Chinese Idioms-庄周夢蝶，Zhuang Zhou Dreams a Butterfly

The Chinese idiom 庄周夢蝶（zhuang1 zhou1 meng4 die2）literally means "Zhuang Zhou dreams a butterfly."

Zhuang Zhou, also known as Zhuang Zi, was a famous Taoist philosopher during Warring States period. Zhuang Zhou was moved by a particularly vivid dream, a dream that led him to ponder the reality of his existence.

One night, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly, flitting about with care-free ease. The dream was been so real that, when he awoke, he wondered if he was Zhuang Zhou who dreamed he was a butterfly or if he was really a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou. If the dream seems real,how does one determine which is reality?

Zhuang Zhou posed the question, "Are we awake or are we dreaming?" challenging human notions of what is real and what is illusion. He examined the relationships and connections between different realms world and so-called reality.

Emperor Ming of the Western Han Dynasty was also inspired by a dream, a dream of watching a gigantic, golden man descend from the sky. Because of his interpretation of the dream, Emperor Ming brought Buddhism to China.

This story is an example of how the ancient Chinese understood and mediated the relationship between dreams and reality, and how the dream world,or dimension, helped shape the history of the reality that is our dimension.

The concept behind the Chinese idiom庄周梦蝶has also been presented in various forms in other cultures. It is posed as philosophical theories, the foundation of spiritual quests, and fundamental questions regarding the human condition.

The French philosopher Rene Descartes explored the "dream/reality argument"in his" Meditations on First Philosophy."

Contemporary cinematic approaches to probing this concept include "The Matrix" in which Neo's choice of one pill over another would serve to perpetuate the "dream" or awaken him to the reality of his existence.

In the film"Inception," the characters carry a token to ground themselves to what they believe is reality as they drift between levels of dreams at the risk of getting lost in them forever.

Dream or reality? Zhuang Zhou's question is as important today for those who engage in spiritual quests; human beings earnestly seeking enlightenment.

Chinese Character -Dream 梦（夢 ）

夢（Meng4）,then Chinese character for "dream," is made up of four parts and is ideograph. The two upper parts, ++ and 皿，together resemble the shape of an eyebrow above the eye of a person. The middle part is interpreted as either a bed or the roof of a house;and the lower part 夕is the character Xi1,which means evening. 

As a whole, the character suggests a person going to sleep in the evening, and refers to the dreaming that then occurs.

The character 夢has two shades of meaning. One is based on its pronunciation that is similar to the character 瞢（Meng 2),which can mean having obscured vision, or being unenlightened.

In ancient writings, there is another meaning that refers to a place where the divine and humans communicate. This particular thought reveals the ancient Chinese people's understanding of multiple realities and the relationship between man and Gods.

In the modern Chinese language, the character 夢 is used as both a noun and a verb. It is combined with other characters to form words that refer to something either fantastic or unreal, and they can have both positive and negative meanings.

One example is meng4hua4(梦话), literally dream talk, which can mean a daydream or nonsense. The word meng4xiang3（梦想）means to dream of or vainly hope for something. It can also mean a fond dream or an earnest wish. The phrase meng4huan4 pao4 ying3（梦幻泡影） refers to an illusion, or a pipe dream.

To the Chinese, as with many other cultures around the world, dreams can have significant mystical or existential meanings.

They can be viewed as a communication channel with the supernatural, or they can provide deep insight into events past, or yet to come. However, in the Chinese culture, dreams are seldom disregarded.  

"The Wandering Earth" Hit Chinese Movie Theater

Last year, Chinese cinemas took in Rmb5.8 billion ($913 million) in ticket sales during the first seven days of the Chinese New Year holiday – the most ever in a single week.

Comedies are traditionally the biggest crowd-pleasers during the holiday, but sci-fi could secure a greater share of ticket sales this time round. That’s because this Chinese New Year week sees two sci-fi blockbusters hitting the big screen. Admittedly, one is a sci-fi comedy – filmmaker Ning Hao’s Crazy Aliens, starring actor Huang Bo. The other is The Wandering Earth, which many in the foreign press have hailed as the first proper sci-fi film made in China.
Both movies are adapted from stories by Liu Cixin, the first author from Asia to win best novel at the Hugo sci-fi and fantasy literary awards.

Information Times felt the need to clarify the claims of a ’first’, however. “The Wandering Earth is definitely not the first sci-fi movie China has ever made, but it is the first sci-fi film that’s garnered so much attention in China.”

