Hidden Harmonies China Blog

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CNN is basically trash, though today I was forwarded a link to their look at a toy factory in Shengzhen trying to be more green. Of course, the typical Western view of the Chinese factory is like that of 19th century America or U.K.. There are horrendous working conditions, I am sure, in other sectors such as rare earth and coal mining. The Chinese government absolutely needs to try to help upgrade working conditions in those sectors – perhaps by taxing consumption and exports. While the picture in China is mixed, the view in the West is completely distorted – or at times through outright lies – (see recent Mike Daisy article by Charles Liu and Allen). Read more…

Over the last few years, CCTV has been signaling expanding its footprint around the globe. On February 6, 2012, CCTV America officially launched with a new production studio based in Washington, D.C.. So far, I have watched a number of CCTV America reports, and I must say, for the American market, they are good. The reporters are American and the nuance is too, American. Obviously the narrative is Chinese. (This article contains a video that auto-plays, which I don’t know how to turn off.) Read more…

Hat tip to reader, perspectivehere, in sharing this important perspective (through our Open Forum) from the continent of Africa, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, where in this 20-minute talk to a TED audience, she warns against a dominant Western narrative about other peoples on the planet. It’s called, “The danger of a single story.” Adichie’s words must be spread. As perspective rightly noted:

This is one of the problems that Hidden Harmonies is trying to address is to present voices that are different from and challenge the one-sided stories we often see in the western media about China.

 

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Following is a commercial for the Huawei Ascend D quad Android-based smartphone – currently the world’s fastest! Huawei already sends chills down Cisco’s spine, and I have no doubt it will become a household name globally. Unfortunately, I thought this phone was poorly named. Just say “d quad” fast! (Here is a hint if you need it.) I currently use the Samsung Galaxy. The screen is amazing; it’s a photographer’s dream phone. My next upgrade will have to be the “d quad.”

Because if he does, there is clearly a press club waiting for a whiff. After Wang Lijun’s (王立军) visit to the American Consulate in February 6, 2012, there has been speculation in the Western press that this ex-police chief from Chongqing may be seeking political asylum. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed to a reporter he is indeed under investigation. Further speculation in the Western press is that Wang Lijun may be seeking cover for exposing corruption in his boss, Bo Xilai. In this post, I thought I write about this peculiar press club. But, what’s the connection between this club and Bo Xilai? Apparently, Bo Xilai has a campaign going on in Chongqing for “red” songs. And we know how badly certain corners in the West like to sniff out redness. Anyways, do a search on Twitter.com for ‘Bo Xilai’ and you will get a list which includes NTD TV (FLG propaganda arm), The Epoch Times (FLG), CDT, Melissa Chan (Aljazeera), Tom Lassetter (McClatchy), Austin Ramzy (TIME), and David Barboza (NYT). These various media certainly makes for interesting company, no? Coincidence? Very likely. NYT’s coverage about China? Yeah, a bit better than the FLG outlets. Read more…

One thing I love about science is that it helps us connect the dots. The video below is narrated by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I was inspired by it. We all can take a pause and relish in the fact that when distilled all the way down, all of us are the same. On the other hand, American society is increasingly trashing science and empirical evidence to serve politics. Chinese leaders often caution their peers on the global stage to not politicize everything – interesting trend to observe.

As regular readers of this blog may know, we are fans of Eric X. Li. In this video below at the Aspen Institute, Anand Giridharadas (of NYT) interviewed him in front of a live audience. As Giridharadas said at the introduction, Eric indeed shakes the foundation of prevailing Western views present in the room. I especially liked his confident and forthright answers to a shaken audience towards the end. Eric characterized the Western peddling of values with universality – (in my view, a form of intolerance, really) – and the Chinese non-interference and acceptance of each culture’s values is in fact pluralism – IS SPOT ON. The video is a bit over an hour, but we highly recommend it.

