...life in contrast...

Beijing, P.R.C. (May 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar

Still Lost in Translation?

Beijing, P.R.C. (April 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar.

North Korean Performers

Wangjing, Beijing, China

June 2008
Photo by Peter Rimar.

"To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth." ~ Pearl S. Buck

"The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

798 Art District, Beijing (June 2009)

What would you do for $10 Dollars?

One day back in June 2008, while looking out the window of our Beijing apartment, I spotted this guy cleaning windows on the 19th floor. If you look closely, you can see the owner of the apartment talking to the barefooted man. She actually pointed out the spots he had missed.

When I looked through my camera's telephoto lens, I discovered this guy was working without any form of safety harness or rope.

This brave daredevil spent the better part of an hour standing outside on an extremely narrow ledge.

Later, I asked my landlord how much it would cost to get our windows cleaned. She responded "70 rmb" (roughly 10 U.S. Dollars)!

Once again, what would you do to put food on the table? 
Would you risk your life?
Click on images to view in a new window.

Vintage Photos from a Family Album

Thomas A. Worrall (seated right) on a business trip to Shanghai, China (Circa October 1926)

Two important world events shaped the destiny of the Rimar Family. Shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Thomas Worrall helped smuggle Peter's grandfather and great-grandmother out of Russia. After leaving Russia, he married my great-grandmother. Later, sometime during the short period before the Nazis crossed the border into France (April 1940), he relocated the Rimar family out of Europe.

"The Hall of Supreme Harmony" 太和殿

Original photograph taken by Thomas A. Worrall

(Peter's Step- Great Grandfather)

Circa October 1926

The Forbidden City, Beijing (Peking), China

French Army

Medical Evacuation Exercise

Circa 1935

Original Vintage Photo by Eugene Rimar

(My Grandfather)

What if F.D.R. wasn't elected President? It's amazing how certain moments in history impact the destiny of the common man. In the summer of 1934, Peter's Grandfather (George Mullenix) traveled to Panther, West Virgina as a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It was during this period that he met and eventually married a young college student named Darcus Bailey (my grandmother).

Wal-Mart goes GREEN?

In January 2003, for various political and economic reasons, this blogger decided to boycott shopping at Wal-Mart. Five years later, in February 2008, I walked back into a store in Beijing.

I believed corporations actually respond to the purchasing power of consumers. For example, if Americans demand more products "Made in the USA", eventually, retailers will respond by stocking more locally manufactured items. It's really not that complicated. It's simple give the people what they want economics.

CNN Money
Wal-Mart returns to 'Buy American' roots. Really?
May 12, 2011
Read More...

Another case in point is Wal-Mart's recent business decision to install solar panels on 130 of its California stores by 2013:

PC Magazine
Walmart Goes Solar In California
September 23, 2011
Read More...

Corporation Update: Shortly after this blogger posted the above comments, Wal-Mart announced it would cut health care benefits for some part-time workers.  Read More...

*Derivative photograph of marketing montage, Wal-Mart Visitor's Center, Bentonville, Arkansas (May 2010).
*Wal-Mart Store Entrance, Beijing, PRC (February 2008)

Uyghur Woman, Beijing (June 2008).

Dear Mitt Romney

First, if you're going to use a visual prop to roll out a 59 point jobs plan, it's a good idea to think about where that product is actually made. Apple iPhones & iPads are assembled in the People's Republic of China via Foxcomm (a Taiwanese-based company).

Additionally, at the end of July, Apple ($76 billion) was sitting on more CASH than the U.S. Treasury ($74 billion). Which means the second largest American company in the world in market value (after Exxon-Mobil) has the financial means to help create new manufacturing jobs in this country. 

Why didn't you put Apple's feet to the fire for outsourcing American jobs?

But then again, why should a multi-national corporation pay health insurance, provide its workers with decent wages or adhere to basic environmental standards when the Chinese government is ready, willing and able to undercut the competition. America is getting its butt kicked in the global economy. There's an ARMY of migrant workers (somewhere between 170 to 200 million indentured men, women & children) who work 350 days a year for $150s a month (along with basic room & board). IF a Chinese worker complains about the health & safety in a factory, the CCP's Public Security Bureau offers that worker a FREE, all-expense paid vacation to a lovely re-education camp in Inner Mongolia.

