CHINA: Quake sees Tibetan Buddhist monks assert roles

Reuters

Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:44am EDT

By Chris Buckley

YUSHU, China (Reuters) - The earthquake that devastated northwest China's Yushu has unleashed a quiet contest for influence between the government and Tibetan Buddhist monks who say they speak for the people of this arid mountain region.

The Chinese government, which is run by the Communist Party, has responded to Wednesday's disaster with a heavily-publicized rescue effort. Beijing is eager to show that its growing wealth and strength give it the means to surmount natural disasters that would paralyze other developing nations.

The thousands of soldiers and rescue workers in orange jump suits carrying out the government rescue and relief effort are joined by hundreds, if not thousands, of Tibetan Buddhist monks in crimson cloaks and jackets.

"We're organizing ourselves. We don't need the government to take care of everything," said Cairang Putso, a 28-year-old local monk who was helping to look for survivors in the mud-and-brick homes that crumpled in the earthquake.

"It's easier for us to help Tibetan people."

The monks are part of an unofficial relief effort that has underscored the ethnic and religious politics of this mainly Tibetan area, where many locals resent the central Chinese government and Han Chinese presence.

"We monks were the first ones on the scene to help people after the earthquake, not the officials and soldiers," said Duojia, a 25-year-old monk from the Gyegu monastery in Yushu.

"We've done more than the government, because we know our people so well."

He and hundreds of other monks from the monastery were helping locals identify kin among hundreds of corpses that the monks had helped assemble on a covered platform, while monks seated in front recited Buddhist prayers for the dead.

Other Tibetans have flocked online, posting mournful poems, calls for solidarity, and images of traditional Tibetan butter lamps on Tibetan-language websites in China. One China portal oriented to Tibetans is publishing only in black and white, to mourn the dead.

Reuters

ENDURING POWER OF LAMAS

Yushu is in a part of Qinghai province, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region, historically known to Tibetans as Amdo. Many of its inhabitants say they are loyal to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader who Beijing reviles as a "separatist" for demanding autonomy for his homeland.

In March 2008, Tibetan areas of Qinghai were among the swathe of western China struck by protests and riots, sometimes involving monks, angry at religious controls and economic policies that they believe are skewed against Tibetan people.

Many Tibetans are devoted Buddhists, while traditional regional rivalries have given way to a shared sense of culture among younger Tibetans, especially after 2008.

Some monks have journeyed hundreds of kilometers in buses or crammed on the back of trucks, to help search for bodies, cook food and tend to the dead in Yushu county's ruined main town, Gyegu.

Reuters

Some came with shovels and wooden stakes, which were of little help in searching the ruins of larger concrete buildings.

The volunteer monks avoided any forthrightly political comment, but many said they wanted to show Tibetans and the Chinese government the enduring power of the Tibetan Buddhism and its "lamas," or clergy.

"This shows that we lamas are not, as the rumors say we are, rioters and troublemakers," Jiumi Jiangcuo, head abbot at the main monastery above town, told Reuters.

"It's our duty to help people and we must set aside all our own concerns," he told an assembly of monks, many of them in tears.

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RUSSIA: Russian Boy's Return Casts Pall Over Adoptions

April 15, 2010

The Russian Foreign Ministry has threatened to end American adoptions over the case of the 7-year-old boy adopted from Russia and then sent back last week. The U.S. State Department says there has not been a formal suspension of adoptions by the Russian government. Michele Norris talks with Cory Barron, the outreach and development director at Children's Hope International, an adoption agency in St Louis, about how it will proceed in these murky waters.

TRANSCRIPT

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

There was confusing news out of Russia today over U.S. adoptions of Russian children. A foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow told reporters that adoptions were on hold. Later, the State Department and the Russian ministry that oversees adoptions said that was not the case. These developments come after a Tennessee woman sent her adopted seven-year-old son on a one-way flight back to Moscow by himself. The mother, Torry Ann Hansen, claimed the boy was violent and that she was unable to care for him.

There are about 3,000 American families who have already begun the process of adopting children from Russia. Cory Barron is the outreach and development director at Children's Hope International. That's an adoption agency in St. Louis. Mr. Barron, welcome to the program.

