Lately we have been inundated with articles about the political entity called Chimerica, an entity likely to dominate the first half of the 21st century. The pundits disagree on how such a disparate union may hold. China is poor and capitalist, America is rich and socialist. China produces, America consumes. Both are instinctively protectionist and isolationists, but are the strongest forces of globalisation.
The secret may be that this union is changing, the Chimerica we see today will not be tomorrow's Chimerica. Will Chimerica's spirit of coopetition remain, or will China and America become rivals? Chimerica often consume more resources, and produce more pollution, than the rest of the world together. Together or separate, how will Chimerica affect our world?
Let's start with a map from last year. Chimerica is an optimistic lot these days. So is this country Sweden, but it isn't as economically entwined.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fblogs%2Fworldviews%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F04%2Fgallup-economic-confidence-index.jpg&hash=ad987d7bb1b4b8c0943cf322c93a281f" rel="cached" data-hash="ad987d7bb1b4b8c0943cf322c93a281f" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/04/gallup-economic-confidence-index.jpg) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/29/global-economic-confidence-map-shows-optimism-finally-returning/)
China is poor and capitalist, America is rich and socialist.
:yes:
Chimerica often consume...
"Consumes".
:right:?
America is rich and socialist? Uh? That will come as a surprise to the 40 million plus on food stamps the million losing homes annually and worse scenarios. If there is meant to be some deep and intellectual offering inthis one it is lost although the humour possibility is too.
and socialist?
You've answered in your very next sentence.
the 40 million plus on food stamps
Sic.
On one of the many bypassings China to USA, The Economist has a good, simple graph. The dragon takes wing (http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21601568-new-data-suggest-chinese-economy-bigger-previously-thought-dragon)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.static-economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Foriginal-size%2Fimages%2Fprint-edition%2F20140503_FNC982_0.png&hash=f17bb87aa4e23d430e0225c93057470b" rel="cached" data-hash="f17bb87aa4e23d430e0225c93057470b" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/original-size/images/print-edition/20140503_FNC982_0.png)
(https://vivaldi.net/media/com_easysocial/photos/6183/40679/2d3f28b0dcb4d8c36e0c6e0002f081e5_original.png)
America is rich and socialist? Uh? That will come as a surprise to the 40 million plus on food stamps the million losing homes annually and worse scenarios. If there is meant to be some deep and intellectual offering inthis one it is lost although the humour possibility is too.
This comes about because our present ruling class-- we may as well confess we have a ruling class-- believe that the way to show that they are compassionate is to have as many people on food stamps and section-8 (housing assistance) as possible. The more people that are dependent on government assistance for basic necessities, the more compassionate our ruling class is.
Yes, it's twisted and vile, and yes, if God is everything the Bible says He is this will surely bring judgement on our nation. But, until we get a ruling class that "gets it" and starts changing the way they do things, this is what we have at the moment.
Funny thing, that. Every "socialist" system I've seen seems to be in a hurry to return things back to the feudal ways where a handful of nobles were supported by vast numbers of serfs, who barely had the wherewithal to feed themselves. Right now, the powers-that-be are trying to engineer the United States into just such a system. A handful of extremely wealthy, vast numbers of desperately poor-- and the extremely wealthy patting themselves on the back because they're so charitable, allowing the poor a pittance for survival.
Allowances should be dependable on restrictions. Otherwise they'll soon run out of the middle working class to take from.
The successful should be backed up - no matter how many starving losers are begging nearby. That doesn't mean there mustn't be some basic starters for everyone. However, that does mean that somebody shouldn't get more help just because that person won't give up having more offspring -- creating the black hole. Same as that which ruined Hellada.
Most interesting with this map is that while about half the Americans consider China the leading economy, all the Chinese consider the United States to have the leading economy. That and that the Germans have gone fully overboard on the Chinese side.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fp.im9.eu%2Fmapporn-net-percentage-of-respondents-identifying-the-united-states-or-china-as-the-world-s-leading-economy-2750x1400.jpg&hash=17b8adb87b5a99bb33b01e9d46ae65cf" rel="cached" data-hash="17b8adb87b5a99bb33b01e9d46ae65cf" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://p.im9.eu/mapporn-net-percentage-of-respondents-identifying-the-united-states-or-china-as-the-world-s-leading-economy-2750x1400.jpg) (http://p.im9.eu/mapporn-net-percentage-of-respondents-identifying-the-united-states-or-china-as-the-world-s-leading-economy-2750x1400.jpg)
Well it is now generally being accepted that in the next couple of years America wil be superseded by the county yr it owes sackfuls to.
Most interesting with this map is that while about half the Americans consider China the leading economy, all the Chinese consider the United States to have the leading economy. That and that the Germans have gone fully overboard on the Chinese side.
For a while Germany was the country that exported the World's most goods in monetary terms, both absolute and relative to population, size and whatnot. This was often mentioned in the press, and a few years ago China took the first place in absolute numbers. So, depends what exactly people mean by 'leading economy'.
The US is still the world's leading economy in foreign investment, global influence, and whatnot. I imagine China is the world's leading economy in terms of exported goods and has been for a while now. Rotterdam was the world's busiest harbor from 1962 to 2004, when it was surpassed by Shanghai. At the time only Rotterdam, London, and Philadelphia were capable of receiving the very largest of vessels (and dry-docking them), but I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese have fixed or are fixing that gap* as we speak.
* Or perhaps I should say digging it. :whistle:
They chose another route, and moved the deep-water port (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangshan_Port) into the ocean. They landfilled a couple new islands and built a 32 km bridge connecting them to the mainland. That is huge, but not huge enough, so now they plan to build another bridge to the artificial islands/port, this one rail/road.
There is a number of inland ports, and they are building some huge ones now further up the Yangzi river, but they are obviously not deep-water.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOJEwAeX97o[/video]
They chose another route, and moved the deep-water port (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangshan_Port) into the ocean. They landfilled a couple new islands and built a 32 km bridge connecting them to the mainland. That is huge, but not huge enough, so now they plan to build another bridge to the artificial islands/port, this one rail/road.
The largest container ships are peanuts (http://www.allseas.com/uk/20/equipment/solitaire.html).* :)
Receiving was perhaps a bit of a bad word choice. I was really talking about the dry-docking and thus properly servicing aspect.
* Incidentally, I visited that vessel while it was in dry-dock in Rotterdam, before it set off to Mexico to break some records.
The largest container ships are peanuts (http://www.allseas.com/uk/20/equipment/solitaire.html).* :)
Receiving was perhaps a bit of a bad word choice. I was really talking about the dry-docking and thus properly servicing aspect.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fgcaptain.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2F2013-08-16T124638Z_457698471_GM1E98G1LNE01_RTRMADP_3_NETHERLANDS.jpg&hash=f2e7e786a8950bae0bedc2e581165197" rel="cached" data-hash="f2e7e786a8950bae0bedc2e581165197" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-08-16T124638Z_457698471_GM1E98G1LNE01_RTRMADP_3_NETHERLANDS.jpg)
Not the Maersk Triple E (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maersk_Triple_E_class), they are the super-jumbos of ships, with only 16 ports that can handle them (Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Colombo, Rotterdam, Gothenburg, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Gdańsk and Antwerp).
