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

(A reader has asked for my take on the above.  He had a duplicate comment however, and as I tried to erase the duplicate it seems by default their both now gone...hope he doesn't think I just deleted everything on purpose...sorry about that.)  Yep, I said it.  Japanese without question in my view is more difficult than Chinese.  Indeed, several languages are.  And I should know because I've studied several of them.   Russian for example.  Easy enough to read and write.  Good luck speaking it grammatically correct.  Spanish.  Noted as the fastest language in the world.  Another language easy enough to pick up on reading, but crazy to speak.   I won't bring up Korean and French, two tongues "I've heard" are similar in grammar to the others above. I am even fond of honestly telling Chinese(who never believe me), that even English is harder than Chinese. So why is Chinese looked upon as being so damn hard? I think it's because those folks saying that j

I've already seen a few of these since my post on China's increasingly interrelated relationship with Latin America. However, this time around I managed to save what I had read.  If I find more, I may continue with the update.... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/world/americas/ecuador-china-dam.html On November 3, 1903, the territory of Panama declared independence from Columbia.    The Columbian gunboat Bogota responded by lobbing shells into Panama City.    Only a few shells were fired, mind you.    And a donkey was killed.    However there was one fatal human casualty.    A Chinese shopkeeper was killed in his sleep. And with that I begin the tale of the slow domination of China over Latin America.    If one simply thinks about it, calmly for a moment, one will see the logic of it all.    Ever since the natural abilities and entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese has been unleashed since the 1990’s, the Chinese have been able to find their natural calling; busi

( I had a post all set to write, more of a personal one.  But it's xmas....no need to read such things for now.  Still my indecisiveness has delayed this next post at least a week. ) I will first say that Zhou En Lai had more in common with Jiang Qing than Mao himself ever did.  More on that later. I will also say that without Zhou China, so the narrative goes, would surely have slid into chaos.  Well, if the Cultural Revolution wasn't chaos than I'm flummoxed to understand what the word "chaos" means. This is another post I've been thinking about for awhile now.  This will be Part One. Zhou was overrated in so many, many ways.  If only because he failed to yield his influence when it was most needed.  When the country was literally at stake.  Indeed, its future up for grabs.  Yet he was the glue that kept China perhaps from falling into civil war.  But that's Part 2. The story of the Rise of Zhou is the most interesting part of his

The rivers move at their own current, creating their own path.  We cannot hurry them along.  Sometimes fast, sometimes slow.  So it is with Justice in America. Nobody knows where this story is going with the arrest of Chinese Royalty up in Canada. Especially if easily giving in to America's request opens it up to accusations of being America's bitch. Yet if this arrest had taken place under the Rule of Obama, the Chinese probably wouldn't be as suspicious.  Knowing how self righteous Mr. O was.  Yet, as it happened under the morally challenged Trump, the Chinese think the Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is being made a pawn in a game.  And as it happened while Trump was meeting Xi, it simply makes the Chinese look as if they've been played. Which sucks if you happen to be Mr. Xi. And as usual, when it comes to this sort of thing, at first glance, America holds most of  the cards. But if you ask me, the issue here reflects the Great Divide the Chinese living abroad h

As you all know, George Bush passed away a few days ago. I've written alot of him, here and there, deep in the archives. When it came to friends, China had them in high places. China in 1989 needed George Bush in power.  Because of him they were eventually granted MFN status(look it up). Because of him, when times were tough, real tough, real "ugly bad" , he looked the other way.  He once even sent envoys to China to "drink champagne" while the entire West was screaming for blood.  George Bush was China's great "explainer".   He looked the other way on so many things, explained away so many things, all with the great belief that China would someday change and "be like us". I wrote a brief post about him on WeChat.  I even posted his picture. Several people asked me who he was.  One asked me if he was my dad! The rise of China has been blessed with very, very good timing.  George while president actual hinted he would be his o

There it sits, not far from the Forbidden City itself.  Originally built but for a boy.  And of course expanded over time, from Emperor to Emperor, until the walls literally came tumbling down.   And there it lies, to this day, as a symbol of China's humiliation, and weakness.  The waft of "Victim Syndrome" fills the air. But very few Chinese were killed here, if any.  There were no bombs, no radiation.  But there was a mob, alright. The overweening narrative I've oft heard when  young, from other young folk, is that the ruthless laowai simply burned the whole thing down. Of course when youngerer, what is simpler then and uncluttered is all so easy to understand and explain.  The older one becomes, the more one understands there are always two sides to the story, for any situation, the more good old fashioned "nuance" fills the air, like a mist that never goes away. So it is with "Yuan Mingyuan". 圆明园  Or is it "Yuanming Yuan"?  Or

