China Need Not Be Feared Or Opposed

Forgot to include this sensible yet thoughtful comment by David Shambaugh (pictured) in one of my entries a few months ago while reading his article titled "China Engages Asia: Reshaping the Regional Order".

In discussing the many new realities that Asian countries and the United States have to adjust to in view of China's regional ascent, Shambaugh argued that China need not be feared or opposed.

He wrote that even though some states may hedge against the potential for Chinese dominance, China's interests and regional preferences may well coincide with those of its neighbors and the U.S., thus providing opportunities for collaboration.

Arguing that the U.S. and China's neighbors should welcome China's place at the regional table and the constructive role that China is increasingly playing multilaterally in addressing regional challenges, Shambaugh also added:

"If U.S. influence declines in Asia while China's rises relatively in regional problem solving, it will more reflect Washington's aloofness than Beijing's assertiveness."

Tong Haks and the Independence Club

A speculative question - what would have happened if Philip Jaisohn had utilized the remnants of the Tong Haks for his 1896-1898 reform movement in Korea?

As Gregory Henderson and Chung-sik Lee pointed out, the Tong Haks' grassroots strength, coupled with Jaisohn's intelligence and capability, would have made the combination between the Tong Haks and Jaisohn's Independence Club a potent one.

The Tong Hak, or "Eastern Learning" movement originated in the 1860s by an individual dissatisfied with government corruption and oppression. Choi Jae-u organized the Tong Haks by teaching a Korean variety of shamanism combined with facets of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism and Taoism. It later grew into a rebellion with wide support from oppressed citizens. In desperation, the Korean court requested for Chinese troops to help fight the Tong Haks.

But since the Tong Haks had been badly defeated by 1896 and was still very much hated and persecuted by the government, an alliance between the Independence Club and the outlawed group might have hindered Jaisohn's chances for reform, as well as limited the possibility of attracting a large membership to the club.

Furthermore, Jaisohn's keen memory of the failed 1884 coup and his Americanized belief in open rather than secret and illicit organizations could not have permitted him to seriously consider an alliance with the Tong Haks.

But isn't history full of all these "what ifs"? If this had turned out this way or that way, history could have been totally and irreversibly re-written.

Chinese Official Sha Zukang

Sha Zukang (沙祖康), a career diplomat, has always been a rather colorful character, and an animated and robust speaker.

After the World Health Assembly had decided not to take up the issue of Taiwan's observership in 2003, Sha who was then Chinese ambassador to the World Health Organization imperiously remarked to Taiwan reporters, "Who cares about you?" (谁理你们?)

The comment reportedly provoked intense anger in Taiwan, "anger that was only exacerbated as the island's television stations played the interview over and over again." (Richard C. Bush, Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait)

I am sure it was a good sound bite. Because when he was in charge of arms control in the foreign ministry, he once gave such excellent soundbites which I used in my television packages.

Apparently he recently told the United States to "shut up" about China's military spending, claiming that U.S. arms expenditure was half of the world's total.

The China-Taiwan Leverage Game

In 2001, Taiwan scientists announced the results of a research on the genetic origins of the island's Minnan (闽南, southern Fujian) majority. This is the part of the population known as Taiwanese, as opposed to mainlanders, Hakkas (客家) and the aborigines.

The research found that the Minnan people were descended from the Yueh people who were scattered along the southeastern coast of China during the later Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 B.C.).

The political implication is that the Taiwanese were not ethnically Chinese.

Not to be outdone, Chinese researchers announced a few months later that the four aboriginal groups in Taiwan exhibited a specific chromosomal pattern characteristic of the Li ethnic group on Hainan island (海南岛), and that all five groups were descended from the Baiyue people of eastern China. The Baiyue were said to have migrated to both Hainan and Taiwan, where they maintained the same lifestyle and customs.

The Chinese message: even Taiwan's aborigines had a connection with the mainland.

If there was not so much at stake, the tit for tat can actually be quite entertaining.

