• About

Larry Muffin At Home

~ Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Larry Muffin At Home

Tag Archives: urban

City changes

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Architecture

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

humanity, life, London, photos, Travel, UK, urban

This photo taken in London just recently shows how the city is changing in terms of its architecture and urban design. The photo shows a cluster of tall modern towers next to the ancient Tower of London, it is utterly strange to me and not an image shown in tourism promotion. If those modern towers had been built across the river I would have said ok there is distance and perspective but in this case, no I do not like it at all.

45042346085_d9c5dba448_b.jpg

16 October Poll

15 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by larrymuffin in Charlottetown

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

#PEIPOLI, Charlottetown, elections, municipal, PEI, Politics, urban

Here is a Poll from The Guardian in PEI on the possible results of the Municipal Election in Ward 1 Charlottetown. Voting Day is November 5.

Have_Your_Say_large.jpg

 

Have your say in our online poll

Today’s question: Who will win in Ward 1

Laurent Beaulieu  46.15%  

 

Paul Haddad  25%  

 

Alanna Jankov  15.38%  

 

Leo Killorn  9.62%  

 

Ron Dowling  3.85%  

 

On China and Emigration

13 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Canada., China, communist party, conflict, contradiction, Deng Xiao Ping, education, Emigration, immigration, rural, urban, Xi Jinping

Emigration is probably a phenomenon as old as humanity, humans have always had a need for one reason or another to move where the grass is greener. Canada is built on immigration and the oldest Federal government department is that of Immigration. It was created by Prime Minister Sir John A.Macdonald in order to populate this vast new country of Canada in 1873. Populating Canada has always been since 1608 the no.1 task of Royal Governors and various administrators. If one looks at the original 13 colonies of what would become one day the USA, one can see from the beginning a large influx of Europeans, mostly at the beginning Dutch and German with some English in the lot. The first two groups were so prominent in 1776 when the USA was created, German was considered as a possible official language of the new country. Canada was a very different story.

The USA population has always been 10 times greater than that of Canada, and the development of the 13 original colonies was much more robust and faster than that of New France and then after 1763 of Canada as a whole. Even in 1890 the fastest way to travel was often by river transport between major cities and then the train became the main highway to move people and goods. The USA already had a good road system and more infrastructure simply because they had a greater population than us. Per example in 1890 the total population of Canada was about 5 million people, whereas the USA had a population of 63 million people. So it is not difficult to understand why a strong immigration policy was necessary to allow for quick growth of the National Population in Canada.

Since 1873 Canada has been actively seeking and recruiting immigrants to populate the country. At first immigrants were mostly Europeans and this continued until about 1976 when the government of the time decided to focus more on other regions of the globe and focus less and less on Europe. Today the vast majority of immigrants to Canada come from India and China. From India it is mostly from one province alone the Punjab, this explains the visibility of this community and its presence in Parliament and in the current Federal Cabinet. It is a community which has integrated well on the whole and has been successful.

The Chinese started to arrive in large numbers in Canada as 1997 loomed, the return of the British Territory of Hong Kong to Communist China created a panic among the Cantonese speaking population of the British Colony and many thousand chose to come and live on the West Coast of Canada, Vancouver being the destination. In more recent years they in turn have been replaced by economic migrants from mainland China who are Mandarin speaking and seek economic advantages in Canada which they cannot have in China or wish to hide ill gotten loot, Canadian Courts have been busy in the last 20 years with notorious cases which endangered our diplomatic relations with China.

Many up to 40% per year come to Canada as immigrants only to disappear after obtaining Permanent Resident Status, it is believed that they end up in the USA where taxes are less than in Canada and salaries are much higher. This group of Chinese immigrants do not integrate well, living in closed ghettos amongst other Mandarin speaking Chinese, they shun Canadian society or anyone who is not from their Han, Mandarin speaking group. Their main goal is having a base in Canada through ownership of real estate. This in turn has created enormous social problems in British Columbia in and around Vancouver and in greater Toronto area, less so in Montreal, PEI appears to be the next target.

One problem which has alarmed financial circles, the IMF and now the Governor of the Bank of Canada is the unsustainable real estate speculation in many Canadian cities fuelled by the Chinese buyers. The news media has carried reports that in Vancouver alone house prices could appreciate by 75% in 2017 and by 50% in Toronto. This makes no logical sense and shows that speculation is the root of this phenomenon.  Another theory which circulates in Financial circles is that China could undermine a national economy with excessive speculation in various markets in the hope of fostering its own dominance. In Latin America and in Africa, China has displaced the USA as an investor.  A form of economic war which is not unknown in the long history of China with its neighbours in Asia.  Because of this aggressive policy, China has tense and difficult relations with India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

The speculative bubble burst in Shanghai 6 years ago after massive speculation by home buyers and the deflation that ensued ruined many. This was due to some Party bosses corrupt practices and lack of regulations within the internal Chinese market.

