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

I was in a club with my Chinese buddies one night in Shenzhen.  This club, like many, had club singers.  Some could be called pretty, but it was hard to tell.  The lights and makeup, the sexy clothes and sultry voices, topped off with alcohol, played tricks with the mind.  We found our table next to the stage however, and thus had a good close up of the club’s star attraction.  She was short but moved very, very well.  The “boss” amongst us(I called him boss as he was the wealthiest of us all, always foot the bill, and he and I always got along well.   Like most young Chinese, he was “only” in his 30’s, loved his mother and was semi uber nationalist.) took one look, observed her closely and simply uttered to no one in particular, “ 有困难 ” We all nodded in unison. She would be no easy pickup. But it could be, and was done.  I learned later a laowai I know “quite well” saw her alone at the bar one night, simply sauntered ove...

(This is the 3rd of a series of posts on Chinese historical female figures from the 20th century.   Feel free to read my previous posts regarding Song Mei Ling  and Sun WeiShi .) In the end life balances out.  And so it did for Wang Guangmei. The story could stop here.  A two line summary of China’s True First Lady.   The First, First Lady of China, whose glamour only fifty years later Peng Liyuan can only begin to remind people of.  I’m afraid most young Chinese today are not familiar with Wang Guangmei.   Her time came very early on, and though her light continued to flicker, the glow she brought to China’s prestige around the world had long since dimmed.   Wang Guangmei was the Jackie O of China.   She paid the price for being Jackie O.   Both lost their husbands in the most gruesome of ways, one publicly and one privately. But perhaps while both were predestined to marrying well, Wang Guang...

As an American Male, I continue to find surprises with China Wife. My wife has told me she wants to “retire” at 50. Her father retired at 60 and her mom 55.   A well intentioned ploy by China no doubt to ease the unemployment issues for its population while at the same time simply increasing the tax burden of the State. “So what’s up with China Wife,” you ask? Simple.   She’s told me her life is “tiring”. Poor thing. My wife has been here over a decade now, and has had the time to learn through observing, and most definitely through personal experience just how “hard” America can be. While I most certainly would be guilty of more than readily calling China Wife wimpy….or just not “tough enough”, without doubt she has reminded me of just how people not born and raised here see our society.   And I tend to agree with her observations. You see, the culprit of my China Wife’s angst is the American Workplace. America can fire ...

Just couldn't resist a quick word here...my apologies to my foreign readers as this is a quick comment on what transpired in America yesterday.  You see, Trump got ran over by Ryan on Healthcare, than as America failed to "fix" Healthcare, Trump of course came off looking bad.  Very bad.  Xi visits next month folks.   Xi's "fear" and "worry" over Trump has suddenly dropped quite a bit. Will Xi be the next one to run over Trump?  I think he will. The Chinese respect strength.  Unfortunately, foreign policy once again just isn't as big of an issue in America right now, and NO ONE is thinking of China.   How can Trump get his way with Xi(on something) if Xi thinks he's an incompetent blowhard?  And if most of the USA already is leaning that way, how can we blame Xi to think otherwise? I repeat:  Trump is the most dangerous man in America in recent times.  At least since Nixon.  A man is most dangerous at the poker table after ha...

So democracies are nothing but a bunch of wimpy nations, focused more on arguing amongst themselves and how one political party can gain the upper hand against the other.    With democracies it is Party first and Nation second.   It is all about winning, with little regard for geopolitics.    It’s more about getting your local school board candidate elected than anything taking place 8000 miles away. I do not want to state that Democracies are guilty of putting their head in the sand.   Germany has led the way in Europe on accepting immigrants from Syria.    Again I raise the very unpopular question of the American military going into Syria.     Nevermind that Russia now has a foothold in the Middle East that will not be going away for a very long time to come.   Would there have been any mass Syrian immigration to Europe if the Marines were there? But when it comes to living within a democratic nation, I do not ple...