Thursday, 30 September 2010
What Does China Think?
A great book by Mark Leonard: What Does China Think?
Excellent information straight from the leading think-tank of Europe.
Well written
Fair
Balanced
Straightforward
A great book.
Excellent information straight from the leading think-tank of Europe.
Well written
Fair
Balanced
Straightforward
A great book.
Background Information regarding the Koreas, from Wikipedia (edited highlights)
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosongul: 조선민주주의인민공화국), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok River and the Tumen River form the border between North Korea and the People's Republic of China. A section of the Tumen River in the extreme northeast is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan following the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. It was divided into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945, following the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. Both North and South Korea claimed sovereignty over the Korean Peninsula as a whole, which led to the Korean War of 1950. A 1953 armistice ended the fighting; however, the two countries are officially still at war with each other, as a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991. On May 26, 2009, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice.
North Korea is a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). The country's government follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance, developed by the country's former President, Kim Il-Sung. After his death, Kim Il-Sung was declared to be the country's Eternal President. Juche became the official state ideology when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972, though Kim Il-sung had been using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955. /edit/ After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a famine which killed an estimated 2-3 million people. Due to the government's secretive nature and its reluctance to allow in foreigners, North Korea is today considered the world's most isolated country. The current secretary of the KWP Central Committee Secretariat and leader of the armed forces is Kim Jong-il, son of Kim Il-sung.
History
Main article: History of North Korea See also: History of Korea In the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Korea which ended with Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel in accordance with a United Nations arrangement, to be administered by the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the south. The history of North Korea formally begins with the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic in 1948.
Division of Korea
Main article: Division of Korea In August 1945, the Soviet Army established a Soviet Civil Authority to rule the country until a domestic regime, friendly to the USSR, could be established. The country was governed by the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea through 1948. After the Soviet forces' departure in 1948, the main agenda in the following years was unification of Korea from both sides until the consolidation of Syngman Rhee regime in the South with American military support and the suppression of the October 1948 insurrection ended hopes that the country could be reunified by way of Communist revolution in the South. In 1949, a military intervention into South Korea was considered by the Northern regime but failed to receive support from the Soviet Union, which had played a key role in the establishment of the country.
The withdrawal of most United States forces from the South in June dramatically weakened the Southern regime and encouraged Kim Il-sung to re-think an invasion plan against the South. The idea itself was first rejected by Joseph Stalin but with the development of Soviet nuclear weapons, Mao Zedong's victory in China and the Chinese indication that it would send troops and other support to North Korea, Stalin approved an invasion which led to the Korean War.
Korean War
Korean War Armistice Agreement
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea with major hostilities beginning on June 25, 1950, pausing with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953. The conflict arose from the division of Korea by the UN and the attempts of the two Korean powers to reunify Korea under their respective governments. The division led to full scale civil war with a cost of more than 2 million civilians and soldiers from both sides. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea.
These negotiations ended when the military of North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.
While some have referred to the conflict as a civil war, there were many other factors at play. The Korean War was also the first armed confrontation of the Cold War and set the standard for many later conflicts. It created the idea of a proxy war, where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and death involved in a war between such large nations. The superpowers avoided descending into an all-out war with one another, as well as the mutual use of nuclear weapons. It also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe. A heavily guarded demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel continues to divide the peninsula today with anti-Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment still remaining in South Korea.
Since the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953 the relations between the North Korean government and South Korea, the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Japan have remained tense. Fighting was halted in the ceasefire, but both Koreas are still technically at war.
Both North and South Korea signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration in 2000, in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification. Additionally, on October 4, 2007, the leaders of North and South Korea pledged to hold summit talks to officially declare the war over and reaffirmed the principle of mutual non-aggression.
Late 20th century
The relative peace between the south and the north was punctuated by border skirmishes and assassination attempts. The North failed in several assassination attempts on South Korean leaders, most notably in 1968, 1974 and the Rangoon bombing in 1983; tunnels were frequently found under the DMZ and war nearly broke out over the Axe Murder Incident at Panmunjeom in 1976. In 1973, extremely secret, high-level contacts began to be conducted through the offices of the Red Cross, but ended after the Panmunjeom incident with little progress having been made and the idea that the two Koreas would join international organisations separately.
In the late 1990s, with the South having transitioned to democracy, the success of the Nordpolitik policy, and power in the North having been taken up by Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il, the two nations began to engage publicly for the first time, with the South declaring its Sunshine Policy.
21st century
In 2002, United States president George W. Bush labeled North Korea part of an "axis of evil" and an "outpost of tyranny". The highest-level contact the government has had with the United States was with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who made a visit to Pyongyang in 2000, but the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. By 2006, approximately 37,000 American soldiers remained in South Korea, although by June 2009 this number had fallen to around 30,000. Kim Jong-il has privately stated his acceptance of U.S. troops on the peninsula, even after a possible reunification. Publicly, North Korea strongly demands the removal of American troops from Korea.
On June 13, 2009, the Associated Press reported that in response to new UN sanctions, North Korea declared it would progress with its uranium enrichment program. This marked the first time the DPRK has publicly acknowledged that it is conducting a uranium enrichment program. In August 2009, former US president Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong-il to secure the release of 2 US journalists, who had been sentenced for entering the country illegally.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan following the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. It was divided into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945, following the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. Both North and South Korea claimed sovereignty over the Korean Peninsula as a whole, which led to the Korean War of 1950. A 1953 armistice ended the fighting; however, the two countries are officially still at war with each other, as a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991. On May 26, 2009, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice.
North Korea is a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). The country's government follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance, developed by the country's former President, Kim Il-Sung. After his death, Kim Il-Sung was declared to be the country's Eternal President. Juche became the official state ideology when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972, though Kim Il-sung had been using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955. /edit/ After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a famine which killed an estimated 2-3 million people. Due to the government's secretive nature and its reluctance to allow in foreigners, North Korea is today considered the world's most isolated country. The current secretary of the KWP Central Committee Secretariat and leader of the armed forces is Kim Jong-il, son of Kim Il-sung.
History
Main article: History of North Korea See also: History of Korea In the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Korea which ended with Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel in accordance with a United Nations arrangement, to be administered by the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the south. The history of North Korea formally begins with the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic in 1948.
Division of Korea
Main article: Division of Korea In August 1945, the Soviet Army established a Soviet Civil Authority to rule the country until a domestic regime, friendly to the USSR, could be established. The country was governed by the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea through 1948. After the Soviet forces' departure in 1948, the main agenda in the following years was unification of Korea from both sides until the consolidation of Syngman Rhee regime in the South with American military support and the suppression of the October 1948 insurrection ended hopes that the country could be reunified by way of Communist revolution in the South. In 1949, a military intervention into South Korea was considered by the Northern regime but failed to receive support from the Soviet Union, which had played a key role in the establishment of the country.
The withdrawal of most United States forces from the South in June dramatically weakened the Southern regime and encouraged Kim Il-sung to re-think an invasion plan against the South. The idea itself was first rejected by Joseph Stalin but with the development of Soviet nuclear weapons, Mao Zedong's victory in China and the Chinese indication that it would send troops and other support to North Korea, Stalin approved an invasion which led to the Korean War.
Korean War
Korean War Armistice Agreement
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea with major hostilities beginning on June 25, 1950, pausing with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953. The conflict arose from the division of Korea by the UN and the attempts of the two Korean powers to reunify Korea under their respective governments. The division led to full scale civil war with a cost of more than 2 million civilians and soldiers from both sides. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea.
These negotiations ended when the military of North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.
While some have referred to the conflict as a civil war, there were many other factors at play. The Korean War was also the first armed confrontation of the Cold War and set the standard for many later conflicts. It created the idea of a proxy war, where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and death involved in a war between such large nations. The superpowers avoided descending into an all-out war with one another, as well as the mutual use of nuclear weapons. It also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe. A heavily guarded demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel continues to divide the peninsula today with anti-Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment still remaining in South Korea.
Since the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953 the relations between the North Korean government and South Korea, the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Japan have remained tense. Fighting was halted in the ceasefire, but both Koreas are still technically at war.
Both North and South Korea signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration in 2000, in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification. Additionally, on October 4, 2007, the leaders of North and South Korea pledged to hold summit talks to officially declare the war over and reaffirmed the principle of mutual non-aggression.
Late 20th century
The relative peace between the south and the north was punctuated by border skirmishes and assassination attempts. The North failed in several assassination attempts on South Korean leaders, most notably in 1968, 1974 and the Rangoon bombing in 1983; tunnels were frequently found under the DMZ and war nearly broke out over the Axe Murder Incident at Panmunjeom in 1976. In 1973, extremely secret, high-level contacts began to be conducted through the offices of the Red Cross, but ended after the Panmunjeom incident with little progress having been made and the idea that the two Koreas would join international organisations separately.
In the late 1990s, with the South having transitioned to democracy, the success of the Nordpolitik policy, and power in the North having been taken up by Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il, the two nations began to engage publicly for the first time, with the South declaring its Sunshine Policy.
21st century
In 2002, United States president George W. Bush labeled North Korea part of an "axis of evil" and an "outpost of tyranny". The highest-level contact the government has had with the United States was with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who made a visit to Pyongyang in 2000, but the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. By 2006, approximately 37,000 American soldiers remained in South Korea, although by June 2009 this number had fallen to around 30,000. Kim Jong-il has privately stated his acceptance of U.S. troops on the peninsula, even after a possible reunification. Publicly, North Korea strongly demands the removal of American troops from Korea.
On June 13, 2009, the Associated Press reported that in response to new UN sanctions, North Korea declared it would progress with its uranium enrichment program. This marked the first time the DPRK has publicly acknowledged that it is conducting a uranium enrichment program. In August 2009, former US president Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong-il to secure the release of 2 US journalists, who had been sentenced for entering the country illegally.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Mental Health, Violence, Societies and Cohesion
It’s interesting how different cultures determine mental health and illness, it really is, because it indicates the layers of variation among groups.
For example, in Korea, both North and South, they have a culture based on Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Catholicism from the early colonial days. The impact of these influences, especially shamanism, brings about acceptance of high levels of expression of anger and violence as being quite normal and beneficial. You can see that in the North & South’s strident and nasty rhetoric about each other, and then there’s a lull of missing each other.
There’s real love and hate between the two ‘brothers’. Violence between the North and South and between people within both societies is quite normal. Aggression is seen as a very positive trait. These are both relatively modern nations, especially the South, but they are quite different to, for example, Australia.
I’ve noticed that in Australia where violence is reasonably unacceptable, although we are happy to send soldiers overseas to butcher people we decide are bad guys, or more honestly, bad children running around with scissors, but, in-country Australia, that there is an enormous proportion of the population on anti depressant therapy and on all types of sometimes quite significant pain-analgesia therapy. That’s no hard to see just by interacting with people from Customs officers to shop keepers to taxi drivers to professionals and workers and business folk.
