1		9	TEDx, Asia, Battle of the Bands, Steven Weathers, Filip Noubel, Lonnie Hodge, Xinran, The Library Project, Guangzhou, Canton, Canton Opera, TEDx Great Wall, TEDx Beijing

With over 100,000 downloads a day  TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) and its ideas are known by millions in the west, Many of the best thinkers, innovators, speakers, artists and humanitarians have taken a vow of charity, obedience and time constrained chastity by way of the TED Commandments and put 1000s of pounds of inspiration into 18-minute or less talks for high and low-profile events now held globally. The enthusiasm is spreading eastward. 

And because not everyone can afford airfare, lodging and a ticket priced at $3,600 or so for an official TED sponsored event, and with interest running high, the thoughtful founders have started to license TEDx gatherings around the world. Last year there were about about 500 independent TEDx confabs and close to three groups a day, from Amsterdam to Warsaw and Austin to Tokyo will donate time and talent to bring the spirit of TED to their own regions this year.

TED, relatively new to the Pacific Rim, is fast gaining recognition. Word Of Mouth, a crowd-sourced translation project on their site and TEDx mash-ups have ingredients for a healthy recipe: Asia has seen TEDx successfully hosted in Tapei, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Guangzhou, Osaka, and dozens of other venues from colleges to, literally, the Great Wall -- where in open air seating, I was privileged to listen to, among many fine speakers, a Masai warrior introduced by his Kenyan Ambassador, Jane Goodall in a specially taped message and the author of the Wild Wall who founded the International Friends of the Great Wall and is responsible in part for China's preservation of one of he world's great man-made wonders.

With a brilliant 50-member volunteer team led by Ms Meifeng Guan, I co-organized TEDx Guangzhou last year. The event brought in some 700 attendees and 16 speakers from six countries. Thanks to the kindness of supporters like the British Council and the Netherlands Consulate of South China we were able to provide internationally known speakers in Chinese and English through signing, simultaneous and whispering translators and inspiration was shared at no cost with students, businessmen, community leaders and TED enthusiasts and newcomers alike. An estimated 50,000 people watched on live-stream provided by Tudou and this year ITV-Asia will film the event for broadcast and subsequent re-broadcasts.

In TED's own word-- with mine in italics:

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

The rules and regulations are rightfully stringent and TED does its best to look after the hard-earned integrity its brand. No small feat with over 1000 events projected for this year. There are the folks who have tried to leverage the events to up their own social capital, others who have had trouble organizing their efforts, some who managed only to attract only the usual suspects for audiences and speakers and others who have used it for commercial gain....But, overwhemingly, TEDx is a labor of love and the work product of its non-paid volunteers is more often than not, world-class.

Asian Correspondent has agreed to act as a media sponsor for TEDxCanton, another event I am curating on September 4 of this year in Guangzhou, with the help of the members of the TEDxGuangzhou team most instrumental in its success.

TedxCanton is especially proud to feature the entire Canton Opera and over 50 performers and musicians - they have created a special 18-minute "sampler" just for TEDx. And for balance: In the evening we will be joined by alternatve Chinese band, Rustic, who just won the 2010 Global Battle of the Bands competition in London.

A few of TEDxCanton's growing line-up of fine speakers:

Xinran Xue 薛欣然

Xinran was a radio journalist in China before moving to London where she wrote her best-selling book The Good Women of China, a collection of stories drawn from hundreds of interviews during her time as a presenter on her ground-breaking program “Words on the Night Breeze”. She often advises the media including BBC and Sky about western relations with China and makes frequent television and radio appearances. In 2004, she set up the charity “The Mothers’ Bridge of Love” (MBL) which reaches out to Chinese children in all corners of the world by creating a bridge of understanding between China and the West and between adoptive and birth culture.

薛欣然曾经是一名电台新闻工作者，后来移居伦敦，在伦敦创作出她的畅销书——《中国好女人》，该书是她担任《晚 风夜语》这一独具开创性的节目主持人期间通过采访数百人所整理出来的故事集。欣然经常为包括BBC和Sky在内的媒体就中西关系问题提出建议，也常常出席 电视、电台节目。2004年，她创办了“母爱之桥”慈善机构，本机构通过搭建中西交流、领养文化与生育文化之间的桥梁，广泛关注着全世界的中国儿童。

2. Sean Gallagher 韶华

Sean Gallagher is a British photographer, currently based in China. Graduating in Zoology from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England in 2002, he subsequently changed career direction into photography. To date he has lived and worked across the world, spending extended periods of time as diverse as Japan, Brazil, New Zealand, China, the United Arab Emirates, and various European nations. His most recent work has specialized on social and environmental issues in Asia, with specific emphasis on China. He is a two-time Pulitzer Center Grant receipient winner and has seen his work for the Pulitzer Center featured in such publications as National Geographic.

