Seven Sages - Courtesy of Wikicommons

After reflecting on my walk home today of a few potential pieces I was considering posting, I decided instead to share with the readers of CSA some blogs I believe to be worth following.  These blogs are written by fellow globally minded, intelligent, and wise individuals.

Inca Kola News – Otto Rock (his pseudo name), is wise man #1.  He’s a British national / mining analyst / linguist / comedian / good person, who lives and breaths South America.  He’s far more attune with the country of Peru and the greater South American region than I can ever hope to be.  If you want a English language view into South American politics and economics this is site you you must check out.

Vipo Asia – Written by Mr. Calipe Chong, who is also the owner and founder of Vipo Asia, a Suzhou, China based company which provides a valuable service for small to medium sized businesses throughout North America and Europe who want to do business with China.  Calipe is a honest man of integrity from Singapore, who provides fascinating views on topics ranging from Chinese culture, the role of government, China’s place in the world and more.  These views don’t come from books, they come from his 30 + years of experience working in Singapore, China, the US, Puerto Rico and other places.

Wandering China – Bob Xiansheng’s (Mr. Bob), Wandering China Blog mainly collects articles and information from news sources based in three countries – China, Singapore and Australia. They are then presented with a palatable, easy-to-read synopsis.  Bob’s blog are the chronicles on the journey of understanding the imagination of China by overseas Chinese.  His views are insighful, beautifully written and magically logical. Bob is a 3rd generation overseas born Chinese (in Singapore), who currently resides in Melbourne, Australia .  As described on his blog, he was brought up with Western lenses and in fact considers himself  so westernized that he could hardly speak or read Mandarin. He has now rediscovered his roots and humbly shares his views with the world on Wandering China.

Transcending Culture Shock – Written by my good friend, Mr. Justin Calderon, whom I consider Shanghai’s guru on accessing, dissecting, and analyzing pan-Asian culture and geo-politics.  Justin has traveled in 13 countries and regions in the Far East and lived and worked in many of them for extended periods of time.  He is a passionate journalist who strives to understand the world with unbiased eyes.    In addition to this blog, you can also discover and learn about the incredible places he has traveled  by reading his travel blog, The Expenditioner.

Happy reading folks.

CSA (China South America) is going to begin the US work week with some rather enlightening words of wisdom from one of the wise men of the ancient world — Confucius.

Confucius on Self-Cultivation –
“The man of virtue only practices what hes practiced.”

Confucius on Humanity and Morality –
“A man who has faith in humanity always puts a lot of hard work before he is duly rewarded. Such a man may be regarded as a bearer of the virtue of humanity.”

Confucius on Education –
“When you know a thing, say that you know it; when you do not know a thing, admit that you do not know it. That is wisdom.”

Confucius on State Governing –
“Incorrect wording of status will lead to an irrational stream of speech; irrational stream of speech will lead to failure in handling affairs; failure in handling affairs will lead to impossibility to promote the rites and music; impossibility to promote the rites and music will lead to improperness in enacting penalty; improperness in enacting the penalty will lead to panic among the people.”

Confucius on Family –
“A son should keep in mind the age of his parents, for he should feel joyful for their healthiness and at the same time fearful for their aging.”

Confucius on Philosophy –
“If one fails in making friends with those who are well established in the doctrine of the mean, one should associate with those are are ambitious and those who adhere to moral principles. Those who are ambitious tend to be enterprising and those are adhere to moral principles seldom do evil deeds.”

~ Confucius 551 BC – 479 BC

You can click on the titles of each respective article to access the stories in full from Chinamining.org.

–> Tibet has copper ore reserves of 30 mln t, half of China’s total

Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region has geological copper ore reserves of more than 30 million tons, accounting for over a half of the country’s total, according to the region’s geological prospecting bureau.

The bureau director said that Tibet is the largest region in China by its copper resources reserves. By 2008, 329 copper ore deposits had been found in the region, including 11 large deposits and six mid-size ones. Its Qulong copper ore mine, the largest one in Asia, is estimated to possess copper reserves of more than 10 million tons.

–> 1st Kunming Mining & Cooperation Forum (Sept 2-4, 2009)

Entering the 21st century, the global mining industry is writing a new chapter. It is an era of resource economy. Mining market becomes more open and capitalized. Mineral exploring as well as financing becomes more diversified.

Yunnan is rich in natural resources, known as “the Kingdom of non-ferrous metals”. More than 150 kinds of minerals have been proved there, accounting for 92.6% of Chinese total. Among the proved 92 minerals, 9 of them have the largest reserves in China and 21 of them are listed within top three. Mining as one of the five pillar industries in Yunnan plays an important role in the development of the local economy.

Earlier this summer another ethnic region grabbed world headlines. Does the region of Xinjiang ring any bells? Xinjiang is home to a large number of China’s ethnic Muslims, is culturally quite similar to other republics in central Asia and is often referred to as East Turkestan. Xinjiang is also on track to become China’s most important oil and gas producing region.

This article, “Xinjiang’s oil and gas equivalent ranks first in China” is from little over a year ago (July 2008), asserts that Xinjiang has already passed Daqing (China’s other oil producing region) as the number region in oil and gas output.