You just don’t see that layer of ‘anti-freeze’ in Asian cultures; nor do you sense the paranoia that grips so many Australians regarding foreign folk, terrorism etc. Fear and loathing is part of the Australian character to a more perhaps stylized extent than you see in Asia. Also Australians are much older, heavier, wider and more constrained by cultural laws and idioms than folk in other countries in the region. Most folk in the region don’t live as long as Australians but they seem to have a far more lively life and do a lot more and interact with larger numbers of ‘others’ from everywhere than is the experience in Australia. It’s fine for Australians who say “well, that’s the way we like it’ because it is certainly the way it’s going to be here. It’s an island continent, significantly isolated, it just doesn’t have the neighbours or the real abiding attractions of so many people. it's damn lonely in comparison. That has its benefits...a very low population is useful in the long term, as long as there is sufficient social diversity.
I noticed that in China it is quite normal to have volatile arguments in public. These happen regularly between family members, in reaction to other families, and between strangers. Sometimes these fights, that can and sometimes do become physical, continue for hours and draw an interested crowd...but is still seen as normal behaviour. When you consider the volume of people in China, obviously there is always push & shove, and that’s normal too. It’s not something that is medicated away.
What the Chinese add to this is an enormous capacity for intellectual argument. Many TV shows are simply argument-forms often in comedic scenarios that we don’t quite understand , but still, the intellectual capacity of Chinese people is something that is actively stimulated throughout the life span on a daily basis the forms of high and sharp humour are hard to grasp but are well worth the effort.
In China I was quizzed on my thoughts regarding Tibet and I answered that Tibet is an issue for China not for me. The Chinese make no suggestions to Australia regarding impoverished indigenous communities with many social problems, and I offer the Chinese the same space.
An old Red Guard was telling me that he’d studied both Buddhism and Christianity at length and said that they differed in that Buddhism centred on self-liberation whereas Christianity centred on doing good for others so in comparing the two, he felt Christianity was far more a collective effort and had more merit although both Buddhism and Christianity, in comparison with Confucian human systems were very primitive and mostly made of bullshit, with some interesting intellectual attributes. I agree.
He had also studied British Labour Unions philosophy and actions and thought they were the only way to really introduce worker rights. He had put this notion in a newspaper to the Government in China when Mao was in charge and then spent a decade in prison for his efforts.
Still, he respected Mao as a great military strategist which he most surely was. He doesn’t dislike the government in China. They pay his pension and he remains an active businessman at 75. He has no desire to go to the West at all. His understanding of democratic forms is very advanced and his thoughts are lucid. It’s not a good idea for China. If the China Govt continues to reject the notion of democracy, then he’s quite happy to support them.
For example, in Korea, both North and South, they have a culture based on Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Catholicism from the early colonial days. The impact of these influences, especially shamanism, brings about acceptance of high levels of expression of anger and violence as being quite normal and beneficial. You can see that in the North & South’s strident and nasty rhetoric about each other, and then there’s a lull of missing each other.
There’s real love and hate between the two ‘brothers’. Violence between the North and South and between people within both societies is quite normal. Aggression is seen as a very positive trait. These are both relatively modern nations, especially the South, but they are quite different to, for example, Australia.
I’ve noticed that in Australia where violence is reasonably unacceptable, although we are happy to send soldiers overseas to butcher people we decide are bad guys, or more honestly, bad children running around with scissors, but, in-country Australia, that there is an enormous proportion of the population on anti depressant therapy and on all types of sometimes quite significant pain-analgesia therapy. That’s no hard to see just by interacting with people from Customs officers to shop keepers to taxi drivers to professionals and workers and business folk.
You just don’t see that layer of ‘anti-freeze’ in Asian cultures; nor do you sense the paranoia that grips so many Australians regarding foreign folk, terrorism etc. Fear and loathing is part of the Australian character to a more perhaps stylized extent than you see in Asia. Also Australians are much older, heavier, wider and more constrained by cultural laws and idioms than folk in other countries in the region. Most folk in the region don’t live as long as Australians but they seem to have a far more lively life and do a lot more and interact with larger numbers of ‘others’ from everywhere than is the experience in Australia. It’s fine for Australians who say “well, that’s the way we like it’ because it is certainly the way it’s going to be here. It’s an island continent, significantly isolated, it just doesn’t have the neighbours or the real abiding attractions of so many people. it's damn lonely in comparison. That has its benefits...a very low population is useful in the long term, as long as there is sufficient social diversity.
I noticed that in China it is quite normal to have volatile arguments in public. These happen regularly between family members, in reaction to other families, and between strangers. Sometimes these fights, that can and sometimes do become physical, continue for hours and draw an interested crowd...but is still seen as normal behaviour. When you consider the volume of people in China, obviously there is always push & shove, and that’s normal too. It’s not something that is medicated away.
What the Chinese add to this is an enormous capacity for intellectual argument. Many TV shows are simply argument-forms often in comedic scenarios that we don’t quite understand , but still, the intellectual capacity of Chinese people is something that is actively stimulated throughout the life span on a daily basis the forms of high and sharp humour are hard to grasp but are well worth the effort.
In China I was quizzed on my thoughts regarding Tibet and I answered that Tibet is an issue for China not for me. The Chinese make no suggestions to Australia regarding impoverished indigenous communities with many social problems, and I offer the Chinese the same space.
An old Red Guard was telling me that he’d studied both Buddhism and Christianity at length and said that they differed in that Buddhism centred on self-liberation whereas Christianity centred on doing good for others so in comparing the two, he felt Christianity was far more a collective effort and had more merit although both Buddhism and Christianity, in comparison with Confucian human systems were very primitive and mostly made of bullshit, with some interesting intellectual attributes. I agree.
He had also studied British Labour Unions philosophy and actions and thought they were the only way to really introduce worker rights. He had put this notion in a newspaper to the Government in China when Mao was in charge and then spent a decade in prison for his efforts.
Still, he respected Mao as a great military strategist which he most surely was. He doesn’t dislike the government in China. They pay his pension and he remains an active businessman at 75. He has no desire to go to the West at all. His understanding of democratic forms is very advanced and his thoughts are lucid. It’s not a good idea for China. If the China Govt continues to reject the notion of democracy, then he’s quite happy to support them.
Brilliant Comrade Un
Contrary to some reports regarding the DPRK or North Korea as being in 'freefall' I think you'll find that the present change-process is in line with the way the NK system actually works and has worked in the past. It appears Kim Jong Il is making sound preparations for the dynastic future elevating his relatives into more and more important positions within the system for the future.
This is both a Royal/Dynastic system and a Militarist one and we can see degrees of these systems in many other countries. Also, from the Workers Party meeting in Pyongyang came some interesting news of people engaged in the past with interface with the West being expressly promoted so there are indications that NK is moderating its position in some ways and looking to interface more with the West in the future.
What I would hope will happen is that Kim Jong Il will remain at the helm for quite some time giving Un some support as he begins to assume his dad's role. This would be a good preparatory stage and would also enable Un to be fully incorporated into the Militarist Form and its high level military-bureaucracies without undue haste or pressure.
The fact that Un's sister and some other family members have also had military position-elevation appears to indicate that Kim Jong Il is placing adequate support mechanisms in place for Un's future as Brilliant Comrade.
This is both a Royal/Dynastic system and a Militarist one and we can see degrees of these systems in many other countries. Also, from the Workers Party meeting in Pyongyang came some interesting news of people engaged in the past with interface with the West being expressly promoted so there are indications that NK is moderating its position in some ways and looking to interface more with the West in the future.
What I would hope will happen is that Kim Jong Il will remain at the helm for quite some time giving Un some support as he begins to assume his dad's role. This would be a good preparatory stage and would also enable Un to be fully incorporated into the Militarist Form and its high level military-bureaucracies without undue haste or pressure.
The fact that Un's sister and some other family members have also had military position-elevation appears to indicate that Kim Jong Il is placing adequate support mechanisms in place for Un's future as Brilliant Comrade.
Timing
When you look at the timing of the torpedoing of the South Korean ship, it was probably a decision of Un as a payback for a nasty ship-sinking incident the year before that South Korea deemed as an unfortunate accident. They opened a dam spillway and a NK touring ship was sunk down river. Many died. Oops. The DPRK is not a 'forgive & forget' kind of nation. Just because the Americans decided where the sea border is that separates the Koreas, it doesn't mean the the DPRK agreed to that unilateral decision. Both DPRK and the South are highly geared emotionally charged regimes with a stark and direct capacity to express aggression, grief and rage with succinct and usually proportional actions.
It's interesting to note that DPRK philosophy is an almalgam of neo-confucianism, Buddhism, Shamanish, and even Catholicism. The Shamanism, in profound expression, explains the high emotional range, and willingness to display anger and to fight anyone, of many people in North Korea, no matter what the odds of victory,and should be seen as an important and impressively defining and abiding social and cultural aspect that will not change.
North Korea still has good friends. Mao's son was killed in the last war by the Americans. Family heroes aren't forgotten; and those bonds forged in war and blood don't break. It is not like the West where national loyalties and human honour are deals done on a dime.
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More from Wikipedia
According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:
1.The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
2.Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
3.Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
4.The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.
The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the revolutionary party and leader. In North Korea, these are the Workers' Party of Korea and Kim Jong-il, respectively.
In official North Korean histories, one of the first purported applications of Juche was the Five-Year Plan of 1956-1961, also known as the Chollima Movement, which led to the Chongsan-ri Method and the Taean Work System. The Five-Year Plan involved rapid economic development of North Korea, with a focus on heavy industry, to ensure political independence from both the Soviet Union and the Mao Zedong regime in China. The Chollima Movement, however, applied the same method of centralized state planning that began with the Soviet First Five-Year Plan in 1928. The campaign also coincided with and was partially based on Mao's First Five-Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward. North Korea was apparently able to avoid the catastrophes of the Great Leap Forward.
Despite its aspirations to self-sufficiency, North Korea has continually relied on economic assistance from other countries. Historically, North Korea received most of its assistance from the USSR until its collapse in 1991. In the period after the Korean War, North Korea relied on economic assistance and loans from "fraternal" countries from 1953–1963 and also depended considerably on Soviet industrial aid from 1953-1976. Following the fall of the USSR, the North Korean economy went into a crisis, with consequent infrastructural failures contributing to the mass famine of the mid-1990s. After several years of starvation, the People's Republic of China agreed to be a substitute for the Soviet Union as a major aid provider, supplying over US$400 million per year in humanitarian assistance.[
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More from Wikipedia
According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:
1.The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
2.Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
3.Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
4.The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.
