My mom only has one plan for my three-week back-to-China trip: finding me an ideal husband. A month before I dragged my luggage to Logan Airport, she already has three candidates lined up: my high school teacher introduced a former student of her colleague - imaging how my teacher received a call from my mom one day, seven years after the final class I took with her, asking for this special favor; words got around in the campus that Ella is looking for a husband, then the colleague, from the next building(!) suggested a candidate; phone calls were made, candidate was chosen and this awkward date was set up.
The second candidate is introduced by my mom's former patient - and the process is no less embarrassing. Apparently, my mom (a head nurse) was complaining to the nurses in her office about my lack of initiative to find her a son-in-law, and one of the nurses relayed the information when their former patients came to visit. After a Eureka moment, one of the patients suggested that her nephew, whom she hasn't seen for 2 years, would be a perfect husband candidate for the head nurse's daughter she has never met.
And the third one is the son of my aunt-in-law's brother's co-worker's cousin. I won't even attempt to know how this connection is made.
The very fact that my mom went through all these layers of connections to find me an ideal husband spoke of the zeal Chinese mothers put in matchmaking.
But there is more. Almost all of my closest girl friends have been in my shoes before. They, like me, plunged into some of the best high education China has to offer and came out capable and independent. They are no longer the mommy's girls that would nod to whoever comes along offering a warm apartment and a stay-at-home life. This doesn't mean that the guys don't market themselves that way though - as many as "gold-worshipper girls" (bai jin nu), there are guys who ask girls out by saying "I have a monthly salary of ... I have my own house and a car". A friend of mine rejected two such guys in one day, and now she is still single.
Han Jun Wei's set of photos depicted the unsatisfying dating choices "new Chinese women" face, but the truth is that as much as my girl friends pick and choose and toss away their suitors, there are many guys who do not like the new generation of Chinese women. My friends have told me that their previous match-making dates had stopped contacting them after the first date because they (the girls) "have their own opinion" (you zhu jian) - they are not the traditional Chinese beauties that rely entirely on her husband in every way, without an independent mind to speak of.
In 2008, female college graduates amounts to 52.96% of total graduates, which means that the year 2008 alone created over 40 thousand more women with a college degree than men with the same degree, according to China Year Book 2009. All the while, China has a male surplus of 3% of the population, around 400 million more males than females in total. That is to say, if the Chinese women insist on only marrying men with equal or higher levels of education, and/or if the men demands superiority over women, mismatches would be the common theme in this generation's dating culture.
A gap is emerging between the Chinese men, many still have their heads rooted in the ancient patriarchy ideal of family and unable to accept an equally capable woman into "his" family, and the women, growing more successful, and independent than before and in some ways superior than men. I'm not sure if we'll see the "end of men" in China as Hanna Rosin predicts for the U.S. but things are not looking good for Chinese men to say the least - and if they cannot respect women's rising position in the society we are going to see way more sulky single men than the society may tolerate.
Alas, this is the story of how I'm deemed unmarriable.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
China to Levy Environmental Tax – Don’t Cheer Yet
Environmental tax is not a niche idea - China has been contemplating an environmental tax regime for some years now, see previous coverage: 2007, 2008, 2009. And after our "grizzled" China-watcher has waited for an entire year, Beijing announced its plan to reform the taxation system, of which the introduction of an environmental tax could be an important component.
To shed light on the possible new tax regime, People's Daily interviewed Su Ming, associate director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, and you can read the English translation by my friend Graham Webster here.
In China's existing taxation system of 19 items, five major ones are environmentally related: resource tax, consumer tax, motor vehicle tax, value-added tax and corporate income tax. A comprehensive environmental tax regime could include the "greening" of the existing taxes, and the creation of a separate environmental tax.
Take the consumer tax for instance. Established in 1994, it now has 14 items, 8 of which are related to environment, and they are: fireworks, motorcycles, cars, cigarettes and alcohol, wood-made disposable chopsticks, refined oil products, and hardwood flooring. Note that the taxation on disposable chopsticks and hardwood flooring are added in 2006, signaling a progress in China's environmental-consciousness in taxation.
