Category: China
Live: Red Army Choir takes a break to tour Beijing
| January 6, 2018 | 8:56 pm | China, Red Army Choir | Comments closed

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d59444f7845545a326c4754/share.html

Live: Red Army Choir takes a break to tour Beijing

Live 10:00, Jan 7, 2018 (BJT)
Beijing, China

Russia’s Alexandrov Ensemble, or Red Army Choir, is snatching a little leisure time from its busy performances for a sightseeing tour around Beijing. The members are enjoying local entertaining events, visiting scenic spots, historical sites and experiencing unique customs and practices in China’s capital.

In Houston, Texas – the fourth largest city in the United States – two Chinatown business communities have prospered due to an expansion in US-China cultural exchanges.
| September 30, 2017 | 8:18 pm | Analysis, China, Local/State | Comments closed

https://news.cgtn.com/news/7a516a4e78597a6333566d54/share.html

Houston Chinatowns prosper thanks to growing US-China exchanges

Culture
CGTN
2017-09-30 17:20 GMT+8

In Houston, Texas – the fourth largest city in the United States – two Chinatown business communities have prospered due to an expansion in US-China cultural exchanges.

The first Chinatown is located east of downtown, but today, a second area of the city has emerged as a thriving international district.

In the 1980s, the younger generation of Chinese entrepreneurs gave rise to this new Chinatown, creating a bustling community that covers an area of 16 square km in southwest Houston, roughly 20km from downtown Houston.

Dun Huang Plaza in Houston’s Chinatown. / Photo via 365thingsinhouston.com

The first business opened in the new Chinatown in 1983, which was designed and developed to meet the needs of America’s car-based society.

Today, thanks to many years of support and nurturing by the local Chinese community, the new Chinatown is home to an array of large and small shops, businesses, supermarkets and national banks, as well as being the shopping and business center for the local Asians population.

Because of the presence of the many banks in what is a relatively concentrated area, this new Chinatown has gained the nickname as “Houston Wall Street”, exemplifying its prosperity and importance.

And the prosperity of this new Houston Chinatown goes hand-in-hand with the rise of the new generation of ambitious and upwardly mobile Chinese.

“In the past, the old immigrants needed to spend a lot of time and hard physical work to make bread (money), so the progress was slow,” said Kenneth Li, chairman of Southwest Management District and member of Houston mayor’s International Advisory Board.

The Houston Police Department’s Chinatown station. /Photo from China Daily

Many young Chinese in Houston are now students and have a high educational background which gives them a bigger advantage in society and the marketplace, Li said in an interview with Xinhua.

Ruling Meng, a retired superconductivity scientist at the University of Houston and founding president of the Chinese Association of Professionals in Science and Technology (CAPST), said that she is a beneficiary of US-China people-to-people exchanges.

“I have always said that I am very grateful to the motherland for my training,” said Meng, who is over 80. “I was a college student in the 1950s in China, and the United States provided me with new opportunities for development.”

Meng said that economic conditions were not good then for Chinese people, but everyone studied hard. Even today, Meng is grateful to those who helped her along the way, and said she founded the CAPST in 1992 in order to give this type of care and support to younger Chinese scholars in Houston’s campuses when .

A shopping center in Houston’s Chinatown. /Photo via texasmonthly.com

Charlie Yao, president and CEO of Yuhuang Chemical Inc., which is based in Houston, is the former chairman of CAPST. He is among the new immigrants from China to the United States.

Many young Chinese today are white-collar professionals who have critical thinking skills and are open-minded, he said.

“China’s vigorous economic growth has helped to promote overseas Chinese to a higher level of living,” Yao said. “No other country in the world has been developing at a rate of more than 10 percent in the past few decades, but China made it.”

Jon R. Taylor, political science professor of University of St. Thomas in Houston, agrees with Yao. He said young Chinese professionals moved to Houston from other parts of the United States in pursuit of job opportunities and a better life, which in turn pushed the development of the new Chinatown in Houston.

Dun Huang Plaza in Houston’s Chinatown. /CNN Photo

Furthermore, Kenneth Li encouraged the new generation of Chinese to treat American mainstream society as a way of promoting the development of US-China cultural exchanges. It’s a win-win proposition as both cultures learn from and gain knowledge about each other.

Li believes that cultural exchanges are two-way in nature, as some local Chinese groups invite Americans to visit China.

“We should try our best to promote the people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States,” Li said. “With Confucian thought prevailing, Chinese are peace-loving people. We must send that message to the world.”

The street signs along Bellaire Boulevard in Houston’s Chinatown are posted in Mandarin characters as well as English script. /CNN Photo

Brian Lantz, a senior executive of Schiller Institute in Houston, said he is glad to see the emerging young generation of Chinese professionals in Houston, both in Chinatown and elsewhere.

“America will benefit from the growing roles of American Chinese and Chinese who are here in business,” he said.