North Korean Talk

Attended a talk by Bradley Babson earlier this week titled "Engaging with North Korea in a Post-Test World: Economic Perspectives".

A couple of interesting points:

- Babson suggested that North Korea had put all its eggs in one basket by placing too much of its financial resources in Macau. This made the Hermit Kingdom more vulnerable given U.S. crackdown in that area. This disruption in Pyongyang's foreign exchange has also made it more difficult for the regime to sustain its military program. But from the U.S. perspective, the crackdown is a successful U.S. policy since Washington had little control in areas such as food and fuel supplies which were mainly controlled by China and South Korea.

- Yet another vulnerability is the changing relationship between the people and the state. Consumers are now able to exercise their choices, and this is a significant change away from the old command structure. Indeed, being able to make individual choices is a huge psychological change. It is also an alteration of the social contract which when broken cannot be, much like Humpty Dumpty, put back together again.

- North Korea is the most corrupt country in Asia, and there are systematized incentives to cheat.

- North Korea's new year editorial (something which reflects the thinking of the leadership) spelt out the need to increase people's living standards, ensure technological upgrading of the economy, and an increased production of food and other consumer goods. It also spoke of the need to upgrade industries and transportation. In the editorial, Kim Jong Il was referred to as President and not as chairman of the Party. Does that mean anything? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Overall, Babson outlined four assessments of the country.

1. Basic economic challenge for the country is to manage 3 fronts at the same time
- external environment (as it impinges on security)
- economic reform (at least 8 to 10 per cent sustainable growth)
- internal political impact (the challenge of reforming while growing at the same time)

2. The decision to test has altered the economic equation and increased risks in North Korea's vulnerabilities.

3. Implementation of U.N. sanctions will have both positive and negative effects on the North Korean economy.

4. A two-pronged strategy of sanctions and economic assistance tied to the nuclear agreement could have a major positive impact on the North Korean economy.

And the implications:
- An opportunity for the six-party working group.
- The need for a new operational platform for development assistance.
- The importance of a holistic approach - perhaps even a U.N. special envoy?
- Failure could undermine the nuclear agreement.

Singapore and the 1996 Taiwan Crisis

I am ashamed to say that I didn't know that the following took place during China's military intimidation of Taiwan during the 1996 cross-strait crisis.

According to the late Michael Leifer in an article titled "Taiwan and Southeast Asia", Singapore was the only regional voice willing to urge caution on the government in Beijing through a public statement by Lee Kuan Yew.

Leifer added: "Ironically, two Singaporean naval vessels had dropped anchor in the port of Kaohsiung in early March 1996 after exercises with the Taiwanese navy concurrently with China's acts of intimidation."

So come hell or high water from the Taiwan Strait, it was, well, business as usual when it comes to Singapore-Taiwan joint exercises.

Coffee Murder Incident in Korea

Se Eung Oh's book Dr. Philip Jaisohn's Reform Movement 1896 to 1898, A Critical Appraisal of the Independence Club contained an account of what I call the coffee murder incident in Korea.

On the night of September 11 1898, disgruntled official Kim Hong-yuk apparently plotted with the kitchen supervisors of the Imperial Household to put poison into the coffee of the emperor and the crown prince.

"Although the emperor took only one sip, the crown prince - who liked coffee very much - drank it all, (and) immediately vomited and became unconscious. The emperor was reported to have embraced the unconscious prince and to have shouted for help. Many of the servants rushed into the room, and they competed among themselves for a chance to drink coffee as an expression of their loyalty."

Hmm, apart from the splendid loyalty of the servants, I didn't know that Korea had coffee then. Don't they drink mostly tea or other healthy and nourishing beverages?

The Yangbans in Korea

During Korea's Yi Dynasty, the aristocrats or the scholar-gentry class were known as yangbans (两班) who were knowledgeable about the Confucian texts. They enjoy high prestige as well as social and economic privileges.

