Date for Your Diary: China Liberation Day, August 29, 1842

John Platt: "The signing and sealing of the Treaty of Nanking", Wikimedia Commons

Now that the festive days of Peaceful-Tibet-Liberation commemorations are slowly drawing to a close, let’s get prepared for August 29. On that day in 1842, a number of ancestors of whoever is going to read this dealt feudalism in China a lasting blow.

It was a day in history when the world gasped in admiration. Let us never forget that without Europe, there would be no new China – 没有欧洲就没有新中国.

This is the irrefutable truth, and a proud day to remember for all benign and progressive forces, in China and abroad.

Xi Jinping’s History Lesson: “The Irrefutable Truth”

西藏６０年不平凡的发展历程揭示了一个颠扑不破的真理：没有中国共产党就没有新中国，也就没有新西藏。
The extraordinary development of Tibet over the past 60 years points to an irrefutable truth: without the CPC, there would have been no new China, and no new Tibet.

Xi Jinping (习近平), speaking in Lhasa on July 19

The CCP kept lavishing praise onto its rule over Tibet during the past week. After an “inspection tour” by vice chairman Xi Jinping, with a speech delivered in front of the Potala Palace on Tuesday, People’s Daily reports today that Xi’s speech “has won  netizens’ strong support”. All major websites had carried live coverage of the 60th anniversary of Tibet’s “peaceful liberation” ceremony as headline positions, clicks to the coverage (aparently livestream) had exceeded two million, more than 5,000 comments were left, they highly appreciated the historical significance of the “peaceful liberation” (高度评价西藏和平解放的历史意义) praised the great success Tibet had achieved under the correct leadership of the CCP, success which had caught the eyes of the world (盛赞西藏在党的正确领导下取得举世瞩目的伟大成就), and, from the bottom of their hearts, wished Tibet an even better future, with even greater progress (深情祝福西藏明天更美好，期待西藏迎来跨越性发展和更大的进步).

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Related

» Xi Jinping’s speech in full, CNTV (English), July 19, 2011
» The CCP Sighs with Emotion, July 17, 2011
» “Legal Education”, Arrests and Sentences, July 14, 2011
» Too Many Lies, March 7, 2010
» “Serf Emancipation Day”, March 28, 2009
» Deng Xiaoping and a FEW Words about History, December 18, 2008

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Updates / Related

» The Stories of Chengde, High Peaks, July 19, 2011

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Tianjin Municipal Party Committee: in Accordance with the 12th Five-Year Plan

Tianjin Evening News (今晚报), via Enorth — Main Link: http://news.enorth.com.cn/system/2011/07/20/006965691.shtml. Links within the blockquotes are mine, not the original article’s.

According to information from the standing committee of the municipal party committee’s  (市委常委) extended session on the morning of July 20, the whole city conscientiously implemented the central authorities’ macro-economic policies and all the municipal party committee’s dispositions. During the first half year, the city’s economy developed in a stable (平稳) and comparatively fast manner, achieving a good start for the 12th five-year plan (十二五). During the first half year, the city’s GDP grew by 16.6 per cent, which is an acceleration by 0.1 percentage points compared with the first quarter¹⁾, which is 0.5 per cent faster than the five-year plan.

Firstly, the economy showed a stable, high-level performance, continuing the trend of strong growth and low consumption. While fast economic growth was maintained, energy consumption per ten-thousand Yuan RMB of GDP²⁾, on the basis of the 12th five-year plan’s cumulative decline by 21 per cent, fell by more than 4 per cent.

Secondly, the three sectors’ coordinated development achieved optimum structure, with high-level initial results. [I can't translate the following two lines: 上半年规模以上工业增加值增长21.1%,总产值增长30.2%,比一季度加快0.1个和1.5个百分点。] The tertiary sector continued to grow rapidly, by 14.6 per cent, which is 0.1 percentage point more [than the first half of last year].

Thirdly, there was a more balanced demand, by building strong domestic demand and stable demand from outside. Investment grew by 33.3 per cent during the first half year, which is an acceleration by 3.2 percentage points compared with the first quarter. As of the end of June, 580 of 1,120 major projects had been completed (竣工), and 485 projects are under close attention. 198.2 bn Yuan RMB were invested during the first half of the year. Retail of social consumption products³⁾ (社会消费品) rose by 18.5 per cent, an increase by 0.6 per cent. [...]

