Wall Street Journal | Wandering China

June 3, 2013 • 9:50 am 1

Why China’s Current Anti-Corruption Campaign is Different [Wall Street Journal] #RisingChina #Corruption #NewLeadership

By hook or by crook, this systemic dent has always impeded China’s full potential.

It has been one of its major Achilles heels since antiquity. That said and I argue again, it is not corruption that troubles, but the means of facilitating one’s ascent in contemporary Chinese society. One need to be a an increasingly big spender to afford an entourage. The entourage too has mouths to feed and the mouths are real. Desires are at a all fine high with advertising texts robbing Chinese skylines of their natural harmony with the environment – today feeding consumerism is the name of the game.

The one seeking ascendancy is no longer feeding an entourage of farmers from the village. The downstream effect that you have to be generous too their family to gain utmost trust is an expensive one in today’s terms.

A study of the major Chinese narratives and works of literature, right down to contemporary state sponsored Chinese-made TV today reveals much. It is an inherently deep Chinese lament. In the past when the Chinese echelons got corrupt and softened, foreign powers sat on their throne as recent as living memory.

Wang Qishan – man for the job to prevent this negative slide?

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Why China’s Current Anti-Corruption Campaign is Different
By Russell Leigh Moses
Dean of Academics and Faculty at The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies
Source – Wall Street Journal China Realtime Report, published May 30, 2013

After witnessing previous campaigns against corruption fizzle out, or turn into an excuse for political backstabbing, the Chinese public might well be skeptical about President Xi Jinping’s latest attempt to rectify the Communist Party.

This present campaign, however, is beginning to look very different from the usual side-stepping that is done largely to impress the public.

And if reform-minded party cadres throw their support Mr. Xi’s way, it could turn into a broader effort to make the party more accountable.

Please click here to read the full article at the Wall Street Journal.

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Filed under: 52 Unacceptable Practices, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, China Dream, Chinese Model, Collectivism, Communications, Corruption, Domestic Growth, Education, Finance, Fu Er Dai 富二代, Government & Policy, Human Rights, Ideology, Influence, Infrastructure, Mapping Feelings, Modernisation, Peaceful Development, Politics, Population, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), The Chinese Identity, Wall Street Journal

April 23, 2013 • 10:05 am 0

Beijing’s Paranoid Worldview [Wall Street Journal] #RisingChina #DefenseWhitePaper

Clarity gleaned from a defense white paper?

Nowhere is the gulf between reality and Beijing’s aggrieved worldview more apparent than in the white paper’s discussion of the U.S. The report claims that U.S. President Barack Obama’s so-called “pivot” to Asia “makes the situation tenser,” by “enhancing military deployment and also strengthen[ing] alliances.” In Chinese eyes, the U.S. pivot is not responding to nearly two decades of double-digit Chinese defense budget increases and Beijing’s aggressive security stance. Instead, Washington is finding a new bogeyman for a post-Iraq, post-Afghanistan world.

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Beijing’s Paranoid Worldview
By Michael Auslin
Source – Wall Street Journal, published April 18, 2013

Source – Zuma Press
A Chinese missile destroyer fires during a joint naval exercise in March.

When Beijing released its defense white paper on Tuesday, official Chinese media hailed the document as a milestone in government transparency. The report, the first of its kind since 2011, is certainly clarifying—but not just because of its dry recitation of China’s defense activities and structure.

Written by the Ministry of Defense, the white paper is China’s equivalent of the U.S. National Defense Strategy, spelling out security priorities and giving basic information about China’s military programs. Aimed primarily at a foreign audience, this year’s report included for the first time personnel figures for China’s main armed forces. The total headcount of 1.4 million, while formidable, was below what international organizations have calculated. This is possibly because paramilitary and police forces, which often act as a national guard, were excluded from the count.

Nevertheless, outsiders can safely view the white paper as about the clearest public statement available of Beijing’s strategic worldview. And what a worrying statement it is. The white paper’s excoriation of the U.S. and Japan, as well as its unapologetic promise to protect territorial claims by “all necessary measures,” should convince U.S. leaders that President Xi Jinping will do little to improve relations between Beijing and Washington. A larger, more powerful and more influential China still sees itself at odds with the world.

