China

Hi, I am lin jing,

Hi, I am Lin Jing, form China. I graduated from Beijing Normal University. Now I am the Chinese language assistant in Chinese department of WU.

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Chinese Basketball Players in NBA

Hi, I am going to talk about Chinese basketball players in NBA. Undoubtedly, the Houston Rocket has an all-star---Yao, but right now the Milwaukee Bucks has Yi who is No. 6 overall pick in the 2007 draft. Yi, expected to star alongside Yao for China in the Beijing Olympics next summer, signed with the Bucks after concerns about his development and playing time were eased. Eventually, Yi was in the flesh Wednesday afternoon, arriving at Chicago's O'Hare Airport after a 15-hour United Airlines flight from Shanghai, and receiving an enthusiastic greeting from a small group of Chinese fans from Milwaukee.

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Eric Yunxing Peng

Food for thoughts

China's per-capita dining expenditure this year is 100 times that of the year 1978, and Guangzhou citizens spend most on dining among all Chinese, according to official statistics.

The rise in food spending was mainly driven up by the increase in the disposable income of China's urban and rural dwellers, which increased 7.7 percent and 6.8 percent year-on-year, respectively, in 2004.

Personally, I feel the increase is also driven up by the inflation as well.

The trade surplus is getting bigger

China's trade surplus will probably widen to $90 billion this year from $32 billion in 2004 because of surging exports from the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, clothes and steel, the Ministry of Commerce said.

RMB is going up

What with the huge surplus, it's understandable that Chinese currency, RMB, is going up. However, unlike most of the free currency trade market around the world, the Chinese government has the ultimate control on its currency. Under the pressure of the US administration because of Chinese huge surplus against the US, the Chinese government is increasing its currency value bit by bit.

Eric Yunxing Peng

Hello everyone,

My name is Eric Yunxing Peng, from Harbin, China. My family immigrated to Canada when I was 18. My undergraduate degree is BA in Economics and BS in Computer Science from the University of Calgary (www.ucalgary.ca). I am currently studying MBA at the Atkinson business school at Willamette University.

This is my year of MBA study, so I am new to this school and this beautiful city. I am looking forward to having a great study and life experience here in Salem.

I▓d like to help ▒the Willamette World News▓ cover some of the interesting news from China and Canada. My study at the Atkinson is very intense; however, I will try my best to put up wonderful news for people who are interested in China or Canada. I hope everyone enjoys our newspaper as much as we do.

And now, some news...

Best Place to Live

The most recent survey done by EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) regarding ▒the best place to live▓ has the following result based on 12 factors grouped in three categories: health and safety; culture and environment; and infrastructure:

Vancouver #1 (Canada), Toronto #9 (Canada), Calgary #10(Canada, oh yeah, that▓s where I had lived for 7 years before coming to Salem). No surprise there, I guess.

The survey said Honolulu is the best place to live in the United States due to its climate, good housing stock, low crime risk, and availability of recreational activities. The city ranked 21 overall.

Beijing (China) and Shanghai(China) tied for #70. Wow, that▓s a pleasant surprise. I am happy that two major cities from China made it to the list.

Drop the Puck! Hockey is back

NHL (National Hockey League) is back! After one year of negotiation, the players association finally reached an agreement with the owners. Now it▓s time for some hockey! Go Flames Go!

$400 for free?! You Bet

Premier Ralph Klein announced on Sept.20 that each Albertan will receive a $400 cheque from the oil-rich province's unbudgeted surplus, generated by soaring energy prices.
This is a great news for most Albertans. For my family, that▓ll be $1200 for my son, my wife and I. In case you are wondering where Alberta is, it is a province that is North of the state Nevada, East of the Province British Columbia. The population is 3.3million roughly by 2005. If you▓d like to know about Alberta, you could also check the website.

Janelle Yu

China to Hold Olympics with High-tech

China is the host of 2008 Olympic Games. In the past four years, China has been making huge progress improving the infrastructure. The design of the main stadium has been changed several times to ensure the best results. Now China wants to apply high-technology into the Olympic Games.