The
Solitaire seems cool.
I had to look up the docks, they are by the coast not so far away from the Yangshan port. By the size of their dry dock they should be able to handle it, but I don't know if there is a big enough channel into it.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cic-shipyards.cn%2FUpload%2F%25E5%259C%25B0%25E7%2590%2586%25E4%25BD%258D%25E7%25BD%25AE%25E4%25B8%25BB%25E5%259B%25BECX%25E8%258B%25B1%25E6%2596%2587-13465477171.jpg&hash=2c35b361279c56c06042893415d66754" rel="cached" data-hash="2c35b361279c56c06042893415d66754" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.cic-shipyards.cn/Upload/%E5%9C%B0%E7%90%86%E4%BD%8D%E7%BD%AE%E4%B8%BB%E5%9B%BECX%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87-13465477171.jpg)
Not the Maersk Triple E (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maersk_Triple_E_class), they are the super-jumbos of ships, with only 16 ports that can handle them (Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Colombo, Rotterdam, Gothenburg, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Gdańsk and Antwerp).
Fair enough about the size of those enormous vessels. But I'll bet not all of those ports can dry-dock them. How come there aren't any harbors in the Americas that can take them, btw?
First problem is that these ships are too big for the new Panama Canal, which would limit them to the West Coast of the Americas. Second is that many American ports haven't yet been dredged for the New Panamax size, let alone these ships, nor upgraded the cranes. NYC and Baltimore supposedly support New Panamax, but that doesn't help when the ships can't pass the canal, and there isn't enough cargo to warrant such ships between Europe and America.
Los Angeles Port is supposed to have been dredged to Triple E class size, I don't know what's the holdup. Future ships should be able to go there if desired.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fbioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu%2Fproducts%2Fgam%2Fimages%2Flarge%2Fshipping_laness.png&hash=3b3ccd0eeec012b1151b53ec8aeb92f7" rel="cached" data-hash="3b3ccd0eeec012b1151b53ec8aeb92f7" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://bioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu/products/gam/images/large/shipping_laness.png)
It was a toss-up whether this should go here or in "infrastructure", but it seems the fit is a little closer here so here goes:
I read a story that China is thinking of building a high-speed railway between China and the United States. That's right, a railway from China to the US. It would start in China, head up into Siberia, cross the Bering Sea into Alaska, down through Canada and end up in the Lower 48 somewhere-- I haven't read the entire story yet so I don't have the full details on start and stop. It involves a tunnel under the Bering Sea, some 125 miles of tunnel would be built to make this happen. The trip is supposed to take about two days once trains start moving on this line.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2623491/China-considers-building-rail-link-AMERICA-8-000-mile-journey-two-days-involve-going-125-mile-undersea-tunnel-Alaska.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2623491/China-considers-building-rail-link-AMERICA-8-000-mile-journey-two-days-involve-going-125-mile-undersea-tunnel-Alaska.html)
It certainly would be Chimerica (with quite a bit of Russia and Canada thrown in), it is also blue sky thinking, and one of the international links mentioned in an earlier thread of mine. It might be time that the Americas and Australia were linked with the rest of the world.
The actual Bering Strait crossing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_crossing) in itself isn't particularly hard, it would be a great technical feat, but nothing exceptional. The climate and conditions, and the challenge of moving construction materials and facilities would make it harder.
The problem lies in connecting a bridge in the middle of nowhere with the rest of the world. This is by far the most expensive and challenging problem. There is a whole lot of nothing, with very lousy weather. The massive detour through nowhere is hurting the business case, not only the construction cost, but especially the time it will take to get to market.
A ship doesn't move particularly fast, say 40 km/h or 25 mph, but it can move direct, something a Siberian-Alaskan rail line wouldn't. A Eurasian backbone would, as the article say, be in the opposite situation. Whether going from Beijing through Moscow or Tehran, it would go fairly straight while the ships that have to take the detour around Singapore and Suez. Even so, almost all the traffic go by ship, very little by rail. This is primarily an IT/organisational problem, the cargo trains spend most of their time standing still, processing papers.
Hmm, wasn't there some sort of bridge across the Bering Strait proposed a few years ago?
Hmm, wasn't there some sort of bridge across the Bering Strait proposed a few years ago?
I remember watching something about this on Discovery, if I remember that right. One problem with the bridge is that the Bering Sea has heavy, moving ice. Any bridge built would have to withstand the stress of ice moving about in heavy seas. This is where the Chinese idea has a distinct advantage: a tunnel would be under the ice and probably would not be affected by heavy weather and ice on the surface.
Chinese bearing cash enter Californian housing market (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/chinese-cash-bearing-buyers-drive-u-s-foreign-sales-jump.html)
California is the most popular U.S. destination for Chinese real estate buyers, according to Juwai.com, a Hong Kong-based property search engine.
Chinese bought 32 percent of homes sold to foreign buyers in the state, double the share sold to Canadians, according to an April survey by the California Association of Realtors. About 70 percent of international buyers pay cash, the survey showed.
“The uncertainties in China’s domestic market are contributing to a higher rate of growth in Chinese interest in U.S. property,” Andrew Taylor, co-chief executive officer of Juwai.com, said in an e-mail. “That interest began accelerating in the second quarter of 2014, in part because of China’s property slowdown.”
New-home prices in China fell in June for a second straight month as a slowing economy and excess supply deterred buyers, according to the China Real Estate Index System Survey. In Hong Kong, new-home prices have dropped by 15 percent to 20 percent since October, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co report last month.
U.S. house prices have climbed 26 percent since March 2012, after falling 35 percent from their June 2006 peak, the S&P Case-Shiller Index of 20 cities shows.
New Pew survey (http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/14/global-opposition-to-u-s-surveillance-and-drones-but-limited-harm-to-americas-image/), looking at the image of the US, China, both, and Asian relationships.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG_14.07.08_LedeNSA_640px.png&hash=ab68f27a4f12a08723b0235cd6130048" rel="cached" data-hash="ab68f27a4f12a08723b0235cd6130048" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG_14.07.08_LedeNSA_640px.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG_14.07.08_LedeU.S.ChinaMedianMap.png&hash=79777238915f5d96418e756dc263cb57" rel="cached" data-hash="79777238915f5d96418e756dc263cb57" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG_14.07.08_LedeU.S.ChinaMedianMap.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG_14.07.10_AlliesThreats_640px.png&hash=5fed69a73f5535d3ff15a0fa7ceb7855" rel="cached" data-hash="5fed69a73f5535d3ff15a0fa7ceb7855" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG_14.07.10_AlliesThreats_640px.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-1-04.png&hash=a25b41fa6e4a5088498b86def15a6723" rel="cached" data-hash="a25b41fa6e4a5088498b86def15a6723" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-1-04.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-1-07.png&hash=a3ee4040e12ee26e24a20a8c7d0c000d" rel="cached" data-hash="a3ee4040e12ee26e24a20a8c7d0c000d" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-1-07.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-2-01.png&hash=aedb7e82637a607e1e10348aa1a8462c" rel="cached" data-hash="aedb7e82637a607e1e10348aa1a8462c" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-2-01.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-2-02.png&hash=38757543205c0e4af9d860c9e848bfaf" rel="cached" data-hash="38757543205c0e4af9d860c9e848bfaf" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-2-02.png)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewglobal.org%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F07%2FPG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-3-04.png&hash=d8fad00930078016b3c7a4ecf5f72d6e" rel="cached" data-hash="d8fad00930078016b3c7a4ecf5f72d6e" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/07/PG-2014-07-14-balance-of-power-3-04.png)
Young people seem to love both the US and China, while them old ones are more sceptical.
