西南政法大学毕业，在超市精肉部找到工作，老师傅要收其做关门弟子，传授“一刀准”绝活。
本报讯（见习记者刘敏实习生余丽丽）提刀、斩肉，8分钟内，一块约120多斤重的半边猪就被周龙分解成了18大块。至昨天，周龙已在超市卖了整整一年的猪肉，但谁也没想到，他是西南政法大学的一名法学专业大学生。
大学毕业卖猪肉
上午，记者在中百仓储•中百山城超市红锦店精肉部见到了正捉刀斩猪肉的周龙。刚满24岁的周龙是精肉部年龄最小的员工，也是学历最高的员工。“一听说是卖猪肉，许多年青人都不愿意到这个部门来。”部门主管刘波介绍。
“这是我从学校毕业后找到的第一份工作。”周龙说，“以前在大学里学法律的时候，压根儿也没想到有一天自己会来卖猪肉。”2005年6月，周龙从西南政法大学毕业后便开始四处找工作，但却一直没找到，最后还是在一位同学的介绍下进入超市。2005年7月26日，周龙到中百仓储红锦店精肉部上班。
周龙正在超市分解猪肉
老师傅将传绝技
报到第一天，看到周龙人年轻，又是高学历，部门里的老师傅们都不看好这位“嘴上无毛”的年轻人，认为他干不了多久。
上班第一周，周龙按照主管要求斩了一个星期的猪骨，斩猪骨是精肉部门最基础的工作。“第一天下来，我手膀子都抬不起来了。”周说到，但想到这份工作也找得不容易，周坚持了下来。
3个月见习期满了后，老师傅们见周龙不但没有提前撤退，反而整天乐呵呵的，都开始喜欢这个年青人。部门里技术最好的王志伟师傅还将周龙收为自己的关门弟子，将传授自己20多年来练成的“一刀准”等绝技。
父母同学都支持
周龙工作的第4个月，师傅王志伟主动找到主管刘波———要将自己领班的职位让给这位爱徒。“我们年纪大了，还是把这些机会让给年轻人。”
经过近一年的磨练，现在已经是部门领班的周龙在技术上已经突飞猛进。
周龙还告诉记者，一开始，他也觉得读了大学出来卖猪肉面子上有些过不去，但现在没有这样的想法了，在这里上班后学到很多东西，干一行爱一行。在学校的学习他也能用上，部门向上面打报告、写工作总结主管都放心地交给他做。现在父母和同学都很支持他。
Thursday, July 27, 2006
西南政法大学法学一毕业生改行提刀卖猪肉
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
30亿现金流入大部分失踪 草原兴发
：致命的谎言 南方日报
“领导们已经有一个月没有在公司露面了。”2006年7月17日，内蒙古赤峰市元宝山区平庄镇兴发大厦一楼电梯口，草原兴发的一位员工告诉记者。
记者试图联系多位公司高层，但均以正在接受证监会调查为由，拒绝接受采访。40天前，因涉嫌违反有关证券法规，中国证监会调查组正式进驻了这家公司。
事发于数月前草原兴发的一则“坦白”公告。今年5月18日，草原兴发发布了一则提示性公告，公告表明，2005年前三季度，公司在赊销业务发生时提前确认了销售收入3.39亿元，相应虚增了银行存款，并制造了虚假的银行凭证。
这些行径让人轻易联想到了曾经造假造得惊天动地的银广夏。公告之下想必掩藏着更大的秘密。本报记者经过近十天调查，试图还原出草原兴发上市多年来“海市蜃楼”的全景，却只得到了几根大致的线条。
但这已足够让人触目惊心。
数年来，草原兴发大张旗鼓地宣布，动用了10亿元收购了大批草原，但是公司一位中层却很无奈地告诉记者“我也不知道这些草地的具体位置。”还有那12家食品厂，草原兴发曾花掉了2.61亿元真金白银，却没产生任何收益。
另有确凿证据表明，草原兴发在运用公司资金炒作股票，2001年时曾有数亿资金在股市中游走。
遗憾的是，这些还远不是事情的全部——草原兴发通过IPO和两次配股共募集资金约12.49亿元；截止到2006年3月31日，公司的银行负债达到18.33亿元——总计30多亿的现金流入，大部分不知所踪。
知情者向本报透露，公司相关人士或将部分资金抽调到赤峰新区，投资地产。
传言中的“救世主”内蒙古平庄煤业（集团）有限公司一位负责人说：“平煤所有的资产填进去，也补不足里面的窟窿。”
而对于那些曾经被“草原绿鸟鸡”梦想打动的股民们来说，又如何来填补自己钱包的窟窿？从2001年开始，草原兴发（000780.ＳＺ）的股价从14元附近一路跌跌撞撞到了今天的2.71元。
对不起，这是个真相。而这样的真相出现，是因那个致命的谎言。
Monday, July 24, 2006
disparity in Asian/white interracial dating FAQ Summary:
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~tanaka/disparity/disparity.txt
Newsgroups: soc.couples.intercultural,soc.culture.asian.american,
soc.culture.japan,soc.answers,news.answers
Followup-To: soc.couples.intercultural
Date: 01 Mar 95 21:09:41 GMT
From: tanaka@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki)
Subject: disparity in Asian/white interracial dating FAQ
Summary:
Possible answers to the question, "Why are there much more
WM/AF couples than AM/WF couples in the USA, Japan, China
(mainland and Taiwan), Korea, ... everywhere?", which is a FAQ
in soc.couples.intercultural, soc.culture.asian.american,
soc.culture.japan, etc.
Archive-name: intercultural-couples/asian-white-disparity
Posting-Frequency: at most once every two or three months
Version: 7 (about 1300 lines)
Last-modified: 1995 3/1
--------------------------------------------------------------------
new in this version:
evolutionary psychology (Symons, Wright, Buss)
"The Joy Luck Club", "M. Butterfly"
comments by Sahai, Urushibata, Wilkinson
(NOTE non-reasons for the disparity)
see the version info at the end for the changes since version 4.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(information about this FAQ file)
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2. title: "disparity in Asian/white interracial dating FAQ"
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3. source: Usenet,
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(abstract (contents))
I speculate on the reasons why there are much more WM/AF (white
male/Asian female) couples than AM/WF couples in the USA.
(0) Statistical and legal facts
Causes of the disparity:
(1) racism, asymmetric conception of marriage, and "marrying up"
(2) male-dominant dating custom and AM timidity/"unattractiveness"
(3) pervasive media bias
(4) feminism and sexism
(4.1) WMs intimidated by feminism, mail-order brides
(4.2) AFs escaping poverty and sexism in Asia
(4.3) first generation AMs intimidated by assertive American women
(4.4) AMs expected to carry on the family line
(4.5) AAFs believe AAMs are sexist
(4.6) AF attractiveness enhanced by sexist ideal of beauty
(5) the height factor
(5.1) Is height a big factor?
(5.2) the origins of the height factor
(5.3) not so innocuous aspects of the height factor
(5.3.1) the sexist element of the height factor
(5.3.2) A part of the height factor may be related to racism.
(6) war brides and businessmen's brides
(7) colonization: national images of the conqueror and the subservient
(Conclusion)
(NOTE published material on the subject of this article)
(NOTE B/W couples)
(NOTE B/A couples)
(NOTE non-reasons for the disparity)
(Appendix A) suggestions on dating for shy AMs
(Appendix B) Alan Hu's Section 9
(References)
(In this article "Asians" include "Asian Americans" unless context
implies otherwise. When I say "Asians" I have in mind East Asians
(Japanese, Chinese, Korean) and, to a lesser extent, Southeast
Asians (Vietnamese, Filipino). There seems to be little disparity
in either direction for Indian/white marriages.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Introduction)
Some time ago I read a very well written article on Usenet
on interracial dating by Alan Hu [ajh 1994] (see References at
the end). His article covers such topics as:
--- is there anything wrong with interracial relationships,
and why do people always make a big deal about them?
--- what are some stupid explanations for the disparity
and why are they wrong?
--- why is media bias so powerful?
--- what should we do about all this? (see Appendix B)
I've been interested in the issues surrounding interracial
dating for the last 10 years or so, and I've always wanted to
write an article on it, but I was discouraged by the size of the
task. Alan Hu's views on the subject were similar to mine, and
what's left to be said didn't seem like an impossibly large
amount. I felt that I could complement his article by providing
more analysis of the reasons for the disparity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(0) Statistical and legal facts
(0.1) Statistical facts
--- The ratio of WM/AF married couples to AM/WF counterparts is
3.3 (to 1) in the USA, according to calculations based on data
presented in the paper [Lee and Yamanaka 1990].
For US-born Asian Americans (second and later generations) the
ratio is 1.7.
For foreign-born Asian Americans (first generation) the ratio
is 4.8. If I take out Indians from the group (leaving Japanese,
Chinese, Korean Vietnamese, Filipino) the ratio is 7.0.
--- According to the San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner (Sunday
_Image_ supplement, December 2, 1990) WM/AAF marriages
outnumber AAM/WF marriages by 4 to 1 in San Francisco.
In Sacramento the ratio is 8 to 1 [ajh 1994].
(Tanaka's note: People I've talked to in the various parts
of this country told me that these ratios seem too low.
That is, the observed ratio from real life is somewhere
between 10:1 and 20:1. We suspect two reasons for this
discrepancy: (i) Most of the A/W couples that we see are
casually dating, not married (and will not marry). Among
dating couples the ratio is somewhere between 10:1 and
20:1. see Sahai's comments. (ii) The Hawaii factor.)
(0.2) Legal facts
--- "Only in 1948 were California's antimiscegenation statutes
declared unconstitutional, and it was not until 1967 that all
such statutes in the United States were removed from the books
or lapsed from disuse." [Chan 1991, Pages 60-61]
In other words, only 3 or 4 decades ago interracial marriage was
illegal in some states and socially unacceptable in the USA as a
whole.
--- However, even then, WM/AF couples were legally (and socially)
accepted as exceptions by laws such as the War Brides Act of 1945.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Causes of the disparity)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) racism, asymmetric conception of marriage, and "marrying up"
Why is it that in married couples the men tend to be slightly
older? men wanting younger mates and women wanting older mates
seems to be a human universal [Buss 1994].
This is the result of several competing pressures. On
one hand there is a pressure to keep partners close in age, so
that they may have more in common. On the other hand, there
are pressures to prefer a younger wife:
--- Female beauty and youth is valued so much, especially for a
wife. In the old days when medicine was not as advanced,
it was crucial for a wife to be young and healthy so that
she may have many, healthy children.
--- in men, qualities more valued than physical appearance and
youth are wealth and social status, both of which are
correlated with higher age [Buss 1994].
--- A marriage has had the aspect of the "wife serving the
master", doing the housework for him and raising his
children. It was somehow more natural for a younger person
to be serving an older, more accomplished person.
asymmetric conception of dating and marriage
The latter factor is the view that sees dating and marriage not
as meeting of two equals but as a union of the dominant and the
subservient. Sex is seen by many not as an activity between two
equal participants but as something that a man "does" to a woman
(I'm talking about heterosexual sex). Don't we (both men and
women) say "fuck you!" to express hostility and superiority?
Even for apes, mounting is a ritual of domination.
Racism affects Asians, whites, and others alike, and makes
people have the idea that whites are better or superior
[Daniels and Kitano 1970] [Tanaka 1994 V.Chin].
This combines with the asymmetric conception of dating and
marriage to produce the effect that a WM/AF couple is much more
acceptable than a AM/WF couple. An image of an AM/WF couple
just "doesn't seem right". It strikes a nerve. This is why we
see so few AMs in romantic relationships with WFs on TV and in
films (even, or especially, porno videos).
--- When a WM starts dating an AF, either he receives no special
resistance or comments, or he will receive both positive
and negative comments from his peers and family.
--- When a WF starts dating an AM, she gets mostly racist
comments from her peers and family:
"You are very attractive and intelligent and everything.
You can get ANY guy you wanted. WHY do you have to go
out with that ASIAN guy?"
People care about what other people think about them, especially
their friends and family. This striking difference in the
reactions to the two kinds of A/W interracial dating may be the
largest reason for the disparity.
(impressionistic) I'd say in the mainland USA, 80% of WFs will
not consider dating an AM. there may be regional differences
making the percentages, perhaps, 70% in California and 90% in
Indiana. much smaller percentage (10-30%) of WMs will rule out
the possibility of dating AFs. the percentage of AMs and AFs
who would not date whites solely because of race, I think, is
very small (5-20%).
