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Rural women left to hold the fort at home
[ESC/2006/12/23]
Of the 130 million people who have
left the countryside for urban jobs, men outnumber women by 47 million
more. [Roughly 2/3 of the migrants are men.] The 47 million left on the
farms with their children and in-laws struggle to do all the farm work
and manage the house for most of the year when their husbands are away.
Cell phones offer some contact, but the rural divorce rate is now almost
as high as the urban. With 18% to 22% of children in several provinces
also left in the countryside to be raised by their mothers, schoolwork
suffers. Local governments are doing what they can to give practical
advice.
Source: China Daily, Saturday, December 23, 2006, p. 4.
Comment:
The article is silent on the biggest
problem: a high suicide rate from rural women. Exact numbers remain
unpublished. Abolishing the hukou residency restrictions might help, but
urban permanent residents would scream about being overwhelmed by more
rural migrants.
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White Paper on Aging [ESC/2006/12/13]
On December 12, 2006, the Information
Office of the State Council published a White Paper entitled, "The
Development of China's Services for the Aged." Since the number of those
60 or above is rising rapidly, they will need more pension funds,
medical care and facilities. More seniors are living alone in the
countryside, as their children are working in the cities. The
Constitution says, "Citizens above the age of 18 are obliged to support
their parents," but most of those citizens will need help. People need
to stay active and healthy for as long as possible.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, December 13, 2006, pp. 7-8, plus news
summary on p. 1 and editorial on p. 6.
Comment:
Issuing a White Paper is a sure sign the
government is paying attention. But the text says nothing about low
birth rates or the One Child Policy, contributing factors. Age 60 is too
young to be considered elderly, too young to retire. Doing some math,
those 60+ in China are now half of the total population of the USA, but
in 2051 China's seniors will equal the US total for all ages. The number
of Chinese under age 60 will shrink by 20% between 2020 and 2051. A
tsunami, a human wave with gray hair, is on the horizon!
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Rising numbers of HIV/AIDS cases [ESC/2006/11/23]
As World AIDS Day, December 1,
approaches, several articles are appearing on HIV/AIDS in China.
Including those who do not know they are infected, China has about
650,000 infections out of 39.5 million cases worldwide [1.65%]. The
total number of deaths from AIDS so far has reached 12,464. [Other
sources recently reported a cumulative total of 26 million deaths. Thus
1 person in 2000 who has died of AIDS to date has died in China, and
China has 21% of the world's population.]
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, November 22, p. 5, and Thursday,
November 23, 2006, p. 5 and p. 13.
Comment:
One death is one too many. The sooner we
find a cure, the better.
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Evolution of an Ecological Civilization
[ESC/2006/11/10]
Pan Yue, Vice-Director of the State
Environmental Protection Administration, says that civilization has gone
from primitive to agricultural to industrial, and now it is time to
progress to the ecological phase. Global industrial civilization is not
sustainable due to resource depletion. Ecological civilization still
puts humans at the centre, but with due reverence for nature.
Confucianism, with some contributions from Daoism, showed great respect
for nature, unlike Western civilization which only exploited it. "An
ecological civilization is possible only with socialism," and the
Chinese Communist Party is promoting scientific development and a
harmonious society.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 49, no. 45 (November 9, 2006), pp.
18-19.
Comment:
Once again, Chinese tradition is
better than Western, and Confucianism made a bigger contribution than
did Daoism. But, to paraphrase Deng Xiaoping, "It doesn't matter if a
smokestack is capitalist or socialist, if it pollutes the air it is a
bad smokestack." At least people now realize that material growth for
the sake of material growth is a dead-end.
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Obesity in China [ESC/2006/11/09]
The photos of heavy kids and adults
are not at all attractive. Yet more and more urbanites are gaining
weight: 17.6% overweight and 5.6% obese among those under age 18.
Instead of pedaling a bicycle an hour a day in commuting to work in
1980, Beijingers today take a bus or even drive a car, then sit in front
of a TV or computer at home. Consumption of meat is up, but grain down.
Exercise camps and slimming medicines are expensive, but traditional
Chinese medicine helps. Some women go to the other extreme, first
fashionably thin, then anorexic. The problems are likely to worsen.
Meanwhile, there are still some underfed people in the countryside.
Source: China Today, vol. 55, no. 11 (November 2006), pp. 10-25
Comment:
What is missing? Any references to
diabetes, or to a spiritual emptiness that exists before people begin to
gain weight. Too many calories will kill millions and millions of people
around the world.
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Gender Pressure [ESC/2006/09/28]
As late as 1990, a wife who bore
daughters but not even one son might be kicked out of the house, or else
deserted by her husband. There is a serious imbalance in the number of
baby boys to baby girls, 118.58 to 100 in 2005. By 2025, 1 man in 10 in
China will not be able to find a wife. Already young women are being
traded illegally [kidnapped] for wives.
So the government is giving scholarships
to girls who have no brother, to allow them to continue in school, and
providing rooms in nursing homes for the elderly with no sons. A higher
status for girls has even led some country families to stop at one
child, a first-born girl, even though they are legally entitled to have
a second child.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 49, no. 39 (September 28, 2006), pp.
24-26.
Comment:
These are good steps, yes, but no one
wants to admit publicly the magnitude of the problem: 23 million
bachelors who will marry later in life if ever. Is there a link between
missing baby girls and the One Child Policy? To find out, ask parents
"If you could legally have had another child, would you have aborted
when the ultrasound told you she was female?" But taking such a survey,
and publishing the results is far too sensitive for anyone to try it.
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Gender Disparity Increases to 121 boys for 100
girls [ESC/2006/09/27]
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
reports that in 2004 there were 121 baby boys born for every 100 baby
girls, up from 117:100 in 2000. The ratio is getting worse and worse. It
was only 109 to 100 in 1979, and rose slightly to 110 to 100 in 1990.
Ultrasound for sex selection is outlawed, but that law is being ignored.
Families still want a son, not a daughter.
Source: www.asianews.it, September 27, 2006
Comment:
The technical term is sex ratio at birth,
which for humans is naturally 105 boys to 100 girls throughout the
world. Do some algebra. The 15.9 million babies born in 2004 included
8.705 million boys, which implies 8.291 million girls, but only 7.195
female births were recorded, a shortfall of 1.096 million, or 1.1
MILLION MISSING BABY GIRLS IN THE YEAR 2004.
