Confucius Returns

May 11, 2010

Confucianism is making a comeback in modern China. For the government, the philosophy’s emphasis on respect for authority appeals to the Communist Party. For parents, Confucianism is a way to raise obedient children who won’t forget their culture. Source: Chinh’s news

If you followed the series about Confucius in this Blog, you may be interested in the film with Chow Yun-Fat that was released in China in January 2010. Trailer: First-Showing.net

Chow Yun-Fat as Confucius

The movie was filmed in Hebei province, and its release marked the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and Confucius’ 2,560th birthday. The movie comes amid a surge in interest in the philosopher, who was practically outlawed during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. However, as China’s recent economic boom put stress on the country’s Marxist ideologies, officials began to promote Confucian virtues as a way of addressing the gap between the rich and poor. Source: BBC

However, Murphy’s Law says, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”. Kong Jian, claiming he is a direct descendent of Confucius, filed a lawsuit demanding that scenes be removed from the film that do not depict Confucius as he was in real life. Source: Global Times

Confucius was a scappy guy, so it makes sense that anyone with his DNA, no matter how far removed, would be the same.

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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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1 Comment | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Confucianism, media | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Update on China’s Health Care

May 10, 2010

Under the old socialist system, China had grave-to-cradle health care that improved life expectancy from 35 in 1952 to 69 in 1982 despite limited resources.

After the transition to a market economy in the late 1970s, the old health care system was dismantled. In urban areas, hospitals had to operate independently.

In rural areas, the “Barefoot Doctors” lost incentives to carry on the old practices and either became profit-driven or changed professions. Source: Minnesota 2020

In 2005, China launched a new health care plan, The New Rural Co-operative Medical Care System. However, major medical care is still centered in the larger cities.

One reason is that most doctors do not want to live in rural China. Source: Healthcare reform in the People’s Republic of China

Vineet Arora, MD wrote on Kevin MD.com that she and her husband spent four days visiting the Wuhan Medical School in Hubei Province in Central China. She learned that Chinese medical students watched Grey’s Anatomy and House, MD and wondered if that is what practicing Western medicine was like…

One of the interns said she lives at the hospital (in a dorm) working 6 days a week with one day off working roughly 70-80 hours per week….

Interns and doctors in America and other Western countries work similar hours increasing the risk of making mistakes.

In China, rural health care tends to be traditional while health care in the cities blends in Western style medicine.

Learn more about Attitudes Toward Health 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.

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Food and China’s Eating Culture

May 10, 2010

China is an eating culture and always has been.  Although Today’s Chinese do not eat the quantities of meat the average American does, China accounts for half of global pig production because pork is the popular meat to eat.  Small farmer producers raise ninety-nine percent of pork in China. Source: China Translated

Chinese Farmer

Even when grain production falls in China that does not translate into a shortage since China has historically kept large food-grain stockpiles and those individual small farmer/producers help ensure food security. Source : China Through a Lens

As China’s economy continues to grow a spreading middle class with money to spend, food demand and eating habits are changing along with waistlines.  To meet this demand, Chinese have set up large pork and chicken operations in Australia to meet the growing demand for meat on the mainland. Source: Food Crisis

To insure a dependable supply of food to feed 1.3 billion people, Chinese companies have also bought or leased land in Africa sending Chinese laborers to produce crops for sale on the world market – and back home.  Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Discover Tofu

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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, Chinese food, economy, environment, food | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
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China’s Electric Challenge

May 10, 2010

To bring electricity to the 1.3 billion people in China is a challenge due to the terrain. If we count only land, America is the third largest country and China the second. Russia is first.

To give you an idea, America has 922,095,840 square miles of cropland to feed 4.5% of the earth’s population. China, by comparison, has 247,878,000 square miles of farmland to feed 20% of the earth’s population. The rest of the land is either desert or mountains.

Currency from the Song Dynasty

Never forget that during the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 AD), China had the highest per capital production and income in the world. At the time, China’s GDP was the largest in the world until the middle of the 19th century when Western Imperial colonial powers invaded China winning two Opium Wars. Source: ELSA Berkeley.edu

Discover China’s clean coal power plant in Tianjin

See Electricity is the Key

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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.

2 Comments | America, business, China, Chinese history, economy | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

America Electrified — China’s Road Map (Part 2 of 2)

May 9, 2010

In 1935, FDR issued an executive order to create the Rural Electrification Administration to bring electricity to millions of rural Americans.

The sad fact is that if President Obama were to propose doing something similar today, the issue would become devisive.  Politics might stop the process. The Tea Bag people would scream socialism, big government. They would march in the streets calling it “Obamapower” instead of the REA.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 32 President of the United States

It took six years after the REA was launched in 1941 to help 800 rural electric cooperatives to string 350,000 miles of power lines.

Click on the America’s electrical grid and learn more about what it took to build the most extensive electric transmission system in the world.  The electrification of America took more than half a century and is still evolving.

The biggest difference between China today and America in the 1950s is the population.  America electrified a nation with a population of about 160 million people.  China has 1.3 billion—a daunting task. Since China has connected about five hundred million in less time than it took the United States to connect far less, if anyone can do it, the Chinese can.

Discover China Going Green or return to Part 1 of America Electrified

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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 | America, business, China, Chinese history | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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