We of Wocview are constantly on the lookout for things that basicly are fun. And we have been tracking the Super Baozi movies for a while, but ever since the second short, nothing has happend. And therefore it was time for a roundup; so here they are:
Super Baozi Kung fu band sings Jay Chou’s “Dragon Fist” 包强-龙拳
And this one pays tribute to Bruce Lee. Super Baozi vs Sushi man. 超级包子大战寿司侠（高清）
bron: www.youtube.com
[On track: China's output will surpass that of Japan's in 2010, according to the World Bank. Photo: Getty Images]
The fast-growing emerging economy had been expected to surpass Japan next year, but the transition looks to have happened in 2009, based on China’s new growth estimates. Its statistics bureau said that China grew by 9.6pc – rather than 9pc – in 2008, meaning its economic output was 31.405 trillion yuan, or $4.6 trillion (£2.9 trillion), last year.
According to the World Bank, Japan’s annual output was the equivalent of $4.9 trillion last year, but it is expected to shrink by 6.6pc this year. Meanwhile, Chinese officials project that its economy will grow by more than 8pc this year. It means it is likely that China became a larger economy than Japan some time in the second half of this year.
Statisticians said the bigger-than-expected expansion last year was fuelled largely by strong growth from the services sector, something which was only uncovered after a detailed census into economic activity during the year. The revisions continue a recent trend of officials upgrading their estimates for previous years’ economic growth.
In 2005, its statisticians dramatically upgraded their estimates of the size of the economy, catapulting it over Britain to become, at the time, the world’s fifth biggest economy.
Peng Zhilong, the head of the bureau’s national economy calculation department, said that the main difference was in the overall size of the economy, rather than its growth rate, adding that China would expand by more than 8pc this year.
David Cohen, of Action Economics in Singapore, said: “The big underlying factor propelling China’s growth is the migration of people from the agricultural sector to the more modern economy – industry and services. There’s no stopping China.”
But although China’s breakneck expansion looks likely to continue for some time yet, there are concerns over the country’s path.
Some economists compare China’s position – with the authorities combining low interest rates with high government investment and rising asset prices – to Japan in the late-1980s, warning that it, too, could fall victim to a crash.
Some worry about the country’s demography. The one-child policy means that in the coming years its population is likely to age extremely quickly, increasing the pressure on its public finances and dampening its long-term growth prospects.
Nevertheless, the news about the country’s strong growth will add to hopes that it will help support the wider world economy out of recession next year. Whereas 2009 was the year that brought the first worldwide economic contraction since the Second World War, the opening quarter of 2010 is expected to see the major economies back in growth again.
Although Britain contracted by 0.2pc in the third quarter of 2009, according to the latest official statistics, it is expected to move back towards growth in the final quarter of the year.
However, economists said the first quarter of 2010 would be marked by increasing tension over the fiscal position of various countries. Having had to borrow unprecedented amounts in order to prevent a deeper recession, a number of countries have generated large deficits, which may scare off international investors.
bron: www.telegraph.co.uk [26-12-2009]
Tanggulashan town officials have come up with a unique plan to kill grassland-destroying rats. They have erected about 830 bird perches to attract hawks and wolves, which in turn can kill the rats, reports China Daily.
The town, referred to as the “first town of the Yangtze River source”, has been struggling with the problem, leading to desertification.
In 1998, the local government started to wipe out the rats with a chemical called rodenticide. But it had a negative impact on the grassland. The government recently came up with the idea to attract hawks and wolves to kill the rats.
bron: www.dnaindia.com
Chinese woman Wen Hsiao-chuan was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to murder her husband, Shen Chun-lu, said Hsinchu District Court, in Taiwan ROC.
Wen, who married Shen in 1999, attempted to intoxicate her husband to death by mixing pesticides into his sandwiches this March and April.
Wen was not happy with the treatment she received in the family, according to the court verdict. Shen reported the case after he recovered from the intoxication. The police found that Shen’s mother had died of intoxication five years ago.
The investigators dug out of the corpse and conducted an autopsy and did not find direct proof indicating the murderer. The court convicted Shen of attempted murder, but said she was not guilty of murdering her mother-in-law due to the lack of evidence.
bron: www.chinapost.com.tw
A recent CNN.com feature titled “Growing up Black in China” offered a personal account of how Lou Jing (娄婧), a former reality show contestant with an African-American father, is dealing with the racial controversy she sparked this summer.
Lou definitely needed that comfort again when malicious and hateful comments concerning her mixed parentage were spewed over the internet.
