Ru Zi Ke Jiao

This article on China’s rise and her impending democracy is well worth reading. Here’s the money quote:

“China has a completely ambiguous image. On the one hand, it’s a developing country, I think 115th in terms of world per capita GDP—it ranks below Namibia for example—and yet, it’s the world’s second largest economy, probably overtaking Japan this year. China has about 7 percent to 8 percent of global GDP; I think the United States stands at about 20 percent, while the EU is at about 22 percent. So China is big and also poor—the world’s first rich poor country. It’s an extraordinary combination.”

NASH: Remember, the problem is NOT the “income gap” (Gini coefficient be damned), but rather, it’s the “education gap”.

For further reading, you might also enjoy this blog post.

The Guardian has an excellent article, Can China be an international leader?

“China has emerged as a world power far more quickly than most observers – and China’s own leaders – might have predicted as little as a decade ago. China’s rapid economic growth, juxtaposed against America’s problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, monumental debt and role in sparking the global financial crisis, have changed global power realities – and global perceptions of those realities even more. China’s current international influence likely outstrips its desire or capacity.”

NASH: Of course, I was the exception, teaching as far back as 2003 that China would be number 1 within 17 years (by 2020). Pretty much all of my students laughed at me and told me “Nash, you don’t know China.” To which I replied, “Indeed, that’s true. China is so vast, who can really ‘know’ China? But it’s even MORE TRUE that you, my dear students, don’t ‘know’ America.”

I was referring to America’s hidden, but-all-too-real downward trajectory. Today it isn’t nearly as well-hidden.

The big wild-card in all of this is, of course, the Chinese people. Will they STAND UP and demand to be treated with respect by their government? That is, will they demand FREEDOM of SPEECH? Will they demand FREEDOM of INFORMATION?

To the extent that they do – and that the CCP responds – to that extent China will rise to Number 1.

Oh yeah, about all those dollars China owns (see graph above), don’t ever expect to see them, at least in their current ‘worth’. Hmm, if China owns one million dollars, and the USD = 6.75 Yuan, that equals 6.75 million Yuan. But if the USD = 4.00 Yuan, then that’s only 4 million Yuan. Gee, I wonder if THAT is the reason that Americans want the Yuan revalued??? I’m just asking…

Teamwork. Urgency. Love. Compassion. The best that men have to offer of themselves. In a word, Hallelujah!

Use a proxy…do whatever you must, but find a way to enjoy Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM

And no, I still don’t believe in God or miracles – but I do believe in education and love.

Nicolas Kristof writes in his New York Times column:

“One of the most important diplomatic relationships in the world is between China and the U.S., and it is deteriorating sharply. What’s more, many experts believe it will get considerably worse over the coming year…”

NASH: One of my objectives during my time in China was to strengthen the bonds between China and America. There really is no reason that the two countries cannot work together to tackle the problems that confront us. Kristof concludes his interesting article with this:

“The Communist Party’s greatest success is the extraordinary economic changes it has ushered in over the last three decades with visionary policies and impressive governance. Its greatest failing is its refusal to adjust politically to accommodate the middle class that it created. And its greatest vulnerability is the way it increasingly neither inspires people nor terrifies them, but rather simply annoys them.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

NASH: In my 6 years in China, I saw many things that mattered, things that nearly all of my students were ’silent’ about. Not the least of which was the cheating that Shenzhen Zhong Xue Headmaster Wang and his assistant, Donald Holder were perpetuating.

It was easier to “shoot the messenger”. That would be me. What a pity. And who suffers? Well, ALL the students whose lives have begun to end, AND the poor of China who I am no longer free to help.

China’s new great wall is being built with the silence of you – the Princes and Princesses of China.

Hopefully you already know the word ‘bald’. As in Nash Laoshi is going bald, albeit slowly.