Read more >>

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale

I just happened to read the book this week. I am impressed by Yang's power of telling a story using her graphic talent. 

When Belle Yang was forced to take refuge in her parents’ home after an abusive boyfriend began stalking her, her father entertained her with stories of old China. The history she’d ignored while growing up became a source of comfort and inspiration, and narrowed the gap separating her—an independent, Chinese-American woman—from her Old World Chinese parents.

In Forget Sorrow, Yang makes her debut into the graphic form with the story of her father’s family, reunited under the House of Yang in Manchuria during the Second World War and struggling—both together and individually—to weather poverty, famine, and, later, Communist oppression. The parallels between Belle Yang’s journey of self-discovery and the lives and choices of her grandfather, his brothers, and their father (the Patriarch) speak powerfully of the conflicts between generations—and of possibilities for reconciliation.

Forget Sorrow demonstrates the power of storytelling and remembrance, as Belle—in telling this story—finds the strength to honor both her father and herself.

Disney’s Cinderella Tale Woos China’s Grown-up Audience

Charles Perrault’s folk tale about Cinderella was written around the seventeenth century. But a Chinese legend bearing a striking resemblance to its plot seems to have appeared in the Tang Dynasty, almost a millennium earlier.

It is the story of a very bright girl named Ye Xian. Not only is she beautiful she also has a very kind heart. But her father dies so she is forced to live with her stepmother. One day when drawing water Ye catches a fish with red fins and golden eyes. She takes the fish home and places it in the pond, taking every scrap of food she can find to feed the fish.
Unfortunately her stepmother snatches and kills (then eats) the fish while Ye is out running errands.

When Ye discovers her fish is gone she becomes terribly upset. A little old man (the fairy god father?) magically appears and instructs her to retrieve the fish bones, put them in a bowl in her room and it will grant any wish she wants.

One day, during the annual festival for young maidens to meet potential husbands, her stepmother and stepsister set off for the dating fair. Ye wants to go too and prays to her fish bones. Suddenly Ye finds herself clad in the most beautiful green silk robe with jade and other fine jewellery adorning her. More importantly, she is also given a pair of gold embroidered slippers.

In her new outfit, Ye rushes to join the celebrations. She is so beautiful that men and women – including her stepmother and stepsister – start wondering who she is. Worried that her identity could be compromised, Ye runs back home but leaves one of her slippers. The Emperor later finds the slipper and becomes determined to find its owner… (Presumably, you can predict the ending.)
That helps explain why many Chinese are familiar with the Cinderella story – even if they didn’t grow up watching the famed Disney cartoon. And last week, Disney’s live-action film Cinderella became the biggest box office winner, taking in over Rmb200 million ($32 million) during its opening weekend. >>

Who's Winning China's Chocolate War?

M&M as Terracotta Warrior Credit: FITCH

At the new M&M's World chocolate megastore in Shanghai, the decor is a tribute to Chinese culture. There's a Great Wall of Chocolate and a massive M&M statue wearing the armor of a Terracotta Warrior. Chen JieTing, 20, posed for photos with an M&M wearing Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit. "I love M&Ms -- not too sweet and so cute," she said.

Chinese consumers traditionally prefer salty snacks, but the world's chocolate makers have been making converts -- and competing fiercely for market share -- in the high-stakes market that's home to 1.37 billion people. The local chocolate market has been growing 12% annually, according to Euromonitor International. China's embrace of chocolate has helped push up cocoa prices and contributed to fears of an international shortage. (Mars Inc., the maker of M&Ms. has warned the industry will need 1 million more metric tons by 2020 and is working on sustainable farming to boost yield.)


Meanwhile, Western brands have upped the ante in China by building factories and innovation centers, launching flashy campaigns, buying local chocolate makers and creating retail experiences like the M&M's store, which opened in August.

Mars, which also makes Snickers, has come out ahead, with a projected 39% of the Chinese market in 2014, according to Euromonitor. Its biggest hit is the Dove brand, which accounts for a whopping 34% of national chocolate consumption.

After the era of Chairman Mao Zedong, "when China's doors opened in 1979, you really had a billion people who had never tasted chocolate," said Lawrence Allen, a former Hershey and Nestlé executive in China. "It was a virgin market."

Companies rushed in and learned by trial and error -- Mars tried first with M&Ms. he said, but Dove was what took off. Hersheys had a hit with bite-size Kisses while others were selling 60- or even 80-gram bars, because "Chinese people do not sit down and eat 60 grams of chocolate at a time," said Mr. Allen, author of "Chocolate Fortunes: The Battle for the Hearts, Minds, and Wallets of China's Consumers."

