China Translated

China’s growth in the last 30 years has been impressive.  But perhaps the last 30 years have been the easy part.  Anyone can build factories to copy goods designed elsewhere in the world.  The difficult part starts when an economy has caught up to the global technology frontier, and has to start thinking for itself.

That is when the education system starts to be really important.  A bad education system is not going to produce good innovators.  I don’t think there is any question that the Chinese education system is good at instilling basic skills, and there has also been a massive increase in those attending university.

But what is less clear is whether the Chinese education system teaches the kind of critical thinking and problem solving skills that underpin an innovative economy.

The author of this recent article, which I have translated from the China Youth Daily, thinks not:

‘There was a story recently about a child taking an exam who said that ‘flat’ was the opposite of ’round’, only to be marked wrong because the standard answer was ’square’.  Leading scholars have remarked that they would not score well in today’s examination system because the important thing is not to know the right answer, but to know the standard answer.

I’d even venture to suggest that if Deng Xiaoping himself took an exam in today’s education system on Deng Xiaoping theory, he’d be hard pressed to get full marks.  Let’s have a look at the reality

A self study guide to exams on Deng Xiaoping theory has the following sample question: use the theory of ‘one country two systems’ to reflect on Hong Kong’s reunification with the motherland.’

It seems like many people could have different responses to that question.  One person might respond that the return of Hong Kong to the motherland was a sign of increasing national strength.  Another might say that the ‘one country two systems’ approach had allowed Hong Kong to continue to flourish after reunification.  A third might add that the ‘one country two systems’ approach could also be used in respect of Taiwan.

From the point of view of common sense, we couldn’t say that any of these answers were wrong.

But according to the the standard answer, there is only one correct response, and none of the reflections on Hong Kong’s flourishing, applications to Taiwan, or anything else that did not fit would have scored full points.

If Comrade Deng was still alive and someone asked him that question, how would he respond?  Comrade Deng was a man of lively mind, he would have modulated his response according to the situation, according to with whom he was speaking, or just to have a different turn of phrase.  In a test on his own theory, Comrade Deng would be hard pressed to score full marks.

These days, lots of people ask why China has not produced any great thinkers.  Do the great problems of today have standard answers?  So will an education system based on repeating standard answers produce great thinkers?’

You can see the original article in Chinese here.

Culture, Social Policy

Regular readers might remember that a few weeks ago I posted a translation of the opening pages of ‘Brothers’, Yu Hua’s riotous epic of life in cultural revolution and reform era China.

The plot has now moved on from an adolescent Li Guangtou caught peeping in the public latrine.  Li Guangtou’s business instincts were evident when he demanded, and received payment of seafood noodles for relaying a description of the ladies’ bottoms he saw that day to Liu Town’s curious menfolk.  In reform era China, those instincts have made him a rich man.

Li Guangtou likes to joke that ‘in the day he collects profit, in the night he collects women.’  He hopes to be able to collect both together when he organises China’s first beauty pageant for virgins.

With CNY1m available to the lucky winner, virgins from all over China have descended on Li’s home town.  It’s a carnival atmosphere, with local hospitals doing a lively trade in replacement hymens for would be contestants (CNY3000 the going rate), a con-artist offering a do-it-yourself option (price CNY100), contestants offering favours to judges in return for preferential treatment and struggling to avoid the groping embrace of the local male population, and Li Guangtou - armed with a pocket sized mirror - inspecting the veracity of the most comely contestants claims to innocence.

With the contest about to start, a political dignitary is called upon to address the assembled crowd.  This is my translation of the relevant section:

‘Grabbing the microphone, he addressed the crowd in a voice of authority, speaking of all the benefits that have come to mother China as a result of the reform process, from the economic development of the entire country to the economic development of the province, the county, and our own Liu Town.

Changing direction, he swung from Liu Town’s GDP back to that of the entire country, before rambling back again to Liu Town, and the virgin beauty contest that was about to start.  He said that the virgin beauty pageant showed how the lives of the Chinese people were getting better every day, that the virgin beauty pageant would provide a major boost for China’s traditional culture, and help integrate the town with the wave of globalisation.

His spit had been flying over the crowd for half an hour when he finally concluded, shouting: ‘I hereby proclaim, the first national virgin beauty pageant open!’

Two days later, the air of the town is grimy with the exhaust fumes of the tractors which pull the contestants floats, the judges have been so assaulted by the attentions of virgins eager to win their vote that some of them are unable to walk, the con-artist has made CNY100,000 in sales of replacement hymens, and the second place virgin has been exposed as the mother of a two year old child.

