February 03, 2011
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
2011 Year of the (metal) Rabbit! I hope it is a great one for all of you. I know I am looking forward and anticipate some real positive change...
Labels: Sinomania
October 12, 2010
Sinomania! On Assignment
Exploring Chinese influence in southeast Asia before making my way through China until I reach Chongqing. I will be posting as I can....
Labels: Sinomania
July 13, 2010
Where Shall Sinomania! Go in China? VOTE in our Poll!
Sinomania! plans to return to China this year for a research and business trip. Where shall I go?
Labels: Sinomania
June 18, 2010
SORRY SO SILENT
My apologies for the two months of silence at this space on Sinomania! I am experiencing a spectacular loss. My partner of almost 13 years (actually we are legally married) died after a 5+ year fight with a rare cancer--ocular melanoma that metastasized. While his death did not come without warning it was nonetheless a shock and turned my world upside down. Not to be overly dramatic, I will be back, Sinomania! will be upgraded, and I plan to travel deep into China soon to report on what’s really happening with the world’s most beguiling and misunderstood giant. Meanwhile, please use the blog space to comment on the “news” of China presented by world media.
April 15, 2010
OPEN THREAD
Sinomania! is transitioning to a permanent blog at the Sinomania! website and integration with Wordpress. For the time being, talk amongst yourselves....
Labels: Sinomania
March 31, 2010
We then proceeded to Beijing Film Studios
"...to be greeted by another delegation, the ritual similar to this morning except that after the tea, we had small, dubious sandwiches and rice wine, followed by a tour of the studio, which is like all other studios I've ever seen -- slightly out of date (considerably so, here) dusty and cluttered, repeated warnings not to trip on the cables I've been avoiding before the people who warn me were born.
Some of the sets from The Last Emperor are still standing...absolutely world class. On the back lot, some really fine exterior sets are now useless because the sky behind them is now studded with high-rise buildings. That happened a long time ago in Hollywood. It's curious how similar film studios are around the world."
Actor Charlton Heston in Beijing in 1988 while he directed an all-Chinese version of Herman Wouk's play "The Caine Mutiny Court-martial". Heston, Charlton. Beijing Diary. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
[ed. note: on days when Sinomania! is unable to post meaningfully a random quotation relevant to China is offered.]
Labels: Sinomania
March 16, 2010
When China reestablished its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997
...I did not hold much hope for the survival of Hong Kong capitalism. The notion that China would honor its pledge that Hong Kong would remain a bastion of capitalism for fifty years seemed to me rather naive. Capitalism and Communism side by side under the same sovereign authority was just not credible."
Former USA Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a new world. New York: The Penguin Press, 2007.
[ed. note: on days when Sinomania! is unable to post meaningfully a random quotation relevant to China is offered.]
Labels: Sinomania
February 28, 2010
I do not think we should play compromise any longer.
"We should refuse to recognize Rumania and Bulgaria until they comply with or requirements; we should let our position on Iran be known in no uncertain terms and we should continue to insist on the internationalization of the Kiel Canal, the Rhine-Danube waterway and the Black Sea Straits and we should maintain complete control of Japan and the Pacific. We should rehabilitate China and create a strong central government there. We should do the same for Korea.
Then we should insist on the return of our ships from Russia and force a settlement of the Lend-Lease Debt of Russia.
I'm tired of babying the Soviets."
Source: An unsent letter by President S Truman to Secretary of State James F. Byrnes dated January 5, 1946 -- Harry S Truman Library, Harry S Truman Papers, President's Secretary's Files , Box 333, 1946.
Labels: Sinomania
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