The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the revolutionary party and leader. In North Korea, these are the Workers' Party of Korea and Kim Jong-il, respectively.
In official North Korean histories, one of the first purported applications of Juche was the Five-Year Plan of 1956-1961, also known as the Chollima Movement, which led to the Chongsan-ri Method and the Taean Work System. The Five-Year Plan involved rapid economic development of North Korea, with a focus on heavy industry, to ensure political independence from both the Soviet Union and the Mao Zedong regime in China. The Chollima Movement, however, applied the same method of centralized state planning that began with the Soviet First Five-Year Plan in 1928. The campaign also coincided with and was partially based on Mao's First Five-Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward. North Korea was apparently able to avoid the catastrophes of the Great Leap Forward.
Despite its aspirations to self-sufficiency, North Korea has continually relied on economic assistance from other countries. Historically, North Korea received most of its assistance from the USSR until its collapse in 1991. In the period after the Korean War, North Korea relied on economic assistance and loans from "fraternal" countries from 1953–1963 and also depended considerably on Soviet industrial aid from 1953-1976. Following the fall of the USSR, the North Korean economy went into a crisis, with consequent infrastructural failures contributing to the mass famine of the mid-1990s. After several years of starvation, the People's Republic of China agreed to be a substitute for the Soviet Union as a major aid provider, supplying over US$400 million per year in humanitarian assistance.[
Juche- the North Korean Principle (from Wikipedia)
The first known reference to Juche was a speech given by Kim Il-sung on December 28, 1955, titled "On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work" in rejection of the policy of de-Stalinization (bureaucratic self-reform) in the Soviet Union. In this speech, Kim said that "Juche means Chosun's revolution" (Chosun being the traditional name for Korea). Hwang Jang-yeop, Kim's top adviser on ideology, discovered this speech later in the 1950s when Kim sought to develop his own version of Marxism–Leninism.[2]
The Juche Idea itself gradually emerged as a systematic ideological doctrine under the political pressures of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. The word "Juche" also began to appear in untranslated form in English-language North Korean works from around 1965. Kim Il-sung outlined the three fundamental principles of Juche in his April 14, 1965, speech “On Socialist Construction and the South Korean Revolution in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”:
1."independence in politics" (chaju)
2."self-sustenance in the economy" (charip)
3."self-defense in national defense" (chawi).
Current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il officially authored the definitive statement on Juche in a 1982 document titled On the Juche Idea. He has final authority over the interpretation of the state ideology and incorporated the Songun (army-first) policy into it in 1996.
The Juche Idea itself gradually emerged as a systematic ideological doctrine under the political pressures of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. The word "Juche" also began to appear in untranslated form in English-language North Korean works from around 1965. Kim Il-sung outlined the three fundamental principles of Juche in his April 14, 1965, speech “On Socialist Construction and the South Korean Revolution in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”:
1."independence in politics" (chaju)
2."self-sustenance in the economy" (charip)
3."self-defense in national defense" (chawi).
Current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il officially authored the definitive statement on Juche in a 1982 document titled On the Juche Idea. He has final authority over the interpretation of the state ideology and incorporated the Songun (army-first) policy into it in 1996.
Changing of the Guard
Once again, I think it's important to note that whilst the DPRK is seen as 'the most inhuman government in the world' ... even by its best friends; a moot point is that the emerging new Great Leader Kim Jong Un, has the same authenticity to rule as do those who rule Saudi Arabia, Jordan and a number of other similar 'states'. Young Un has the same right and legitimacy as the Royal Families of Europe who ruled as they saw fit not so long ago anyway. "Oh how the ghosts of them cling".
So whilst it's easy and convenient to attack the officially 'demonised one', at the same time there are a plethora of others of the same dynastic authenticity who we call our friends, who go about the beheading of foes at 'the drop of a hat', who impose bizarre laws on their slaves, who torture and pillage and rape basically as they see fit on a regular, legal and righteous, 'appropriate' basis. We even have a Pope who was a member of Hitler Youth and that is quite okay and understandable. Kim Jong Un doesn't really stand out far in that crowd; and he's only a kid in his twenties anyway. I wish him well with the big job he has.
I wish DPRK well. I hope the future is brighter than the past. The people of the North can't really ever look back on the luxury of 'the good old days' like many of us can because they've never had any. If there is harmony, it is the future.I hope that socialist free market reforms enable the people to suffer less and prosper more. With any change there is uncertainty and also within uncertainty there is opportunity and true fortune, especially in the dynamic and tectonic Year of the Tiger... and the current changing of the guard is very potent in all elements... as is all North Asia right now.
So whilst it's easy and convenient to attack the officially 'demonised one', at the same time there are a plethora of others of the same dynastic authenticity who we call our friends, who go about the beheading of foes at 'the drop of a hat', who impose bizarre laws on their slaves, who torture and pillage and rape basically as they see fit on a regular, legal and righteous, 'appropriate' basis. We even have a Pope who was a member of Hitler Youth and that is quite okay and understandable. Kim Jong Un doesn't really stand out far in that crowd; and he's only a kid in his twenties anyway. I wish him well with the big job he has.
I wish DPRK well. I hope the future is brighter than the past. The people of the North can't really ever look back on the luxury of 'the good old days' like many of us can because they've never had any. If there is harmony, it is the future.I hope that socialist free market reforms enable the people to suffer less and prosper more. With any change there is uncertainty and also within uncertainty there is opportunity and true fortune, especially in the dynamic and tectonic Year of the Tiger... and the current changing of the guard is very potent in all elements... as is all North Asia right now.
Kim Jong Un
Kim Jong Un: Political crown prince of North Korea
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
(IANS)
The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has stood for months at the centre of speculation over who would succeed the strongman.
Kim Jong Un, who is about 27, has long been considered the favourite, but little is known about him.
Discussions of Kim Jong Il's family relationships are taboo in North Korea. Photographs of the younger Kim have been few and far between, and the first mention of him in state-controlled media was made Tuesday in an announcement that his father had made him a four-star general.
But Kim Jong Il's former cook Kenji Fujimori wrote in a book that the third of his three sons is most like his father - from looks to character.
He supposedly developed an early sense of authority and power, the South Korean newspaper The Korea Herald reported. And like his father, he also reportedly suffers from diabetes.
On Tuesday, he also appeared to have been made, as his father before him, the political crown prince of the isolated, impoverished Stalinist country.
The announcement that he had become a general was another indication that he could soon be nominated his father's successor.
It occurred shortly before the largest meeting in 30 years of North Korea's ruling communist party, the Workers Party of Korea, which began Tuesday in Pyongyang. During the previous meeting in 1980, Kim Jong Il was anointed his own father's political heir, eventually taking over the country in 1994 when Kim Il Sung died.
While Kim Jong Un's elevation had been predicted for months by political analysts, Tuesday was the first concrete information that he was ascending the political ladder in secretive North Korea.
Kim Jong Un had emerged last year as his father's likely successor. Since then, news has leaked out of the country that officials had been ordered to pledge loyalty to him, propaganda songs and poetry have been written about him and his birthday has been designated a public holiday.
Kim Jong Un was born in 1983 or 1984. His mother was a dancer and Kim Jong Il's third wife, Ko Yong Hi, who died six years ago from breast cancer, according to media reports.
Her son reportedly was educated under a false name in an international school in Berne, Switzerland, until 1998. The Swiss weekly magazine L'Hebdo reported last year that Kim Jong Un left the school at the age of 15 without completing his diploma.
His classmates described him as shy and introverted and added that he liked to ski and play basketball, it said. He admired the US basketball star Michael Jordan and the action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme, it reported.
Before Tuesday, Kim Jong Un had yet to appear on the political stage, but signs had been growing since last year that he would become the third person in the Kim political dynasty to rule North Korea.
Kim Jong Un was elected as a delegate to this week's party conference by the North Korean Army, according to reports Monday, in a move seen as a stepping stone to membership in the party's central committee, which dictates national policies.
Observers also saw importance Tuesday in the appointment of another four-star general, Kim Kyoung Hui, the 64-year-old sister of the country's ruler. She is married to Jang Song Thaek, who analysts consider the number two leader in North Korea.
Both are now in positions to act as mentors to Kim Jong Un, who, unlike his father, would probably not have two decades of preparations to take the reins of absolute power in North Korea.
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
(IANS)
The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has stood for months at the centre of speculation over who would succeed the strongman.
Kim Jong Un, who is about 27, has long been considered the favourite, but little is known about him.
Discussions of Kim Jong Il's family relationships are taboo in North Korea. Photographs of the younger Kim have been few and far between, and the first mention of him in state-controlled media was made Tuesday in an announcement that his father had made him a four-star general.
But Kim Jong Il's former cook Kenji Fujimori wrote in a book that the third of his three sons is most like his father - from looks to character.
He supposedly developed an early sense of authority and power, the South Korean newspaper The Korea Herald reported. And like his father, he also reportedly suffers from diabetes.
On Tuesday, he also appeared to have been made, as his father before him, the political crown prince of the isolated, impoverished Stalinist country.
The announcement that he had become a general was another indication that he could soon be nominated his father's successor.
It occurred shortly before the largest meeting in 30 years of North Korea's ruling communist party, the Workers Party of Korea, which began Tuesday in Pyongyang. During the previous meeting in 1980, Kim Jong Il was anointed his own father's political heir, eventually taking over the country in 1994 when Kim Il Sung died.
While Kim Jong Un's elevation had been predicted for months by political analysts, Tuesday was the first concrete information that he was ascending the political ladder in secretive North Korea.
Kim Jong Un had emerged last year as his father's likely successor. Since then, news has leaked out of the country that officials had been ordered to pledge loyalty to him, propaganda songs and poetry have been written about him and his birthday has been designated a public holiday.
Kim Jong Un was born in 1983 or 1984. His mother was a dancer and Kim Jong Il's third wife, Ko Yong Hi, who died six years ago from breast cancer, according to media reports.
Her son reportedly was educated under a false name in an international school in Berne, Switzerland, until 1998. The Swiss weekly magazine L'Hebdo reported last year that Kim Jong Un left the school at the age of 15 without completing his diploma.
His classmates described him as shy and introverted and added that he liked to ski and play basketball, it said. He admired the US basketball star Michael Jordan and the action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme, it reported.
Before Tuesday, Kim Jong Un had yet to appear on the political stage, but signs had been growing since last year that he would become the third person in the Kim political dynasty to rule North Korea.
Kim Jong Un was elected as a delegate to this week's party conference by the North Korean Army, according to reports Monday, in a move seen as a stepping stone to membership in the party's central committee, which dictates national policies.
Observers also saw importance Tuesday in the appointment of another four-star general, Kim Kyoung Hui, the 64-year-old sister of the country's ruler. She is married to Jang Song Thaek, who analysts consider the number two leader in North Korea.
