The Talk of the Town

So, something that people can't stop talking about these days is the rise of China.
We talk about it ourselves over here in China all the time.
This past Monday I was in Hong Kong with another young American and he was bemoaning the loss of power and respect that the USA has suffered the past 10 years. I said, "all good things must come to an end, and mostly it is our fault"
Regardless as to whether you agree with me or not, the fact is that China has grown in strength and power in the past decade. It has grown rich, and it has grown proud. Not unlike the United States. And just like the United States it feels it is right about certain things and because it is powerful it can express those opinions more aggressively.
I've mentioned before reasons to not fear China. China's economic standing is strong currently but it is on shaky ground. This is a great piece from Hong Kong's largest english language daily to help describe the situation: http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-business-watch/article/Todays-miracle-tomorrows-crisis
There was an issue of the Economist this past autumn that had a few articles on how India's growth is going to outpace China's. I very much agree with this, http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2010/10/13/ahead-of-the-curve-%E2%80%93-indias-growth-to-outpace-chinas.html a commentary on the issue as a whole.
India is a democracy, and therefore seems less scary to the West because it has copyright law that is better enforced than in China. India's university system is also producing more qualified and dynamic graduates than China's. We really shouldn't have a reason to be afraid, other than that their innovation industry is very dynamic and will overtake ours quickly, especially in regards to developing products and solutions for the developing world. Hopefully India won't so much overtake us, as become a healthy competitor in innovation.
Either way, competition and challenge are healthy. Isn't that what we believe as capitalists? We don't believe in monopoly of business, so why believe in a monopoly of economic and political power.
I know that this seems naive and overly idealistic. But believe me,
I'm not naive.

Can't Sleep

So I realized that this time a year ago I was debating taking up skiing or snowboarding.
A few weeks later I decided instead to move to China.
I didn't even realize that I needed a change so badly. Not that a desire to take up expensive winter sports is a sign that your life is boring. But for someone like me that enjoys cheap thrills, it should have been a a flashing Vegas style sign that I was not being challenged enough. Not that learning how to gut and fillet fish on your weekends isn't fulfilling, but I needed something altogether challenging. When I'm a little scared each time I walk out the door that something isn't going to go according to plan(because it usually doesn't).
I'm really glad I decided to buy a plane ticket instead of a snowboard. I think it suits me better.
Because I think everyone can tell you, I fall down way too easily to secure both my feet rigid objects on slippery surfaces.
As for new steps...
I bought my first CD by a Chinese artist today. Han Geng 韩庚, he used to be a member of the Korean boy band Super Junior, but now he's gone SOLO, and I bought his album. So the music video for the single from this album is a little weird, but I'm just so happy that I understand like three lines of the lyrics that I don't care. Enjoy.