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Showing posts with the label society

The Risks and Possibilities of Rap Music Gaining More Recognition in Asia

In the past years, reality shows have become a staple of Chinese television.  In particular, owing to the popularity of karaoke and pop music, American Idol -style programs that seek to discover untapped musical talents in the general populace have become extremely popular and widespread.  Different TV stations and independent media websites have invested and competed to host the biggest, most professional, and most lavishly set "talent search," drawing some of the biggest popstars of Chinese musical industry today to help discover some of the best raw talent hidden in plain sight.

How Airlines Can Coax More Small International Traders into Their Customer Base

With increase in global connectivity and the importance of international trade, a new kind of trade pattern is emerging.   Small traders, towing no more than a couple of suitcases each, cross international borders in search of merchandise they can potentially sell back home.  They purchase the merchandise in (rather small) bulk in foreign markets, throw them into their suitcases.  Once back at home, they throw open their suitcases and sell the contents at a margin.  The profits on the foreign merchandise finance their next trips, which hopefully would involve more scale and more valuable products over time.

Is Retiring Early Really a Good Life Goal?

Now as it had ever been, there are many advertisements of get-rich-quick schemes, on TV, on shady websites, and as inline ads for social media.  Along with the texts claiming Mr. xxx had made $yyy in the course of just few years, many of these unbelievable figures also add in that the new wealth allowed Mr. xxx to retire in his 30s or 40s.  Without saying so explicitly, the ads assume that logically, what someone who earned a massive quantity would do is to immediately retire, so that s/he does not have to slave for some heartless employer or work hard for him/herself anymore.

Can Mitigation Rather Prevention be a Feasible Long-Term Solution for Air Pollution?

Recently, there has been talks of a new way of dealing with growing problems of air pollution caused by emissions of carbon-based pollutants into the atmosphere.  The idea is to install large numbers of large air purifying devices that filter large quantity of air in the surrounding area, removing the carbons in the air that the devices then proceed to pump back into the atmosphere.  Optimists speak of such devices benefiting not only as a scalable mechanisms to rid air of toxic elements, but also as a way to manufacture man-made diamonds with the captured carbons.

Is Overly Investing in Grand Projects a Worthwhile Endeavor?

In a recent podcast for the Odd Podcast , Vanderbilt University anthropologist Prof. Arthur Demarest discussed the signs of a civilization on the verge collapse.  Prof. Demarest postulates a unique point of view, arguing that a civilization is at its very vulnerable at its supposed zenith, when its political, economic, and cultural achievements are at their highest, and the territorial extent at the greatest.  Instead of the civilization showing gradual decline with reduced wealth and territory over centuries, civilizations are much more likely to collapse decades after achieving the zenith.

Is Inequality a Prerequisite for Economic Development?

In the previous blog post , I discussed the potential correlation between economic development and presence of nationalism at a state (rather than tribal) level.  But of course, to incentivize economic development requires a whole host of different factors, the presence of many at the same time in equal importance, rather than any particular dominant one, allow for an economy to take off.  I have no illusion that nationalism is the most important factor, and for many poor countries where nationalism is a fact of life, its presence is not even the obstacle holding back development.

Why an International Tech Firm Should be Taxed and Tariffed Like Any Other Multinational

Surfing the Internet around the world is often an exercise in homogeneity.  With the exception of China and a few other countries restricting Internet access to certain sites, every country in the world popularizes the same website and Internet services.  Facebook is used by people around the world in dozens of different languages to connect with friends, while Google and Wikipedia are nearly unanimous as the first sources of knowledge.  On the mobile phone, the likes of Uber and Tinder have provided people in all countries with similar services, despite different on-the-ground conditions.

Why a Village is “Culturally Purer” than a City

As even the least developed corner of the globe undergoes continual shift of populations off farms and rural villages into the embrace of concrete jungles of urban society, the influence of cities on the overall outlook of the society and its future trajectory is becoming more and more significant.  However, to say that major cities are the primary indicator of a society’s characteristic would exaggerate the role that such cities may play in the overall economic and cultural development of the society in question.  Instead, the primary focus should be on small towns and rural villages, where the poorest of the poor continue to reside.

Is Competition or Cooperation Better for Leadership Development?

In the capitalist societies of today, often winners in the race to the top, of wealth, prestige, and power, is determined by constant competition for limited resources among all capable actors.  Many have been taken aback by the ruthlessness of such constant competition, arguing that the hostility of the competitions bring out the worst in our leaders, prioritizing success over ethics and goods human relations.  However, examples can demonstrate that for the youth to become good leaders, competition is still necessary for honing their necessary skills, including the very ability to seek cooperation in order to achieve certain goals.

What is the Perverse Incentive behind “Close Enough is Good Enough”?

A few months ago, there was a good article written on the prevalence of chabuduo (roughly translated as “close enough”) mentality in China.  A mentality widespread among the nation’s craftsman, it is responsible for countless examples of shoddy manufactures that together plague the reputation for “Made in China” both at home and abroad.  The article argues that the persistence of the chabuduo mentality, so ingrained in modern-day Chinese economy but largely absent historically in its ancient civilization, presents itself as a massive obstacle for the country to move up the value chain.

