Printing Books in China

March 4, 2010

I read a post about printing books in China at Chicken Scratchings, and this was my response.

If American’s stopped buying products made in China, Americans at home would lose jobs.  Since Wal-Mart has more than ninety percent of their products manufactured in China, Wal-Mart might go out of business or shrink (which might be a good thing).  But many low wage people that work for Wal-Mart in the United States would be unemployed like American autoworkers.

Most Chinese products are manufactured for American companies.  Some of Apple’s products are manufactured outside the country like iPods in China. Try to buy a car, any car, that’s 100% manufactured in the United States.  Does it matter where the jobs go?  They are still gone. People in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, etc. are manufacturing goods that are sold in the United States. China isn’t the only country that does this.  Yet China seems to get all the blame.

Many products may be built in other countries but an American puts them on the shelf, sells them and gets paid for it.

To understand the situation better, I recommend reading China’s Cheap Price Structure at  http://wp.me/pN4pY-2R
and/or Doing buisiness in China at  http://wp.me/pN4pY-2Y

Leave a Comment » | America, business, China, economy | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

First China Quiz (there is one prize)

March 3, 2010

China Quiz—the answers are in the first hundred posts at iLook China. The first person to answer all the questions correctly will win a free copy of either “My Splendid Concubine” or “Our Hart”.  If the winner lives outside the United States, I will provide a free e-book copy for them to download. There is no deadline. This quiz and the prize will be kept open until the first person answers all the questions correctly. The answers may be found in the first one-hundred posts.  If you find an answer from another source, provide the source but it must match or be similar to the answer found in iLook China. Write your answers in a comment to this post. Make sure there is a way for me to contact you.

1. Why did I write American Hypocrisy, my first post at iLook China?
2. What Chinese city would you find next to the Westlake?
3. What is the name of Zhang Zimou’s night spectacular on the Li River?
4. What is the first of all virtues to most Chinese and what does it mean?
5. Why was the Reuter’s employee roughed up outside Foxconn’s walled city-like facility in Guanlan?
6. During what Dynasty did the Chinese invent paper money and add credit type loans to the banking system?
7. Bob Grant said, “In all honesty, over the years, I have ___ ___ __ ___________ __ ________ flight anywhere inside China.” (fill in the blanks for the six words that are missing)
8. After Mao died in 1976, what did Deng Xiaoping introduce to China for a brief period-of-time, and what was the public allowed to do?
9. What American president’s administration seems to have been the role model for the changes in China’s health care system and what kind of health care system was this?
10. Before the Communists won China in 1949, what was the life expectancy for the Chinese people?
11. What was the name of the health care program that Mao started and how did this system work?
12. (Fill in the blank) Chinese Internet users are _____ times as likely to have blogs as Americans.
13. How far did Tom Carter walk while taking pictures for China: Portrait of a People?
14.  Where will a Disneyland be built in China?
15. On February 28, 60 Minutes ran a segment about a Taiwanese man spying on the United States for mainland China. What was this man trying to discover and why would China care?
16. Who moved China’s first Capital and what was the name of that first capital?
17. Construction of the Longi Rice Terraces was started during what Dynasty?
18. What do the Chinese think about the crew of the Tough Titi, an American B-24 Liberator bomber?
19. What did Confucius say about the importance of gaining an education?
20. What happened in 1421?

7 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, education | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

March 3, 2010

When I was a kid, I loved reading historical fiction like those about Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan. I still do. I also see historical movies and for that reason, I bought the movie version for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms—an epic from China’s history. Don’t let the title fool you. This story is not about romance as Westerners think of it. It’s about the romance of politics, war and conquest. There’s even a love story with sacrifice.

The novel was written in the 14th century and was more than a thousand pages long with 120 chapters. The translated English version is longer. After the Han Dynasty collapsed (206 BC to 219 AD), China shattered into three warring kingdoms. This story is about how China was reunified as one nation again. I’ve seen it once and plan to watch it again. The DVD version has 84 episodes and runs for more than fifty hours. It has even been made into a game.

Before watching this epic, you may want to read these posts to help you understand the behavior of the characters better.

See the First of All Virtues or Honor Chinese Style, along with Face

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. 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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Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese literature, media, politics | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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.

______________

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, China, education, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Wolf Totem: A Novel by Jiang Rong-book review

March 2, 2010

Jiang Rong

Another way to learn about China is through Chinese literature and film. Jiang Rong is the pen name for Lu Jiamin, a Chinese citizen. Set during the Cultural Revolution, Wolf Totem describes the education of an intellectual living with nomadic herders in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

The publisher of Wolf Totem says this novel is an epic Chinese tale and that is true. Wolf Totem taught me a lot about this almost extinct culture. I learned about the fascinating connection between wolves and Mongols and why this connection may have been the reason why Genghis Khan was so successful in his conquests.

I recommend this novel to anyone that wants to learn more about the life of the Mongols and another aspect of the Cultural Revolution. However, the philosophy of maintaining a balance with nature is a bit overdone. I got the message the first time the characters talked about it but then the topic comes up over and over and over—a bit to much for my taste.

I won’t give away the ending, but don’t expect it to be a happy. Most Chinese novels don’t end with happy endings.

A defense of Wolf Totem By Timothy Weston

1 Comment | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese literature, environment, politics | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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