Following the Haaretz newspaper daily I’m amazed at the number of ads that are referencing China and Chinese. Lately, there are more and more ads about China or ads using Chinese language to promote products and ideas.

The most obvious of those ads, which are sometimes hilarious, are the ones about investment in China which are usually found in the financial sections of the newspapers. Consider this next funny ad with a Chinese Statue of Liberty:

(The Hebrew ad writes - "China, the next financial superpower")
 
The less obvious ones are the ads that have nothing to do with China, but use the Chinese fashion to convey somesort of message. Take this …

We keep hearing about the Chinese Zodiac - "February 2007 marks the beginning for the year of the Pig", "you were born on the year of the Horse", "do you know the 12 animals that make up the Chinese calendar?". Up till a month ago, I didn’t know much about the Chinese calendar. I knew there were 12 animals, everybody made sure I knew what animal year I belong to, and every year I would be notified what the next year in line, but I never got to hear the cute story behind it as to why those 12 animals were chosen and why they appear in that particular order. Thanks to Avia, who brought us one of the versions of the …

I’ve always thought that this blog was the only international English blog about the connection between Asia and Israel, trying to create a bridge between the two. To my extreme surprise I recently came across a blog that’s all about the Israeli-Indian connection, trying to bridge between the two countryies, being very sympathetic to both. Meet "Rupee - Currency or SOCA - Exploring relations between India and Israel", a blog that is "Working to build stronger political and business relations between Israel and India".

It’s intriguing to see some of the posts and content in this blog. Here are a few examples :
Friday, January 26, 2007 - …

In a wonderful course titled "Modern Society in Urban China" with Mr. Dror Kochan we were asked to watch two movies out of a list given which deal with urban life in China and write a short review relating to the course’s material and the issues discussed. I thought the list was so good, that I actually saw alot more than two, and so I think it’s worth posting the list and the two reviews here, should there be anybody interested in reading and maybe watching those movies. Here’s the movie list followed by me reviews of Happy Times and Beijing Bicycle :
Documentary films

China in the Red (2004) ; Director: Sue Williams ; Duration: 120 min; …

A few weeks back I heard about a small conference held in London hosting Mr. Tu Cheng-sheng who’s the Minister of Education for Taiwan (杜正勝) with a speech titled "Education Reform in Taiwan: local and global perspectives". It was interesting to listen to what happened since the interactions between the Chinese and Taiwanese students who attended the event were quite emotional regarding the question of Taiwanese identity and independence. Previously, I got a little taste of the Chinese-Taiwanese relations myself while I was visiting London, and have always wondered what it would be like to see a Taiwanese and a Chinese debate on political issues directly, especially when abroad and with what I consider to be a politics-free zone …

The essay is about a subject discussed in the “Modern Society in Urban China” course: class subject - “Market economy – the poor, the rich and what’s in between; widening the class gap and the growing middle class in China”.
Xinhua - China’s university tuition 25 times higher than in 1989
www.chinaview.cn 2007-01-12 15:11:20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/12/content_5598419.htm

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) — Tuitions to China’s universities, which range from 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan (1,200 U.S. dollars) a year, are about 25 times higher than they were in 1989, according to the China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC).
Annual incomes of urban residents have not nearly kept pace with tuition fees, rising only four times what they were at …