"Proper" Customer Service for an "Outsider"

I was living in the town of Iringa for so long that, not entirely deliberately, I became a frequent customer in many of the town's local eateries. Given that it is rather unusual to see Chinese people hanging out in local eateries, I become a largely recognizable face among the staff of these eateries. And as a recognizable face, I was often treated with smiles, handshakes, and quite a bit of eagerness with it comes to being informed of what is on the menu and recommended for the day. For the longest time, I simply thought such behaviors are just the norms of how staff in rural Tanzanian eateries talk.

Can Honesty be a Trait not Developed but Enforced?

A few years back, the author was traveling through the city of Hamburg in northern Germany during his vacation days as a Master's student.  Perhaps one of the most shocking (at least to the author) was how the subway trains crisscrossing the city did not have actual entrance gates in most stations.  Instead of a series of gates where commuters had to stick their train tickets into before emerging on the other side so that they can proceed to the train platforms, the Hamburg metro simply had ticket machines inside the trains to validate tickets, while the stations themselves simply connected to the outside without restraint on entry or exit.

How Does an Unusual Practice Become a Norm?

About a year ago, the author wrote about how few people here in Iringa carry umbrellas and do not mind being in the rain .  It was just another when the author was taking a motorcycle taxi across town when the rains started to fall heavily.  The author did have an umbrella in his hand, but the motorcycle was going way too fast for it to be opened.  Even as the drizzles turned into downpours, the author did not even attempt to get the motorcycle driver to slow down or stop. As his clothes grew wetter from the rains, he realized that he stopped minding being in the rains...in a way more Tanzanian, maybe.

Is "Enough" Really Enough?

When the author was traveling around Eastern Europe a few years ago, a Chinese man met on the bus told him of a Chinese friend who used to work on a potato farm in Russia.  The man said his friend was busy gathering potatoes during the season when all the sudden, the boss of the farm told him to stop. “Hey, we got enough potatoes for the season, so you can stop now,” the boss said in a rather matter-of-fact way. “Wait, so what do we do with the rest of the potatoes?  We still have many hectares that we haven’t harvested,” the friend was positively confused by the boss’ order.

Is Lack of Optimism a Bottleneck for Development in Africa?

There is an interesting fact that few foreigners know about Japan.  That is, the biggest ethnic population of Japanese people outside Japan live in Brazil, numbering more than 1.6 million for a diaspora that just 2.6 million strong worldwide.  From a modern-day perspective, the oversized presence of the Japanese in an economically struggling and geographically distant country like Brazil seem rather strange, especially when Japanese migrant populations everywhere, including in US, Europe, and Asia, are shrinking as fewer Japanese seek to go and live abroad .

"丟東西"對國民性的啓示

在 著者幫助建立的幾家小店 中有一個共同的現象:開店不過幾周就有十幾張客戶的身份證被遺忘在店員手裏。雖説本店需要用客戶證件作爲貸款的前提,但這些證件衹需要被看到而完全無需留在店裏。當然,店員也從來沒有想要任何人的身份證。對他們來説,額外保存這些東西沒有任何實質上的意義。可也就不知爲什麽,多個客戶在知道身份證忘在店中也沒有着急,以至於即便店員多次打電話給這些客戶,這十幾張身份證還是遺留在店中達幾個月之久。照此下去,可能這些證件注重會在繁忙的店中丟失。

When the Atmosphere Determines a Holiday

Chinese New Year, come to think of it, can be a very elusive holiday.  Since it follows the lunar calendar that shifts back and forth relative to the Gregorian calendar in use today, the exact date for it fluctuates every year.  There simply is not a clear reminder that "ah, it is Dec 25 today, so it is Christmas" or "ah, it is Jan 1 today, so it is New Year's Day."  Instead, to remember Chinese New Year's, one often just go with the flow as everyone else celebrates.   The local malls and streets , and at home the dinner table and the decorations certainly would not have one forget the important day.

"Happy New Year's, Tanzania!"

Looking at international news on New Year's Day, they are filled with the revelations of big cities around the globe. The massive firework displays, the pulsing light shows emerging from skyscrapers, and the thronging crowds counting down in joy, the big city celebrations certainly deserve the coverages they get for their sheer scales, efforts, and mass participation. Here in the little frontier Tanzanian town, the same, of course, cannot be expected.  But in its own, much more toned-down way, the people did go out to usher in the New Year, with drinks, food, and more reasonably scaled gatherings.

"A Cup of Tea, Sir?"

The other day, the author found himself at the street food market of the little highlands town that he calls home. Severe downpours drowned out the streets while he was going for his brunch on the streets. Thankfully, the market is covered by a thatched roof, leaving a whole group of locals stranded under it for a couple of hours. There was some dismay, but little tension among the crowds. All sat down in the food markets' various stalls, picking up cups of tea, a few pastries, and some newspapers, whiling away the rainy hours with a few chats.

“中華軟實力”之在非洲農村看抗日神劇

在著者爲組織運營的小店旁邊有一個販賣盜版DVD的商家。每天從清晨到傍晚,門前的一個巨型音響會將店内正在播放的任何DVD傳播到整個村裏。在這裏,這種DVD店非常常見。 若干月前,著者也談到它們正成爲把韓劇帶入當地人民的視野 。它們巨大的聲音給平靜的農村生活帶來一些色彩,也同時讓無電視、無網絡的農民間接的瞭解外面的世界。甚至可以説,當地農民的世界觀被這些店面銷售的DVD決定,而在他們無法走出農村的現實下,對外面世界的好奇心在某種意義上被滿足。