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Sexual suppression frustrates migrants [ESC/2006/08/16]
Country men working in the cities
often cannot afford to send for their families. Even if they had the
money, getting an urban residency permit is difficult. Add alcohol and
pornography, and the result is rape, followed by years in prison. It's
worse in summer, when some women do not wear enough clothes. [Blame the
victim!] Only a few men have money for prostitutes, but this spreads
disease. If factories would let workers take more holidays home, instead
of only at the Spring Festival, the problem would be eased. More cheap
hotels could help.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, August 16, 2006, p. 1.
Comment:
The total number of crimes such as
rape and murder seems to be a state secret. The article mentioned envy
of those who have girlfriends. Anywhere else in the world, such a story
would also contain the word "class" as in "City women look down on
low-class migrant laborers." But China is officially a classless
society. If the problem is bad now, what will it be like in 20 years?
Today 119 boys are born for every 100 girls. For a harmonious society,
maybe the government should exhort men to spend long hours praying in
church.
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Time to break free from extensive growth mode
[ESC/2006/07/25]
Extensive growth means using more
natural resources to produce more finished goods, and pollution in the
process. A cartoon shows a manager, wearing a face mask, looking with
alarm at several smokestacks. The chart behind his desk shows a rapidly
rising line of Local GDP Growth. The editorial below notes that the 11th
Five Year Plan, which runs through 2010, calls for using water and
energy with greater efficiency per unit value of output, and discharging
less waste.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, July 25, 2006, p. 6.
Comment:
As the editorial correctly notes, there
is a conflict between the centre calling for less pollution and local
officials wanting more growth. Pollution and scarcity of resources will
be big issues in the coming years.
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It's a long way home for abducted children
[ESC/2006/07/20]
Children, especially boys, get
kidnapped in China from time to time. A family without a son might pay
as much as 18,000 RMB ($2250 US) for a 2 or 3 year-old male heir. Police
often treat a report of a missing child as an "incident" (something to
investigate when they get around to it) rather than as a "case" (which
requires mandatory, immediate action). It's a big country, but a few
children are returned to their parents. One family printed and
distributed 5 million leaflets with their son's photo. Copying the US
Amber Alert system might help, but educating women in villages on the
rights of women and children is proving more effective at
combating the problem.
Source: China Daily, Thursday, July 20, 2006, p. 1.
Comment:
A side effect of restrictions on the
number of children allowed per family, perhaps?
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Strict discipline attracts parents [ESC/2006/07/15]
A controversial private school for
boys ages 5-11 in Hangzhou charges 2000 RMB per month, yet parents want
to send their sons to West Point. Push-ups and a morning run combat
obesity, while strict discipline keeps the boys in line. For the worst
offenses, a boy get three lashes on the back with a whip wrapped in
cloth, so as not to cause welts, just a sting. One mother who does not
have the heart to strike her unruly child is glad to see him get some
correction from his teachers.
Source: China Daily, Saturday, July 15, 2006, p. 11.
Comment:
In the USA now, such boys would be on
medication for ADD and ADHD, but the long-term consequences of heavy
medication early in life are still unknown. How well will either group
do when they become fathers?
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Adjust retirement policy [ESC/2006/07/12]
On paper, workers covered by pension
programs retire at age 60. Yet so many are let go early that the de
facto retirement age in only 53 on the average. This saves the company
money in cutting staff, and provides some job openings for young
workers, but it is a waste of talent and will wreck the state's pension
schemes.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, July 11, 2006, editorial, p. 11.
Comment:
Yes, white-collar workers should be
allowed to stay on their current job a few more years rather than have
to hunt for a lesser position to pay the bills for a few years. The
urban population is aging faster than the rural. But farmers in the
countryside, or day laborers in the city, have no choice but to work for
as long as possible.
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Experts call for measures to help protect girls'
rights [ESC/2006/07/11]
China's population will peak at 1.46
billion in 2030. With the limits on family size, there are 119 boys born
for every 100 baby girls. Some 200 students from different universities
in Beijing met on July 10, the eve of World Population Day, to volunteer
to protect the rights of girls. The theme this year is "Love Girls and
Take Action." Farmers still prefer a son to provide security in old age.
In the year 2000, there were 210,000 deaths age 7 to 22, half of them
only children.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, July 11, 2006, p. 4.
Comment:
Everyone knows that in case the only
child dies as a teenager, then it may well be too late for the parents
to have another child. In India people say, "One eye is no eye, one son
is no son," and want a second son for insurance. China now has 40
MILLION more males than females, 51.5% to 48.5%. How much persuading can
200 volunteers do in Beijing, let alone in the rural areas? Missing baby
girls are China's biggest human rights problem.
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Stress and strains take toll on office staff
[ESC/2006/06/27]
In China not long ago, "office lady"
was a compliment to a career woman who made her entry into a
male-dominated corporate world. Now the office ladies are stuck behind
their desks late into the evening, just like the men, since the boss
wants them to finish all their work before they leave. Overtime helps
workaholics rise to the top, but many others grab meals at random, gain
weight from sitting all day long, and are suffering from injured backs
and deteriorating eyesight.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, June 27, 2006, p. 4.
Comments:
It sounds like China is copying
Japan, where office workers put in notoriously long hours and
occasionally die from overwork. Is Japan a role model for China? Is
"survival of the fittest" in a competitive business world compatible
with a "harmonious society"?
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Population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s [ESC/2006/06/23]
China's population, now slightly over
1.3 billion, will peak at 1.5 billion in the mid-2030's. For the next 30
years, the average fertility is expected to be 1.8 children per woman,
leading to a gradual drop in the total population after it peaks. But
the unbalanced sex ratio at birth of 119 boys to 100 girls will
continue.
Source: China Daily, Friday, June 23, 2006, p. 1.
Comments:
This seems to be a sad admission that the
government has no hope of eliminating the bias for sons and against
daughters. Taiwan's population will peak in 2019 due to its low
birthrate, so all of China will drop from 21% of the human race to 18%.
When India replaces China as the world's populous nation, around 2035 or
2040, will that have a big impact on China's self-image?
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Children Under Pressure [ESC/2006/06/10]
Children in China face academic
pressure from earlier and earlier ages. Age seven is now the time to
start having nightmares about the university entrance exam. After
getting enrolled in a prestigious school, homework, music, English,
computer skill place unending demands on their time. Parents want their
child, usually an only child, to be "Renaissance Child," and
grandparents agree. Forget summer vacation and free days. A student who
does well but not great drags down the class average. Free time has
disappeared. With no unstructured time for play, kids have difficulty in
being creative, even in making small talk with their peers. More and
more students show signs of stress, even mental illness, but the stigma
of mental problems keeps many parents from seeking help for a child.
Qualified child psychologists are in short supply.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 49, no. 23 (June 8, 2006), pp. 20-27.
