Commerce Secretary Gutierrez Is an Idiot

Read why here.

 

Rising Prices Putting More Koreans in Debt

East Asians have long been famous for their high savings rates, hence, the surprising headline of this Korea Times story:

32% of All Households Outspend Income

The headlining statistic is explained in detail in the story:

This means at least 3.7 million households are in debt out of 11.6 million households, excluding those engaged in the agriculture and fisheries sectors as well as one-member households. The total number of households was put at 15.9 million.

The story goes on to predict that more households will fall into debt as prices of essentials like food and oil continue to rise. The income gap is growing in a country with a moderately low Gini coefficient.

The top 20 percent of the richest households nationwide earned 8.41 times more than that of the poorest 20 percent in the January to March period, up from 8.4 times a year earlier. This is the greatest income gap since the statistical office began compiling such data in 2003.

The monthly income of the top 20 percent averaged 7.3 million won in the January to March period, up 4.7 percent from a year ago, while the bottom 20 percent made 870,000 won, an increase of 4.6 percent over the one-year period.

Given that small bank loans are difficult to obtain, these struggling households must be using credit cards or borrowing from either relatives or loan sharks.

 

China’s Openness in Earthquake Coverage

Domestic and international access to locations affected by the earthquake and coverage of events is much more open than in the past. This AP story on Yahoo examines this new openness with examples and anecdotes demonstrating close access to Chinese and foreign reporters.

When Associated Press journalists went to cover a quake that struck the western region of Xinjiang in 2003, police waited for them in their hotel lobby and interrogated them about their reporting. As recently as two months ago, security officials in Sichuan set up roadblocks and turned back journalists trying to cover protests by ethnic Tibetans in the region.

Since the quake, however, journalists generally have been free to go where they want. In the flattened city of Beichuan, reporters were allowed to walk down a block lined with 60 body bags. Soldiers only asked them not to take photos, citing respect for the dead.

AP journalists wandered around hospitals in the provincial capital, Chengdu, where patients were wrapped in bloody bandages and had their heads shaved so deep cuts could be stitched. The reporters stood next to rescue workers on mountain slopes looking for survivors and roamed around refugee camps in the city of Mianyang.

The story also cited possible reasons for the new open access:

“We have adopted an open policy because we think it was not only the disaster for Chinese people, but the people of the world,” Premier Wen Jiabao said during a weekend tour of the quake zone. “Our spirit of putting people above all and our open policy will not change.”

…

Some of the restrictions were relaxed in early 2007 as part of China’s pledge to increase media freedom — a promise that helped Beijing get picked as host for the Olympics this August. But foreign journalists and monitoring groups still complain of harassment and occasional detentions.

Rebecca MacKinnon, a journalism professor at the University of Hong Kong, said China’s leaders may have decided to be more open in Sichuan because they realized it would be too difficult to control press coverage of such a mammoth disaster.

She also said the leadership — concerned about its image before the Olympics — may have learned a lesson from Myanmar’s ruling junta, which has received worldwide scorn for limiting foreign aid for victims of a devastating cyclone.

“They discovered how much more sympathy they get and how good they look when they open up access,” said MacKinnon, a former TV journalist who covered China for CNN in 1992-2001.

She also said that unlike the recent unrest in Tibet — which involves a complex debate about history and politics — the quake involves a simple story line. “It’s a massive disaster. Everyone is overwhelmed. They’re doing what they can do,” she said.

Even with this new open and well-received open approach to media coverage, reporters and grieving parents have still been intimidated by authorities:

Three days after the quake, an AP reporter and photographer were detained in the town of Luoshui where they saw soldiers digging a mass burial pit. A group of men held the reporters in the courtyard of a government building surrounded by a metal fence. Soldiers stood around the perimeter, and local people stopped to take photos of the detainees with their mobile phones.

The men refused to explain the detention or identify themselves. One said, “I’m a Chinese citizen and it’s the right of all Chinese citizens to monitor the foreign media.” In China, plainclothes police are often used to follow journalists.

…

In Juyuan, a town where a school collapsed and killed most of its 900 students, a woman began complaining about local corruption to an AP reporter while she walked around the school’s rubble holding a picture of her dead son.

Another woman approached and began taking pictures. Identifying herself only as a “volunteer,” she kept whispering to the distraught mother, “Don’t criticize the government.”

I think Rebecca MacKinnon’s analysis is on the money. It’s good that the Chinese government wisely realized that generous media access would facilitate international donations of money and supplies and make possible wide dissemination of stories that would touch the hearts of people in China and around the world. However, the openness shown by the Chinese government in dealing with the earthquake does not signal any major shift in policy; rather, it is a single victory of pragmatics over paranoia.

