Articles & Posts

There is plenty written on the American Dream. We all have an idea of what that means. It is part of our civil religion, as Robert Bellah might have suggested in his 1967 Civil Religion in America.

The term “American Dream” was popularized by James Truslow Adams in 1931, saying that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.In our cynical age, much of that writing notes how unattainable might be a story of improving generational prosperity. It nevertheless remains that every year millions of people still seek to come here and if fewer of them are European than before, it need only mean that the dream values of democracy, freedom, and the possibility of individual achievement away from government approval have taken firm root in Europe. The Dream persists.There is plenty written on the Chinese Dream Zhōngguó Mèng. The term was used before, but only became part of ideology when articulated by Xi Jinping in 2012. The dream, he said, is the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation – under guidance of CCP. Xi’s formulation was translated in English as “the dream of the people.” But in fact it is pushed …

A bit long, but worth perusing …. use the red highlights to skip around …
 An introductionThe US and China are two big countries and big countries with modern economies will necessarily have some similar problems. Middle class Chinese have concerns quite similar to those of middle class Americans. We write all the time about differences between the US and China. Amid the anxiety and paranoia about ascendant China it might help to consider a few ways in which the US and China are similar. Just for some perspective. I’m not suggesting identical causation, only similarities in the way people experience the world. I ignore a lot of other similarities and all the differences in this short list. Some items might be interesting or fun or a bit of nourishment for you. No one should take this as an intimate analysis of those similarities that I do find. I am not making an argument here, just listing some elements of culture or economics that I find similar in China and the US.Following below –To start – physical size and locationRegional disparitiesDecline of population and decline of population growthFamily structuresIsolated malesFamilies and childrenKid bullyingHousing crisesHouseholds and debtGovernment debtThe local fiscCities and infrastructureLocal …

There are several good American lawyer blogs on Chinese law. Most prominent in my mind is Harris Bricken, which contains information on current and past cases dealing with businesses and law in China. The China collection features posts by several academic attorneys with China experience, including Donald Clarke, Ling Li, and Carl Minzner. Don Clarke has some comments on the new Foreign Relations Law. I’m not a lawyer – I don’t even play one on tv – but three comments on Don Clarke’s comments. (1) Most important – and this is something I’ve thought about for years, but never seen made explicit – is the intentional vagueness of law. Clarke – Overall, the FRL doesn’t really do very much in terms of actual law. In a country like the United States, with a constitutionally divided government, you need a concept of foreign relations law and a set of associated doctrines in order to sort out which branch of government has the authority to do what. In a unitary Leninist state such as China, that kind of law is unnecessary and indeed makes no sense. There is a single party-state, and it has the inherent authority to do whatever it wants. The FRL basically says that the …

Read More …

A short note on CCP fear of CCP members in Hubei Province –From several sources comes information that Hubei Provincial CCP is demanding to hold passports from midlevel CCP members and above, even long after retirement. Current retirement age for men is 60; 55 for women. Lots of CCP members have family or kids in the US. If they cannot get approval to seek a visa, they can never see their families. That’s a long time to be barred from direct family contact.An 80 year-old CCP member was recently denied his passport to see his son in Hong Kong, presumably for fear that the man would then leave China permanently once in Hong Kong.It has been customary for more than a decade now for the human resources department to hold passports for midlevel CCP members, and the zuzhibu organization department to hold passports for higher level leaders. Any relevant department could object to giving a passport back to the individual, but generally that has not been a problem. Hubei right now is different.Related is a story, also from Hubei, of a CCP member whose daughter just had a baby in the US. The grandmother has been in Florida for a …

A brief note on choice of dates … and choice of policies. I don’t think CCP and GOP are directly coordinating policy, but they have constructed curiously sympatico … and apparently similarly timed … programs for major world restructuring. One economic and technological, one political and radically reactionary.CCP uber allesMade in China 2025 is a national strategic plan and industrial policy. The key objective of the Made in China 2025 program is to identify key technologies, grow companies that can be national champions, secure market share domestically within China, and ultimately capture foreign markets globally. It is the Chinese world economic domination strategy. Progress in the last ten years has been impressive. Policies and funding are directed toward 1) New advanced information technology; 2) Automated machine tools & robotics; 3) Aerospace and aeronautical equipment; 4) Maritime equipment and high-tech shipping; 5) Modern rail transport equipment; 6) New-energy vehicles and equipment; 7) Power equipment; 8) Agricultural equipment; 9) New materials; and 10) Biopharma and advanced medical products.One can certainly quibble about whether this plan is feasible or fundable in its totality. But there is no doubt CCP is making big plans.The plans are clearly international in scope. Just one example – from Scott Kennedy …

William Kirby is a renowned China scholar at Harvard. He has written a dozen books on Chinese history and our relations with China. He has a long list of accomplishments at the highest levels of international academia and professional societies.When he writes about superior universities in Germany and the US and China, I can only marvel at the scope of his erudition. So I feel a bit out of my element commenting on his latest book Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China.Kirby writes that on academic engagement with China the educational resurgence is much less a threat than an opportunity for American and other international universities…. American research universities have been strengthened enormously by recruiting Chinese doctoral students, themselves largely graduates of Chinese universities, who are admitted exclusively on the basis of merit. Our faculty ranks, too, are augmented by extraordinary Chinese scholars. We restrict these students and colleagues at our own peril. Today, any research university that is not open to talent from around the globe is on a glide path to decline. True enough. Kirby is familiar with the finest research universities and students in China and the world. Some Chinese students go on to excel in …