Viet Nam's online tourism marketing slowly improving

Last week, Viet Nam News asked its readers about the quality of Viet Nam's online tourism marketing and advertising. Below are some of your responses: 

Ron Harris, American, Ha Noi

Internet tourism advertising and information in Viet Nam has improved significantly in the years that I have lived and worked here. I don't use websites very much for travel, but depend more on advice from friends. The sites I have seen are visually attractive and becoming more sophisticated, but there are still some areas that could be improved.

One concern with Vietnamese tourism websites and information in general is the English translation wording. Some sites are fine, but others need adjusting. I have some personal experience in helping create some English versions of tourism materials in Viet Nam. It seems that there is a lot of direct translation of descriptions that probably sound very attractive in Vietnamese, but lose their appeal in English. For the sites needing adjustment, some of the descriptions are too dramatic and overdone, sometimes they just have unnatural wording, and sometimes they are even confusing. This makes the native English speaker feel less confident about choosing that destination.

Another area of improvement could be credit card payment. Many foreign tourists like to book by credit card and don't always want to go through a tour agent, but it seems that many sites in Viet Nam still cannot accommodate this method of payment. Perhaps the most significant is Vietnam Airlines. I have tried a few times to book directly by credit card on their site, but have not had success. Perhaps it was just bad timing. Fortunately, there are many ticket sales sites in Viet Nam for tourists already in country.

I expect that Viet Nam will continue to improve rapidly in this area as IT, English, and other resources improve. Viet Nam has so many wonderful sites and interesting cultural aspects, and I hope the quality of the websites will eventually match the real beauty and hospitality found here.

William Ribbing, Pensacola, Florida, USA

Viet Nam Tourism keywords may have increased, but to say the tourism companies in Viet Nam fail to aim toward the foreign market is completely wrong. Tourism companies in Viet Nam not only provide a great service to the foreign community but they also feed the Vietnamese community equally.

I don't think any tourism company in Viet Nam would fail to provide the best service possible to their clients. As for providing information to the potential clients on the websites, I have not found one website that didn't expound on the variety of available tours or sites that would be of interest to foreigners. All of Viet Nam's beauty is provided on the many websites, and most of the websites duplicate each other's services and tours.

Refreshingly I've found "Footprinter's Viet Nam" to be an innovative website designed to provide unusual tours and planning of vacations to Viet Nam, fitted to the choices of the clients. Not only are guided and unguided tours available, but they provide every service necessary to meet any visitor's wants or desires. This company makes every client feel welcome and part of the local community just like a big happy family, and that is what foreign visitors like.

Personally I believe that quality marketing of Viet Nam tourism industry meets and even exceeds many foreign markets. The information is readily available to anyone visiting the websites and willing to contact the company representatives. Many potential clients fail to just contact the companies to ask questions. Providing client information is essential to the marketing, therefore it would benefit some of the smaller companies to offer free consultations and discussion forums on their websites. So many tourism companies tout the same locations, and duplication of tours create more confusion. Offering more locations than the standard tours will increase the foreign and local business.

When I visit Viet Nam, I don't want to be herded along with the rest of the tourists like a bunch of cattle. I want the freedom to seek different places and get away from the tourists, to find the local atmosphere and be part of it. When tourism companies pair a guide with one or two visitors and take them where they want to go, then the experience is long lasting and creates a lasting friendship that pours out to the people back home. That advertising by word of mouth is one of the best accolades a company can obtain, and increases their business tenfold.

Alice Laurent, French, Ha Noi

Advertising by Viet Nam's tourism sector has multiplied over the years. Viet Nam has developed slowly and is trying to catch up with other ASEAN countries in this sector. For the past 10 years, the tourism industry has been evolving and trying to catch up with Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Many agencies rely on a website to boost their business and therefore treat the website as a showcase. The number of websites has grown and among the competition it is increasingly difficult for the client to determine whether a company is reliable or not.
The website reflects the overall company image. It's also a way to verify its reliability. Some websites accumulate misspellings, leaving their seriousness in doubt, some "fake" businesses copy and paste text from other websites. And the reliability of the company is difficult to assess.

The first thing a customer checks is the site's content and it's format, the address of the head office, customer feedback on forums and personalised responses to emails.
From my research on the internet, I found that most travel agencies transform their website into a tourist guide by explaining the history of each spot, the formalities for the visa and some tips about the life here. Such information raises confidence among customers. However, it is unfortunate that the sites are not translated into several languages. Take the case of a prospective client French - the majority of seach results to French key words lead potential customers to French agencies, putting the Vietnamese agencies out of reach of French clients as they go to a French agency for services. Most Vietnamese agencies only offer websites in English, which is a pity because most of the tourists are Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese.

Nevertheless, Vietnamese websites generally offer comprehensive information on places to visit and advice for travelers. Despite this, it is still difficult to choose among a growing number of competing companies. — VNS

Is black beautiful?

After the last article about white skin and beauty in Vietnam, I was determined to say no more. But it’s on my mind. So I will.

Brian Webb

I want to tell you something that I’ve told to most of my American friends who live in Hanoi (all of them are white except me). When I say what I’m going to tell you now, all of them look at me as if they don’t believe me.

But it’s true.

I’ve been here for just a few years.

Anyway, I returned to the US for a few months when George Bush was the President of the United States. The day after I came back, six months later, I watched Barack Obama being inaugurated live on television just off Hoang Hoa Tham Street.

That part is easy to believe.

What people don’t believe is that I noticed a tangible change in the way that Vietnamese people acted towards me after I returned.

Before this, during the Bush years? I would try to buy some water at a stall on the street, and could see that the person was looking me up and down.

There is no way I can say for sure what people think; one can only guess. But from the way they looked at me, my guess was they were thinking, “Is this guy an African? A Nigerian?”

In those days I quickly learned how to deflect this attitude. I would start speaking my American English, slip in the word My in a broken Vietnamese sentence. Immediately the face of the seller would change (although maybe the price would go up).

After I returned, and after the inauguration of the new American president, it was a different story. You can choose to believe me or not. But for me it is a fact: I have seen it with my own eyes.

I do not have to deal with this problem anymore.

There are many places that I go where they know my face. They never ask my name. They call me “Obama”.

