BEIJING - I don't think that Mr Michael Clauss has read my two recent articles on Sino-Western relations here, and here while in Hong Kong last week. But I surely have another bold and thought-provoking piece about the casus 'Zhang Miao and Angela Köckritz' up my sleeves for Beijing. Should be good in a week or so. Stay tuned in...
"I think I see it better now after some reflection. Mr Clauss pressed Beijing on that poor Zhang Miao and Beijing lost its temper, reached out for the first biddable German and dictated a stream of hate and spite that we had to endure in yesterday's paper under the byline of Thorsten Pattberg, knowing Mr Clauss would be in Hong Kong to read it. This, despite revolting us as ordinary readers, succeeded in its main goal of destabilizing German foreign policy and extracting this craven interview. Western diplomats and leaders are going to need to learn to be stronger than that."
Comment by ehoprice on South China Morning Post:
TWELVE YEARS ago, I arrived in China with the determination to study first Sanskrit and Buddhism and then, expediently, the indigenous Chinese traditions such as Taoism and Confucianism. Plagued by precarious living conditions and academic poverty all around us (especially in the Chinese humanities), let alone constant Western media prejudices against China, we managed, largely because of our curiosity, discipline, frugality, and our bristling youth, not only to survive but also to make small careers of it. Overall fine memories of an extraordinary experience:
SHANGHAI - It's been a full zodiac circle. Twelve years ago in the Year of the Sheep 2003, I landed in China and I must confess that I knew nothing about the Chinese zodiac.
In my country, Germany, we were taught little about the East, except that it was our cultural and ideological adversary. And where I attended university, in Edinburgh … boy, did the British entertain prejudices against mainland China.
Registered as a Russian major at Fudan University in Shanghai, a metropolis of 20 million people, I found a small room near Wujiaochang crossings, only a 1 yuan (then worth about 12 US cents) bus ride down Siping Lu, passing Tongji University, to the famous tourist spot "The Bund" opposite Pudong. The very day of settling in town I bargained a gregarious Holland bike that was stolen barely 20 minutes later when I checked into a local store for bread and a glass of rancid nutella (chocolate spread) which, as if teaching a painful lesson in humility, caused the first and still most hideous food poisoning in my life. 
[Read full text at ASIA TIMES]
The Zhongguomeng is about the the great rejuvenation of the Chinese "Wenming"... the spiritual civilization.
日本《外交学者》7月31日文章,原题:中国对常春藤联盟的恋情 不投资本国高等教育,中国将无法缓和人才向西方大学“流失”的趋势。中国学子对哈佛大学趋之若鹜,并非秘密。正如体坛精英加入顶尖俱乐部,中国的年轻才俊也被名牌大学所吸引。如今外国顶尖大学也正以前所未有的规模吸引中国尖子生。 这并非仅限于哈佛。无论是加州大学伯克利分校、耶鲁还是剑桥,一流学府都充满中国的年轻才俊。对个人这是好事,但其黑暗面就是国家的人才流失。 最新证据源自中国富豪潘石屹夫妇对哈佛的巨额捐款。这本非什么稀罕事,却在中国社交媒体上引发众怒。作为商人,潘氏夫妇或许期盼其“投资”获得某种形式的回报,除了让企业扬名立万,或许还能把自家亲朋好友送进哈佛。鉴于照顾家庭和朋友是儒家传统根深蒂固的组成部分,大多数中国人对此并无异议。其实若拥有相应财富,许多批评者可能也会这么做。但人们关注的是:他们为何不投资中国教育? 在数学、阅读和科学技巧等方面,中国学生(普遍)表现得更优异,这点众所周知。那中国的大学为何无法跻身世界前列? 北京正竭力扭转中国的人才流失趋势。例如,作为培养“未来世界领袖”倡议的一部分,清华吸引了美国施瓦茨曼集团捐赠3亿美元,北大聘请哈佛大学燕京学社前社长…… 中国需要拥有本国的哈佛(及耶鲁、普林斯顿等)。这完全可以理解。中国学生具有积极进取的冲劲和竞争优势(这些因素正推动他们在全世界取得成功)。然而,只要中国精英不相信自己的文明,并将财富投向别国的教育事业,唯有奇迹才能把中国从历史的沉睡中唤醒。(作者裴德思,王会聪译)来源环球时报)Source: http://www.fkjwm.com/banliliucheng/1365.html