韶华是一位来自英国的摄影师，现旅居中国。他2002年毕业于英格兰新堡大学的动物学系，随后把摄影作为自己的 职业生涯。迄今为止，他足迹遍天下，广泛驻足于日本、西班牙、新西兰、中国、阿拉伯联合酋长国以及多个欧洲国家。他的近期作品集中反映了亚洲尤其是中国的 社会环境问题。他是普利策奖获得者，也是美国《国家地理》杂志的专业摄影师。

3. Tom Stader

Tom Stader, Founder and Director, launched The Library Project in 2006. Through his travels and time spent living in Southeast Asia and China, Tom became aware of the range of cultural diversity throughout the region. What affected him the most was the lack of quality education for all children. The Library Project is his way of giving those children left behind the opportunity for a quality education.

Tom Stader2006年开创了“中华捐书会”慈善机构。他广泛旅居于东南亚包括中国，这让他感受到了该地区的文化多样性，更让他震憾的是他看到了许多山区儿童缺乏受教育的机会。这促使他创立了“中华捐书会”，为广大没法受教育的山区儿童搭建一个吸取知识的平台。

4. Steven Weathers 史龙天

Steven Weathers, Founder for American English Circle, Producer and Host of Foreign Perspective, is now a regular host of ICS’s Expo 360 and Shanghai AZ. He also acted as Mark in China’s 2009 nationwide TV series hit “Dwelling Narrowness” and as Howard in the 2010 TV series “Du La La’s Promotion”.

史龙天建立了《美语圈》美式英语学习网站，是《老外视线》的节目制作人和主持人，现任上海国际频道《世博360》和《上海点滴》节目的定期主持人。他曾在2009年全国电视热播剧《蜗居》里扮演马克，还在今年的电视剧《杜拉拉升职记》中出演霍华德。

5. Filip Noubel 马云华

Deca-lingual political science and media expert, Director of Internews Network in China, the largest world-wide NGO that trains Chinese Journalists in environmental, legal and social affairs reporting. Worked as Central Asia editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Internews Kyrgyzstan Country Director, UN observer, and Senior Analyst for the International Crisis Group.

马云华熟知十门语言，通晓政治与媒体，是“互联新闻”中国区的执行主任。“互联新闻”是全球最大的非政府新闻机 构；在中国地区，它旨在为中国的新闻工作者就环境、法律和社会问题的报告方面提供优质的培训。马云华身兼多职，既是“战争与和平报道”协会的编辑，“互联 新闻”吉尔吉斯斯坦地区的执行主任，也是一名联合国观察员，还是“国际危机监察机构”的资深分析师。

6. Lonnie Hodge 宋志

Poet, Educator, Story Teller, Author and Social Media Consultant. Lonnie Hodge, a recipient of many awards and fellowships in writing and speaking including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, is the Author of Fishing For The Moon (poetry), An Evening with William Butler Yeats (play) and Luther (play) among others. Lonnie writes for several International journals and magazines. Lonnie is also the creator and CEO of Culturefish Media, an international Public Relations company specializing in building clients for Chinese businesses.

宋志身兼多职，同时是诗人、教育家、故事述说者、作家和社会媒体咨询专家。他在写作和演讲领域屡获奖项，频受殊 荣，其中包括国家艺术基金会的文学研究基金，并著有《为月亮垂钓》（诗歌），《与威廉·巴特勒·叶芝共度的晚上》（戏剧）和《路德》（戏剧）。宋志也为几 家国际期刊和杂志撰稿。他还是“文化鱼”媒体的创建者和首席执行官。这是一家国际性的公关公司，专门为中国市场招揽客户。

7. Neville Mars 何新城

Founder of the The Dynamic City Foundation (DCF) -  a research and design institute focused on the rapid transformations of China’s urban landscape. The body of work Neville Mars has achieved with the Dynamic City Foundation in the last ten years is diverse and characteristic. The projects he has initiated range from furniture and architecture to urban planning, and from documentaries, to art installations, urban research and creative writing. His work is widely published and his installations have featured in international art exhibitions around the world.

动态城市基金会创建者。该基金会是一个研究和设计机构，着力于中国城市景观的快速转变。过去十年里，何新城在动态城市基金会取得的主要成就是丰富多 样独具特色的。他发起的项目涵盖了家具建筑、城市规划、纪录片、装置艺术、城市研究和创意写作。何新城的作品广泛出版。他的装置在世界各地的国际性艺术展 览中得到了突出体现。

8. Imad Naffa

Imad Naffa is Founder and President of NAFFA International of Fresno, CA, USA (www.NAFFAinc.com). Via social media, Imad reports on current and diverse topics of interest such as: World Affairs, History, Geopolitics, Economies of the World, Cultural Topics, the Central Valley, California (where Imad lives), Financial News, Up-and-Coming Technologies, Twitter and FaceBook, Social and Inter Media, Leed, Green, Clean Tech. and Solar. Imad Naffa is one of the most followed engineers on Twitter, with over 35,000 followers from six continents and has over 6,000 professional connections on Linkedin.

