Schizophrenic Olympics Days

Many have asked - what is really going on over in Beijing? I really have no idea as we all try to wade through the propaganda, mud slinging (from ALL media sources!), and absolute loss of perspective that seems to have taken hold with these games.

To convey my own perspective on these 2008 Olympic Games, In coming weeks I will try to slice through this mud-pie with doses of my own experiences here Beijing. Old fashion on-the-ground blogging - yes!

On daily life in Beijing
to sum up - Beijing is crazy and overwhelmed with Olympics crazed activity with a strong dose of authoritarianism and paranoia thrown in. I have heard Olympics are always a pain for local people, and that is certainly true here as life is getting very inconvenient in terms of transportation, restrictions on businesses, and heightened security.

I work adjacent to the Olympic Village and across the street from the International Broadcast Center, so one can imagine how busy it is around here, and very secure! However, our research team is undaunted and everyone is working with out interruption. We have new magnetized name badges, but other than that, us researchers can't be bothered.

On the media

I see the media situation as more complex than is being reported. For one thing, China is royally making an ass of itself by pissing the media off to the extent that the oppressive lack of freedom of press has become the only story they find worth reporting. But I really see another facet of the story that adds complexity that goes back to the last year of perception, within China, that western media continues to bash China and impose great bias on all stories. The Chinese see this as sort of "sour grapes" reporting as the US economy is tanking and they see such bias as displaced jealousy over China continuing to thrive. And so now with the Olympics, China has control and is punishing the western press by not letting them access to anything. Its a continuation of the anger here over press coverage throughout 2008.

On Schizophrenia

This comment pertains to the ongoing confusion over conceptions of hospitality.

What is different here than in other Olympics Cities perhaps is how the Olympics organizers are also making life incredibly difficult for foreigners and visitors. there are 1000s of neighborhoods guards posted watching your every move, hotels are bugged, and your every move is being watched. And over 1/2 of my friends were deported on July 1 with a sweeping visa policy that really screwed up a lot of people's lives.

Yes, it is nice to deploy 20,000 "volunteers" to help visitors navigate the games, the city etc.

No, it is not nice to chase after foreigners on the street to ask them if that want to talk in English.

Yes, its nice to see "welcome to Beijing" signs, topiary, and broadcasts everyone in the beautified Beijing.

No, its not nice to have a throng of guards, volunteers, and others descend upon you every time a foreigner gets near an Olympic site, Tiananmen Square, etc and start to yell at you not to get too close.

Yes, its nice that the municipal government published 8 "don't asks" to help people know how to chat with foreigners:

Beijing's 2008 Olympics "Eight Don't Ask Questions" include the following:

Don't ask about income or expenses.

Don't ask about age.

Don't ask about love, life, or marriage.

Don't ask about health.

Don't ask about someone's home or address.

Don't ask about personal experience.

Don't ask about religious beliefs or political views.

Don't ask what someone does.

But again, no, we aren't fooled by face-value hospitality when the city continues to send messages around warning of highly suspicious foreigners. As long as eye balls are constantly watching our every move as if every blondie is the next shoe bomber, I can't say I feel especially welcomed.

I heart hong kong

Aside from the lovely break from the Olympics frenzy of Beijing, my trip to Hong Kong was fascinating from so many different perspectives.

The conference was excellent and I got to know a huge number of Chinese students and professors from throughout the Pearl River Delta.

As the conference was held in Hong Kong, students felt more comfortable to express themselves freely and not did not practice the self-censorship that makes many student discussions so formulaic. We had many "cafe sessions" in small groups to discuss issues of the environment, health, and development. The students were awesome and my group, the water pollution group even won a prize (see our photo!).

Following the conference I met with a colleague on our Green Supply Chain project with the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and a had great, and again, CANDID, discussion. I must have been craving direct and blunt conversation, as it is a rare treat to encounter on the mainland. This is not to say I do not understand the reasons for more careful and closed discussion on the mainland. In fact I understand them all too clearly and monitor my own words and opinions at all times. The stakes for being too openly expressive are high given the political and nationalistic climate in Beijing / China. For me, my risks do not compare to those of normal Chinese citizens. The worst consequence I would face would be be being asked to leave, and thereby jeopardize my academic progress and future research opportunities. For the Chinese, they risk their jobs and future livelihoods, reputations to their family, and in the worst case, detention in the Chinese penal system which is full of political dissidents.

Being in Hong Kong for only one week provided a wonderful glimpse of this fascinating east-meets-west culture. Imbued with the British legacies of etiquette, bi-lingual culture, and rampant capitalism, yet fully Chinese as 95% of the inhabitants are Chinese. In fact, Hong Kong at times feels more Chinese than China as the people are free to worship traditional gods and ancestors, speak openly regarding political issues, and have found great success as entrepreneurs under the last 99 years of market-based economy.

During my time in Hong Kong I went to the movies! Hung out at Page One bookstore! Shopped! and Toured the outer Islands which are tropical and beautiful with interesting markets and sea-side towns. It was a great trip, and thankfully, I crossed back over the Hong Kong - Shenzhen border with no problems, and flew home to Beijing late Sunday.

