One sunny day in November, we rented a car for news reporting in Hanoi. Our driver, A Hai, remained silent and shy. We treated him drink and fried chicken. After a whole day together, he felt a little bit relaxed and began conversation with us. A Hai who came from a village near Hanoi asked us: Why did you Taiwanese bully our girls?
The cases of abuse happened frequently. It tarnishes the reputation of Taiwan. A Hai's question is so direct. From it, we can see his anger which shocked us as newcomers to Vietnam. Thousands of Vietnamese girls are married to Taiwan each year and now about 90,000-100,000 "Vietnamese wives" in Taiwan. The news about their abuse is widely covered by media in Vietnam. Some Vietnamese women organization and international NGO protest against our government. Taiwan's officials stationed at the Taipei Office of Economy and Culture keep apologizing to them. As Director Chen Chanlin said, Taiwanese businessmen who invested in Taiwan were viewed as "good men". But when local people talked about "Vietnamese wives", they had bad feeling about Taiwan.
In spite of this, poor rural girls still want to marry to overseas. Deputy Director of Vedan Yang Shenwen told me a story. He comes across some Vietnamese girls when he hangs out with business partners in night club. One of the girls asked him to introduce Taiwanese man to her. She wanted to marry to Taiwanese. But Yang told her there were a lot of tragic stories about this kind of marriage. But the girl said, "No problem. I can stand it. I have to sacrifice for my family." Listening to her, Yang wept over it and further pusuaded her not to marry to Taiwan.
Holding hands, Mr Lin, a blakcsmith, and his fiancee Ms Lai, knowing each other for just a few months, went to the Laision Office for interview in early morning. This is Mr Lin's second marriage. He had a Vietnamese wife and two kids. His ex-wife had earned money for family. But they had quarrels and their marriage only lasted for five years. This time he wanted to marry a girl from North Vietnam. "Our family is like United Nations. My sister-in-law is Vietnamese. My eldest brother has a wife from mainland China. I want to marry one from North Vietnam." He said with irony. His fiancee, sitting beside him and feeling shy, helped him even up his clothes. Despite the age difference of 23 years, they were willing to get married and to make a future together.
One can see this scene in the laision office every day. There are sad stories behind both bride and groom. These people at the bottom of the society want to change their fate through marriage. Su Rencong, an experienced official in the office, said that agencies work hard to match couples. Their relationships are partially based on differences in economic condition and language. But there is no immigration policy in Taiwan. All couples except the cases of human trafficking and "fake bride, real maid", could pass interview.
Most Vietnamese wives come from the South. But since January last year, the queue for examination by Taiwan's office in Ho Chi Minh City is so long that applicants need to make appointment for interview half year in advance. There is a great demand of "Vietnamese wives" in Taiwan. Now matching agencies move north. It reduces the burden of the Ho Chi Minh office. Previously So only interviewed one or two couples. Now he needs to take care of ten every day.
Marriage is about individual freedom. But "Vietnamese wives" is a collective phenomenon with implications of social problems. Le Thi Thuy, director of the Women Development Centre, Vietnamese Women Association, often visits local offices. She find that some women married to Taiwan could make money and improve their family economies. They would return home proudly. Yet some return with empty hands and feel ashamed of it. They dare not to go home and prefer to go somewhere else instead of home town.
She said, "I heard from some members of our organization that they haven't met a particular woman for a period of time. They heard that she got married to Taiwan. But one day our members travelled to another city and saw her. Then they realized that she came back. That woman did not want to let others know she already returned home."
As Le Thi Thuy said, Vietnamese wives return home after they come across a lot of difficulties abroad. Many of them have children and they bring them back home. They seek help from their Vietnamese families because it costs much higher to raise children in Taiwan than Vietnam. Some women might go back to Taiwan to work. With Taiwanese nationalities, the children have difficulties in schooling in Vietnam. Later the local governments might help these Taiwanese kids to go to school. There are a lot of cases in Tong Ta province.
Many people believe that the phenomenon of "Vietnamese wives", to some degree, is the consequence of Vietnamese government's tolerance. The export of "Vietnamese wives" brings in a great amount of "economic revenue". On the one hand, marriage might help raise the wives' whole family and alleviate poverty in Vietnam. On the other hand, each year they remit to home money, at least US$2,000 each year. Vietnam, in need of foreign currency, benefits from it a lot.
