Drudge carried this China rejects computer spy claims as “ghost of Cold War” and it made me think of something a contact at Brandeis said to me in a meeting prior to filming. I think the Cold War is much more prevalent than I expect, because I’m too young to have felt its impact maybe.

The Chinese spying noticed by the Canadian government has not been linked to the Chinese government. Why are we so quick to say it’s probably the Chinese government? There are people in the U.S. who are hacking hacking all the time. It’s a minority that exists in any population.

“Nowadays the problem is that there are some people abroad avidly concocting rumors about China’s so-called Internet espionage,” said a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry. And he links it back to a “ghost abroad called the Cold War”.

Russia, China cooperate on new currency proposals has interesting implications and is possibly the cause for some of the Western anxiousness. Coupled with Cold War sentiment residue–which I’m excited to better understand–makes it difficult to be really understanding. I wonder where this anti-Sino sentiment comes from in my generation, though.

or maybe I’m wrong.

Reading Drudge this morning, and China is back in his news, but we’re back to news about Tibet.

There are people in China who are marginalized, and some Western writers have romanticized these people to the point that they are romanticized in much of Western culture. There are people in the United States who are marginalized, but they aren’t romanticized in the same way, for better or for worse. But, these marginalized people are a minority in China. The majority in China is not Tibetan. If the United States can act in such a way as to benefit the majority of the Chinese people, this Chinese majority will start to take note of their own minorities, and the United States will not feel such paternalism about Tibet, except because of the romantic aspects of the region.

The majority of Chinese people are not Tibetan, but there are issues that plauge the majority of Chinese people, too. Environmental conservation benefits all of these people–Tibetans, too. In fact, it was near Tibet that I first took note and fell in love with China’s environment.

In Jim Fallows’ April 2009 post in the Atlantic Monthly, “China’s Way Forward“, Fallows continues to be positive about the direction of the growth in China, and in this post Fallows is more focused in his enthusiasm. He focuses on innovation that is starting to happen in China. (This is a piece of China’s growth that was questioned by people who we interviewed in Beijing!) China is worried that its universities are weak by international standards, so the government is approving a plan to build new research centers.

New research centers will spark innovation and this, coupled with the “outspokenness” (Fallows’ word) of the Chinese people will drive further innovation. Writes Fallows, “Westerners who have not traveled in China might be surprised at how outspoken ordinary Chinese people can be. When cars or bicycles collide (often), the parties involved get out to yell at each other and at the cops, and plead their case to the gathering crowd.” It is not safe to be a pedestrian in China.

The pace at which things are changing is important to note. Fallows reports on a conversation he had with a Chinese person about the place that Chinese people are moving away from: “‘I would not be sitting here wearing a necktie and talking to a foreigner.’ Or, ‘Do you understand how different this is? My mother has bound feet!’” Bound feet just one generation back. But it’s one whole generation.

Fallows goes on to connect the United States and China economically. “Outsiders can rightly criticize the Chinese government if it tries to sneak in new export subsidies or push the RMB’s value back down. But no one can criticize its ambition to increase the rewards for its people’s work. Many Chinese companies will fail or make mistakes under today’s intense pressure. But many are using the moment to prepare for their next advance. The question for Americans to think about is how we are using the same moment.”

This is why you should care about China, because we’re all in this together. For this reason and for ginger tea.

CNN carried news about Roots & Shoots in China that my coworker at the Jane Goodall Institute forwarded to me yesterday. Youth group promotes green shoots of change is about an eco-audit program.

Says a student at the Shanghai Financial Institute who is doing these eco-audits for Shanghai companies, “The reason why there is a lot of improvement needed in most offices is not because people deliberately waste energy or neglect environmental protection but indeed because that they lack opportunities to learn the right skills,” said Tsao. Chinese people are not inherently abusive to their environment–I’m going to risk sounding too paternalistic, and say that they just don’t know better. China’s relationship with the environment is a problem that is being solved. And we’re making a movie about it.

When we were sophomores at Brandeis for undergrad, my friend and I decided that we wanted to go to Yale for graduate school. Jenna wanted to get involved in Yale’s painting program, and I wanted to go to the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, just like my adviser. Recently a colleague at the Jane Goodall Institute forwarded to me some information about an environmental film festival at the Environment School at Yale.

I got in touch with an organizer, and deadlines have lapsed for the April 16-19 2009 festival. However, I plan to keep the organizer apprised of our production timeline for the festival next year or for independent screenings at Yale this year.

I have also connected with environmental groups or individuals at Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis and BU about screenings. College campuses are great forums that are accessible to me and to a film like this one.