Some people think of freedom in very political terms, such as the freedoms granted by the Bill of Rights - freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, freedom of religion, freedom to criticize the government, etc. By these measures, China is not a very "free" country. However, I believe freedom is more than just those political freedoms; in fact, many freedoms come with wealth and improved standards of living. For example, while the rich and the middle class can wake up everyday and have the freedom to choose between the blue outfit or the green outfit, the very poor may only have a single outfit to choose from. People in China now have many more freedoms, mainly due to their increased wealth, and thus have so many more choices in everyday lives. These freedoms, because they are encountered everyday, are perhaps much more missed than the political freedoms that, while generally important, may not be to most individuals during most of their lives. After all, would you care more if someone restricted your right to badmouth the government in the local newspaper, or if they limited your right to food choices for lunch to be between rice porridge or millet gruel?
"Freedom" in this sense is one of the things we we seek (the others probably are security and influence) when we seek wealth - we like to have more options. Richer people, in this sense, have more "freedoms." If a plane is sold out and they needed to get somewhere, perhaps they have an extra option to hop on a private jet. If there are limited quantities of a certain item, and high demand along with low supply pushes the price upwards, rich people still have the "freedom" to afford to pay $10,000 for a formerly $10 item. And financially independent people have the freedom to escape the working world if they desire.
However, that last item is not totally dependent on wealth. You see, there are freedoms even beyond those that come with wealth, and many of them come from having the time to simply seek them out. These freedoms are some of life's most priceless gifts, and it includes the freedom to simply go where you want to (which is true as long as you can walk or have some sort of self-propelling mechanism), to see what you want to see (as long as your eyesight and the sights are still there), and to be who you want to be (just a matter of committing to the kind of character you want to have over time). Perhaps it is because of this, I have never felt more free in my life, despite living in a "not-so-free" country.
I am not financially independent as per the definition that "my passive income flow outweigh my expenses," however, I am financially independent in that my savings can cover my living expenses for the next few years if I continue traveling and consuming at my current pace. I got this way because I chose to maximize my freedoms during my years working (i.e. save money - when you spend money, you start to lose freedoms since you start to lose the ability to make certain choices), but not to make my entire life all about work. After all, time is like money (while working, I often pay money to save time, now I pay time to save money), and as mentioned before, it grants you freedoms as well. At some point, what you give up in time to make money results in negative returns in freedom (i.e. freedoms lost due to lost time outweigh freedoms gained from the incremental extra wealth). While money is especially important in the freedom equation when you don't have any, its importance declines in value once you have some of it, as the majority of wealth-enabled freedoms can be enjoyed at relatively low income levels (This is just a conjecture, but I'm guessing that the median price of all unique goods and services in the market is not that high).
So in conclusion, if you truly emphasize freedom in your life, you need not worry about the rat race working life, for as long as you work hard, learn to live in a frugal, non-materialistic lifestyle, and learn to enjoy the freedoms that come with having extra time and a modest level of income, you will not be lacking. After all, wasn't it back at the turn of the 20th century when people predicted that with the advent of modernization and automation, people's working times will dramatically decrease, providing even more leisure time to the average man?
It's a beautiful day here in Shanghai.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Language Exchange Partners
So I spent the last few days meeting up with my language partners, which somehow eats away more time than you would think.
Monday:
Met with my first language partner in the evening at Jiaotong University, which is near where I live. We talked while walking around the running track along with lots of other people, which was a bit odd because there were no lights and soon we just became part of a bunch of people wandering in circles in the dark. Language partner was cool, but won't have time to meet up again until towards the end of the month, which suited me and my travel plans just fine.
Yesterday:
In the afternoon, I met up with Language Partner #2 at Nanjing East Rd. I was running quite late and was rather embarrassed. He actually looked rather annoyed, though we ended up having some pretty good conversation. He asked me about my travel plans, and soon he began telling me a bunch of traditional Chinese folktales, none of which I've heard of, but all of which are rather famous (I felt like an idiot throughout this session, but this is exactly why this is helpful). Afterwards, we went through a session where he helped fine tune my pronunciation (Again, I was slightly annoyed and felt/{was made to feel} like an idiot - perhaps getting back at me for being late - but it's really good for me, as I really need to learn more humility).
In the evening, I met up with my 3rd language partner, who also has a passion for Chinese history. Once again, we talked about potential places for travel, but delved more into their historical significance. I brought up some questions (mostly still unanswered) that I've had for some time, and we discussed. For example, why did the Great Wall end where it did? Obviously one side is the ocean, but the other ends somewhere in the middle of Asia. Was it impossible for the Mongols or other nomadic invaders to go around it? Why was that so if they managed to make it all the way to Europe? And why did the major battles around the Yangtze River take place where they did? For example, during the 3 Kingdoms, couldn't Ts'ao Ts'ao (曹操 - I refuse to write his name in pinyin like "Cao Cao") find a way to secretly cross the river somewhere else instead of fighting on the waters at the Red Cliffs (赤壁)? Or how was it that Xiangyang was so strategically placed that the Mongols needed to first overcome it in order to conquer Southern Song? From there, we moved into discussing the lives of famous Chinese historical figures, and I quickly realized this was another department I was lacking. My language partner suggested reading some biographies, especially of some important court officials. He then made an interesting comment with regards to how many people see historical figures, "History is a stage, and for each actor, the most important part is not in how you enter, or how you act, but how you finish. That is how you leave your legacy." So apparently legacy is more influenced by how you died (or what circumstances surrounded your death) than how you lived. Very interesting opinion.
Today:
Met with my 4th Language Partner in the evening, who I invited out to dinner, and we discussed how life in Shanghai is tough, especially if you're an English major and work at a English-speaking company and you absolutely hate English. Not surprisingly, we didn't speak in English the whole time.
Monday:
Met with my first language partner in the evening at Jiaotong University, which is near where I live. We talked while walking around the running track along with lots of other people, which was a bit odd because there were no lights and soon we just became part of a bunch of people wandering in circles in the dark. Language partner was cool, but won't have time to meet up again until towards the end of the month, which suited me and my travel plans just fine.
Yesterday:
In the afternoon, I met up with Language Partner #2 at Nanjing East Rd. I was running quite late and was rather embarrassed. He actually looked rather annoyed, though we ended up having some pretty good conversation. He asked me about my travel plans, and soon he began telling me a bunch of traditional Chinese folktales, none of which I've heard of, but all of which are rather famous (I felt like an idiot throughout this session, but this is exactly why this is helpful). Afterwards, we went through a session where he helped fine tune my pronunciation (Again, I was slightly annoyed and felt/{was made to feel} like an idiot - perhaps getting back at me for being late - but it's really good for me, as I really need to learn more humility).
