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As Trade Slows, China Rethinks Its Growth Strategy
As Trade Slows, China Rethinks Its Growth Strategy from the NY Times and a similar article from the Christian Monitor - China favors jobs at home over freer tradeChina was pursuing policies to give up lower end manufacturing through ending tax breaks and such. With the down turn, China has abandoned that policy for the moment and put back many of the tax breaks such as textiles. Of course as China focuses on this area again, countries which are into textiles such as Indonesia and Bangladesh will not be very happy. The US also had Import Quotas on Chinese Textiles which will expire Jan. 1, so this will be interesting... US has or will soon file a complaint with the WTO for unfair subsidiaries by China, there are still some areas of the US that produce garments and feel threatened by China, mostly in the South of the US. Why is China risking angering other nations in this area? Because the leadership fears social unrest more than complaints about trade from other nations. Labels: china's future
Future US - California under China Influence?
Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S. Fascinating article on a strange Russian belief of how the US could splinter. Looking at the map is a great way to get a good laugh. The part of California becoming part of China, along with most of the Western US is interesting. My Mother's comment (she has a Masters in History) was what does this say when this person is of such a high position in Russian, and second is he's clueless about the US. My thought was the Civil War changed us to we, and that has not changed. Splitting Montana from Idaho? Not understanding that California is not the most popular state around. Labels: china's future
China's Corruption Challenge
Choosing a Chinese Dictionary
Learn Chinese Software Comparison Table Updated
Chinese Brides in Taiwan
Two articles from the BBC News. There are 250,000 Chinese spouses in Taiwan, which make up 20% of all marriages. 23 Million people in Taiwan. Fertility rate of 1.2%. About 5% of all Taiwanese live in China, or 1.1 Million. Cost for match making services is NT$300,000 or about $10,000 US. There is also a lot of opportunity for people working in China to find a Chinese spouse. The marriage rate per year of Chinese spouses in Taiwan was about 30,000, then there was a crackdown bringing it down to 14,000 per year in 2007, and now it will probably go up to 30,000 again with the latest changes. There are also over 50,000 spouses from other countries that had more lenient rules than the Chinese Brides, but that has now changed. My guess is in another 10 years, there will be over 500,000 Chinese brides in Taiwan, or about 5% of the population. Currently it's about 2.5% of the population. Now, if you combine the brides with their husbands that is 5% of all people living in Taiwan, and in 10 years would be 10%. And how many families now have a brother, son, uncle, etc. who has married somebody from Mainland China. What is the opinion of these family members? Thanks God my male relative finally married? Or negative. What percentage of these people vote? Does their voting record change after marriage? I am sure that somebody is thinking about the potential voting block here, especially when you look beyond just the 2.5%. Per the Taipei Times there is also a fall in Taiwanese studying in the US (another blog post) since I was lucky enough to marry a Taiwanese whom was studying in the US 20 years ago. Labels: taiwan
Christmas E-Mails from Customers
It was such a wonderful surprise to get Christmas E-Mails from my customers! Thanks for everyone who sent Christmas E-Mail! Labels: childbook
More Flash Card Games
Flash Card Games my daughter has played in Class she wrote up for me: 1.) 2 students - one student picks a card at random and looks at it. Then you play twenty questions with it, trying to guess what the card is. 2.) get a group of people and then lay the cards out on the table. Then have one person say the word on the card and the first one to pick it gets the point. 3.)Play bingo with the cards. 4x4 4.) That memory game where you find the same card twice. 5.) Google it. i forgot Chinese Flash Cards are a great way make Learning Chinese fun and introduce some competition which helps Learning. Another Site for Flash Card Games: Previous Blog Post on This: My selection of Chinese Flash Cards including Simplified Chinese Flash Cards and Traditional Chinese Flash Cards. Labels: chinese flash cards
What Chinese American Parents do to help their kids
Chinese Parents's Influence on Academic Performance - From a Journal on Bilingual Education. Summary - Chinese Parents have a great influence on their kids Academic Performance. From personal experience, Chinese parents in the Rowland Height area here is a list of what I have seen. Please add to it as needed. - Huge expectations for the kids academically.
- Massive guilt trips if their kids don't do well. Do you know how much I sacrificed, or when I was your age I was #1 in my class, or ...
- They have a pass/fail expectation. A is pass, everything else is Fail.
- Will have their kids go to after school tutoring for Math and English.
- Will have their kids attend SAT prep. schools that are not cheap.
- Usually less emphasis on sports, cheer, and sports related areas. Tennis and Badminton are exceptions.
