Let's Stay Friends

The US and Vietnam strengthen ties as an anniversary comes this summer. Ties have been





http://news.yahoo.com/vietnam-us-test-hard-won-friendship-073104044.html

Abe likes Starting things

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-20/abe-sends-strongest-signal-yet-he-won-t-repeat-war-apologies?cmpid=yhoo

State-owned defaults in China

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/business/dealbook/chinese-state-owned-company-in-a-first-defaults-in-domestic-bond-market.html?_r=0

Reconnecting with a lost Culture

I came upon this article and thought it interesting for people to read. How a young generation trying to reconnect with a lost culture having been born in one place but growing up in another, not quite fitting in. The article talks about this one woman who came from Vietnam at a very young age, because her family was trying to escape the communist invasion of the south. To retrace her roots, she must go back to the country her father tried to escape from and she receives backlash from him. Vietnam is "the enemy" for him. The young woman knew of her culture having moved to "little saigon" in Orange County (Westminster....), yet her motherland was a mystery. When she returned, she stayed. It wasn't in the same state that she had left it in. Because of her desire to return, it has allowed her father to get the closure he needed. He no longer hates Vietnam and even took the time to visit her in Hanoi.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-08/a-daughter-s-vietnam-return-forces-a-father-to-confront-his-past

Still hung up in Vietnam...

Vietnam has, for a long time, been able to fend off China, and thus creating tensions between the two states. Vietnam is "cunning and duplicitous" in the eyes of China and China a bully to Vietnam. In recent times, Vietnam's economy is becoming reliant on China, adding pressure to a country trying to escape the looming shadow of tributary state. Vietnam needs to show its citizens that it will not kow tow to China, that Vietnam is not weak nor a subordinate to China.

Reading the comments are always bias, (insightful?), and most definitely fun.

 Commenter Gerald Breecher: I asked an educated Vietnamese in light of their history, who they hated more, the French or the Americans. His response: the Chinese ....

I thought this response comical because while we invaded for merely decades, China has been involved with Vietnam for centuries.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-world-vietnams-impossible-bind-how-to-stand-up-to-beijing-1428397027

Understanding Cultures

This article was rather interesting because people from around the world will always have a different view on culture. What constitutes having "culture"? Does it mean having a long history? O maybe it means to be artistic.  China's history is long and has a long-standing tradition of foreigners becoming "sinicized" (Manchurians, Mongolians). America's culture technically also has a long history of culture, dating back to western civilization if that counts....
It is hard to measure culture. Coming from different backgrounds influences the way we view the world and what the word culture means to us (U.S.) ...and China.

http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/how-chinese-and-americans-understand-culture/

Because helping people is against China's government

There are no formal entities that protect the people in China (yes there are laws in place, unfortunately there is no enforcement).  Non-governmental organization come and go as often as a woman changes her clothes in a day. They are seen as a threat to the government because they address the flaws and injustice in the communist state. China doesn't like it when its own citizens mention human rights violations.





http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-raids-ngo-offices-in-latest-sign-of-crackdown-on-dissent/2015/03/26/4badeaac-d3b0-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html