Maybe that sounds like bragging or something. But it is not at all the case. I do not appreciate being called this, and am definitely wary of people who treat me differently now because they see that someone with dark skin can be considered a real “world leader”.

Really, it’s a shameful thing.

It’s not just in Vietnam. The Idea of class being tied to skin color is older than Egypt. Take a look at the caste system in India. The lowest classes always had dark skin. This is just one example. Research it for yourself.

________

All those arguments about Vietnamese women being covered from head to toe during the summer heat for protection... All I’ve got to say about that is, there is the same pollution in the winter, and at night. But there are no jackets.

Sun? There is a product called sunblock which is much more effective than a jacket, and more comfortable. And all this skin-whitening stuff?

Whatever, best not to get into that.
_______

There is one point on which I think my last article was misunderstood. One or two careful readers pointed this out. This whole process of beauty works on a subconscious level.

I was with a Vietnamese friend when she got back from a trip. We met at a coffee shop, where she met with another Vietnamese friend of about the same age. The second friend said, “Oh, you’re so dark!” The comment was equal to saying, “You’ve gotten fat,” or, “You’ve gotten ugly”.

Is there anybody who has not heard comments like this, especially directed at girls? Honestly!

These comments drip slowly, one by one, deep into your mind.

_________

Now everyone can continue saying that I don’t have the authority to comment on these issues, or to compare them with the society I grew up in. But there is much to be gained from comparison between cultures. There are many things about my own country that I could not see clearly until I moved away.

So discredit this as an “ignorant foreigner’s opinion” if you like. Still, I’ll stick to it.

I’m half black, half white. Growing up, in school especially, it was clear among the black community that lighter skin was considered more attractive, both for girls and boys. Black girls liked my skin, white girls not so much. This also seeped into my subconscious.

It took me a long time to realize that. But once I did, and I felt okay with my brown skin and my black, curly hair, everything was better.

So now it hurts me to see other people trying to change to look like other people.

Here is some news that may be unwelcome. Vietnam is a tropical country. Vietnamese people are not white. Let’s take a look in the mirror and be happy.

Black is beautiful too.

False economies

So the people have spoken. The lotus flower has been overwhelmingly backed as Vietnam’s national icon. What do you mean you thought it already was? I assume you got that impression from the fact that the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines already features the flower prominently on the sides of its fleet? Or perhaps it was the fact that you’re daily bombarded on Facebook by teen girls wearing white ao dai doing ‘sen’ photoshoots with quite appropriately the Hoa Sen lotus? Or maybe it was the copious amounts of lotus derived products that are annually churned out in Vietnam?

Anyway I think I’ve made my point. Sometimes public consultation is rather pointless when the answer is blazingly obvious. If anything asking the public for their views is a recipe for disaster. I can’t help but think a perfect example was the competition organised a few years ago by the Vietnam Football Federation where they asked the nation to contribute their idea for a new VFF badge. Now the current design isn’t terrible, but come on guys, you’re a professional body now, marketing and branding are key aspects of developing an identity for Vietnamese football. This is the time when you employ a professional marketing company to do research into the topic, consult with branding experts and then agree a design. Cheerful amateurism is no longer good enough.

The same can be said for the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s slogan ‘Vietnam a different Orient’, which when announced had a whole newsroom at Vietnam News falling about laughing at its crass ineptitude.

So what was that slogan trying to say to the international tourism industry and potential holiday makers in Vietnam? Vietnam, it’s kind of like the rest of the East but ummm….kind of different? The thing that struck me was Vietnam a different Orient…what, like Leyton Orient Football Club? Or ‘like China but down a bit, down a bit, and left, yeah, that’s it next door to Laos’. In addition, the use of the word ‘Orient’ probably falls under the list of words no longer acceptable for polite company, smacking of Western imperialist interpretations of Eastern cultures, and a word specifically denounced in academia by renowned Palestinian Edward Said, who said ‘since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.’

If the prize winning entry wasn’t bad enough, the runners-up were hailed for their amazingly imaginative “Đất nước của những nụ cười” (the country of smiles)…wait hold on, you mean almost exactly the same slogan that Thailand has been using for the last 30 years? So after a four month contest with 413 entries from 233 designers, we ended up with a terrible winner and a copy-cat second place entry!

Enough! The time for cheerful amateurism is over, and Vietnamese businesses and state agencies are going to have to bite the bullet. Marketing and branding is not a bit of fun or an opportunity for amateur graphic designers to test their photoshop skills, especially when it involves millions of dollars of the country’s money, and potential ridicule.

It's a family affair

Oh another Vietnamese day I wasn’t aware of. I’ve just watched a news story VTV referring to Vietnam Family Day (June 28, make a date in your diary), and I’m gravely disappointed.

Apparently I’m something of an outcast, one of the great uncivilised - academically unwashed, as so far I have failed to secure a certificate from my local ward praising my intellectualism with a much needed ‘culture family’ stamp of approval.

Do I not read the London Review of Books, The Economist and well known football magazine Four Four Two? Is that not sufficient? Perhaps my taste in art-house Vietnamese cinema (yes, the Scent of Green Papaya did drag on, but check the colour gamut!) or appreciation for Soviet film-maker Eisenstein’s revolutionary adoption of rapid-cutting in Battleship Potemkin’s steps of Odessa’s gun battle scene (later ripped off by Brian De Palma in The Untouchables) isn’t high-brow enough? Is Jazz musician John Coltrane’s Love Supreme album really filed under easy listening in the local CD shop? I’m beginning to wonder.

I curiously browsed several websites trying to find the missing elements in my cultural life that would win me this prestigious award, but apparently there aren’t any criteria laid out in English, so via the ever trusty Google translate I discovered that in order to qualify I had to meet the Ministry of Culture’s guidelines at http://www.bvhttdl.gov.vn/vn/vb-qly-nn/1/306/index.html. So I did a list:

Obey the law – check!

Maintain security… - I do lock the door every night, does that count?

