caterpillar fever

Oh, about 5-6 years ago i saw my first pile of cordyceps in Kangding, Tagong and throughout the Kham area of western Sichuan. Tibetans were slanging the dried worms on the ground for several RMB (like 10 - 20) for a pile of about 250 grams. I didn't buy any, because at the time I had no idea what cordyceps were.

Then I slowly learned about the unique symbiotic relationship between worm and fungus that creates a chemical compound revered by basically all ethnicities living around the Himalayan Mountains. By the time I realized how cool they were, a Sichuanese businessman, surnamed Li, had already turned the market onto its head.

When once a pile of these worms would cost a few RMB, now they jumped to 30rmb a piece or more for the fat ones. Sneaky Li and others like him went to Kangding, Danba and beyond and bought truckloads off the worms off of the Tibetan nomads that had been collecting them for years. Whoa! thought the nomads, this crazy Han is coming up here and paying fifty RMB per 250g!

The kids jumped out of their classrooms and headed up the slopes of the mountains where these worms can be found, old men and women whispered the location of secret worm-collecting spots into the ears of their trusted sons and daughters, tribes vied with each other to get the most worms to the Han as possible.

Kinda reminds me of that part in O Brother Where Art Thou when the Soggy Bottom Boys come running out of the "studio" and say:

"I dont mean to be tellin tales outside o school, but there's a man in there give ya 10 dollers to sing into his can!'

hahaha

yeah and Pappy's response:

"Ya dumb cracker! I aint makin records, we're mass communicatin!

Here is a story in Asia Times which is interesting, because it is about the worm business on the Nepali and Indian side of the mountains ...

Nomads and crackers makin what they can while the Lis and Pappys of the world ball out of control mass communicatin to the ultimate consumers: the mighty middle class ...

The Case of Wang Shi

The Chinese government has decided to clamp down on the schoolchildren issue to ensure social harmony and stability. All protests are dealt with by black-clad police and the media has been warned from on high to keep their mouths shut about the schools. They can't even mention it.

Instead, Wang Shi, CEO of one of the largest real estate developers in China, Wan Ke, has been vilified in the press for only giving 2 million RMB to the victims. Wang is known for his high-class, carefree lifestyle and he was loved for it when he was on top. But the paltry two million and him flashing the peace sign for a pic in the quake devastated area has sent Wan Ke's stock price plummeting and unleashed waves of Internet insults against their CEO. The media has been all over it here in Chengdu and Wang Shi has now announced that he will step down as head of Wan Ke.

The same can't be said for the dozens of government rats that are responsible for the shoddy construction of schools. Schools are usually paid for with government funds, a prime cash cow for whore-mongering, BMW-driving officials in the Sichuanese hinterlands.

"We can take Wang Shi down," said a friend of mine, "but we can't possibly vilify the government so. Have you ever seen that happen here? Impossible ..."

holla at me

does anyone out there work with alternative fuels/renewable energy on a large scale -- research, investment, development, promotion over breakfast at the sunny side up on lyndale can ya feel me ???

i bet there are at least five peeps reading this. anyway. this story and others like it have me very excited and optimistic. i'm tellin you ... we all goin green.

here is a story that's pretty funny: China and India being "more green" than the US. Oh my Lord is that hilarious. but its an interesting point. China and India are polluted nations and its getting worse. but they head to open air markets for their food and ride bikes. it has to do with economic choices rather than green choices. If everyone in China could get a car, they would.

The fusion of economic choices with environmental choices can create a very fine society: making green living desirable because it represents modernity, consciousness and conjures up images of sci-fi Utopias ....

I wish i knew more. so holla at a ninja!

holla

Let me know if you can see my entire blog and comment on it, cuz i can't.


I have been saving up my energy for this post because I am going to try and describe the inner working of a large state-owned enterprise chartered by the municipal government to promote Chengdu abroad. Even writing this last sentence has taxed my constitution.

What happens is, the state hands Company X a large sum of cash and the goal to promote Chengdu. This cash sits glowing in a safe. A large slice of management crouches before the safe, fingers steepled, plotting. The only way to actually access the money is to have a plan set before the eyes of the Party leadership, a small council of old men at the top who hold the chops. These chops hum in their cabinets. The managers can hear them deep below in the cavernous safe.

Assistants -- young, pretty and energetic -- find ways to implement the plots and plans of their managers, with an eye out for possible pocket-lining opportunities. Certain edicts from on-high filter down: We need exhibitions in Europe, We need Europeans to come here, We need people to come here and spend their money. These edicts are license to plot. A plotting framework.

When an idea is executed, the entire machine turns its focus, blurry and ponderous, upon the event and announces the appropriate things. Long term cooperation. Effusive, gracious thanks. Fervent hopes for mutual benefit. Determined march into the future together.

Managers and their teams of runners smile at each other as they elbow their way to the front, to be gazed upon by the machine. Acknowledged. Dinners and drinks.

The next manager appears. Focus is realigned.

The government has invested billions in the real estate industry. They buy land, sell it to developers, who build buildings and return it to a management company to sell to the people.

The people are not buying.

The state got the money from the banks, their children are in Canada studying. The developers got their money from the state, their kids are in Shanghai or Paris, spending. The rental management companies are buying TV spots and newspaper space. They are wringing their hands in worry. They turn to the state. The state turns to Company X, blurry eyes seeking solutions. Company X replies: Outsiders with money.

If no one buys, the rental management co's default. If they default, the state defaults on their bank loan. The bank goes insolvent. The state steps into bail them out. Heads roll. Children abroad are left wondering what happened to their allowance. The people carry on, trying to ignore all of the lies.

my role in this is Idea Man. Good ideas go by the wayside here, as the mad grab for cash leaves the Idea spinning naked in the rain.