Li Guangtou’s virgin pageant is riotous fun, an extravagant metaphor for a country whose rapid development has resulted in an equally rapid lose of innocence, but whose new wealth has enabled a masquerade of traditional values.  Replace the term ‘virgin beauty pageant’ with ‘Olympics’ or ‘Shanghai Expo’ and I think you get an idea of the target of Yu Hua’s satire.

Culture

In my last post on pig production and inflation I argued that though pork prices do have a big effect on China’s consumer price index, the underlying cause of inflation is not too few pigs but rather too much money.  But that does not mean that food prices are not important.

I think this extract from a story called ‘Pounds, Ounces, Meat’ by Zhu Wen, is an interesting illustration of the importance of food prices in Chinese life.  I read the story in translation and I believe the original was written in the mid 1990s, but having visited a few Chinese vegetable markets, I can attest that Zhu’s account still rings true today.

The story takes place in a vegetable market.  An old lady whose newly purchased tomato has just been crushed by another shopper is demanding compensation:

‘The old lady said she had bought 6 tomatoes, costing 2.5 yuan altogether, making each tomato 0.41666 yuan on average.  Rounding it up, he owed her 0.42 yuan.  After a brief stunned pause, the man demanded to see the other 5.  The old lady brought over the basket from the ground and, one by one, rummaged out the tomatoes from in amongst the potatoes, cauliflower, asparagus, lettuce, ginger, onions, long chillies, and pickled garlic.  I disagree, the man pronounced after thorough investigation, these 5 are all quite big, but the one I squashed was obviously much smaller.

The old lady glared upon her adversary, suddenly realizing he was not yet a spent force.  Well, what do you say?  The man pulled out from his bicycle trailer a carrot and laid it in front of the old lady: Look, I bought 4 carrots, 625 grams altogether.  At 2.4 yuan a kilo, they cost me 1.5 yuan which makes each carrot 0.375 yuan on average, but because this one is the thickest and the longest, it’s bound to be worth more than 0.42 yuan.  Take this and we are even.

The old lady closed her eyes a while, out of habit, then grabbed the hostage carrot and tucked it into her own basket.  But take it from me, she added as an afterword, though the current official price for carrots is 2.4 yuan, you can sometimes get them down to 2.3.  As I’m running late and I’ve got to get home to cook for my children, I’ll leave it here for today.’

Zhu’s underlying point is that reform era China is obsessed with money and material things.  In one of his other short stories, entitled ‘I love dollars’, a young man bargains his father out of a good time by refusing to pay the going rate for a prostitute.  But even though Zhu is using the old woman’s haggling to illustrate a wider point, a visit to any food market in Beijing would be enough to indicate that his fictional account is not too far from reality.

Food makes up around a third of the average Chinese person’s consumption basket, and with incomes low, even small changes in food prices can mean the difference between keeping your head above water, or going under.

Agriculture, Culture, Monetary Policy, Retail

Following on from my earlier post on Currency Wars 2, this is my translation of the next few pages of the introduction, where Song Hongbing introduces the 18 international banking families he believes are pulling the strings of global finance, and directing the course of world history:

‘The Rothschilds - the ‘godfathers’ of international finance, whose influence spans 200 years

The trusted advisor of Germany’s Iron Chancellor Bismark - Bleichroder

From Cologne in Germany the Oppenheim family

From Hamburg in Germany the Warburg family

Originally from Bavaria in Germany but finding success on Wall Street, the Selingman family

Originally from Frankfurt, but making it big in the USA, the Schiff family

The Schroder family, originally from Hamburg but finding success in London and New York

The Speyer family, originally from Frankfurt

The Mendelsohns from Berlin

The Baring family from England, who were associated with the Rothschilds in the 19th Century

The Hope family from Amsterdam

Advisors to the French royal family, the Fould family

The Mallet and Pereire families, also from France

From Switzerland, the Mirabauds

Finally, the Rockefeller and Morgan families from the USA.

The international banking families are the most powerful group on the international scene.  Their thinking, to a great extent, determines the fate of mankind.  Wherever they go, that place prospers, wherever they leave, that place declines and falls.

With a motion of their hand, they can instigate a period of great creativity and productivity.  With another motion they can seize the resulting riches for themselves.

For the last 200 years, these families have strutted on the world stage, their position unassailable, their influence on the course of Western history impossible to underestimate.  As times change, the star of some families has plummeted from the sky, but the majority retain their power and influence today.

The world is always changing, but the essentials of human nature do not change.  For thousands of years, the thought of wealth has aroused in man feelings of greed and horror, the thought of power feelings of desire and resentment.  Whether it’s the games of political chess that have characterised thousands of years of Chinese history, or the financial machinations of Western history, the same mark of human nature is evident. 

China is no stranger to the history of mans grasping after power, but regarding mans grasping after wealth, we still have a lot to learn.  Let’s start the learning process by examining the lives of the world’s most powerful banking families.’