…Political and social order and safety - OK…I think, I drive on the correct side of the road and wear a helmet

Do not violate regulations on the implementation of a civilized lifestyle during marriage, funerals and festivals - hmm might have failed this when I drank a bit too much at the CAMA music festival?
Preserve family harmony, happiness, progress, support and help people in the community – Sorry, what, there’s a regulation on ensuring you’re polite to your mother in law, and you have to be dutiful to your parents and grandparents - thankfully mine are several thousand miles away

Each couple has one or two, not a third child - I only qualify if I have one or two children?! I can’t be cultured with none?

Regular exercise and sports – What is this, how is it quantified?

I’m beginning to wonder how anyone can actually qualify for this amazing honour. What starts off as a regular list of obeying the law (yes there is such a regulation, I always assumed that was quite normal as a citizen but apparently not), we then move into the morality lessons. The criteria read more like a lesson in stuffy etiquette rather than anything to actually bettering yourself as a person in the wider sense – as apparently you’re a perfect renaissance man if you thank your mum for cooking and then go and play football with the lads rather than read a book. I’d have thought whether you do voluntary work, have studied at university, did additional vocational training, practice music in your spare time or have a collection of books to rival the National Library as more appropriate. The list seems to be more to about conforming rather than excelling as an individual or family, and the criteria in themselves do nothing to enhance culture at all. They’re just basic guidelines about how to be a normal person…maybe I’m just not spending enough time drinking tea and smoking Vinataba with the local ward Bas and Ongs to qualify as the perfect citizen?

I was a disappointed as I continued watching the story about Vietnam Family Day as it trotted out supposed truths about social development in such a clichéd way. Modern realities were dismissed out of hand, such as the increasing rate of young couples getting divorced being cited as a negative phenomenon, rather than recognising the fact that for the first time in centuries people can escape being entrapped in a life they no longer want. While an increase in reported cases of domestic violence was decried, ignoring the fact that domestic violence long preceded Doi Moi, and it is only now that women feel confident enough to report the cases. I was equally disappointed that the report mentioned little about the emphasis that Vietnam puts on education as one of the more noteworthy tenets of Confucianism. Isn’t it better to judge that a person has achieved a degree than to worry yourself whether she’s a divorcee and shouldn’t a man be judged more by the books he reads than the make of mobile phone he uses?

So while celebrating your family, perhaps give a thought to that one project that you’ve always put off, be it learning to dance salsa or a musical instrument, taking up painting, cooking spaghetti bolognaise or some equally exotic dish at home, or like me try to learn Vietnamese (again), then you’ll really be deserving of that ‘cultural family’ certificate.

“Naval family” gets their priorities right

“I am proud of my family, a ‘naval family’ of professional soldiers,” said lieutenant colonel Nguyen Van Linh of Division 125 of the Vietnamese Navy at a meeting held in Ho Chi Minh City last Sunday to celebrate the Vietnamese Family’s Day.
Not a typical example of the Vietnamese family, his “naval family” has only a few rare photos of the whole family gathering together, as neither he nor his wife spends much time under the same roof with their children.
But there is more than enough pride and affection to go around among the members of the family.
The father speaks proudly about his two children who are both outstanding students at school and well-behaved children at home. And his face brightens up with sparkles of happiness when the conversation turns to his wife, who takes care of everything in the family when he is away on long trips at sea.
An official of the Navy’s technical department herself, Nguyen Thi Thanh Diep is no stranger to the difficulties and challenges facing families of naval soldiers in the front line who are trying to perform their duties to the country while holding the family together.
As professional soldiers, they are almost tight-lipped about their work, which is of course national secrecy.
Nguyen Ngoc Dung, their daughter, is now a seventh grade student at the Tran Van On School in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1. For seven consecutive years, Dung has been a straight A student in her schools.
Asked about her parents at the meeting, the young girl expressed unqualified love and admiration for her parent despite not having much time to be around them, playing and talking with them as her friends do in their families.
“My father is as strong and solid as a lighthouse. I am very proud of my father being a naval officer,” she said.
A lighthouse is always a dependable source of guidance for ships trying to navigate the dangerous waters at night, the girl explained the metaphor she used for her father.
Nguyen Manh Cuong, the couple’s eldest son, is now a sophomore at the Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnics University.
In 2009, Cuong was admitted into two of the most prestigious universities in the south of Vietnam, the Polytechnics University and the University of Agriculture and Forestry, where he came first in its entrance examinations.
But it is not always a given that he can gain the confidence and respect of his children, Linh said. “I always live by my belief that a responsible father has to set an example for his children to follow.”
“In my mind, defending the nation’s sovereignty is my top priority. After work come my family and my children,” Linh admitted.
Linh said he has always stood by the priorities ever since he got married almost 30 years ago.
A soldier at home
Discipline and other characteristics of a soldier’s life have somehow found their way into and left their mark on the life and routine of his family.
Whenever returning home from long voyages at sea, the couple always holds a family meeting to review their work with their children.
The father, mother and two children “report” their achievements and mistakes to one another in a friendly atmosphere.
“During the meeting, we consider each other as friends. My wife and I both try to relate to our children and be as open minded and honest with them as we can,” Linh said.
However, those family meetings are rare as Linh spends on average seven months or more a year on his ship at sea, leaving him with just 4 or 5 months at most to spend with his family.
It is a special time in their life when both Linh and his wife are free from work to live in the same house with their children. Not a moment is wasted on quarreling or bickering, as there is not enough time for them to show love to one another, Diep said.

Census Update: What the World Will Look like in 2050

Here is the world in 2050, as imagined by the U.S. Census Bureau: India will be the most populous nation, surpassing China sometime around 2025. The U.S. will remain exactly where it is now: in third place, with a population of 423 million (up from 308 million in 2010). And declining birth rates in two of the world's most economically and politically influential countries, Japan and Russia, will cause them to fall from their current positions as the 9th and 10th most populous nations, respectively, to 16th and 17th.

The findings are the result of population estimates and projections of 228 countries compiled by the Census Bureau's International Data Base (IDB). They offer a revealing look into the future. "One of the biggest changes we've seen has been the decline in fertility in some developed countries, such as China," says Loraine West, an IDB project manager, "while others are experiencing a slight increase." In other words, China's population boom is finally slowing down, while Western Europe's long-declining birth rate is — in some places, at least — once again rising. Spain and Italy are "on an uptick," says West, "but how high will [the birth rate] rise? Or will it simply fluctuate up and down on some long-term level? We'll have to see." According to Italy's National Institute of Statistics, the country's recent population increase can be largely attributed to its immigrant population. (See TIME's guide to "intelligent cities.")

