More in China
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Olympic torch, Tibetans, and Indian celebrity reactions
To run or not to run is the question.The Olympic torch will go through India and some people have been invited to take the torch and run. The reactions are different for the same sentiments
While Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia will not run in support of the Tibetans, Aamir Khan will run in support of the larger Olympic goals and with prayer for Tibetans in his heart!It is undeniable that Olympics are bigger than China. It is also undeniable that China’s regime is really no different from what Hitler’s was in putting down the freedoms of those it does not agree with.
A fellow IRMAN, who has spent time in Tibet and China, had this account of the Chinese abuse of Tibetans and their living conditions! If you read carefully, you will see the systematic way in which the Tibetan population and its culture is being annihilated!
Tibetan culture and language are languishing. Chinese language is the
official language and all the government office use Chinese. Most Tibetan
do not know Chinese and they have become refugees in their own land. The
Tibetan Temples were trampled to ground and they worship the rumbled stone
heaps.Chinese grabs most of the government jobs. Even in small towns the
positions in government offices are occupied by Chinese speaking people.
The Tibetan fear to enter these office on the pretext that they may not be
able to speak to the Leaders (In China the Officer in an office is called a
Leader)Education is not free in China. Only recently the Chinese government has
announced the education is free upto third Standard is free. But still it
is in papers. -
CIA, Dalai Lama and the Chinese threats
Richard Bennett discusses in an article on how the Tibetans have been funded and backed by the CIA and the Indian intelligence to fight the Chinese all these years. Benett is a intelligence and security consultant, AFI Research.
Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison in their book The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet disclose that the CIA and the Indian intelligence services cooperated in the training and equipping of Tibetan agents and special forces troops and in forming joint aerial and intelligence units such as the Aviation Research Center and Special Center.
According to him, its a war that has continued since the 60′s by proxy. The US has reassessed the positions post 9-11 to see how China fits in the new world and how it can use the TIbetans to fight their war. According to Bennett, Dalai Lama has been a CIA operative for many years.
All this may be true. But my only spanner in this work is – if indeed two strong intelligence units have been backing Tibetans, then they have precious little to show for it! China has virtually played with the TIbetans at will. They kill them, execute then Nazi style as and when they want.
In fact, if anything THEY have used others for their proxy war. The Maoists in Nepal, Pakistani Army and Burma have been used profitably by the Chinese against India.
What goes on in public domain and for public consumption is many times not true reflection of the sentiments of the Governments. For example, Pakistan’s Government has all these years sworn by their Kashmir brethren, but had no qualms in handing over a substantial part of Kashmir land in its hand to China for their own benefit (large part of POK given to China)
Politics is not about emotions, but power and money.
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Indian Traitors – Communists – look other way while China kills Tibetans
It was officially explained in New Delhi that those arrested had engaged in dangerous activities which impaired the security of the State and had “prepared for something like a revolutionary action in the country when a suitable occasion arises, and that suitable opportunity could be if and when the Chinese chose to attack.
Who do you think this was said for? The date was December 30, 1964 and over 500 members of the Left-wing Communist Party were arrested under Defence of India Rules. Two major names that were in those arrested were Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
Their crime? They were backing China up when the Indian soldiers were being killed by the Chinese Army, which had taken advantage of the naivette of Nehru and had planted numerous Jaichands like Basu and Surjeet to facilitate their work!
In 1964, the Communist Party had split, one which gone towards the Soviets and the other towards the Chinese at the height of Sino-Soviet tension. While India had been beaten, the pro-Peking (ex-name of Beijing) members of the Communist party were busy shoring up the support in India for normalization.
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Mao’s proposal to Kissinger on Chinese Women
Talking of China today, it is difficult to keep that butcher and barbarian, Mao Tse Tung out of the conversation. An earlier post on Drishtikone had reviewed the book “Mao: The untold story” – which after years of painstaking research suggests that Mao was responsible for massacre of over 70 million people during his rule.More than the sheer scale of his madness, it is the non-chalance with which he goes about his work and how he disregards even the most basic of humanity that astounds you. For him, human beings – his own country men and women – were no more than pawns and pieces of flesh. They could be decimated, starved, eliminated and if nothing else worked – then simply sold off! Here is a completely sickening take of Mao on the women of his own country.