The article mentions two more aspects (“fourthly” and “fifthly”), which (my vague interpretation, as I’m running out of time) refer to quality of growth. The fifth point also mentions twenty popular aspirations projects (民心工程) which were going well, and newly-created jobs for 335,500 people (上半年新增就业23.55万人) during the first half year. Urban and rural incomes had risen by 13.6 and 17 per cent respectively.
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Notes

¹⁾ this number appears to compare this year’s second and first quarter, rather than this and last year’s first halves.
²⁾ 万元生产总值能耗, wàn yuán shēngchǎn zǒng zhí néng hào
³⁾ Social consumption is a term frequently connected with “ethical consumption” elsewhere – that’s not how it is meant here, and it most probably simply means household consumption. Your expertise is welcome; just use the commenting function for your definitions or explanations. Explanations of the term 利用内外资分别 would also be welcome.

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Related

» National Bureau of Statistics Press Conference, July 13, 2011
» At the Crossroads: China’s Development, February 20, 2009

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Tai De: Construction Work on Verden’s old Synagogue Site

After half a year or so, my good old friend from Verden an der Aller, Tai De, has risen from hibernation a construction site in his native town, to raise some unhappy memories – or that’s how I read his post about the site of Verden’s former synagogue. The Jewish house of worship was burnt down by the Nazi-led Reichskristallnacht, in 1938.

The place is now designated to become a shopping center. For several decades, somewhere between 1938 and very recently, it housed a car dealership which was demolished a few weeks ago.

The question now seems to be how to combine economic interests and reverence.

Hermit: When You Stop at an Old Friend’s Farmhouse…

Hello Children,

Hermit the Taoist Dragonfly: You've seen the Future

here is another bit of cultural training for you. If you want to have a good relationship and good business with China later on, when you have grown up, there are only a few rules to follow, as shown in this reception for American preparatory high school students by our chairman Hu Jintaolast Friday. It’s never too early to learn, so here goes…

It was an unprecedented meeting, as our chairman was welcoming ordinary people to Zhongnanhai, but also, the way it went was mostly very precedented, and hallowed by tradition (except for the hugs). Look at this dialog!

“Glad to see you again,” said Hu, who was all smiles. “I am delighted to welcome you to Zhongnanhai.”

“We are very honored and very happy,” the students said.

Very precedented indeed. When you are very honored and very happy, everyone will be happy. Of course, you need to feel very honored, and not only happy.

Speaking in front of the Zhanxulou (The Pavilion of Placid Leisure), the students told Hu about their experiences in China and the feelings those had left them with.

To make sure about a cordial and placid meeting, don’t bother your Chinese counterpart (let alone our chairman) with stories about  people who greeted you with a funny-sounding HELLO? (if you travelled outside Beijing, anyway), and don’t think of this as a meeting where you are supposed to talk. To give our chairman a painting depicting a panda, the Great Wall and high-rise buildings in the US may be acceptable, even if “Grandpa” is not exactly the appropriate way to address our chairman.

An Old Friend's Farmhouse, CCTV Xinwen Lianbo, July 15, 2011 (click on this picture for video)

If you are presented with a present by our chairman or any other important personality in our country, as he or she is aware of your humble birthday, give the whole world around you a look of astonishment, repeating the words “thank you” again and again.

Don’t take offense if a scholar, in a Huanqiu Shibao article, uses our chairman’s (or any other important Chinese personality’s) cordial reception for you as an example of how much our country cherishes good relations with the outside world and your country, while accusing your president of wanting to tear China apart, by accepting a spectacled dangerous monk‘s visit in the White House’s map room. Instead, you must understand the difference between our leadership which is full of love for the Tibetans, the Taiwanese, the Uyghurs, and the rest of the world (including your country).

While we are at it, don’t mention any unhappy issues when meeting an important Chinese personality. Don’t even apologize for your own president’s unruly behavior. Rather, show by your actions that you understand the real China.

To recite a Tang poem like Meng Haoran‘s (孟浩然) “Stopping at an Old Friend’s Farmhouse” is quite alright when meeting a central CCP cadre or leader, but consider refraining from reciting that kind of stuff when meeting urban cadres (local ones, that is), unless you know that they share the leadership’s concern for the countryside. You may come across as poor and stupid county bumpkins otherwise.

Also, refrain from singing the wrong songs at the wrong time. Sometimes, the time is right for a song or a recital, sometimes it’s not. What is sometimes pleasant, may be unpleasant at other times. In case of a doubt, check sensitives recitals with the CCP propaganda department in advance, before meeting our important personalities.

