Loud Thoughts

What constitute civilization? What makes a society pleasant to be part of, or intolerable? What makes you shake your heads, or irate and want to punch someone? What make you thinking of not coming back to this area ever?

Small things. What Rudy Giuliani called “quality of life” factors. In China, they fall into two general categories: inconsideration to others and not picking up after self. These are the new “4 pests” China government want to eradicate before Olympics. And I am 100% behind it. I would like to add the 5th one (and everyone has their favorite 5th one too) of littering.

I am confident that China will become a pleasant place for everyone. The economy is driving it and nothing motivates a Chinese more than growth. As the economy turns more and more consumer oriented, those “one time get rich schemes” will disappear and reputation will prevail as the leading success factor. At business level, this means quality and services. At personal level, this means good social behaviors. I also believe, in general, individual wealth promotes nicer social protocols.

It will be a nice day for me to see someone walking 5 paces, clear his or her phelgm into a tissue, and throw that into a garbage can.

A Howard W. French questioned, on International Herald of Tribute on November 2nd, 2007, if the deeply rooted American values of democracy and check-and-balance are really superior. What if Beijing is right?

I have long explained to people that China’s current governance model has existed for over 2200 years. The system experienced ups and downs over these centuries and had a bad phase from mid-1800s to early 1900s. Before that, it was the most powerful and prosperous country in the world.

Jared Diamond, in Guns, Germs, and Steel, tried this China puzzle with a geographic slice. He observed that, culturally and geographically, China is homogeneous and uniform, as contrast with Europe be heterogeneous and diversified. What’s most interesting to me is America’s entrance to this great social experiment few hundred years ago. In a few centuries, would some comparative governmental historians make a conclusion?

A centralized, non-elective government can make fair, but not just, decisions, faster. It can sacrifice few for many — economically right decisions but sometime not humane. To avoid debilitating corruptions, China has a power transfer scheme that has worked quite well for the past 30 years.

Are democracy and freedom-of-speech good for all civilizations all the time? Americans viewed this very question as religiously condemnable. You can hardly blame them. Their mere few hundreds years of experience had hardly been tested by any serious challenges: except for now.

The Confucius Temple (夫子庙) area reminds me of ShangHai’s City God’s Temple (城隍庙). It stands, non-participatorily aloof amidst the touristic crowd, on the banks of QinHuai river (秦淮河): the entertainment center of the capital for hundreds of years. This area is known for great foods, hedonistic music and dances, drunken social elites, and, of course, beauties who sank rich into rags. Confucius would hardly approve.

The long queues at the stinky tofu (臭豆腐) stand got me curious. I have always been a big fan of stinky tofu and naturally cannot resist. Well, they are not that, eh, aromatic. But fried to perfection: crispy on the outside, tender and piping hot inside. I had two orders.

Every corners has a big sign saying they have the best duck blood rice noodle soup (鸭血粉丝汤). I hestitated and eventually dared one. I can see it as a comfort food for local, but not something for tourists to remember the trip for.

ZhongShan area (钟山风景区) is a must-go. Ming Xiao Ling (明孝陵) buries the founding emperor of Ming dynasty, the last dynasty by Han people. Zhong Shan Ling (中山陵) is the tomb of Dr. SUN Yet-Sat: the one who ended China’s monarchy. There is also LingGu Temple (灵谷寺) that has a very interesting, and rare, brick building. In additonal to historical signficance, these are among the finest monumentary archtectural designs. I found Parasol trees (梧桐) romantically autumn; acres of Osmanthus (桂花) gave a pleasant sweet aroma — a surprise.

NanJing feels calmer than Beijing that has been caught in the renovation and modernization frenzy. People here seem to long for the ShangHai-style glory and growth. I found them lovely and friendly, foods very agreeable, and rivers attractively charming. The city’s history also gives it the cultural depth.

Maybe the economy is not everything a city needs?

Jammie Thomas was devastated by RIAA by making copyrighted songs available for others to download. They traced her via an IP address. Her service provider betrayed her by linking the IP address with her real identity and provided this link to RIAA.

Yahoo betrayed Shi Tao and devastated him no less drastically than Ms. Thomas. Like Ms. Thomas’s service provider, Yahoo did so in compliance to the laws. Only that Yahoo complied to China law, instead of US. For that, Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, received tongue-lashing from Congressman Tom Lantos as a “moral pigmy.”

Companies violated US laws all the time: minimum wages, maximum working hours, accounting principles, environmental protection, working conditions (OSHA regulations), etc. It is OK to do so outside of US soil and be in compliance with laws. Yahoo did not even violate any US law, only a value system and an ideology. This theater, therefore, is to send a message to China government, “We don’t like how you govern.”

Jerry Yang and Li Tao’s family are merely political props.

I endured years of protest imposing strict sleeping routine for my kids. They must be in bed and light-out earlier than most of their friends, at least so they claim.

A recent study showed a good night's sleep, when the kid is young, will help their grades, make them more socialable, and even avoid later time over-weight.

I guess this makes sense. A good night's sleep give them more energy, to focus in class, and more participatory on the playground — that becomes higher interest in activities and exercises later.