In the meeting with Henry Kissinger in 1973, he proposes to ship 10 million Chinese women to US.
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Chinese Monster fears the Horror Movies!
China is a great land. Either everyone does it or no one. There is no room for differentiation. Everyone is uniquely similar. And if you want to be different, you are to be killed… like this.. detailed stories (Chinaview . boingboing . Epoch Times)
These are of course that have been caught on screen. there is an estimated 430,000 who have been killed!
But the Chinese Government is very disturbed because “horror movies” from other countries are harming the psychological make-up of their kids. I am not sure of which world this Chinese Government really lives in, but I am wondering if it considers the world to be stupid? The Chinese kids do not need a horror movie to have issues of psychological disorders. They just need to live in China their entire life and be subjected to that nonsense!
Of course, no one can really say much because everything bought anywhere in the world seems to be coming from China! Now, China has surpassed Canada to become the largest source of products shipped into the US last year (USD 321 billion in 2007).
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Chinese economy: Is it going to crash?
I have been saying that Chinese market does not seem to inspire a lot of confidence in me. But now, Mr Buffett backs up my claim, albeit on price concerns. I think it is robustness of the market that worries me!
Billionaire Warren Buffett said investors should be “cautious” about China’s stocks after the country’s benchmark index more than doubled this year.
“We never buy stocks when we see prices soaring,” Buffett told reporters today in Dalian, northeastern China, where he’s visiting a subsidiary of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. “We buy stocks because we’re confident of the company’s growth. People should be cautious when they see prices rising.”
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China: You need Legal Permission to Reincarnate!
This August China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs announced Order No. 5, a law covering “the management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism.” This “important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation” basically prohibits Buddhist monks from returning from the dead without government permission: no one outside China can influence the reincarnation process; only monasteries in China can apply for permission.
Therefore, now, you need Chinese Government permission to be reincarnated.
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Is the Great decline of US Dollar on the Horizon?
Not many people realize that the economic relationship between China and US is a quid pro quo that is just meant to prop up the feeling of wealth. Despite the fact that I am nowhere near to as economic-savvy as most of the world economic gurus, I do believe it is a case of "Who Blinks first?"
kind of a scenario!The relationship though fruitful until now, is by no means sustainable on a long term basis! Action of both, the US and China are meant to help each others economy. What probably has not been factored is the rise or interaction of any other economic entity that might upset the cart!
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100 years of Chinese population
This is a nice animation of how China’s population has and will change between 1950 and 2050 (a 100 yr period). As you can see in the coming years the old majority of the population will be in 50+ area…. basically a drag on the economy…
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China’s Chairman is our Chairman – Indian Leftists who work against our interests!
Honesty and Nationalism are two things for which the leftists in India are not known for!! They are hypocrites and shamelessly work against the nationaal interest as they have always.. even in the wake of a full fledged war launched by the Chinese in 1961. If someone was to dump all these idiots in a ship and sink it close to the Arctic I doubt if anybody would really be bothered much about it.. except the clearly stupid and masochistic West Bengal population which from decades has been shooting itself on its foot by electing these idiots as well as the Keralites. I really have no sympathy for people from these two states. At least the Mallus work hard and have made their state one of the most prosperous. The Bengalis have nothing better to do than smoking cigarettes and talking politics endlessly… all wrapped up in HUGE egos! That state has become a HUGE dump of much and nonsensical chatter.. there is hardly any substance left in that part of the world. It is hard to imagine that such a land once gave birth to such giants as Swami Vivekananda, Subhash Bose and Tagore!
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Toy recalls and question about trade with China!
These days, when everything seems to be made in China… well at least everything that we buy in the US really comes from China – it does come as a jolt when something like toys are recalled en mass by the largest toy manufacturer!! First Mattel did a massive recall (this link also has the list of recalled toys, in case you are interested) of many character-based toys like Elmo etc. and now there is another recall!