To note, Hong Kong Cinema is fantastic - Hong Kong Movie Stars: Tony Leung, Jackie Chan, the Hui Brothers, Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung and Stephen Chow.

As for the current Olympics craziness here in Beijing, its NUTS! And there is much to show and tell. Do stay tuned for another posting when I get a moment to digest all that is happening around me!

Live from Hong Kong

After a 22 hour train ride from Beijing to Shenzhen, and an interesting by-foot crossing of the China PRC - Hong Kong SAR border, I arrived in beautiful Hong Kong last Monday.

My official purpose was to attend a conference entitled "Environment, Health and Harmony" hosted by the Hong Kong America center at Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Public Health. it was a terrific conference, attended by over 95 students from throughout the Pearl river Delta (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau, Xiamen, Guangzhou....). Pictures will follow in later postings.

Now I am staying in downtown Hong Kong and am overwhelmed by this breathtaking and bustling city. A true crossroads of east-meets-west. It is a truly cosmopolitan city and full of malls, malls, and more malls. As I have been luxuriating at my techotel, it has been awesome to taste the air of enencumbered speech, enjoy potable tap water, and take in all of the sino-european flavor of the city.

My impressions are many and I hope to update again soon with more photos and words. I did not bring my lap top in order to break the leash that computer had to me! It has been nice to not be staring and typing every day! ok, must be off to enjoy more of the sights on this lovely friday evening. cheers~

China's Water Crisis - A Report from Singapore

My friend & fellow Fulbrighter Julian updates his blog from his home, and tropical paradise, Singapore, to celebrate Singapore Water Week. Look for my quotes in the management section.


Green Leap Forward

Through the Looking Glass - lightly

A month has gone by with no postings, apologies for being incommunicado. I use the title of "Through the Looking Glass" referring to Lewis Carrol's story after Alice in Wonderland, and to connote the kind of futuristic tone that so much of my work these days revolves around. This I say "lightly" in response my contention with the over-archingly apocalyptic tone of recent media reports, particularly from the West, predicting humanity's immanent self destruction. The problems facing the world are dire, however viable solutions are being crafted by intelligent and well-meaning people around the world. It is my grand hope that people working "on the ground" to enact changes related to the environment, human equality, peace, and freedom, may some day soon be sitting in positions of government power, instead of shunned to the margins of civic life - what a novel concept!!!!

“有朋自远方来，不亦乐户" 孔子说。Confucius said: "Nothing brings more pleasure than a friend visting from far away"
Other things keeping my away the internet, other than working for global peace, include my friend Chris' visit from Washington DC where we toured Beijing and Shanghai and had a fantastic and memory-filled time experiencing the sights of China. A few highlights include a beautiful Great Wall Hike, a strangely homo-erotic and perilous Chinese Acrobatics show, several long walks down dark hutongs in search of bars, me forgetting a brush in Shanghai and taking "bad hair day" to a new level, an awesome boat tour to the mouth of the Yangtze River, drinks at Yifeng Elite and Cloud 9 in Shanghai, Chris' poor belly taking the hits of Chinese cuisine, to name a few.

eraA New era of environmental progress in China

I have been insanely busy as I have become involved in several aspects of China's burgeoning environmental policy movement. Chinese society and Chinese government are actively working to address many of the environmental side-effects of their recent rapid economic development.

In addition to the plastic bag ban, which is a very progressive law enacted on June 1 2008, there is also 2003’s Environmental Impact Assessment Law that requires public participation in construction and land-development decision making, with the aim of making economic development more environmentally sustainable through the involvement of local stakeholders. Next, the 2008 Measures on Open Environmental Information is a sweeping new policy that requires enterprises to disclose environmental pollutant information and records of discharge quantity violations. By mandating disclosure of discharge amounts, citizens gain access to previously withheld data on local companies’ environmental performance, and are thus able to more fully participate in environmental management.

My Recent Activities

First, my dissertation which I am writing based on on-going partnership with the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Science. My dissertation looks at the intersection of investment policy, infrastructure development and water resources by examining rural investment patterns into irrigation infrastructure in northern China over the last 20 years. We followed the investment records of 70 villages in three different provinces (Henan, Hebei, and Ningxia) and took account of modes of water resource governance, fiscal management, water allocation and water use behavior, agricultural crop water use, and agricultural productivity. Look forward to reading a riveting dissertation on our analysis in months (years!) to come.

Next, I began working for a local Chinese NGO here in Beijing called Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE). IPE is known for hold companies accountable for their pollution activities by publicly disclosing polluting company's names. Read more here:

China Water Pollution Map and China Air Pollution Map are two public interest databases developed by IPE. Through two websites (www.ipe.org.cn and air.ipe.org.cn), the databases make information about local water and air quality easily accessible to the public.