Comment:
What does it profit parents to have the
smartest children, if they lose their childhood? Is there anything more
to life than struggle, competition, and effort? Sad!
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Pursuit of profits can kill [ESC/2006/05/18]
A drug made in the Qiqihar No. 2
Pharmaceutical Company has killed five patients. Someone substituted a
cheap ingredient for the correct but more expensive chemical, and then
forged a certificate. This saved the company money, yes, but at the cost
of innocent lives. The suspect is in custody. The editorial asks about
the accountability of a number of watchdogs in the State Food and Drug
administration.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, May 17, 2006, p. 8.
Comment:
Greed and callous indifference to the
public welfare continues to claim lives. Ethics is not an abstract topic
or a joke, but a matter of life and death.
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Graduates find the going tough in big cities
[ESC/2006/05/10]
College seniors will soon graduate,
but many worry about finding a good job, or even any job. Mailing CVs
(curricula vitae) and cover letters, attending job fairs, and being
interviewed has been an exercise in frustration for many. If there is a
job, then either the salary is low or else the location is far from the
rich areas of China. Many students have bank loans to repay. Others want
a big paycheck to return something to their parents, who sacrificed to
pay the fees and tuition. Last year, 3.05 million received university
diplomas, but the number will jump to 4.12 million in 2006. Campuses
poured cement and hired new teachers to enroll an exploding number of
students, yet the economy does not yet have enough jobs for the highly
educated. Many students feel hopeless and panicky.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, May 9, 2006, p. 18.
Comment:
Other developing nations have the
"diploma disease," where university graduates drive taxis. But most of
the Class of 2006 are singletons, only children, the "only hope" of
their parents, so they are under even greater pressure to succeed. Too
many university classrooms too soon - a sad situation!
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Waiting for Mr. Right, picky women keep waiting
[ESC/2006/04/11]
"Why can't pretty women like us find
the right partner?" Educated city women in their late 20s are asking
this question when they gather for meals or class reunions. Working long
hours on good jobs, they have little free time. Traditional arrangements
such as living with the husband's parents or staying home with a child
are now less attractive. Despite nagging from their mothers, the career
women are taking their time before tying the knot.
Source: China Daily, Monday, April 10, 2006, p. 1.
Comment:
Hong Kong is a trend-setter. A decade
ago, someone said, "This is the first generation of single women in
China's 5000 years of history." If Hong Kong cannot reverse its low
birth rate, then it looks like the future of China will be the children
of country people and urban workers, not the urban elite.
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Number of foreigners working in China soars[ESC/2006/04/05]
By the end of 2005, there were 150,000
expatriates legally employed in Mainland China. They work in information
technology and management, in human resources and finance departments,
in banking, accounting, hotel and marketing. They earn twice or three
times the salaries of local counterparts, but their skills are in
demand.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, April 4, 2006, p. 1.
Comment:
The first Foreign Experts were English
teachers, but they are not even mentioned in this article. Yet 150,000
out of a labor force of several hundred million is roughly 0.02%. In the
interior provinces and farming areas, non-Chinese faces are still few
and far between. Don't expect missionaries to be added to the list any
time soon.
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Urban Underclass [ESC/2006/03/31]
Urban poor people can become
desperately poor. The high cost of medical care and education combine
with fewer job opportunities for the unskilled all combine to leave 6 to
8% of city dwellers in persistent poverty. When all the coal had been
excavated in one northeastern city, for example, young adults moved
elsewhere for work while pensioners were stuck in a depressed area.
Slums now exist, home to many older or disabled people. Those who drop
out of school are likely to find only low paying work. A fair and just
distribution system for wealth, plus greater transparency, are needed to
avoid a new generation in poverty and even social unrest.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 49, no. 12 (March 23, 2006), pp. 26-27.
Comment:
An amazing honest article, mentioning
slums and an emerging underclass trapped in poverty.
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Guidance needed to prevent teen pregnancies
[ESC/2006/03/20]
Times have changed in China, and more
teenagers are experimenting with sex. The National Population and Family
Planning Commission has a telephone hotline, the Green Apple House. Some
teenagers phone and then find the courage to say NO to their boyfriends,
other at least use condoms. An abortion costs 300 RMB ($36 US) and some
young ladies as young as 13 have had them. Thus Beijing is also
promoting sex education in schools, since parents find it hard to
discuss the facts of life with their children.
Source: China Daily, March 18, 2006, p. 1 and p. 5.
Comment:
The articles do not mention AIDS,
abstinence on a regular basis, or bad side effects from abortion. One
official's attitude is "Teen sex is inevitable. It cannot be
suppressed." Yet he should add that the losers in this game are usually
the young women.
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International Women's Day, March 8 [ESC/2006/03/09]
Numerous articles in the China Daily
celebrated the achievements of women in China, as well analyzing
problems with work and family, health and salaries. There were
editorials on gender equality and sexual harassment, plus a report on US
women returning home to raise children full-time.
Comment:
What was not mentioned? The sex ratio
at birth, which should be 106 boys to 100 girls, is 117 to 100. With
16.14 million babies born in China in 2005, a little math reveals an
annual short-fall of 770,000 baby girls, or 2100 girls a day who do not
see the light of day. The ban on sex selection with an ultrasound
scanner needs to be enforced!
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Tobacco Dilemma: Health versus Revenue [ESC/2006/03/08]
Foreign tobacco companies are eager to
expand their business within China. About 10% of the state's revenue, or
240 billion RMB ($30 billion US), came from taxes on tobacco in 2005.
Each day some 3000 Chinese die from cigarettes, or over a million a
year. Yes, 1.942 trillion cigarettes give provide 510,000 jobs, but
smokers have less money to spend on other things. Since 58% of doctors
smoke, educating the public will be an uphill job. There are ways to
circumvent restrictions on advertising cigarettes.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 49, no. 9 (March 2, 2006), pp. 20-29.
Comment:
Every three or four months, cigarettes
kill more Chinese than the Japanese army did during the Nanjing
Massacre. If bird flu ever kills 3000 people, it would be the only news
story in China, or about China in the rest of the world.
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Ang Lee's Oscar honour brings joy to Chinese
[ESC/2006/03/07]
Ang Lee won the award for Best
Director at the 78th Academy Awards ceremony. He is "the pride of
Chinese people all over the world, and he is the glory of Chinese
cinematic talent." Page 17 of the same newspaper gives his photo and
biography. While his Brokeback Mountain did not win Best Picture
yesterday, it has won trophies in other film ceremonies.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, March 7, 2006, p. 1, 17.
Comment:
The glowing coverage neglected to
mention both that Brokeback Mountain has been banned in China because of
its subject matter, and that it is easily available on pirated CDs.