There were cultural differences too. China traditionally classifies foods as "heating" and "cooling," concepts not about temperature but about the effect on the body. Chocolate is a heating food, so it's ill-advised for summer.

Read more at Adage.

A Map of Betrayal, An Ambivalent Double Agent, Torn Between Two Countries

When the Chinese writer Ha Jin came to the U.S. in 1985, he was only planning to stay long enough to finish his graduate degree. After that, he thought, he'd return home and teach English.

But a series of events shocked him into staying permanently, starting with the capture and trial of a Chinese spy named Larry Chin. Chin spent decades infiltrating the CIA, but swore at his trial that he was trying to improve the relations between the two countries.

Larry Chin "claimed that he was basically serving both countries. He used the metaphor 'mother and father' ... really, he was torn by the two countries," Ha Jin tells NPR's Arun Rath.

In 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre took place. Ha Jin soon decided to settle permanently in America.

In the decades years since, his novels and stories have won him international acclaim and a National Book Award.

His newest novel, A Map Of Betrayal, describes the life of a spy who is deeply ambivalent about spying on America, a country he loves as much as China. There are unmistakable echoes of Larry Chin — and, Ha Jin tells Rath, of the novelist's own experiences.

Please read/listen the interview highlights with Hajin at NPR.

In a Topsy-Turvy World, China Warms to Sci-Fi

Liu Cixin

With a state-owned power plant in nearby Shanxi Province temporarily shut down to reduce air pollution, one of its engineers, Liu Cixin(刘慈欣), is using the free time to work on his hobby: reigning as China’s best-selling science-fiction author.

Along with working on a new novel and advising on screenplay adaptations of his earlier fiction, Mr. Liu, 51, has been promoting the English translation of “The Three-Body Problem,(《三体》)” the first book in his best-selling apocalyptic space opera trilogy. Translated by Ken Liu, an award-winning science-fiction writer in his own right who is based in the United States (the men are not related), it is one of the few Chinese science-fiction novels to be translated into English. It will be released in the United States on Tuesday by Tor Books.

The success of the “Three-Body” series, as it is called in China, has gained a following beyond the small but flourishing science-fiction world here. Since the third book was published in 2010, each entry in the series has sold about 500,000 copies in the original Chinese, making Mr. Liu the best-selling Chinese science-fiction author in decades.

In addition to the usual high school and college-age fans of science fiction, China’s aerospace and Internet industries have embraced the books. Many interpret the battle of civilizations depicted in the series as an allegory for the ruthless competition in the nation’s Internet industry.

The series has also breathed new life into a genre that, here as elsewhere, the literary establishment often marginalizes.

For decades, science fiction was subject to the whims of Communist Party rule. The genre went from being a vehicle for popularizing science for socialist purposes to drawing criticism in 1983 from party newspapers for “spreading pseudoscience and promoting decadent capitalist elements.” When the prestigious People’s Literature literary magazine published four of Mr. Liu’s short stories in 2012, it was a sign that the genre was back in official good graces.

At its core, science fiction capitalizes on uncertainty about the future to push the boundaries of the reader’s imagination. In fast-changing China, stories that lay out what coming years may hold in store have therefore found deeper resonance among readers.

“China is on the path of rapid modernization and progress, kind of like the U.S. during the golden age of science fiction in the ’30s to the ’60s,” Mr. Liu said. “The future in the people’s eyes is full of attractions, temptations and hope. But at the same time, it is also full of threats and challenges. That makes for very fertile soil.”

Chinese science fiction serves another purpose in the eyes of Xia Jia, a science-fiction writer and professor at Xian Jiaotong University. “Chinese science fiction, in a way, has borne the weight of the ‘Chinese dream’ since the genre first appeared in China in the late Qing dynasty,” she said, referring to the turn of the 20th century.

“The dream is about wanting to overtake the Western countries and become a very powerful modern China while still preserving these old elements,” she added. “This is what we who write science fiction in China have to grapple with.”

The “Three-Body” tomes chronicle a march of the human race into the universe set against the recent past, the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution. It is a classic science-fiction story in the style of the British master Arthur C. Clarke, whose work Mr. Liu says he grew up reading. “Everything that I write is a clumsy imitation of Arthur C. Clarke,” he said.

The first book in the series explores the world of the Trisolarans, an alien civilization on the brink of destruction. When a secret military project in China attempts to make contact with aliens, the Trisolarans capture the signals and decide to invade Earth. Back in China, people split into two camps: those who welcome the aliens and those who want to fight them.