"marrying up"
In many societies (including this one), it has traditionally
been more common for a female to "marry up" in the social
hierarchy than for a male to "marry up". I believe this
tendency is caused by the following. Since the male child
carries the family name and maintains the social status in the
hierarchy, there is an incentive for a woman to marry up to that
level, so that she may enjoy higher status and wealth. On the
other hand, there is no incentive for a man to marry up. No
upward movement in the hierarchy results from such a marriage,
and the couple may be uncomfortable because a person of higher
origin would be "serving" a person of lower origin.
(I have to change the above paragraph in at least two
ways: (a) In a really traditional society (like pre-WW2
Japan), it wasn't women who wanted to marry up; it was
their fathers who wanted to use their daughters as
tools. (b) There may be some incentive for AMs to
"marry up" to the white level as well.)
Such thinking is still strong among the women today. In the New
York area Ginie Polo Sayles offers a course called "How to marry
the rich" targeted at such women based on her book by the same name.
In an interracial context the motivation is mainly
socio-psychological rather than financial, since Asians and
whites in the USA earn roughly the same amount on average.
AFs would want to "marry up" socio-psychologically by marrying
WMs. There is less incentive for AMs to "marry up" to WFs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) male-dominant dating custom and AM timidity/"unattractiveness"
(2.1) male-dominant dating custom
Even though dating customs have been changing in this country
for the last few decades, it is still considered more normal
for men to ask women out. Usually men take the initiative,
planning things, thinking of things to do, ..., even bringing
up the big question, "Will you marry me?" All the women have
to do is to say YES or NO.
(2.1.1) biological basis of the male-dominant dating custom
males taking the initiative in courtship --- this is found in
all (?) human societies, all apes, all mammals, ..., in almost
all species of animals. now scientists believe that this
disparity is biological, and explained as follows.
for most species of animals, the potential rate of reproduction
is much higher for males than for females. for example, a
human male can impregnate a different female every day
(potential reproduction rate: 1/day), whereas a human female
can get pregnant only once a year (potential reproduction
rate: 1/year). for such a species, sexual aggressiveness in
males is an evolutionary advantage, much more so than in
females. a good strategy for females is to fend off unwanted
males until a male showing promises of good genes comes along.
while human behavior is heavily influenced by culture, behavior
of other animals are entirely (or mostly) biologically determined.
scientists (evolutionary psychologists) now believe that many
aspects of basic human behavior are based on biology.
(Martin Phipps
see [Symons 1979] [Wright 1994].)
(2.2) AM timidity/cautiousness in dating
Almost all people I have talked to said that they think AMs are
more well-behaved, timid, unadventurous, ... compared to WMs,
although media images may be influential in the formation of
such impressions. While this tendency may be slight in many
other situations in life, it is more marked in a dating
situation. Consider how gay people are cautious about
approaching people they are attracted to. I find myself being
similarly cautious in these situations --- just as gay people
wonder, "Is he (or she) straight?", I wonder, "She's cute, but
would she be interested in an Asian guy?"
This timidity/cautiousness in dating is caused by the following.
(2.2.1) American racism and discrimination causing general politeness
and conservative thinking.
American society generally expects AMs to be more passive
and quiet. sometimes, American society *DEMANDS* AMs to be
passive and quiet. consider the case of Vincent Chin: when he
was harassed with racial slurs and epithets, he didn't just
keep quiet as he was expected to; instead, he talked back to a
white man, and hit him. a fistfight ensued. this upset Ronald
Ebens so much that he drove around for 20 minutes looking for
Chin, and beat Chin to death with a baseball bat. American
legal system decided that the killing was semi-justified by
giving Ebens a very light sentence (fines and probation).
[Tanaka 1994 V.Chin]
Even Asian-Americans born and reared in the US get such
remarks as "We don't want your kind around here. Go back to
your own country." [NY Times 1994].
As a result:
--- Asians tend to be well-behaved, polite, etc. to avoid such
remarks and behavior.
(I wonder if there is a way to prove this tendency
empirically. What kind of statistics would support
this? Asian vs white ratio comparisons of explorers,
anti-establishment activists (journalists), etc?)
--- Asians tend to be more practical, conservative, and
unadventurous in their thinking. This tendency, together with
(i) Asian value system emphasizing education and (ii)
suitability of technical careers for first-generation
Asian-Americans with below average language skills, results in
the disproportionately large presense of AMs in practical fields
such as engineering, computers, and medicine.
(2.2.2) AMs are perceived as less attractive than WMs (see below),
resulting in such remarks as, "WHY do you have to go out with
that ASIAN guy?" (Section (1)), causing AMs to be extra cautious
in potential dating situations.
(2.2.3) Asian conception of dating
Dating, asking women out, hitting on women, ... these are less
expected of men in Asian cultures than in American culture
(which, in turn, may expect it less than in Italian or Mexican
cultures). A Japanese female I know told me that compared to
when she was living in Japan, in this country she gets hit on
10 or 20 as often. First generation AMs typically are too
"gutless" when it comes to these things, even though this
effect is smaller in second, third, and later generations.
from: Anant Sahai
|
| You (in my mind rightly) assert that AMs are less "adventurous"
| about asking females out. I think that there is an additional
| reason for this that you have not mentioned: the difference in
| the conceptions of dating.
|
| It seems to me that "white society" does not consider dating
| relationships to be that serious. They are considered to be
| temporary and a time for experimentation and "learning about
| yourself." This can be seen by phrases such as "he's just
| sowing his wild oats" and the like. In contrast, it seems to
| me that Asians do not share this attitude. To us (I am
| Indian), interpersonal relationships are far more important.
| This leads to a certain cautious and reserved nature.
|
| So, it is quite possible for a WM who does not seriously
| consider the probability of marrying an AF to go out with one
| "just to see what it is like" or to "get it out of his
| system." NOTE: This is not considered to be devious or evil by
| his society. An AM would be far less likely to just "try it
| out."
(2.2.4) Limited English (first generation AMs)
I have observed that Japanese females become fluent in spoken
English in the USA much more quickly than Japanese males do.
see Urushibata's comments in Section (4.4).
(2.3) AM "unattractiveness"
AMs are perceived as less attractive than WMs.
This is caused by the following.
1. racism. The white race is seen as better or superior.
2. media bias. See Section (3).
3. AM lack of confidence
All these factors may result in the sense of inferiority and
lack of confidence in the AMs. Such feelings and expectations
can be self-fulfilling. This is a big factor in dating.
4. AM well-behaved-ness
WMs tend to be less well-behaved and more boorish, but these
qualities constitute elements of male attractiveness.
"Arnold and Stallone are typical of the American idea of
masculinity. We're talking huge proportions, hairy chests
and sheer physical prowess capable of massive quantities of
senseless violence. IQ is optional, and Alan Alda is still a
wimp." [arthurhu 1994 (1990?)]
(2.4) how these factors combine
--- AMs will not be as active in dating, especially in asking WFs
out (because of timidity), and when they do, they have less
chance of success (because of perceived "unattractiveness", and
because of other factors discussed in this article).
--- There is something a bit adventurous about dating or marrying
out of one's race. WMs are more adventurous (less cautious)
than AMs. This contributes to the disparity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) pervasive media bias
The image of Asian-Americans and Asians as integral and common
part of society is severely under-represented in the media
[booklet "Asian Pacific Americans", Page 10].
When Asians do appear they are represented in a very skewed way
[Tanaka 1995 misconceptions].
Alan Hu writes in [ajh 1994]:
|
| [...] Asian men are portrayed as: asexual martial arts
| masters, asexual viet cong guerrillas, asexual servants, and
| asexual geeks.
| Asian women get to be prostitutes, geisha,
| repressed-daughters-named-May-Ling-of-cruel-oppressive-
| emperors-(there's another male role)-waiting-to-be-sexually-
| liberated-by-a-real-(white)-man, and recently, newscasters.
| [...]
| As another data point, look at the (infrequent) interracial
| couples in films: the man is almost invariably white.
|
| You may say, "Media bias shmedia bias, that's just for
| weak-minded people." If you doubt the tremendous influence
| the media has on what we know and how we think, consider
| these questions.
|
| --- Who is the president of the US? How do you know?
| --- What is the circumference of the Earth? How do you know?
| --- Who first invented movable-type printing? How do you know?
|
| If you were able to answer all of these questions based
| entirely on first-hand knowledge and your acute mental
| powers, I'll be thoroughly impressed.
The media consistently portrays WM, WF, and AF as attractive,
and AM as unattractive. The film "The Joy Luck Club" presents
this clear categorization.
--- Asian females are beautiful and good.
--- Asian males are sexist and bad.
--- white males are good.
see [Tanaka 1995 JLC].
Western men's fascination with "mysterious, sensuous Oriental
women" is more than a century old.
see [Wilkinson 1990] Chapter 12 Madam Chrysanthemum.
the image of attractive, affectionate Asian male is almost
nonexistent in the media.
there are some exceptions to the Asian stereotype:
the main character in the Taiwanese-American film "The
Wedding Banquet";
James Iha, the Japanese-American guitarist in Smashing
Pumpkins;
Russell Wong in the TV show "Vanishing Son"?;
Yo-Yo Ma; Brandon Lee; Lance Ito?
We need to have more of these.
(summary)
The pervasive media has the following effects:
--- We are influenced to perceive Asians as invisible and less
important than whites. We are also influenced to perceive
WM, WF, and AF as attractive, and AM as unattractive.
(This contributes to the factors discussed almost everywhere
in this article.)
--- In the media (and in real life) we are bombarded by images
of WM/AF couples: James Bond (and his clones) wooing Asian
girls, and John and Yoko, to name a few. This exposure
makes us see WM/AF couples as more normal or natural. We
are more conservative than we like to think, and to a large
extent we do what we think we are expected to do and avoid
what we are not expected to do.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(4) feminism and sexism
(4.1) WMs intimidated by feminism, mail-order brides
Many conservative WMs feel pressured by the feminism movement in
the last decades. They can't quite adjust to the changing
times, and feel intimidated by the modern, more assertive women.
They have a hard time finding conservative women and try to
meet AFs, who they believe are more subservient than the WFs.
Some men go so far as to seek mail-order brides from Asia. But
these men are just a tip of the iceberg; for each man who turns to
such a service, there are hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of men
who try to meet Asian women on their own or through personal ads.
There is no corresponding pressure for a AM-WF match.
from [booklet "Asian Pacific Americans", Page 12]:
| Approximately 50 companies, whose clients are generally white
| men, provide catalogs of women from Asian Pacific countries,
| primarily the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and other
| Southeast Asian countries. The catalogs give names, physical
| descriptions, ages, addresses, and other information.
| Generally, the client corresponds with several women in the
| catalog until he finds a suitable wife.
| In a 1984 pamphlet, the founder of American Asian Worldwide
| Services describes the attraction of such women for American
| men: "(Asian Pacific women) are born with tradition for
| respect toward their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and
| husbands. They believe that husbands should be the head of the
| family. They do not believe in women's liberation."
(4.2) AFs escaping poverty and sexism in Asia
Many Asian cultures give women rather limited opportunities,
more so than to men. Thus when AFs arrive in the US they have
an incentive to escape from Asian culture and date or marry men
who (they believe) will give them "western style" freedoms. No
corresponding incentive for a AM/WF matching.
(4.3) first generation AMs intimidated by assertive American women
Some first generation AMs are so conservative that they are not
even interested in American women, because they (the AMs say)
are too assertive and pushy. It's probably also because
interracial dating is too daring a thought for them.
(4.4) AMs expected to carry on the family line
"Males were very important and privileged in the traditional
Japanese family. They, especially the eldest son, were
responsible for carrying on the family line. This
responsibility might have discouraged them from making
nontraditional marriages." [Tinker 1982]
This may apply to other Asian groups and to second and later
generations.
from: Akira Urushibata
| (slightly edited by Tanaka)
|
| You may have heard that among Japanese families who spend
| intermediate terms (a few years -- several years) in North
| America and Europe, male children tend to attend Japanese
| schools and female children tend to attend local schools.
| It is not uncommon for brothers and sisters from the same
| family to be attending different schools.
| (Tanaka personally thinks this is pretty uncommon.)
|
| Moreover, many boys go back to Japan before the rest of the
| family, to attend a junior high school or high school there,
| while girls often continue to college in the foreign country.
| I've never seen any statistics, although I've heard of it
| several times.
|
| Indeed, there is a Janglish word "bi-lin-gal" that refers to
| Japanese girls (or women) who have lived abroad and speak the
| foreign language fluently. There is no corresponding word for
| males in colloquial Japanese.
|
| See "Japan's `International Youth'" Roger Goodman, Oxford Univ.
| Press, Claredon Paperbacks, page 152.
