Chinese psychopaths at it some more

DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP

Chinese psychopaths are still at it - impune, immune. The stakes were always high. The time to defend one's self is now before it is too late.

[Youtube] Chinese psychopaths destroy a free spirit

China's The New South China Mall, The World's Largest Mall that never was

Dateline: Ding Dong, Don Juan, Dongguan, China

And then we have the ghost malls... EconCat88 braves Chinese security to bring us first hand, jaw dropping, eye candy horror footage of The New South China Mall, which, at the present, is a ghost mall. Built in 2005, it is self dubbed "The World's Largest Mall". Alas, it is a relict of the credit bubble of the Go-Go 2000s. Things that make you go WOAHHHHHH.

Why does the government build stuff that will never get utilized? Isn't it a crime when there's poor people in China that could use some of that money? What I suspect is the construction of buildings that will be left vacant is deliberate. The Chinese government has way too much money and needs to dispose of it. If they give this money to poor people, it will create demand for goods which will create inflation. So in order to control inflation they have to not allow that money into circulation. And what better way to throw money into the fireplace AND increase the GDP numbers at the same time than to blow it on unoccupied store malls and whole ghost towns? The corrupt class (construction firms, bankers, government officials) get their money who blow it on gambling, real estate, and the stock market. And then it's time to tear the ghost buildings down....

I'll post the first part in the series and then links for the rest.

[Youtube] Chinese New South China Ghost Mall - Part 1/7


The rest:
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Chinese Street Vendors

EconCat88 films brings us footage from the "shopping streets" of Kunming, China.

Just a few notes here. If the stores in buildings can't compete with vendors on the street that doesn't mean you should get rid of the street vendors. That just means the street vendors are the more efficient business model. If the stret vendors are declared unlawful and cleared out all that really means is people have to pay more in stores in buildings. So why the are building stores there? Primarily to feed money to the rentiers and esablished status quo. They got to have their cut! Rents aren't cheap! How much of the money you spend on goods actually goes to the actual price of a good? How much of the money that's spent at a restaurant actually goes towards the food? Do you really think the food vendors at Disneyland that make much from a $10 hamburger? Does most of that go to Disneyland?

Furthermore, instead of building empty malls, they could've built areas for the small guys to hawk their wares.

I remember in India, they've outlawed street vendors during the day because they compete with the establishment. Why outlaw capitalism and competition? If street vending is the more efficient and effective model, why keep people from benefitting from it? And the food WAS better through a street vendor. I saw him make it right in font of the cart. And it's so much cheaper. And the money will go a longer way for him than a restaurant in a building. There's the money will go towards rent, utilities, taxes, his house mortgage (which goes to the bankers), his car payment, and other establishment rentiers.

[Youtube] Street vendors

Container ship tests high for radiation

A container ship passed Fukushima 77 miles away in the ocean only to come away with a coating of radiation. It tries to unload in China only to be rejected after high radiation levels are detected.

What's next? Radiation Barbie?

[Forum] Container ship rejected by China due to high radioactivity

Chinese man lives in an egg home

EGGLOO

Great for the environment, great for the pocketbook. The status quo is offended.



Man build small egg shared home, government comes taketh sway. He can't avoid paying the real estate rentier cost for those on easy street. I'm impressed by the engineering and thought that went into the design and product.

[Article] Chinese name builds himself an egg-shaped home

The People that make your iPhones

Anandtech.com's DailyTech had an article a few days ago about the appalling conditions at Foxconn's factory in China that makes Apple's iPads, iPods, and iPhones. I think we can do better than this.

[Article] Employees suffer in order to save a few bucks off Apple products

UPDATE: Tom's Hardware also had an article:
[Article] Tom's Hardware covers suicides at Foxconn

Mattel CEO apologizes to Chinese Premier for lead paint design defect

Hilarious. Ironic. Never in a million years would I have thought that Mattel would apologize to China for the lead paint fiasco. The lead paint incorporated into the toys was due to a design defect!

If you remember, one of the subcontractors used leaded paint to paint Mattel toys in order to save on costs and increase profits. It turns out it was a subcontractor of a subcontractor.

Mattel got in hot water after it was discovered that the toys had lead. I'm sure Mattel knew about this as they have strict testing procedures such as to test batches of toys to insure their products are up to their rigorous quality standards *sarcasm*.

