Europe and the U.S. have abandoned Africa.  China has swiftly moved in with financial aid.  In return?  Read the following article.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg this week, hoping to keep good relations with trading partner China but instead generating a storm of criticism.

Friday's peace conference was organized by South African soccer officials to highlight the first World Cup to be held in Africa, which South Africa will host in 2010.

But because the Dalai Lama isn't being allowed to attend, it is now being boycotted by fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President F.W. de Klerk as well as members of the Nobel Committee.

"It is disappointing that South Africa, which has received so much solidarity from the world, doesn't want to give that solidarity to others," Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad told The Associated Press in Oslo, referring to the decades-long fight against apartheid.

An eclectic mix of Nobel laureates, Hollywood celebrities and other dignitaries are coming to discuss issues ranging from combating racism to how sports can unite people and nations.

But Thabo Masebe, spokesman for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said a high-profile visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader would have distracted from the conference's focus.

"South Africa would have been the source of negative publicity about China," he said Monday. "We do value our relationship with China."

China's largest trading partner in Africa
South Africa is China's largest trading partner on a continent in which China is heavily and increasingly involved.

Tamu Matose, a spokeswoman for Tutu, told the AP that Tutu would not attend "because of the Dalai Lama issue." Tutu was quoted Sunday as calling the barring "disgraceful."

"(South Africa) should admit anyone with a legitimate and peaceful interest and should not take political decisions on who should, and who should not, attend," de Klerk said Monday, announcing he also would skip the conference.

The Norwegian government said it "regrets" the South African decision, and was considering whether to withdraw.

However, the South African Communist Party backed the move, saying March was a particularly sensitive time for a visit.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet's regional capital, and 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after Chinese troops crushed a Tibetan uprising.

China claims Tibet as part of its territory, but many Tibetans say Chinese rule deprives them of religious freedom and autonomy. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence and fomenting anti-Chinese protests.

South Africa decided last month to refuse to issue an official invitation, without which, Masebe said, the Dalai Lama cannot visit.

Masebe said the spiritual leader had been welcomed twice previously in South Africa and would be welcome again in the future — but "not now, when the whole world is looking at South Africa."     for the entire article: S. Africa bars Dalai Lama from peace forum

        

I recently finished a book proposal for my manuscript I Ran Away to China: Three Years in the Next Superpower.  I needed to make a list of the competition - nonfiction books about China that indicate there is a reading public for my book.  I have been reading everything about China that I can get my hands on for several years, so I was astonished to find many recently published books I  hadn't heard of.  And I was pleased.  American publishers are "catching the wave," to use a phrase popular with my Chinese students in 2001.    

I've read some of these books.  For the books that I haven't read, I gleaned descriptions from reviews.  There is a fabulous array, from humorous travel stories to indepth journalistic reports to academic discourses.  I've divided them into two categories, the first are books about China in general, the second are about Xinjiang province and Uyghur people, my special interest. 

An Abbreviated Bibliography on China 

        

In Shanghai, Malcolm Moore writes for The Telegraph on Nov. 7, 2008  Chinese entrepreneurs get Obama-mania

China's state media has been exuberant about Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential election.

China's State Trademark Bureau has received official applications from 16 companies so far, keen to exploit Mr Obama's popularity both in China and abroad.

Polls in China before the election found overwhelming support for Mr Obama, and the state media has been exuberant in the wake of his victory.

"We are elated at the landslide victory," said an editorial in China Daily, the state English-language newspaper. "We wish him all the best in re-energizing the world's largest economy with his brand new ideas and vision," it added.

T-shirts emblazoned with the three Chinese characters for "Obama" sold briskly before the election and factories have already started producing a range of Obama merchandise.

In the famously entrepreneurial and cut-throat coastal city of Wenzhou, a trademark application was made by an unnamed shoe manufacturer in March, according to the Oriental Morning Post newspaper. The paper quoted employees who said the idea came from their boss "who believes there is great market value in the name".

The company asked for the right to emblazon "Mei Obama", or "American Obama" on belts, jackets, children's clothes and shoes.

In Guangzhou, a pharmaceutical company was the first to register "Obama" in February as a brand name for its lines of iodine, surgical spirit and traditional medicine. Meanwhile, requests for "Barack Obama" have come from companies producing instant noodles, coffee and even wooden logs.

None of the applications has so far been approved, and the likelihood of success is slim: all politician's names are censored in China. To get around the block, some companies are already producing clothes marked "Aobama", which is phonetically similar in Chinese.

Mr Obama's half brother, Mark Ndesandjo, lives in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen, where he runs an internet company that promotes cheap Chinese exports to the United States. The company, called Worldnexus, helps Chinese companies set up websites for foreign customers. Mr Ndesandjo is the son of Mr Obama's late father and his third wife, Ruth Nidesand.

