ZHENJIANG, China - This smoggy, industrial city is famous for one thing, which it manufactures by the bottle, jug and gallon: vinegar.
But it wants to be famous for something else: being the place where author Pearl S. Buck grew up, where she experienced the sweat and toil of everyday Chinese life that dominated so many of her books and came to define China for a generation of Americans.
In Zhenjiang, where Buck spent much of her first 18 years, the Chinese are working hard to create a viable, profitable tourist industry based on interest in the writer. They are renovating houses and places tied to her to lure visitors from Europe, the United States and Asia.
On Oct. 19, officials here dedicated a grand new Pearl Buck Museum. Here to join them was a 70-person delegation from Pearl S. Buck International, known as PSBI, the Pennsylvania foundation that continues the author’s work in international adoption and children’s aid.
There is also the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace museum in Hillsboro, West Virginia, whose webpage for unknown reasons plays a midi version of “Do You Believe in Life After Love?” by Cher.
I try to read the latest news from my former home, Nanjing, and at least keep an eye out for the more bizarre stories. At first blush the story 2 sued for pyramid sales scam does not seem too odd, as pyramid scemes occur throughout the world.
The Nanjing procuratorate has filed a lawsuit against two leaders of a ‘cultish’ group involved in a pyramid sales scheme involving 834 students from 33 universities in Jiangsu’s provincial capital.
Yang Zhi, who was known as “an excellent student”, and the charismatic ringleader, surnamed Wang, have been detained by authorities for the scheme, which was recently made public by the city’s Industry and Commerce Bureau.
The students involved - most of them came from poor, remote areas, and yearned for self-improvement and larger incomes - were drawn into an organization widely described as “somewhat cultish”, and centered around the charismatic Wang and ritualism.
The “cultish” aspects are the interesting areas here, and are certainly the most strange.
“We would get up at 6:30 every morning, clean the room after breakfast, recite aphorisms and encouraging stories, and then explain these readings to others,” Zhang Tao, a group member from Nanjing Agriculture University, said. “Those who didn’t do a good job of explaining their readings would have to do pushups as a penalty.”
Wang was idolized by many of the group’s members.
Fan Jia recalls the day she asked Wang how she could better express herself. He told her: “Once you free yourself from psychological inhibitions, you can do anything.”
He then told her to remove her clothes, and she obeyed.
“I didn’t feel any shame at all but just followed him,” Fan said.
When an obvious pun is there, I see it as my duty to seize that opportunity.
Anyway, I was going to rehash some of the theories on why this has happened, but Shangaiist and The Guardian have that area well covered. Instead I would like to share with you the bizarre comments that are posted in the Wall Street Journal China Journal on this story. I have pasted them below in their entirety.
8-8+8-48….888..8. I know, too.
Comment by redwilliam….8-16-48….China - May 28, 2008 at 7:47 am
The People’s Olympics fares well. The People are You and China is 1. 1 Mother, 1 Father, 1 Child, 3. Good Luck is Kindness, to YOU, who is 3 in 1.
Comment by Anonymous - May 28, 2008 at 9:59 am
It dont matter where they cut of the basketball shows they aint talkinbout nothing until they let me in.
Prince Of Da Ghetto
Comment by Da next Hot Sauce - May 28, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Chinese officials said Monday that the country’s one-child policy exempts families with a child killed, severely injured or disabled in the country’s devastating earthquake.
Those families can obtain a certificate to have another child, the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in the capital of hard-hit Sichuan province said.
I had assumed that this would happen, and told as much to the various people who had brought it up in conversation.
For those of you who both love National Public Radio and have an interest in China, then next week you are in luck! On Point, hosted by Tom Ashbrook, will be broadcasting from Shanghai, and it should prove to be overall pretty interesting.
For a sample listen to this show they did this past October, China Now.
Beijing-based China Sexology Association (CSA) is facing an investigation from the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) for allegedly profiting from its activities.
Evidence shows it has taken part in a series of business activities, and has even compiled business contracts where the association can reap as much as 60 to 80 percent of profits from the exercises, reported the Legal Evening News.
Founded in 1994 as an academic society, the CSA is not allowed to profit from business activities.
I mention this mostly so I can use that hilariously suggestive title, but found out from the article that there there was Sex Culture Festival in Guangzhou last month. This video highlights what I assume is the “fashion underwear” portion of the festival (this is most likely not safe for work):
USED condoms are being recycled into hair bands in southern China and selling well in local markets and beauty salons.
But they could spread the sexually transmittable diseases the condoms were originally meant to prevent, state media said today.
Rubber hair bands had been found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in southern Guangdong province, China Daily newspaper said.
“These cheap and colourful rubber bands and hair ties sell well … threatening the health of local people,” it said.
Despite being recycled, the hair bands could still contain bacteria and viruses, it said.
“People could be infected with AIDS, warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while weaving their hair into plaits or buns,” the paper quoted a local dermatologist as saying.
I just wonder where they get all the used condoms from?
Is there no international situation that is safe from from tension between China and Taiwan? Long a feature at of the Olympics and United Nations, it can now be found at world gaming competitions.
“F**k your mother!” “Was his mother a bitch dog?” “What kind of trash flag is that?” “You are not Chinese!” “Do you know that this will result us being banned from the competition!”
The situation became so heated that event organizers had to separate the two sides. The Chinese government, like on any other international stage, has threatened to pull gamers out of the compition if the orginizers officially recognize Taiwan. Which is why at the Asia Games you have teams like Chinese Taipei. But hey, it’s better than shooting rockets at eachother in Xiamen. Right?
While eating my usual before work pop tart and watching Sportscenter on ESPN I was treated to a bit of unexpected news: that a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) operation nicknamed ‘Raw Deal’ busted a number of Steroids labs across the United States, many of which were supplied by China. There are a couple of pretty damning statistics that are provided in the article about this on ESPN’s website.
“We came to find that 99.9 percent of the steroids in the U.S. were coming from China,”
And…
The World Anti-Doping Administration estimates that Chinese factories are responsible for as much as 70-80 percent, or up to $480 million worldwide, of an annual $600 million black market in human growth hormone.
What effect this will have on the upcoming Beijing Olympics or worldwide opinion on Chinese goods is hard to say. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese government reacts to this, and how they intend to deal with the HGH factories in China. The DEA will be a holding press conference later in the day to further explain the outcome of this sting.
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