How I Get Kicked Out of the National Press Building

The National Press Club hosted a presidential debate viewing party on Tuesday, open to the public. My good friend Damien and I went there around 10pm after a heated Risk battle. (Not really, Damien quickly dominated the game after having conquered Africa from the start, but that's another story.) 

Seeing no one but the security staff at the front desk, I asked if we could go up for the public viewing of the debate. I was told that "your party has to come down and get you." I asked if he has a registration list that he could look up the names. He said no and repeated the same instruction. I asked if "the party" has to be an NPC employee, organizer, or just anyone who is up there. He said that I had been asking the same questions, and I was arguing with him.

If you don't know me personally, I'm 5 feet 2 and less than 100 pound, which makes me in a pretty disadvantaged position to argue with anyone. This is probably why I've learned since I was a kid to never raise my voice or argue with anyone bigger than me (i.e. everyone above the age of 12).

A little flustered, I smiled and said in my kitten-and-baby voice that if I really sound like I was arguing with him, I'm sorry.

He was infuriated, and went out of his cubical and was ready to physically throw me out.

We fled.

That night, I had a nightmare.

Top Picks from The Voice of China

If you are a China watcher, chances are you've been hearing a lot about a recent hit reality show: The Voice of China, a singing competition started in Holland and made popular in US. Yesterday, also the Mid-Autumn Festival, was the grand finale of The Voice, which has been receiving the highest ratings (a staggering above-40 percent) among all TV shows in mainland China.

I am a huge fan of the show. Even though the winners are not chosen by popular votes from all TV audience as is done in US, but by a combination of votes from 99 media representatives, and in the finale live performance, votes from attendees of the live show (without announcing the actual number of votes), I do like the final winner -- Liang Bo very much. My favorite contestant, Ping An, didn't break into the final Top 4.

Here are a list of my top picks from the first season of The Voice of China.

Blind Audition: Ping An (Team Yang Kun)

Second-round PK: Liang Bo (Team Na Ying)

First-round PK: Wang Yunyi Vs. Zhao Ke (Team Yu Chengqing)

First-round PK: Da Shan Vs. Chen Juntong (Team Yu Chengqing)

Third-round PK: Jike Junyi (Team Liu Huan)


Grand Finale: Liang Bo (Team Na Ying) -- CHAMPION!

Why I like Ping An the most: his performance in the top 16 round

Panda Diplomacy

Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base launched a series of social media and public campaigns recently for "panda awareness"/ Pambassador. If China does its diplomacy like this research center, it'll probably receive more hugs too.

Madame Kim's Wax Museum

Kim Jong-su, wife of Kim Il-sung and grandmother of North Korea's current leader Kim Jong-un, now has her own wax museum, featuring this statue of her:

Aren't those azalea flowers and shinny new military uniform perfect fitting for the  "Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution"? Ha

If you must know what she actually looks like, here's her photo from Wiki:

Last of NPC/CPPCC, Rare Earth and Other China Headlines

1.      Wen Jiabao Press Conference | Q & A | Issues: (More on Washington Post)

·         Local Government Debts (More on WSJ)

·         Wang Lijun Incident

·         Citizen Critics

·         Income Disparity

·         Non-Public Investment in the Financial Sector

·         Social Justice

·         Tibet

·         GDP Target

·         Syria

·         Hong Kong Election

·         Housing Price Control

·         Political Reform (More on Reuters, Time)

·         Currency

·         Sino-U.S. Relations

·         Cross Strait Relations

2.      CPPCC Conclusion: Top Issues – Quality and Fairness

3.      China: Rare Earths Policy 'in Line with WTO' (Reuters report; NYT: "Specialists Say a Trade Case Against China Maybe Too Late")

4.      Asia-Pacific Talks 'Constructive'

Premier Wen Meets the Press

Updated: 2012-03-14 11:03

Q: What steps will you take in your term to promote social equity and justice? You often log onto the Internet, there are praises as well as criticism on the performance of the Chinese government and yourself. How do you view the criticism?