In the evening, I met up with my 3rd language partner, who also has a passion for Chinese history. Once again, we talked about potential places for travel, but delved more into their historical significance. I brought up some questions (mostly still unanswered) that I've had for some time, and we discussed. For example, why did the Great Wall end where it did? Obviously one side is the ocean, but the other ends somewhere in the middle of Asia. Was it impossible for the Mongols or other nomadic invaders to go around it? Why was that so if they managed to make it all the way to Europe? And why did the major battles around the Yangtze River take place where they did? For example, during the 3 Kingdoms, couldn't Ts'ao Ts'ao (曹操 - I refuse to write his name in pinyin like "Cao Cao") find a way to secretly cross the river somewhere else instead of fighting on the waters at the Red Cliffs (赤壁)? Or how was it that Xiangyang was so strategically placed that the Mongols needed to first overcome it in order to conquer Southern Song? From there, we moved into discussing the lives of famous Chinese historical figures, and I quickly realized this was another department I was lacking. My language partner suggested reading some biographies, especially of some important court officials. He then made an interesting comment with regards to how many people see historical figures, "History is a stage, and for each actor, the most important part is not in how you enter, or how you act, but how you finish. That is how you leave your legacy." So apparently legacy is more influenced by how you died (or what circumstances surrounded your death) than how you lived. Very interesting opinion.
Today:
Met with my 4th Language Partner in the evening, who I invited out to dinner, and we discussed how life in Shanghai is tough, especially if you're an English major and work at a English-speaking company and you absolutely hate English. Not surprisingly, we didn't speak in English the whole time.
Balance
Had a very interesting talk with a friend here in Shanghai the other day about finding "balance." His theory was that the goal in life, and in civilization, was not to get somewhere, or to single-mindedly make enough progress to achieve this or that, but rather, to find the right balance and be in harmony with the way things naturally are.
Sure, this sounds like a very vague and kitchy, but he followed it up with some interesting examples. For instance, China has been obsessed with growth for the last couple of decades, thus resulting in growth rates unprecedented for such a large country. This, however, cannot last forever, and obsession with growth results in sacrifices in other areas - deteriorating environment, social problems such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor, loss of culture due to a fixation with materialism and all things Western, etc. What China ultimately needs to do, is find it's own center again, to balance and harmonize competing national interests rather than go to extremes to pursue this or that. For that's the only sustainable path, the equilibrium that would strike the correct balance. He believes, for example, that the current imbalance has resulted in projects like the Three Gorges Dam (長江三峽大壩), which, while would generate a great deal of "clean" energy by utilizing the force of the Yangtze River, will wreck havoc on the natural ecological environment of the area, not to mention it will also flood historical & cultural relics, and force millions to relocate. For comparison, we only need to look to another great river project in China's history, that of Dujiangyan (都江堰), first built in 256 BC, and still in operation. Dujiangyan is an irrigation project that splits the Min River (岷江) into streams for irrigation. Unlike other dams and river projects, it allows water and fish to flow through naturally. It's ingenuity lies in the fact that because the diverted stream is narrower and deeper, while 60% of the water flows in during normal periods, only 40% will flow through during flooding season, thus ensuring ample water for irrigation during normal times, but allows excess water to be diverted during floods. Furthermore, the main dike in Dujiangyan was built from the earth that was hollowed out to created the diverted stream, leaving nothing to waste. It's that kind of harmony and balance that China ought to look for, not the Western styled artificial dams and projects that seeks to merely accomplish some goal, without taking into account all the other factors.
But the idea of balance extends beyond just that of a nation. It's a precious dynamic that one should strive for within a family or even within oneself. Having balance in life, between work and play, and at work between big picture and small details are all important things to keep in mind. It extends to our economies as well - instead of these boom-bust business cycles, we ought to look to more conservative growth with sound money, rather than inflationary policies designed to expand our economy beyond what it could naturally support. It matters in medicine too, when we decide to treat symptoms with certain drugs and overlook its side effects or teir longterm effects, before even considering more natural, alternative Chinese therapies. Balance is an idea that seems to get lost these days in a results-oriented, attention deficit, instant gratification world.
Sure, this sounds like a very vague and kitchy, but he followed it up with some interesting examples. For instance, China has been obsessed with growth for the last couple of decades, thus resulting in growth rates unprecedented for such a large country. This, however, cannot last forever, and obsession with growth results in sacrifices in other areas - deteriorating environment, social problems such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor, loss of culture due to a fixation with materialism and all things Western, etc. What China ultimately needs to do, is find it's own center again, to balance and harmonize competing national interests rather than go to extremes to pursue this or that. For that's the only sustainable path, the equilibrium that would strike the correct balance. He believes, for example, that the current imbalance has resulted in projects like the Three Gorges Dam (長江三峽大壩), which, while would generate a great deal of "clean" energy by utilizing the force of the Yangtze River, will wreck havoc on the natural ecological environment of the area, not to mention it will also flood historical & cultural relics, and force millions to relocate. For comparison, we only need to look to another great river project in China's history, that of Dujiangyan (都江堰), first built in 256 BC, and still in operation. Dujiangyan is an irrigation project that splits the Min River (岷江) into streams for irrigation. Unlike other dams and river projects, it allows water and fish to flow through naturally. It's ingenuity lies in the fact that because the diverted stream is narrower and deeper, while 60% of the water flows in during normal periods, only 40% will flow through during flooding season, thus ensuring ample water for irrigation during normal times, but allows excess water to be diverted during floods. Furthermore, the main dike in Dujiangyan was built from the earth that was hollowed out to created the diverted stream, leaving nothing to waste. It's that kind of harmony and balance that China ought to look for, not the Western styled artificial dams and projects that seeks to merely accomplish some goal, without taking into account all the other factors.
But the idea of balance extends beyond just that of a nation. It's a precious dynamic that one should strive for within a family or even within oneself. Having balance in life, between work and play, and at work between big picture and small details are all important things to keep in mind. It extends to our economies as well - instead of these boom-bust business cycles, we ought to look to more conservative growth with sound money, rather than inflationary policies designed to expand our economy beyond what it could naturally support. It matters in medicine too, when we decide to treat symptoms with certain drugs and overlook its side effects or teir longterm effects, before even considering more natural, alternative Chinese therapies. Balance is an idea that seems to get lost these days in a results-oriented, attention deficit, instant gratification world.
Ambition
I want to look to you to guide my life, to be willing and able to follow what you have planned. Allow me to be open to your wisdom, and to enable me to make a difference in this world as you see fit.
I want to let go of my own selfish ambitions; entrust me with yours, and help make them my own. Help put my talents to suit your purposes, to make me great and useful for your aims. Take me somewhere, to wherever I should be; I shall not worry. My focus solely shall be to walk an upright path, do what is right, and try my best to follow the standards set by Christ. I look to you now just like Hannah, mother of Samuel, had so sincerely done in the past.
I want to let go of my own selfish ambitions; entrust me with yours, and help make them my own. Help put my talents to suit your purposes, to make me great and useful for your aims. Take me somewhere, to wherever I should be; I shall not worry. My focus solely shall be to walk an upright path, do what is right, and try my best to follow the standards set by Christ. I look to you now just like Hannah, mother of Samuel, had so sincerely done in the past.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Critiquing Essays
Recently I've been doing some self-study Chinese, and have found a tutor to help out. One area that needs great improvement for me of course is writing, and so I had my tutor start to critique my essays in Chinese. There seems to be a tendency (because my Chinese is fairly fluent) to assume that I can read and write just fine, when that is sadly not the case. Hence, to make a strong impression, I purposely winged my first essay (basically it means I wrote a first draft and didn't bother editing or reading through it at all) using very rough and imprecise language plus some shaky Chinglish grammar. And so I got the reaction I required to fully engage my teacher: Basically, I was told that my writing sucks and I need to really work much much harder!