(4.5) AAFs believe AAMs are sexist
Many Asian-American females believe that AMs are brought up in
more male-dominated households and therefore more sexist than
WMs. They believe that WMs are more likely to have undergone
the effects of feminism, and therefore more likely to be
liberal-minded.
(4.6) AF attractiveness enhanced by sexist ideal of beauty
The current ideal of female beauty in this country focuses on
slimness to the point of forcing many women to attempt crash
diets. Women used to want to look like Marilyn Monroe and Jane
Mansfield; now they want to have skinny legs like Julia
Roberts's. AFs are usually smaller and thinner, and by chance
happen to fit this ideal better. (slimness is also related to
looking young. Asians often look younger than their age.)
A similar coincidental factor is that WMs tend to be bigger
and taller than AMs, and large body-size is usually considered
attractive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(5) the height factor
(5.1) Is height a big factor?
In the earlier versions of this article, this is all that I had
on the height factor in A/W dating disparity.
A similar coincidental factor is that WMs tend to be
bigger and taller than AMs, and large body-size is
usually considered attractive.
I didn't think it was such a big factor. We are not so
superficial that we are turned off by an otherwise-attractive
person just because that person is a little too short or too
tall, are we? I guess I never thought about it much because I'm
of average height for a Japanese male, and it was never an issue.
Then I came across this passage in a textbook.
The second condition for passionate love to occur is the
presence of an appropriate love object. For most
people, that means a physically attractive member of the
opposite sex, about the same age, with the male taller
than the female, and neither deeply involved in another
relationship.
(Baron and Byrne "Social Psychology" (5th ed.)
Allyn and Bacon, 1987. Page 209)
I was very surprised when I read this. Maybe the condition "the
male taller than the female" IS important for many people.
Maybe short males and tall females are having harder times in
dating than I had thought. If there is a large cultural
pressure to desire that the male be taller than the female in a
couple, then this would contribute to the disparity, and this
factor may be more significant than I had originally thought.
(5.2) the origins of the height factor
Many people seem to consider it desirable in a couple that the
male is taller than the female; in an "ideal" couple the male
would be a little taller than the female. How did this ideal
arise? A part of it must be that such a combination was most
common, and became an archetype.
the reason that males are usually bigger than females in humans
(and other primates?) must be the result of natural selection.
(I hope you believe in evolution.) The selection pressure
favored bigger, stronger males as fighters and hunters.
There is another, more subtle factor: perhaps our aesthetic
sense which makes big, strong-looking males seem attractive to
us may be biological or genetic [Buss 1994]. See Richard
Dawkins's book "The Selfish Gene" for the idea that behavioral
or psychological tendencies can be attributed to specific
genes, like genes for homosexuality.
Whatever the cause may be, this cultural pressure is there, and
since whites are taller than Asians on average, this contributes
to the disparity favoring WM/AF couples over AM/WF couples.
It's a factor that's purely coincidental and by chance (or
biological), and has nothing to do with racism or sexism, just
like if you get injured in an earthquake living in Tokyo (where
there are many earthquakes) instead of living in Indiana, you're
just unlucky, pure and simple. right?
(5.3) not so innocuous aspects of the height factor
Well, I don't believe that the height factor is entirely
coincidental and innocuous, for the following reasons.
(5.3.1) the sexist element of the height factor
The height factor is also supported by the image of a strong,
dominant male protecting the frail female, or perhaps the image
of a more important (significant) person being served by a less
important person. You could say that this cultural aspect,
related to the asymmetric conception of dating and marriage, is
an elaboration or exaggeration of genetic gender roles.
(5.3.2) A part of the height factor may be related to racism.
(This is a very subtle point.
Please just ignore it if you don't agree with it.)
(5.3.2.a) All white features become attractive features.
Once racism takes root in people's minds, it affects every
aspect of our aesthetics. All white features become attractive
features, not just height:
[1] light skin color
In Asian countries light skin color has always been an
attractive feature, for it was a sign of wealth and
nobility (not having to work outdoors farming, etc).
this trend was intensified by the Western influences.
this book (WAGATSUMA Hiroshi and YONEYAMA Tosinao,
"henken no kouzou" (structure of prejudice), NHK books,
1967) traces the changes in the Japanese aesthetic
standards through history, including those toward
whites and blacks.
You may wonder, "Then why do so many white people
have an obsession with tanning?" Well, that's a
different story (which doesn't weaken my argument in
any way). I read in the book "Manwatching" by Desmond
Morris years ago that (after Industrial Revolution) a
tan became a symbol of wealth. It shows that the
person is so rich that he/she can spend time frolicking
in the sun, instead of working indoors (e.g., in a
factory) all the time.
[2] light hair color
This must be the reason (or one of the reasons) why
blond hair is regarded so highly. I have heard
sometimes that blond females are no longer the standard
of beauty in this country. I disagree with this. Would
someone ask hairstylists the approximate ratio of number
of people who dye their hair lighter to that of people
who dye their hair darker (excluding those who are dyeing
their gray hair)?
[3] curly (but not "kinky") hair
[4] the shape of nose, eyes, forehead, ..., the whole face
In Japan this effect has been grave and insidious.
(The 7-year American occupation (see Section (7)) and
Hollywood movies were strong factors in this.)
[1] many women put makeup on their faces to look lighter
"One of these is the adoption of the Caucasian standards
for physical beauty. ... This is not a phenomenon
peculiar to the Japanese Americans, but one which seems
to be characteristic of many minorities. That the
blacks in the United States, at least for a long time,
adopted white standards of appearance is indicated by
the extensive advertisement and sale of skin bleaches
and hair straighteners." [Tinker 1973]
[2] many women dye their hair to a lighter color
[3] many women curl their hair
Japanese (or Asian) women perm their hair to look more
white. Blacks (used to) straighten their hair to look
more white. Malcolm X: "The white devil has taught you
to hate yourself so much that you put hot lye in your
hair to make it look like his hair."
(from "Autobiography of Malcolm X")
[4] many women have surgical operations on their noses, eyes, and
the rest of the faces to become more white-looking.
(A number of people have pointed out to me, "women with straight
hair get it curled; women with curly hair get it straightened."
That surely is a factor in perming hair, dyeing hair, cosmetic
surgery, ... . The principle is that in fashion (aesthetic sense)
humans are never satisfied with their bodies as they are.
Bernard Rudofsky, "Unfashionable human body" explores this issue.)
I've noticed that most movie actors and TV-stars in Asia have
relatively white features, indicating similar forces at work in
the rest of Asia.
(5.3.2.b) In the American media, the Asian male is a target of
mockery and derision, including his height.
I discuss the general case of this in Section (3) pervasive
media bias. Have you seen the movie "Gung-ho" (late 80s), with
the fierce mockery of the Japanese businessmen in the USA?
For the particular point of the Asian male's height, consider
the successful, Asian-looking midget actor who appeared in the
James Bond movie "Man with a golden gun" as a servant to
Salamanda(?) played by Christopher Lee. The actor may not be
Asian, but in the movie he speaks English with a weird,
fake-sounding Asian accent.
(I'm told that the actor, Herve Villechaize, was French. I
still maintain that the pretense in the film was that he was a
Pacific Islander. Do you remember the scene where he holds a
knife between his teeth and jumps from the ceiling? Also he
spoke English with an affected mock-Asian (definitely not
French) construction, like, instead of saying "I won't move."
he'd say "I no move." The story was set in Southeast Asia and
the script probably asked for a Pacific Islander.)
(5.3.2.c) summary
Therefore (following (a) and (b)), I am lead to believe that
although it is primarily the case that white males are considered
more attractive than Asian males because they are taller, there
is also a sense in which tallness is considered an attractive
feature because it is a white (as compared to Asian) feature.
In other words, even if tallness were not an attractive feature
by itself, it would still have become an attractive feature when
comparing WMs with AMs, just by the virtue of the fact that it's
a WM feature. In reality tallness is an attractive feature by
itself, and its effectiveness must be enhanced by the fact that
it's a WM feature.
"Aren't black guys taller?"
Some people have asked me, "blacks (black males) in the US seem
to be a little taller than whites on average. According to what
you're saying, doesn't this mean BMs are more attractive in this
respect than WMs?" My reply: height as an attractive feature is
not like, "the taller the better". The main thing is that the
male should be taller than the female in a couple. So I suppose
that height is not an issue with blacks as a group since they
are usually tall enough.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(6) war brides and businessmen's brides
Most of Americans who go to Asia and stay there long enough to
date are white males. They are typically businessmen and
soldiers. (it was pointed out to me that soldiers and business
people are mostly men because of traditional gender roles.)
Some of them bring back Asian brides. Even if they don't bring
back brides, some of them may have acquired a fondness for Asian
females.
I'm not sure how significant a factor this is in terms of
numbers. but war brides had a great impact in spreading the
notion that "Asians make good wives."
of course, this alone does not explain anything, because many
tens of thousands of Japanese businessmen and bankers are
stationed in the USA and Europe, much more than the American
and European businessmen in Japan [Wilkinson 1990, Page 220].
it is not the sheer number of stationed businessmen but other
factors in this article that cause the disparity.
from the excellent play and film, "M. Butterfly" (1994,
screenplay by David Henry Hwang):
Gallimard (French diplomat): [about the opera "Madame Butterfly"]
It's a very beautiful story. [...]
Song (Chinese singer): It's one of your favorite fantasies,
isn't it? the submissive Oriental woman and the cruel
white man. [...] Consider it this way: what would you
say if a blonde homecoming queen fell in love with a
short Japanese businessman? He treats her cruelly,
then goes home for three years, during which time she
prays to his picture and turns down marriage from a
young Kennedy. Then, when she learns he has remarried,
she kills herself. Now, I believe you would consider
this girl to be a deranged idiot, correct? But because
it's an Oriental who kills herself for a Westerner ---
ah! --- you find it beautiful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(7) colonization: national images of the conqueror and the subservient
For the past centuries white westerners have invaded, conquered,
and colonized the lands of Asians and Asian-looking peoples
(indigenous Americans). In colonies the conquerors could do
anything they wanted with the locals, including the local
(Asian) women.
Take Japan for example. While Japan was occupied by the USA for
7 years starting 1945, it was common for American soldiers to
mug Japanese citizens, rape Japanese women, and to kill/harm
Japanese citizens and go unpunished. In occupied Japan the
press was forbidden to report the American soldiers' wrongdoings.
(Some of these cases are described in [Ienaga 1978].)
Poor women were forced to become prostitutes that catered to
American soldiers.
Japanese people thought then, "Since we lost the war and
unconditionally surrendered, they (Americans) can do whatever
they want with our country and our women, and we must bear the
humiliation."
Even today such things occur in Japan. In 1992 two American
soldiers fled Japan after becoming suspects in an armed
robbery. In 1993 an American soldier accused of raping a
Japanese woman escaped Japan. As far as I know neither the U.S.
Army nor U.S. government has taken measures to capture or try
these individuals [UPI 1993].
Perhaps this history has engraved in people's unconscious that
somehow there is something "normal" or "natural" about WM/AF
pairings (more so than the AM/WF counterparts). To the extent
that these images exist in people's minds they will contribute
to the disparity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Conclusion)
This disparity in A/W interracial dating that exists is a
manifestation of racism and sexism, mainly in the USA, and
historical imperialism.
(If you're not convinced, please take time to go over
the factors to see that almost all of them are linked to
racism, sexism, or imperialism.)
They cause biased images in the media, which in turn fuel more
racism and sexism.
I have no intention whatsoever to attack WM/AF couples --- WM/AF
couples in general, nor any particular WM/AF couples. I'm glad
they don't encounter great resistance from society. People
grow fond of each other between any races, ages, cultures,
nationalities, social classes, and other attributes, and some of
them date or get married. That's wonderful. However, there is
some resistance when the people are from different races. This
resistance is very great between an AM and a WF. There are
pressures to keep such a relationship from happening, and once
it's happened there are pressures to destroy it. I have
speculated on the nature of such pressures, which are ultimately
causing the disparity.
What I presented is only a speculation. It is not a deductive
proof in any sense. I saw a seemingly unusual phenomenon (the
disparity), and I thought and speculated about what could be
causing it. If you come up with something I haven't thought of,
please let me know.
As long as racism and sexism persist in this country, so will
this disparity. In my life I will do what I can to eliminate
racism and sexism. I hope you'll join us in this effort.