Similarly, the other existing taxes could be adjusted for the benefit of environmental protection. The current environmental tax under discussion would primarily be a new separate tax including carbon tax, and hopefully, tax on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and industrial water pollutants - four biggest environmental enemies in China today. The next step could be solid waste, garbage tax, noise tax, etc.
However the tax is defined at last, we should pay particularly attention to two things:
1. Measurement of the pollutants or environmental impact, which would be the basis for the tax, requires not only competent agents of action, be it local environmental bureau or other agencies, but also strong and vibrant citizen participation. As seen from the utilization of the current Environmental Impact Assessment Law, local environmental bureaus are extremely weak (as opposed to the local enterprises), with the exception of Beijing Environmental Bureau, and so far voluntary citizen groups have been the primary agents in provoking this law to protect their living environment. To make the environmental tax system work, China has to give environmental NGOs and private citizens more space to act as a check on the industries.
2. Revenue-neutral. In the interview Graham translated, Su Peng said the taxation would receive support among local governments because of their revenue increase. Yet it is crucial that the taxation does not increase the already immense inequality. We can all name a dozen reasons why a proposed environmental tax would affect the poor much more than the rich. But in China, because of the type of jobs those heavy industries or coal fire plants offer, it is very likely that those factories and power plants would just shift the extra tax burden onto their uneducated, short-contracted (many even without a contract) workers. So this calls for more rigorous enforcement of Labor Law and Labor Contract Law in addition to a social welfare net to ensure that the cost does not shift to the poor. Many proposals of balancing the environmental tax revenue suggest using the revenue in environmental restoration or reallocating neighborhoods around the heavy-industry factories. Either way, this should be of main concern to the policy makers.
To shed light on the possible new tax regime, People's Daily interviewed Su Ming, associate director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, and you can read the English translation by my friend Graham Webster here.
In China's existing taxation system of 19 items, five major ones are environmentally related: resource tax, consumer tax, motor vehicle tax, value-added tax and corporate income tax. A comprehensive environmental tax regime could include the "greening" of the existing taxes, and the creation of a separate environmental tax.
Take the consumer tax for instance. Established in 1994, it now has 14 items, 8 of which are related to environment, and they are: fireworks, motorcycles, cars, cigarettes and alcohol, wood-made disposable chopsticks, refined oil products, and hardwood flooring. Note that the taxation on disposable chopsticks and hardwood flooring are added in 2006, signaling a progress in China's environmental-consciousness in taxation.
Similarly, the other existing taxes could be adjusted for the benefit of environmental protection. The current environmental tax under discussion would primarily be a new separate tax including carbon tax, and hopefully, tax on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and industrial water pollutants - four biggest environmental enemies in China today. The next step could be solid waste, garbage tax, noise tax, etc.
However the tax is defined at last, we should pay particularly attention to two things:
1. Measurement of the pollutants or environmental impact, which would be the basis for the tax, requires not only competent agents of action, be it local environmental bureau or other agencies, but also strong and vibrant citizen participation. As seen from the utilization of the current Environmental Impact Assessment Law, local environmental bureaus are extremely weak (as opposed to the local enterprises), with the exception of Beijing Environmental Bureau, and so far voluntary citizen groups have been the primary agents in provoking this law to protect their living environment. To make the environmental tax system work, China has to give environmental NGOs and private citizens more space to act as a check on the industries.
2. Revenue-neutral. In the interview Graham translated, Su Peng said the taxation would receive support among local governments because of their revenue increase. Yet it is crucial that the taxation does not increase the already immense inequality. We can all name a dozen reasons why a proposed environmental tax would affect the poor much more than the rich. But in China, because of the type of jobs those heavy industries or coal fire plants offer, it is very likely that those factories and power plants would just shift the extra tax burden onto their uneducated, short-contracted (many even without a contract) workers. So this calls for more rigorous enforcement of Labor Law and Labor Contract Law in addition to a social welfare net to ensure that the cost does not shift to the poor. Many proposals of balancing the environmental tax revenue suggest using the revenue in environmental restoration or reallocating neighborhoods around the heavy-industry factories. Either way, this should be of main concern to the policy makers.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Letter from China
Landed in Shanghai several days ago, I was soon reminded of how overwhelming the city is: white heat, endless streams of loud cars, and equally ferocious bicycles and motorcycles.
