China Aiming at Arctic Oil

May 26, 2010

If you are in Iceland and you see someone who may look like an Eskimo dressed in fur against the bitter, winter cold, look twice. That person may be a Chinese oil worker or the crewmember of a Chinese icebreaker.

Icebreaker

The reason is simple. As China brings its 1.3 billion people into the modern age so all Chinese may live like Americans, it takes oil to make that happen.  China’s critics, of course, will find fault no matter what.  If China does nothing to improve the lifestyle of rural Chinese, the government will be blamed. If the air is polluted from all the carbon exhaust from middle-class Chinese driving around enjoying their new Western lifestyle, China will be criticized for that pollution.  If the price for gas and diesel goes up at the pump in Europe or America, China’s hunger for oil will get the blame for that too.

However, China’s government could care less about any foreign patootie’s complaints, because the people they serve in China come first if they want to stay in power. It’s nice to have money, and the Chinese government has it while the rest of the world is in debt.

See “China’s Oil Hunger Grows”

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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

Eating Gourmet in Shanghai

May 25, 2010

I wrote about the Blog post in the “Lost Laowai” in my last post about the sunken South Korean navy ship.

There was another funny facetious remark about China sharing a distaste for McDonald’s that was a cause for smiles.

Maybe China’s government doesn’t care for McDonalds, but many Chinese see McDonald’s and Pizza Hut as gourmet restaurants.  McDonalds is even planning to increase the number of outlets in China to 2,000 by year’s end.

Multi-story Pizza Hut in Shanghai

Several years ago, my sister-in-law hired a Shanghai ballerina to model for a photo shoot.  Afterwards, the ballerina called her husband on a cell phone and told him to meet her at the large, two story McDonalds in the middle of Shanghai to celebrate earning the extra cash.

In addition, we have often seen long waiting lines outside a swanky Pizza Hut on Shanghai’s Nanjing Road, and crowded pedestrian mall.

To discover more about Shanghai visit:
Shanghai
Shanghai Huxinting Teahouse
Shanghai Huangpu River Tour
Shanghai’s History & Culture
Chinese Pavilion, Shanghai World Expo

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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

Traveling to Xiamen, China

May 23, 2010

China has more than a hundred cities with populations over a million.  If asked to name cities in China, most people outside of China would probably say Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, or Guangzhou (once known as Canton).

Mike Conklin, in a special to the Tribune Newspapers, reveals a rare gem in Xiamen, China—a southeast port across the Taiwan Straits from Taiwan.

Xiamen skyline at night

One of China’s top universities is located in Xiamen with about 30,000 students along with a half dozen other colleges.

Xiamen’s beaches

Besides great beaches and “CLEAN AIR”, the population is environmentally conscious and prices are low.  Two years ago, the Central Chinese government planned to build a chemical plant in Xianmen.  Students took to the streets in peaceful protest and more than a million text messages were sent objecting to the chemical plant.  The central government changed its plans—meaning no chemical plant was built in or near Xiamen. Source: Chicago Tribune

Discover China’s ancient capital, Xian.

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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.

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China’s Oil Hunger Grows

May 23, 2010

China’s hunger for oil is stretching from Canada to Nigeria. According to Addison Wiggin, the Chinese state-owned oil producer Sinopec bought a 4.65 billion dollar share of Canada’s biggest tar sands project from Conoco Phillips.

What choice does China have? Oil consumption has skyrocketed from about 2 million barrels per day in the early 1980s, to 9 million this year as the Chinese start to buy more cars than Americans do.

Tar Sands in Canada

Wiggin says that China’s oil consumption could double in the next decade.

The BBC reports that Nigeria and China signed a 23 billion dollar deal for three refineries to be built in Nigeria to increase production. When completed, the Nigerian project could produce another 750,000 barrels a day.

China subsidizes energy costs, but to cut back on oil consumption, China is raising prices to the consumer. Source: Seeking Alpha

However, if China’s current plans succeed in moving rural China into the modern mainstream, the hunger for oil may surpass the United States soon.

See Electricity is the Key

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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

Hollywood to Bollywood to a Rising Chinawood

May 17, 2010

“China is now the second-biggest box office territory for Hollywood films, eclipsing Japan,” says The Hollywood Reporter. Not only that, but Chinese production companies are releasing films for the home market.

It also appears that the Chinese government has done some forgiving. “Zhang Zhao fled China for the U.S. soon after the crushing of the 1989 student democracy movement. But Mr. Zhang returned to China in 1998, and now he’s the man with the money: As head of Enlight Pictures, a unit of Enlight Media and one of the new film companies aspiring to tell Chinese stories to a rapidly expanding domestic audience, he has plans for an initial slate of 40 movies, and no problem with financing.” Source: RealFilmCareer.com

A film produced by Huayi Brothers Media

Then there is Huayi Brothers Media, which the May issue of “The Hollywood Reporter” says raised 160 million in an IPO on the Zhenzhen stock exchange.  The Huayi brothers have already released over 50 films, most of them huge box office hits in China. Source: CNN: Is This China’s Harvey Weinstein?

“Five years ago,” Wang Zhongjun said, “we hoped (the Hollywood studios) could bring us support and investments. Now we’re helping them,” reports The Hollywood Reporter, which predicts box office gross in China could exceed 10 billion yuan by the end of 2010.

Discover What is the Truth about Tiananmen Square?

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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.

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China’s Holistic Historical Timeline

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