I’ve been meaning to comment on Bill Gates’ highly controversial remarks at the World Economic Forum about China’s new capitalism, but I’m too busy/tired to take on the task, at least tonight. In the meantime, I’d like to draw your attention to Billmon’s interesting juxtaposition of Gates’ quote and other quotes about China. I’m not necessarily endorsing Billmon’s message, but he’s a big name in the blogosphere and somewhat of a genius, and lots of people will be reading these words tonight. So check them out and draw your own conclusions. (Billmon was one of the journalists covering the WEF live from Davos; he’s nobody’s fool, though I have never seen him write about China before.)

Eulogies in English and Mandarin, a very decent essay by Zhao’s Secretary Bao Tong, and other interesting stuff.

From Bao’s essay:

Since then, some people have got even wiser, saying it’s much better just to forget him, rather than to denounce him. To forget that Zhao was the driving force behind the economic reform program, that he created the blueprint for political reform, that he was a guardian of democracy and the rule of law, and that he was the only leader in the history of China’s Communist Party who dared to honestly stand up for his own ideas in the face of the the immense power of the Party.

The Party’s renewed detentions and sentencing of political dissidents, its tight control over and stifling of news media and publishing houses, has already become a core component of “suppressing everything in the name of stability,” I fear.

So the Three Represents finally came up with a policy: Erase history! Wipe out Zhao Ziyang’s name! Because when absolute power lost its reason, it was Zhao Ziyang who sounded the warning bell for the nation.

It’s not the name that matters so much. What matters is the fate of reason and democracy in China. Zhao Ziyang has already sacrificed everything for these things, his last and final wish.

I understand Zhao Ziyang. Highly aware, liberal minded, an elder truly worthy of respect, now nearly 85 years old, and incarcerated among the alleyways of the capital.

The Three Represents makes me scared, uneasy, the way it is hell-bent on rubbing away the last traces of Zhao’s name from the minds of Chinese people. It’s all so carefully calculated, and yet they are standing in the way of 1.4 billion people who are striding along the road towards a society based on modern democracy and the rule of law.

Respect for human rights has already been enshrined in China’s constitution. But since March 10, 2004, in a mockery of the constitution, someone (I expect on behalf of China’s leaders) has taken away my right to use the telephone or go on the Internet, making it impossible for the media to interview me.

Oh, stop whinging. Haven’t you heard? They’re reforming. And everyone knows, democracy isn’t right for China anyway.

Update: Bao’s obituary of Zhao is here.

Here’s a very serious look at some of the horrors counterfeiting can cause, and how some Chinese swindlers don’t give a damn if they can make a buck out of it.

[T]his isn’t only about cheaply imitated Louis Vuitton purses or bootlegged Harry Potter DVDs. This is a much bigger issue. I’m sure most of you still remember the news of fake milk powder that circulated months ago. Pictures of severely malnourished babies with abnormally large heads surfaced on numerous news sources and no doubt enraged the entire civilized world. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an isolated incident. The fact that there was more than one brand of fake milk powder shows that there is a collective mindset among Chinese merchants; they really would stoop this low in order to make a quick buck.

But if you think a few sickly babies were the end of the story, you’re sorely mistaken. In China, practically anything can be faked. Horror stories include “soy sauce” made out of hair, lunchmeat made with rotten meat of unknown origin, and fake eggs. That’s right: fake eggs. They had shells and everything. Chinese farmers, aware that oranges with a Sunkist sticker can fetch a higher price, actually went through the laborious process of dying their green and malnourished oranges a more attractive shade of orange. They even went through the trouble of applying fake Sunkist stickers to them.

The sad thing is these aren’t urban legends passed on from a friend of a friend. These are real issues faced by Chinese citizens. Ask any one of your Chinese friends and I’m sure they can tell you many similar stories. Clearly, Chinese merchants are the most innovative and entrepreneurial bunch of people on this planet. After all, who else would think of stewing hair to make soy sauce or bootlegging an orange?

Unfortunately, their intelligence is applied in all the wrong places. I guess part of it can be blamed on society. Despite the country’s recent economic boom, most Chinese, especially the ones who live away from coastal cities, are still living in poverty and are likely uneducated. A lack of money combined with a lack of education makes these people especially vulnerable to counterfeit merchandise. They can’t distinguish whether a package of milk powder is real or not, but they do know that it is cheap enough to afford.

This is one of those problems that seem all but insurmountable, at least for the time being. It all ties back to corruption and the lack of rule of law, which ties back to one-party rule. We all know about China’s periodic crackdowns on counterfeit goods, and how the next day they’re back on the shelves again. While it’s nice to buy a DVD for one dollar, it’s also important to remember the very dark side of this phenomenon.

This is truly scary, when you consider it’s the director of the CDC who’s talking pandemic:

After smoldering through the summer and fall, avian flu has erupted again in Southeast Asia with 12 confirmed deaths since late December, the latest a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who died Sunday.

The growing number of cases suggests that the virus may be mutating into a form that is more easily transmitted to and among humans, increasing the possibility of a pandemic.

Thailand has reported widespread outbreaks among farm poultry, and Vietnam, where all the fatalities have occurred in the last month, now counts bird or human infections in nearly half of its provinces

“The situation in Southeast Asia right now is the most significant setup for a very serious public health crisis that I’ve seen in my 30 years in this business,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “We’re sitting on a time bomb.”

They say we are way overdue for the next big pandemic. What a nightmare it will be if Dr. Osterholm is right.

Via Kevin Drum.