Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tuesday here




Hi again:
The pictures here are the carved watermelons. Amazing pictures....
I listened today to On Point with James Fallows and others from China. The talk was on Google and what that company is doing there. They discussed, among other things, the firewall in China. My experience with when I was there impacted my work on the computer. I could not access, for example, our bridge club in Eugene, called emeraldbridge.com. For some reason the firewall prevented me from getting access our bridge club in Eugene.
Now I hear the Chinese cannot access Facebook or Twitter.
The leadership of China is a bunch of old men, many of whom still remember Mao, one of the world's worst dictators. Chinese leaders believed they could maintain their corrupt power if the economy boomed. Corruption is large in China. I ordered a camera from New York. It stayed in the Chinese Customs Office for four weeks. When I called them they told me I could get it delivered if I paid another 1,000 rmb to them. I told that person to go to hell. I was not going to pay his bribe. Two days later the camera was delivered to my office.
I know I have suggested this book before but it is such a good book about China. Read China Road by Rob Gifford. This NPR reporter took a trip on the Silk Road from Shanghai to the western border of China. The bribes they had to pay on that trip.
I love the people of China and the food of China but not the government of China.
Take care.
Steven


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