IPE has expanded its existing list of water and air pollution violators into a comprehensive account of violators’ discharge activities including violating companies’ names, locations, and discharge amounts, all based on government-sourced records. Due to expanded disclosure of polluters by the government, the number of records of violators has topped 22,000. The search engine function of the websites allows users to check whether a company operating in China is openly listed by government agencies as polluters from 2004 to 2008.

IPE is led my a very famous environmentalist here in China named Ma Jun. It has been my privilege and honor to work with Ma Jun and other brilliant IPE colleagues on a new project that adds another element to the pollution accountability strategy, that is linking polluting Chinese suppliers to their multinational partners. We are developing a new tool that holds multinationals accountable for all the pollution violators in their supply chains, and we use our access to the media to make sure multinationals are aware of their "dirty supply chain" partners. We are doing this in partnership with several large multinationals who indeed want to address these sorts of issues. We hope to launch this project in August or September.

As if that all wasn't enough, a few friends and I are also making a short documentary on what China will look like in the future for ABC News. http://earth2100.tv Look for our video in coming weeks, which may make it on to Prime Time in Fall 2008.

14:28

Today began 3 days of national mourning throughout China in memory of the deaths and suffering due to the Wenchuan Sichuan Earthquake of May 12, 2008.

Employees and students here Chinese Academy of Science joined the 3 minutes of silence as the entire institution gathered in the central plaza to join together for the homage. Faculty, staff and students stood in straight lines in an organized fashion to await the moment to begin. The army guards did a salute to mark the moment, and everyone fell silent. As the 3 minutes began, you could hear the wailing of car horns blowing steadily for the entire time as drivers and taxi drivers also gave their salute, in a very noisy fashion.

The effect of the 3 minutes was chilling as the images of the earthquake are so vivid in people's minds thanks to the constant media coverage of harrowing sights, rescues, and devastation.

To provide a first hand account of some of the activities happening in Sichuan, let me include this account by a friend of a friend who runs a public health NGO in Sichuan (Mr. James Heinritz):

"From my vantage point at one of the centers of the relief effort, I
have to say that the government's response has been very impressive.
Within hours, thousands of army troops had streamed into the area and
were digging people out. Medical stations were set up in many of the
worst hit areas and were taking care of everyone who was hurt. Premier
Wen Jiabao was at the epicenter within 8 hours after the quake hit and
was still there on Wednesday when I left to go back to Beijing.
Watching the news, the teams on the ground were working non-stop to
extricate everyone they could from fallen buildings. Ambulances ran
back and forth throughout the night, ferrying the worst injured to
hospitals in Chengdu.

...


It's easy for the western media to bash China, but I see a real
effort here to improve. The current national leadership is fully aware
of the problems China faces and has been making great strides to
address them. International pressure does help, and so does internal
pressure from its own citizens. The hardest part of change here is to
make it happen at the local level where vested interests are so
entrenched. Many say that the rate of change is too slow, but in the 7
years that I've been here, it's been nothing short of remarkable.

About the Red Cross, in China its mission is the same as everywhere
else and is taken very seriously by the government. There is a Red
Cross representative in every health department office in China,
ensuring that the organization's efforts are fully integrated with the
health department's.

On Monday, prior to the earthquake when we were talking casually, the
director and her managers were talking about the situation in Myanmar.
Perhaps bowing to international pressure, the government there had
just allowed the China, Macao and Hong Kong Red Cross into the country
to aid their relief efforts. I haven't seen this mentioned in the news
yet. In China, the government was telling foreign aid agencies to make
donations but not come in. Unlike Myanmar, I believe that China's
reasons are because it already has the infrastructure in place and can
really do this on its own. That's not to say that foreign aid agencies
are not on the ground helping with the earthquake response. I met the
China director of Heart to Heart at the Red Cross office on Tuesday.
They have been working alongside the government in China for more than
10 years.

Dorje Association (www.dorjenet.org) is a non-profit,
non-governmental, non-religious philanthropic organization that I
co-founded in 2006 to help improve the quality of rural healthcare in
China. We have more than 10 projects in western Sichuan, an area
affected by the recent Tibetan unrest, 5 new projects in eastern
Sichuan and another project in Jiangsu Province, near Shanghai. We
help build clinics and hospitals, support the doctors who run them,
and provide advanced TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) training."

Not All Shook Up here in Beijing

Yesterday (May 12, 2008) Central China Province of Sichuan expereienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. News coming in from the provincial capital Chengdu tells of deaths in the order of 10,000 or more throughout the region.

Reuters Article

In Beijing, reports of people feeling dizzy while looking at their computers and general hoopla building around an event that didn't in fact really happen here at all. I remained vigilant in my research, only looking up for a moment as text messages beeped all around me as the news agencies spread word of the quake. Such focus could be dangerous for my health!

The Fulbright office reacted with deft speed in circulating notices and locating all of the Fulbrighters in the program, especially the ones working in Chengdu. Within minutes following the quake, the students had emailed the lister serve and assured us of their safety. Will continue to follow the story in Sichuan, looks grim as Asia copes with its second major natural disaster of the season. Sending best wishes to the families and loved ones of the families in Sichuan and Myanmar, as well as the aid workers working on the recovery.