The series is likely to be a change of pace for science-fiction fans in the United States, where many leading contemporary writers in the genre are rejecting classic alien-invasion plots in favor of those that take on real-world issues like climate change or shifting gender roles.

Please read more at NYT.

Hungry City: The Bao in the East Village

It’s a perilous moment, lifting a soup dumpling from its basket, hoping it won’t tear and spill its beautiful guts. This one’s skin is delicate but does not break, at least not yet, not under the tongs’ little teeth. The dumpling lands in the spoon intact, plump but not sagging, buoyant as a ball gown. Take a bite, gently, from the top; watch the steam flee; sip the broth inside, just enough to taste; then down it whole.

At the Bao, which opened in the East Village in July, the soup dumplings, or xiao long bao, are near perfect. (The menu calls this achievement “kung fu,” using the term in its original sense, as mastery acquired through practice and discipline.) Other specimens in town tend to the thick, to prevent leaks; here the dough is ultrathin, less armor than envelope for the broth — pork-stock jelly, which melts into soup as the dumplings steam — and the ball of minced pork at the center, loose and yielding, as if itself in midmelt. I did wish the soup were more flagrantly meaty, but this far from Shanghai, I’m just grateful.

 The Bao is an outpost of Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao, which the owner, Hong Bao, opened two and a half years ago in Flushing, Queens. She oversees the dim sum at both locations, but beyond the classic varieties of soup dumpling — pork and notably briny pork and crab — the restaurants diverge. East Village innovations include xiao long bao jacked up on chile, anticipating the bravado of the young and the drunk, and others spiked with wasabi, a gesture toward the neighborhood’s Japanese expats.

The rest of the menu is greatest-hits Chinese, corralling flamethrowers from Sichuan and Hunan with old-school Cantonese and Taiwanese specialties. Much of this is delicious: a garlicky confetti of chives, with pork nubs and dark pops of salt from fermented black beans; pressed, dense tofu ruddied from steeping in five spice; pickled string beans chopped into tiny rings and bobbing in a sour rice noodle soup; strips of featherweight fried chicken, almost outnumbered by dried red chiles; noodles alchemized by an age-old calculus of soy, sesame oil and sugar; and shrimp dashed with Shaoxing (rice wine) and engulfed in barely set scrambled eggs that slip through the chopsticks. (I ate the leftovers, still slippery, out of the box when I got home.)

 Please read the whole story at NYTs.com.

Chicken-and-Pepsi Chips in China

PepsiCo is taking its global Power of One program to jointly promote beverages and snacks a step further in China, with the marriage of two Pepsi brands in a single product: Pepsi-Cola chicken-flavor Lay's potato chips.

Cola chicken is a common recipe in China, with chicken wings tossed into a wok and caramelized in soy sauce, spices and cola. In potato-chip form, the flavor is vaguely similar to barbecue with a sugary aftertaste. If there's any hint of Pepsi, it's fleeting and lacks fizz.

Richard Lee, PepsiCo's chief marketing officer in China, said the idea came from a brainstorming session involving teams from marketing and R&D, as well as Pepsi ad agency BBDO, Shanghai. Lay's launches a new flavor every year, and this time the goal was fusion.

"We thought it would be really cool to have a cola combined with chicken. ... It's a very popular dish in China," said Mr. Lee, who in 2010 became the first person to be put in charge of marketing and portfolio management for both food and beverage brands in China. "Also it would be very cool to involve one of our most-iconic soft drinks," he added.

The launch, in August, was much bigger than for any previous Lay's flavor in China, which include such unusual flavors as lemon tea (subtle), cucumber (cloying) and hot-and-sour fish soup (fishy).

The TV ad campaign played a joke on viewers, starting out like a Pepsi ad, with a guy rushing out to buy cola for his girlfriend -- not to drink, it turned out, but to use to cook chicken.

The product's name is a sophisticated word play. String Pepsi's and Lay's Chinese brand names together, and you get a double meaning: "Anything can be happy" as well as "Pepsi can become Lay's."

Lay's overall brand message in China is about enjoying the small things in life, a theme that resonates in a market where people can be dogged about earning more money and getting ahead.

"We want to celebrate a philosophy [that says] you can find happiness all around you,'" Mr. Lee said.

PepsiCo, like Coca-Cola Co., is making big investments in China. In Shanghai in November, it opened its largest R&D center outside North America, part of a 2010 plan to invest $2.5 billion over three years. Coca-Cola's soft-drink brands outsell PepsiCo's, according to Euromonitor International, but PepsiCo's snack portfolio is an extra asset.

