A child who looks to be about four years old is videotaped while she drives down the street through early morning traffic. And no, there is no adult controlling the wheel or pedals. She has some sort of extension device to reach the breaks and gas.

Part of me is like, um, speechless. And another part of me feels like it would be maybe a good idea? to teach my kids to drive at a young age, just in case? But not like I would EVER let them drive in TRAFFIC or with other cars or people anywhere near and oh yeah, not at age four or five WHAT? Watch for yourself below and let me know what you think. Continue reading »

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Last month girls in the course participated in a swimsuit/matchmaking event

If it’s just as easy to fall in love with someone rich as someone poor, then not all girls in Beijing, China, have not gotten the message.

Otherwise how do you explain why some of them are paying $3,000 for a 30-hour course at the Moral Education Center for Women that teaches “techniques to make them more attractive, from how to put on make-up in the most flattering way to how to spot a liar by looking at his facial expressions?” Girls also brush up on how to read a man’s character, hone their conversational and traditional skills, and get pointers on pouring tea.

Wealthy, eligible bachelors spend around $4,500 as an introductory fee to meet girls who complete the course. The school boasts that there have been 30 matches that resulted in marriage.

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Oboe: it still might not get you into college.

According to the Associated Press, Amy Chua’s memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother “has dominated school-gate conversation in Hong Kong, with parents soul-searching over how much they demand of their children.”  The rest of the article, however, doesn’t indicate that there’s much soul-searching going on.  Instead it showcases the insecurities of parents who are trying even harder than Amy Chua to be “Chinese parents,” probably because, you know, they actually live in China.

Take Jachinson Chan, for example, whose daughters, aged 11 and 13, “are ferried to an extracurricular activity every day of the week — from Spanish to guitar, tennis and extra mathematics.”  He says, “We’re a joke among our friends because we don’t have that many activities.”  In China, mastering the piano and violin – as Chua’s daughters have done – is no big deal.  Chan says, “If your kid is in primary school and he or she can play the piano really well, the schools will yawn.  You need trombone, for example — something that not many people want to play.  Parents are encouraging their kids to play the oboe.”

The oboe is pretty high up on the list of Instruments That Will Never Get You Into a Rock Band, but come on, Tiger Parents, you can do better than that!  What about the harp?  Hammered dulcimer?  Piccolo?  The best part of having your kid learn one of these instruments is that they can cheer themselves up when they become one of the 82% of Chinese students that isn’t accepted to college. Continue reading »

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Can you imagine your child in a kept woman's shoes?

When you imagine what your daughter will do when she grows up, “professional mistress” probably isn’t on the list of career choices you’d dream up for her. And here in the States, it’s a pretty unusual occupation.

Not so in China, apparently, where girls growing up to be mistresses is a real problem. One the state is tackling, in part, by adding an educational unit to their curriculum discouraging young girls from becoming kept women.The educational program will focus on elementary-aged girls as well as high school students. The goal is to encourage girls to rely on themselves after college, rather than rushing into the arms of a sugar daddy.

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China’s Ministry of Health has announced that Synutra International infant formula is not the cause of the extremely high hormone levels found in three girls, ranging in age from 15 months to four years, who had been fed the formula.

The LA Times reports, “After testing 73 samples of formula from Synutra and other international and domestic brands, the ministry concluded that the milk powder displayed normal levels of the hormones that might have caused the early development.”

The hormones in question – estradiol and prolactin – “stimulate the production of breast milk,” and likely seeped into the formula because of milk used from cows who had been treated with them.  The babies allegedly affected by the formula had grown breasts and one even experienced vaginal discharge, according to her outraged father, 28-year-old Wang Gang, who refuses to believe the ministry’s assessment is accurate. Continue reading »

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The AFP reported today that baby formula manufactured in China by Synutra International has led babies to “prematurely develop breasts,” as a result of hormones found in the milk powder.  Not young girls – babies.  Chinese state media confirmed that in babies who were fed the formula, “the levels of hormones in three girls, ranging in age from 15 months to four years, exceeded those of the average adult woman.”  So far there is no word as to how the formula has affected baby boys.

To say that this sickens me is a gross understatement.

We all know about how many Chinese-made children’s products have been recalled in the US, but the citizens of China don’t have the same kind of protections we do here.  Doctors have suggested that the powder be analysed to discover why it’s causing infants to experience puberty symptoms (hello?!), but local food safety authorities refused.  Worse yet, the formula is still being sold, and at discount prices to boot, meaning (as usual) that the poorest people are more likely to suffer the most negative health affects.

Synutra insists its products are safe, saying, “No man-made ‘hormones’ or any illegal substances were added during production” of the formula.  There are no regulations against using hormones in Chinese livestock, so it’s likely that estradiol and prolactin (the hormones found in the systems of the girls who were tested), “entered the food chain when farmers reared the cattle,” according to the former chairman of the dairy association in Guangdong province.

AFP notes that, “Chinese dairy products were recalled worldwide in 2008 after it was revealed that melamine, a toxic chemical used to make plastics, was widely and illegally added to the products to give the appearance of higher protein.”  Synutra has since recovered financially from what they’ve so glibly dubbed “the melamine incident.”  If you’d like a reason to feel enraged, take a look at this chart from their investor relations packet: Continue reading »

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There’s a new trend among pregnant women in China that’s sure to have right-wing pundits in the U.S. enraged.  Chinese women of influence and affluence are coming to the U.S. to give birth so that their offspring will be American citizens.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that “birth tourism” is legal, if unethical, since the women who take part are forced to lie about the purpose of their visit to the states.  For Chinese mothers who can afford it, compromising the truth and $1500 are all it takes to give their children the promise of the American Dream.  According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of U.S. births to non-resident mothers rose 53 percent between 2000 and 2006; 7,670 children were born in the U.S. in 2006 to non-resident mothers.

One couple facilitating Chinese birth tourism, identified by the Post as Zhou and Chao, connect “expectant mothers with one of three Chinese-owned baby care centers in California.  For the $1,475 basic fee, Zhou and Chao will arrange for a three-month stay in a center — two months before the birth and a month after.”  And if delivering a baby isn’t enough for the intrepid tourist, there are shopping and sightseeing trips planned as part of the deal.  Zhou claims his well-heeled clients “are contributing to the economy” by spending their money on U.S. soil.

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