Behind this phenomenon, there is the economy of a developing country. To look closer, Vietnamese people, particularly women, are instruments for national development. Chairperson of Vietnamese Association of Commerce and Industry Huang Wen Yong said, "Who wants to leave home and to live in a new environment without any kins and relatives?" He believes that the more developed the Vietnamese economy improves, the less girls want to go out.
But, now Vietnamese women sacrifice themselves for family and country. Vietnamese people often hear the news about abusing Vietnamese wives by Taiwanese men. In their eyes, Taiwan becomes an "evil place".
Jiang Ruizhi2006-12-14. China Times
Source from http://interlocals.net/?q=node/274
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Finding Jobs in Canada's Recession
Like most countries, Canada is suffering through a miserable recession. The unemployment rate is hovering around 6.5%. 129,000 jobs were lost in January alone. Finding a job in Canada has become more difficult than anyone in recent history can remember. Available jobs seem to have simply disappeared. Nevertheless, there is work to be found. The fact is, 80 percent of jobs are never advertised. The trick is knowing where to look. Jobs in health care, education and construction have seen less of a downturn than other fields. Certain services remain essential regardless of the economy. Construction jobs
have held their own due to government road and bridge-building projects. The site Job Banks Canada
.com has a good listing of these jobs.Search engines can be an extremely valuable tool in this job market. The engine ‘Eluta’ monitors job postings within companies which are not made known to the public. This is valuable information which can be put to very good use.Companies may not be advertising, but they are keeping their eye on job boards. Job seekers need to post their resume on popular boards such as Workopolis, HotJobs, Working.com, and Jobshark. Joining a professional organization in the field of interest provides a great way to meet people in ones area of expertise and to make oneself known. Never underestimate the importance of networking. It can be an important tool in a job search in Canada.If all else fails, packing up and moving may be the answer. While all other provinces are suffering, Saskatchewan has more jobs now than it did a year ago. The province has a strong economy, showing growth in most sectors. Saskatchewan’s capital, Regina, has an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, which is fairly miraculous in this economy.Another move to consider is Alberta. Alberta’s economy is still relatively good, with a higher per capita income than most other provinces. The years 2003 and 2004 witnessed an unusually high baby explosion in the providence, resulting in an unusually dire need for nannies. Parents in the cities of Calgary an Edmonton are actively seeking nannies. And with Alberta’s good per capita income, these parents can afford to pay their nannies well.
These are obviously hard times. However, with a little bit of creativity and lots of personal flexibility, the search for a job can have a happy ending.
Please Visit our Job Bank Canada Directory for job resources in Canada
Source from http://www.articlesbase.com/recruitment-articles/finding-jobs-in-canadas-recession-1084397.html
I hope this article could help some people find out jobs very soon.
have held their own due to government road and bridge-building projects. The site Job Banks Canada
.com has a good listing of these jobs.Search engines can be an extremely valuable tool in this job market. The engine ‘Eluta’ monitors job postings within companies which are not made known to the public. This is valuable information which can be put to very good use.Companies may not be advertising, but they are keeping their eye on job boards. Job seekers need to post their resume on popular boards such as Workopolis, HotJobs, Working.com, and Jobshark. Joining a professional organization in the field of interest provides a great way to meet people in ones area of expertise and to make oneself known. Never underestimate the importance of networking. It can be an important tool in a job search in Canada.If all else fails, packing up and moving may be the answer. While all other provinces are suffering, Saskatchewan has more jobs now than it did a year ago. The province has a strong economy, showing growth in most sectors. Saskatchewan’s capital, Regina, has an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, which is fairly miraculous in this economy.Another move to consider is Alberta. Alberta’s economy is still relatively good, with a higher per capita income than most other provinces. The years 2003 and 2004 witnessed an unusually high baby explosion in the providence, resulting in an unusually dire need for nannies. Parents in the cities of Calgary an Edmonton are actively seeking nannies. And with Alberta’s good per capita income, these parents can afford to pay their nannies well.
