Those Mainlandness

A Youtube video clip of how TV hosts portrait mainland travellers on Taiwan TV.

Cheap Made-in-China Products Cost Environment

Cheap made-in-China products filled discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Target around the US. They are also making the record-high trade deficit between US and China. Although Chinese has a large population with more diligent an better educated workers, but one key factor that contributes to the low manufacturing cost of made-in-China products is the zero liability of environment damage.

Mr. Ma Jun, the director of the Research Institute of Public and Environment, an Non-government organization, provided a list of 33 foreign invested companies, who took advantage the ignorance of environment in the rush to making economic progress in China.

Riding the bureaucracy, corruption, and greedy of local government, these foreign invested companies were able to omit any environment issues they would have to face in their home countries, or practically anywhere else in the world. Not only they enjoy the much looser regulation, if any exist, on environment in China, but also they can get away from ignoring them. Many foreign companies have become the biggest pollution makers in China. Among the list:
Shanghai Panasonic Battery,
Changchun Pepsi;
Shanghai Nestle;
Shanghai 3M;
American Standard;
Shanghai Pizzahut;
Xiamen Noell Crane Systems;
Zhejiang Purolite;
Hunan Yamah

Ma Changbo, Xunan, Investigation of Pollution Produced by Foreign Companies, Nanfang Weekend, Oct 26th, 2006;
China Water Pollution Data Center

Why We Fight: The Battle of China

Why we fight: the battle of China can be viewed on Google Video, also available at Amazon. It's a film which explains what, why and how of the Chinese resistant against Japanese invasion, as well as the US's assistants to the war, which became an essential part of the second World War.

China Second in Overseas Mail Back Money

The United Nations "International Migration and Development" said overseas Chinese mailed $21.3 billions back home in 2004, second only to Indians, who mailed back $21.7 billions.

My Father is My Hero

from http://doctoryau.com/:

Oct. 16, 2006

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing a response to the article "Manifold Destiny" in the New Yorker magazine. As the son of Shing-Tung Yau, I felt compelled to write this letter to help correct the utterly biased and inaccurate representation of him given in the article.

I would like to speak about my father from a personal perspective. My father's influence on me has been enormous; I am a graduate student in biology today because of him. I consider him to be my hero both as a researcher and as a moral individual. He has exposed me to many intellectual subjects, and most importantly, taught me to truly enjoy what I pursue. This is what I see in my father: his love for mathematics is pure, and not for the glory it can bring him. He has supported my scientific love in the best way possible, introducing me to exceptional scientists and exhorting me to read the scientific literature. Moreover, he taught me to be thorough in my research. Although experimental work is not easy, he has been a constant encouragement to me and his own determined work ethic has inspired me to do the same. I can only hope to follow in his footsteps.

I can say that my father has lived his life with the highest ethical standards. A motto he instilled in me is to never take what you did not earn. Whether it is reminding me to give due credit to fellow scientists or giving my full effort in the laboratory, he always emphasizes the importance of working for your achievements. Like any father, he has taught me many basic moral principles, and I can testify that he is a person who teaches by example. In relation to other people, he is unselfish, going out of his way to help students and friends.

My father's generosity is most evident in his teaching. I have met quite a few of his students over the years, at his office and in our home. I believe his approachable and caring attitude has established him as an excellent mentor to all his students. He spends a significant portion of his time with them, and supports each student as fully as any professor could. Numerous other letters from students and colleagues attest to this. In terms of mathematics, I know that my father is fully interested in the advancement of young students in basic research. This is evidenced by the innumerable students who over the years have benefited from my father's training and have now become world-class mathematicians.

My father is passionate about China, and is devoted to its improvement in basic research. Although a mathematician, my father also has a love for Chinese history, culture and literature. In fact, he reads poetry avidly and has even composed poems himself. Recently he wrote a comparative essay on the beauty in mathematics and the beauty in Chinese poetry. After our family spent a year in Taiwan, my father enthusiastically taught my brother and I Chinese language and history every week for several years. In college, I consulted my father many times when I was taking classes on Confucian ethics and Chinese literature. In many aspects, my father possesses a deep love for China and this has carried over into a real interest in the betterment of mathematics in China.

In China, my father has held round-table discussions with university students and given talks to high school students to inspire them to achieve their highest. I hope these young people can view him as the role model he has been to me. Scientists from China that I personally know and many others have talked about their appreciation for the critical voice my father has given to the benefit of Chinese academics.

In the past few months, my father has been genuinely excited about the Poincare conjecture. He has spoken about it to us in our family conversations, but has never ever claimed credit for it. Furthermore, I never heard him say anything negative about Mr. Perelman. He was pleased for Professors Cao and Zhu and hoped their work would encourage young mathematicians in China. His excitement was not for the prospect of personal gain, but for the field of mathematics.

I am shocked by how the article twisted my father's dedication to teaching and to the advancement of mathematics into a play for power. He has received many honors, and I am proud of him for that. But he is not a man who strives for those things. He is a true mathematician and a noble person, as any of our family or friends can testify.

Sincerely,

Isaac Chiu

Ph.D. Candidate in Immunology

Harvard Medical School

617-780-9306

Variation of the Chinese Population as its Percentage of the World Total

According to a post on the Tiexue (Cold Blood) Forum by zhengweiRENSHEN, the percentage of the Chinese population in the world total population has been relatively stable throughout the past 2000 years.

