Although I’d been the subject of minor media interest in China, my first interaction with any form of Western media was on January 30th 2020 when I sent an email to a journalist, Alison Rourke of the Guardian Newspaper, an “independent” British newspaper which was reporting regular updates in relation to the then Chinese problems of COVID-19, and had asked readers to contribute insightful information. …

Reading through Twitter and watching Western mainstream media (WMSM), it’s easy to believe that China is collapsing because “a new wave of COVID is decimating the country”. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just another example of how WMSM distorts a tiny truth into a larger fabrication designed to paint their chosen target in a bad light.

According to Wikipedia.com, “Schadenfreude is a complex emotion where, rather than feeling sympathy, one takes pleasure from watching someone’s misfortune.” …

It shouldn’t be, but it is a controversial subject. The World Bank, WHO, US State Department and pretty much every government in the world has a different definition of what poverty means. In China, absolute poverty is defined as 11RMB a day, this is about $1.70. The World Bank disagrees and sets a higher number. In 2011 the USA considered people to be in poverty if their consumption was less than $21.70 a day. If that were the case, allowing for inflationary adjustment, almost all Chinese people outside of a few well-known cities would be in poverty. But living in…

One of Secretary of State Blinken’s favourite reasons for not engaging China on equal terms is his allegation that China doesn’t follow “Rule of Law” or a “Rules Based Order.”

In terms of International law, there are many bodies where organisations or nations could present cases against countries, or individuals from those countries, when international crimes may have taken place. On examination it’s the USA which seems to be the country without laws

Despite being thousands of miles from home, there are dozens of US bases in and around Asia, yet the US claims, China has “expanded in the South…

First of all, it’s appropriate to point out that, unlike any of the people who voted on the topic, I’ve actually been to Xinjiang, I’ve travelled extensively and seen no evidence whatsoever of anything approaching a genocide — there are high security, barbed wire fences and walls in places that we don’t see in other parts of China and, for sure there is a high degree of surveillance. But all those things apply just as much (in fact, slightly more so) to me, a foreigner, as they do to the local people, be they Han Chinese, Uyghur, Kazakh, Tajik, Hui…

I love China, I rarely have bad things to say about the country or the people and never about the food, but there’s one thing that I never do and that’s gloss over the facts to pretend that life here is utopian. Independent travelling in China has never been easy, but for now, it’s close to completely impossible unless you’re fluent in Chinese or have a very astute person with you who can translate for you.

Some background, I’ve lived in China for 16 years, I speak some Chinese although definitely more functional than fluent, I can order food, get…

Day 3 新桥镇 — 云浮市 42公里
昨天入住酒店时有两个酒店客人和我们搭讪，他们说在酒店附近有个100多年历史的小街道，挺有意思的，建议我们去看看。于是今天上午先去那里逛一下。这条街不是很长，一个看起来很大的新教堂在街道入口处右边，一个很老旧的教堂在街道入口几步的左边。旧教堂显然没有继续在运作，被围栏围了起来，我想可能是因为太旧，或者有破损不安全，或是去的人越来越多，旧的不够用，所以盖了新的。这里大部分房子都是旧骑楼，也要几栋看出来是后来新建的现代楼房穿插其中，看起来像90年代或2000年左右建的。我想以前这条街应该很热闹，这里的骑楼有马来西亚建筑的风格，Jerry说也像澳门许多建筑的风格。100多年前的普通老百姓是没有能力建造这么漂亮的房子的，建这些房子的人应该比较富裕。时光荏苒，人类繁衍了一代又一代，祖先们留下的点滴和足迹演变成历史被流传下来被后代传颂，这些建筑是历史的见证。街道很安静，许多房子已经空置，没有人居住了，只有少数老人仍留守旧居。几个老人在屋前聊天，我和她们聊了一会，她们告诉我现在仍住这里的只有为数不多的老人了. …

Despite all the rhetoric, if anyone cares to look, they will see that, year on year and month on month, trade between China and the USA is increasing. Don’t believe me? Check the US trade department’s own figures here: https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html So decoupling is not an eventuality on anyone’s mind right now but…

I’m going to go hypothetical and ask a question that would make both economists and psychologist squirm. The economists will say it can’t ever happen and the psychologists will say it’s could happen but will end badly. Let’s just ask it anyway:

What will happen if China gives…