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

I thought this blog would get views.  I didn't know how many.  It's been up and down.  I think I started writing this in 2012.  I enjoy it. I try and stay regular. I thought I was on to something.  Then I saw what was happening on Youtube.  People like me "talk" about China and get a zillion views.  Incredible.  But let me put that aside for the moment.  If we remember, China likes to dictate the narrative. We all do.  Not just all countries but humans too.  In our job, at home with our wife, with all our personal interactions. Youtube however has really changed the ability of Nations, of a Government Party, to do that.  It has titled the playing field from in favor of Governmental Authority to the Little Guy.  That is, anyone who has a voice can make a video.  And pretty much spout any views about any subject they may have.   We as democracies are used to that.  We are chaot...

I have realized only belatedly that I do indeed have a somewhat healthy sex drive. I am middle aged. Good shape.  And I confess to very much like sex.  And I think my skills have "aged" rather nicely, thank you very much. I have a youthful vigor, and a youthful outlook.  I'm not ugly but yeah lack of sleep has given me bags under these blue eyes.  But "I travel well", so to speak.   I do not look my age. My wife is nicely endowed and just shocked the hell out of me by doing pushups, and doing them right.  She is very pretty and doesn't, in my view, look her age either.  I like her fashion.  She is "fair".    That is, she criticizes both China and America. Does the China Wife in your country do the same? Is she "fair" to both France and China?  Australia?  Brazil? I find the only statistic that matters is that quite frankly, there are far, far, far more Chinese coming here, living here, staying here, than America...

On WeChat I was sent the below post.  It is in Chinese.  However, if one has Google Translator, or what have you, it is easy enough to read in full.  It is very, very lengthy.  I mind you, even scanning it such as I did, it took a good 15-20 minutes to go through, interrupted of course by breaks. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/9x2dvMJPMyI2gDObcH0whw The above is a post a Chinese scholar wrote about America.  It has apparently gained some traction.  Enough to be found on WC anyway.   The Chinese culture of posting thoughts and articles is alive and well in China.  Not so much here. Still, I felt it important to bring up because it shows how one Chinese fellow went from sleeping in the library during holiday breaks to see his father, to going to both Oxford and Harvard for studies.  Very much a pull oneself up from the bootstraps type of fellow. Very impressive, and so typical of what America used to produce all the time....

Trump. There is a good possibility this man will go to jail someday.  Conclusions will be written.  Judgments made.  Hearings, Commissions.  Who knows?  Perhaps even a witch hunt for his "enablers" will begin.  But we do know this: Trump did not force anyone to join him.  He may have cajoled.  Told little white lies so many poorly educated Americans wanted to hear.  And can you blame them for listening? What has "world trade" done for them?  Economists surely knew a long time ago that the "benefits" of such trade wouldn't mean a new Union Job.  Or not necessarily a raise.  I make the same fucking pay I did ten years ago, business excluded.  But what if my pay had been "stuck" at say $18,000 or $30,000, rather than 100K+ like myself?  Wouldn't you be willing to give a big middle finger to American Society, too? Trump has an innate talent, that really struck me as true while listening to a news cli...

So I finally made it to Vietnam. And Vietnam was ok.  I was in Hanoi and about half way to Haiphong to boot.  Additionally I was north of Hanoi only a few hours from the Chinese border. These are my impressions: First of all the Vietnamese, like all good Vietnamese, just love Ho Chi Minh!  He is Jesus, John Lennon, Marx and the Bee Gees all rolled into one.  So again....like I've said before, its always great to be the one controlling the narrative! So great that the Vietnamese businessman I met in Hanoi swore up and down that Ho Chi Minh never married.  Whoops As expected, I found the Vietnamese rather nationalistic and patriotic, which was to be expected.  This goes for both people and nations right?  To be successful first believe in yourself!  If Vietnam was something more than a mere "province" in size and more in number and geographic size similar to say America, China would be terrified.  They would probably have the bord...

Hong Kong is no what Thoreau had in mind when he advocated Civil Disobedience. A good protest is a terrible thing to waste.  What started out in my mind and probably in others as a well intentioned, typical protest by Youth from another country(er, part of another country), has spun out of control yet again. The Hong Kong Youth I have discussed before, in another post from not too long ago.  They are nothing if not both intelligent and hopeless.  America would do well to take them in, the better to utilize the engineering and math talent so wantonly going to waste 8000 miles from where I write this.  Nevermind the Ambition and Passion for a cause, that every Society needs in order to nurture and replenish its own Spirit. When I went to Hong Kong, it was via bullet train from Guangzhou.  I took the taxi, as it was too early to take the subway, and PAID the price, a ghastly 200 RMB.  What was I to do?   Coming back, the subway only cost $1. ...

Sorry for my long absence, it has been about 6 weeks.  I've been back about a week.  I stubbornly refuse to write or even look at my blog while in Asia.  Much less even think about it, I'm afraid.  Like a good marriage, distance is a good thing. I've had this blog since at least 2012.  But when away for long absences readership does of course take a hit.   Fortunately, I like to write.  It clears my mind, thus one will never see me on Youtube.  When on video does not one lose all anonymity? While away I was able to visit Vietnam as well.  I had a productive trip, going from North China down to Hong Kong, with Hanoi in between.  I have about 4 or 5 posts ready to write, and will try and quickly make up for lost time.  My posts will of course continue to be shorter than the 2000 diatribes I've traditionally written about. All the same, I'm glad to be home.  To the land of 4 seasons and mildly cold weather.  A fe...

  (All, I'll be taking another leave from this blog.  I'll be back in China for a month on business and not able to post until the latter part of October.  Yeah, there are some editing issues with this post, but I'm too tired to fix them, or figure out how.   Pls keep your comments coming, I'll be sure to reply to them all!) People like to talk about the Thucydides Trap. The war made famous by the Greek historian, describing the rivalry between the then dominant Sparta and the fledgling  Athens. This took place in the 4th century BC.  It of course mirrors the so called situation today between America and China.  However, while we all consider America Sparta and China Athens, was not China the Sparta of its day? For probably a millennium China was The Big Dog on this Tiny Blue Ball of ours.  Indeed, during the time of the Peloponnesian War, China though deep in a Civil War, the Warring States Period, probably could have eas...

I swear I've written about this topic before! So certain am I that the post could not be found......I searched high and low, alas it was nowhere to be seen. 350 posts will do that to you. This is a topic with clear implications for both sides.  I've seen it closeup multiple times. One day I noticed a loud noise.  Loud voices coming from the neighbor next door.  Eventually, I walked outside into the hallway and sure enough, there was an argument between the mother of my beautiful Chinese neighbor and her Hong Kong husband.  And the mother in law had left the door open for all to hear.   There was nothing we could do.  I wasn't the only one stuck with the noise.  Even when I stepped out for a part of the day and came back, it was still going strong.  You see he was a cop, and though he lived in China, he worked in Hong Kong everyday.  It turns out one day when he was supposedly going to work, he instead took a simpl...