Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

In the last post, I talked about the inevitability of nomadic-herders to be assimilated by agriculture-based civilizations despite greater strength and understanding of military strategies. Surely enough, no country in this modern world is completely based on animal husbandry, and all of the major powers all have strong agricultural backgrounds and production capabilities. A Han Chinese or any other members of agriculture-based civilizations should be happily considering this point as a matter of fact. The strength of human capability to produce resources not naturally allotted by Mother Earth may be the most basic quality that distinguish it from mere beasts. But having such a self-righteous attitude belies one of the greatest faults of agriculture-based civilizations. In their quests to continue expansion, in population, societal organization, technology, industry, etc., it does not and refuses to believe that there could be a limit to such forward progress. Technology, so far at

Out of absolute boredom of staying at home and doing virtually nothing productive, I have been reading a Chinese book on the lives of Mongolian herders on the vast steppes of the Inner Mongolian Grasslands. Written as a personal narrative of a Han Chinese youngster escaping the violence of Cultural Revolution, it explores, from the perspective of the Han Chinese, the lifestyles, values, and beliefs of the "untamed" (i.e. not converted into permanent settled communities) Mongolians in an effort to understand the ethnic differences and the spectacular military history of Mongols and their ancestors. From the very beginning, the author establishes the bipolarity of "nomadic-herding civilization" (such as that of the Mongolians) vs. "agriculture-based civilization" (such as that of the Han Chinese). As a visitor from the agriculture-based civilization, the author immediately notices the respect the herders hold for the the wolf, a creature so hated and widely

With the increased global influence China holds, studying Chinese really has become a trend among foreigners keen on tapping the economic opportunities in China. Multinationals are seeking employees with knowledge of Chinese culture, language, and society to further expand in the Chinese market, making Chinese the desired foreign language when competing for employment in the corporate sector. Of course, for China, such a trend is also economically helpful by itself. Rich foreigners, taking advantage of low costs in China, come to study in Chinese universities and in the process, spend freely on local services and products. Yet, amid a generally positive environment for developing a profitable Chinese education industry, the methods with which Chinese are taught to foreigners here, at least from the perspective of a Chinese raised abroad, seem quite discomforting. With universities completely controlled by the government, the Chinese education curriculum here continues to hold stron

Finished talking about tourists in the last post, I would like to take the development of individualism in China to a more positive note. With intense control of public opinion and what is considered "moral, non-corrupting forms of entertainment" by the government, the concept of entertainment programs did not even exist on Chinese TV until very very recently. Just a decade ago, Chinese TV consisted of news, propagandistic drama series (involving such favorite topics as anti-Japanese war stories and communist greatness...topics that still are popular to this day because of guaranteed popularity with the older generations), and little else... Then, with increased reforms and commercializations of the local TV stations, entertainment programs, often involving pop musicians and celebrities, came into being as means of attracting younger audience groups. The programs, emulating similar ones in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, requires the hosts and guests to think on

A couple of days ago, I went to the Shanghai Expo for the second, and hopefully, the last time. I wasn't keen to go to begin with and only went there to help my aunt push my 86-year-old grandmother around in a wheelchair. My aunt and the rest of my family calls such act "filial," but seriously, if I was the old person, I would be happiest if left alone in a quiet environment. The Expo, with all its loud people, noise, plus the hot weather, would not only be no enjoyment to an old person, but pose serious health risk from the heat and/or contracting some contagious disease from the crowd. Perhaps thats why I still don't get why Chinese people see "multiple generations under the same roof" as a sign of a happy and fulfilling family. Wouldn't it be much better for the old person to be with other old people with similar interests and lifestyles in a retirement community of some sort? By forcing the younger generations to take care of the elders through

With the pro-status quo Kuomintang (Nationalists) in power again in Taiwan after eight years under pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, it seems that, at least for now, the growing movement toward formal independence of Taiwan from the Republic of China (ROC) has been thwarted. But as I have repeatedly observed in Taiwan, the common Taiwanese people, especially among the younger generations with no memories of the ROC's presence on the Chinese mainland, the entire concept of ROC means little if anything.