All Work and No Play Unmakes China

It is hard to imagine how one of China's innovative business leaders or beautiful movie stars could look at the Chinese loyalists hunched over their desks at a Chinese Communist Party Congress and commit all their energy to further the will of Chairman Xi. Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who decided to end the 1989 democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Sq uare by force, proclaimed, "It is a glorious thing to be rich." Yet, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, who is said to be among the leaders receiving the highest remunerations in the world, does not pocket any interest on her funds. Prompted by fear of US sanctions, she has no bank account and keeps her cash at home. Mr. Deng neglected to include joy, happiness, fun, freedom, beauty, truth and privacy on his list of glorious pursuits. In AMERICAN FACTORY, the Netflix documentary film about a Chinese factory in Ohio, a Chinese factory manager reveals he has had to commit to two years working away from his family. Even so, the factory manager is one of the lucky men his age who has a wife. China's earlier one-child policy has left 30 million men without mariageable women in 2020. And China's well educated urban women expect to marry men with money; they are not about to settle for villagers. While the Chinese Communist Party focuses on collecting data to control its 1.4 billion Chinese population, the Chinese people entertain other ideas. Ignoring social distancing and assorted restrictions imposed to prevent the coronavirus, China's young people flocked to see Mickey Mouse as soon as Disneyland reopened in Shanghai in May, 2020. For relief from China's "996" work schedule requiring labor from 9 am to 9 pm six days a week, fun-loving Chinese also ignore the government's distain for the lack of socialist values associated with playing Tencent's "Honour of Kings" or watching amateur dancers, singers and comics on Douyin, China's version of TikTok. Some have discovered they can discuss taboo topics away from censors on the Clubhouse app. Unfortunately, a team of Buddhist monks and nomad sheep and yak herders failed to play in a 2019 international basketball tournament because their participation was canceled by Chinese police who felt they might be unable to control a crowd of fans during the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Watching the Chinese Horse Club owners cheering when their Triple Crown winner, "Justify" won the 2018 Kentucky Derby, no one would have known China bans gambling. China's race horse buyers and trainers also can be seen at the New Zealand Jockey Club. Casinos on Macau, the former Portuguese island that is now a Special Administrative Region of China, continue to attract wealthy Chinese. Less affluent Chinese hide in the woods to gamble on mahjong games. At the same time, the Chinese culture that cultivates cheating and lying to achieve business objectives caught up with Lin Qi, the billionaire developer of "Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming," who died of poisoning on Christmas Day, 2020. Founded in 2009, Mr. Lin's Chinese YooZoo Games studio launched his popular strategy game in 2019. Accordig to the BBC, Mr. Lin was poisoned at the hands of a suspect, identified by Shanghai police only as Xu, but later as Xu Yao, the head of YooZoo's film productio unit. YooZoo holds the film adaptation rights to the popular Chinese sci-fi novel, THREE BODY PROBLEMS, the first of a trilogy by Liu Cizin. Like other Chinese movie projects, the plan for the book's film adaptation never developed. But Netflix now seems ready to adapt THREE BODY PROBLEMS for television. China expected its 1.4 million-plus population and twice as many eyes to serve as waving strobe lights attracting film-makers to Qingdao's new 2016, $8 billion film production complex. At first they came, but they soon refused to deal with the demands of censors in China's State Administration of Press Publications, Radio, Film and Television. China's popular film star, Fan Bingbing, was on her way to international fame until the government charged her with tax fraud, and she disappeared. Nowadays, the fledgling movie industry that made a Netflix romantic comedy despite electricity outages in poor little Zimbabwe offers more promise than China. Just as China allows its population limited film fare, readers have to be content with propaganda slogans on factory walls. In 2015, the owner of Hong Kong's Causeway Bay Books was arrested and charged with the "illegal sale of books," the political thrillers and bodice-rippers the Central Propaganda Department decided the Chinese population should not read. Before moving his bookstore to Taiwan in 2020, he observed, "Contemporary China is an absurd country." No doubt, most cowed Chinese will self-monitor their activities to conform to Beijing's control requirements. But some will defy personal recognition by shielding their faces with umbrellas and masks, wear black-face makeup to trick artificial intelligence into thinking they are apes, point lasers to disable surveillance cameras and travel on crutches or in wheelchairs to "disguise" their gait. What will the top tier geniuses China needs do? As some have done in the past, they will tire of finding their natural human desires unsatisfied and flee to Silicon Valley.

