The Chinese Capricorn One.

I find China very interesting - for it never ceases to surprise by its actions. That is not to say that I find it admirable, however. I am interested in the fact that they think they can continue to ignore global behavioural norms, while seeking to be part of the global economy. They don't seem to understand that they have to change, to truly become a part of it.

Now, you might be puzzling over the title of my post. Capricorn One was a 1978 film about a Mars mission that was faked: no mission took place, though TV footage was created to make it look as if it had. This week, the Chinese seemed to have taken a lesson from this fictional story and staged their own Capricorn One - at least, momentarily.

China's state news agency, Xinhua, posted a dispatch reportedly from the country's three latest astronauts describing their first night in space. The dispatch was filled with details, such as describing the Shenzhou VII orbiting the Earth and even carried the outline of a conversation which had supposedly happened between the astronauts, while in space. There is nothing wrong with that, you might think - only there was. You see the mission hadn't taken off, yet.

Think about that. China had scripted an event which had not yet happened - and would, in fact, never happen in the way described - for the astronauts could not have had a conversation in an orbit they had not yet visited. Nor would they have such a conversation once in space - unless they truly have to follow a script and act out one like a play. Thus, the whole story was fiction. It has the same status as Capricorn One - an official description of something which hadn't happened.

There is one difference, of course: this mission is meant to happen. However, that is beside the point, for what this event tells us is that the astronauts on board Chinese space missions are not truly free to describe what they see. Their "descriptions" and "eye-witness statements" are scripted by others and fed to the state media. It is just like Capricorn One - a fiction for the public. They don't even get to speak their minds and be on record for having uttered them. No: words are put in their mouths for public and permanent record - words they never said and may never read.

I find it unnerving that the story even recorded the reactions of people to a successful mission: "Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean." Beautiful stuff - only it hadn't happened.

The world is learning, this year, much about China. The greatest lesson perhaps is that everything that comes out of China is fake - the food is fake, the news is fake, the gymnasts are fake (underage)...I am even left to wonder: is China fake? Does China exist? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that that is fake, too.

I don't think that the Great Faker, actually has as bright a future as people generally believe. Once the world realizes that nothing is as it seems, much of the world won't want to deal with them. Without people to buy their goods (fake goods), China won't have such a great economy after all. It is only a matter of time. Already it is beginning to happen. In Singapore, sales of Chinese goods are off at least 50 % according to reports in the Straits Times and Today newspapers. I think that is just the beginning. When the source can't be trusted, no-one will buy from it. Sometimes cheap is not cheap enough - or perhaps too cheap. There are other considerations...like is it real?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

53,000 babies and Chinese values.

Do the Chinese value human life? Or do they value money? A society answers this question not by what it says, but by what it does. Repeatedly, China has answered my first question in the negative, by doing something that shows a disregard for human life. As I write, 53,000 Chinese babies (up from 6,200 yesterday) are ill, some seriously, some dead, from melamine poisoning from contaminated milk. China, once again, has answered the question.

It is not possible, in a country in which its people value the lives of others as much as their own, for such a food poisoning scandal to occur. You see, melamine has been found in the dairy products of 22 companies in China. Melamine is more commonly used in fire retardants, floor tiles, kitchen ware and in the making of fertilizers. It is not a foodstuff and, indeed, causes death by renal failure if ingested in toxic quantities. That, of course, is just what is happening: babies are suffering kidney damage and some have died, others being seriously ill.

The fact that companies throughout the width and breadth of China are all manufacturing poisonous milk products can only mean one thing: hundreds, perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of suppliers and milk processors in China are adulterating the milk with melamine in the quest for additional profits, at the expense of the lives and health of unknown, random babies, by the thousand.

Think about that. The poisoning of babies on a large scale is considered a reasonable way to make money in modern China, by hundreds, perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of people. Furthermore, it was thought reasonable, by the Chinese authorities, to keep the whole thing quiet, while babies continued to drink poisonous milk, so that there was no embarrassment leading up to the Olympics. You see, first awareness of the problem goes back to March this year. Shortly after that, the relative of a leading Sanlu executive made a report to the authorities about it: she was told to keep quiet, apparently until the Olympics had passed. Thus, we return to the lies and deceptions surrounding the Olympics and the image of perfection China wished to present - at whatever cost. It seems, now, that one of those costs was the lives and health of 53,000 babies (and counting...after all the number declared was only 6,200 yesterday). How many of them could have been spared if the milk had been cleaned up in March?