Mattel is set to announce the recall of another toy involving a different Chinese supplier as early as Tuesday, according to three people close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Details of the latest recall were not immediately available, but one of the three people said the toy is being recalled because its paint may contain excessive amounts of lead.
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Funniest Ad I have Ever Seen!!
This is the FUNNIEST AD EVER… I mean EVER!!! Man, what a concept!!
Powered by Qumana
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China paves a road to Everest despite protests
China is creating a paved road to Mount Everest base camp. This 110 km road will be completed by next August and may also have commercial interests – like hotels in the future. It will go via Tibet to the base camp.
Despite the protests from the environmentalists, China is powering ahead with the project. It wants it completed by the Beijing Olympics. In fact, the torch would go all the way to the Mt Everest (Mt. Qomolangma, in Chinese). It would be the longest torch relay in history crossing five continents, 137,000 km over 130 days.
India is, of course, not too happy with this development. It could mean fresh security threat specially with the kind of infrastructure that China has already built in Tibet recently.
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China is becoming less of Outsourcing threat to India
I truly believe that it is all in the mindsets! The systemic model creates the mindsets and they create further opportunities. Chinese system has created a phenomenal manufacturing engine. The mindsets in that country are tuned to domination in that area. They have the brights for dominating the services market.. but the mindsets may be absent… the mindsets that created the Silicon Valley and continues to drive innovation from that small corner of the world. I am sure even New York can provide all those resources.. but can it provide the mindsets? Probably no. Same with China vs India in the services.
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Chinese Trade Surplus to grow by USD 250 billion next year
The growth of China in the past years is phenomenal. But growing the trade surplus at a rate of $200 billion a year is amazing!! This story also brings out the close nexus between the Govt and the Business (which I suspect is just an extended arm of Chinese Government itself!). Chinese Businesses are successful on the back of some highly subsidized regime. It is good for a while.. but it is not sustainable for long.
China’s trade surplus will reach $250-300 billion in 2007, driven by the country’s price competitiveness and strong external demand, the top economic planner said on Tuesday.
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Riots in China over Discontent on Child Laws
Is this a harbinger of things to come in China? When the Government doesn’t think much about the people’s good.. things can go wrong.. specially when they do not even have a voice!
Thousands of villagers have rioted in south-western China over the country’s controversial family planning restrictions, reports say.
The villagers, in Guangxi province, reportedly attacked government offices after officials imposed heavy fines on families who had too many children.
The rioting allegedly took place on Friday and Saturday.
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Imprisoned in China for 20 years!
This is an incredible story of two CIA officers – John Downey and Richard Fecteau – who were imprisoned in China. They were trapped by the Chinese and the US Air force flew right into the trap and these guys got trapped for 20 years.
Beijing’s capture, imprisonment, and eventual release of CIA officers John T. Downey and Richard G. Fecteau is an amazing story that too few know about today. Shot down over Communist China on their first operational mission in 1952, these young men spent the next two decades imprisoned, often in solitary confinement, while their government officially denied they were CIA officers. Fecteau was released in 1971, Downey in 1973. They came home to an America vastly different from the place they had left, but both adjusted surprisingly well and continue to live full lives.
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Is China readying for a violent showdown over Taiwan with US?
One of the scariest scenario in the world today is the showdown between US and China over Taiwan and the juxtaposition of economic concerns with China playing the card of reinvestment of US dollar to bring it down. Well, China is considering the change in its investment pattern for the USD 1.3 trillion deposits… so, is China readying for a showdown over Taiwan? It has hiked its Defence Budget by USD 45 Billion!
Defense analysts seems to agree that China’s primary focus is Taiwan, and also to be able to create a deterrent to a military intervention by the United States. China has numerous missiles aimed at Taiwan despite America, which is obliged to defend Taiwan militarily, expressing its concern.
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Is there a Rift between US and China?
Are strains opening up between US and China? Rumsfeld went to Singapore recently as Secretary of Defense and remarked about the Defense spending of China between "out of control" and "destabilizing"! Of course, it was not received well in Beijing. So, is there an attempt in Washington to create the "me" and "they" juxtaposition like that with Soviets? Is it a good idea to create just axes and put yourself on a pedestal to get a "buy-in" from a clueless populace? Fareed Zakaria – one of my favorite commenters in media.. tackles these and many other questions in this discussion.