美国加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺那发国际公司的创建者和总经理。通过社会媒体，伊玛德就当前人们感兴趣的各种话题进行报道，比如：国际时事、历史、地缘政 治学、世界经济、各种文化话题、加州中央谷（伊玛德居住的地方）、财政新闻、有前途的新科技、twitter和Facebook、 社会和国际媒体、能源与环境设计先锋、绿色清洁科技和太阳能。中国、印度、金砖四国的其他两国、阿拉伯联合酋长国和中东这些地方的人民和文化让伊玛德很感 兴趣。你可以看到他经常在社会媒体上谈论这些国家。伊玛德是twitter网上人气最高的工程师之一，拥有来自六大洲的35,000名关注者，并在 Linkedin网上有6000多名专家联系。

9. Charles Saliba

Charles Saliba (’00 CC) is a founding partner of Beijing music club D-22, and Maybe Mars Records, the second largest independent music label in China.  He spent four years working in technology consulting in New York and London after Columbia.  He moved to Beijing in early 2004 at the insistence of his friend and business partner, Michael Pettis (’81SIPA, ’84BUS).

In early 2006 he helped open D-22 and it quickly became a home for Beijing’s underground musicians.  Within a year of opening it started receiving accolades and international recognition.  As a former New York resident, Saliba enjoys the frequent comparisons to the old CBGBs.  D-22 is credited by many, most recently by The Economist, as being the epicentre for Beijing’s burgeoning alternative music scene.

Maybe Mars was started by artists who had found a home at D-22.  In its two years of existence, it has already signed more than 20 different rock, experimental, noise and folk musicians, including most of the acts at the forefront of China’s music underground.  Despite their youth, several bands on its roster have collected an impressive list of accomplishments including extensive tours of Europe & Asia, opening for Sonic Youth, and being chosen by Time magazine as ‘one of the 5 bands to watch in Asia’.

Charles Saliba graduated from Columbia College in 2000 with a BA in Political Science and is pursuing a Master’s in International Development at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

查理·萨里巴与人合作成立了北京音乐俱乐部D-22和中国第二大独立音乐品牌兵马司。他花了四年时间先后在哥伦比亚、纽约和伦敦进行技术咨询工作。在朋友兼生意伙伴迈克尔·佩蒂的坚持下，他于2004年初来到了北京。

2006年初，他协助成立D-22，这很快成为了北京地下音乐人的家园。成立不到一年，D-22便开始受到称赞和国际社会的赏识。萨里巴以前住在纽 约，于是喜欢经常拿D-22和以前的CBGB俱乐部做对比。D-22被很多人誉为北京生机勃勃的另类音乐场所的中心，最近《经济学家》也对此不吝美言。

兵马司是由一些在D-22找到栖息地的艺术家们创建的。成立两年内，它已经签约了20多位风格迥异的摇滚乐、试验乐、杂响乐和民俗乐方面的音乐人， 还包括中国地下音乐最前线的多场表演。虽然年轻，但是其花名册上的几个乐队已经取得了一系列引人注目的成就，包括举办欧亚大型巡回演唱会，出席“音速青 年”音乐组合的开场表演，也被《时代》杂志评为“值得关注的亚洲五大乐队之一”。

查理·萨里巴于2000年从哥伦比亚大学毕业，获政治科学学士。目前他正在北京的清华大学攻读国际发展学硕士。

AND: more speakers will be annouced!更多嘉宾，更多精彩！

Guest MCs 附：特邀主持人

David Feng–TEDxCanton’s MC 冯琰——“TEDx广州”的主持人

David Feng is a World Citizen of Swiss nationality with Chinese roots. He is one of China’s most active Twitter users and has interests in tech, Web 2.0, the Mac, and mass transit. While partially continuing media studies in Beijing, he is still mainly involved in Civitology, a network of sites dedicated to city mass transit and infrastructure, and also blogs about the city of Beijing and its Subway at City Weekend.

冯琰，瑞士籍华人，熟悉十国语言。北京麦金塔联盟的行政主席、北京麦金塔用户会的会长、techblog86 技术移动及企业方面网站的站长，及北京学(一个有关北京的部落格及国际网络百科全书) 创始人。冯琰亦是City Weekend和CN Reviews的博客撰写人，Shanghaiist 的科技编辑。他是Twitter上最活跃的华人之一，对作为一位国际华人如何参与Web 2.0，如何参与Twitter等社会媒体有其独特的见解。

@WeirdChina (Robert Kong Hai)–TEDxCanton’s Coordinator（协调员）

Robert Kong Hai: Futurist. Writer, speaker, educator, global entrepreneur. An American raising a family in China. Also known as @WeirdChina on Twitter. He is the number 1 most followed figure residing in China.

Robert Kong Hai是名未来学家、作家、演说家、教育家、国际企业家，一名定居于中国的美国人，在Twitter上以WeirdChina著称。Robert对社会性媒体对世界的影响有着深入的研究。

Guangzhou Hongdou Canton Opera Group 广州红豆粤剧团

Guangzhou Hongdou Canton Opera Group is founded by famous opera performer Hong Xian Nv in 1991. More than 130 Canton Opera shows are on every year.