Of course the world sees America as the top economy but there are a number of countries that would like to see that going. The BRICK group are moving in that direction
Of course the world sees America as the top economy
Doubt it very much.
China is at the present moment reevaluating the criteria for calculating their GDP. The interesting part is that if they put some extra cents to the value of an hair cut and it's enough to turn them the biggest economy in the world.
USA lead in the hands of Chinese barbers...
As for the EU, hallucination got out of control, by including at their economic estimation the value of prostitution and drug traffic.
It's not possible to get lower in the subjection to the savage capitalism disrespecting all human and moral values.
The Chinese are not reevaluating the size of their economy, that would in any case be to their slight disadvantage, economists and researchers outside the country have been looking at different metrics. In some of these the size of China's economy would already have bypassed the US economy, in others it might take another decade. The date of bypassing doesn't really matter, it is purely symbolic, like it doesn't really matter when the number of people living in cities was larger than the people living in the countryside (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS/countries?display=graph). The world with 51% living in cities and 49% in the countryside, was mostly the same as the world with 49% in the the cities and 51% in the countryside.
The BRIC countries will not bypass the US, China and eventually India will, and that is only because these two countries are four times as large, and when the average Chinese (Indian) is quarter as rich as the average American, the total size of the economy is larger. Brazil is smaller and poorer. It shall not pass. Neither will Russia, or basically any other country this century.
The economists and researchers are trying to estimate the size of economies, not their morality. The black and gray economy is often not counted or underestimated, especially in countries with weak tax collection. Prostitutes and drug lords also spend money, and also contribute to inflation.
Well the sooner someone replaces America and the bullying dollar the better.
Alibaba couldn't list on Hong Kong (http://business.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=103006V5OPEE), but New York, New York...
Live Blog: Tracking the Giant Alibaba I.P.O (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/live-blog-tracking-the-giant-alibaba-i-p-o/)
3 Photos That Help Explain the Frenzy Over Alibaba's IPO (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-17/3-photos-that-help-explain-the-frenzy-over-alibaba-s-ipo.html)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fimage%2FiBakE6pGIF0w.jpg&hash=61f8a0a590994d73eda883f54f1b1206" rel="cached" data-hash="61f8a0a590994d73eda883f54f1b1206" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.bloomberg.com/image/iBakE6pGIF0w.jpg)
From my Google Youtube recommendations:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B78PW-_ic_s[/video]
Not sure what to add to that, perhaps that culture transcends national boundaries.
Alibaba couldn't list on Hong Kong (http://business.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=103006V5OPEE), but New York, New York...
I thought it was Chicago… ;)
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKn7vkSMBc[/video]
From the notes of Bill Gates,
China Used More Concrete In 3 Years Than The U.S. Used In The Entire 20th Century (http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2014/12/05/china-used-more-concrete-in-3-years-than-the-u-s-used-in-the-entire-20th-century-infographic/)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fniallmccarthy%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F12%2F20141205_Concrete_FO.jpg&hash=19e59999d72640fc6aae35c411c2038c" rel="cached" data-hash="19e59999d72640fc6aae35c411c2038c" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2014/12/20141205_Concrete_FO.jpg)
China produces and consumes about 60 percent of the world’s cement – the Three Gorges Dam alone required 16 million tonnes of it. To put China’s massive 21st century construction splurge and concrete consumption into perspective, Bill Gates made a mind blowing comparison.
According to his blog, between 2011 and 2013, China consumed 6.6 gigatons of concrete – that’s more than the U.S. used in the entire 20th century. Look at what the U.S. built between 1901 and 2000: all those skyscrapers, the Interstate, the Hoover Dam, the list goes on and on but all that concrete only amounted to 4.5 gigatons.
Impressive. I hope the concrete will last equally long.
Supposedly it is also a major source of China's carbon emission (traditional concrete production releases a lot of CO2), and may be a source of air pollution as well. I saw the estimate for Beijing that around 1/10 of the dust pollution would be construction dust. Just a couple years ago they started having regulations to reduce construction dust.
Incidentally the numbers given above would indicate concrete consumption of almost three Three Gorges Dam weekly every single week for the last three years, or about a Hoover Dam a day (using 16 megaton and 6.6 megaton of concrete respectively).
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xenophon-mil.org%2Fchina%2Fyangtze%2Fp1060305s.jpg&hash=de1650d025df2d4bc67f11ca55d5e020" rel="cached" data-hash="de1650d025df2d4bc67f11ca55d5e020" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.xenophon-mil.org/china/yangtze/p1060305s.jpg)
This American couldn't be happier to see a couple of decades of isolationism. Our involvement in the world since WWII has been destructive. Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan did nothing good for the country. US support for Israel? :down: :no:
Speaking of China. From the
Economist.
China’s poverty is, therefore, a matter of some contention and confusion. Indeed, China itself may not be as poor as its own official media seem to think. Xinhua reports incorrectly that China’s official poverty line is lower than the World Bank’s global standard of $1.25 a day. By that international standard, claims another state-backed newspaper, the country still has more than 200m poor people. In citing that depressing statistic, it echoes a speech in June by Li Keqiang, China’s premier, in which he said that “some 200 million Chinese still live below the poverty line by World Bank standards.”
This American couldn't be happier to see a couple of decades of isolationism. Our involvement in the world since WWII has been destructive. Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan did nothing good for the country. US support for Israel? :down: :no:
Here's something I never understood about american politics and to a large degree, americans - it's almost always all or nothing. World police or isolationism. Spanish inquisition or no real airport security at all. Teabagger or commie bastard. With us or against us. No reaction or overreaction. Black or white, nothing in between.
Once it adapted to being a bit more distant the people would in time be cheered and things would get better locally as well as saving your nation a giant fortune to then spend internally. Put me in charge dear jimbro and you will be cheered you tremendously (and you wouldn't have to drink Irn Bru).
Here's something I never understood about american politics and to a large degree, americans - it's almost always all or nothing. World police or isolationism. Spanish inquisition or no real airport security at all. Teabagger or commie bastard. With us or against us. No reaction or overreaction. Black or white, nothing in between.
I've never been for the asinine international politics of post-wwII America, so I'm not one of the all in or all out crowd. As a matter of fact, we weren't even needed in WWII but for materials. Your Rooskie friends pretty much ate Hitler's crew for lunch.
FYI, Teabaggers are a tiny crew of malcontents.
I think my Russky pals would have to go one hell of a long way to catch up with US policy in the world since WW2. Constant harrowing of countries financially and militarily, surrounding them or doing them in is the US's way in front position and Russia can get no close to that terrible reputation so making an allowance for US policy sounds to the uninitiated reasonable when the facts tell you something else. When Russia gets over 400 bases all over the globe and spends half the world's military bill that will prove your point. It at present shows the flaw in such a stance. :whistle:
Everybody here is a monkey face of one sort or another.