One of the first thing I did was to look for a bank that could let me withdraw cash from my Bank of America account. I was told that a CITIC Bank was two bus stops away - it was not long before I realized that the distance between two Shanghai bus stops was almost twice their U.S. counterpart; and the distance between Harvard Square to MIT (two subway stops away) was nothing compared to the same thing in Shanghai. Also, I learned that day that Chinese banks did not process foreign debit card withdrawal - or so I was told.
The minute I got back home, I had to battle with the omnipresent Great Firewall of China: Google feeds - blocked, twitter - blocked, this very own blog host - blocked. I started searching for the software and plugins I used to use to bypass the GFW but found all of their websites were blocked; the few that remain accessible only offer proxy solutions for PC. Yes, China is still predominantly a PC (and IE) nation. My only option is to use the painfully-slow Harvard VPN for the moment.
The Shanghainese I stayed with are extremely proud of the Expo. Granted, they have complaints: they complain that the whole nation has to pay for the Beijing Olympics, but it is the Shanghai government who got the bill of the entire Shanghai Expo, including the China Pavilion; they complain about the millions of outsiders (wai di ren) flushing into the city and the trouble of managing thousands of volunteers (the couple are university administrators and former Ministry of Education officials). I asked what would the money be spent on if it's not used in the Expo, their answer was equivocal - we have tacit knowledge that Chinese governments, unlike their American counterparts, are the ones hoarding the big bulks, as opposed to private citizens, and in this Communist country, unlike Denmark or Sweden, little of the money goes into social welfare. No one really knows how much the Expo cost exactly, but as the Shanghainese couple commented, the main cost went to upgrading Shanghai's infrastructure - $45 billion. But shall people worry about the quality of the subway lines that were built so fast, given the ubiquitous corruption in the construction business in China? And what about the displaced households, silenced dissidents, and the migrant workers who are again jobless in Shanghai after the construction work?
Still, my friends were very proud of the Expo and urged me to go despite my reluctance. They raved about how magnificent the architecture was, how many country brought a few pieces of their treasure, and of course, how the China Pavilion was absolutely spectacular with a giant high-tech version of the nation's most famous ancient painting scroll and the most valued terra cotta warrior and chariot set from Xi'an.
So I went to the Expo and was shocked: I had never seen so many people at one place in my life - and I grew up in China! It's astonishing that millions of people were here in the scorching sun just to stand for hours in lines to see what essentially was just a big room with a short film about a foreign country and another room with picture displays - and another big room about a different foreign country, and another one. This is my genuine comment about the entire Expo with no disrespect for any of the participating countries. I went to some of the most loved Pavilions including Spain and Italy, but I have to say, waiting for 9 hours on a 40-degree-Celsius day to see them is just insane. [My favorite is Holland, and that might get its own post]
And here I am in my hometown Hangzhou, after merely an hour's train ride from Shanghai - one of the fastest train line in China. I still have to figure out how to beat the Great Firewall while (re)adjusting to my life back in China - that turned out to be more difficult than recovering from the jet leg. Wish me luck:)
Oh by the way, the best proof that I'm back in China:
street vendors in Shanghai selling DVDs of pirated movies, TV shows and computer games.
One of the first thing I did was to look for a bank that could let me withdraw cash from my Bank of America account. I was told that a CITIC Bank was two bus stops away - it was not long before I realized that the distance between two Shanghai bus stops was almost twice their U.S. counterpart; and the distance between Harvard Square to MIT (two subway stops away) was nothing compared to the same thing in Shanghai. Also, I learned that day that Chinese banks did not process foreign debit card withdrawal - or so I was told.