Please click here to read the article at its source.

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Filed under: The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, International Relations, Media, Politics, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), Strategy, Wall Street Journal, military, U.S., Communications, Soft Power, Influence, Chinese Model, Public Diplomacy, Beijing Consensus, Territorial Disputes, Government & Policy, New Leadership, Peaceful Development, Hard Power

April 22, 2013 • 10:40 am 0

Challenge China to Free Tibetans [Wall Street Journal] #RisingChina #Tibet

Truth or dare? For more on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, go here.

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Challenge China to Free Tibet
Xi Jinping needs to hear that religious freedom is the only way to stop self-immolations.
By Elliott Abrams and Azizah Al-Hibri
Source – Wall Street Journal, published April 21, 2013

When Kal Kyi, a 30-year-old mother of four, set herself on fire in March to protest Chinese repression of Tibet, she joined a grim and growing fellowship of despair. Over the past four years, 112 Tibetans have immolated themselves in protest against Chinese oppression.

Tibet is burning, and the world community, including the U.S., must speak out. China’s new president, Xi Jinping, and the rest of its leadership must be persuaded that its interests lie with respecting human rights, particularly freedom of religion, and to restart discussions with Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama.

Unfortunately, persuading Beijing is no simple task. China’s rulers have dug in their heels on Tibet as self-immolations continue to mount. They have expanded repressive measures while accusing foreign forces of fueling Tibetan grievances.

Please click here to read the rest of the article at its source.

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Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Censorship, Chinese Model, Communications, Culture, Democracy, Domestic Growth, Education, Government & Policy, Human Rights, Influence, International Relations, Mapping Feelings, Modernisation, New Leadership, Peaceful Development, Peacekeeping, Politics, Population, Public Diplomacy, Random, Religion, Social, Soft Power, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), Territorial Disputes, Tibet, Wall Street Journal, Xi Jinping, #RisingChina, Immolations, Tibet

February 11, 2013 • 11:49 am 0

China’s Newest Export: Laughter #WSJ #China #Cinema

Comic cinema: Into China’s soft power toolbox.

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China’s Newest Export: Laughter
Dean Napolitano, Originally posted on Speakeasy
Source – Wall Street Journal China Realtime Report, published February 11, 2013

Source – Enlight Pictures, in WSJ China Realtime Report

What does a contemporary Chinese comedy look like?

American audiences have an opportunity to answer that question as China’s biggest box-office hit ever for a domestically made movie opened in major cities on Friday.

“Lost in Thailand,” a low-budget comedy that hit theaters Dec. 12 in China and is still in release there, steamrolled its competition during the important end-of-year period when many Chinese blockbusters are released. The battle for box-office supremacy included Jackie Chan’s action-adventure “CZ12,” which scored big with audiences but was no match for “Lost in Thailand,” and Chow Yun-fat’s World War II-era drama “The Last Tycoon.”

The man behind the Mandarin-language comedy is its 40-year-old star, Xu Zheng, who also directed, produced and co-wrote the film on a modest budget of $6 million.

Please click here to read the article at its source.

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Filed under: Art, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Culture, Domestic Growth, Government & Policy, Influence, Mapping Feelings, Media, Peaceful Development, Public Diplomacy, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Wall Street Journal

April 3, 2012 • 12:01 am 0

Red Riding Hood Protests in Hong Kong [Wall Street Journal]

Is universal suffrage for Hong Kong by 2017 possible? One country, two systems but one election outcome? Leung Chun-Ying’s annointment as new chief executive is not well received.

Up to 15,000 Hong Kongers pay tribute to the Brothers Grimm as Red Riding Hood Protests in Hong Kong highlight pro-democracy movements in the former British colony.