- Will move to a better school district for their kids.
- Will go into debt so their kids can go to a great school.
- Will pay advisors to help their kid get into a great school.
- Will go on trips to visit top schools on the East Coast.
- Target is often Ivy League.
- Will push their kids with a specific career goal. Hmm, your sister will be a Dr., you will be an Engineer.
- Will often go out to Starbucks if their child is studying late.
- Will always go to back to school and such.
- Will push their kids to join Orchestra and will then get top talent to tutor them with after school lessons (as long as the main grades don't go down).
- Will have their kids Learn Piano. In the local Piano Association, 90% of the students are either Chinese or Korean.
- Will tutor their kids in Math through Geometry, often higher.
- Give gifts to teachers at Christmas (even if their child dislikes the Teacher).
Labels: college admissions, parenting
Chinese Flash Card Games
So you bought some Chinese Flash Cards, now what? Do you in solitaire just memorize them? Flip them over if you don't know them, and put the ones you don't know in a separate stack from the ones you know? What you can do is making flash cards fun. To help this, it's helpful to find another person or more who is learning Chinese so you can make this more fun and add some competition in it. Some Games for using Chinese Flash Cards: 1. With two or more people, have a competition on who can say the word the fastest. If doing this individually, time yourself and award the winner by accuracy, amount done correct in a given time, etc. There are a lot of ways to measure this if you decide to do it solitary. If done with 2 or more, the person who gets the word correct gets the card. After all words have been done correctly, the one with the most cards win. 2. Put 10 Flash Cards on the ground. Say a word and the first person who says the word is the winner for that round. The teacher can continue to say the word, or then have the person who said the word choose another card and say the word on it. This can also be done with teams, and points can be tracked on the board. Children love to play on teams and keep count. Or hold up a flash card and see which team says it first. 3. Play Bingo with one Flash Card Set - Create a grid 3 by 3 on the board. Bingo will be defined as any three in a row (don't get me started on Bingo Games, I am a caller for the Booster Bingo at my daughter's school). Select 27 cards at random and put the 3 Chinese word in each square. Divide the class into two teams. Hold up a card, and the first team to get it right if that square matches gets that square. 4. Playing Bingo with two flash card sets. Set up a 3 x 3 grid on the board. Fill it in with 9 Chinese words from the flash cards. Distribute one set of flash cards to the class. Create two teams if enough students. Keep one flash card set yourself and separate out the 9 cards, and hold up one flash card. The student have to check their flash cards to see if it matches. Then the team has to say the word correctly. If they don't say it correctly, the other team has a chance. The team that wins a round gets the bingo square. Other Sites with Flash Card ideas: ESL, EFL and TEFL Games and Activities - Great quote from the site: Flashcards are probably the most important resource that any teacher can have especially when teaching younger children. The site has a great list of Games! Flashcard games | Teaching English | British Council | BBC - BBC has a great site for Learning English and the ideas can also be used in Teaching Chinese. Flashcard Games & Activities Frame - Lots of ideas for Flash Card Games for the class room. Flashcard Games to Practice Spelling Lists: Spelling Activities - OK, but not great. Labels: chinese flash cards
Chinese toy makers' struggles dim Christmas joy
Chinese toy makers' struggles dim Christmas joy from the LA Times. And there are a lot of new requirements for lead testing for toys which are going to have a big impact on the toy industry. The retail environment this Christmas has been challenging. The question is will consumer confidence in the US change after the inauguration, or keep the same? And what will happen in China as the US imports less, causes challenges to the steady high growth that has done so much to reduce poverty in China? This is an interesting quote: The big consumer holiday in China is the lunar New Year -- and parents buy clothing and shoes for their children, not toys. hmm... Clothing - In the US I would recommend for Girl's Chinese Dresses my wife's site, EliteDresses.comLabels: china's future
Coloring Pages and Worksheets - Users Worldwide!