The minute I got back home, I had to battle with the omnipresent Great Firewall of China: Google feeds - blocked, twitter - blocked, this very own blog host - blocked. I started searching for the software and plugins I used to use to bypass the GFW but found all of their websites were blocked; the few that remain accessible only offer proxy solutions for PC. Yes, China is still predominantly a PC (and IE) nation. My only option is to use the painfully-slow Harvard VPN for the moment.
The Shanghainese I stayed with are extremely proud of the Expo. Granted, they have complaints: they complain that the whole nation has to pay for the Beijing Olympics, but it is the Shanghai government who got the bill of the entire Shanghai Expo, including the China Pavilion; they complain about the millions of outsiders (wai di ren) flushing into the city and the trouble of managing thousands of volunteers (the couple are university administrators and former Ministry of Education officials). I asked what would the money be spent on if it's not used in the Expo, their answer was equivocal - we have tacit knowledge that Chinese governments, unlike their American counterparts, are the ones hoarding the big bulks, as opposed to private citizens, and in this Communist country, unlike Denmark or Sweden, little of the money goes into social welfare. No one really knows how much the Expo cost exactly, but as the Shanghainese couple commented, the main cost went to upgrading Shanghai's infrastructure - $45 billion. But shall people worry about the quality of the subway lines that were built so fast, given the ubiquitous corruption in the construction business in China? And what about the displaced households, silenced dissidents, and the migrant workers who are again jobless in Shanghai after the construction work?
Still, my friends were very proud of the Expo and urged me to go despite my reluctance. They raved about how magnificent the architecture was, how many country brought a few pieces of their treasure, and of course, how the China Pavilion was absolutely spectacular with a giant high-tech version of the nation's most famous ancient painting scroll and the most valued terra cotta warrior and chariot set from Xi'an.
So I went to the Expo and was shocked: I had never seen so many people at one place in my life - and I grew up in China! It's astonishing that millions of people were here in the scorching sun just to stand for hours in lines to see what essentially was just a big room with a short film about a foreign country and another room with picture displays - and another big room about a different foreign country, and another one. This is my genuine comment about the entire Expo with no disrespect for any of the participating countries. I went to some of the most loved Pavilions including Spain and Italy, but I have to say, waiting for 9 hours on a 40-degree-Celsius day to see them is just insane. [My favorite is Holland, and that might get its own post]
And here I am in my hometown Hangzhou, after merely an hour's train ride from Shanghai - one of the fastest train line in China. I still have to figure out how to beat the Great Firewall while (re)adjusting to my life back in China - that turned out to be more difficult than recovering from the jet leg. Wish me luck:)
Oh by the way, the best proof that I'm back in China:
street vendors in Shanghai selling DVDs of pirated movies, TV shows and computer games.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
China's Renewable Energy Policy
If you only read one article today, I hope you'd read Mayer Brown report on China's renewable energy policy, which offers both the grand picture and the details of developments in China's energy law and regulations. Before this, we've seen news of China's plan to use market measures - levy carbon tax and raise petroleum price - to mitigate consumption of traditional-energy. And in March, China has already surpassed U.S. as the world's largest investor in renewable energy.
Yet these changes seem to be not early enough - just a couple of days ago, news broke out that China has overtaken U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer, in total, not per capita.
See the data below: (i LOVE charts!)
China's renewable energy investment/policy is definitely the most important news to watch. For a detailed report of global green energy investment, check out this.
Yet these changes seem to be not early enough - just a couple of days ago, news broke out that China has overtaken U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer, in total, not per capita.
See the data below: (i LOVE charts!)
Total Energy Consumption - U.S. and China (Million tons of oil equivalents),
2009 number is estimation
Total Energy Consumption Per Capita - U.S. and China (Million tons of oil equivalent)
China's renewable energy investment/policy is definitely the most important news to watch. For a detailed report of global green energy investment, check out this.
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