<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="arial">\</font><font size="4" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">An APEC scraper</font></span><br>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">President Xi Jinping visited Ulan Bator in Mongolia early
this year and shared the image of China as a train on a roll welcoming all to
come on board appropriate to the now vibrant image of the Silk Economic Circle (visions
from Seoul to London overland and maritime) that China unleashed directly on
Indian Ocean islands to the Suez and resurgent nations of Central Asia.</font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">The weeklong 2014
meeting of the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation in
Beijing November 5-12, aims to<i> "Shape(ing)
the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership",</i> notable for its
collaborative more than competitive tone, fitting next to the Bird's Nest at
the 2008 Beijing Olympic grounds where athletes were exhorted to break their own
record before going after those of others.</font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">To develop
consensus <i>(my parenthetical notes) </i>on
regional economic integration <i>(loosen up
on protectionism)</i>, promote innovation and development <i>(quit being just a factory outlet but create)</i>, reform and grow
stagnant economies <i>(relate to each other's
economies, damn it!),</i> and strengthen infrastructure connectivity <i>(build planes and tarmacs, cyber terminals
and satellites, ports and ships, rails and trains, roads and electric cars, bicycle
ramps and pedestrian lanes),</i> APEC has an agenda towards concrete results this
week (today is last business day).</font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">When I made my
inland trip to China just after Tiananmen in '89, the Boulevards <i>(da jie) </i>were tree lined, and
folks pedaled about in their office attires.
The cities were not high-tech yet, but they were green! That has changed. The price of economic progress is high. To reduce PMI alerts in the northeast this week, construction work
was suspended and government employees went on holidays in Beijing while the
meeting was in session. </font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">With 1.3 billion
people targeted in the China Dream, a democratic impulse is very much alive. A people who only 40 years ago endured
devastating hardship and famine, had made its space technology and its
applications glocal in the market of droids and androids, staying on the black side
of the ledger, and be proud!</font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">APEC
was established in the year I peeked at the Forbidden City'89. It now involves 21 Pacific Rim economies. A quaint <span style="color:#1C1C1C;">tradition has leaders' dress in the host nation's
attire during the Leaders meeting. </span>Monday night was dress up day at the
Water Cube, <i>aka</i> National Aquatic
Center, where President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Li Yuan received the
head-of-States attired in various shades of silk (a designer's <i>Tang Zhuang Han Fu </i>aka new modern formal
suit <i>Xin Zhong Zhuang </i>for the
occasion<i>.)</i></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4">My
delight is on the ground effect of the "foreigners' presence" in
country. "Face" wishing to be seen in good light and held in high esteem,
makes for a great op to display the best china, as it were. Liaoning 2013 had my school participate in
the China Games 2013. After scraping off
pasted posters for two years before, a maintenance member proudly showed me the
scraper he added to his tools. He
gestured that I did not have to bring mine any more as it was now his job to
scrape. The word that certain posts and
walls were not going to tolerate impromptu posters any further might have been
made!</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4">While
I waited for a bus last week, I saw a street cleaner in orange vest peeling off
ads on streetlight poles and lampposts. Thinking
it anomalous, simply an individual's sole initiative, I noticed police cars
clear out parked vehicles and unauthorized streets vendors by the usually
crowded to Metro stop escalators two blocks from my place. On Saturday morning, a male youth came to the
ground floor doors in my neighborhood scraping off ads. The APEC weeklong meetings must have sent the
word out that the "rule of law" can be applied through the scraper.</font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4"> </font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4">On
a walk through the University, I noticed that the maintenance crew scraped ads
and posters from the pillars of the dorm where I lived. A class monitor once found me sweeping the classroom
floor in our room after a session and she declared that they had "someone
paid to do that". That it was not
reflected in the tidiness of the room.</font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4"> </font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4">China
has a "someone-paid-to-do-that" mentality, so folks just spit sunflower
shells on the streets, polished floors, and newly swept stairs. Indiscriminate pasting of ads on doors and walls
is common. A former student came into my
quad this week and commented that the playground cleared of parked cars looked
like a "village".</font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4"> </font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4">The
democratization of initiative, creativity, and innovation is a pillar of China's
dream. China is now open to foreigners
from around the world. It is sensitive
to "face", an incentive Xi Jinping does not hesitate to exploit to
motivate behavior. APEC pushed to tidy
up surroundings a bit; one hopes that the local efforts keep going. </font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4"> </font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1C1C1C;"><font size="4">If
the China Games 2013 at my University was any indication, pride in clean posts,
poles and walls might linger longer after the APEC is over. Or, at least, my village at the old Shenbei
Center continues to keep "face" before a resident foreigner who walks
around with a camera! </font></span></div>
<br>
<div style="font-size: 18px;"><i>j'aime la vie</i><br>
<div><i>yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!</i></div>
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