Man-Made Disasters

August 26, 2010

Global Voices Online writes about man-made disasters, and I couldn’t help myself. I had to leave a comment.

While reading the post at Global Voices Online, I was reminded of the floods in China and the recent earthquake there.

Xinhua reports that China mourns mudslide victims as relief operation continues.  The piece said, “At least 1,248 people have died and 496 are listed as missing.

I read in the Guardian (April 14, 2010), that a 7.1 quake hit Yushu county in north-west province of Qinghai killing at last 400 and injuring 10,000.

When my sister and her children joined me on Mt. Rainier more than a decade ago, I learned that more than two million people lived below this active volcano, which is overdue for an eruption.

Mt. Rainer overlooks the city of Seattle in the United States.

According to experts, if Mt. Rainier blows, the wall of mud and trees that would rush toward the ocean would be 700 feet high and reach the ocean in less than half-an-hour. 

Meanwhile, homes are still being built along that path of future destruction, and there is no way to to protect those homes and people who live there.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the flooding was caused by man.  People built houses on land that has been sinking for decades. The government built walls to keep the water out but the walls weren’t strong enough.  More than 1,800 people died from that hurricane. In New Orleans, 80% of the city was flooded, and over 700 bodies were recovered there.

Why do people build in harm’s way?

See The WHO’s War on Tobacco, about another man-made disaster.

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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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4 Comments | America, China | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Train to Tibet

August 26, 2010

Many know Tibet as the Roof of the World. For centuries, Tibet was isolated mostly because it was difficult for anyone to go there—even armies.

In 1903, the British Empire sent an army to Tibet to protect its interests, and it took a year for Sir Francis Younghusband’s invasion force to reach Lhasa in August 1904.

A book was written about that invasion, The British Empire & Tibet 1900-1922. Asian Affairs says, “The great value of Dr. Palace’s study is to highlight the much neglected China angle to the Tibetan issue … [this book is] helping to indicate the very important place of the Tibetan affair in the story of Western imperialism”

Today, the journey to Tibet is not as daunting.  Besides an airport, there is the train to Tibet that leaves Beijing and arrives in Lhasa forty-eight hours later. 

Tourists, both foreign and Chinese, take the train to Tibet to learn more about the people while others stay—changing the demographics.

The train sometimes reaches elevations over 5,000 meters (16,404 feet).

One Western tourist, who had been to Tibet twice, said that the ethnic groups in Tibet are not mixing together. She said there was a Chinese area and another where Tibetans lived.

Makes sense—in American cities emigrants tend to stay close to their kind. In the past, there have been Irish areas, Jewish, German and today there are Vietnamese or Latin or Chinatowns in the U.S.

See Traveling to Tibet

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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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1 Comment | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, history, politics, Tibet, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Traveling to Tibet

August 26, 2010

I found an interesting post about traveling to Tibet.  When you read between the lines, it is clear that there are risks but the government’s tourist bureau is working to make Tibet a safe destination for tourists.

Although I’ve been to China many times, I’ve never reached Tibet.

Maybe that’s because of the story I heard about the time my brother-in-law got off the plane and had a small stroke and some bleeding.

I’ve hiked/climbed mountains to 11,000 feet (about 3,353 meters) above sea level in hip-deep snow and the elevation does make the heart pound.

Lhasa’s altitude is 3,490 meters or 11,450 feet and is one of the highest cities in the world.

The post I read about traveling to Tibet was from Free Travel Guides. Here are a few of the interesting facts from that post.

  • The oxygen density in Tibet is about 50% of what’s normal at sea level, so altitude sickness is possible.
  • Road conditions are a challenge for tourists who are driving or being driven.
  • Safety is a big concern for the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region.
  • A four-step safety system exits, where tourists will receive security education meaning what to look out for and how to respond, a security alarm code probably similar to the US code on danger from Islamic terrorist attacks, and emergency and travel insurance has been made available and may be mandatory.
  • There is a 110 emergency telephone number to use when needed.
  • The TIB (Tibetan Tourism Bureau) has daily updates related to tourism, security education and conditions of security.
  • The best way to reach Tibet would probably be using the Qinghai-Tibet railway instead of the airport. That way your body has more time to acclimate and you get to see great scenery as you climb into Tibet.
  • About 4 million tourists visited Tibet in 2008 and Tibet has become an increasingly attractive location for tourists.

For more about Tibet see Chinese Gold from Dead Tibetan Caterpillars and/or The Tea Horse Road

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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.

1 Comment | China, Chinese Culture, Tibet, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Getting Out Sun Tzu’s Way

August 25, 2010

I have a suggestion for ending the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. 

Let Sun Tzu fight both wars his way.

That can be accomplished by telling China they may have all the oil in Iraq and the rare minerals recently discovered in Afghanistan.

Then the US pulls its troops out of both countries within six months leaving the door open for China to move in.

Why would China do this?  China needs oil and these rare minerals to keep its economy growing.

Why would it work?  Sun Tzu was Chinese. Who better to understand his rules for winning wars. China might even be able to pull it off without firing a shot.

This would work because China is not burdened with America’s affliction–Political Correctness, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the Tea Bag People, liberal bleeding hearts and hawkish neoconservatives who scare American politicians so much that America’s generals are not allowed to fight as a war should be fought.

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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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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Chinese American students from US Public Schools Score Big in China

August 25, 2010

The Mercury News reports that four California Chinese American high school students competed in the ninth annual China Girls Mathematical Olympiad and earned top prizes for the United States.  There are more details at Silicon Valley girls capture medals in China.

I congratulate these young women for their achievement.  Actually, the Mercury News did not tally the entire victory for America’s public schools.

If you click to MSRI Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, you will discover that girls from the IMO (USA International Mathematical Olympiad) team won eight medals —six gold, one silver, one bronze and one honorable mention.

What these results show is that students from America’s public schools can be competitive with other countries.

I wrote about this topic in more detail in a five-part series, Education and Cultures Collide in the US, about how the problems in America’s public school are due more to cultural/socio-economic differences than the perceived cancer of teachers unions protecting bad teachers.

If a student (no matter what his or her ethnicity is) does the work, pays attention and reads daily, most teachers will not be expected to do the impossible and face political and media criticism when they can’t.

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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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