The two countries on track to make the biggest population gains are Nigeria and Ethiopia. Nigeria currently boasts 166 million people, but by 2050 its population is expected to jump to 402 million. Ethiozpia's population will likely triple, from 91 million to 278 million, making the East African nation one of the top 10 most populous countries in the world for the first time. In fact, according to the U.N. Population Division, although only 18% of the world's population lives in so-called high-fertility countries (places where women have more than 1.5 daughters on average), most of those countries are in Africa; the continent is expected to experience significant population growth in the coming decades, which could compound the already-dire food-supply issues in some African nations.

While the U.S. appears relatively stable — it's the only country in the top 10 whose ranking is not expected to change in the next 40 years — previous reports have highlighted dramatic demographic shifts within the country's borders. Last week, the Census Bureau announced that more than half of children under age 2 in the U.S. are ethnic minorities. Add to that the non-Hispanic white population's increasing age (in California, for example, the median age for non-Hispanic whites is almost 10 years older than that of the state as a whole) and the U.S. in 2050 will look a lot different than the one we know today. (See TIME's video "10 Questions for Census Director Robert Groves.")

Perhaps the most unfortunate change is the one happening in Russia. The cold, vast country has been undergoing steady depopulation since 1992, and the U.S. Census Bureau expects it to decline further, from 139 million people to 109 million by 2050. That's a 21% drop, even more than what the country suffered during World War II. Like many countries, Russia is experiencing declining birth rates, but it's also suffering from a relatively low life expectancy. According to the World Health Organization, Russian men have a life expectancy of just 62 years, a fact that is often attributed to the country's high rate of alcoholism and poor diet. (By comparison, Japan is also struggling with depopulation, but the World Health Organization puts its life expectancy at 80 for men and 86 for women).

So what does all this mean? The U.S. is not yet experiencing the kind of population decline that Europe experienced in the 1990s and 2000s, although immigration and differing birth rates among races means that the country's ethnic composition is changing. Something similar will be going on in the rest of the world as well: the booms of Africa and India, the decline of Russia and the expected plateau of China (holding steady at about 1.3 billion people between now and 2050) will all change the makeup of the estimated 9.4 billion people who will call Earth home in 2050. The future, it seems, is not as distant as we think.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2080404,00.html#ixzz1Qo7MGcsu

Australia offers Sydney residents cash to move

Sydney residents have been offered money to leave the city and resettle in rural New South Wales.

It is hoped the plan will boost rural areas recovering from a decade-long drought, as well as easing crowding in Australia's most populous city.

Australia is one of the world's most thinly populated countries, but almost a quarter of people live in Sydney.

The A$7,000 (£4,700; $7,500) grants are to help people buy homes in the country.

Renowned for its beach lifestyle and overall liveability, Sydney is the kind of place which many people find hard to leave.

'The Big Dry'

That is partly the reason why the New South Wales government is offering financial incentives to encourage families to go and live in the countryside, or the bush as it is known here.

With 4.5 million residents, Sydney is predicted to grow by 40% by the middle of the century.

Housing stocks are low, property prices are high and the infrastructure is already buckling under the pressure.

It is hoped that these relocation grants will persuade people to ditch the beach for the bush.

As well as helping to manage to Sydney's population growth, the scheme is also intended to boost the economy of rural communities, many of which have suffered as a result of a once in a century drought known here as the Big Dry.

This is a country that often mythologises the frontier spirit of life in the bush, through song, poetry and art.

But Australia is one of the most urbanised nations in the world and most people prefer to live in its cities.

Inequality in China: Rural poverty persists as urban wealth balloons

The rapid growth of China's economy over the past three decades has been greeted with largely unquestioned assumptions that increasing affluence would lead to a happier, wealthier and more equitable society.

Of course, such assumptions came with an implicit acceptance that some would get rich faster, but also that these benefits would eventually trickle down.

The emergence of a middle class, combined with high levels of personal savings and low levels of personal debt, offers tantalising evidence of China's new-found wealth.

Yet, behind these headlines, there is compelling evidence that although economic growth has created vast wealth for some, it has amplified the disparities between rich and poor.

Continue reading the main story

Over the next weeks we will profile six of China's richest entrepreneurs, and report how they fit into the country's society.

• Special Report: One in a Billion
• Zhou Xiaoguang: 'Queen of costume jewellery'
• Liu Yiqian: China's top art collector
• Profile of Zong Quinghou, Wahaha
• China's drive for wealth
• Inside the world of China's super-rich

These disparities indicate an often hidden vulnerability in China's rapid growth, but one which is neither unique nor new to China's leadership. 

Wealth Contradictions

One of the most fascinating contradictions of China's rapid growth under the auspices of the communist party has been the rapid emergence of private wealth.

The privatisation of state enterprises and the housing and social benefits that accompanied them, the re-zoning of rural land for industry, and a construction boom, created enormous possibilities for personal wealth.

The 2010 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report noted that these forms of wealth, which accounted for much of the $9,600 in real assets per adult in China, were extremely important forms of wealth creation.

But they also came at a cost.

The report showed that although the average wealth per Chinese citizen was $17,126 - almost double that of other high growth economies such as India - median wealth was just $6,327.

The latter suggests that wealth created has not been evenly distributed.

Such inequalities also highlight a contradiction in that although the monetisation of previously state-owned assets undoubtedly benefited many of China's emerging middle class, it ultimately came at a cost to the public who would now have to finance these goods and services out of personal savings.

Divide between urban and rural ...

The wealth data, although a less rigorous measure of inequality, is also reflected in more conventional measures of inequality.

China's cities are growing rapidly

In 2010, China's Gini-coefficient - a measure of how wealth is distributed in a society - stood at 0.47 (a value of 0 suggests total equality, a value of 1 extreme inequality).

In other words, inequality in China has now surpassed that in the United States, and surged through the 0.4 level in the mid-2000s.

A Gini-coefficient of 0.4 is generally regarded as the international warning level for dangerous levels of inequality.

