BACK FROM SHANGHAI and finally (almost) done with Chinese class.  I start a 32h/week internship with the Dept. of Commerce tomorrow, in a division called the US Export Commission.  Basically, I’ll be helping US businesses do work in China (and attract Chinese to their products, of course).  First assignment:  Las Vegas.  From what I gather, LV is trying to do work with the conventions that always held across China.  Should be not too bad.  At the very least, it will be a welcome respite from nonstop Chinese class.

Last week, we were down in Shanghai for a business seminar (and for some sightseeing, of course).  Shanghai (and the surrounding cities like Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wuxi) is a massive, quite modern city.  The city is one hundred percent unlike the Shanghai of 1990.  There is an entire area of town, Pudong (the picture to the right with the skyscrapers is of Pudong), that was literally rice paddies fifteen years ago.  Pretty cool to see how fast development rolls on.  Shanghai has a large expat population, too, so it’s much easier for Westerners to live a Western lifestyle there than it is in Beijing.  My uncle was also in town, so I headed out with him to Hangzhou as a sniper translator.  I learned that translating yourself is actually quite important.  Our company’s translators were near fluent in English and Chinese, but the tone of their translation was often nowhere near what the English tone was.  It was fun sneaking into this meeting pretending not to know any Chinese, too;  I rocked a gold tie with pandas on it for the full “Just arrived from Los Angeles and don’t know a thing” look.

Unfortunately, I suffered my first hit of Montezuma’s Revenge (also known as “Delhi Belly”, “Traveller’s Plague”, and many others) when I was in Shanghai after I ate something bad.  I had a great streak of 7 or 8 years without throwing up going - what can ya do?  I ended up getting quite sick and flying back to Beijing so I could see a Western doctor.  Have you ever had disortientation?  It feels like everything gets twice as loud and everything (yourself included) is moving twice as fast as normal.  Really, really wierd. I’m good to go now, but I still have to deal with the insurance company, which might be even worse.

So I’m hoping to write a book about copyright sometime in the next couple years, and a topic I’ve been thinking about (that’s been discussed very little) is how a poor choice of words by lawmakers and the nature of a computer means that our ability to use IP we’ve purchased legally is massively limited.  Consider this:  In the eyes of the law, any time a file is sent across the internet, a “copy” is made.  Now let’s assume you wanted to establish an internet video rental store.  In the offline world, you would buy one copy of a video, then (without needing permission of the copyright holder) you could rent it to as many people as you desired, of course with the proviso that only one person is watching the copy at a time (since only one person can have the physical video/DVD).  So you establish a paralell online store:  You buy DVDs, convert them to a digital file on your computer (perfectly legal personal use), then charge $1/DVD/rental to “stream” the movie to a customer over the internet.  You use a special system, however, that ensures that only X “streams” of a given movie are able to streamed at once, where X is the number of legal copies of a DVD that you’ve bought.  That is, if you buy 10 DVDs of “Star Wars” legally, you will set your system up so that only 10 people can pay to stream that movie simultaneously.  Two hours later, the rental ends, and the digital file is “returned” to your digital “store” where you can rent it out again.  You may even consider adding the ability to sell the movies permanently, deleting the digital file from your server (or making X equal to X-1) and sending the DVD to your customer.  In every way, this is an exact parallel of Blockbuster, only using digital technology to improve efficiency and reach more customers.  Unless you consider Blockbuster a company that trades on IP theft in the real world, you shouldn’t think this new company is “stealing” IP or doing anything illegal.

Nonetheless, because those streams are technically “copies” (solely because of how computers work), this new company is almost certainly illegal.  The result?  Blockbuster’s rental market forced the cost of new VHS movies from $60 down to under $20 in the early 1980s by providing some competition with direct VHS sales.  This new system will help keep costs down for digital goods in the same way.  Since the beginning of copyright, we’d had a de facto or de jure “right of second sale” which means that once the consumer buys the book/music/DVD, he can do with it what he wishes, including resell or rent it.  We’re losing that right.

It gets worse, though.  Let’s say Congress says that above digital system is legal.  What happens when the first movie is released without a DVD - that is, only as a digital copy.  It will surely have some type of DRM wrapper - the annoying copyright “limitations” that come with iTunes music are an example.  It’s a felony to hack copyright encryption under the DCMA in the United States.  That is, there would be no way to “convert” the DRM wrapped file to a streamable file.

This example is a not a special situation - the current IP regime has far, far worse effects both on creativity and economic efficiency in the IP markets.  The special interests are kicking the ass of the biggest special interest of all - the people.  And no one cares, because the record and movie industries have convinced a ton of people that any use of IP not authorized by some content company is immoral and should be illegal.  We’re on a very slippery slope.