Suppose so but most would prefer to live on something rather than bananas.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B42z9UGIQAALgL4.jpg:large)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F7vENYH9.png&hash=7f8a79ed18058d475864bb4a39887edc" rel="cached" data-hash="7f8a79ed18058d475864bb4a39887edc" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/7vENYH9.png)
May as well of picked Japanese. :D
I'll remember to refer to US English as Simplified English in the future.
An old idea of mine is to open a (Western) Chinese restaurant in China, as the cuisine in Chinese restaurants and restaurants in China are different, but you can recognise some of the dishes. YouTube came up with a much cheaper alternative: Chinese People Try Panda Express For The First Time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo59LlkTDe4)
Panda Express presumably is an American chain serving Chinese, and the Chinese in question seem to be ABCs (American-born Chinese) or "bananas", and their Taiwanese parents and grandparents.
[video]https://youtu.be/Fo59LlkTDe4[/video]
Panda Express presumably is an American chain serving Chinese
It's called American-Chinese. I don't know the specifics (although I have eaten at a number of American Chinese restaurants), but I'm sure it's much like how Dutch-Chinese includes elements of Indonesian and French-Chinese elements of Vietnamese, plus some indigenous mutations. :P
And in any case, the thought of "Chinese" food is probably no more or less absurd than speaking of "European" food — although I suppose there are certain overlapping qualities like use of soy vs use of dairy.
Tall tale of two Asias: Former Australian leader: We're about to see a world with '2 Asias' (http://uk.businessinsider.com/major-change-in-world-order-china-us-economy-2015-5)
We're about to see a very different world — one with "two Asias" — according to Australia's former prime minister.
In the next decade or so, China's economy is expected to surpass that of the US. (And, by some measures, it already has.)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic6.uk.businessinsider.com%2Fimage%2F5553b1e6dd0895851e8b45b8-480%2Fuschinaclimate.jpg&hash=cfebcd411133ba144bb91d308a2d2ada" rel="cached" data-hash="cfebcd411133ba144bb91d308a2d2ada" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://static6.uk.businessinsider.com/image/5553b1e6dd0895851e8b45b8-480/uschinaclimate.jpg)
However, even though China's increased defense spending will continue to close the gap, the US is expected remain the dominant regional and global military power.
Consequently, we will see the emergence of an "asymmetric world" in which China will become the dominant economic power, while the United States will remain the dominant military power, writes former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in his summary report on "The Future of US-China Relations Under Xi Jinping."
The interesting thing here is that both military power and economic power inevitably lead to political power, which means that we'll see two political giants take center stage — especially in Asia, according to Rudd.
Well America can always thank China for not claiming the debt to allow it to militarily niggle China.....
One piece from this spring, Federal agents crackdown on 'birth tourism' in California (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31717213)
I liked the style of the US raid. Those expectant mothers can be so ferocious and fleet on feet.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BheQlPP-1gM[/video]
I've tackled more than one pregnant Chinese women. It's not difficult.
Construction of Nicaraguan Canal to start next year.
Chinese firm to start Nicaragua canal project by late 2016 (http://m.chinadaily.com.cn/en/2015-11/06/content_22388919.htm)
What's going on in China? Anybody else here like Chinese food?
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos2.meetupstatic.com%2Fphotos%2Fevent%2F9%2Ff%2F3%2Fa%2F600_353740762.jpeg&hash=40e674cda099a5c110227857ecd6ceb5" rel="cached" data-hash="40e674cda099a5c110227857ecd6ceb5" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/9/f/3/a/600_353740762.jpeg)
Now you can get Chinese (or should I say Chimerican) food in China, in Shanghai anyway. Actually this is an old idea of mine, but these two Americans did it.
Why Shanghai's first American Chinese restaurant is taking off (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34877507)
The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie is the brainchild of two friends, Fung Lam and Dave Rossi. Fung was born on the doorstep of New York's Chinatown.
"I was in the playpen of the kitchen of my parents' restaurant, of my grandparents' restaurants," he recalls. "All my earliest memories were of the woks going, my dad coming home with the smell of Chinese food."
Fung met Dave at graduate school. Outside of class, they soon discovered a shared love of American Chinese restaurants.
"Friday night was Chinese food night in the Rossi household," Dave explains. With more than 40,000 American Chinese restaurants in the United States, families of all ethnic backgrounds grew up eating New World Chinese classics.
When visiting Shanghai as tourists, Fung and Dave missed their usual versions of noodles and stir-fried classics, and thought others might too.
They decided to open what they believe is Shanghai's first American Chinese restaurant, featuring specialties served in Fung's family restaurants for 40 years: orange chicken, kung pao chicken and sesame shrimp. Dave describes the menu as "really American".
American yes, though a version of this menu is served in Chinese restaurants around the world - from Madrid to Melbourne.
But not usually in mainland China.
Dave and Fung flew Fung's father over to Shanghai to teach the chefs how to make each dish, so it
is exactly the same as the food served in the family's American restaurants.
Extra American effort
One of the biggest challenges was finding the right ingredients to use in the kitchen.
"As weird as it sounds, we actually import a lot of ingredients to make authentic American Chinese food in China," Fung says
Items like Philadelphia cream cheese, Skippy peanut butter, cornflakes and English mustard powder must all be brought in from outside China. Even the soy sauce must be imported from Hong Kong, because that's what the first Chinese immigrants to the US used in their cooking.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fichef-1.bbci.co.uk%2Fnews%2F624%2Fcpsprodpb%2F39A6%2Fproduction%2F_86785741_photo11-17-15%2C193217.jpg&hash=aaca8005a13c9d4ea2eee51f3c0b8aaf" rel="cached" data-hash="aaca8005a13c9d4ea2eee51f3c0b8aaf" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/39A6/production/_86785741_photo11-17-15,193217.jpg)
Incidentally chicken kung pao/gong bao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Pao_chicken)
is a traditional Chinese dish, though maybe not with these ingredients.
Here's something rjhowie might enjoy ;)
https://aeon.co/opinions/the-us-military-is-everywhere-except-history-books
War defines the United States. Domestically, it is the country’s greatest budgetary priority: $598 billion, 54 per cent of discretionary spending, in fiscal year 2015. Globally, we have more than 800 bases in some 80 countries, and spend more than the next nine nations combined. Yet academic historians, especially those at the nation’s most richly endowed research universities, largely ignore the history of the US military. This year, historians at the Ivy League schools, plus Stanford, the University of Chicago, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – who collectively offered instruction on hundreds of scintillating subjects from Puritan New England to women in the workforce – provided just six that directly examined the US military.
This is a tragedy. Knowledge is power, as Francis Bacon observed. Insofar as we neglect to study our military, we reduce our ability to understand it, and weaken ourselves.
