Eight Chinese candidates are currently running in the General Election in the UK. If they become members of Parliament, who knows one day Britain could have an ethically Chinese Prime Minister, better able to cement the China-Britain relationship than even Kevin Rudd. BBC (British Born Chinese) are a well organised group in the UK with their own clubs, media and cultural and business meetings. This week bbcchina.com and bbcchinese.com organised a ‘hustings’ or debate for five of the Chinese candidates to lay out their policies. This is unprecedented but important because Chinese represent the third biggest minority in the UK. BBC candidates include Anna Lo who is a social activist standing in Northern Ireland. She has worked for twenty five years to improve the lives of immigrants of all backgrounds to that country. Metropolitan Police Officer, George Lee, is standing as a Conservative candidate in Holborn and St Pancras but is unlikely to win as he is running against Frank Dobson, a Labour heavyweight. Another Tory, Kagang Wu is standing in Liverpool Riverside. Lib Dem Chinese candidates include Merlene Emerson (Hammersmith and Fulham) and Philip Ling (Birmingham and Bromsgrove). (more…)
Welcome to The Charitiarian.
1 million people have already visited Expo (World Exhibition in Shanghai) during the first five ‘trial runs’ held last week. Streets are packed and it is difficult to book a hotel for the ‘big bang’ opening on Friday 30 April; this is the Shanghai ‘Olympics’. Shanghai is deeply competitive with Beijing. Although the official line is that there will be a few ‘fireworks’ with some surprises, the fireworks manufacturers state that there will be 100,000, versus the 80,000 at the Beijing Olympics, some of which ‘could land on the moon’.
400,000 daily visits are expected throughout EXPO from May 1 to October 31 with 600,000 people on weekend days. Regarding the pavilions, countries have lent their most expensive cultural assets to draw the crowds. For example the one hundred year old mermaid statue which has been sitting on the edge of Copenhagen harbor for 100 years, in honor of the fairytale character created by Hans Christian Anderson, has temporarily relocated to an artificial pond in the Danish Pavilion in the EXPO garden. Visitors are beginning to arrive in big numbers, regardless of the disrupted flight schedules in Europe caused by the Icelandic volcano. Expect a cosmopolitan cultural Olympics with Shanghai style.
Beijing has admitted to New Delhi that the mainland is building a dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River near its disputed border with India (South China Morning Post, April 24). The river originates in Tibet and flows into India. Mainland experts in the project confirmed the hydropower plan for the river yesterday and said that four dams would be built between Sangri and Jiacha counties. The total power capacity for the dams would be bigger than that of the Three Gorges Dam. Power from the dams will be used to meet growing demand in Hong Kong and Guangdong. The first dam lies Southeast of Lhasa at an altitude of 3,260 meters. The damming of the Yarlung Zangbo, the highest major river in the world, will also give Beijing direct control of the water supply to more than 90,000 square km of land over which China claims sovereignty but which is under control of India. Chinese officials told India that Beijing had no obligation to reveal its plan to New Delhi but did so to build trust and ease tensions. Beijing said the hydropower plants would not affect waters into India. (more…)
Ran to party as there was no transportation unless you are in the Politburo or a princess. I am neither (…yet). I arrived quite hungry and you could feel the ‘countdown’ vibe. Hundreds of security types speaking into collars. It was a good gathering for UK Pavilion launch. Consul General Carma Elliot welcomed everyone. Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the UK pavilion and looks like a big hair ball, made animated presentation. (more…)
The thunder of the fireworks practice for EXPO in Shanghai has just abated. I am sitting overlooking the Bund contemplating a hectic day. I have always run to the Bund (or riverbank) as soon as I hit Shanghai. Maybe it is because it is one of the few places in urban China where you can still feel the wind in your hair. Maybe its because of the multifarious passers by that remind you of the complexity of the city. Maybe it is because this is where I called my Dad four years ago to debate the benefits of living in Beijing or Shanghai. He told me openly (and as it transpired accurately) that “if you want money stay in Shanghai, but if you want real China go to Beijing.” Shanghai, or the ‘Paris of the East’ may not be ‘real China’ but it is the best of everything Asia has to offer (at a price). If you have money anything is possible. If you are poor you will spend your time looking up and no-one will smile back. The nightclubs make London look like a backwater. The height of the buildings belittle New York. The fashion conscience residents make Parisians look parochial. (more…)
Four employees of the British-Australian company Rio Tinto have been given jail sentences for bribery and stealing commercial secrets by Shanghai’s No. 1 People’s Court on March 24 2010. Australian National, Hu received ten years, and three Chinese colleagues received jail sentences of fourteen, eight and seven years. During the three day trial all four men pleaded guilty to accepting bribes but disputed the $13M they were charged in taking as kickbacks. Mining giant Rio Tinto stood by its employees for many months, but immediately reacted to the verdict by firing all four of them. (more…)
On March 23, 2010 Google redirected traffic from its Beijing based search engine to its service in HK. The move effectively means that Google no longer needs to filter its search results as required by Chinese law. Google offices have closed in Mainland China. Five years ago Google, China had a savvy CEO from Taiwan who knew how to tread the line between US shareholders and Chinese censors. He left to set up his own venture. (more…)
Unemployment in China is currently estimated at 9.4% (China Daily March 5, 2010). Since the global recession in 2008, the nature of employment in China has changed. There are fewer trading jobs with the rest of the world. Instead employers are seeking higher skilled graduates with commercial acumen. 6.11 million students graduated from Chinese colleges in 2009. Officially 87% received jobs but this percentage may be optimistic. Unemployment for graduates is high. Expectations of a decent lifestyle by younger people means that they will not accept the menial jobs undertaken by their parents. Unemployment is an issue all over China, but the issue is particularly acute in the cities which formally depended on manufacturing for export. (more…)
A Chinese city’s massive appointment of officials has left the local government in hot water as netizens (online bloggers etc) and media question potential misconduct in the move. In late January, 89 officials were appointed to new posts in various government departments – at least three of which were newly established last year – according to a statement on the website of Handan city in Hubei province (China Daily, March 5). The central government in Beijing is trying to rout out corruption in the Provinces. The State Council launched a revamp of ministries and committees in March 2008. Regional Governments are allowed to follow suit under their own schedules. However, online criticism of unnecessary appointments is growing stronger. (more…)
115 miners were rescued from a flooded mine after spending a week underground. Thirty-eight remain trapped – now assumed dead. There was extensive press coverage of the rescue work on the front pages of papers this week. Two thirds of electricity in China is generated by coal. The rapid rate of urbanisation is creating pressure for more electricity. In 1980, 191 million people lived in cities in China compared to 595 million by 2007. In 1949 China had 69 cities. In 2007 the number of cities had grown to 670. 6,000 people die on average per year in Chinese mines. (more…)
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