Madam Chiang Kai-shek (Song Meiling) was such an impeccable orator...
1995
1943
The Fairbank Report...(如意報告)
**NB: Signed articles represent the opinions of the respective
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of THE FAIRBANK REPORT/RUYI BAOGAO (如 意 報 告).
23 January 2012
Ping-pong Guo Steps in it Again!
Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn's CEO stepped in the doo-doo again. A few days ago, at a Chinese New Year celebration at the Taipei Zoo, Ping-pong Guo (also putatively known as "Terry") referred to his one million Mainland Chinese employees as "animals."
Last year, Ping-pong Guo said that the rash of suicides (13 in all) at his Mainland Chinese sweat shops were "statistically insignificant."
Oh, Ping-pong, what are we going to do with you?
Last year, Ping-pong Guo said that the rash of suicides (13 in all) at his Mainland Chinese sweat shops were "statistically insignificant."
Oh, Ping-pong, what are we going to do with you?
22 January 2012
A Rare British Gem
Youtube is inundated with funny American guys, such as Ryan Higa and Kevjumba. Rarely do we see humorous Brits. Their culture just simply does not support funniness or creativity for that matter. Here's a rare exception. He's really fun to watch and funny too.
21 January 2012
20 January 2012
Ghetto Thugs Beat Chinese Kid; Liberals Cheer!
Warning: Graphic video. The ironic thing is that this Chinese kid will grow up to become a CEO or a MD, and one day can buy and sell these ghetto thugs.
The racist AmeriKKKan govt has promoted anti-Chinese, anti-Asian attacks, both physical and psychological, as AmeriKKKa goes into the toilet...
No matter. In the end, China and Asia will rule the world, and AmeriKKKa will be like Argentina, which is a shit hole.
The racist AmeriKKKan govt has promoted anti-Chinese, anti-Asian attacks, both physical and psychological, as AmeriKKKa goes into the toilet...
No matter. In the end, China and Asia will rule the world, and AmeriKKKa will be like Argentina, which is a shit hole.
14 January 2012
Ma Ying-jeou Wins!...No War with China
From Bloomberg in Chinese Taipei
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu in pinyin) was elected to a second four-year term as Taiwan’s president, giving him a renewed mandate to press for closer ties with China that have eased decades-old tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
Ma, the 61-year-old leader of the ruling Kuomintang Party, defeated challenger Tsai Ing-wen, the Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman, by 51.6 percent to 45.6 percent, with all the votes tallied, the Central Election Commission reported on its website. The commission said 74.4 percent of Taiwan’s 18 million eligible voters cast ballots.
“This isn’t a personal victory, this is a victory for the Taiwan people,” Ma said at a rain-soaked victory rally in Taipei late yesterday. “The people have approved our efforts to shelve disputes and strive for peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
Ma’s victory is an affirmation of his effort to improve Taiwan’s relationship with China after decades of strained ties under his DPP predecessor and previous Kuomintang governments. A stable cross-strait relationship may also benefit U.S.-China ties as Washington seeks help from the leadership in Beijing to contain the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.
“Cross-Strait peace, stability and improved relations, in an environment free from intimidation, are of profound importance to the United States,” the White House said in a statement congratulating Ma on his victory.
Chinese ‘Pleased’
People in the U.S. administration “will feel the victory of President Ma will be advantageous to maintaining smoother relations with China,” Bruce Jacobs, a professor of Asian languages and studies at Monash University in Melbourne, who was in Taipei for the election, said by phone. “The Chinese will also be pleased.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement issued through the Xinhua News Agency that Ma’s victory shows that the “peaceful development of cross-straits ties” in the last four years was “the correct path that has won the support of the majority of the Taiwanese compatriots.”
Ma was backed by executives of Taiwan’s biggest companies, who said his policies, including a 2010 trade agreement with China, have boosted investment and helped the island’s economy grow.
“The stock market will rally on Monday,” Terry Gou, chairman of Apple Inc. supplier Foxconn Technology Group, said in an interview with local television station TVBS in predicting a Ma victory earlier yesterday.