[…]
So, when Keynes quipped "… Eventually, we're all dead" he didn't mean anything… ? :)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fichef-1.bbci.co.uk%2Fnews%2F624%2Fcpsprodpb%2F39A6%2Fproduction%2F_86785741_photo11-17-15%2C193217.jpg&hash=aaca8005a13c9d4ea2eee51f3c0b8aaf" rel="cached" data-hash="aaca8005a13c9d4ea2eee51f3c0b8aaf" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/39A6/production/_86785741_photo11-17-15,193217.jpg)
We should have a thread covering the ubiquity of the cell phone.
"Don't eat that food until you've photographed it!"
They're everywhere...in piles!
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.greenpacks.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F06%2Fpilecellphones.jpg&hash=cb637756dcfcfc6a6dd1f41ee0995d13" rel="cached" data-hash="cb637756dcfcfc6a6dd1f41ee0995d13" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://cdn.greenpacks.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/pilecellphones.jpg)
I have a better records of the eating habits of an aquiaintance on WeChat (Chinese Facebook) than of my own.
I occasionally go to a Chinese restaurant and have European dishes.
I occasionally go to a Chinese restaurant and have European dishes.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Forig08.deviantart.net%2Fb75c%2Ff%2F2009%2F242%2F9%2F2%2Fsigh_facepalm_____by_ghost1334652.jpg&hash=8fcff85e6312524e81f3089c7db9e186" rel="cached" data-hash="8fcff85e6312524e81f3089c7db9e186" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://orig08.deviantart.net/b75c/f/2009/242/9/2/sigh_facepalm_____by_ghost1334652.jpg)
Part of my traditional individualism which people I know find fascinating......
So do you order Chinese at German a restaurant in your insanity? I think I'll go to El Pollo Loco (literally the Crazy Chicken) and order a burger and then Burger King to Mexican-style chicken, not :p
So do you order Chinese at German a restaurant in your insanity? I think I'll go to El Pollo Loco (literally the Crazy Chicken) and order a burger and then Burger King to Mexican-style chicken, not :p
I assume it's more like your friends like Chinese you don't want to be a buzzkill, plus they have some "regular" food anyway. Except they don't have any European dishes in any Chinese restaurant I know? I mean, there's stuff like Chinese tomato soup (http://www.smulweb.nl/recepten/949927/Chinese-tomatensoep), which is secretly Dutch/Benelux-Chinese so you could say it's European…
But really, you can just get a bunch of stir-fried vegetables at any Chinese place.
But really, you can just get a bunch of stir-fried vegetables at any Chinese place.
Or at the grocery store. Eat'em right out of the bag.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.coles.com.au%2Fwcsstore%2FColes-CAS%2Fimages%2F8%2F1%2F4%2F8145798.jpg&hash=c5f30fbd2d9a8b0bf1a86d2c8f4b7e7f" rel="cached" data-hash="c5f30fbd2d9a8b0bf1a86d2c8f4b7e7f" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://shop.coles.com.au/wcsstore/Coles-CAS/images/8/1/4/8145798.jpg)
Or at the grocery store. Eat'em right out of the bag.
Errr… que?
Chinese at a German restaurant? That is daft as Chinese restaurants do our local dishes smart alex.
Donald Trump and China: A complex relationship (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35839782)
In Henan province, there is a property management consulting firm called Trump Consulting. It has no connection with Mr Trump, but says on its website it is inspired by his property empire.
There is also a company in southern China, Shenzhen Trump Industries, that produces smart toilet seats and bathroom fixtures for high-end hotels, and Trump Electronics, a company based in eastern Anhui Province, has been making air purifiers since 1996, according to People's Daily.
Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump has more than 14,000 fans on microblogging site Sina Weibo. There is also a Trump Weibo fan page that is dedicated to "everything Trump".
Shanghai-based corporate lawyer Wei Li, who spent 10 years living in the US, tells the BBC that Mr Trump "is really speaking for heartland Americans, and he is a rare politician who speaks in plain English".
Mr Li says American election politics is "like a theatre" and rational politics will ultimately triumph over rhetoric.
"Trump's pragmatism, his access to information, his smartness as well as good counsel may translate into good decisions, should he win," he says.
Sijia Liu, a veteran radio host and commentator who has millions of daily listeners in Beijing, agrees.
"Perhaps Trump will be the president who makes politics understandable to ordinary people," Ms Liu says. "In America, even though you are the president, you cannot behave recklessly."
"So I wouldn't worry that Trump might become a bad president."
Even among the Chinese diaspora, who might have been put off by Mr Trump's views on race and immigration, there is some admiration.
"Many people are having a hard time understanding why Trump is so popular, or have the misconception that people who support him are poorly educated, white and angry males," says Wendy Wang.
Ms Wang moved to the US from China at the age of 25 and became a naturalised American citizen three years ago. She holds a PhD degree and is a professor at a private California university.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fichef-1.bbci.co.uk%2Fnews%2F624%2Fcpsprodpb%2FAEA3%2Fproduction%2F_88870744_wendy2.jpg&hash=37f9225a18501dcab1d445372f4df7a3" rel="cached" data-hash="37f9225a18501dcab1d445372f4df7a3" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/AEA3/production/_88870744_wendy2.jpg)
Ms Wang says she plans to vote for Mr Trump
Ms Wang tells the BBC she will "definitely" vote for Donald Trump as she sees him as "the medicine America needs".
I asked what exactly it is about Mr Trump that appeals to her. Her answer: "He's smart, honest, outspoken, and he is also a strongman."
She adds: "He is the kid who yells that the emperor has no clothes."
China now nearly as infectious for other Asian countries as the US is.
Chinese sneezes
(http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21707534-financial-contagion-china-now-rivals-america-chinese-sneezes)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.static-economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Foriginal-size%2Fimages%2Fprint-edition%2F20160924_FNC630.png&hash=a1ea58593b5766a3e7cedbead973d5f2" rel="cached" data-hash="a1ea58593b5766a3e7cedbead973d5f2" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/original-size/images/print-edition/20160924_FNC630.png)
We have still about a month left of the year of the (fire) monkey before the year of the fire chicken starts.
(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38456410)Chinese Year of the Rooster marked with huge Trump sculpture (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38456410)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fichef.bbci.co.uk%2Fnews%2F624%2Fcpsprodpb%2F05A6%2Fproduction%2F_93164410_87ddace9-4e4f-48b0-8e71-4567f25c1722.jpg&hash=ff8b47d2de52f3f1fd9f993abfee8284" rel="cached" data-hash="ff8b47d2de52f3f1fd9f993abfee8284" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/05A6/production/_93164410_87ddace9-4e4f-48b0-8e71-4567f25c1722.jpg)
And this is now the year of the chicken. Here from the Chinese New Year fireworks in New York:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVtiJBXFaaE
When Chinese attacks I hope the first to be hanged (or probably sliced alive) will be jax... :lol:
Rome doesn't pay to traitors... Chinese learns fast.
Chinese-Americans are becoming politically active (http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21715066-long-slumbering-voter-block-awakes-chinese-americans-are-becoming-politically-active?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fte%2Fbl%2Fed%2Fchineseamericansarebecomingpoliticallyactive)
THE 2016 election marked a coming-out party for conservative Chinese-Americans, who offered Donald Trump some of his most passionate support among non-whites. Now some are feeling the first twinges of a hangover, as their hero threatens a trade war with China and hints that he might upgrade ties with Taiwan, the island that Chinese leaders call no more than a breakaway province.