"Coke and Pepsi have both stalled out in terms of growth potential in China," said Ben Cavender, associate principal at the China Market Research Group. "It's important for them to be developing new products and driving into these growth categories. I think Pepsi is probably better-positioned with the packaged food that it has to really make some gains there."  |Adage.com

P&G Early Foothold in China Pays Off

P&G says its Clinicare combats hair aging.

Talk about the health of any consumer-products multinational, and China will inevitably enter the conversation.

Loudly, in Procter & Gamble's case. On an earnings call last week CEO Bob McDonald said P&G has a $3.5 billion to $4 billion business there, far bigger than any rival. There are challenges -- P&G Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller on the call faulted market-share losses in China for the company holding or gaining share in only 45% of its business globally last quarter. Still, P&G's business in China is growing at a healthy clip -- 16% in the last fiscal year -- bettering results from developed markets like the U.S. and Europe.

"P&G is so entrenched in China. They made the investments early and their brands have great cachet now. So, they're kind of like the team to beat," Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Schmitz said.

How has it gotten there? With early investment, insight-driven marketing and product innovations. P&G and Unilever are now about the same size in Asia, both with more than $18 billion in sales, but in China P&G is more than twice the size of Unilever.

In fact, P&G earlier this year relocated the global headquarters for its beauty and baby-care businesses to the Asian business hub of Singapore to better serve consumers in the region. Its ad agencies in China include Saatchi & Saatchi, Grey Group, Wieden & Kennedy, Leo Burnett, BBDO and Publicis. Citing a quiet period, a P&G spokesman declined to make Greater China President Shannan Stevenson available for an interview.

P&G's innovations include skin-whitening products from Olay and SK-II, which play into the dominant mentality in Asia that pale skin is beautiful. Crest toothpaste comes in flavors such as green tea. Tide Naturals has been a success in India, targeting the 200 million families there that still wash clothes by hand.

Chinese consumers buying washing machines for the first time are often given a complimentary packet of Ariel detergent, while Crest teaches kids in lower-tier communities how to brush their teeth.

In China, P&G's Head & Shoulders, Rejoice (formerly known as Pert Plus in the U.S.) and Pantene are the top three shampoo brands, commanding a combined 33.2% market share, according to Euromonitor data. Crest is China's top oral-care brand, while Olay is the top brand in the all-important skin-care category.

Crest Pro Health Complete 7 battles issues caused by 'modern lifestyles.' Crest Pro Health Complete 7 battles issues caused by 'modern lifestyles.'

The crux of P&G's $10 billion cost-cutting plan calls for focusing on its 40 largest and most profitable businesses, the 20 largest and most promising innovations and the 10 most important developing markets. P&G execs have not named specific brands and markets, but Pantene is almost certainly on the list. In China, its marketing strategy plays up concrete benefits to the demanding female consumer in a market where competition is fierce.

P&G has also introduced Clinicare by Pantene, targeting slightly older, higher-income women. The product combats what P&G calls "hair aging." The "Age Defy" campaign by Grey Group used the image of a restart button to educate women that hair ages just like skin does, Ms. Govindji said.

Meanwhile, Crest offers a portfolio of products targeting different demographics. The premium Pro Health Complete 7 toothpaste is aimed at top-tier consumers, while anti-cavity Repair is geared to a nationwide audience.

The marketing was built around the insight that "progressive modern life in China, oral health of Chinese people ... was depreciating," said Justin Billingsley, regional CEO and chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi Greater China, which handles creative for Crest. Complete 7 is positioned as fighting against seven oral-health issues caused by modern lifestyles, while anti-cavity Repair combats problems caused by sugary diets.

A key challenge for P&G going forward is stepping up in the beauty category, said Javier Escalante, executive director, Consumer Edge Research. He estimates that China will contribute 30% of the world's growth in the skin-care category over the next four years. Beauty offers high profit margins, and both men and women in China use skin-care products.

Read more at Adage.com.

Apple Watch Makes Its Fashion Magazine Debut In China

Liu Wen Wearing the device

The Apple Watch will makes its media debut in November, gracing the cover of Vogue China. Liu Wen, a 26-year old supermodel, will sport the Apple Watch Edition, one of three models for the device Apple unveiled in September.