(Questions to ponder:
I want people to think more about what's beyond the
surface. Here are some sample questions.
1. Is it true that A/W dating disparity is caused
because WMs are less racist than WFs?
2. Why is it that, in the USA, the best basketball
players are mostly black but the best
(Olympic-level) swimmers are all white?)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(NOTEs)
(NOTE published material on the subject of this article)
Recently (in May 1994) I finally found some published material
that touch upon the subject of this article (facts on the
disparity, and its causes):
--- [Kikumura and Kitano 1973]
--- [Kitano, et al. 1984]
--- [Tinker 1973]
--- [Tinker 1982]
(I looked at two other related but less relevant papers.)
I was disappointed to find that the speculations on the causes
in these papers were not bold or comprehensive. In particular,
none of these papers mention the following factors.
(1) racism combined with asymmetric conception of marriage
(3) pervasive media bias
(7) colonization: national images of the conqueror
and the subservient
Perhaps this is mainly due to professional cautiousness.
I find it hard to believe that these researchers in the field
hadn't thought of things Alan Hu and I have written about.
([arthurhu 1994 (1990?)], which I found in late May, emphasizes
the factor (2). I don't believe it mentions (1) or (7).)
Please let me know if you find other published material.
Finally, an awful thought: so I speculated that AMs are less
active in dating, and perhaps that they have less success at
dating and marriage. Does this mean that today in the USA,
substantially more AMs spend lonely lives without ever getting
married? (I'm kind of scared to find out the statistics on this.)
(then I thought: marriages and long-term relationships
have to do with sincerity, trust, etc much more than
with superficial attractiveness. in fact, being too
concerned with superficial appeal is harmful to a good
marriage or a long-term relationship. so AMs in the USA
are in good shape here.)
(NOTE B/W couples)
Another related question is, why are there more BM/WF couples
than WM/BF couples? Black males' outmarriage rate in 1986 was
more than three times that of black females' (U.S. Bureau of
Census, 1987). Some studies show that the disparity goes the
other way [Porterfield 1982]. Porterfield's article gives
possible explanations for this disparity (whichever way it may
be). In sociology it has been known that there is a "general
tendency for the men of a racial, religious, or ethnic minority
to out-marry to a greater extent than the women".
(NOTE B/A couples)
The data presented in [Lee and Yamanaka 1990] indicates that
BM/AF couples are much more common than AM/BF couples. I've
known some BM/AF couples personally and seen many such couples
(in the USA and Japan), but I've never seen or heard of an AM/BF
couple in my life. (You don't have to write to me; I know they
exist.) This disparity naturally follows from the factors
discussed in this article.
(NOTE non-reasons for the disparity)
(non-reason 1) because men are more interested in looks than women are.
men (straight or gay) are more concerned with physical
appearance in a possible mate than women are in most (all?)
human cultures [Symons 1979] [Buss 1994].
but this would contribute to the disparity only if Asian
females are generally thought of as more physically attractive
than white females are, which I don't believe is the case.
(non-reason 2) because opposites attract.
this, if true, would contribute to the number of intercultural
or intercultural couples as a whole, but not to the disparity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(Appendix A) suggestions on dating for shy AMs
I know that not all AMs are shy. I'm not. and I know some
Asian guys who are not. but some are, and for those AMs who are
on the shy side, here are some suggestions that may be helpful.
most of these suggestions are race-unspecific. any guy
(or even woman, actually) who is on the shy side would
benefit from these, I think.
An Asian male wrote to me in a letter (quoted by permission):
|----------------------------------------------------------------
| I think it is wrong to assume most WFs will not date an AM.
| I am a Chinese American male, and I really don't feel I have a
| problem dating WFs at all. I think most AMs assume WFs will not
| date them because of all the racial prejudices, etc.
|
| If you ask any WF, chances are she get hit on by males of all
| races except AMs. AMs seem to lack confidence when it comes to
| hitting on WFs. They simply don't try.
|
| (So if you try, you'll be surprised.)
|
| I also know most AFs prefer to date AMs. I strongly recommend
| AMs ask those AFs out. Otherwise, it is just matter of time
| before someone else does.
another letter from him:
|----------------------------------------------------------------
| Date: Mon, 15 Aug 94 ...
| From: ...
| To: TANAKA Tomoyuki
|
| Tomoyuki -
|
| Thanks for putting that up. I also have few more suggestions
| for the article as well.
|
| 1. Do something to improve your outer appearance. Buy some new
| clothes, develop a new attitude about life. If you seem upbeat,
| people around you will notice and rub off on you.
|
| 2. Have pride in your Asian-ness, don't just say it, do it by
| living it. I found my Asian pride through practicing martial
| arts (yeah yeah, it is stereotypical but it helps). People
| don't look down on people who are proud; in most cases they
| respect them. I found this to be very important for self
| confidence. If you have a lot of pride in yourself, it is easier
| dealing with racism and many other problems we face as AMs.
|
| 3. Do something to improve your physique. I started
| weightlifting around 19 and it has helped my confidence
| tremendously. We live in a highly superficial society and
| dating is very much affected by that.
|
| 4. Learn to dance. Girls of all races love good dancers plus
| you will have a great time every time you out. I always have an
| awesome time when I go out.
|
| 5. Finally, ask the girl you are interested out. Most Asian
| guys are quite shy and they tend to wait way too long. Girls
| want to go out too. The worst a girl can say is "NO". If you
| really think about it, "NO" isn't that bad. This principle
| applies to girls of all races.
|
| 6. Finally, if you meet an AF who is a banana or a girl who
| refuses to date AMs, don't dwell on that and think all females
| are like them. One thing I have learned through years of dating
| is: there are plenty of fishes in the sea. MOVE ON.
|
| 7. Make friends with other Asians who are in the same
| situation. It is easier to deal with problems when you are
| strong in numbers. It is about time Asians support each other
| for once.
|
| 8. Remember: whining and complaining don't solve any problems,
| only actions do. Start with the person in the mirror.
|
| If you are not tall and handsome, don't sit there and feel sorry
| for yourself. I still believe personality has a lot to do with
| dating. If you don't have the physical attributes, work on the
| areas you can improve, like your personality. Again, hanging
| out with positive people helps a lot.
|
| I know an Asian guy who is 5'2" and he gets good looking girls
| all the time. He is not handsome, but he has a sense of style
| most guys just don't have.
|
| Good luck.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(Appendix B) Alan Hu's Section 9
one of the bad things about my article is that it doesn't talk
about what we should be doing. I left it that way because I
thought Alan Hu's article [ajh 1994] already did a great job.
I especially like the following part.
|----------------------------------------------------------------
| Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
| Date: 13 Mar 94 23:15:13 GMT
| From: Alan Hu <...>
| Subject: Interracial Dating FAQ Repost
| (was Re: Meek White Male Seeks Oriental Jewel)
| [...]
|
| 9. Well, that may be a fine analysis, but don't just sit around
| and whine.
|
| Excellent point. On a societal level, look around you and
| look into yourself. Recognize media bias and attempt to
| counteract it. If you see something egregious, point it out,
| write a letter to the editor, do something. If you see
| racism and prejudice in yourself, attempt to eliminate it.
|
| On a personal level, if you're happy with your social life,
| great, more power to you. If you find yourself having
| difficulty forming relationships, here's a few suggestions I've
| found helpful over the years:
| 1. Love yourself. If you don't love yourself, how
| can you expect someone else to?
| 2. Take good care of yourself. This is a corollary
| to number 1. Be happy. Do things you enjoy.
| Be actively involved in life. A study on
| loneliness indicated that married people are
| as lonely as single people. Being with people
| doesn't cure loneliness; enjoying your own
| company does.
| 3. Improve yourself. Honestly evaluate yourself. If
| you don't like something, don't feel bad about
| it, but consider working on improving it in the
| spirit of self-improvement and self-esteem.
| 4. Don't fear rejection. People have different tastes.
| If someone is racist and rejects you, that's
| his/her problem. If someone can't appreciate
| your virtues, that's his/her problem. The right
| person for you will love you for being you.
| 5. Have a good time. Life's too short to waste time moping.
| A relationship book I particularly like is Intimate Connections
| (yeah, I know it's a hokey title) by David Burns, MD.
|----------------------------------------------------------------
I bought this paperback, "Intimate Connections" by David Burns
(Signet). it's a really good book. I recommend it too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(references)
Most Usenet materials are stored in my archive (WWW) site.
Use Lynx (as "lynx http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~tanaka"),
Mosaic, etc.
[booklet "Asian Pacific Americans" 1988 (?)]
"Asian Pacific Americans: A handbook on how to cover and
portray our nation's fastest growing minority group."
about 80 pages. out of print.
(some excerpts available in my archive (WWW) site.)
[Buss 1994]
David Buss. "The evolution of desire". Basic Books, 1994. $13.
[Chan 1991]
Sucheng Chan.
Asian Americans: an interpretive history. Twayne Publishers.
[Cretser and Leon 1982]
Gary A. Cretser and Joseph J. Leon, ed.
"Intermarriage in the United States". (a book)
Marriage and Family Review. Vol 5, No 1. The Haworth Press (1982).
[Daniels and Kitano 1970]
Roger Daniels and Harry H.L. Kitano.
American racism: exploration of the nature of prejudice.
Prentice-Hall (out of print).
[ajh 1994]
Alan Hu <...>
a Usenet article. (about 340 lines)
Subject: Interracial Dating FAQ Repost
(was Re: Meek White Male Seeks Oriental Jewel)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Date: 13 Mar 94 23:15:13 GMT
Footnote: In the quote in Section (3), I made some minor
changes, the most significant being the addition of one
sentence, "If you doubt the tremendous influence the media has
on what we know and how we think, consider these questions."
[arthurhu 1994 (1990?)]
Arthur T. Hu
a Usenet article. (about 450 lines)
and "an old Asian Week column" from Dec 1990 (?)
Subject: Why more asian women / white men than vice versa
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american ...
Date: 20 May 1994 14:18:37 -0700
[Ienaga 1978]
IENAGA Saburo. The Pacific War. Pantheon Books, 1978.
(see also IENAGA Saburou. Sensou sekinin. Iwanami-shoten, 1985.)
[Kikumura and Kitano 1973]
Akemi Kikumura and Harry H.L. Kitano.
"Interracial marriage: a picture of the Japanese Americans".
Journal of Social Issues. Vol 29, No 2 (1973) pp 67-81.
[Kitano, et al. 1984]
Harry H.L. Kitano, Wai-Tsang Yeng, Lynn K. Chai, and Herbert
Hatanaka. "Asian-American Interracial Marriage".
Journal of Marriage and the Family.
Vol 46 (Feb 1984) pp 179-90.
[Lee and Yamanaka 1990]
Sharon M Lee and Keiko Yamanaka.
"Patterns of Asian American intermarriage and marital assimilation".
Journal of Comparative Family Studies.
Vol 21, No 2 (Summer 1990). pp 287--305.
"The data for the research reported in this paper is based on an
extract of all Asian Americans from the 5 percent Public-Use Microdata
Samples (PUMS) of the 1980 U.S. Population Census." (Page 289)
[NY Times 1994]
The New York Times (by Eric Schmitt).
"Japanese-American Proves Marine Bias".
Sunday, January 2, 1994 (Page A6).
These were the very words thrown at Hawaii-born Bruce Yamashita
by the instructors at officer training program of the U.S.
Marines. (some excerpts available in my archive (WWW) site.)
[Porterfield 1982]
Ernest Porterfield.
"Black-American intermarriage in the United States".
in [Cretser and Leon 1982], pp 17-34.
[Symons 1979]
Donald Symons, "The evolution of human sexuality"
Oxford Univ. Press, 1979. $18.95.
[Tanaka 1994 V.Chin]
TANAKA Tomoyuki. "Who killed Vincent Chin?".
Usenet article (370 lines), Aug 1994.
[Tanaka 1995 misconceptions]
TANAKA Tomoyuki. "American misconceptions about Japan FAQ".
Usenet FAQ file (v1, 1900 lines), Jan 1995.
[Tanaka 1995 JLC]
TANAKA Tomoyuki. film review of "The Joy Luck Club"
Usenet article (400 lines), Feb 1995.
[Tinker 1973]
John N. Tinker.
"Intermarriage and ethnic boundaries: the Japanese American case".
Journal of Social Issues. Vol 29, No 2 (1973) pp 49-66.
[Tinker 1982]
John N. Tinker. "Intermarriage and assimilation in a plural
society: Japanese Americans in the United States".
in [Cretser and Leon 1982], pp 61-75.