You can see why the Currency Wars books are so popular.  They combine a romantic insight into an interesting period of Western history, with a plausible explanation of the way the world economy works, and wrap the whole thing up as a lesson for Chinese people on how they can avoid being cheated by the evil global financiers.  Song Hongbing satisifies curiosity about Western history and the global financial system, at the same time as playing to the nationalist peanut gallery.

Banking, Culture, International Relations, US-China Relations

Song Hongbing, the author of Currency Wars, is not a man to rest on his laurels.  With one best seller under their belts, many authors would have taken a well earned rest.  But Song has been hitting the library, and, as a result, his new book has already hit the shelves.  Imaginatively entitled ‘Currency Wars 2′ the book develops Song’s theory that the Western world is run by a shadowy cabal of banking families, led by the Rothschilds.  This is my translation of the opening pages:

‘Who are the international banking families?

Take the Rothschild family as representative of the 17 main international banking families.  Beginning in Holland, England, France and Germany, they slowly spread their influence to Austria, Italy and the USA, finally ending in our own time with a financial network that spans the Western world.  In the 19th Century, as Europe reeled from the shocks of a capitalist revolution in France and an industrial revolution that swept across the entire continent, the balance between the great powers was disturbed, leading to the outbreak of war.  The international banking families shrewdly seized this historical opportunity, using the financial system to provide capital to expanding industry and to warring nations.  At the same time as these families amassed great wealth, they revealed their enormous influence in world affairs.

The power of wealth is expressed in the corruption of power, in the thirst for power, and in the desire for influence.  In the market for capital, the international banking families gradually exerted control over the channels through which capital and credit flows, till the entire game was played according to their rules.  From the monopoly rights given to the Bank of France by Napoleon to the financing of the Louisiana purchase.  From the hyper inflation of the 1920s to the rise of Hitler.  From the emergence of the US dollar as the global reserve currency to the financial crisis of 2008.  In all of these events, indistinctly, in the background, is visible the shadowy outlines of these international banking families, and their control of the channels of capital and credit.

The international banking families have humble origins, working through connections with people in positions of power they gradually established their economic strength, grasping control of the channels of distribution of capital, exerting control over commerce and industry, and from there beginning to influence government policy to favour their interests.  They use enticements that are difficult to turn down to influence everything from the direction of economic policy, to the appointments and promotions of military officers, from shaping the agenda for public policy, to controlling what information is available to the public.  Over 200 years of experience, the international banking families have matured.  In the past they wielded influence, now they exert control.  They are the power behind the scenes in Western society, riding roughshod over laws, governments, and rights, completing the metamorphosis from the possession of wealth to the wielding of power.’

I translated a part of the first Currency Wars in an earlier post (Currency Wars Translated), and it doesn’t seem that Song has moved very far from his original thesis.

I’ll try and come back and translate a little more of the first chapter in the future.

Banking, Culture, International Relations

Today Wen Jiabao convened a meeting of China’s State Council.  On the agenda, a discussion of the economic situation in the first quarter and a charting of the course for economic policy in the months ahead.

A readout of the meeting has now been published, with what looks like a realistic assessment of the state of the recovery and the challenges ahead. 

One of the things I find interesting about these statements is that they generally end with a few inspirational words for the troops.  I guess this is a hangover from the old days of government by campaigns and strugles.

The statement from this meeting concludes with the following invocation (my translation):

‘The Council requires all areas and departments to…

-act carefully and according to the situation

-effectively conduct investigation and research

-strengthen their work ethic

-firmly implement and perfect policy measures

-improve the quality of regulation

-work in a practical way

-focus on delivering results

-and make great efforts to bring about the positive and rapid development of the economy.’

There’s nothing wrong with any of these sentiments.  Acting in accordance with the real situation, conducting careful research, and focusing on results are all admirable objectives.  But what I think statements like this miss is any recognition that to change behaviour, some thought about the institutions and incentives that shape it is necessary.  

You can see the complete State Council statement here.

Communist Party, Culture

Property prices are the hot topic in China right now.  With the average house price up 10.7% yoy in February and house prices in some areas of the country rising much faster, the government has promised to step in to control the market.  But action has been slow to follow words, and some netizens have evidently concluded that the government is dragging its feet.

One enterprising blogger has pasted together several pictures of Premier Wen Jiabao and added some comical text to capture the Premier’s thought process on how to control runaway property prices.  The pictures show Premier Wen holding up first one, then two, three, four, five and six fingers, presumably to enumerate the six points of an argument he is making.  Underneath the pictures, the blogger has Wen saying:

‘I’m very distressed, at CNY10,000 per square meter, how can ordinary people afford to buy a home?