"Vogue China is following in the Vogue tradition of moving with the times, giving our readers the first glimpse of a pioneering piece of technology that also doubles as a highly covetable fashion accessory," Angelica Cheung, the magazine's editorial director, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Vogue China said putting Apple Watch on its cover was the magazine's idea. "The styling of the Apple Watch on the cover of Vogue China's November issue is an editorial decision, coming about in the same way the editor and team select and style pieces on all their covers," the spokeswoman said in an email.

Still, cooperating with the request -- the watch won't be available to the public until sometime next year -- signals the Cupertino, Calif. company is looking to cement its brand both in fashion and in the wider world.

For its event introducing the watch, Apple invited press from multiple fashion publications, a first for the company. After the event, Apple hired a top marketer from Gap, adding to its roster of recently acquired executives from fashion and retail. Apple's global retail chief, Angela Ahrendts, who left her position as CEO of Burberry in 2013, is focusing intently on expansion in international markets.
China, in particular, has been an increasing priority for Apple. The nation's slice of the company's revenue expanded from 2%, in 2009, to 16% last quarter.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus -- larger smartphones, which have sold more successfully across Asia -- began on Friday morning in China. Within six hours, one million orders were taken by the three largest carriers, according to Fortune.

Apple did not return requests for comment.

The Vogue China cover was styled by Karl Templer and photographed by David Sims, both veteran Vogue contributors. Apple Watch Edition, the product worn on the cover, sports an 18-carat gold casing. The company also released a basic version of the device and an activity-oriented version, Apple Watch Sport. Apple has not commented on the pricing of the products, which will begin shipping in 2015 at an unspecified time.

Read more at Adage.com

Putting the Knife In

Lesson number one in how not to win friends abroad: deface an ancient Egyptian temple with your autograph. This was the mistake made by Nanjing teenager Ding Jinhao on a family holiday to Luxor. The graffiti was spotted by another Chinese tourist and posted online with a message about how Ding had brought shame on the nation. Even Vice Premier Wang Yang piped up, worrying how China’s new breed of tourists were sullying its reputation abroad: “They speak loudly in public, carve characters on tourist attractions, cross roads when traffic lights are red, spit anywhere and indulge in other uncivilised behaviour. It damages the image of the Chinese people and has a very bad impact,” he lamented.

Well, it seems lesson number two in how to besmirch China’s national prestige comes courtesy of a boorish tour group visiting Southeast Asia. According to the Qianjiang Evening News, 30 tourists caused havoc on a Singapore Airlines flight when they refused to give back the stainless steel cutlery. This posed an unexpected dilemma for the flight crew as they tried to retrieve the knives, forks and spoons. The incident was only resolved when the furious tour guide screamed at them: “Stop hurting the reputation of Chinese people!”

Read more at Week in China.

State Grid Rolls Out Expansion in Europe

From Tianjin to Tuscany

Winston Churchill memorably described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. In WiC’s view the same quote might equally be applied to China’s electricity behemoth, the State Grid.

Not surprisingly, State Grid invokes strong feelings among Chinese decisionmakers. Reformers see it as an overly-powerful beast that controls 90% of China’s power distribution, monopolistically supplying electricity to 1.1 billion people. On the other hand, corporatist types – who have favoured an alternative ideology known as ‘state-led capitalism’ – view the company as a national champion.

The ‘enigma’ for WiC is the often contradictory messages that come from the corridors of power as to which wing is in the ascendant – and is therefore shaping the influential company’s future. In May the statists seemed to score a landmark victory when the firm finally (after much delay and many arguments) got the go ahead to begin work on 10 UHV lines at a cost of Rmb381.5 billion . This set in motion what is likely to be one of the world’s biggest infrastructure investments, with analysts reckoning State Grid would now get its way on a national rollout of UHV at cost of $250 billion by 2020. That looked a defeat for reformers, who’d argued against the controversial plan, citing technological concerns and worries it would lead to State Grid exercising an even greater control over the power industry
.
On the other hand, massive graft purges in the electricity sector – starting at the Three Gorges Dam in late March – seemed to be sending a message that the reformers had the upper hand and were readying to pare back the overmighty company’s influence. Indeed in June, the State Grid even made market-friendly noises for the first time, suggesting it would welcome private capital to help build a national vehicle-charging network for electric cars – thereby sharing the fruits of this growing business with entrepreneurs. It also said it would allow private-sector operators to feed new energy power sources (such as solar) into its nationwide system. CBN called both moves “an icebreaker”.