As we are on the topic of critiquing essays, I feel it is appropriate to share some interesting tidbits from a middle school teacher in Taiwan who is about to shoot herself after having to grade her kids' essays. Here's what she said (translated from Chinese):
"I am a junior high school [Chinese] language teacher, and grading essays is the bane of my existence. If it was only having to deal with the messy handwriting, that would be fine - but sometimes my students would make up new words. If it was just making up new words, that would be bearable - but sometimes they insist on writing such illogical sentences. As a result, every time I grade, I don't know whether to cry or to laugh.
This time the essay topic I decided to hand out was about "food." In fact, I was quite pleased with myself for picking such a simple topic - there is no way my students can screw up such a simple and everyday topic, right? I mean, it should bring out their very best, and also reduce my own workload at the same time (and increase my own lifespan).
Of course, I was dead wrong. I've provided some laughable excerpts that these little "future geniuses of the world" concocted:
1. My favorite food is sashimi, but I am really bothered by the fact there are too many fishbones to pick out.
2. My favorite food is sashimi, but the only flaw is that it's never cooked thoroughly enough.
3. My favorite foods are vegetables, and of vegetables, my favorite is napa cabbage. Why do I love napa cabbage? Because it is a vegetable. (Teacher's comment: Is this a tongue twister?? [Makes more sense when read in Chinese])
4. My favorite food is minced meat with rice and Chinese meatball soup (both traditional Taiwanese night-market dishes); not only are they delicacies, they are two delicacies. (TC: Many thanks to your math teacher for teaching you how to count.)
5. My favorite food is whatever my grandmother cooks; her food is full of her love. However, if grandma dies, I won't be able to have any more of her wonderful food, so while she is still alive, I must take advantage of the situation and ask her to cook three meals a day for me. (TC: Isn't this some kind of a domestic abuse case?)
6. My favorite food is the kind of chicken meat that runs around. (TC: So before you eat chicken, you have to chase down your meat?)
7. I love eating good food, the kind that is on dry land, the kind of meat that you see everyday. (TC: You love to eat humans?)
8. I have strict standards for my favorite foods - it can't be made by a sad, heart-broken, chef. (TC: I think you watch too many soap operas.)
9. My mom is awesome, after she's in the kitchen, she can turn a an uncooked egg into a fried egg. (TC: Your point?)
10. Every time mom completes a dish, our family would cheer, and then mom would go back to the kitchen to make the next dish. (TC: I didn't realize your family is the kind that cooks and eats one dish at a time.)
11. I like to stroll through the night markets with my dad, because it makes me drool (the Chinese idiom literally translates to "makes my drool hang by approx. one meter"). Wherever I see those tasty snacks, I would tell my dad I want to try this or that, but of course I didn't get to try anything in the end. (TC: Poor child!)
12. I love eating my mom's home cooking; there's such a gap between her cooking and food at restaurants. (TC: Are you trying to say home cooking is better or worse?)
13. There are lots of delicacies in the world, amongst them, my favorite foreign food is the Taiwanese "dan-zai" noodles. (TC: Yo classmate, so what country are you from?)
14. Sashimi is just too tasty. Every time I think about it, my saliva would slowly ooze out of my mouth. (TC: Is it because this scene is in slow-motion for dramatic effect?)
15. There is one dish that I can eat forever, it's called "Twins" (a Taiwanese night market dish - I believe some kind of fried bread dough). The name should sound very strange to everyone; you're right - it is very strange. (TC: Huh?? Was anything actually explained?)
16. Whenever I eat, I eat fast and furiously. There's nothing I can do about it, because practice makes perfect. (TC: Whenever I breathe, it's always too fast too furious. There's nothing I can do about it, because "practice makes perfect." Man, is this how these kids use idioms these days?)
Other teachers have joked that in past lives, they must have killed someone, so in this life, fate has punished them by making them into teachers. Well in my case, I think not only did I kill someone in a former life, I must have killed the wrong person to have fallen to the depths of becoming a junior high [Chinese] language teacher."
Original Chinese version:
我是個國中的國文老師生平最痛苦的事情就是改作文
字醜就算了還會自己學倉頡創字
創字就算了還會用自己奇怪的邏輯寫句子
每次都改到哭笑不得
這次出的作文題目是「美食與我」
我非常沾沾自喜
相當期待這麼生活化又簡單的題目
一定能讓他們發揮的淋漓盡致
可以減輕我每次改作文到快往生的噩運
沒想到我錯了
這些天兵們每個都是笨板未來的棟樑......
節錄一些下來這些害我邊改邊大笑
1.我最喜歡吃的食物是生魚片，但是生魚片最讓我困擾的地方就是他的魚刺很多。
2.我最喜歡吃的食物是生魚片，唯一美中不足的是，他總是沒煮熟。
3.我最喜歡吃的美食是青菜，青菜中最喜歡吃的美食是白菜，為什麼喜歡吃白菜呢？因為他是青菜的一種（繞口令嗎？）
4.我最喜歡吃滷肉飯跟貢丸湯，他們對我來說不只是一種美食，而是...兩種美食。（真是謝謝你的數學教學）
5.我最喜歡吃外婆煮的菜，裡面包含了很多愛心，但是萬一外婆死了我就吃不到了，所以我要趁外婆還活著的時候，叫他每天煮三餐給我吃。（這算老人虐待嗎）
6.我最喜歡吃那種在外面跑的雞肉（所以你要吃雞肉前都要追著他跑？）
7.我最喜歡吃美食，是那種出現在陸地上，天天都看的到的那種肉（人肉？）
8.我對美食的要求很嚴格，他不能是由一位傷心的廚師做出來的（連續劇看太多了，孩子）
9.媽媽很厲害，他下廚以後，可以把一顆蛋變成一顆荷包蛋（不然？）
10.每次媽媽煮完菜我們全家都會歡呼，於是媽媽就走進廚房再做第二道（原來你家都是一道菜吃完再煮一道…）
11.我很喜歡跟爸爸去逛夜市，因為美食都能讓我感到垂涎三尺，只要我看到那些食物出現，就會跟爸爸說我要吃這個我要吃那個 結果我當然什麼都沒吃到 (好心酸的孩子)
12.我最喜歡吃媽媽煮的菜，跟外面賣的差的可遠呢(那到底是好吃還是不好吃?)
13.世界上美食很多，其中我最喜歡吃的外國料理是台南擔仔麵(同學,請問你是哪國人?)
14.生魚片實在是太好吃了，每次一想到我的口水都會緩緩的滴下來….(慢動作?)
15.有一樣食物讓我百吃不厭，那就是雙胞胎，名字聽起來大家一定都會覺得很奇怪，沒錯，他就是很奇怪（這樣有解釋到嗎？）
16.我吃東西總是又快又急，沒辦法，熟能生巧嘛(我呼吸總是又快又急，沒辦法，熟能生巧嘛…這位同學，成語是這樣用的嗎!)
