Catching Up With Supercomputing

June 2, 2010

 China is not standing still or playing by Western rules, which are designed to let the West win. Instead, China is moving forward claiming solar power, wind power, high-speed rail, future footprints on the moon and a host of other titles.  Soon, China may be adding the supercomputing record to that list.

The New York Times reported that a Chinese supercomputer was recently ranked as the world’s second fastest machine. China is serious with science. To make this happen, China is graduating more top rated scientists, technicians and engineers than America.

Cray Jaguar Supercomputer

Although the world’s fastest computer is the Cray Jaguar supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, China may soon take that title as well.  China has a microprocessor that has been designed and manufactured in China and should be out near the end of 2010. A number of experts in the field say this new Chinese microprocessor may be the machine that will claim the title of the world’s fastest computer.

In fact, China is no stranger to innovations. Centuries ago, China invented the printing press, paper, the compass, the crossbow, gunpowder and the multi-stage rocket.

See One Step from the Global Gold Medal

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Love, Business and War

June 2, 2010

What happens today will be history tomorrow. With that in mind, I copied this opening quote from what Willi Paul wrote for Sustain Lane.com, “By stealing our technology, copying our products, forcing us into a trade deficit, manipulating their own currency and then buying our debt, the Chinese may win the long-term war of globalization.” Paul’s rant goes on with examples of how the Chinese are unscrupulous spies and thieves.

Western Opium destroying Chinese lives

If America and the rest of the Western world are in a trade war with China, the Chinese did not fire the first shot. In the 18th century, the powerful Qianlong Emperor rejected proposed trade and cultural exchanges with the British Empire and said the Qing Empire had no need for goods and services the British could provide.

The Western powers did not like being told “no”, so during the 19th century two Opium Wars were fought with China to force the door to trade and Christianity open—I recall that Japan was forced to trade with the West too, which resulted in the bombing of Pearl Harbor leading to World War II.

In fact, those trade wars started by Western powers with China in the 19th century aren’t over yet and the rules of fair play do not apply to love, business and war.

See The Reasons Why China is Studying Singapore

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Cornering the Plug-In Hybrid or all Electric Car

June 2, 2010

Soon after the Copenhagen Climate Conference, China announced to the world that they would cut Greenhouse gases by 40%. I read at AutoBlogGreen, that one step to achieve that pledge has already been put in place—China is offering a $7,300 (in US dollars—the exchange rate today was 6.8279 yuan for each dollar) rebate for Chinese who buy plug in hybrids and $8,800 (US) for a fully-electric vehicle.

One such car is the BYD F6DM, a plug-in hybrid. Top speed should be 100 mph (160 kph, speed should be 100 mph (160 kph), with a range of 62 miles (100 km) in all-electric mode and 267 miles (430 km) total after the gas engine kicks in. A fully electric version called the F6E is planned for 2009. […] the lithium iron phosphate battery is said to be safer, less expensive, without heavy metals, completely recyclable and should be rechargeable to 70% in 10-minute at special charging stations. It can also be recharged more slowly with a home charging station, of course.” To learn more visit Tree Hugger.com

A recent survey shows that nearly 5-6 times more Chinese residents would consider buying an electric car or plug-in hybrid than citizen in the U.S., Germany, Japan and the UK… In the U.S. less than 1 in 4 (depending on who you ask) would consider buying an electric car right now. Source: gas2.0

See China Going Green

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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. 

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Keeping China’s People Working

May 30, 2010

Marginal Revolution (MR) posted his or her “China fact of the day” and just about everyone who left a comment got it wrong—as usual.

“Of the 22 Chinese corporations listed on the Fortune Global 500, 21 are controlled by China’s central government or state-run banks.” Source of quote: New York Times

I read the The New York Times piece that was quoted by MR and the gist was that China is going through something similar to what Japan did for the four decades after World War II, and that China cannot depend on manufacturing and exporting goods to the rest of the world to maintain a healthy economy indefinitely.  China “needs” to grow a domestic economy that supports itself and that is what the Chinese are trying to do. If they get it wrong, they will pay a steep price.

The first comment to MR’s “China fact of the day” said, “So much for the triumph of capitalism.”

True, so much for capitalism. After all, it was the Republican, Reagan, Bush, Wild West, capitalist system in the US that caused China to start pumping money back into state-run businesses.

Creating Jobs for China's People

In April 2009, Time did a good job explaining why China’s state owned companies are making a comeback.  When the world’s conomy burst and deflated in 2008 thanks to Wall Street greed, exports from China fell by almost 20% and an estimated 300,000 small and medium-sized private sector companies in China collapsed. “The Crisis hits China’s private sector really hard because China’s private sector accounts for a larger share of China’s manufactured exports, says Yasheng Huang, an MIT professor.

What did China do?  China started to put the people who had lost their jobs in the private sector to work in State Run Companies.  Duh! All anyone has to do is see what happened in the United States during the Great Depression when Herbert Hoover was president to understand why China is acting this way to keep people working and earning money.

See Jobless in America and Angry at China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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Intel in China

May 28, 2010

When you hear Americans complaining about China stealing jobs, here are a few facts to know.

Chinese consumers buy computers. In fact, there are more Chinese using the Internet than the entire population of the United States. That’s a lot of Internet surfing. Source: Internet World Stats.com

For that reason, Intel’s President and CEO, Paul Otellini said, “China is our fastest-growing major market and we believe it’s critical that we invest in markets that will provide for future growth to better serve our customers.”

Intel is one of the largest foreign investors in China and is opening a wafer fabrication facility in Dalian, Liaoning Province.  This added investment in China will cost $2.5 billion bringing Intel’s total investment to $4 billion. The last new fabrication plant Intel built was in Ireland in 1992.

Intel now has over 6,000 employees on assembly and test research and developing in 16 cities in Mainland China. Intel also has a facility in Bangalore, India. Source: Intel

In the United States, Intel has over 20 different locations. In Oregon alone, Intel has invested $22 billion and employs 15,500 Americans with an annual payroll of $1.5 billion. Source: Intel

Learn more about Chinese Stereotype Alive and Rotten in America

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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