‘Very Sorry’
Markets may have assumed a Ma victory. Option traders placed increasingly bullish bets earlier this month on an exchange-traded fund tracking Taiwan stocks. The ratio of calls to buy the iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund versus puts to sell rose on Jan. 6 to the highest level since March 2008, two months before Ma was sworn in for his first term.
“We’re very sorry that we let the public down,” Tsai, 55, said in a concession speech in Taipei yesterday evening, in which she also offered to resign as head of the DPP. “The cross-strait relations is a complicated matter and cannot be treated in the naive way that the KMT is doing now or it will become a source of conflict for Taiwan people later.”
In his first term, Ma ended a six-decade ban on direct air, sea and postal links and signed 16 trade agreements with China, arguing that better ties with the mainland would create stability attractive to investors who feared the political risk was too high to put their money into Taiwan.
“I will continue to pace our cross strait relations in the same manner as I did in the last three years,” Ma said.
International Ties
Jacobs said some members of Ma’s KMT were concerned that Taiwan was too dependent on China. In his victory speech, Ma pledged to “strengthen ties with the international community.”
Ma, who has law degrees from New York University and Harvard University, soothed Chinese leaders when he came into office in 2008 with his vow of “no unification, no independence, and no use of force.” China had criticized a push by the DPP’s Chen Shui-bian to seek sovereignty during his 2000-08 tenure as president. Chinese officials had warned that relations would suffer if Tsai won.
“You can argue Ma overlooked some of the domestic issues, but it’s easy to criticize others,” said graphic designer Eric Wang, 27, who voted for Ma in 2008 and this year. “I don’t think Tsai can do a better job than Ma given such challenging global conditions.”
Missiles Deployed
The Chinese government, which itself will undergo a leadership change later this year, has never ruled out the use of force to reunite with the island. Taiwan has been governed separately since 1949 after KMT forces were defeated on the mainland by the Communists in a civil war. China had as many as 1,200 short-range missiles deployed opposite Taiwan as of December 2010, according to an annual review by the U.S. Defense Department.
“I will devote my life to protect the Republic of China’s sovereignty and dignity,” Ma said, using the formal name for Taiwan. “This is my solemn vow.”
Taiwan’s voters also elected members of the Legislative Yuan, the island’s parliament. The Kuomintang Party retained its majority, winning 64 of 113 seats, the Central Election Commission said, down from 81 seats in 2008. The DPP won 40 seats and the People First Party won 3 seats. The PFP presidential candidate, James Soong, won 2.8 percent of the vote.
Taiwan’s economy will slow to 4.05 percent this year from 4.5 percent in 2011 and 10.7 percent in 2010, according to economists’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. China’s economy grew at a 9.2 percent rate in 2011 and its expansion will slow to 8.5 percent this year, the data show.
Ma vowed to learn from the criticism leveled at him during the campaign by Tsai, who said Taiwan was losing jobs to China and that the gap between rich and poor was increasing.
“I hope in the next four years the wealth gap will narrow and we will take care of the underprivileged,” Ma said. “I want Taiwan to continue to have a stable environment for growth.”
--With assistance from Janet Ong, Adela Lin, Chinmei Sung and Tim Culpan in Taipei. Editors: Nicholas Wadhams, Peter HirschbergTo contact the reporters on this story: Michael Forsythe in Beijing at mforsythe@bloomberg.net; Yu-Huay Sun in Taipei at ysun7@bloomberg.net; Andrea Wong in Taipei at awong268@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net
12 January 2012
Down with Foxconn -- AGAIN!!
from: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/01/12/apple_supplier_foxconn_settles_with_protesting_employees.html
Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn settles with protesting employees
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The Taiwan-based electronics maker said in a statement released on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with a group of workers who were protesting the low pay and dismal work environment at the company's plant in Wuhan, China, reports The New York Times.
Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturer and supplier of products to Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and others, claims that the two parties came to an amicable agreement to the week-long ordeal which ended with the resignation of 45 employees.
In its official statement, the company noted that most of the approximately 150 protestors had accepted the proposed terms and have returned to work. Details of the settlement have not been released.
“The welfare of our employees is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated fairly and that their rights are fully protected," Foxconn said in the statement.
An employee at the facility, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that over 100 of the 32,000 workers at the Wuhan campus had taken to the rooftop of a three-story campus building in a protest that lasted eight hours. Some of the disgruntled employees reportedly threatened to jump from the roof if the company failed to meet their demands.
“That day was very cold,” he said. “Some women could not stand the freezing temperatures and fainted.”
Protestors gather atop a building at Foxconn's Wuhan campus | Source: The Epoch Times
The unnamed worker said that Foxconn promised a $450 per month salary including overtime pay as part of a deal for workers who were forced to relocate from the company's main factory in Shenzhen to Wuhan, but employees have received only two-thirds that amount and need to endure poor working conditions.
Foxconn is no stranger to employee unrest, and was the subject of some controversy during a rash of suicides in 2010. The disturbing trend brought Chinese factory conditions to the fore and compelled large tech corporations like Apple to launch internal investigations of workplace conditions and employee compensation.
In response to the 2010 suicides, Foxconn promised to up wages by 20 percent and is looking into replacing a portion of its workforce with robots.
10 January 2012
Los Angeles County's Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels
From the Los Angeles Times
Retiring L.A. County workers get $48 million for unused time off
Of 3,900 who collected compensation for unused vacation and sick days, comp time and holiday credits in 2010, 64 received checks for more than $100,000.
Gov. Jerry Brown has maintained the state's 80-day cap on vacation… (Lezlie Sterling, Sacramento Bee)January 07, 2012
By Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times
When Lt. Marie Hannah retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2010, she left with the well-wishes of her colleagues, a six-figure pension and a one-time payment so large it surprised even her: $183,683 for unused time off.
Hannah accumulated her 325 days of vacation, sick time, comp time and holiday credit over a 30-year career. Under county rules, she was paid for all of it at her final $147,600 salary.
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"I've always been a person who believes in saving for a rainy day," Hannah said of her decision to skip family trips, to work when she felt under the weather and to stockpile the time off. "But I didn't expect [the check] to be this much."
Although Hannah tops the list of more than 3,900 county employees who collected termination compensation for unused time in 2010, she's not the only one who reaped a substantial amount. Sixty-four departing employees received checks in excess of $100,000, county data show. The vast majority of them, 49, worked for the Sheriff's Department.
In all, Los Angeles County paid more than $48 million to retiring employees for unused time off in 2010. About a third of that, $16 million, went to workers leaving the Sheriff's Department even though they made up only 13% of the county's retiring employees, payroll data show.
The county is not alone in allowing public sector employees to bank large amounts of time. State and local governments across the country offer workers large future payoffs in lieu of immediate benefits, especially during tough economic times.
Such provisions can also be used to reward political allies.
Gov. Jerry Brown maintained the state's 80-day cap on vacation in all but one of six union contracts he renegotiated after taking office in January. The exception was the deal for the powerful prison guards union, whose members spent nearly $2 million on his election campaign. They can now accrue unlimited vacation.
Even with the cap in place, however, managers at state agencies have granted so many exceptions that the limit holds little meaning. Last year, nearly a third of retiring state employees got paid for more than 80 days, data from the state controller show.
"There needs to be some consequence to ignoring the cap," said Kline. "Just like the general public has to adhere to speed limits and tax deadlines … public officials should have to follow the rules placed on them."
In 2010, a retiring state prison doctor cashed in more than 21/2 years, for $594,976, records show. A Forestry and Fire Protection administrator walked away with a check for $294,440. And a parole agent, who'd saved nearly three years, collected $268,990.
Most private employers place much more restrictive caps on the amount of unused vacation workers can accrue; 25 days is a common limit. Employees who exceed such caps are typically paid within a year or so of when they earned the time off.