A: Equality and justice shine more brightly than sunshine. In the past nine years, we have done a lot of work to promote social equity and justice. On the legal front, we amended the Constitution to include respect and guarantee of human rights. We established a Property Law to protect legal private assets. We also amended the Election Law to make rights of urban areas and rural areas equal. We also abolished the Measures for Assisting Vagrants and Beggars so that migrant workers can enter cities freely.

Second, in rural areas, we abolished the agricultural tax to ease the burden of farmers.

Third, in education, we've made nine-year free compulsory education available all over the country.

Fourth, we established and improved the social security system, including old-age pension, medical care and low-income subsistence allowance. Medical care insurance for working and non-working residents and a new type of rural cooperative medical care cover the whole nation.

In the last year of my term, the government will make every effort to pursue several difficult tasks as follows:

First, formulate an integral plan to reform the income distribution system.

Second, establish and issue regulation on expropriation and compensation of rural land.

Third, extend old-age insurance to the whole country. Fourth, boost poverty relief in poor areas.

Fifth, we've arranged the budget for educational expenditures to account for 4 percent of GDP. We'll make every effort to attain the goal and make sure all expenditures reasonable.

All the power of government is entrusted by the people. Therefore, we should create conditions for people to criticize the government. It feels natural for me to see people's criticism.

In fact, many important decisions of government derive from people's criticism. I even think of inviting representatives who often criticize the government to Zhongnanhai, the Chinese government's central compound, to listen to their advice face to face.

However, there are also slanders about me, which pains me. My individual personality is not understood by them and I feel a bit worried about society. I will press ahead and continue to struggle with courage despite slanders or rumors.

(conti. after the jump)

The End of "Wood Mustache Meat"?

"Four glad meat balls", "wood mustache meat", and "tofu made by woman with freckles" -- who doesn't know these dishes!

Beijing is resolute in eliminating these Chinglish on the menus with a newly released list of standard English names for 2,158 popular dishes. From now on, "four glad meat balls" will be properly called "braised pork balls in gravy". "Wood mustache meat" should be "sautéed sliced pork, eggs and black fungus"; "tofu made by woman with freckles" is of course "mapo tofu".

Beijing Office of Foreign Affairs states that the list is only for reference, and that the restaurants are not obligated to modify their English menus. It is yet to see whether this list would make a difference. Personally, I found the Chinglish dish names quite amusing, I mean, who wouldn't like to have "four happy meat balls"? :)

Santorum on China

Santorum sees China as part of a "gathering storm" of security threats facing the United States, including Iran and Venezuela, he told Secure Freedom Radio in June 2011. He would like to see the United States take a stronger stand with China and wants to rebuild the United States so that it can be a stronger player on the world stage.

In an October 2011 Republican debate, Santorum said in reference to trade issues with China, "I don't want to go to a trade war, I want to beat China. I want to go to war with China and make America the most attractive place in the world to do business.”

16 Feb 2012, Rick Santorum referenced Chinese Vice President Xi's visit to the US before discussing US policy with China.
"I know folks are concerned about currencies. I'm concerned about it too. Governments should not set currencies. Markets should set currency values. And that includes the United States of America," Mr Santorum told supporters in Detroit.

02/27/2012 , Rick Santorum appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press.

FMR. SEN. SANTORUM:  What I voted for was to enforce the law --enforce the tariffs, when China was illegally dumping steel in this country.  That's not a steel bailout.  That's--there are laws in place in this country that protect domestic manufacturers from illegal dumping into this country.  They went through the process, they did the evaluation.  The evaluation was that China was breaking the law, and I supported imposing tariffs.  There was a process here.  That wasn't a bailout.  In fact, the steel industry has never been bailed out.  That's the example that I talk about all the time.  I went through the 1970s and '80s and saw the destruction of the steel industry in southwestern Pennsylvania.  And the steel industry didn't get a bailout.  You know what, it turned out just fine for western Pennsylvania.  We have a much more diversified economy.  And I didn't stand for bailouts then, I didn't stand for bailouts of Wall Street nor Detroit. Governor Romney supported his friends on Wall Street and bailed them out.  And they're doing just fine. 