“My members worshipped Trump religiously for a whole year,” says David Tian Wang, a 33-year-old businessman originally from Beijing, who founded “Chinese Americans for Trump”
Exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengu seeks US asylum (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41193000)
Chinese billionaires should be executed immediately. They are the new modern warfare against Europe and nothing but that.
Same goes for the American Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other bimbo billionaires.
The saga continues.
House of Cards writers should be taken in for questioning, under suspicion of espionage.
Trump sought dissident's expulsion after hand-delivered letter from China – report (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/23/trumps-call-for-chinese-dissident-to-be-deported-based-on-beijing-letter-report)(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/daab55f3cfa26062550edba866247006a95a0411/0_307_2048_1229/master/2048.jpg?w=1225&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=81ecc4c0635309d8b2666be4afacc5e3)
However, two days later, just before leaving the country, the Chinese officials paid a second visit to Guo, triggering a debate within the administration over whether they should be arrested. FBI agents were posted at John F Kennedy airport ready to carry out the arrests before the officials boarded their flight, but they were not made, after the state department argued it could trigger a diplomatic crisis.
Guo has filed an application for political asylum in the US, which is pending. But according to the Journal’s account, Trump called for Guo’s deportation in a discussion on policy towards China (https://www.theguardian.com/world/china), describing him as a “criminal” at an Oval Office policy meeting in June, on the basis of a letter from Beijing accusing him of serious crimes.
The report said the letter had been hand-delivered to him at a private dinner by Steve Wynn, a Las Vegas casino magnate and Republican National Committee finance chairman with interests in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, for which Wynn relies on Beijing for licensing.
The marketing director for Wynn Resorts Ltd, Michael Weaver, told the Journal in a written statement: “[T]hat report regarding Mr Wynn is false. Beyond that, he doesn’t have any comment.”
Weaver did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian on what part of the story was false and whether Wynn had ever delivered a letter from the Chinese government to Trump.
The Journal report said that aides tried to persuade Trump out of going ahead with Guo’s deportation, noting he was a member of the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The aides later ensured that the deportation would not go ahead.
What Happens When the Richest U.S. Cities Turn to the World? (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/upshot/the-great-disconnect-megacities-go-global-but-lose-local-links.html)
Ms. Sassen argues that a global economy has created new kinds of needs for companies: accountants specializing in Asian tax law, lawyers expert in European Union regulation, marketers who understand Latin America. Global cities must connect to other global cities to tap these resources, which have become more valuable to them than lumber and steel.
Inventors in these global cities are also increasingly connecting to one another. Using the addresses of patent co-inventors, Mr. Mudambi has traced a steep rise starting in the early 1990s of global connections from a few American metro areas, which are today among the most prosperous in the country.
Many American companies still create physical things, in addition to inventing digital products and ideas. But globalization has changed who benefits from their business, too, enabling firms to separate intellectual work from routine work and scatter those roles across the globe. The knowledge work has tended to stay in the United States. The routine work is what was historically performed in the hinterland. And that in large part is the work that has gone overseas.
“The hinterland for Silicon Valley is Shenzhen,” said Timothy Sturgeon (https://ipc.mit.edu/people/ipc-affiliates/timothy-j-sturgeon), a senior researcher at the M.I.T. Industrial Performance Center.
China builds ambitiously in Africa as US sounds the alarm (http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2018/The-United-States-is-sounding-the-alarm-that-the-Chinese-money-flooding-Africa-comes-with-major-strings-attached/id-33e455f7dfcd48cebdee35f41fee6aaf)
For better or worse, U.S. suspicions about China's ambitions are playing out far beyond the confines of Africa. Chinese companies are building or financing power plants in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, managing a port in Greece and launching railway projects in Thailand and Tajikistan, with aggressive plans to continue its expansion into Latin America.
Already, there are cautionary tales, critics say.
In Sri Lanka, the former president suffered a surprise election defeat in 2015 after his opponent criticized him for running up some $5 billion in debt to China to fund construction. In December, Sri Lanka's government sold an 80 percent stake in the port in Hambantota to a Chinese state-owned company after falling behind in repaying $1.5 billion borrowed to build it.
Basically, when somebody else does exactly the way USA has been doing all along, it's very suspicious and a cause for alarm.
I think the main question is how important that "state-owned" part is. Besides that it sounds like capitalism as usual.
In Africa, some of the China-funded roads have started to crumble, the U.S. has said, due to shoddy construction.
For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyra
I think the main question is how important that "state-owned" part is. Besides that it sounds like capitalism as usual.
Or imperialism as usual. European colonists often created "companies" (such as British East India Company and Dutch East India Company) which were merchant corporations, not owned by the state in the strict sense, but whose interests were heavily backed by the state. The unfortunate local rulers were misled by the assumption that they were negotiating with merchants about storehouses and trade routes, but ended up permitting garrisons for white men's armies.
When the state backs commercial interests this way (the specific demands always included for example the right for whites to be under the motherland's jurisdiction wherever they went, never under the local jurisdiction), does it matter to what degree the company is formally state-owned? Of course I admit that when the company is state-owned, it's blatantly obvious that the company represents the country's interests, but it should be similarly blatantly obvious when the ambassador requests tax breaks or other privileges for its own country's companies/industries, exemption for its citizens from local law as a condition for an investment or loan, etc. even though none of the companies are state-owned.
Any story invoking "Ansaldo Breda" is unlikely to have a happy ending, though they themselves had an end, being bought by Hitachi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Rail_Italy).
Quality only comes if you ask, plan, and test for it. Get rich quick schemes come with the opportunity.
Speaking of food, here are the Mississippi delta Chinese:
https://youtu.be/2NMrqGHr5zE
A story of Chinese thinking the Americans are crazy.
(https://78.media.tumblr.com/8db6ffb9f06ae1347566315d3336ec0e/tumblr_inline_ntrcfrVDuw1r7ho9t_250.png)
Why US and China have such different views about an American girl in a cheongsam (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2144697/why-us-and-china-have-such-different-views-about-american-girl) (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong)
Qipao prom dress that caused a culture furore in the US draws head-scratching in China (https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/prom-dress-that-caused-a-furore-in-the-us-draws-head-scratching-in-china) (The Straits Times, Singapore)
I'm probably with the Chinese.
Many, many Moons ago I was on a link before pc days with the free Chinese Government on Taiwan. They very kindly sent me a nice magazine every few months whilst a London office sent me every fortnight a four page newspaper. Unfortunately decades ago I overlooked the opportunity to remain on their sending stuff. I even got a very nice letter from the Presidential palace done in what looked like a rice paper. Chiang Kai Shek was a good age and still the Head of State so gives an idea of how long ago! :D
China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-lifespan/china-overtakes-u-s-for-healthy-lifespan-who-data-idUSKCN1IV15L)
https://youtu.be/bMuSEuuZTeM
And it goes on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZtNfy6rwu8
Curious pronunciation of omicron at the beginning there.
