Archive for ‘Culture’

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06/05/2013

* China’s Red Cross struggling to win back trust

Red Cross Society of China

Red Cross Society of China (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Corruption even reaches into major public charity.

Xinhua: “China’s Red Cross Society used to be a major mobilizer of aid and rescue operations in natural disaster sites around the country. But after the April Lushan Earthquake, many people refused to donate through the organization. The charity’s image seems to have been seriously damaged by a series of scandals, and it’s now struggling to win back the trust.

 

For decades, China’s Red Cross volunteers have worked on many frontlines of disaster relief, providing help and hope.

But the major role of the organization is played in the office, and largely behind the scenes… the collection of donations.

When a strong 7.0-magnitude earthquake shattered China’s Lushan, the Red Cross again began asking for donations.

Yet in sharp contrast to the outpouring of aid five years ago after the earthquake in Wenchuan, this time questions have been haunting this government-run charity. The central question: where has our money gone?

In 2011, a young woman named Guo Meimei, who claimed to work for the organization, flaunted her luxury goods on social media. It immediately triggered public outrage, which lasts up to today.

China’s Red Cross’s deputy chief has tried to show that the organization is still a trustworthy one.

“This time about 1.4 billion yuan has been collected for donation for the Lushan Earthquake, and over half was collected by China’s Red Cross. Many of the donors are private-owned companies and individuals.” Zhao Baige, Executive Vice-President of Red Corss Society of China said.

But the online responses to Red Cross’s call of donation shows it is already knee-deep in a credibility crisis.

Most people say they would choose to donate to other charities, or not at all.

“I can’t find any channel I can trust to donate my money. The Red Cross has so many scandals that I don’t believe my money will go to the hand of those in need.” Zhu Na, Beijing resident said.

“I will never ever donate anything to China’s Red Cross. I’d rather go to the disaster zone on my own to donate my money. No matter what the Red Cross does, it won’t fix its image in my heart.” Tian Aijin, Beijing resident said.

Frustration and distrust. Analysts say China’s Red Cross is now in a do or die situation…

“It’s not just the Guo Meimei incident that triggered the fall of China’s Red Cross’s reputation. The problem lies in the system. The Red Cross is currently run by the Chinese government, which means it does not have to answer to outside forces like civil groups. It will take an overhaul of the system to really win back the trust of the people.” Wang Zhenyao, Dean of One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute said.

China’s Red Cross Society was established in 1904. The organization’s deputy chief Zhao Baige says the efforts over a century have been destroyed in just three days by Guo Meimei’s incident. But the question is: how could the reputation of such a huge organization be destroyed so easily? And what can it do to restore the public faith. These questions may only be answered by real actions for years, or even decades to come.”

via China’s Red Cross struggling to win back trust – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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05/05/2013

* ‘Speed money’ puts the brakes on India’s retail growth

Reuters: “Hong-Kong entrepreneur Ramesh Tainwala spent 18 months operating branded clothing retail stores in India before deciding it was impossible to succeed without paying bribes.

Customers exit a V-Mart retail store in New Delhi April 6, 2013. Picture taken April 6, 2013. REUTERS-Adnan Abidi

Tainwala, a 55-year-old expatriate Indian, owns Planet Retail, which held the India franchise rights for U.S. fashion labels Guess and Nautica as well as UK retailers Next and Debenhams. He sold the brands last September to various Indian businesses.

“Right now it’s not possible to do business in India without greasing palms, without paying bribes,” said Tainwala, who is also luggage maker Samsonite’s president for Asia Pacific and West Asia. Tainwala said he himself refused to pay bribes to licensing officials, though that could not be independently confirmed.

India is the next great frontier for global retailers, a $500 billion market growing at 20 percent a year. For now, small shops dominate the sector. Giants from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to IKEA AB have struggled merely for the right to enter, which they finally won last year.

But a daunting array of permits – more than 40 are required for a typical supermarket selling a range of products – force retailers to pay so-called “speed money” through middlemen or local partners to set up shop.

In interviews with middlemen and several retailers, Reuters found the official cost for key licenses is typically accompanied by significant expenses in the form of bribes. The added cost erodes profitability in an industry where margins tend to be razor-thin. It also creates risk for companies by making them complicit in activity that, while commonplace in India and other emerging markets, is nonetheless illegal.