[Editor Note: Please also see follow-up post by Melaktaus titled "The need for clarity"]

Having emerged from the Cold War, the United States is the preeminent superpower. However, with the last decade mired in wars, and especially with the 2008 financial crisis, America is full of doubt. With China registering another 9% GDP growth in 2011, America is fearful of being overtaken. PEW Research conducted two global attitude surveys across 18 countries in 2009 and 2011 and concludes there is a robust growing sentiment that China will eventually overtake the United States. ¹ To be sure, only 47% in the 2011 survey believed China will eventually overtake, so it is not a majority opinion yet. Read more…

A U.S. or U.S.-backed attack on Iran seems to be a foregone conclusion if we simply look at how the U.S. media covers the issue. FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) recently had this to report while looking at U.S. media, “Do TV Networks ‘Practice’ for War?”

02/13/2012 by Peter Hart
Alexander Cockburn’s latest piece at CounterPunch (2/10/12) included this from a tipster:

I was visiting ABC News the other day to see a friend who works on graphics. When I went to his room, he showed me all the graphics he was making in anticipation of the Israeli attack on Iran; not just maps, but flight patterns, trajectories and 3-D models of U.S. aircraft carrier fleets. Read more…

I had an opportunity to visit the Sausalito vista point at the Golden Gate Bridge couple of days ago. More than anything, I was hoping to capture an image of a giant COSCO container ship as it enters the bay beneath the bridge. No such luck. Below are couple of landscapes taken under harsh early afternoon sun. San Francisco has 170k+ Chinese Americans, and percentage-wise, they comprise 21% of the make-up, the highest of all U.S. cities with significant Chinese population.

San Francisco Bay (click for larger view)

This Op-Ed just published at the NYT from venture capitalist, Eric X Li, “Why China’s Political Model Is Superior” is a must read. Especially to the Western audience bought into democracy as a “faith” will find this opinion unsettling. And it is particularly unsettling because the West is full of doubts these days. Read more…

Secretary Hillary Clinton hosted a luncheon at the State Department for the visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping.  U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also chimed in as they all affirmed to continue dialog and deal with issues of contention. Overall, I liked the tone they are setting for the on-going conversation between the two nations’ leaders. I’d like to point out a stylistic difference between Biden and Xi. Biden enumerates issues of contention with the American view with sharpness like the knife that cuts through butter. Xi’s speech was more about guidelines on how to approach the issues. For me, on that difference alone, one feels like a vice president and the other a president. I was a bit annoyed at the translator. Xi stated that “human rights can only be improved and no such thing as ‘best’,” and unfortunately this was not translated. Anyways, I am reminded again we ought to get our news more directly from the source whenever possible and not let others interpret for us. Video of their speeches below: Read more…

Professor Ann Lee

Ann Lee, a former investment banker and hedge fund partner, and now an adjunct professor of economics and finance at New York University, recently sat down with Allen and I for a conversation about her book, “What the U.S. Can Learn from China.” (Also in our Recommend Read section.)

She discussed some lessons and also gave us her views about the misinformation in the U.S. media on various issues of contention between the U.S. and China. For example, as an insider at Wall Street, she was able to give an illuminating rundown of the ‘currency manipulation’ charge laid against China.

This article is a transcript of that conversation, edited slightly for readability. Allen plans to do a book review, but first, we’d like to share some endorsements and accolades she has already garnered for it: Read more…

Well, at least indirectly. Google in its exit from the Chinese market for search tried to bolster it’s “do no evil” motto by trying to demonize China’s censorship laws. We have written quite a bit about Google in the past – some directly and others indirectly (see our other  ’Google‘-tagged articles). In this article, I would like to simply show how Google participates (willfully or not makes no difference) in this one-sided mass barrage of attacks in the Western press against Syria. Read more…

The New York Times has just published an Op-Ed by Ho Pin, entitled, “China’s Heir Apparent.” It was originally written in Chinese and translated by someone else. Ho Pin, according to a blurb at the end of the Op-Ed, is an editor of a Chinese book on Vice President Xi Jinping’s biography. Unfortunately, his opinions are naive – both in his understanding about China and the problems still persistent in “democracies.” In this post, I’d simply like to point out why I thought so. Read more…