For more – Even China must now realise that it needs a better way to pick Hong Kong’s leader (Economist, March 31, 2012)

TO CALL the process by which Hong Kong’s new chief executive was anointed on March 25th a flawed election is to make a category error. It was not an election at all (see article). Most of those on the “election committee” that chose Leung Chun-ying, known as C.Y. Leung and pictured right, were not really free to exercise any sort of choice. Of the 1,193 committee members who voted (out of Hong Kong’s population of over 7m), many did so under orders from Beijing. Of those not favoured with clear instructions, many were second-guessing what they thought Beijing wanted them to do.

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Red Riding Hood Protests in Hong Kong
by Te-Ping Chen
Source – Wall Street Journal, published April 2, 2012

Pro-democracy protesters march on a street to demonstrate against the Chinese government’s meddling into the Hong Kong’s chief executive election in Hong Kong on April 1, 2012.

In a march themed with fanciful allusions to Little Red Riding Hood, thousands of protestors swarmed Hong Kong’s streets on Sunday in the first large display of protest since the city’s elite tapped a Beijing ally to become the Chinese territory’s next leader.

Leung Chun-ying, who is seen as having close ties to China’s Communist Party, has been nicknamed a “wolf” by local media. Protestors worry that he will weaken Hong Kong’s traditional commitment to civil liberties and freedom of speech, though Mr. Leung has adamantly maintained he will maintain the city’s core values.

On Sunday afternoon, protestors carried a giant replica of a wolfskin, and many of the women wore red scarves, in a nod to the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale. Thousands of protesters surged through the streets, shouting pro-democracy slogans, some of them wearing spray-painted models of tanks fashioned out of cardboard in a reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. Mr. Leung was selected for his post by a majority of the 1,200-member election committee. Beijing has promised the Chinese territory universal suffrage by 2017. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Chinese Model, Democracy, Government & Policy, Hong Kong, Influence, Mapping Feelings, Politics, Public Diplomacy, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Wall Street Journal

March 12, 2012 • 12:01 am 0

Chinese Millionaires Are Heading West [Wall Street Journal]

The Chinese pursuit of a better future for their children could mean heading West for now as they tire of ‘GDP worship’.

This video report from the Wall Street Journal looks at some reasons why wealthy Chinese are heading West with clean air perhaps unsurprisingly listed. For writer Shi Kang (his blog in Mandarin here), his foremost reason to head West is to raise children.

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Chinese Millionaires Are Heading West
by Angela Yeoh, Beijing
Source – Wall Street Journal, published Feb 23, 2012

Best-selling writer Shi Kang is one of a growing number of Chinese millionaires looking to leave China, in search of a better life and a healthier environment for their families. WSJ’s Angela Yeoh reports from Beijing.

Filed under: Chinese overseas, Culture, Domestic Growth, Education, Environment, Lifestyle, Mapping Feelings, Media, Overseas Chinese, People, Social, The Chinese Identity, U.S., Wall Street Journal

December 27, 2011 • 11:33 pm 0

China Needs Butlers [Wall Street Journal]

The Chinese have been a source of cheap labour and domestic help worldwide since the eighteenth century. As the twenty-first moves into its second decade, it is intriguing to see how the tables have turned with British butlers a ‘must’ to ‘accessorise’ newly purchased mansions for the newly wealthy in China, India and the Middle East. Keeping with the times or is this a subtle cultural dig back at former colonial masters?

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China Needs Butlers
By Robert Frank
Source – Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2011

The butler economy may be slow to rebound in the U.S., but it’s booming in China.

According to Bloomberg, Britain’s Guild of Professional English Butlers has trained 20% more butlers in 2011 than 2010, and demand is outstripping supply. The Bespoke Bureau in London, which also trains butlers, said butler training is up 52%. Bespoke recently placed a butler with a salary of $158,390 for a rich family in the United Arab Emirates, the article said.

“There is a shortage of them,” Bespoke’s owner told Bloomberg.

One big reason: China. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Bloomberg, Chinese Model, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Influence, Social, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, U.K., U.S., Wall Street Journal

October 1, 2011 • 12:04 am 0

Investors Spooked by China [Wall Street Journal]

Collateral damage? Baidu and Sina reportedly suffer loss in investor confidence due to alleged accounting frauds at little-known Chinese companies listed in the U.S.

