Hollywood Takes the “Karate Kid” to China

June 17, 2010

I walked to the local movie theater (June, 2010) to see the new The Karate Kid staring Jaden Smith, which was filmed in China—mostly in Beijing.  It was also the biggest modern movie co-produced between an American Studio and China. The themes from the old movie were there, but I enjoyed this movie more because it delivered something the old movie didn’t—a glimpse at Chinese culture.

The Jackie Chan character lives in a Hutong.  If you want to learn more, I suggest The Last Days of Old Beijing by Michael Meyer. The Great Wall is about an hour from Beijing. I’ve been there too, but I’ve never seen it without people.

The trip to the top of Wudang Mountain, well known for its deep-rooted tradition of wushu (martial arts), took me to a place I’ve never been. Watching Jackie Chang and Jaden Smith climb that long, narrow stairway reminded me of mountains I’ve climbed that took my breath away in gasps with heart pounding.

China may not have elections where eligible citizens , stupid and smart, gets to vote as in America, but James Lassiter, a “Karate Kid” producer, says that in China “The people run the country, so if people didn’t want you shooting in their neighborhood, there’s no authority that can tell them they have to. That’s why it’s called the People’s Republic of China.” Source for quote:  KansasCity.com

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress offers another look at China.

_______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

His latest novel is the multiple-award winning Running with the Enemy.

Subscribe to “iLook China”!
Sign up for an E-mail Subscription at the top of this page, or click on the “Following” tab in the WordPress toolbar at the top of the screen.

About iLook China

China’s Holistic Historical Timeline

Leave a Comment » | America, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, cultural differences, expatriates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Copy Cat Chinese Middle Class

June 16, 2010

The Chinese are getting fat off McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and having more heart attacks and diabetes just like Americans.

I believe in going green and weaning the world off oil and that has nothing to do with global warming.  It has to do with the pollutants that turned Los Angele’s air purple and caused asthma levels among kids to leap. If you want to find out how toxic carbon emissions are, park in a garage, close the door and sit there for twelve hours with the engine running. 

When I go to a movie theater, I walk and when I drive, I use a hybrid that averages about 40 mpg. I sneer at SUVs and there are many where we live—mostly driven by small, pot-bellied men and blonde-haired, white women wearing dark glasses.

I read in The Truth About Cars that SUV sales have climbed 90% in China, and the Wall Street Journal reports that China’s government has extended subsidies for trading-in old polluting vehicles for hybrids and all electrics to the end of the year.  If China is the totalitarian dictatorship critics in the West claim it to be, why can’t China rid itself of SUVs?

See China Going Green

_______________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning My Splendid Concubine and writes The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Sign up for an RSS Feed for iLook China

2 Comments | America, China, Chinese middle class, environment, health care | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Danwei TV Interviews Veteran China Journalist Paul Mooney

June 16, 2010

Danwei TV interviewed Paul Mooney, who first went to Asia while in the US Army in 1968 where he served in Vietnam. When he left the war, his interest in Asia followed. During the 10 minute (click the above link to watch) interview on Danwei TV, Mooney said he did not think the negative press in the US comes from editorial decisions. 

He felt that the Western media does not have a bias toward China and that Barack Obama has more problems with the media than Hu Jintao does. Instead, what’s written in the West is due to people reading negative stories more than positive ones—proving, in my opinion, that Yellow Journalism is alive and mentally ill in the US.

by Paul Mooney

Mooney has a BA in East Asian Studies, an M.I.A. in International Affairs, speaks Chinese and Vietnamese and has written for National Geographic Traveler, Knight-Ridder Financial News, Far Eastern Economic Review, Kyodo News Service, Asiaweek, Newsweek, Asian Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Daily Beast, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Washington Post, etc. You may find some of Paul Mooney’s work here.

Peter Hessler, another China expert, has different opinions about China. See what he has to say.

