Ru Zi Ke Jiao

Approximately one hundred million Chinese – ALL of whom are OUR brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandparents and friends we haven’t met yet – have these hideous hookworms living inside them.

The consequences are devastating. We know that when hookworms are eradicated that productivity increases by about 30%. Imagine what that means to a poor family.

I’ve just stumbled across a wonderful group, www.DewormTheWorld.org
We can defeat the hookworm. The medicine itself costs just pennies (less than 4 Jiao per person). So what are we lacking?

LEADERS.

You know, people who are willing to SACRIFICE for their country (countrymen). Plenty of people are willing to work hard to get rich. Show me 20 of my Shenzhong students who are willing to put the same effort into eradicating this parasite and in 3-5 years time, ALL of our brothers and sisters can be free from this horrible pest. [I'm most definitely NOT talking about those who merely want to stand up in front of others and achieve glory.]

This picture shows China suffering from a 5-10% hookworm infestation rate, a 100% treatable and preventable illness. [Note: In the yellow colored countries, hookworm is basically non-existant.]

Without a HUGE sacrifice, this problem isn’t going away. There are lots of people working – and actually, making a living – trying to solve this problem. Unfortunately, they lose their livelihood if the problem is solved, so from my perspective, it seems that their strategy is one of containment – NOT total elimination.

You’ve probably heard me talk about portfolios before, but if you haven’t, then you should read this first.

Okay, welcome back. Here is a portfolio – There is No Them – that I recently stumbled upon. Of course, I really like it, otherwise I wouldn’t be blogging about it.

And from that portfolio, I was led to this company / website that offers free hosting of your (small) portfolio.

Traditionally, portfolios have been for “artists”, including designers, architects, etc…but as I’ve been explaining, in a world where creativity trumps knowledge, you need to have your own portfolio that demonstrates your capabilities, etc…

Take me, for example. My blog demonstrates my teaching abilities, and I have a link to my lovely student photos. I also have some of my other work online, such as when I shamed Wal-Mart into following their own company rules (and Chinese law) to keep their stairways clear. Or this one that shamed Shenzhen Zhong Xue so that they would STOP cheating on their applications to American universities.

So when I approach people regarding work, I don’t only give them references, I give them examples of my work. You know, I show them my portfolio.

The Los Angeles Times has an article that you should be interested in, Young, educated and jobless in China.

“Beijing – Six months after graduating from university, Guan Jian was unemployed and living in an 8-by-8-foot rented room on the fringes of this sprawling capital.”

NASH: The article is worth considering. Earning a college degree NO LONGER offers security. REAL SECURITY can only be found in one place. And I’m going to tell you where to look.

First, find a mirror. Then, hold it up to your face. And finally, look right between your ears – that’s where your security lies. Anyone who tells you differently, well those are lies of a different sort.

The Rethinking Everything website posits this question:

How Would You Live if You Were Free?

Just reading that question, to say nothing of pondering it, should be enough to inspire change in your life. That’s because you ARE free. However, if you don’t think you’re free, then you’re not. I’m not being, nor trying to be, duplicitous.

The truth is, many people are physically free, only to be held captive by fear and doubt. Others, even while held prisoner, are free because they have a mind set that allows them to be free. Such was the case when I spent a week in jail in China. I was physically captive, but free nonetheless. And if China wanted me to serve the Chinese people by imprisoning me, instead of allowing me to continue teaching the blind boy that was left alone in my home, then so be it. I read 5 or 6 books and met some interesting people, including a couple of guards who were honorable and a couple of others who weren’t. Such is life.

My point is, ONLY you get to decide on whether or not your mind is free. Choose wisely.

As Chinese, you need to see how America’s MSM (mainstream media) presents China. “Know thine enemy better than one knows thyself” – Sun Tzu from The Art of War. Two videos because they’re two parts.

ALWAYS THINK….BOTH VIDEOS CONTAIN SOME INACCURACIES – as would be expected.

[This post is for EVERYONE, but dedicated to one of my brightest students, Platotle.]

How about “One of us.” “When something belongs to all of us, then it belongs to none of us.” The old adage helps to explain China’s polluted waterways. You’ll note that I said that it “helps” to explain, it doesn’t fully explain.

The N.Y. Times, in this article, China Report Shows More Pollution in Waterways reports: “China’s government on Tuesday unveiled its most detailed survey ever of the pollution plaguing the country, revealing that water pollution in 2007 was more than twice as severe as official figures that had long omitted agricultural waste.”

NASH: The simple truth is, China can’t afford to wait any longer and it might already be too late. There are creative solutions to water pollution. Our problem isn’t really that we don’t know how to fix handle the situation.

OUR PROBLEM IS THAT WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH LEADERS. We’ve plenty of power hungry people, but that isn’t the same thing, is it? Don’t bother answering, that’s a rhetorical question. If just ONE OF US would stand up and lead – Platotle, this is why this post is dedicated to you – we can clean and keep the water pure.

From the N.Y. Post’s article China’s Debt Bomb:

“Last March, the Pentagon held its first-ever economic-warfare war game, with China as the putative opponent and with economists and bankers (including from UBS) helping out.”

“Details of what unfolded are still classified. However, sources told Fox Business News that the scenario played out as planned. That was the good news.”

“The bad news is that China won.”

NASH: The world has entered another MAD (as in Mutually Assured Destruction) period. America is addicted to “easy” credit and China is addicted to “easy” exports. Were China to simply lose it’s entire dollar portfolio – some 2 trillion dollars – that wouldn’t be the worst of it. The worst would be the millions of poorly educated Chinese who would be locked out of their factories – losing their homes (dormitories) – as well as their income. The same results occur if China stops buying American debt.

