Happy New Year 2012! Taiwan's GDP is now Half a Trillion!

Taiwan's 2011 GDP is $504 billion and per-capita income is $21,592 U.S. dollars! (Photo: Taipei 101 skyscraper and Taipei City)

It's been another wonderful year for Taiwan with economic growth at 4.38%. Yay!

I wish a Happy New Year to everyone and their families. I hope all of you are looking forward to the launches of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in 2012.



"China to launch Shenzhou-9 and 10 spacecraft next year [in 2012]
CNTV, December 30, 2011

China will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft and achieve space rendezvous and docking missions with the orbiting Tiangong-1 vehicle in 2012, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration said Thursday."

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Also, I would like to ring in the New Year with pictures from China and Taiwan province.




Students of Jiujiang Primary School show Chinese lanterns with "2012" written on them, in Jiujiang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Dec. 31, 2011, to greet the New Year. (Xinhua/Hu Guolin)


Staff members of He Garden show their homemade glasses in the shape of "2012" in Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 31, 2011, to welcome the New Year. (Xinhua/Meng Delong)



"Dragon for Lantern Festival unveiled
By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter
Wed, Dec 28, 2011


Winged dragon lanterns are displayed in Taipei yesterday at a preview for the Taiwan Lantern Festival, which will be held in Lugang Township, Changhua County, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 19. Visitors to the festival will receive one of the lanterns. (Photo: CNA)

The Tourism Bureau yesterday unveiled the main lantern that will be displayed at the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Changhua County’s Lugang Township (鹿港) in February.

Next year is the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac and the main lantern features a silver dragon perched on a cloud holding an orb in its hand.


Children hold dragon lanterns in front of a big illuminated dragon at a preview in Taipei yesterday for the Taiwan Lantern Festival, which will be held in Lugang Township, Changhua County, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 19. (Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times)

Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said the lantern is 20m long and weighs 40 tonnes, making it the largest in the history of the nation’s lantern festival, adding that it is equipped with more than 200,000 LEDs and 2,500 electrical circuits.

The festival runs from Feb. 6 until Feb. 19.

Changhua County Commissioner Chuo Po-yuan (卓伯源) said the entire town of Lugang would be beaming during the festival.

In addition to the Lugang Sports Stadium, where the main lantern will be located, the main street in Lugang and other tourist attractions will be lit with lanterns.

Since Changhua is famous for its flower production, Lai added that visitors could enjoy the flowers and other scenic spots in Changhua during the day, before attending the lantern festival at night.

Lai said representatives of the Tokyo Disney Resort were so impressed with this year’s Miaoli Lantern Festival that they have decided to dispatch performance groups to the Changhua festival.

The bureau yesterday also introduced small paper lanterns that will be freely distributed to festival attendees.

Hung Hsin-fu (洪新富), who designed the mini-lanterns, said it was called the Spirited Dragon, adding that it has hang-gliding wings, wears a backpack and rides on a rainbow-colored cloud.

Hung also cut out the No. 101 on the chest of the Spirited Dragon. He said people will be able to see the shape of a heart when a light inside the lantern shines through the 0.

“I wanted to create something that parents can do with their children,” Hung said. “The lantern has the characteristics of an Eastern dragon — deer horns, fish scales, horse ears and the whiskers of a catfish. You can also move the dragon’s hands.”

To get to the festival, visitors are advised to take advantage of the shuttle buses arranged by the Changhua County Festival, which are available at the high-speed rail station in Greater Taichung, as well as the Taiwan Railway Administration stations in Changhua City and Yuanlin (員林).

The bureau estimated that the festival in Lugang would draw 6 million visitors. The Changhua County Government has provided a total of 27,000 parking spaces outside the town, as cars will be banned from the downtown area during the festival."

References for Taiwan's 2011 GDP and per-capita income: and

Happy New Year to you also! And stick around the forum...pleeezzzee!

Year in retrospective

I would say that the two most important China-related issues (where I interjected my opinions) were the Chinese currency debate in October and the South China Sea in June of this year.

To clarify, I didn't just post on USA Today. I also posted on UPI (United Press International), CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Stree Journal, NASDAQ, and a lot of other mainstream websites. I was virtually everywhere in the mainstream press under my pseudonyms "Martian" and "China Lee."

From my October 28, 2011 post:

I indirectly challenged the American Media's credibility

Earlier this month, I indirectly challenged the American media's credibility. If you want a good laugh, read the article by USA Today (link: ) as they bashed China:

"We cannot continue to let China flaunt the rules," Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said. If action isn't taken, "we may never recover as a country. This is serious stuff."

