Archive for May, 2010

Well, there goes the American heritage. Ford selling Volvo to China? 3:03 Ford is in talks to sell its Volvo unit to China’s Geely Holding. CNN’s Kitty Pilgrim reports.

Hong Kong’s numerous eating places are catering for every taste and budget: From über-swanky gourmet restaurants, where the world’s rich and famous have their luxurious dinners of Fois gras and truffles, to authentic “Dai pai dong” stalls and simple “Cha Chaan Teng” eateries where delicious Cantonese fare can be enjoyed…

1) The VIP room – Yung Kee

This seventy years old “culinary institution” has made an international name for itself thanks to its legendary Roast goose, which some say is the best in Hong Kong, if not in the whole world… However, the restaurant itself is not what I want to tell you about, and I would have probably not included it in the Hong Kong top 10 restaurants list, if it was not for its VIP room.

Those of you who really want to enjoy a sensational dining experience, should book in advance for the 4th floor VIP room or the Yung’s club on the 8th floor.  It’s somewhat more expensive but the food and the ambience justify the price… Superb Cantonese cuisine at its best.

Yung Kee is located on 32-40 Wellington Street, Central (Phone: 2522 1624)

2) Da Ping Huo

This small and intimate private kitchen restaurant serves fabulous Szechwan cuisine in a very nice atmosphere. It’s owned by a couple of artists: The husband is responsible for the interior décor and the paintings, while the wife is in charge of the lovely food and the after-dinner performance.

Food is hands down delicious and, as expected, is quite spicy and flavorful… The chef brings most spices and herbs directly from Sichuan and the results are fantastic. You need to book well in advance.

49 Hollywood Road, SoHo (Phone: 2559 1317)

3) Yellow door kitchen

Alongside, Da Ping Huo, Yellow Door Kitchen is one of Hong Kong’s best private-kitchen restaurants, serving fantastic Sichuan and Shanghainese food in pleasant surroundings.

This small and highly praised restaurant is known for the top quality ingredients it uses, as well as for its chef’s dedication, both of which result in some excellent food… Recommended dishes include: Deep-fried eel with sweet & sour sauce, Shanghai style “Eight Treasures Duck”, Sautéed fish fillet with pepper & leek,  Sichuan style Tofu,  Sichuan style dan-dan noodle and  Meat dumplings with spicy Sichuan sauce.

Prices are not too bad: Especially if you order their set-dinner, which gives you the opportunity to try different things.

6/F, Cheung Hing Commercial Building, 37 Cochrane Street, SoHo (Phone: 2858 6555)

4) Tim’s Kitchen

This small private-kitchen restaurant has made an international name for itself (including a Michelin award), mainly because of the superior ingredients it uses and the chef insistence on cooking the classical Cantonese dishes, even if that means a lot of preparations…

The focus is given to seafood but there are also some outstandingly good chicken specialties and, as in many private-kitchen establishments, you should book a few days in advance and discuss your order with the chef-owner.

93 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan (Phone: 2543 5919)

5) Caprice, Four Seasons Hotel

Caprice is one of Hong Kong’s most prestigious and sought after restaurants.

Located within the sumptuous Four Seasons hotel, the restaurant offers an unbeatable combination of beautiful décor, gorgeous harbor views, lovely atmosphere and, above all, Superb French cuisine, with a lighter touch…

This unsurpassed dinning experience is complemented by an impressive wine list (predominantly French wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy)

Level 6, Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, Central

6) Restaurant Petrus

Restaurant Petrus is one of Hong Kong’s best hotel restaurants and an internationally-known French gourmet institution…

The extremely elegant restaurant is located on Shangri-la’s 56th floor and offers breathtaking harbor views that can be competed only by those of Victoria Peak.

Very classic and luxurious design with perfect table settings, heavy curtains and glittering chandeliers… Tranquil, elegant and romantic atmosphere and, above all, superb French cuisine, complemented by one of Asia’s most impressive wine collections.

Level 56, The Island Shangri-la hotel (Phone: 2820 8590)

7) Lung King Heen

This lavish restaurant specializes in traditional Cantonese cuisine with a contemporary touch, and serves some of the best Dim sum in Hong Kong, alongside a wide variety of creative Shark’s fin and Bird’s nest specialties.

The beautiful décor is classic-contemporary, with plenty of dark wood and Chinese antiques, and there are floor-to-ceiling windows that offer some stunning harbor views.

Four seasons Hotel Hong Kong, IFC complex, Central

Fook Lam Moon

This Hong Kong culinary legend was established more than 50 years ago by a creative Cantonese cook who worked for some of the city’s wealthiest families, before starting his own business.