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Regulation of Internet in line with world norms
[ESC/2006/02/16]
Liu Zhongrong, deputy chief of the
Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office,
announced on February 14 that China's regulations are "fully in line
with international practice, and the country welcomes foreign Web
businesses to provide lawful services." Chinese can surf the net freely.
Only "a very few foreign websites whose contents mostly involve
pornography or terrorism," are blocked. The New York Times reserves the
right to delete or edit abusive, defamatory or obscene messages from its
website, so why shouldn't China have such discretion? Does the West have
a double standard? "No one in China has been arrested simply because he
or she said something on the Internet.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, February 15, 2006, p. 1.
Comment:
Nothing on the Chinese or English
pages of the website of the Diocese of Hong Kong, nor on this website,
involves pornography or terrorism. Why has China blocked access to them?
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Caring for elderly will pay off in our old age
[ESC/2006/02/13]
In Shanghai, one-fifth of the
population is 60 or older, and 85% of them pass time by watching TV.
Seniors report less overall satisfaction with life than seven years ago,
and 70% of them now have psychological problems. CCTV is airing public
service ads condemning children and grandchildren who do not visit their
elders. China can already use 14 million beds in nursing homes, but has
only 1 million. Elderly farmers keep working. Filial piety is important
in Chinese culture, and today's young will be old themselves one day.
Source: China Daily, Monday, February 13, 2006, p. 4.
Comment:
Age 60 is too young to retire.
Combating age discrimination and working a few more years would help
seniors. But psychologist Eric Fromm said that the fear of death
underlies the problems of boredom and depression in older people. In
China especially, death is a taboo topic and preparing spiritually for
it in an atheistic, consumer culture is hard.
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As we get wealthier, do we get happier?
[ESC/2006/02/11]
After 28 years of reform and opening
up, are Chinese people happier? In a survey last year, 7 out of 10 told
the Academy of Social Sciences that they were happy and optimistic about
the future. But at least 10% (or 130 million people) were discontent and
lacked hope. Insecurity in education, employment, income and medical
care are all on people's minds. There is a great sense of uncertainty in
society now.
Source: China Daily, Friday, February 10, 2006, p. 6.
Comment:
No one in China was taking such polls 28
years ago. The editorial said nothing about envy, but last Christmas a
bishop told his congregation not to feel anger towards those who have
more.
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China Develops a Recyclable Economy [ESC/2006/01/26]
Windmills for electricity, water
treatment plants, geothermal power, thinking green when designing an
industrial park, getting methane gas from pigs, capturing chemical waste
in the smokestack and putting it to good use, even using a cloth bag
rather than plastic disposable bags for grocery shopping, plus new laws
to encourage recycling - China is doing many things for a cleaner,
sustainable environment. The big spill of benzene into the Songhua River
on last November 13 also received thorough media coverage to prevent a
repeat.
Source: China Today, Vol. 55, No. 2 (February 2006), pp. 10-20,
28-32.
Comment:
Every little bit helps with
recycling. But there was also a photo of a couple looking at new cars to
illustrate "Domestic Demand to Propel Economic Growth." (p. 8) Does
anyone see a contradiction?
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Coping with an Aging Society [ESC/2006/01/22]
An aging society is one in which those
60 or older constitute 10% of the population, and those 65 or older 7%.
China crossed that threshold in 2000. As soon as 2015, the rising
percentage of the elderly will challenge economic and social
development. By 2035, those 65+ will be 20% of the total. By 2050,
India's working-age population will outnumber China's by 200 million.
Economists want economic growth and an ever expanding labor force, but
demographers limited resources and environmental issues. "Whether or not
to ease the family planning policy poses a dilemma." Medical care for
the elderly looms as another big problem.
Source: China Daily, Saturday, January 21, 2006, p. 4.
Comment:
The government of India repeated a
few days ago that India would not use coercive measures to lower its
birth rate, but instead wants to improve education for girls.
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'Energy Police' to patrol malls [ESC/2006/01/18]
To increase energy efficiency in
Beijing, the city will soon employ over 20 inspectors. They will visit
malls and office buildings, and issue fines for lights being left on
during the daytime, or for AC's set at cooler than 26 C (79 F). Building
a 'resource saving society' is one of Beijing's goals for the 11th
Five-Year Plan, 2006-2010. Less energy consumed means less coal burned,
and cleaner air, as well as saving cash.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, January 18, 2006, p. 9.
Comment:
If Beijing, or Shanghai, or Hong Kong, or
New York wants to get serious about energy conservation, then turning
off half of the lights used to display the exteriors of buildings all
night long is a good place to start. People might even see a few stars
and planets again.
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Rural teachers grappling with poverty [ESC/2005/12/28]
In many villages in the poorer areas
of China, the school is run down and one teacher instructs more than one
grade, in some cases, even all the grades 1-5 in a tiny building. The
local government often has no money to pay the teacher every month. So
those with education head for the big city and a better salary. Yet
dedicated teachers struggle to educate the children, but they themselves
are poor, with neither status, pension plan nor insurance.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, December 27, 2005, p. 5.
Comment:
Confucius is making a comeback in China,
but in old China, teachers were highly respected. The future of any
nation lies in the education of the younger generation.
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Rich men challenge family planning policy
[ESC/2005/12/18]
China's newly rich have a new status
symbol: a large family. Those with money pay the "social maintenance
fee" for a second, third or even fourth child. One way to avoid paying a
fine is for the wife to go overseas, have a baby a few months later, and
then return to China. Some men have been arrested for bigamy. The old
ideal of large families with several sons is still alive. Rather than a
fixed fine, one suggestion is to charge the father of many a huge fine
based on his huge income.
Source: China Daily, Friday, December 16, 2005, p. 7.
Comment:
Prohibition was an attempt in the USA
from 1919 to 1933 to ban alcohol. This unpopular law bred corruption and
ultimately proved unenforceable, as the desire to drink alcohol was too
widespread.
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Reviving Relevant Traditions [ESC/2005/12/13]
China's heritage includes both the
Confucian Classics and the wider guoxue," "national studies," other
ancient texts on morality and ethics. Derogatory comments about women
should be deleted, and rote memorization will only bore students, but
there is a richness in the tradition that will help people in the 21st
Century relate to friends, family and the wider community. The challenge
is to relate to make old wisdom come alive to a new generation.
Sources: China Daily, "Let sages enrich us, not polarize us,"
Saturday, Dec. 10, p. 6; "Relating Confucianism to everyday real life,"
Monday, Dec. 12, p. 6
Comment:
Two editorials only two days apart
are signs that writers are wrestling with reviving China's traditions as
an answer to the problems of modern society.