February's International Film Festival

One of the most pleasant ways to learn about a country is to go to a movie made in or about somewhere you don't live. When Oscar nominations for short and feature films are announced, it's time to start looking for theatres that show them, because many of these potential Academy Award winners have an international connection.

     This year, in the animated shorts category, South Africa presents Revolting Rhymes based on Ronald Dahl's dark spin on fairy tales. One French short, Negative Space, shows a sad relationship between father and son can exist in any culture, and, in another French short, two amphibians explore a deserted mansion. These shorts are shown together with two U.S. films: the Pixar short, Lou, that ran before Cars and Kobe Bryant's retirement letter, Dear Basketball.

     Since the live action shorts nominated for Oscars often portray news events, they can be a pleasant way to see both uplifting and unpleasant aspects of a country. Watu Wote (All of Us) shows how Muslims risked their lives to protect the Christians riding on a bus with them, when Islamic terrorists attacked in Kenya. The British short, The Silent Child, introduces the social worker who taught a deaf 4-year-old girl the sign language that enabled her to come out of the shadows and be included in family conversations. Two U.S. entries cover a school shooting in Atlanta titled DeKalb Elementary and My Nephew Emmett based on the 1955 racist murder of Emmett Till. Australian humor is on display in The Eleven O'Clock, a short about an appointment between a psychiatrist and patient that try to treat each other.

     Families already may have seen the animated feature, Coco, which has a Mexican theme depicting how a death in the family shouldn't end memories of a relative. Loving Vincent probably won't have wide distribution, but if young people have a chance to see this Polish-British feature, it might be their only time to see a movie where each frame about Vincent Van Gogh is made by an oil painting. Since Angelina Jolie produced The Breadwinner, this animated feature likely has wider distribution. It shows how an 11-year-old girl disguised herself as a boy to grow up with more opportunities under the Taliban in Afghanistan.

     Although too advanced to be appropriate or understood by young people, the live action foreign language films nominated for Academy Awards provide adults with points of view from Chile (A Fantastic Woman), Lebanon (The Insult), Russia (Loveless), Hungary (On Body and Soul), and Sweden (The Square).

     Oscar winners will be announced on Sunday, March 4, 2018.

     

   

North Korea: Bill Clinton's Second Chance

                                 Diplomacy Only Choice for North Korea-US Relations


     On Andrea Mitchel's report July 7, 2017, James Clapper said the only solution he sees for the North Korean situation is diplomacy. To that end, consider:

     President Bill Clinton always wanted a Nobel Peace Prize. He tried unsuccessfully in the Middle East to follow in the steps of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter. From his experience bringing home two U.S. hostages from North Korea, he has credibility with Kim Jong Un. By opening up new contacts with the United States, he could help free Kim Jong Un from the Chinese clutches that threatened to replace him with his half brother, Kim Jong Nam. The last thing Pyongyang needs is more cloistering sanctions.

     President Trump offered Xi Jinping a great trade deal in exchange for help curbing North Korea's threats to South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Why shouldn't Pyongyang benefit from a great U.S. trade deal? Or, better yet, from Tiger Woods' help building a golfing resort in North Korea. Asians love golf.

     No Clintons were among "The 100 Most Influential People" in TIME magazine's annual list in 2017, but Kim Jong Un was. Wish he'd come to the U.S. to attend TIME's New York party for invitees. At least he knows he's on the list with Donald Trump, Juan Manuel Santos, Theresa May, Pope Frances, and other world leaders.

     Couldn't President Clinton bring Dennis Rodman back to visit basketball-loving Kim Jong Un and set up a future exhibition game by the Harlem Globetrotters in North Korea? After all, they are called the Globetrotters. It may be too soon for help with U.S. training methods to pay off for North Korean athletes marching into PyeongChang, South Korea, for the Winter Olympic Games next February. But sending a well-dressed contingent of new speed skating challengers there would announce that their golfers, archers, and badminton and ping pong players will be ready for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.

     And isn't it time for the ePals.com website, that enables U.S. classrooms to work on projects with classrooms in foreign countries, to reach out to teachers and students in North Korea to learn about more cities than Pyongyang? Later, President Trump would discover there is a beach city called Wonsan that would be perfect for a golfing resort. Could an earlier North Korean-US partnership classroom project create a toy for Hasbro or Mattel to market?

     Entertainment seems to have a magnetic pull on North Korean leaders. How did Kim Jong Nam lose his chance to succeed his father? He discredited the family by trying to go to Disneyland in Japan. And wasn't Kim Jong Nam's mother an actress and isn't Kim Jong Un's wife a singer? U.S. booking agents might discover some untapped talent in North Korea. Ben Affleck is someone who could handle the challenge of developing an ARGO-type script and acting in and directing a film, not in China but in North Korea.

