Culture | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

16/09/2013

Off the Menu: Hong Kong Government Bans Shark’s Fin

Austerity and anti-graft comes to the rescue of sharks (whose fins are cut and hence the fish bleed to death).

WSJ: “Hong Kong may be the capital of the world’s shark’s fin trade, but as environmentalists step up their campaign against the delicacy, even this city’s government has declared it off-limits.

Last year, China’s government announced it would stop serving shark’s fin soup at official banquets, a move that was heralded by green groups around the world, though it will likely take years to come into effect. Now, Hong Kong is following suit, banning the dish at official events and requesting civil servants to refrain from eating it at other functions, along with other endangered species such as bluefin tuna and black moss. The move comes as international companies from luxury Shangri-La hotel chain to Cathay Pacific Airways have declared they will refuse to serve or carry most shark’s fin.

Altogether, said Allen To of the World Wildlife Foundation, more than 150 corporations have pledged not to serve the dish—a gelatinous, stringy soup that’s believed to have curative properties—at their own banquets. “But it’s still very common at wedding banquets,” said Mr. To, noting that at local restaurants, it can be more expensive for couples to swap out shark’s fin soup for other luxury dishes such as abalone or bird’s nest soup.”

via Off the Menu: Hong Kong Government Bans Shark’s Fin – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in austerity, China alert, corruption, Economics, Environment, frugality, Good news, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: aviation, Banquet, Cathay Pacific, China, Conservation movement, environment, Food, Hong Kong, Hong Kong government, restaurants, Shark fin soup, transportation, World Wide Fund for Nature

08/09/2013

A Chinese power struggle: Hunting tigers

The Economist: “A DRIVE against corruption? Or a political purge? Or a bit of both? Outside China, not many people noticed the dismissal of Jiang Jiemin, the minister overseeing China’s powerful state-owned enterprises (SOEs). His charge—“serious violations of discipline”—is party-speak for corruption. Officials at CNPC, a state-run oil giant which Mr Jiang used to run, have also been charged. But in Beijing it fits a pattern. It follows on from the trial of Bo Xilai, the princeling who ran the huge region of Chongqing and was a notable rival of Xi Jinping, China’s president. Mr Xi now seems to be gunning for an even bigger beast: Zhou Yongkang, Mr Jiang’s mentor, an ally of Mr Bo’s, and until last year the head of internal security whom Mr Bo once hoped to replace.

Mr Xi vows to fight corrupt officials large and small—“tigers” and “flies” as he puts it. He has certainly made as much or more noise about graft as his predecessors. If Mr Zhou is pursued for corruption, it will break an unwritten rule that the standing committee should not go after its own members, past or present. And there are good reasons for Mr Xi to stamp out corruption. He knows that ill-gotten wealth is, to many ordinary people, the chief mark against the party. It also undermines the state’s economic power.

But this corruption drive is also open to another interpretation. To begin with, the tigers being rounded up are Mr Xi’s enemies. Mr Bo had hoped to use Chongqing as the springboard to the Politburo’s standing committee. The verdict on Mr Bo, expected any day, is a foregone conclusion. His sentence will be decided at the highest levels of the Communist Party, and it can only be harsh. Party politics, as seen by its players, is an all-or-nothing game, and the stakes are even higher when family prestige and fortunes are at stake.

Mr Xi is also open to the charge of being selective about leaving other tigers untouched. His own family’s fortune, piggy-banking off Mr Xi’s career, runs into hundreds of millions of dollars. Even as Mr Xi rails against corruption, he has overseen a crackdown on reformers calling, among other things, for the assets of senior cadres to be disclosed. And although the party makes much of how Mr Bo’s trial is the rule of law at work, many of the moves against Mr Bo, Mr Jiang and Mr Zhou appear to be taking place in a parallel and obscure system of detention for party members known as shuanggui.

Now set out your stall, Mr Xi

So China is entering a crucial period. The optimistic interpretation of all this is that Mr Xi is not just consolidating his own power but also restoring political unity. This will free him to push ahead with the deep but difficult economic reforms that he has promised and that China so badly needs if growth is not to stumble; it would also allow him to drive harder against corruption. The SOEs are bound to be part of both campaigns.

The test will come at a party plenum in November. There, Mr Xi should make it clear that even his friends are not above the law. A register of official interests would be laudable, and a few trials of people from Mr Xi’s own camp would send a message. He should also tie his campaign against graft to economic liberalisation: break up the various boondoggles and monopolies, and there will be far fewer chances for theft. It is still not clear whether Mr Xi’s “Chinese Dream” is a commitment to reform or maintaining the status quo. For China’s sake, it had better be reform.

via A Chinese power struggle: Hunting tigers | The Economist.