Canadians also have another serious problem in individual personal debt currently at 167% per person. Yes Canadians are living well beyond their means. Any increase in interest rates which could happen next year could create a crisis here.

Having said this then what fuels the move out of China for so many are the unresolved contradictions the 1949 Communist takeover have not resolved within China and the constant rivalries between urban coastal communities and the vast rural areas of inner China. The revolution was to give the peasant class preeminence in Chinese Society and the Cities were to be marginalized, or so said Communist ideology, that is not what happened. Mao himself an uneducated peasant played the peasant rule all card against other Party bosses and was able to eliminate many of them between 1967-1976. However his luxurious life style and personality cult did nothing to resolve internal social contradictions between city and country.

An article in the New York Times of this past weekend presented the current problem of too rapid growth can create for a country like China and its unwieldy population. One of the main realization of the Communist Party in 1994 was to eradicate for the first time ever famine in Chinese history. The Party has also created consumer wealth with large infrastructure programs in the coastal area of the country benefitting about 500 million Chinese, however in the rest of the country where the other 900 million live, progress has been extremely slow and discontent is ripe. The challenges for the Party is an enormous one and authoritarian response by over using the riot police to quell dissent has not worked well.

The new party leader Xi JinPing is aware that to stay in power the Party has to focus more and more efforts on the vast rural areas and try to offer similar access to education and prosperity.  Ten years ago when I was in China the crisis of urban against rural came to a head, this was coupled with the Chinese migrant workers who came to the cities by the millions to work for peanuts so that the urban centres could look more modern or ”Western” with poorly built buildings. The peasant workers are exploited shamelessly by the Chinese entrepreneurs who often forgot to pay them and the Central Government who would not allow them to live in the cities beyond the terms of their work contracts, with a complex system of internal passports and visas to travel between cities, all of it controlled by the Police.

The Party is very anxious that the Western World think of China as a great nation. Vis-a-vis Europe and North America the Communist Party have a huge inferiority complex and a grudge. Official Propaganda called us Bourgeois Imperialist Paper Tigers while Mao was alive, after his death in 1976, the new leadership went on to copy the Capitalist model under Deng Xiao Ping and his program of accelerated consumerism with pseudo Marxist framework. Realizing that Mao’s Policies where about keeping him in power, bringing the death of millions through failed policies 1959-1961 and not advancing China, the Party had to re-invent itself.

Now Xi JinPing is offering more university seats to rural students in big city universities. He has modified the education program to copy the former Imperial Mandarin Education program which educated the elite who worked for the Emperor. Parents of students in cities like Beijing and Shanghai have been protesting this government decision to offer more placements to rural students who often have no chance at entering a prestigious university. They claim that they spent years preparing their children for the University entrance exams and will not allow peasants to take their place. In the countryside schools and universities are sub par and the education level is poor. There is none of the prosperity or affluence you see in cities and coastal areas, this despite years of efforts to bring up standards to those of urban centres. Systemic corruption of Communist Officials has also played its part in delaying progress in rural areas.

For those who can afford it there is always an education abroad in colleges and universities in Canada or the USA. However this is very expensive and not a guarantee of success since many Chinese students return to China to find out that their foreign degrees are rejected by Chinese employers on the basis that it is foreign thus not acceptable. English language skills are also very important in China if you wish to work for one of the big State Enterprises. Again many Chinese students returning from years in Canada or the USA are barely able to speak English, many lived in Chinese ghettos abroad finding it less challenging culturally.  Is this new policy of the Chinese Leadership like so many other a cosmetic attempt at solving an old Chinese problem, most probably and it will be said to work through official propaganda and decrees. The other solution of the Party is to make it easy for Chinese citizens to emigrate abroad while remaining loyal to the Party. This explains the constant presence of Senior Chinese Diplomats at any function given by Chinese business groups in Canada. This way the Communist Party reminds all that they may be living abroad but the Party is watching and monitors behaviour.

