The Committee of 100
The Committee of 100
I had never heard of The Committee of 100 until today when I read their just released 71 page survey called "Hope & Fear: American and Chinese Attitudes Toward Each Other - Parallel Survey on Issues Concerning U.S.-China Relations"
The fact that the committee was started by Ma Yo Yo and I.M. Pei seemed like a good reason to take a look.
Three things stood out in my mind while reading this. One was the importance of the Taiwan issue.
"Americans see the top issues of greatest concerns in the U.S.-China relationship as being:
- Loss of American jobs to China
- Growing trade deficit with China
- China's human rights situation
While the Chinese also share the concerns with trade and human rights issues, they name Taiwan as the biggest problem."
I've found a way to poke into this issue when people invariably ask me how long I've been living in China. I ask them, "Well that depends. Does Taiwan count?"
The second thing that stood out was in an Appendix: "The First Thing That Comes to Mind When the Chinese Think about the United States".
For opinion leaders this was:
- War on terrorism/Sept. 11th
- Landmark buildings/Cities
- Invasion/Interference in Intl. Affairs
And the third thing that stood out was:
"The primary personal goals of the Chinese are having a happy family (54%) and getting rich (42%)."
I've never figured out whether it's pronounced "Moe's (like owned by one of three stooges) or Moss (like that guy out of Bonanza), but the one down the hill from me is open until 2am most days, which means that if I get out of the club early enough, I can catch the best burger in town, the muo si la bao or the Spicy Mos Burger. They have lots of jalapenos and 