More recently the political pendulum looks to have swung the other way again, with State Grid expanding aggressively abroad. Back in the ‘national champion’ mode it has now unveiled a bold European strategy. Last month it bought a 35% stake in Italy’s grid operator, which is the sixth biggest in the world, according to the People’s Daily. That $2.8 billion deal may swiftly be followed by another. State Grid has joined a consortium with the Belgian grid operator Elia to bid for a 66% stake in the Greek electricity transmission firm ADMIE.

A top executive at State Grid told the Chinese press that it would make further investments in Europe, bringing its UHV and smart grid technologies to the continent.

Its timing is savvy. People’s Daily also comments that the EU is concerned that its target of linking member states with a ‘Eurogrid’ by 2015 is lagging – with many local governments and indebted firms unable to make good on grid commitments in the aftermath of the euro crisis. An EU energy commissioner has even told reporters that the EU welcomes State Grid’s participation in grid construction – so long as it abides by the relevant laws.

Read the whole story at Week in China.

Fairy Tale Ending

A case of taking the mickey? Or just a prudent attempt to remain anonymous? Anyway the winner of Shandong’s lottery turned up at a press conference in a Mickey Mouse mask, to collect his cheque for Rmb497 million ($80 million) – the third largest win in Chinese lottery history. All that is known of the winner is that he owns a shoe shop, and post-tax will have Rmb398 million to spend. Or to be more exact Rmb378 million. In what Apple Daily punned was a “Disney ending” the individual in question donated Rmb20 million of his haul to a charity fund to help people in the community. Shandong’s Sports Lottery described the act as voluntary and said it showed he had “a good heart”.

At the press event – where the winner spoke through a voice-changing device – he told media he’d been buying lottery tickets for five years and purchased his winning ticket on August 11, the same day the result was announced. The biggest ever lottery win previously occurred in the capital Beijing, where an individual won Rmb570 million last year according to Sina Finance.

Read more from Week in China.

Shaolin Cultural Festival Scheduled for October in Britain

Founder of Shaolin Temple UK, Photo: China Daily

The 2014 Shaolin Culture Festival is to be held in Britain this fall.

The festival is organized by Shaolin Temple China and the European Shaolin Association and co-organized by Shaolin Temple UK.

The event will include Kungfu competitions and an exhibition on Shaolin culture and 12 Zodiac animal relics.

Visitors will also have the chance to experience Chinese meditation, medicine, tea and an incense ceremony.

The seven-day festival is scheduled to take place in London and the University of Oxford starting on October 8, 2014. Read more at gbtimes.

Master of Peking Opera Mei Lanfang

Mei Lanfang,  opera-beijing.com

Mei Lanfang (1894 – 1961) was one of the most celebrated artists in the history of Peking opera. His specialty was qingyi – a young to middle-aged female singing role.

He was responsible for the worldwide recognition of Peking opera as an exquisite form of performing arts.

Mei is considered the first of the Four Great Dans – Dan meaning Peking opera artist in a female role – in the early 20th century, widely regarded as the golden age of the art form. The other three were Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng.

A family of operatic talent

He was so popular that an honorary Doctorate was conferred on him by the University of Southern California.

Born Mei Lan in Beijing, he later adopted his stage name Lanfang. He came from a strong lineage of Peking opera artists, with a famous qingyi grandfather, Mei Qiaoling. His parents passed away when he was a young child, and he was raised by his uncle, a Peking opera instrumentalist.

He started learning Peking opera when he was eight, and made his stage debut at 10. At the age of 19, he shot to fame performing the opera Mukezhai in Shanghai. The key to his success was his solid training in body movement, which he refined to perfection, coupled with soulful interpretations of his roles, which he created to improve on the hitherto perfunctory rendition of characters. Mei was credited with combining singing and acting into a uniquely artistic style – the Mei style.

International fame

Mei Lanfang

Mei’s first tour in Japan was in 1919. In 1924, he returned to Japan to perform at charity concerts as part of the relief effort in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake. In 1930, he was invited to tour the US, covering Seattle, Chicago, Washington, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

He was so popular that an honorary Doctorate was conferred on him by the University of Southern California. 

Among his foreign acquaintances were such showbiz luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford. His art also left a strong impression on German dramatist Bertolt Brecht.

Passive resistance in wartime

He moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong in 1938. During the Japanese occupation in the Second World War, Mei refused to perform for the Japanese military and grew a moustache. His defiance resulted in his assets being frozen so that he and his family were caught up in dire financial straits. Yet he persisted and eked out a living by selling his paintings.

