Moderation?

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90861/7352362.html

China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan is advocating a moderation of China's trade imbalance, trying to decrease exports and increase imports. The deficit in trade from the first quarter of 2011 was the first in many years in China, so Wang is attempting to increase domestic consumption. This is possibly the first word of any sort of moderation coming from a top government official.

Blog 8

上个星期我每天跟宗颖和葛威好玩儿。我们都爱看 “Doctor Who”, 所以每个晚上我们看一集。星期三晚上我有我最后的乐队练习。这个星期三我有音乐会！因为我练习很多，所以我不太紧张。我请父母来，但是我父亲不能来。不过，我母亲可以来！我很兴奋！我们去我音乐会以前去吃饭,买东西！我需要多买裤子，短裤子。她来的时候，我们平常买东西。

-安均奕

China to Further Monetary Tightening

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-17/china-raises-reserve-ratio-to-curb-inflation-as-zhou-pledges-more-to-come.html

With inflation happening at a quickening pace, China has begun to take action to keep inflation from increasing to much. To this end, China has increased its banks' reserve requirements, to lock up money and keep inflation down. This is a policy that the Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said will continue "for some time," and foresees no absolute limits on how high the reserve requirement could reach. Raising reserve requirements ensures that banks do not engage in aggressive lending policies. Zhou claims China's monetary policy is continuing its move from moderate, to prudent.

Clash at Monestary Could Turn Explosive

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/16/tibetan-monastery-china-clash-armed-police-dalai-lama

The Dalai Lama has warned that the ongoing clash between Chinese police and Tibetan monks of the Kirti monastery could erupt into violence. He has urged the monks and Tibetan locals to do nothing which could be seen as a pretext for violence to occur, as well as the Chinese to show restraint.

China Bans Time Travel

http://the-diplomat.com/china-power/2011/04/14/china-bans-time-travel/

No going back to the future!! The Chinese government's paranoia seemingly knows no bounds as they move to ban time travel adventure stories, claiming that it undermines their legitimacy, promotes feudalism, superstition, fatalism and reincarnation.
I guess they are worried that citizens will get dangerous ideas about going back and killing Mao before he traumatizes all of China.
The move seems desperate, another move to restrict civil liberties on the whims of a corrupt and fearful government.

That’s Life in Beijing Bicycle

Beijing Bicycle is such a simple movie, but it contains many complex elements that not everyone understands. Poverty, or simply the lack of funds necessary to survive, is a very prominent issue and comes with different levels. We follow two main characters in the film, Guei and Jian, as they maneuver about Beijing and a bicycle.

Guei and Jian have similar situations but ultimately different lifestyles. Guei is poor and hails from the countryside. He is living in Beijing to work and earn a living. He needs a bicycle to simply do his job, which is just to deliver packages. Jian, on the other hand, comes from a middle class family. He attends a presumably private school. He wants a bicycle to impress his girlfriend and classmates. Their needs and lives clash.

After successfully receiving a letter to deliver for a client, Guei returns outside to deliver the letter. He, however, finds that his bicycle is missing. At this moment, the seemingly search ensues and the lives of the two boys become intertwined. Unfortunately, Guei undergoes severe beatings and peer pressure as he attempts to reclaim his bike. In his arduous search, he tracks down Jian, who has bought the bike using his family’s money. Jian seems like such a selfish child for stealing his family’s money, but, coming from a similar background as Jian, I understand his situation. My parents, like many Chinese parents, were very strict and wanted me and my siblings to achieve the highest grades. If I didn’t get an A, I was scolded. But, because we were middle class (in which we were not necessarily poor but able to get by), we did not indulge in many materialistic objects. My mother always told me that I had to get good grades and a higher education to live a better life in the future. But as a child in school, I was surrounded by all my peers who had these things that I did not. I was envious and felt pressured to be like them and have the same things. I think that Jian felt the same way. He felt the pressures of society pounding his back and succumbed. Understandably, his actions were very petty, but what he felt, envy and jealousy, were very human, and I cannot criticize him for being human.

I am also partial to Guei’s situation. My mother came from the countryside and had to work hard to earn a living when she came to America. So when Guei’s bicycle was being beaten, my heart was in my throat. I felt such deep sympathy for Guei. It is very difficult to see your livelihood, your only means of earning a living, taken away from you. When he hit the man with the brick, he was no different from Jian. He was being human, and his survival instincts kicked in.

This film shows the lives of two very human characters. While their backgrounds are different, their instincts to survive are very similar, just in different contexts. I think this film does very well in illustrating how difficult it is to maneuver and survive in such a society.

Into the Unfair World on Modern China

The past films our class has viewed have been numerous. Some have been exciting and fun, while others have been depressing and others plain boring. None of the previous viewed films have affected me in the way Wang Xiaoshuai's 2001 Beijing Bicycle has. I enjoyed the film, and would encourage pre teens, teenagers, and young adults to watch this film. It is a classic coming of age film that leaves the audience wondering about the big picture.

The film follows the story of two boys, both from poor backgrounds and around the same age. Guei is from the countryside. He is the most innocent of victims in the plot. On the other hand the other boy, Jian, is a confusing character.

Guei is hard working, diligent, and stubborn. When his bike is stolen he searches endlessly to recover his bike, because without it he cannot work as a messenger boy. The bike represents his livelyhood, his status in the city of Beijing. Finally, he finds his bike, only to have it taken back by Jian and his gang. Through most of the film Jian is simply trying to get his bike back and make a living in order to survive.

Jian is a student, intelligent yet stubborn and violent. He is also from a poor family and is constantly looked over by his father and stepfamily. He steals bikes, then beats Guei after being found out, and hits Da Huan on the head with a brick. Despite these incidents I found myself more inclined to Jian. True Guei was the model citizen, aside from hitting a boy with the stone incident. However, I just found Jian more understandable. His situation is similar to mine. We both feel like we are being overlooked by our fathers and our stepfamily. We both tend to lash out in unpredictable ways, although I am not nearly as violent.

I believe the reason why Jian is more convincing is we get to see more of his life than Guei's. Guei is just a boy from the country, no background is given what so ever, but Jian you get to see his story and; therefore, understand where he is coming from.

The film was a story of two boys. One from the country and one from the city. Both had difficult financial circumstances, yet they live in a huge metropolitan city. I believe this film was developed to illustrate the ordinary lives of the middle to lower class Chinese citizens. The film gave Beijing a more somber tone, the city is beautiful, but there is still poverty and disadvantaged people. Overall I enjoyed the film.