While Chinese people are doing important work in academia and science, they also are bringing about improvements in the greater Houston community, saying, “I think we can all benefit.”

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency
Full text of Chinese president’s condolence message over Fidel Castro’s death
| November 28, 2016 | 8:45 pm | China, Fidel Castro | Comments closed

Editor: zhangrui 丨Xinhua

11-28-2016 06:46 BJT

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a message of condolence to his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, after Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro passed away late Friday at the age of 90.

In the message sent to Raul Castro, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, offered his deepest condolences on the death of Fidel Castro and sincerest sympathy to his family.

The English translated version of the message is as follows.

Distressed to learn of the passing away of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, I, in the name of the CPC, the Chinese government and people and in my own name, express my deepest condolences to you and through you to the Communist Party of Cuba, the Cuban government and people, and my sincerest sympathy to Fidel Castro’s family.

Fidel Castro, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and Cuba’s socialist cause, is a great leader of the Cuban people. He has devoted all his life to Cuban people’s great cause of struggling for national liberation, safeguarding state sovereignty and building socialism.

He has made immortal historic contributions to the Cuban people and to the world socialism development. Comrade Fidel Castro is a great figure of our times and will be remembered by history and people.

I met with Comrade Fidel Castro many times and held in-depth conversations with him. His real knowledge and deep insight inspired me as his voice and expression live in my memory. Both I and the Chinese people miss him deeply.

Comrade Fidel Castro, who dedicated his life to the friendship between China and Cuba, paid close attention to and spoke highly of China’s development.

As a result of his care and support, Cuba became the first Latin American country to establish diplomatic ties with China in 1960. Since then, the two countries have witnessed profound development of bilateral ties, fruitful results of cooperation in a wide range of areas and deepening friendship between the two peoples, thanks to Comrade Fidel Castro’s solicitude and painstaking efforts.

The death of Comrade Fidel Castro is a great loss to the Cuban and Latin American people. The Cuban and Latin American people lost an excellent son, and the Chinese people lost a close comrade and sincere friend. His glorious image and great achievements will go down in history.

I believe that under the strong leadership of Comrade Raul Castro, the Communist Party of Cuba, the Cuban government and its people will carry on the unfinished lifework of Comrade Fidel Castro, turn sorrow into strength and keep making new achievements in the cause of socialist construction.

The friendship between two parties, the two countries and the two peoples will definitely be consolidated and further developed.

The great Comrade Fidel Castro will be forever remembered.

Keep Space for Peace
| September 10, 2016 | 10:03 pm | Action, China, class struggle, Russia | Comments closed

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Chinese Admiral reiterates stance on S. China Sea
| June 5, 2016 | 7:49 pm | China, political struggle | Comments closed

CCTV.com

06-05-2016 15:16 BJT

Full coverage: South China Sea Is Indisputable Part of China

Chinese Admiral Sun Jian-guo has reiterated that China will not accept arbitration on a South China Sea territorial dispute with the Philippines, out of respect for international law.

The admiral said this at the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore. Sun also urged countries outside the region not to interfere in South China Sea matters, nor disrupt attempts at dialogue.

Chinese Admiral Sun Jian-guo has reiterated that China will not accept arbitration on a South China Sea territorial dispute with the Philippines, out of respect for international law.

Chinese Admiral Sun Jian-guo has reiterated that China will not accept arbitration on a South China Sea territorial dispute with the Philippines, out of respect for international law.

The upcoming 2016 presidential political debacle
| March 30, 2016 | 10:05 pm | Analysis, Bernie Sanders, China, class struggle, political struggle, Russia | Comments closed

Has the US embarked on a path of self-destruction?

By James Thompson

As we observe the perverse insanity of the 2016 presidential election cycle, it is important to take at least a momentary hiatus from the titillating debauchery which never ceases to capture the public attention and try to make some sense of the spectacle.

THE TRUMP PHENOMENON

We are bombarded by the mainstream media’s coverage of every minuscule twist and turn of the revolting campaign of the number one Shaman/showman, Donald Trump. He seems to have hypnotized the American public by his continuous spew of filth, physical violence, and verbal violence against anyone he disagrees with, particularly women, Muslims, Latinos, people with disabilities, and a variety of other major sectors of the US population. Although he is reprehensible, sadly, he appears to have set himself up as a leader of the most disgusting people in the United States today. Someone once told me that in order to be a leader, you must first identify a crowd and then position yourself in front of them. Trump has followed this edict to the letter and it has paid off for him in terms of political support and votes. His campaign and ideology remind me of the nihilism espoused by the Nazi party and more recently expressed by a US rock ‘n roll band called “the Doors”. “The Doors” were followers of the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who was the darling of the German Nazi party. Here is a song which embodies the Trump ideology and mystique which has caught on like wildfire and seems to have unified the most degenerate among the US people:

WE COULD BE SO GOOD TOGETHER

Jim Morrison 1968

We could be so good together

Ya, so good together

We could be so good together

Ya, we could, I know we could

Tell you lies

I tell you wicked lies

Tell you lies

Tell you wicked lies

Tell you ’bout the world that we’ll invent

Wanton world without lament

Enterprise, expedition

Invitation and invention

Ya, so good together

Ah, so good together

We could be so good together

Ya, we could, know we could

Alright!