[UPI 1993]
UPI --- in a Usenet article.
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (UPI)
Subject: Okinawa demands return of U.S. soldier in rape case
Newsgroups: clari.news.military,clari.news.law.crime.sex
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 93 02:06:18 PDT
[Wilkinson 1990]
Endymion Wilkinson. "Japan versus the West: image and reality".
Penguin Books, 1990. ($9.95 in the USA)
[Wright 1994]
Robert Wright. "The moral animal: the new science of
evolutionary psychology". Pantheon, 1994. $27.50.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(Acknowledgements)
When I wrote the first version of this article, I felt that the
ideas I presented were almost entirely mine. Since then, a lot
of people have responded with good ideas, some of which I've
incorporated to improve the article. I will try to keep track
of who contributed what, so that I can acknowledge them if/when
I have a chance to present this article in a formal setting.
(version info)
version 1 (about 370 lines) 1994 3/31
version 2 (about 450 lines) 1994 4/14
version 3 (about 800 lines) 1994 5/11
version 4 (about 900 lines) 1994 8/07
changes since version 4 was posted:
--- the Vincent Chin case
--- Arthur Hu quote, re: "Arnold and Stallone"
--- anti-miscegenation laws, War Brides Act of 1945
version 5 (about 920 lines) 1994 10/11
--- Appendixes A and B
--- Wagatsuma and Yoneyama, Rudofsky
--- header info, etc for a Usenet FAQ file
version 6 (about 1160 lines) 1994 11/15
version 7: new in this version: see the very top of this file.
;;; (Mr.) TANAKA Tomoyuki (Tanaka is my family name.)
;;;
;;; mailing address: TANAKA Tomoyuki
;;; Eigenmann Hall 393
;;; Bloomington, IN 47406, USA
;;;
;;; WWW:
;;;
;;; e-mail address:
I Like the Nightlife, Bebe
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.23.98/cover/asian-nites1-9816.html
Light Up My Life: Young Asian Americans regularly pack San Jose's Club Vertigo, where club-goers mingle and dance to house music and hip-hop and occasionally step outside for a smoke.
Christopher Gardner
Asians gather together at night to (gasp!) party and (believe it!) get laid
By Ami Chen Mills
I'm starting to think this whole idea is stupid. I'm already 30, imagining I'm somewhat mature by now--maybe even a bit sophisticated.
Now, flash on this: I'm, one, in a bathroom at the Sound Factory in San Francisco on a Friday night when the production company Abzolut runs its mostly Asian dance party called K2. The bathroom is full of smoke because this is where all the girls come now to smoke, and this one girl is throwing up in the corner while her friends alternate between patting her on the back and leaning against the sinks to smoke, tossing half-hearted words of encouragement over their shoulders. All the smoke can't be helping the poor girl, who looks about 18, but she's gotta be over 21 because they are carding at the door. Who really knows? I'm just glad I got away from the punk in the "red room" outside who almost threw out a shoulder attempting a heavy-petting session with me on the dance floor.
Now I'm, two, sitting alone at a cocktail table at Club Vertigo in downtown San Jose on a Thursday night, the new "Asian" night here. Two or three people were going to meet me and nobody has, but that's all right, because it looks like there's going to be some kind of a show. There's a guy with a mic out on the dance floor cracking jokes, and the next thing I know, another very tan guy with shiny, curly, glorious jet black hair streaming from his head like a mane comes galloping out on the dance floor wearing white cowboy boots, a white cowboy hat, kneepads and a bright orange thong.
For a while, I watch "Ali" undulate like waves on the ocean--doing things with his pectoral muscles I didn't know could be done. But it's when the emcee, later introduced as Wild Bill Delany, approaches my lonely table (I'm scribbling notes, trying to look busy) and asks me over the sound system if I can spell "Bill" that I decide I'm too old for this kind of thing.
Asians of Change
THE WHOLE IDEA of a dance scene geared primarily to ABCs like me (American-Born Chinese) was new to me before I showed up at K2. But the fact is, young Asian Americans have planted a nightlife scene here in the Bay Area that is now spreading roots, encroaching on clubs and bars that once were predominately white or more mixed territory, like the Sound Factory and Big Heart City in San Francisco, Club Vertigo in San Jose and The Edge in Palo Alto. According to Rudy Bacardi, manager at Vertigo, Asians started showing up in serious numbers about a year ago. But only about five months ago did the scene get organized, with a Vietnamese producer booking specific dance nights for Asian crowds.
At the K2 party on Friday nights at the Sound Factory, there's nothing particularly "Asian" about the scene, except that it's full of Asians. A lot of the Chinese here don't even speak Chinese--that's how Americanized they are--and yet there's a draw to hang out with other Asians. Aaron Wong, 27, one of the organizers of K2, does not speak Chinese. "My second language is French. I grew up in Alameda, speaking French," he says. Wong, like a lot of the ABCs who party at K2, grew up in a predominately white area, assimilated and then went to a school like Berkeley and found out there were others. Asian studies classes compelled many to take pride in a background they had mostly kept to themselves in high school. Shared family experiences with Asian brethren became the bond for fast friendships.
For other Asians and more recent immigrants who grew up in mostly Asian neighborhoods, hanging with kinfolk is just natural. "You kind of want to segregate yourself. If you grow up in an Asian neighborhood, you just feel more comfortable in an Asian scene. At least I do," says Michael Chang, 27, who has been to most of the Asian clubs in the city and up and down the Peninsula. "It's the way our parents raised us--like, to play an instrument."
Chang refers to the often maniacal desire on the part of Chinese parents for their children to play a musical instrument. Preferably something classical, like piano. God forbid, not jazz. Chang's girlfriend, Jean Wang, 21, echoes his sentiments. "You feel closer to people here, safer. There are certain things you just click with. If I say that my parents were really strict, the people here understand that. Even though I went to high school in Oregon, where it was mostly white, I just feel more comfortable with other Asians."
Vietnamese and Filipinos at Club Vertigo on a Thursday night offer similar motives for hanging with their own kind. At Vertigo, enclaves of Vietnamese, mostly FOB (Foreign Born or, less politely, Fresh Off the Boat), gather in the upper levels of the bar or out on the back patio under heat lamps, smoking, drinking, talking on cell phones. Sonny Tran, 25, says he's here "mostly to drink and just kick back with my friends. I just feel more comfortable here. Sometimes I go to Club Lido or The Edge. ... My parents? My parents don't approve, I assume."
Alora Gonzalez, 23, Filipino, is sitting nearby with her sister, her brother and a friend. "We come here because there's a lot of Asians, and also it's a diverse crowd. But mostly I come just to get with my friends."
The stealth Asian shall inherit the earth.
Taiwan On
AT VERTIGO, after both male and female strippers have put their clothes back on and newly agitated audiences of men and women are released to each other, the crowd becomes more densely Asian. But a surprising number of blacks show up at these venues, and a few whites. Nights vary. Friday nights at Vertigo used to be more Asian than this, I've heard. Other clubs in the Bay Area cater to Koreans or FOB Vietnamese or Chinese almost exclusively--often the crowds are older, and each club creates a climate specific to its Asian clientele.
Still, there's a remarkable amount of cultural crossover among the younger Asian set. At Club Bien Bien in San Francisco, private karaoke rooms offer sing-along opportunities in six languages, and a lower-level dance floor attracts first-generation Asians from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, or those of the "1.5" generation, who've been around for years but still get homesick.
Bien Bien is very different from K2, having what I call the nonaesthetic of a Taiwan disco. Windowless, dark, cheaply adorned, with grungy walls and crowded, smoke-filled rooms, Bien Bien is all about technology. The elaborate, computerized karaoke system was designed by engineers who worked on the Batman movies, according to co-owner Anton Qiu. Bien Bien, Qiu says, reflects the atmosphere of clubs he visited during his own travels in Asia.
"I felt a need for a different kind of club, a multidimensional entertainment concept. Deep down, all of us have this natural desire to sing--maybe in the shower and whatnot. It's a form of release--from studies, from business or finals or whatnot." FOB Asians have a curious penchant for karaoke that most "bananas" or "Twinkies" (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) like me do not share. Patrons here pay up to $288 (drinks included) to rent one of the theme rooms with a private karaoke system. They choose from the Harley Room, the Egyptian Room, the Hollywood Room or the Sports Room and retreat into these closed spaces with friends and platters of sliced fruit. They are still strangers in a strange land, and a club like this--pretty alien to me--feels like home to them.
Race Cooker
THE QUESTION FOR ME IS, Why do assimilated Asians and Asian Americans feel the need to flock to these places? My escort to K2, Michael Chang, has a lot to say about why Asians stick together at clubs and in Asian professional and social clubs like M Society West. "We have common experiences in dealing with white people. There's the Asian glass ceiling. [According to studies, Asians still make less than whites, on average, in the same positions and are promoted less.]
"Among Asian males, there's a lot of resentment, especially around the perception that Asian women tend to be more docile. White guys will come up to us and say, 'Oh, my Asian girlfriend is so great, she gives me back rubs all the time.' That's rare, but because of things like that, a lot of Asians have a bond."
There may be no hotter topic around the young, single Asian American scene: white men dating Asian women, or Asian women dating white men. First, Asian men appear to agree with some white men that Asian women--or a type of Asian woman--are hootchy. "A lot more hootchy," Chang says. "They pluck their eyebrows more. They wear brown lipstick and brown nail polish and a lot of Bebe clothes, a lot of black and white." (My own shirt, Chang tells me, "isn't tight enough" for this scene.) The somewhat--ahem--patronizing protectionism toward Asian women can run to blows. At a scene at the former Club Touché in the city, which attracted a younger, more hard-core Asian crowd, a white guy picking up on an Asian gal might get jumped. But K2 is more banana, more American, really. White guys will show up and pick up on Asian women at a place like the Sound Factory without hassle, but that doesn't mean the Asian guys here don't simmer in their own rancid stew. There's a Chinese word for these men: ku gua, bitter melons.
"We are the bitter melons, man," interrupts Chang's friend "Brad," who (wisely, I'd say) doesn't want his real name used. "It runs so deep and so strong, most Asian girls don't even know. That's why the Asian guys are here. At white clubs, the Asian girls are always with the white guys. Where the fuck are we gonna go? Fuck Whitey, you know? ... It's all about getting laid. Asian networking? My ass. All I wanna do is look at the ladies, man. I mean, you're a guy and shit."
Apparently this whole Asian scene, this hot new trend, boils down to sex. Again, what's new?
Strike a Pose: "Among Asian males," one patron says, "there's a lot of resentment around the perception that Asian women tend to be more docile."
Christopher Gardner
Sacred Asian Men
BRAD'S PROBLEM--and that of some other Asian men, as they see it--is that Asian women date white guys and other men, but Asian men don't date white women or women of other ethnicities all that much. Brad's got his own theories, having been "brainwashed," as he puts it, in Asian American studies classes at Berkeley. ("That doesn't breed anything nice. I used to be even worse about all this," he asides.) "It's pretty clear that some white guys have an Asian fetish. But, I mean, how many white girls have an Asian fetish? There was one [white] girl I knew who was dating a friend of mine. She fucking wanted it. I thought she was the queerest girl, though. White women just don't desire the Asian man." Why not? I ask. " 'Cause we're geeky, man! We're a bunch of geeks. I'm a geek. I don't give a fuck. I do geeky Chinese stuff like play video games. But obviously there's a stereotype. Did you see Sixteen Candles? Remember Long Duck Dong? He's your typical FOB, nerdy Chinese guy. The shit was funny. I mean, I thought it was funny, but that was also fucked up. You ask me what I think and I'll tell you. Everybody knows I'm angry Chinese boy."
Chang holds forth further: "Asian women tend to assimilate faster than Asian men. When I lived in Illinois, it was a lot harder to find a date. The real problem is Hollywood and the way they portray Asian men. Frankly, they don't portray Asian women that well either.
"Look at The Joy Luck Club. Every Asian man in that movie was an asshole. Asian men hate Amy Tan. Amy Tan married a white guy. They hate Connie Chung, too. They hate Connie Chung; they hate Amy Tan. Like, I really hate her."
Brad seconds the emotion. "All these people are in the limelight, and they're like going out with Maury Povich and shit. I'm looking for women who are down. We call girls who are with our program down."
Brad claims he couldn't date a white woman now. "I don't want to have to explain what tofu is or get all the questions about food and shit. All that fascination with our culture. I want a woman with a Chinese family, too. So I don't think I could date someone not Asian, on a subconscious level." But Brad's proposed solution to the Asian mating quandary would include some interracial mixing: "Black women and Chinese guys should get together. We share similar experiences. They bitch about their men, we bitch about our women."