Looking only at the data for the whole country, however, conceals the growing disparity between urban and rural areas.

Even after three decades of rapid growth China remains a very rural economy.

Despite the continued growth in urbanisation, some 50.3% of China's mainland population (or 674.15 million people) continue to live in rural areas.

In 2010, rural residents had an annual average per capita disposable income of 5,900 yuan ($898). That's less than a third of the average per capita disposable income of urban residents, which stood at 19,100 yuan ($2,900).

As the chart shows, the gap between urban disposable and net rural income has persistently widened since 1978.

... is getting larger

Disparities in income data are also reflected in household consumption patterns and the access those households have to basic consumer services.

The Engel coefficient, which measures how much of their income households have to spend on food, has been consistently higher for rural households.

Many cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, now have coefficients lower than 30, reflecting the vast differences between these cities and the rest of China.

These patterns are hardly surprising, given that rural households must necessarily spend a higher proportion of income on food.

It is also unsurprising, given that even as late as 2009 three of China's poorest provinces - Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan - were identified by China's banking regulator as having more than 50 unbanked counties.

This meant that they lacked even basic access to financial services.

What is surprising is how different urban and rural households are when it comes to durable goods such as cars, washing machines and fridges, considered normal essentials for households in the developed world.

Urban v rural China
	Urban households			Rural households
(ownership per 100 households) Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China
	1990	2000	2009	1990	2000	2009
Colour TV	59	116.6	135.6	4.7	48.7	108.9
Cars	-	0.5	10.9	-	0.1	0.7
Motorcycles	1.9	18.8	22.4	0.9	21.9	56.6
Computers	-	9.7	65.7	-	0.5	7.5
Washing machines	78.4	90.5	96.0	9.1	28.6	53.1
Refrigerators	42.3	80.1	95.3	1.2	12.3	37.1
Air conditioners	0.34	30.8	106.8	-	1.3	12.2

More worrying is that the above trends may conceal an emerging rural divide.

The rural Gini-coefficient increased from 0.35 to 0.38 between 2000 and 2010, suggesting growing inequality within rural areas.

Of particular concern is the large pool of migrant labour.

At the end of 2009, China had an estimated 229.8 million rural migrant workers, of which about 149 million are thought to work outside their registered home area.

The official average monthly wage for these workers, many of whom work in manufacturing and assembly, amounted to 1,417 yuan, though unofficial reports suggest many earn less that 1,000 yuan a month.

Moreover, because these migrants work outside their registered area, the low wage rates conceal enormous personal sacrifices, which include long working hours, poor housing conditions, and, most significantly, a loss in welfare benefits associated with the household registration system known as Hukou.

A price worth paying?

The question for China is whether the scale of such inequalities is a tolerable price of growth.

Migrant workers are feeding China's economic boom, though some struggle to feed themselves

It is not a new question.

Even by 1978, urban per capita incomes were already growing at more than double the rate of rural farm incomes, and the post-1978 reforms appear to have further widened this gap.

It is clear that China's leadership has recognised how damaging such disparities can become in what is now the world's second-largest economy.

The government wants to lift some 40 million or so rural residents out of poverty; since 2004 it has worked to raise minimum wages for migrant workers, improve rural incomes through tax cuts and enforce labour contract law.

The Chinese leadership also tries to force labour-intensive and low-value added industries to move to rural areas.

Although such reforms have been described as a return to central planning or supply-side management, they suggest a recognition that the benefits of growth have not necessarily trickled down to Chinese society's poorest.

Standing Up to the China Bully

As Filipinos in America eagerly plan for upcoming demonstrations in front of the Chinese consular offices in the United States on July 8, the question is asked: why aren’t Filipinos in the Philippines similarly incensed by China’s plans to set up oil rigs in the Spratly islands territory of the Philippines this July?

Do they not know, as Xinhua News reported on May 24, 2011, that the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) is deploying to the Spratlys its 31,000 ton “Marine Oil 981”, a giant deepwater oil drilling platform that carries out oil explorations up to a depth of 3,000 meters and is equipped with a drill that can go as deep as 12,000 meters?

Xinhua News quoted CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin as declaring that “Marine Oil 981”, which costs $923 million to build over a three-year period, “will be a good opportunity to strengthen its efforts in deepwater oil exploration and ensure energy security” of China. Yilin promised that “the rig will be installed in the waters of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and begin oil and gas prospecting in July 2011.”

Why is China in a rush to set up oil rigs in the Spratlys?

In 2000, China represented only 6% of global oil demand but in the decade since then, it has accounted for nearly one-half of global oil demand growth and is now the largest vehicle market in the world.  China has become the world’s largest energy consumer surpassing the US.

To meet China’s growing demand for oil, Xinhua News reported that “CNOOC plans to invest 200 billion yuan ($30 billion) and drill 800 deepwater wells – which they expect to have an output of an equivalent 500 million barrels of oil by the year 2020.”  This target production is equivalent to approximately $50 billion per year.

China had previously assured the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that it was willing to resolve sovereignty disputes peacefully through negotiations. But now, because of its massive energy needs and because it has determined that the Spratly Islands hold sufficient quantities of oil and natural gas deposits to meet its energy needs, China has changed its tune. In March 2010, China unilaterally declared the entire West Philippine Sea a “core national interest” similar to its claims to Tibet and Taiwan and therefore “non-negotiable”.

China does not recognize the Philippine claim to the Spratly Islands which is based on the geographical fact that the islands lie only 125 miles from the Philippine province of Palawan and, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas, a nation owns the oil, mineral and other resources within a two hundred mile radius from its base. In contrast, China is 585 miles away.

China’s claim is based on an old map drafted during the Han dynasty in 110 AD, which referred to the Spratlys as the Nansha islands and part of the Middle Kingdom. The Philippine islands, known then as the Mayi islands, were likely also a part of China in the same map.

Filipino Americans’ concern about the hegemonic moves of China in the Spratlys was heightened by the recent disclosure of Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario that Chinese warships had intruded in Philippine territory on at least seven occasions in the last few months.

These provocative activities, together with news of China’s deployment in Philippine waters of its giant oil rig, prompted Loida Nicolas Lewis, chair of US Pinoys for Good Governance, to call on Filipinos throughout the world to “stand up to the Chinese bully” and demonstrate in front of Chinese consulates and embassies throughout the world on July 8.