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is currently in the United States reciprocating a visit Vice President Biden took last year in China. Xi is expected to become the new Chinese President for the 2013-2017 term. If the CPC renews, he would also reign from 2018 to 2022. America is interested in getting to know him, because he will help shape the China-U.S. relationship for years to come. His daughter is currently studying at Harvard College. (I might add: for those think China is afraid of American ideas, they ought to think twice.) Xi is also known as a “princeling,” though one of Biden’s top aids said he is a very thoughtful person. Below is a transcript of his response to Washington Post right before embarking on his trip to the U.S.. Read more…

Some daffodils I planted few months ago are in full bloom now. Not really raining today, but spraying water on the flower gives it more interest. I’ve been struck how beautiful these flowers are.
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In the spirit of bridging understanding, reader westiseast responded to my request to give a quick analysis on why he thought there is “zero balance whatsoever” (refer to his original comment as it was a bit more nuanced) in the Chinese press. After all, we frequently criticize the Western press on this blog, it only seem fair we look at the Chinese press too.  To give this exercise a little bit more context, this was how I phrased my proposal: Read more…

Below are two reports filed on February 4, 2012 on the conflict within Syria. One by Russia Today and the other by BBC. With President Obama saying “regime change,” I think it is clear if the U.N. resolution was passed, Syria would be attacked by NATO – like what happened recently to Libya. More striking than anything else, these two reports show journalism is not about journalism anymore. Is the BBC the liar? Is Russia Today the liar? I remember hearing the motto, “we report, you decide.” I think for today, it is “we must seek out many sources and then decide.”

We recently noticed a peculiar phenomenon over at the China Law Blog. Since about two weeks ago, they started publishing a series of articles with the title, “The End of Cheap China,” followed by something else. We also know Shaun Rein has been marketing his book for months now – “The End of Cheap China.” (Allen will be writing a review, by the way.) The interesting thing is that the China Law Blog makes no mention of the book whatsoever in their series of articles.

Now, do a search on “The End of Cheap China” on Google. Unsurprisingly, the book shows up at the top due to Amazon’s, Rein’s, and the publisher’s marketing efforts. However, look at the next five top search results (#2 through #6) from Google (results were at the time of this writing): Read more…

If not for the United States, Shandong Province (山东省), map to the left, may still be a Japanese territory today. Reader perspectivehere brought to our attention tomorrow (Feb. 4th) will be the 90th anniversary of the Washington Naval Conference of 1929 which gave back sovereignty of Shandong Province to China. It was The Treaty of Versailles marking the end of WW1 in 1919 that transferred this German “sphere of influence” territory to Japan without China’s approval.

History has many twists and turns. If not for the United States defeating Japan in WW2, the China today might not be intact. John Woo is now making a new epic film about the Flying Tigers to commemorate this important period when the two countries aided each other.

The United States also has China to thank for – for resisting and bogging down the Japanese army in China’s large land mass. Read more…

There has been a lot of coverage in the U.S. media lately about America’s Asia ‘pivot.’ In particular, U.S. seems to be taking sides with Vietnam and Philippines in their disputes with China.

The U.S. relationships with these two countries are nothing but complex. When the Philippines was colonized by the Spanish, the U.S. took sides with the Philippines to oust Spain. Little did the Filipinos knew they would have to fight the Americans in yet another attempt to gain freedom. Filipinos estimated 1+ million were killed as a result of that war. The story in Vietnam was not that dissimilar. The Vietnamese were fighting to end French aggression. After the French withdrew, the United States went in on the grounds of stopping Communism from spreading. From the North Vietnamese perspective, it was a new imperialist, and they were fighting yet again for their freedom. Again, with millions dead. Read more…

We are here to offer a balance that is sorely lacking in the mainstream Western press about all things ‘China’ and ‘Chinese.’ Some of you might have wondered how this endeavor is fairing as we approach our second year. Allen and I are grateful of the authors and those of you who come here to comment. This short post is a ‘thank you’ and an example of the real impact this is having in getting more balance out there. Read more…