He returned to the stage only after the war ended in 1945. In 1951, he moved back to Beijing. In 1956, he visited Japan again to enthusiastic reception. The great master died in 1961 at the age of 66. His life has inspired Chen Kaige, the director of Farewell My Concubine fame, to make the 2008 biopic Forever Enthralled.


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A Chinese Racer Wants to Win the Game

For a country so associated with the bicycle, it has always been something of a mystery why China has not produced world class cyclists. A 27 year-old from Harbin tried to change that this year by competing in the Tour de France, which finished last Sunday. Ji Cheng made history by becoming the first Chinese racer to finish the epic 3,659km tour, even if he did so by finishing dead last.

In fact Ji came 164th and clocked a total time that was six hours behind the event’s winner, Vincenzo Nibali of Italy. That earned him the Tour’s lanterne rouge (red lantern – the title given to the final finisher, and at the other end of the honours scale to the victor’s yellow jersey). As AFP also notes, Ji suffered the indignity of being lapped by the peloton on the final stage as racers did circuits of the Champs Elysees in Paris. Ji kept his chin up, saying he felt “pretty lucky” to complete the race (34 other competitors dropped out). But he also admitted it will take more than his own experience of the Tour to transform the sport in China. “Maybe I can show them something, but I cannot change anything,” he admitted.

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Chinese Tycoons Help Poorer Students Study Abroad

Pan Shiyi and his wife, Zhang Xin

In 2010 Zhang Lei, a Chinese fund manager who earned an MBA at Yale’s School of Management, decided to donate $8,888,888 to his American alma mater. “It’s no overstatement to say that Yale School of Management changed my life. I learned so much there, and not just finance or entrepreneurship. I learned about freedom and the spirit of giving, which to me is a great reflection of the American spirit.”

This act of generosity – the largest ever donation to Yale’s business school by one of its graduates – went on to trigger a furious debate in China. Many netizens accused Zhang of being a “traitor” to the country, claiming that he had humiliated Chinese education. Some even called him a “lunatic”.

Against this backdrop, China’s reaction to a donation from Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi to Harvard isn’t so surprising. Last week, the couple behind property developer SOHO China announced that they had signed a $15 million gift agreement with Harvard University. The couple also intend to gift another $100 million in scholarships to help Chinese students to study at prestigious universities overseas. After Harvard, their next target is Yale.

According to Zhang, SOHO China’s chief executive, studying abroad is a huge financial endeavour for most Chinese students, who have to self-fund their education in the US. So the SOHO China Scholarship will be aimed at encouraging less-well-off students to apply to study overseas. Zhang told Century Weekly that students with annual family incomes below Rmb65,000 ($10,500) would be eligible to apply for scholarships.

“I received financial aid when I studied abroad in England. Education changed my life. I hope the fund can help poor students afford college education,” Zhang also explained on her personal weibo page.

Pan and Zhang’s rag-to-riches story is well-known. Zhang worked as a factory worker in Hong Kong before studying on full scholarships at the University of Sussex and then Cambridge University in the UK. She later went on to become an investment banker at a US bank. Pan, meanwhile, grew up in impoverished Gansu province.

But the two are now the power couple of Chinese real estate, with combined wealth valued at some $3.6 billion, according to Hurun Report.

But like Zhang Lei’s gift to Yale, their act of generosity soon prompted a landslide of criticism at home. One popular conclusion was that the donation is designed to make it easier for their son – reportedly at high school in the US – to gain admission to a sought-after college. Other responses were similarly predictable, deriding the two for being “traitors” to China and “forgetting where they came from.”

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Reaching Boiling Point

From the French Alps to the beaches of Goa, Chinese travellers are venturing overseas like never before.

So it is a brave hotel that risks offending this huge market. But that is exactly what the Beach House Iruveli in the Maldives is said to have done.

According to a post on the Tianya messaging service on March 2 by Zhao Jianke, a former Chinese employee at Iruveli, the manager of the resort ordered that all kettles were to be removed from the rooms of Chinese guests. The plan was to prevent the Chinese from using them to make cup noodles.

To make matters worse, the manager apparently referred to his Chinese guests as CN’s – an abbreviation of ‘cup noodles’ – and then accused them of using the kettles to boil locally-acquired shrimp and crab.

The Beach House has denied that the move targeted guests wanting noodles. But it stands by the allegation that some kettles have been damaged by Chinese guests using them to prepare seafood suppers. Meanwhile, the whistleblower Zhao – who says the Chinese bring noodles because they aren’t familiar with local food – is calling for a boycott of the Beach House.

Thus far, Zhao’s demand has been forwarded over 100,000 times. 

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