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They’re blaring the Best of Michael Jackson in this cafe here and I thought it should be accompanied by an appropriate piece by Gary Brecher: He Fought the Wars and the Wars Won.

Maybe it’s because I’m super handsome but I have been hounded everywhere I go by people hawking all sorts of wares. And it’s not just limited to glittery trinkets, glow-in-the-dark dolls or battery powered robot dogs.

But that is a story for another day.

Most people are usually trying to sell necklaces, food, photos, movies, cell phones, bus rides — in short, if it can be sold, someone is trying to sell it. But don’t let that stop you from visiting or moving here. In fact, this metro is pretty cool so far.

Nothing to see here

One of the econ professors I had back in undergrad was a guy by the name of Svetozar Pejovich (see his book here). He grew up in Yugoslavia during the Tito regime and told all sorts of colorful stories during class.

One of the stories that he repeated a couple of times during the semester was a debate he had with a socialist that was pro-central planning, let’s call him Ivan. So one of Ivan’s complaints was that in existing market economies, theft and pilfering are big problems. Pejovich would retort, “because there is so much stuff to steal!”

So while some tourists or Westerners may be annoyed at the endless hounding, I see it as a healthy indicator of their livelihood. First, they actually have something to sell. And this probably means they are allowed to personally own and profit from their sale. As a result they can accumulate wealth, live for another day and possibly reinvest their capital in future growth.

So the next time you hear “sir, would you like a watch?” instead of scowling at the guy hawking the fake Rolex, smile and be glad that they have something to sell. Because each voluntary, consensual trade amounts to a win-win scenario that helps drag people out of poverty.

Heroic!

Or would you rather have them lying down prostrate begging for change or living off the taxpayer dole? Besides, it’s not like you can be too self-righteous. After all, don’t you technically haggle something in order to live? Or do you own a nanofactory and have a life of non-scarcity?

See also: Defending the Undefendable

So I’m here in an ginormous internet cafe in Shanghai and have to call BS on those “pro-democracy” slash “anti-China” groupies. They’re mostly full of crap.

Two examples, both involving public TV.

In my hotel room I found a couple of English-speaking channels. One is Bloomberg and the other is CCTV #9.

I watched a lot of Bloomberg in Seoul and Kaohsiung and one of the day-time hosts is Bernard Lo. In one segment that was aired last night as well as today, he interviews Christopher Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong.

Guess what they talked about for 15 minutes? Every touchy political subject known to man, including that uber god, Mr. Democracy. To the horror of the hippie SDS, none of the words were bleeped out. Nor did a floating Big Brother insignia replace the image of Lo’s head. My door was not busted down and I have thus far gone unmolested by men in grey jumpsuits with red armbands.

Exhibit B, Yang Rui is the host of Dialogue, an interview format show on CCTV channel 9. Today’s episode involved a discussion with two people from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Jessica Matthews (its president) as well as a VP were on the show.

And they also talked about every controversial topic relating to the Bush legacy. In fact, this was actually an entertaining interview because Rui would word things very strongly, like “will Bush be remembered as the worst president?” and better yet, he called out the hypocrisy or as he said “the double-sided nature” of non-proliferation policy the Bush administration has had towards Iran and how the administration ignores Israel’s nuclear stockpile altogether.

And while critical of Bush, Matthews is a bit of an establishment partisan, refusing to blame the neocon agenda for a slew of other quagmires. But that is neither here nor there as nothing was bleeped out or obviously censored. Though, maybe I’ll come home and find my TV rearranged in pieces on the ground.

Extra-credit for extra-horror

Sites not blocked at my current location:

LewRockwell.com
Antiwar.com
Mises.org
The English-version of Wikipedia
My webpage (obviously)
Facebook
Drudge
isoHunt
Google Reader
Youtube
All of the financial sites I listed on Wednesday

Be sure to check out some thought provoking pieces from Spiked Online as well as Professional Protesters and the Political Class. Oh, and maybe The God that Failed is germane here too.

Last spring I predicted that the PRC would not launch a military invasion of Taiwan after the Olympics. And fortunately the saber rattling by the militant DPP has been ineffective, as the situation gets rosier and rosier.

For instance, both sides just signed transportation, shipping, mail and other agreements today.

Peace in our time? With any luck it looks that way.

See also: Not only are they better capitalists, but better peacemakers too?

Have you had more than your fill of fake sports?

Looking for some real sweaty action that doesn’t involve judges?

And… you’re a history buff?

Then you might be interested in Assembly (Ji Jie Hao). It’s a new movie, based on the story of a captain in the Chinese Army (PLA side). It takes place during the Chinese civil war (specifically the last major battle in the Northern campaign) as well as some skirmishing in Northern Korea.

If you liked Letters from Iwo Jima (the Japanese-side of the conflict directed by Clint Eastwood; which was also well-done), then you’ll probably like this, as it provides a more humanistic look through the eyes of a non-politicized soldier.

My only beef with the action sequences is during the main artillery bombardment at the beginning, none of make-shift mortar or machine-gun emplacements were destroyed. Super realistic, eh?

Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely worth grabbing at the video store. Or if you grab a torrent, there are plenty of websites that provide subtitles to it.

Finally finished wiping away the tears from the opening ceremonies?

To be honest, the only reason I did watch it is because my students are going to bug me about it tomorrow. They’ve been taken in by the nationalism side of things (due to the fact that Ryu Seung Min — a South Korean — won the gold medal in table tennis four years ago).

My question is, did the BOGOC guys have a bet with someone at the IOC to see how many performers they could cram in a 10′ x 10′ square? Scarce on space… and I was hoping for some dancing lions that juggled iron bowls.

Aside from the two bright yellow back-flip artists (man they had to be dizzy), the only brief segment I kind of liked was the kung fu exhibition. That is more martial arts than I’m used to seeing.

Okay, not totally true. But in all of my travels I’ve seen very little to justify the stereotype that everyone knows karate or some such. In fact, I have only seen one fight, ever, here. It was after 4 am in Hongdae (outside of clubs NB and Harlem). Two Korean guys were very drunk and kept trying to do round-house kicks against the other. They quit after they bloodied themselves a bit.

Oh, and of course you see people doing slow-motion stuff but as we’ve seen in the past, that doesn’t help in a real fight.

Speaking of which, many Koreans and Chinese have asked me if I studied any martial arts and assume that many young Western men do. Why? Because they see movies with Chuck Norris, Keanu Reeves, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme. So comically, they fear that I will open up a can of MMA.

A quick refresher:

Tae Kwan Do is Korean
Judo is Japanese
Karate is Okinawan (neither pure Japanese or Chinese), a la Mr. Miyagi