Near the turn of the 19th century, Park Chi-won had this to say about the yangbans:

"Heaven made four classes of people and it made the scholar-gentry class the highest. This class is the yangban who do not have to plough the land or engage in business. Since by study the pass the literary tests, the worse they will become is chinsa (进士). The certificate for passing the exam is called hongbi, or "red symbol". Though it is small in size, the possessor can do anything he wishes and people call it the "money-maker". The possessor can order his neighbors to plow their land before they (plough) their own. If the neighbors are disobedient, they can be punished by (having) bleach pour(ed) down their noses and having their hair grabbed. Even facing these punishments, they are not supposed to complain."

The audacity of the yangbans!

So hardly surprising that Western observers described yangbans as "the licenced vampires of the country" and "the-do-nothing class."

Philip Jaisohn's Personal Tragedy

Due to his involvement in the failed 1884 coup in Korea, Philip Jaisohn escaped to Japan and later the United States. But his family remaining in Korea were not so lucky.

Apparently it was the custom in Korea that if one had committed treason, one's family should commit suicide, or the government would execute them.

Indeed, Jaisohn's parents first committed suicide, followed by Jaisohn's wife who poisoned herself. The Jaisohn's only son, who was two years old, reportedly died of starvation because no one could take care of him.

Jaisohn's 15 year-old brother So Jai-chang was executed in downtown Seoul apparently because he had not committed suicide.

Another Cultural Revolution Story

Hospice care for the terminally-ill elderly is not yet widespread in China, but one of the pioneers in the area is Li Songtang (李松堂), or Li Wei (李伟).

In 1992, he set up the Beijing Songtang Caring Hospital (北京松堂关怀医院) based on the belief that "life begins for 10 months in the nurturing comfort of the womb, and should similarly end with 10 months of care and nurturing." (人的生命诞生必须在母体子宫中经过10个月的呵护, 而当生命即将终结的时候, 同样需要10个月的临终关怀)

Li was compelled to set up the hospice after his experience during the Cultural Revolution when like many young people caught up during the revolutionary fervor, he was sent to labor in the countryside. But in Li's case, he served as a "barefoot doctor" (赤脚医生), which is a euphemism for unlicensed and unqualified doctors who roamed the countryside dispensing medical treatment and medicine to the rural population.

As Li recalled, one of his patients was an elderly intellectual suffering from a terminal stage of liver cancer. Physically tormented, the elderly intellectual would grab hold of Li's hands and begged him to listen to his sad life story. In particular, the elderly intellectual was tormented about the prospects of after-life.

As he told Li: "I am not sure if there is a heaven, but I heard that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. I have never done any bad things in my life. I love life, I enjoy helping people, but now I am not even known as a "human being". They call me "cow spirits and snake demons" (牛鬼蛇神). I fear that I would not even qualify for hell when I die."

In order to placate and comfort the elderly intellectual, Li lied to him, saying that "the leaders already know that you are a good man, and they have agreed to rehabilitate you."

Even before Li could finish his sentence, the elderly intellectual grabbed hold of Li's hand and thanked him profusely. That night, the elderly intellectual died in his sleep, with a calm and serene smile on his face.

Leprosy in China

This is an account that reportedly took place in China in 1965. The province was unnamed but the place had been identified as Xuecheng District in Zaozhuang City (枣庄市薛城区).

That year, a leprosy patient was released from institutional care and he returned home where his family celebrated the occasion by throwing a feast and inviting friends and neighbors. But during the event, no matter which table the leprosy patient chose to sit at, guests at the table stood up and ran away.

The event ended with much sadness and anguish, and at the end of the meal, the family of seven all ended their lives by hanging themselves. A younger sister who returned home later witnessed the tragedy and was so distraught that she also took her own life.

Are things better now in China? Hopefully. But don't count on it.