Economists agree that the yuan is undervalued by 25% to 30% against the dollar; some put it as high as 40%. The result is that Chinese goods are increasingly cheaper in the United States and U.S. products more expensive in China.

Click to expand...

If I was ignorant of the truth, I would be pretty upset too! My God, according to USA Today, those Chinese are cheating and undervaluing their currency! It is a pretty upsetting article until you read the second comment (reproduced below), which is located at the end of the article. Ooops! Never mind! Ha ha ha. I posted the truth for the entire country to see.


USA Today forgot to tell its readers that China's currency has already appreciated 30% in the last six years.

I thought I would share the story before I forget it in another few weeks.

I also posted in the comment section of YouTube videos regarding China's currency. See example below.

VIDEO:

I should tell you the rest of the story. For days prior to my posts, the Western Media only printed stories about China undervaluing its currency by 25 to 40% and there were a few sporadic articles that mentioned China had appreciated its currency by 7% since 2010.

Eighteen hours after I posted my comment everywhere (that China's currency had appreciated by 30% in the last six years), Reuters published its first story that China had appreciated its currency by 30% since 2005. After Reuters, major publications also published the fact that China's currency had appreciated by 30%. The exception was CNN. CNN wrote that China's currency had appreciated by "over 20%."

The Western media have a choice. They can tell their readers the truth or I'll do it for them.

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My posts in the mainstream media on the South China Sea were relevant to the debate. After I pointed out that the South China Sea and islands were discovered and claimed by China for 1,400 years, the mainstream media changed their articles and incorporated this historical fact.

Within 12 hours after my first batch of posts, I noticed the Guardian was the first to acknowledge the Chinese side of the story. Reuters followed. Next was CNN. After that, all major news publications started printing that the Chinese had a thousand-year-old claim to the South China Sea islands.

From my June 24, 2011 post:

Checkmate

[My post from another forum, but it fits in this thread.]

Peter, you and all of the China-haters are too late. I have posted everywhere in the mainstream media (e.g. Boston Globe, CNBC, CNN, Miami Herald, NASDAQ, Reuters, Sacramento Bee, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times, etc.) and YouTube over the last 12 days.

This is my reaction to the stubborn Vietnamese posters that came into the Chinese sub-forum and raised a ruckus.

Look in the comment section and the number of "China Lee" comments. Who do you think had the last laugh? You or me?

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Here is an example:



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I am also on foreign websites, such as this one in India.



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On The Hill's Congress Blog, Senator Inhofe makes his point and I make mine in the first comment.



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Senator McCain makes his point in an article and I present the counterpoint in the first comment. Where have you been Peter? You missed the party.



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From my June 25, 2011 post:

The mouse that roared

I forgot to mention something important. On 10% of the Western news sites, I was censored. San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, and a few other newspapers deleted my comment on China's 1,400-year-old first discovery of Paracel Islands. Also, Reuters decided to ban me from commenting after I posted a different comment on a second China-Vietnam article.

Nevertheless, I cannot be censored. I simply move to other news services, such as The Diplomat or Foreign Policy. The more that some newspapers try to censor me (by deleting my comment or refusing to post it), the more determined I become to be heard. The Long Island Press held my comment for review by a moderator for four days and then quietly deleted my submission request.

It is ironic that every time they censored my comment, I received a boost in energy and determination to post on ten more websites. I think I have made over two hundred posts on news sites and YouTube during the last 12 days.

The moral of the story is that if you try to censor this mouse, I will roar!

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See fifth full comment (e.g. don't count the replies to original comments):



See second full comment:

Happy New Year 2012 from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing

Photographs from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing:


New Year celebrants at the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing, China


The laser-light show begins at Temple of Heaven to ring in the New Year.




Sundial at Temple of Heaven initiates countdown.


The sundial spins furiously.


The sundial is five minutes away from midnight!


Happy New Year everyone from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China

[Note: Thank you to "Greater China" for the pictures.]

2012 Shanghai Bund 3D light show HD

This is the most clever 3D light show that I have ever seen. It's worth watching from the beginning to the very end.

[video=youtube;bnNr4_mxv3I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnNr4_mxv3I&feature=related[/video]

[Note: Thank you to Unnamed Sweeper Monk for the videolink.]

Bit late... Happy New Year 2012.

Where is this sun dial located? I don't remember seeing anything like it when I lived in Beijing some 20 years ago... It looks AMAZING!! what does it look like during the day?