Both are now in positions to act as mentors to Kim Jong Un, who, unlike his father, would probably not have two decades of preparations to take the reins of absolute power in North Korea.
Change in DPRK
Young successor ripe for elevation to North Korea presidency
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
According to North Korean media, the son of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has been made a general by the country's ruling party.
It is believed that Kim Jong-il persuaded members of the Workers Party to install his son into the position during the first day of the largest political meeting in decades.
It has recently been reported by South Korean intelligence services that 68-year-old leader, Kim Jong-il, is battling several illnesses, including the aftermath of a stroke.
Since the reports of illness, speculation has arisen that the meeting of party officials in Pyongyang will officially anoint Kim Jong-un as the chosen successor to Kim Jong-il, who himself was anointed in the same way by his own father at the last major party event in 1980.
If Kim Jong-un receives a senior party position as a complement to him being made a general, it is likely he will soon take over from his father, who is seen in the country as a god-like figurehead.
It is believed the younger man has been working in the influential Workers Party Bureau of Organization and Guidance, which is involved in the hiring, firing and promotion of the country's elite.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim Jong-il's sister, Kyong-hui, was also named a general.
Kim Jong-un, a little known figure in North Korea, is Swiss-educated and in his mid-20s.
North Korea Times
Tuesday 28th September, 2010
According to North Korean media, the son of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has been made a general by the country's ruling party.
It is believed that Kim Jong-il persuaded members of the Workers Party to install his son into the position during the first day of the largest political meeting in decades.
It has recently been reported by South Korean intelligence services that 68-year-old leader, Kim Jong-il, is battling several illnesses, including the aftermath of a stroke.
Since the reports of illness, speculation has arisen that the meeting of party officials in Pyongyang will officially anoint Kim Jong-un as the chosen successor to Kim Jong-il, who himself was anointed in the same way by his own father at the last major party event in 1980.
If Kim Jong-un receives a senior party position as a complement to him being made a general, it is likely he will soon take over from his father, who is seen in the country as a god-like figurehead.
It is believed the younger man has been working in the influential Workers Party Bureau of Organization and Guidance, which is involved in the hiring, firing and promotion of the country's elite.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim Jong-il's sister, Kyong-hui, was also named a general.
Kim Jong-un, a little known figure in North Korea, is Swiss-educated and in his mid-20s.
Religions
I must admit that I'm not a fan of the Great Religions. My experience of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Tibetan Mahayana Yellow Hat Buddhism is that they take from the poor and unimportant and powerless to make themselves rich and important and powerful, and then make insane, divisive, unilateral proclamations in the name of Someone Else who they all represent.
I feel a lot more confident dealing with a businessman from Shanghai in that we both know what the deal is and what it is about. There's an appreciated honesty in that dishonesty; a crusty insouciance that would go well, I'd think, with lemons in a naturally sour salad.
As for Roman Catholicism, well... it would be wrong to say that the cover-up of extensive sexual abuse currently under way under the guidance of the Pope is any form of aberration of that holy institution. It is no aberration, but rather abuse is the Rock upon which that Church is built and it is the reason the Church has done so well for so long on Earth. the idea of putting odd celibate men in charge of and in total control of pubescent youth...how could anyone on Earth, not only now, but ever, ever, for one minute, have thought that that was or is a really good idea? Islam, Christianity etc these were/are the seats of human wisdom? The Great Thinkers? Yeah, sure.
I don't know anything about Hinduism, thank Christ.
I feel a lot more confident dealing with a businessman from Shanghai in that we both know what the deal is and what it is about. There's an appreciated honesty in that dishonesty; a crusty insouciance that would go well, I'd think, with lemons in a naturally sour salad.
As for Roman Catholicism, well... it would be wrong to say that the cover-up of extensive sexual abuse currently under way under the guidance of the Pope is any form of aberration of that holy institution. It is no aberration, but rather abuse is the Rock upon which that Church is built and it is the reason the Church has done so well for so long on Earth. the idea of putting odd celibate men in charge of and in total control of pubescent youth...how could anyone on Earth, not only now, but ever, ever, for one minute, have thought that that was or is a really good idea? Islam, Christianity etc these were/are the seats of human wisdom? The Great Thinkers? Yeah, sure.
I don't know anything about Hinduism, thank Christ.
Some rivers find the sea yet that is not their sweet reason
Thinking of Michel de Montaigne at 3am.It’s best to not get so caught up in what has been wrong or right over a span of time. Right and wrong changes just like flags in windy weather; this way and then that way. Life goes on within us, and as George Harrison duly noted, after a time without us, and him. Life is a river we are, yet cannot grasp, because we are all true to our nature; and no other can be imposed.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Kim Jong Un/ General
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong-il has named his youngest son as a military general, state media said early on Tuesday, marking the first stage of a dynastic succession.
It was the first time the 20-something Kim Jong-un had been mentioned by name in the North's media, and his appointment came just hours before the start of a rare ruling party meeting to elect its supreme leadership.
Kim Jong-il, 68, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but despite his declining health is not expected to go into retirement just yet, experts say. They say his son is too young and inexperienced to fully take the reins.
State news agency KCNA said Kim had issued a directive bestowing military rank on six people including Jong-un, the leader's sister Kyong-hui and Choe Ryong-hae, who is considered a loyal aide of Kim and his family.
Kim Jong-il "indicated in the directive that he ... confers the military titles to members of the Korean People's Army with the firm belief they will complete their honorable mission and duty on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea," the report said.
Intelligence officials say the youngest son of the "Dear Leader" was identified last year as next in line to take power in a country which for years has been punished by international sanctions for trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The son is believed to have been born in 1983 or 1984 but little is known about him, even by intensely secretive North Korean standards, beyond the sketchy information that he went to school in Switzerland and has been his father's favorite.
It was the first time the 20-something Kim Jong-un had been mentioned by name in the North's media, and his appointment came just hours before the start of a rare ruling party meeting to elect its supreme leadership.
Kim Jong-il, 68, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but despite his declining health is not expected to go into retirement just yet, experts say. They say his son is too young and inexperienced to fully take the reins.
State news agency KCNA said Kim had issued a directive bestowing military rank on six people including Jong-un, the leader's sister Kyong-hui and Choe Ryong-hae, who is considered a loyal aide of Kim and his family.
Kim Jong-il "indicated in the directive that he ... confers the military titles to members of the Korean People's Army with the firm belief they will complete their honorable mission and duty on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea," the report said.
Intelligence officials say the youngest son of the "Dear Leader" was identified last year as next in line to take power in a country which for years has been punished by international sanctions for trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The son is believed to have been born in 1983 or 1984 but little is known about him, even by intensely secretive North Korean standards, beyond the sketchy information that he went to school in Switzerland and has been his father's favorite.
From Xinhua: China Dialogue: World Civilisations
Voices from China's international dialogue on world civilizations
English.news.cn 2010-09-27
QUFU, Shandong, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Followings are some of the remarks scholars made at the First Nishan Forum on World Civilizations opened Sunday in Qufu City, the birthplace of China's great philosopher Confucius, in the eastern Shandong Province.
"In my recent research, I've been startled to learn that the fundamental principles of Confucius' teaching are the same as those that I have been preaching all my life!"
-- Robert H. Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, USA
"Old superstition is the worship to ghosts and spirits, while new superstition is the blind belief in science and technology, which can meet our secular needs and even offer more than needed, but it can't meet our soul's need and may even obsess our soul."
--Xu Jialu, president of the organizing committee of the First Nishan Forum on World Civilization
"With a view toward the future, it is likely that the spirit of East Asian modernity imbued with Confucian characteristics will serve as a reference for public intellectuals in North America and Western Europe as well as intellectuals elsewhere in the world."
--Du Weiming, Professor of Harvard University, USA
"At the dawn of the 21st century, we have ample ethical and cultural resources from the East and the West to forge together a more peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious world."
--Dwight N. Hopkins, Professor of Theology, University of Chicago, USA
"The significance is we are enjoying the dialogue between Confucianists and Christians. This kind of dialogue was already started some 400 years ago, but because of a lot of misunderstandings, it ended up in frustration of both sides."
--Wolfgang Kubin, sinologist and professor of the Institute for Oriental and Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany
"What is required for 'harmony in diversity' to be realized, I think, is that we exhibit the category of transcending love modeled by Jesus, and endeavor also to become junzi, as Confucius encourages us to do."
--David Lyle Jeffrey, former vice president of Baylor University, USA
"I don't think some kind of final answer will emerge at this conference. Most of the really important things that go on are not at the podium, rather at the lunch table. You know, when people talk to each other and develop relationships, they will have impact on the world. But China is rising, Chinese culture is rising, and in some way, this conference tells the world here comes Confucianism."
--Roger Ames, professor of the University of Hawaii
English.news.cn 2010-09-27
QUFU, Shandong, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Followings are some of the remarks scholars made at the First Nishan Forum on World Civilizations opened Sunday in Qufu City, the birthplace of China's great philosopher Confucius, in the eastern Shandong Province.
"In my recent research, I've been startled to learn that the fundamental principles of Confucius' teaching are the same as those that I have been preaching all my life!"
-- Robert H. Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, USA
"Old superstition is the worship to ghosts and spirits, while new superstition is the blind belief in science and technology, which can meet our secular needs and even offer more than needed, but it can't meet our soul's need and may even obsess our soul."
--Xu Jialu, president of the organizing committee of the First Nishan Forum on World Civilization
"With a view toward the future, it is likely that the spirit of East Asian modernity imbued with Confucian characteristics will serve as a reference for public intellectuals in North America and Western Europe as well as intellectuals elsewhere in the world."
--Du Weiming, Professor of Harvard University, USA
"At the dawn of the 21st century, we have ample ethical and cultural resources from the East and the West to forge together a more peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious world."
--Dwight N. Hopkins, Professor of Theology, University of Chicago, USA
"The significance is we are enjoying the dialogue between Confucianists and Christians. This kind of dialogue was already started some 400 years ago, but because of a lot of misunderstandings, it ended up in frustration of both sides."
--Wolfgang Kubin, sinologist and professor of the Institute for Oriental and Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany
"What is required for 'harmony in diversity' to be realized, I think, is that we exhibit the category of transcending love modeled by Jesus, and endeavor also to become junzi, as Confucius encourages us to do."
--David Lyle Jeffrey, former vice president of Baylor University, USA
"I don't think some kind of final answer will emerge at this conference. Most of the really important things that go on are not at the podium, rather at the lunch table. You know, when people talk to each other and develop relationships, they will have impact on the world. But China is rising, Chinese culture is rising, and in some way, this conference tells the world here comes Confucianism."
