Category: Uncategorized
-
Happy Birthday!
To the wonderful, beautiful, brilliant Jessica Weiss. The nation celebrates with you!
-
Advice for Those Visiting Rural* China for Research
First, one should have name cards before one arrives. [Note though, while it was dire that I did not have any and this was quickly resolved, only one in every five officials have shared their name cards with us.] Second, one should drink the tea but not eat the fruit until directed to do so.…
-
What Does a Big Push Look Like?
Backgrounders:http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/dishpan.htmlhttp://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2005-3_archives/000883.html On the ground, here in Zouping County, Shandong Province, thedevelopment has been rapid. A Big Push might have occurred here, if something that looks (new building everywhere with the broadband connection that is providing me access to the information superhighway*), acts (people slapping each other on the back and smiling even before the inevitable…
-
Chinese Vocabulary of the Day
免除mian3chu2(1) dismiss (from office); (2) avoid, prevent; (3) exempt, abolish. In a sentence: 山东省邹平县委、县政府1月初作出决定，从今年起全县全部免除农业税。邹平是滨州市第一个全部免除农业税的县 In a meeting in January, the Zouping County (Party) Committee decided that from now one the agricultural tax would be abolished. Zouping is the first county in Binzhou city to abolish the tax. (Alert readers will realize that I have been…
-
Moving on up…
The following is my request for access to bureaus at the Provincial capital (Jinan 济南) and the city (Binzhou 兵州): Research Plan for Jeremy Wallace in Jinan and Binzhou In order to conduct my research, I plan to meet with the Government Finance Bureau, the National Tax Office, the Local Tax Office, the Corporate Restructuring…
-
Interview Notes
Notes from Zouping…. Another 3 hour marathon in the afternoon at the national tax office. I’m exhausted but am glad that I typed these up while they were fresh in my mind rather than resting on my extremely hard Chinese “bed.” Hopefully I won’t fall asleep in the guoshuiju interview. ——————– Where? Government Finance Bureau,…
-
Chinese Vocabulary of the Day
More on laws, documents, and other political vocabulary: draft – 法案,草案Government bill – 政府议案to pass a bill, to carry a bill – 通过议案to enact a law, to promulgate a law – 颁布法律ratification, confirmation – 批准law enforcement – 法律的实施decree – 法令clause – 条款minutes – 备忘录report – 判例汇编codification – 法律汇编legislation – 立法legislator – 立法者legitimation – 合法化legality, lawfulness…
-
Measuring the Insurgency
NPR’s Morning Edition led with “Gauging the Strength of the Iraq Insurgency” today. Army Lt. Gen. John Vines suggests the following potential measures: “numbers of attacks, numbers of tips, flow of foreign fighters, which is quite small. It is relatively static; it is not growing, not spreading.” He additionally suggests that the insurgency’s increased lethality…
-
Chinese Vocabulary of the Day
Types of documents:Commands – 命令 – mingling Decisions – 决定 – jueding Instructions – 指示 – zhishi Circulars – 通知 – tongzhi Transmit – 传法 – chuanfaRequirement – 要求 – yaoqiuProvincial enterprises – 省属企业 – shengshu qiyeVertical v. horizontal – 条条 v. 块块 – tiaotiao v. kuaikuai“more deposits, more loans” – 多存多贷 – duocunduodai4party ties…
-
Useful Links/Software
I highly recommend Copernic Desktop Search. Google Desktop is supposed to have been improved from previous versions, but after crashing my computer too many times, they lost me to this great program. Link Blogs I read. Brad DeLong and Political Animal. Daniel Drezner has a blog which I don’t read, but I do think about…
Jeremy Wallace 