Chinese delegate has ‘no power’

Interesting article on the BBC about a member of their parliament – sadly, they don’t go into the “no power” theme as much as I expected.

Still, an interesting read. Having 3000 delegates makes our 120 look rather small…

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Chinese delegate has ‘no power’.

“I act as a bridge, which means I help the government promote its policies to the people and relay people’s opinions back to the government,” she said.

But that is not always as easy as it sounds. Over the past year she has often found herself caught in the middle of factory disputes.

The plant, which makes floor and wall tiles, is currently experiencing financial difficulties and work stopped for a brief period last year.

Workers at the factory are still bitter. They say managers cut their pay, and stopped them from looking for jobs elsewhere.

They are also angry at Ms Hu, who they say failed to help them sort out their grievances with the management.

One worker said there ought to be a different system to elect parliamentary representatives.

“The whole factory should be able to vote. Whoever wins the most votes should be elected,” said the worker, who did not want to be identified.

There were similar comments from nearby residents. People had heard of Ms Hu, but were not impressed with what she has achieved.

Lost in Translation (Left to Right)

Funny how the right and left have completely different views of the world

This from frogblog

Our company [one assumes Frog and spouse are dairy farmers] is a guest in China. As I read the ongoing news of dieing and ill babies I hope they were good guests who respected and learnt from their hosts, rather than just crass tourists who were trying to replicate their own corner of the world in a foreign land.

Well, here was me hoping that they’d be bring the kiwi idea of “don’t kill your customers by using poison to fake increased production” into a foreign country. “Trust but verify” would also seem like another idea that could do with replication.

What about “don’t jeopardize long term profits with short term lunacy in the name of short term profits”. That’s another good one I think.

Olympic Torch in Tiananmen Square

Am I the only person who thinks the Chinese didn’t get the irony of this.

The very first thing they did upon the Olympic torch landing, was to take it to the most well known site of a government crackdown on human rights.

Nice one!