--Roger Ames, professor of the University of Hawaii
North Korea (DPRK) update from Xinhua
PYONGYANG, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Worker's Party of Korea (the WPK), the ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the DPRK), will hold a major conference on Tuesday.
The following are some key facts about the country.
The DPRK lies on the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and has an area of 122,762 square km with a population of some 22 million.
It borders China to the north, Russia to the northeast, and the Republic of Korea to the south, with Pyongyang as its capital.
About 80 percent of its territory is mountainous or hilly, and the country boasts many beautiful landscapes.
The Korean people have endured misery and hardship in the past. In 1894, Japan invaded the Korean Peninsula and occupied it from 1910 to 1945. Korea was liberated from Japan's colonial rule after World War II.
On Sept. 9, 1948, the founding of the DPRK was proclaimed.
In 1950, the Korean War broke out. After the war ended in 1953, the DPRK's citizens started to rebuild their country under the leadership of the WPK.
Remarkable achievements have been made since then in various fields such as industry, agriculture, national defense, science and technology, culture and education.
In 1972, the 11-year compulsory education started to be implemented in the country. In the 1990s, despite its relatively low per-capita income in the world, the DPRK has caught up with and even surpassed many medium-developed countries in education and health care.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the DPRK government has called on its people to concentrate their efforts on developing the national economy.
In recent years, the WPK and the DPRK government have reiterated the state development goal of building a powerful and prosperous country, with a focus on developing light industry and agriculture.
The People's Republic of China and the DPRK established diplomatic relations on Oct. 6, 1949. From 1950 to 1953, the Chinese People's Volunteers fought side by side with the people of the DPRK against the U.S.-led aggression and finally won a victory.
The following are some key facts about the country.
The DPRK lies on the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and has an area of 122,762 square km with a population of some 22 million.
It borders China to the north, Russia to the northeast, and the Republic of Korea to the south, with Pyongyang as its capital.
About 80 percent of its territory is mountainous or hilly, and the country boasts many beautiful landscapes.
The Korean people have endured misery and hardship in the past. In 1894, Japan invaded the Korean Peninsula and occupied it from 1910 to 1945. Korea was liberated from Japan's colonial rule after World War II.
On Sept. 9, 1948, the founding of the DPRK was proclaimed.
In 1950, the Korean War broke out. After the war ended in 1953, the DPRK's citizens started to rebuild their country under the leadership of the WPK.
Remarkable achievements have been made since then in various fields such as industry, agriculture, national defense, science and technology, culture and education.
In 1972, the 11-year compulsory education started to be implemented in the country. In the 1990s, despite its relatively low per-capita income in the world, the DPRK has caught up with and even surpassed many medium-developed countries in education and health care.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the DPRK government has called on its people to concentrate their efforts on developing the national economy.
In recent years, the WPK and the DPRK government have reiterated the state development goal of building a powerful and prosperous country, with a focus on developing light industry and agriculture.
The People's Republic of China and the DPRK established diplomatic relations on Oct. 6, 1949. From 1950 to 1953, the Chinese People's Volunteers fought side by side with the people of the DPRK against the U.S.-led aggression and finally won a victory.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Reading Yukio Mishima
Reading the words of Yukio Mishima, on the naked beach, slowly reading each sentence of Thirst for Love. He’s very good.
Quotes:
“Like an author who thinks himself a genius because his books don’t sell, he felt that his not being asked to lecture anywhere was evidence that the world was not ready for his message.”
“His was an ageing process that worked from the inside out - an ageing process like that which might attack a stuffed eagle, its insides hollowed by white ants.”
“It is not mutual benefit that makes allies of the ordinary nations of this world, it is jealousy.”
“What’s love? Nothing more than symbol falling for symbol. And when it comes to sex – that’s anonymity falling for anonymity. Chaos and chaos, the unisexual mating of depersonalization with depersonalization. Masculinity? Femininity? You can’t tell the difference.”
“No matter how you look at it, from below or above, status is a fine substitute for jealousy.”
“Rumour sometimes follows a more precise logic than fact; and fact, more than rumour, is apt to have a lie in it somewhere.”
“The highest point at which human life and art meet is in the ordinary. To look down on the ordinary is to despise what you cannot have.”
-“Oh yes, dear husband, you are correct; and your haiku show the ordinary at its highest point of development.”
Quotes:
“Like an author who thinks himself a genius because his books don’t sell, he felt that his not being asked to lecture anywhere was evidence that the world was not ready for his message.”
“His was an ageing process that worked from the inside out - an ageing process like that which might attack a stuffed eagle, its insides hollowed by white ants.”
“It is not mutual benefit that makes allies of the ordinary nations of this world, it is jealousy.”
“What’s love? Nothing more than symbol falling for symbol. And when it comes to sex – that’s anonymity falling for anonymity. Chaos and chaos, the unisexual mating of depersonalization with depersonalization. Masculinity? Femininity? You can’t tell the difference.”
“No matter how you look at it, from below or above, status is a fine substitute for jealousy.”
“Rumour sometimes follows a more precise logic than fact; and fact, more than rumour, is apt to have a lie in it somewhere.”
“The highest point at which human life and art meet is in the ordinary. To look down on the ordinary is to despise what you cannot have.”
-“Oh yes, dear husband, you are correct; and your haiku show the ordinary at its highest point of development.”
China & Thailand
People and things I miss so quickly.
China:
All the people dancing at sunrise in the parks, and dancing so well. Chinese dances, fox trots, waltz, the Pride of Erin , the music piped into megaphones. Millions dancing every day in the rising sun.
The people dancing in the city squares at night in the spring summer and autumn, old with young.
The people singing at home or in karaoke clubs, and so many with excellent voices. Maybe it’s the tonalities in the language that enable so many people to sing well.
The sarcasm and stark humour of the Han and Manchurian people, so sharp and fast.
The fact that everything matters except religion and tolerance.
The real human collective
That there is no God or King
Thailand:
That the King is God, the King of all Kings; the Avatar of the Almighty and of all that is good on earth.
The fact that nothing matters much except beauty, religion, sex, tolerance, and the King.
The beauty and youth of the 65 million people; you dont see so many people at all over 30 in the giant city of Bangkok.
The Physical Grace of men and women and the very real third sex.
The way the women say ‘kaaaaaaa’ so softly at the end of every sentence.
The living entity of Bangkok City, the Great Mandala made of people in love with their God who are tolerant of all who dont believe because it simply means there is more God just for them.
people
China:
All the people dancing at sunrise in the parks, and dancing so well. Chinese dances, fox trots, waltz, the Pride of Erin , the music piped into megaphones. Millions dancing every day in the rising sun.
The people dancing in the city squares at night in the spring summer and autumn, old with young.
The people singing at home or in karaoke clubs, and so many with excellent voices. Maybe it’s the tonalities in the language that enable so many people to sing well.
The sarcasm and stark humour of the Han and Manchurian people, so sharp and fast.
The fact that everything matters except religion and tolerance.
The real human collective
That there is no God or King
Thailand:
That the King is God, the King of all Kings; the Avatar of the Almighty and of all that is good on earth.
The fact that nothing matters much except beauty, religion, sex, tolerance, and the King.
The beauty and youth of the 65 million people; you dont see so many people at all over 30 in the giant city of Bangkok.
The Physical Grace of men and women and the very real third sex.
The way the women say ‘kaaaaaaa’ so softly at the end of every sentence.
The living entity of Bangkok City, the Great Mandala made of people in love with their God who are tolerant of all who dont believe because it simply means there is more God just for them.
people
Slow Fuse Karma
I see that Japan has released the Chinese fishing boat captain without an accompanying apology. Well, what can one expect from a nation that hasn't yet apologised to China for the horror of the Nanjing
Massacre and the many many millions of Chinese bodies burned in the streets by the Japanese?
Interestingly enough, the West didnt and still doesnt care about that at all yet selectively finds the Holocaust, the same thing on a smaller scale, unpalatable...but I guess they weren't important, like the jews, they were only chinese.
At that time in WW2 China was called 'the sick man of Asia' and within Japanese Shinto culture one does not apologise to the sick/weak.
Interesting how China is no longer sick and Japan looks increasingly unwell... poor things.
It's not Instant Karma... but it's getting there.
Massacre and the many many millions of Chinese bodies burned in the streets by the Japanese?
Interestingly enough, the West didnt and still doesnt care about that at all yet selectively finds the Holocaust, the same thing on a smaller scale, unpalatable...but I guess they weren't important, like the jews, they were only chinese.
At that time in WW2 China was called 'the sick man of Asia' and within Japanese Shinto culture one does not apologise to the sick/weak.
Interesting how China is no longer sick and Japan looks increasingly unwell... poor things.
It's not Instant Karma... but it's getting there.
USA
There's discussion in the USA regarding a deranged student shooting a whole bunch of colleagues with the Gun Lobby coming up with the interesting notion that if ALL the students carried guns then the mass murder would have been prevented...the deranged one would have been killed by the non-deranged masses of law-abiding students.
This no doubt explains why the USA is currently killing people in wars around the world. The sane masses must arm themselves to make sure they can kill the deranged USA? This is the machinations for peace?
It's such a bizarre and juvenile cult, the USA...not even a culture, but a cult; and a very mad one.
This no doubt explains why the USA is currently killing people in wars around the world. The sane masses must arm themselves to make sure they can kill the deranged USA? This is the machinations for peace?
It's such a bizarre and juvenile cult, the USA...not even a culture, but a cult; and a very mad one.
Friday, 24 September 2010
A Question
How would you say this in good mandarin? "The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them.Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your story of years, but on your will".
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Belief
The herd has always moved away, en masse, from the truth of the human condition simply to imagine answers that conform to the management of feed lots.
Karma Law Sin
Here's a thought: "There is nothing that is certainly wrong or right to Self, simply by the act of thinking thoughts, nor by doing actions. The Prime Social Notions of Sin, of Karma, and of Law, are the most obvious, corruptive, and most toxic bribes on human earth." This Question and Topic will be in the examination.