Panda's to Taiwan
Interesting politics... China pandas lift off for Taiwan - AP When linked the Panda's names, "Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan" mean "reunion" in Chinese. I enjoyed seeing a Panda baby in Washington DC's zoo, as well as Panda's closer to home in San Diego. One of my first stuffed animals was a Panda Bear I think my Father had gotten in Thailand. Some Panda related Books: And of course the Learning Chinese DVD's Early Start DVD's all have Bao Bei the PandaLabels: panda
Chinese History
I bought a series of DVD's called from Yao to Mao from by the Teaching Company, and today I watched the first 2 episodes of the 36 episode series. The lecturer, Ken Hammond, did a pretty good job. My parents, who I invited over for lunch and to watch the DVD's, commented they did the very good job with an area that is usually pretty boring. Minor points they would have liked to have seen more the bronzes (what do you expect from people to whom history is a hobby, and have Master's in it). The background of Ken Hammond is amazing what he has gone through. Someday I would like to take one of the tours his wife offers of China through the Smithsonian. OK, may be I use google a bit to much when I get curious on a subject... The first two lectures were on the area of history I usually don't find very interesting, pre-historic and to me general background and were very well done. My plan is to watch two episodes every week. Chinese history as I mentioned before is an area I have not formally studied, but I would like to learn more about. Some books I carry about Chinese History:  |  | | | | | The Great Voyage of Zheng He, Bilingual Book | Our Price: $16.95
Sale Price: $14.95
You Save $2.00!   |
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Bilingual in English & Traditional Chinese
- Zheng He is the famous Chinese Admiral that lead seven naval expeditions for the Emperor.
- His expeditions stunned the world with its daring exploration, immense wealth, and military might.
Great introduction book for children to learn about Chinese history
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Labels: Chinese History
Blog Comment Moderation
I really did not want to do this, but I am turning on the comment moderation feature. To many SPAM Comments and I would rather they not show up in the first place saving me time. Labels: Learning Chinese Blogs
The Return of Zheng He? China's Navy on the Move
Chinese New Year Spectactular - Bought the Tickets
I bought the tickets for the Chinese New Year Spectacular for my family today. I was in Costco, minding my own business buying a few items for gifts, and they still had the booth for Chinese New Year Spectacular. And the Senior person remembered me as I quickly tried to walk on by and they had a deal, and I am a sucker for a deal, so after a few feeble protests I agreed to buy the tickets. My daughter really wanted to go. My Mother had offered to buy the tickets as a Xmas Present, or a DVD Series on Chinese History, and I had chosen the DVD Series. I decided I wanted the DVD's more since I never formally learned about Chinese History, my knowledge is through self study and I am pretty good from the Opium Wars to modern times but all the dynasties I am pretty weak on. Labels: chinese new year
China Ban's 17 More Food Additives
Updating how to Learn Chinese Overseas
China's Output Growth Slows Sharply
China's Output Growth Slows Sharply Wall Street Journal.
It's going to be a challenge for China since a certain rate of growth is expected as the country is modernized, the number 8% seems to be the magic number. Things to watch for: Will the government keep it's mandate if growth slows below that? Will internal markets grow as China focuses on exporting less to take up the slack? Will democracy at a local level be introduced again (there were some experiments at a village level in 1999. References - A Chinese experiment in democracy meets fierce resistance ..Labels: china's future
China transport links to help spur Taiwan economy
China transport links to help spur Taiwan economy - from Reuters. Basically by allowing direct commercial transportation, it helps Taiwan's economy. I am sure the current President hopes so. Basically the article is full of what is hoped for, what will actually happen is a good question. Especially with direct flights available from China. The question is what value can Taiwan, and it's competitors Singapore and HK offer? China offers opportunity, but it's also a competitor to Taiwan. One possible area would be in semiconductors, where some operations are done in China, where others are done in Taiwan. A previous semiconductor I worked for did the fab (creating wafers) in the US, then did the testing, cutting, and mounting I believe in Singapore, and then flew them back to the US for the final testing. And when I left they were moving the final testing overseas (semiconductors is always looking to cut costs, overall it's all about huge volumes and efficiency). Labels: taiwan
Public Speaking in Chinese or English - Practice!
It does not matter what language you are going to be doing public speaking in, it pays to practice. This way you avoid embarrassment in front of your audience. My daughter was singing in a choir and the announcements were in both English and Chinese. The English was fine, unfortunately the poor girl speaking did not know some of the words in Chinese, and it showed. The same thing happened last year to the poor Senior who was the announcer in Chinese. Practice, practice, and practice! It makes life so much easier! Oh, thanks for asking about how my daughter did. A+! She had some mini solos and sang beautifully. Labels: Learning Chinese
The Karate Kid’ remake goes to China
The Karate Kid’ remake goes to China. I remember the original movie from High School, how times change. When I in High School Japan was cool, now it's China turn. The original film was pretty good, I hope they do as good job with the new one. Labels: china's future
How many web pages is to much?