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Chinese Year of the Pig starts Sunday!
On Sunday, the Year of the Pig is starting. It is a good year to have babies… why? Because the people born in the Year of Pig are lucky.. Happy New Year to all the Chinese readers of this blog!
According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal. They are also lucky, which is why many Chinese like to have babies in a pig year.
"Any children born in The Year of Pig will receive help from others throughout their lives," Lo said.
Examples:
- Ronald Reagan
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Woody Allen
- Elton John
- Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But the year itself is not very good for the world. Chinese Astrologers are predicting deaths and epidemics and wars.. lots of bloodshed – specially with fire involved.. possibly terrorism!
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Coming Soon to Western US, China’s Premier Export: Pollution!
After sending its air pollution into Europe and Japan.. China may soon break new ground!This article presents some really scary stuff on pollution from China. I am not sure if such a study is done about Indian but we in India have a pretty bad situation too. I guess it is worse in China because they are the manufacturing hub for the world and India is the services hub.. which requires more office work. But Indian businesses are not too eco-friendly either! But this article explains really well how China exports pollution to Europe and Japan.. and it goes like it is going right now.. probably soon into US.
The cloud of dirt was hard to make out from the ground, but at an altitude of 10,000 meters (32,808 feet), the scientists could see the gigantic mass of ozone, dust and soot with the naked eye. In a specially outfitted aircraft taking off from Munich airport, they surveyed a brownish mixture stretching from Germany all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.
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India will need 163 years to catch up with China if it stopped in its tracks today!
For all the growth in the Indian IT sector, we really do face a tremendous shortage of good and abundant manpower. And then we have jokers like Arjun Singh and Manmohan Singh who would rather have quotas and reduce the meritocracy (as opposed to give more subsidies to poor students) and then increase the seats to further reduce the standard and quality of teaching in the name of equity!
However, I have one serious issue with this study.. they take the future path to be linear.. which I think is not a correct way to do. At the very least, such studies do not include all the factors that may play into the whole game. One thing that we have not realized is that it is far easier to increase capacities by using the market forces as opposed to Government sanction. The more need the top Universities elsewhere see of educating the Indians.. the faster they will move in. Also, a very large pool of talent is being educated and trained outside India of Indians… who do have it in their hearts to move back. Given the growth that one is seeing in India.. it can be a feasible option for many. In the many technology companies that I have worked in – consulting ones though – the number of Indians far outweighs the Far Eastern Asians combined! Nevertheless, the numbers within the Indian borders IS a very serious issue for the long term competitive success of Indian IT sector!
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The Eight China Wars the World Should Know About (Special Guest Article by Peter Navarro)
This article for Drishtikone by Peter Navarro, the author of "The Coming China Wars" gives a flavor of the detailed analysis of the effect of China on the world at large in the coming decades in his book. I strongly recommend the book to read about each "War" in detail!
Global stock exchanges were devastated this week by the worst collapse in history as a wave of panic selling followed the sun from Asia through Europe and back to Wall Street.
The story is far larger than any one of us or any single country.
The pandemonium was triggered by a Chinese government announcement that it would no longer finance the mounting budget and trade deficits of a “profligate United States” that “refuses to live within its means” and that “insists on scapegoating China for its own internal economic problems.” Nor would China continue to try to prop up “an increasingly worthless dollar.”
As the Chinese began dumping U.S. assets on Wall Street, both stock and bond prices plummeted. The panic soon spread to other exchanges around the world as gold soared to more than $1,000 an ounce and fear of a global depression deepened.
China’s actions have been widely interpreted as harsh retaliation for U.S. congressional passage of stiff protectionist tariffs on a wide range of manufactured goods. With the presidential election less than a month away, both houses of Congress up for electoral grabs, and the U.S. economy stuck in reverse, Republicans and Democrats alike are pushing additional legislation addressing everything from the growing trade in Chinese counterfeit goods, illegal drugs, and ballistic missiles to the international spillover from China’s mounting environmental pollution.
