Posts Tagged ‘China’
Chairman Mao’s Underground City
From Vice:
In 1969, Chairman Mao commanded the construction of a second Beijing beneath the surface of the original city, designed to accommodate all six million of its then inhabitants so that if nuclear war did kick off, folk would still have somewhere to hang out and play Mah Jong while the rest of us burnt to death in a shower of atomic rain. War never came, but the city is still there.
Check it out…
http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2009/11/17/chairman-mao%E2%80%99s-underground-city/
Meat, Milk and Motors: The New China Syndrome
By Robert Singer
August 21, theatres around the nation screened the documentary I.O.U.S.A. and a live discussion with America’s most notable financial leaders and policy experts, including Warren Buffett; William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute; Pete Peterson, senior chairman of The Blackstone Group and former U.S. Comptroller General, Dave Walker.
August 25, Mr. William Niskanen, CEO of the Cato Institute, confirmed his remarks on the I.O.U.S.A. post-broadcast panel discussion.
Dear Mr. Singer,
I do not have a tape of my remarks last Thursday evening. As I remember, however, I expressed being puzzled why the central banks of China, Japan, and South Korea have continued to invest so much in U.S. Treasury securities. For these central banks have earned a negative real return on these securities, for which the interest rate has been lower…
Obama Snubs Dalai Lama To Please China
The New York Times reports:
For the first time in 18 years, the Dalai Lama is visiting Washington this week without stopping by to see the U.S. president.
Tibet’s exiled religious leader — brushed aside by U.S. President Barack Obama in favor of communist China — was saluted at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for his work for human rights. The presentation ceremony underscored Obama’s dilemma in dealing with China, a growing power and the biggest holder of U.S. debt.
The decision not to meet the Tibetan leader was made amid efforts to improve U.S.-Chinese relations on issues from stemming global warming to reigning in North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
In a statement, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, accused Obama of “kowtowing to Beijing” by refusing to meet with the 74-year-old…
Artists Test Limits as China Lets (a Few) Flowers Bloom
Ian Johnson and Sky Canaves, Wall Street Journal:
BEIJING — When Qiu Zhijie organized a show of fellow young artists in the basement of a suburban Beijing apartment complex a decade ago, police burst in and closed it after just one day. Contemporary art was taboo, and Mr. Qiu was especially provocative, with installations that mocked China’s rising consumerism.
Today, Mr. Qiu is as active as ever. His current project looks at the costs of China’s 60 years of communism by contrasting the official, heroic history of a giant bridge over the Yangtze River with the span’s role as China’s top place for suicides.
But there’s a key difference: Mr. Qiu is now a member of the Chinese cultural establishment. He has a senior teaching post at the National Academy of Art in…