Meanwhile, there was also some evidence that the drama of the American election had electrified certain segments of Chinese society to push for a democratic process of its own. Wu Xinbo, vice president of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said the result sent "a very encouraging signal to the world". He added: "In many regards, the US represents more progressive ideas which China could learn from. China should have its own traditions, its own ways, but should not view this [democratic] system as alien to its own cultural values. It should be open-minded."

        

Here in America, I am ecstatic!  We have weathered through an 8 year nightmare of failed policies instigated by authoritarian leaders who hated democracy.  Nonetheless, democracy has saved us!  Barack Obama is pragmatic, thoughtful, smart and honest. 

Below is a report from China that I have reprinted from Reuters http://ww.reuters.com

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - China welcomed Barack Obama as a youthful president-elect with the energy to tackle the financial crisis now threatening its economy and an ethnic heritage that could help America reach out to the rest of the world.

Excitement about the billion dollar race filtered down to the streets of Beijing on Wednesday, where ordinary Chinese citizens who have never voted themselves and some who could not even name the candidates embraced Obama's message of change.

"The black guy is a good choice, he has so much more energy than the other one, who was far too old," said Han Xue, a new father who runs a small cigarette and alcohol store and followed the results on a television behind the counter.

The dramatic victory, in which Obama carried some states that had not voted for his Democratic party in decades, was a major boost to America's reputation.

"I am very happy U.S. history was made. I think in a lot of Chinese people's eyes America was a racist country, even today the television said that white people wouldn't vote for Obama," said Li Nan, a student at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"I think that a lot of Chinese will change their mind now."

But gathering economic storm clouds, which threaten to undermine decades of rapid growth, mean the economic policies of the next leader of the United States are almost as big a concern in Beijing as they were in polling booths across America.

"Obama may be more ideological and that could be less good for China in terms of trade," said Wang Hongtao, an Obama supporter studying for a doctorate at the Central Party School in Beijing, and following the results at an embassy election party.

Belt-tightening by U.S. consumers as their economy flounders has hit Chinese exporters hard in the "factory of the world," even though strict controls have protected its banks from the worst of the financial tsunami swamping foreign competitors.

"Officials say there is no impact, but you only have to look around to see that the crisis is already affecting us," said retiree and firm Obama supporter Yu Ze, during a break from a ping-pong game in a Beijing park.

"It's better to have a young person with the energy to handle this. We are a little worried about his position on trade issues, but we think his vice-president really understands China."

Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, is a foreign policy veteran, chosen partly for his years of experience.

TREAT US AS EQUALS

Many Chinese hope Obama's message of unity and respect, and his promise not to demonise China, will usher in a new era for U.S. ties with the emerging Asian giant.

"Obama needs to treat China as an equal, he needs to respect what we are doing and what we have achieved. Bush was too pushy," said 24-year-old English teacher Wu Shan.

Chinese Communist leaders have long believed that the United States is determined to subvert and overturn its one-party rule, a theory reinforced by President George W. Bush's support for pro-Western "colour revolutions" in ex-Soviet states.

And many ordinary Chinese see Western criticisms of their country as a product of fear and envy over its rise, and worry they will try and hold back further development.

"The president needs to understand that China is still a developing country," said Guo Jie, a student of Japanese.

In general though, the outgoing administration is less unpopular in China than many other parts of the world.

"Actually, Bush's presidency was quite good for China in many ways," said street-cleaning supervisor Wang Erxiao, citing expanded trade and adding he would have been happy to see Republican candidate John McCain continue his party's free-trade legacy.

But in a country where getting involved in politics has long been a recipe for trouble, many ordinary Chinese were steering well clear of a vote taking place thousands of miles away.

"Politics gives me a headache," said taxi driver Li Hong with a grin. "I stick to entertainment shows on my radio."

        

Saturday, I went on the Lower Town Art Crawl.  I was with friends Shelley and Betsy.  I got waylaid by heated glass earrings and Betsy was grabbed by an artist's spinal xrays.  When we found Shelley, she was talking to videographer Mike Hazard.  He and Deb Wallwork have co-directed a film called Cold Mountain.  It will be released Fall 2008.

The film is about Han Shan, a famous Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.  Mike writes:

Over a thousand years ago, a man laughed up and down the slopes of a cold mountain in China. He wrote poems on trees and walls of caves and on leaves. He limped. He sported a birch-bark hat, big wooden clogs, a patched robe, a pigweed staff and a demeanor interpreted by others as craziness.

He was Han Shan, and he wrote poems for everyone, not just the educated elite. A man free of spiritual conceit, it is unclear whether or not he was a monk, whether he was a Buddhist or a Taoist or both.