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Chinese Girls: Their Journey for Freedom
In the second half of the last century, rise of China from an opium eater to a modern nation has been spectacular, but even more spectacular has been the change in the status of Chinese women in Chinese society.
The system has provided the Chinese womenfolk freedom that is accepted by the Society without reservations.
Prior to communist triumph the Chinese girls were forced to put on iron shoes in order to have small feet. Small feet since ancient days were considered to be the measurement of feminine grace and beauty. The red china took no time to do away with this inhuman practice and today these feet are running in the stadium, winning gold medals in sports and glorifying the status of China in the world arena.
Today Chinese women are dominating the Chinese society. The patriarchal system was in vogue till the last century but today’s China is no longer under patriarchal system as a result Chinese women today are playing significant but subordinate role, of course baring political and educational field.
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Tata Steels While the Corus Looks On!
Tata Steel has finally won the battle for Corus Group (CGA) for roughly $12 billion.. a battle that one hopes does not prove Pyrhhic in the end! Even with a bid of USD 8 bn the S&P had placed the Tata Steel on watch!
The reaction of the Indian market has not been very good either – the Reserve Bank hiked the Repo rate.
But one thing is certain – Tata Steel is now the fifth largest Steel manufacturer. With Arcelor Mittal and Tata-Corus, the Steel capacity is dominantly in the hands of the Indians!. The main consumers of the Steel – on the other hand – are the Chinese! So it is going to be an interesting battle of Business Interests between Indians and Chinese!
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The Coming China Wars: Business Dominance Thru Illegal Business-Government Cartels
I had mentioned the book “The Coming China Wars” in an earlier post. Here is an interesting report on the site of the author of the book.
Total Number of Chinese Billionaires is 15 and Indian Billionaires is 35!
The study was called China Price Project. You can view the report here: China Price Report. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the 8 major drivers of the advantage that Chinese manufacturers have.
According to the report, the price advantage broken down by the drivers are:
- Lower labor costs account: 39%
- Industrial network clustering: 16%
- Catalytic Foreign Direct Investment: 3%
- Export subsides: 17%
- Undervalued currency: 11%
- Counterfeiting and piracy: 9%
- Lax environmental and worker health and safety regulatory regimes: 5%.
This is a very significant finding in many ways. There is a significant chunk of price advantage that stems from bad business practices! I remember 4 or 5 years back, the Non-performing loans of the Chinese National Banks were close to 40%! If at all, they must have gone up. That means these moneys were borrowed by businesses never to be returned back!
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Rude Salespeople in China are Illegal: Management by Decree!
Notwithstanding the hype about China, I have always believed that the Chinese economy is a big bubble and an inconsistent one which is created by the Government and has, relatively speaking, very little private participation or initiative!
“No matter what rules you pass, Beijingers remain Beijingers.” ~ Chinese commenter on Sino.com
“The Coming China Wars
Now, China is coming out with an “Etiquette Law” which will make it illegal for the Sales Clerks in the shops all over the country to be rude to the customers! This is exactly what I was talking about! The big factories are built not because of any hard ROI/Cost-Benefits based business decision but because the Government deems so.. similarly now the Sales Clerks will not be courteous because it makes good business sense but because the Government deems so! Any guesses if these sort of actions are long term or short term? So, is the success – that such actions from large sprawling factories to courteous salesmen and women mistakenly seem to show.. long term or real?
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Shortage of Chinese Women to increase to 30 million by 2020.
The coming decade is a good time to be a woman in China! The woman will be in demand.. since there will a “shortage” of marriageable women by 2020!
Due to traditional beliefs of male child supremacy many girl children are killed in the foetuses itself.. resulting is a great deficit in China. The story in India is the same too.
China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women by 2020, making it difficult for them to find wives, according to a national report.
The gender imbalance could lead to social instability, the report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission warned.
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Environment: Chinese Growth vs European New “Industrial Revolution”…
In the rapidly declining health of our planet’s environment.. while the Chinese (and Americans) are busy ruining the environment with nonchalance… Europeans are serious about the recent report which pointed to the unbearably high overall costs of a degradation of the environment! The Europeans are planning a new Industrial Revolution!
