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

Came across this today...cannot recall how...but pls go over to   http://www.chinaww2.com  and take a look. It's a niche blog....appears to have frequent, regular updates.  Looks like it will help to fill those pesky gaps most of us have in our knowledge base abt China. The authors do touch upon a subject I am currently preparing a post on...Ms. Meiling herself. Enjoy

So now I’m reading China has nearly $4 trillion in foreign reserves.  Not bad.  Does that makes China the futures next Big Swinging Dick (BSD)?   As I alluded to earlier that makes China scary.  There’s nothing scarier than coming across a person or entity that doesn’t want to be a “team player” and has the wherewithal to do things “his way”.  Why is that? The West is all about “The System”.  It’s The System that maintains peace.  Keeps order.  Allows harmonious relations between mature countries to continue.   Avoids bloodletting amongst major countries. I’m not talking about the Middle East.  Has anyone noticed that there really hasn’t been “peace” in the ME since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire?   Time and again we smile at ourselves, as a Western Civilization, when we bring “Peace and Order”(also known as Democracy) to countries that are strangers to this concept.   Like a Missionary givi...

I haven’t had a “Fluff Post” in quite awhile.  Let’s first recognize some of those places that DO SHOW UP upon occasion.  Call them lurkers if you will.   Call me silly, but I just get A KICK out of some of these places(that I will probably never visit) that all take the time to hang out at MyChinaKanfa. Zambia….thx again for showing up.  No idea where you are on the map, but I know you are in Africa. Uganda….ditto…. Lithuania….my first thought is what happened to Estonia?  There was a time when I was visited by that place daily for like a year!   Slovakia….I’m sure it warms your heart to know my grandmother was a Slav. Iran…..one of my classmates in Chinese University was Iranian.  He brought us dates.  Very nice fellow, who simply did not get along well with our Chinese teacher.   I was impressed when his other Iranian friends would show up driving cars.   1990.  Long fucking time ago. ...

The Aussies have been in the news lately.   For among other things(all below), many of them apparently disdain Halloween.  More than a few of them seem to think it yet another aspect of American Cultural Imperialism……??  (It’s only Candy and Kids!....btw, what’s a “lollie”?) Well, the Yanks pushing their sneaky ways upon yet another unsuspecting Culture aside, at least we are more than an arm’s length apart from each other.   Distance tempers annoyance.  Which is more than I can say for Australia and the Center of the Celestial Universe, er-hmm…..China. Is Australia the proverbial mouse at the foot of the Dragon’s Cave?  I dunno.  But methinks in a generation or two, the Aussies very much are in danger of becoming both culturally and economically dominated by China.  That is, Halloween may be the least of your worries. This topic has been on my list for quite awhile, and with the news that Australia is on the verge of signin...

I overlooked the pricey tickets to Biltmore House.    I overlooked the cabin rental in the Mountains. Though it took two years, I did finally break down and buy a Lexus.  (I myself wanted something less….”luxurious”) But now my wife has bought a $1000 vacuum cleaner.  I don’t know what to say.   What does a $1000 vacuum cleaner look like, you ask? Well, it’s not Made in China.  German model, you see.  Top of the line(cleans dog hair!). The problem is this: I do not have a $1000 vacuum cleaner mentality.    Yes, I’ve been accused of being “cheap”.  Stingy maybe.  But am I the only one seeing my children’s tuition right around the corner?  A post 65 life?  My goal is not to be a Wal-mart greeter.   (Really, it’s not.) You see...this is easy to root cause.  This is simple to troubleshoot.  I do not have a $1000 vacuum cleaner background.   I do not ...

Recently more excerpts from the vast trove of Wikileaks came available.  Remember, this is the very large number of classified cables and other documentation, all deemed “top secret”, that were deliberately leaked by an Army soldier a few years ago.  Its content was quite embarrassing to the West. Here are a few excerpts as regards China: China has “ defended the retention of the organs of suppression, meaning the Army and Secret Police, on the ground that as long as there is capitalistic encirclement, there will be danger of intervention ” from outside forces. True enough, China is indeed encircled.  Japan, Korea(moderately), even Vietnam are all “anti-China”, if you will.  Anti-Chinese feeling in Japan and Vietnam in particular is extremely high.  Of course, relations with Russia are doing very well at the moment.  Nothing to brag about, though. Further, the analysis continues…. “today the major part of the structure of Chinese power is...

Chinese are competitive.  Painting with a very broad brush, only somewhat tongue in cheek, they’ve ruined education in America, Australia and everywhere else.   They’ve violated the “Spirit of Education” in America.  “Football on Friday night?”  Nope, gotta prepare for my violin class tomorrow. “TV time at night?”  uh-uh.  Have a twenty point quiz tomorrow. “Ride my bike in the neighborhood?”  You already know the answer. Quite frankly, Chinese take the fun out of studying.  It’s not supposed to be this intense. Reading Catcher in the Rye doesn’t impress anyone anymore. Life?  Same thing. Kids…teenagers….are supposed to play…hang out.  Enjoy life before the word “mortgage” is in their vocabulary. Instead, we have a brilliant young girl down the street that has Latin at 6:30am every morning at the local high school.   When I walk the subdivision at dusk I often hear the sound of a piano fro...