The Life of Philip Jaisohn (So Chae-pil)

An interesting account of the reforms undertaken in Korea from 1896 to 1898 can be found in the book Dr. Philip Jaisohn's Reform Movement 1896-1898 - A Critical Appraisal of the Independence Club by Se Eung Oh.

The reforms per se were of course interesting but what fascinated me most was the life of Jaisohn as well as Yun Chi-ho, another key player in the Independence Club - the main vehicle for that particular reform movement.

Born So Chae-pil in 1863 to a high-ranking yangban (aristocratic) family, Jaisohn reportedly studied the Confucian classics yet retained independence in thinking. Described as a "boy genius", Jaisohn was sent to a military institute in Tokyo when he was 19 and upon his return, he so impressed the king that he was appointed principal of a new military institute. But the institute never got off the ground due to opposition from the Queen, who was reportedly anti-Japanese.

After his involvement in the failed 1884 coup, Jaisohn headed to the United States where he became a devout Christian. In 1888, he became an American citizen - the first Korean to be naturalized in the U.S. - and adopted the name Philip Jaisohn. He also became the first Korean medical doctor in America when he received his degree in pathology from Columbia Medical School (or today's George Washington University).

Jaisohn was a reformist who advocated an open door policy in order to protect Korea's sovereignty from being trampled upon by western imperialists. His vision was to create a modern government structure with new institutions.

At the request of the Korean government, Jaisohn returned to Korea in 1896. Though he was offered the post of foreign minister, he rejected the offer and instead founded a newspaper to educate the Korean people on a wide range of national, policy and civic issues. Through the newspaper and other activities, he help instilled a growing national consciousness among many Koreans.

Naturally, Jaisohn's nationalistic views did not endear him to the Japanese and Russians, and he soon became a target of the ruling powerful conservatives aligned with the said foreign powers who later deported him to the United States.

When Korea came under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945, Jaisohn organized various independence activities for Korea in America. He served as diplomatic affairs advisor for the Coalition of Korean-American Associations and sought various ways to obtain independence for Korea.

He died in Philadelphia in 1951, in the midst of the Korean War. His ashes were moved back to Korea only in 1994 under the Kim Young Sam administration, where he was put to rest at the country's national cemetery.

望子成龙, 望女成凤

父母望子成龙, 望女成凤已不稀奇, 尤其在中国实施独生子女政策以后.

上海某医院一对夫妇都是医科大学毕业生, 孩子填报高考志愿时, 他俩背着孩子偷偷到学校修改志愿, 结果孩子被上海第二医学院录取. 但孩子毕竟对医学不感兴趣, 入学后整天精神恍惚, 以至不得不停学病休.

孩子显然颇有天资, 考进了医学院. 但父母的用心良苦很显然付诸东流了.

China's Opaque Decision-Making Process

Many observers had written about China's opaque decision-making system, particularly in the aftermath of the collision of a U.S. reconnaissance plane with a Chinese fighter jet in 2001 (otherwise known as the EP-3 incident).

Bonnie Glaser and Phillip Saunders noted that specialists in civilian foreign policy research institutes are reluctant during a period of crisis or leadership conflict "to put controversial analysis forward in a nationalistic policy environment."

Michael Swaine described the policy process as regularized, bureaucratic and consensus-oriented.

Robert Suettinger on the other hand pointed out that "at some point ... Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) and Wen Jiabao (温家宝) may find themselves in a situation in which they need reliable information, short time-frame decisions, and sound judgment on a foreign policy issue. It is fair to wonder whether the decision-making system currently in place in China - opaque, non-communicative, distrustful, rigidly bureaucratic, inclined to deliver what they think the leaders want to hear, strategically dogmatic, yet susceptible to political manipulation for personal gain - will be up to the task of giving good advice."

Much as I have misgivings about the largely American portrayal of China as the evil perpetrator and the U.S. as the victim in the EP-3 incident, I have to agree with Suettinger's assessment of the decision-making process within the Chinese bureaucracy. But let's not wait for another foreign policy mishap to prove Suettinger right.