Despite the apparent vitriol, Brad and Chang seem to be in good spirits. Chang, for one, is here with his very attractive Asian girlfriend, and Brad actually did date a white woman in college for a while. Maybe this is all just male bonding, bitching over beer. Other Asian men have far less attitude about the whole thing. Like Roger Chan, who also rediscovered his roots at Berkeley and now serves as corporate sponsorship chair for M Society West. "All that stuff is just kind of stupid. I don't care. Whatever they [the women] want to do is fine. If they only date white guys, then that's kind of funky. But they're leading their own lives," he says with a shrug. "Sometimes Asian guys are just shorter."
Yin Crowd
IT'S OBVIOUSLY TIME TO TALK to an Asian woman. Chang has told me, "If you're here and you're an Asian woman, you're probably down for the Asian scene." And that's true of his girlfriend at least.
But Vivian Lee, a 22-year-old Korean student, dances to the beat of her own multicultural drummer. She's here with her new boyfriend, a Chinese fellow. They're both up from Stanford, where they're undergrads. "But we're not nerds," Lee observes without irony.
While her boyfriend says he prefers to date Asian women exclusively, Lee explains: "I don't have any color lines. White, black, Asian--I'm an equal opportunity employer. My parents are very traditional. My cousins have a liquor store in South Central L.A., and, like, it's very Korean to have a liquor store. So they deal with the poorest of the poor. And that's how they see black people. For my parents, Chinese are OK; Koreans are better, of course. Whites are worst, and blacks are unthinkable. My father told me that if I ever even thought of dating a black man, he would disown me. So of course I did."
It's not that Lee doesn't feel for Asian men. She does. "I feel bad for them. Girls talk about a lot of different kinds of guys they like, but they never say Asians. I think Asian guys are cute, but they're not the only ones." Then, with aplomb, Lee adds: "If you're fine, you're fine."
I've got to add my own two cents (I mean besides: You goddamn go, girl!), because Asian men and white women like Joan Walsh, who wrote a piece on the apparent docility and "exotic" appeal of Asian women for the San Francisco Examiner magazine (then called Image) back in 1990, have been talking about Asian women like we were some kind of aquatic specimen for at least a decade.
Fingering Asian women exclusively as somehow more docile or domestic smacks of a certain extra added "foreign" or "otherness" taint that's been going on for Asian Americans since World War II, and before that. As has the charge that Asian women are threatening to white women because they're more exotic. How come French women aren't more exotic because of those sexy accents? As for men with a penchant for Asian chicks, Lee confesses, "I don't know what they're thinking--if we're spicy, exotic or whatever. But we are loving life, let me tell you. The market is in our favor." It's when men make unfounded assumptions about us--be they Asian men, white men or whoever--that I walk.
As for dating Asian men, I'll confess I've never been that attracted to Asian men for some of the stereotypical reasons that my brothers have explicated so artfully above. But that changed during the course of this story. I questioned myself. Asian men can be studs. They can also be, of course, arrogant, or as Lee puts it: "They have issues. They think they're the shit when they're not. They call me a sellout, and I tell them, 'You're just not good enough for me, so you're forcing me out of the color pool.' For me, it's the whole kwan, you know, like in Jerry Maguire."
Like all club scenes, the Asian club scene comes with its own hefty share of posers, which Lee is willing to admit includes Asian women as well as men. "I go because the beat is better at Asian clubs. But the girls at those clubs can be pretty wenchy. They can be mean. They have to wear black pants and baby-doll Ts, like Bebe or DKNY. They're walking brand names. I find the whole thing pretty entertaining. Plus, that whole Asian-male thing with the cars." (The souped-up high-status Asian ride is a Honda Civic or an Acura Integra, lowered, with fat rims, fog lights, clear corners--everything.)
Asian Experience: The Asian nightclub scene is catching on because, as one club patron put it, "I don't want to have to explain what tofu is or get all the questions about food and shit. I want a woman with a Chinese family, too."
Christopher Gardner
Mellow Yellow
WHAT'S BEAUTIFUL about the "Asian nightlife" scene, as just one marker of what appears to be an increasingly strong undercurrent among Asians and Asian Americans in the Bay Area and (less so) in the national media and in zines like Giant Robot (see "The Joy Suck Club" sidebar), is that Asians are learning how not to be afraid of their own culture anymore. Not what they eat or what they wear or the fact that they lobby the president with the sleaziest of white corporate bigwigs, eat snakes and frogs sold live in Chinatown, drink green tea or sock their money away like bandits. Why the hell not?
People like Roger Chan, who once dated only white women, discovered at UC-Berkeley that they "didn't necessarily want to be white anymore just to fit in." Chan adds, "I started asking questions more. I appreciated my own culture more." He now hangs at all kinds of clubs in the city--and at K2 on Friday nights. "Now the Asians I hang out with are older, and more happy to claim some part of their culture. Like, maybe they know how to make kimchee now, or something."
Giant Robot features stories about choking on rice, articles on Asian action-movie star Chow Yun-Fat before he starred in The Replacement Killers, stories about "yellow" activists in the Black Panther movement and articles on Ping-Pong. GR displays pictures of naked women sitting in bathtubs full of ramen noodles, and readers dig it.
"We write about what we think is cool. That's all. And half our readership is white," notes publisher Eric Nakamura, who says he's also been consulting on hot "Asian stuff" for MTV lately. "I don't care who wants to read the magazine. It's just 'Here's what we like.' "
Similarly, Asians who stake out their own territory in which to party are merely claiming space in the larger American cultural arena. And it's happening intensely here in California, in the Bay Area, where roughly every seventh person is of Asian descent.