Mr. CORY BARRON (Outreach and Development Director, Children's Hope International): Thanks a lot for having me.

NORRIS: Very confusing news out of Russia today. How is this affecting your work? I bet your phone's been ringing.

Mr. BARRON: It definitely has. And at this point, we've heard twice now this week, false reports that Russian adoption would end. And of course that just sends our families into an emotional tailspin when they think adoptions have ended. But right off the bat this morning, our Russia team saw that there was a problem with the statement because the ministry of foreign affairs is not in control of adoptions in Russia. That's under the ministry of education. So, right off we knew something was wrong, so we had to alert the families to stand by, we have nothing official that Russia adoptions are closing.

NORRIS: You have been facilitating adoptions from Russia for some time now, have you sensed the growing antipathy toward Americans that we seem to be hearing about right now?

Mr. BARRON: Well, over the past decade, there have been some deaths of children who were adopted from Russia. And that created the same kind of debate in Russia that this current situation is. They are asking themselves, should we continue with adoptions in the U.S.?

NORRIS: You know, you do hear stories occasionally and news reports about parents who have adopted children from Russia, who, on the other side of the process say that it turns out to be pretty difficult for both parent and child. And they point to the emotional problems that stem from, in some cases, fetal alcohol syndrome or learning after the fact that child may have been abused or neglected while in an orphanage. Have you seen things like this in your clients? And when you do, how do you handle it?

Mr. BARRON: The key is education. And we have to alert the families of the possibility of this. Remember, all of these kids coming out of Russia are essentially social orphans. They've come from broken homes. They've been abandoned by parents. For instance, the child that was sent back to Russia, he mentally and physically appeared to be okay. But when he was brought to the United States, there must've been some bonding issues that created a crisis in that family.

And that family needed help. They didn't take the right course of action. It was the wrong thing to do to send that child back. But they needed help. They needed counseling. Again, we try and inform the families before adopting a child that's older, that there could be a possibility - and in many times there is the reality of abuse and possible exposure to alcohol products.

NORRIS: When you first heard about this story, did you immediately worry that this might turn into some sort of international standoff? That it might cause Russia to cut off Russian adoptions, Russian-U.S. adoptions?

Mr. BARRON: Well, I think just simply because of the quotes that had already come down from some Russian officials kind of put me into that thought process. But it is something that I think U.S. officials are going to address when they go to Russia on Tuesday and sit down with the ministry of education and see, what can we do better and what can they do better so that everybody is prepared and that these children have the best chance for a great new life in the U.S.?

NORRIS: Cory Barron, thank you very much.

Mr. BARRON: Thank you very much for having me.

NORRIS: Cory Barron is the outreach and development director at Children's Hope International in St. Louis.

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CHINA: Mom Confesses She Did Not Love Adopted Daughter

dip

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RUSSIA: Russian Boy's Return Casts Pall Over Adoptions

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EAST ASIA: Asia's Expensive Restaurants

In Pictures: Asia's Expensive Restaurants

04.15.10, 6:00 PM ET

Phillippa Stewart, HONG KONG

Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris. Kyoto has more Michelin stars per resident than the rest of the world. Bangkok's Mezzaluna sold a 10-course meal for over $30,000 in 2007. Expensive restaurants in Asia are thriving.

"The Asian food and beverage industry continues to go from strength to strength," says Grant Thatcher, publishing editor of the LUXE city guides. "As chairman of the Hong Kong voting panel for the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards, I'm gladdened by the marked surge of interest we've seen from around the world in the last couple of years."

London-based food critic Andy Hayler, author of the London Transport Restaurant Guide, says, "I have been traveling to Asia regularly for over two decades, and it has been striking to observe the rise of luxury restaurants--Japan clearly has the highest number."

Aragawa, in Tokyo, is perhaps the most famous--both for its rare Kobe beef and high prices. The beef comes from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle. Many countries have tried to imitate the "Kobe style" by crossing Wagyu cows with Angus cattle, but Kobe beef remains a unique delicacy--its tenderness is attributed in part to the daily massage each cow receives. The meat sells for nearly $800 a pound.