Well, I can officially confirm the most selfish person on the planet is my mother in law. While she and my father in law both have "permanent" American Green Cards, they still need to come back to America within a year, once they leave the country, to maintain them. However, it seems they just don't like life here. We gave them a HUD apartment. We gave them TV. We gave them Chinese markets and all the newspapers they could read. We even gave them Chinese restaurants. America is infinitely more comfortable for a Chinese than China for a Westerner. True, we have our Starbucks, and McDonald's and our Americanized steak houses.  But is this really our culture?  In China I cannot watch CNN, or read the NY Times.  Even with VPN it is a chore.  I can freely read ESPN.  Certainly cannot listen to YouTube.  I've got the club.  True.  But...I can't even drive in China.  And for any Westerner that does drive, that tells me the traffic in your own country

I know a 30 something Sichuan girl.  Known her a long time actually.  And maybe someday I'll tell that story.  She owns an ice cream franchise.  Has about 6 trucks spread around the city of Guangzhou.  Makes more than I do.  Wildly successful.  And can't find a boyfriend. She's gorgeous.  Very confident, and outgoing. One day she finally gets her break.  Meets a guy.  Same age.  Dinner....bar.  During the evening she tells him more about herself.  See above. Following day she gets a WeChat from a mutual friend of theirs.  Maybe it was posted as  a moment.  But the moment was as follows: "I can't date(marry) a woman who has her own business." She's still alone.  Sending out WeChat moments from clubs and meals with friends.  Surrounded by her independent minded, single, middle aged Chinese girlfriends. When I ask her why the guy chose this method of communication, she simply shrugged and said "this is how Chinese Men breakup." In th

(Hi Everyone, I'm finally back and thanks for not entirely deserting me!  I've decided due to my busy afterwork schedule to try a new blogging format for the time being.  My posts will be shorter, but hopefully also more frequent, at least in the short term. I hope to go back to my longer length posts soon as I can.) I've been back a week.  My jetlag is gone.  Work is ok I guess, and my trip was great.  From a professional point of view it went very well.  But I learned some things. First thing I learned it this:  Almost every Chinese girl out there I meet wants to have an "emotional affair".  Far viewer are ready for anything physical.   Many talk the talk....they don't walk the walk.  But I'm a passing ship in the night.....so that's ok. Perhaps my biggest takeaway from my recent 17 days in China was really more of a reinforced point of view: The vast majority of Chinese couples have a passionless marriage.  Both sides are to blame.  The root

Well, I'm having quite the spell.  I didn't realize I'd gone two whole weeks without a post until yesterday.  And you know what?  I didn't feel bad in the least. But I do apologize.  Last week we were on a family trip, and this weekend I'm off yet again to China  until the end of October.   I will try like hell to get another post off before the weekend but don't count on it. As for this post, this is my second go around.  My old trusty laptop just died on me a page into my new post, forcing me to retreat beyond the cocoon of my safety blanket onto a desktop(!) of all things. At least the post I will try and write today won't need the typical 4-5 days of preparation before posting! This is a post I've been wanting to put out for the last few days or so.  What is my issue? China Wife complains I don't make enough money.  And I hate it.  I resent her for it. I admit I've spoiled China Wife.  In the past I made enough and then some. And

On November 3, 1903, the territory of Panama declared independence from Columbia.   The Columbian gunboat Bogota responded by lobbing shells into Panama City.   Only a few shells were fired, mind you.   And a donkey was killed.   However there was one fatal human casualty.   A Chinese shopkeeper was killed in his sleep. And with that I begin the tale of the slow domination of China over Latin America.   If one simply thinks about it, calmly for a moment, one will see the logic of it all.   Ever since the natural abilities and entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese has been unleashed since the 1990’s, the Chinese have been able to find their natural calling; business. Still lots of folks see the slowly creeping economic influence of China in black and white terms.   Yet another zero sum game between America and China.    Yet Latin America is simply another soft target for China.   If one understands where the Chinese already have historically dominated, one would not be surpris