Real Death by Real Choice: An Analysis of the Meaning in Japanese Shinto Suicide. Thoughts that arise when reading the works of Yukio Mishima
ritual disembowelment, as a form of chosen death in a brief life of 30 to 100 years, with a perfectly sharp sword made for this purpose of violence, is not ever done for others; or for some human or godly cause.
it is the planned, accurate, effective and worthy way to end ourselves, simply because we mean too much in our time for the time to bear. Time is limited, as is its burden.
this death must be more painful than anything in our worst life experience to have meaning.
this noble death is the gift of ourself to ourself at the end we choose for ourself.
this death is not taking pills, or using a gun, or jumping out, or driving some car into a wall.
the death we choose must be more thoughtful and purposeful than the life.
it has nothing to do with cause and effect and it has nothing to do with others and nothing to do with disease at all.
it is our own honour we sacrifice to our own knife in our own hand in our own time for our own purpose.
in this way only can we understand the meaning of our own death for ourself before we dont exist.
there is nothing that is made wrong or right simply by thinking it or by doing it.
it is the planned, accurate, effective and worthy way to end ourselves, simply because we mean too much in our time for the time to bear. Time is limited, as is its burden.
this death must be more painful than anything in our worst life experience to have meaning.
this noble death is the gift of ourself to ourself at the end we choose for ourself.
this death is not taking pills, or using a gun, or jumping out, or driving some car into a wall.
the death we choose must be more thoughtful and purposeful than the life.
it has nothing to do with cause and effect and it has nothing to do with others and nothing to do with disease at all.
it is our own honour we sacrifice to our own knife in our own hand in our own time for our own purpose.
in this way only can we understand the meaning of our own death for ourself before we dont exist.
there is nothing that is made wrong or right simply by thinking it or by doing it.
Eighteen words from Yukio Mishima's beautiful novel 'Thirst for Love'
"Kensuke and his wife had, like all bored people, a sense of kindness that was close to disease."
Copyright, 1950, Yukio Mishima, Tokyo.
The Question: How did he get all that into eighteen simple words? He's just such a fucking good writer. He really is. He's a God we fail to recognise, to our great ongoing... relief. I'm sure he knew he'd never win the Nobel Prize if he said that, but he knew it to be true, so he said it.
Copyright, 1950, Yukio Mishima, Tokyo.
The Question: How did he get all that into eighteen simple words? He's just such a fucking good writer. He really is. He's a God we fail to recognise, to our great ongoing... relief. I'm sure he knew he'd never win the Nobel Prize if he said that, but he knew it to be true, so he said it.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
For an Australian, Thailand is hard to understand, but China is easy to understand
Thailand is hard to understand, except to Thais. They love their country to the ends of time. They love their beloved good King Rama IX, the Great King, the King of Kings, the Avatar of God, and so do I.
Still, China is much easier for me to understand. It is a much larger land mass than Australia, sure, with higher mountains and giant rivers, for sure, and it has about 16 bordering neigbours where Ausralia is somewhat a lonely island without anyone to learn from, but still, China isn't hard to understand. Just envisage Australians as numbering 1.4 billion goodly people who have been in the one original Australian nation, in a multi-ethnic and continuous human society, for a lot longer than 5000 years, struggling towards the great human goal of harmony. Those good people are working hard and saving hard and analysing hard and thinking hard and doing what they can for their families. That's China...and it includes Tibet province and it includes Taiwan province; and includes a great love for the Koreas, because Family is Family.
Still, China is much easier for me to understand. It is a much larger land mass than Australia, sure, with higher mountains and giant rivers, for sure, and it has about 16 bordering neigbours where Ausralia is somewhat a lonely island without anyone to learn from, but still, China isn't hard to understand. Just envisage Australians as numbering 1.4 billion goodly people who have been in the one original Australian nation, in a multi-ethnic and continuous human society, for a lot longer than 5000 years, struggling towards the great human goal of harmony. Those good people are working hard and saving hard and analysing hard and thinking hard and doing what they can for their families. That's China...and it includes Tibet province and it includes Taiwan province; and includes a great love for the Koreas, because Family is Family.
China Dating TV Show
The contestant, a beautiful young Chinese girl on one of China's popular Dating TV Shows, was asked if she would ride a bicycle to contribute to the universally serious responsibility to control Global Warming. The reply: "I'd rather cry myself to sleep in my BMW."
Books In Progress
There's two Writing Projects I'm working on. These will take a few years.
One: The Rama Project deals with the meaning and illusion of life and is really about how all meaning and illusion are the one exact same thing, and the real secret of life is to never seek to separate them; and that this deep truth is known basically by everyone, except by wankers. The Rama Project is a very hard piece to write. It may be the death of me.
Two: Brother Tamada: This is a serious moral study, as raw comedy, overflowing with swear words, of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Ford's Apocalypse Now. It is the story of a Japanese Christian Brother, Brother Tamada, who wanders the earth of remote rural China as an English Grammar Tutor... and a secret agent of a major religion (where the leader wears funny hats). It begins with: How the fuck did I end up in Cheng Du?
One: The Rama Project deals with the meaning and illusion of life and is really about how all meaning and illusion are the one exact same thing, and the real secret of life is to never seek to separate them; and that this deep truth is known basically by everyone, except by wankers. The Rama Project is a very hard piece to write. It may be the death of me.
Two: Brother Tamada: This is a serious moral study, as raw comedy, overflowing with swear words, of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Ford's Apocalypse Now. It is the story of a Japanese Christian Brother, Brother Tamada, who wanders the earth of remote rural China as an English Grammar Tutor... and a secret agent of a major religion (where the leader wears funny hats). It begins with: How the fuck did I end up in Cheng Du?
September 28 seems to be the day
With massive security in place for over a month now, September 28th appears likely to be the day the Workers Party members gather to meet in Pyongyang regarding issues related to the royal succession and the rise of Kim Jung Un. An important meeting in a critically important country.
Monday, 20 September 2010
North Korea, China, and Isolated Japan
I think one of the things the Western media hardly ever takes into account about the regime in North Korea is that it is a form of government and not just a bunch of 'demonised' madmen. We see this kind of thing all the time. In Iraq Saddam Hussein was a 'madmen' yet it was the West, US UK and helped by Australia, that killed a million men women and children there in the name of liberation...and destroyed the total infrastructure of that relatively modern secular country, as it was, apart from the oil pipelines and oil business buildings. That is a kind of selective horror and poignant madness well in excess of old Saddam.
As for North Korea, I was talking with an old Chinese guy who had visited there ten years ago and he said that North Korea was the most inhuman government on Earth; but he also said that China and North Korea are blood-brothers and share a bond forged in war against the Americans and that China will never ever betray its brother.
So, as well as being a country in a state of perpetual Cultural Revolution, North Korea is also linked to a Han-Manchurian family structure the West doesnt really understand. We don't have families of that deep, bloody strength and tenacity. That's not our culture.
We spoke about a number of things. I told him I was trying to learn the common language of China, Pootonqa, or mandarin, whilst also trying to learn Thai. He said "Dont worry about learning the language of the small countries in Asia, they are simply the border towns. Learn the language of China. China is Asia."
I believe he is correct. When you see the scale of humanity and the rate of change that is China, then you begin to understand how this really is the rising empire and that nothing can or will stop that. China certainly won't become democratic at all. That's not on the cards. The plan they have is working very well.
At the same time the empire will be far different to that of the Romans, the UK or the USA in that it is not an empire forged in invasions, occupations and pillage and in the destruction of anything it doesnt like, as have been the others. It is an empire that does not expand militarily at all. It is not warlike. They are interested not in world domination but rather in trade. You could ask 'well, isn't that the same thing?' And the answer from the million dead Iraqis, butchered for the noble American/UK/Australian cause (or the countless murdered Vietnamese) has to be: "No, it is not the same at all. War is hell." The countless, nameless dead of Afghanistan, a country with a median population age of 17 years of age, also have names. That's a lot of names and a lot of boys and girls.
I think eventually, and it wont take a long time, Taiwan will be somewhat unified into China with some special considerations beneficial to the people of Taiwan. I don't think North and South Korea will be unified. I think that, far more likely, China will keep its brother close, and closer, as time goes by... and this will be of benefit to the North Koreans and indeed to stability. Some degree of formal inclusion of the NK regime into the Chinese system with some market reforms, with a nominal NK leader. Very few people on earth would think that to be a bad idea.
As for Japan, well, China and Japan are not friends or brothers at all. There's still the Nanjing Massacre and the occupation of China by Japan for all those bloody and horrible years, to be dealt with. You dont kill and burn 20 million Chinese people for the love of your Emperor and never say you're sorry. You dont inject into a civilisation the terror of burning bodies, of race-hate on a scale unknown before or since, and then expect them to just forgive and forget. That can't happen. That absence of formal regret is one very real reason that North Asia is so 'tectonic' with America strongly supporting Japan and thus, strangely and strongly supporting the terror of that 'exotic adventure'. Much like the Nazi atrocities but on a much, much larger scale, it will have to be acknowledged and there will have to be real apologies and real reparations.
In Shinto culture, there is no need to apologise to the weak; that is seen as weakness in itself. The problem for Japan now is that China is strong and Japan is weak. the other problem for Japan is that the USA is growing weaker as well. For the US to continuously defend Japan, they would need to borrow money from China.
As with the Romans, it is best to be the rising power rather than be subjects of it. China's rise will benefit China, as it should. This is the natural obligation and inherent design of Family. We on the outside may find the next 100 years somewhat uncomfortable but as long as we trade and do business rather than seek war, we will be okay, mostly. China won't 'save the world economy'...the US and the Europeans broke it and it doesnt work now but that's not China's fault. All that has happened due to gross institutional and government neglect and avarice in the West is that China has accellerated along its developmental time-line at a faster rate. What would have taken 30 years in terms of rising trade and real power dominance now will only take ten years and none of that is China's fault. The future is arriving faster than planned, due to bad capitalist management in the West and good capitalist management in China.
As Leonard Cohen noted "And by the way, you won't like what comes after America." But then, he was talking to the Americans, not to the Chinese. I think the Chinese will like it a lot, and so they should. They haven't gone to war to steal it, they haven't borrowed it, they've worked hard for it, planned smart for it, and saved hard for it. They will have it.
As for North Korea, I was talking with an old Chinese guy who had visited there ten years ago and he said that North Korea was the most inhuman government on Earth; but he also said that China and North Korea are blood-brothers and share a bond forged in war against the Americans and that China will never ever betray its brother.
So, as well as being a country in a state of perpetual Cultural Revolution, North Korea is also linked to a Han-Manchurian family structure the West doesnt really understand. We don't have families of that deep, bloody strength and tenacity. That's not our culture.
We spoke about a number of things. I told him I was trying to learn the common language of China, Pootonqa, or mandarin, whilst also trying to learn Thai. He said "Dont worry about learning the language of the small countries in Asia, they are simply the border towns. Learn the language of China. China is Asia."
I believe he is correct. When you see the scale of humanity and the rate of change that is China, then you begin to understand how this really is the rising empire and that nothing can or will stop that. China certainly won't become democratic at all. That's not on the cards. The plan they have is working very well.
At the same time the empire will be far different to that of the Romans, the UK or the USA in that it is not an empire forged in invasions, occupations and pillage and in the destruction of anything it doesnt like, as have been the others. It is an empire that does not expand militarily at all. It is not warlike. They are interested not in world domination but rather in trade. You could ask 'well, isn't that the same thing?' And the answer from the million dead Iraqis, butchered for the noble American/UK/Australian cause (or the countless murdered Vietnamese) has to be: "No, it is not the same at all. War is hell." The countless, nameless dead of Afghanistan, a country with a median population age of 17 years of age, also have names. That's a lot of names and a lot of boys and girls.
