By C.H. Tung
Saturday, October 31, 2009

Chinese people around the globe passionately celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China this month. Maybe this is hard for others to understand. But for the Chinese people, such emotions are rooted in memories of a vastly different China, one whose destiny was not always as promising as it is today.

When the republic was founded on Oct. 1, 1949, political institutions were just starting to be formed. People were hungry. The average life expectancy was 35 years. Infant mortality reached a high of 20 percent. The overall illiteracy rate was 80 percent. There was little organized education, no health care and no means of social security. The national treasury was empty, the economy bankrupt. There was no industry to speak of and little basic infrastructure. Indeed, the Chinese people had endured a century of government mismanagement, political instability, constant civil war and warfare imposed by other countries.

In the six decades since the republic was formed, China's economy has become the world's third-largest. Life expectancy has reached 73 years; infant mortality is down to 1.5 percent. The illiteracy rate has fallen to 5 percent. A nine-year education has become available to all children. Health care and social security are improving. Modern industries are being developed. Roads, railways, airports and ports blanket the country. In the areas of democracy, the rule of law and human rights -- including the rights of 55 minorities -- China has made enormous progress. At no other point in history has so much improvement been made for so many people in such a short period.

How did this happen?

A chief factor was a strong determination to find our own way forward. Even before the downfall of the Qing Dynasty a century ago, China has searched for a way forward. We have tried to learn from the Japanese, the Germans, the Americans and even the Soviet Union, but none of these development models was right. China was too chaotic and too poverty-stricken; it had too large a population and insufficient natural resources. Our nation was too weak to respond to foreign interference. China's challenges required a development model consistent with its culture, history and stage of development.

In China's long history, prosperous times were always associated with a strong and enlightened central government, which has led the Chinese people generally to believe in strong government. Today we have such a government, with clear vision and enlightened policies. While ideological and principled, the government in Beijing has also proved pragmatic and flexible when necessary. Rather than pursuing short-term politics, Beijing has been able to formulate sound long-term and holistic macroeconomic and geopolitical policies.

China's emergence is also the result of putting people at the center of governance. The government believes that eradicating poverty is fundamental and is the first priority of all development policies. Accordingly, 1.3 billion people have been moved from abject poverty to a much-improved livelihood.

China strongly promotes harmony in diversity as a way forward by emphasizing commonality among different interests to defuse social tension associated with reform and development. China also recognizes the need to better share the fruits of success between the rich and the poor, and among its 56 ethnicities.

As China has opened up to the outside world, its people have realized how increasingly intertwined their destiny is with the rest of the world. China shares the anxiety posed by challenges such as combating global warming, protecting the environment, creating energy security, achieving global financial stability, countering terrorism, preventing nuclear weapons proliferation and stopping the spread of infectious diseases.

Some worry that as China's economic development continues, it will become a hegemonic power. It is noteworthy that at the height of China's economic power some 500 years ago, when it controlled about 30 percent of the world's economy, instead of expanding its might overseas, China sent missions to neighboring countries only for trade and good will. China's tradition of yiheweigui, peace and harmony above all, will ensure that its development objective is for its interest and in the interest of the world.

Also noteworthy is that government efforts have received enormous support from the Chinese people, as demonstrated by the 86 percent satisfaction rating on the direction the country is heading, in the 2008 Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes survey.

China's historic journey continues to shape its future. It is a developing nation of 1.3 billion people, nearly 60 percent of whom live in vast rural areas. It will take decades for China to realize comprehensive modernization. But our 60 years of progress should give the Chinese people confidence in the next 60 years and assure other nations that China will become a greater force for a better world.

The writer, a former chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is chairman of the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to fostering dialogue and openness.

Call a Cab
Or stick to tea. It's a jungle out there on China’s roads

AMONG the first motor cars ever imported to China was a new handmade, wood-bodied 1901 Duryea, brought from America as a gift for Cixi, the empress dowager, to mark her 66th birthday. Setting a rather inauspicious precedent, the empress is said to have fortified her driver, Sun Fuling, with a generous bowl of rice wine. Mr Sun promptly lost control of the newfangled thing, running over and killing an unfortunate palace eunuch.

In the service of the empress, this inept chauffeur faced no legal sanction for the mishap. Modern-day offenders, whose numbers, sadly, are increasing, are not so lucky. Sharing the surname but not the legal immunity of China’s first recorded drink-driver, Sun Weiming, a 30-year-old executive, was heavily under the influence last December when he killed four people in a crash in the province of Sichuan. On July 24th he was sentenced to death, though he is now hoping a deal to compensate the families will be enough to save his life.

