The Economist - Holiday Issue Dec 2007

Passing by the magazine rack I could not help but see on the cover of "The Economist" Dec 2007, a picture of Mao wearing a Santa hat. The cover article was good... sort of a take-off on the Tao of management ; "Mao and and the art of management". It provides an alternative primer on management issues facing the "over-compensated, under-performing chief executive" battered by "intrusive journalists and vice president's who could do a better job". Mao's 'Little Red Book" is apparently filled with lots of advice regarding motivation, innovation, competition and helping the low-performing middle manager". Who knew!

I bought the issue, knowing full well that it is a conservative publication published in London and Singapore. All the articles are anonymous and well-written and usually have an op-ed feel to them. Inside there are other articles that would be a great interest to many of you and they are all available at http://www.economist.com. Here are a few highlights that could enhance your teaching of East Asia "GEPRSS" (Geography, Economics, Politics, Religion, and Social Structures):

"When Japan was a Secret" - How the whaling industry combined with the north Pacific's "Gulf Stream" the Kuroshio current , provided accidental tourists from Japan to the US in the late Tokugawa regime. An interesting fact was that since the "xenophobic" Tokugawa regime would not allow it's own sailors to leave, they deliberately created ships that would drift or wreck. Without the central rudders of the Chinese and Western craft they lacked steerage in high seas when blown there by "sudden autumn storms". These sailors were called "sea-drifters" providing some of the initial cultural exchange prior to the entry of Commodore Perry.

"Clipping the Dragon's Wings - Recalculating China"s GDP" - According to the IMF and the World Bank, the world's major economies' GDPs must be adjusted to account for PPP - purchasing-power parities - rather than market exchange rates. As a result, China's 2005 GDP has been reset from $8.9 trillion to $5.2 trillion and India from almost $4 trillion to about $2 trillion. The U.S. was $12.4 trillion in 2005. According to the article, with current growth rates, China is predicted to take over the United States in 10 years.

"Death by Overwork: Jobs for Life" - talks about karoshi, legally accepted as a cause of death in Japan since the 80s

"Pandaplomacy" - next to the article on the plight and sex life of pandas is a short article on the diplomatic power of the panda and Taiwan's refusal of two pandas from the PRC "Tuantuan" and "YUanyuan". Taiwan had a problem with accepting a gift that could represent the PRC's desire to control of Taiwan. After all, Tuan Yuan (the panda couple's names combined) means "reunited" in Chinese.