While the Tea Party screams about the Federal Budget Deficit, I wonder why this conservative movement has avoided discussing this country's continued unbalanced trade relationship with the People's Republic of China. It's rather curious that a so-called grass roots movements (bankrolled by the Koch Brothers) advocates Free Trade instead of Fair Trade.
Read More...

Second, during this Press Conference, you discussed holding the Chinese government accountable for its unfair trade practices and manipulation of its currency.

"I will not stand by while China pursues an economic development policy that relies on the unfair treatment of U.S. companies and the theft of their intellectual property. I have no interest in starting a trade war with China, but I cannot accept our current trade surrender."

You're right. No debate. However, maintaining peace in Asia has reached a critical juncture. You need to understand that the DPRK is a proxy of the CCP and PLA. Period. Also, American corporations, which over the last ten years happily relocated part of this country's industrial-capacity to Asia, share some of the economic blame.

Could you please sit down and have a conversation with Jon Huntsman?

One problem the West has with dealing with the People's Republic of China involves how the Chinese people generally view their own society. The country's vast educational system feeds its students a steady diet of historic, foreign victimization (i.e. the Opium Wars). 

Unfortunately, its created an US vs. THEM mentality which borders on xenophobic cultural nationalism. It shares some of the same political characteristics of Islamic Fundamentalism without the theologically based underpinnings.


Instead of painting the Chinese people as the enemy, your campaign message should be BUY Made in the USA. How hard can it be to turn a negative message into a positive one? Once again, IF American consumers don't value the country of origin of a product or service, why should a corporation? IF you're elected President, you'll have to confront the Chinese government on Human Rights, state-sponsored cyber-attacks, the South China Sea, Taiwan, Rare Earth Minerals and the DPRK. The best way to keep the CCP off-balanced is to speak about freedom of expression and human rights.

"An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot."
~ Thomas Paine

Prior to 1979, the CCP spent 30 years trying to erase Chinese history & culture. Today, it's a different story. The only way to counter this political, social, economic and cultural linkage is to address the Chinese People and the Communist Party as separate institutions.

A global trade war targeting poor Chinese workers will only feed the Communist Party's vast propaganda machine. Many folks forget that during the Cold War, leaders in this country linked trade with the Soviet Union with the ideals of freedom of expression and a respect for human rights. It's a bit curious that today's crop of leaders don't hold foreign governments (along with American corporations) to ANY political, economic, social or environmental standards of conduct.

China Watch Update (September 27, 2011):
Taiwanese Officer arrested for spying for the CCP
Read More...


Power, Trade, and War (Paperback)

Romney Foreign Policy Update:
(October 7, 2011)
This blogger actually sat down and watched this candidate's televised speech from the Citadel. Afterwards, I questioned whether this man actually understood the global implications of his remarks. Evidently, I was not alone.
Read More...

Apple Update:
When I originally posted this commentary about this technology giant, it was to point out that if you're running for President (a.k.a. Mitt Romney), and you're agenda is to get the economy moving in a positive direction (i.e. 22-months of consecutive months of private sector job growth), Apple is the WRONG company to use as a Made in the USA economic model for creating new manufacturing jobs. This blogger actually lived in Shenzhen for six weeks in 2008. The information and analysis contained in the following CBS News report about Apple's manufacturing operations in China is both accurate and factual:


CBS News
The dark side of shiny Apple products
Read More...

...perspective...

Beijing, PRC (May 2008).

The Koch Brothers spotted on a street in Beijing?

In the Public Domain?

Over the last few years, I've been slowly POSTING various photographs of people and places from around the world.

Since all the images contained on ...completely random stuff... are in the public domain, this blogger grants permission to use any or all of these images for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Blogger along with any and all media outlets (to include Faux News).

Indeed, the undersigned has only one simple request: If you're going to use any or all of this site's uploaded images, please give credit to your original source (Peter Rimar).