After a full semester of trying to figure out how China influences our daily lives, I realize that I didn’t mention dozens of issues related to this topic. If I had done it, I would have more supporting examples for this last posting. Nevertheless, I’ll try to write a summary of my thoughts and realizations.
As much as I would wish to lean towards a concrete answer to the blog title, I have not found out whether China is good or bad. I do not even believe that a country could be either one. What I know for sure, is that I can thank China for changing many of my daily habits. After the incident with poisoned pet food from the previous year, I stopped feeding my dog and cat canned food. It may mean some financial loss for the pet food industry in the case more people behave like me, but who cares, as long as my pets live healthy live supported by nutritional fresh food? The same goes for me; I prefer fresh apples from the Washington State instead of apple juice imported from the People’s Republic of China, where most of it originates. I became more food conscious than I was ever before. These days, when I walk through the isles of the grocery stores, I always search for the country of origin and expiration date on the food products. Overspending of money for small little cute things made in China, like costume jewelry, decoration home products, or pet toys, is a history now. If I can not be secure that they are lead free, I do not buy them, and by not buying them, I realize that I actually never really needed them. That keeps the house less cluttered, as recommended by the feng shui, and it also helps to maintain a better savings account.
It all sounds like I am boycotting Chinese products, and most probably I am. The times change and I believe that the great social security and over-consumerism depression lurking around the corner will somehow magically disappear. I believe that people will reconsider their values. I believe that America will accept its industry back and that its citizens will rather buy a children’s food bowl made in the U.S.A. for $ 7 bucks than two bowls for the same price shipped from a country that smears lead paint Spongebobs all over it, suffocating the children for whom everybody in this country builds solid future.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chinese cinematography
China may be momentarily poisoning our bodies, but at the same time, it is providing enough soul food to help us get through with its movies and actors, famous to the western cultures.
In the seventies, Bruce Lee started the trend of Asian martial arts in American cinematography. In the present, many more popular actors, producers, or directors of Chinese and Hong Kong origin are well known to the audience of commercial movies. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are my most favorite, perhaps because of their characters’ innocence and moral principles.
Jackie Chan: Born in Hong Kong in 1954, this actor and producer provides us with uncountable hours of fun, amusement and showcasing of martial art skills. In the movies Rush Hour 1-4, he plays a Chinese chief inspector who is a temporary partner to American detective (Chris Tucker), and while trying to solve important international cases, many times they and up in various funny and embarrassing situations.
Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights are comedy movies set in 18 hundreds America’s Wild West. Jackie Chan, a Chinese imperial guard pairs up with a train robber (Owen Wilson). Together, they experience a lot of misadventures in humorous way.
Jet Li: Born in China in 1963, he is the second most famous Asian actor and martial art champion. Jet Li’s western career started with his movie Romeo must die, a modern Romeo and Juliet action drama. He plays the main character who investigates the death of his brother between the Chinese and American mafias.
Popular martial art movies that followed were Kiss of the Dragon, The one, The hero, and Fearless.
In the seventies, Bruce Lee started the trend of Asian martial arts in American cinematography. In the present, many more popular actors, producers, or directors of Chinese and Hong Kong origin are well known to the audience of commercial movies. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are my most favorite, perhaps because of their characters’ innocence and moral principles.
Jackie Chan: Born in Hong Kong in 1954, this actor and producer provides us with uncountable hours of fun, amusement and showcasing of martial art skills. In the movies Rush Hour 1-4, he plays a Chinese chief inspector who is a temporary partner to American detective (Chris Tucker), and while trying to solve important international cases, many times they and up in various funny and embarrassing situations.
Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights are comedy movies set in 18 hundreds America’s Wild West. Jackie Chan, a Chinese imperial guard pairs up with a train robber (Owen Wilson). Together, they experience a lot of misadventures in humorous way.
Jet Li: Born in China in 1963, he is the second most famous Asian actor and martial art champion. Jet Li’s western career started with his movie Romeo must die, a modern Romeo and Juliet action drama. He plays the main character who investigates the death of his brother between the Chinese and American mafias.
