china news
i subscribe to a newsletter that compiles interesting news articles on china. here’s one i found rather interesting….
The American Dream of the Chinese Rich: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-08/06/content_11106939.htm
Times are changing. Chinese are no longer flocking to America because they’re poor and want a better life. Most Chinese who are able to go to America nowadays are wealthy. The article says that people only need to invest $500,000 to obtain a temporary green card. The American Dream…it’s not just an American’s Dream, it permeates other societies as well.
Here’s another excerpt i found quite interesting too: China orders 2,000 factory closures over energy use (August 10, 2010, BBC News)
China has ordered more than 2,000 factories to shut by next month because they are wasting too much energy. The government described the outdated smelters and other processing plants as backward. It is unclear how many jobs will be lost. The move is part of a broader plan for a substantial cut in energy use. China overtook the US last year as the world’s biggest energy consumer, but with a bigger population it is still well behind in consumption per person. The figures were released by International Energy Agency.
2,000 factories will be shut down and thousands will be without jobs just because China recently became the world’s largest energy user. One thing China is great at is if they put their mind to something, it’ll get done. And they will get things down by whatever means necessary.
Recently there has been this huge movement in my city to win three awards: 1) cleanest city 2) most environmentally-friendly city 3) and most civilized city. I scoff and laugh at this attempt because this city is from far any of those things. But they’re trying incredibly hard to make it happen. First, they spread propaganda all over the city…the city is your home, better city, better family, etc, etc. they eliminated a lot of the street vendors, leaving a lot of people with no source of income but of course the streets are now clean and orderly. Students lined the streets to make sure others didn’t j-walk. Pictures were published of people jay-walking, and if your workplace found out it was you, you could lose your job. (i secretly wanted this to happen to me because how cool would it be to get fired from jay-walking!?). Coal is still used to cook with at small food stands and little hole-in-the walls because it’s so cheap. So one day my students and i were eating lunch together, and here came the coal-police without warning, making sure everybody was using gas or electricity. and if they caught people using coal, they took it away. Motorcyle taxis are illegal, so they’ve been working hard to eliminate all motorcyle taxis. If you’re caught with one, they’ll confiscate it.
The newest thing has been little police tents all over the city. Really, you can see policemen on every block. i haven’t seen them doing anything…but feel kinda bad for them as they have to sit outside all day long in the heat.
So many new rules are in place to help make the city look good but at the detriment of many people just hoping to make a living.
confiscating motorcycle taxis
coal man confiscating all the coal
propaganda at my school...participating in this will benefit you all, let's participate by not speaking any uncivilized words or do anything uncivilized...
students lining the streets to make sure nobody jay-walks