有前輩說他上輩子殺了人，所以這輩子處罰他當老師
唉...我想我不只殺了人，還是殺錯人才會淪落到當國文老師。。。
繼續羞愧去......大家晚安
As we are on the topic of critiquing essays, I feel it is appropriate to share some interesting tidbits from a middle school teacher in Taiwan who is about to shoot herself after having to grade her kids' essays. Here's what she said (translated from Chinese):
"I am a junior high school [Chinese] language teacher, and grading essays is the bane of my existence. If it was only having to deal with the messy handwriting, that would be fine - but sometimes my students would make up new words. If it was just making up new words, that would be bearable - but sometimes they insist on writing such illogical sentences. As a result, every time I grade, I don't know whether to cry or to laugh.
This time the essay topic I decided to hand out was about "food." In fact, I was quite pleased with myself for picking such a simple topic - there is no way my students can screw up such a simple and everyday topic, right? I mean, it should bring out their very best, and also reduce my own workload at the same time (and increase my own lifespan).
Of course, I was dead wrong. I've provided some laughable excerpts that these little "future geniuses of the world" concocted:
1. My favorite food is sashimi, but I am really bothered by the fact there are too many fishbones to pick out.
2. My favorite food is sashimi, but the only flaw is that it's never cooked thoroughly enough.
3. My favorite foods are vegetables, and of vegetables, my favorite is napa cabbage. Why do I love napa cabbage? Because it is a vegetable. (Teacher's comment: Is this a tongue twister?? [Makes more sense when read in Chinese])
4. My favorite food is minced meat with rice and Chinese meatball soup (both traditional Taiwanese night-market dishes); not only are they delicacies, they are two delicacies. (TC: Many thanks to your math teacher for teaching you how to count.)
5. My favorite food is whatever my grandmother cooks; her food is full of her love. However, if grandma dies, I won't be able to have any more of her wonderful food, so while she is still alive, I must take advantage of the situation and ask her to cook three meals a day for me. (TC: Isn't this some kind of a domestic abuse case?)
6. My favorite food is the kind of chicken meat that runs around. (TC: So before you eat chicken, you have to chase down your meat?)
7. I love eating good food, the kind that is on dry land, the kind of meat that you see everyday. (TC: You love to eat humans?)
8. I have strict standards for my favorite foods - it can't be made by a sad, heart-broken, chef. (TC: I think you watch too many soap operas.)
9. My mom is awesome, after she's in the kitchen, she can turn a an uncooked egg into a fried egg. (TC: Your point?)
10. Every time mom completes a dish, our family would cheer, and then mom would go back to the kitchen to make the next dish. (TC: I didn't realize your family is the kind that cooks and eats one dish at a time.)
11. I like to stroll through the night markets with my dad, because it makes me drool (the Chinese idiom literally translates to "makes my drool hang by approx. one meter"). Wherever I see those tasty snacks, I would tell my dad I want to try this or that, but of course I didn't get to try anything in the end. (TC: Poor child!)
12. I love eating my mom's home cooking; there's such a gap between her cooking and food at restaurants. (TC: Are you trying to say home cooking is better or worse?)
13. There are lots of delicacies in the world, amongst them, my favorite foreign food is the Taiwanese "dan-zai" noodles. (TC: Yo classmate, so what country are you from?)
14. Sashimi is just too tasty. Every time I think about it, my saliva would slowly ooze out of my mouth. (TC: Is it because this scene is in slow-motion for dramatic effect?)
15. There is one dish that I can eat forever, it's called "Twins" (a Taiwanese night market dish - I believe some kind of fried bread dough). The name should sound very strange to everyone; you're right - it is very strange. (TC: Huh?? Was anything actually explained?)
16. Whenever I eat, I eat fast and furiously. There's nothing I can do about it, because practice makes perfect. (TC: Whenever I breathe, it's always too fast too furious. There's nothing I can do about it, because "practice makes perfect." Man, is this how these kids use idioms these days?)
Other teachers have joked that in past lives, they must have killed someone, so in this life, fate has punished them by making them into teachers. Well in my case, I think not only did I kill someone in a former life, I must have killed the wrong person to have fallen to the depths of becoming a junior high [Chinese] language teacher."
Original Chinese version:
我是個國中的國文老師生平最痛苦的事情就是改作文
字醜就算了還會自己學倉頡創字
創字就算了還會用自己奇怪的邏輯寫句子
每次都改到哭笑不得
這次出的作文題目是「美食與我」
我非常沾沾自喜
相當期待這麼生活化又簡單的題目
一定能讓他們發揮的淋漓盡致
可以減輕我每次改作文到快往生的噩運
沒想到我錯了
這些天兵們每個都是笨板未來的棟樑......
節錄一些下來這些害我邊改邊大笑
1.我最喜歡吃的食物是生魚片，但是生魚片最讓我困擾的地方就是他的魚刺很多。
2.我最喜歡吃的食物是生魚片，唯一美中不足的是，他總是沒煮熟。
3.我最喜歡吃的美食是青菜，青菜中最喜歡吃的美食是白菜，為什麼喜歡吃白菜呢？因為他是青菜的一種（繞口令嗎？）
4.我最喜歡吃滷肉飯跟貢丸湯，他們對我來說不只是一種美食，而是...兩種美食。（真是謝謝你的數學教學）
5.我最喜歡吃外婆煮的菜，裡面包含了很多愛心，但是萬一外婆死了我就吃不到了，所以我要趁外婆還活著的時候，叫他每天煮三餐給我吃。（這算老人虐待嗎）
6.我最喜歡吃那種在外面跑的雞肉（所以你要吃雞肉前都要追著他跑？）
7.我最喜歡吃美食，是那種出現在陸地上，天天都看的到的那種肉（人肉？）
8.我對美食的要求很嚴格，他不能是由一位傷心的廚師做出來的（連續劇看太多了，孩子）
9.媽媽很厲害，他下廚以後，可以把一顆蛋變成一顆荷包蛋（不然？）
10.每次媽媽煮完菜我們全家都會歡呼，於是媽媽就走進廚房再做第二道（原來你家都是一道菜吃完再煮一道…）
11.我很喜歡跟爸爸去逛夜市，因為美食都能讓我感到垂涎三尺，只要我看到那些食物出現，就會跟爸爸說我要吃這個我要吃那個 結果我當然什麼都沒吃到 (好心酸的孩子)
12.我最喜歡吃媽媽煮的菜，跟外面賣的差的可遠呢(那到底是好吃還是不好吃?)
13.世界上美食很多，其中我最喜歡吃的外國料理是台南擔仔麵(同學,請問你是哪國人?)
14.生魚片實在是太好吃了，每次一想到我的口水都會緩緩的滴下來….(慢動作?)
15.有一樣食物讓我百吃不厭，那就是雙胞胎，名字聽起來大家一定都會覺得很奇怪，沒錯，他就是很奇怪（這樣有解釋到嗎？）
16.我吃東西總是又快又急，沒辦法，熟能生巧嘛(我呼吸總是又快又急，沒辦法，熟能生巧嘛…這位同學，成語是這樣用的嗎!)