The question that comes to your mind is – given the above contrasts: Is Economic Growth at the Cost of the Quality of Life (at its most basic level) worth it (or even sustainable)??
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China and India on road to do an encore in World economics after 200 years!?
It is very rare that you can get on ONE page the economic history of the world – graphically! Here is one such page from a nice blog which referred to another. The message from the study is this: China and India who were the economic leaders of the world until just 200 years ago.. when the Western Europeans through colonization and industrial revolution took over.. are on road for a repeat. Between them they accounted for a little less than 60% of the world’s GDP in 1 AD.. it wasn’t until 1700 AD that the Western Europe even started a movement towards growth.
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The Inescapable Ditch for the World sponsored by the US
“We need to keep the terrorists from entering our borders and deal with them where they are…” Bush and his coterie kept saying something to this effect time and after time for last so many years! Did they?
Instead, if you were to carefully look – the villain of middle east – Iran President Ahmednijad was able to do exactly that to the US. He knew that he/his country was part of America’s “Axis of Evil”. So, what does he do? He creates alliances with Hezbollah, Palestinian extremists and the Iraqi insurgents and arms them. Meanwhile he is busy getting the Nukes from the Pakistani Government (oh well I know the so-called “renegade” scientist). Where does that leave the US?
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Chinese man sues Authorities for not letting him sell Beijing’s “Olympic” air!
Who says the Chinese aren’t innovative? Here is a guy who wants to sell Beijing air during Olympics so sports lovers watching the Olympics on TV can hang a bag of “original” Beijing air around their neck and smell actual stuff that the atheletes are taking in! Pretty cool huh? Well, the Chinese authorities dont think so.. and this Mr. Innovation who wants to literally make money out of thin (or thick – with smoke?) air, is suing the authorities for hampering his entrepreneurial abilities! Here is the entire news:A Chinese entrepreneur is suing a Beijing trade bureau for denying him a permit to sell bags of “World Cup air” and for scotching his plans to bottle and sell “2008 Olympic air,” a newspaper said on Thursday.
Li Jie, who describes himself as chief executive of the Lunar Embassy to China and once tried to sell land on the moon, sought a permit to sell “World Cup air” for 50 yuan ($6.30) a bag to soccer enthusiasts unable to make the trip to Germany this year.
His idea was that fans could hang the green plastic bag around their necks and breathe in the air while watching World Cup matches on television, local media reported.
But the Chaoyang Industry and Commerce Bureau had rejected his application on the grounds that “special air from special places” was not classified as “an industrial category,” the Beijing News said.
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China’s Forex Reserves Reach $1 Trillion mark
China’s Forex Reserves have reached a record $1 trillion mark! That gives it a big clout in the world economy. At the rate at which it is growing every year, if it could be extrapolated in the future and nothing wrong was to happen, then China will surpass US in its contribution to the World’s GDP growth by 2025! That is a significant milestone.
There are caveats however. The Chinese growth is very strongly linked to State control. The private entrepreneurs are strong but they have not contributed as much as they should have. More importantly most of the growth is export driven and not so much fueled by local consumers.
The prediction from MorganStanley analysis report:
In his analysis for Morgan Stanley, Mr. Roach extrapolated plausible growth rates into the future for China, India, Europe, Japan, and the US. This is merely a simulation, not a formal forecast, but the results are telling: In its contribution to world GDP growth, China would surpass the US by 2025. That would be up from about 35 percent of the US contribution in 2005, and 60 percent in 2015. India’s contribution would surpass Japan’s by 2025, but remain far behind China and the US.
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Using Sex to Sell Funerals in China!
I have read and seen some really crazy rituals but this one by far beats all of them! People can go to ay lengths to advertise for stuff… in this case advertising for the funerals has necessitated using sex too. Sex, by far, seems to be the most potent way to sell anything in this world.. even for the dead!
Striptease send-offs at funerals may become a thing of the past in east China after five people were arrested for organising the intimate farewells, state media reported on Wednesday.