"In Japan, there are several restaurants that require an introduction to even garner a reservation," says Aun Koh, co-founder of The Miele Guide and director of Ate Media.

Mibu, in the Ginza district on Tokyo, which is featured in the current edition of The Miele Guide, is an example, as is Kitcho, which has branches in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo and has outlets that are only open to members and their friends.

"These places are super-exclusive as well as very expensive," says Koh.

Other standout restaurants in Asia include the Krug Room at Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Mezzaluna in Thailand. Mezzaluna served one of the most expensive meals ever in any restaurant, costing over $30,000 per person during the Epicurean Masters Of The World II Gala Dinner in 2007. Six three-star Michelin chefs were brought together in this charity culinary extravaganza. It also has one of the most expensive dessert menus in the world. A dessert selection consisting of Louis Roderer Cristal Brut 2000 champagne sherbet and "Madagascar" chocolate cake with Moët très fine Champagne No. 7 is $625.

Dinner at the Krug Room, in Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental costs $256 per person.

"The Krug Room really is unique in Hong Kong" says Katherine Anthony, spokeswoman for the Mandarin Oriental. "There really isn't anywhere else like it."

The Krug Room seats 12 and is located in the heart of the restaurant's kitchens. Guests are guided through the back door of another restaurant to get in. Head chef Uwe Opocensky is renowned for his "progressive gastronomy." Opocensky has worked at El Bulli under the direction of its famous head chef Ferran Adria. El Bulli has topped Restaurant Magazine's S. Pellegrino World's Best Restaurants list a record five times.

There is no set menu at the Krug Room--diners are at the whim of the chef and can be served anything between a 10- and 15-course meal. A regular item served in late 2009 was his "Forgotten Beef"--a dish designed to look like it had been severely overcooked.

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"The dish was triggered by childhood memories of a dinner that was accidentally left in the oven," Anthony says. Miyazaki beef "beautifully cooked to perfection was then covered with a 'burnt' layer of powdered smoked eggplant skin and served with edible charcoal," she says.

Restaurants in Asia are certainly beginning to compete with their European and American counterparts in terms of price. However, before you rush out to burn a hole in your wallet, Luxe's Thatcher offers a word of caution about all luxury restaurants:

"I think it very important to remember that expensive and exclusive don't necessarily mean great," he says.

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CHINA: China Posts Strong Growth In 1st Quarter

TRANSCRIPT

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

NPR's business news starts with China's economy.

(Soundbite of music)

INSKEEP: China is reporting unexpectedly strong growth in the first quarter. Beijing says its economy grew at an annual rate of nearly 12 percent. That's the fastest growth since 2007, and it's another indication of how well China is recovering from the global recession.

But the numbers is also stoking fears that China's economy might be overheating and a strong economic growth could also add pressure on Beijing to revalue its currency, which would affect the value of Chinese exports to the United States, as well as American exports to China.

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S. KOREA: Religious Demographic Profile

According to the most recent Korean Census that includes data on religion,¹ 49.3% of the population has no religion, 26.3% is Christian and 23.2% is Buddhist.

Of the Christian groups, Protestants account for 19.7% of the population and Catholics for 6.6%. The next largest group is Confucians (0.5%). A number of smaller groups account for the remaining 0.7%.

Religious Affiliation, Censuses

	1995	1985
No Religion	49.3%	57.4%
Christian	26.3%	20.7%
Protestant	19.7%	16.1%
Catholic	6.6%	4.6%
Buddhist	23.2%	19.9
Confucian	0.5%	1.2%
Other	0.7%	0.8%

In the decade between the 1985 and 1995 Censuses, the number of those with no religion decreased by 8.1 percentage points, from 57.4% to 49.3%. The number of Confucians also declined. This decline is matched by increases for both Christians and Buddhists. During the same 10-year period, the number of Christians increased by 5.6 percentage points, from 20.7% to 26.3% (Catholics gained 2.0 points and Protestants 3.6), and the number of Buddhists increased by 3.3 percentage points.