Despite more than 60 years of Communism and great upheavals, China remains a class society, where Communist Party affiliation, money and family name weighs in on your chance for advancement. It is a dictatorship and a Police State with allures of consumerism, no one should be fooled by this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fans of the Muffin

  • Cuisine AuntDai
  • A Beijinger living in Provincetown
  • The Island Heartbeat
  • LES GLOBE-TROTTERS
  • Antonisch
  • ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2021.
  • ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2010-20.
  • The Body's Heated Speech
  • Unwritten Histories
  • Philippe Lagassé
  • Moving with Mitchell
  • Palliser Pass
  • Roijoyeux
  • Fearsome Beard
  • Verba Volant Monumenta Manent
  • Spo-Reflections
  • KREUZBERGED - BERLIN COMPANION
  • My Secret Journey
  • Buying Seafood
  • Routine Proceedings
  • Heritage Calling
  • Larry Muffin At Home
  • Sailstrait
  • dennisnarratives
  • Willy Or Won't He
  • Prufrock's Dilemma
  • domanidave.wordpress.com/
  • theINFP
  • The Corporate Slave
  • OTTAWA REWIND

Blog Stats

  • 90,411 hits

Birthplace of Canada

C1A 1A7, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Follow Larry Muffin At Home on WordPress.com

Archives

  • March 2021 (2)
  • February 2021 (11)
  • January 2021 (8)
  • December 2020 (22)
  • November 2020 (16)
  • October 2020 (17)
  • September 2020 (13)
  • August 2020 (17)
  • July 2020 (16)
  • June 2020 (23)
  • May 2020 (24)
  • April 2020 (23)
  • March 2020 (28)
  • February 2020 (20)
  • January 2020 (12)
  • December 2019 (17)
  • November 2019 (15)
  • October 2019 (18)
  • September 2019 (5)
  • August 2019 (9)
  • July 2019 (10)
  • June 2019 (6)
  • May 2019 (5)
  • April 2019 (12)
  • March 2019 (8)
  • February 2019 (7)
  • January 2019 (9)
  • December 2018 (15)
  • November 2018 (6)
  • October 2018 (7)
  • September 2018 (6)
  • August 2018 (7)
  • July 2018 (7)
  • June 2018 (6)
  • May 2018 (10)
  • April 2018 (7)
  • March 2018 (7)
  • February 2018 (5)
  • January 2018 (11)
  • December 2017 (19)
  • November 2017 (13)
  • October 2017 (20)
  • September 2017 (12)
  • August 2017 (11)
  • July 2017 (24)
  • June 2017 (17)
  • May 2017 (24)
  • April 2017 (23)
  • March 2017 (21)
  • February 2017 (22)
  • January 2017 (23)
  • December 2016 (19)
  • November 2016 (21)
  • October 2016 (25)
  • September 2016 (4)
  • August 2016 (15)
  • July 2016 (13)
  • June 2016 (13)
  • May 2016 (8)
  • April 2016 (21)
  • March 2016 (17)
  • February 2016 (30)
  • January 2016 (23)
  • December 2015 (36)
  • November 2015 (23)
  • October 2015 (26)
  • September 2015 (22)
  • August 2015 (15)
  • July 2015 (21)
  • June 2015 (27)
  • May 2015 (17)
  • April 2015 (16)
  • March 2015 (15)
  • February 2015 (12)
  • January 2015 (21)
  • December 2014 (4)

Blog Stats

  • 90,411 hits

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cuisine AuntDai

Journey as an owner of a Chinese restaurant in Montreal

A Beijinger living in Provincetown

Life of Yi Zhao, a Beijinger living in Provincetown, USA

The Island Heartbeat

Prince Edward Island From the Inside Out

LES GLOBE-TROTTERS

VOYAGES, CITY GUIDES, CHATEAUX, PHOTOGRAPHIE.

Antonisch

from ancient to modern and beyond

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2021.

ROME - THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2010-20.

ROME – THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

The Body's Heated Speech

Unwritten Histories

The Unwritten Rules of History

Philippe Lagassé

In Defence of Westminster

Moving with Mitchell

Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.

Palliser Pass

Stories, Excerpts, Backroads

Roijoyeux

... Soyons... Joyeux !!!

Fearsome Beard

A place for Beards to contemplate and grow their souls.

Verba Volant Monumenta Manent

Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano, sulle strade dell'Impero Romano tra foto, storia e mito - It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian, on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and myth!

Spo-Reflections

To live is to battle with trolls in the vaults of heart and brain. To write; this is to sit in judgment over one's Self. Henrik Ibsen

KREUZBERGED - BERLIN COMPANION

Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin

My Secret Journey

Newly Single, Exploring Life

Buying Seafood

Reviewing Fish, Shellfish, and Seafood Products

Routine Proceedings

The adventures of a Press Gallery journalist

Heritage Calling

A Historic England Blog

Larry Muffin At Home

Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Sailstrait

Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown

dennisnarratives

Stories in words and pictures

Willy Or Won't He

So Many Years of Experience But Still Making Mistakes!

Prufrock's Dilemma

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”/Let us go and make our visit.

domanidave.wordpress.com/

Procrastination is the sincerest form of optimism

theINFP

I aim to bring delight to others by sharing my creative endeavours

The Corporate Slave

A mix of corporate and private life experiences

OTTAWA REWIND

Join me as we wind back the time in Ottawa.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×