Misguided Chinese View of Taiwan's National Identity

It would be good if not that many Chinese officials share the mindset of scholar Hu Lingwei. But judging from the state of cross strait relations, I am afraid the reverse may be true.

In a July 2003 article, Hu, a scholar at the Shanghai Institute of East Asian Studies, addressed the issue of Taiwanese national identity.

Hu argued that the problem with the island's lack of national identity stems from a lack of Chinese identity.

He wrote: "Aside from the penetration of alien culture during the Japanese period, Taiwan society was historically grounded in Chinese culture - in the Ming and Qing dynasties and during the rule of the two Chiangs."

In Hu's view, it was China's growing power and international stature under the post-1978 policy of reform and opening up that had resulted in a loss of confidence in Taiwan, as well as the crisis of identity.

In my view, this is yet another indication of the "I-know-it-all-simply-because-I-am-bigger" attitude on the part of Beijing. So certain are Chinese mandarins of their own interpretation of contemporary history that they feel they have the right to dictate to the Taiwanese people how the latter should feel.

As other observers rightly pointed out, negative Chinese actions, such as the 1996 missile test, as well as Beijing's opposition to Taiwan's observership in the World Health Organization, have themselves strengthened Taiwanese identity - something that many in China could not or would not publicly acknowledge.

Korean Women Catching Chromosomes

The following account can be seen as funny if we remember that it is 1970s South Korea that we are talking about, and plain sobering if there are still people in modern societies who believe in it.

In a narrative by Hesung Chun Koh in "Korean Women, Conflict, and Change: An Approach to Development Planning", it has been noted that in the past, Korean of both sexes often attribute the failure to bear a son primarily to the wife.

In a society where there are deeply entrenched beliefs that the women are to be blamed for any "reproductive" failures, biological facts concerning reproduction and conception often carry little weight.

Koh wrote: "When reminded that men, not women, provide the "Y" chromosomes, a young Korean husband responded, "yes, but it is the woman's job to catch the right one."

Good grief.

假如给我三天光明

"有时, 我的心在哭泣, 它渴望看到所有这些东西, 如果我仅仅凭触觉就能得到那么多的快乐, 那么凭着视觉将会有多少美展现出来啊! 可是, 那些有眼睛的人显然看得很少, 对世界上充盈的五颜六色, 千姿百态万花筒的景象, 他们认为是理所当然的. 也许人类就是这样, 极少去珍惜我们所拥有的东西, 而渴望那些我们没有的东西. 在光明的世界中, 视觉这天赋才能, 竟只被作为一种便利, 而不是一种丰富生活的手段, 这是多么可惜啊!

"如果, 由于某种奇迹, 我只可以睁眼看三天, 紧跟着又回到黑暗中, 我将会把这段时间分成三部分. 第一天, 我要看人, 他们的善良, 温厚与友谊使我的生活值得过. 第二天, 我要在黎明起身, 去看黑夜变为白昼的动人奇迹. 我将怀着敬畏之心, 仰望壮丽的曙光全景, 与此同时, 太阳唤醒的沉睡的大地. 第三天我将在当前的日常世界中度过, 到为生活奔忙的人们经常去的地方去, 所以城市成了我的目的地."

- (美) 海伦.凯勒

我真的很想上学 - 中国农民工子女

在北京等许多大城市, 很多苦活儿, 累活儿都是由外地, 尤其是农村进城打工人员干的, 比如卖菜的, 卖早点的, 收废品的, 修鞋的, 盖房子的都是乡下人. 随着他们越来越多地从农村涌向繁华的都市, 他们的子女也跟着来了.

根据2000年全国第五次人口普查表明, 全国流动人口已达1.2亿, 其中18岁以下儿童为1982万人, 占19.37%.

"如今, 农民工子女在城里失学则让他们自身感受到了不公平. 这些农民工子女从小在城市里长大却始终得不到良好的教育. 他们得到的只有人们的歧视和偏见. 在他们学知识, 长身体的关键时期, 其保护和教育问题如果得不到有效解决, 将会在他们心里埋下仇恨的种子.