The trend shown in the Korean Censuses is similar to the findings of the World Values Survey (WVS)², which conducted surveys in Korea in 1982, 1990, 1996 and 2001. Between its 1982 and 2001 surveys, WVS shows a drop of 11.3 percentage points for those with no religion, from 48.3% to 37.0%. The percentage of Christians increased by 15.8 points during the same time period, going from 23.5% to 39.3%. According to the WVS findings, however, the number of Buddhists declined by 7.1 percentage points during that period, from 27.9% to 20.8%.

The 2006 Forum survey of adults ages 18 and older was based on a national probability sample of Korea's urban population.³ In the survey, approximately 42% were unaffiliated, 25% identified themselves as Protestant, 10% as Catholic, 22% as Buddhist and 1% as other. These findings are generally in line with the trend toward greater Christian affiliation, and lower percentages of non-affiliated, reflected in the Korean Censuses as well as WVS.

According to the Forum survey, renewalists - including charismatics and pentecostals - account for approximately one-in-ten of Korea's urban population. Approximately four-in-ten Protestants are either pentecostal or charismatic, and roughly one-in-ten Catholics can be classified as charismatic.

Renewalists in Urban South Korea,

Forum 2006 Survey

	Renewalist	Pentecostal	Charismatic
Total Population	11%	2%	9%
Catholic	12%	NA	12%
Protestant	37%	9%	29%

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Notes

¹Summary religious adherence data for Korea's 1985 and 1995 Censuses are archived at http://unstats.un.org. Data on religion from the 2005 Census were not available at the time of publication.

²http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ See the introduction to this appendix for a discussion of the limitations of general population surveys for making demographic projections.

³See the introduction to the survey report for a discussion of survey methodology and definitions.

Methodology

Source:  Pew Forum

RUSSIA: Russia Suspends Adoptions by Americans

Published: April 15, 2010

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY

MOSCOW — Russia formally announced on Thursday that it would suspend all adoptions of Russian children by Americans, responding to the case of a 7-year-old boy who was sent back to Moscow alone last week by his adoptive mother in Tennessee. The case of the boy, who was named Artyom in Russia before he was adopted last year, has caused widespread anger here, and Russian officials said new regulations had to be put in place before adoptions by Americans could proceed.

The announcement by the Russian Foreign Ministry gave no indication about how long the suspension would last. The State Department in Washington is sending a high-level delegation to Moscow to hold talks on reaching an agreement, and both countries have expressed hope that the matter can be resolved quickly.

“Future adoptions of Russian children by citizens of the United States, which are now suspended, are possible only if such an agreement is reached,” a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Andrei Nesterenko, said at a briefing on Thursday.

Officials at the United States Embassy in Moscow said they had not received official notification of a suspension and were seeking more information from their Russian counterparts.

More than 250 American families have nearly completed the adoption process and were poised to pick up their Russian children, but their cases will not be allowed to conclude until the new rules are approved, Russian officials said.

In all, some 3,000 American families have begun the adoption process, according to the Joint Council on International Children’s Services. Russian officials said they would continue to accept applications and process paperwork from potential adoptive parents.

Russia was the third leading source of adoptive children in the United States in 2009, with 1,586, after China and Ethiopia, officials said. More than 50,000 Russian children have been adopted by United States citizens since 1991, according to the United States Embassy.

Artyom, who was named Justin by his adoptive American mother, arrived in Moscow last week after flying by himself from Washington. He presented the authorities with a note from his adoptive mother in which she said she could no longer handle him.

The mother, Torry Ann Hansen, a registered nurse from Shelbyville, Tenn., said the boy was “violent and has severe psychopathic issues.” She added that she “was lied to and misled by the Russian orphanage workers” about his troubles.

The authorities in the United States are now investigating her conduct.

Russian authorities, who now have custody of the boy, have said he behaves normally and have harshly criticized Ms. Hansen for sending him back.

Cases of children adopted from Russia being harmed in the United States have received intense publicity here. Fourteen Russian children have died of abuse or neglect at their hands of the adoptive American parents since 1996, Russian officials said last year.

Last Friday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, calling Artyom’s case “the last straw” and said he was proposing the suspension.

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