Mao Zedong and Edgar Snow

March 3, 2010

During one of our trips to Shanghai, China, my wife and I went to see a film called Mao Zedong and Edgar Snow. It was in Mandarin and wasn’t subtitled, so I had to watch carefully to understand what was going on. Today, I Googled the move and found little about it on the Internet.  I discovered that Edgar Snow’s wife threatened to sue China if the movie was released.

Edgar Snow and Mao

There’s no doubt that Mao had to have had charisma to lead so many men in battle for so many years to win the revolution. Mao changed after he became the modern emperor, and the power corrupted him. The evidence—The Great Leap Forward, The Cultural Revolution and the purges that killed so many. Students of China may want to see this movie, but the only place one may buy a DVD of this movie is probably China.

The next best thing would be to read Snow’s book about Mao, Red Star Over China and/or discover about Health Care During Mao’s Time.

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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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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Disneyland Chinese Style

March 2, 2010

President Obama’s half brother, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, is married to a Chinese woman and lives in China. Ndesandjo speaks fluent Mandarin and practices Chinese calligraphy. In a TIME interview, he said, “I’ve experienced the warmth and the graciousness of the Chinese people.” Ndesandjo is overwhelmingly positive about his life in China.

Disneyland

TIME magazine also reported that a Shanghai Disneyland has been approved, and according to a report by the Burbank, California based Themed Entertainment Association, “Chinese consumers have a lot of love for Disney. They’re more excited about Disneyland than the EXPO 2010 Shanghai China.”

To give you an idea how much Chinese love everything American, visit Zhang Yimou’s musical, the Impressions of Liu Sanjie. This musical with a cast of hundreds is staged on and alongside the Li River in Southeast China near Vietnam. The theater reminded me of similar theaters at American theme parks like Six Flags or Disneyland but the musical was local and ethnic.

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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. 

To subscribe to “iLook China”, look for the “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar, click on it then follow directions.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

In the National Interest

March 1, 2010

In World War II, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and woke the sleeping tiger, America.

Then in the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy, during the Cuban missile crises, brought the United States to the brink of nuclear Armageddon. He did this believing it was in the National Interest.

Last night (2/28/2010), I watched an episode on 60 Minutes about a Taiwanese man in the pay of China gathering information about the 6.5 billion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan. Does that make China evil? This morning, I had my answer.

From the dawn of rival civilizations, there have been spies.  It’s all about survival and the national interest. Robert Hart (19th century), who knew the Chinese better than any Westerner, wrote, After China picks its conquerors’ brains; it will be a super-power again. I don’t know what they will do when that times comes. They will decide to either get along with the world or seek revenge for what the world did to them.

In the 19th century, France, England, Germany, Russia, Japan, and the United States attacked China in a series of wars. The devastation visited on a peaceful China started with the Opium Wars and ended with World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Those wars woke the sleeping dragon.

America supports Taiwan—China’s Cuba. The difference is that China sees Taiwan as part of the mainland. What would America do if Hawaii separated from the union, and China supplied the islands with weapons to defend itself? Don’t be surprised if China responds the same way over Taiwan.

The China Americans learned about in school has changed. See Deng Xiaoping’s 20/20 Vision

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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 » | America, business, China, Chinese Culture, government, media, military spending, politics, Taiwan | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Attitudes Toward Health in China

February 28, 2010

The focus in China is on prevention—meaning to plan your lifestyle around healthy habits. That’s why early in the morning you may find many older Chinese outside exercising using the graceful, poetic movements of Tai Chi to insure health and longevity.  

Meanwhile, behavior shows the old attitudes toward preventative health eroding. More than three hundred million Chinese smoke American cigarettes and obesity is a growing epidemic in China as it is in the United States.

Shanghai McDonald's

How could obesity not be a problem since the Chinese are having a love affair with American fast food? China loves most things American. McDonalds and Domino’s Pizza are considered gourmet restaurants and can easily be found in China’s cities.

Learn about Doing Business 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.

6 Comments | America, China, economy, food, health care | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Health Care Today

February 28, 2010

The health care system built under Mao’s leadership no longer exists. Doctors and nurses are trained the same as in the United States. Since Mao’s death, in one of the greatest policy reversals of modern times, China dissolved free medical care in its rural communities, privatized vast areas of the economy and shifted public-health resources toward the cities. Socialized medicine vanished.

President Ronald Reagan

President Ronald Reagan’s administration seems to have been the role model for these changes. During Reagan’s years, the U.S. saw a steep rise in the for-profit sector in medicine, in particular the for-profit hospital chains.

Other Republican presidents like the first George Bush continued this rush toward a for-profit, free market approach to health care. What has happened in the United States is starting to happen in China. There is no room for the poor and uninsured and uninsurable beyond what is considered basic services like blood pressure tests and taking your temperature along with a bit of advice.  

If you don’t have the money or a health plan linked to retirement, you face a death sentence. And like America, everyone working for the government (elected or not) has the best health care.

See China’s Health Under Mao

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

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