Using top quality ingredients is what this restaurant is best known for and, indeed, their “unique dishes” are considered among the best in Hong Kong… Especially the Shark’s fin and the Abalone which are possibly the finest you can find in the city.

There are also some less exorbitant dishes on the menu that are still outstandingly delicious… like the Roast chicken, Roast Duck and, of course… the fabulous Dim-sum.

Prices are slightly on the high side, when compared to other Chinese restaurants, but the food is fantastic…

35-45 Johnston Road, Wanchai  (Phone: 2866 0663)

53-59 Kimberley Road, Tsim sha Tsui (Phone: 2366 0286)

9) Yan Toh heen

Strategically located at the swanky InterContinental, Yan Toh Heen serves some of the best Cantonese cuisine in Hong Kong, in an elegant and refined setting that matches in with the fabulous food.

Other than its elegant décor and famous handcrafted jade table-settings, the restaurant boasts large windows through which you can enjoy lovely views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong’s skyline, while indulging on some of the most scrumptious dim sum you have ever tasted…

Prices are on the high side, but the dining experience is simply superb

InterContinental Hong Kong, Salisbury Road, Tsim sha Tsui (Phone: 2313 2323)

10) Spring Deer

Established almost forty years ago, Spring Deer is one of Hong Kong’s best and most popular Chinese restaurants.

The restaurant serves classic north Chinese cuisine at its best… Peking duck,   Spiced chicken,   Smoked tea duck,   Beggar’s chicken,   Shark’s fin soup,   Peking style deep fried mutton and plenty of other delicacies…

There’s nothing much in the way of stylish décor or romantic ambience here, but the place is nice, the service is good and the dinning experience is superb (You must book well in advance).

1/F, 42 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui  (Phone: 2366 4012)

For more information about Hong Kong, including a comprehensive Restaurant & Nightlife Guide, some great day trip ideas, details of recommended hotels, shopping tips and suggested city-walks: visit Metropolasia – Hong Kong’s online travel guide, where all the information you need is compiled in one easy-to-use website.

Insight

Trade exchange between different cultures and countries has long yielded rich rewards for those who recognize the potential.

After all, as far back as the 1st century BC, merchants and caravans followed the Silk Road – the overland trade route from northern China to the Western World – and brought precious silks, tea and other resources from China to the rest of the world. Not only did linking different countries and cultures prove profitable, but new and greater products and ideas flowed between the countries.

The Silk Road of the 21st century is technology driven. This trade exchange, built on fiber-optic cable, sprang from the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Now, it is the R&D departments of companies from the United States and other countries that benefit from the resources and opportunity found in China.

Today’s China, the fastest growing country in the world, offers the:

• Biggest engineering talent pool

• Biggest emerging market

• World’s number one manufacturing industry

Strengthening ties, country-to-country, people-to-people, has shown time and time again that remarkable achievements, that otherwise would have been impossible, can come to fruition.

Long Circle urges you to explore the opportunities that exist in China today, especially if your business focus is embedded systems technologies for software and hardware.

With our global reach, we could see the importance of China, and we have grown significantly in the past five years in this critical market. Today, we have $5 billion in revenues and 12,000 employees.

GE 2005 Annual Report/

Letter to Stakeholders

Biggest Engineering Resource Pool

The last few years have convinced Fortune 100 companies and start-ups alike that China, home of the fastest growing economy in the world, is key to achieving their strategic plans, as well as the business objectives of their R&D departments. GE, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel, Nokia, Oracle, and SAP are just a few of the multinational companies with R&D operations in China, and for some important business drivers:

o Lower costs

o Lower wages

o Expanded productivity

o Reduced time-to-market

o Strengthened R&D embedded technology engineering resources

Wages are lower offshore, there’s no question about it, but the experience the workforce has must be in product research and development, not IT. With China’s deep pool of engineering talent, especially R&D embedded technology engineers, companies can expand and strengthen their R&D resources.

For example, the Microsoft Research (MSR) Asia lab has engineers working on a wide range of advanced technologies – from spoken-language technologies such as automatic speech recognition to face detection and tracking, face modeling and recognition, cartoon generation, image and video retrieval for MSN, and Xbox camera-based game interfaces. According to Forbes, Microsoft’s investment in all China-related R&D activities is approximately $100 million US dollars annually. In addition, with currently more than 800 employees in China, Microsoft is predicted to grow that number substantially over the next three to five years.

Biggest engineering talent pool; most engineering graduates each year

Engineering Graduates China India United States

Source: Duke University*352,000 112,000 137,000

Source: Unknown ** 600,000 350,000 70,000

*Source: A study released in December, 2005 by Duke University (and also widely quoted in the media, including The Christian Science Monitor) citing the number of engineering graduates in each country yearly.

