Posts Tagged ‘united states’

I’ve long-admired Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom’s China writings for the way in which this author succeeds in making the country’s more obscure bits that much clearer for the novice China enthusiast or budding Sinologist.

Rather than further mystify the country’s infamous “exoticness” to Westerners and cast his readers further into doubt in copping to that most annoying of journalist/blogger catchalls like “if it’s one thing for certain, nothing is ever what it appears to be in China and everything changes constantly,” Wasserstrom distances himself from the usual scholarly bluster and navel-gazing by employing a novel Q&A approach in getting his book’s premise across. China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know indeed attempts, as its title promises, to include just about everything anyone needs to know about China.

Leaving aside for the moment the discussion about the quality of the material to be found inside its covers or about Professor Wasserstrom’s throw-down (though I love it!) that what you’re about to read is “what everyone needs to know” about China, the book’s written using concise, accessible, easy-to-digest paragraphs.

This Socratic technique alone places the book firmly into front-of-mind awareness for the novice China reader. Those finding themselves armed with only the most rudimentary of knowledge about that juggernaut nation to the East will walk away, as Wasserstrom surmises “…[knowing] a few more basic things about the people of the PRC than they did when they read its first pages.” Old China Hands, too, might appreciate this book as a ready reference, and perhaps even those claiming “expert” status about the country will be pleasantly surprised to discover how the book challenges several of their rigorously-held assumptions. As for myself, someone who considers himself a novice in chinoisierie, it achieved its mission masterfully. At a compact 135pp, I agree with scholarly reviewer Susan Shirk who claimed that the book “…provides the essential knowledge that intelligent citizens need to have about China…[that] can be read in less time than it takes to fly from the U.S. to China!”

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I’ve been gunning through the final pages of Bradley K. Martin’s Under the Loving Care of the Heavenly Father: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, blowing through the sections about potential wartime scenarios between the two rival Koreas.

Martin’s chats with North Korean defectors have been extremely revealing. His several interviewees, the majority of them former staff members of the DPRK’s million-man army, offer up their experience on why North Korea might have the decisive edge over the more affluent south if push comes to shove and the guns suddenly start to rumble.

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What delicious irony!

So I’m working my aging muscles at the gym this morning, buzzing in my zone, collected within my own thoughts and space, when on the overhead radio blares the news from the Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark and then…followed by a sound bite from the Secretary of State — Ms. Clinton — about how “climate change not only affects the environment, but it affects our economy and our security.”

Okay, fair enough, so her obsequious speechwriters and assorted other sycophant hangers-on are dutybound to sprinkle in the usual perfunctory claptrap and one-offs, the stuff of political doubletalk, and I can totally accept that. Like any dyed-in-the-wool political cynic, being compelled to listen to this aural rubbish is one of the tradeoffs of membership in an affluent society, a function of the daily Faustian bargain we make with our benevolent leaders in (insert your nation’s capital) for all of the lavish goodies that are as near as a phone call away.

But today struck a chord within me. That Clinton sound bite I just mentioned? Well, it  was immediately followed up with news about local discounts on monthly financing for SUVs, then another blurb about a 14% hike in prices at the gas pump — y-o-y — after the inflation rate rose 1% during November 2009, then another series of interminable ads about discounts on the iPhone 3G and 3G Plus if consumers only “act now” and avail themselves of a special rebate and the one about taking out a new cellphone plan before the Holiday Season in order to receive a $50 gift as a bonus.

I think you’re getting the picture.

But this pithy complaint of mine hardly does the situation justice. The Guardian’s George Monbiot was positively eloquent in his spot-on biting description of the global state of affairs in his scathing j’accuse against Western governments (and China, tangentially, what with its “peaceful rise”) with his column entitled “This is bigger than climate change. It is a battle to redefine humanity” from this past Monday.

Until we stop hearing molasses-like ads like this luring us to appease our junkie-like buying habits, that big show over in Denmark — what with the daily talking heads, pontificating Western political blowhards, and cameo appearances by popular heads-of-state — matters not a toss.

Agreed?

Nice little bit of business I recently tracked down at Trend Hunter about Southwest Airlines’ cabin materials cutbacks that will lead to fuel savings of at least $20,000/year/plane, not to mention the environmental benefits from such a policy! A must watch 4:17min. clip.