Since the social construction of race that we have formulated in the West is relatively new to China, Lou’s ordeal on “Go! Oriental Angel” provides an interesting analysis of how the Chinese are tackling racial issues as their country has become more diverse. China’s economic rise has resulted in more foreigners moving into cities and a greater influence of American popular culture. I’ve learned more about this cultural shift from my Chinese students in the pop culture and English composition classes I’ve taught.
My pop culture course examines racial and gender themes in American music, film and television, and my Chinese students have been extremely interested in cultural similarities along gender lines, but have been reluctant to talk about race. In one of my class discussions on music and reality shows this year, they did not mention their country’s reaction to Lou, but pointed out the experience of Li Yuchun, a 2005 contestant on another “Idol”-like show called “Super Girl,” later renamed “Happy Girls.”
The disapproval that many Chinese expressed towards Li centered on her boyish appearance – she sported short, spiked hair and wore no makeup. My students stressed that Li’s popularity challenged China’s “conventional gender norms” and prompted former Minister of Culture Liu Zhongde to criticize “Super Girls” as “poison for youth” and “a disgrace to art.”
Although many Chinese were uncomfortable with Li’s tomboyish look, she won the “Super Girl” competition and gained a huge following among younger viewers.
From what I’ve read so far about Lou, it will take some Chinese a little longer to accept her. One of the racial similarities in China and America that is evident from Lou’s experience on “Go! Oriental Angel” is that the dominant physical characteristics of individuals with mixed heritage determine how they are racially classified. Because of her dark skin, Lou will never be accepted by some Chinese as completely Chinese.
In America, people with African American and white parentage often choose to label themselves according to the racial group they most resemble. For example, actress Halle Berry, whose mother is white, has explained that it was easier for her to identify herself as black due to how she looks. Her decision was most likely based on the fact that when people have tried to step out of the rigid racial boxes we’ve constructed in America, the reaction is often one of ridicule and scorn.
When Tiger Woods called himself a “Cablinasian” – a contraction of Caucasian, black, American Indian and Asian – on “Oprah” 12 years ago after winning his first Masters golf tournament, he attempted to highlight his Asian and African American heritage. Yet, many blacks thought Woods was ashamed of his skin color and accused him of downplaying his influence on black children. Woods’ current marital scandal has resulted in what some consider a racially indifferent response from African Americans.
China’s racial issues are not as complex as ours since the country is mostly a homogenous population. However, as Lou’s story has broadened the discussion on race, it will be interesting to see how issues of multiculturalism are addressed in the future.
My Chinese students did eventually share with me that prejudice in China is rooted in class achievement in addition to ethnic background, so as the nation begins to grapple with the latter, they will have to examine what it really means to be Chinese today.
• Jessica Johnson, a 1987 graduate of Clarke Central High School, is a correspondent for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and an adjunct professor at Columbus State Community College.
bron: www.onlineathens.com [26-12-2009]
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We of Wocview know that this issue is highly debated by Chinese netizens, and therefore we did some research and compiled a comprehensive but indepth summary of different viewpoints.
Chinese netizens critisized Lou Jing (娄婧) for 5 reasons:
1) Her mother, a Shanghainese-Chinese woman had a sexual relation with an African-American, and got abandoned when she got pregnant. Which adds to an existing stereotype of African or dark tinted people, and implicates sideways to her mother’s poor choice of men or even loose morals. (Strangely enough; if her father was Caucasian this would have been considered normal). There is however another report which says: Lou Jing was the result of an illicit affair she had with an African-American man some 20 years ago. Ms Lou’s mother, who is a Shanghainese and known only as Madam Lou, said her Chinese husband divorced her when he found their newborn looked African instead of Chinese.
2) To conceive before marriage and give a birth to the child who has no father is considered disgraceful in China. Besides, there is a Chinese proverb: 家丑不可外扬 (do not spill out the shame of your family to outside), but yet Lou Jing told the public of her family in a tv-show, and that her intention was to find her father. This announcement outraged many Chinese, who think she is shameless and want to boost her popularity by such an action to get more votes. Whether this is a misunderstanding or not, only Lou Jing knows.
3) Once she said: “my father is an American, not an African”, this sentence makes many people think she looks down on the Africans, and her makes moral quality suspicious. Maybe she just thought to be an American is better to be an African, who knows…
4) Some people are skeptical about her origin, because if her father is an American, she could easily get the US nationality. Why did she opt to stay in China? A few people even speculate that her father fits perfectly in the stereotype of an irresponsible African man, but she pretends to have an American father just for showing off.
5) Many Chinese netizens also dislike the notion that foreigners consider Chinese women an “easy catch”. And this case proves once more that not only the “white devils” (Laowai), but also black people get an easy shot at Chinese women, who are known for applying a “double standard” when it comes to non-Chinese vs Chinese partners. Where the latter one clearly suffers in having a hard time finding a partner where the man-woman ratio in China is very bad from a male perspective. Many Chinese netizens critisize the lack of self respect of Chinese girls when it comes down to the choice of a foreign partner compared to a Chinese one.