* Note: Statistics widely quoted, from Fortune Magazine to Senator Ted Kennedy’s speeches. However according to the Wall Street Journal online, these figures are misleading and no one can track down a concrete and reliable original source.

Biggest Emerging Market

How could any organization that wants to be successful in the global arena ignore China today?

China is the world’s most populous country – 1,313,973,713 (2006 est.) – and organizations like the Finnish mobile telecommunications giant Nokia expect China to be a key growth driver for their global operations. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations’ mobile phones and network equipment.

According to Infoworld’s online Web site:

“China has 400 million mobile users and its 3G (third generation) networks are not yet switched on, providing a future avenue for further growth. “ According to a study done by Norson (Hong Kong) Information Technology , “. . . after three years of 3G availability, more than 84 million Chinese will use 3G services.”

Consequently, construction is underway on Nokia’s new and expanded China headquarters, scheduled to open in 2007, that will host over 1500 of Nokia’s R&D, sales and marketing operations, pre-production, logistics, sourcing and manufacturing operations.

During China’s President Hu Jintao’s recent visit to the United States, he attended a dinner at the home of Microsoft’s Bill Gates and called for broadening the relationship between the United States and China.

“Today, many cargo ships are very busy crossing the Pacific Ocean, laden with the rich fruit of our strong trade ties and friendship between our two peoples,” Hu said. “I am sure that with the further deepening of China’s reform and opening up, we are going to see an even broader prospect for the economic cooperation and trade between China and Washington State and China and the United States as a whole.” Source: Reuters

According to the US-China Business Council:

• China’s economy grew 10.2 % in the first quarter of 2006.

• The government’s new focus on balanced growth and its attempt to shift from an investment- and export-driven economy to a consumption-driven one will mean more policies to promote consumption.

• GDP (purchasing power parity): $8.158 trillion (2005 est.)

• GDP – per capita: purchasing power parity – $6,200 (2005 est.)

• GDP – real growth rate: 9.2% (official data) (2005 est.)

• GDP – composition by sector:

Agriculture: 14.4%

Industry and construction: 53.1%

Services: 32.5% (2005 est.) Source: [www.uschina.org]

World’s #1 Manufacturing Industry

China is “the world’s factory” and produces $60 billion worth of consumer electronic goods a year. The “Made in China” label is found everywhere.

When China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it agreed to abide by WTO standards and regulations, along with the rest of the WTO countries. And this opened up one of the world’s largest economies to the rest of the world. Forward-thinking organizations did not hesitate to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunity.

For example, GE has long regarded China as an essential piece in the company’s strategic plan. According to Jeff Immelt., “We have been there for 15 – 20 years, so we know how to do business. We have been on the ground. We have 12,000 employees. And I think at the end of the day, China is trending towards being a great global competitor and following the rules. And that is important to us and it’s a way that we can be successful as well.”

Today, companies doing business in China find tax incentives, excellent civic infrastructure, government support, a political environment that encourages foreign business, rapid economic growth, a deep pool of engineering talent and college graduates, and improving legal, banking and financial systems.

China Strategy: Choose the Right Road to China

There are basically three paths an organization’s R&D department can follow to successfully gain entry into China. Take time to consider the best route for your company, especially if your focus is in R&D embedded technology.

? Single, Independent Project

Beginning by outsourcing a single, independent project is an excellent way to start on the path to China. Typically, these projects involve software and hardware development, testing, maintenance, or product enhancement. This transaction type outsourcing is turn-key, straightforward, and has a quick ramp up time. An R&D department can:

o Capture an opportunity within a short time frame.

o Boost bandwidth to meet short-term demand.

o Outsource clearly defined short-term projects.

Companies going this route find cost savings through transaction-type outsourcing and capitalize on short-term cost savings.

? Partner Program

A long term, relationship-based service program is another excellent way to leverage China’s technology resources. A dedicated team within the China outsourcing vendor’s R&D department can be created, trained, hosted, and managed exclusively for your embedded systems R&D technology projects. Clients take advantage of lower wages, while benefiting from a team educated on the Client’s corporate values and culture, providing a true business level alignment. A China R&D department can:

o Offload non-core functions.

o Fill in needed skills.

o Increase engineering efficiency.

o Increase return on R&D.

? Offshore R&D Center

Many companies find they benefit most from a one-of-a-kind incubation center that is an extension of their R&D department back home. Building a R&D facility from the beginning and introducing best practices provides the optimal solution to meet your company’s strategic goals.

