Re: Jay-Z, Starbucks Symbolize China's Real Problems: Wi

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: James Seng <james () seng sg>
Date: January 23, 2007 11:39:13 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] Jay-Z, Starbucks Symbolize China's Real Problems: Wi

The article take the position the chinese bloggers who took on
Starbuck issue in Forbidden City is misguided and should tackle bigger
national issues. Why pick on this small poor little Starbuck hidden at
the corner? But it is not hidden at the corner...it is slam right in
the centre of the Forbidden City.

I find Starbuck in the Forbidden City out of place. Starbuck is not
part of Chinese history or culture to be there.

I share the same sentiment as Rui Chenggang, quote "should be as
unwelcome in the Forbidden City as it would be at the Taj Mahal in
India, the pyramids in Egypt or the Louvre Museum in Paris."

(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/16473633.htm)

I dont see a Starbuck inside Louvre Museum. Perhaps William should
asked why one was not there too.

ps: I am not from China but I am a Chinese descendant.


-James Seng

On 1/24/07, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
> Jay-Z, Starbucks Symbolize China's Real Problems: William Pesek
> 2007-01-23 13:58 (New York)
>
>
> Commentary by William Pesek
>       Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The public outcry against a Starbucks
> outlet in Beijing's Forbidden City would seem to have little to
> do with rap icon Jay-Z.
>       Starbucks Corp. faces possible ejection from China's 587-
> year-old imperial palace after the world's largest coffee-shop
> chain was criticized by a Chinese news anchor. Censors forced
> Jay-Z to cancel an Oct. 23 concert in Shanghai.
>       Let's see: a buttoned-down Seattle-based outfit that has
> popularized $4 ``coffee drinks'' containing less java than
> whipped cream and a Brooklyn, New York-born rapper whose songs
> deal with drug dealers, pimps and guns. Nope, probably not a
> whole lot in common -- at least not from an Asia vantage point.
>       And yet the clampdowns on both, no matter how different the
> circumstances, say much about some of China's biggest challenges.
> They show what the world's No. 4 economy needs more of
> (grassroots activism) and what it needs less of (censorship) to
> reach its potential.
>       Starbucks is up against a popular movement to toss its
> single outlet out of the Forbidden City. Actually, it's more of a
> kiosk without the ubiquitous Starbucks sign hanging out front,
> and good luck finding it. Caretakers will decide by the end of
> June whether it can remain or be abolished.
>       As an American, you wouldn't catch me in an overseas
> McDonald's or KFC. Yet I rarely mind stepping into a Starbucks on
> a brisk morning in Beijing, as I did while exploring the
> Forbidden City in late November. I never tire of visiting the
> world's largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures.
> It really is a magical place, and perhaps Starbucks has no place
> there.
>
>                            Misdirection
>
>       Yet it's hard not to feel that the uproar is misdirected.
>       It would be nice to see a groundswell of support for
> clamping down on those offering pirated DVDs inside the Forbidden
> City. Bloggers might consider voicing outrage about scam artists
> doing business there, too. And then there's the huge portrait of
> Mao Zedong that adorns a Forbidden City entrance. Why aren't
> bloggers debating Mao's legacy?
>       Never mind, Starbucks seems to be the real evil. It's ``a
> symbol of low-end U.S. food culture'' and ``an insult to Chinese
> civilization,'' Rui Chenggang, an anchor at state broadcaster
> China Central Television, wrote on his personal Web log. It's
> attracted hundreds of thousands of hits.
>       Starbucks is a distraction. Bloggers should be finding ways
> to criticize the growing gap between rich and poor in the world's
> most-populous nation. They should call for action on China's
> graying skies and polluted rivers. They should address the
> corruption that keeps China's 10 percent growth from trickling
> down to those who most need it. They should question whether
> China needs $1 trillion in currency reserves.
>
>                          Bloggers Needed
>
>       If anything, the Starbucks flap underscores the Internet's
> increasing power in shaping China's public opinion and shifting
> public policy. It would be fascinating to see the effect
> increased cyber-activism might have on the Communist Party.
>       The problem, of course, is censorship. China spends an
> inordinate amount of time and energy controlling what is said
> about it. Over time, it will become harder and harder to police
> cyberspace and herein lies one of the true wildcards for China's
> outlook. It would be nice to see China's bloggers pushing the
> envelope more.
>       That brings us to Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter.
> ``Some of Jay-Z's songs contain too much vulgar language'' Sun
> Yun of promoter KS Production Co. was quoted as saying in October
> by the Shanghai Daily newspaper.
>
>                            It's Not Cool
>
>       Jay-Z, 37, took being banned in stride. ``I know the Rolling
> Stones went through the same thing -- and the Black Eyed Peas,''
> Jay-Z told reporters in October. ``I didn't take it the wrong way.
> It's cool.''
>       Only, it's not cool. Never mind that Jay-Z last year worked
> with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to improve access to
> clean water in developing nations -- something China very much
> needs to do. Investment in water is far more important to China's
> stability than, say, building rockets to shoot down your own
> satellites, or silencing a rapper.
>       China is wasting time censoring things its consumers can get
> anyway. Pirated versions of Jay-Z's entire discography can be
> found throughout the nation. Ditto for ``Pirates of the
> Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,'' a film it banned last year.
>       Censorship is a form of protectionism. China wants to
> protect the minds of its people so it bans U.S. films and
> performers. Doesn't doing so make it harder to argue that the U.S.
> shouldn't protect jobs by limiting Chinese goods?
>
>                            Loosening Up
>
>       Yet trying to protect Chinese from the Jay-Zs and Johnny
> Depps of the world is a symptom of a bigger problem: the cost of
> keeping out news and content spreading throughout the rest of the
> world. The policy is simply incompatible with thriving in the
> information age.
>       China may be the world's factory floor, yet its future needs
> to be as much about ideas and innovation as cheap labor. It's an
> open question how China can compete in a global information
> economy while limiting the flow of information.
>       All censoring Google.com and Wikipedia.com accomplishes is
> seeing to it that China's best and brightest only know so much
> about advancements and trends a world away. China must loosen up
> if it is to encourage innovation and create more domestic growth.
>       Jay-Z and Starbucks have more to do with China's outlook
> than they realize.
>
>      (William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions
> expressed are his own.)
>
> -------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -
> You are subscribed as james () seng cc
> To manage your subscription, go to
> http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
>
> Archives at:
> Archives: http://archives.listbox.com/247/
> Modify Your Subscription: http://v2.listbox.com/member/? 
> &
> Unsubscribe: http://v2.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?id=773024-751fdc72- 
> ne94cch8
> Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com


-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at:  
Archives: http://archives.listbox.com/247/
Modify Your Subscription: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=1788750&user_secret=f2ab41d2
Unsubscribe: http://v2.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?id=1788750-f2ab41d2-c84v5me0
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com