The Daily China News Update is produced by Charles Silverman
Billionaire Calls on China to Eat Less (THE WSJ CHINA REAL TIME REPORT BLOG)
Download 404.14 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Mitch McConnell Slams ‘Racial Slurs’ by Kentucky Liberals (THE WSJ CHINA REAL TIME REPORT BLOG)
- Rich New York Woman Gave Up Two Chinese Children She Adopted, Currently Embroiled In Lawsuit (beijingcream.com)
- Chinese football’s new ambassador: David Beckham (The FT Beyond BRICs Blog)
- Chinese NPC Rep: “We Must Allow Chinese to Have a Second Child. We Cannot Wait Another Minute.” (tealeafnation.com)
- How Can a Chinese Woman Born in 1990 Already Be ‘Too Old’ for Marriage (tealeafnation.com)
Billionaire Calls on China to Eat Less (THE WSJ CHINA REAL TIME REPORT BLOG)March 4, 2013 http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/03/04/billionaire-calls-on-china-to-eat-less/?mod=WSJBlog Chen Guangbiao, a billionaire philanthropist who rose to national prominence with a series of splashy donations, now has China’s waistlines in his sights. The rags-to-riches tycoon, who made his bundle in the recycling business, took time out from his appearance at the opening session of China’s annual political conclave to tell reporters that his new cause is calling for a national Food Savings Day. That means a day of fasting for all of China. Mr. Chen said he took to eating two meals a day, instead of three, for a month from Christmas Day last year, and lost 13 jin (6.5 kilograms) in the process. He advocated that everyone do the same. “I feel better and my energy levels are much higher,” he said. Mr. Chen isn’t a stranger to controversial campaigns. Even his physical appearance at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the yearly advisory session that runs alongside China’s legislative National People’s Congress, was a piece of showmanship. While China’s government officials are avoiding flashy fashion statements this year amid a crackdown on corruption, Mr. Chen lit up the famously dour CPPCC on Sunday with a tailored lime-green suit. The suit was part of Mr. Chen’s environmental push, which recently included giving away of canned air to bring attention to the country’s smog problem. “The environment starts with me,” he told reporters in response to a question about his choice of the color. “Drive less. It’s just a way to protect the environment.” To complete the theater, Mr. Chen made sure he was photographed riding a bicycle to the meeting. While a recent campaign to reduce waste and extravagance at government banquets has proven popular, China’s commentariat hasn’t exactly warmed to Mr. Chen’s dietary cause. “Chen Guangbiao is just showing how silly he is, China still has many people who can’t get (their stomachs) full on two meals,” wrote one user of Sina Corp.’s Twitter-like Weibo microblogging service. “There are a lot of impoverished students who have difficulties getting meals in Yunnan province,” wrote another. “Chen Guangbiao, where are you? Chen Guangbiao, the needy kids of Yunnan province need you!” To be sure, Mr. Chen’s saying all this to the media corps with a twinkle in his eye. But he may not have fully realized what his two-meals-a-day quip calls to mind. Just over China’s northeastern border, the North Koreans infamously imposed austerity measures during the famine that gripped the country in the 1990s. Its mantra? “Let’s eat only two meals a day.” – Chuin-Wei Yap Mitch McConnell Slams ‘Racial Slurs’ by Kentucky Liberals (THE WSJ CHINA REAL TIME REPORT BLOG)March 4, 2013 http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/03/04/mcconnell-slams-racial-slurs-by-kentucky-liberals/?mod=WSJBlog Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) lashed out Sunday at his state’s Democrats over a liberal group’s tweet that implied his wife, Chinese-American Elaine Chao, favored moving U.S. jobs to China. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” hosted by Candy Crowley, Mr. McConnell slammed the tweet by Progress Kentucky as racist. “Racial slurs from the Democrats in Kentucky–it sort of goes with the turf at home,” the Republican leader said. Ms. Chao served as secretary of labor under President George W. Bush. “This woman has the ear of @McConnellPress — she’s his #wife,” Progress Kentucky tweeted last month. “May explain why your job moved to #China!” See more on this at Washington Wire Rich New York Woman Gave Up Two Chinese Children She Adopted, Currently Embroiled In Lawsuit (beijingcream.com)By Anthony Tao March 4, 2013 http://beijingcream.com/2013/03/rich-new-york-woman-gave-up-two-chinese-children-she-adopted/ By most accounts, Chinese children adopted by American families live better lives than they would have back home. It’s not really even close, in many cases, as the difference is quite literally that between a first-world country and a third-world environment. You can scan this adoption network’s FAQ to get an idea of the conditions from which many children are plucked. But not all adoption stories have happy endings. Take this exceptional case out of New York involving Christine Svenningsen, 55, a rich widow who gave up not one, but two children she adopted from China. According to the NY Daily News: A wealthy widow who gave up her Chinese daughter for readoption after eight years — then tried to cut the girl out of her husband’s $250 million estate — had years earlier dumped another baby she adopted from China, the Daily News has learned. The boy was named Eric. Note to prospective parents: children are not generally regift-able. Last month, a state appeals court rejected Svenningsen’s incredible demand to cut her first adopted child, Emily, out of her husband’s will. Emily is now with another family, where court filings show she’s much better. For one, “she’s able to sit at the same dinner table with the rest of her family, unlike when she lived with the Svenningsens,” according to Daily News. Her new mom, Maryann Campbell, called the Svenningsen court case a “debacle.” We’re not sure what became of Eric. Svenningsen, in court, said she gave him up because she “couldn’t handle seven children.” One wonders how she got past one. New York widow in $250 million estate battle gave up another child from China (Daily News via Gawker; h/t Alicia) Chinese football’s new ambassador: David Beckham (The FT Beyond BRICs Blog)Mar 4, 2013 by Simon Rabinovitch http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/04/chinese-footballs-new-ambassador-its-david-beckham/#axzz2MbujOIGE
