Striking Differences

October 18, 2010

In Psychology Today, I read a post by Christopher Peterson.

I wrote a comment to his post, but addressed it to the wrong person. Since I couldn’t edit the comment, I have no way to fix the mistake.

Peterson writes about how much he enjoyed his recent August trip to China. He said, “I loved the Chinese people I met! We did not talk politics with anyone…”

In fact, I’ve been to China about ten times since 1999 and have never talked politics to anyone there.

There is no reason for that. After all, in China, the government runs the country and doesn’t ask the people for advice.

I sometimes wonder who is running America since there are so many opinions and so much anger.

Peterson also said, “China is not only a highly collectivist culture but also one that takes a very long time perspective on things. We often heard mention of the ‘seven generation’ view, which means that the Chinese take into account the consequences of policies for at least seven future generations.”

Peterson also mentioned, “the Chinese want their people and especially their children to be happy… There are of course cultural differences in what constitutes legitimate happiness.”

Then I read a post in the Democratic Underground, which was striking in its darkness and inferred unhappiness and anger.

The Democratic Underground said, “in the past week or so, at least 29 candidates (running for political office in the U.S. November midterms) have unveiled advertisements suggesting that their opponents have been too sympathetic to China and, as a result, Americans have suffered.”

Evan B. Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising, said that “China has sort of become a straw-man villain in this election” in a way that elicits comparisons to the sentiments toward Japan in the 1980s over car manufacturing and Mexico in the 1990s over the North American Free Trade Agreement. Source: Democratic Underground

It’s common in America for politicians to turn the people’s anger and unhappiness on a scapegoat. It helps win elections.

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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.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, cultural differences, family values, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Sinking Dollar

October 17, 2010

The West, America in particular, has been pressuring China for years to revalue the yuan. If the following reports are correct, it seems the US may have lost the fight.

During elections, U.S. politicians often used this issue with China as a scapegoat for lost jobs without mentioning that more jobs have gone to Canada and Mexico since NAFTA was signed.

In fact, I seldom hear or read in the major media about the estimated 11 million jobs that have gone to illegal aliens working in the U.S.

Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Turkey joined China to shun the U.S. dollar in conducting trade that is expected to grow to $50 billion within five years and $100 billion by 2020.

Another potential blow to the U.S. dollar’s global dominance was reported by Bloomberg Business Week.

Bloomberg says that the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will put up a “strong resistance” to currency controls at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington.

The 24-7 Christian News.com says that the U.S. Dollar will no longer be the global currency predicting that the world is going to detach from the US economy in the near future. “China, Russia, Japan and France, several Middle East Arab states have taken the initiative to detach oil from the US Dollar.”

Instead, these countries plan to trade in a currency basket consisting of Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, the Euro, etc.

Then Goldman Sachs predicts a sharp slump in the US dollar’s value against other major currencies. Source: Credit Write Downs.com

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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.

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

When China “Could” Have Ruled the World

October 16, 2010

An interesting post at The Globalist says, “Many regard China’s economic powerhouse as a new phenomenon.  But a thousand years ago, Chinese merchants ruled the seas of Asia.”

The post goes on to point out how China’s Song Dynasty promoted international trade and that Chinese merchants expanded foreign trade rapidly but with Chinese government control over trade as in China today.

The Song Dynasty also kept a close watch on exports as in China today.

The Globalist said, “Even 1000 years ago, China’s government kept a close eye on trade. If a ship was blown off course, its captain had to report it promptly (on his return to China) — and produce evidence.”

In fact, Merchants from all over the world came to China at that time just as they are doing today.

Therefore, it should be no surprise when The Economist says, “China’s overreaction to a Japanese ‘provocation’ has set its regional diplomacy back years. … China sneezes, Asia shivers.”

I don’t believe China cares if diplomacy suffered.  China is more concerned with not letting anyone step on its toes again.

When I say that, I’m talking about the Opium Wars then Western domination of China’s politics for close to a century before World War II when Japan invaded and killed about 30 million Chinese.

If we are to believe Marco Polo (1254 – 1324), who said China could have conquered the world, then we should also breathe a sigh of relief that China didn’t want to do that then when it could have and still doesn’t.

However, China’s desires to control events that affect China have not changed.  Japan sneezed and China roared back. It’s all about harmony—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.

Leave a Comment » | China, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Universal Values and Medical Care

October 15, 2010

For the last two years, the U.S. has been embroiled in partisican warfare over universal healthcare.

Universal values wasn’t an issue. The Political Correctness of the democratic mob decides that.

The American Republican Party says they will get rid of universal healthcare if they gain a majority in Congress in the mid-term elections.

However, in China, the debate is over universal values. In The Economist for October 2, 2010, there is a piece on this topic that mentions a “smouldering” debate in China for the past two years.

The lead sentence says, “It is not quite true that China is rejecting Western values such as democracy. Rather, it is fighting over them.”

If there is a Politically Correct belief in the West driven by Sinophobia that the Chinese have no freedom, consider this quote from The Economist, “A philosophical question of whether universal values exist has turned into a political fight, dividing scholars, the media and even, some analysts believe, China’s leaders.”

It even appears, according to The Economist, that China’s Vice-President Xi Jinping, who is all but certain to take over from Hu Jintao as party chief in 2012, has been involved in this debate about values.

See Misconceptions of China – The Chinese Government

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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.

Leave a Comment » | China, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Building the Rest of China’s Republic

October 15, 2010

I’m looking at a site, American President, An Online Reference Resource, and this site has divided the history of the U.S. into eight eras and lists the presidents of each era.

The Early Republic (1789 – 1829)
The Jacksonian Democracy (1829 – 1854)
Sectional Conflict (1853 – 1881)
Gilded Age (1881 – 1897)
Progressive Era (1897 – 1921)
Depression & World Conflict (1921 – 1961)
Social Change & Soviet Relations (1961 – 1989)
Globalization (1989 – )

In Democracy, Deceit and Mob Rule, the embedded YouTube video mentioned that Woodrow Wilson was the first president to refer to the U.S. as a democracy.

By the time President Johnson left office in 1969, America was no longer a Republic. The transition was complete and the democratic mob ruled leading to Political Correctness, Rush Limbaugh and the Self-esteem Generations.

To avoid becoming a democracy, China should consider adding a lower house of Congress as in the U.S.

All eligible voters, who do not belong to the Communist Party, would elect the representatives in the lower house and the upper house would be the National People’s Congress, which would be elected from within the Communist Party as it is today.

Since legislation in the U.S. must be approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president, this would allow the Communist Party in the upper hosue to kill unpopular or destructive legislation from the lower house and the other way around.

That way, the mob rule of a democracy would be avoided.

Since in a Republic, no mature citizen has to vote as in a democracy, it would be wise if China defined who the eligible voters outside the Party would be.

I suggest people only be allowed to vote if they have a high comprehension level that helps understand the issues.

As has been seen in the U.S., with its falling literacy rate, many in the population cannot understand the political issues and don’t vote or use misleading information from politically biased people like Rush Limbaugh to decide for them.

Of course, a democracy ruled by the mob would cry foul, but a republic is ruled by the elected officials—not by the majority as in the U.S.

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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.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, government, politics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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