Another part of the netizens do think that Lou Jing is treated too harshly. For a little girl to endure so much criticism, while most of the blame should have gone to her mother. Even so, the racial discomfort about foreigners is only verbal, hate crimes/attacks based on race never happen in China. You never see a Chinese guy attacking a foreigner just because his skin color is different, while these sort of hate crimes happens daily in for example America, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and England.
A Chinese robber threatened to blow up a restaurant with sausages, disguised as explosives, strapped to his body.
The 23-year-old man ate a meal at the restaurant, in Benxi, Heilongjang province, before grabbing the owner’s daughter.
He put a knife to her neck and demanded cash from the till – but the restaurateur and other diners overpowered him.
They called the police – but when officers arrived the man, named He, jumped to his feet and revealed his ‘explosive’ belt.
Police managed to restrain He and took him outside to an open space – and called bomb disposal experts, reports the Huashang Morning Post.
“When they experts arrived, they laughed out loud as they quickly realised the explosives were actually sausages,” said a police spokesman.
He said he staged the robbery because he was depressed after splitting up with his girlfriend. He told police he had been “inspired” by the shape of the sausages.
bron: www.ananova.com
A Chinese woman has been given a three-year prison sentence for kidnapping her neighbours 9-month-old son in May.
The neighbour had asked Zhao, 28, to watch the infant while she was away for a few hours on May 22.
Zhao took the baby and fled town, reports the China Daily.
And weeks later, she was arrested from a hostel in Anyang, Henan province.
She told a court in Beijing that she had no motives of making a profit from kidnapping the baby. “I did it because I thought it would be fun,” she said.
bron: www.littleabout.com (ANI)
Vietnam buys six new dive boats for approximately two billion euro and considers fighting planes of Russia.
In addition to that, Vietnam considers the purchase of twelve more planes. Purchases has been the latest and the largest attempt to modernise the Vietnamese armed forces since the end of the Vietnam-war.
With the recent weapon purchases Hanoi joins in on the recent weapons build-up around South-Chinese sea. In which groups of islands are claimed by several countries, with China as a main player. Around the islands there are possibly rich oil and gas fields. Vietnam recently mended military ties with an old enemy, the USA.
China, already for some years, have been busy with investing billions in modernizing their Navy and air power. In recent years, incidents have regularly occured between Vietnam and China.
The most serious confrontation took place in 1979, when both countries fought a short but bloody border war battle.
bron: www.volkskrant.nl [18-12-2009]
On the corner of Van Wesenbekestraat with the Gemeentestraat, soon a Chinese pagoda gateway will arise.
The access to the Van Wesenbekestraat, with have the same analogy with ‘China towns’ in cities such as London and New York. The long-awaited Chinese pagoda gateway to Van Wesenbekestraat is placed by request of the Chinese community.
The gate will contribute to the living character of the station surroundings. With the pagoda gateway an attractive passage way is created from the Koningin Astridplein to the Coninckplein.
The municipal board already gave their okay in May 2006, for the construction of a pagoda gateway in the Van Wesenbekestraat. But the managers of two adjacent shops feared that the monument would cause hindrance, and therefore started a lawsuit against the city.
The court of appeal ordered, three years ago, that the gate could not be placed without a proper urban construction license. When the Flemish government supplied a construction license, the town governing board also made an agreement with the Chinese co-ordinating committee. The construction of the pagoda gateway will become a technical phenomenon, because the overhead tram lines and the premetrotunnel must be taken into account.
The cost of the activities is estimated on 220, 000 euro, funded by the city and the Chinese community. The gateway is set to open in Spring of 2010.
bron: apen.be [18-12-2009]
While the future of Saab remains in question (it depends on whether Dutch sportscar manufacturer Spyker can come to an agreement with General Motors) that of Sweden’s other major car brand, Volvo, seems a little more secure.
Chinese company Geely has announced that it “has settled all substantive commercial terms” with Volvo’s current owner Ford relating to a future acquisition. Geely has also had meetings with Volvo’s management and workers, and with Government officials in both Sweden and Belgium, where most of Volvo’s manufacturing takes place.
A definitive agreement is expected to be signed in the first three months of 2010. If this does lead to an acquisition, it will mean that all the parts of what used to be Ford’s Premier Automotive Group have been sold to business in countries which perhaps might have come as a surprise a few years ago: Jaguar and Land Rover are now owned by Indian company Tata, while much of the money required to buy Aston Martin came from the Middle East.
bron: www.carkeys.co.uk [24-12-2009]