India speaks 780 languages, 220 lost in last 50 years

A few days ago, there was a post about languages in China – https://chindia-alert.org/2013/09/06/beijing-says-400-million-chinese-cannot-speak-mandarin/. This post is about languages in India.

Reuters: “No one has ever doubted that India is home to a huge variety of languages. A new study, the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, says that the official number, 122, is far lower than the 780 that it counted and another 100 that its authors suspect exist.

The survey, which was conducted over the past four years by 3,000 volunteers and staff of the Bhasha Research & Publication Centre (“Bhasha” means “language” in Hindi), also concludes that 220 Indian languages have disappeared in the last 50 years, and that another 150 could vanish in the next half century as speakers die and their children fail to learn their ancestral tongues.

The 35,000-page survey is being released in 50 volumes, the first of which appeared on Sept. 5 to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Indian philosopher Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, who was also the country’s second president. The last one is scheduled to come out in December 2014.

Ganesh Devy, who supervised the project, said this is the first comprehensive survey of Indian languages that anyone has conducted since Irish linguistic scholar George Grierson noted the existence of 364 languages between 1894 and 1928.

There is a major reason for the disparity in the government’s number of languages versus what the survey found: the government does not count languages that fewer than 10,000 people speak. Devy and his volunteers on the other hand combed the country to find languages such as Chaimal in Tripura, which is today spoken by just four or five people.

One of the most interesting aspects of the project is Devy’s view of language as a marker of the well being of a community. Languages are being born and dying as they evolve – note how Old English is unintelligible today, and how different is Chaucer’s Middle English from ours – and that is a natural process. But bringing attention to Indian languages with small numbers of speakers, Devy said, is a way of bringing attention to the societies that speak them, along with the well being of their people.”

via India speaks 780 languages, 220 lost in last 50 years – survey | India Insight.

Posted in India alert, Internal politics, languages | Leave a Comment »

Tags: India, Languages of India, Linguistic Survey of India, politics, research, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

01/09/2013

Jiang Jiemin: China corruption probe into top official

There are increasing signs that this time, anti-corruption is being taken very seriously by the Party and government.

BBC: “Chinese authorities have announced a corruption investigation into Jiang Jiemin, the head of the commission that oversees state-owned companies.

The supervision ministry said Mr Jiang was suspected of a “serious violation of discipline”. He has not publicly commented on the allegations.

The term is used to refer to corruption by managers of state companies.

President Xi Jinping has vowed to eradicate corruption in China, warning that it threatens the Communist Party.

Recent months have seen several high-profile corruption cases against high-ranking officials, including disgraced senior party official Bo Xilai, who was put on trial for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power in August.

The verdict in his case is expected “at a date to be decided”. Mr Bo denies all charges.

Until March Mr Jiang was head of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which has faced a number of corruption allegations.

Last week it was announced that another four CNPC executives were under investigation for corruption.

Earlier in August the general manager of state-owned phone company China Mobile Ltd was detained in the southern province of Guangdong. He too is being investigated for discipline violations.

Internet users are also increasingly pursuing those perceived as having done wrong through online exposes and campaigns.

But in recent weeks there have been signs that this has worried the authorities, with a number of journalists arrested for “rumour-mongering” and a high-profile blogger arrested.”

via BBC News – Jiang Jiemin: China corruption probe into top official.

Tags: Bo Xilai, China, China Mobile, China National Petroleum Corporation, CNPC, communist party of china, corruption allegations, corruption in china, corruption investigation, Jiang Jiemin, national petroleum corporation, Xi JinPing

29/08/2013

Bo Xilai on trial: Settling scores

The Economist: “IN A heavily guarded courthouse in the eastern city of Jinan, the trial began on August 22nd of a politician who was once one of China’s most powerful figures. Bo Xilai, who is 64, has been accused of receiving bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power. His downfall in March 2012 caused the greatest political shock of its kind in decades.

That the trial is under way at last is a sign that Xi Jinping, who took over as China’s leader eight months after Mr Bo disappeared from public view, is confident that he can handle its ramifications. Mr Bo, like Mr Xi, is the son of one of Mao Zedong’s fellow revolutionaries. He remains popular in the parts of China where he has served, including as Communist Party chief in the 29m-strong region of Chongqing in the south-west. He is an icon of diehard Maoists and members of the “new left” who decry China’s move towards money making. Handling Mr Bo’s case without upsetting powerful families and arousing public ire (whether of Mr Bo’s fans or of the many Chinese who are aggrieved at widespread official corruption) has been Mr Xi’s challenge. As the trial began, dozens of supporters gathered nearby. Police dragged several away.

Mr Xi and his colleagues wished to choreograph the proceedings—which at the time of going to press were expected to last just a day or two—with great precision. But Mr Bo, with a characteristic feistiness, queered the pitch from the outset. He denied a charge of bribery involving payments of more than 1.1m yuan ($180,000) from a businessman in the north-eastern city of Dalian. His response to the other charges, including millions of dollars in other kickbacks, are not yet known. Foreign journalists were barred from the trial.

