Until recently, I didn’t know what the BRIC was. Now, because I spend so much time researching topics about China, I often run into the BRIC.
The BRIC is Brazil, Russia, India and China. In the next few decades, these countries could become the wealthiest nations on the globe alongside America.
Jim O’Neill, who works for Goldman Sachs, talks about the BRIC in the embedded video.
In fact, O’Neill is the one who thought up the acronym for BRIC.
When he stepped into his position at Goldman Sacs, he wanted to know how the world might change economically by 2050.
They discovered that China would become the world’s largest economy before 2050 possibly reaching 45 trillion dollars–twenty times larger than today, and the rest of the BRIC economies would have a much larger share of the global economy too.
Projections also show that India, Russia and Brazil would become larger than the current G7 bypassing Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Only the US would remain in the top five.
If you are a doubter, consider that the BRIC economies are already having a huge influence on the world, and the potential growth of the middle class in the BRICs could explode four hundred percent in the next decade, which would increase demand for cars, energy and oil.
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.
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The Al Jazeera commentator started by saying that relations between China and the West are complex not least by the way the West views China’s human rights record.
Among the major issues is the Tibetan struggle for independence, treatment of political dissidents and restrictions on the media and the Internet.
The commentator opened the second half with Andrew Leung in Hong Kong asking him to define the relationship between China and the U.S.
He replied that the relationship is mixed. On one hand, many countries are awed by China’s economic rise. He said that China was a reluctant world power because there are so many problems inside China that must be dealt with and that China cannot afford to be globally aggressive.
Then the commentator turns to Ze Xia, the Falun Gong reporter, who wastes no time mentioning that China controls the media and says the New Tang Dynasty TV signal has been cut off and censored in China.
She calls on the West to force China to change.
Note: What Ze Xia doesn’t say is that the Chinese media is part of the central government—the media in China is not independent as in the West, and what does the Falun Gong reporter want the West to do—start a war? Click here to discover more on global censorship.
Again, the commentator cuts the Falun Gong reporter off and turns to Bruce Reynolds at the University of Virginia, who says the worst thing the West could do in China was to apply pressure. He says that will not play well with the Chinese leadership or the Chinese people, who are very proud and nationalistic.
Reynolds says he is confident that in the next thirty years, many of the problems Ze Xia, (of the Falun Gong) points out will be resolved. He calls for patience.
Andrew Leung concludes the panel with a positive outlook on how much China has changed in the last thirty years.
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.
While researching topics about China, I kept running into claims that ice cream was invented in China, and Marco Polo brought the recipe back to Italy.
To discover the facts, I did some virtual sleuthing and discovered that immigrants arriving in Ellis Island were treated to a bowl of ice cream upon arrival.
I wonder if the Chinese arriving at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay got ice cream. Considering the way the Chinese were treated then—probably not.
Ice Cream History and Folklore says, “Most books are full of myths about the history of ice cream. According to popular accounts, Marco Polo (1254-1324) saw ice creams being made during his trip to China, and on his return, introduced them to Italy.”
In fact, “During China’s Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) something vaguely on the order of ice cream was made from cow, goat and buffalo milk, flavored with camphor and thickened with flour.” Source: The History of Ice Cream
More details came from Wonderquest. “The first concoction resembling ice cream was made in China during the Tang period…. Ice-cream makers … heated buffalo, cow, and goat milk together then fermented the brew to form yogurt. They thickened the yogurt with flour and flavored it with camphor (an insect repellant, of all things). Refrigerating first, they served the confection to the king.”
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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.
People tend to distrust and fear that which they do not understand, and the roots of American Sinophobia go deep.
The 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was directed solely against Chinese. Today, the Chinese in America are still often treated as if they are outsiders.
The Washington Postpublished a piece in February 2010 on “Polls show growing American resentment and fear of China.”
In fact, it doesn’t matter how anyone feels about China. China is here to stay. For more than two millennia, China has demonstrated an ability to burn and rise like the phoenix to be reborn again.
McGregor not only shows how the Party works, but why the Party fears losing control and helplessly watching China revert back into the pre-revolutionary chaos and anarchy which almost destroyed the nation when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists ruled the mainland.
