An Unhealthy War of Words

March 17, 2010

Both China and America face a crises in health care, because many in both countries cannot afford it.

Emperor Wudi (Han Dynasty, 141 BCE) may have made the right choice. Wudi wanted to make sure that peasants could afford salt and iron so his government controlled the prices. The private sector that sold these commodities was upset, because they couldn’t amass the great fortunes they wanted.

Emperor Wudi - Han Dynasty

After Emperor Wudi’s death in 87 BCE, a great debate (similar to the debate over health care in America today) took place.  It was called the “Debate on Salt and Iron”.  It pitted the advocates of a strong central state against those favoring more autonomy for local elites—people who owned businesses in the private sector. In the end, the government program that controlled the prices of essential commodities was abolished.

The results—

1. The imperial court became more concerned with an extravagant social life and stopped doing their job running the country. Greed became rampant.

2. Powerful families manipulated the emperor and his ministers—like corporate and special-interest lobbyists in America today. For a few, fortunes grew while many peasants had to go without.

3. Revenues declined and military affairs were neglected.

4. The Han Dynasty collapsed.

Health is an essential commodity, and Bill Maher makes a good case for this in his piece at the Huffington Post.

To learn more, read “China’s Health Care During Mao’s Time” http://wp.me/pN4pY-br

Leave a Comment » | America, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, economy, health care, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China Bashing

March 16, 2010

Americans need their boogiemen. Many Americans blame teachers when kids don’t learn. Many also blame liberals when the economy or a war goes wrong. Kids blame mom and dad for things the kid did. After all, mom and dad raised the child. It seems rare when an American takes the blame for anything.

China bashing is still popular as US lawmakers attack China ahead of November elections. source  The big difference between now and then is China’s standing in the world. In the 19th century, China was weak. Today, China is strong.

Dr. George Morrison (on the right)

Americans did not invent China bashing. That started in the 19th century. The man responsible was probably Dr. George Ernest Morrison, Peking correspondent for the London Times. He was the only full-time resident journalist in China’s Imperial capital, and his lies influenced the history of China for almost a century.

It is ironic that Sir Robert Hart, the main character in my novel, who was in Peking and witnessed Morrison’s conduct and read his inaccurate newspaper reports, saw him as lazy, self-indulgent, intolerant, racist and unprincipled.

Many of the London Times pieces Morrison wrote were littered with lies and deceit influencing people’s opinions toward China to this day.

To read another example of China Bashing, see No Political Machine

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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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2 Comments | America, China, Chinese history, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl

March 11, 2010

The Sent Down Girl was filmed in China and directed by Joan Chen. It is a Mandarin language film with English subtitles and was filmed on the hauntingly beautiful Tibetan high plains.

During the Cultural Revolution, millions of teens were sent from the cities to the country or camps to learn humility and a simpler, peasant life.

This movie stars Lu Lu as Xiu Xiu, a teenage girl and Lopsang as Lao Jin, a castrated Tibetan nomad who is assigned to teach the innocent teen how to handle and train horses.

Xiu Xiu

Lao Jin falls in love with his young charge but he is a eunuch. Then there is a local low ranking Communist official and others, who introduce Xiu Xiu to a brutal world of sex for favors. This movie was not a condemnation of Communist China. This example of sexual harassment can happen anywhere.

The movie was based on an award-winning novella banned in China because of political and sexual content.  This was the first film Joan Chen directed. She is best known for her role in The Last Emperor as one of the emperor’s wives.

Discover Farewell My Concubine

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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 history, Chinese literature, Chinese minorities, Chinese women, media | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

When the Generals Laughed

March 6, 2010

In the Western media, we often hear about America’s leaders and their concerns for the size of China’s military.

Look at these facts and decide why China has a large military. Then you will know why Chinese generals laughed when they heard about the concerns of America’s leaders.

China’s military often has important roles in disasters like the earthquake that struck Southwest China, and the military must deal with violent, internal strife in Tibet and with Islamic extremists in Xinjiang province. It is no secret that there are Cantonese who, after two thousand years, still want to break from Beijing. There has also been unrest in rural China due to the slow pace of lifestyle improvements there.

Soldier carrying injured Chinese girl after major earthquake

America’s total active military equals almost 1% of the population with close to three million men and women in uniform. America has a dozen aircraft carriers, more than fifteen-hundred navy ships, and almost twenty-three thousand military aircraft.

China has less than .25% (that is less than 1% if you missed the decimal) of its population in uniform—a quarter of America’s ratio with about three million troops. China has one aircraft carrier and a navy that is less than half the size of America’s. China’s airforce has about twenty-five hundred aircraft—a ten to one ratio in America’s favor.

Nuclear Weapons—America has 10,000 and China less than 400.

China’s defense budget was about sixty-billion in 2008 compared to more than five-hundred billion spent in the United States. America is spending closer to seven hundred billion this year while China is cutting defense spending due to the world’s economic crises. The Chinese plan to put the money cut from the defense budget into the private sector. Do you think something like that will ever happen in the United States?

Source: www.Globalfirepower.com

Discover Basic Health Care in China

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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, Running with the Enemy, was awarded an honorable mention in general fiction at the 2013 San Francisco Book Festival.

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4 Comments | America, China, government, media, military spending, politics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Raise the Red Lantern

March 4, 2010

This film was directed in China by Zhang Yimou in 1991, and it offers a view of life within a closed, dictatorial culture that starts in the home. The film focuses on the ever-shifting balance of power between the various concubines while the husband ignores much of what is going on—taking his pleasures when he feels like it.

The central government in China did not approve this film since it parallels a return to a concubine society where men with new wealth stash women (the concubines) in different apartments. The more things appear to change, they don’t.

When my wife and I lived in Southern California, we visited a small restaurant near our home. The owner was a former concubine of a wealthy Chinese man, who paid her off and sent her packing when she got too old. He used his influence and wealth to help her reach the United States while he went in search of a young beauty to replace her. She used the money to start a business. She was lucky. Many modern-age concubines are just abandoned and have to find another master to support them and beauty does fade.

Discover more Chinese movies–Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

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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 lusty love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

IMAGE with Blurbs and Awards to use on Twitter

Where to Buy

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China’s Holistic Historical Timeline

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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