Argh.
Didn't manage to get my driver's license done - passed everything (yeah with flying colours) but was not allowed to start the practical test because of some problems with my car. It's not the fault of the American bureaucracy; it's more like my fault. I should have been more careful when I parked and I should have checked the conditions required for the vehicle way before today. Well, have arranged for repairs and got another date for the driving test. Hopefully it'll be fine this time.Zaobao has recently started to offer English translations of its articles for a fee (erm why isn't ST doing the same?). It's great in a sense that it can reach out to a wider audience, but it's just simply too expensive?! It costs like S$454.75 to translate the article that I am going to post below. A bit too insane isn't it.
I don't think any of you is going to actually read it (one thing - it's a political essay in Chinese - and maybe GCS will try, and then he might have something to say depending on whether he feels that it is worth his attention or not :D), but I'm posting it anyway. This article has something to do with what China can learn from Europe regarding political system reforms. Political systems in the European countries have in a large part affected their culture and values; and of course the reverse is also true (or perhaps even more true). Oh well, I like Europe a lot (one reason for keeping me in the East Coast for graduate school :P), so I might be biased, but I do think that their systems can show us how development can be sustainable yet not antagonising cultural heritage and social security. It depends on what you want really - a German postdoc in my lab once said that they don't really mind giving 50% of their salary to the government because they know that they are going to get it back somehow, when they most need it perhaps.
I do know that their systems have intrinsic problems (which can be quite serious), and they also have political problems internally that make further reforms difficult. There is no perfect system though; like I said, it depends on what you want.
So here you go: Enjoy!
中国为什么对民主社会主义感兴趣
Labels: Life, Policy and Politics