"他们长大后融入社会, 因为没有知识和技能, 只能到处游荡, 最后成为危害社会的一个群体, 甚至可能会影响社会经济的协调发展. 这并不是危言耸听. 因此, 帮助农民工子女就是帮助我们自己." (你好孩子, 爱与被爱的故事, 中国社会科学出版社)

Cutting Down on Fake Receipts in China

Remember how outlets and establishments in Beijing had begun to issue computer-based receipts to customers a few years ago? Many of us would remember the move as one which aimed to increase transparency in China.

According to Dali Yang in Remaking the Chinese Leviathan, Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China, the Golden Tax Project adopted nationwide has helped to cut down on fake receipts, as well as boost transparency.

Various cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou (苏州) have also introduced computer-generated "lotteries" for receipts from restaurants and other businesses so as to encourage customers to demand receipts, and thus force these businesses to pay taxes.

Come to think of it, it was actually quite fun to find a coin and scratch those "lotteries", though I never seem to have any luck whatsoever. But I have heard stories of people, including a few acquaintances, who had won small amounts of money - the largest amount being 100 yuan - from these "lotteries".

小小摇钱树 - 养家糊口的琴童

在湖北省武汉市, 有一条因颇具 "俗文化" 特色而小有名气的小街 - 吉庆街. 每当夜幕降临时, 这里的大排档夜市就开始热闹起来, 而孩子们的拉琴卖艺称得上是这里特色中的 "特色".

琴童们穿梭在人群里, 拉一曲5元, 食客们高兴时可多给. 他们当中最小只有4岁, 最大的10岁, 来自山区和农村, 晚上拉琴, 白天睡觉, 拉琴一天可赚二三十元钱. 在很多拥有琴童的家里, 一家人几乎靠孩子养着.

站在父母的角度来看, 他们谋生本领薄弱, 他们知道自己的孩子向上流动的机会很微小.

对这些父母来说, 未来是不存在的.

"因为未来跟现在没有什么两样, 就是维持基本的生计. 虽然有人通过教育改变了自己的命运, 但对他们来说, 这绝对属于小概率事件. 而在农村, 如果孩子考不上大学, 父母的整个投资就全都泡汤了.

在这种预期下, 贫穷的父母的唯一的选择就是放弃对未来的投资, 而最充分地发挥现有的资源的价值, 也就是说, 让孩子立刻直接投入生产体系中, 这种做法对于家庭的好处, 是不言而喻的; 即便是对孩子本人来说, 这也是一种最优的选择, 因为通过尽早进入到社会分工体系中, 孩子可以积累到实用的技能, 这些技能可以提高孩子的人力资源定价, 而且, 这些技能是有人会买单的, 而不象半吊子的知识, 根本无人出价." (你好, 孩子; 爱与被爱的故事, 中国社会科学出版社)

唉, 是现实所逼, 是消极, 是悲观, 还是无奈?

"Women of the Sea" in Korea

During a visit to South Korea's Cheju Island in 2002, I was taken to the seaside where I was treated to a sumptuous feast of freshly-caught seafood dipped with chili and downed, naturally, with soju, the ubiquitous yet potent Korean alcoholic drink.

The fresh seafood were procured by a group of middle-aged women known as "henyos", or "women of the sea". My Korean friend told me that diving into the sea to procure seafood was a form of livelihood for these women, and many of them were ashamed of their profession.

But not so, it seems, according to an account by Haejoang Cho depicting the lives of henyo in an article titled "The Autonomous Women" in Korean Women View from the Inner Room.

Described as an exclusively female activity, henyos dive for top-shells, abalone, lobster, octopus, and various types of seaweed all year around, even during their menstrual periods and when they are pregnant. The women normally dive at depths of 5 to 7 meters and hold their breath for 35 to 40 seconds for each jump.