It would be strange if these “China Hands Off the Spratlys!” demonstrations occurred all over the world except in the Philippines.

If “Marine Oil 981″ was dispatched to the Spratlys by Chevron or another American oil company, the organizations of the Left would be certain to demonstrate in front of the US Embassy to denounce American imperialism. But these same groups will not dare denounce China for a similar transgression, because China has materially supported the new Communist Party of the Philippines (under the ideological banner of Mao Tsetung Thought) since its founding in 1967.

On the other end of the political spectrum, Chinese Filipino (Chinoy) Taipans, who account for 8 of the top 10 wealthiest Filipinos, will also not dare denounce China because of their considerable investments in China.

So when President Noynoy Aquino’s spokesman accused China of violating Philippine sovereignty, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile was quick to berate him and warn him: “Don’t agitate China!”

Two years ago, when a Chinese warship was spotted in Philippine waters, Enrile spoke with his friend, China’s Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao, who confirmed to him that the Chinese vessel was a “warship.”  Enrile then told Philippine reporters. “Well, they have a right to go through the sea with their warship. China is a major power of the world, like America, Japan, Britain, and the others, and they have the equipment. If we have the equipment, we can do the same.”

But the Philippines can’t do the same because it has only one warship, a WW II vintage destroyer purchased in 1978 called the Rajah Humabon.  When Pres. Aquino dispatched it to the Scarborough Shoal in the Spratlys a week ago, Sen. Edgardo Angara called the move “pitiful” and Sen. Enrile, the Inquirer reported, “cautioned the Aquino administration against agitating China in the explosive Spratly Islands dispute by sending the country’s only warship beyond Philippine waters.”

If Philippine officials, other than Pres. Aquino, are unable or unwilling to stand up to China, then that task will fall on overseas Filipinos to expose China’s aggression and hopefully shame China into backing down.

Please stand up to the China bully and demonstrate in front of a China consulate or embassy on July 8 at 12 noon wherever you are, even if you are in the Philippines.

(If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you are invited to attend a community forum on July 6 at 6PM at the Philippine Consulate Social Hall at 447 Sutter Street. Please send your comments to Rodel50@gmail.com or mail them to the Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127 or call 415.334.7800).

Billiards in the South China Sea

By MICHAEL AUSLIN

In the South China Sea, China is playing billiards, while America is playing some version of Capture the Flag. For Beijing, the goal is to knock the other billiard balls off the table, leaving itself in control. Washington, on the other hand, is trying to keep Beijing from capturing the flag of regional hegemony.

American policy makers need to recognize they're playing a different game from the Chinese and adjust their strategy. While shifting to billiards is too provocative for Washington, if trends continue, it may soon find itself behind the eight ball with few options for maintaining its stabilizing role in the region.

Observers have two different interpretations of what the Chinese challenge actually is. Many in Washington believe that China threatens freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, thereby potentially harming U.S. national interests, including uncontested passage of U.S. Navy ships, the free flow of global economic trade and maritime lifelines to U.S. allies such as Japan and South Korea.

By contrast, many in Southeast Asia believe that the issue is one of control over territorial resources. By some estimates, the region holds as much as 30 billion barrels of oil and over 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. While dozens of oil fields are already being explored, it is the ability to control future exploration and exploitation of such resources that is driving China's behavior.

Beijing's claim of the entire South China Sea puts it into a position to contest the ownership of territories that contain proven resources. The most likely flashpoints are the Spratly and Paracel Islands, each of which is claimed by multiple nations, including China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. This is the same dynamic at play in the dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands, north of Taiwan.

China's territorial claims can be most effectively exercised by having the capability both to move anywhere in the region's waters (already achieved) as well as to prevent other nations from navigating freely. Thus, harassing and shadowing the navies and maritime exploration vessels of other countries serves as a de facto test of Beijing's strength and influence. As the surface fleet of its Navy grows, its ability to deploy and cover more territory takes on added meaning with the displays of assertiveness of the past years.

There is little reason to believe that Beijing has any thought (let alone the ability) to seriously hamper regional navigation; such blatantly aggressive moves would be immediately challenged by the U.S. Navy. Yet, making clear its ability to do so can result in political pressure being put on smaller nations to surrender or modify their territorial claims and to curb their legitimate maritime activities.

This all may not quite amount to a strategy, but it certainly resembles the tactics of the billiard table. Beijing targets the billiard balls of its neighbors, trying to knock them off the table one by one.

In response, Southeast Asian countries have started clamoring for the U.S. to intervene. The Philippines last week said that its 1951 defense treaty with the U.S. would cover Chinese threats.

But the U.S. answer isn't so easy. If Washington pushes too hard and asks Southeast Asian nations to significantly increase joint maritime activities, it will likely find that Hanoi, Manila, Jakarta and the rest fear making China an enemy even more than they fear China acting as a bully. Too little response by the Americans, however, will convince the smaller nations that they might have no choice but to accede to China's wishes.

In balancing these concerns, Washington has ended up playing a completely different game. As a status quo power, Washington has largely been reactive to Chinese testing of the limits of regional norms. Instead of punishing China for its provocations, American policy has tried to reassure Beijing of America's goodwill and convince Chinese leaders that it poses no threat to China's growing influence. It is hoped this will induce the Chinese to act responsibly, even when tweaked by smaller nations.

The best way forward is to recognize China's game, start playing it and then rig the table. Washington should seek to expand the billiard table by putting more balls into play. India has just announced plans to increase naval patrols in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which lie at the Indian Ocean entrance to the Malacca Strait. Japan has made a strategic shift to focus on its "southwestern island wall" stretching from Kyushu to just north of Taiwan. Australia will be modernizing and doubling its submarine fleet over the next decade.

Then Washington should induce these partners to play a bigger role near disputed waters through greater engagement with Southeast Asian nations. Further, U.S. and allied ships should shadow Chinese vessels when they start to approach contested territory and move quickly to areas where incidents have occurred.

