China has Solution to U.S. Financial Crisis

The Congress may want to take another look at this proposed solution to the financial crisis: http://www.borowitzreport.com/article.aspx?ID=6964

Note to Senator Inhofe; this is a joke - please do not try this at home or in the Senate.

Mysterious Auto-driving "Popeye" Culture of Chengdu

The Sanxingdui Museum near Chengdu is one of the two most interesting museums I've seen in China. It's interesting because the ancient (1400 BC) culture that is on display here is unlike anything else in China. The otherworldly sculptures and depictions of their gods look like something out of the Middle East. There's a lot of debate about what happened to the Sanxingdui culture because it just seems to have disappeared. Oddly enough, there's not a mention of the culture in the ancient Chinese records.

The bronze sculptures of the Sanxingdui gods feature protruding eyes, or "popeyes" - meant to symbolize the god's ability to see all. One of the bronze castings seems to show a steering wheel but the scholars call it a sun wheel. I prefer to use my imagination.

Thumbs Up (mostly) on Chengdu

I was very impressed with Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province, when I visited there recently. The people were friendlier and lived life at a slower pace than in Shanghai and other cities I've visited in China. The local food was much more to my taste and I found the spicy, non-greasy "mala" tingly numbness caused by the Sichuan Pepper very pleasing. Even the Western restaurants I found there (the Book Worm, Grandma's Kitchen, etc) were as good as any Western eatery in Shanghai. If you've been reading this blog lately you'll know that I was rather underwhelmed by nearby Chongqing. How two cities so close together could be so different is puzzling.

The only thing that disappointed me about Chengdu were the bathrooms in its otherwise modern airport. There were only two western-style toilet stalls in the entire airport - and none of them, Western or squat, came with toilet paper or clothes hook. This was true even in the international section of the terminal where people getting off the flight from Paris were destined to find no relief. To make matters worse, the floors and walls of the stalls were filthy. Apparently, in lieu of toilet paper one client decided to do some "finger painting". If a lone traveler were fortunate enough to have toilet paper with him then the only way to use the squat toilets would be to hold his bags and overcoat over his head as he attempted to squat and avoid falling into the pit. Under these circumstances I suppose worrying about toilet paper is more or less a moot point.

Fireworks Destroy Beijing Icon

It seems that the uncontrolled urban fireworks I talked about recently have taken their toll on one of China's newest icons. Part of the CCTV complex in Beijing went up in smoke last night following a fireworks display for the Lantern Festival which closes out the Lunar New Year. Will Beijing reimpose its ban on rampant fireworks?

A Visit to the Earthquake Dam?

As James Fallows mentions here there are reports in the Western media this week that the big earthquake in Sichuan Province last year may have been caused or accelerated by the new Zipingpu dam and reservoir near the earthquake epicenter. This angle on the story hasn't been widely covered here in China with the exception of a Chinese news report that focuses not on the reported cause of the earthquake, but rather on the Western media "stirring up trouble" with its focus on the theory. The translation of the Chinese report is here from Mutant Palm.

The same day this story hit the Western media a project I'm working on took me to the Zipingpu Dam and in the nearby town of Yingxiu that was devastated by the earthquake. Set in a beautiful mountainous region with clear rushing streams this tourist town lost half of its 14,000 residents to the quake last May. At the center of the town is the school which collapsed on its students - killing hundreds of children.

There's been a lot of progress in the last few months in cleaning up the debris and repairing the roads leading into the mountains from the city of Dujiangyan but Yingxiu is still in bad shape. Toppled and ruined buildings are everywhere and debris is piled high. Disinfectant trucks have to spray the area every day because so many bodies remain under the collapsed buildings. The survivors seem to be getting on with their lives but the psychological scars must be there. Nearly every family lost some of its members. Children lost their school friends and siblings. The sadness is still palpable. It would be doubly hard to find out that a man-made dam may have triggered the whole tragedy.

Freezing in Chengdu

I find myself in Chengdu tonight. Well, it's not as if I am surprised to find myself in the middle of China's Sichuan Province. When I got on the Chengdu-bound Air China plane this afternoon I had a pretty good idea I'd end up here. I was careful to avoid Chongqing you will note - even though it's not so far away and we had to fly over it. So far, my impression of Chengdu is that it beats Chongqing. But then a poke in the eye with a sharp stick would be preferable to being in Chongqing.

I'm staying in a clean but spartan hotel near the place I will be working for the next week. By spartan I mean a hard bed and little heat. With the temperature near freezing I will be sleeping in my overcoat with all my clothes piled on top of me tonight. Ah, budget constraints! But we must all do our part as the president asked us to. I wonder if he is sleeping with his wardrobe piled on top of him tonight?