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The United Nations Food Program recently announced that China no longer needed its assistance. Over the past decades tens of millions of Chinese have received its help, but today China is able to provide for its own hungry.

James Morris, the program's executive director, was quoted by the BBC as saying, "China has built its capacity to address its own problems, it doesn't need us any more."

The full BBC story along with a video and other resources is available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4090979.stm

Be sure to see two photo essays:
Consuming Desire: http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/asia_pac_china0s_new_shoppers/img/1.jpg

Wealth Gap:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/asia_pac_china0s_wealth_gap/html/1.stm

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The UN says that China should now be a food donor rather than a food aid recipient. The BBC report on the announcement includes a video link on why China no longer needs such help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4090979.stm

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The BBC has published a report by Louisa Lim on drug use in Yunnan. It's available at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4085049.stm

The article focuses on the Dai ethnicity and tells of A Bao's addiction. The young man shoots heroin 4-5 times daily. Lim cites official statistics reporting 1 million addicts, but also notes that others put the estimate at 10-12 times that.

Unlike most goods, drugs are becoming cheaper in Yunnan. The article includes a description of a rehabilitation center Daytop.

It would be great to hear what others think of the problem and how the Chinese are addressing it. Beyond that -- how might this be discussed with our own students?

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The article Paul's added is excellent (thanks for sharing it!) and the NY Times website has a good deal more. PLEASE: Rather than posting entire articles into the message area, please save them as text files or word processing files and then attach them. If people want to read them, they can click on the attachment to open it.

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Marketeers spend enormous energy (and get paid well) to come up with ads that will leave potential customers feeling good about their products. Nike is a marketing king, but seems to have stumbled badly with its latest ad aimed at the Chinese market. In it the young NBA youthful sensation LeBron James dominating an animated Chinese "martial arts" figure. Not long after the ad was first broadcast Chinese internet chatrooms were ablaze with criticism of the images displayed and the attitudes they were said to have conveyed.

The Guardian newspaper published an article about the ad and the response it generated. (Dec. 8, 2004)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1368732,00.html

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Maybe it's frustration at having missed out on signing Yao Ming. Nike has had to pull a new ad aimed at the Chinese market. It features an awesome LeBron James (the gifted star just a year out of high school) dominating an animated Chinese figure.

The attached Guardian article has the details.

Any thoughts?

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Princess Sayako was an inspiration to many Japanese women who admired her independence. And she worried those who thought that by remaining unmarried she was setting a dangerous example. She recently announced that she's going to marry.

Here is a NY Times article on the announcement. She'll marry a commoner, a government employee.

Every year for a decade she's had to answer, on her birthday, questions from reporters on whether or not she would marry. In 1997 she tried to get the questions to stop, but they continued.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/06/international/asia/06tokyo.html

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Many of you probably saw this front page story from the LA Times (12/6/04). It argues that urban Chinese have embraced family planning and that some couples are even electing to remain childless.

We discussed this on the trip -- the key factors (worldwide) reducing births are: 1. increased education for girls; 2. urbanization.

In China women have more choices and fewer now expect children to be their most important retirement asset. This is less true in the countryside where the social security system is younger and people haven't seen it provide for the elderly.

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Attached is an article from the 12/6/04 LA Times. It argues that urban Chinese have embraced the advantages of having fewer children and that some are even electing to go childless.

As I noted in previous session -- the big forces driving down births (worldwide, over time) are: increased education for women and urbanization. We see this in China where economic opportunities for women are increasing, where housing is in short supply, where the costs of raising kids dramatically outweigh their perceived utility as retirement assets.

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I've attached a copy of a Dec. 6 NY Times article on how Chinese history is taught in China's high schools. Please click on the icon below to open the article. You may find the discussion of how controversial recent events (occupation of Tibet, suppression of 1989 democracy movement) are treated especially interesting. The article with its illustrations is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/06/international/asia/06textbook.html

Greg -- have any teacher pals spoken with you about how they teach about their own country?

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I've attached a copy of a Dec. 6 NY Times article on how Chinese history is taught in China's high schools. Please click on the icon below to open the article. You may find the discussion of how controversial recent events (occupation of Tibet, suppression of 1989 democracy movement) are treated especially interesting.

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In 2005, a California NCTA group will visit Japan. My friend and colleague Jon Weil from LMU will lead the tour. Click on the icon below to download the application. Please feel free to contact me with questions about the tour and application process. Specific questions about the tour itinerary should be directed to Jon. Jon and I were co-leaders of the 2004 tour of China.

In 2006, I'll lead a California NCTA group to China and Japan. Sam Yamashita of Pomona College will be my co-leader. Sam and I partnered on the 2003 tour. We'll spend about 13 days in China and 8 in Japan. We'll have the itinerary, etc. up on the web in the spring and the applications will be available in November 2005.

All UTLA participants who have completed all seminar requirements are eligible to apply for these tours. You may only go on one NCTA-sponsored tour.

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Hi Everyone,

In 2005, a California NCTA group will visit Japan. My friend and colleague Jon Weil from LMU will lead the tour. Click on the icon below to download the application. Please feel free to contact me with questions about the tour and application process. Specific questions about the tour itinerary should be directed to Jon. Jon and I were co-leaders of the 2004 tour of China.

In 2006, I'll lead a California NCTA group to China and Japan. Sam Yamashita of Pomona College will be my co-leader. Sam and I partnered on the 2003 tour. We'll spend about 13 days in China and 8 in Japan. We'll have the itinerary, etc. up on the web in the spring and the applications will be available in November 2005.

All UTLA participants who have completed all seminar requirements are eligible to apply for these tours. You may only go on one NCTA-sponsored tour.

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The attached article is from the 11/22/04 issue of the LA Times. There are several teachable topics in the article (what people look for in a spouse, differing rates/forces of cultural change, politics and its impact on individuals…).

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From the 11/22/04 issue of the LA Times: "Unions across divide". This article discusses Taiwanese men traveling to China to secure mates. There are several teachable topics in the article (what people look for in a spouse, differing rates/forces of cultural change, politics and its impact on individuals…). Click on the link below to read the article.

It is okay to post such articles for discussion here.

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