Well, smart heads aren’t the only things that can ‘go bald’ – tires can too. And when they do, they do more than merely endanger the driver of the vehicle. Bald tires endanger EVERYONE. The passengers, people in other vehicles, pedestrians, etc…

People who are rich will make sure that their tires have enough tread. Poor people generally don’t believe that they can afford new tires as long as the old ones haven’t blown out.

The jitney is the most common form of public transportation here in the Philippines. As you can see, both of these jitneys are running on bald tires.

I’ve seen the same thing in China, just 3 years ago, and like this time, I have the pictures to prove it. The GREAT news is that there is an easy solution – a nail strip spread across the entrances and exits of all gas stations. When a vehicle with bald tires drives over it, the tires are permanently destroyed.

The bad news? We don’t have enough leaders to execute this simple plan.

Earlier this week, China bid goodbye, first to Google and then to me. What a pity.

Despite my actions which clearly demonstrate my love for China, a single immigration officer and a number of well-off Shenzhen citizens are responsible for me being ‘blacklisted’ (read classified as a “Security Threat”) by the Beijing government. Try as I may, I have been unable to convince Beijing otherwise. It doesn’t help my argument when only one or two Chinese will stand up on my behalf. After all, 6+ years is a long time. Surely there should be at least a dozen people who would stand up for me.

There aren’t. And so, the poor of China lose. And your children lose too. Yes, you, the young men and women of China, it’s your children who also lose. You know, your parent’s grandchildren. They lose because China will be a less fair and just place in the future. How can I be so sure? Because we’re building tomorrow, TODAY. And when I am stopped from educating the poor, you know, really helping them, then they are condemned to lives of poverty, sickness and despair. YOUR brothers and sisters. Just like the 100 million who suffer from hookworm.

Me? I’ve just moved to another country (the Philippines) where there are many poor people for me to help. I’m no longer concentrating on the second prong of my two-pronged plan – educating the future leaders. From my experience in China, it’s clear to me that the wealthy – and if you’re reading my blog on your own computer, then I’m talking about you – DO NOT CARE.

Of course, their words say that they care, but as I’ve long taught, don’t believe what someone says, believe what they do.

I miss you and love you, even those of you who don’t care. And that’s because I see greatness inside of you, aching to emerge. Set it free!

What a pity. The reverberations of the shuttering of China’s Googleplex will be felt for a long, long time.

The China Daily wrote this regarding Google’s impending exit: “Business is business. But when it involves political tricks, business will come to an end soon.”

The truth is, the Chinese government – aka the Communist Party – has less to fear from the historical truths of Tiananmen than they do of a populace of sheep who follow blindly. Tiananmen is a fact, an ‘ugly’ truth not all that different from other country’s ugly truths. [See America's shameful actions of torture in Abu Ghraib.]

Re: Tiananmen, it’s possible that both sides were right. Most of us regret the loss of life all the while rejoicing that chaos didn’t win the day. Who knows where China would be today had things continued to spiral out of control? Sometimes leaders – here I’m talking about the students – have to make the ultimate sacrifice and trust that their deaths will not have been in vain.

Nobody expects the Chinese government to be perfect. Admitting to imperfection, acknowledging errors, these are the marks of mature men and mature governments.

The cartoon above lampoons the original photo (below) of a brave Chinese patriot standing up to equally honorable soldiers in Tiananmen at the beginning of the summer of nineteen eighty-nine. And here is the original. I remember it like it was yesterday, the entire world was watching it all unfold on live TV.

And that’s not all. There was also the famous Goddess of Liberty that the students had erected (below.)

China's Goddess of Liberty, circa 1989

Having invested 6+ years of my life trying to build bridges between China and America, it’s more than a little distressing to hear prominent members from both countries talking of war, even if it is ‘just’ a trade war.

If you’re interested in the latest salvos, you can start here. Or just use your favorite search engine and type in America China War.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But unless OUR future leaders – and by this, I mean YOU! – stand up now, it’s probably going to be an ugly epoch.

