05.28.08
Posted in Politics, The Wenchuan Earthquake at 21:10 by Mul
Let’s face it. Sharon Stone is famous for one reason and one reason only: she flashed her vagina to the entire world in Basic Instinct. Does this qualify her to share her political views? In Hollywood, I guess the answer is a big fat Marv Albert-style “Yes!”.
At a red carpet event in Cannes, Stone weighed in on the karmic connection between the violent suppression of protests in Tibet and the recent earthquake. Stone’s vagina commented:
“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,” Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong’s Cable Entertainment News. “And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?”
Thanks for putting that together for us Sharon Stone. Please, for the sake of humanity, can you now turn your attention to global warming or solving the mysteries of cold fusion?
Of course, we get an immediate response from the usual gang of idiots who have announced plans to boycott Sharon Stone movies and remove advertisements featuring her in China. That hurts. I bet her movies do really well in China. At least the Chinese Foreign Ministry gives the dignified response: silence.
UPDATE: Christian Dior announces that they will no longer feature Sharon Stone in their advertisements . . . in China. Sharon Stone apologizes and offers to assist with earthquake relief work. And the Foreign Ministry can’t resist and has to comment. Full story here. The New York Times also nicely manages to compare Stone’s foot in mouth affecting her endorsements with the recent Edison Chen scandal in Hong Kong (naked pics lost him Pepsi and Disney) and Ronaldo in Brazil (trannie encounters lost him a mobile phone sponsorship).
Permalink
Posted in Environment, Industry, Law and Order, Politics, USA at 10:01 by SHTig
Everyone knows that China has been under pressure for years, led by the US Congress, to allow the value of its currency, the RMB or yuan, to appreciate. But the “weak” RMB that hurts American exporters is not likely to be the main issue of concern to American voters. They’ll be more worried about $4/gallon (or higher!) gasoline. And this (Chinese article) is a big reason why. China has price controls on diesel and other fuels, such that there is now an RMB6000 (US$870) disparity between what a ton of diesel goes for in China and what it goes for abroad. Chinese oil refiners like Sinopec are getting slammed, since their costs are rising but the sale price of fuel is controlled by the Chinese government. The government is responding with measures to import more oil to help ease pressures.
Why does China control prices? Well, it’s obviously a good way to spur growth, and it’s been working as the country has been growing at 10%+ for over a decade. It’s also a way to over pollute the country and congest the roads. And it’s contributing to the skyrocketing oil prices worldwide, since 25% of the world’s population, the Chinese, are paying a lot less for the oil they use than everyone else.
SHTig adds (5/28 6:50pm PRC time): Mul called to ask what this means, and nator commented below also asking for clarity. To answer - yes, China buys oil on world markets at prevailing prices. But then, when that oil is sold domestically it is done so at a price lower than the prevailing world price. The government forces Sinopec and others to sell it on the cheap, and makes up for this by subsidizing Sinopec with the difference. This process allows everyone in China to get oil in all forms for less than the ‘true’ price, which results in more oil being consumed in China than what should be. We expect consumption to be inversely proportional to price - and when prices are kept artificially low, consumption is artificially high. With oil consumption artificially high in China, China demands more oil from the world markets than it should from an economic prospective and this is what adds to the upward pricing pressure on oil.
If your taxi driver had to pay the prevailing market price for gasoline, your taxi flagfall would be higher than RMB 11 (as it is in Shanghai), and you’d pay more per kilometer. The ride might cost you 50% or 100% more, and at the margins, some people would opt to take a bus instead. Multiply this behavior by 1,300,000,000 and remember that China is the world’s workshop, and we’re talking about a lot less oil being used, if only they - the end users - paid the prevailing price. That would reduce global demand and thus the price of oil as well, ceteris paribus.
Wonder if John McCain and Barack Obama will talk about this when asked what they plan to do about $4/gallon gasoline? If Chinese consumers paid the same price for fuel as everyone else, it might serve to put them on the same competitive playing field as other countries, and it might also serve to increase efficiencies within China.
Permalink
05.26.08
Posted in Law and Order, Media/Internet, Rumors, The Wenchuan Earthquake at 11:17 by SHTig
The allegations of dishonesty by Chinese Red Cross societies are rampant. Last week Truth from Facts reported on a QQ rumor alleging that Red Cross officials were feasting on donation money. Subsequently there have been stories alleging that a Red Cross society in Hainan, China, was demanding a 5% “management fee”. That story apparently had legs, as the local vice director of that chapter was trying to find an official-sounding way to pilfer funds, and she has since faced administrative sanction. Perhaps stories like that are what is leading to the spate of rumors of dishonesty by the Red Cross, like this one I received this morning from a colleague (English translation and original Chinese below):
Please help pass this around! Two people from the Zhongjiang Red Cross came to my pharmacy today to buy RMB10,000 worth of medicines, but demanded that we issue an invoice for RMB50,000. We (First Pharmaecuticals Manufacturer of Chengdu) did not comply, resulting in the management of the neighboring Tonghua Yijia Pharmacy giving it (a receipt) to them. These people are terrible! According to State regulations, all donations go into a fund, and they can legally take 10% of this fund for administrative expenditures. Under the current law this is considered legal! Therefore, of the several billion in RMB already raised, several hundred million has already been taking out. If you don’t believe it, you can ask the fund official right here. Now of the 90% remaining of donation money, are the materials being purchased done so at the lowest market price? Are they being bought at bulk price? Is the purchase receipt showing 50 RMB or 500 RMB? Who knows? Our media and great people should now demand that that the purchase receipts from each day should be made public! Don’t just make public the receipts of donations collected, we want to see the purchase receipts! Where are these trillions of RMB going each day!! It’s Chinese people, please forward this! If the people won’t take pains to investigate the government, then the government will tend towards rot!