Your company takes advantage of China’s low cost workforce, manufacturing capacity, and emerging markets and there are no intermediaries or third party costs.

A China R&D Center can:

• Provide confidence and security to handle sensitive data and intellectual property inhouse offshore.

• Train talent according to your company’s unique standards and values.

• Increase talent retention by providing attractive culture and a sense of belonging.

• Share services with other functions of the company.

• Engage in long term innovation-driven research that does not usually generate immediate profits.

• Access the China labor market directly.

Turn to China

Throughout history, new products, new ideas, and new opportunities have come about by crossing borders. The global exchange of trade, expertise, and capabilities means exciting ideas and innovations which benefit everyone.

China today is a country with unlimited opportunity. However, personal connections and relationships are essential to any successful business in China. Would your company like to expand into China, but is unsure about potential roadblocks such as regulations, recruiting, and setup? The right vendor can smooth your way.

In addition to entry into China, a potential vendor’s technology expertise must not be overlooked. For example, does the potential vendor focus on embedded technology? Do they have experience with manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs), independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators (SI), and value added service providers (VASPs) who rely on embedded hardware and software technologies?

Intellectual property is a concern everywhere, but especially in a new environment. What are a potential vendor’s procedures for protecting your intellectual property?

Remember, when searching for the best route to leverage China’s vast resources and opportunities, it pays to make certain you have the best vendor as your guide.

A journey of a thousand miles

Begins with a single step.

Lao-tzu (604 BC – 531 BC)

Chinese philosopher

About Long Circle

Long Circle provides outsourced engineering services to companies whose products and services rely on embedded software and hardware technology. Long Circle and the Long Circle China Center of Excellence enables U.S. companies to reduce costs, increase engineering bandwidth, and broaden market reach by providing low-risk, strategic access to China’s engineering talent, manufacturing industry, and emerging markets. To learn more about Long Circle, visit http://www.longcircle.com.

Shenzhen is a city of over 12 million people located in Guangdong Province, China, directly on the border with the New Territories of Hong Kong.

It’s likely that your travel guide to China does not say much about this city except to dismiss it as industrial and good only for cheap knockoff shopping.

Similarly, if you ask people in Hong Kong about Shenzhen, they will pretend to think it’s still a small town full of knife-wielding thieves and you shouldn’t even consider going there.

Both these impressions couldn’t be further from the truth. Shenzhen’s incredibly fast growth is the reason travel books are out of date, and perhaps Hong Kong people’s snobbishness about the city stems from a certain fear and envy of this shiny wealth center on their doorstep!

Modern day Shenzhen is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city that offers a wide range of cultural and leisure venues for tourists, as well as unrivalled shopping and dining. If you like Hong Kong and Shanghai, you will also love Shenzhen – fast, fashionable, cool, and not a little bit crazy!

If you are clueless about Shenzhen and want a few basic pointers, here are the three most famous city center places to see in one day:

Diwang Building

Diwang building is the tallest skyscraper in Shenzhen, at 69 floors, and the symbol of the city’s super fast success. The building is office space for the city’s most prestigious firms, but you can pay around 120RMB to go to the viewing deck on the 68th floor and look over the whole city center.

Opposite the Diwang building is the new multi-storey shopping center “Mix C” complete with ice rink, cinema, and lots of international style restaurants. Many of the shops in the Mix are Hong Kong style overpriced fashion boutiques, but this does not deter the hordes of window shoppers.

A short distance from Diwang is the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which you can’t go into, and still within walking distance, a block away and still the same metro station, is the Grand Theater.

Grand Theater

Completely refurbished in 2006, the Da Ju Yuan / Grand Theater in Shenzhen is a great venue for classical music and traditional Chinese music events. Shenzhen has its own Symphony Orchestra (http://www.sso.org.cn/) and with tickets normally between 60 – 300 RMB no one can complain that culture is out of reach in this modern boom city.

Across the road from the Grand Theater is Lychee Park, which is recommended for taking photos on traditional style bridges, taking a pedalo out on the lake, or watching the unnervingly professional ballroom dancing couples practice outdoors.

On the corner of the park is a large billboard with a Picture of Deng Xiao Peng, the “father of Shenzhen”. It was he who came up with the idea of raising Shenzhen / Baoan from a fishing village to a global scale metropolis, and Chinese visitors to Shenzhen wouldn’t want to miss a chance to be pictured in front of the late Chairman.