Your unforgettable reception by our chairman, or any other important Chinese personality, will help you to reciprocate in the right way, by defending China against insults from and in your country, once you are back. As our chairman honors you with so much of his precious time, you should reciprocate many-fold, as reciprocity and loyalty are value cherished by the Chinese people. Once you are back in America (some time later this month),

• participate in phone-in shows frequently, especially if China is the topic, but otherwise, too. I mean, who cares about topics. China always matters.  Tell the host how good China is, how deep your impressions are, and how shameful America’s reply to China’s generosity is
• write letters to the editors of your country’s newspapers, especially when China was the topic in an insulting way, and put everything straight
• tell all your friends and family that China is the future, and that you’ve seen it
• An old Chinese saying says 知行合一 (zhī xíng hé yī) which means the unity of knowledge and action. Don’t only tell people that China is the future, but act accordingly in whichever way. Submission is the best way to show that you know where the power is.
• If your own country’s president, or any other important American personality, should ever receive Chinese students in a way similar to the way our Chinese chairman received you, please understand that your president’s action is just a cheap propaganda stunt, and changes nothing about your government’s hostile intentions toward us, the Chinese people. Use all the afore-mentioned methods to call your leaders’ bluff.

Be a true friend of the Chinese people. Learn from Norman Bethune, Joan Hinton (she was occasionally embarrassing, but a true friend of the Chinese people all the same), or Lisa Carducci.

Actually, Lisa Carducci is a particularly good example of how to be a great friend of the Chinese people. While it isn’t right to mention unpleasant things when meeting an important Chinese personality, it is good to show by your action that you disagree with your own bad government when it acts against China.

Carducci has always been forthright in her opinion. When the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was bombed in 1999, she wrote an article saying that the United States was responsible.

Of course, your opinion must not only be forthright. It must also be the correct opinion. If you expose yourselves to our venerable civilization long enough, you will hardly make any mistakes anymore. In fact, you may become almost as civilized as those HELLO? sayers in our more rural streets.

Basically, so long as you understand that the CCP and China are the same thing, at least you won’t commit grave mistakes, and you can’t really misjudge a situation completely.

And your business with China will stride from profit to profit.

That’s my lesson for today, dear children. Remember: you’ve seen the future, and it’s China. Or: when you stop at an old friend’s farmhouse, say nothing wrong.

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Related

» Tibet: the CCP sighs with Emotion, July 17, 2011
» Cui Tiankai on South China Sea: Keep it Simple, June 24, 2011
» Hu Jintao’s U.S. Visit: Vivid Micronisms, January 21, 2011
» America’s Dirty Helping Hand, August 12, 2010
» “Stopping at an Old Friend’s Farmhouse”, Yingyu Daxue
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Award Chaos: No “Quadriga” for Nobody

“Workshop Germany” (Werkstatt Deutschland), a non-profit organization based in Berlin-Charlottenburg, has an award in store for those who commit themselves successfully to innovation, renewal, and a pioneering spirit through political, economic, and cultural activities – the Quadriga. German and international artists, activists, and quite a number of  politicians, have been laureates since 2003. Of all former German chancellors who are still alive, only Helmut Schmidt has missed out on the prize so far, even though one might argue that both Schmidt and former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing would have deserved the prize for pioneering the European Currency Unit. (Maybe the workshop is waiting for a ready-for-use solution to the current Euro crisis from the two.) José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission’s president, on the other hand, got his Quadriga in 2009. God and the jury may know why.

And Vladimir Putin and the jury may know why Russia’s current prime minister (and former and possibly future president) was one of the chosen people this year. Actually, the jury was kind enough to give us their reasons: to honor Putin’s merits in German-Russian relations’ “reliability and stability”.

The Green party’s co-chairman Cem Özdemir left the jury, protesting against the choice. Several previous laureates either returned their prize, or threatened to do so, among them Former Czechoslovakian and Czech president Vaclav Havel. Most of the German press was negative, too.

Late last week, the workshop decided to cancel the 2011 award altogether. Neither Putin, nor the other laureates-to-be would receive a prize this year, even though the other choices, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa and Turkish-German author Betül Durmaz, were not contested.