 

A Disturbing Beating Death of an Infant in Korea

This appalling story comes from the Chosun Ilbo:

“시끄럽게 운다” 엄마가 영아 때려 숨지게해
Mother Beats to Death Infant Crying Loudly

경기도 수원서부경찰서는 태어난 지 70여일된 아들을 때려 숨지게 한 혐의(폭행치사)로 A(30.여)씨에 대해 구속영장을 신청했다고 26일 밝혔다.

The Suwon police announced on May 26 that they petitioned to keep in custody a 30-year-old woman, A, for beating to death her 70-day-old infant.

경찰에 따르면 A씨는 3월 13일 아들 B군을 출산한 직후부터 이달 15일까지 “시끄럽게 운다”면서 주먹과 젖병 등으로 수시로 때려 아들을 숨지게 한 혐의를 받고 있다.

According to the police, Ms. A had been beating her son, B, since the time he was born on March 13 until the 15th of this month, using her fists and a nursing bottle as he cried loudly.

조사 결과 평소 아내가 아들을 자주 때리는 것을 목격한 A씨의 남편은 지난 21일 다른 지방으로 출장을 가 집을 비우게 되자 평소 알던 C(43)씨에게 자신의 아들을 맡겼다.

The investigation revealed that because of the wife’s frequent beatings, the husband left the child with a 43-year-old acquaintance, C, before leaving on a business trip to another region on the 21st.

맡길 당시 B군은 머리에 멍이 든 상태였고 C씨는 23일 오후부터 B군의 몸이 차가워지는 등 이상 증세가 나타나 인근 병원으로 데려갔으나 B군은 이미 두개골 골절상으로 사망한 상태였다고 경찰은 설명했다.

C first noticed bruises on B’s head, and on the afternoon of the 23rd, B’s body turned cold with unusual symptoms appearing and was taken to a nearby hospital; it appeared that he was already dead from skull injuries, said the police.

A씨는 경찰에서 “아이가 시끄럽게 울어 때렸다”고 폭행 사실을 인정했다.

A admitted to the violence to the police, “The child was crying loudly as I hit him.”

 

News Roundup - Korea

A look at the headlines:

Chosun Ilbo:

Teenaged University Entrance Exam Aspirant First to Be Detained for Participation in High School Anti-US Beef Rallies.

Prestigious University Professor Rapes Drunk Female Student in Motel

Donga Ilbo:

First Transmission Images from Phoenix After Safe Mars Landing

Who Will Succeed Kim Jong-il?

Lee Young-ae a Super Express Star on the Same Level as Blue Dragon Jay Chow.
If you’re not a fan of Mandopop, find out who Jay Chow is here.

Hankyoreh Shinmun:

Lee Myong-bak, Authority Instead of Mutual Understanding, Democracy Clock Turned Upside Down

Hankyoreh Public Poll: 78% Want Renegotiation of US Beef Imports

 

What Kind of Chinese Are You?

Even if you’re not Chinese by heritage, take a quiz and discover what kind of political Chinese you would be if you were Chinese here. The original post is from a North American chatboard for overseas mainland Chinese.

HT to EastSouthWestNorth.

Below are my answers:

1. How do you see the Communist Party?
D: The Communist Party’s long history of single-party rule and other historical burdens means it can never make fundamental changes; therefore, political reform in China is unlikely to make progress. (-1)

2. How do you see the Chinese government?
C: A government that’s in the process of adopting very slow changes, but no one is clear on where these changes will ultimately lead. (0)

3. How would you evaluate the government’s method of using force to repress the 6/4 incident?
E: The 64 Massacre is a crime against humanity that can never be forgiven. (-3)

4. How would you evaluate the government and students role in 6/4?
E: The Chinese government was a butcher; one day, this blood debt will be repaid with blood. (-3)

5. How would you evaluate Mao Zedong?
D: Mao Zedong made many mistakes, and the deep impact they had on Chinese society far outweighs his contributions. (-1)

6. How do you perceive the United States of America?
C: Discarding all ideologies, there are many things we can learn from the United States. At least China and the United States shouldn’t be directly opposed to each other. (+0)

7. What do you think US foreign policy is?
B: At heart, US foreign policy is motivated by its own interests. The values it claims to export aren’t what they appear to be. (+1)

8. How do you see the Taiwan problem?
D: We should respect the choice of the Taiwanese; after all, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China have equivalent stature. (-1)

9. How do you see the democracy question, when it comes to China?
C: From a long term view, the Chinese people needs democracy to restrain the governments’ power. But this is an issue for the Chinese people, and has nothing to do with the West. (+0)

10. How do you perceive the speech and reporting done by the Southern Metropolis media group?
(editor’s note: Crusading newspaper + magazine in Guangzhou that both critics and supporters are willing to call China’s CNN, but for very different reasons. Accused of being overly critical in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake)
NA: Not familiar with the paper.

