YOU ARE WELCOME: ASIA'S GIFT TO AMERICA

By Bian-lian Huang


The current trade war with the People's Republic of China, which will conclude amicably, underscores the epic and historic rise of Asia over the last 40 years, particularly the last 20, when China officially joined the World Trade Organization.  No economist or sinologist in 1978 dared to dream that China would become the world's largest economy (in PPP terms) 36 years later.  More broadly, the Asian-Pacific region accounts for the largest portion of the global gross domestic product.

Asia's rise to economic superpower status was undergirded by one main factor:  its human resources.  Asians are the hardest working and smartest people in the world.  With this asset, it is inevitable that Asian dominance of the world economy will remain the order of the day for many decades to come.

Yet, Asians have generously shared their number one asset with the United States.  Every year, Asia sends its best and brightest to Silicon Valley, medical hubs, financial beachheads, and other key economic realms that define the American economy.  And of course, native-born Asian-Americans (children of the various immigration waves) provide the much needed natural replenishment of this precious resource.

Natural replenishment is key for the United States continued success.   One day, in the near future, Asia will stop sending its talents abroad because of its aging population and because local opportunities and living standards will outshine those offered overseas.  (We are already seeing this phenomenon.  Of the hundreds of thousands of Mainland Chinese students studying in Europe and the United States, the vast majority choose to pursue their careers in their motherland.)  American innovation and productivity may suffer as a consequence, depending on whether the Asian-American population is large enough to reasonably shoulder this burden.

Of course, there will be no shortage of other peoples wishing to come into the United States to reap economic fruit. But it's just not the same without the dual characteristics embedded in the Asian DNA -- intellect and diligence.

Asian on Asian

Shila Amzah, the Malaysian singer who is now a household name in China, sings Jay Chou's 2007 smash hit, Zuichang de Dianying, on Mainland Chinese TV.  Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer/song writer, is, in Bian-lian Huang's words, "the most prolific, the most enduring, and the most influential Asian singer in the last 30 years."

Asians are hott...and the new kool.  Epic!

Happy Birthday to Us: The Fairbank Report is Nine Years Old this Month!!!

THE EAST IS RED HOT!

