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Oddly enough, the politicians who most loudly condemn liberal policies as socialist conspiracies are often the ones who try to enact the most repressive tenets of socialism. When it comes to moral ideology, conservatives in this country are even more socialist than liberals. The recent wave of health bills attempting to place limits on a woman’s reproductive freedoms, from proposed mandatory transvaginal ultrasound tests in Virginia to Arizona’s law requiring women to tell their employers that they use birth control, make China’s draconian reproductive policies look humane. As anyone who has lived in a socialist country can testify, the worst thing about socialism is the invasion of privacy, and the best things are governmental policies that benefit everyone, not just the rich and privileged. It is time for conservatives to wise up, and stop badmouthing socialism — because they’re really pointing the finger at themselves.
—Yunte Huang, In defense of socialism
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A Tibetan exile set himself on fire in India on Monday, during a march to protest the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao. The dramatic — and often fatal — form of protest has become an increasingly common way to call attention to China’s policies in ethnic Tibetan regions.
Roughly 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the past year. Is the tactic working? How has China reacted? And when will the self-immolations stop?
Peter Goodspeed: Dying as a political act: Centuries-old Buddhist tradition of self-immolation continues in China
“This was not the random act of a disturbed individual, but rather a single manifestation of a deeply rooted set of ideas and ideals in Chinese Buddhism that blossomed again and again in the history of pre-modern China.”
Photo: Tibetan exile Janphel Yeshi, 27, runs as he is engulfed in flames after he set himself on fire to protest an upcoming visit to India by Chinese President Hu Jintao, March 26, 2012, in New Delhi. Yeshi suffered life-threatening burns. (AFP/Getty Images) -
An instructor smashes a bottle over a female recruit’s head during a training session for China’s first female bodyguards in Beijing. The 20 female recruits will undergo 8-10 months of training and the top trainee will go on to attend the International Security Academy in Israel.
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The $1.2 million Rolls-Royce that’s selling out in China: The Dragon Phantom, a limited edition Rolls-Royce, was created just for Chinese buyers to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. The car comes complete with hand-embroidered dragons on the headrests, hand-painted dragons on each side panel, among other dragon imagery. Guess how quickly it sold out?
*Beijing and Shanghai now buy more Rolls-Royces than Beverly Hills and London
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A Chinese sustainable-building firm built this entire 30-story hotel in 15 days. That’s a mere 360 hours. The Ark hotel was built at a fraction of normal Chinese construction costs, with no worker injuries. And the building isn’t flimsy: It is built to withstand a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, and energy-efficient to boot. Watch the time-lapse video of the hotel’s construction.
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The economy may still be floundering. But the Christmas tree business is booming. Americans will spend an estimated $3.4 billion on Christmas trees this year, the highest amount since 2007.
- 25 million -– Number of real Christmas trees Americans will buy this year
- $800 million — Estimated retail cost of those trees
- 10 million — Artificial trees Americans will buy this holiday season
- $2.6 billion — Estimated retail cost of those artificial trees
- 80 — Percent of all artificial trees that are manufactured in China
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China produces 57 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, which requires over 1.18 million square meters of forest, according to the Forest Ministry’s statistics from 2004 to 2009.
After China’s 1998 logging ban, attention turned to harvesting bamboo. The industry brings in millions of dollars each year for the country’s economy. But as demand for bamboo skyrockets, widespread over-harvesting could lead to a new ecological crisis in the region. Image by Sean Gallagher, who also has the story.
(via elizs)
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July 15, 2011 algae bloom from pollution, Qingdao, Shandong province, China.
See more in the photo gallery at National Geographic
Originally BoingBoing
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Why, yes, that is a decapitated snake head. It’s all that remains of one unlucky reptile in China’s “Snake Village,” a small farm town called Zisiqiao, where millions of the slithering, poisonous creatures are turned into food, wine, and virility drugs. The snake business is the anchor of the local economy.
Check out our slideshow of creepy and compelling photos from “Snake Village”
Photo: REUTERS/Aly Song
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Famed British traveler and novelist Colin Thubron loves books that take readers on a journey. Here are his favorites:
- Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India by William Dalrymple (Knopf, $27). Dalrymple, who has lived in New Delhi since 1989, offers vivid essays here on the syncretic world of India. At a time when Islamic extremism and Hindu nationalism threaten to polarize the nation’s population, it is salutary to be reminded of the sheer variety—ascetics, mystics, yogis—in both faiths.
- Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (Harper, $16). Part memoir and part novel, this haunting journey through inland China is at once a voyage into myth and history, and a journey into the author’s fragmented selves. In 2000, Gao became the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize.
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The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan by Ian Buruma (Atlantic, $18). Buruma sheds light on the contrasting mentalities in Japan and Germany after WWII. He is especially perceptive on Japan, and the book becomes an indictment of historical amnesia, with a resonance beyond Japan’s borders.
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Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in protest of Chinese govt. control
The 21-year-old monk burned to death in western China, triggering street protests. From the Reuters article:
“He shouted some slogans about freedom when he did it,” said Zorgyi, a researcher for the organization, who is based in northern India, where many exiled Tibetans live.
Police moved in to suppress the protest and arrested some monks, he said.
Repeated calls to police and government offices in Aba were not answered. One officer who answered the phone said, “Nothing is wrong.”
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$44
That’s how much a PBR costs in China.
The Chinese bourgeoisie, growing rich off the country’s property and banking industries, is developing expensive tastes — and not just for sports cars and designer bags. Thanks to a new craze for high-end alcoholic drinks, the Chinese rising class is splurging thousands of dollars on imported beer, whisky, and wine. Here’s a data-focused look at the booze boom.
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“Oh, Gap. Like an old pair of jeans, you have been broken.”
Gawker’s Maureen O’Conner reacts to the news that while Gap’s “Feed USA” bags claim to be made in America, they were actually manufactured in China. “At least someone’s feeding the Chinese kids? U-S-A! U-S-A!”
