Fiddling while Rome burns

choi

Andrew Jacobs, China Politics Stall Overhaul for Economy; Leaders distracted by coming Transitions. New York Times, Sept 27, 2012 (front page; in the series of "Changing of the Guard; A reckoning looms")
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/2 ... ore-up-economy.html

Excerpt in the window of print: Experts predict a crisis, but tough choices are put off.

Quote: "China’s political system has increasingly operated through consensus. The horse-trading, involving a dozen or so men who negotiate in secrecy, has dimmed the prospect of significant political or economic change. 'The slogans are loud and the plans are grand, but when it comes to implementation, the constraints are many,' said Zhao Xijun, an economics professor at Renmin University in Beijing.


Note:
(a) Fiddling while Rome burns. The Phrase Finder, undated.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fiddling-while-rome-burns.html
(b) The report says, "'There are tough choices to make, but the central government appears to be so paralyzed they are just sitting on their hands,' said Ho-Fung Hung, a political economist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore."

(i) Ho-Fung HUNG, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University
http://soc.jhu.edu/directory/ho-fung-hung/
(ii) Prof Ho-fung HUNG 孔誥烽, China & the Transformation of Global Capitalism 中國與全球資本主義轉型. National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan), December 2011 (course synopsis).
http://cfcc.nthu.edu.tw/cfcc/kong.html

(A) CFCC in the URL stands for Center for Contemporary China (國立清華大學) 當代中國研究中心.
(B) Hung is the Cantonese pronunciation (similar to HOONG) of 孔.
(iii) sit (v). Online Etymology Dictionary, undated
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sit
("To sit on one's hands was originally 'to withhold applause' (1926)")

(c) ZHAO Xijun  赵 锡军
(d) LI Zuojun  李 佐军 (博士, 国务院发展研究中心资源与环境研究所副所长)