Now, a toddler in Hong Kong has been revealed to have developed kidney stones after consuming Yili milk - one of the contaminated brands. How many others around the world are there, showing unusual sickness for their age...but unidentified because their doctors have not put two and two together? The contaminated milk has ended up in less than obvious locations - in everything from yogurt, to ice cream to confectionery...yes, that is right, your kid's favourite Chinese sweets, could kill them.

Everyone talks of the need for better regulation on the issue in China, but I don't really think regulation is the problem. The problem is a lack of basic humanity in their business people. Everyone knows you don't poison your customer to make a quick buck - everyone except the Chinese, it seems. There is no need for a regulation that states: "Don't poison your customer". That should be needless in any society that has reached even the most basic level of civilization. Perhaps China, in truth, hasn't reached that basic level yet - at least, its business people haven't.

What is needed in China is an elevation not of its economy (which will grow on the backs of lots of sick and dying people unwise enough to buy their products), but an elevation of its people: they must become responsible global citizens, thinking not just of the dollar today, but of people and society tomorrow. They must think of the consequences of their actions, beyond the immediate financial rewards that can be made by a particular course of action. If an action is sure to make more money, but the price is that it kills babies - then NO-ONE should be taking that course of action. Shockingly, however, in China it seems that hundreds, perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of people in the dairy supply chain took just that decision: to make money, while killing babies.

I don't think I will be visiting China in a hurry - and if I ever do, I won't be drinking the milk.

By the way, I have heard of something else that finds its way into Chinese milk to enrich the nitrogen content and thus the apparent protein content: urea. That's right: they are pissing in the milk supply. It gives a new meaning to "Made in China".

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

The lie of Chinese ethnic unity.

During the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games, 56 children were presented to us as members of the 56 ethnicities of China. I thought this rather a good touch. It showed, perhaps, that China was thinking of all of its contributing ethnicities at this time. However, something rankled about it, as a gesture. It rankled because I know, for a fact, that China makes it almost a national sport, to persecute its minorities. It was, therefore, a strange thing to do, to promote itself as being inclusive of all of its 56 ethnicities, when there were many incidents, of international renown, that showed that this was not so, in practice.

Now, we have learnt that the "56 ethnicities" were, in fact, all Han Chinese children. Ethnic children were not allowed to take part. This is most ironic, for in debarring the children of truly ethnic minority origin, China was showing its true face with regards to its ethnic minorities: racism and oppression, sometimes even to genocidal practices (look at the history of Tibet, for instance). Not allowing ethnic minorities to participate is symptomatic of its true attitude towards its own ethnic minorities: they are to be repressed, marginalized and excluded, at the least, perhaps even killed, in some cases.

China is lying to the world again. I rather hope that this will teach the world one basic assumption about China: that it lies at all opportunities - for it has done so, in this Olympics and, no doubt, does so in all its dealings with the world. A liar doesn't just lie on special occasions, a liar lies all the time. Thus, China, in lying so much at the Olympics is showing us that they always lie, that, if they were a person, they would be classified as a pathological liar. When given every opportunity to be truthful, they prefer to lie. They could have told the world: "These are 56 Han Chinese children dressed in the costumes of the 56 ethnicities of China." Instead of which they told the world's media, and thus the world, that they were, actually, children of 56 different ethnicities. So, rather than a simply told truth, they would rather a cleverly told lie.

So, what we have seen, so far, is not a Chinese Olympics, put on by a united China, represented by all Chinese people. No. What we have seen is a Han Chinese Olympics, put on to the exclusion of the diverse minorities that are part of the Chinese land (in spatial co-ordinates, if not in social inclusion).

In a very real sense, the Chinese are insulting the international community by lying to them, in various ways. By telling the world that they had thoughtfully included representatives of all 56 races, they were presenting an image to the world of ethnic inclusivity and absence of racism. This, if true, would have made China seem more progressive, developed and mature. That was the impression they wished to give. The truth, however, was that so racist, internally divided, xenophobic, exclusive and riven are they that they did not include ANY other race of child, apart from Han Chinese. They understood enough to know, however, that the world would like it to be as they said it was. Rather than make it so, however, they preferred to lie about it.

The funny thing about all of this is that China is doing more damage to its international standing than a whole world of critics has managed to do in recent decades. China is coming to look like a shameless liar through and through. Well done, China. What more lies, deceptions and instances of cheating are yet to be uncovered?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)