China Gaoshou 中国高手, Mountain Man, Food Maven

  Deflation is threatening the Chinese Economy.   China’s Government has not been helping matters.            A specter is hanging over China, namely the dreaded “D” word, or deflation.   Over the past year, prices have been falling across its economy, giving rise to fears that China is on the cusp of a deflationary spiral.   That is very bad news for its economic growth prospects.   Even worse, to solve this brewing crisis, the Chinese Government has sought to boost output and supply across the economy.   But that response ignores the main factor underlying China’s deflation problem, which is the persistently low share of private consumption in its gross domestic product (GDP).   If Chinese private consumption levels remain depressed, raising output and supply could turn what is now a nascent deflation crisis into a full-blown downward price spiral.     Last summer, data released by the National Bu...

Fresno gets a lot of abuse and derision and, to be honest, in my humble opinion at least, some of that is well deserved.  The city’s air has been rated as among the worst in the country by the AmericanLung Association , close to 1 in 4 (23%) of its residents live in poverty , and it ranks near the bottom of the heap among larger cities with respect to percapita spending on parks and recreation .  And don’t even get me started on the dearth of intellectual and cultural life in Fresno.  Fortunately for Fresno, these drawbacks are to some degree offset by its one major plus, namely close proximity to what many argue is the finest mountain scenery in America.   I’m talking about the so-called “High Sierra,” which comprises the tallest and most rugged part of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.   The latter stretches from the Kern River Plateau to the south to the North Fork of the Feather River to the north.   The south end of the “High Sierra” beg...

China has a serious image problem when it comes to how it is viewed globally.  A Pew Research Center Global Survey  released late last month casts a harsh spotlight on global opinions about the People’s Republic and its treatment of other countries.  The report surveyed attitudes across 16 high-income and 8 middle-income countries.  The high-income countries included the US, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, the UK, France, Spain, Greece, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Israel.  The middle-income countries included Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia, and India. Aggregating attitudes across these two groups yields a negative view of China and its international behavior.  Just over a quarter (28%) of those questioned across all 24 countries had favorable views of China compared with the over two-thirds (67%) with unfavorable views.  Some 57% agreed that China interferes in the affairs o...

  When one hears the term “sweet and sour pork,” the thing that immediately comes to mind is the dish ( 咕噜肉 [G ūlū ròu]) that is a well-known staple of China’s Guangdong cuisine ( 粤菜 [Yu è c à i]).   It is what Americans often order and eat when consuming Chinese food in Chinese restaurants or as take-out from such establishments.   While I certainly like eating this dish, sweet and sour pork is not unique to China.   Italian cuisine has its own distinctive take on this way of fixing pork, and I finally got around to cooking it this summer.   Italian sweet and sour pork is lighter than its sticky sweet Guangdong counterpart.   In the Italian version of this dish, the sweet and sour flavors are more subtle and understated.   On top of that, like most food from Italy, this dish stands out for its simplicity and ease of preparation, making it the perfect choice for those occasions when one needs fix something that is tasty, a bit elegant, and can be wh...

  When it comes to national parks, California has an abundance of riches.   It is home to 9 out of America’s 63 national parks, more than any other state in the country.   Four of these parks—Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Lassen Volcanic National Park—lie along the state’s eastern mountain spine, comprised of the Sierra Nevada and southern end of the Cascade ranges. Within this group, Yosemite, followed by Sequoia and Kings Canyon, receive by far and away the most visitors.   This makes Lassen Volcanic National Park a poor stepchild to its more renowned counterparts.   That is a shame, as Lassen has quite a lot to offer.   As the name implies, the park is home not just to the Lassen Peak volcano, which underwent a major eruption in 1914, but several other volcanoes which could blow in the future.   All four basic types of volcanoes can be found here:   plug dome (Lassen Peak), shield (Prospect Peak), composite (Brokeoff Mountain), and cin...