These are obviously hard times. However, with a little bit of creativity and lots of personal flexibility, the search for a job can have a happy ending.
Please Visit our Job Bank Canada Directory for job resources in Canada
Source from http://www.articlesbase.com/recruitment-articles/finding-jobs-in-canadas-recession-1084397.html
I hope this article could help some people find out jobs very soon.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
China's economy picks up steam
China's economy picked up pace in the third quarter of the year, fuelled by a massive government stimulus programme that helped the world's number three economy recover from the global recession.
According to government data released on Thursday the economy expanded 8.9 per cent from a year earlier, up from 7.9 per cent the previous quarter.
In a statement officials said that combined growth for the first nine months of the year was 7.7 per cent, putting the economy on track to reach the government's growth target of 8 per cent for the full year.
China's government has frequently highlighted the target of 8 per cent as the minimum annual expansion rate China needs to keep creating jobs and maintain social stability.
"We are sure that we can achieve the full year target of 8 percent," Li Xiaochao, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics told reporters in Beijing.
"There is no question about it."
Stimulus
The latest figures mark a significant upturn from the first quarter of the year when growth in the January to March period stood at just 6.1 per cent.
"Investment played an important and positive role in maintaining relatively fast growth and reversing the slowdown"
Li Xiaochao,National Bureau of StatisticsThen many economists had doubted that the economy would manage to hit the government's target.
But a massive government stimulus programme, involving $586bn of government spending, has helped counter the downturn and limit the impact of plunging demand for Chinese exports.
Much of the cash has been spent on new rail and road programmes, aimed at pumping up the domestic economy.
As a result, officials say, investment in factories, construction and other fixed assets rose by one third in the first three quarters of the year, hitting a record $2.27 trn.
"Investment played an important and positive role in maintaining relatively fast growth and reversing the slowdown," Li Xiaochao, the statistics bureau spokesman, told reporters.
Export rebound
Meanwhile, he added, domestic consumption such as consumer spending contributed nearly a third of the growth in economic activity.
At the same time a mild rebound in orders from overseas markets has helped restore some of the millions of jobs lost at the peak of the downturn when factories closed by the thousands as plunging global demand slammed exports.
Many analysts have expressed caution that growth rates may begin to slide once again as the stimulus spending runs its course.
But Robert Howe, chief executive of Geomatrix, a Hong Kong-based-investment company, said there were signs that the recovery had expanded beyond being almost purely government spending-related.
"Some of the fixed asset investment was from the private sector, so it is spreading and it is a bit more sustainable," he told Al Jazeera.
Nonetheless he said was sceptical about hopes in some quarters that China's apparent rapid recovery from the slowdown could help prop up other struggling economies.
"China is always going to be about China," Howe said.
"They're going to be helping Australia, buying as much of Australia's resources as the Australians will let them, and they'll do the same in Africa. But they're not going to be creating a lot of jobs in Iowa, Detroit, and Birmingham, England – it's going to be a shift to autonomous growth in China."
Source from http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/10/2009102244042881285.html
China is the country which even its own people can understand well. China is the country which can have be working miracle all the time from the past to now. How much do you know about China?
According to government data released on Thursday the economy expanded 8.9 per cent from a year earlier, up from 7.9 per cent the previous quarter.
In a statement officials said that combined growth for the first nine months of the year was 7.7 per cent, putting the economy on track to reach the government's growth target of 8 per cent for the full year.
China's government has frequently highlighted the target of 8 per cent as the minimum annual expansion rate China needs to keep creating jobs and maintain social stability.
"We are sure that we can achieve the full year target of 8 percent," Li Xiaochao, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics told reporters in Beijing.
"There is no question about it."
Stimulus
The latest figures mark a significant upturn from the first quarter of the year when growth in the January to March period stood at just 6.1 per cent.
"Investment played an important and positive role in maintaining relatively fast growth and reversing the slowdown"
Li Xiaochao,National Bureau of StatisticsThen many economists had doubted that the economy would manage to hit the government's target.
But a massive government stimulus programme, involving $586bn of government spending, has helped counter the downturn and limit the impact of plunging demand for Chinese exports.