广州红豆粤剧团由著名粤剧艺术家红线女创建于1991年。剧团每年演出场次多达130场。

You can follow TEDxCanton on its website http://tedxcanton.com or on Twitter @TEDxCanton and Facebook at TEDxCanton

There are a few "VIP" tickets left for the event. They are available at http://tedxcanton.eventbrite.com/

Any proceeds from the "VIP" tickets not essential to the running of the event will be donated to the three charities that will be in attendance at the event. It is our hope to award funds enough for a Library in the name of TEDxCanton to Tom Stader before the close of the event on the 4th.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

TED

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 28-March 4, 2011, in Long Beach, California, with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California.

TEDx介绍，x指独立组织的TED活动

TEDx是地方性自发活动项目，它本着传播思想的精神，让人们聚集在 一起，拥有一次类似TED的经历。TEDx通过地方活动结合TED谈话视频和现场演讲的方式，在小组里激发深刻探讨与联想。因此，这样的地方性自发项目冠 名为TEDx，其中的x指独立组织的TED活动。TED大会对TEDx项目提供指导，但每一个TEDx项目都是独立的、自发的，不过是在遵循TED相关规 则的前提下。

TED介绍

TED是一种旨在传播思想的非营利性组织。25年前，即最初的TED 只是一个在加州举办维持仅四天的会议，如今则发展壮大，开展出非常多独树一帜的项目来支持世界先锋们启迪未来的尖峰创想。每年TED大会都会邀请世界领军 思想家和实干家在18分钟内畅享创想。然后他们的演讲视频被上传到TED官网。 目前这些演讲嘉宾包括微软创始人比尔·盖茨、前美国副总统戈尔、英国动物学家珍·古道尔、美国国家杂志奖得主伊丽莎白·吉尔伯特、维珍集团总裁理查德·布 兰森、印度信息系统公司前总裁南丹·尼勒卡尼、世界顶级设计师菲利普·斯达克、世行董事总经理恩戈齐·奥孔约·伊韦阿拉、南美著名女作家伊莎贝尔·阿连德 以及英国前首相戈登·布朗等等。

TED年度大会在加州长滩召开，并在棕榈泉同时联播；而 TEDGlobal 大会每年则在英国牛津举办。TED创办的媒体包括TED官网及开放翻译计划。前者每日更新TED谈话视频，而通过后者，世界各地的志愿者们则把所有的 TED谈话视频翻译出来，为其提供字幕和文字底稿。TED同样设立了泰德奖，每年帮助杰出人士化梦想为行动，尝试改变世界。TEDx则帮助个人或集体举办 地方性自发项目。同时，TEDFellows计划也帮助世界各地的创新者，邀请他们进入TED的圈子并扩大他们的杰出成就所带来的影响。

请在Twitter和Facebook上关注TED：twitter.com/TEDTalks，或facebook.com/TED。

2011年2月28日至3月4日，主题为“再现奇迹” 的TED2011大会将与您在加州长滩再度聚首。TEDActive将于加州棕榈泉同时联播此次盛会。

More to Come....

			Harmonious, Games, Asian Games, 2010 Games, Guangzhou, China, Olympics, Cantonese, Protests

Cantonese speakers rallied yesterday in Guangzhou, China protesting for the preservation of their native dialect in southern China. Supporters gathered primarily at a Guangzhou metro area dressed white shirts some reading " I Love Canton" or bearing other slogans. Hong Kong and Guangzhou are incensed that Beijing's party cadre want to change the local broadcast language for the 2010 Asian Games from Cantonese to Mandarin.

The poster above reads: “To eliminate a language, start in their schools”. An allusion to a quote attributed to Hitler: “To eliminate a people, first eliminate their language.”

Twitter and Facebook, despite being blocked in mainland China were alive with comments on pages, groups and online conversations using the hashtags #Yue ( the old name for Guangzhou), #cantonese #81action ( refers to the date of the first protest)  and others. Organizershope to preserve  their mother tongue despite government orders calling for a halt to the protests.

Despite assurances by Beijing that the elimination of Cantonese is not the goal, there is precedent for harmony as a synonym for homogeny.  Yesterday's Bangkok Times reported: "China has long been a patchwork of often mutually unintelligible dialects, but Mandarin -- which is based on the traditional dialect of Beijing -- became the lingua franca of the nation beginning with the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Beijing made Mandarin the country's official language in 1982, leading to bans on other dialects at many radio and television stations. Mandarin's strength has increased since the 1949 Communist takeover as authorities sought to promote its use as a unifying force for the nation. It has been further promoted in recent years as migrant workers who speak their own dialects moved to China's coastal areas to find jobs. That has caused disquiet in areas with their own strong language traditions, such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangdong."

The peaceful protests brought out a hundreds of unifromed and plainclothes police and soldiers who monitored metro entrances and gathering spots around the city.

Guangzhou is hypervigilant ahead of the 2010 games and taking extreme steps to ostensibly ensure the safety and security of visitors though locals and long term expatriates have complained of harassment and abuses by local police. See: Harmonious Games

1		1	American Professor, Sea Turtles, Seaweed, china, educational,

China's narrow definition of educational success abroad

Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely reach them.
 Samuel Butler 

"To get into Tsinghua as an undergraduate, you have to score extremely well on a nationwide test," Seth Roberts, a U.C. Berkeley professor emeritus of psychology. Though it is the dream of nearly every college eligible student in China. Sheepskins from brand name schools in China or abroad separate the academic wheat from the chaff.