By great good luck, we flew to Japan and China to videotape a story about Han Shan, also known as Cold Mountain. We interviewed Burton Watson and Red Pine, two of his key translators. Then we recorded with Gary Snyder, whose Han Shan translations he published in his first book.

Mike and Deb's website is at: http://www.thecie.org/  Scroll down to Sept. 10, 2008 for Han Shan.

        

The resounding lesson from my travels in China and experiences with Chinese people outside of China are that Chinese people want to determine the future of China. 

Whether they support or object to the Chinese government, whether they long for democracy or distrust it, they resent Americans telling them things are wrong in China and China needs democracy and needs it now.  

Our road is democracy, the Chinese are on their own road.

        

        

#1  On September 3, 2008, Author Editor beryl knudson says:

        

Labor Day I took a Chinese student to downtown St. Paul.  It was the first day of the Republican National Convention and a Peace March was planned and I was worried; maybe there would be riots.  I offered to take her to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, instead but she knew the RNC was an historical event and she wanted to go.  I was pleased.  I wanted to show her America and nothing is more American than a Peace March. The following is my account which I published in www.MinnPost.com on September 3, 2008.  

 http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2008/09/03/3296/outside_the_rnc_showing_free_speech_to_a_chinese_student

On Labor Day I was at home cooking supper with a graduate student from China when we heard on the radio about riots in downtown St. Paul. We looked at each other in shock. We had just returned from downtown, where I had proudly shown my visiting student America’s best example of democracy: Americans of different races and beliefs peacefully protesting government policies. It was a message I had tried to communicate to my students when I’d taught in China, and I had utterly failed. They had flatly disbelieved me.      

I now was hosting a student from China who was eager to see the events surrounding the Republican National Convention. I had worried when we arrived in Rice Park at 1 p.m. about getting caught up in violence, but there was no hint of it. My student excitedly took photos of the MSNBC broadcast stage outside Landmark Center.

“All these people out here,” she observed. “In China, when leaders meet; no one can come.” She then wondered if she could take photos of the many police and security people.  

I’ve lived in China and I understand taking photos can get you into trouble. I also saw that our own police and security people looked tense. I stepped forward, hands open in the universal show of no weapon, and asked an officer if my student from China could take his photo. He was pleased, but he wanted to know if he should smile or look tough.

“Smile,” I said. “You're representing America.” He seemed perplexed for a moment, and then he beamed.

A gasp at signs for Falun Gong
We strolled around Rice Park until my student gasped at the sight of a couple of women with signs supporting Falun Gong. When I stopped to take their literature, one woman explained about the persecution of the followers of Falun Gong in China. When she realized my student was Chinese, she made it very clear she was not against the Chinese people, but against the Chinese regime. My student listened with a furrowed brow and took the literature.
 
Around the corner, we were offered free hats and a disc with a photo of Michael Moore looking happy on the cover. “What's it about?” I asked. The two young men explained it was a very funny movie that gave an alternative to the liberal bias of the media. I told them I didn't agree there was a liberal bias and explained why. They listened closely and looked a bit shaken. I assured them I would watch the movie and said we must always keep talking to each other - always. They happily agreed. When we were out of earshot, my student examined the disc, frowned and asked if it was legal. I assured her it was.   
 
I knew a peace march was scheduled but saw no sign of it, so I consulted a park ranger. “Be careful if you go in that direction,” he admonished.  In fact, I was quite worried about getting caught in a crowd. When panic sets in, people get foolish. However, I can’t imagine a better way to learn about democracy than watching American protesters. It didn’t take long to find the mass of peace marchers.   

My student was thrilled.  No wonder, because it was real America, a beautiful nation of disagreement. 
Amazing array of issues
Some of the marchers were marching against the Iraqi war; others carried a huge inflated world to represent environmental issues. There were Oromos demanding Ethiopia get out of their country, Code Pink demanding America get out of Iraq. Somalis carried a sign I couldn’t read; a group of Hmong people marched for immigrant rights. Along came George W. Bush dressed as a groom holding the hand of John McCain dressed as his bride. My student was amazed.

“Is it legal?”

“Yes it’s legal.”

Out came her camera and we stepped into the march to get a good photo. We returned to the curb. Above us was one helicopter. “Security?” she asked. “Yup,” I replied. She was impressed. “If this was China, there would be 20 helicopters above.” 

Then we watched Israelis with a cause written in Hebrew; a few Jews for Jesus; people representing President Bush, Vice President Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wearing prisoner stripes and chained together; and angry-looking people carrying black banners written in another language. I had to jump into the march again to ask them what they were saying; it was a list of names of allied Iraqis who had died in Iraq.

