Asia

One last thought on the just concluded Party Congress and the new faces on the all-important Standing Committee of the Politburo. Amidst all the discussion of names and factions, Princelings and the Youth League, it’s easy to lose sight of what the results mean for two critical areas: policy and competence. The policy differences between …

At the shaved noodle shop tonight, China’s latest space launch barely got a notice. As the guy next to me tested every possible ring tone option on his phone, the waitress flipped through the tv channels. First it was a talent contest, and then, for a few seconds, a digital recreation of a satellite orbiting the moon. Then it was onto …

Some interesting comments by guiyang laoshi on the millionaires vs. “thousandaires (see post below; it is an ugly coinage. my apologies) issue. First on the danger to social stability he (she?) says:

China’s economy is a case of a rising tide lifts most boats. While the number of absolutely poor has declined by breathtaking levels the

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The international Olympic committee is in town for one of their periodic inspections. Last time around, IOC President Jacques Rogge said that if pollution was bad enough they might have to move some events, which would be a pretty big loss of face. Anyway, this is familiar territory which I won’t g over again. I did notice in the story …

A last word on the previous couple of posts. Readers in China will wonder at my technical skills as all they see where the embedded video is supposed to be is a blank patch. That’s because of the youtube block by the China censors, which apparently may have been caused by the launch of a new Chinese version (www.tw.youtube.com, …

(This is my original post; see previous post for an explanation)

Monday we finally got to meet the members of the new, nine-man Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party. This group, who run China, have been selected after months of factional maneuvering which culminated in the 17th Party Congress, a five-yearly, seriously retro …

This was to have been a post introducing a shaky but somehow still charming video I shot at this morning’s announcement of China’s new ruling Politburo. However, in her wisdom the Great Firewall Nanny person has seen fit to block youtube, through which I was attempting to upload. Even behind a VPN this proved impossible. Anyway, it means …

Just how badly China’s `brand’ has been hurt this year by the slew of product and food safety scandals surrounding exports from this country has been a question policymakers and business people have been wrestling with for months. Now comes an interesting poll from the NY Times and CBS News which provides some insight. (The TIME’s …

Various lists have come out recently that detail China richest (see here and here). It’s a testament to the madness of the stock market that Bill refers to below the country now boasts no less than 345,000 millionaires and–get this–106 billionaires, second only to the U.S. A lot of it is funny money/paper money but the figures are …

China’s stock markets—not to mention its real estate market—are in full, irrational exuberance mode. I’ve no idea how long this will continue, when the “bubble” will burst, or if it is really a “bubble.’’ The key thing to remember here is markets can and will overshoot, even if the underlying assumptions driving them …

The White House didn’t release any details about what Bush said to the Dalai Lama on Tuesday, but Slate has taken a guess. Some highlights:

It’s awful, but I just can’t help it. Whenever I see the Buddha, I think of Rove. We used to call him “Buddha.” Karl’s lost weight. Still, if you ever pictured him in a diaper, you never forget

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Bush went ahead with his meeting with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday, though the White House took a few steps to downplay the event, like holding it in the president’s private residence and not releasing a photo. White House spokesperson Dana Perino said, “We in no way want to stir the pot and make China feel that we are poking a stick in …

Naomi from OCDF writes to point out that the figure of four hours heating a day is before the orphanages get their extra supplement from the program. With the additional coal they can heat 16 hours a day, a huge difference. Incidentally, it occurs to me that some of our more frequent commenters might actually want to use this as an …