As angry Chinese boy "Brad" explains: "We haven't always had a strong cultural backbone. We assimilate so quickly and lose everything, like, in one generation. I live in San Francisco because that's more what I think American culture could and should be."
At K2 and at Club Vertigo and at Bien Bien, despite the sometimes messy, unsavory, socialite aspects of youth and its aspirations, I saw Asians with rhythm, hootchy women and women in torn jeans and wire-rim glasses, dudes with cell phones, whatever. They were up on the stages and on platforms, hips grinding, flirting, full of rice, feeling fine. And there were blacks there, as well as whites, as well as Jewish and Latino boys and girls. And that seemed to be cool, too.
It was like Asians were finally saying, Hey, this is our party, and you're welcome to party with us. But if you don't, we're just going to keep on having our own damn party--until we get enough, until the break of dawn, until we get laid--whatever, we'll party on.
找工作，心情
今天一哥们来纽约看房子，等下一起去喝酒吃肉。趁现在没事，扯扯我到目前为止的求职
历程吧。
我是6月底毕业的Master,统计专业，之前学过点数学，计算机，乍一看找工作的面很广。
从三月份开始，我就弄了个Monster账号，每天投几份job search agent传来的工作，总
共投了大概8，90份吧，没鸟用。主动联系我的公司很少，也有一个ICC,电话里面扯了十
分钟，就给了个Offer,六万一年，在中西部，然后马上递给我一份6页的sample resume,
让我改简历，让我把自己原有的2年编程经验改成3年以上。这就是我对ICC的最初认识。
后来HDD开始到版上做广告了，我就开始骂，不为别的，就为丫的手段也不比别的ICC高明
，连钱也给的少，那时候HDD还只给45K-50K,现在号称60-70K了。吹罢，谁信谁去，反正
我不去。
基本上Monster上乱投的简历全部打了水漂，其实也难怪，当时我在南部鸟不拉屎的地方
，本地就没什么机会。外地公司一般不找你。到了四月中旬，因为忙毕业，我就再也没有
投简历了。这段时间感觉人跟浮躁，总是怕毕业之前找不到工作，现在想起来真好笑。工
作迟早会有的，以后响起来，这段毕业后的求职时期应该是人生中比较悠闲的一段时间，
不要自己折磨自己，生活并不是从你找到工作的那一刻才开始，要享受每一天。所以我现
在也就天天轻松的看书准备，灌水扯淡，没啥压力。压力不是个好东西。
就我这样找吧，毕业之前也有两次面试。一个是臭名昭著的C1,另一个是一个当地的保险
公司。先说当地的公司吧。这个公司的机会是我自己冲去毛遂自荐换来的。我当时投了简
历，心想条件很适合，又是Local，机会很大。网上递了简历没消息，我就心想不行，一
定要发挥本地的优势，要见人。我就开始给HR打电话，问丫的收到我的简历没有。丫说没
有啊，我就说哪我再发一次，然后我们随便聊了一下。其实我根本就没重发邮件，他再说
没收到的时候，我就说，我就在本地，不如我自己来递简历吧。他说好，然后就约了个时
间。这样就有了第一次和HR会面，一个月后HM打来电话，就有了正式的onsite.后来没成
，一个是这个公司从来没有办过H1B,二是我OPT还有三个月才开始，后来HR跟我说，we
really liked you,但这个职位空缺了半年多了，是原来的那个人走了以后空下来的，我
们不能再等了。那我说好吧，以后有机会再跟我联系。其实心里是这样想的：妈的，连三
个月都不能等，#￥%……—*
记得不知道什么时候版上讨论C1的人很多，我也投了一个。一个月后接到recruiter电话
，开始phone interview, math test, personality test....然后onsite.总的来说C1的
面试安排还是不错，整个面试的过程也还行，就是behavioral和case,这个就不多讲了，
小学生的题目。我那时候也基本上不准备behavioral了，基本上上来就开扯，扯到大家开
心为止。所有的面试都很顺利，直到碰到一个印度人。他的口音让我发笑，而且确实不怎
么听得懂。名字我就不说了，以后面C1的筒子们，听到it的口头禅就知道他是谁了：“
fair enough...."费了好大力气明白了他在说什么，然后开始做case.我再板上写，他在
下面埋着头，不知道画什么东西。靠，后来我看到他留在桌子上的大作，是一个迷宫，还
有N个箭头，应该是出路吧。嗯，看来丫的诚心想废了我。后来完了他说，我们随便聊聊
吧。我开始提问，他就草草两句话结束。。。其实出了他以外的所有其他面试官都和我聊
得很投机，因为我事前research做足了，而且这些面试官都是美国人。统计部门的
director告诉我，他们整个team,除了他以外，全部是中国人和印度人。后来被拒了，我
一点不意外，也不可惜。可是直到现在，为什么不reimburse我呢？妈的，继续忍，下个
月还不来，我就打电话发飙了。
搬来纽约后，更新了一下Monster, CB的简历，又弄了一个Dice.开始找房子，看书，没自
己投过简历，天天拒绝n个ICC,这里点名批评一下HDD和Aequor,我隔一天就拒绝你们一次
，你们就是不涨记性，刚才写到C1那一段，又接到HDD老印的电话了。这些家伙明显就是
大批量骚扰，估计就算你电话里抓住它臭骂一顿，他过两天搜出你的简历了，照样给你打
电话。后来看世界杯决赛的时候，中场有人打来电话，一听不是老印，是个正经公司。我
跟他说，在看球，你晚上打吧。后来晚上跟他聊过以后，做完了网上的测试，就来了
onsite,前两天去的，下个星期才由结果，现在就不写它了。
写到这里，所有的三个phone interview都成了onsite,虽然没有拿到最后的offer,基本上
能看出个大概：这个找工作的过程中，有很多不可控制的因素，比如去C1碰到变态的老印
，但是只要你做好准备，始终有机会。我每次onsite之前，都彻底研究公司底细。比如说
local那家公司，我读了他们的annualreport,知道他们去年的重要战略调整，这些东西见
了director级别的人就可以谈，加上一点自己的见解。效果很好。至少让人家知道你对这
个公司感兴趣。C1的八卦更多，你仔细研究一下，就知道他们想从信用卡行业转型到全面
的银行，所以去年和今年收购了两家大的本地化银行。去年因为飓风，南部的那个收购案
的价值缩水了一半，等于占了个便宜。为什么C1这种subprime起家的烂卡公司要变成银行
呢？最重要的是丰富业务，然后其他的银行业务，比如CD,Savings Acc能够为信用卡业务
提供低廉的备用资金。讲到这里，C1的director告诉我，是的，我们兼并了两家银行后，
这个cost of fund减少了30%。其次就是多元化的业务：credit card business竞争激烈
，C1早晚要失去它的优势。需要及时转型。director频频点头。尽管那个印度人百般刁难
，我还是觉得我的整体表现不错，还有希望拿到offer.所以说面试前homework做好了，帮
助很大。你提出对公司的了解，然后发表一些自己的看法，比较高层的面试官会对你刮目
相看。
我觉得找工作最重要的是自信。只有这个才能让你顺利通过面试，让你毫不犹豫的拒绝每
个骚扰你的ICC...哈哈。然后要明确目标，不能东一榔头，西一棒子。我现在还在往这方
面努力。困难是暂时的，我就不相信你一直找，还能找不到工作？我就很享受这个找工作
的过程，你上班了还有时间天天灌水，睡觉睡到自然醒？以后再也没有这样的机会了。工
作了每年才三周假期。说到这里无比怀念欧洲每年5，6周的假期，和从不加班的企业文化
，还是欧洲人懂得他妈享受生活。
希望大家能享受工作之前的每一天。就不祝你们早日找到工作了，这个工作，是个人都能
找到，早晚的事。
Friday, July 21, 2006
高考作文“名句”赏析（转）
很多都是出自于天津卷《愿景》——木办法，谁叫这个题目太叫人摸不找头脑了！
1，尽管司马迁多次遭受宫刑，但他忍受住一次又一次的痛苦，还是以顽强的毅力
写出了伟大的《史记》。
【dodo：一次又一次？司马爷爷你那里难道是春风吹又生？】
2，有人说人生有三大恨事：一恨鲫鱼多刺，二恨海棠无香。第三恨我忘了，不过
我想，第三恨应该是：三恨愿景泡汤。
【dodo：虽然很押韵，但我不用BAIDU就能告诉你这话是张爱玲说的，最后一恨
是：红楼梦是个大坑……】
3，没有愿景，就像投不了胎的野鬼一样。／没有愿景，就像孤魂野鬼一样没有归
宿。
没有愿景的生活就像没有放味精的菜一样，可吃但不鲜。
一个没有愿景的人，就像没有脊柱一样，直不起腰，挺不起背，只能匍匐在人生
之路上，阳光照不到他身上，幸运女神也不会眷顾这样的人。
【dodo：愿景啊，你居然比空气还重要！我一直都木发现的说…… 】
4， 我的爸爸就像亲人一样爱我。
【dodo：敢情您老是您爸爸从垃圾箱里捡来的？】
5， 太阳离我们越来越近，像一个金黄的油饼。
【dodo：这位同学……你是木吃早饭就来考试的是伐？可怜的～～MOMO】
6，周总理的愿景是国家的富强独立，在他心里只有四个大字：为人民服务！
【 dodo：也许你的语文老师能容忍你，但你的数学老师不会原谅你！】
7，我希望有一条健康的双腿，一个智慧的大脑，……
【dodo：同上】
8， 有一种自卑叫自信，有一种跌倒叫爬起。
【dodo：这位同学是新时代的苏格拉底】
9， 没有自尊的脖子，无法支撑自信的头颅。
【dodo：我想知道怎样的脖子叫做“有自尊的脖子”！】
10， 没有背景，就奔前景。
【dodo：乍一看不知道在说什么，仔细一想似乎有点针砭时弊的意思…… 但再想又
不知道他确切要说什么……难道只是为了押韵？！】
11， 眼睛为什么长在两边，因为它是用来向前看的。
【dodo：同学你的逻辑是超越我的理性范围之外的……】
12，人生就像一杯白开水，平平淡淡的；但又像一杯加了糖的白开水，甜甜的；也
像一杯加了盐的白开水，咸咸的。
【 dodo：这……还是白开水么？！】
13，马瘦毛长蹄子肥，儿子偷爹不算贼；瞎大爷和瞎大妈过了半辈子，谁也没见过
谁。
【dodo：同学，您是郭德钢老师的儿子伐？】
14，孟德斯鸠出身贵族世家，虽然从小过着安逸的生活，但他看着天空变化的云，
突然做了一个震惊历史的决定，——那就是投身到资产阶级的革命洪流中去。
【dodo：原来孟老师夜观天象忽然大彻大悟……】
15， 人命诚可贵，爱情价更高；若为生死故，两者皆可抛。
【 dodo：8HD啊！你不能因为人家裴多菲过了50年的著作权保护期就这样糟尽人
家… …】
16，俗话说：人有多大胆，地有多大产。土地如此，人何以堪？所以我们更应对未
来怀有远大的前景。
【dodo：我无语了……这位同学你到底要说什么？！】
17，进入高三，我就过上了“起的比鸡早，睡得比狗晚，吃的比猪差，干得比牛
多”的日子。虽然我吃的比猪好多了，但我干的确实比牛还多。此刻，我的愿景就
是……
【dodo：可怜的孩子……同情的抚摸之，对高玉宝：你看到了伐！周扒皮对你们那
其实是很有人文精神的！】
18 ，我最大的愿景就是有骂人的习惯。虽说五讲四美要遵守，但恐怕只有坐在房顶
上骂上三小时不带重样的才能解解我心头的怨气。写到这里，我手心发汗，因为我怨的
是这张考卷，因为它决定了我的未来和前景。就凭这不足半米的考卷和一些墨水，就决
断我十二年的求学生涯，我不服。但我犯不着跟分数过不去。
【dodo ：孩子……你是不是已经准备好出国的后路才来考试玩的？】
19，上帝给了我们七情六欲，我们却把它们变成了色情和暴力。
【dodo：深刻！】
20，我的愿景是考上一所好大学，找到一个好工作，这样以后才有能力让我的儿子
也考上一所好大学，找到一个好工作。
【dodo：为什么我想到了政治书里那个记者采访放羊娃的那段？！】
21，我的很多同学为了能考上军校或警校，不惜把眼睛给做了。
【dodo：做？！抖……怎么就给做了？！】
22， 海子说：我想找一所房子，面朝大海，春暖花开。
【dodo：您老省省吧！如今海边花园别墅贵着呢，您找到了也买不起啊！】
23，周总理站在十里长街对天哀叹：“出师未捷身先死，长使英雄泪满襟。”他对
祖国美好未来的愿景使亿万人民为之失声痛哭。
【dodo：十里长街……？！诈尸啊啊啊啊啊啊！！！】
24， 泰戈尔说：黑夜给了我黑色的眼睛，我却用它来寻找光明。
【dodo：你信不信顾城会拿着斧头半夜来找你？】
25，汨罗江边，项羽手持利剑于颈间，他高呼……
【dodo：他高呼：屈原小亲亲你怎么那么早就舍下我去了啊！！！】
26， 醉翁深知：不应有恨，何时长向别时圆……
【dodo：苏轼TO欧阳修：大家熟归熟，你这样我一样告你剽窃！】
27，在桃花源过着田园生活的陶渊明写下了“疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏”
的名句……
【dodo：好吧……我承认……其实我也不敢保证林逋老先生就一定不是陶渊明的邻
居。】
28，当俞平伯为钟子期摔琴之时，他所寻找的是高山流水，琴声是他的愿景。
【dodo：鉴定为BL穿越文！】
29，韩愈跟着刘邦去打仗，一天，……
【dodo：又鉴定出一篇为 BL穿越文！】
30，居里夫人发明了鱼镭，她的愿景实现了……
【 dodo：居里夫人您死得真冤枉……谁晓得这鱼雷它竟然也是有辐射的！】
31，司马迁在受到残酷的宫刑之后，忍辱苟活，因为他知道“不孝有三，无后为
大 ”，所以……
【dodo：所以……怎么样？！难道找个小攻搞男男生子么？】
32，司马迁在遭受宫刑之后，不得不忍受断腿之苦，……
【dodo ：我求求你们了！司马爷爷“一次次”的受了宫刑已经够惨的了！你们别再
虐他了！】
