Book Review: The Land Trap, A New History of The World's Oldest Asset By Mike Bird

With protracted downturn in China's housing market, a common phrase is often quoted as "The housing market abducts Chinese economy".

As this book meticulously detailed, that phrase can also be applied to 80's Japanese housing market, Hong Kong's two hundred plus years policy of using land to finance government functioning, US's reliance on land financing to bootstrap colonial economy, and 2008's housing bubble in US. One exception is Singapore, who manages to provide a semi-market driven and rising housing market without economy being kidnapped by the housing market at the expense of other productive industries such as manufacturing and service.

Along the way, the book introduces some of the critical thinkers in land and housing policies, Henry George and his Progress and poverty, Wolf Ladejinsky and his land reform in post second war Japan, Korea and Taiwan

Correlate to this book, it seems the land price will either flatline or fall in fractured world where capital flow will be more intra-bloc and less inter-bloc.

Book Review: The other great game, The opening of Korea and the birth of modern east Asia by Sheila Miyoshi Jager

 I was born in Harbin of a Korean Chinese parents. I grew up with an identity confusion, I felt as a North Eastern Chinese, I have hard time relate to all adjectives applied to China in my geography and history classes: long history, diverse ethnicity, and grand vision. Northeastern China is backwater of the China we were introduced in our text books. The north eastern China we grew up with is a flat and fertile land with not much of history and only several ethnics, mainly Han Chinese (a lot of them migrants from inlands in search of food and security) and some Korean like myself and some Japanese descendants left behind after Sino Japanese war, and in the city where I grew up  occasional Russian descendants (LaoMaoZi). And we northeasterners are like by-standers, always standing on the sidelines envying all the exciting things happened in the Real China. Chinese living in Manchuria feels like they live on the edge of mainstream Chinese culture. And as a Korean ethnics, I don't feel related to either North Korean or South Korean either. Even food we Korean Chinese prefer are different to what South Koreans like. The staple Korean dish of cold noodle soup, we Korean Chinese like to eat with Wasabi plus chilli and South Korean like to eat with a slice of apple and sweet sour soup. Korean living in Manchuria feel like they live on the edge of mainstream Korean culture. 

People live in Manchuria and northeastern China look at the surrounding regions with a slight different perspective  and viewpoint than their peers living inside Shanhaiguan. 

This book is the first book I read that look at the world from Manchuria and Korean perspective. It framed the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria in the context of geopolitical tension between China, Japan, Russia and to the lesser extent USA. Sino Chinese war, Russia Japanese war and trans Siberia railroad were all covered from the perspective of Korean and Manchuria. It also framed the region in the context of Russian ambitions in gaining a seaport in Pacific, the Japanese dilemma of maritime strategy or continental strategy. 

Apple TV series Pachinko also share similar viewpoint, looking at the history from a Korean Japanese minority.

书评： 《被利益集团拖跨的王朝》

先讲两句题外话， 这本书是2011年出版， 可依然延续了中文书的痼疾， 没有索引， 文中引用典故不注明出处。白玉微暇。
《被利益集团拖跨的王朝》是世界知识出版社出版的《同舟共进》杂志精华系列的一本，ISBN 978-5012-4105-7。这是一本文集， 文章评点中国历史成败兴亡， 借史喻今。启发很多， 容我分别道来。
网上国人每谈及中日历史纷争，算我在内， 很快就热血沸腾，杀气腾腾，情绪压制了冷静的思辨。李扬帆文<<中国近代之败，实为意识之败-两千年中日交往中的反思>>细数历史，结论：中国不了解日本，日本摸透中国，中国必败。记得小时候看李默然主演的〈甲午风云〉，心中不平，恨一颗鱼雷，击沉致远舰，似乎于日本的胜负全系于那一颗鱼雷上。后来又看冯小宁拍摄的电视剧《北洋水师》，约略明白甲午海战，中国不止输在那一颗鱼雷上。读了此文，终于明白，中国输在，我们中国人口口声称与日本是一衣带水的邻邦，却从没有认真的去了解我们这位邻居。日本有阿倍仲麻吕，高杉晋作，宗方小太郎， 长期居住中国，考科举，学中文，考察经济，社会，文化，把中国摸个底透；可我们中国人，却对日本一无所知，了解依然停留在日本是中国文明的分支，是小亲外戚。有多少中国人知道日本国策自丰臣秀吉到伊藤博文的演变？有多少中国人知道日本民族称雄世界（不只是东亚）的野心？日本人学习中国，是为了文化上独立于中国文化。此文对我最大的提醒是：日本有个思想家福泽谕吉，他比我们中国人更理解中国文化，也因次他提出日本“脱亚”，于西方各文明国家共进退。一旦看到日本文化的这个转变，你就会理解为什么日本对二战侵略罪行躲躲藏藏。因为他们认为自己是西方一分子，西方从未对亚洲认错，为什么你们让我日本认错？对我们这个邻居，在未来很长的时期，我们都无从避开，或合作，或对抗，但我们应该记住此文作者的警告： 请别漠视你的对手