Archive for May, 2008
USGS: ShakeMap
Sunday, May 18th, 2008How can an earthquake felt thousands of kilometers away cause so much damage, while leaving almost untouched a major metropolitan area just 40 miles from the epicenter? Some may think that it is the difference between the quality of building construction in the big city, versus its satellite urban areas, but the reason probably has […]
Why China’s Buildings Crumbled
Friday, May 16th, 2008The Globe and Mail suggests that corruption explains why ‘tofu buildings’ crumbled in China:
“One man, gazing at the corpse of his nine-year-old cousin, said he had disturbing evidence that could explain the collapse of the five-storey Juyuan school building, along with eight other schools in the region. The man, who gave his surname as Ren, […]
Earthquake Post
Thursday, May 15th, 2008While the earthquake is a major tragedy, I am not sure about those who are pitching this one as the disaster to end all disasters. What is remarkable is not how much damage has been caused, but how relatively little. Earthquakes that register as high on the Richter scale have done far more damage. A […]
Junk Talk
Thursday, May 15th, 2008Following the week’s earthquake, those affected by the tragedy are expressing anger over the poor quality of construction in their province. From the Associated Press:
“This building is just a piece of junk,” one newly homeless resident of Dujiangyan yelled Wednesday, her body quivering with rage. Her family salvaged clothing and mementos from their wrecked apartment, […]
Just How Important Is Wal-Mart To China?
Sunday, May 11th, 2008We read in the press about the importance of Wal-Mart’s relationship to China, and I thought it would be fun to run out some quick figures. Wal-Mart procurement in China has been flat at $9 billion over the last couple of years. Meanwhile, exports out of China have risen fast. In 2007, exports were up […]
Why Profit Zero Works In China
Friday, May 9th, 2008Far Eastern Economic Review published an article of mine in March 2008, wanted to introduce the piece here. For those less familiar with Far Eastern Economic Review, it is one of Asia’s leading business publications, and it shares an association with the Wall Street Journal. A couple of paragraphs, along with the link:
Why Profit Zero […]
Beijing 2008: More Journalists Than Athletes Expected This Summer
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008Ran across an AP article about tightening visa rules in China, and the article mentioned in passing that China expects to play host to 10,500 international athletes and 18,000 journalists. More journalists than athletes? It’s going to be a very interesting summer in China.
One possibility on the recentl tightening of visa regulations is that, unable […]
Chinese Nationalism: Is There More Than One Kind?
Monday, May 5th, 2008Apologies to anyone who was looking for a post and found nothing new here for some time. Like the activity of blogging itself, I found taking a break to be rather addictive! Took a few days off, and then a few more. Felt so good, didn’t want to stop (or, rather, I didn’t want to […]