http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/03/chinese-congressional-rep-we-must-allow-chinese-to-have-a-second-child-we-cannot-wait-another-minute/ China’s Two Sessions are in full swing, with lawmakers proposing a variety of new regulations addressing issues of concern to China’s citizens. Perhaps one of the most welcomed of these proposals was Guangdong National People’s Congress (NPC) representative He Youlin’s call for an adjustment to China’s One-child policy, which became the hottest topic in Weibo’s My Two Sessions Proposals category, the hottest trending topic of conversation on the Twitter-like site. “Two years ago I raised this matter, and I raised it against last year. I will raise it again this year!” remarked He Youlin. “We must allow Chinese to have a second child. We cannot wait another minute.” The top five comments on this Sina article, each receiving more than 500 “likes,” expressed support for He’s proposal. The One-child policy, which has restricted most Chinese to having a single child in order to curb population growth over the past three decades, is unpopular among most Chinese and has recently drawn harsh criticism from academics and scholars, who say the policy may lead to economic and societal disaster. As recently as January of this year, the head of China’s National Family Planning Commission affirmed that the policy was in place for the long term. In response to the statement, NPC delegate He Youlin said, “That isn’t right. You can’t consider such matters from the perspective of your professional department. You should think about it from the perspective of a people’s development, of the future strategic development of our country.” Over 3,000 Weibo users commented on He Youlin’s third attempt to make it possible for Chinese families to have two children. Most comments proclaimed support for He’s persistence, as well as a desire for the policy to end, many citing statistics on China’s slowing population growth and aging demographics. A not-insignificant group of commenters even said that economic realities would prevent most Chinese from having two children anyway, so the issue was moot. Still others decried the inhumanity of the policy, implementation of which has resulted in forced abortions and financial threats. While some Weibo users voiced support, many others sadly voiced their opinion that He’s proposal would never gain broad support at the government level. Commented one user, “If they let people have two children, think of how much less money the government will make in fines [for having too many children]. This alone means the proposal will never pass.” One economist estimates that the government has made over US$316 billion from such fines since the policy was first instituted. Another netizen wrote, “The One-child Policy is actually China’s greatest social stability measure. If there aren’t any young people at all, who will protest?” Many proposals raised at the NPC will never become law, so the raising of this measure does not signify a movement in the government towards an adjustment of the One-child policy. Debate continues, however, online and at the highest levels, with an increasing number of citizens calling for change. How Can a Chinese Woman Born in 1990 Already Be ‘Too Old’ for Marriage? (tealeafnation.com)March 4, 2013 | by Liz Carter and Rachel Wang http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/03/how-can-a-chinese-woman-born-in-1990-already-be-too-old-for-marriage/ This is a part of a Tea Leaf Nation series covering gender issues in today’s China. On February 22, a report released by Internet portal Sina made waves among China’s youth. A post on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, attracted heated discussion: “According to relevant regulations, the first marriage of males aged 25 or older and females aged 23 or older are considered ‘late marriages.’ A bit of simple math shows that 2013 is the first year that some post-80’s (those born in 1980 or later) are turning 33, and the first year that some post-90’s (those born in 1990 or later) are of ‘late marriage’ age.” Over 400,000 web users discussed the topic on Weibo, and with print media covering it as well, the subject of “late marriage” has generated discussion on a variety of issues related to marriage, age, and gender roles in China. Surprised by the airing of a well-known but seldom-discussed tension, many Web users shared feelings of melancholy and loss. Wrote Weibo user @糖糖咖啡物语: “If the post-90’s are already late to marriage, how can we un-married post-80’s survive?” User @New-姜浩 wrote: “I always thought of the post-90’s as little kids, and now I suddenly realize that post-90’s girls are considered late to marry…I am old, old, old, old. Time is a butcher’s knife!” Many users shared other concerns, hopes and the feelings about bearing the “post-90’s” label. Some remained