As an organization with more than seventy million members, the Party has a grip on every aspect of government, from the largest, richest cities to the smallest villages. It also presides over all official religions, the media, the military and large state-owned businesses.
The picture that emerges is of a creative, adaptable, self-aware and resilient social network that is alert to the internal and external dangers it faces and has proven able to respond to challenge with remarkable agility, creativity and effectiveness.
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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.
I laughed when I finished reading China Takes a Page from U.S. Playbook on The Heritage Foundation Blog.
It seems that China has launched a PR campaign similar to Voice of America, and The Heritage Foundation was bothered by the size of China’s effort.
The Voice of America, according to The Heritage Foundation, broadcasts in 32 languages from short-wave radio stations on 200 frequencies, while China Radio International now broadcasts in 45 languages using 284 frequencies.
The Heritage Foundation said the problem is China’s authoritarianism with a capitalist economic overlay, which reminded me of imperial governments such as the British Empire during the 19th and early 20th century.
What if America were an authoritarian state too? The facts make a strong case that the U.S. is a global authoritarian power.
I’ve always believed that if you want to learn what a person or nation is really like, pay attention to what they do and not what they say.
THE FACTS
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The United States has the most people in prison – about 751 for every 100,000 people, while China has 119 per 100,000 with almost five times the population of the U.S.
A CNN report cited a study that says 7.3 million Americans were in the U.S. prison system in 2007.
The US operates and/or controls between 700 and 800 military bases worldwide in about 63 countries, while China has no military bases outside China. Source: Global Research
China has about 1,900 combat aircraft and 760 naval ships, while the U.S. has about 18,000 combat aircraft and more than 1,500 naval ships.
China has about 240 nuclear warheads, while the U.S. has more than 5,000. Source: Global Fire Power
The PRC was founded in 1949 and the United States in 1776. How many wars has each nation fought since achieving independence?
China’s wars (I did not list China’s problems with Tibetan and Islamic separatists or the Falun Gong)
Korean War (1950-53) China entered the war in support of North Korea Sino-Indian War (1962) The cause of this war was a dispute over the sovereignty of a border region. In 1959, India sent troops and border patrols into the disputed areas. This created both skirmishes and deteriorating relations between India and China. After the war started, when Chinese troops reached the border that China claimed, the PLA stopped advancing, and China declared a unilateral cease-fire. India still has border disputes with China, Pakistan and Nepal that have not been resolved. Source: International Boundary Consultants A border-war with Vietnam (1979), which I covered in another post.
America’s wars (This list represents only wars. I left out the military operations that were not considered wars because there were too many to list)
Second Cherokee War (1776-1777) Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794) Northwest Indian Wars (1785-1795) Note: The complete list of wars against Native Americans was too long to list. Shay’s Rebellion (1786-1787) Note: Most of Shays’ compatriots were poor farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor’s prisons or the claiming of property by the government. A Quasi-War with France (1798-1800) First Barbary War (1801-1805) Tripoli declared war on the United States The War of 1812 (lasted two years – the U.S. Declared War on Great Britain) Second Barbary War, which is also known as the Algerian War (1815) First Seminole War (1816-1818) The U.S. started it. Mexican American War (1846-1848) Mexico attacked after the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845. Utah War (1857-1858) American Civil War (1861-1865) An American led revolution in the Kingdom of Hawaii (1888-1889) The Spanish-American War (1898) The U.S. declared war on Spain The Second Samoan Civil War (1898-1899) Philippine-American War (1899-1913) World War I (1917-1918) the United States Declared War on Germany World War II (1941-1945) Japan attacked the United States The Korean War (1953-1953) The U.S. responded to a North Korean invasion of South Korea, which was ruled by a dictator. The Vietnam War (1959-1975) The United States declared war to protect the freedom of South Vietnam, which was ruled by a dictator Persian Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm (1991) Started by the U.S. War in Afghanistan & the war on terror (2001 – ) The U.S. invaded in response to 9/11 Invasion of Iraq (2003 – ) The U.S. invaded due to suspicions of WMD that were never found.
Source: Timeline of United States Military Operations
What happens if China does copy the U.S. in all things global?
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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.
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