Economist, Sep 21, 2013 (I)

choi

In the previous week, Economist had a report about Xiaomi. I thought: Its business model--money-making from sale of apps and games, which China does not allow across the national borders--and popularity outside China can be tested by peering into the markets of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Unfortunately, Xiaomi started selling in both marketslate, starting April, this year, which is too short a period to tell. Besides, Xiaomi was handicapped, having setting up warehouse in Shenzhen to serve both markets. Therefore, an online order for Xiaomi in Taiwan took four days to deliver, as opposed to other brands that had local warehouses (think Amazon, which is setting up warehouses in every state of US, in an attempt to deliver same day as ordered). At the beginning of September (2013), Xiaomi's warehouse started operating in Taiwan.

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(1) Learning to speak proper | Spread the word; Mandarins push Mandarin.
http://www.economist.com/news/ch ... andarin-spread-word

two consecutive paragraphs:

"In Xibian village, near Fuzhou, capital of the south-eastern province of Fujian, most residents can speak Mandarin (with a strong accent). Classes at school are taught in it and most television programmes use it. But day to day, villagers chat, sing, haggle and pray in Min, a language unintelligible to Mandarin speakers. Though there are hundreds of different dialects that are variations of Mandarin, linguists say that Min is one of eight separate Chinese languages spoken within China. These include Cantonese (which is spoken by more people than live in France). They share some lexical and grammatical features with Mandarin, but are roughly as similar only as English is to Dutch. They can also be written using Chinese characters, rather as English and Dutch can both be written using the Roman alphabet.

"Early education in regional languages is tolerated, as is some broadcasting. But Communist Party mandarins insist on calling them dialects, not languages

My comment:
(a) Xibian village could be
(i) 福建省福州市福清市镜洋镇 西边村
(ii) 福建省福州市福清市城头镇 溪边村
(iii) 福建省福州市马尾区亭江镇 西边村
(b) This is an interesting (albeit short) article. But the quotation is the main part of it, and you may not want to use 1 of 3 free opportunities to read online (without registration).

choi

(2) Electric bicycles | Two (motorised) wheels better; Sales are booming, but large-scale urban hire schemes remain some way off.
("Although electric cars have struggled to gain purchase (their sticker price is unalluring and they stop dead if not recharged), sales of cycles using batteries to augment a rider’s own efforts are growing quickly. * * * Frank Jamerson, who produces the Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports, estimates sales at around 34m this year * * * China buys most of them and makes even more, with European sales of 1.5m in second place [to China]. So it seems strange that there is not yet a large-scale e-bike-rental scheme")

My comment:
(a) The subtitle ("urban hire schemes") refers to e-bike rental at the end of quotation.
(b) There is no need to red the rest.

choi

(3) The birth of Bangladesh  |  Blood meridian; A new history sheds fresh light on a shameful moment in American foreign policy.
http://www.economist.com/news/bo ... oreign-policy-blood
(book review on Gary Bass, The Blood Telegram; Nixon, Kissinger and a forgotten genocide. Knopf, 2013)

Note:
(a) Bangladesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengladesh
(The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language)
(b) Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mujibur_Rahman
(1920-1975; 1st president of Bangladesh 1971-1972, 2nd prime minister of Bangladesh 1972-1975)
(c) "America’s most senior diplomat in East Pakistan, Archer Blood, the consul-general in Dhaka"

Archer (surname)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_(surname)
(d) Nixon "was notably fond of Pakistan’s military ruler, Yahya Khan, a gruff, dim-witted, whisky-drinking general."

Yahya Khan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Khan
(1917-1980; 3rd president of Pakistan 1969-1971)
(e) "The war did convince them [Pakistanis] that India might next try to break up the remaining western rump of their country, perhaps by supporting Baluchi separatists on the border with Afghanistan."

For Baluchi, see Balochi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balochi
(Balochi or Baluchi may refer to [among others] Baloch people, an ethnic group primarily found in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan[: About 60% percent of the Baloch live in East Balochistan, a western province in the Pakistan])

choi

(4) The lure of pearls | Iridescence; A gem of an exhibit offers a first impression of Qatar’s pearl collection.
http://www.economist.com/news/bo ... lection-iridescence

Note:
(a) "The Greeks associated pearls with the cult of Aphrodite, a goddess born of a shell."
Aphrodite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite
(Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus; section 1 Etymology; section 2.1 Birth)
(b) "In a 1588 portrait Elizabeth I, the virgin queen, had herself painted in a gown sewn all over with pearls."
Elizabeth I of England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
(portrait caption: "rtrait of Elizabeth to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), depicted in the background. Elizabeth's hand rests on the globe, symbolising her international power")
(c) "When the Roman Catholic church sought symbols of power and wealth to counter the rise of Protestantism, it created a fashion for the very large pearls on which jewellers of the Baroque unleashed their imaginations, setting swans, turtles, ships and fish as impressive brooches and pendants."
Baroque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque
(section 1 Etymology; section 3.1: c 1590-c 1725)

(d) "Some, like the celebrated carpet of pearls commissioned by the maharajah of Baroda in 1865, are now too fragile to travel."
(i) The Pearl Carpet of Baroda| Majaraja jewels. Royal-Magazin, copyrighted 2009.
http://www.royal-magazin.de/india/baroda-pearl-carpet.htm
("The carpet was offered on auction at Doha - 19 March 2009 by Sothebys and sold for $5,458,500")
(ii) Maharaja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharaja
(a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king;" section 2.1 Maharaja as a ruler's title)
(iii) For Baroda, see Vadodara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadodara
(also known as Baroda; section 1 Origin of name: "Vadodará, which according to tradition is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word Vatodar meaning In the heart of the Banyan tree. It is now almost impossible to ascertain when the various changes in the name were made; but early English travelers and merchants mention the town as Brodera, and it is from this that the name Baroda is derived. In 1974, the official name of the city was changed to Vadodara")
(e) "The exhibition ends with a vitrine of contemporary pearl jewellery, from Sam Tho Duong’s encrustaceans of tiny pearls on a necklace of silver twigs to Geoffrey Rowlandson’s grand jeté brooch of 1999 (pictured), heir to the treasures of the Baroque."
(i) vitrine (n; French, from vitre pane of glass, from Old French, from Latin vitrum; First Known Use 1880):
"a glass showcase or cabinet especially for displaying fine wares or specimens"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vitrine
(ii) showcase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showcase
(Showcase or Vitrine may refer to: "Cabinet (furniture)" [or] "Display case")
(iii) Kevin Murray, Sam Tho Duong--the Private Made Public. Craft Unbound, Dec 14, 2010.
http://www.craftunbound.net/medi ... private-made-public
("When Sam Tho Duong was 14 years of age his family left Vietnam and settled in Pforzheim, the jewellery capital of Germany, if not the world. Sam was intrigued by the Goldstadt (Gold City) and began to study jewellery at the Technical College for Design of Jewelry & Objects.")
Pforzheim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pforzheim
(well-known -for its jewelry and watch-making industry; nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City; This place was known [in Roman times] as Portus (river crossing, harbor), which is believed to be the origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim")