An American Shadow Over the Philippines

February 16, 2010

After the Spanish American War, America took possession of the Philippine islands and waged war against the native people killing more than two hundred thousand. This went on until World War II.

An American flag flying over Fort Santiago in Manila, Phillippines-c1920s

In fact, the treatment of American Indians hasn’t changed much.  The United States government might not wage brutal war against Native American Indians today as they did in the past, but in recent times billions of dollars slated to support Native American Indian tribes on reservations went missing, and no one seems to know where all that money went or care, except the Indians. It would appear that the era of lies and broken treaties has not ended.

If you want to learn more about American Indians, I suggest you read what the New York Times said about the work written by Vine Deloria Jr., and check out Native American Literature worth reading. It’s best to stay away from Hollywood if you want to get closer to the truth.

It is always good to have the facts before passing judgment, and history does count.

Discover In a Dark Mirror Without Reflection

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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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5 Comments | America, American culture, China, Chinese Culture, Christianity, government, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

American Genocide

February 15, 2010

Christ once said let he who has no sin cast the first stone.

The topic of the next few posts will be about minority native treatment in China and America. As I have done before, I will compare China to America. This post will focus on the United States with some historical background.

Atrocities abound in the history books concerning treatment of Native American Indians during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. The Spanish destroyed the Aztec and Inca civilizations with disease and warfare. The Catholic mission system in California enslaved American Indians.

After the Civil War, the United States military was sent west and drove North American Indians from the land they had lived on for thousands of years and slaughtered men, women and children—millions died. Today, many of the surviving natives live in horrible poverty on reservations.

Trail of Tears

Then the American government grabbed Hawaii from the native Hawaiian people against their will. (There’s a native Hawaiian nonviolent separatist movement asking for freedom from America.)

It is always good to have the facts before passing judgment, and history counts.

Discover more at An American Shadow over the Philippines

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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.

To subscribe to “iLook China”, look for the “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar, click on it then follow directions.

2 Comments | America, American culture, China, Chinese Culture, Christianity, government, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do

February 14, 2010

 U.S., EU decry upholding of China dissident sentence. Since when do Americans or Europeans decide what isn’t proper in China? The fact that China doesn’t have an American Bill of Rights has nothing to do with Communism. China’s foundation was built on Confucianism, and Confucius taught five rules for relationships. 

Conficius

  • Father to Son – There should be kindness in the father, and filial piety in the son.
  • Elder Brother to Younger Brother – There should be gentility (politeness) in the elder brother, and humility in the younger.
  • Husband to Wife – There should be righteous behavior in the husband and obedience in the wife.
  • Elder to Junior – There should be consideration among the elders and deference among the juniors.
  • Ruler to Subject – There should be benevolence among the rulers and loyalty among the subjects.

 Look at the last rule. When a Chinese citizen publicly protests the way the Chinese government runs the country, that is seen as an act of disloyalty. You may not agree with what China does, but China has the right to do as it sees fit even if the act is considered inhuman by Western standards.

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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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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Urban-Rural Divide

February 13, 2010

Photo courtesy of Bob Grant

This morning Bob Grant posted Contradiction of Times at Speak Without Interruption, an international online magazine. He shows visually and through words the discrepancy in lifestyles that he has witnessed between China’s cities and countryside. There is a reason for this discrepancy. After Mao died and China started down the road toward Social Capitalism, the central government decided to focus growth and modernization in the cities.

However, when Hu Jintao became president in 2002, he responded to the rising social tensions and China’s wealth gap by advocating a drive to build a “harmonious society”. He promised greater spending on health and education in rural areas where eight-hundred million Chinese live. Prior to that, most of China’s efforts at growth and modernization took place in the cities.  What we see in China’s cities today took place over a period of more than thirty years. It may take longer to improve the living standards of rural Chinese, but if the current government is going to survive, they have no choice.

Photo courtesy of Bob Grant

To learn more, I suggest you read this BBC piece about China’s Country Profile. Hu Jintao was reelected in 2008 for another five-year term. China has a two five-year term limit for public office.

Discover China’s Stick People

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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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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Fast Track Growth

February 13, 2010

Here’s more evidence that Robert Hart and Jack London were right when they predicted that China would be a super power again. These two Western men spent time in China, got to know the culture and realized the potential of the Chinese people.

Bullet trains, something the United States doesn’t have due to the national debt and partisanship between political parties more interested in who packs the pork barrel than running the country efficiently, have raced into China providing jobs for hundreds of thousands of Chinese and a faster, fuel efficient way to get around.

With the Lunar New Year and more Chinese traveling home than the population of Russia, another, fast, energy efficient means of public transportation was needed.  When the economy collapsed under President George W. Bush due to real estate, banks and Wall Street greed, the Democrats and Republican’s started pointing fingers at each other and throwing more debt around.

In China, where debt does not rule and the savings rate is 40%, instead of arguing and tossing blame about, the Chinese started working. Is this evidence that one political party is more efficient than two?

My thanks to Ian Carter for bringing the Chinese bullet trains to my attention–visit his Blog to “see” more of China, or discover why China is Studying Singapore

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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.

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1 Comment | America, business, China, Chinese Culture, environment, government, politics, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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