That creates a handicap for foreign operators such as U.S.-based Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, and Britain’s Tesco Plc and Marks and Spencer Plc, which must comply with anti-bribery laws in their home countries even while operating abroad.

A Wal-Mart spokesperson said the company is strengthening its compliance programs, part of a global compliance review that has cost more than $35 million over the last 18 months. IKEA, which is awaiting final approval to enter India, has started assessing the market, a spokeswoman said, adding the group has “zero tolerance” for corruption in any form.”

via Insight: ‘Speed money’ puts the brakes on India’s retail growth | Reuters.

Posted in Affluence, corruption, Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

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27/04/2013

* China’s retrieval of lost relics needs time

China Daily: “Two bronze animal heads looted from a Chinese royal garden 149 years ago will soon be returned to China, beaming in a ray of hope despite the difficulties the country faces in bringing its treasure trove of cultural relics home.

English: Looting_of_the_Yuan_Ming_Yuan_by Angl...

English: Looting_of_the_Yuan_Ming_Yuan_by Anglo-French forces in_1860 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The family heading French luxury goods retailer Pinault said on Friday in Beijing that it will donate the rat and rabbit busts back to China for free.

The Pinault family is the majority shareholder of PPR, whose brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Puma, and Pinault Group Chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault has just concluded a two-day visit to China with French President Francois Hollande.

Cao Yuming, director of the administration office of the Yuanmingyuan, or Old Summer Palace, from which the two pieces were looted, said the move should encourage the return of more Chinese relics.

Cao described the planned donation as “an observation of international convention, a token of friendship and conducive to bringing more relics home.”

He also said an exhibition of the two pieces is likely to be held in the Yuanmingyuan once approved by the state cultural relics authorities.

The busts were among 12 animal head sculptures that formed the zodiacal water clock decorating the Calm Sea of Yuanmingyuan of Emperor Qianlong(1736-1795).

They were taken by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

But the two became the center of an international tug-of-war when they were auctioned for $39.6 million in Paris in 2009.

China has repeatedly opposed this auction. A Chinese businessman made the winning bid and then refused to pay on the grounds that the heads belong to his native country.

Five of the 12 bronze animal fountain heads in Yuanmingyuan have returned thus far, and the Pinault donation will take the number to seven. But the whereabouts of the five others remains unknown.

China, along with other countries to have lost cultural relics, is making efforts to repatriate such prized possessions, a drive which has generally received a positive response and support from the international community.

But more efforts are needed. UNESCO believes there are at least 17 million Chinese cultural relics abroad, far exceeding the number in the country’s own museums.”

via China’s retrieval of lost relics needs time |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/historical-perspectives/

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25/04/2013

* Single women in Shanghai outnumber men 4:1

Contrary to predictions by sociologists and economist, in Shanghai at least, men are not outnumbering women when it comes to marriage.

China Daily: “Women in Shanghai may find it increasingly difficult to find a spouse, Shanghai Morning Post reported Friday.

The number of single women in Shanghai is four times their male counterparts, according to a survey by the Shanghai Matchmaking Industry Association. And most of the women are between 30 and 35, the paper said.

More than 1.8 million unmarried people seek out matchmaking agencies for help, but only 20 percent find their mates through the intermediaries, said Zhou Juemin, head of the association.

Many single women are particular about picking a partner, even if they are not so young. But most well-off single men with cars and houses are above 35 and prefer young women around 25, Zhou said.

Meanwhile, being unmarried seems to upset the parents more than the singles themselves, as “most of the phone calls we receive every day are from parents,” Zhou said.

via Single women in Shanghai outnumber men 4:1 |Hot Issues |chinadaily.com.cn.

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24/04/2013

* China’s Xinjiang hit by deadly clashes

BBC: “Clashes in China’s restive Xinjiang region have left 21 people dead, including 15 police officers and officials, authorities say.

Map

The violence occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Bachu county, Kashgar prefecture.

The foreign ministry said it had been a planned attack by a “violent terrorist group”, but ethnic groups questioned this.

There have been sporadic clashes in Xinjiang in recent years.

The incidents come amid rumbling ethnic tensions between the Muslim Uighur and Han Chinese communities. In 2009 almost 200 people – mostly Han Chinese – were killed after deadly rioting erupted.