有前輩說他上輩子殺了人，所以這輩子處罰他當老師
唉...我想我不只殺了人，還是殺錯人才會淪落到當國文老師。。。
繼續羞愧去......大家晚安
Monday, October 6, 2008
Running in Chinese Cities
I spent part of the day running around Shanghai, trying to become more familiar with the city. Sure, I could have done that by taking the bus, or the subway, but there really is no better way to get to know a place other than having your own two feet cross through it. Basically, from Xujiahui, I tried to get to the People's Square, which was only a few kilometers away. However, on the way, as it tends to happen when you don't know a place well, I got lost and ended up in Jing An Temple first before circling back over to People's Square.
Running in China, especially in the city, is quite an interesting experience. The issue is there isn't much of a running culture in China yet, and so there isn't much room to run on sidewalks that are overcrowded with people. The best place, in fact, is right on the road, in the lanes intended for bicycles, motorized bikes, and motorcycles. I enjoy running about as fast (or faster) than the cyclists, who often turn their head in surprise to see a pedestrian beat them on the road. In fact, in some places where traffic is really bad, running will get you thru places as fast or even faster than cars.
Pictures from the run:
Near Jing An Temple is a very nice garden area, which is good for getting away from the city. Some couples, elderly folks, and families with children spend a rare idle afternoon here:
Nanjing East Road, close to People's Square (not sure who that random person with outstretched arms is):
Running in China, especially in the city, is quite an interesting experience. The issue is there isn't much of a running culture in China yet, and so there isn't much room to run on sidewalks that are overcrowded with people. The best place, in fact, is right on the road, in the lanes intended for bicycles, motorized bikes, and motorcycles. I enjoy running about as fast (or faster) than the cyclists, who often turn their head in surprise to see a pedestrian beat them on the road. In fact, in some places where traffic is really bad, running will get you thru places as fast or even faster than cars.
Pictures from the run:
Near Jing An Temple is a very nice garden area, which is good for getting away from the city. Some couples, elderly folks, and families with children spend a rare idle afternoon here:
Jin An Temple amid the traffic:
Nanjing East Road, close to People's Square (not sure who that random person with outstretched arms is):
Shanghai is better for runners than Beijing, as running by the road in Beijing tends to result in high smog consumption and a scorched throat. Back in Beijing, I spent an afternoon once running to (and within) Chaoyang Park, but was so discouraged by the air pollution that I never got around to doing it again. And this was while the Olympics were still in town.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Traditional Versus Simplified Chinese Characters
For my lessons, I prepared one character flash cards of all new vocabulary. This way, not only can I check to make sure I recognize all the new characters separate from their contextual phrase, but I can also improve my character recognition speed. Since character recognition is the goal here, I had written separate cards for characters with separate Traditional and Simplified forms; this way I can ensure I recognize the character in any publication from the Mainland or Taiwan. However, as we went thru the cards during the lesson, an interesting discussion occurred:
"What's that character?" my tutor asked, holding up the character "據" (pronounced "ju with the 4th tone").
"It's ju, as in genju (根據)" I said, "the same character as '据' in simplified Chinese."
"Why do you bother having flashcards with traditional characters as well?"
"Because I feel it's important for me to learn both."
"But they're so complicated! I don't understand why you Taiwanese don't just switch to 'modern' Chinese."
"That's how the Chinese language is supposed to be. It you guys in the mainland who messed with the language."
"From my point of view, it's you Taiwanese who are weird and have a 'messed up language.' How can something so simple be so complicated? Why bother at all? Besides, some things just make no sense.... like "态" (tai, pronounced with the 4th tone) in traditional Chinese is written "態". The first time I saw it, I probably would have pronounced it "neng" instead of 'tai' (this is because the top portion of the traditional character '態' is the same as the character '能', which is pronounced 'neng', while the top portion of the simplified character '态' is the same character as '太', which is phonetically equivalent to 态/態)."
"I can't tell you why '態' is pronounced 'tai', but look, Traditional characters were here first. We didn't mess up the language at all. It's you guys who have messed with them! Besides, in some cases, the simplification results in a loss of meaning. Take the traditional character '慮' (pronounced lǜ with the 4th tone) for example. It means to consider or contemplate, as in 思慮 (silǜ). Note that '慮' has a '思' component in its middle, and '思' also means to consider or think, which helps one infer a similar meaning for '慮'. However, when you simplify that character, it becomes '虑', and it loses its meaningful connection to '思'."
"Right..."
"There are also cases where there's way oversimplification - for example, take the character '广' (pronounced 'guang' with the 3rd tone), as in '广场' (factory). It used to be this: 廣. That simplification is just ridiculous!"
"Well I would have read that as 'huang', because the middle looks like '黃' (pronounced 'huang' with the 2nd tone, means 'yellow')!"
"I have to say simplification does make some things easier to read phonetically, but in general, it results in loss of meaning. However, some things seem almost wrong... for example, the word
'愛' (pronounced 'ai' with the 4th tone, means 'love') has a heart character (心) in the middle of it, which makes sense, since a heart is at the heart of love. Yet in the simplified version, '愛' is written as '爱', which drops the heart, replacing it only with the friend character ('友') at the bottom. While friendship is great, it shouldn't replace the heart character in the word love!"
We continued on with the flashcards, and my tutor was now eagerly taking up the chance to learn some traditional characters...
"What's that character?" my tutor asked, holding up the character "據" (pronounced "ju with the 4th tone").
"It's ju, as in genju (根據)" I said, "the same character as '据' in simplified Chinese."
"Why do you bother having flashcards with traditional characters as well?"
"Because I feel it's important for me to learn both."
"But they're so complicated! I don't understand why you Taiwanese don't just switch to 'modern' Chinese."
"That's how the Chinese language is supposed to be. It you guys in the mainland who messed with the language."
"From my point of view, it's you Taiwanese who are weird and have a 'messed up language.' How can something so simple be so complicated? Why bother at all? Besides, some things just make no sense.... like "态" (tai, pronounced with the 4th tone) in traditional Chinese is written "態". The first time I saw it, I probably would have pronounced it "neng" instead of 'tai' (this is because the top portion of the traditional character '態' is the same as the character '能', which is pronounced 'neng', while the top portion of the simplified character '态' is the same character as '太', which is phonetically equivalent to 态/態)."
"I can't tell you why '態' is pronounced 'tai', but look, Traditional characters were here first. We didn't mess up the language at all. It's you guys who have messed with them! Besides, in some cases, the simplification results in a loss of meaning. Take the traditional character '慮' (pronounced lǜ with the 4th tone) for example. It means to consider or contemplate, as in 思慮 (silǜ). Note that '慮' has a '思' component in its middle, and '思' also means to consider or think, which helps one infer a similar meaning for '慮'. However, when you simplify that character, it becomes '虑', and it loses its meaningful connection to '思'."
"Right..."
"There are also cases where there's way oversimplification - for example, take the character '广' (pronounced 'guang' with the 3rd tone), as in '广场' (factory). It used to be this: 廣. That simplification is just ridiculous!"
