I love to read books about China. However, I always have to ask whether the book I pick up is China praising or China bashing (panda hugging versus dragon slaying). Nowadays it’s not easy to get China related books that offer balanced point of view.
Last year (2008) National Geographic published a special edition magazine focusing on China. You know what’s inside this magazine? There are tons of pictures showing poverty, factory workers, pollution, and all sorts of “dark” side of China. More than 90 percent of the pictures put China in negative light. Those who have visited China and seen the country for themselves will find the pictures in this magazine misleading.
It’s misleading because a country has both positive and negative aspects. When you show only dark side without stating the bright side of the story, you’re unfair and bias. It’s sad that a reputable media like National Geographic does something like this, as if the China hating fanatics are running the editorial board.
Last time I saw a heap of China themed books at a book store. I randomly picked up a book and read its back cover. It says something like this, “The high oil price is caused by huge demand in China and India.” The (China bashing) book was published before the recent economy crisis. We know it isn’t true because the oil price plunged deeply during the recent crisis. The price fluctuation is due to commodity speculation. Yet, the book blamed China for it. Come to think of it, they’ll blame everything they can think of on China (and never on themselves). I’m not surprise if they point finger at China when their pet goldfish dies.
It’s great that there are still good China-themed books to read. One such example is The China Road by Rob Gifford. It’s a travelogue, where the author used his travelling experience to discuss about the lives of the Chinese and the progress of China. It shows both negative and positive aspects of the country. I think the author is great by giving a voice to the local people. He wrote down his conversation with the Chinese so that the readers also know what the Chinese people think about their nation.
A Year Without “Made in China” by Sara Bongiorni is also a good read. It’s about an American family’s struggle to boycott “Made in China” products for a year. Interestingly, they do this as a curious experiment just to see if it’s feasible. Their boycott is rather neutral and not driven by other anti-China causes like human rights, separatism, anti-communism, local job losses etc. It’s a break from the usual China bashing.
So what’s the moral of the story?
Number 1
Media should be fair by providing balanced and neutral point of view.
Number 2
Blindly demonizing the whole nation will only bring more tension and cause more trouble. People of different nations will end up suspicious of each other and it’ll hamper the dream of unity in humanity.
A magical book that might change your life forever…
This book is written in Malay language by Zulkifli Musa, a Malaysian blogger who’s very knowledgeable in local human resource market. He maintains a popular bi-lingual blog called Skor Career: an excellent resource for those who are concerned about Malaysian job market.
The title literally means “making money without being employed“. It mainly talks about alternative ways for white-collar employees to generate income without the need to work 8 hours a day at office.
Imagine your wife and children leave you because you spend most of your time at the office. This book reveals the harsh reality faced by many white collar employees, where their lives are negatively affected by their work. Not everyone loves to run the office rat race. Many people are forced to work from 9 to 5 till they’re 65. Maybe they’ll live a happier life by making a living by other means as outlined in this book.
If you think white-collar working lifestyle doesn’t suit you and feel like escaping it, then you might need this book. If you love your stable job, or if you are ambitious to climb your career ladder, this book is still valuable to you because you can use it to learn how to generate side income to make your wallet fatter.
This book is easy to read as it’s written in a casual style. Read more about it here.
Green cars, such as hybrid and electrical cars, are expensive and impractical. Some of them still cause some degree of air pollution. That’s why I think to make our environment greener, we shouldn’t focus only on creating the cleanest vehicles, but also on new concepts of human transportation to reduce energy consumption and air pollution. For example, it’s greener for 60 people to travel by 2 normal buses than by 60 bio-fuel cars.
Good City Design - because you don’t want to drive 2 hours to the cinema
Imagine places like shopping centers, schools, and post offices are miles apart within a city. You have to travel a great distance just to do simple things like shopping and sending postcards. Such inconvenience eats away the fuel and your time. That’s why cities should be well designed to reduce the need to travel great distance.
Helsinki, Finland is a well designed city. You can take a cruise ship (Silja or Viking line) from Stockholm to Helsinki and it’ll dock directly at the heart of the city! Just walk a little further and you’ll reach the shopping places, main train station, schools etc. Everything is in walking distance, and you hardly need a car. Another example of well designed city is Gothenburg of Sweden, where walking is the best mode of transportation to get you anywhere.