Much of the cash has been spent on new rail and road programmes, aimed at pumping up the domestic economy.
As a result, officials say, investment in factories, construction and other fixed assets rose by one third in the first three quarters of the year, hitting a record $2.27 trn.
"Investment played an important and positive role in maintaining relatively fast growth and reversing the slowdown," Li Xiaochao, the statistics bureau spokesman, told reporters.
Export rebound
Meanwhile, he added, domestic consumption such as consumer spending contributed nearly a third of the growth in economic activity.
At the same time a mild rebound in orders from overseas markets has helped restore some of the millions of jobs lost at the peak of the downturn when factories closed by the thousands as plunging global demand slammed exports.
Many analysts have expressed caution that growth rates may begin to slide once again as the stimulus spending runs its course.
But Robert Howe, chief executive of Geomatrix, a Hong Kong-based-investment company, said there were signs that the recovery had expanded beyond being almost purely government spending-related.
"Some of the fixed asset investment was from the private sector, so it is spreading and it is a bit more sustainable," he told Al Jazeera.
Nonetheless he said was sceptical about hopes in some quarters that China's apparent rapid recovery from the slowdown could help prop up other struggling economies.
"China is always going to be about China," Howe said.
"They're going to be helping Australia, buying as much of Australia's resources as the Australians will let them, and they'll do the same in Africa. But they're not going to be creating a lot of jobs in Iowa, Detroit, and Birmingham, England – it's going to be a shift to autonomous growth in China."
Source from http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/10/2009102244042881285.html
China is the country which even its own people can understand well. China is the country which can have be working miracle all the time from the past to now. How much do you know about China?
Obama declares H1N1 emergency
The US president has declared a national emergency over the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.
A White House statement on Saturday, a day after Barack Obama signed the declaration, said the move was intended to prepare the country in case of "a rapid increase in illness that may overburden healthcare resources".
A public health emergency was already in place, but the new measure eases legal requirements to help federal government to provide care.
The number of people catching the A(H1N1) flu virus has spiked and more than 1,000 people in the US have died to date.
The country's disease control and prevention centre has said that H1N1 flu is now widespread in 46 of the US's 50 states.
'Proactive measure'
Seasonal flu normally peaks between late November and early March, but H1N1 appears to be peaking early and with more waves of infection expected.
An administration official said: "It's important to note that this is a proactive measure - not a response to a new development.
"H1N1 is moving rapidly, as expected. By the time regions or healthcare systems recognise they are becoming overburdened, they need to implement disaster plans quickly."
More than 20,000 Americans have been hospitalised with H1N1.
Separately, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported more than 414,000 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 worldwide, with nearly 5,000 deaths.
It also notes that those figures are likely to be "significantly lower than the actual number of cases that have occurred".
Source from
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/20091024152613342161.html
There is a question that what reason actually causes more than 1000 Americans dead from H1N1, which I have not got the exact answer. Maybe some people have already got, Please share it whth me.
A White House statement on Saturday, a day after Barack Obama signed the declaration, said the move was intended to prepare the country in case of "a rapid increase in illness that may overburden healthcare resources".
A public health emergency was already in place, but the new measure eases legal requirements to help federal government to provide care.
The number of people catching the A(H1N1) flu virus has spiked and more than 1,000 people in the US have died to date.
The country's disease control and prevention centre has said that H1N1 flu is now widespread in 46 of the US's 50 states.
'Proactive measure'
Seasonal flu normally peaks between late November and early March, but H1N1 appears to be peaking early and with more waves of infection expected.
An administration official said: "It's important to note that this is a proactive measure - not a response to a new development.
"H1N1 is moving rapidly, as expected. By the time regions or healthcare systems recognise they are becoming overburdened, they need to implement disaster plans quickly."
More than 20,000 Americans have been hospitalised with H1N1.
Separately, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported more than 414,000 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 worldwide, with nearly 5,000 deaths.
It also notes that those figures are likely to be "significantly lower than the actual number of cases that have occurred".
Source from
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/20091024152613342161.html
There is a question that what reason actually causes more than 1000 Americans dead from H1N1, which I have not got the exact answer. Maybe some people have already got, Please share it whth me.
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