"Well I would have read that as 'huang', because the middle looks like '黃' (pronounced 'huang' with the 2nd tone, means 'yellow')!"
"I have to say simplification does make some things easier to read phonetically, but in general, it results in loss of meaning. However, some things seem almost wrong... for example, the word
'愛' (pronounced 'ai' with the 4th tone, means 'love') has a heart character (心) in the middle of it, which makes sense, since a heart is at the heart of love. Yet in the simplified version, '愛' is written as '爱', which drops the heart, replacing it only with the friend character ('友') at the bottom. While friendship is great, it shouldn't replace the heart character in the word love!"
We continued on with the flashcards, and my tutor was now eagerly taking up the chance to learn some traditional characters...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
100 RMB A Week, Part 2
So in the past 7 days, I ended up subsisting some super-cheap foods that were actually pretty good. For most meals, I ate at a noodle shop near my apt, which prices most dishes anywhere from 5-10 RMB and has generous portions:
Day 1:
9/25: Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
9/25: Drink/Refreshment (450 mL) - 3 RMB ($0.45 USD)
Day 2:
9/26: Lunch with a friend - Free
9/26: Noodles (拌面) - 9 RMB ($1.36 USD)
Day 3:
9/27: Beef "knife-sliced" Noodle Soup (牛肉刀消麵) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
9/27: Beef Fried Rice (牛肉炒飯) - 6 RMB ($0.91 USD)
Day 4:
9/28: Sichuan lunch w/ friend incl. lamb, chicken, soup, veggies, & rice - 34 RMB ($5.13 USD)
9/28: Drink/Refreshment (600 mL) - 4.5 RMB ($0.68 USD)
9/28: Drink/Refreshment (2000 mL) - 5.8 RMB ($0.88 USD)
Day 5:
9/29: Dumplings - 3 RMB ($0.45 USD)
9/29: Noodles (拌面) - 3 RMB ($0.45 USD)
Day 6:
9/30: 2 Peaches - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
9/30: Fried Rice (蛋炒飯) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
Day 7:
10/1: Noodles in Scallions Sauce with a side of Soup (蔥油拌麵) - 6 RMB ($0.91 USD)
10/1: Fried Rice (蛋炒飯) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
Weekly Total: 99.3 RMB ($14.51 USD)
Okay, so I did have a few leftover snacks and fruits from my Sanya trip, which came in handy when I got too hungry. But then again, if I didn't spend a third of my one week allowance on one meal, I would have been comfortably under the margin - outside of the 34 RMB meal, I averaged less than 10 RMB a day.
I didn't really run into any problems (i.e. I wasn't really hungry) until the last couple of days when I just ran really low on funds, and wished I didn't splurge 34 RMB in a single meal. As a result, this whole experiment, did come with a few side effects, most noticeable towards the very end:
Side effect #1: I think I got thinner. Combined with some minor exercise, I definitely lost some weight. I have no idea how much since I don't have a scale nor is it important since weight is not a very accurate measure of fitness. But if I was in the business of diet fads, I could probably coin this the "poor man's diet", the "miser's diet", or the "I'm broke" diet. Lose weight and save money at the same time! What a concept.
Side effect #2: I started noticing food tastes really good. I mean, really good. I don't think it has tasted this good in a long time. In fact, I can better appreciate how salt trade was so important in the past, and why oil is so necessary today (just kidding about the 2nd part). Really, all you have to do to learn to appreciate one of life's finer enjoyments (i.e. good food, or even just food in general, good or bad) is to try not spend any money and eat less.
Don't worry, I will eat more normally next week.
Day 1:
9/25: Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
9/25: Drink/Refreshment (450 mL) - 3 RMB ($0.45 USD)
Day 2:
9/26: Lunch with a friend - Free
9/26: Noodles (拌面) - 9 RMB ($1.36 USD)
Day 3:
9/27: Beef "knife-sliced" Noodle Soup (牛肉刀消麵) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
9/27: Beef Fried Rice (牛肉炒飯) - 6 RMB ($0.91 USD)
Day 4:
9/28: Sichuan lunch w/ friend incl. lamb, chicken, soup, veggies, & rice - 34 RMB ($5.13 USD)
9/28: Drink/Refreshment (600 mL) - 4.5 RMB ($0.68 USD)
9/28: Drink/Refreshment (2000 mL) - 5.8 RMB ($0.88 USD)
Day 5:
9/29: Dumplings - 3 RMB ($0.45 USD)
9/29: Noodles (拌面) - 3 RMB ($0.45 USD)
Day 6:
9/30: 2 Peaches - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
9/30: Fried Rice (蛋炒飯) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
Day 7:
10/1: Noodles in Scallions Sauce with a side of Soup (蔥油拌麵) - 6 RMB ($0.91 USD)
10/1: Fried Rice (蛋炒飯) - 5 RMB ($0.75 USD)
Weekly Total: 99.3 RMB ($14.51 USD)
Okay, so I did have a few leftover snacks and fruits from my Sanya trip, which came in handy when I got too hungry. But then again, if I didn't spend a third of my one week allowance on one meal, I would have been comfortably under the margin - outside of the 34 RMB meal, I averaged less than 10 RMB a day.
I didn't really run into any problems (i.e. I wasn't really hungry) until the last couple of days when I just ran really low on funds, and wished I didn't splurge 34 RMB in a single meal. As a result, this whole experiment, did come with a few side effects, most noticeable towards the very end:
Side effect #1: I think I got thinner. Combined with some minor exercise, I definitely lost some weight. I have no idea how much since I don't have a scale nor is it important since weight is not a very accurate measure of fitness. But if I was in the business of diet fads, I could probably coin this the "poor man's diet", the "miser's diet", or the "I'm broke" diet. Lose weight and save money at the same time! What a concept.
Side effect #2: I started noticing food tastes really good. I mean, really good. I don't think it has tasted this good in a long time. In fact, I can better appreciate how salt trade was so important in the past, and why oil is so necessary today (just kidding about the 2nd part). Really, all you have to do to learn to appreciate one of life's finer enjoyments (i.e. good food, or even just food in general, good or bad) is to try not spend any money and eat less.
Don't worry, I will eat more normally next week.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Global Economy Meltdown
I spent the 40 of the last 72 hours reading about the current financial situation, and while quite time-consuming (and perhaps obsessive), I think it has helped me better be able to comprehend financial news, its implications, and so on. Economics is unlike math and hard sciences in that theories/theorems are not universally accepted - different schools of thoughts hold different philosophies, and the events of the world are interpreted in different ways, each through their own lens.
While I still do not feel I have a complete grasp of modern economic theory and thought yet to debate forcefully and dogmatically on the best course of action to take to help the ailing economy, my leanings have fallen increasingly towards the Austrian school of thought. And through this lens, it is becoming more and more clear that we seem to be headed for a meltdown of the global economy.
According to the Austrian school of economic thought, the current financial crisis, as with all boom-bust business cycles is caused by artificially low interest rates. Artificial low interest rates are due to the Central Bank injecting newly printed money into the system via lending. This results entrepreneurs making systematic errors in judgment and many of them invest in larger projects with better returns. Other businesses may also take decide to take advantage of low interest rates; they borrow to upgrade old capital infrastructure in order to keep up with other businesses and entrepreneurs.