Do da do do do do do bup bup de day

We could be so good together

Ya, so good together

We could be so good together

Ya, we could, know we could

Tell you lies

Tell you wicked lies

Tell you lies

Tell you wicked lies

The time you wait subtracts the joy

Beheads the angels you destroy

Angels fight, angels cry

Angels dance and angels die

Ya, so good together

Ah, but so good together

We could be so good together

Ya, we could, know we could”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBC4dfLlcbI

Although Trump has distinguished himself as a front runner among the decadent Republican mongrels running for president, he has rivals which actually make him look good.

Ted Cruz from Texas is the darling of the Tea Party. He and Trump agree when they both demonize immigrants and Muslims in the most chauvinistic display of racism since the advocates of slavery in the deep South.

More recently, these two pathetic clowns have clashed by debasing each other’s anatomical parts followed by a vicious attack on each other’s wives. Although US politics could never be described as civil and democratic, the current displays reach a level never seen before in bourgeois political campaigns.

Ted Cruz is an unapologetic advocate for the wealthy elite. He makes no bones in calling for the persecution of immigrants and he is no opponent of world war. His election would represent an unprecedented lurch towards world conflagration and the ultimate destruction of the United States.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS REGRESSION IN THINKING AND BEHAVIOR FOR THE US?

The childish verbal aggression which has become mainstream politics in the Republican Party struggle for the nomination for president of the United States must serve a useful purpose for the bourgeois Masters of the electoral process in the USA. One possibility is that this grand theater serves as a smokescreen and distraction from real democratic political struggle. As long as workers are focused on the hand size and size of other anatomical parts of the candidates, it is less likely that they will notice that these vicious reactionaries advocate military aggression and disdain world peace. Indeed, no candidate for the office of the president of the United States advocates world peace. They all vary slightly in terms of the degree with which they endorse military aggression on foreign, sovereign nations.

One candidate, John Kasich, has openly advocated funding and supporting the US imposed fascist regime in the Ukraine. This deplorable, fascist government in Kiev calls for the persecution of Russian-speaking people in the Ukraine and certain elements call for the extermination of Russians. These vicious snakes are the front line of the US backed military assault on Russia. No candidate in any credible way argues with this position.

Most candidates call for the confrontation of China and support the US military aggression in the South China Sea. The US military continuously challenges and provokes the Chinese government and denies their right to their sovereign territories.

The circus in the US political arena obfuscates US military aggression around the world. US provocations in the Middle East, and against Russia and China are the most dangerous and could lead to nuclear war. No one in the US seems to be aware that nuclear war could pave a clear path to the total destruction of the human race as well as many other species which inhabit the world. Indeed, the US, China and Russia could turn each other into cockroach food in a matter of hours. “We can all be cremated equally.”

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Hopefully the US has not reached the point of no return in spite of the blatant madness of the political candidates and mainstream media. Only working people can lead the struggle out of the ideological mire in which we find ourselves. Let us stop wallowing in the mire.

It is clear that the current candidates for the president of the United States do not advocate a path away from the self-destructive attitudes of the most degenerate sector of the population. We must ask ourselves as people of conscience if there is anything to be done to oppose the destructiveness of the anarchic, nihilistic collective consciousness of the people in the US. Bernie Sanders advocates a “political revolution”. It is not clear what he means by this but it is clear that we need a mass movement to propel our backward nation forward towards world peace, healthcare for all, education for all, full employment, housing for all and an end to mass incarceration. We need a new political system to meet the needs of working people and preserve progressive political gains. US working people of conscience need to unite in the struggle for peace and against the aims of the reactionaries. Education is needed to help working people see through the obfuscation of the neofascists. Without the opposition of working people, it is clear that the mass media and their bourgeois Masters will do everything they can to propel neofascist reactionaries into positions of political power wherever possible.

It is important to remember that support for neoliberals does not equate to opposition to fascism. Indeed, some neoliberals are the most effective champions of fascism which have ever raised their ugly heads. Both liberal and conservative voices supporting fascism must be fought. Fascism equates to self-destruction and the most notable examples are German Naziism and Italian fascism. We all know what happened to the supporters of Hitler and Mussolini. Do US people want to meet the same fate as the followers of Hitler and Mussolini?

A mass movement needs to be organized starting now which has the power to oppose the anti-working people policies of whatever candidate is elected to the office of president. What is done before the election appears to be irrelevant. What matters is what will happen after the election.