Implicated for the lead paint fiasco, Lee Der's owner, Cheung Shu-hung, hung himself (or maybe it was homicide?) on the factory floor, even though it was one of his subcontractor's subcontractor that provided the lead colorant. Furthermore, a user comments that a Hong Kong businessman responsible for supplying the leaded colorant to the subcontractor was murdered.

[Youtube] Mattel's CEO apologizes to China for design defect



Let's revisit the fiasco and shed some light with some details:

On Lee Der's owner, Cheung Shu-hung
The story is filled with compelling background, such as this bit about the toymaker's total dedication to his business.

He would normally come to the factory every day with weekends often no exception, said a mid-level manager at Lee Der to Caijing. “He put his whole life into the toy factory. Pretty much all the money he earned over the years he invested back into the factory,” he said.

Cheung had no family. For many years he lived in the Nanhai district of Foshan, practically making the factory his home.

The Rise of a Subcontractor
... the process by which the poisonous paint was sourced (over the internet) and how it slipped by five levels of quality checkpoints.

The story begins back in the 1990s. After getting a certificate of merit by Mattel in 1997, Lee Der's expansion brought on new facilities and increased need for suppliers to deal with the growth in orders:

Lee Der experienced a rapid expansion in the years between 1998 and 1999. In July 2000, Foshan Hengjing Toy Company Ltd., was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Lee Der Industrial. Some years later this company leased workshops at the former Foshan Shuaimeng Toy Factory as a production site, meaning that Lee Der Industrial was now running three manufacturing operations in Foshan. Their total number of employees was now over 2,500 and production last year was worth around 200 million. The output volume was by now the second largest of any toy-maker in Foshan, behind only Sino-American Toys.

But at the same time as orders, and the corresponding need for more suppliers, were growing:

The tainted paint had come from Lee Der’s supplier Dongxing, who bought the paint from Dongguan Zhongzin Colorants, a company they had found on the internet.

Dongxing’s boss had been good friends with Cheung for many years, and the small family-run business had supplied colored packaging and cardboard cartons to Lee Der.

Dongxing, founded in 2001, added paint manufacturing to its business ventures in 2002 and began supplying paint to Foshan Lee Der. It had provided Lee Der with five tons of paints and coating that first year.

Many Foshan Lee Der staff said that the growth of Dongxing’s business was thanks to the orders from Foshan Lee Der.

The source of the lead
A representative for one of Mattel’s approved paint suppliers told Caijing that there were only eight companies in China approved by Mattel to supply their toys, and Dongxing was not one of them. Yet Mattel had apparently not noticed the business relationship between Foshan Lee Der and Dongxing, although it had existed for a good four years.

...in early April Dongxing was short of yellow colorant and decided to buy some from a supplier in Guangdong province that they found via the Internet. This supplier, Dongguan Zhongxin Colorants, located in Dongguan city, sent fake paperwork to Dongxing claiming that their yellow colorant was lead-free, a problem Dongxing failed to notice. On April 10, Dongxing bought 500 kilos of colorant from Dongguan Zhongzin.

Lee Der’s management told the media that they decided not to test the colorant they received from Dongxing because they feared the process would hold up production at Lee Der.

Normally, Dongxing would send the colorant to testing agencies in Guangdong, which would take five to 10 days, said the management. Dongxing skipped the testing and around 200 kilos of the tainted colorant was used between April 19 and mid-June.
The change in paint products was noticed by alert employees on the ground (which is a whole lesson in itself):

A former Lee Der paint sprayer said he had observed in April that the paint they were using smelled differently from usual.

The discovery and factory shutdown
In mid-June 2006, testing by Mattel’s labs in China found the problem, and lobbying by the Sierra Club began to put pressure on the toy maker to remove the poisoned toys from store shelves.

As the pressure ratcheted up, Mattel made the recall notice (Aug. 2) for close to a million toys from Foshan Lee Der.

Even despite the massive recall, Mattel was willing to stick it out with Cheung. The article says:

Lee Der had already begun to put its house in order after the recall notice by using a paint supplier approved by Mattel.

And the article goes on to say:
Even on the very day the recall announcement was made, Lee Der had taken a new order from Mattel.

I truly think this is the most frightening thing about the entire story -- Mattel was still placing orders with a company that had just cost it millions of dollars in recall costs, not to mention PR points beyond count.