Citizens’ Center

Shenzhen’s city government decided to relocate the Central Business District west, out of the original city center (Luohu) and into brand new, spaciously planned zones in Futian District. Part of this project is the Shimin Zhongxin / Citizens’ Center: a huge government building with an iconic “bird shape” roof. Not much to do or see inside, but it’s worth taking a taxi around this whole area, especially at night time, to see all the shiny new skyscrapers. The newly developed area around the Citizen’s Center also includes the Children’s Palace amusement center and exemplary New Shenzhen Library. About half a mile south is the New Exhibition Center / Huizhan Zhongxin, which is, in typical Shenzhen style, impressive just because it is huge.

Visiting Shenzhen

If you are in Hong Kong it’s an easy day trip to Shenzhen, crossing the border at Luohu (KCR to Lowu) or Huanggang (Bus to Lok Ma Chau) – both of which are less than an hour from HK Central.

If you are leaving Mainland China e.g. from Guangzhou or from Shanghai through to HK, we hope you’re open minded about Shenzhen to carve out an extra whole day to stop off and explore the city.

This evening I decided to go try a new Chinese restaurant. My problem with Chinese restaurants in America is that the food is always bland and that it does not taste like the food Chinese people eat. I do not know if it is because they use different ingredients or because they cater to an American palate, but I know that I often find that I never finish eating my food when we go to Chinese restaurants.
I am usually not a picky eater, but after I had the pleasure of eating homemade Chinese food I can say that I have very high standard for Chinese restaurants. It all happened because in high school I had a friend who was a recent immigrant from China. Her parents and her were having a hard time adjusting to the U.S. and I would try to teach them English and other American customs. While my classmates would pick on her for speaking in Chinese, I would try to learn as much as I could about China from her.
China was one of the countries I most longed to travel to and would love to hear her stories about her childhood in rural China. Because I was so friendly towards this family, they soon began to invite me for dinner all of the time. And boy can I say that the food was amazing. I had never had food so delicious and it did not taste anything like the food they served at the local Chinese restaurant. I learned how to use chopsticks for the first time too. On weekends, I started to learn more about the art of Chinese cooking from her mother. But because of my juvenile impatience, I did not learn enough. However, I did learn how to grow Chinese vegetables. My friend would always tell me that the vegetables in China tasted so much better because they were grown in different soil, but that our soil was good enough.
When I left to college I lost in touch with my friend. Years later we reunited and she now has a beautiful family, I found out that she went to college and became a successful businesswoman. But because of her busy schedule she never has time to cook a beautiful Chinese meal anymore. Instead, like me, she struggles to find the best Chinese restaurants.

The acquisition of wholesale products has turned into a much more gainful approach as compared to the acquisition of the same items in retail conditions. Just think about it: even retailers obtain their merchandise from wholesalers, only that they put in their extra fee, so that you end up paying more for the products bought from them. Occasionally, as a buyer of retail products, you might be giving even double the sum for an item that you could otherwise find with a wholesaler.

Therefore, if you prize money value and quality at the same time, you should opt for a wholesale global supplier. When searching for quality, China wholesale is the first direction where purchase choices should go straight to; a wholesaler able to offer electronics from the Chinese market is certain to attract many eager customers. In addition, China wholesale products are definitely going to give you further reasons of advantage, as they are more diverse, thus broadening your choice horizon. They have thousands of items in stock and you just have to see their advantageous offers.

The point: with China wholesale providers, you will have access to an extraordinary and pleasantly surprising assortment of electronics. You will get discount commodities of various merchandise types at matchless charges. Numerous people miss the idea that purchasing China wholesale can be a truly first-class decision. Other merchants – those in the retail area – rely on the notion that you are likely to appreciate their charges as affordable as possible, when in fact they have shelled out less money for the corresponding items.

Next, you may be wondering about the discounts that retailers offer. Well, indeed, they do engage in discount practices, but this does not mean that they sell the products in conditions more advantageous than wholesale ones. They still add a fee to their products, no matter how discounted they are. The truly neat and intelligent manner of putting aside some cash is to choose wholesale.

If you have fixed your mind on acquiring certain electronics items, but realize that they are rather expensive, you may reconsider your wish and come to the authentic fairy godmother of wholesale products – browse our offer of such China items and you will not be sorry. The items that you want are certainly among the wide range of products that we can offer and purchasing them will not leave your pockets empty. If you are not satisfied with the quality or other detail of the product, you will be happy to know there is a 30 days money back guarantee policy for your satisfaction.

