Spielberg Off Olympics, China Angry

An article by Tini Tran (Associated Press Writer) recently appeared condemming Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's decision to quit the Beijing Olympics over the Darfur crisis. In reaction, China's state-controlled media has set off a groundswell of criticism from the Chinese public.
Last week, the Spielberg withdrew from his role as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games, because he felt China was not doing enough to press for peace in the troubled Sudanese region.
The Chinese are angry, accusing Speilberg of breaking his promise to the Chinese people and using the Olympics as a tool to make a statement about Darfur. "A biting front-page editorial Wednesday in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, blasted Spielberg for his decision.
"A certain Western director was very naive and made an unreasonable move toward the issue of the Beijing Olympics. This is perhaps because of his unique Hollywood characteristics," it said.
Over the weekend, the Guangming Daily, also published by the Communist Party, ran an editorial saying Spielberg "broke his promise to make his contribution to the Beijing Olympics and betrayed the Olympic spirit."
He "is not qualified to blame China because he knows nothing about the great efforts the Chinese government has made on Darfur," it said."

In light of our recent readings, this reaction is not surprising. What's next, an outbreak of violence against cinemas that play American movies? A full-scale student protest in Bejing? An attack on the American Embassy? We'll see.

Popular Surgery Banned in China

China bans leg-lengthening surgery(AFP)Updated: 2006-11-05 09:24

BEIJING - China has banned leg-lengthening surgery that a largely unregulated beauty industry has been offering to customers who want to be taller.

"Leg-stretching surgery for the image conscious has been banned by China's Health Ministry after a spate of botched operations," the Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.
A patient recovers after having an operation to lengthen his leg at a hospital in China's eastern city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province in August 2002. China has banned leg-lengthening surgery that a largely unregulated beauty industry has been offering to customers who want to be taller. [AFP]

The operation involves breaking the patients' legs and stretching them on a rack, and has led to several cases of disfigurement, Xinhua said, citing the health ministry.

Hospitals that conduct at least 400 orthopedic operations a year and offer post-surgery care and rehabilitation will be allowed to carry out such operations in future, but only on strictly medical grounds, according to a ministry circular.

The surgical procedure, popular among young Chinese professionals who believe height will help them climb the career ladder, was developed in Russia to help patients with birth defects such as dwarfism.

Botched operations carried out by unauthorized beauty clinics have left many patients physically and psychologically scarred, Xinhua said, without detailing the injuries.

Ten people, enticed by a promise of "height surgery without pain," were reported to have been disfigured after they underwent the operation last year at a Beijing hospital.

The health ministry said hospitals must in future tell patients about the risks involved, while only qualified personnel would be allowed to carry out the procedure.

China's New Democracy Wall

Fast-growing Internet is China's new 'Democracy Wall'
Economic growth triggers unfettered communication

By Catharin Dalpino


(CNN) -- The expansion of the Internet in China has unmistakable implications for relations between the Chinese citizenry and the state.

Although Internet users make up a slim percentage of the population -- informal estimates put the number of users at up to 7 million -- they are the fastest growing client base in the world. From 1997 to 1998, the number of Chinese users rose by 75 percent.

Economic growth has loosened state control over every aspect of the Chinese media, but the introduction of telecommunications -- the "citizens' media" -- offers the most immediate chance for unfettered communication.

Because technology offers a cloak of anonymity, some Chinese see the Internet as a successor to the Democracy Wall of 1978, when Beijing citizens called for political reform through public notices posted on a university wall in Beijing.

The government responded to the threat last year by regulating the Internet and blocking hundreds of sites.
Chinese users quickly learned to circumvent these controls with proxy servers, however, and often relay information too sensitive for China-based sites by e-mail from offshore sites.
The government has also learned to use the Web for its own political and public relations purposes. In July, it set up a site to criticize the Falun Gong movement. Falun Gong members had been using the Internet to publicize the group's teachings and to organize anti-government protests.

The Internet has figured in key issues in China, even when there is no internal debate. After the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia last spring, for example, Chinese hackers broke into the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and replaced the text with anti-American graffiti.

