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"B & W"
January 27, 2001
Yes, the acronym is generally understood to stand for "black and white". Internationally, we usually use it in the context of TV displays. But in the Chinese language, it may produce a number of interpretations.
Most of the time, Chinese takes black as ink while white means paper. That is to say: words written on white paper with black ink = the evidence nobody can change. Politicians are sometimes depicted in the theater MAQUILLAGE (French - make up) to show as different characters - thus, white-powdered faces indicate good ones and black shaded face fellows are villains. In Taiwan politics, people crack jokes on the relationship between the President of the Republic and his Vice-President as: Vice-President to play the role of villain while the President himself becomes the good fellow when a situation becomes out of control.
In PRC, a new interpretation of "B & W" has given additional meaning in journalistic terminology. The "White" is an act of God, like snowfall, while the "Black" refers to sand storms, calamities made by human beings.
This new phrase is coined because of the recent disaster in Inner Mongolia and its adjacent areas. Just about 3 weeks ago, there was a big snowfall in Inner Mongolia; temperature was 40 C below zero. 1350K people and 22000K domesticated animals were besieged by the snow, causing many animal and human deaths either by cold or by starvation. Mongolians call it the WHITE CATASTROPHE
When the snow was analyzed, it was a shock to discover that one half was snow and the other half sand. That is to say, the act of God was aggravated by the destruction of the environment around there by greedy human beings themselves
According to statistics, desertification in PRC has reached 21K hectares annually; 4000K hectare of agricultural and grazing land are menaced, not even counting annual land erosion and the side effect of 500k metric tons of chemical fertilizers at present.
What was the cause of such serious problem? It is due, largely, to the greedy demand of LICORICE, a Chinese herb sought in world market. Ninxa and Xinjiang are the two provinces where the herb can be abundantly found. Collectors came to the area with bulldozers digging out even the roots of licorice. Such a self-extinctive process rendered not only the disappearance of the herb but also made the land arid and possibly no good for growing anything anymore.
Beijing has been the first and nearest victim (please browse my column "Destiny of Beijing-August 2000") of the resulting serious sand storms, which have now marched towards the south and reached the banks of Yangtze river threating the famous city of Nanjing, thousand kilometers away from Beijing.
We are heartened to see some measures already taken to prevent the expansion of this catsptrophe or calamity; but how far and how quickly these measures go remains to be seem.
When investors go to PRC, they must view the environmental problem cautiously, both as a factor in their siting and also, perhaps, as an area of opportunity. If any information is needed, PRO is pleased to offer its service.
Western Medicine vs. Chinese Herbs
January 6, 2001
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-The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from the animals- |
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William Osler:Hal Boyle, Boston Globe
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When New Year has ushered us into 21st century, what would be one's first wish of the year? To many, the wish is to have good fortune for making a lot of money. However, for senior citizens or the more sensible people, health should be the highest priority on their list of wishes.
Well, to attain health, besides exercising on one's own, we need to have good medicine when we fall ill. Therefore, I am going to discuss medicine with our internet friends.
Modern western medicine started with the Greeks, Mr Hippocrates, born in 460 BC. But very much earlier, herbal medicine was in use during the reign of the Emperor known as the Holy Farmer (2737-2697 BC). Acccording to legend, he had sampled hundreds of herbal species and identified the ones right for curing illness. However, the more advanced Chinese herbs found in herbal prescriptions were experimented and compiled by Mr Si Miao SUN, 581-682 AD, renowned as the king of Chinese medicine. Although modern educated Chinese have higher faith in western medicines, its costs and side-effects have made many Chinese patients hesitant. As the world begins to pay more attention to herbs, the extensive research done in PRC and Taiwan has shed more light on the effectiveness of Chinese medicines. Westerners, even if they know very little of Chinese medicine, know at least accupuncture.
The sudden suspension of PPS, a principal ingredient to stop colds or flu, has caused a certain amount of panic for many habitual users of CONTAC. In the Chinese world, such a suspension, has, in fact, boosted the market of herb-made cold or flu cures.
There was an interesting story last winter in UK. An epedemic flu had caught hold of the country and western medicine were of little effect in stopping the virus. A Chinese medical scholar phoned a local news medium suggesting to the usage of Chinese herbs, which effecctively stopped the virus.
Since PRC and Taiwan have a large variety of herbs--about 13,000 in number--and also Chinese people have used them and experimented with them for thousands of years, their achievements should enable the Chinese to play an important role in the world market for medicine, which presently is about US$1.5 billions for herbs. But the Chinese has made a very poor show in this sector of their international trade. Why? Because their pharmaceutical industry is not well organized, in the sense of quality control, packing, or advertising, and cannot compete with European or USA pharmaceutical laboratories or companies. If this situation is improved, the market share of Chinese herbs will definitely hike greatly.
Anyone interested in this very new area (Chinese herb processing), either in raw form or as medicine, will be able to cash in this situation. We shall be privileged to offer our services as an effort to help improve the general health of all residents of geocities.
E-mail: VJCHANG@hotmail.com
Tel/Fax USA : (301) 438-7439
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