Regaining the thrill of shopping in affordable conditions is now possible with wholesalers over the Internet. Save up both time and money and check the China electronics that you need. We are all seeking more and more diverse manners of setting aside some money on the products that we acquire. Acquisitions made in retail conditions will usually drain your pockets. The much more advantageous alternative is to go wholesale. The range of products is expanded and the price labels are more attractive. Plus, there is no minimum requirement for over 99% products and there is a super easy online check out process to benefit from.

www.TravelsWithSheila.com Hangzhou (“Han-Joe”) is one of China’s most popular destinations. It’s always packed with locals from Shanghai, only a 1 ride away on the bullet train, and Chinese tourists. Everyone wants to visit Hangzhou. You can see all the highlights on foot or rent a bicycle to tour. Food streets, entertainers, shops, museums…enough to keep you occupied for days. It sure kept us busy…

Chinese food holds a popular place among the entire population of the world. You can find a Chinese restaurant in every major city and in many smaller areas of the world as well. Why is Chinese food so popular? Is Chinese food healthy? What is the history of Chinese food?

The History of Chinese Food

The history of Chinese food1 is an interesting one. Unlike many cultures the Chinese believe that the preparation of food is an art and not simply a craft. The art of cooking Chinese food can include dishes and food preparation techniques which are difficult to develop and may require the expertise of a chef with lots of experience. One such technique is noodle pulling (scroll down to the bottom of the page to learn more about this technique). Noodle pulling requires skill and lots of practice and results in a delicious noodle dish. This article will refer to noodle pulling later on, but for now, let’s go back to the history of Chinese food.

Chinese food and the way it is prepared is very much influenced by the two major philosophies, which influence the entire Chinese culture. These dominant philosophies are Confucianism and Taoism. Both have these philosophies have influenced the way that the Chinese people cook and the way that they enjoy their food.

Confucianism and Chinese Cuisine

Confucius was the man behind the Confucianism beliefs. Among many other standards Confucius established standards for proper table etiquette and for the appearance and taste of Chinese food. One of the standards set by Confucius (you might have noticed this at an authentic Chinese restaurant) is that food must be cut into small bite size pieces before serving the dish. This is a custom that is definitely unique to the Chinese culture.

Knives at the dinner table are also considered to be a sign of very poor taste by those who embrace Confucianism beliefs. The standards of quality and taste that Confucius recommended required the perfect blend of ingredients, herbs and condiments–a blend which would result in the perfect combination of flavor. Confucius also emphasized the importance of the texture and color of a dish, and taught that food must be prepared and eaten with harmony. Interestingly enough, Confucius was also of the opinion that an excellent cook must first make an excellent matchmaker.

Taoism and Chinese Cuisine

Those who follow the Taoism beliefs focus on the health benefits of particular foods vs. the presentation of the same. Taoists search for foods that will increase their health and longevity. They search for foods that have healing powers. Many times these benefits were often referred to as ‘life giving powers’. For instance, the Chinese found that ginger, which can be considered to be a garnish or a condiment was found to be a remedy for upset stomachs or a remedy for colds.

Is Chinese Food Healthy?

Chinese food, when authentic is probably the healthiest food in the world. Some restaurants, which are not authentic, prepare their menu with highly saturated fats or with meats that contain unhealthy amounts of animal fat. These Chinese restaurants are not recommended and they are both neither authentic nor healthy.

Good Chinese food however, is prepared and cooked with poly-unsaturated oils. Authentic Chinese food does not require the use of milk-fat ingredients such as cream, butter or cheese. Meat is used, but not in abundance, which makes it easy for those who love authentic Chinese food to avoid high levels of animal fat. Many believe that authentic Chinese food is really the ideal diet.

Chinese Restaurants in Every Part of the Nation

Whether it is in a Tennessee Chinese Restaurant to a New York Chinese restaurant you are going to find culinary dishes that are both healthy and delicious. Savor the flavor with Chinese food!

Where do you shop? Do you find enough time to visit all major stores in search of electronics wholesale? We all live busy lives and have hectic schedules. It?s only natural that we turn to the Internet, offering practically an avalanche of China wholesale products.

Casual shopper or not, it?s impossible not to be attracted with some of the products presented online, including electronics wholesale. From accessories for iPods and iPhones to car parking sensors, virtual stores have it all. One can find China wholesale items such as DVD players, digital photo frames and the latest camcorders on the market. The prices of these products are really discounted but you have to be careful to read the minimum order quantity.

Let?s say you are interested in purchasing GPS systems. Find yourself a website specialized in electronics wholesale and then browse the exact category (car accessories). China wholesale GPS systems have incredible prices but they also attract customer through their innovative features. A GPS system has a 4.3 inch TFT touch screen, Bluetooth and is able to provide the user with several functions. The touch screen has been specially designed to recognize hand writing and the system can be used in various languages. Make sure you analyze closely all the features of the GPS, including the resolution, operating system and speakers offered with the package.

