Ignorance is Bliss and Phone Sex is a Sin

March 10, 2010

When I first wrote about the foundation of morality in China at Open Salon.com, Middle Age Woman Blogging responded with, “I can’t even begin to comment… all those old married men and young single women walking around Beijing? You’re kidding right? And how about the phone calls in the middle of the night men receive while traveling throughout China? ‘Ah, Missa Wandall, I unastan you wan company?'”

What Middle Age Woman Blogging says is true about the middle of the night phone calls in China.

While my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Beijing, a late night call came to our hotel room. “Do you want a massage,” a sexy accented voice said in English.

Warning, the next link leads to an x-rated site. Do not click on that link if you are a moral person. Then in America, there’s phone sex where a man or woman calls and pays with a credit card to listen to hot, sexy talk.

My reply to Middle Age Woman Blogging is, “Morality in America comes from Christianity and Judaism. Moral behavior is measured from this. That doesn’t mean everyone is a moral person. If so, there would be no divorce, few would go to prison, and there would be no phone sex since it would be a sin.”

Men and women in China are human too.

How serious do the Chinese consider Morality?

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

3 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, family values, religion, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Health Care Without Drugs

March 9, 2010

I had acupuncture a few times.  When I was still teaching, I saw a chiropractor once a week during the school year. Both of these techniques worked for me without the need to take dangerous drugs. Have you ever read the warnings on prescribed drugs? Those descriptions are scary and have stopped me from taking what the American doctor prescribed more than once.

acupuncture treatment

The history of acupuncture goes back over 8,000 years. One would think if it didn’t work, this medical practice would have ended long ago. Even stingy American health insurance companies pay for acupuncture treatments. Here’s a list. (http://www.msingler.com/insco.html)

The warnings on muscle relaxants scared me enough to try a chiropractor. I’m glad I did. The history of Chiropractic Care has been traced back to China (2700 BC) and Greece (1500 BC). The dates show that this practice started in China. My health insurance paid for Chiropractic and many other plans do too.

Discover Attitudes Toward Health Care in China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe toiLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

2 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, health care | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Health Care, Urban Real Estate and Renewable Energy Update

March 9, 2010

Rural citizens of China have been protesting the lack of quality health care outside the cities where eight hundred million Chinese live. This topic was also a subject for debate in China’s legislature, known as the National People’s Congress. (see Basic Health Care in China (http://wp.me/pN4pY-bO)

Another complaint China’s government wants to deal with is the shocking price increases to buy a home in one of China’s cities. Housing costs in seventy Chinese cities jumped 9.5% from a year earlier. The government wants to bring those prices down to make housing more affordable.

During the Copenhagen Climate Summit, China was criticized for not signing a pledge to reduce carbon emissions. China recently announced that it is planning to reduce its carbon footprint by 40-45% (from 2005 levels) and generate 15% of its electricity from renewable technologies by 2020. Over the next ten years, we should see these changes taking place. Since most of China’s leaders are engineers, they often set long-term goals.

Chinese Wind Farms

By comparison, President Obama said at Copenhagen that the United States intended to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17% by 2020.  Since the Chinese government doesn’t have to deal with American conservatives, who do not believe carbon emissions are causing global warming and block legislation and spew confusion at every chance, I’d place my bet on China achieving their goals first.

1 Comment | business, China, economy, environment, government, health care, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Are You Your Government?

March 9, 2010

Originally Published at Speak Without Interruption on February 16, 2010 by Bob Grant — publisher/editor for Speak Without Interruption. Posted on iLook China, 3/9/10 at 08:00

On October 1, 1949 the People’s Republic of China was formally established in a speech given by Mao Zedong from the Imperial Gate at Tiananmen Square. I stood at the very spot where Mao gave his speech and took the photo at the right.  From speaking with people – in China – who lived through his reign it was beyond believable.  What he put his people through is an unforgivable act of power and brutality.  However, it is images from Mao’s era that some – outside of China – still have of the Chinese people.  Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Mao Speech

I never met a Chinese government official – did not even see one at least that I can recall.  What I did meet were the people of China – the people with whom I had my business and personal interactions.  I did not ask them questions about their government nor did they ask questions of mine.  The only political statement that I ever heard was a reference that China’s policy would probably change when the younger generation came into power, someday. (for more on this topic read Changing the Guard at http://wp.me/pN4pY-e9 )

In meetings, over two years ago, I heard about the oil pipeline being built directly from Iran to China.  None of the people in that meeting expressed an opinion one way or the other regarding this pipeline.  It was a decision the Chinese government made.  Maybe my associates did not approve of dealing with Iran—maybe they did?  The point being here is their government made this decision—not my associates.

Whether the officials in power in the US are republican or democrat, they have all made decisions of which I don’t agree.  They did not consult me or ask my opinion—am I my government in these situations?

The point I am trying to make is that I found the Chinese people I met just like me in a lot of respects.  I enjoyed doing business with them – learning their culture – and becoming their friends.  No government – or its actions – is ever going to change that for me!

Leave a Comment » | America, China, Chinese history, government, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

All About Balance

March 8, 2010

 On my last flight to China on United Airlines, I got sick from the food. I knew airline food is often horrible, but I was an idiot and ate anyway.

After landing in China, I went to a Chinese pharmacy for help.  The Shanghai pharmacist took an American medicine for diarrhea off the shelf. I said no. She looked surprised.

“Give me Chinese medicine. Western medicine does too much damage to the body.” 

She smiled and looked impressed. “He knows,” she said. “You do know that the Chinese medicine will take longer to heal you.”

I know that Yin and Yang underlie all aspects of Chinese philosophy and medicine. I know that the Chinese believe in balance so the body remains healthy.  That’s one of the reasons you often see Chinese up early in the morning doing Tai Chi in parks. Maintaining health is more than eating properly. It also includes exercise. That doesn’t mean everyone in China follows the philosophy of Yin and Yang.

Tai Chi

Western medicine, on the other hand, waits until the patient is sick—then uses drugs, many that are dangerous, surgery, chemicals and radiation to try to fix things often with side effects that are worse than the disease.

Discover Attitudes Toward Health in China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar. 

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, food, health care | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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