Ironically, it was the Chinese government (both local and national), and not Mattel, who shut the factory down.

China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced a temporary ban on exports of the company’s products on August 9.
In the days after the scandal broke, the company submitted products for safety inspection on a number of occasions, but the local agency refused to inspect or approve them for distribution.

[Article] How Mattel's subcontractor's subcontractor introduced lead paint

Indian and Chinese Phd Student Brain Drain?

Insane in the Brain Drain?

Here's an article by the Washington Post (the mainstream media does trip up and do some research from time to time, heck a broken clock's right twice a day) on Indian and Chinese Phds finding a better life to be back in in their native countries.

Being born in India, and after visiting there a couple of times the past few years, I must say the social fabric of the society is intact there, although it's somewhat changing for the worse due to all the outsourcing. People focus on human values such as friendship and family rather than material wealth. Although things are quickly changing, the majority still live a simpler, respectful, and satisfying life. Even earning 1/3 the U.S. salary there will give you a luxurious, worry free, lifestyle. Let's just say the people staying here are more inclined to be materialistic. Another thing to ponder is why are there so many H1s coming over with experience. It's because they've been given a chance to expand their hands on jobs skills by their companies. Over here you get the runaround. No experience, no job and no chance to get experience.

"What propelled them to return home? Some 84% of the Chinese and 69% of the Indians cited professional opportunities. And while they make less money in absolute terms at home, most said their salaries brought a "better quality of life" than what they had in the U.S. (There was also some reverse culture shock?complaints about congestion in India, say, and pollution in China.) When it came to social factors, 67% of the Chinese and 80% of the Indians cited better "family values" at home. Ability to care for aging parents was also cited, and this may be a hidden visa factor: it's much harder to bring parents and other family members over to the U.S. than in the past. For the vast majority of returnees, a longing for family and friends was also a crucial element.

A return ticket home also put their career on steroids. About 10% of the Indians polled had held senior management jobs in the U.S. That number rose to 44% after they returned home. Among the Chinese, the number rose from 9% in the U.S. to 36% in China.

e surveyed 1,224 foreign students from dozens of nations who are currently studying at U.S. universities or who graduated in 2008. The majority told us that they didn?t think that the U.S. was the best place for their professional careers and they planned to return home. Only 6 percent of Indian, 10 percent of Chinese, and 15 percent of European students planned to settle in the U.S.

Many students wanted to stay for a few years after graduation if given a choice?58% of Indians, 54% of Chinese, and 40% of Europeans. But they see the future being brighter back home. Only 7% of Chinese students, 9% of European students, and 25% of Indian students believe that the best days of the U.S. economy lie ahead. Conversely, 74% of Chinese students and 86% of Indian students believe that the best days for their home country?s economy lie ahead. National Science Foundation studies have shown that the ?5 year stay rates? for Chinese and Indians science and engineering PhD?s have historically been around 92 % and 85% respectively (NSF tracks these 5 years at a time, and the vast majority stay permanently). So something has clearly changed."

[Article]Washington Post: Reverse Brain Drain To India And China

Uighur Uprising: One more graphic video

Here's one more graphic Uighur uprising video. I believe this video shows dead Hans, but I cannot be sure.

[Youtube] Uighur Uprising: Dead people

Uighurs: The Oppression in China

Location: NorthWest Chinese Province Xinjiang Capital - Urumchi

This wasn't covered anywhere on any online news sites or blogs. I am so surprised since it is such an important event, and especially since there's some very graphic footage. Why was there a media blackout? Has the Chinese octopus finally reached around the US media's necks with its tentacles already?

The Uighurs rebel against the Chinese Han oppressors in July 2009. The Hans think they're protecting their country China from those savage Uighurs. The Hans are favored (their rights protected and merchants backed with favorable loans) by the central Chinese government.

What a world! What a world! I think we can officially name the 21st century, The Century of Tyranny.

Warning: There's sick and EXTREMELY violent footage of people beating to death people.

[Youtube] Uighur uprising Video1


[Youtube] Uighur uprising Video2
Embedding disabled so please click on the link above :(

[Youtube] Uighur uprising Video3

John Perkins: Newsletter 06/14/209 - China Pollution

I got this newsletter from John Perkins today concerning China's pollution awareness and their reduction efforts.