More broadly, Washington's goal, executed through Hawaii-based Pacific Command, should be to create a more active maritime community of interests in the Indo-Pacific arc and to counter Chinese moves where they occur. Greater sharing of intelligence resources, joint training, coordinated (if not joint) patrols and the like will provide the measure of security necessary to ensure smaller nations that their international rights are being protected. U.S. and allied ships should have no compunction about shadowing Chinese naval vessels when they start to approach contested territory.

Finally, political bluntness, such as that of U.S. Senator Jim Webb, who warned of a coming "Munich moment" in Asia, will clarify the issues at stake. Whether it wants to or not, America will have to start nudging some billiard balls around the table.

Mr. Auslin is the director of Japan studies at the American Enterprise Institute and a columnist for WSJ.com. He is the author of "Pacific Cosmopolitans: A Cultural History of U.S.-Japan Relations" (Harvard University Press, 2011).

Wimbledon 2011: I can beat Rafa Nadal this time, states Andy Murray

Scot reaches third consecutive Wimbledon semi-final
• 'Sometimes it comes down to strategy, sometimes experience'

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• Owen Gibson at Wimbledon
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 June 2011 21.35 BST
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Andy Murray celebrates breaking serve in the third set of his victory over Feliciano Lopez on Centre Court. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Andy Murray said losing to Rafael Nadal last year may prove to be an invaluable experience when he faces the No1 seed in the Wimbledon semi-final on Friday. The Scot, who reached his third consecutive semi-final with a routine 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Feliciano López, said he would be better prepared for the Spaniard this time round. "I believe I can win against him. I had chances last year," Murray said. "I just have to have a better gameplan. Sometimes it comes down to strategy, sometimes it comes down to more experience." Nadal revealed he would need injections in his injured left foot beforehand in order to numb the pain. Murray also appeared to suffer some discomfort in the third set of his victory over López, following a sharp change of direction. He said the injury, to the top of his hip, was a "little bit sore" but he is "moving OK". The Spanish No1 seed added that he did not feel any discomfort during his 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Mardy Fish because the foot had been "put to sleep". He added: "My foot is not fine. But we are in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon – it's an emergency. I have to play. So we decided to [put to] sleep a little bit the zone of the foot and play the rest of the tournament. It's the last tournament for a month and a half so I have to try my best." Murray victory was as routine as any win in a Wimbledon quarter-final can be for a home player. He will go into his Friday semi-final on a wave of desperate hype in the hope that he can become the first British man to reach a Wimbledon singles final since Bunny Austin in 1938. The march has been almost low key and that has appeared to suit Murray. "I've obviously played Rafa at a lot of times at grand slams and I've beaten him before at grand slams. I haven't done it at Wimbledon. That's something I'd like to change on Friday. But it's an incredibly difficult, difficult task," he said. Both will receive treatment for their injuries before the clash on Friday, but neither believe the niggles will hamper them. Nadal said the reason he had been "really scared" during his victory in the previous round over Juan Martín del Potro was because he feared he had suffered a stress fracture, an injury that had kept him out for three and a half months in 2004. But an MRI scan and ultrasound had shown that there was nothing seriously wrong. The Spaniard also said that Murray's performances at this year's grand slam tournaments – the Scot was a finalist at the Australian Open in January and a semi-finalist at Roland Garros last month – show he is in a rich vein of form. "Every match is completely different and every year is a different situation. The match will be very difficult for me," Nadal said. "He is playing at a very high level. The last few months for Andy were very good. I have to enjoy the moment and play aggressive." Murray admitted he was "not in a great position" mentally earlier this season, during a post-Australian Open slump in form, but says he has made the necessary changes. "I didn't feel like I was in a sort of crisis," the No4 seed added. "It's not like you lose your game overnight. It doesn't go away. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time to find it." Nadal added that he had often played video games with Murray in downtime during tournaments, but said the Scot recently refused to play any more because he keeps losing. "We play PlayStation outside of court when we are in the same hotels. He doesn't want to play any more because he lost the last few times," Nadal claimed. "We always win." Murray had his own take on their respective abilities – "[Nadal] actually isn't very good at PlayStation, his partner is very good." Regardless, the Scot will be hoping for a different outcome on Fridaytomorrow.

Right to self-defence in homes to be 'much clearer'

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has said a householder who knifes a burglar will not have committed a criminal offence under plans to clarify the law on self-defence in England.

He told the BBC people were entitled to use "whatever force necessary" to protect themselves and their homes.

David Cameron recently said the issue should be put "beyond doubt".

Labour said the law was "already clear" and the remarks were a "smokescreen" to hide confusion over sentencing changes.

Mr Clarke has come under attack over proposed changes to sentencing policy, but has denied making a series of U-turns on key elements amid pressure from Tory MPs and sections of the media.

He has said he is committed to axing indeterminate prison sentences, despite opposition from many Tory MPs.

He said indeterminate sentences - where prisoners can be held beyond their original release date if they still pose a danger to society - had been an "unmitigated disaster" since they had been introduced by Tony Blair and suggested an alternative to them would be in place within two years.

On people's rights to self-defence in their homes, Mr Clarke said there was "constant doubt" about the issue and the proposed legislation would make this "much clearer".

Under the terms of the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, homeowners who use "reasonable force" to protect themselves against intruders should not be prosecuted, providing they use no more force than is absolutely necessary.

'Absolute right'

But the government is set to place people's right to defend their property, long present in common law, in statute law.

"It's quite obvious that people are entitled to use whatever force is necessary to protect themselves and their homes," Mr Clarke said.

Continue reading the main story

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We will make it quite clear you can hit the burglar with the poker if he's in the house and you have a perfect defence when you do so”

Ken Clarke

• Q&A: What is 'reasonable force'?
• Mounting concerns over legal aid

Asked about what this would mean in practice, he said: "If an old lady finds she's got an 18 year old burgling her house and she picks up a kitchen knife and sticks it in him she has not committed a criminal offence and we will make that clear."

He added: "We will make it quite clear you can hit the burglar with the poker if he's in the house and you have a perfect defence when you do so."

Mr Clarke said legal protection would not extend to anyone shooting a burglar in the back when they were fleeing or "getting their friends together to beat them up".

"We all know what we mean when we say a person has an absolute right to defend themselves and their home and reasonable force.

"Nobody should prosecute and nobody should ever convict anybody who takes those steps."