China Looking Forward to Working with Bush

Hu Jingtao, China’s President, congratulated President Bush on his re-election victory. China and the United States have made significant progress in cooperation in various fields, bringing substantial benefits to both countries. Hu looks forward to working with Bush to further promote the development of the constructive cooperative relations between China and the United States.

Interest Rate Rise Cannot Cool China's Economy

China recently increased its interest rate by 0.27%. This is the first time in nine years. This is also the first time that President Hu using macroeconomic measures to control the economy. People were lining up in front of the bank to deposit their savings.

Janelle Yu

Chinese Economy Surges 9.5% in First 3 Quarters

China's economy has been continuously booming since 1979. While pre-1978 China had seen annual growth of 6 percent a year, post-1978 China saw average real growth of more than 9 percent a year with fewer and less painful ups and downs. In several peak years, the economy grew more than 13 percent. Thanks to China's booming market, rich human resources, and stable political and social situation, the country is now one of the world's safest and most rewarding destinations for investment.

Chinese, African Delegates Discuss Human Rights Issues

China has been constantly accused for its human rights’ condition. United States had threatened to take away China permanent most-favored-nation trading status if the human rights condition in China does not improve. Whether China has problems with its human rights, this seminar with African delegates shows the cooperation and forward steps China is taking.

Chinese Pandas on Exchange Trips in Attempt to Mix Gene Pool

Today, there are only one thousand pandas alive and mostly in central China. Pandas eat bamboo only, so they have to live in certain places where large amount of bamboo can be found. In recent years, bamboo flowers and then dies out, which happens once every one hundred years. Pandas will starve to death if they cannot find other bamboo forests. To save panda from drying out, scientists are researching for new methods to preserve this rare species.

Janelle Yu

New trading agreement between China and Europe

China's importance in the world economy was clearly demonstrated in the past decade. Its growth was mainly driven by manufacturing. United States has been China’s biggest export market. With the development of the new trading agreement with the European Union, China is looking forward to another economic growth.

Number of Credit Card Users rises

China has only 52.2 million credit card holders, which is a mere 6 percent of its 1.3-billion population. One of the major reasons was that Chinese people are so used to using cash; they often do not see the need of having a credit card. The other reason was that China’s banking system is different from Western countries’, and it does not have a fully developed credit checking system. The joining in WTO leads China into many changes; reforming state-owned commercial banks is one of these new changes. China is expecting to see an increase in its credit card users.

Chinese People celebrate Founding with long weekend

The People’s Republic of China was founded on October 1st 55 years ago. To celebrate this national holiday, people get a 3-day break. And this break combines with 2 weekends create a 7-day break, which is called “long weekend.” It is a perfect time for people to travel or to have a shopping spree. Most hotels in major tourism spots were full, and some of them were even booked one year before.

Janelle Yu

Hello,

I am Janelle Yu, from mainland China. I have been living in the United States for four years. I got my undergraduate degree from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC.

I majored in International Business, and my minor was Spanish. I would not claim that I know Spanish very well, but I do speak Chinese and English pretty fluently. I am a first year MBA student at Willamette.

For Internet Explorer user: to read the text below in Chinese, please go to the view tab in the Main Menu bar and select Encoding: unicode.

For Netscape users: to read the text below in Chinese, please go to the view tab in the Main Menu bar and then select Character Coding, then More and then Unicode(UTF-8).

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China

In this article, China has had an increase in the amount of trade. The
interesting point that this article stresses is that China Imports grew
more than its exports. From the US stand point this is very good because
the US has a large trade deficit with China. The article also shows that
the Chinese economy is expanding. A good economic report from China.

China's 17th largest clothing company, "French-Style Suit Company," wants former president Bill Clinton to represent their product. Wang Zhen, a
company official, claimed that "our suits match Clinton's character and
personality." Repeated e-mails to the White House, offering Clinton $2
million to represent the company, have not been returned. It is unknown
whether the Bush administration will forward the e-mails to Clinton, and a
Clinton aide claimed to have no knowledge of any impending deal between
Clinton and the company.