     With nuclear weapons and long range missiles, Kim Jong Un got the world's attention. He's now in a position to capitalize on a new opening to U.S. diplomatic, trade, development, media, sports, education, and entertainment resources. This is his moment...and Bill Clinton's.

   

   

   

Golden Bridges to Peace

Military strategy suggests it is far better to give an enemy a "golden bridge" that permits retreat or saving face rather than to back an enemy into a corner, where the only option is an all out battle.

     Students might begin by suggesting "golden bridges" they could offer bullies and move on to identify a country's enemies and offer suggestions of "golden bridges," i.e. desirable options, that are better than open warfare between two countries. Using Bill Clinton to open a back door channel of communication with North Vietnam might be a useful gambit; he was involved in a past mission there.

     U.S.-China relations began to improve with a ping pong match between the two countries. Could a basketball game improve relations between the United States and the basketball-loving North Koreans?  With partners who are performers and an interest in visiting Japan's Disneyland, the ruling family clearly is interested in the entertainment field. Could a "golden bridge" be created by using North Korea as a movie location? Far-fetched? An Israeli Labor Party election was postponed, because it was scheduled on the same day as a Britney Spears concert, reports TIME magazine (April 24, 2017).

Stage Your Life

Lin-Manuel Miranda, born of poor immigrant parents from Puerto Rico, wrote and stars in the extremely successful Broadway musical, "Hamilton." On the other hand, a 28-year-old man who was turned down for a job in Tunisia committed suicide by electrocuting himself on a utility pole. Clearly, there are alternative ways to become the center of attention on stage and off.

     Suppose you want to get into a field that is very competitive and has few openings. First of all, it may be a good idea to keep your plan to yourself, since others will be ready to discourage you. Lin-Manuel Miranda's road to "Hamilton" began by reading Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton. He saw that Hamilton in real life was very wordy. The rap music Miranda loved also was very dense with words, and it would be the perfect vehicle to tell Hamilton's story in a musical. Besides, he went to John Weidman, who had turned history into a musical called "Assassins," to ask for advice.

     This season we've all heard of Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warrior who is making basketball history with his extra long 3-point shots. At 6'3" and 185 lbs, in a game of giants, he decided he could stand out as a shooter. Want to begin imitating him, check out the website, "30 tips to help become a better shooter." First step, practice, practice, practice. For another route into a sports career, study the erudition of ESPN's "First Take" commentator, Stephen A. Smith, who does his research and can write.

     Spend all your free time playing video games? Learn how to develop one. Even former US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor founded the iCivics games. Just about any interest can be turned into a video game, considering the wide variety on the market: physical activity in
"GoNoodle," immigration officer for a country in "Papers, Please," rocket building in "Kerbal Space Program," math-related challenges in "Twelve a Dozen," designing a game in "Kodu Game Lab." Check out the igda.org website of the International Game Developers Association to learn about the scholarships it provides and what else it does for a global membership network of game developers.  

     While you are moving toward your super job, even the most lowly job provides an income and offers a chance to look around, to see how business works, to learn how customers behave, to improve your skills, and to become more valuable to an employer by making your job more productive and efficient. On the job, you can meet people and learn whom you need to know to get into your chosen field. Which employees are rewarded with thousands of dollars and promotions at the end of the US television show, "Undercover Boss?"  Those who treat customers well, follow the rules, offer suggestions that will provide more efficient and better service, and appreciate being given an opportunity (like the ex-convict who was a fast learner and hard worker). Everything you can learn on a job is a valuable lesson for your future.

    Suppose no one will hire you, while you are preparing for your dream job. Suicide is not the only option. Crowdfunding sites might be able to attract investors for your project. Try setting up a page on kickstarter, indiegogo, fundable, fondly, InvestingZone, Growthdeck, or other crowdfunding sites that continue to appear. Chinese young people who migrate to urban areas to find work, like other young people who continue to live with their parents, know they can return to family farms, if they fail to find a job in a car or computer factory. Skilled handy men and women who live on farms can offer their services to professionals in urban areas. With a truck, haul away junk and things that can be recycled from businesses and residences. In a family, one with a job can pay the bills while another can take over the household, childcare, and financial management responsibilities.  In some countries, governments do the job of relatives by providing benefits while the unemployed have the job of, for example, finding their next acting jobs.

(For other ideas to help find the position you really want, check out earlier posts, "Can't Find a Job or Career, Create One" and "Star-struck Realities.")