Public opinion in China is divided over whether the sentence is appropriate. But the harsh handling of his case may not be a one-off. Chinese police have launched a nationwide crackdown, promising stricter laws, tougher enforcement and sterner punishment—no matter who the offender may be. “Let drink driving be a high-tension line that no one dares to touch,” declared Liu Jinguo, a deputy minister of public security.

On the weekend of August 15th-16th, police in cities across China stepped up random traffic checks and breath tests. They caught 3,167 drivers who had been drinking, including 435 with a blood-alcohol concentration above 0.08%, China’s legal limit. At that level, drivers may be jailed for 15 days, stripped of their licence for six months and fined 2,000 yuan ($294).

A two-month campaign has been launched, linked to grand celebrations planned to mark the 60th anniversary on October 1st of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. During this period, drivers with any blood-alcohol concentration above 0.02% will also be penalised. Officials say alcohol played a role in a quarter of China’s 265,000 traffic accidents this year, and that drink-driving cases rose 9% in the first half of the year over the same period in 2008.

Because of the steady rise in the number of people with driving licences, that increase may not imply a higher proportion of drink-drivers. But given the ever more congested state of China’s roads, negotiated by so many inexperienced new drivers, the authorities’ intervention seems overdue. In order to make the nation’s 60th birthday less deadly than Cixi’s 66th, drivers would do well to make their toasts in fruit juice.

Mr. Obama's Summons

Before a crowd of astonishing size and spirit, the new president issues a call to duty.

THE NATION and the world were witness to two breathtaking sights yesterday. There was Barack Obama, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, becoming the 44th president of the United States and summoning his compatriots to "a new era of responsibility." And there, stretching before him and filling most of the Mall and surrounding streets, were his countrymen -- as many as one of every 150 Americans, cheering and crying and, in many cases, ready to take up his call.

If Mr. Obama's Inauguration Day is remembered for his sober challenge to Americans to "find meaning in something greater than themselves," it will be remembered, too, for the majestic crowd that soaked up his words -- as massive, diverse and optimistic as any throng the capital has ever seen.

Mr. Obama proclaimed that both the nation's problems and its solutions fall not just to him but to the people gathered before him and those they left at home. The economic crisis flowed from "the greed and irresponsibility" of some, he said, but also from "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." And while there is much the government "can do and must do," he said, "it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies." He called on every American to recognize "that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world."

The new president insisted that the crises are so grave, and the circumstances so altered, that not only new answers but new questions are needed: It's no longer whether government should be small or big but how to make it work better; not whether free markets are good or bad but how to harness and direct them so that prosperity is more broadly shared; not whether, in protecting the nation, to choose security or American ideals but how to safeguard both.

To the world, Mr. Obama promised American leadership based on "the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint." He told terrorists that "we will defeat you"; warned dictators that "you are on the wrong side of history"; pledged to the world's poor "to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow, to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds."

It was, for Americans, a day of joy, because with their first black president they took a giant step on a long path to overcoming the stain of slavery and discrimination. It was a moment of hope, because Mr. Obama sought to combine a sober acknowledgment of the perils the nation faces -- the wars, the recession, the mounting debt and ebbing confidence -- with an unflappable assurance that they can be overcome. The nation's challenges "are serious and they are many," he said. "They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met."

Recent polls show that Americans agree on both counts: They understand how deep-seated and long-term are the problems, but they also believe Mr. Obama is well equipped to solve them. That confidence, made tangible on the Mall yesterday at noon, may be the strongest asset the new president has at his disposal as he sets to work this morning.

Back in 1963, I was a junior in college.  This was the year Martin Luther King delivered his wonderful “I have a dream” speech. On a fall weekend of that year, a classmate of mine and I drove south from our Philadelphia suburb college campus, and our destination was Route 40 in the state of Maryland (where I have now lived for the past 20 years), and where it was reported at the time that restaurants and other public establishments were routinely prohibiting blacks from entering their premises.  We wanted to see first hand this inhuman practice, and to confront owners and managers with the evil of their ways with our characteristic undergraduate fury.

Little did we dream during that troubled time in America’s history that one day in our own lifetimes someone ~ anyone ~ like Barack Obama, an African-American, would be elected by a substantial majority of American citizens to be 44th President of the United States, and arguably the leader of the free world.