Henyos saw themselves as career women, were proud of their financial independence, and often pitied their often idle men.

As Cho noted: "Companionship is very important in diving. Divers spend what may seem to be an unnecessarily long time changing their clothes, but it is a joyful time, when they can exchange information, talk about their family problems, joke, and sometimes sing."

"Most divers enjoy diving. When they could not go diving for several days, due to inclement weather, they said they had body-aches and wanted to dive as soon as possible."

And in a reversal of entrenched gender roles in Korea, husbands of henyos assumed child-rearing duties.

As Cho wrote: "After the women have gone to dive, the village seems quiet and empty. Men with their babies visit each other, talk, and drink. They may discuss international affairs, national policies, and local politics, but they also talk about the difficulties of baby-care."

Indeed, so independent-minded are Cheju women that a man from the mainland who had lived on the island for six years had reportedly said that he would not marry a Cheju woman. He noted that "women here are too independent. If they do not like something, they ask for a divorce right there, and often marry again. I cannot take such a woman."

Coal Mine Disasters in China

Most of us have heard about the several coal mines disasters taking place in China, particularly over the past decade.

In the 1950s, coal prices were fixed by the authorities, but by the 1980s such prices were well below the real costs of mining the coal.

And as the country undertook further economic reforms, authorities permitted the rapid expansion of production by local coal mines (小煤矿), which are generally poorly equipped mines operated by individuals or local authorities and which produce low-quality coal for local consumption.

As Kenneth Lieberthal noted, "from the initial situation of having the vast majority of coal produced in state mines and sold at one fixed price ... by the early 1990s a far more complex situation had developed. About half of all coal output came from local mines and sold for market-driven price."

If you ask me, I say, fair and good. After all, market should indeed determine prices.

But what frustrates me is how extreme greed and the profit-motive had driven many of these mine operators to be totally oblivious of basic safety standards, which in turn jeopardizes the lives of coal miners.

As I found out when I was in China, sometimes human lives are not even worth the few bushels of coal that the mine workers had mined. And that if mine workers complained about the hazardous working conditions, they would be told by mine operators to go home as "countless other people would be queuing up to take over your jobs."

Zhu Rongji Only Wanted to Hear Good News

Some had suggested that former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (朱镕基) - given his fearlessness, vigor and determination - was exactly the type of top leader that China needed.

Perhaps. But perhaps not.

As Tony Saich pointed out in Governance and Politics of China, even the reform-minded Zhu does not like to be challenged by evidence that contradicted his own views.

One senior academic apparently decided to confront Zhu over what was seen as inappropriate policies that Zhu had adopted in restricting the grain market. The Premier asked him whether other economists had the same view, and the academic replied "almost all."

"At this the Premier exploded in replying that he found this very strange as all the economists with whom he had spoken agreed that the Premier was correct."

As Saich further noted, there were other examples of this behavior by Zhu, and they reveal that "it is still judicious for officials, even academics, to say what the leaders want to hear, rather than what they need to hear."

See, even the reform-minded Zhu, popular among many Chinese, was not immune to one of the many common shortcoming of public officials.

Indeed, a common Chinese saying known as "报喜不报忧", or "reporting only the good but not the bad news" is used to describe situations such as these.

But these officials should also remember another saying "良药苦口利于病, 忠言逆耳利于行", or "bitter medicine is good for an illness, and helpful advice is good for sound action."

Minmyonuri and Kim Ku

Like China, pre-independent Korea also had a marriage system involving the transfer of the prospective bride from her maternal household to the household of her future husband. This was done when the bride was usually six or seven years old, but it was not totally unheard of for girls in their infancy to be sent out as prospective brides.

Known in China as 童养媳 (which literally meant "a daughter-in-law raised as a child"), the system is known as minmyonuri in Korea.

As Youngsook Kim Harvey pointed out, minmyonuri marriage was under no circumstances the preferred form of marriage, as it was an option "for families negotiating on the basis of mutual disadvantage."