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Investors Spooked by China
Small-Stock Accounting Scandals Are Breeding Deeper Fears
By OWEN FLETCHER And DINNY MCMAHON
Source – Wall Street Journal, published September 30, 2011

: A man watches computer monitors at an office in Shanghai. Photo – Reuters

BEIJING—Investors dumped the stocks of some of China’s biggest Internet companies, as scandals with some smaller Chinese firms has shaken Wall Street’s confidence in the country’s businesses.

U.S.-listed shares of China’s leading search engine, Baidu.com Inc., and Sina Corp., the operator of the country’s Twitter-like messaging service, plunged 16% and 18%, respectively, in the last two days of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market even though these companies haven’t been accused of wrongdoing.

A series of alleged accounting frauds this year at little-known Chinese companies listed in the U.S. has triggered a sharp shift in sentiment among investors, who are now worried about hidden business risks or financial problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Chinese Model, Corruption, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Finance, Fraud, Influence, Internet, Media, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, U.S., Wall Street Journal

July 29, 2011 • 12:08 am 0

Wen Jiabao’s Stunning Admission at Train Crash Site [Wall Street Journal]

The Wall Street Journal reports an ‘unusual’ admission of illness, something Chinese leaders rarely do. Now could this be a measured move, or increasing humanisation the Chinese leadership’s legitimacy to lead.

‘When rumors surfaced this month that former president Jiang Zemin was gravely ill or possibly even dead, censors on China’s most popular microblogging site went so far as to block all searches containing the Chinese word for “river,”or jiang, in an effort to quash the discussion.’

Premier Wen in this instance shares that he has been bed-ridden for eleven days, which was why it took him five days to visit the crash site of the Wenzhou high-speed rail collision.

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Wen Jiabao’s Stunning Admission at Train Crash Site
Josh Chin
Source – Wall Street Journal China Realtime Report, published July 28, 2011

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, center, visits at the site of the Saturday July 23, 2011 train crash, in Wenzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, Thursday, July 28, 2011. Photo: AP

This post has been changed since it was first posted. See below.

Why did it take Chinese premier Wen Jiabao five days to visit the site of Saturday’s deadly high-speed train collision near Wenzhou?

The answer, according to Mr. Wen: He was sick.

In a striking admission, the 69-year-old leader affectionately known as Grandpa Wen said Thursday that his arrival in Wenzhou had been delayed because he’d been laid up in bed for 11 days. “Over this time I’ve been ill,” Mr. Wen said at a news conference, though he didn’t say what the illness was. “The doctor only today reluctantly allowed me to travel.” Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Automotive, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Communications, Culture, Disaster, High Speed Rail, Influence, Media, Nationalism, People, Politics, Population, Public Diplomacy, Social, Strategy, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Transport, Wall Street Journal

January 11, 2011 • 6:28 am 1

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior [Wall Street Journal]

Chinese parents can order their kids to get straight As. Western parents can only ask their kids to try their best. Chinese parents can say, “You’re lazy. All your classmates are getting ahead of you.” By contrast, Western parents have to struggle with their own conflicted feelings about achievement, and try to persuade themselves that they’re not disappointed about how their kids turned out.

excerpted from “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chua

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Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids? And what happens when they fight back?
By Amy Chua
Source – Wall Street Journal, published January 8, 2011

A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it’s like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I’ve done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• attend a sleepover

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play

• watch TV or play computer games

• choose their own extracurricular activities

• get any grade less than an A

• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama

• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

• not play the piano or violin.

I’m using the term “Chinese mother” loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I’m also using the term “Western parents” loosely. Western parents come in all varieties.

All the same, even when Western parents think they’re being strict, they usually don’t come close to being Chinese mothers. For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day. An hour at most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It’s hours two and three that get tough. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Back to China, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Confucius, Culture, Education, Nationalism, Overseas Chinese, Social, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Wall Street Journal

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Beijing’s Paranoid Worldview [Wall Street Journal] #RisingChina #DefenseWhitePaper

Red Riding Hood Protests in Hong Kong [Wall Street Journal]

Investors Spooked by China [Wall Street Journal]

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