As one hand seizes development, the other taps into the potential to allow Xinjiang’s oil output to soar. The latest statistics show that Xinjiang’s annual oil and gas equivalent output has already exceeded that in Daqing and ranks the first in the country.

The third national resources evaluation shows that: Xinjiang’s total oil and natural gas resource reserves exceeded 30 billion tons. Although it is rich in resources, Xinjiang still requires development and a reduction in consumption. Recently, Xinjiang has been producing 75,000 tons of crude oil daily, occupying 14.4 percent of the country’s daily crude oil output. In 2007, Xinjiang’s oil and gas equivalent reached 44.94 million tons, and ranked at the top.

In all likelihood, the development of commodity sectors in these regions will be controlled by Beijing…not locals. What industries can these regions develop as to diversify their economic development from commodity sector led growth?

Yunnan and Tibet have great potential for becoming tourist meccas in China. Yunnan, the less politically sensitive of the two, has already emerged as one of China’s most popular tourist destinations.

Furthermore, Yunnan’s strategic location in SE Asia put it in a good place to be at the center of the future growth of trade and exchange between China and the countries of Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos.

[Map courtesy of leafgovso.co.uk]

Tibetan tourism is growing as well, but remains inhibited by the sporadic changing of restrictions and the need to acquire a special internal visa or permission to visit.

When analyzing this situation from a the perspective of the people in the Chinese government determining domestic policy, China can not and will not simply let three of its most resource rich regions control the development their natural resource industries.

Sad as it may be for some members of the minority groups in these regions, one thing is sure–Xinjiang, Tibet and Yunnan are all going to remain integral pieces of China for a long time and be subject to increased inflows of ethnic Han Chinese seeking economic opportunities.

Let me clearly state, the opinions expressed in this analysis not reflect how I the author, (Bennett A. Reiss) feel on a personal level. Allow me to try to put things into perspective with two analogies which I feel help explain the Chinese point of view.

Canada is full of resources from top to bottom. I am by no means an expert, but I highly doubt the Eskimo and Native American populations have much say about development of Canadian mining and energy companies in their ancestral territories.

Likewise, a more mainstream analogy might be the US in Iraq. To the “logic” driven Chinese bureaucrat, China is far more justified in their domestic policy towards these resource rich regions than the United States is in Iraq. On the surface the US is subjugating a foreign population in a country half way across the globe from its own territory. China in its own official opinion is not subjecting anyone, and to further add to the Chinese argument, these regions have been a part of China for centuries if not thousands of years.

Even if your feelings on the war in Iraq produce other rationalizations for the US invasion (outside of oil), try to justify this to a country with over 1.4 billion people to feed and improve the lives of.

I welcome debate in this area to any readers who would like to discuss this topic further.

Sounds crazy right? Well, regardless of your thoughts of this brief description of his business, the man is quite well read and paints a incredible story with his words… which you can find at his blog Garbage and Noodles (http://garbageandnoodles.blogspot.com/)

Here is a small excerpt from his most recent post “I sing, you sing, we all sing”

Up in Changbaixian, Liu Baiguo was that grower. The owner of a local Chinese-medicine shop (???), recommended Mr. Liu as his farm was the closest to the city, but produced some of the best ginseng. Liu walked into the shop and asked for the ones who were looking for him. He seemed genuinely excited to be able to show his roots to two bright-eyed American entrepreneurs.

He led us out of the shop, out of the marketplace, and into his car – a police car that he got to keep after his work as a chinese border customs official. At his fields, he told us everything he knew about ginseng, how he inherited his fields, how there are 92 workers working for him, how he plants trees on the plots where the ginseng is picked because the roots use up all the nutrients…

Click here to read more

I have been thinking about creating a new blog which I will dedicate to sarcastic, cynical, comedic based material of US-Pop Culture.

Content such as this video from the Colbert Report on Comedy Central shows a side of the United States people from abroad miss quite often, and that is, WE (USA) LOVE TO MAKE FUN OF OURSELVES.

“Objects of the most stupendous magnitude. Mirrors which will effect the lives of millions, born and unborn are now before us. We must expect a great expense of blood and pain, but we must always remember that a free constitution of civil government can not be purchased at too dear a rate as there is nothing on this side of Jerusalem of greater importance to mankind.

My worthy colleague from Pennsylvania, has spoken with great ingenuity and eloquence. He has given you a grim prognostication of our national future, but where he foresees apocalypse, I see hope. I see a new nation ready to take its place in the world, not an empire, but a republic and a republic of laws, not men. Gentlemen, we are in the very midst of revolution, the most complete, unexpected and remarkable in the history of the world.

How few of the human race have every had an opportunity for choosing a system of government for themselves and for their children?

I am not without apprehensions gentlemen, but the end we have in sight is more than worth all the means. My believe says that the hour has come, my judgment approves this measure and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, all that I am and all I that I hope in this life I am not ready to stake upon it.

While I live, let me have a country. A free country!”

John Adams — 1776

“Heyyyyy now, worth it yes… but wtf did we just get ourselves into.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrvpZxMfKaU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6]