Map of Helsinki, Finland
Providing green transportation infrastructure - because you don’t want to cycle in the middle of the road
The government should enable “green traffic” by providing the required infrastructure. You just need to visit cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen and see how people travel around. Their bicycle lanes can be as wide as a two lane road! No wonder so many people choose to travel by bikes. Possibly in the future, there’ll be lanes for Segways.
Thousands of bicycles in Münster, Germany
Public transportation network - because it’s better than getting stuck in front of traffic lights
Those who live in developing nations know how lousy their buses and trains are: confusing and never punctual. It’ll be great if the government sets up an efficient public transportation network throughout the city, which allows people to commute easily. That will reduce the dependence on cars.
The network has to be integrated, where the buses/subway/trams/trains are under one system or management so that people can transit easily between different modes of transportation. We just need to buy a ticket to use all modes of transportation in the city. Proper incentives should be offered to encourage people to use the public transportation network. Frequent travelers should get cheaper ticket (normally it comes in the form of weekly or monthly pass). People who travel in one group should also get cheaper group tickets. I wish they provide us free coffee too!
Transportation network in Frankfurt, Germany
* * * * *
I know some of you are familiar with the ideas mentioned above, but they are still new to many countries. If every major city implements them, the world will be much greener.
Eating is basic human activity to stay alive. It gives us nutrient, brings us pleasure, and keeps hunger away.
This simple activity gradually evolves into complex rituals in human society, where it plays an important role to initiate and encourage human interaction. It also serves other purposes such as fulfilling emotional needs and healing. Here are some of the “applications” of eating in human society:
Healing or recovery
Growing (for children)
Improve health
Refreshing body and mind
Gaining pleasure from food (taste, smell, texture etc.)
Gaining experience from new kind of food
Recalling old experience from food
Reducing stress
Escaping reality through eating
Showing gratitude
Expressing apology
Expressing joy
Being a part of religious rituals
Celebrating
Partying
A way to past time
Initiating conversation
Trading (barter trade a meal for something)
Initiating other activities, such as negotiation and business dealing (this includes prostitution)
Make a lot of people gather together at certain place/time (Banquet, wedding dinner etc.)
Enabling mass socialization
Showing one’s social or financial status
Getting to know someone better
Conveying certain message or making certain announcement
Spreading propaganda
Marketing gimmick and business promotion
Courting and inducing romantic/sexual relationship
Strengthen relationship amongst individuals
Asking favor from someone
Getting people together to start negotiation or discussion
Motivating people
and many more….
I’m writing this thing down because not many people think deeply about this very important aspect of human life. Hmmm…. I’m thinking of eating pizza now.
Human beings naturally seek happiness in life. But how can we find it?
Real happiness comes from within. It’s really a matter of personal choice. Yes, life is always about making choices. And that includes how you choose to feel. If you choose to feel horrible even when you live in heaven, *shrugs* - nothing helps.
Gratitude makes us appreciate life and feel satisfied with things we have in our hands. A poor person who’s grateful can live a happy life despite having little material belongings. Gratitude is like a pair of magic spectacles. When you wear it, you can see simple miracles happening every moment in life.
A sense of purpose in life is like a warm blanket covering us during cold days. Having a role to play in society and contributing to humanity helps to keep us grounded. Without a sense of purpose in life, we’ll feel stagnant and miserable. That’s why it’s healthy to engage others and stay active in society. It’s a powerful mood booster.
Our social aspect in life affects us significantly. How happy can you be when you live alone like a hermit? How nice is life when you have a lot of enemies surrounding you? Invest time, money, and energy in your social life and make more friends. You would like it when you are surrounded by many happy faces. It’s warm to have people laugh with you.
Standing firmly with both feet on solid ground is important. I’m saying that reality in life is important and still relevant to our state of mind. I bet you won’t be in happy mood when you are facing huge debt and job loss problem and your children are starving. We should deal with our reality and manage it well, so that reality can become a comfortable life support system for us to live a happy life. You can choose to strive for success in life (wealth, career, fame etc.). That way not only you live in a comfortable, solid reality, you also gain satisfaction from it. However, don’t over-believe that money and success is every thing in life. It’s important, but it’s just an fraction of the whole.
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