [redacted] 
> 日期: 2011/04/08 星期五 下午 01:45:53 HKT
> 收件者: [redacted] ,
> [redacted]
> 主旨: RE: Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
>
>
> I can personally tell you, from my experience, there's lot of mainland female graduates, worked in Tokyo or other major cities, as massage girls or properly sex workers


Ten years ago, I paid rmb 100 to have a hug with three giant pandas inside a cage in SiChuan. You are right, the control centre of a nuclear power plant is also open to anyone who is willing to pay.



They're more useful in solving social problems than social workers
like Prof [redacted].
Have you guys ever heard of the 汉芯一号 farce in China? If you haven't, you should. There is no honesty in the Chinese academia. It is shameless. Many of those 'scholars' are 海归 too. That doesn't make them honest. As their ancestors said more than two thousands years ago, 橘逾淮而枳。 Pals, it is not the fruit. It is the soil that makes people bad.
>

Since 2008, some pro-chinese commentators have been saying the west is in decline. There is the need of Chinese rating agencies. The S & P and others like 穆迪 have a bias against China. China should have a higher rating in everything.
I agree to this to a point. But China has only been more 'normal', less radical in the past twenty years. While the US has been stable, free of the likes of the Cultural Revolution, in the last 234 years. No one knows the future. But would you put more faith in a model that has shown to be working smoothly in the past like the US? Or would you put all your eggs in China?
>

Of course. I know quite a bit of the story. As you once said,
they've got another set of morals. If you read Liang Wendao's
article about fake interviews of the rich & famous in the Chinese
media and Yu Hua 余華 《十個詞彙裡的中國》 中的 “山寨” 一詞，那就更好笑了。

I don't have much of a choice, do I? Deep down, I don't subscribe to
Communism any more. I was born to a poor Chinese peasant and I'm
staying in China. All in all, I want China to be rich and powerful
and stand shoulder to shoulder with other superpowers. Yet I don't
have a clue how to achieve that. There may or may not be ways other
than western democracy.

All I ever want is to live a peaceful life in a harmonious society.
That society may not be just or even democratic but it has to be
secure. In fact, I love to live here in Hong Kong. Malaysia is
another place that I like to spend my retirement in. I also like an
orderly place like Singapore. Tell you the truth, pal, I'm very
worried about the prevalence of firearms in the US. For me, I
wouldn't want to live in the USA. Lastly but not least, I like
Beijing as both a vibrant and historic city despite the fact that it's
the capital city of autocratic Communist China.

2011/4/8 :

Since 2008, some pro-chinese commentators have been saying the west is
in decline. There is the need of Chinese rating agencies. The S & P
and others like 穆迪 have a bias against China. China should have a
higher rating in everything.

I agree to this to a point. But China has only been more 'normal',
less radical in the past twenty years. While the US has been stable,
free of the likes of the Cultural Revolution, in the last 234 years.
No one knows the future. But would you put more faith in a model that
has shown to be working smoothly in the past like the US? Or would you
put all your eggs in China?



Literally all my eggs are in China at the moment -- a special
administrative region in Communist China.

Not only eggs, sexually he has put all his sperms in China women
how about Thailand, your second fatherland
there I support the government in importing more mainland women

then you paid more, my youngest sister once paid only RMB10 or 20 to hug with Pandas in Shenzhen Zoo, they manage the Nuclear Power Plant like a zoo or I can say, like a public toilet

I bet they do the same thing with their nuclear subs, [redacted]. Fancy
a joy ride under the sea?

they can also solve scientific or technological problem, I mean China didn't need more scientific reserach, they have plenty of supply of busty women to steal the western, Japanese and Korean technology, and those chinese bond girls have proved to be very successful
[redacted]


had my hugs at Wo Lung, the home of the giant pandas.


> Just like in Accountancy, if you can attach a dollar value to transaction then it means something, otherwise they are just footnotes that most people tend to ignore. ?If people can attach a dollar value to moral integrity or courage than perhaps the economic animals in Hong Kong can understand that better.

> ________________________________
> From: "[redacted]
> To: [redacted] 
> Sent: Friday, April 8, 2011 12:10 AM
> Subject: 回覆： RE: 回覆： Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
> [redacted], that is right. Those guys have more moral courage than those in HK. This One Country Two Systems is not going to work. In a way, the Hong Kong people have very bad rulers. We are losing our values. Slowly but surely, we will be just like China. Let's turn the lights off.