Practiced only by impoverished families out of economic necessity, minmyonuri marriage was a social humiliation for the families involved. For the bride's family, extreme poverty left it no choice but to send the daughter away, often to be badly treated by her future mother-in-law.

Indeed, Kim Ku was said to have rejected such a marriage that his mother had arranged for him.

The national hero of the Korean Independence Movement compared the institution of minmyonuri marriage to the Japanese annexation of Korea, and vowed in a letter to his mother that he would resist such a marriage, due to his resistance against Japanese colonial rule.

Chinese Central Leadership Control

The disintegration of the Soviet Union had provided many lessons for China, chief of which is that economic reforms should outpace political reforms.

But there are other lessons as well.

Such as ensuring that China does not turn out like Boris Yeltsin's Russia, where regional governors acquired power bases independent of the center and hence were able to veto federal policies.

To ensure greater central control, both Jiang Zemin (江泽民) and Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) had reportedly placed their own followers and supporters in key positions throughout the country.

Indeed, Dali Yang even suggested that the central leadership's ability in appointing provincial and other officials had been a fundamental factor in China's successful economic stabilization and economic reforms in the 1990s.

According to Yang, the case of Guangdong (广东) was a particularly striking illustration.

"During the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1999, it was widely noted that the central leaders relied on party Secretary Li Changchun (李长春) (transferred from Henan, 河南) and Executive Vice Governor Wang Qishan (王歧山) (from the central government), both outsiders who were closely associated with Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji (朱镕基), respectively, to steer the course of financial stabilization and cleanup in Guangdong."

I say, good for China, but too bad for Russia.

Deteriorating Status of Korean Women

Yet further evidence to show that Korea had not always been male-centric.

As recently as the 15th century, a daughter's line of descent were dutifully recorded in the chokpo (or family genealogy), and it was not until the 17th century that women lost their inheritance rights.

Prior to the 17th century, aristocrats' daughters even inherited land, slaves, and even the right to worship at a parent's ancestral tablet. And if a woman married twice, the names of both husbands would be recorded in the chokpo, "apparently without much embarrassment."

As Laurel Kendall and Mark Peterson pointed out: "Most of the social patterns we now associate with "traditional Korea" did not take firm root until the sixteenth or seventeenth century, a scant three centuries ago."

Traditional Korean Women

Living the life of a Korean woman in Yi Dynasty Korea was essentially joyless, especially if you were from an elite class.

For one, you were subjected to the "inner room", said to be your domain, but in reality your prison. And the higher your status, the more you "sequestered" yourself, and you'd have to wear a veil every time you leave the house.

But things were not half as bad if you were not from the upper class.

As Laurel Kendell and Mark Peterson pointed out, freedom of movement and absence of the veil defined "slave women" and "women in outcaste professions".

"Slave women, as they appear in antique genre paintings and in old photographs, accompany a lady's sedan chair, pound laundry beside a stream, or gossip together on the way home from the market. Insofar as modesty was a status attribute, the slave's costume - a brief jacket and short skirt over pantaloons - was a mark of degradation."

"As described in 1906, a decade after the legal abolition of slavery: "She will be seen carrying water home from the well on her head, and not only will her face be uncovered but there will be a startling hiatus between her short jacket and her waist band which leaves the breasts entirely exposed."

Given their inferior status, women were seldom mentioned in dynastic chronicles except occasionally as a virtuous wife, a devious consort, a scheming concubine, or a morally inferior being. And in the words of missionaries and travelers, "a wretched and depraved product of oppressive patriarchy."

The woman's only power, if it can be described as such, was as a mother-in-law, where "her sway is as despotic as any absolute monarchy on earth."

Little wonder since Korean men cite the Confucian homily "Namjon, yobi", or "Men are honored, but women are abased." And besides, a daughter had often been described as a "robber woman" (todungnyo) who carries household wealth away when she marries.