China's fury at "Avatar" attack

[ensho]

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/business/2010/03/18/chinas-fury-avatar-attack


An international clamour for China to revalue its currency has hit a nerve!

The Chinese feel they are under attack and have likened the nation to the blue-skinned heroes of James Cameron’s 3D blockbuster Avatar – fending of Earth’s troops who plan to destroy the Tree of Souls on Pandora.

But the hurt is not only fictional – it appears the Chinese have a long memory and haven’t forgotten China’s humiliation at the hands of imperial powers in the 19th century.

The China Daily wrote:

As every Chinese citizen knows, China was bullied for a century, starting with the Opium Wars. We well remember the "unequal treaties" that allowed the British to drain the imperial coffers of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in return for opium. The sales of looted artifacts continue to remind us of the sacking of the Old Summer Palace and the half-century of abuse that followed.

The Chinese people expect their leaders to continue to act in the nation's best interest. When economic factors indicate it is time to re-value the yuan, they will. But until then, no amount of bullying or blackmail should make them budge.

The commentary comes as the US lawmakers introduced legislation this week that would determine if China’s currency is under valued – making Chinese products cheaper to export. On April 16 – the US will determine if China is a “currency manipulator” at which point there is no turning back – President Obama will be forced to slap duties on Chinese goods.

China’s leaders have already made it clear they won’t succumb to “bullying” – so the effort of US lawmakers are proving to be counterproductive. The Chinese feel they are being blamed for the financial crisis designed and engineered on Wall Street.
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[YOY]

1. They seem to be destroying their environment on their own quite nicely.

n.t.

[Warpy]

2. The Chinese have never accepted their own government's role

in the opium trade. First, the Imperial throne refused to accept European or American goods in trade, considering them inferior to what was made in China. That included timber, something they didn't have, so the whole thing was a little bizarre. The Empire wanted only gold and silver in return for the silk, tea, and spices that Europe craved.

Opium was about the only thing they'd accept other than draining the treasuries of Europe. So their people retreated from the misery of life under the Empire into a drug induced haze and their own treasury was depleted in the process.

The opium trade was a disaster for China, costing them much of their business class in the cities. They tried to make it illegal, and that cost them even more, leading to the two Opium Wars. Losing both those wars and being forced into the "Unequal Treaties" are what finally opened China to unrestricted trade in western goods instead of opium or silver.

However, Imperial resistance to European goods was part of what caused the disaster.

[HeresyLives]

4. You mean 'buy our goods or we introduce opium'

[KittyWampus]

5. "introduce"?

[Warpy]

7. No shit, the introduction had already been made domestically

We just supplied enough that everybody in the cities could afford to get high and stay high.

[HeresyLives]

8. Yes it was smuggled in from India

It was banned repeatedly by China starting in 1729

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/om/om15.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

[proteus_lives]

10. Ever the apologist.

[HeresyLives]

11. Ever the realist you mean.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. We wouldn't do that. This is the 21st century.

Now we got heroin, cocaine, crack, meth....

[proteus_lives]

3. Laughable.

Poor wittle Chinese.

[bridgit]

6. If anyone understands Imperial Powers it does seem that it would be China