The allegations, even if disagreeable to Mr Bo, would have been tailored to suit all factions—including, to some extent, his own, for Mr Bo had powerful backers, including within the security forces. Speculation has also centred on whether the state tried to secure Mr Bo’s co-operation by promising not to go after his 25-year-old son, Bo Guagua, who was expensively educated in Britain and is now studying in America. The younger Mr Bo may hope one day to to avenge his father’s downfall.

via Bo Xilai on trial: Settling scores | The Economist.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Internal politics, Justice, Politics, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Chongqing, Dalian, Mao Zedong, politics, Xi JinPing

26/08/2013

Mooncake Austerity Hits China’s Mid-Autumn Festiva

WSJ: “First baijiu, then red carpets, and now mooncakes. For Chinese government officials, the list of taboos keeps getting longer.

One month before the country celebrates its annual Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese authorities said Wednesday that they are barring officials from buying mooncakes—a centerpiece of the holiday—as well as giving presents or hosting dinners on the public dime.

Traditionally, mooncakes are gifted (and often re-gifted) as a form of tribute during the festival, exchanged among family members as well as among companies, their clients and employees. “But this kind of polite reciprocity, when overdone, becomes a kind of squandering of cash,” ran an editorial in the People’s Daily on Thursday, praising the mooncake crackdown.

About the size of a hockey puck and traditionally stuffed with anything from red bean paste to salted egg yolk, these days, the once-humble mooncake is barely recognizable. Some are now made of solid gold and others come swathed in pure silk. Such is the luxury nature of some mooncakes that in past years, talk of a “mooncake bubble” circulated, while in 2011, China’s government proposed that workers pay income tax on the value of cakes gifted to them by their employers.

Given the frenetic pace of mooncake gift-giving, they’ve long been seen as an easy vehicle for corruption. Many environmental NGOs have also condemned the modern crop of mooncakes, criticizing their elaborate packaging as wasteful.

This week’s mooncake crackdown is part of a broader attempt to quell anger about public corruption, which in recent years has been stoked by the sight of officials gorging on lavish banquets and indulging in other excesses, including luxury watches and more. Thursday’s editorial in the People’s Daily, for example, cited the anti-mooncake move as part of President Xi Jinping’s effort to educate Party members about the evils of the “Four Winds,” i.e. “formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and waste.”

On Thursday, some users on Sina Weibo, China’s popular Twitter-like microblogging service, though, were less than impressed. “”The system doesn’t change, these kinds of trivialities aren’t of any use,” wrote one.

Others mourned the idea that the confections were facilitating corruption. “A holiday that was once simple and pure has been transformed by China’s corrupt bureaucracy into something with a different meaning,” wrote another. “How sad.”

Still others took the opportunity to rail against mooncakes in general. Despite the holiday zeal for them, many languish uneaten for weeks after they’ve been gifted. “They’re just a mix of stuff high in fat, high in sugar, and high in additives,” wrote one user.

“They’re not tasty and they’re expensive,” added another. “No wonder that other than during the Mid-Autumn festival, people don’t eat them.””

via Mooncake Austerity Hits China’s Mid-Autumn Festival – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Economics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Government of the People's Republic of China, Mid-Autumn Festival, Mooncake, politics, Sina Weibo, Xi JinPing

21/08/2013

India’s Maharashtra state bans black magic after killing

BBC: “The Indian state of Maharashtra has enacted emergency laws banning black magic and superstition, one day after a prominent campaigner was killed.

Anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, 71, who campaigned for the law, was shot dead in the city of Pune on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen.

Many businesses closed to protest against his killing and chanting demonstrators marched through the city.

He spent decades campaigning against what he called “fraudulent” practices.

Critics accused him of being anti-religion in a country where mysticism and spirituality is venerated.

But in an interview with the Agence France-Presse news agency two years ago he rejected such charges.

“In the whole of the bill, there’s not a single word about God or religion. Nothing like that. The Indian constitution allows freedom of worship and nobody can take that away,” he said.

“This is about fraudulent and exploitative practices.””

via BBC News – Narendra Dabholkar: India’s Maharashtra state bans black magic after killing.

Posted in Culture, India alert, religion, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Agence France-Presse, Antireligion, Constitution of India, emergency laws, India, indian constitution, Maharashtra, maharashtra state, Pune, state of maharashtra, Superstition

20/08/2013

Bombay mix: Party pooper’s move takes golden glow off festival of lights

The Times: “Festival season is fast approaching in India, with a feeling in some ways equivalent to the run-up to Christmas in the West, and, right on cue, a would-be Scrooge has stepped forward.

