Tuesday, May 30, 2006
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Song Of The DayAutonomous Regions
Guilin resembles a watery, foresty version of Cappadocia... complete with the "This hill looks like camel" commentary.
Guide: The Guilin area is very poor...this is because it is an autonomous region.
Thinking: That makes sense I guess, central government probably said you want to be autonomous, we're not going to give you any cash...
So how does a region become autonomous, exactly?
Guide: The central government decides...The primary reason is if a province is poor and if it is difficult for the central government to create development in the region.
it's not poor because it's autonomous, it's autonomous because it's poor ...nice.
...How many autonmous regions are there?
Guide: Five. But Tibet and Taiwan are a different situations...
These five pictures are apparently supposed to be in every Chinese schoolroom. Probably a good case as any for the "Imperialism of anti-Imperialism." If this is not amusing already, imagine if the first three pictures were of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington.