Chinese acupuncture can cure 461 diseases

China Daily reported that Chinese acupuncture can cure 461 diseases.

Acupuncture can cure 461 diseases
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-15 09:07

Chinese acupuncture can cure 461 diseases, said an expert with Chinese Acupuncture Clinic Research Center in north China's Tianjin city.

Du Yuanhao, 43-year-old doctor, gave the conclusion after four-year's study on the acupuncture functions together with his team.

According to Du's findings, most of the diseases to which acupuncture is effective are in the nervous system, the digestive system, the genitourinary system, muscles, bones and skins, such as stroke, diarrhea, enteritis, dementia and skin rashes.

The points for acupuncture are in flesh, and that is why the treatment can be effective to diseases in muscles and skins, Du said. "Besides, points are rich in nerves. Thus it can also cure diseases in the nervous system and other systems whose functions are directly controlled by nerves."

Although acupuncture is convenient and with less side effects compared with other forms of medical treatment, it couldn't cure every disease. As for these 461 diseases, Du noted, its effects are different.

The professor is now working at classification for the 461 diseases. "I am going to categorize them into three levels -- those could be cured solely by acupuncture, those to which acupuncture is the major treatment and those with acupuncture as assisting treatment.

Acupuncture is part of traditional Chinese medicine with a history of over 2,000 years. It involves insertion of fine metallic needles on the body to relieve pain and cure diseases.

Tianjin is a major center of Chinese medicine research in the world.

Korean Claimed the Originality of Chinese Characters

Koreans are claiming the originality of the Chinese characters, actually, they are claiming everything Chinese to be Korean.

There are little similarity between modern Chinese and modern Korean in written language. However, people of the two countries had been using the same language for thousands of years, the Koreans finally realized that Chinese languages to be too sophisticated for their brain. A king in Korea invented a phonetic system Hangul around 1444 to replace the Chinese language.

With the rising of economic status of the Korea. Koreans around the world feel the urge to fabricate an origin of their culture, which has not been lucky to be traced more than a couple of years back. Inspired by the fast accumulating national wealth, but frustrated by the absence of culture identity. Korean historians took the task to advance their history by 'whatever it takes'.

In a recent bid, Korean successfully claimed a traditional Chinese festival a Korean heritage, and registered it with the United Nation. One step further, the Korean government talked the Chinese government to suppress any history study by Chinese professors that is untoward the Korean's taste. Now, they are claiming the Chinese characters were invented by the Koreans.

Whatsoever, do we care about some clowns yelling in the street? It's like flies, annoying, but most of the time we don't even bother to stop what terminate it with a single hand. Well, we do see their desperation.

Tianjin most dustiest city in China

According to a 2002 World Bank survey of 110 cities around the world (with a total population of 530 million), Tianjin was the most smokest and dustest city in China. It also ranked No. 3 in Asia, and No. 4 in the world.

Most polluted cities in the world

	City population thousands 2005	Particulate matter microgram per cubic meter		Sulfur dioxide microgram per cubic meter 1995-2001	Nitrogen dioxide microgram per cubic meter 1995-2001
		1999	2002
Delhi	15,334	187	177	24	41
Tianjin	9,346	149	139	82	50
Chongqing	4,975	147	137	340	70
Shenyang	4,916	120	112	99	73
Zhengzhou	2,250	116	108	63	95
Lanzhou	1,788	109	101	102	104
Beijing	10,849	106	99	90	122
Taiyuan	2,516	105	98	211	55
Nanchang	1,742	94	87	69	29
Wuhan	6,003	94	88	40	43
Harbin	2,898	91	85	23	30
Changchun	3,092	88	82	21	64
Shanghai	12,665	87	81	53	73
Guiyang	2,467	84	78	424	53
Kunming	1,748	84	78	19	33
Guangzhou	976	74	70	57	136
Urumqi	1,467	61	57	60	70
Dalian	2,709	60	55	61	100
New York	18,498	23	22	26	79
Paris	9,854	15	12	14	57

sources 1, 2, 3

The Death of Yang Dan

朱门狗肉臭，路有冻死骨。

The story has no eye-catching plot. A little girl Yang Dan(in white coat standing in the front) suffered from heart disease died after her parents failed to raise money for the surgery.

However, the heartbreaking details could sicken any reader: the girl was in Beijing, a city of 10 million with per capita GDP of $4000. Local residents not only refused to help, but they also tried to stop other people offering a hand because they believed all beggars were cheaters. Many fund raising events had been held. Many charities had been contacted. Many people had been involved. In the end the 7 years old girl died. She could have been saved if a critical surgery could have been performed.

The cost of the surgery? A mere 20,000 RMB, or $2,500.

No price tag should be attached to a human life. But I have to admit, if it were $25,000 or some amount that out of reach of 'ordinary' people, I myself might have been less disturbed. This $2,500 killed any confidence left of the Beijing people, as well as the government of course.

sources: Autumn - For a Girl in My Memory

Grace China is a website set up by Mr. Zhang Renjie, the author and photographer of the article referred above. Living a poverty live himself, Mr. Zhang committed on a mission to help other underprivileged people. From a 5 square meters rented room /office in Beijing, he helped many.