Source: NPR.org, 12/10/2012 By the year 2030, for the first time in history, a majority of the world's population will be out of poverty. Middle classes will be the most important social and economic sector. Asia will enjoy the global power status it last had in the Middle Ages, while the 350-year rise of the West will be largely reversed. Global leadership may be shared, and the world is likely to be democratizing. But the planet may also be racked by wars over food and water, with the environment threatened by climate change. Individuals, equipped with new lethal and disruptive technologies, will be capable of causing widespread harm. Global economic crises could well be recurring. It all depends on how events develop over the next decade, according to a new report, Global Trends 2030 [PDF], prepared by the National Intelligence Council, comprising the 17 U.S. government intelligence agencies. "We are at a critical juncture in human history, which could lead to widely contrasting futures," writes Christopher Kojm, the NIC chairman, in his introduction to the report. The intelligence agencies update their Global Trends reporting every four years, in part to guide incoming presidential administrations. The new report identifies some new "mega-trends," including individual empowerment and the diffusion of global power, as well as highlighting issues that were covered in previous reports, such as growing conflict over access to food, water and energy sources. A 'Radically Transformed' World Among the demographic trends described in the report are the aging of the world population, more migration and increased urbanization. "The world of 2030 will be radically transformed from our world today," Kojm said, introducing the report. The report's authors note that the breadth of global change is comparable to the French Revolution and the dawning of the Industrial Age in the late 18th century, but unfolding at a far more dramatic pace. Whereas it took Britain more than 150 years to double per capita income, India and China are set to undergo the same transformation in a tenth of the time, with 100 times more people. "By 2030," the report says, "Asia will be well on its way to returning to being the world's powerhouse, just as it was before 1500." The report notes that Asian countries by that date will surpass the United States and Europe combined in overall power indices, including the size of their economies, populations and militaries, as well as in the extent of their technological investment. A Multipolar World Global political leadership, however, is likely to be diffused, with no single country or alliance playing a dominant role. "A growing number of diverse state and nonstate actors, as well as subnational actors, such as cities, will play important governance roles," the report says. "The increasing number of players needed to solve major transnational challenges — and their discordant values — will complicate decisionmaking." Much of the 2030 report highlights potentially positive developments, anticipating a healthier, more educated and more prosperous global population and a trend toward greater democracy. The report also warns about resource conflicts, the danger of nuclear war and global political gridlock. But its writers have nevertheless faced some criticism for an overly "optimistic" perspective, says Matthew Burrows, director of the NIC Long Range Analysis Unit and the principal author of the report. "I got some comments from government officials who think we should have put more accent on even more negative scenarios and a lot more on a World War III scenario," Burrows says. Diminished Threat From Terrorism The report does identify some "Black Swan" possibilities that could cause large-scale disruption, such as a severe pandemic or the collapse of the European Union, but Burrows says his team of analysts figured a World War III scenario was not plausible. Terrorism is likely to persist, according to the NIC analysts, but it will probably be less lethal, producing fewer civilian casualties and more economic disruption. Speaking at a news conference where he released the report, NIC Chairman Kojm said his analysts believe that radical Islam will have largely "exhausted" itself as a driver of terrorism by 2030. The introduction of new media and technologies, however, may mean that individuals will be more capable of doing harm on their own or on behalf of others. "With more access to lethal and disruptive technologies," Kojm said, "individuals who are experts in such areas as cybersystems might sell their services to the highest bidder." The emphasis on individual empowerment was not highlighted in earlier NIC reports. The geopolitical shift from West to East did get attention previously, but Burrows said in hindsight it could have been given greater emphasis. "We knew China was rising," Burrows says. "We underestimated the speed with which it was happening." A Less Organized World The NIC analysts may also have been caught a bit off guard by the Arab Spring, with the collapse of authoritarian governments from Egypt to Tunisia and the uprising in Syria. As with China's ascendancy, the democratization of Middle Eastern and North African countries was anticipated in the previous Global Trends report, but over a longer period of time. "We were thinking about over 15 years," Burrows says. "We wrote that [last report] in 2008, so [we expected democratization] between 2008 and 2025. I think the lesson in a lot of these areas is that the developments come a lot faster." Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this new global era will be that it's likely to be less organized. Global leadership will flow not to the strongest but to those who are most skilled at diplomacy and best able to mobilize international support. Under the "megatrends" category, the Global Trend authors predict that "power will shift to networks and coalitions in a multipolar world." Should no group of countries prove capable of that cooperative leadership, the world could suffer, according to Burrows. "You probably don't want to live in [that world]," Burrows says, "simply because of the challenges. Everything from proliferation to the global economy to the environment and resource issues, the responsibility to protect. All of those issues are not likely to fare very well in that world.You need some sort of management to keep a lot of these issues going in the right direction."

Danny from Malaysia

We saw him grow up/mature on Youtube!

The Problem with K-Pop

By Bian-lian Huang

Korean popular music, or K-pop, has been spreading throughout Asia like wild fires over the last 15 years.  Legions of crazed teenage girls line up in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Manila, HCM City, Jarkarta and, of course, Seoul to welcome these K-pop idols whenever they come to town.

At its core, K-pop consists of very good-looking kids (boys and girls) singing beautifully written songs and executing flawless dance choreography.  Often these kids are cosmetically enhanced and always dressed in the most amazing clothes/costumes which would make any L.A. fashionista green with envy (because we can't get them here in America!)

Therein lies the problem.  K-pop is too perfect and formulaic.  It is so because K-pop is a product of the massive South Korean pop industry.  In fact, most K-pop idols physically live under the same roof -- the company dorm -- where they rehearse the songs and dance routines hours on end.  One can say that K-pop stars are trained like Chinese Olympic athletes.

The result:  perfect, cookie-cutter boy and girl bands that wow Asian audiences.  However, the same bands have yet to win over American and European audiences, except for the niche crowd.  Why is that, Mr. Fairbank?  Because K-pop has no soul.  It's a mass-produced product -- just like widgets or Hyundai cars.  

Western audiences, for the most part, have gone beyond the sleek dance routines of the 1980s (a la Michael and Janet Jackson) or the good-boy image of the 1950s and 1960s.

We want something more organic and genuine.  We like performances that are rough around the edges.  We want a few scars on our performers' faces to signify maturity and a real life that has been lived.  We are way beyond the bubble gum era of the 1950s.