Frankly, this year was the first time that I have even heard of the Quadriga prize at all. There are too many prizes to keep track of them, and the European award culture – as far as I’m aware of it, and with the possible exceptions of the Nobel Peace Prize and the EU Parliament’s Sakharov award – has started to look like the kind of “quality” prizes German agricultural associations or folk music trades habitually award within their own mishpokhe, to adorn their own commercials with them later on.

There’s no meaningful prize without a clear set of values behind it.  Business interests are no such values. They may be an honorable motivation for an award, too, but only if they are consistent with an organization’s policy.

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Related
» Article seeks Author, December 29, 2010
» Saxony’s Order of Gratitude Award to Putin, The Guardian, January 16, 2009

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Tibet: the CCP sighs with Emotion

Main link: Xinhua (via Enorth), July 17, 2011

The article’s main motivation would appear to be the commemoration of May 23, 1951, but it was only published this Sunday (by Enorth, anyway):

The scroll painting of history, the surge forward with great momentum,
let the people of the world sigh with emotion;
the troubles of the past testify the miracle [of today], let the world gasp in admiration.

历史画卷，波澜壮阔，让世人感慨； 岁月沧桑，见证奇迹，让世界赞叹。

Sixty years are only a short moment in the great river of history, but in Tibet, this old and mystical territory, the course of social development has strided across more than a thousand years. New and old Tibet are two different worlds. During the past sixty years, under the care of the CCP’s central committee and the hard work of the Tibetan cadres of all nationalities and masses, a united, democratic, prosperous, civilized and harmonious socialist new Tibet has emerged to a bright future of development, from the darkness to the light, from backwardness to progress, from poverty to prosperity, from isolation to openness.

60年，在人类历史长河中不过是短暂瞬间，但在西藏这片古老而神奇的土地上，社会发展进程却跨越了上千年——
新旧西藏两重天。60年来，从黑暗走向光明，从落后走向进步，从贫穷走向富裕，从封闭走向开放，在党中央关心下，西藏各族干部群众奋发努力，一个团结、民主、富裕、文明、和谐的社会主义新西藏，正在雪域高原上呈现出光明的发展前景。

After the poetic “scroll painting of history”, another appetizer (via Enorth) begins with a short collection of “oral history”, from a former “local government chief plenipotentiary” and/or his wife who witnessed the signature of an agreement which “safeguarded the dignity and reunification of the motherland”, on May 23, 1953. The plenipotentiary was Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (ང་ཕོད་ངག་དབང་འཇིགས་མེད་, 阿沛·阿旺晋美). The history of his authorization is contested.

The rest of the article is history as authored by the CCP, including anecdotes like this one:

The people will not forget the scene of 19 years ago: early in 1992, comrade Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) inspected Wuhan, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai and other places. [Standing in front of the Potala Palace model at Shenhen's "Splendid China" park,] he stood for some time, and with an emotional sigh he said: “I won’t make it to Tibet in this life – just to take a picture in front of this “Potala Palace” will have to count as a souvenir.”

The anecdote follows many paragraphs devoted to Mao Zedong’s (毛泽东) care for Tibet, and leads into the paragraphs devoted to Deng’s. After that, it’s Jiang Zemin’s (江泽民) turn, who, despite being in his sixties and despite the territory’s high altitude, immersed himself in factories, rural and pastoral areas, schools, hospitals, and “People’s Liberation Army” and police barracks and stations there.

Picture 1: party and state chairman Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) speaks on the “fifth meeting on the work of Tibet” in January 2010.

Picture 2: a Xinhua interview with Padma Choling (པདྨ་འཕྲིན་ལས་།, 白玛赤林), chairman of the government of the “Tibet Autonomous Region”, on June 8 this year, with Xinhua.

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Related

» Obama meets with Dalai Lama, The Age, July 17, 2011
» “Legal Education”, Arrests and Sentences, July 14, 2011
» NPC Tibetan Delegates visit U.S., March 20, 2009

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Foreign Office “Africa Concept”: Universal Values, Competing Interests

German chancellor Angela Merkel‘s focus was on trade, not on aid, during her visits to Kenya, Angola and Nigeria this week, Deutsche Welle reported on Friday. Sales of eight patrol boats to Angola had been a bone of contention in Germany’s federal parliament, and a new “Africa Concept”, published by the foreign office (or foreign ministry) last month, had been put into question by aid organizations for putting trade before aid.