Popular martial art movies that followed were Kiss of the Dragon, The one, The hero, and Fearless.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Recalls on Products Made in China
During the past months, many of us became aware of the increased list of problematic Chinese products. Before the poisoned pet food, I did not even realize the high volume of imports from China. If I set aside the questions why would Chinese want to poison American pets and whether it was a terrorist conspiracy or just a really slacked off job on Chinese part, the main point is: Why would USA buy food from China? It is well known that American society throws away more food portions than the average Chinese citizen can afford to eat. Why would the government allow food and medicine imports from country whose health record is infamous for the origin of annual flu, bird flu, SARS, and virtually every new potentially problematic disease? Further, China is the world leader in generating pollution and destroying the eco system with poisoning drinking water sources. The following examples illustrate how China continues to demonstrate their lack of health regulations and poor quality control:
1. Pet food containing rat poison caused some animals to die of liver failure.
2. Diethylene glycol (DEG) contaminated dental products can cause damage to kidneys, liver and the nervous system. The list of contaminated tooth pastes can be found on the FDA web site:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/toothpaste.html#products
3. Chinese made tires sold between 2002- 2006 are missing a required safety feature that prevents them from separating, increasing the likelihood of road accidents.
4. Children’s toys, costume jewelry, children’s gardening tools and other similar products are covered in led paint, which can cause reduced IQ, kidney failure, damage to reproductive organs, and basically affects every organ in the body. In the US, it was banned in the late 70’s.
5. Some very recent products recalled: fake Halloween teeth with excessive amounts of lead paint, toy figures, and children’s beads.
1. Pet food containing rat poison caused some animals to die of liver failure.
2. Diethylene glycol (DEG) contaminated dental products can cause damage to kidneys, liver and the nervous system. The list of contaminated tooth pastes can be found on the FDA web site:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/toothpaste.html#products
3. Chinese made tires sold between 2002- 2006 are missing a required safety feature that prevents them from separating, increasing the likelihood of road accidents.
4. Children’s toys, costume jewelry, children’s gardening tools and other similar products are covered in led paint, which can cause reduced IQ, kidney failure, damage to reproductive organs, and basically affects every organ in the body. In the US, it was banned in the late 70’s.
5. Some very recent products recalled: fake Halloween teeth with excessive amounts of lead paint, toy figures, and children’s beads.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Feng Shui
One of my most favorite Chinese inventions is Feng Shui. I have been practicing it for about twelve years, and it has taken an important role in my life. Feng Shui is an art of ancient Chinese wisdom mostly applying to the way of building, furnishing, and maintaining of homes. It balances and harmonizes our living environment using the yin-yang(female-male) dualism.
The major way for more personal and advanced Feng Shui is finding the kua number and its heaven’s direction; to calculate it, a person needs to know the formula, the sex, and date of birth. A wide spread form of Feng Shui is the style which uses symbolism because it is less restrictive and applies to every person.
General wisdom of Feng Shui symbolism
Chi is a positive energy which brings life into the home. A clean, maintained doorway welcomes the chi energy and lets it enter the home. Once the chi is inside, it should flow freely through the rooms and harmonize the home. Clutter, mess, and dirt derail the chi, or obstruct it from continuing its flow. This causes “dead “ corners, or stagnating rooms in which people do not like to stay for longer and have an urge to leave.
Also pillars in front of the main doors in the hallways can cause chi to turn around and walk away from the home. We can prevent this by placing climbing plants, or decorative screens in front of the pillars.
Mirrors play an important role in Feng Shui. They can harm or protect the owner of the home, depending on whether he or she can use their magical powers. Mirrors in the bedroom reflecting a sleeping person can cause nightmares, split personalities, or even bring another person into marriage – mostly a lover for the husband. It is recommended to cover them for night. A positive usage of mirrors is to strategically place them in dark rooms or hallways to increase light and brighten up spaces. A mirror reflecting a dining table will double the food on it and make sure that the home owners will always have enough food for the whole family.
Water symbolizes finances and its usage in homes should be given extra attention. Swimming pools that take over the majority of the backyard symbolize excess of water which will drawn family’s money; water on posters, paintings, and in aquariums in the bedrooms cause financial and relationship troubles for those occupying it. Paintings of water features placed on the wall behind one’s back in the office area lead to missed opportunities in the career field. To activate wealth, place a pond with goldfish on the left side of the main door (i.e., standing inside looking out) in the front yard. A model of a sailing ship loaded with cat gold, symbolizing the treasures brought by merchants from their journeys, placed on a side table in a family or living room pointing inwards, as if sailing into the house, will bring wealth for the home.