Experts say a similar policy, if used by state and local governments, would alleviate the sudden strain that huge lump-sum payments place on already stretched public budgets.
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"Agencies should pay this out at the rate it was earned," said David Kline, spokesman for the California Taxpayers Assn. "You want to have enough money to keep paying for the public safety services the people need, and when you have giant payouts like this, it affects those services."
Hannah came close to maxing out nearly every category of unused time county rules allow employees to accumulate: 60 days of comp time, 80 days of vacation and 90 days of sick time.
She also banked 105 days for working on official holidays, county records show. The county recognizes 11 official holidays each year. Hannah's lump sum payout was made in addition to her $139,600 annual pension.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Michael Parker said that his agency performs a crucial 24-hour public safety function, so it's not always possible for key employees to take time off. He also noted that six-figure payouts are the exception, not the rule.
The average payout to a departing Sheriff's Department employee was $31,816 in 2010, the data show.
Retiring firefighters, who also serve a 24-hour-per-day mission, averaged $32,698. But only four of them, three assistant chiefs and a captain, got paid more than $100,000 for unused time off last year.
Asked to explain why so many more Sheriff's Department employees got big checks, Ryan Alsop, assistant to county Chief Executive William T Fujioka, wrote in an email, "The labor agreements for these entities would have to be considered before making any comparisons."
He said he wasn't familiar enough with the contract details to explain the difference.
Steve Whitmore, another Sheriff's Department spokesman, said the deputies have taken less vacation and used fewer sick days recently in an effort to drive down overtime costs.
Retiring L.A. County workers get $48 million for unused time off
Of 3,900 who collected compensation for unused vacation and sick days, comp time and holiday credits in 2010, 64 received checks for more than $100,000.
Gov. Jerry Brown has maintained the state's 80-day cap on vacation… (Lezlie Sterling, Sacramento Bee)January 07, 2012
By Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times
When Lt. Marie Hannah retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2010, she left with the well-wishes of her colleagues, a six-figure pension and a one-time payment so large it surprised even her: $183,683 for unused time off.
Hannah accumulated her 325 days of vacation, sick time, comp time and holiday credit over a 30-year career. Under county rules, she was paid for all of it at her final $147,600 salary.
Ads by Google
Track Employee VacationsSimplify Your Vacation Scheduling. Track Absences. Free and Easy! www.tracksmart.comMy Boss StinksMy Boss Stinks is an employment law resource for Californians MyBossStinks.comWrongfully Fired?Free Consultation with Attorney Call Now (213) 995-6132 www.cummingsandfranck.com/Employee PayrollOutsource Your Human Resources To Lower Expenses & Increase Profits www.OasisAdvantage.com
"I've always been a person who believes in saving for a rainy day," Hannah said of her decision to skip family trips, to work when she felt under the weather and to stockpile the time off. "But I didn't expect [the check] to be this much."
Although Hannah tops the list of more than 3,900 county employees who collected termination compensation for unused time in 2010, she's not the only one who reaped a substantial amount. Sixty-four departing employees received checks in excess of $100,000, county data show. The vast majority of them, 49, worked for the Sheriff's Department.
In all, Los Angeles County paid more than $48 million to retiring employees for unused time off in 2010. About a third of that, $16 million, went to workers leaving the Sheriff's Department even though they made up only 13% of the county's retiring employees, payroll data show.
The county is not alone in allowing public sector employees to bank large amounts of time. State and local governments across the country offer workers large future payoffs in lieu of immediate benefits, especially during tough economic times.
Such provisions can also be used to reward political allies.
Gov. Jerry Brown maintained the state's 80-day cap on vacation in all but one of six union contracts he renegotiated after taking office in January. The exception was the deal for the powerful prison guards union, whose members spent nearly $2 million on his election campaign. They can now accrue unlimited vacation.
Even with the cap in place, however, managers at state agencies have granted so many exceptions that the limit holds little meaning. Last year, nearly a third of retiring state employees got paid for more than 80 days, data from the state controller show.