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Young Chinese Seek Soul Mates and Romantic
Weddings [ESC/2005/12/08]
Young office workers and professionals
work long hours and have trouble meeting that someone special. Beijing
and Shanghai together have one million singles. Arranged marriages are
history. Dating websites and registering with a singles bar are now
trendy. Parents still do their best to help find the right spouse.
Afterwards, professional wedding toastmasters, wedding planners and
photographers offer to help. A high-class urban couple might pay a
wedding planner 20,000 to 30,000 RMB ($2500 to $3750 US) for the
fireworks, rose petals, bridal chair and other special memories.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, December 7, 2005, p. 20.
Comment:
Catholics in Taiwan are only 2% of the
total population. A soul mate of the same religion is hard to find. So
there is a computer matching service for Catholics in Taiwan, to pass on
the faith to a new generation.
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Mind Matters: Cases of Mental Illness Rising
[ESC/2005/12/02]
In the past 20 years, the reported
number of cases of mental illness, hospitalization for anxiety and
depression, and even crimes committed by the mentally ill, have all
risen. There are 250,000 suicides a year, and 30 million under age 17
with mental health problems. Academic pressure in universities and the
scramble for good jobs afterwards both stress young adults. The number
of psychologists and psychiatrists is low, especially in rural areas,
but more are being trained.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 48, no. 48, December 1, 2005, pp. 32-33.
Comment:
Will anyone be bold enough to take a
survey of religious believers and atheists to see which group is more
serene, less stressed, and better able to cope with life?
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Change is Required to Revitalize Job Market
(editorial) [ESC/2005/11/22]
In June 2006, 4.1 million students
will graduate from universities across China, four times more than in
2001, only five years ago. Not long ago, a college degree guaranteed a
good job for life. Now students are much freer to choose their major and
then their employer, but 27% of those who graduated a few months ago
still have not found work. College classroom and whole new campuses have
multiplied, but there are too many white-collar managers and not enough
technicians entering the labor force.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, November 22, 2005, p. 8.
Comment:
Many frustrated taxi drivers in many
countries have a college diploma. In the USA, some students go deeply
into debt for college, and then need years to repay the loan. Yet we
honor St. Joseph the Worker, who never received a higher education.
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Under Pressure [ESC/2005/11/14]
University graduates used to be
assigned by the state to a job with an "iron rice bowl," (iron-clad job
security). Now they have to go to interviews and compete for starting
positions. They sometimes do not last beyond three months or a year of
probation. They know they can be downsized without warning. Women cannot
wait too long to get married and have one baby. They face extra pressure
to achieve everything both on the job and in the family. Those who do
not get promotions by age 35 will not attract much attention from human
resource managers at a new company.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 48, no. 45, (November 10, 2005), pp.
28-29
Comment:
China is getting richer, yes, but are
its best and brightest any happier? Age 35 for the onset of age
discrimination is ridiculous.
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Parents Explore Dating Scene for Choosy Children
[ESC/2005/11/12]
Many young, educated professionals are
working such long hours that they approach or even pass age 30 without
getting married. Worried parents in Beijing and now in Shanghai meet to
post notices, and also compare the photos and qualifications of a
potential son- or daughter-in-law. After their grown children are
introduced, occasionally it's love at first sight, but often nothing
clicks, so Mom and Dad keep looking.
Source: China Daily, Friday, November 11, 2005, p. 7 plus cartoon on
p. 8 titled "Happy Singles' Day!"
Comment:
Why has Nov. 11 recently become Singles'
Day? Maybe because 11-11 consists of solitary 1's, with not a 2 in
sight. Parents are terrified at the prospect of their only child staying
single. This must also apply to their "only hope" entering a convent or
seminary.
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Frugal Society: A New Goal [ESC/2005/11/01]
Beginning in July, China has been
promoting recycling, energy efficiency, and thrift. The campaign in
school and in public ads is meant to reduce pollution and to get more
value per resource used. Minor changes around the house, and buying more
energy efficient appliance, add up to big savings. Thrift was always a
virtue in old China, but for a few years recently people equated
extravagance and wastefulness with modernization. People are relearning
how to make do with less.
Source: China Today, vol. 54, no. 11 (November 2005), pp. 10-22.
Comment:
A great idea! There are many Bible verses
in support of thrifty living and "waste not, want not."
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Confucius 'soundbites' offer wisdom, laughter
[ESC/2005/10/03]
Confucius (¤Õ¤l 551-479 BC) was born on September 28. The sayings of
the Greatest Sage are making a comeback. Not the humorous misquotes and
parodies found in fortune cookies (which were invented in the USA), but
his authentic sayings. Qufu in Shangdong, his birthplace, held a grand
ceremony marking his birthday, and primary students in other parts of
China also dressed in ancient costumes from the Spring and Autumn Period
(770-476 BC). After being attacked for overemphasizing filial piety and
respect for authority, Confucius has made a partial revival. Some ads
even use his words to sell products, making some people uneasy.
Source: China Daily, Thursday, September 29, 2005, p. 1.
Comment:
It would be hard to determine if
Confucius, Shakespeare or Jesus has been quoted more often during the
course of history. Confucianism is officially recognized as a religion
in Hong Kong, but only a philosophy in the Mainland.
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Reforms must not make income gulf any wider [ESC/2005/09/28]
The Gini Coefficient measures income
distribution. It goes from complete equality at 0.00 to one person
holding all the wealth in a society at 1.00. China's Gini Coefficient
has risen to a worrisome high level of 0.45, according to the UN
Development Program. The lowest 20% of the population have only 4.7% of
the wealth, while the richest one-fifth hold 50%. The government has to
safeguard social fairness, revise the income tax, and stop collusion
between officials and entrepreneurs. Incomplete market reforms worsen
the excessive wealth gap.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, September 27, 2005, p. 8.
Comment:
After the Maoist Era, Deng Xiaoping
said, "To get rich is glorious," but 25 years later there are noticeably
bad side effects. Who said that people do not live by bread (or rice?)
alone?
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Forced Abortions and Sterilizations [ESC/2005/09/24]
China's Family Planning Agency
admitted on September 21 what had been alleged for some months: some
officials in Linyi in southern Shandong had indeed abused their
authority and ordered "forced abortions and sterilizations." They will
be fired and/or disciplined. The Linyi area has a high birthrate by
current Chinese standards. The blind man who leaked the story is now
under house arrest.