A typical British (English) pronunciation: Their proclivity is to pronounce everything as if it were English (language, spelling), e.g. /vä'-lit/ instead of /vah-leh'/ for valet... The letters of the Greek alphabet!, included. One gets used to it.
(Who was the wag who described the Americans and the British as "two peoples separated by a common language"? :) Churchill, most likely; but authorities say George Bernard Shaw.)
I assume he has a corresponding pronunciation of Ω.
Pandemics and the extended hurricane seasons nowadays make guides like this useful:
https://youtu.be/28yu1PFc438
For those of a more classicist bent, Koine Greek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94B26pJM2fg
Probably should be a Greek version of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05my0KZ0QBk
And of course there is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZVwHxsxWZs
I assume he has a corresponding pronunciation of Ω.
Didn't you mean ω? :)
But in all fairness the letter we're calling omicron is from the Greek
o mikron,
i.e., little o...so there's some logic to the "offending pronunciation".
Didn't you mean ω?
I have the habit of using the uppercase (where applicable) when referring to the letter itself. with an implicit use/mention. So A is basically "a", but referring to the letter, not the pronunciation. I have no idea if it is "correct", but that is how I do it in every language. In other words the following two sentences would be pronounced the same, but (1) refers to the letter, and (2) to the word:
- How do you pronounce Ω?
- How do you pronounce ωμέγα?
An old complaint of mine is that Chinese uses English to transcribe European, and that is just about the worst language for that purpose. American English at that, but that doesn't bother me. (Hong Kongers and Singaporeans prefer British English, like the good post-colonials they are.) So how do you do the Greek alphabet in Chinese? I have absolutely no idea, so I used Google Translate (https://translate.google.com/?source=osdd&sl=auto&tl=zh-CN&text=alpha%2C%20beta%2C%20gamma%2C%20delta%2C%20%0Aepsilon%2C%20zeta%2C%20eta%2C%20%0Aiota%2C%20%0Akappa%2C%20%0Alambda%2C%20mu%2C%20nu%2C%20xi%2C%20omicron%2C%20pi%2C%20rho%2C%20sigma%2C%20%0Atau%2C%20upsilon%2C%20phi%2C%20chi%2C%20%0Apsi%2C%20%0Aomega.%0A%0A%CE%AC%CE%BB%CF%86%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%B2%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%B3%CE%AC%CE%BC%CE%BC%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%B4%CE%AD%CE%BB%CF%84%CE%B1%2C%20%0A%CE%AD%CF%88%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%BD%2C%20%E2%80%8B%CE%B6%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%B9%CF%8E%CF%84%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%BA%CE%AC%CF%80%CF%80%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%BC%CE%B2%CE%B4%CE%B1%2C%20%CE%BC%CF%85%2C%20%0A%CE%BD%CF%85%2C%20%CE%BE%CE%B9%2C%20%0A%CF%8C%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%2C%20%CF%80%CE%B9%2C%20%CF%81%CF%8E%2C%20%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B3%CE%BC%CE%B1%2C%20%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%85%2C%20%CF%8D%CF%88%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%BD%2C%20%CF%86%CE%B9%2C%20%CF%87%CE%B9%2C%20%0A%CF%88%CE%B9%2C%20%0A%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%B3%CE%B1%0A%0A%CE%91%2C%20%CE%92%2C%20%CE%93%2C%20%CE%94%2C%20%CE%95%2C%20%CE%96%2C%20%CE%97%2C%20%CE%98%2C%20%CE%99%2C%20%CE%9A%2C%20%CE%9B%2C%20%CE%9C%2C%20%CE%9D%2C%20%CE%9E%2C%20%CE%9F%2C%20%CE%A0%2C%20%CE%A1%2C%20%CE%A3%2C%20%CE%A4%2C%20%CE%A5%2C%20%CE%A6%2C%20%CE%A7%2C%20%CE%A8%2C%20%CE%A9.&op=translate). And for this Google Translate really
flexes.
I don't know it you also have prod GT into doing what you want, but one trick is to use a newline. That will usually create a new context for the part in question. GT cannot decide how to do it, so the letters in question and the length of the strings decide. Try it yourself. There isn't a huge difference between English and Greek transcription and the letter in question (alpha, άλφα, and Α respectively), but there is one. So you can get Chinese transcription (e.g. gamma into 伽马, where 伽 (jia, sound transcription) is the "ga", and 马 (ma, horse (https://dndsanctuary.eu/index.php?topic=330.0)), you can get the Latin/English transcription, you can get the Greek letter (lowercase), or you can get the Greek word. It depends.
If you translate the Greek letter from Greek to Chinese, you get them with a regular Chinese English pronunciation. If you translate them from English to Chinese, you get them with the pronunciation of Chinese speaking English (with a heavy American accent).
The Wall Street Journal reports (https://archive.md/6ZLkn) and "expert" calls the pronunciation Frenzie pointed out "Americanized". :) (Interesting stuff about GT, though!)
Greeks would have you even say "veeta" instead of "bayta".
Just ignore them Greek snobs who prefer the world tiptoe their current modern pronunciation. The Greeks themselves are no longer aligned with their own classical pronunciation and are often not even aware of it, while much of the world (particularly the non-English part of the world) uses variants close enough to the classical Greek.
An old complaint of mine is that Chinese uses English to transcribe European, and that is just about the worst language for that purpose.
Do you mean it's based on the Great Vowel Shift, which makes English spelling and pronunciation substantially different from pretty much every other language, or something even more pernacious?
I assume he has a corresponding pronunciation of Ω.
Didn't you mean ω? :)
A technical question: How would you type ω in jEdit?
Greeks would have you even say "veeta" instead of "bayta".
Just ignore them Greek snobs who prefer the world tiptoe their current modern pronunciation. The Greeks themselves are no longer aligned with their own classical pronunciation and are often not even aware of it, while much of the world (particularly the non-English part of the world) uses variants close enough to the classical Greek.
Depends on which Greek spoken. To quote the Wiktionary βῆτα page,
Etymology
Borrowed from Phoenician 𐤁 (b /bēt/). The letter name, beth, comes from Phoenician 𐤁𐤕 (bt), 𐤁𐤉𐤕 (byt, “house”).
Pronunciation
(5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /bɛ̂ː.ta/
(1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈbe.ta/
(4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈβi.ta/
(10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈvi.ta/
(15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈvi.ta/
http://ipa-reader.xyz/
The "bayta" would be ahistorical-ish, but the pan-European "beh-tah" pronunciation would just be a bit old (on the negative end of the year line). This is a pretty nice coverage of the ειvolution of ει:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOqdrWlR4Gw
But how should Hurricane Beta or the covid beta variant be pronounced?
A technical question: How would you type ω in jEdit?
"ώ" is readily available to any Mac program... By selecting the correct keyboard input device. (System-wide shortcuts for switching such are standard...) Since the keyboard I normally use has no physical indicator for Caps-lock, I usually keep the Keyboard Viewer on screen(s).
So it works like in Windows, I see. In Linux there are three distinct layers: (1) TTY (console), (2) Xorg or Wayland (windowing system), and (3) the app.
The app's ability to make use of different fonts and layouts may or may not be there, but in Emacs it is there. It is possible to type Japanese or Greek as I wish in Emacs, independent of whether the windowing system or console is able to do it.