Nothing is stopping foreign journalists from booking flights to Xinjiang after hearing reports of violence there. However, simply travelling to the region doesn’t guarantee the ability to dig out the truth behind this story.

In 2009, dozens of foreign reporters were permitted to join an official tour of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, after clashes between minority ethnic Uighur residents and majority Chinese Hans killed 197 people.

Their experiences were mixed. Some reporters were able to speak to a variety of people on the ground, while others faced harassment and intimidation.

The situation remains the same today. Reporters who travel to the area are closely followed by government minders. Locals often hesitate to answer questions, fearing reprisals from government authorities.

Uighur exile groups often provide accounts that differ from the official Chinese government reports. Reconciling the two can be tricky.

The situation isn’t any easier for Chinese journalists. China’s propaganda departments have warned domestic news outlets against conducting their own independent reporting on sensitive Xinjiang stories, ordering them to reprint official stories from China’s major state news agencies.

It is very difficult to verify reports from Xinjiang, reports the BBC’s Celia Hatton.

Foreign journalists are allowed to travel to the region but frequently face intimidation and harassment when attempting to verify news of ethnic rioting or organised violence against government authorities.”

via BBC News – China’s Xinjiang hit by deadly clashes.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/chinese-challenges/

Posted in China alert, Culture, Dissident, Ethnic clash, History, Instability, Insurgency, Internal politics, Politics, terrorism, unrest | 2 Comments »

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02/04/2013

Wish it was this simple.

Posted in China alert, Culture, History, Politics | Leave a Comment »

24/03/2013

* In a Changing China, New Matchmaking Markets

NY Times: “FROM her stakeout near the entrance of an H & M store in Joy City, a Beijing shopping mall, Yang Jing seemed lost in thought, twirling a strand of her auburn-tinted hair, tapping her nails on an aquamarine iPhone 4S. But her eyes kept moving. They tracked the clusters of young women zigzagging from Zara to Calvin Klein Jeans. They lingered on a face, a gesture, and then moved on, darting across the atrium, searching.

Throughout Sanlitun Village, an open-air mall in Beijing, Yang Jing searches for potential matches for clients.

Informal “marriage markets,” where parents try to find spouses for their children, have popped up in parks throughout Beijing, including the Temple of Heaven park.

Yu Jia, at center, seeking a bride for her son Zhao Yong, viewed a photo of a possible candidate.

“This is a good place to hunt,” she told me. “I always have good luck here.”

For Ms. Yang, Joy City is not so much a consumer mecca as an urban Serengeti that she prowls for potential wives for some of China’s richest bachelors. Ms. Yang, 28, is one of China’s premier love hunters, a new breed of matchmaker that has proliferated in the country’s economic boom. The company she works for, Diamond Love and Marriage, caters to China’s nouveaux riches: men, and occasionally women, willing to pay tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars to outsource the search for their ideal spouse.

In Joy City, Ms. Yang gave instructions to her eight-scout team, one of six squads the company was deploying in three cities for one Shanghai millionaire. This client had provided a list of requirements for his future wife, including her age (22 to 26), skin color (“white as porcelain”) and sexual history (yes, a virgin).

“These millionaires are very picky, you know?” Ms. Yang said. “Nobody can ever be perfect enough.” Still, the potential reward for Ms. Yang is huge: The love hunter who finds the client’s eventual choice will receive a bonus of more than $30,000, around five times the average annual salary in this line of work.

Suddenly, a signal came.

From across the atrium, a co-worker of Ms. Yang caught her eye and nodded at a woman in a blue dress, walking alone. Ms. Yang had shaken off her colleague’s suggestions several times that day, but this time she circled behind the woman in question.

“Perfect skin,” she whispered. “Elegant face.” When the woman walked into H & M, Ms. Yang intercepted her in the sweater aisle. “I’m so sorry to bother you,” she said with a honeyed smile. “I’m a love hunter. Are you looking for love?”

Three miles away, in a Beijing park near the Temple of Heaven, a woman named Yu Jia jostled for space under a grove of elms. A widowed 67-year-old pensioner, she was clearing a spot on the ground for a sign she had scrawled for her son. “Seeking Marriage,” read the wrinkled sheet of paper, which Ms. Yu held in place with a few fragments of brick and stone. “Male. Single. Born 1972. Height 172 cm. High school education. Job in Beijing.”