In one sense, America has already lost, and the article talks about that, referring to Sun Tzu’s dictum about wars being won or lost before they’re actually fought. And I believe that’s right. America has already danced the dance and now must pay the piper.

China can (and eventually will) turn their factory workers productivity inward to build a more civil society. (Imagine a China with 100 Shenzhens!) Chinese will continue to live in a country with an increasing standard of living. But America is going to have to get used to the opposite, a lower standard of living, indeed a lower quality of life.

Go ahead and read the entire article. You need to know your adversary. (I wish that the Chinese/American relationship wasn’t defined thusly – I worked to prevent just that – but too few were interested in joining this cause. Sometimes it’s easier to be enemies than it is to be friends.) What a pity!

[This post is for EVERYONE.]

I’ve long been a proponent of the idea that China is poised to lead the world. Back in 2003, I predicted that by 2020 (just 17 years) China would be number 1. I wasn’t just referring to economics, I was referring to leadership. Back then, my students laughed at me and said “Oh Nash, you really don’t know China.” My reply, “Oh students, you really don’t know America.” Today, everyone knows America a bit better.

Everyone knew China’s upward trajectory, but few realized that America’s trajectory was downward. I did. My students asked how I could be so sure. I answered, “If you plant apple seeds today, tomorrow [in the near future] you’re going to get apples.” And so, the intersection of these two trajectories will occur much sooner than my students could have imagined back then.

I still hold to my 2020 prediction. HOWEVER, that prediction was ALWAYS based on the next generation of Chinese – I’m talking about people like you, the students of SZZX – standing up and leading their country. [LEAD = SACRIFICE = LOVE] Unfortunately for China, far too many (most?) of my former students aren’t interested in sacrificing for a better China. They would rather flee the country and take care of themselves and their families first. That is their right, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that. But thank God that Deng Xiaoping didn’t have that attitude, because if he did, then the students today wouldn’t have that option. They wouldn’t have ANY options.

I’m reminiscing about all of this because of a recent Boston Globe article subtitled: When will China lead the world? Don’t hold your breath The article’s overarching theme is the rise of Asia, but as a practical matter, it’s about China’s rise. Below are a few excerpts. Whether you agree or disagree, it’s important to have a variety of perspectives in order to see things clearly. So don’t hesitate to go and tackle the entire article.

“As Asia throws up barriers to immigration, in the United States immigration helps ensure long-term economic vitality. Chinese and Indian immigrants accounted for almost one-quarter of all companies in Silicon Valley, according to research by AnnaLee Saxenian at the University of California-Berkeley.”

“Most important, the United States is a champion of an idea that has global appeal, and Asia is not. During the opposition protests in Iran, demonstrators look to the United States, not China or Indonesia or even India, to make a statement. In a reversal of the Iranian regime’s rhetoric, some protestors even chant “Death to China” because of Beijing’s support for the repressive government in Tehran. As long as protestors in places like Iran, or Burma or Ukraine, call out for the American president, and not China’s leader or India’s prime minister, the United States will remain the preeminent power.”

“To be the global hegemon requires military, economic, and political might, but it also means offering a vision for the world.”

The Economist has this picture as its cover this week. The article - Facing up to China – is worth reading.

What’s America doing with all those U.S. dollars that China keeps giving, er, loaning us? Here’s what:
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35247110#35247211

That’s right, we’re tearing down perfectly good, but 34 year old stadiums and building newer, larger, more luxurious ones. And why not? When the time comes to repay China, all America has to do is to add a few zero’s to the printing presses, 6 to be exact. That way, instead of printing one dollar bills, we’ll be printing ONE MILLION DOLLAR bills. It’ll be easy to “honor” our debt this way. Suckers!

[This post is for EVERYONE.]
How many internet icons can you spot in this picture?

This picture is from a recent Wall St. Journal article coverning China’s battle against information it deems harmful. The picture is full of icons (or logos) of famous web companies. Everyone should at least be familiar with half of them. Here are the ones that I see. If you can’t find them, google the company and try again.

Yahoo!
Twitter
Google
Wikipedia
Baidu
Apple (ipad)

The issue of limited versus unlimited access to information and opinions is important. Traditionally this issue played out by governments banning books and not allowing newspapers to publish freely. Today the issue is played out on the internet. Tomorrow? Who knows? Regardless of how it is handled, anything short of unlimited access (and free expression) just doesn’t cut it. In fact, it violates international standards that China has agreed to uphold.

Hillary Clinton nails it. Here’s the money quote: “We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. And we recognize that the world’s information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it…There are so many people in China now online. But countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century…”

Here’s the link:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30501433/vp/35104021#34978938China’s iconic Great Wall is proudly embraced by all Chinese as a symbol of China’s strength and longetivity. However, like so many things, the original purpose of the Wall – defending the nation against foreign armies – was twisted until it became a wall against everything foreign. The Wall nearly became a prison, and as China stagnated, poverty spread and the stale air nearly suffocated the people.

Today China faces another great wall – a Great Firewall – and it’s function today is equally repugnant. For starters, let’s be generous here and say that this new wall was built with nothing but good intentions (e.g. blocking porn). But like the original, this wall now serves a very different purpose – and it isn’t good.

In order to have “free thinking”, you have to also have “free speech / expression”. Otherwise, how do people communicate their thoughts?