Police looked tense
No one was getting unruly, but I saw the police were tense and had lined up shoulder to shoulder blocking cross roads. I thought it was an extraordinary number of police, but my student disagreed. “There would be many more in China.” 
 
We walked miles in downtown St. Paul on Labor Day. We saw some 10,000 people in the march and walls of police - and all were peaceful.  I only saw one man and woman, dressed in very good clothes, arguing with the police. The man and woman had badges on lanyards around their necks. They were trying to cross the police line, but the police would not allow them, despite their angry admonishments to allow them to get back to the convention. That was the first time that day that I thanked the police for their work.

“It's hard work,” I said, “Thanks for doing it.” Their faces softened; they nodded, appreciative. I quickly took my student to the other side of the street; I was worried there would be trouble.
 
A long walk home
We had to take a long, circuitous route back to my car, as the police would not allow us to walk back to the Rice Park area. We didn’t mind. My student was thrilled with her photos; she plans to send them to her friends in China. Along the way, I often thanked the police. I saw men and women doing a hard job, standing tensely with heavy gear fastened to their uniforms on a hot day. They had to be ready to take action but do nothing for hours. It’s a strain on a human being.   

During the three years I taught in China I longed for dissent; I hungered for the cacophony of American voices in disagreement. Free speech is the crux of democracy, and to live in a democracy, to practice free speech, you have to be strong. It takes strength to calmly listen to people saying absolutely revolting stuff. I tried to explain that we do this in America to my students in China, but they never understood. How could they? What they had seen on China Central TV was footage of American police in riot gear tear-gassing and clubbing American citizens. 

Yes, that’s part of democracy, too, until we learn to speak and allow others to speak, until we learn to listen and until we are heard. May we be strong enough to keep learning. Democracy scares the Chinese. Let’s not let it scare us. 

        

A couple months ago, I discovered M. Dujon Johnson's blog, Black American Lawyer in China.  I was fascinated with the perspective of this lawyer and sinologist.  Many of the journalists who are writing about China, even seasoned journalists, write like tourists.  M. Dujon, on the other hand, writes with understanding.  He's there, he's been there several years, he's speaks the language and he's a scholar immersed in what he's writing about.   I've added his blog to my blogroll, please go to the source. 

I've copied one of his entries in entirety below.  It's not my writing, it's his and he's good. 

A rising military power, a robust and strong economy, a crucial player within international affairs in Africa and Far East Asia, a vital trading and investment partner to over 2/3 rds of the world's economy, and one of the largest weapons supplier in the world. These are but some of the reasons that many believe China has positioned itself, in the very near future, as a rising superpower. It also doesn't help that the United States is seen by some as a nation in decline. But the question remains, is China on the verge of ruling the world?

There are several things (and I could easily mention a half dozen) that would prevent Mainland China from dominating the world; I will begin with the question of culture.

During the middle 1500's, there was an internal struggle in China's imperial palace on how to interact and deal with the outside barbarian world. That is, should China strengthen and improve itself by contacts with the outside world or should China isolate itself and protect itself from foreign cultural contaminants. China, as we all know, chose the latter...and it was a decision that it still has not yet fully recovered from.

When I use the term 'culture' I am referring to a reference point, a shared history, norms, behavior patters and values. Culture also means the socialization of a people, a programming of the mind so to speak. We all have it to one degree or another. What I find interesting about Chinese culture is that the term 'culture' is also a license to disassociate or excuse one from accountability.

One of the things about culture in Chinese society is that it says "you can't tell me I'm wrong although we both know that I am wrong. If you do then I will lose face (diu lian)." This conscious failure to hold oneself accountable for his or her acts does not exactly put Chinese society in the driver's seat for world domination. Culture prevented the Ming dynasty from making the tough choices it had to make as a leading nation of that period; it appears tht the China of this era has not learned her history well and is repeating the mistake being a culture centric nation at the expense of all else.

If the economy is bad, it's because of the Americans. If our environment is devastating our country and killing Chinese people, it's because Americans modernized too (although the government doesn't mention we're talking almost 150 years ago). If people are asking for democratic change, it's because of foreign outside influences that justify us keeping a closed society.

China in many ways reminds me of a small child, never admitting her responsibility and blaming it on someone else, or never mature enough as a nation to get beyond it's perpetual adolescence mentality of what happened in its ancient history. China continually says as a culture, no matter what we do...it's never our fault!

Leadership in the world community at the political, economic and military levels require, foremost, accountability. In the simplist terms, accountablity is the assumption and responsibility for one's actions, decisions and policies. The world is looking for leadership but I don't believe that anyone in their right mind can see China and its culture of 'do as I say and not as I do,' as fitting the bill.