links for 12/2/07

• Good and lengthy discussion on how we arrived at the current environment including comments on how commercial paper fits into the subprime story. Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
• Unseen China – a documentary about the losers of China’s new economy. Almost an hour in length, with the first half focusing on the laid off workers of a former state-owned factory in Zhengzhou. Some of the stories, such as the police hiring thugs to punish protest organizers are so reminiscent of the early days of protest organization in the US. Some parts were just so pathetic that it felt very uncomfortable to watch. And the second half features Beijing families evicted from their homes to make way for Olympics-related construction. One such man took their case to court and was told by the judge even though his case was legally correct, the judge’s superior had ordered all such cases to be ruled against the little guy. What corruption!

Lust, Caution

I found the new Ang Lee movie, “Lust, Caution” an engrossing movie. It’s a Chinese WWII spy movie in which a traitorous Chinese collaborator is the main enemy rather than a Japanese. It is plenty sad, particularly the ending, and powerful in a good Ang Lee way. I realized afterwards that while many other movies portray the sadness of this era by showing Chinese getting killed or tortured or mistreated somehow by Japanese, there was not a single violent gunshot in this film.

In one camera angle of a Shanghai street, pedestrians walked while avoiding a man laying down. It’s only when the camera pans closer that you see a puddle of blood near his head. In another scene in which good Chinese patriots are about to be shot by a cliff, the camera pans to the cliff and the river below, jerking my heart all around, and all without any gunshot sound FX.

One thing I like about this movie has nothing to do with the movie itself but rather the fact that it is based on a short story by Chang Ailing, a Chinese writer and hero to the Chinese people. (Chinese are always eager to worship another hero.) I promise there are no spoilers here, but she based her short story on her relationship with her first husband, a Japanese collaborator who was married to another woman when she first met her. That husband eventually left her for another woman, and she left China in 1955, never to return. She settled here in the States and died in Los Angeles  in the 90s after a life of writing literature. She never felt very successful about her life, though many Chinese, my parents included, believe that if any Chinese were awarded a Noble Prize for literature, that it should belong to Chang Ailing.

links for 11/3/07

• 11 Useful Stem Cell Traits – Pretty good rundown of what makes a good stem cell and what the technological hurdles are.
• 5 Tips to Spot a Hot (or Not) IPO – I particularly appreciate tips #2, #4, and #5 since they are ways to “read between the lines” when reading IPO prospectuses. Many a Wall Street white-collar is highly paid to hide things between those lines.
• Red Flags at Terra Nostra Resources – The lack of scrutiny in the Chinese stock market is just wild. This is a pretty good writeup of one stock that is “a paper mill masquerading as a metal mill. The dilution is out of control, run by a family with serious history of securities fraud run out of a Bahamian holding company.” I always love a good drama!

Why is Jude Shao still in Chinese Prison?

It was my sophomore year when I first learned of Jude Shao, a naturalized American citizen and Stanford business school graduate who had been imprisoned by China for refusing to pay a bribe while running his business. I still remember his quote from the Stanford Daily:

Shao refused to pay what he interpreted as a bribe…. “I had set up the company’s policy not to bribe any government officials in China. I am a Stanford MBA. I wasn’t interested in unethical business practice.”

I just love the pride of his words. “I am a Stanford MBA.” I am above this unethical crap.

I also remember sharing bitter jokes with a friend, also an Chinese-American. We both saw Jude Shao’s story as something that could happen to us. While it is common knowledge that the Chinese government will have its way with its own citizens, and while (we assumed) that Washington DC would (and should) raise a stink if a white American were wrongfully imprisoned by China, Jude Shao’s imprisonment is showing that Americans of Chinese descent are the grey area.

I randomly decided today to google “Jude Shao” today and found the Free Jude Shao website:

He was detained on April 6, 1998, officially arrested on May 8, 1998 and has now been unjustly imprisoned for 9 years. He has 7 years remaining on his 16-year sentence.

Why the hell is he still a prisoner of the PRC?! I imagine the news analysis explanation has something to do with the fact that our country is holding tons of foreigners in Guantanamo without charge and that it would be hypocritical for this government to criticize the PRC of wrongfully imprisoning one of theirs, but damnit that man is one of ours and his country needs to stand up for him and be willing to escalate this Jude Shao debacle to bilateral controversy status.