If the app has no independent such ability, then it depends on the windowing system or the console. The console fonts are most limited. I hoped I would be able to write in Linux (or BSD) console as per normal some day somehow (freely switching between Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Japanese etc.) but it turned out impossible.
An old complaint of mine is that Chinese uses English to transcribe European, and that is just about the worst language for that purpose.
Do you mean it's based on the Great Vowel Shift, which makes English spelling and pronunciation substantially different from pretty much every other language, or something even more pernacious?
I was thinking of the dual layer of transcription, first to English, then to Chinese. So β, that
@ersi complained about, is 贝塔 (pinyin: bèitǎ). Whether that is "correct" or not is a manner of discussion, there is 25 centuries of Greek language development, as well as 5 centuries of reconstructed Ancient (and not so ancient) Greek. So maybe in this case it is the Dutch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus), not to English to "blame", and 贝塔 is a reasonable Chinese-English-Dutch-Egyptian-Greek approximation, of a letter used in maths, meteorology, epidemiology etc because these Greek letters are suitably international.
The Latin alphabet is the English alphabet (or ayebeesea) in Chinese, the names are Chinglish as well. Wien/Vienna is 维也纳 (pinyin: Wéiyěnà). Though Södertälje is transcribed 南泰利耶 (or Nántàilìyé, South Tälje), so there are a few exceptions. And Chinese phonology doesn't map that well to English phonology. Not perfectly to any other European language either, but I think we would be better off with e.g. Spanish or German. Other way around it's hard to say. Which language would do e.g. Chinese diphthongs better?
https://youtu.be/b9Ayvjy-Dgs?t=24
(bopomofo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo) is traditional ordering)Czech has its own transcription of Chinese, that makes sense if you can traverse Chinese and Czech. So the province of Sichuan, 四川 (which originally did not mean "four rivers") is transcribed in Czech S’-čchuan. The Czech love of consonant sequences extends into Chinese. Shanghai is Šanghaj. Yangzi River is Jang-c’-ťiang. Pinyin transcribed into Czech is pchin-jin.
So maybe in this case it is the Dutch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus)
As per Erasmus we say bèta (/'bɛːta/), not beyta.
I guessed so, but was too lazy to check. Or to be honest, I found it more amusing not to check.
After all the letter was spelled βῆτα, not βειτα, and it was the latter diphthong that covered in this YouTube video.
(5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /bɛ̂ː.ta/
(1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈbe.ta/
(4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈβi.ta/
(10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈvi.ta/
(15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈvi.ta/
The "bayta" would be ahistorical-ish, but the pan-European "beh-tah" pronunciation would just be a bit old (on the negative end of the year line). This is a pretty nice coverage of the ειvolution of ει:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOqdrWlR4Gw
But how should Hurricane Beta or the covid beta variant be pronounced?
A Hollywood/China divorce would be a good thing. The Hollywood blockbusters have largely been miserable last decade, and the Chinese adaptations even worse. And the commercially successful Chinese movies mentioned are all trash.
https://youtu.be/W2J0pRJSToU
Pretty much like US big screen movie glitter has faded, the same goes for Chinese. Watchable content is going online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6omaF7aTV4
War Game scenarios: This Is What Happens When China Invades Taiwan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE61S9BpDek
Average playout:
1. It is more preferable for China to attack in south of Taiwan. In north they would fail to get a foothold.
2. An assumption is that Japan will let USA use their bases.
3. USA will overpower the Chinese navy.
4. Chinese infantry in Taiwan cannot sustain themselves and would eventually be defeated.
5. All events from beginning to end take some four or five weeks.
Comments:
- Taiwan is a difficult island to conquer. The difficulty is comparable to World War II's D-Day or Philippines battles.
- One would think that when both sides use war games to predict the outcome and the outcome is clear, they would not engage in real war. In reality the risk may be taken anyway.
- Sometimes politicians, citing some political factors, encourage military action despite the pessimism of the generals. For example, Iraqi generals in the Iraq war did not see any point in fighting, but Saddam Hussein said he was talking with the French and Russians and that victory was possible.
- Ukraine holds on strategically because USA/EU supports Ukraine and Russia is unable to disrupt the support. Such support is not possible for Taiwan. A longer war would be lost for USA and Taiwan would have to put up an internal resistance, build on asymmetric capabilities, landmines and such.
My own takeaways:
Western policy makers think they have already done everything they could for Ukraine. Victory for Taiwan is plausible, so it is okay to call the current status in Ukraine a day. Their Plan B: Even if the West loses Taiwan, so what.
I have a slightly different take! (But I found the report of these war games hugely entertaining — and maybe even cogent.) What I'd ask is:
What does the CCP gain if it subjugates Taiwan?
The best they can hope for is the destruction of a vibrant and successful economy.
Typical leftist reasoning: If everybody else is doing as poorly as we are, we're doing okay...
I too (three?) can't see an invasion of Taiwan as anything but a loss for the CCP. Nor the military establishment raring to go fish either.
However threatening to invade could be cost-effective and threats must be taken seriously. China has the size advantage (Taiwan is to Mainland China what Canada is to USA), while Taiwan would be key to a blockade of China. So economic-military blackmail on the island group could work in their favour if handled deftly. Which it isn't.
I too (three?) can't see an invasion of Taiwan as anything but a loss for the CCP. Nor the military establishment raring to go fish either.
However threatening to invade could be cost-effective and threats must be taken seriously.
Cost-effectiveness does not matter at all whatsoever. Russia is trying to teach you this very hard, but you are not learning. In Ukraine war, Russians happily wallow in senseless pain and suffering. They think it makes them glorious and glory is what matters. You should already have seen how much they are willing to sacrifice for nearly nothing. The reality is that they are willing to sacrifice far more than we have seen, far more than the West can imagine.
How much are you willing to sacrifice for your home country? Obviously your mind went instantly into cost-effectiveness calculation mode, so the correct answer is: Nothing. As soon as you start calculating, it is not a sacrifice any longer. And you think everybody else is the same as you. Well, Russians are not, and I suspect the Chinese also are not like that. There is some diversity in the world, can you imagine?
The Chinese can afford to expend with about half a billion lives. But I think they won't. For the current regime, starting a war would be a totally new activity. They have not had a war since their civil war around WWII. They have not committed any external aggression for some 300 years or so. A war would be a completely new thing for them and this is probably the main reason why they think very carefully and are very cautious about it.
However, they have the manpower. And they keep getting indirect encouragement from the West, as Russia has been consistently rewarded for every incursion.
However threatening to invade could be cost-effective
Who is threatening? Is One China policy threatening? Both mainland China and Taiwan have the exact same rhetoric of One China policy, the only difference being whose regime should preside over the single China. (There are more small differences, such as Taiwan claiming more landmass to itself than the current mainland China holds, but that aside.)
Of course mainland China looks more menacing to Taiwan due to its manpower, but let's remember that it was Kissinger of USA who made the world recognise mainland China as the proper China so that Taiwan became a barely recognised country. Don't you think Taiwan felt threatened back then? Quite ironically, nobody thought of the cost-effectiveness of such a move. It's quite costly to have a recognised scary mainland China now.