Exactly, what is the big deal about the economic take-off? The Chinese are hardworking. They have good biz acumen. They are suited for capitalism.
That jerk is called 李国华。 You have made a great point there.
>
> 寄件者: "[redacted] 
> 日期: 2011/04/08 星期五 下午 10:23:50 HKT
> 收件者: [redacted]
> [redacted]
> [redacted]
> 主旨: Re: Trekking & Summitting Mount Mi’le 彌勒山
>
> You never know. ?All the communists need to do is to force the hand of history, perhaps by arresting more economic criminals. ?In Tunisia, all it takes was one fruit vendor who burned himself to death, it's an absurdly nonevent compared to what happened in China. ?Many Chinese are enjoying unprecedented prosperity and don't really want to rock the cradle. ?And the communist regime is largely credited to this double-digit economic growth. ?But can I even make the argument that maybe just maybe China would have taken off much earlier economically speaking if not because of the Communists hamstringing's its people with stupid dogmas and even stupider policies, look at smallish Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. ?Not too long ago, I read the news that a crippled man who runs an orphanage in China, benefiting children providing them food,?shelter?and education. ?But in return, young girls need to sleep with him. ?I think one of the victims still feels
> ambivalent towards the guy, on the one hand he's like a good guy providing her a roof on the other he's like?ruining her life. ?I think that's how some Chinese people feel about the Communist Party in China, it's like the Stockholm syndrome--problematic, troublesome and yet understandable.
>
> ________________________________

You guys really loathe the Communists. Well, whether you guys like
them or not, they're gonna stay -- perhaps for 500 years.

Despite the fact that Tunisia and China are completely different and
incomparable, let's pray for the appearance of another Mohamed
Bouazizi in China.


500 years? I don't think so, in history there's no Empire can last for 500 years, Roman empire, Mongolian Empire, British Empire cannot, CCP is not an exception

Well, I don't loathe anyone. I am just not comfortable with anyone or any group having a monopoly of power.

Happy Chinese New Year

I hope you like the red hot chili pepper background.

PS:  I can't stand the color myself.

Sichuan After Shock in Flushing

Holy cow, Flushing is in the news. Although not exactly like in New York Times as I have come to conclude that basically New York Times don't care about Chinese in New York City.

I have been living under a rock and I really didn't know there had been some altercation which led to councilman John Liu's intervention, and police arrest, happening in downtown Flushing right next to the public library where Kissena Avenue and Main Street intersects. The public library was nearly shut down because of the commotions and the library security officials had to secure the premise for its patrons. Wow, that's good news, because those security guards were finally doing their jobs instead of just shooting the breeze and harassing patrons who falls asleep at the desk or people merely waiting near the foyer so on and so forth. I digressed.

I just found out days later via ESWN that indeed the aftershock in Sichuan is finally hitting downtown Flushing, an immigrant enclave in Queens county that has nothing to do with Sex and the City. Falung Gong was doing its usual sidewalk show, probably with the recent quake in Sichaun thrown in to update their political and human rights agenda and whatnot. Usually most people really don't give a flying hoopla to their sidewalk propaganda show. Until allegedly three or four days ago when some Chinese people took offense and started to take matters in their own hand, arguing that during this particular juncture, that China is ravaged by a category 8 or 7.9 or 7.8 quake, some 50,000 people died and millions are homeless, FLG has the nerve to hold protest s against the Chinese Communist Party. Now, I am no fan of FLG nor CCP. And I have seen FLG's perennial complaints and the slogan "Heaven Destroys CCP" long before the quake. So what the heck is the problem? You can't beat up people just because you don't agree with you? Unless it's your 7 year old kid brother. This is really the last thing I want to see in Flushing or actually anywhere else. Live and let live people.

Go home, go home eat rice.

The Super Duper Chinese New Year Cake

Chinese New Year, Manhattan Chinatown

Chopper man wasn't in the mood for pictures or he simply knew his old man wasn't much of a photographer. I didn't bring my D70. These were taken with my old Canon G3. The lens was smudged up. I guess the white balance wasn't working too well either, too bluish. I tend to blame on my gears except myself.

Twist and fire ...

The parade started around 11AM. We bought 6 packs of party snappers and a couple of fake firecrackers. They were fun.

Big Wong on Mott Street. Chopper Man and Mom.

Cotton Candy Vendor In Chinatown

Cotton candy vendor with cavernous eyes.  Chinese New Year on Mott Street.

Chinese New Year

DSC_4318
Originally uploaded by rnj97.

Harry is having a blast.