K-pop has yet to experience its versions of the Rolling Stones, the Doors or the garage band phenomenon.  In this regard, K-pop is invariably stuck in the 2010s-version of the 1950s.  And it will remain there and continue to produce cookie-cutter pop stars who execute sleek and technically superb dance routines that are still soulless and mesmerizingly mechanical...

Holy Sh*t: Our "It" Girl Wang Ludan Scarred in Auto Accident

 

Is there no God?  According to reports, Miss Wang was injured in a car accident in Beijing, China.  She now has a scar on the left cheek!!!!!  Nevertheless, she will always be our

美 女 (meinu) -- now and forever...

hott, sultry chinese chick

1/1/11: The New Year Arrives in Asia

Whither 2011?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343000/Happy-2011-Australia-Malaysia-Singapore-celebrate-New-Year-Britain-readies-midnight.html

Exam Anxiety in South Korea

As we write, South Korean high school students are taking the mother of all exams. Literally, their future rides on the results of this national college entrance examination. These kids -- and indeed their families -- have been preparing for this exam for years.

Parents have been known to engage in incessant prayer vigils as their children sit for the national exam. Airlines have been directed not to fly their planes during the listening portion of the exam, and there's a cottage industry selling goodies as well as good-luck charms to the examinees and their anxious family members.

Contrast this intensity with the cavalier attitude of the Americans toward the SAT exam, and we see why the USA is rapidly devolving into Argentina...

"Singapore Math" to Liberate the Mormon State

Education under scrutiny: Poor scores on basic skills test cited

By Amy K. Stewart

Deseret News

Published: Saturday, June 6, 2009 12:21 a.m. MDT

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Poor math scores on the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test is just one more reason why the state should be doing Singapore math, said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper.

"I believe we need to give incentives for schools and school districts to improve math instruction," Stephenson told the Deseret News, shortly after the State Office of Education announced UBSCT scores Friday.

Stephenson chaired the task force that resulted in legislation to require the state education office to create the test.

A total 82 percent of the class of 2009 passed all three segments of the test. Students must pass the test before graduation or face receiving a diploma which indicates they did not pass the exam. Starting in February of their sophomore year, students have five chances to pass all three categories of the test: reading, writing and math.

Statewide, 92 percent of students passed in reading; 89 percent passed in writing; and 85 percent passed in math.

Stephenson said he or another lawmaker will resurrect a Singapore math bill, which didn't make it through the 2009 legislative session. The bill would have allowed a few schools to apply for a grant to launch Singapore math, a method in which students learn mastery of core concepts and then move on to solving problems by applying that knowledge. The curriculum is extremely visual and involves word problems.

In southeast Asia's Singapore, students consistently test No. 1 internationally in math.

There were definitely "significant roadblocks" in the state test scores due to lack of math skills, said John Jesse, director of assessment for the state office of education. Nearly 6 percent of the students didn't pass the test fell short because of their inability to clear the math segment.

"The message is clear," he said.

Regarding the overall 82 percent of students passing the test, Jesse said, "it seems good and it is good — unless your student, or you, are one of the 18 percent that didn't pass."

The number is up 80 percent from the class of 2008.

Garfield School District had a 100 percent pass rate this year, due to continuous student preparation in language arts and math, starting in the seventh grade, since 2005.

"We're ecstatic. The students worked hard to get there," Vicki Ahlstrom told the Deseret News on Friday. She is a Garfield district testing coordinator. The district has an enrollment of 911 students, with 99 seniors.

Statewide, the class of 2010 is already off to a great start with the test. A total of 78 percent have already passed all three categories of the test. A total of 66 percent of the class of 2011 have passed all of the exam.

Test data revealed differences in scores due to demographics.

Eighty percent of female students passed the test, while 76 percent of male students passed. Boys and girls did about the same on math, with girls scoring less than a percentage point higher. Female students scored 4 percent higher than male students in reading, and 9 percent higher than boys in writing.

A total 82 percent of Asian students passed the test, while 49 percent of Hispanic students passed. A total of 83 percent of Caucasian students passed.

For more information, go to www.schools.utah.gov/PR/UBSCT_2009.pdf.