Buying gold is especially popular around Diwali and the Indian wedding season

Palaniappan Chidambaram may have little option, of course. The country’s embattled Finance Minister is struggling to shore up a collapsing rupee and revive a moribund economy, all with less than nine months to go before national elections.

So last week, as the rupee sank to fresh, record lows against the dollar — and with Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights looming in November — a panicking Mr Chidambaram wheeled out his latest package of measures designed to bolster the currency.

In a move that many Indians viewed as being distinctly short on seasonal good cheer, he slapped a ban on imports of gold medallions and coins, extending an attempt to curb the nation’s voracious appetite for the metal. Other measures included a reduction in the amount of cash that Indians and companies may remit overseas from $200,000 to $75,000 a year, a rule that Mr Chidambaram argued unconvincingly did “not amount to capital controls”.

Yet if the latter measure will not endear him to the millions of Indians with friends and relatives studying overseas, it is the gold ban that could prove a bigger issue. India’s lust for gold is undimmed and trying to temper it before the polls next spring — and before the wedding season that peaks around Diwali — could be catastrophic for the ruling Congress party.

The markets, certainly, were unimpressed by the minister’s efforts, sending the rupee crashing to new lows within hours of the announcement. The sell-off continued yesterday.

With the sliding rupee already forcing up the price of goods from petrol to food, Congress is desperately searching for new ways to head off a full-blown financial crisis as Indians prepare to vote. And while there is only so much that can be done to curb the nation’s demand for imported crude oil, the single biggest strain on India’s current account deficit, reining in India’s gold addiction may seem the next best alternative.

If his latest measures don’t work, and with that election due, it looks increasingly as if Mr Chidambaram’s days as Finance Minister may be numbered, one way or another.

As if policymakers didn’t have enough on their plates, India is in the grip of a new crisis. Last week, ministers held emergency talks to address a 36 per cent surge in the wholesale price of onions over a single weekend.

Onions are a key ingredient in virtually every Indian dish, so are viewed as almost as much of a staple crop as rice. Thus a fall in onion production prompted by poor harvests in the nation’s south has proved politically explosive. Shoppers have staged angry protests.

Yet there may be a welcome extra dish to this sorry tale. One option being considered by ministers is a loosening of trade restrictions with Pakistan, arch-foe and nuclear-armed rival, to start emergency onion imports.”

via Bombay mix: Party pooper’s move takes golden glow off festival of lights | The Times.

Posted in Economics, India alert, local tastes, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Chidambaram, Congress, Diwali, finance minister, India, p chidambaram, Pakistan, politics

19/08/2013

Seventy police make graft claims against top Shanghai judge

Must be brave of the police to make such a claim! Safety in numbers!!

Posted in China alert, corruption | Leave a Comment »

23/07/2013

First U.S. citizen detained as China pharma probe spreads

First crackdown on party members and officials, now on commercial organisations. China‘s anti-corruption campaign gathers pace.

Reuters: “The first U.S. citizen has been detained in China in connection with probes sparked by an unfolding corruption scandal in the drugs industry, as China widens the range of international firms and staff under the spotlight.

A Chinese national flag flutters in front of a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) office building in Shanghai July 12, 2013. REUTERS/Aly Song

Police have also questioned two further Chinese employees from drug maker AstraZeneca in Shanghai, after a local sales representative was taken away for questioning earlier.

And China’s health ministry said 39 hospital staff would be punished for taking bribes from drug companies.

The unnamed American is the first U.S. citizen to be detained in connection with the investigations, and the second foreign national, after a British risk consultant linked with GlaxoSmithKline was held last week.

GSK has been accused by China of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($489 million) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials.

“We are aware that a U.S. citizen has been detained in Shanghai. We are in contact with the individual and are providing all appropriate consular assistance,” U.S. embassy spokesman Nolan Barkhouse said on Tuesday, when asked about the involvement of U.S. citizens in the widening probe.

He declined to say which company the individual was associated with.

The latest moves by Chinese officials underline the country’s tough stance on corruption and high prices in the pharmaceutical industry, as it unrolls wider healthcare access and faces an estimated $1 trillion healthcare bill by 2020.

“Momentum is gathering and if you are a big international firm, then you’re a good example to be held up. This is a wake-up call for the rest of the industry,” said Jeremy Gordon, director of China Business Services, a risk management company focusing on China.

AstraZeneca said that the Shanghai Public Security Bureau had asked on Tuesday to speak with two line managers linked to the sales representative questioned earlier.

“The Public Security Bureau is describing this as an individual case. We have no reason to believe it is related to other investigations,” the company said in the statement.

via First U.S. citizen detained as China pharma probe spreads | Reuters.

Posted in corruption, Economics, Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Tags: AstraZeneca, China, GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, Pharmaceutical industry, politics, Public Security Bureau

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