Roberts is part of a team to teach advanced psychology and happiness (somehow sad we have to study it to achieve it now)  at Tsinghua University. It was formed this spring after knife attacks in kindergartens left 15 young children dead and turned the spotlight on mental health in China. Shenzhen, which is 90-minutes from me by car has the highest rate of mental illness in China and the least number of rehabilitatipn beds per capita. All the assailants were alleged to suffer from psychological problems or grudges related to workplace or relationship problems. And following the "posioned Apple" problems at Foxconn, a computer and phone component manufacturing plant in southern China, where several workers committed suicide, the gap between China’s rich and poor clearer began to look harder to span.

One obstacle to happiness in China, Peng said, is the intense culture of competition: "When you have that many people all fighting to achieve the same narrowly defined goals, it becomes a zero-sum game," he said. "That's why we need to change the paradigm of what success means and come together for the greater good of Chinese society," Peng added. "That's why we need to talk about the science of happiness."

Happiness is not a factor when Chinese parents think about the stiff competition facing their children. I had dinner with a magazine editor recently who filled his son's days and nights with paid tutors in everything from Saxaphone to language test prep' schools. His son plans to major in engineering though he told me once, with his head in his hands, that he really wanted to be an artist. The son showed me the sketch book that he has secreted away from his family for years. despite being (not surprisingly) a bit dark, they were extraordinary. He is one of dozens of students through the years that has opted to repay his parent's financial assistance by fulfilling their dreams of an Ivy League graduate with a job at a known company.

The last three years, at no charge, I have assisted 20 students in their quest to attend schools in America and Hong Kong. 100% of the students are enrolled in "top 30" schools. "Top" is defined by parents as a recognizable name or a U.S. News and World Report ranked program. I have helped place students at Columbia, Carnegie, Colorado College, Penn State, Nebraska, Berkeley, Yale, and others. Many of them came to me as English majors looking to move into business or finance. Some of them had already employed the services of cram schools that extort up to $9,000 USD for recommendations (fake), Personal Statements and Resumes (also fake), and assistance in choosing a "Top 50" school.

One student came to me bearing a random list of colleges, some excellent schools and some dubious at best, saying they had been told to choose up to eight recommended colleges and universities for which the service would then prepare admissions documents needed for matriculation. I tested these lists as it was clear that there was no real rhyme or reason to them. I asked the students to select only the top tier schools and return them to the service assisant.

The service assistant was an intern making 1,500 RMB a month preparing fake documents and teaching ways to scam various admissions tests. When presented with the list of top schools by one of my students she paled and said, "you need to pick some easier schools. These may be too good for you." I wondered why they would recommend those schools in the first place if the candidates were not qualified for them in the first place. No mention was ever made of the reasons for their decisons and the intern did not know what programs of study were available at the schools listed. Note: They only get their full fees if the student is admitted to a school. To ensure their financial futures they throw in "ringers" of two types:

1. Schools they know will admit anyone who can pay full tuition.

2. Schoos that pay the service referral fees of up to 20% of a year's tuition.

The intern, a college junior, finally capitulated and then handed my charge her doctored peroanl statement and letters of recommendation. They were loaded with spelling errors and Chinglish spelling and grammar mistakes. One of the letters was purportedly written by a famous Chinese native English Porfessor (who likely gets a fee for each letter bearing his name) who could not possibly have penned such drivel.

I corrected the personal statement (PS) and the letters and sent my student back to the intern with the new versions. I had also removed the glaring buzzwords like "self motivated", "creative", "democratic leader"  that appeared with an annoying frequency throughout the documents they said were created using a secret formula. Kentucky Fried Admissions. The intern consulted with her boss, who had been told that an American Porfessor had edited their work. She chastised the student and vilified my efforts: "He has turned a rich cup of tea into a glass of water!" She also was verbally chastened for having a foreigner involved: "The American cannot possibly understand the Chinese mindset and will fail in getting you admitted."

Near the same time I was  amending the documents I also called admissions directors at the best schools on the list. We found later that the service did not prepare the added documents and essay questions needed to assure entrance into the more elite schools. The student, guided by me submitted them on her own and said nothing to the sevice. And we added one top school not on the list and applied without telling the service.

The student was admitted to the schools whose applications I assisted in preparing. She was also admitted to the elite school selected with a $20,000 USD scholarship. The service took full responsibility for the success and is now sporting her admissions in a forged testimonial on their website. Of the dozens of students who successfully were placed by the service my student was admitted to the highest ranked college.

This is not a story about my acumen as an adviser, but a cautionary tale for Chinese parents desperate to advance their student's careers. These cram scools and services only exist to make money, not to serve the real needs of the student. One such service, NASDAQ listed, is building nearly 100 new centers to fleece well to do parents out of their hard earned Yuan. Their happiness is a good quarterly report and a high placement rate regardless of its impact on the student's well being or future quality of life.

