Last week I saw a video of Mark Zuckerberg conducting an interview at Tsinghua University of China entirely in Chinese.  That was quite impressive and unexpected.  The audience was surprised and delighted.  I give Zuckerberg a lot of credit and I think more businessmen going to China should learn the language.  It certainly create good will and by learning the language, one can better understand the culture and thinking of the people.  This would help immensely when negotiating and may help when the other side is speaking in Chinese to each other in say, the bathroom!

Having given Zuckerberg kudos for learning Chinese, I must say that  there is a double standard.  When my brother in law who is white goes to a Chinese store in LA and starts to speak in Cantonese with the clerks, immediately he is surrounded by Chinese women googoo and gaagaa over him.  They are surprised that he speaks fluent Cantonese.  Now I walk into a GAP store and speak fluent English and no woman ever comes up to me, all delighted.  Isn't this a double standard? 

The World Series was a good one this year.  But I must say the Giants and Royals are the two worst teams among the ones who were in the playoffs.  I understand the teams that are hot at the right time deserve to win.  But when every series in this playoffs was won by, I think, the inferior team, then there is something wrong with the game.  I means the Tigers killed the Royals during the season and the Dodgers killed the Giants.  OK, enough sour grapes.  I will salute the Giants who won for the third time in five years.  That is hard to do in this era.  And they did it without an extraordinary payroll.  Plus Madison Bumgarner won games 1, 5 and saved game 7 on two days rest.  That reminded me of Mickey Lolich winning games 2,5 and 7 in the 1968 Series.  So maybe we can go back to depend on a great starter more in the future instead of endless change of relief pitchers.

The chief executive of HK is putting tomorrow as the deadline for the demonstrators to move out of the streets.   Exactly what he would do if the demonstrators don't move is unknown.  But this is a fight that the protestors cannot win.  As I said before, there is no international pressure on China.  China can shut off the water supply to HK and blockade its port and that will bring HK to its knees.  Of course, China would not want to go this far.  But the average people in HK is not going to put up with the financial costs of the demonstrations either.  Already the demonstrations have cost millions to the economy and fights between people in HK have broken out.  So I think it is time to pull back.

Frankly I am disappointed in the silence from the UK.  Having negotiated the agreement with China to return HK to control of China, the UK can and should voice its displeasure over China going back on its word of letting HK govern itself.  I understand that since the UK was HK's colonial master, it is hard to complain about another country denying political freedom for HK.  But having negotiated the treaty on behalf of HK, the UK certainly can complain about China's deviation from the freedom that it promised to give HK for 50 years.

Bad week for Detroit sports.   The Tigers got swept by the Orioles even though they should have won 2 out 3 games.  The incompetent Lions lose to the terrible Bills at home after a 14-0 lead.  How do you explain sports.  The Angels, with the best record, got swept by KC.  Clayton Kershaw losing a 6-1 lead!  I guess sports is thrilling and heartbreaking.  I learned a long time ago not to get to involved since at the end only the fans of one team is totally happy!  That is a lesson I only learned as I got old.  It comes in handy especially after this weekend!

College and high school students in Hong Kong are occupying the Central district to demand greater freedom in this territory controlled by China.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand it is good to know there are idealistic young people in Hong Kong who are risking everything to advance democracy, not only in HK but perhaps in China.  On the other hand, if someone gets seriously injured or even die from this, I don't think this fight is worth it at this time.

First, the issue at hand is the election of the chief executive of HK.  Since China took over HK, the CE  has been elected by committee, in other words by those loyal to China.  There was no direct vote by the people.  By 2017, there is supposed to be direct election by citizens of HK for CE.  But word came out recently that the candidates have to be vetted by a committee.  This means that candidates hostile to Beijing will probably not be on the ballot.  This sparks the protest.  The problem as I see it, is that being a communist country, Beijing will not meet the demand of the protestors and will use force if needed.  The timing is also bad as the U.S. and the UK are all occupied with ISIS and Ukraine.  They need China, if not for support, at least do not veto any resolutions in the UN.  So far there is no words of support from the western powers to the protestors.  Given no international support, this is a road that lead to nowhere.  There are reports of injuries already, and given that any change of the mind of Beijing is extremely unlikely, it certainly do not seem worth the risk of life at this time.  At the very least, this election in 2017 is not a backward step.  People of HK can choose the less of 2 or 3 evils rather than have the evil handed to them by Beijing.

Interestingly, at the same time, Beijing was making overture to Taiwan about negotiation for reunification!  President Xi is promising the same one country two system of HK to Taiwan.  Not that Taiwan would have said yes anyway, but the timing of this with the protest in HK is peculiar.  Certainly Xi would not think that what is happening in HK would in anyway encourage Taiwan to come back to China!

My last blog before going on vacation!  China wins chess Olympiad with India finishing third.  China becomes the first Asian country to win what is essentially the world team championship in chess.  It is also the first time two Asian countries medal in the same Olympiad.  This has to be very frustrating to Russia as it finishes fourth and has failed to win the championship for 4 straight times!  Russia in chess is like the U.S. in basketball.  Their number 5 player is better than most teams' number one.  Sure a Bobby Fisher can beat any Russian but in a team competition over 11 rounds of play, you would think they cannot lose.  In fact China did not send 3 of its top 5 players, including their number 1.  So Russia's number 5 is ranked higher than Wang Yue, who played first board for China in this championship.  India is also missing its top 2 players, including its former world champion!  So how did this happened?  I have no idea.  But with this result, you can bet there will be a surge in chess in China, India and maybe other places in Asia.

First night on the NBA schedule:  Houston at Lakers.  I did not know that the NBA wants to give Jeremy Lin a chance at revenge so fast!  Well, Lin vs Rockets is not the top story line here.  How about Kobe vs Dwight after they parted ways last season?  Or Kobe vs Harden since Kobe is upset that people are saying Harden is the best SG in the NBA. Looking forward to opening night on TNT!

Now that the Tigers have traded for Price and Soria, they just need couple more starting pitchers and couple more relievers and they can maybe catch the Royals!