11. How do you see the Carrefour boycott?
E: Brain-dead action. Our priority now shouldn’t be boycotting Japanese or French goods, but rather “idiotic” goods (editor’s note: referring to nationalism). (-3)

12: How do you see the role of international rescue squads in the Sichuan earthquake?
C: The current solution is the best way: open up the roads, and then let them come in and help. (+0)

13. How do you see the proposed “nationalization” of the military?
(editor’s note: The People’s Liberation Army is currently under the direct control and leadership of the Communist Party; some have discussed making it a non-political force that serves a “civilian” government directly. Similar to Taiwan’s situation up until a few years ago.)
E: Should have done this long ago. The Communist Party’s iron-grip on the military is a clear indication of its bloody nature. (-3)

14. How do you see the Cultural Revolution?
E: The damage left by the Cultural Revolution runs deep and far. Just like Germans collectively considered and faced up to their guilt under the Nazi Regime, all Chinese should do the same with their roles. (-3)

II. Point adjustments (please multiply the appropriate value to the sum total from the first section)

1. What kind of labels have been attached to you (during online discussions)?
B. I’ve been labeled with all sorts of strange and conflicting labels: 50-cent, race traitor, wheelie, panda-licker. (Multiply your score by 1.05)

2. How do you see those who disagree with you?
C: We have different perspectives, but I can discuss issues with some in their group. (Multiply your score by 1)

So, what kind of political Chinese are you?

score: -17

 

China’s Growing Problem

China has passed the EU in rates of early childhood obesity:

Almost one in five children under seven is overweight and more than seven percent are obese, according to a study of the Chinese National Task Force on Childhood Obesity, presented at the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Health Organisation.

“These numbers are higher than in European countries, while the gross domestic product in China is much lower,” said Ding Zongyi, who led the study.

“Only the United States have higher rates,” he added.

The Chinese experts looked at 80,000 children from 11 major cities, and found an increase of 156 percent in the numbers of obese children between 1996 and 2006.

Meanwhile, the number of overweight children grew 52 percent.

Obesity is defined as 20 percent above the normal weight versus height ratio, while overweight is 10 percent above.

I do see one problem with this study: only urban Chinese children were surveyed. The standard of living in China’s major cities is much higher than in rural areas, and I rarely saw heavy people while traveling through less developed provinces. This is because lower incomes mean less food and because people perform more physical labor. In looking at photos of Sichuan earthquake survivors, I noticed that nearly everyone, young and old alike, looked lean to average in build.

While we’re on the topic of obesity, let’s dispel a myth that the US is the world’s heaviest population.
We’re actually third behind Saudi Arabia and Panama.

 

Flashback: Guess Who?

Click here for the answer. He certainly hasn’t aged well in the last thirty years.

 

Expect a Flurry of Earthquake Dramas This Winter

The juxtaposition of Sichuan earthquake-related headlines above TV drama adverts inspired the idea that all those heart-warming and tragic human interest stories will provide a treasure trove of material for TV dramas.

 

Religious Freedom in China

Some people have the idea that religion is completely banned in China, and that churches, temples, and mosques are for show. That is simply not true. Religious believers would probably be denied membership in the Communist Party and thus are shut out of the government, but ordinary citizens are free to worship through state-affiliated religious organizations. Believers in China pray in churches and mosques like believers elsewhere. Religious leaders, however, are chosen or approved by the government, which controls any kind of organization, religious or secular. Beijing’s insistence on controlling the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (中国天主教爱国会) through choosing its bishops and priests is the reason why Chinese Catholics are formally separated from the world’s community of believers although in practice, there have been contacts and cooperation between the CPCA and the Vatican. In addition to the official state-sanctioned religious organizations like the CPCA, there are underground churches that meet in secret.

Foreigners are free to organize their own independent worship services, which Chinese nationals are not allowed to attend. Foreign churches are required to check passports, but this does not always occur. The local North American evangelical church in my city was rigorous about confirming nationality while the Korean Catholic service held in a hotel didn’t bother, probably because the former was monitored carefully by the Chinese government.

A Chinese priest consecrates the host during Mass in Jilin Cathedral.

Chinese Catholics attend Mass in Jilin Cathedral. The signboard lists the hymns and scripture readings.

Photos are from this Chinese travelog.