Sea turtles will be a catalyst for creativity," predicts Henry Wang Huiyao of the Western Returned Scholars Association. A Sea Turtle is a returnee to China with usable skills. Sea Weed drifts without purpose and has little to offer. Too many schools, now that education has industrialized, care little for the endowments success will bring and do not mind returning students home that they may never see again.

There are some good centers, good eastern-looking western institutions as well as some competent prep schools out there. I will try to report on a them few in coming posts. I will also examine the explosion of 2+2 and 1+3 degree mills that now prey on wealthy students who under perform on Chinese entrance exams. They give a year's worth of expensive preparation in cooperation with schools in the UK and US who have lowered standards in an effort to raise bottom line and false hopes for unsuspecting parents.

			163.com, IPR, Intellectual Property Rights, Baidu, China, China Internet, 163.com, Censorship, Great Firewall,

China's Internet user base explosion has made euphemistic any early proclamations by analysts regarding growth potential. And with over 400 million Netizens now online in China, virtual eyes have turned toward the east. And accompanying the home-grown success of B2C platform Taobao, B2B giant Alibaba, and Video sharing sites like Tudou and Youku, resident and immigrant scam and spam masters we have all come to know and hate in the west are flourishing.

The central government is hyper-vigiliant and quick to censor moral and political information. Some complain that China, centuries old experts at assimilation and "shanzhai" (knockoff) adaptation, have created a sad, intra-net dirt road in place of the world's information super-highway. It is not the World Wide Web with Chinese characteristics. It is tin cans and walkie talkies posing as desktops, laptops and 3-G mobile devices. It is maddening for most online dependent businesses to operate here. It is maddening for all but the worst of users. Businesses find it hard to interact legally though all the censor filters, paid advertising results and "reputation management" search returns that push real information off the page--commercial censorship Ala Rupert Murdoch and similar unsettling accounts....

Beijing acts with passionate intensity about face-saving, but no serious conviction when it comes to the safety of its online community. A recent report by CCTV (the official State owned media service)  accused China based search engines of promoting counterfeit drugs,. Baidu was singled out in the press, costing them a 4% decline in share value, but the problem is not Baidu's alone. The Sanlu milk scandal and suppression of search results about the crisis left a bitter taste in the mouths of those who sympathized with the victims. The tainted milk issue that killed and disabled children country-wide happened in 2008 and the government seems only be paying PR lip service to possible solutions. CCTV reported on Sunday that a mere three websites selling fake drugs was able to scam more than 3,000 people in China.

Now 163.com and other sites have become notorious among anti-spam crusaders worldwide. 163 addresses are by 419'ers. The "419" is code for the devious get rich quick email driven schemes that once were relatively confined to Nigeria and neighboring countries. Now Africans residing in China and native scammers legitimize millions of emails with IPs originating in China and asking for help with everything from Children's charities to Chinese dating.

I recently tried to sell an iPhone on Craigslist in Hong Kong. Nine of my fourteen responses came from 163 addresses that asked me to drop ship the phone to a son or daughter in America. They promised they would send a bank draft (I have never seen one in China for purchases under 1,000,000 Yuan) upon receipt of the merchandise. Despite a Chinese email address, the email sender's IPs all resolved in Africa.

And in-country, one clever group uses bogus profiles of pretty Chinese girls to lure lonely westerners. Most of the girls, actually 419ers, use 163 addresses and the scam goes like this:

xiaoyue2016@163.com's profile on a date site as reported by The Dragon Ladies Anti-dating scam forum: 

Hi, can we become friends? I live in America because of my work. However, i am not happy. I am very lonely. I want to find a bosom friend. Maybe we can arrange a date and develop a deeper relationship. I wait for your reply. What is your email address address?

Upon reply to "Little Moon" you are told that her English is poor and asked to use a translation site that is run by the scammers. Ms Xiaoyue shaves daily and buys his razors with money gleaned from any bank information you surrender.

More recently, I tried without success to contact 163 about a woman wanted in Guangzhou for commission of fraud perpetrated with the use of a stolen American passport. She writes from a 163 address and attempts to hijack business payments, and charity donations by pretending to be people associated with the businesses or charities. She also uses her 163 address to send fake reporter queries, and then character assaults with the material gleaned, to employers and and the friends of her victims. She later contacts friends of the victims, claiming to be a victim herself, and asks for money to assist in obtaining legal help or other assistance. With Yahoo's help I shut down three of the bogus accounts she had registered with them. But, 163 has sent back every complaint I emailed them (sent in Chinese and English) stating that they lack translation abilities or citing some other pre-programmed reason for not reading the complaint. Phone calls to 163's headquarters have resulted in an endless loop of recordings that list the marketing services they sell.

Instead of harmonizing blogs to protect its citizens from historical or political truths, Beijing would do well to rescue online comrades and international web users from the likes of fraudulent sales, spam, and 419 masters. And the WTO would do well to demand enforcement of anti-spam laws at the same time it expects China's Internet portals to obey Intellectual Property Rights rules and while easing up on censorship.