One of the older concepts - school in Wuga, German East Africa, photo between 1906 and 1918 (Wikimedia Commons / Bundesarchiv, click on picture for source)

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Foreign Office “Africa Concept”

The following are keywords or -lines from the German foreign office’s Africa Concept, published a month ago. The page numbers refer to the digital pages (per mouseclick), not to the page numbers on the hardcopy leaflet. The first link (page 3, “Germany’s Africa policy is based…”) applies for all following pages, too. The full text behind the link is in German.

• page 3: “Germany’s Africa policy is based on universal values, and led by interests. It takes into account that people in Africa are responsible for their continent in the first place”, June 15, 2011

• page 5: partnership on equal footing

• page 6: our partners, first and foremost, are those who share these values.

• page 7: good governance.

• page 7: “Reduction of tariffal and non-tariffal trade barriers and measures which distort trade is significant to carry Africa’s development potential into effect. [...] The federal government therefore supports Africa’s efforts for regional economic integration and the WTO negotiations in the Doha-Round framework. [...] Germany supports the further opening of European markets for African products.”

• page 8: German dependence on natural resources: coltan, wolframite, platinum, oil, gas, sources of renewable energy.

• page 10: African Peace and Security Architecture (AU), conflict prevention and conflict resolution.

• page 13: good governance, democracy, separation of powers, open societies.

• page 14: “Learning by Ear”, Deutsche Welle, in cooperation with UNESCO.

• page 15: good foundations for sustainable growth. G 6%, inflation usually one-digit.

• page 16: income disparities.

• page 16: 800 mn Euros in support of sustainable development, private sector as partners for Germany’s exporters, export credit guarantees, and agreements on the protection of investment.

• page 17: microfinance.

• page 19: climate protection, bio-diversity.

• page 21: crude oil imports particularly from Nigeria and Algeria; 18 per cent in Germany’s imports are from Africa.

• page 22: making energy usable within Africa – power plants and grids.

• page 24: Germany as Africa’s third-largest partner for development. Funding for development cooperation to be increased to 0.7 per cent of GDP by 2015.

• page 25: health and water conservancy.

• page 26: elementary education, further education, R&D, university cooperation, vocational training.

• page 29: the 2007 EU strategy.

• pages 27 – 30: United Nations / G8 / G20 framework.

• page 31: measuring achievements and efficiency.

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While Martin Wansleben of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce expressed hope that chancellor Merkel would promote free access to African natural resources – those to which Chinese companies were seeking exclusive access -, VENRO, an NGO alliance, criticized the Africa Concept for putting trade first, rather than overcoming poverty and hunger.

All the same, we welcome the first-time compilation of an inter-departmental concept by the federal government. This provides an opportunity for a concerted, development-promoting policy. We also welcome that the concept sets out from the continent’s potentials, rather than remains stuck with the descriptions of civil wars, corruption, and hunger. Still, [Africa's] reality is at times euphemized.

VENRO’s Ulrich Post also saw potential and existing competing interests within the concept, when it comes to securing energy or natural-resources supplies.

Welthungerhilfe secretary general Wolfgang Jamann pointed out that market protectionism can make sense, during certain stages of trade development. In that light, too, trade was over-emphasized vs development, according to critics.

Neues Deutschland, formerly East Germany’s government mouthpiece, pointed to exploitation of African fishing grounds by EU trawlers, and European agricultural exports which were destroying the livelihoods of African farmers. Sustainable development in Africa would remain impossible under such circumstances, despite the concept’s suggestions to the contrary.

Oil was an obvious factor in chancellor Merkel’s visit to Angola and Nigeria, but in Kenya, too: a port on the Kenyan island of Lamu is likely to be a safer port for Southern Sudanese oil exports than North Sudan’s Port Sudan, given that the two Sudanese states’ relationship isn’t exactly friendly these days, writes Manfred Bleskin, in an editorial for N-TV television.

While both N-TV and the New York Times referred to a Chinese role in the port’s construction, or to Chinese backing, neither suggests that the port will be for exclusive Chinese use. The relevant Chinese companies are now looking into the place’s potential to ship South Sudanese oil – against cultural, societal, or environmental odds.

German importers may wish to make use of Port Lamu, anyway.

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Related
Manmohan Singh: Address to Ethiopian Parliament, Facebook, May 26, 2011
Horst Köhler: Full of Trade, May 27, 2010
Africa, where the Worlds meet, March 8, 2010
Is AGOA Good Enough, August 5, 2009
Kofi Owusu and the German Keyboard, June 20, 2009