I say let's make the USA #1 in clean use of energy and products. Let's make the goods production cycle a full cycle all the way from the factory to disposal. Remember, there is no "away". We need to change ourselves to remind ourselves to use less, conserve more, behave in a more responsible manner, and buy sustainability.

Anyways, here's the full newsletter:

From John Perkins

China: A Lesson in Transformation

Several times during my EHM tenure in the 1970s I stood on a hill in the New Territories outside Hong Kong and peered into China, a mysterious country I was not allowed to enter. China was locked behind a wall of secrecy. About all most of us knew was that the country was in shambles due to Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

I finally had the opportunity to visit China in June 2009.

No one back in the ‘70s believed that any country could sustain double digit economic growth for more than a couple of years and under no circumstances for a decade.

China accomplished the impossible. And then it did it again. And again. China’s economy mushroomed by an estimated ten-fold. In three decades, the most populous nation on the planet rose from the depths of poverty to become the symbol of what human determination – and capitalism – can accomplish.

We in the US seem to want to focus on China’s problems. People constantly point out the negatives, like its greenhouse gas levels recently surpassed ours (although on a per capita basis our emissions are five times greater than theirs). Driving toward my hotel in the modern Pudang district, I was certainly aware of the low-lying mist that I assumed was smog, but I have to say that I was most struck by something quite different: the profusion of trees. There were dozens of varieties of them, everywhere. Tall, short, deciduous, coniferous, some bursting with colors – red, pink, white, and yellow flowers – they covered a broad center strip that divided outgoing from incoming traffic, lined the sides of the highway, and stretched back as far as the eye could see. Many were tall; all seemed healthy – either naturally suited to the local conditions or pampered. Obviously planted, they were clustered in formations that brought to mind the formal gardens of Versailles. In addition to creating a most pleasant environment for mile upon mile, they performed another function, that of removing carbon dioxide from the air. It was my first inkling of China’s commitment to cleaning up its environment.

“Yes,” Mandy Zhang, an MBA student at the China Europe International Business School replied. CEIBS had brought me to Shanghai to speak at their Being Globally Responsible Conference and she was my host on my first evening at a restaurant near my hotel. “We are all very aware of the pollution our economic development has caused. We young people are especially determined to turn it around. Trees are one small part of the plan.”

Although the majority of the MBA students at CEIBS are Chinese, roughly 40 percent come from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and other parts of Asia. Their school was ranked among the top ten MBA programs in the world by the Financial Times in 2009 – along with Wharton, Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford.

Every time I asked them about the environment, the Chinese students agreed that cleaning it up was a priority. I was told again and again that it will happen. Economic growth had been the first goal; now the time had arrived to take care of the problems that rapid development had created. During the six days I was in Shanghai, the government announced that it would levy taxes against polluters, support a company that was developing electric cars by making plug-in stations available around much of the country, and offer rebates of approximately $4,000 (US) to customers who purchased those cars. “When the government says it will happen,” I was told time and again, “it will.”

The fact that roughly one sixth of the world’s population has turned itself so totally around in three decades signals hope for all of us. China is a land of many diverse cultures – ones that throughout history frequently fought each other; it has demonstrated the capacity we humans possess for uniting in order to realize a common cause.

Rather than fearing China or criticizing its pollution levels, we can draw on its remarkable example, encourage it to do better, and set our own goals of becoming greener than China at an even more rapid pace.

As my plane lifted off from Shanghai airport, I realized that my visit to China had inspired me with a new sense of hope. What a wonderful thing for all of us – and our children and grandchildren – if the new China motivates us in the US, and every other country, to compete to see who can become the most socially and environmentally responsible society on the planet.

Mattel apologizes to China for incorporating lead into the toy designs

Too funny, but it happened! Mattel has apologized to China for blaming the company's toy recall on Chinese manufacturers, saying the recall was the result of poor American design, of which, the key ingredient was lead.

That's right! Whoever made those CAD drawings made sure the toys had lead as part of the design! Hahahaha! (Bangs hand on table).

Slave Labor - A figment of the imagination

China is the model country for corporations.

A good friend of mine left a comment stating I am wrong that there is slavery in China. My defination of slavery is not considered slavery in China.

Let's explore this a bit further with some videos I looked at tonight.

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Charles Kernaghan in Democracy Now! (2007):
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[Transcript] Greg Palast interviewed on Alex Jones show March 4, 2002 (check the middle of the article for the words Walmart and prison)