Source: www.asianews.it, September 22, 2005
Comment:
When I read the first report of 7000
forced abortions or sterilizations, I thought "Somebody is recirculating
a story from 1982 or 1983 with the year omitted." No, this happened in
2005. Despite many changes in the past quarter of a century, the
bureaucracy is still heavily committed to a low birth rate, especially
in rural areas. Will the families get any compensation for pain and
suffering, not to mention dead babies? Will any officials spend time in
prison?
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Country tackles problems facing seniors
[ESC/2005/09/16]
The elderly (those 60 or older) will
increase from 147 million today to 174 million in 2010, or 12.57% [of
1.384 billion] and then soar to 243 million, or 17% [of 1.43 billion] in
2020. Seniors in Shanghai now account for almost 20% of the population
of China's first ageing city. So the National Committee on Aging as well
as Shanghai are planning to increase the number of beds in homes for the
elderly (most of whom are women) and to provide better medical and
entertainment services.
Source: China Daily, Thursday, September 15, 2005, p. 6.
Comment:
The good news is that people are
living longer, not dying in infancy and childhood as in traditional
societies. The bad news is that age 60 is still being defined as
"elderly," when most people in their early 60's have a lot of energy and
life left in them. Why retire so young?
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Serious Gender Inequality in Rural Areas
[ESC/2005/09/14]
A professor surveyed 10 villages in
the poorest areas of Gansu, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Sichuan and
found serious inequality between men and women. Poor women are less
involved in village elections and local committees, earn less, have more
long-term illnesses, and cannot get their husbands to share more of the
workload. This inequality has to be addressed if rural poverty is to be
reduced.
Source: China Daily, Thursday, September 8, 2005, p. 5.
Comment:
All true, yes, but the higher rate of
female suicides and the lower than natural percentage of baby girls
paints an even grimmer picture. The first step to reduce these problems
is to bring them out into the open.
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Stop Extravagant Resource Consumption [ESC/2005/09/06]
There is conspicuous consumption in
China again, with showy homes and lavish banquets. In Shanghai, 2000
tons of food goes into the garbage daily. Chinese are rushing to buy
autos, and now petrol stations have long queues of customers. Pollution
of air and water is growing worse. The time has come to live more simply
and to leave some resources for future generations.
Source: China Daily, Monday, September 5, 2005, p. 6.
Comment:
A good editorial. The last big famine
in China was over 40 years ago, while "business as usual" threatens to
deplete a number of crucial resources within the next 40 years.
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From scientist to 'Science Policeman' [ESC/2005/08/22]
Fang Shimin, now age 38, spent 8 years
in the USA getting a Ph.D. in biological chemistry. Returning to China
in 1998, he found bookstores bulging with titles on fengshui and
fortune-telling. He devotes his time to debunking superstition and
exposing so-called "spiritual masters." Even today 39% of Chinese
believe in fengshui, and 11.5% in reincarnation, so he has his work cut
out for him. He has also exposed plagiarism in academia. But he has been
accused of being too quick to denounce some things, such as traditional
theories of Chinese medicine, as pseudoscience without doing enough
research.
Source: China Daily, Thursday, August 18, 2005, p. 20.
Comment:
Why do huge numbers of university
graduates in many nations turn to alternatives to science? What is
missing in their lives? What are their anxieties? People do not live by
logic alone! As St. Augustine said, "Our hearts will never rest until
they rest in God."
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Prayers mark anniversary of WW II [ESC/2005/08/16]
Japan surrendered 60 years ago, on
August 15, 1945. There were ceremonies all across East Asia to mark the
occasion and to resolve that such a war will never happen again. At the
Lingguang Temple in suburban Beijing, 3000 Buddhist monks from the
Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau gathered to pray for peaceful
co-existence and permanent world peace.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, August 16, 2005, p. 1.
Comment:
World War I broke out in 1914, with huge
casualties in Europe. In 1915, Buddhist monks in China offered prayers
for the repose of the dead soldiers, at a time when few if any
Christians prayed for dead Buddhists. In 2035, despite all the museums
and media coverage, will WW II also seem to belong to the distant past?
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Festivals are lifeblood of traditional culture
[ESC/2005/08/12]
The seventh day of the seventh lunar
month has a romantic story behind it similar to Valentine's Day. It fell
on August 11 this year. Yet sales of flowers and chocolate were
disappointing. The Qixi Festival is over 2000 years old and young adults
do not relate to it. What to do? Some suggest legislating it as Chinese
Lovers' Day, but it is doubtful that a law can preserve a traditional
festival. Japan and the Republic of [South] Korea have done better at
protecting their traditional culture. In China, the influence of foreign
culture keeps growing at a worrisome pace.
Source: China Daily, Friday, August 12, 2005, p. 9.
Comment:
The editorial fails to mention that
Qixi and other Chinese feast days are still going strong in Taiwan.
Young adults in Hong Kong think of Qixi as a day from the past, for old
timers, not part of their lives like February 14.
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Hospitals Overcharge Patients [ESC/2005/08/08]
The Minister of Health, Gao Qiang,
criticized some of China's hospitals for overcharging patients in their
desire to increase profits. Problems include prescribing name brand
drugs when a much cheaper generic version would work just as well, plus
ordering unnecessary tests and even operations to pad the bill. Yet the
unemployed, migrant workers, poor urban residents and most rural people
lack insurance. Last week the State Council's Research Centre and the
World Bank, after a joint study, reported that China's attempt at
reforming its medical system had been "basically unsuccessful."
Source: China Daily, Friday, August 5, 2005, p. 1.
Comment:
In the USA, lack of affordable
medical insurance and exponentially rising medical costs have been in
the news for years, but solutions are nowhere in sight. A rising
percentage of senior citizens will worsen the problem in both countries
by 2020.
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Young Suffer from Depression Most [ESC/2005/07/25]
The Beijing Suicide Research and
Depression Centre found that 37.6% of those suffering from depression
are still in their 20's, and 22.7% in their 30's. [So 3 out of 5 are age
20-39.] About 40% of those in the survey have university degrees. With
some 250,000 suicides in China annually, suicide is the fifth leading
cause of death nationwide, but the leading killer for those aged 20-35.
Modern society creates huge pressures on people to succeed in the world,
and those who competed successfully in school are also expected to do
well in the world of work and marriage, which does not always happen.
The 24-hour free suicide hotline is overworked, but also has people who
speak English.
Source: China Daily, Monday, July 25, 2005, p. 2.
Comment:
They have so many callers that they
did not bother to publicize the phone number of the hotline! In many
countries, people are encouraged to turn to prayer and meditation to
cope with problems.