Plants or cut flowers should not occupy the bedroom either; their strong yang energy can cause sleepless nights. They will have a positive impact on the house when placed in living or family rooms to cheer up family communication. Leaves of the plants should be of smooth and curved shapes. Pointed, blade shaped leaves, like the ones of the mother in law’s tongue and thorny cacti will cause harm inside of the home, sending out deadly energy, they are better kept outdoors to protect the home from intruders. Lemon trees bring wealth and fertility to a family; they can be placed in a hallway or outside on a patio. Dead plants spread only negative yin energy and should be thrown away. Interestingly, paintings of flowers in the bedroom bring romance to young couples, but in the later years of marriage they cause the husband to develop a roving eye for younger lovers.
Electronics like stereos and TV’s should be kept out of the bedrooms or children’s rooms because their static sends out disturbing negative energy which can cause disturbed sleep and insomnia.
Too, Lillian. Das Grosse Buch Feng Shui. Koeln: Koenemann, 2000.
---. Lillian Too’s Easy-to-Use Feng Shui for Love. London: Collins & Brown Limited, 2000.
The major way for more personal and advanced Feng Shui is finding the kua number and its heaven’s direction; to calculate it, a person needs to know the formula, the sex, and date of birth. A wide spread form of Feng Shui is the style which uses symbolism because it is less restrictive and applies to every person.
General wisdom of Feng Shui symbolism
Chi is a positive energy which brings life into the home. A clean, maintained doorway welcomes the chi energy and lets it enter the home. Once the chi is inside, it should flow freely through the rooms and harmonize the home. Clutter, mess, and dirt derail the chi, or obstruct it from continuing its flow. This causes “dead “ corners, or stagnating rooms in which people do not like to stay for longer and have an urge to leave.
Also pillars in front of the main doors in the hallways can cause chi to turn around and walk away from the home. We can prevent this by placing climbing plants, or decorative screens in front of the pillars.
Mirrors play an important role in Feng Shui. They can harm or protect the owner of the home, depending on whether he or she can use their magical powers. Mirrors in the bedroom reflecting a sleeping person can cause nightmares, split personalities, or even bring another person into marriage – mostly a lover for the husband. It is recommended to cover them for night. A positive usage of mirrors is to strategically place them in dark rooms or hallways to increase light and brighten up spaces. A mirror reflecting a dining table will double the food on it and make sure that the home owners will always have enough food for the whole family.
Water symbolizes finances and its usage in homes should be given extra attention. Swimming pools that take over the majority of the backyard symbolize excess of water which will drawn family’s money; water on posters, paintings, and in aquariums in the bedrooms cause financial and relationship troubles for those occupying it. Paintings of water features placed on the wall behind one’s back in the office area lead to missed opportunities in the career field. To activate wealth, place a pond with goldfish on the left side of the main door (i.e., standing inside looking out) in the front yard. A model of a sailing ship loaded with cat gold, symbolizing the treasures brought by merchants from their journeys, placed on a side table in a family or living room pointing inwards, as if sailing into the house, will bring wealth for the home.
Plants or cut flowers should not occupy the bedroom either; their strong yang energy can cause sleepless nights. They will have a positive impact on the house when placed in living or family rooms to cheer up family communication. Leaves of the plants should be of smooth and curved shapes. Pointed, blade shaped leaves, like the ones of the mother in law’s tongue and thorny cacti will cause harm inside of the home, sending out deadly energy, they are better kept outdoors to protect the home from intruders. Lemon trees bring wealth and fertility to a family; they can be placed in a hallway or outside on a patio. Dead plants spread only negative yin energy and should be thrown away. Interestingly, paintings of flowers in the bedroom bring romance to young couples, but in the later years of marriage they cause the husband to develop a roving eye for younger lovers.
Electronics like stereos and TV’s should be kept out of the bedrooms or children’s rooms because their static sends out disturbing negative energy which can cause disturbed sleep and insomnia.
Too, Lillian. Das Grosse Buch Feng Shui. Koeln: Koenemann, 2000.
---. Lillian Too’s Easy-to-Use Feng Shui for Love. London: Collins & Brown Limited, 2000.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Organs for Sale
What happened to the famous moral of Chinese wisdom in the recent decades? Why does the news get filled with increasing number of horror stories coming from China, showing how little they appreciate human lives? Not only do they not care enough about their trade partners worldwide, which we can infer from recent food and medicine poisonings, but their own people have to pay a high price for the economic profits of this Asian tiger.
Although China made selling of organs illegal in 2006, the human organs industry is in full bloom. The high demand for human organs on the national and international side, and an extended usage of death penalty in China create a perfect relation to support this phenomenon.