Latest from NPC

·         Hu Jintao: PLA and the armed police should pay more attention to safeguarding social stability

·         Zhou Yongkang: the judiciary should promote social harmony and stability

·         Bo Xilai remarks on Wang Lijun (More on this from NYT here and here, from WSJ)

·         Zhou Xiaochuan: China has ample room to cut reserve ratio

·         Misc “two sessions” quotes compiled by Caixin.

Hu stresses military's safeguarding social stability

BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday called for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the armed police to pay more attention to safeguarding social stability, including that of military personnel.

Hu, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a plenary meeting of PLA deputies to the National People's Congress on the sidelines of the parliament's annual session.

He noted that every soldier in the military must be aware that development while maintaining stability is the priority.

Hu stressed that the PLA and the armed police must focus on national defense and army building, and adhere to the fundamental requirement of making progress while maintaining stability.

The president called for the PLA and the armed police to prioritize building the military from an ideological and political perspective and deepening preparation for combat to fulfill every assigned task and prepare for the opening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) later this year.
(more after the jump)

Metropolitan Public Safety -- Crowd Wisdom Needed!

Dear friends,

Today I learned with shock that a friend was mugged by a gang at gun point near Dupont Circle. It was 11pm on a Thursday, on 21st between L and M st., which I always considered a safe area. What scared me more was that even after my friend gave them his wallet, they still blocked his way from two sides and hit his head with their guns, resulting in a few wounds that took 16 stitches.

Before I moved from China to U.S., my relatives told me to be extra careful because U.S. is a country where bearing arms is legal. Yes I understand that the origin of the Second Amendment, which is all the more reason why I think it should be rendered obsolete these days --- a violent revolt against the government, really???

I'm not here to argue against the right to bear arms however, I'm here to ask for your ideas and thoughts on how to make the communities safe. What could the society, NGOs, young people do to make their neighborhoods safer? I know that one should always be vigilant when walking alone after dark, but a city should provide its residents and visitors a sense of safety. When I was in Copenhagen, my host family told me with pride that thanks to the welfare system, one could walk around anywhere past midnight without fearing anything, even for a small young woman like me. And I've always felt that way when I was living near Harvard Square in Cambridge too. It never even occurred to me that central DC area could be so dangerous.

What's going on with the social equality/ welfare system in DC? Why are gangs roaming in the metro area? And if we, concerned residents, are coming together to do something to address the issue, to make our visitors feel like they have nothing to fear, what are the actions that we could take?

I look forward to your inputs. Thank you,

Ella

Latest from NPC

·         Wu Bangguo Delivers NPC Standing Committee Work Report | Highlights | Wu: Progress in Protecting People's Welfare

·         Hu Jintao Stresses Stability in Tibet

·         Bo Xilai Vows to Build Safe, Health City (after being absent at yesterday’s sessions)

·         Xie Xuren: China to step up local gov't debt management | property tax reform

Wu Bangguo Delivers NPC Standing Committee Work Report

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) at a plenary meeting of the ongoing NPC annual session Friday.

Highlights:

OVERALL WORK IN 2011

-- The Standing Committee deliberated 24 bills, legal interpretations and draft decisions on legal issues, passed 14 of them, and has presented four of them to this session for deliberation and approval.

-- It listened to and deliberated 14 work reports by the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; investigated implementation of four laws; ratified four treaties and accords China concluded with foreign countries and its accession to one international convention; made decisions on and approved the appointment or removal of a number of employees in state bodies; and made an important contribution to upholding and improving the system of people's congresses and carrying out reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.

LEGISLATIVE WORK IN 2011

-- The NPC Standing Committee has submitted the draft revision of the Criminal Procedure Law to this session for deliberation and approval after two readings.

-- The NPC Standing Committee amended the Law on Personal Income Tax and the Law Concerning the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases.

-- It passed the Law on Administrative Enforcement after deliberating it on five occasions.

-- It examined and approved the interpretations of Article 13, paragraph 1, and Article 19 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the interpretations of Annex I, Article 7, and Annex II, Article 3, of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

-- The NPC Standing Committee worked to make legislation more scientific and democratic, such as expanding the orderly participation of citizens in legislation, actively responding to social concerns and launching a pilot project for evaluating laws after they are passed.

(more after the jump)