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Graduates join the 'Neet' gang [ESC/2005/07/19]
Young adults who are Not in Education,
Employment or Training were first called Neets in Britain several years
ago. Now in Shenyang in China's northeastern rust belt, there are a
large number of people age 20-30 without jobs. Overqualified for
unskilled jobs and without work experience, they are still living with
their parents and have time on their hands ? neither a good situation
for the family, society, nor for themselves. The Employment Service
Bureau is also worried.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, July 19, 2005, p. 6.
Comment:
Japan also has this problem. In China
perhaps an Only Child is more reluctant to move to a distant city for
work. But the "only hope" of the family needs to start saving money for
marriage and parenthood. People around the Mediterranean coined the
unflattering phrase "to sponge off someone," while the Chinese
equivalent is "to eat the parent's rice" without bringing home any money
in return.
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Taiwan Students Visit Mainland [ESC/2005/07/18]
About 2500 students from Taiwan,
mostly primary students but also 100 university women, are visiting the
Mainland from 7 to 15 days. In Beijing they see the preparations for the
2008 Olympics, and also a museum of the War of Resistance Against Japan
(1931-1945) as well as a few old palaces and the Great Wall. Calligraphy
and folk dances expose them to traditional Chinese culture. An editorial
links these exposure tours to raising the student's awareness of being
Chinese, pride in the nation's new prosperity, and resisting the allure
of Taiwanese Independence.
Source: China Daily, Friday, July 15, 2005, pp. 7-8.
Comment:
The editorial mentions student
exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. Are there any plans to send Mainland
students on a tour of Taiwan?
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Wealth, Health and Job Hopping [ESC/2005/07/12]
There have been cases recently of men
dying at age 59, 46 and even 36, not from accidents or hard manual
labor, but from overtime and stress in white-collar jobs. China is so
competitive now. Young adults scramble to get to the top, often changing
jobs in the process. Their fathers had the security of an iron rice bowl
(no worry about being fired and wondering where the next meal would come
from), but chronic fatigue syndrome is now an occupational hazard for
the next generation. Men tend to bottle up stress more than women. There
is a stigma attached to visiting a mental health counselor, and everyone
looks to overtime for extra money. Some government offices have to
compel staff to take a vacation.
Source: China Today, vol. 54, no. 7 (July 2005), "Health and Wealth,"
pp. 37-39; "Hopping Mad," pp. 40-41.
Comment:
The articles do not mention of yoga,
meditation or even prayer as ways to cope with stress. How many rely on
cigarettes for extra stamina? What good is money without health?
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Urban rich-poor gap rings alarm bells [ESC/2005/06/21]
Yes, there is a wide disparity in
average income between farming villages and big cities, and between
coastal and inland areas. But the urban gap between rich and poor is
also cause of concern. The disabled or elderly without family support,
the unemployed, and migrant workers all tend toward the bottom, while
the ratio of income of the richest and poorest [10%? 20%?] is now 11.8
to 1, up sharply from 4.16 to 1 in 1996. A reform of the income tax
would help. Urbanization and GDP growth should not be at the expense of
the poor.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, June 21, 2005, p. 10.
Comment:
This editorial uses "a multi-level
society" and "different groups" as euphemisms for "upper and lower
classes." In China today, it is still taboo to talk about economic
classes, the bane of Old China.
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"High Consumption is Not the Option" by Lii Haibo
[ESC/2005/06/13]
The author of this column lives
without an air conditioner and has no plans to buy one. He wonders about
the explosion of private cars in China. With 1.3 billion people, China
cannot indulge in mass consumption as in the West. The world faces
limits on natural resources. Thrift was vital in traditional China.
"Building the country through hard work and austerity" was a slogan of
the first thirty years after 1949, and it should be revived.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 48, no. 22, (June 2, 2005), p. 48.
Comment:
What an amazing call for voluntary
simplicity in a nation where economic growth has become the mania!
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"Cry from the heart of nation's children"[ESC/2005/06/13]
A sociologist in Wuhan asked 4200
fifth-graders to write on the topic "Please spare me some time." Some
3000 [71%] complained about being pressured to take late afternoon or
weekend classes. From morning to night, the kids have to learn and
study, memorize math and English, and also practice music. So they feel
under stress, while their parents, especially mothers, feel a sense of
panic. Will the child [often an only child] do well enough in a
competitive world? The resulting estrangement "is a tragedy both for
parents and schools."
Source: China Daily, Saturday, June 11, 2005, p. 6.
Comment:
Other parts of East Asia became
pressure cookers for students before Mainland China did. The results
include teen suicide and drug abuse. Too much competition makes for a
less human society.
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National College Entrance Exam is Stressful
[ESC/2005/06/29]
In Imperial China, competition to pass
the Civil Service Exams was intense. The tradition continues. On June
7-8 across China, 8.67 million high school graduates sat for the
National College Entrance Examination. There are only 2.3 million seats
for university Freshmen. [377 applicants for every 100 seats.] So the
pressure to succeed is intense. Parents worry about the exam that will
determine their child's future. Some went to church to pray.
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, June 8, 2005, p. 1.
Comment:
Most of those students are only children,
hence the "only hope" of their parents, so they are under even more
pressure to pass. The reference to parents praying to God was
surprising. Do some of the students also pray?
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Young addict's suicide sounds stark warning
[ESC/2005/05/31]
A 13 year-old boy in Tianjin jumped
off a roof in order to meet his friends from cyberspace after he died.
Before he got addicted to computer games, he was a good student. At the
end, he had even lost interest in eating regularly. Computer games, most
of which are imported, often feature violence, martial arts, and demons.
Some students sit in front of a computer for 20 hours non-stop. Parents,
be warned!
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, May 31, 2005, p. 9.
Comment:
A walk in the park, phoning
classmates, playing ping-pong, raising a dog, visiting a church, talking
to parents, and getting enough sleep ? what are the alternatives to
being chained to a computer?
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Almost Half of Children Abused [ESC/2005/05/24]
A survey of university students across
China found that 54.6% of men and 32.6% of women had been hit, kicked or
violent pushed as children. Some had been tied up. As to sexual abuse,
9.7% of men and 13.5% of women suffered molestation, and 1.7% of men and
2.1% of women had been raped. Corporal punishment was part of
traditional culture. Only severe abuse that led to death or near death
attracted public attention. "China turns out to be like every other
country." Victims of childhood violence suffer later in life
psychologically and in their interpersonal relationships.
Source: South China Morning Post, Wednesday, May 18, 2005, p. A6.
Comment:
"Time is indifferent," Martin Luther King
Jr. said. A problem will not go away by itself over the years but gets
passed onto the next generation unless many people face it and begin to
discuss what's wrong.