But Labour said ministers had created confusion by first suggesting they were going to change existing laws before deciding merely to clarify them.

"The law is already clear - under the existing law people can rightly defend themselves and their property with reasonable force," said shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan.

He added: "This government has used spin and smokescreens of new laws in an attempt to distract from what is a justice bill in total shambles."

Indeterminate terms

Mr Clarke has been defending proposed sentencing and legal aid changes in Parliament.

Although no plans to change indeterminate public protection sentences are currently included in proposed legislation debated on Thursday, Mr Clarke earlier made clear his determination to repeal them.

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“Start Quote

This is a release revolution which will simply catapult more criminals out on to the streets”

Philip Davies Conservative MP

While some people had to stay in prison for an unspecified amount of time, he said the six-year old policy was "filling up" prisons and it was "indefensible" some prisoners did not know how long they would have to serve.

Ministers dropped plans to offer suspects pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity a 50% reduction in their jail sentences following a public consultation, but Mr Clarke suggested there would be no backtracking on this matter.

Although he would consider carefully any changes, he said more prisoners should get "fixed-length" sentences.

Tory MP Philip Davies said indeterminate sentences - 6,000 of which have been handed down - have reduced crime and Mr Clarke's stance on the issue "shows beyond all doubt that re-offending is not his priority".

"This bill is not the rehabilitation revolution or the reduced reoffending revolution we were promised," Mr Davies told the Commons.

"This is a release revolution which will simply catapult more criminals out on to the streets to commit more crimes."

A No 10 spokesman said the government was looking at the system of indeterminate sentencing "with a view to replacing it".

Legal advice centres

MPs also discussed the government's plans to cut legal aid in England and Wales at the second reading of Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

Under the plans, aimed at saving £300m from the £2.1bn legal aid bill, people will not be eligible for legal aid in a far broader range of civil cases than at present.

But the proposals have come under fire from lawyers and campaign groups, who claim they will lead to more crime and penalise victims.

In an effort to reassure some critics, Mr Clarke announced an additional £20m for this financial year to help fund not-for-profit legal advice centres.

"I agree that they do very important work in providing quality, worthwhile advice of the kind required by very many people who should not need adversarial lawyers," he said.

But he added that legal aid was only one of several income streams for many such organisations, with 85% of Citizens Advice Bureaux funding coming from other sources.

At the end of the debate, 295 MPs voted in favour of the bill and 212 voted against. Five Conservatives were among those who voted no.

A Vietnamese student pays it forward

Each year, as the national university entrance exams approach, a young man patiently sets about scouring the areas around universities and colleges, looking for places where exam-taking students from out of town can get free accommodation during their stay in the city.

Nguyen Xuan Tien works as a bricklayer assistant after his school time to have money for his expenses and to help other students Photo: Tuoi Tre

He is Nguyen Xuan Tien, who has been a student in the Department of Literature of Danang University of Education for 3 years.
This year, he encourages his classmates to share their rooms with the students and also asks his friends to support them with pans, cookers, blankets, and electric fans so the high school graduates can have more time to focus on their study.
As the univeristy entrance exams are just around the corner, Tien’s small room on Nguyen Khuyen Street, Hoa Khanh Nam Ward, Lien Chieu Commune is filled with laughter these days. The out-of-town students discuss their lessons with each other while their parents make small talks and exchange confidences.
Nguyen Van Long and his son Nguyen Van Thanh from Thanh Hoa Province have arrived in Danang to take the entrance exams to the University of Education. Long said this was the second time he had taken his son to Danang and stayed at Tien’s room.
After getting a phone call from Tien, they packed up and went to the station, assured that he would be there for them.
Tien says because this is the third time he has done this voluntary work, he has some experience. This year, he is trying to find 150 places (70 for last year) that offer free lodgings to the students and their parents.
After school, he even rides his old bicyle to train stations and bus stations to pick up the students. Many times he has to wait until 2-3am for fear that they may get lost on their first trip to the city.
Not only does he provide the students with a place to stay, sometimes Tien even uses his own money to buy food and cook meals for them as well.
A bricklayer assistant in his spare time
No one knows Tien is the son of one of the poorest families in the commune. His father is an amateur painter. His mother suffers from heart disease and spends most of her time in the hospital. Many times Tien has to choose between continuing his study and going back home to take care of his mother.
With support from his family and friends, Tien persists in his study and tries to work his way through college.
To earn money to pay for his study and living expenses, Tien works as a bricklayer assistant at some construction sites. He also writes some news and collaborates with newspapers.
Despite being busy preparing for his own exams and picking up the students from the stations, Tien still finds time to work at the construction sites.
He wants to earn some more to pay for water, electricity bills and to rent some rooms for the students.

Tien helps other students prepare lessons before taking university entrance exams in his boarding room

Life is built on the bedrock of reciprocity
He finds the moral compass for his life and action from the following lines of To Huu’s poetry:
A bird gives to life its beautiful song

A tree gives to life its shade

Is it possible to always receive without giving back?

No, life is to give, to reciprocate, not to live only for oneself.

Three years ago, when Tien was preparing for the university entrance exams, his mother’s illness deteriorated and became critical. Tien was torn between giving up his study and returning home to look after his mother in her last days.
Fortunately, a kind-hearted person knew about his plight and offered to support his mother’s heart surgery. Thanks to the generosity of the Samaritan, Tien still has his mother by his side. Since then, he has always tried to offer similar acts of kindness to others around, as a way of keeping the spirit rolling forward.
Tien confides that he feels very happy helping these strange students with whom he has no previous connection. Nothing can compare with the joy he gets when the students phone to tell him they have passed the exams. Some of the students’ parents still keep in touch with him and often call to ask after him, which makes him really happy.
Le Thanh Huy, secretary of the Youth Union of Danang University of Education, said he appreciated and respected Tien for what he has been doing. Tien sets an exemplary standards for student voluntary campaigns at the university, he said.
Tien told us that he has about VND3 million (USD145) -- his salary for 30 days working on construction work. He will borrow some more from his friends to buy a VND4-5 million motorbike so he can take the students to their examnination sites. He said most of the students were very poor and it was only the right thing to do to try his best to help them.