			Harmonious, Games, Asian Games, 2010 Games, Guangzhou, China, Olympics,

The 2010 Asian Games are fast approaching. Guangzhou, China is the host. Few people know much about the centuries old trade hub once known to Occidentals as Canton, despite it being home to an estimated 10 million Chinese citizens and the Canton Trade Fair. The Fair has been pivotal to China's export success and hosts over 200 trading regions and countries, 165,000 visitors and 22,000 exhibitors (almost 400 of them international) and tens of millions in trade. Even then, most people will only recognize the location: "About an 90-minutes north of Hong Kong" is how I usually describe my adopted home. Within a 2-hour radius of Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta are responsible for some 35% of China's GDP.

The Guangdong government, the provincial parent to Guangzhou, has been hard after a successful world showing for the contest for over half a decade. The video above was uploaded to Youtube by me in 2006 and shows a near idyllic cit, rife with culture, clean air and blue waters. While I love Guangzhou, I am realistic about its landscape and applaud the video maker's post-production team for turning back environmental time a century--or two.

Guangzhou, like New York, can be called a city that never sleeps. But, its the steady cadence of pile drivers and backhoes in place of nightclub music and taxi horns are beat of the streets long past sundown and dawns barely visible through the haze of internal industrialization. There is external face-building (and saving) in the way of new buildings, subways, and a made-in-China facade of modernity everywhere you look. I am reminded of a quote by Malcom Muggeridge: "...I feel like a man playing piano in a brothel; every now and again he solaces himself by playing 'Abide with Me' in the hope of edifying both the clients and the inmates.” The local government has been playing a tune that the locals, especially the expats here, will likely not recognize when the world hears it during the opening ceremonies.

As part of the campaign to beautify Guangzhou, the  government has declared war on: Prostitution, Gambling and Drugs. Corruption, noise pollution, racial profiling, and crimes against foreigners did not make the cut.

To modernize the train station (insert prelude here) the GZ government has moved the taxi stand several hundred meters away from station entrance. Travelers, hauling heavy bags are in for a dual workout:  they must run a gauntlet of illegal taxi drivers, beggars, thieves (the east station has always been a haven for hustlers), endless rain and brutal heat.

To curb prostitution the local police, disgruntled they have to leave the comfort of the local cop shop, now run in gangs of 7-10 and make random checks of hotel rooms city wide. And don't think about bringing your common law live-in for a tour! No marriage license or proof of relational identity means you and your beloved will be sleeping on different floors of the hotel. Disobey the rules and your Chinese paramour will do 15 days of moral re-education and may be stripped of her job before she can disrobe for a night's sleep. All the while, outside your hotel men are throwing business cards into the open windows of taxis carrying foreigners and bear the pictures and phone numbers of a multinational array of VIP masseuses.  

The favorite fishing holes for the constabulary are the Muslim and African areas--often the same in GZ which has the country's oldest Mosque not burned down by Mao--and the residents there are routinely rousted and arrested if they lack a passport in their possession. A friend from Sierra Leone was beaten by police when he reached for a cell phone to call for his passport and the security bureau thought he was shooting video of the attack. The Africans will remain in stir until someone comes to show the police a valid visa. It is fast becoming an Arizona on the Pearl River and even legitimate travelers are being caught in the crossfire.

Meantime at GZ's Baiiyun airport, into which I flew in the other day, I had to literally push past several fake cabbies to get to a "legitimate" taxi stand. There, police were holding up the line inspecting the licenses of drivers in marked taxis. After 30-40 minutes I hopped in with a driver who tried to negotiate a price into town and nearly forced me out of the cab when I insisted he just use the meter. He later tried to pass me a fake 50 RMB note for change.

One the way to my counterfeit identification practice session I passed several Chinese paddy wagons (it does sound like an oxymoron) and armed police who had just shut down a night club frequented by Africans (enter chorus here) and middle eastern visitors. And no taxis were stopping to help those not hustled into the wagons, and not for fear of he armed public security forces, but because Africans ironically are regarded by area cabbies as untrustworthy.

Two weeks ago my passport, stolen in January, was used in the commission of a crime. We actually traced and identified the Chinese perpetrator who had forged a document and was dumb enough to fingerprint endorse a phony rental contract and take money for a property they did not own. I promptly reported the incident to local police who refused to take a report or give me a number the American Consulate could call to ask them to assist.  I called American Citizen services and they phoned the city heaquarters polce who dispatched a  foreign affairs officer who told the police to take a report.They took a report and left it at that: The thief is still at large. I was later told by three local expat businessmen who had had that a donation of some sort might have helped expedite my case and that I was assured no action would happen now that I had caused them consular troubles. What were those three evils again and who is going to enforce their departure? And is this the gambling they were talking about?

Yesterday Guangzhou followed Beijing's Olympic preparation lead and is only allowing cars to drive on days that corresponding to their license plates. Plates ending in odd numbers can only drive on odd days ( lately most of my days here are a bit odd, but don't count for anything) and even cars travel on even days. There is an easy fix for the illegal taxi drivers: steal a second set of plates and the "legitimate" taxi drivers are singing the Hallelujah chorus in lieu of the Asian Games theme song as the new law means they can avoid taxi stands, stay parked as though on break and extort high prices from Chinese and expats alike for ridiculously short rides. Ostensibly, this is to cut down emissions and thin traffic, but the strain on transit facilities and the ensuing crowds are already already enough to give you PTSD.