Incidentally, I’m reminded of another thought I had:  Why isn’t “Law” a requirement for students (at the college or HS level)?  I don’t mean a “let’s train to be lawyers” type of course, but a basic “these are the rights of Americans, this is what happens when you’re arrested, this is what you can do if sued, this is how you stand up for yourself” kind of course.  Is this not more valuable than “European History” for the average American (mind you, I think both are valuable)?

If I were running a University, I would require 6 courses of every student: “History of Western Thought”, “History of non-Western Thought”, “Law for Everybody”, “The Political System”, “Economics for Everybody”, and “Science for non-Scientists”.  The last four classes would be taught expressly for people not studying those subjects.  People studying Biology don’t need to know the formula for Okun’s Law in Economics, but it would be good if they understood that inflation and unemployment often are a tradeoff.  Economists don’t need to know Faraday’s Equations, but understanding how the universe works is interesting no matter what career you’re in.  At most colleges, these classes are not only not requirements, they’re not even offered!  I don’t understand it.  If I go to Econ grad school and become a professor, I will teach the Econ for Everybody, no questions.

Hey, last up, have you seen the anti-Japanese protests going on here in China?  There have been sizable anti-Japanese protests over the last week, and the Japanese embassy was damaged by rock-throwers.  The Chinese government calls these spontaneous demonstrations against Japan joining the UN Security Council and against a new Japanese textbook which (perhaps truly) whitewashes Japan’s atrocities during WW2.  Here’s what the articles don’t tell you:  1) A number of college kids had class cancelled on the day of the protests here in Beijing.  2) There were no arrests at all at these “illegal” demonstrations (i.e., they were government sanctioned).  3)  There is massive, massive anti-Japanese racism in China.  I know a number of Chinese kids who don’t like talking to our Japanese (really Japanese-American classmates), and even more who refuse to buy Japanese goods.  There are often anti-Japanese T-shirts for sale on the street.  It’s not even a “We don’t like their policies, but Japanese people are great” situation - many Chinese don’t like Japanese people, period.  Btw, the Chinese kids I’m talking about are all highly educated and urban, so you can guess what the attitudes toward the Japanese are in the rural areas or among older people.

OK guys, peace.  If anyone knows of any jobs in the Eugene area this summer, hit me up.

EASTER AND THE POPE PASSING AWAY - I guess it’s as good a time as any to talk about my thoughts on the church. I’ve never been religious, and I really mean never. One of my earliest memories is being at church when I was 5 or so, and wondering why the Bible was any different from cultural myths. By the time I was 12 or 13, I would have told you straight out that I was atheist. I don’t have any problem with others believing in religion if they so choose, but I’ve never had a doubt in my mind that what we can directly sense and experience is all there is to the universe.Nonetheless, I confess that I don’t really mind a good Christmas service. It’s in some ways a cultural tradition, right? I also consider myself to have grown up in New England - I lived there until I was 14 - and New England is filled with those white steeple, traditional, Rockwellesque Catholic churches that everyone loves. Great buildings. My other problem is that I think the church serves a critical position in society as an arbiter of morals, and I don’t see what will replace it in the secular world.

Now, I don’t believe the morals of the church are God-given, or natural, or anything of that sort. But, in general, the major religions tend to share the propogation of moral society as a major goal. Many concepts that allow society to function without major tension, such as a ban on adultery, are concepts central to the major religions. Now, individuals can certainly choose to respect these morals without religion - I consider myself to be a moral actor, for instance - but it’s more difficult in a secular society for two reasons. First is that practices and morals formed as a child tend to last through to adulthood - there’s a type of path dependence. Second is that children don’t always listen to their parents; a priest or imam can provide the role of a teacher that a parent cannot. It’s BS to say that secular individuals can’t be moral, but I certainly buy the argument that a secular society is potentially less moral on the whole than a religious society. Is the solution to have schoolteachers provide the priest/imam role? I don’t know.

I took the train 12 hours out to Xi’an last weekend (a couple pictures from the trip are up on the right now). Xi’an, if you can believe it, was once the greatest city on the planet. Called Chang’an in the past, the city was the capital of China during two dynasties, and was near the center of power in two more. As far as I know, Xi’an was the first city in the world with a population of one million. A dusty backwater in the late Qing, Republican and Maoist periods, the city found gold at the bottom of a well in 1973. A poor farmer was prospecting for a well at his commune 50km outside Xi’an when he hit a massive cavern. Local authorities came to take a look and found what appeared to be a cavern filled with lifesize terracotta warriors. Archaeologists then found three massive underground caverns - one the size of a large airplane hangar - filled with these guys. The estimate is 6000 (!) lifesize warriors in all, all different, and nearly all preserved. The mythical grand memorial of Qin Shihuang (221BC), China’s most famous emperor, had been found.