"There needs to be some consequence to ignoring the cap," said Kline. "Just like the general public has to adhere to speed limits and tax deadlines … public officials should have to follow the rules placed on them."
In 2010, a retiring state prison doctor cashed in more than 21/2 years, for $594,976, records show. A Forestry and Fire Protection administrator walked away with a check for $294,440. And a parole agent, who'd saved nearly three years, collected $268,990.
Most private employers place much more restrictive caps on the amount of unused vacation workers can accrue; 25 days is a common limit. Employees who exceed such caps are typically paid within a year or so of when they earned the time off.
Experts say a similar policy, if used by state and local governments, would alleviate the sudden strain that huge lump-sum payments place on already stretched public budgets.
Ads by Google
Hire Your First EmployeeDownload Your Free How to Guide on Navigating HR Checklists & Policies www.Intuit-Hire.comAsk an Employment Lawyer12 Lawyers Are Online. A Question is Answered Every 9 Sec! JustAnswer.com/Law/Employee-Rights
"Agencies should pay this out at the rate it was earned," said David Kline, spokesman for the California Taxpayers Assn. "You want to have enough money to keep paying for the public safety services the people need, and when you have giant payouts like this, it affects those services."
Hannah came close to maxing out nearly every category of unused time county rules allow employees to accumulate: 60 days of comp time, 80 days of vacation and 90 days of sick time.
She also banked 105 days for working on official holidays, county records show. The county recognizes 11 official holidays each year. Hannah's lump sum payout was made in addition to her $139,600 annual pension.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Michael Parker said that his agency performs a crucial 24-hour public safety function, so it's not always possible for key employees to take time off. He also noted that six-figure payouts are the exception, not the rule.
The average payout to a departing Sheriff's Department employee was $31,816 in 2010, the data show.
Retiring firefighters, who also serve a 24-hour-per-day mission, averaged $32,698. But only four of them, three assistant chiefs and a captain, got paid more than $100,000 for unused time off last year.
Asked to explain why so many more Sheriff's Department employees got big checks, Ryan Alsop, assistant to county Chief Executive William T Fujioka, wrote in an email, "The labor agreements for these entities would have to be considered before making any comparisons."
He said he wasn't familiar enough with the contract details to explain the difference.
Steve Whitmore, another Sheriff's Department spokesman, said the deputies have taken less vacation and used fewer sick days recently in an effort to drive down overtime costs.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
07 January 2012
Zhang Yimou Did It Again!
Chinese actor Shawn Dou who co-stars in Under the Hawthorn Tree
Cute boy meets pretty girl. They fall in love. Cute boy dies of a deadly disease. Everyone is sad. That's the plot of the Chinese film Under the Hawthorn Tree (2010). Except in the hands of legendary film maestro Zhang Yimou, the prosaic, soap-operatic plot is turned into an artistic, evocative and beautiful love story.
Set in the politically turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution, the story, adapted from an Internet novel by Ai Mi, is poetically unraveled layer by layer. Zhang's uses of simple natural settings and symbolism tug at the viewer's heart. The director's employment of the narrator's written remarks gives the film a patina of a biopic. Perhaps it is since there are Internet rumors suggesting that the story is based on the reclusive author's personal experiences during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. And to add to the sense of realism, San Ge's (Third Brother) ashes are buried under the hawthorn tree in the Yangzi River Valley, where, in 2006, the world's largest hydropower dam was built. At the end of the film, we are told that the tree and every thing around it were submerged in water because of the Three Gorges Dam. A not-so-opaque jab at Communist China's ambitious but controversial project.
Four Stars and a box of Kleenex tissues.
06 January 2012
Five Years for Old Sandals?!
Editor's Notes: The Fairbank Report's second largest reader base hails from Indonesia according to Google statistics. Here's an interesting story from Indonesia...
from the Seattle Post Intelligence
PALU, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court found a boy guilty on Wednesday of stealing a pair of worn-out sandals but allowed him to go free in a case that captured headlines and focused attention on the country's uneven judicial system.