In the din and roar of our crowded metropolis--10% of the world's most populated cities are within a two hour drive of my apartment-- public transportation has been a euphemism for In-Vivo EQ testing: If you can survive a day of travel in Canton, one that includes rush hour, then you should qualify for early admission to a top MBA program, with guarantee of a CEO job upon graduation, in a less congested burg of your choice.

The sad finale to the story is the disappearance of local neighborhoods to make way for pricey high-rise apartment buildings. My old community, where on Saturdays the whole area would gather to watch a movie projected on to a tarp from the back of a van, is gone. The corner bicycle repair store and the cluttered "everything shop" that was no bigger than an upscale wardrobe closet vanished along with the proprietor who used to stock one or two items and a smile especially for me.The traffic jams and pedestrian work-arounds during the first real race of the Games--the one to make Guangzhou look more international and tourist friendly before November--has cost some confused locals their lives: One college student was decapitated by a passing truck while exiting a bus in a crowded area where the regular stop was forced to close to allow construction equipment moves.

(Photo from the Filination Blog )

The good news is that the inconvenience and xenophobic appearance of enforced changes has brought a taste of much needed, environmentally friendlier infrastructure additions. Guangzhou, especially the New City area, is looking more like upscale Shanghai and Beijing daily. And the transportation, while not perfect is actually a bit better. The new BRT now handles a world record 800,000+ riders a day and is more eco-friendly than before (48 cars worth of carbon emissions less--hey, it's something!) and viewed as such a success that the local transportation director was promoted to Party Secretary of Guangzhou.

If you are coming to Guangzhou during the games:

• Bring copies of your passport and store them in multiple places in your personal effects
• Hire a guide or translator (30-40 bucks a day) to help you navigate and to assist in case of an emergency-- I will publish a guide to services soon
• Carry your Embassy's phone number at all times
• Carry relevant medical information in both Chinese and English 
• Pay with small bills and keep your money in the bank or in safe keeping at your hotel along with other valuables
• Never hire a service, taxis especially, no matter what your rush
• Bring plenty of medication if you suffer from medical issues and especially respiratory ones. Do not drink the tap water
• Stay in 4-5 star hotels. Really. They are cheap (50-140 bucks a night) compared to comparable western digs and will have trained concierge services happy to assist you
• Do not let this article deter you from coming to Canton. It is a large city with the problems inherent in urban areas. The people of Guangzhou are honest, friendly and thrilled about the coming games. Away from the tourist zones you will find amazing deals, souvenirs and memories to last a lifetime
• Subscribe to a VPN before you come (I recommend Witopia or Strong) if you hope to access any of your social media sites, Google special services or favorite blogs back home
• Read a more enjoyable ten essential things to bring here: http://t-o-p.nl/list/10-most-essential-things-to-bring-to-china/

			Dutch Design, Dutch, Pavillion, China, Holland Pavillion, Netherlands Guangzhou, Business in China, China Trade, Canton Trade Fair

The Dutch have a long, albeit tumultuous, tradition of trade with China.  But in recent decades in place of spices, the Chinese have turned to Holland for architectural and product design excellence. This year at the world's largest trade and commodity exposition in Guangzhou the Netherlands Consulate of South China will offer Dutch companies an opportunity to show off their wares. It is the beginning of what will surely be a trend for other countries attending future fairs.

I was speaking to a fashion trader from Dubai yesterday who told me that China and the former Eastern Bloc countries are now his preferred customers. Dubai now pays him for goods with Letters of Credit that can only be executed a year from their issue; China, Poland and other countries pay cash on delivery for his merchandise. Many countries, including Holland, are now looking East, centuries after their first ships sailed here, to again expand profitabiliy and capitalize on China's newfound wealth.

 This October, during the 108th session ( two a year) of the trade fair, a Holland Pavilion will be present. Despite reports that traffic has been waning at recent fairs, the last session, in April 2010, attracted 203,996 overseas buyers from 212 countries and regions and created an export turnover estimated at USD $34.40 billion. Each fair generally has over 1,500 Dutch participants alone as either vendors or buyers.

The "Canton Fair" renamed in 2007 to "China Import and Export Fair"  started to reshape its profile at that time. Companies complianing of a lack of regulations insisted on and received  better advice and supervision, better enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Protection ( IPR) , and they created more opportunities for foreign brands and companies to tap into China’s market potential.

Jorg Vandenhoven of the Dutch Consul in Guabgzhou believes that "Dutch business and other EU players are missing huge market expansion opportunities if they do not attend the fair." The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Guangzhou is currently organizing a Holland specific Pavilion for the Autumn Fair in October 2010 and other countries eager to cash in on China's internal reserves and need for new expansion talent.

I have not been to the fair in over four years. I neither buy nor sell commodities in China, But, I believe I will head by this October. New trade winds are blowing and attendance figires, sales and participation demographics have always proven to be early indicators or confirmation of the weather ahead for global health-- both in and out of China.

Download details about Canton Fair at:  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/46098561/Canton-Fair

Dutch Design Canton