Linfen - The most polluted city on Earth

Northwest of Xian, the city which houses the Terracotta warriors, you will find a small city (4.3 million, which is small by Chinese standards) called Linfen. The Shanxi province is perhaps the energy capital of China. Like Niagara Falls for Ontario, Linfen produces much of North China's energy, typically using coal. The province has roughly 1/3 of all of the coal in China.

VBS recently made a documentary about this toxic city, and it's worth check it out. If you like it, you might also like their documentary about North Korea that I watched after visiting the DMZ.

Very Important

Whether you are interested in politics, history, health, education, or any other topic, you should check out this link. I would offer some kind of analysis, but I think that the website really says it all - and quickly too. If you want more information, check out the wiki page.

In a follow-up to my last post, I have found out how Chinese people type. They utilize Pinyin, which is a romanized (or english-letter) version of Mandarin. The chinese user would type mā on his keyboard, and 媽 would display on the screen (It means mother). I wondered how they could utilize their word-based script without using a phonetic keyboard.

If you have any general questions about China, send a comment.

Who controls the Web?

Evidently, it will be China soon enough. There are now more internet users in China than in North America. We still have more computer owners, because the workers who build the computers can rarely afford to buy them.

How will this the internet? Is Mandarin computer friendly? Since I'm in China right now, I'll try to check out a Chinese keyboard...

In the People's Republic

I've written this post in advance, because today marks the midpoint of my journey to the People's Republic of China. My trip will take me from Beijing to Xian to Guillin to Shanghai. I'll see the Great Wall, theForbidden City, some Olympic Venues, Tienanmen Square, The Terracotta Army, and some of the most fabulous scenery in Guilin (described as the 'best under heaven'.) I'll also check out the most modern city in China - to get an idea of what to expect from this eastern juggernaut in the future. I would have liked to squeeze a trip down the Yangtze River to the 3 Gorges Dam, but we just didn't have enough time. Of course this isn't a tour - we'll be playing it by ear as we backpack around the eastern portion of the country.

The REALLY Long March

It's China week here at channel-one. Often, I've found myself defending China against some westerners. I would place it in the same class as the U.S., albeit for different reasons. There are a lot of things about both countries that I dislike - however since most of my conversations are with English speakers, I find that most opinions of China tend to be negative. Many times, there are good reasons for these negative impressions, however China also has a lot of strong points.

Anyways, I found an article today that provides an excellent counterpoint to my usual pro-China perspective. The Washington Post tempers praise for China's growing economy and I find the writer's analysis to be sound and fair. Essentially, he cites concerns with China's authoritarianism, environment, and economic ownership as reasons that China might never become the superpower that everyone expects.

To be fair, most of the problems he lists also affected the Soviet Union, and they had no problems becoming a superpower. Then again, the U.S.S.R. didn't have to feed 23% of the world's population with only 7% of the world's arable land...