Hundreds of people who packed the court building in Central Sulawesi's capital screamed with dissatisfaction as the judge read the verdict.
Most of the onlookers had brought pairs of used sandals and piled them outside the courtroom to express their frustration over the legal system. Some rallied outside the building ahead of the hearing to demand the 15-year-old boy's acquittal.
The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, could have received five years in prison — the same sentence given to many terrorists, drug pushers and rapists.
"Based on facts and testimony during the trial, the defendant was proven to have violated the law by committing theft," Judge Rommel Tampubolon said. He ordered that the boy be returned to his parents for counseling.
The boy was accused of taking the sandals in November 2010 near a boarding house used by police. Six months later he was interrogated and badly beaten by three police officers who accused him of theft.
One officer, Sgt. Ahmad Rusdi Harahap, claimed the sandals were his and took the teenager to criminal court. The boy was not detained.
When shown the sandals at the trial, however, Harahap said they were the wrong brand and size.
Judge Tampubolon ruled the boy was guilty of theft, even though the sandals did not belong to the policeman.
"We are really disappointed," said Sofyan Farid Lembah of the local office of the National Commission for Child Protection. "We will ask the Judicial Commission to probe the judge."
Lembah earlier organized the first collection of sandals which were presented to police as a symbol of protest over the case.
Thousands later joined in the sandal donation protest in Palu, Jakarta and many other cities.
Two of the boy's friends testified in the trial that he was beaten up by the officer with a piece of wood. They said he was also kicked, causing him to fall into a steep trench.
Indonesia has made tremendous strides toward democracy since the ouster of longtime dictator Suharto in 1998, but the judicial system remains a weak point.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Indonesian-boy-convicted-of-stealing-old-sandals-2440238.php#ixzz1ij1giu5S
from the Seattle Post Intelligence
PALU, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court found a boy guilty on Wednesday of stealing a pair of worn-out sandals but allowed him to go free in a case that captured headlines and focused attention on the country's uneven judicial system.
Hundreds of people who packed the court building in Central Sulawesi's capital screamed with dissatisfaction as the judge read the verdict.
Most of the onlookers had brought pairs of used sandals and piled them outside the courtroom to express their frustration over the legal system. Some rallied outside the building ahead of the hearing to demand the 15-year-old boy's acquittal.
The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, could have received five years in prison — the same sentence given to many terrorists, drug pushers and rapists.
"Based on facts and testimony during the trial, the defendant was proven to have violated the law by committing theft," Judge Rommel Tampubolon said. He ordered that the boy be returned to his parents for counseling.
The boy was accused of taking the sandals in November 2010 near a boarding house used by police. Six months later he was interrogated and badly beaten by three police officers who accused him of theft.
One officer, Sgt. Ahmad Rusdi Harahap, claimed the sandals were his and took the teenager to criminal court. The boy was not detained.
When shown the sandals at the trial, however, Harahap said they were the wrong brand and size.
Judge Tampubolon ruled the boy was guilty of theft, even though the sandals did not belong to the policeman.
"We are really disappointed," said Sofyan Farid Lembah of the local office of the National Commission for Child Protection. "We will ask the Judicial Commission to probe the judge."
Lembah earlier organized the first collection of sandals which were presented to police as a symbol of protest over the case.
Thousands later joined in the sandal donation protest in Palu, Jakarta and many other cities.
Two of the boy's friends testified in the trial that he was beaten up by the officer with a piece of wood. They said he was also kicked, causing him to fall into a steep trench.
Indonesia has made tremendous strides toward democracy since the ouster of longtime dictator Suharto in 1998, but the judicial system remains a weak point.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Indonesian-boy-convicted-of-stealing-old-sandals-2440238.php#ixzz1ij1giu5S
02 January 2012
Epic China: Chongqing's Renren (People) Building
New Year, New-concept Building
From: Chinasmack.com
From: Chinasmack.com
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