Some of the most popular products presented as electronics wholesale include digital photo frames and modern-generation cameras. You can find all sorts of digital photo frames, offering one the opportunity to view photos in different formats and resolutions. If you want to purchase such a product, then do not forget to inquire about the memory and quality display. China wholesale digital photo frames come with a user manual, USB line and CD driver. The package is complete and you will definitely be impressed with the price offered.

Digital cameras are often purchase from the Internet and especially from websites offering electronics wholesale. Many customers are drawn in by the great features these products present and they often refer their friends/work colleagues to the same resources. You cannot even begin to imagine the price China wholesale digital cameras have. And if we are going to talk about their features, then we would have to mention details about the imagine sensor, lens and focus range. All of these details are important when it comes to purchasing digital cameras, including the monitor, memory and battery. The zoom (optical and digital) and the image resolution are also essential.

When you say electronics wholesale, you have to try and picture the biggest virtual store you have ever seen. That means accessories for cell phones (Bluetooth), cables for computers and memory cards. Fashion is also respected with numerous items of clothing presented for prospective clients. If you are looking for a special gift, then China wholesale websites are the first place you should start your hunt. How about something from the Beijing Olympics or a Christmas decoration that has Chinese-inspired motives? You will definitely find the perfect present for that special someone!

The Internet is king when it comes to shopping. Regardless of the type of products or the quantity one is interested in, virtual stores know how to provide everything needed. The prices are adapted to the requirements of the customers and the door is always open to new customers!

“So near to the truth, yet so far.”  That’s the feeling I came away with after watching Bob Woodruff’s recent China Inside Out documentary for ABC news.  It’s regrettable that a journalist of such a high caliber as Woodruff can get so close to a story and not really see it — while helping to perpetuate a number of dangerous myths about China.

Woodruff’s approach seemed very promising at first.  He went to four different continents and countries in order to assess the global impacts of China, the countries being Angola, Brazil, Cambodia, and the United States.

The Angolan segment highlighted China’s economic development model in Africa.  The myth perpetrated in this segment is that the development has actually provided a net benefit to the people of Africa.

In fact, the real truth China is practicing a very sophisticated 21st century version of imperialism in which China loans African countries billions of dollars in exchange for encumbering natural resources.  These resources range from oil and natural gas to copper, cobalt, and titanium.  As part of its debt encumbrance strategy, China gets to reduce its unemployment rate by using a large Chinese construction workforce to actually do the work – rather than relying so much on the native population.

In this segment, Woodruff makes repeated references to corruption.  However, in a glaring omission, he fails to make explicit just how much of the billions in Chinese aid is actually siphoned off into offshore bank accounts held by the African elites.  Nor does Woodruff highlight the intense poverty in the countriesChina is supposed to be “benefiting” — other than offering a few images of slums.

That said, the absolute worst omission of the African segment is Woodruff’s failure to mention the Darfur genocide in the Sudan.  Instead, the only thing we get is a passing reference to Chinese aid to the Sudan in exchange for oil.  In fact,China regularly trades its veto power at the UN for African resources in exchange for shielding African despots from UN interventions.

What made Woodruff’s omission all the more galling is that Woodruff did an extensive interview with China’s United Nations Ambassador Wang Guangya.  This is the same reprehensible “diplomat” who has repeatedly blocked UN action on Darfur.  (Wang also has blocked action following the sham Zimbabwe election and the attempts of the West to sanction Iran for its nuclear development).    The failure to confront Wang on the Darfur question was tantamount to appeasement — or, far worse, simple ignorance.

Woodruff’s omissions were equally in evidence in his Brazil segment.  The theme Woodruff drew here is that China’s increasing consumption for soybeans is leading to deforestation of the Amazon and potential environmental problems.  The biggest problems with this segment were a lack of visual imagery to portray the destruction of the Amazon, and the lack of science and statistics to explain how deforestation in the Amazon is likely to affect the global environment and crop production.

In fact, most of the Amazon’s deforestation occurs during the dry season in an orchestrated slash and burn campaign that fouls the skies throughout South America.  Showing that massive environmental carnage — instead of a few big trees being felled — would have made for a far stronger presentation.  Missing, too, was any good explanation of why we should care about the Amazon.  In fact, theAmazon River basin and its rainforest are absolutely critical to the global ecology because they are considered to be the “Lungs of our Planet.”  By recycling carbon dioxide, the rainforest in particular provides more than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen.

Already, more than 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed while the World Wildlife Fund warns that more than half of the forest will be gone by 2030.   According to many scientists, this destruction of the rainforest has the potential to create severe drought conditions not just in South America but also as far north as the American and Canadian farm belts.  The result may well be a global food crisis — high irony indeed given that the destruction of the Amazon rain forest is occurring in the name of increased food production.

