Chinese Box

That wacky Chinese news

Two fun China news blips

1. My Chinese teacher had me read a story about the meeting between the South Korean, Chinese and Japanese heads of state on Cheju island. There was no mention of North Korea at all in there. It was primarily quotes from Wen Jiabao

2. We set up the TV so we could pretend to watch the world cup (I don't care, but I'm trying to pretend to care so I can converse with European males). I discovered that one of the major news programs opens with the soundtrack from Jurassic Park. Which is kinda awesome.

Won't somebody pay me for working for free

Democracy in America is encouraging me to destroy journalism.

And just as Mr Yglesias describes welfare-state capitalism as the fulfillment of the utopian leisure-time dreams Marxism once held, you can find a very good Marxist term for what is happening in the symbolic-analyst fields as a result of the advent of the internet: a crisis of overproduction. Mr Yglesias might not be too pessimistic about the crisis of overproduction in journalism because, to put it bluntly, he is the crisis of overproduction in journalism. He averages, I believe, 12 to 20 posts a day, all of them interesting, some of them involving original research. Add in a couple of other such bloggers, like Andrew Sullivan and Ezra Klein, and you've got all the eyeball candy a dilatory citizen's attention can consume in a day. This kind of high rate of fire isn't entirely unprecedented; from David Halberstam to David Remnick, top journalists have always been preternaturally productive.

I need to blog more.

It's good to work for the government

I was at dinner with the other three journalists who were going on the press trip to Egypt with me. One, and older man from the People's Daily, when he was ready to go home took out his cellphone and called the company car to come pick him up.

Its good to work for the government.

China makes a commercial

I really rather like this move, though it seems to be unpopular with the Chinese bloggers. 

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce and a few Industry groups have put together a commercial advertising China's place in the global manufacturing chain, and its cooperation with foreign designers. While the negative spin from Steven Lin seems to be based on the downplaying of Chinese innovation capacity and the general siege mentality that's not par for the course for Chinese media commentators, I in general think this is a huge step towards a more mature economy, for a few reasons.

1. It reasserts the value of global trade: China has been overly focused on national brand building, and have been going at it rather cockeyed. They particularly support state-owned companies and conglomerates as opposed to technology driven start-ups. They want to create the next GE not the next Apple, and as we all know GE is a dysfunctional company. Manufacturing is an inherent strength of the Chinese economy if for no other reason than the gigantic population (there are other reasons), taking this attitude shows that "China" (though I'm sure this is a ministerial decision) is interested in working with multinationals, and not against them. This is a more mature internal economic decision (China should be working to build the next Foxconn not the next GE), and shows China taking the high road in regards to protectionism. 

2. It asserts that China can compete in quality: The chambers of commerce involved in the production of the brand are all chambers that are losing contracts to cheaper places (primarily Bangladesh and Vietnam), and the commercial seems to claim that China is the partner you trust. Which is definitely a step up from China is the partner you can afford.

3. Its the first time the Chinese government has claimed the "Made in China" brand: Which emphasizes point 2. "Made in China" refers to a gigantic number of barely regulated factories over a space of land larger than Europe. China has always been rather resistant towards claiming the brand for its own, because then things like poisoned toothpaste might mean even bigger loss of face. If we can start considering Made in China as a unified brand though, that implies a larger stakeholder position for the owner of that brand.

Looking at China's position economically and demographically it seems pretty clear that over the next 50 years the country's position in the world will be as a medium value manufacturer. Its nice to see the country finally staking out its claim on that spot.