This is a very emotional time for people like me.  It marks the end of a lot that is ugly in our society, and the beginning of hope and new directions. Barack Obama, we love and admire your brilliant mind, leadership, and human qualities, and we wish you the very best in the long and difficult times ahead.   Only someone with the amazing charisma and talent you possess has a chance to help us out of the deep chasm of despair and divisiveness the previous White House occupant has left in his wake.

Yesterday, Inauguration Day, I was so full of emotion. I knew I would cry like a baby, and I did. It seems our time has once again come at last.

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath." 

Powerful stuff... and such a meaningful personal touching point to contemplate in this world so full of unrestricted selfishness and indulgence.

~Richard

 NY Times Editorial

R.I.P. to the S.U.V.

Published: June 17, 2008

It’s hard to convince most Americans that there is a silver lining to $4-a-gallon gasoline. But General Motors provided a nugget of good news when it announced that it would shutter much of its production of pickups and sport utility vehicles.

By May, there were signs that the S.U.V.-era was over. For the first time, Detroit’s Big Three automakers and their trucks were outsold in the United States by fuel-efficient cars made by Asian companies. And monthly sales of Ford’s muscular F-series pickups fell by a third, bumping it five spots from its previous perch as America’s best-selling vehicle, behind the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. It was the first time since December 1992 that a car, not a truck, claimed the top spot in monthly sales.

The F-series pickup has been the nation’s best-selling vehicle, on an annual basis, since 1981. But last month, the Ford Motor Company said that it would slash production of pickups and S.U.V.’s. Its full-size pickup plant in Cuautitlán, Mexico, is expected to be used to produce the Ford Fiesta, a subcompact car, instead.

Expensive gasoline is not good news for most American families. In some rural areas where people must drive long distances, and a pickup is more of a necessity than a lifestyle choice, filling up the tank can eat up nearly 15 percent of a worker’s take-home income. Pricey gasoline is acting as a brake on the economy and pushing up the price of food and other goods.

Still, Americans’ response to rising gasoline prices makes an excellent case for a gas tax. It proves that drivers will change their behavior in response to high fuel prices. And even if Detroit doesn’t buy global warming, drivers can help persuade it to embrace fuel efficiency. They don’t even have to know that the Honda Civic emits less than half the 13 tons of greenhouse gases spewed by the Ford F-150.

My comment:  I have long been sickened at the daily increasing sight of SUVs crowding the roads and parking lots of America. Besides the danger caused by having to back out of crowded parking spaces dominated by these behemoths, seeing these obscene gas guzzlers almost always being driven by a single occupant -- for the sheer sake of expressing power or to hide some other personal inadequacy -- not to mention the overall adverse impact on the demand for limited fuel and subsequent price increases, has been really painful to me.  Thank God the price of gas is finally nailing these selfish losers.  Unfortunately, their unconscionable greed has resulted in gas prices that have nailed me as well.

(With apologies to those who have a legitimate need for an SUV-sized vehicle to transport large families or material.)

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Let us be reminded, the Bush virus will be with us for years, generations. Aside from the shambles of Iraq and the Middle East, aside from handguns and the decided mixed blessing of the Supreme Court's recent spate of decisions, there are maneuvers and decisions we don't even know about, nefarious arrangements, a corruption so deep that normally staid historians are behaving more like alarmed climate-change scientists: We know it's going to be bad, but we just don't know how bad.

There are destroyed nations, mauled infrastructures, horribly compromised federal agencies from FEMA to the EPA, the CIA to the FCC. There is a rogue outsourced military, citizens who can no longer sue gun manufacturers, six straight years of increased poverty, untold numbers of homophobic, misogynistic judicial appointees, devastating environmental policies the consequences of which could take generations to comprehend, much less repair.

Where do you dare to look? Women's rights? Science? Foreign policy? Currency devaluation? Big Oil? Halliburton's billions in war profit? Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and the Dick Cheney agenda of torture and pre-emptive aggression? What about unchecked corporate cronyism, the shunning of the United Nations and of international law, Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, wiretapping and surveillance and "evildoers" galore?

And finally, what of all those families, the thousands of dead U.S. soldiers, the tens of thousands of brain-damaged, disabled, permanently wounded? Bush's legacy isn't just one of staggering social ineptitude combined with shocking success at serving his corporate masters. It's foremost a legacy soaked to the bone in blood.