However, this over-investment causes an artificial bubble that temporarily lifts prices and production. At the same time, artificially low interest rates results in everybody taking advantage and wanting slightly less money now instead of slightly more money in the future. Depositors withdraw from their bank accounts and decrease savings, banks in turn will need to ask their borrows for payment, worsening the interest rate and credit situation.
Eventually, the buildup will not last: artificially stimulated demand will fall, entrepreneurs will find that their investments are in error because order sizes are not high enough, and these bad investments will need to be liquidated. A crisis or credit crunch may occur, which is just the market's way of trying to reset its time preferences for money - i.e. interests rates will need to go up in order for any further lending to occur. The following recession or depression is simply the process where the economy tries to correct for these mistakes and wastes that occured during the boom. The longer the period of artificial growth, the more longer or more painful the period of correction will be. Further information can be found on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Business_Cycle_Theory) as well as many other places on the web (another good read on a related topic can be found here).
The US Government sponsored bailout along with artificial low interest rates (both of which involve injecting more newly printed money into the economy) will only serve to exacerbate the situation in the long run while helping to temporarily prop up the economy in the short run. Normally, in any other country, such actions would result in currency depreciation, but the US is a special case. The US, being the world's leading economy, has the special distinction of being the world's reserve currency. In other words, the other countries of the world treat the US dollar to be as good as gold. It is the currency of choice they use in their own foreign reserves to back their treasuries. As a result, it is not subject to the same degree of inflation as other countries if they tried the same tactic to a similar degree.
Perhaps a simple (though hopefully not too oversimplified) illustration will help. Let's assume country is a player in some game that requires trade, and that the unit of exchange is gold. In other words, gold is money; it will be recognized everywhere and between all people. In this game, the US is the one player that owns an inexhuastible gold mine. Whatever goods he wants from other countries, say cars from Japan or electronics made in Taiwan, or furniture manufactured in China, he can simply go digging around and unearth an extra nugget or two of gold that was not in the game before, and was not earned from productive work or trades with other players. The other players, such as Japan, China, and Taiwan, don't mind handing over their finished goods to the US for now in exchange for this "gold", because it enables them to keep up productivity and become wealthier (after all, there isn't really another supply of gold anywhere else in the game, and gold is currency, which allows them to give financial aid to the improverished players such as South Africa, Gambia, Swaziland, and Guinea-Bissau).
Now in some ways, you can accuse the US of "cheating" in the game - he doesn't need to produce very much and yet continues to be very rich, and can afford to continue to buy up cheap products made overseas due to the strength of his credibility. However, in real life, this situation isn't one that could last forever. The US may weaken, and it's reputation and credit may fall in the eyes of other nations. In time, when there is a suitable alternative, some other paradigm for how the world works, there could be a swift and ugly move away from the US. Say after the some major catastrophe that affects the US, Japan first decides to slowly unload its reserve of US dollars. China, sensing the same, may follow suit. The ensuing sale of USD will calls the dollar to depreciate drastically, better reflecting it's true value now that the other players of the world have wised up and stopped trading its finished goods for worthless scrap paper. Other nations, who have pegged their currencies to the dollar, will find it no longer unreliable and float their currencies on the open market instead. Soon, everyone will wake up to the realization that the US can't afford what it buys, and the dollar is not the new gold. It's difficult to gauge when this might happen, perhaps in 50 years, 10 years, 5 years, or maybe even sooner, given the current financial crisis, but it may be well worth it to diversify away from USD and into other currencies or into commodities like gold at this point.
However, coming back to the present - right now, no one is dumping US dollars yet. The US is so intertwined with the global economy, and since its notes are the foundation of foreign reserves around the world, it's woes will dramatically affect the rest of the world. As a result, instead of the US suffering alone and having its currency crash, production will slow around the world now that the top consumer in the world has slowed. Other countries' entrepreneurs will also see that they have overinvested, and that demand will not be high enough to justify such production. These unsustainable investments will be liquidated as well, and the resulting turmoil may drag nations around the world into deep recessions or even depressions.
In fact, former presidential candidate Ron Paul seemed to have predicted all of this, and has been proclaiming the same message in the past 20 years. The problem with the Austrian economists isn't that they are not right - they just aren't able to tell you when. Then again, part of it has to do with the fact the US Government always seems to be solving near-term economic problems instead of long-term ones, thus delaying the inevitable. Back during the very beginning of the millenium, after the dot-com bubble, and incidents of 9-11, the US felt it could not afford to wait out the recession, and once again artificially stimulated the economy with low interest rates, resulting in rampant borrowing, overpriced housing, and our current economic woes. Further attempts of a similar kind may hide or minimize the problem temporarily, but only lead to an even longer and more painful collapse.
The US economy is sick, and yet the doctor, instead of prescribing rest, pumps more drugs into his patient's body to address the symptoms, then encourages him to continue on. One of these days, the patient may no longer respond to the drugs, his body may crash and he may be forced to rest. Or worse, he may perish.
While I still do not feel I have a complete grasp of modern economic theory and thought yet to debate forcefully and dogmatically on the best course of action to take to help the ailing economy, my leanings have fallen increasingly towards the Austrian school of thought. And through this lens, it is becoming more and more clear that we seem to be headed for a meltdown of the global economy.
According to the Austrian school of economic thought, the current financial crisis, as with all boom-bust business cycles is caused by artificially low interest rates. Artificial low interest rates are due to the Central Bank injecting newly printed money into the system via lending. This results entrepreneurs making systematic errors in judgment and many of them invest in larger projects with better returns. Other businesses may also take decide to take advantage of low interest rates; they borrow to upgrade old capital infrastructure in order to keep up with other businesses and entrepreneurs.
However, this over-investment causes an artificial bubble that temporarily lifts prices and production. At the same time, artificially low interest rates results in everybody taking advantage and wanting slightly less money now instead of slightly more money in the future. Depositors withdraw from their bank accounts and decrease savings, banks in turn will need to ask their borrows for payment, worsening the interest rate and credit situation.
Eventually, the buildup will not last: artificially stimulated demand will fall, entrepreneurs will find that their investments are in error because order sizes are not high enough, and these bad investments will need to be liquidated. A crisis or credit crunch may occur, which is just the market's way of trying to reset its time preferences for money - i.e. interests rates will need to go up in order for any further lending to occur. The following recession or depression is simply the process where the economy tries to correct for these mistakes and wastes that occured during the boom. The longer the period of artificial growth, the more longer or more painful the period of correction will be. Further information can be found on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Business_Cycle_Theory) as well as many other places on the web (another good read on a related topic can be found here).
The US Government sponsored bailout along with artificial low interest rates (both of which involve injecting more newly printed money into the economy) will only serve to exacerbate the situation in the long run while helping to temporarily prop up the economy in the short run. Normally, in any other country, such actions would result in currency depreciation, but the US is a special case. The US, being the world's leading economy, has the special distinction of being the world's reserve currency. In other words, the other countries of the world treat the US dollar to be as good as gold. It is the currency of choice they use in their own foreign reserves to back their treasuries. As a result, it is not subject to the same degree of inflation as other countries if they tried the same tactic to a similar degree.