Apart from thorny issues of freedom of expression, the Chinese government is well aware of the commercial possibilities of the Internet. China.com, the Web site operated by the official Xinhua News Agency, set off a frenzy of international speculation when its stock was offered in July.
An even greater international impact is expected once China joins the World Trade Organization and international telecommunications companies have greater access to the Chinese market, effectively ending the state-owned China Telecom monopoly.

Catharin Dalpino is a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution. From 1993 to 1997 she was U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights.

For the Men...FYI From RealAge

Follow This Eastern Beverage Wisdom

The land that brings us giant pandas, the Great Wall, and amazing cuisine also serves up a mean cup of prostate protection. Yep, green tea -- long touted by the Chinese for its medicinal benefits -- could cut a man's risk of advanced prostate cancer by half. How much do you need to drink? More ProtectionIn a study, men who drank 5 or more cups of green tea per day had half the risk of advanced prostate cancer compared with men who sipped less than a cup a day. Another way to keep the prostate healthy: Avoid a diet high in saturated fat and include plenty of fruits and veggies in your diet.

More Great News on GreenGreen tea can also help:
§ Revive aging skin cells.
§ Boost your brain power.
§ Battle creaky knees
§ Keep your heart healthy.

Basically, we can't say enough about green tea. So grab yourself a cuppa!

Moving Manufacturing to China

I work for PennEngineering, and this article was taken directly from their website. The italics are mine. The facility where I work has seen many of its machines and product lines leave to furnish the Chinese factory with equipment and work. We can only speculate how long it will be until everything goes.

PennEngineering Automotive Fasteners

Continuing with its long history of providing innovative fastening and assembly solutions, PennEngineering now offers an extended line of fasteners to the automotive industry.

PennEngineering Automotive employs a unique manufacturing and distribution methodology based on manufacturing of high strength fasteners in Penn’s wholly owned manufacturing subsidiaries in mainland China, supported by sales, product inventory, distribution services and customer technical assistance strategically located in close proximity to its global customers.

PennEngineering is one of the first company’s in the world to develop the ability to manufacture high strength fasteners in China that meet today’s demanding global automotive quality standards. Both of PennEngineering’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in China have been certified to meet ISO/TS 16949, the global automotive standard for quality systems.

Utilizing the advantages of low cost China manufacturing, Penn is uniquely positioned to provide reduced product cost at the same or better quality level, as compared to its Western competitors who are locked in to high manufacturing & distribution cost structures. Penn’s local service centers provide its customers with close personalized service as well as assurance of continuity of supply of product from its China operation.

Unit 1 Lesson 2

Do you believe that a widespread and cataclysmic event such as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution could occur again in China today? Why? Why not?

It is entirely possible that an event similar to the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution could occur again in China Today, but it will be likely centered around a "cult of prosperity" rather than a "cult of personality". Despite its best efforts, China is becoming Westernized at an alarming rate as more and more American companies open factories on Chinese soil. The company for which I work recently built a manufacturing plant in in Kunshan to take advantage of the abundant cheap labor ($1.00/hour in China vs. $16.00/hr in US for a screw machine operator). More jobs are available, and suddenly, more people have the means to own the things they want.

Unfortunately, owning things in China (at least since the 20th century) did not bode well for the owner. As many as five million landowners were killed in the land reform of the 1940's in an attempt to bring prosperity to the impoverished peasants. It is not outside the realm of possibility to imagine modern-day rural dwellers who have not fared as well as their urban countrymen falling under the influence of another Mao. As Mao said himself, "When you go out to develop and engage in a mass movement or to lead a mass struggle, the masses will do as they wish and they will create their own leaders in the course of the struggle...". A new leader could rise up from the ranks of the those opposed to the Westernization of China, or, just as easily, from those who crave more of a Western lifestyle.

As in Mao's day, the revolutionaries will likely come from the youth, specifically students. Whether they will have an impact depends on whether they can gain support within the military, in order to circumvent another Tienanmen Square tragedy. Change, almost revolutionary, has come to China in the last decade. Time will tell whether this will be a bloodless revolution.