SHTig adds (5/26 5:00pm PRC time): This rumor led the Red Cross chapter in question to issue this formal statement on the Zhongjiang government website, saying this rumor is bunk and beckoning people to report names of those who are damaging the reputation of the Red Cross without warrant. Also, since I first posted this article, I learned that Tonghua (the location of the factory that was supposedly next door to the Chenghua store that refused to give out the inflated invoice) — is in Jilin province, some 3 hours away by plane! But none of this stops the non-thinking hoards to pass along dumb messages like this…
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
05.24.08
Posted in Olympics, Rumors, The Wenchuan Earthquake at 11:28 by Nator
The silliness continues online as China’s citizens struggle to find an explanation for the horrific earthquake in Sichuan:
Gossip sites are full of speculation that four of the five cartoon mascots have fulfilled prophesies of doom with one more, connected to the Yangtze River, still to come, the South China Morning Post said.
Jingjing, a panda, is the animal most closely associated with Sichuan province where the earthquake struck.
Huanhuan, a cartoon character with flame-red hair, is being linked by bloggers to the Olympic torch that has been dogged by anti-China protests on its round-the-world tour.
Yingying, an antelope, is an animal confined to the borders of Tibet, which has been the scene of riots and the cause of international protests against China, the bloggers say.
Nini, represented by a kite, is being viewed as a reference to the “kite city” of Weifang, in Shandong, where there was a deadly train crash last month.
That leaves only Beibei, represented by a sturgeon fish, which online doomsayers suggest could indicate a looming disaster in the Yangtze River, the only place where sturgeon is found.
Also see here for further discussion of the fuwa connection, along with alternate explanations involving numerology and feng shui.
MUL adds: Great theory, but isn’t Nini a sparrow rather than a kite? What does Weifeng have to do with birds?
SHTig adds: Never realized this before, but Yingying is kind of hot.
MUL adds: Do we know if Yingying is male or female?
SHTig adds: umm, according to this, Yingying is male, and a minor. I hereby recant my previous statement. Not that there would have been anything wrong liking a little boy.
Permalink
05.22.08
Posted in Media/Internet, The Second Tier, The Wenchuan Earthquake at 21:29 by Mul
After publishing what Gawker aptly labeled “earthquake porn“, a small Chinese magazine called New Travel Weekly has been shut down. The magazine apparently published a spread of photos of bikini-clad models traipsing about amid the ruin and rubble of the earthquake. Very tasteful. The government, surprisingly, did not think it to be so tasteful - rather they labeled it an “extremely evil social influence” . After some “rectification” it is possible that the magazine may be re-opened.
With a new managing editor, editor and deputy editor, natch.
Permalink
Posted in Media/Internet, Rumors, The Wenchuan Earthquake at 20:48 by SHTig
Why do so many people believe a bunk QQ rumor?
Here is a wow story (重庆渝北区红十字会否认用救灾款吃喝). To summarize the story:
The Yubei, Chongqing Municipality Red Cross made an appeal for donations after the May 12 earthquake in nearby Sichuan province. And for the past few days, a message has been passed around on QQ that says (translation): “On May 16, the Red Cross of Yubei District, Chongqing City got a great response to its appeal for donations of cash and goods to area hospitals for disaster relief. However, at noon today, all of the Red Cross members hand lunch at the best restaurant in Yubei, occupying 6 tables at RMB 6,000 per table, having both lunch and dinner there.”
The QQ message led many “netizens” to question whether the Red Cross used donation funds to whoop it up, and to attack the Red Cross by saying that even if it wasn’t misusing funds, this is no time to be whooping it up at a feast. Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Posted in Chinese Nationalism, The Wenchuan Earthquake at 19:00 by Nator
Michael Mogg has an excellent description of the post-quake donation fever in China:
Yao Ming, who used to be the darling of China and who inspired so many young Chinese to aspire towards their dreams, is now a liar and a betrayer of his people. All of that is based on how much he donated to the earthquake relief. Chao Yun Fat is considered refuse and is rumored to have given nothing, while Jackie Chan has become a near demigod for his massive contribution. These situations, regardless of their veracity, fact or fiction, have the same ability to show the true face of the people who murmur about these things. And it ain’t pretty.
Sound harsh? It is, but it’s also spot on. Read the rest here. (Anonymoused for those of us in China)
Permalink
Posted in Shanghai at 14:46 by SHTig
May 22, 2008, Shanghai - at 9:48am local time today a garbage truck exploded into flames. The incident took place at the intersection of Eshan Road and Yanggao Road (峨山路杨高路口). No further details are available at this time and the cause has not been determined
Earlier this month, a Shanghai Bus #842 exploded into flames, killing several passengers, and is believed to have been an intentional act. 垃圾车爆炸
Permalink
05.21.08
Posted in Chinese Nationalism, Media/Internet, The Second Tier, The Wenchuan Earthquake, USA at 20:02 by SHTig
Chinese netizens express overwhelming thanks and appreciation to the Bushes and the United States
Today George W. Bush and his wife are very popular people in China. That’s not something you’ll read very often. And all it took them was a short trip from Pennsylvania Avenue down to the Chinese Embassay in Washington, to mourn the vicitms and sign a book of condolensces in memory of the Sichuan earthquake victims.
To see the American president bow his head in mourning (吊唁) to the victims plays exceedingly well to a prestige conscious culture that has felt slighted lately. So far, nearly 1800 comments have been posted to this story (in Chinese).
The comments are very interesting - I’d say 90% of them are positive toward President Bush, his wife, and Americans! This is unlike what one usually finds in the Chinese Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
« Previous entries