Perhaps a simple (though hopefully not too oversimplified) illustration will help. Let's assume country is a player in some game that requires trade, and that the unit of exchange is gold. In other words, gold is money; it will be recognized everywhere and between all people. In this game, the US is the one player that owns an inexhuastible gold mine. Whatever goods he wants from other countries, say cars from Japan or electronics made in Taiwan, or furniture manufactured in China, he can simply go digging around and unearth an extra nugget or two of gold that was not in the game before, and was not earned from productive work or trades with other players. The other players, such as Japan, China, and Taiwan, don't mind handing over their finished goods to the US for now in exchange for this "gold", because it enables them to keep up productivity and become wealthier (after all, there isn't really another supply of gold anywhere else in the game, and gold is currency, which allows them to give financial aid to the improverished players such as South Africa, Gambia, Swaziland, and Guinea-Bissau).
Now in some ways, you can accuse the US of "cheating" in the game - he doesn't need to produce very much and yet continues to be very rich, and can afford to continue to buy up cheap products made overseas due to the strength of his credibility. However, in real life, this situation isn't one that could last forever. The US may weaken, and it's reputation and credit may fall in the eyes of other nations. In time, when there is a suitable alternative, some other paradigm for how the world works, there could be a swift and ugly move away from the US. Say after the some major catastrophe that affects the US, Japan first decides to slowly unload its reserve of US dollars. China, sensing the same, may follow suit. The ensuing sale of USD will calls the dollar to depreciate drastically, better reflecting it's true value now that the other players of the world have wised up and stopped trading its finished goods for worthless scrap paper. Other nations, who have pegged their currencies to the dollar, will find it no longer unreliable and float their currencies on the open market instead. Soon, everyone will wake up to the realization that the US can't afford what it buys, and the dollar is not the new gold. It's difficult to gauge when this might happen, perhaps in 50 years, 10 years, 5 years, or maybe even sooner, given the current financial crisis, but it may be well worth it to diversify away from USD and into other currencies or into commodities like gold at this point.
However, coming back to the present - right now, no one is dumping US dollars yet. The US is so intertwined with the global economy, and since its notes are the foundation of foreign reserves around the world, it's woes will dramatically affect the rest of the world. As a result, instead of the US suffering alone and having its currency crash, production will slow around the world now that the top consumer in the world has slowed. Other countries' entrepreneurs will also see that they have overinvested, and that demand will not be high enough to justify such production. These unsustainable investments will be liquidated as well, and the resulting turmoil may drag nations around the world into deep recessions or even depressions.
In fact, former presidential candidate Ron Paul seemed to have predicted all of this, and has been proclaiming the same message in the past 20 years. The problem with the Austrian economists isn't that they are not right - they just aren't able to tell you when. Then again, part of it has to do with the fact the US Government always seems to be solving near-term economic problems instead of long-term ones, thus delaying the inevitable. Back during the very beginning of the millenium, after the dot-com bubble, and incidents of 9-11, the US felt it could not afford to wait out the recession, and once again artificially stimulated the economy with low interest rates, resulting in rampant borrowing, overpriced housing, and our current economic woes. Further attempts of a similar kind may hide or minimize the problem temporarily, but only lead to an even longer and more painful collapse.
The US economy is sick, and yet the doctor, instead of prescribing rest, pumps more drugs into his patient's body to address the symptoms, then encourages him to continue on. One of these days, the patient may no longer respond to the drugs, his body may crash and he may be forced to rest. Or worse, he may perish.
Chinese Learning: 我的中文老师
So one of my other goals in China is to improve my Chinese, especially my reading and writing abilities. Of course, one way to do that is to enroll in some kind of a language learning school or program, take classes, etc. However, given my propensity for travel, the fact that language schools for foreigners tend to be expensive, and the wide imbalance between my listening/speaking skills and reading/writing, I thought it would be better to try to find a tutor who could tailor a custom program for me.
And so I looked around online and came up with 2 Chinese Language Tutors and 5 Language Exchange Partners. A little excessive? Well perhaps, but I thought finding more would be better than less, especially if it turns out that some of them are a bad fit, have different objectives, etc. Besides, its Chinese National Holiday Week, and I don't really want to leave the house and risk being carried away by a sea of Chinese tourists, so I might as well spend all my time indoors, working on my Chinese.
Anyhow, the other day I met my one of my Chinese Language Tutors for the first time. Beforehand, she had called and we made arrangements. She added that while she did not look Chinese and had blonde hair, she was the broadcaster at Fudan Medical University and spoke very standard Mandarin. I said fine, and expected to meet some hippie Chinese girl with dyed blonde hair. However, to my surprise, she looked... totally Western:
Apparently she is from Xinjiang. I've never met anyone from Xinjiang before, but I did not expect Xinjiang people to look like this either. And she spoke very good Mandarin, with no tonal problems, nothing. I couldn't help but stare and laugh. It's just odd - I have a hard time getting my head around it - perhaps I just don't meet enough Western people who speak standard Mandarin. I know it's a skin-deep prejudice, but I just did not expect to be tutored in Mandarin by someone who looks Caucasian, not that there's anything wrong with it.
One notably interesting dynamic during the lesson that's worth sharing: whenever I focus in and interrogate her on something with regards to Chinese, she grows slightly unsure, and may even start to doubt herself. After looking it up and confirming her initial understanding, she blames me for making her doubt herself! I guess this odd prejudice cuts both ways...
And so I looked around online and came up with 2 Chinese Language Tutors and 5 Language Exchange Partners. A little excessive? Well perhaps, but I thought finding more would be better than less, especially if it turns out that some of them are a bad fit, have different objectives, etc. Besides, its Chinese National Holiday Week, and I don't really want to leave the house and risk being carried away by a sea of Chinese tourists, so I might as well spend all my time indoors, working on my Chinese.
Anyhow, the other day I met my one of my Chinese Language Tutors for the first time. Beforehand, she had called and we made arrangements. She added that while she did not look Chinese and had blonde hair, she was the broadcaster at Fudan Medical University and spoke very standard Mandarin. I said fine, and expected to meet some hippie Chinese girl with dyed blonde hair. However, to my surprise, she looked... totally Western:
Apparently she is from Xinjiang. I've never met anyone from Xinjiang before, but I did not expect Xinjiang people to look like this either. And she spoke very good Mandarin, with no tonal problems, nothing. I couldn't help but stare and laugh. It's just odd - I have a hard time getting my head around it - perhaps I just don't meet enough Western people who speak standard Mandarin. I know it's a skin-deep prejudice, but I just did not expect to be tutored in Mandarin by someone who looks Caucasian, not that there's anything wrong with it.
One notably interesting dynamic during the lesson that's worth sharing: whenever I focus in and interrogate her on something with regards to Chinese, she grows slightly unsure, and may even start to doubt herself. After looking it up and confirming her initial understanding, she blames me for making her doubt herself! I guess this odd prejudice cuts both ways...
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