Some days it feels like the amount of articles and other web pages I have on childbook has gotten out of control. I did a count yesterday and it's about 400 web pages. And I only have 1000 products. So it's 2.5 products per page. Labels: childbook
Chinese Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources
First Chinese American Energy Secretary
China vs. US System
In China, the government is touting the fact since they are more centralized in their control, for example all invoices need to be printed by the government with a unique number on it), that they are doing a better job than the decentralized US government. Evidence of this per China, is now with the Auto Bailout, the US is acting more like China. In fact, China is helping their major Auto Company Cherry with $1.45 Billion in loans for exporting cars. Great Quote:“We’re at this moment in history, in which the Chinese are touting that their system is better than ours” with their mix of capitalism and state control, said Mr. Garten, who has long experience in Asia. “And our response, it looks like, is to begin replicating what they’ve been doing.” Labels: china's future
Kafka in China
Whistle-Blowers in Chinese City Sent to Mental Hospital from the NY Times. What is fascinating about this story is it appeared in the official Chinese paper and news bureau (ie someone in the central government is backed this). So the question is why, and what will happen? The who I assumed we will never know, and the how is publishing it in a major newspaper. The four questions a reporter should ask are who, what, why and how. I hope it's signaling a crackdown on corruption and abuse of power by local officials. I know, I am just an optimist! Labels: china's future
Chinese Wedding Coloring Pages
Chinese New Year Coloring Pages Updates
China's 6 to 1 advantage over the US
China’s six-to-one advantage over the US from the Asia Times. Great article, I wish I had written it! As I type this, I am listening to my daughter practice on her Kawai Grand Piano for her first Piano competition. The article states how 36 Million Chinese are learning the Piano, while only 6 Million in the US are. And how listening to classical music is the highest form of Western Culture, and the article wonders how the creativity required for this will impact China in the future. And the fact that Piano requires a lot of discipline and focus, which can be very valuable. Labels: piano
China prepares blacklist of dangerous food additives
China prepares blacklist of dangerous food additives from the Herald Tribune. The article is pretty sparse, my feeling is this is more of a publicity gambit. The real issue is how to enforce the current standards and requirements in China, which gets into the following the law, which gets into the issue of a working civil society (ie one that has a much lower level of corruption). My opinion is until the level of corruption is substantially reduced there will continue to be these type of challenges. The challenge is corruption is so widespread and reaches so far up, that the ruling party is afraid to confront it since they believe this would endanger their position, by showing an area of weakness. What I believe is needed is for China to free up the press and let it go after corruption, no matter what the level. The US had a Vice President, Spiro Agnew, who pleaded guilty to taking a bribe. That's the #2 person in the US and it shows how far the US has come in reducing corruption. The US had a period of corruption that reached pretty far up in government, but through reformers it has become minimal (yes, I know about the congressman with FBI money in his freezer, and reelected in 2006). He just lost the 2008 election! Voters Oust Indicted Congressman in Louisiana from the NY Times.
Labels: china's future
New Year Spectactular at Costco
Not what I expected at my local Costco in City of Industry!
Chinese New Year Calendar Events, Parades, and Festivals has a list of all the Cities in the US that the Chinese New Year Spectacular is in. And yes, I know who's behind it - so what, the show is amazing from the reviews I have read the couple of years I have been following it, and they have around 50 shows around the world. They even had a book at Costco with scenes from the Chinese New Year Show! The group putting it on has done an amazing job on the publicity and it's the largest Chinese New Year Show I know of... I don't mind getting review tickets either... And no, the picture of me wearing a Chinese costume, I think it was also yellow with the hat that was so tight it left marks on my head, is not going to be uploaded anytime soon ;-) If you have wedding photographs done in a Chinese studio you can also wear similar costumes. I have a super cute picture of my daughter as a Chinese Princess wearing the same style of costume. Picture from Costco of the Divine Performing Arts Table:  My daughter's picture from a while ago:  Labels: Chinese New Year Events
Teaching Chinese without knowing it
Chinese Moon Festival Worksheets
Chinese Moon Festival Worksheets!I just updated the page making it so much better! Now there are thumbnails of each of the worksheets along with a descriptions. Chinese Moon Festival worksheets including one for matching, word search, jumbled letters, and missing letters. They are a great resource for in the classroom for a Chinese Moon Festival Unit, or for use at home! Labels: Chinese moon festival
Chinese New Year Worksheets - Free and Printable
Early Start Mandarin DVD
#6 of the Early Start Mandarin DVD's just came out, Happy Birthday. You can also buy a bundle of all 6 Early Start DVD's at a great price! And they are zoneless Labels: Learning Chinese
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