Turning to the third segment on Cambodia, Woodruff does a good job tagging the Chinese with at least some responsibility for the Khmer Rouge genocide of millions.  Missing in this segment, however, was any insight into the real reason why China is setting up so many sweat shops in Cambodia.  Too bad Woodruff didn’t get his cameras into some of these sweat shops to expose the slave labor conditions!

My other big beef with the Cambodian segment was the failure of Woodruff to mention how China is using its upstream positioning on the Mekong River to dam that river with bullying impunity.  China’s dam-happy Mekong River design will eventually include 15 mega-dams.  These mega-dams are likely to create economic and environmental effects that are vast and far-ranging — and Cambodiais at the front lines of this onslaught.

To understand the problem, consider the impacts of China’s dams on one of the world’s most fascinating ecological treasures, the legendary Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. For much of the year, the lake is only a yard deep with a footprint of only a bit more than 1,000 square miles. During the rainy season, however, flow from the Mekong River helps deepen the lake to roughly 30 feet and increases the area of the lake more than five-fold. This turns Lake Tonle Sap into one of the best breeding grounds for fish in the world.

The obvious problem facing the Tonle Sap is that the China’s mega-dams are evening out the flow of water and thereby preventing the world’s most fertile natural fishery from realizing its full depth and breadth in the critical fish breeding season. Already, fish catches have declined dramatically.  This is already having a significant negative effect on Cambodia’s fishing economy.

Woodruff clearly saved the worst for last in his discussion of the impacts of Chinaon the American economy. He leads off the segment by helping to perpetuate the myth that China’s emergence as the world’s factory floor is the result of cheap, hard-working labor.  (The mouthpiece here is Evan Osnos, Beijing Bureau Chief for the Chicago Tribune — an otherwise cogent voice.)

In fact, my research has clearly shown that cheap labor is only a small part of the China puzzle.  Much of China’s advantage in world markets comes from five unfair mercantilist trade practices that include a complex web of illegal export subsidies, blatant currency manipulation, counterfeiting and piracy that lowers production costs, and lax environmental and health and safety standards that likewise lower production costs.

That China blatantly manipulates its currency seems to be totally lost on both Woodruff and the seemingly clueless Fareed Zakaria.  Indeed, it is Zakaria who helps perpetuate the myth that the Chinese are more frugal savers than American consumers and that’s why China helps the U.S. with its debt by buying U.S.treasury bills.

Note to Woodruff and Zakaria: The purchase of U.S. treasury bills is an integral part of the currency manipulation process.  To maintain China’s fixed peg to the dollar and keep the yuan grossly undervalued, China must recycle dollars back into the U.S.   Of course, individual Chinese citizens have no say in this matter; rather they are merely press-ganged into their frugality by China’s central bank — which wants to keep exports to the U.S. cheap and imports into China dear.  (It’s no accident the U.S. trade deficit regularly hits record highs.)

The failure of Zakaria to understand this currency manipulation process (and the broader role of unfair trade practices in China’s grab of American markets) makes it perfectly understandable why Zakaria ignorantly advises that the U.S. has only two options  with China: “either ride the wave or drown in it.”  In fact, what theU.S. government should be doing to prevent the loss of American jobs is cracking down on China’s unfair trade practices.  Leveling the playing field would go a long way towards bringing jobs back to the U.S.

On that note, it is useful to point out perhaps the biggest myth of the documentary – one perpetuated by none other than Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York.  His Honor piously insists that “the jobs that [China] is creating are low-priced jobs” and “that’s not the kind of jobs we want for our citizens.”

Note to the Mayor: While you’ve apparently been sleeping, China has moved steadily up and across the value chain into everything from autos and biopharma to commercial aircraft.  It’s not just about cheap toys and sneakers anymore.

My bottom line is that I would love to see an in-depth, fair and balanced critical look at the economic, environmental, military, political, and social impacts of China on rest of the world.  All that we have gotten so far from TV is a bunch of puff pieces that miss many of the major points and keep perpetuate a set of very dangerous myths.

©2008 Peter Navarro

Author Bio
Peter Navarro a business professor at the University of California-Irvine, is the author of the best- selling investment book If It’s Raining in Brazil, Buy Starbucks and the path-breaking management book, The Well-Timed Strategy. Professor Navarro is a widely sought after and gifted public speaker and a regular CNBC contributor. Prior to joining CNBC, he appeared frequently on Bloomberg TV, CNN, and NPR, as well as on all three major network news shows. He has testified before Congress and the U.S.-China Commission and his work has appeared in publications ranging from Business Week, the L.A. Times, and New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Harvard Business Review.