The “transplant tourists” from Japan, USA, European and other wealthy countries come to China to buy new livers, kidneys, or hearts from hospitals supported by the Chinese government for profit purposes, and go through the operation procedures while still visiting the country. The organs are mostly harvested from executed prisoners and victims of accidents, but the black market does not even mind stealing organs from healthy people while still alive. Many movie directors have been touched by this infamous and persisting issue. As an example, Hong Kong director Chi-Leung shows how the black organ market functions in the movie Koma.
With demands of international organizations for increased protection of human rights, and Olympics 2008 approaching, Chinese government recently banned the sale of human organs. While China has made public efforts to eliminate the organ trade, both rumors of government supported sale and the black market trade still exist.
“Keen demand fuels global trade in body parts.” CNN. 6 Aug. 2007.
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/06/organs.transplant.reut/index.html>.
”Organ Procurement And Judicial Execution In China.” Human Rights
Watch. Aug. 1994. <http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/china1/china_948.htm>.
Although China made selling of organs illegal in 2006, the human organs industry is in full bloom. The high demand for human organs on the national and international side, and an extended usage of death penalty in China create a perfect relation to support this phenomenon.
The “transplant tourists” from Japan, USA, European and other wealthy countries come to China to buy new livers, kidneys, or hearts from hospitals supported by the Chinese government for profit purposes, and go through the operation procedures while still visiting the country. The organs are mostly harvested from executed prisoners and victims of accidents, but the black market does not even mind stealing organs from healthy people while still alive. Many movie directors have been touched by this infamous and persisting issue. As an example, Hong Kong director Chi-Leung shows how the black organ market functions in the movie Koma.
With demands of international organizations for increased protection of human rights, and Olympics 2008 approaching, Chinese government recently banned the sale of human organs. While China has made public efforts to eliminate the organ trade, both rumors of government supported sale and the black market trade still exist.
“Keen demand fuels global trade in body parts.” CNN. 6 Aug. 2007.
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/06/organs.transplant.reut/index.html>.
”Organ Procurement And Judicial Execution In China.” Human Rights
Watch. Aug. 1994. <http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/china1/china_948.htm>.
Monday, September 17, 2007
The Invention of Paper
The invention of paper was one of the most significant changes in the literate world.
Ancient Egyptians created the very first prototype of paper, known as papyrus. Made of papyrus plant, this writing material was cut into stripes, layered, and pressed, as early as 3000B.C. Because papyrus required subtropical conditions to grow, the Romans replaced it later with the parchment made of sheepskin.
On the other side of the world, in China, people dealt with the same needs to record their ideas. As a solution, they invented paper, in 104 AD, using similar principles as we do today. Consisting of tree bark fibers, this advancement included lighter weight, more durable, and abundant elements than previously achieved in the world. Usage of paper became widespread in China by the third century. By the sixth century, its uses extended to wrapping material and toilet paper, and to paper money in the nineth century.
Chinese papermaking techniques initially spread to the Middle East in the eighth century. During the First Crusade, paper got introduced to the medieval Europe along trade routes.
Although paper serves numerous purposes in our daily lives, we often underestimate its importance. Varieties of paper enhance our convenient lifestyles, such as money, newspapers, books, packaging, and technical drafts.
Resources: Wikipedia - Chinese Currency at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_currency
- Paper at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper
Ancient Egyptians created the very first prototype of paper, known as papyrus. Made of papyrus plant, this writing material was cut into stripes, layered, and pressed, as early as 3000B.C. Because papyrus required subtropical conditions to grow, the Romans replaced it later with the parchment made of sheepskin.
On the other side of the world, in China, people dealt with the same needs to record their ideas. As a solution, they invented paper, in 104 AD, using similar principles as we do today. Consisting of tree bark fibers, this advancement included lighter weight, more durable, and abundant elements than previously achieved in the world. Usage of paper became widespread in China by the third century. By the sixth century, its uses extended to wrapping material and toilet paper, and to paper money in the nineth century.
Chinese papermaking techniques initially spread to the Middle East in the eighth century. During the First Crusade, paper got introduced to the medieval Europe along trade routes.
Although paper serves numerous purposes in our daily lives, we often underestimate its importance. Varieties of paper enhance our convenient lifestyles, such as money, newspapers, books, packaging, and technical drafts.
Resources: Wikipedia - Chinese Currency at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_currency
- Paper at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper
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