The Middle Kingdom Reaches for the Heavens

Lael Grant

China, soon to be the third nation to have independent manned space capabilities, is presently in the process of training future astronaughts and perfecting the various systems of the spacecraft “Shenzhou V”. "The successful launching and return of Shenzhou IV, which carried a simulated person into space has laid a solid base for our future missions.” (Shi Jinmiao, deputy commander-in-chief and deputy chief designer of Shenzhou IV) The Shenzhou V is in the stage of general assembly and testing. 14 fighter pilots are presently going through intensive training for the manned space mission. This project, just one part of a larger goal, is expected to launch sometime in November 2003. As far as an exact launch date, that will be determined by weather and spacecraft condition. China will not only send a manned spacecraft into the heavens, but is also in the study phase of preparations for their Lunar Exploration Program. Chinas space program also includes an “eight satellite constellation for diaster monitering, data relay satellites and a satellite for direct broadcast to homes.” (Guo Baozhu, vice administrator of the Chinese National Space Academy) With a manned mission into space, Lunar exploration, and a satellite constelation, the Middle Kingdom will be a new power in the heavens.

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Lael Grant

Valentines Day is here. When asked to write something concerning this day I started by reflecting back on my past memories. Realizing that Valentines Day has never meant much to me, and I don’t truly know what it is about, I thought that this would be a good time to look into the history of the day. My finds may be of interest to some.
Apparently the origins of Day go back to Lupercalia, the annual celebration of the ancient Roman god of fertility Lupercus. There are many different accounts of the holiday and the way it is celebrated. One account of this day is as follows; On Feb. 14th women would write the name of the man they fancy onto a card and place them in an urn. The men then would receive the cards and pursue the women who’s name was also on the card . Another account describes the event as more of a lottery in which names of both men and women were chosen randomly.
Around 200 ce, The Roman Catholic Church adopted the practice and later decided to put a twist on it, presumably to acquire more converts. Instead of honoring the pagan Lupercus the church decided to make this occasion honor St. Valentine. St Valentine was a Catholic who was said to have been a martyr for the church in the days prior to Rome becoming Christian. Story goes; Valentine while in prison (some accounts say prior) fell in love with the jailors blind daughter who he, was said to have, healed. Before being executed by beheading he wrote a letter to his love signing “your Valentine”. His execution was on the 24th of Feb. This date being close enough for the church was changed to the 14th, now no longer Lupercalia, a pagan holiday but a holiday for St. Valentine. Even though Lupercus was removed from the celebration, the tradition of match making continued. It appears that the holiday has become a hybridization of Roman Christianity and Pagan ritual. In China, as far as I can find, Valentines Day is a bit different, and occurs much later in the year. August 15th is considered the day of celebration. This day is in memory of two ancient lovers who were separated by a goddess and only allowed to meet on this day each year. Talk about a long distance relationship.
Whether you look at this day as Lupercalia or as Valentines Day, take a look at the sites below and discover more about Feb.14th.

http://grove.ufl.edu/~leo/val.html
http://wilstar.com/holidays/valentn.htm
http://inventors.tqn.com/library/inventors/blvalentine.htm
http://www.holidayorigins.com/home.html

"The Full Force and Might of the US Military"

After US President George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address on Jan. 28, a considerable amount of concern has risen worldwide. It appears that Bush has taken a “By any means necessary” attitude towards US and Iraqi weapons issues. Is Bush being a cowboy trying to rope the whole herd by himself? Many nations around the world are communicating their opinions and concerns regarding the US and its actions, among them China.

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Introduction:

On the evening of July 11th 1973 in Redmond Washington I was delivered into the world. As early as 5 years old I was a highway child, moving seasonally up and down Interstate 5. Most of my child hood was spent rotating between three areas, the Puget Sound Washington, Willamette Valley Oregon, and the Bay area California. Upon graduation of High school in 1992, I immediately went abroad in Scandinavia to begin my informal education in life. Working odd jobs, I traveled Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Returning to the states I continued traveling the West Coast and Rocky Mountain States. It wasn’t too long before I returned to Scandinavia, this time also exploring Western Europe. Again returning to the states I traveled and worked until I could afford a ticket to Central America. While working as a bushwhacker and mountain guide in Costa Rica I decided it was time to start my formal education. Ten years after graduation from high school I enrolled at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon and then transferred to Willamette University.

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