Truly, I firmly believe the record will reveal that no president in modern history has done more to unravel the American identity, to dumb down the populace and cater to the basest instincts of man than the one about to mispronounce his way into the history books. Even Nixon didn't leave office with Bush's incredible range of ignominy.

Ironically, this is why many in the GOP are chuckling in secret, rubbing their hands together, plotting their revenge. They know the colossal pile of issues and problems Barack Obama will inherit is so overwhelming, so unsolvable, it doesn't matter how smart and aggressive he might be. It doesn't matter that he'll have a Democratic Congress. He's just plain doomed. Combine this with America's infamous short attention span, and within a few years, just watch as the GOP emerges from the murky depths, the champion of a "new" solution.

I know, it can seem bleak. Insurmountable, even. But here's the lesson of any major injury, of surviving a serious illness and getting on with your life. Often, it's not merely about letting time heal all wounds. It's not always about ignoring the scar, or looking away from our permanent deformity and pretend we don't now walk with a savage limp.

It's far more about learning to live with the violence that's been wreaked upon the national body, letting the scale of the wound fuel us, shock us back to life. Question is, do we have enough optimistic ointment to cover it all?

My comment:  Mr. Morford, your question is chillingly apt.  It is difficult, almost impossible, to stay optimistic and  cheerful in an environment that Americans find themselves in today.  We have been constantly bombarded with a bitter, boring, repetitive and incessant election process that has been going on on for months and months... meanwhile, as the candidates' bickering floods the airwaves with meaningless babble, the economy is crumbling as unregulated scumbags have filled their pockets and completely destroyed the real estate market (if not the entire economic health of the country for years to come) with greed and resulting foreclosures... the stock market plunges day after day as our hard-earned lifetime savings go into the toilet... the dollar has become a joke worldwide... people have to think twice about driving anywhere because gas is so expensive, not to mention prices in the supermarket... and still, the candidate who wants a third Bush term... and more of the same crapola... John McCain...  is very much in the running because his political party is able to scare the bejesus out of the high percentage of brain-dead Americans who populate this once great nation into thinking we are safe with these bozos in office. Thanks, George Bush and your evil minions for digging us into a hole we may never escape. Your place in history is assured. And may you rot in hell.

(Left) In the first 2010 qualifier between the world's top-ranked teams, Brazil and Argentina struggled to unlock each other's defense, in a game that ended 0-0. It took until the second half for each side's tiring defense to show cracks, and Argentina produced the best chances.  Brazil was under the most pressure after losing a friendly to Venezuela this month for the first time ever, then falling 2-0 on Sunday to Paraguay, which leads the South American standings. Brazilian coach Dunga was booed enthusiastically by the goal-hungry local fans in Belo Horizonte's Mineirao Stadium.

(Right) A 2008 golf season that many believed would be Tiger Woods’s best has instead become his briefest. Two days after his epic victory in the 108th United States Open, Woods announced that he would have surgery to repair damage to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and would miss the rest of the season.

Thousands of passengers wait to get inside the Guangzhou Railway station in Guangdong province Friday. (Vincent Yu/The Associated Press)

It's easy to assume that the nation's richest counties dot the tri-state area around New York City, or San Francisco's Bay Area. Homeowners there, after all, shell out millions of dollars for small luxuries such as a lawn and a garage.

But while affluent areas such as Nassau County, on New York's Long Island, and Marin County, just north of San Francisco, boast well-off residents, the nation's wealthiest live in the D.C. suburbs.

Fairfax County, Va., Loudoun County, Va., and Howard County, Md., top the list of America's richest counties, which we based on median household income data from the 2006 census. In Fairfax, that number reaches $100,318 a year; Loudoun households pull down a livable $99,371 a year; Howard residents follow at $92,260.

SOLD in Howard County real estate - July 2007
189 homes SOLD in July
The lowest price sold was $210,000. 2 bedrooms, 1 baths, built 1870
The highest price sold was $1,998,500. 7 bedrooms, 9 baths, 23 years old, Ellicott City
Average price sold July 2007 was $616,330

"When I think of Bush, I do not think of liberty and courage, compassion and justice. No, I think of arrogance, greed and lies. He is a thug, a buffoon and a coward. Not only is he incompetent, he is corrupt. He is of a kind with the dictators; a strutting, sanctimonious buffoon who talks democracy but acts like Saddam Hussein. Bush might differ in degree from Hussein, not having been in power as long, but in behavior, with torture and the corruption of government, they are of a kind." 

-- Tim Abbott, The Roanoke (VA) Times