Despite this incredible find - unquestionably the archaeological find of the 20th century - Xi’an isn’t a very interesting city. It’s a bit tough to get to, so it’s really only worth it if you’re a Chinese history buff. The city has quite a few important historic sites, including a very important Buddhist pagoda (Big Goose), well-preserved city walls, the Terracotta Army and the Huaqing Hot Springs, a summer retreat for a number of emperors. Or if this is how you roll, every guy I know who’s been to Xi’an has been approached by hookers. You really have to unplug your phone at night or you’ll get nonstop calls asking if you want the tebie anmo, the “special massage.”

Who are the most famous Westerners in China? I’d say it’s a close race between Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan and a tall, goofy Canadian who goes by Da Shan, Big Mountain. Da Shan has been in China for more than a decade, and you see him all the time on TV and on advertisements. The guy is known for speaking perfect Mandarin, slang and all. Chinese people adore this guy, while Westerners all consider him a sorta quirky poindexter. Hey, it works if you work it.

We headed out with some people to a Karaoke bar the other night. These places are both ubiquitous and considered upscale in China. You can rent a “VIP room” - big enough for 10 to 12 - for anywhere from 80 to 200 kuai per night, or 10 to 25 bucks. At the high end, that includes food and soft drinks on the house. Though karaoke here in mainly the Chinese kids singing god-awful Taiwan/HK pop, one of our Chinese buds broke out this rock song (”One Night in Beijing” by Shin) like you don’t know. It was ridiculous. The dude was into it - we had to give him a standing O afterward.

I can’t believe it’s already opening day for baseball. Sox-Yankees on opening day? Fantastic. But really, isn’t this season like meeting a nice girl at the club when you slept with Natalie Portman the week before? I mean, how can you top last season? The greatest comeback in the history of sports, between two teams with the greatest rivalry in American sports. ESPN.com just listed Game 4 of the Yanks/Sox series as the best game (in any sport) of the last 10 years.

Man, am I looking forward to playing some hoops when I get back to the States. I have picked up a nasty jumpstep here in -China, and I can hit that 8-footer from the baseline now, so when I drive people are guaranteed to leave themselves open for one or the other. I’ve got to get the timing on the jump down a bit so I get enough lift to flick up a layup when I jumpstep around bigger guys, but other than that, it’s solid.

I’ve got one more week of class left before I head down to Shanghai for a business seminar, and then 4 days of quick, cheap travel. My Uncle happens to be coming to Shanghai on business that week, so I’m going to go with him on Monday to negotiations with Huawei/3COM and basically spy on them because we’re not going to tell them I understand Chinese. Should be fun. It’s also my first time to Shanghai, which is skyscraper filled and twice as rich as Beijing, so I’ll be sure to get some cool pics. I also had an interview for my internship which I start when I get back here from Shanghai. It looks like I’ll be at the American Chamber of Commerce - Beijing. They have some damn plush offices: plasma in the lounge, full-glass windows on the top floor of a skyscraper, ambassadors and the like visiting all the time. Should be sweet.

Beijing may seem modern on the outside - my roommate was reading Chinese FHM the other day, and it’s exactly the same as the Western one - but it’s still a human rights disaster, and we shouldn’t forget that. I had the chance to talk with a gongmin, a migrant worker from the countryside, the other day. She came here five years ago, and has worked with her husband as a garbage collector ever since. By that, I mean she collects cardboard, bottles and the like, and brings them to this massive dump on the city outskirts where she’s paid. I believe she said she makes 300-600 kuai/month, which is 37-75 dollars. The city can kick her out at any time - she’s managed to dodge two raids - and she’s not allowed to enroll her kids in Beijing schools or use Beijing hospitals without a massive fee (on the order of 20000 kuai, so clearly unaffordable). Nonetheless, she says she would never go back to the countryside, and that her life is much better than it was when she lived in her village. She claims her salary now is beyond her wildest dreams.

Now for that, I say good for her. I’m not one who romanticizes farm life. I think sweatshops are, in general, a good thing. Here’s what infuriates me, though. This woman’s husband was arrested for not having proper hukou (a card that indentifies what city or village you’re “allowed” to live in). Since he didn’t have money to pay off the police officer, he was forced to work slave labor for a week in construction. He was not paid a penny, nor was his wife told where he was or what happened to him. This was not 1980. This was last year. This was not in a rural area. This was in Beijing, the capital. I asked her why they didn’t complain to the government. She said it was her understanding that this was a government policy, not that of a rogue cop.

There was a famous story last year in Shenzhen, the richest city in China, about police brutality. A rural worker was beaten to death by police, certainly not an isolated incident. A brave newspaper reporter for the South China Daily reported the incident, which sparked nationwide interest. What was the result? A few officers were demoted. One person lost his job and was sent to a hard labor camp. Was it the chief of police? No. It was the Editor of the newspaper which reported the story.