Ms. Yu is another kind of love hunter: a parent seeking a spouse for an adult child in the so-called marriage markets that have popped up in parks across the city. Long rows of graying men and women sat in front of signs listing their children’s qualifications. Hundreds of others trudged by, stopping occasionally to make an inquiry.

Ms. Yu’s crude sign had no flourishes: no photograph, no blood type, no zodiac sign, no line about income or assets. Unlike the millionaire’s wish list, the sign didn’t even specify what sort of wife her son wanted. “We don’t have much choice,” she explained. “At this point, we can’t rule anybody out.”

In the four years she has been seeking a wife for her son, Zhao Yong, there have been only a handful of prospects. Even so, when a woman in a green plastic visor paused to scan her sign that day, Ms. Yu put on a bright smile and told of her son’s fine character and good looks. The woman asked: “Does he own an apartment in Beijing?” Ms. Yu’s smile wilted, and the woman moved on.”

via In a Changing China, New Matchmaking Markets – NYTimes.com.

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24/03/2013

* ‘If girls look sexy, boys will rape.’ Is this what Indian men really believe?

The Observer: “A shocking series of brutal attacks has led to a national debate on sexual violence. The Observer asked a group of young men in Goa for their views. The talk revealed a disturbing mindset

Indian woman at food stall

“Rape is a big, big problem. It starts with the woman. They drive the man fucking crazy.” Papi Gonzales leans back in his chair and surveys the other young Indian men around the table in his beach bar, seeking approval. They nod in agreement, eager to make their own points. “When the girls look sexy and the boys can’t control themselves, they are going to rape. It happens,” said Robin Shretha, one of the waiters.

Since a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped on a bus in Delhi in December and later died in hospital from her injuries, the issue of rape has been hugely prominent in India. Last week headlines were dominated by the gang rape of a Swiss woman on a cycling holiday in Madhya Pradesh. In the same week a British woman leapt from her hotel window in the northern city of Agra at 4am to escape the unwanted attention of the hotel manager, who was trying to get into her room.

According to government figures, a rape takes place in India every 21 minutes. The number of reported rapes rose by 9% in 2011 to 24,000. Yet conviction rates are falling, down to 26% in 2011.

The recent cases have led to worldwide outrage, and demonstrations led by women have filled the streets of major cities. But what do India’s young men think? The Observer gathered a group in the western region of Goa to hear their views. They were: Abhijit Harmalkar, 28, a driver; his brother, Avinash, 24, a factory worker; Bhivresh Banaulikar, 26, an auditor; Brindhavan Salgaonkar, 20, a factory worker; Robin Shretha, 21, a waiter; and Papi Gonzales, 32, the owner of the bar.

One word to describe their views would be “unreconstructed”. Others would be “alarming” and “frightening”. Plenty of Indian men have joined the recent demonstrations. Plenty of Indian men are committed to the cause of women’s rights. But this discussion revealed the deep moral conservatism of some young Indian males, coupled with confusion about gender roles in a society where economic modernisation is outstripping social attitudes.”

via ‘If girls look sexy, boys will rape.’ Is this what Indian men really believe? | World news | The Observer.

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17/03/2013

* China’s Glamorous First Lady Peng Liyuan Saving the Communist Party With Song

The Daily Beast: “A U.S. president married to a Hollywood celebrity would spark a full-blown media frenzy in America. But China, for one, is not fazed. In 2007, when now president Xi Jinping was named to the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), his wife, Peng Liyuan—a glamorous and wildly popular singer—quietly disappeared from public view.

China's New First Lady Peng Liyuan

Peng, 50, is known for singing soaring patriotic songs in praise of the Communist Party, often while clad in glittering floor-length ball gowns and occasionally in Chinese ethnic minority costume (think Barbra Streisand in Native American garb). She was born in Shandong province, enrolled at Shandong University of Art and Design at age 14, and joined the People’s Liberation Army in 1980, at 18. In 1986 she married Xi Jinping. Her daughter, Xi Mingze, was born in 1992 and stays invisible too (she studies at Harvard under an assumed name).

Peng’s star began to ascend in 1983, when she performed in state broadcaster China Central Television’s inaugural new year’s gala, today the most viewed TV program in the world. (Celine Dion performed at this year’s). Peng sang in the gala almost every year until 2007.