I think eventually, and it wont take a long time, Taiwan will be somewhat unified into China with some special considerations beneficial to the people of Taiwan. I don't think North and South Korea will be unified. I think that, far more likely, China will keep its brother close, and closer, as time goes by... and this will be of benefit to the North Koreans and indeed to stability. Some degree of formal inclusion of the NK regime into the Chinese system with some market reforms, with a nominal NK leader. Very few people on earth would think that to be a bad idea.
As for Japan, well, China and Japan are not friends or brothers at all. There's still the Nanjing Massacre and the occupation of China by Japan for all those bloody and horrible years, to be dealt with. You dont kill and burn 20 million Chinese people for the love of your Emperor and never say you're sorry. You dont inject into a civilisation the terror of burning bodies, of race-hate on a scale unknown before or since, and then expect them to just forgive and forget. That can't happen. That absence of formal regret is one very real reason that North Asia is so 'tectonic' with America strongly supporting Japan and thus, strangely and strongly supporting the terror of that 'exotic adventure'. Much like the Nazi atrocities but on a much, much larger scale, it will have to be acknowledged and there will have to be real apologies and real reparations.
In Shinto culture, there is no need to apologise to the weak; that is seen as weakness in itself. The problem for Japan now is that China is strong and Japan is weak. the other problem for Japan is that the USA is growing weaker as well. For the US to continuously defend Japan, they would need to borrow money from China.
As with the Romans, it is best to be the rising power rather than be subjects of it. China's rise will benefit China, as it should. This is the natural obligation and inherent design of Family. We on the outside may find the next 100 years somewhat uncomfortable but as long as we trade and do business rather than seek war, we will be okay, mostly. China won't 'save the world economy'...the US and the Europeans broke it and it doesnt work now but that's not China's fault. All that has happened due to gross institutional and government neglect and avarice in the West is that China has accellerated along its developmental time-line at a faster rate. What would have taken 30 years in terms of rising trade and real power dominance now will only take ten years and none of that is China's fault. The future is arriving faster than planned, due to bad capitalist management in the West and good capitalist management in China.
As Leonard Cohen noted "And by the way, you won't like what comes after America." But then, he was talking to the Americans, not to the Chinese. I think the Chinese will like it a lot, and so they should. They haven't gone to war to steal it, they haven't borrowed it, they've worked hard for it, planned smart for it, and saved hard for it. They will have it.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
I've moved into a new house
It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and about 30/35 locks: locks on doors, some have 2, locks on screen doors, locks on windows, locks on access areas, locks on gates and locks on the 7 foot high steel and wire fences that surround the 1000 metre yard... and then there's the big combination-lock steel safe in the 3rd bedroom...and the 7 security movement-sensitive, body-warmth sensing, sentry lights. There's 7 alarms in this house.
I feel like having an "Open Day for Robbers" where anyone interested in robbing the place can come around and have a look. Nothing that you want is here, boys n girls. There's just some chinese cigarettes and me. You don't want either the cigarettes or me. Ring that bell and come on in...but, whatever you do, don't steal the locks.
Their value is beyond all else here.
I feel like having an "Open Day for Robbers" where anyone interested in robbing the place can come around and have a look. Nothing that you want is here, boys n girls. There's just some chinese cigarettes and me. You don't want either the cigarettes or me. Ring that bell and come on in...but, whatever you do, don't steal the locks.
Their value is beyond all else here.
Friday, 17 September 2010
A Good Quote
I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without having any purpose - which is the way it really is so far as I can tell - it does not frighten me”
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
CCTV and sign of the times
CCTV have noted that America used to call China The Great Wall. Now its The Great Wallet.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
A Remarkable Resume
Hu Jintao
The following is the biographical sketch of Hu Jintao:
Hu Jintao, male, ethnic Han, native of Jixi, Anhui Province, born in December 1942.
Joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in April 1964 and began working in July 1965. Graduated from the specialty of hub hydropower stations of the Department of Water Conservancy Engineering of Tsinghua University. With a university education. Engineer.
General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of PRC, Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of PRC.
1959-1964 Student at the Department of Water Conservancy Engineering of Tsinghua University
1964-1965 Postgraduate and political instructor at the Water Conservancy Engineering Department of Tsinghua University
1965-1968 Participated in R&D at the Water Conservancy Engineering Department of Tsinghua University and served as political instructor before the start of the "cultural revolution" in 1966
1968-1969 Worked with the housing construction team of Liujia Gorge Engineering Bureau, Ministry of Water Conservancy
1969-1974 Technician and secretary of No. 813 Sub-Bureau, Fourth Engineering Bureau, Ministry of Water Conservancy and deputy secretary of the general Party branch of the sub-bureau's head office
1974-1975 Secretary at the Gansu Provincial Construction Committee (GPCC)
1975-1980 Deputy director of the design management division, GPCC
1980-1982 Vice Chairman of GPCC, and Secretary of the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) (September-December 1982)
1982-1984 Member of the Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee and Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation
1984-1985 First secretary, Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee.
1985-1988 Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, and first secretary of the Party Committee of Guizhou Provincial Military Command
1988-1992 Secretary of the Party Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region, and first secretary of the Party Committee of Tibet Military Command
1992-1993 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee
1993-1998 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee
1998-1999 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee
1999-2002 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee
2002-2003 General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee before Dec. 2002
2003-2004 General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China
2004-2005 General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China
2005- General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China.
An alternate member, member of the 12th CPC Central Committee and member of the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th CPC Central Committees.
A member of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee, and member of the Secretariat of the 14th and 15th CPC Central Committees, a member of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee, and General Secretary of the 16th and 17th CPC Central Committee.
Made an additional Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the fourth plenary session of the 15th CPC Central Committee.
Elected Vice President of the People's Republic of China at the first session of the 9th NPC.
Appointed Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China at the 12th session of the 9th NPC Standing Committee.
Elected President of the People's Republic of China at the first session of the 10th NPC.
Became Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the fourth plenary session of the 16th CPC Central Committee.
Elected Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China at the third session of the 10th NPC.
Appointed Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the first plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee.
Elected President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China at the first session of the 11th NPC.
A member of the Standing Committee of the 6th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Updated: March 15, 2008
Source: Xinhua
Copyright © 2006 www.gov.cn All Rights Reserved
The following is the biographical sketch of Hu Jintao:
Hu Jintao, male, ethnic Han, native of Jixi, Anhui Province, born in December 1942.
Joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in April 1964 and began working in July 1965. Graduated from the specialty of hub hydropower stations of the Department of Water Conservancy Engineering of Tsinghua University. With a university education. Engineer.
General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of PRC, Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of PRC.
1959-1964 Student at the Department of Water Conservancy Engineering of Tsinghua University
1964-1965 Postgraduate and political instructor at the Water Conservancy Engineering Department of Tsinghua University
1965-1968 Participated in R&D at the Water Conservancy Engineering Department of Tsinghua University and served as political instructor before the start of the "cultural revolution" in 1966
1968-1969 Worked with the housing construction team of Liujia Gorge Engineering Bureau, Ministry of Water Conservancy
1969-1974 Technician and secretary of No. 813 Sub-Bureau, Fourth Engineering Bureau, Ministry of Water Conservancy and deputy secretary of the general Party branch of the sub-bureau's head office
1974-1975 Secretary at the Gansu Provincial Construction Committee (GPCC)
1975-1980 Deputy director of the design management division, GPCC
1980-1982 Vice Chairman of GPCC, and Secretary of the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) (September-December 1982)
1982-1984 Member of the Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee and Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation
1984-1985 First secretary, Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee.
1985-1988 Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, and first secretary of the Party Committee of Guizhou Provincial Military Command
1988-1992 Secretary of the Party Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region, and first secretary of the Party Committee of Tibet Military Command
1992-1993 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee
1993-1998 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee
1998-1999 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee
1999-2002 Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee
2002-2003 General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee before Dec. 2002
2003-2004 General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China
2004-2005 General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China
2005- General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China.
An alternate member, member of the 12th CPC Central Committee and member of the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th CPC Central Committees.
A member of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee, and member of the Secretariat of the 14th and 15th CPC Central Committees, a member of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee, and General Secretary of the 16th and 17th CPC Central Committee.
Made an additional Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the fourth plenary session of the 15th CPC Central Committee.
Elected Vice President of the People's Republic of China at the first session of the 9th NPC.
Appointed Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China at the 12th session of the 9th NPC Standing Committee.
Elected President of the People's Republic of China at the first session of the 10th NPC.
Became Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the fourth plenary session of the 16th CPC Central Committee.
Elected Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China at the third session of the 10th NPC.
Appointed Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the first plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee.
Elected President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China at the first session of the 11th NPC.
A member of the Standing Committee of the 6th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Updated: March 15, 2008
Source: Xinhua
Copyright © 2006 www.gov.cn All Rights Reserved
Taiwan and 'West Taiwan'
Xiamen, just on the mainland opposite Taiwan Island, is being developed as 'The Western Esplanade of Taiwan' or 'West Taiwan', as a form towards social, cultural and business unification; much to the upset of half of the people of Taiwan...but China's soft-power selling will work well. Even the street design, landscapes etc are a mirror of Taiwan and all designed to attract business and tourists and investments, social interplay etc with Taiwan; the same laws, same infrastructure, same trade qualifications, education qualifications, same companies, language, good tax breaks, cheaper workforce etc etc etc. They know what they're doing.
A good transport tunnel is on the way, & will be completed just to halfway under the Strait of Taiwan. Whether or not Taiwan chooses to remain a separate political entity, the process of social reconciliation are already well underway and advancing. The Free Trade Agreement between the two significantly benefits Taiwan. There is even a branch of the Taiwan political party Kuomingtang within Xiamen now.
A good transport tunnel is on the way, & will be completed just to halfway under the Strait of Taiwan. Whether or not Taiwan chooses to remain a separate political entity, the process of social reconciliation are already well underway and advancing. The Free Trade Agreement between the two significantly benefits Taiwan. There is even a branch of the Taiwan political party Kuomingtang within Xiamen now.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Fu Qing is a small town, a sub-set of Xiamen, a sub-regional city in China, much smaller than the provincial or state capital city. Understanding China is about understanding the 'scale' of things. Fu Qing is still seen, in China, as a 'river town', only recently & modestly expanding compared with other places near and far.