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Helping those missed by economic radar [ESC/2005/05/23]
Some Mainland tourists visit Hong Kong
for a few days and spend a lot of money. Others move here as highly
qualified professionals. But over 100 ordinary people arrive daily to
live here. They want jobs, not a handout, and to be with their families.
Often their lack of Cantonese and/or knowledge of the local situation
create difficulties. International Social Service's Hong Kong branch (ISS-HK)
helps these new citizens integrate into the SAR and gives them a helping
hand. As the newcomers get established, not only they but also the whole
city benefits.
Source: China Daily, Friday, May 20, 2005, p. 4.
Comment:
Bishop Joseph Zen has been speaking
out for the rights of new immigrants for years, and Ming Ai (Caritas)
has also helped the new arrivals, many of whom are children or spouses
of HK residents.
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From no choice then to spoilt for choice now
[ESC/2005/05/17]
In Beijing 30 years ago, finding a
coffee shop was impossible. The one and only bookstore with foreign
language books stocked only Communist writers such as Marx, Lenin and
Stalin. Now people have many choices, "in food, housing, cars or even a
second wife." Public opinion polls now research what consumer items
people prefer. Looking for feedback, even the National Population and
Family Planning Commissions is interested in what the public thinks. Yet
so many options are shifting society from collectivism to individualism.
The government is also concerned about maintaining China's culture and
traditions under the impact of rapid globalization.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, May 17, 2005, p. S6.
Comment:
A second husband, anybody? In 1980, the
religious menu was limited to five religions: Buddhism, Daoism, Islam,
Catholicism and one denomination of Protestantism. These are still the
only choices today.
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A Cartoon on the Need for Baby Girls [ESC/2005/05/13]
A couple, hand in hand, are walking in
a park. The woman will have a baby any day. On the side, baby boys of
the Boys' League are holding signs "Girls are as good as boys," and "Too
many boys already!" while shouting in unison "Please give birth to a
girl!! We don't want to be single when we grow up."
Source: China Daily, Wednesday, May 11, 2005, p. 8.
Comment:
The damage has already been done. The
15 or 20 million baby girls who were NOT born from 1980 to 2005 will not
return to earth. If the sex ratio at birth returns to a natural balance
tomorrow, there will still be millions of unhappy bachelors in China in
2025 and 2030. Girls now growing up can forget about remaining single
until age 30, or even until 25.
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Vocation Story of a Japanese Priest [ESC/2005/05/10c]
Before Sanji Yamaoka, S.J., became a
Jesuit, he was first a Buddhist, then a Protestant for five years. He is
now the new Vice Rector of Sophia University in Tokyo, a prestigious
school.
His Protestant girlfriend was taken aback
when he told her he wanted to be a priest, but she got over her loss.
Later she married someone else and had a son. Her family was happy to
attend Sanji's ordination in 1984 and get his blessing.
Source: Faith Fortnightly, no. 236 (May 1, 2005), p. 5.
Comment:
It might be politically sensitive to
report a Chinese Protestant or Buddhist, let alone a Muslim, becoming a
Catholic. In a time of anti-Japanese protests in China, this is a
human-interest story featuring a Japanese who was born after World War
II
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"Innocent Until Proven Guilty" by Lii Haibo
[ESC/2005/05/10b]
Two miscarriages of justice recently
made the news in China: She Xianglin, age 39, was released after 11
years in prison. He was found guilty of murdering his wife, but she
finally appeared alive and well in another district. Nie Shubin, age 21,
was executed for rape, but another man later confessed to that crime.
"Given its national conditions, however, China is unlikely to abolish
the death penalty at present." Yet more care must be taken with due
process, so as to avoid punishing the innocent.
Source: Beijing Review, vol. 48, no. 17, (April 28, 2005), p. 48
Comment:
It is rare for anyone in China to
write about the possibility of abolishing the death penalty, even at
some unspecified future date. There is a tombstone in a cemetery
somewhere in the western U.S. from the Wild West era, with the
inscription: "Hung by mistake - sorry!"
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"Less than meets the average eye" - Low Birth
Rate in H.K. [ESC/2005/05/10a]
A chart shows how the total fertility
rate in Hong Kong, the average number of children born per woman, fell
below replacement 25 years ago and continued its downward drift. If 1000
women [and 1000 men] only have 800 babies, then the percentage of
seniors (age 65+) will go from 11.7% in 2003 to 27% in 2033. Too keep
its tax rate low, H.K. will not imitate Singapore and give cash bonuses
to parents. So demographer Paul Yip hopes that longer "paid maternity
leave and better living and working conditions" will encourage more
women to combine career and children.
Source: China Daily, Tuesday, May 10, 2005. p. 4.
Comment:
There are three serious omissions in this
article: 1.) The drop in the birth rate did not just happen, rather the
H.K. government vigorously promoted family planning in the 1960's and
1970's. 2.) A sizeable number of H.K. men prefer to get a bride from
Mainland China. So don't put all the blame on H.K. women for being "less
dependent on marriage for financial support. They are less motivated to
find spouses because they prefer career-building and enjoying their
independence." 3.) Would a decent minimum wage make blue collar workers
feel secure about bringing children into the world? This is a good
question for demographic research.
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"Precious Sleep Time: What Women Want"[ESC/2005/04/18]
With the pressure of work and the
stress of modern life, more and more white collar Chinese are suffering
from lack of sleep. In Guangzhou, 60% of insomnia patients are women.
Proper sleep is essential for creative work, yet many people holding
knowledge-based jobs drag through the day. Sleeping pills become a
dangerous habit for some. More sports and exercise facilities are needed
in the big cities.
Source: China Daily, Saturday, April 16, 2005, p. 7.
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Human Rights in China [ESC/2005/04/15]
On April 13, the Information Office of
China's State Council issued a paper entitled "China's Progress in Human
Rights in 2004." At least 10,000 words long in English translation, it
states the first human right as that of subsistence, then lauds economic
development before detailing civil and political rights, including
religious freedom. This year there is more stress on judicial guarantees
and due process to correct cases of government functionaries misusing
their powers. It details efforts on behalf of the elderly, women, ethnic
minorities and the disabled, and concludes with China's contribution
after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean last December 26.
Source: China Daily, Thursday, April 14, 2005, pp. 7-8.
Comment:
A decade ago, such annual reports took up
four pages in the paper. Now they are compressed to two pages of fine
print - perhaps not many people read the entire text. No individual is
named this time, nor does "Marxism" appear. "Socialist" gets one mention
at the end. The keywords are "democratic," "scientific," "harmonious,"
"State," and "Communist Party." The white paper lists great progress in
all areas.
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