I was working in Beijing for a Chinese government-overseen magazine in 2007. We tried to run a profile describing Xi as “the son of a veteran revolutionary and the husband of Peng Liyuan, a famous singer,” but our censor asked us to delete that line. When we resisted, she forwarded us an email in bold red font from her superior at the Ministry of Commerce, stressing that we weren’t allowed to write about the personal lives of government officials, “especially family background or marital life.” To commit this “rudimentary political error,” he wrote, was to “touch a high-voltage line.”

Chinese government officials have many reasons to avoid revealing their personal sides. Many analysts say the CCP’s power relies on a façade of unity, and that means disappearing into a monolithic, faceless abstraction. Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao was known for his blandness, but a video unearthed late last year of a smiling, animated Hu in 1984 suggests that his evolution toward inscrutability was purposeful.

It’s also posited that Chinese culture encourages conformity; there is an oft-quoted Chinese expression, “The bird that sticks out its neck gets shot.” Moreover, the idea of a high-profile first wife conjures the ghost of Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife who was also a performer and is widely considered responsible for China’s horrific Cultural Revolution. And, as exposés on the family wealth of Wen Jiabao and Xi have revealed, digging into the personal lives of China’s political elite tends to unearth skeletons.

In the face of this kind of competition, a little stardust from China’s new First Lady might be the Party’s best weapon.

Fast-forward to now: the Financial Times just reported that Peng will not only accompany Xi to the BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, this month, but will speak there. “She can help China build soft power,” said a source in the piece. Peng also became a Goodwill Ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS—a controversial subject in China—for the World Health Organization last year and won a splashy $160,000 China Arts Award in December.

Is Xi Jinping –and the Party at large—embracing American-style politicking? It’s widely opined that Bo Xilai, the charismatic Chongqing Party secretary purged last year, was brought down for being too threateningly populist. Yet, Xi Jinping seems to be styling himself in Bo’s mold. He’s made highly publicized visits around China the last few weeks, intended to echo Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 “southern tour” that jump-started China’s economy, and inspired enthusiastic tea-leaf readings that he’ll be a reformer. Though Bo was kicked down, perhaps the party has learned from his talents.

Pressure is on for the CCP to burnish its image. Overly outsize stars within—or married to—the party can be reined in, but society at large is developing a celebrity culture, and that’s a threat too. More and more, people look up to leaders from business, pop culture, and the Internet. Alibaba founder Jack Ma inspires Steve Jobs–like reverence in China. Real-estate tycoon Zhang Xin is affiliated with the World Economic Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations and is becoming a thought leader. And the rabid following behind Li Yang, founder of Crazy English, is downright cultlike.

These people have the power to influence the masses and could do so in dangerous ways. Kai-Fu Lee, former president of Google China, has microblogged veiled criticisms of the government on his Weibo account, which has over 32 million followers. Yang Lan, the “Oprah of China,” has griped about China’s media censorship (“There are frustrations”) to overseas publications like Marie Claire. And the most popular blogger in China is Han Han, known for his cynical attitude toward Chinese politics and society.

In the face of this kind of competition, a little stardust from China’s new first lady might be the party’s best weapon.”

via China’s Glamorous First Lady Peng Liyuan Saving the Communist Party With Song – The Daily Beast.

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25/02/2013

* Measures curb illegal ivory trade in China

Today the elephant, tomorrow the rhino and the day after sharks (fin).

China Daily: “China’s strict registration and management system can effectively keep illegal ivory from entering the domestic market, experts say.

Measures curb illegal ivory trade in China

According to Jin Yu, a researcher at Northeast Forestry University, China has launched an information control system stricter than the standards of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as CITES.

Seized elephant tusks are displayed by customs authorities in Hong Kong in October. Ivory smuggling has fallen due to strict law enforcement in China in recent years. [Provided to China Daily]

CITES is an international convention that regulates the ivory trade, and monitors ivory stockpiles, consumption and products.

“On every finished product, there is an ID card with information regarding the product’s appearance, size and digital code, which can be used to obtain further information, including its original material, from an online database,” she said.

“It’s the only way to prove an ivory product is legal and should always be carried when selling or transporting ivory.

“Any trade without such a certificate can be identified as illegal.”

However, lack of expertise and experience may cause inaccurate surveys and reports that lead to allegations that the market has ivory products from illegal sources, Jin said.”

via Measures curb illegal ivory trade in China[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.

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