My China Kanfa.....China on My Mind

It is all the rage today in China.  The MOON!  Finally, against all odds and the laughter and snickering in the background, China has landed a rover on the MOON.  For China, it’s a big deal.  The rest of the World perhaps while not being so surprised by this development, is still impressed that China was able to get that little Jade Rabbit up there, albeit for only a brief time before it appears to have died. What’s next you ask?  Well…it’s still the MOON of course!  And why not?  After all, haven’t we all internalized the growing ability and POWER of China?  Should we expect anything less?   Methinks not. We’re all waiting for the Big Show to begin.  The announcement from China on when it will pay respect to the elephant in the room.   We are waiting for China to send Astronauts to the Moon, ala Neil Armstrong.  Small problem with that, and I’ll tell you why:  China won’t be “sending a man to the Moon and returning him safely” anytime soon.  No need to hold your breat

In Spring of 1999 the US Air Force bombed “by mistake” the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia.  Chinese were killed.  The USA apologized for “the accident”.   Of all bombing raids conducted on Yugoslavia during that time, this was the only sortie not screened through proper channels, ie NATO.  Without question, it was a deliberate raid.  Apparently, the Chinese were intercepting “signals” and passing them on to the Yugoslavian gov, putting NATO pilots in danger, and upon ignoring USA warnings to stop, were promptly bombed.  Whatever the reasons, there is no question it was deliberate. Laowai in China promptly suffered.  Many were beat up, reflecting Chinese rage at the time.   And as Chinese are wont to think, all laowai in China are American.  Thus many innocent laowai were harassed.   The anger lingered.  I, for one, was only spit on.  Others were beat up.  Once, during a late night taxi ride home back to the University, the police stopped us and the fellow American I was wit

I have two utterly gorgeous daughters.  One has just started middle school.  Another is still in grade school.  I haven’t decided who they will look more like, either  Anne Hathaway or Sandra Bullock as they both have dark hair and ivory skin with tomato red lips.  Never in a million years would you guess they are half Chinese, nor able to speak excellent Mandarin.   Yet if I were to tell you they are Italian, you would believe me.  To my regret they both have brown eyes. (I just can’t defeat 5000 years of genes) But they are different.  Make no mistake, they share indelible American traits.  Each licks her fingers after a snack, for instance.   Each picks the bones from their mouth with their fingers, rather than spitting them on to the table.  But each of my daughters I am convinced shares the physical traits and tastes predominantly of just one culture.  One has a Western face, with Western lids, eyelashes, etc, the other does not.   She also isn’t very fond of rice, and loves

A Sino conflict with somebody, is inevitable.  It cannot be avoided.  Sooner or later, some anonymous  Chinese bureaucrat will make a decision that will set in motion a chain of events that leads to an accident.   Just as with the American spy plane many years before.  Sooner or later some fool, some idiot, will do something, either from his comfy chair in his military office, or up in a cockpit, that will cause China to come into conflict with another nation.  It’s only a matter of Time. China truly is brewing for a fight, with anyone, but on it’s terms.  It looks like the first “victim” will be the poor little Philippines.   As I wrote in an earlier post, the kicking out of the US military by the Filipino government  was shortsighted to the extreme.   The Filipino Nationalists from the 80’s….where are they now?  Probably in a closet cowering somewhere, shaking their heads in disbelief, asking themselves “how it came to this”.   The Americans are meanwhile relieved they n

Struggling to maintain my identity in my own country, with a Chinese spouse, can be a challenge at times.  I find my ability to maintain who I am….an American, difficult even in America, when my wife is Chinese.  This is probably an individual problem.  I’m sure not every Chinese speaking husband has the same issues I find myself having.   But it’s weird when I find myself wanting to go back to China in order to eat more Western food..ie I cannot get any back home. I’m sure it’s all my fault.  My tolerance level is probably too high for my own piece of mind.   An example: The fish head Typical Chinese, my wife will buy the whole fish, tail, head and all, and bring it back to clean it, and eat.  One of my daughters does not like fish with bones.  The younger one does.   Lately, for some reason, I’ve seen her saving the head, however, and to my chagrin, keeping it in our fridge for extended periods of time.  Now, right here I’ll pause for a moment and mention what every

As most of you know, I married the daughter of a powerful provincial official. How powerful?  Powerful enough to be seen on CCTV meeting with Zhu Rongji. “Well he must be rich”!, you are probably thinking to yourself.  All the power, money and privilege at his disposal!   Not at all.   My father in law was an official from the 70’s, ie not corrupt at all.     You could say I married into China’s Elite at the wrong time.  The very wrong time.   Timing is everything, in Everything.  If I’d married a generation later, I’d probably be marrying a woman with multiple houses in both China and America.   And a bank account in Switzerland. My wife has the same problem. If she had married a Chinese, rather than a poor American boy like myself, she likes to remind me, she’d have several luxury cars by now, massive piles of cash from tax evasion, etc. I remind her, her Chinese husband would prob be in jail. (As China has exploded in wealth and opportunity for the select few, I

I was on a thread abt China the other day and I heard a kid complaining  abt why Chinese women like 40 something guys.  Well, the poor little guy sounded a bit unhappy abt that.  However, the thrust of his comments were off base, because he felt they liked this type of Male Man strictly for his money, and nothing else.    While he was referring to Chinese Males, to a degree he may just as well have been referring to the middle aged laowai as well. A recent survey of Chinese women did indeed say they prefer men in their 40’s.   They like the simplicity. Divorced men, esp.  This is not accidental.  There are very legitimate reasons as to why we are the preferred flavor in China.  First of all the obvious.  Money.    All girls like to be taken out, across all countries and cultures.  It just so happens that an older fellow, in his 40’s up, is more likely to be able to afford it.   I find that quite often, the only reason a girl is with a younger guy in China is because she hasn’t