FOR ASIA WATCHERS and sports lovers, there's a fascinating story in the Asia Society's blog on "China Heavyweight," a new documentary about boxing in the Sichuan province of China. The film, by acclaimed director Yung Chang, looks at young boxers Miao Yunfei and He Zongli and their coach as they train for China's national team and the Olympics. The New York Times calls the film a "remarkably tender portrait (that) positions a particularly violent sport as nothing less than a lifeline to the 21st century." Can't wait to see it. It's the real thing. No flying kung fu warriors or "Rocky" film fantasies.
INTERESTING PIECE IN the Asia Society blog on Bo Wang, a Chinese visual artist with a photography project ("Heteroscapes") on his hometown of Chongqing, China. The megacity illustrates the clash of traditional culture and Western-style modernity, writes Dan Washburn of the Asia Society.
Wang has called the 2,000-year-old city of 31 million "a battlefield of transition," and the same clash likely is surfacing in every transcultural city in the world's emerging economies. The question of the 21st century will be the question of the culture line. (If you Google Bo Wang and Heteroscapes under an images search, you'll find many artists' blogs commenting on Wang's work. Good stuff.)
Last fall, the Asia Society and top-flight U.S. artists, including Yo-Yo Ma and Meryl Streep, visited China for performances and master classes. Censorship of Chinese artists and other cultural rebels has been a critical issue for decades, with little progress even as China opens economically to the world. Hopefully, walls will fall as China's markets evolve, and as a new generation of political and business leaders rise to power.
FOR MODERATES TIRED of political pissing matches, it's always refreshing to hear consensus-builders such as former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, a former Democrat and White House chief of staff during the Reagan era. Respected by anyone who aims dead center, Baker is a master deal-maker who builds trust between parties, rather than divide them. Among other negotiations, he persuaded Russia to stand with the United States in condemning Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s, when Iraq was an ally and "client" of Russia. Imagine Baker helping the U.S. and China join forces in the 21st century as economic partners and military allies. Baker spoke recently at the Asia Society in Houston, Texas, on the Pacific Century:
MISS UNIVERSE CONTESTANTS might look like Barbie dolls in different shades. But beyond glitzy pageants, the colors (colours) of beauty are slowly but surely changing global consumer culture and the beauty industry, according to SkinInc.com ("Skin Color of the United States" by Daphne Kasriel-Alexander) and a new book by Harvard Business School professor Geoffrey Jones (Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry).
THERE IS NO escaping globalization. In the video above, Chinese old folks sing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" on China's Hunan TV. It will stick in your brain like a bad commercial jingo. Actually, they're cute. Call it digital diplomacy. Or clever propaganda. You cannot resist.
AUTHOR JOHN KAO is the latest heavyweight business guru to weigh in on innovation in China, with a series of articles this week in CNN International's Global Public Square blog. In his 2007 book Innovation Nation: How America is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Kao defined such a nation as "a country that is mobilizing its resources in a pervasive and innovative way." After a long recent trip to Asia, Kao wonders if China -- not the United States -- will claim the crown as the first innnovation nation. He writes in CNN International:
BUZZZ, BRRRING, CAN you hear me? China's consumers continue their mass love affair with mobile phones. China leads the world with 900 million cell phone users, trailed by India's 800 million users and 300 million in the United States. At the same time, the Chinese government cracked down today on suspected corruption in the telecommunications industry.
THE FATE OF the United States economy and future ties with China could ride on how well the U.S. handles the growing wave of Chinese investments to the West, according to a new report today by the Rhodium Group and the Asia Society. Some Chinese investments, such as CNOOC's failed merger bid for U.S. oil company Unocal several years ago, have faced political backlash from U.S. lawmakers. But the report finds that the U.S. can "embrace Chinese investments" while also safeguarding national security. China has 230 foreign direct investments in the U.S. valued at $12 billion, and China's worldwide direct investments will hit $1 trillion by 2020, according to Rhodium. "China already is a massive global trader" and "Chinese investors are coming to the West in growing numbers already," co-author Daniel Rosensays in an Asia Society video. "The question is not whether we're going to let it in, but whether we're going to slam the door on it, now that it's starting."
THE BRAIN DRAIN of immigrant entrepreneurs leaving the United States to return to India and China could lead to cross-border business benefits for the U.S and those overseas economies, Kauffman Foundation research has found. While the entrepreneurs report more opportunities in their homelands, they return often to the U.S. to stay in touch with their networks and family, according to researchers from UC Berkeley, Duke University and Harvard University.