_______________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning My Splendid Concubine and writes The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Sign up for an RSS Feed for iLook China

Leave a Comment » | China, expatriates, government, media, politics | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Water Woes

June 16, 2010

A man or woman can survive for weeks without food but only days without water. Knowing that, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Tibet will stay in China for some time and water is the reason.

The Yellow River and Yangtze start in Tibet serving more than a third of China’s population. It’s possible that Mao realized the importance of water from Tibet when he sent 40,000 PRC troops into Tibet to reoccupy the former troublesome province/tributary that at the British Empire’s urging broke from China in 1913.

Tibet has an area of about 1.3 million square kilometers (about 5 million square miles) and it is estimated that there are less than 3 million people living in Tibet. China, on the other hand, serves 1.3 billion people, so who benefits the most from water that starts its journey in Tibet?

Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, said, “At least 500 million people in Asia and 250 million people in China are at risk from declining glacial flows on the Tibetan Plateau.” Source: Circle of Blue Waternews

If Tibet’s water were in the hands of anyone else like a free Tibet that might favor other nations over China, China’s future would be dim at best and dire in a worst-case scenario. As it is, China is one of the earth’s driest areas and the challenge to supply 1.3 billion people with water is a daunting task. In fact, China is in a race with disaster and the finish line will be reached in a few decades.

In 1999, Wen Jiabao, a deputy prime minister, warned of looming water shortages. When he became prime minister, he promised to provide clean water for the people. Today, water and waste pollution is the single most serious issue facing China.

However, China has a large and cumbersome bureaucracy.  Different ministries compete with each other meaning little cooperation, which has led to a growing crisis that must be dealt with for China to avoid the suffering, chaos and anarchy that plagued the nation between 1835 and 1950. See China, The Roots of Madness

While replacing thousands of older, coal-burning power plants with cleaner technologies, building more hydroelectric dams, and constructing nuclear reactors, China is also adding desalinations plants to ease the growing water crises. In 2005, a desalination facility south of Shanghai started producing about 375,000 gallons of fresh water an hour, with a goal to build more plants and produce 250 million gallons of water per day by 2010. Source: Environmental News Network

In fact, to achieve this, China contracted with IDE Technologies in Kadima, Israel to build four new desalination units and the first will go on line near Beijing in 2010. These plants are designed to provide desalinated seawater for a power plant’s steam boilers as well as drinking water for local residents. Source: Water and Wastewater.com

According the Global Water Intelligence and the International Desalination Association, as of June 30, 2008, China was ranked 7th among the top ten desalination countries on the planet and that was before the IDE contract. Source: Water Webster

It doesn’t help China’s growing water shortage when mineral resources and a majority of its arable land exist where water is scarcest. Pollution and dealing with human waste are other challenges. Source: Mongabay.com

______________

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.

1 Comment | China, environment, food, Tibet | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

A Free Press through Blogging

June 15, 2010

Keith B. Richburg reports in The Washington Post that labor unrest is spreading in China as more workers demand higher wages. He writes, “Various economists, labor experts and activists said there were many more strikes and work stoppages rolling across China…”

Blogging has become the free press of China. The Chinese have more Blogs than any nation on the earth.

On the river in Guilin, China (photo by Lloyd Lofthouse)

Resonance China, a China Social Media Agency, reports, “The numbers of bloggers…saw a huge jump in 2008. This is likely due to China’s internet hitting a critical point, combining social networks, with blog networks with portals, and politically charged events… The drive to express online is a central motivation for the Chinese. Due to China’s strong censorship and control of traditional media, the internet becomes a major destination to receive balanced views, see how others think and react to events…”

iLook China posts demonstrating how the Internet has given a voice to the Chinese appeared in Traveling to Xiamen, China and The Power of Public Debate in China. China may never have a Western/American political system but freedom of expression has arrived.

_______________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning My Splendid Concubine and writes The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Sign up for an RSS Feed for iLook China

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

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »