Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

Again, we are approaching an anniversary of September 11th, that day which dramatically and suddenly changed the focus of the world and its balance of power. That day which caused America to begin its losing fight against an abstract concept that is Islamic extremism. To this day, America continues to think that an equally abstract idea that is "democracy" can be militarily extended to foreign territories and defeat entrenched cultural values that previously had no interactions with. Perhaps, just as Mao foresaw decades ago that war is a battle of ideologies rather than armament or military training, he probably would still be surprised that a country, even one so firmly confident in its own systems as the US, can be so stubborn in enforcing its own ideas on obviously "ungrateful" subjects…perhaps only the American view of the equally foreign and hostile-sounding Chinese ideologies can be used as an illustrative example. It reminds of this one class I had back in ...

ok, sounds Marxist...sorry, but there is no better way to phrase the issue...really, on this particular problem, it really is about economic class...not class in a classic Marxist terminology of proletariat vs bourgeois, but the creation of class within a group long considered to be united within a single class by most classical Marxist historians: the petty peasantry...but thinking about the cycle of Chinese dynastic history the other day while reading about Mao's debauched attempts at escaping that cycle (a move that cost China 300 million lives and pushed the great military strategist into the ranks of the world's worst nation-builders) really allowed me to see the fault of considering even peasantry of same initial economic status to be a single economic class.

Going to be in Japan soon, I can't really ignore what's happening in modern Japanese politics. Probably one defining feature is the people's lack of interest combined with their fleeting support for each incoming prime minister. With each new leader comes a sudden surge of high expectations for reform and dramatic positive changes…only to have that fervent support turn into disappointment and open criticism of the leadership only few months later when little changes are seen. Of course, no country can be as extreme as Japan where prime minister changes every few months for the last five, six years. But the point about people having unrealistically high expectations for their leaders is ever-present in all democratic countries, and the current trend in the United States may be a good example as well. While not anti-Obama in anyway myself, I am deeply concerned by the deep emotional involvement his supporters have displayed in the course of the presidential campaign. Liste...

The successful organization of the World Cup in South Africa should indeed be congratulated. Once again (after that controversial Games of the XXIX Olympiad held at Beijing from 8th to the 24th of August 2008), the international sports community has shown the insight and wisdom in steadfastly resisting widespread criticism regarding the choice of a seemingly unfit host nation. The fierce, spectacular, yet friendly competitions as well as the nearly flawless, despite some minor flaws, executions of the events have shown both the courage of the South African government to defy widely held negative opinions and proved once and for all that the choice of the host nation was not one to be regretted by the future generations. However, accompanying such tremendous success is an equally gigantic problem that has become gradually more prominent. Such is the problem of individual nations using international sports competition such as the World Cup and the Olympics and the success of their own ...

Just getting back from a 5-day solo trip through Xi'an and Zhengzhou to see the famous Terracotta Soldiers and Shaolin Temple, I am sitting in my living room in Shanghai downloading a game on Three Kingdoms (got a bit hooked when I was playing it in an Internet cafe in Xi'an) while thinking about how lucky I was to get bus and train tickets off scalpers that made my journey such a go-when-I-feel-like-it style that is my only enjoyable way to travel. At least here in China, the underground economy is everywhere. The brothels fronting as foot massage, karaoke, and dance clubs that I talked about in the last post, of course, are the most obvious example, but probably the only thing in this country that cannot have underground involvement is airplane tickets. Being known as the "world's factory floor" gives you the advantage of generating not only illegal services (brothels, taxis, scalping tickets, you name it, but these exist not just in China but all developing c...

Yep, if China could be considered a "morally righteous" country (like what the govt is trying the best to do...see last post), the "foot message," karaoke bars, and even "restaurants" better be controlled somehow...the pink lights streaming out of these places are really quite amazing...wait til nightfall, the country where porn is banned becomes a prime destination for sex tourism (I have heard quite a bit about sex tourism to China organized by Korean and Japanese companies...) Yes, you heard right...porn sites are completely banned here...in fact, if you try to access any porn sites (foreign ones, of course..anyone who try to register a domestic porn site is bound to be arrested...yes, there have been cases of that..and you think Internet is anonymous when you don't use your real name and identity...the cyber police is quite powerful and can track a lot of things down..its all prep for the cyber war, i.e. the war of the future) and actually manage t...

Today, there is an apparently growing trend of establishing wireless Internet connections in populated areas to benefit large numbers of users simultaneously with little cost. Most notably, many coffee shops and college campuses have already taken a lead in installing a network for customers, students, and faculty members, allowing for immediate rapid Internet access from all corners of their large coverage areas. In fact, the technology is probably most important not when used by some dude in a coffee shop sending emails, but in major industries that cannot be access physically and thus requires remote communication for control and smooth operations. The best example that comes to mind is oil and gas fields far away from population centers, such as those in the northern slopes of Alaska (that I so regret not being able to visit in my Alaska trip) Rapidly sharing information is necessary for the safety and efficiency of the oil and gas industry in the future. Instant communication b...