optimistic. Use @Grace-贞 wrote: “[Being one of the post-90’s]…however old we are, we should never lose our ability to be patient in waiting for and loving someone. We are still young, we should do what we are supposed to – trust in love, find love and pursue love.” User @资海小鱼 commented: “Marriage? No way. I just graduated from college, how can I afford to get married? Marriage is too far away and unrealistic for me. ‘Post-90’s’ has never sounds like praise, the elderly always see us as extremely frivolous, and I don’t understand why.” But current regulations’ classification of some “Post-90’s” are “late” to marry collided with stereotypes surrounding the generation, whose members are seen as poor planners who lead lives that older Chinese might derisively describe as “non-mainstream.” User @李芬尼 mocked both his own single status and the seemingly out-of-touch policy: “I have lived more than 20 years. Though I have not achieved anything big, I have made one single contribution – by practicing the national ‘family planning’ policy and ‘late marriage, late childbearing’ policy, I have sacrificed by precious youth for the sake of the national strategic plan.” In fact, several decades ago, late marriage was not considered a problem according to China’s so-called one-child policy. The concept of “late marriage” is addressed in the 1980 Marriage Law, in Chapter 2, Article 5: “Late marriage and late childbirth should be encouraged.” Though the age for late marriage was not set in the law, 23 years of age for women and 25 years for men has been the assumed standard at local levels, and has been used in such documents as the Population and Family Planning Policy of Beijing (Chapter 3, Article 16), published in 2003. Although the original purpose of the Population and Family Planning Policy was to curb population growth by encouraging late marriage, policy-makers today have far different concerns. A recent letter signed by many prominent academics in China has also pointed out that China’s population will begin to shrink in ten years, even if its one-child policy were to be scrapped immediately. Faced with an aging population that may begin shrinking very soon, China has a vested interest in hurrying its post-90’s citizens into marriage. In 2012, the National Population and Family Planning Commission and Jiayuan.com, an online dating website, conducted a survey on marriage with approximately 80,000 participants. Results showed that while 52% of the women respondents believed owning a house to be a prerequisite for marriage, 41% of all respondents believed that men should be financially responsible for the majority of household expenses–another 40% believe the burden should fall on whoever is financially better off. Whether this schism is due to traditional ideas about gender roles or China’s gender imbalance, the reality is that bachelors are under great pressure when it comes to buying a home. In fact, according to a CNN.com report based on a study by Columbia University Professor Shang-Jin Wei, 48% or (US$8 trillion worth) of the rise in property values across 35 major cities in China is linked to the country’s gender imbalance. With pressure on men to buy property – and on women to help them – men are more than twice as likely to have legal sole or joint ownership of property as women, with two-thirds of men owning property compared to only one-third of women. Due to this imbalance in financial security, men have more leverage and more options in romance and relationships. China’s gender imbalance means that more men than women between the ages of 25 and 29 are unmarried. But men in this group are not marrying women of their own age, instead searching for younger partners. Women aged 27 or older, according to the Chinese government and many media outlets, are “leftover,” less likely to find matches than their younger counterparts. Becoming “leftover” has long been a source of anxiety among women from the post-80’s generation, but the blogosphere has shown strong pushback against claims that post-90’s are already late to the altar. Many saw through the buzzwords of ‘late marriage’ and ‘leftover’ to the heart of the matter. Weibo user @MaDingMaLittleTiger wrote: “If the post-90’s are not in a hurry to get married, real estate won’t sell, and then developers won’t buy up property. The marriage industry will slow down, and lawyers will be afraid that with all these late marriages, people will be mature and less likely to divorce. All kinds of industries will cease to make money, and tax revenues will decrease. Without tax revenues, and unable to sell property, our leaders won’t have the excellent results they want or a high GDP. Therefore, post-90’s must be late for marriage, whether or not you’re in a rush to do it. It’s a serious social problem!” Media and the government continue to emphasize issues like “leftover women” and “late marriage,” but critical discussion of the subjects by Internet users shows that Chinese are no longer taking these buzzwords at face value. “Sometimes,” wrote Weibo user @jiuyue2010, “Our anxieties are the product of outside forces.” As time goes on, the post-90’s late marriage crisis, both real and imagined, will continue to shed light on China’s larger issues. Directory: 2013 2013 -> Annual InStructional unit plan 2013 -> The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2013 -> #1 a lifesafer of virginia inc 2013 -> Name(s): your name here team or Group #(if applicable): Professor’s name 2013 -> Alcott Local School Council (lcs) Meeting Minutes 2013 -> Table Of Contents introduction 2 2013 -> Supplemental demographic information 2013 -> 【Education&Working Experience】 Download 404.14 Kb. Share with your friends:
|