33，司马迁在被施行腐刑之后，不顾身体的腐烂，写出了千古绝唱《史记》……
【dodo：令人发指啊！我已经彻底无语了……】
34，我看到司马迁在遭受宫刑之后的伟大成就和伟大愿景，不由感叹：三百六十
行，行行出状元。
【dodo：干笑，是啊！敢情太监这行也能出状元！】
35，一代男儿司马迁自愿接受宫刑，就是因为他心中的伟大愿景——那就是大唐还
没有一部自己的史书，于是他忍辱负重为大唐完成了《史记》。
【dodo：掀桌！司马迁究竟招谁惹谁了？都被折腾成这样了居然你们还不肯让他得
到解脱！还一直把他从汉朝虐到了唐朝—— 求求莘莘学子们，你们就可怜可怜这位老
人家吧，他已经受够了……】
36，因为，猪＝吃饭＋睡觉，
我＝吃饭＋睡觉＋学习；
所以，我＝猪＋学习
【dodo：真的……我很感动，这就是劳动人民朴素而深刻的辩证法】
37，时间就像一杯浓硫酸，可以腐蚀一切东西……
【dodo：同学，你在学校是化学课代表吧？】
38，朋友，以即死的心情面对你的愿景，它就会离你更近。
【dodo：那谁还敢…… 】
39，我叫张三，三点钟的时候在家做作业，但心里却想着柜子里的三个苹果，被三
婶知道，告诉了爸爸，爸爸打了我三巴掌。
【dodo：别“三” 了！我知道你是湖北考生了！】
(湖北卷作文题目:
成语：三思而后行，三人行必有我师焉、举一反三……，从以上带“三”字的成语中，
能给你什么启示 ……
)
40，母鸡生小鸡要生好几天。
【dodo：原来如此，可怜的母鸡——我终于明白相比于你的痛苦，鸡蛋2.8一斤是
多么便宜了！】
41，我们一家三口，爸爸妈妈和姐姐。
【dodo：敢问——你是谁？】
42，远远地，走来一位女姑娘。
【dodo：我想见识下男姑娘…… 】
43，什么是举一反三？就是举一个例子反对三个例子
【dodo：你的语文老师会自杀……】
44，三人成虎就是三个人的力量加起来像老虎一样有力，所以我们要团结。
【dodo：上面那位语文老师，你不介意复活过来再自杀一次吧……】
Thursday, July 13, 2006
盲目高估自己的国力 中国人应理性看待中国复兴
中国的崛起在很长一段时间里一直是个世界性的热门话题。外界的看法不外乎两种，一是把中国的崛起看成是一种机会，二是将之看成是一种威胁。表现在政策层面，前者主张要积极参与中国的发展，后者则鼓吹要拖延、遏止和围堵中国的发展。
国际社会怎么看中国，当然很重要，因为他们的看法从不同程度上影响他们的对华关系。但更重要的是中国本身如何理性地看待本身的崛起。如果不能理性地看待自己的崛起，不仅内部的持续发展会出现问题，而且对中国的外交也会产生不应当有的影响，如盲目高估自己的国力、非理性的民族主义、大国沙文主义等。
目前是单向的经济崛起
中国的确正在崛起。但到底是什么样的崛起呢？现实地说，中国的崛起目前只是单向的，即经济上的崛起，而且经济上的崛起也只是一种数位计算而已。
中国向外国政界解释中国是和平崛起时，告诫人们不要光从数位来看中国经济的崛起。就是说，任何一个小问题，放到中国13亿人口这个大背景下，就会变成巨大无比的问题；而任何总量非常大的成就，放到中国13亿人口这个大背景下，也同样会变得微乎其微。高速经济发展已经带来了许多社会经济问题。能源危机、环境恶化、社会分化等等现象变得越来越严重。
中国的经济崛起并没有带来军事上的崛起。经济现代化尽管为军事现代化造就了一个良好的基础，但是中国的军事发展不仅受外在国际环境的制约，而且更受中国本身的国际战略的制约。在很大程度上说，中国是要避免军事上的崛起。
如果军事崛起必须避免，那么文化崛起和政治崛起呢？中国没有文化上的崛起。经济的崛起没有造就一种新的文化。相反，传统文化正在加速度地消失，被商业文化、速食文化所取代。经历着工业化和城市化洗礼的中国越来越难以见到传统的痕迹了。尽管有人在提倡学习《论语》、四书五经之类的传统经典，但同整体社会的变迁又是多么的不协调。没有人会相信，这类努力能够真正维持传统文化，更不用说是复兴了。
中国的政治在过去20多年来不仅为经济发展提供了一个稳定的基础，而且也通过自身的变革适应和容纳了社会经济的变迁。尽管这种政治模式对很多发展中国家具有很大的借鉴意义，但这并不代表政治上的崛起。如何保证政治平稳转型，就是个难题。
距离全面复兴仍有差距
从这些方面来看，中国目前单向的崛起不仅较之目前世界各强国有很大的不同，而且较之中国本身的传统也存在着很大的距离。有很多人把中国目前的崛起视为复兴，这是很有道理的。在数千年的历史中，中国曾经有过数次真正的崛起，包括在秦汉时代、隋唐时代、明清时代。在那几次崛起期间，中国不仅是经济上的崛起，而且更是文化和政治上的崛起。当时，中国不仅在经济发展水准上，而且在文化艺术和政治上远远领先其他国家，包括亚洲和欧洲。中国政治和文化的对外影响力，在今天的亚洲国家仍然处处可见。目前人们所说的儒家文化圈，就是中国历史上全方位崛起的最佳见证。
更值得一提的是，近现代西方式国家的扩张，主要依靠的是军事上的扩张。但中国影响力的外扩，依靠的是贸易和文化的传播。贸易是中国同各国交往的一种“双赢游戏”，而文化的传播则主要依靠其他国家向中国学习的动机。也就是说，中国影响力的外扩，并不是中国本身的主动行为，更多的是其他国家的主动接受。
由此看来，中国没有任何理由对目前的经济崛起沾沾自喜。自改革开放以来，中国自觉自己落后了，于是拼命“赶超”先进国家。中国是因为“赶超”而崛起。但很显然，这种“赶超”带来的崛起是单向的，在数位经济和崛起之间很难画上一个等号。可以明确地说，只有到完成文化和政治转型之后，中国才能实现真正的崛起。
Monday, July 10, 2006
进藏列车见闻:每150尺就有一军警 蹲式厕所是难题 新闻周刊
在这次北京至拉萨首发列车上工作、并且已经和铁路打了一辈子交道的铁道部官员杨红（Yang Hong音译）的感觉糟糕透了。身为部里列车餐饮服务管理部门的头头，她要保证首趟京藏线列车上800多名乘客契饱喝足。这趟列车共带了100箱水和饮料、1,100磅大米、和3,000个大麦面包，面包是专门为火车进入高原地域，空气太稀薄，万一无法烧火时准备的。
火车快到全世界海拔最高的火车站－唐古拉山口车站时，杨红已经因为高原反应患上严重的头痛。她把头靠在餐车内的一张桌子上休息。杨红的一名手下报告说，他今天早晨已经向乘客们发了500份盒装早餐，脚都走麻了。
车上的7名厨师都因为气候影响，身体感到不适。26岁的厨师张伟华（Zhang Weihua音译）面孔稍微有点发青，他一边插着氧气管呼吸，一边在砧板上切芹菜。杨红呻吟着说：“我很痛苦，但是，我一定要坚持下去。”突然，她的手机响了起来，杨红也突然精神起来。她甚至得意洋洋地向手机另一边的人说：“我快到拉萨了！”
中国乘客充满自豪
据《新闻周刊》记者刘美远（Melinda Liu）报导，这条耗资42亿美元的铁路也引发了不少政治性头痛。1950年，在共产党士兵攻入西藏首都拉萨后不久，毛泽东就曾梦想建设一条通往世界脊梁的铁路。毛泽东历来喜欢坐火车旅行；他经常在由漂亮的女乘务员服务的特殊车厢里主持小型政治会议。
但是，喜马拉雅地区是个与世隔绝的区域。西藏人于1959年，在中央情报局的暗中鼓动下，对中国政府发动了独立运动，西藏宗教领袖达赖喇嘛因此流亡印度，并在印度一直居住至现在。虽然达赖喇嘛曾数次表示，进西藏的铁路将加快对他故乡的“文化灭绝”，但是，近来他的态度逐渐软化。
由于上述种种原因，入藏铁路直到5年前，当中国科学家发明了如何在海拔340英里的青藏高原上建铁路的技术后，才开始施工。与此同时，海外活跃的政治组织，例如，自由西藏学生会（Students for a Free Tibet）等，开始发起活动，抗议修建铁路项目。他们担心铁路工程会加剧环境的恶化、加快汉族在西藏地区的经济、文化霸权，加速西藏少数民族被同化的速度。就在京藏铁路首班列车离开北京的前一天，还有3名外国示威者在北京火车站被拘留。
京藏线的首趟班车的保安非常严密。这趟全程2,500英里的旅程于7月1日晚间启程，首发列车一时成了游客、政府官员和记者的天下，他们随身携带的手提电脑、照像机、手机和摄影器材布满整部火车，数量之多会给任何一趟列车带来数不清的头痛问题。况且，这并不单单是一次普通的旅程。中国主席胡锦涛在给青海至拉萨阶段的铁路完工仪式上剪彩时宣称，世界海拔最高的铁路的启动，是现代工程史上的“奇迹”。
随着火车离开北京，中国乘客们心中涌出的自豪和爱国情结，记者不用问就可以感受到了。一名中国乘客对着不断闪烁的电视摄影机激地说：“我感到非常骄傲，中国完成了一项外国人认为我们永远无法做到的工程。”他是头等软卧厢的乘客，布置非常舒适，有4张睡铺和一部液晶电视机，票价每人158美元。
大约40名外国记者，在中国外交部的安排下，住进两节二等硬卧车厢，睡铺有3层高，提供免费的拖鞋，票价每人100美元。
蹲式厕所是个难题
《新闻周刊》记者感觉到，在出发前往拉萨的夜间，要在火车上找到电源还成了一个最大的挑战。出了北京2小时后，几乎所有电插头上都插上了各式各样的小型电子仪器。记者们甚至坐在洗手盆旁，用给刮胡刀准备的电源插头连接手提电脑。每节车厢里有两间厕所，还有其他的所有设施，都比中国普通火车上的要现代化多了。
尽管如此，蹲式厕所和不断摇摆的火车，对许多人来说仍然是个难题。有数名记者在其他车厢发现一间为残疾人设计的宽大坐式厕所，不过并没有大势宣传这秘密。
另一方面，车上的500多名旅客成了“觅食”的记者们的最佳猎物。随着火车在夜间向西面飞速行驶，我逛到了车尾的硬座车厢，这里的乘客要坐在高背座位上渡过整整48小时的行程，票价每人49美元，当旅程结束时，许多人都已经躺在地板上睡着了。
一些旅客是回乡的西藏学生。27岁的北京少数民族大学的学生拜玛古珠（Baima Guzhu音译）是其中之一。他说：“通火车意味着家乡的工作竞争会更激烈，我多少有点担心。但是，西藏需要开放。她封闭的时间太久了。我们需要发展才能提高生活水平。”他承认，大批进入西藏的中国游客和流动工人“对西藏文化将是一次大冲击。但是，这种事迟早会发生的。”
第二天，《新闻周刊》记者跑到了餐车，在那里见到在中国出生现居马里兰州盖瑟斯堡的生物医学科学家约翰·刘，他说，他要走访在北京的亲戚，不得不设法弄到一张软卧车票，他说：“我必须走，我在拉萨连旅馆房间都没有订。也许我将在车站睡一晚了。”此前我并不认识刘先生，他的想法也和那些回乡的西藏学生相似，他对我说：“想让西藏再停留在1000年前的状态是不可能的。我猜你将会写文章说中国的移民控制了西藏的经济。其实，即使在北京，也有许多重活是从四川和其他省份来的人干的，所以，他们也正在改变住在北京的人民的生活，这种情况并不是只有在西藏才有。”
中外合资经营旅游观光车
每趟列车上都有一些有怪癖的家夥。这趟列车上有艾弗·沃伯顿（Ivor Warburton），他是在铁道上打滚了30多年的英国“火车狂”。对他来说，京藏旅程是一次“惊叹”时刻。其中涉及到的，不仅仅是快感，也有关他的生意。沃伯顿和其他两名同伴是国际联合列车公司（Railpartners）的职员，该公司与青藏铁路公司签署了关于组建合资公司、共同经营青藏铁路旅游观光列车。双方签署了一份给喜马拉雅带来豪华火车的协议。他们希望，到2008年初（北京奥运会举行时），可以推出一流的唐古拉特快专车，一趟长达5天的北京－拉萨豪华旅行，火车上会配置有私人浴室、观景窗口、任你喝的小型酒吧、卫星电视、网络宽带，和德国制的管家中心。价格预定为每天1,000美元，途中的外出观景也包括在票价内。
他说：“随着通往西藏的道路被打开，人们对豪华享受的兴趣也随之而起......当然，你可以坐飞机去拉萨，但是，飞机无法让你感受西藏。而在这里，你可以在你的窗口边上看完一整套故事。”
沃伯顿随身带了一份所有京藏线车站时刻表，每到达一站时，就记下到达时间。结果发现每站越到越早的原因，当我们到达青海Golmud站时，我们已经比预定时间提前了1个小时。看来，列车员并不满足于准时到达，他们很显然希望跑在路程表之前，好保证我们到达拉萨时不会迟到。
《新闻周刊》记者报导说，到第三天时，记者团看起来已经疲惫不堪。在格尔木车站时，列车员打开我们车厢里的氧气通风器。这是列车上一系列帮助减轻高原症状的高科技设备之一。高原稀薄的空气也造成了其他的“伤亡”：薯片袋子爆炸、钢笔漏墨、几部手提电脑和一部iPod死机。一组医疗班几次匆匆忙忙的经过我们的车厢，显然在四处帮助感到不舒服的人们。其中一人对一名有反应的记者轻声说：“呕了以后就会好起来了。”还有一次，一名修理工抓着一个柱塞经过，任何时候在火车上看到这些，都不是什么好迹象。
由于太多乘客感到不适，列车员们在火车接近海拔16,640英尺的唐古拉山口时，举行了一次“保安会议”，决定如何渡过我们旅程中的最高点。令记者们失望的是，他们决定不允许记者们出到火车外，理由是健康问题。当火车通过唐古拉站时，十几名警察站在铁路旁，向经过的列车敬礼。
但是，“火车狂”沃伯顿说得是对的：不断在列车窗外掠过的风景令人难忘。从戈壁滩上耸起的、山顶雪白的昆仑山脉。蔚蓝的天空蓝得看起来好像都不是真的一般。一群群西藏牧羊和野猴子在看到火车后四处逃散，或者只是好奇的张望着。肥胖的金色土拨鼠从洞穴里爬出来。不过火车上的公共广播提醒乘客，土拨鼠身上可能带有淋巴腺肿的病毒。
每150尺就有一名军警
《新闻周刊》记者一度发现，每150尺，就有一名中国军警单独一人站在铁道旁，有时会向火车敬礼，有时在背对着火车，一直都在保持警戒。随着我们接近拉萨，他们的制服野越来越显眼，包括头盔和防弹衣。在寥无人烟的高原上，这一系列孤单的军警火车向敬礼的景象，显得很不现实。一名外交部的官员解释道：“他们在保护铁道。”但是，他们在防范什么呢？我得到的回答是“我不知道。”我们还超过了数百辆深绿色的军事卡车，它再次提醒我们，人民解放军在西藏的布置了重兵力，他们在国防中的角色。
列车比预定时间早几分钟到达了拉萨的Liwu车站。在火车上坐了2天后，在被动的欣赏了一幅幅牡牛、土拨鼠和敬礼的军警的图像后，我们被粗鲁的推到了繁华的大地上。一队年轻的西藏女子欢迎我们的到来，并试图把传统白围巾，或者哈达，围在我们脖子上。一些记者都迫不及待的赶往旅馆，因为手机信号和GPRS网络传输连接在途中都经常消失。
报导说，我们几人获得了一部由地方官员安排的汽车，让我们能够迅速从忙碌的月台上离开。30秒后，我们发现我们的“逃生”路线被一部无人的警车拦住了。受到青藏铁路的我们可以做到的精神启发，我们决定把警车推开。旁边一名部门官员警告说：“别用太大力气，你们会无法喘气的；非常危险。”他笑了笑，又很快的说：“而且，这是犯罪行为。”最终，我们奇迹般的把那辆沈重的越野车推开了30英尺，足以让我们的汽车通过。
《新闻周刊》记者感到，与她的前次拉萨行相比，拉萨的街道上似乎挤满更多马力十足的多功能旅行车、闪亮的新旅馆和卡拉OK厅。就在布达拉宫不远处，神圣的医学（Medicine）山上的一座信号灯塔现在也布置上了大红色的霓虹灯。我们来到一座舒适的三星级旅馆，旅馆大厅里布置着各式闪闪发亮的装饰水晶。
就在午夜不久后，我们许多人，包括我在内，都收到一个声音柔软的女性在用中文问：“你需要按摩么？”在中国西部，这算是个常见的奇观了，她们其实往往是“挂羊皮卖狗肉”的妓女。不论如何，是好还是坏，这条通到世界脊梁的新铁路无疑会在拉萨的未来里扮演重要的角色。