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

BusinessWeek has an eye-opening article on how America’s best business school graduates are, upon graduation, fleeing America and rushing towards Asia.

Here are the two money quotes:

“I can’t get out of my head that two-thirds of Silicon Valley companies were started by non-U.S. citizens,” says Manpower CEO Joerres. What if, after Stanford University, Google co-founder Sergey Brin had returned to his birth country of Russia? What if James Tsai is about to do the Next Big Thing — but in his dad’s old country in Beijing?”

“The best and the brightest are leaving,” says the Rotman School’s Florida. “As a country, the U.S. has never confronted this before.”

NASH: I’ve written many times before about the secret to America’s success. It is a formula that any nation can copy. The richness that diversity brings simply can’t be replicated without that diversity.

One more thing, you’ll notice the caption under the Statue of Liberty. Well, that’s the verse that is inscribed in her base. Often times the “poor, tired and wretched masses” have more to offer than we realize.

At the dawn of this new millennium, (the year 2,000), China was 27+% desert: “Few people think of China as a desert nation, yet it is among the world’s largest. More than 27%…of the country comprises useless sand (just 7% of Chinese land feeds about a quarter of the world’s population).”

And just 10 years later: “China’s expanding deserts now cover one-third of the country because of overgrazing, deforestation, urban sprawl and drought.”

NASH: You might be asking yourself just what does this have to do with my blog’s topics of Life, Leadership and Love? The answer: EVERYTHING. Every year tens of thousands of Chinese children die from smoke inhalation. (The total is some 4 million in developing countries worldwide.) Poor peasants collect whatever wood they can find and use it as fuel for their cooking – this is the primary cause of deforestation in China. (Firewood collection (32.4%) is a key cause of desertification in northern China, according to a study by Chinese researcher Ning Datong and published by the University of Toronto.)

It’s simply not enough for people to ‘get rich’ – the first part of Deng Xiaoping’s plan. We need to follow-up on the second part – helping the poor to catch up. This is going to take LEADERSHIP and SACRIFICE. It won’t be easy. And time is running out. Greatness is calling you.

Click here for more insight into China’s peasants. There are any number of HUGE problems waiting to be tackled. Ignoring them only makes them worse. And the biggest pity of all is that we already have the solutions and the resources that we need. All we’re missing is the LEADERS to DO IT.

I’ve continually written about this as it – Leadership – is a life and death issue. Way back in 2003, I predicted, with more than a thousand of my students witnessing it, that China would be number 1 by 2020. “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.”

We simply can't have too many educated people.

Here’s the money quote:

“I believe the policy is slowly being relaxed and will eventually be removed. But there is a bureaucratic machinery that now protects the existing system, so I think this will take time,” said John Bacon-Shone, associate dean for research at the faculty of social sciences at The University of Hong Kong.

NASH: I’ve written about change before, explaining that to achieve meaningful change, one must satisfy the existing stakeholders FIRST. Or break the law. There already is meaningful change regarding the one-child policy, but the change is illegal in that the people violating the policy are simply paying the fine. I’ve taught more than a few of these ’second’ children in China and the world is richer because they’re in it.

Educated people – and their children – are never a problem. We simply can’t have TOO MANY EDUCATED PEOPLE.

One of my many objectives while working in China was to strengthen the bonds of friendship between China and the West. I understand – and am quite sympathetic – towards China and Chinese history vis-a-vis the West.

Nevertheless, in order for OUR world to make the progress that we all say that we want, then we MUST learn to work together.

The Washington Post has an article entitled Newly powerful China defies Western nations. It begins:

“China’s government has embraced an increasingly anti-Western tone in recent months and is adopting policies across a wide spectrum that reflect a heightened fear of foreign influence.”

NASH: Of course, China isn’t alone in stirring the pot. Many politicians in America find China to be an easy and convenient scapegoat for America’s problems.

We’ve simply too many important issues to tackle TOGETHER to waste our time fighting each other.

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!