Now there are even some areas where the price is CNY20,000 per square meter, that’s just unreasonable!

What?  Hangzhou prices have hit CNY30,000?

No! CNY40,000? House prices that high are not natural!

Wow!  Do we really have house prices at CNY50,000?

Well, if they are already that high, we’ll wait till they get to CNY60,000, then introduce some controls.’

I think there might be some cleaning up of this particular joke, but I found a copy of it here (you have to scroll down a bit to get to it)

Culture, Property

On Tuesday, Premier Wen Jiabao met with foreign business leaders.  Top of the agenda, trade, of course.  But also in evidence, Premier Wen’s rhetorical flourishes.

Answering a question on cooperation between countries in response to the economic crisis, Premier Wen busted out with ‘when you’re in the same boat, you have to row together’ (同舟共济) - which incidentally is reminiscent of Secretary of State Clinton’s turn of phrase when she visited Beijing this time last year.

Then, in response to a question on whether China and the US would be able to find their way in the bilateral relationship, came:

‘In China we have a saying, sometimes when you’re lost in the wilderness, out of the shadows comes the light of a village’ (山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村).

Here’s the complete text of Wen’s answer.

Culture, US-China Relations

I am currently ploughing through Brothers, Yu Hua’s tragi-comic epic of Chinese life from the cultural revolution to the reform era.  A translation of Brother’s into English has already been published.  But for those who might not have picked up a copy, here is my translation of the first couple of pages:

‘Our town’s richest man, Liu Guangtou, prone to wild flights of fancy, planned to spend $20m to travel to Russia and take a tour into space.  Sitting on his famous gold plated toilet seat, Li Guangtou’s mind had already drifted into orbit, from where he looked down on the world.  Then, unbidden, tears started to well up in his eyes, as he realised for the first time that he had no friends or family in the world.

One upon a time he had a brother, Song Gang.  Older than him by one year and taller by him than a head, kind, honest and stubborn, Song Gang had left this world three years ago, and his ashes now resided in a little wooden box.  Thinking of how few the ashes of his brother were, Li Guangtou was deeply moved, reflecting on how the ashes of a tree were greater in number than the ashes of his brother.

When Li Guangtou’s mother had still been alive, she was fond of saying to her son: ‘different fathers produce different sons.’  With these words, she referred to Song Gang, honest, sincere, and kind, from the same mould as his father, like two melon’s from the same vine.  When she was talking about Li Guangtou, she didn’t use these words, but would just shake her head and say that he and his father had walked different roads.  At least that was what she said till a fourteen year old Li Guangtou was caught peeping at women’s bottoms in the public lavatory.  At that point, his mother finally knew that Li Guangtou and his father were also melons from the same vine.  Li Guangtou clearly remembered his mother averting her eyes in horror, wiping the tears from her eyes, saying: ‘with that kind of father, you are bound to have that kind of son.’

Li Guangtou had never seen his flesh and blood father.  On the day of Li Guangtou’s birth, his father had made his stinking and notorious exit from the world.  His mother had said that his father had died from drowning.  Li Guangtou had asked how he had downed, in a lake, or a pond, or a well?  Later on, after he had been caught peeping in the public toilet, the scandal had spread round the town, and his notoriety was widespread, only then did he discover the real reason for the death of his papa: drowned in shit after himself attempting to sneak a peek at women’s bottoms in the public lavatory.’

For anyone confused about the mechanics of peeping in pre-reform era toilets, I believe the public toilet was essentially a plank with holes in suspended over a sewage pit, with men’s and women’s sections separated by a divide.  Instead of sticking their posterior into the holes too make use of the facilities, Li Guangtou and his less fortunate father appear to have stuck their heads through to peer at the women’s bottoms protuding through the plank on the other side of the divide.  Li Guangtou’s father evidently lowered himself down too far into the hole, lost his grip, and fell into the sewage pit below.

The opening paragraphs capture the bawdy physical humour with which Yu Hua deals with the extremely sensitive, and occassionally horrific, subject matter of life during the cultural revolution.

Culture, History

‘Safety first’ (anquan di yi 安全第一）is one of the phrases you hear and see most often in China.  Whether it’s walking past a building site with workers suspended precariously from bamboo scaffolding, or queuing to have your bag scanned by bored adolescent security guards on the metro, billboards will remind you of the priority given to safety in China’s public life.

But if safety is first, what is second?  Following a conversation with a taxi driver skidding across a snow covered road in Beijing this morning, China Translated can exclusively reveal that priority number two for the Chinese people is making money, with relaxing coming in at number three.

Safety first (anquan diyi  安全第一)

Making money second (zhengqian dier 挣钱第二)

Third, relax (xiuxi disan 休息第三)

Culture