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| Understanding involves the appreciation of human scale |
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Bangkok Chinatown, Shibby with Wan Yi
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| Shibby, with Wanyi in background, on Thanon Yarowat, Bangkok, just near the Red Shirt Seafood Restaurant spilling onto the street. Fantastic and inexpensive seafood from the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. |
Brothers Fitzpatrick
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| Lawrence William, James Edward, Robert Charles & John Arhur. Four reasons that the world is a beautiful place |
Friday, 10 September 2010
A Thought
"God is Immaterial". A wonderful place to pray is at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok CBD. It's beautiful and so full of human intensity and meaning. It's a shrine to Brahma but is also well known as the Buddha of the Four Directions and it is a deeply spiritual place; and, importantly, for the hugely-rising number of Chinese visitors, who are fundamentally atheistic, it is a Lucky Place. I love to kneel there on the old concrete (all the street-concrete in Bangkok is always cracking because the city is sinking into the marsh beneath it. Sometimes in the wide concrete expanses, you can see the slow waves of the underlying formal tides) with the business men and the office girls and the general fluid mass of people that is Bangkok. This remarkable Krung Thep Mahanakorn. This is an amazing human city, fully dedicated to the real abiding deity of itself. All my life I will only pray in this place. I love the noise of the traffic, the smell of carbon and incense, the music of human movement, the boring chants, the beautiful flowers, the burning eyes, the raspy throat, the dance, the orange candle flames, and the depth of this astounding place. It is just near the Louis Vuitton shop and some bright and shiny massage parlours, and not far from the weapons-dealers, as it well should be, to come to terms at all with real human meaning.
I recall being in a prayer-garden in Singapore and noting that of all the Buddhas there, it was the marble head of the Buddha of Prosperity that was worn down the most through the decades of ardent human touch in total supplication.
I recall being in a prayer-garden in Singapore and noting that of all the Buddhas there, it was the marble head of the Buddha of Prosperity that was worn down the most through the decades of ardent human touch in total supplication.
Deleting the Koran
Burning Korans, and Bibles, and a variety of books is nothing new. People and governments have been doing this kind of thing for a long, long time for a variety of reasons and will continue to not only burn them but also to find other ways to seek to symbolically excise thought and philosophy as they see fit as the world changes. Look what has happened to Shinto, a damn good and deep human philosophy in its time; but now deemed somewhat 'inappropriate' because one lousy war was lost.(Oh, how the ghost of it clings).
I guess I'm a bit surprised that the American pastor had a hard-copy of the Koran. I have one on my hard-drive along with many other religious works and can, whenever it suits me, simply delete it. It's something I don't really need to inform the world media about.
I've already deleted every word of the Dalai Lama because he, disproportional to his meaning, takes up far too much space and he's mostly a troublemaker anyway. I was inducted into the Kalachakra Tantric Legacy by Dali Lama but I still know that he's a divisive clown. You don't have to be much of a 'rocket surgeon' to know that.
As for all the great religious texts, I'd prefer stuff by real fiction writers rather than by apologist wannabe God-Kings, whether they be Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Buddhist self-marketeers, seeking proprietary ownership of this real, radically changing, un-owned, and mortally meaningful World.
I guess I'm a bit surprised that the American pastor had a hard-copy of the Koran. I have one on my hard-drive along with many other religious works and can, whenever it suits me, simply delete it. It's something I don't really need to inform the world media about.
I've already deleted every word of the Dalai Lama because he, disproportional to his meaning, takes up far too much space and he's mostly a troublemaker anyway. I was inducted into the Kalachakra Tantric Legacy by Dali Lama but I still know that he's a divisive clown. You don't have to be much of a 'rocket surgeon' to know that.
As for all the great religious texts, I'd prefer stuff by real fiction writers rather than by apologist wannabe God-Kings, whether they be Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Buddhist self-marketeers, seeking proprietary ownership of this real, radically changing, un-owned, and mortally meaningful World.
International Students
Teacher at international school asked the students in class: "Share your individual opinions regarding other countries' lack of food."
Student from Africa replied : "What is food?"
Student from Europe said: "What is 'lack of'?"
Student from America asked "What is 'other countries'?"
Student from China "What is 'individual opinion'?"
Student from Singapore: "Will the question be in the examination?"
Student from Africa replied : "What is food?"
Student from Europe said: "What is 'lack of'?"
Student from America asked "What is 'other countries'?"
Student from China "What is 'individual opinion'?"
Student from Singapore: "Will the question be in the examination?"
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Personal Philosophy & Mai Pen Rai Krab
If you spend enough time in traffic jams in Bangkok you realise that the road isn't necessarily long, simply impassable, and yet, at the same time, that life is quite short. I've been thinking, in the back of taxis, about life and about building up a bit of a personal philosophy. I think it will form around the ideas of Michel de Montaigne who, in 1580, seemed to have a lot of things worked out. I think he died at about 45 which was a good long life in those days; so I have easily outlived him already.
I was thinking that we are born into all this: family, traditions, races, religions, nations, rights, obligations, ideologies, the times, even personality, etc without really having much of a say. We were born simply because our parents had sex. That was that and this is us. The rest: the rights and wrongs of societies, of human endeavour, of, well, everything as it is, is all totally arbitrary and based on the fact that people had sex.
If one is born into a Catholic system, the idea was that people had sex to somehow form a special marriage with God. I expect islam is much the same. Buddhism is a bit whackier but less torturous but all three of these, ahum, Great Religions do seem intent on controlling sex so that it complies with someone's righteous vision. The Real Terrorist is Uncontrolled, Unmanipulated Sex between adult consensual people who really like it; who, for a time, find themselves in each other's stream of being.
I hate the word 'appropriate'. It is used so often now and not only in talk, speeches, schools etc but also within the self-chat of a person. 'Appropriate' is simply the new 'god-fearing righteousness' of a secular world.
I'm very fond of the secular world and I think all churches, synagogues and mosques and temples and stupas would make great coffee-shop/book stores/bars (with very luxurious smoking areas) and the world would be far better if they were; but at the same time I think we need to get rid of the word 'appropriate'. Why? Because it's just another attempt at control of the human mind and heart, and is based upon the exact same illusion as the religions and the political ideologies that still run rampant around here there and everywhere.
Human life is not 'appropriate', nor is it righteous, moral or full of god-granted grace; it's just part of this flow, for now. This flow is just what Michel de Montaigne noted it as being in 1580.
The thing that was so remarkable about Monsieur de Montaigne was that he was a strong intellectual pillar of French Catholicism in the Renaissance yet he thought and wrote with a remarkably open mind. Some would say a modern, eclectic mind free of bullshit and pretty well honed the tool that is functionally atheistic Existentialism. His most famous question "How do I know?" When I think of Michel de Montaigne I picture him as the stuck-up bright French Prince that he most certainly was in paintings of him but I also see him, in the words of the songwriter Roy Harper, as 'a white dove, with a hawk's head, and an Open Mind before me'. I particularly like Montaigne because he was the first person to formally write anything Against Human Torture...and in 1580 when torture was all the rage and was seen as both righteous, godly, and appropriate. Just like Guantanamo Bay.
I don't really think generations learn much at all, ever. There's no 'progress'. I think it's all new with every life, with every flow. A new Hitler or Pol Pot etc is always at the gate and often loved and believed in. He/She is often inside the gate and sometimes in the lounge room, and is just as likely to be cooking in your kitchen or buying you dinner from time to time. Little Hitler takes his lunch to school in the same kind of brown bag that we all do. We just have advances in gadgets and weapons, but that's it. Apart from that, we don't learn anything that can be passed on except perhaps the capacity to be curious and to sometimes love, blinking from our little well at the sky.
This is my own thinking as best as I can make it out, from time spent in taxis in massive traffic jams in Bangkok where no one honks their horn, where ambulances can't possibly get through, where no one can be on time, where no one gets too angry or worried simply because...it doesn't matter. Mai pen rai, krab. Sabai sabai.
I was thinking that we are born into all this: family, traditions, races, religions, nations, rights, obligations, ideologies, the times, even personality, etc without really having much of a say. We were born simply because our parents had sex. That was that and this is us. The rest: the rights and wrongs of societies, of human endeavour, of, well, everything as it is, is all totally arbitrary and based on the fact that people had sex.
If one is born into a Catholic system, the idea was that people had sex to somehow form a special marriage with God. I expect islam is much the same. Buddhism is a bit whackier but less torturous but all three of these, ahum, Great Religions do seem intent on controlling sex so that it complies with someone's righteous vision. The Real Terrorist is Uncontrolled, Unmanipulated Sex between adult consensual people who really like it; who, for a time, find themselves in each other's stream of being.
I hate the word 'appropriate'. It is used so often now and not only in talk, speeches, schools etc but also within the self-chat of a person. 'Appropriate' is simply the new 'god-fearing righteousness' of a secular world.
I'm very fond of the secular world and I think all churches, synagogues and mosques and temples and stupas would make great coffee-shop/book stores/bars (with very luxurious smoking areas) and the world would be far better if they were; but at the same time I think we need to get rid of the word 'appropriate'. Why? Because it's just another attempt at control of the human mind and heart, and is based upon the exact same illusion as the religions and the political ideologies that still run rampant around here there and everywhere.
Human life is not 'appropriate', nor is it righteous, moral or full of god-granted grace; it's just part of this flow, for now. This flow is just what Michel de Montaigne noted it as being in 1580.
The thing that was so remarkable about Monsieur de Montaigne was that he was a strong intellectual pillar of French Catholicism in the Renaissance yet he thought and wrote with a remarkably open mind. Some would say a modern, eclectic mind free of bullshit and pretty well honed the tool that is functionally atheistic Existentialism. His most famous question "How do I know?" When I think of Michel de Montaigne I picture him as the stuck-up bright French Prince that he most certainly was in paintings of him but I also see him, in the words of the songwriter Roy Harper, as 'a white dove, with a hawk's head, and an Open Mind before me'. I particularly like Montaigne because he was the first person to formally write anything Against Human Torture...and in 1580 when torture was all the rage and was seen as both righteous, godly, and appropriate. Just like Guantanamo Bay.
I don't really think generations learn much at all, ever. There's no 'progress'. I think it's all new with every life, with every flow. A new Hitler or Pol Pot etc is always at the gate and often loved and believed in. He/She is often inside the gate and sometimes in the lounge room, and is just as likely to be cooking in your kitchen or buying you dinner from time to time. Little Hitler takes his lunch to school in the same kind of brown bag that we all do. We just have advances in gadgets and weapons, but that's it. Apart from that, we don't learn anything that can be passed on except perhaps the capacity to be curious and to sometimes love, blinking from our little well at the sky.
This is my own thinking as best as I can make it out, from time spent in taxis in massive traffic jams in Bangkok where no one honks their horn, where ambulances can't possibly get through, where no one can be on time, where no one gets too angry or worried simply because...it doesn't matter. Mai pen rai, krab. Sabai sabai.
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