Про впорядкування транслітерації українського алфавіту латиницею

КАБІНЕТ МІНІСТРІВ УКРАЇНИ

ПОСТАНОВА

від 27 січня 2010 р. N 55

Київ

З метою впорядкування транслітерації українського алфавіту латиницею Кабінет Міністрів України постановляє:

1. Затвердити таблицю транслітерації українського алфавіту латиницею, що додається.

2. Внести до постанов
Кабінету Міністрів України від 31 березня 1995 р. N 231 "Про
затвердження Правил оформлення і видачі паспорта громадянина України для
виїзду за кордон і проїзного документа дитини, їх тимчасового
затримання та вилучення" (ЗП України, 1995 р., N 6, ст. 158; Офіційний вісник України, 2007 р., N 48, ст. 1963) і від
27 листопада 1998 р. N 1873 "Про затвердження Порядку оформлення,
видачі, повернення, зберігання і знищення дипломатичних та службових
паспортів України" (Офіційний вісник України, 1998 р., N 48, ст. 1752) зміни, що додаються.

 

Прем'єр-міністр України

Ю. ТИМОШЕНКО

Інд. 33

 

ЗАТВЕРДЖЕНО
постановою Кабінету Міністрів України
від 27 січня 2010 р. N 55 

ТАБЛИЦЯ
транслітерації українського алфавіту латиницею

Український алфавіт	Латиниця	Позиція у слові	Приклади написання
			українською мовою	латиницею
Аа	Aa		Алушта	Alushta
			Андрій	Andrii
Бб	Bb		Борщагівка	Borshchahivka
			Борисенко	Borysenko
Вв	Vv		Вінниця	Vinnytsia
			Володимир	Volodymyr
Гг	Hh		Гадяч	Hadiach
			Богдан	Bohdan
			Згурський	Zghurskyi
Ґґ	Gg		Ґалаґан	Galagan
			Ґорґани	Gorgany
Дд	Dd		Донецьк	Donetsk
			Дмитро	Dmytro
Ее	Ee		Рівне	Rivne
			Олег	Oleh
			Есмань	Esman
Єє	Ye	на початку слова	Єнакієве	Yenakiieve
	ie	в інших позиціях	Гаєвич	Haievych
			Короп'є	Koropie
Жж	Zh zh		Житомир	Zhytomyr
			Жанна	Zhanna
			Жежелів	Zhezheliv
Зз	Zz		Закарпаття	Zakarpattia
			Казимирчук	Kazymyrchuk
Ии	Yy		Медвин	Medvyn
			Михайленко	Mykhailenko
Іі	Ii		Іванків	Ivankiv
			Іващенко	Ivashchenko
Її	Yi	на початку слова	Їжакевич	Yizhakevych
	i	в інших позиціях	Кадиївка	Kadyivka
			Мар'їне	Marine
Йй	Y	на початку слова	Йосипівна	Yosypivka
	i	в інших позиціях	Стрий	Stryi
			Олексій	Oleksii
Кк	Kk		Київ	Kyiv
			Коваленко	Kovalenko
Лл	Ll		Лебедин	Lebedyn
			Леонід	Leonid
Мм	Mm		Миколаїв	Mykolaiv
			Маринич	Marynych
Нн	Nn		Ніжин	Nizhyn
			Наталія	Nataliia
Оо	Oo		Одеса	Odesa
			Онищенко	Onyshchenko
Пп	Pp		Полтава	Poltava
			Петро	Petro
Рр	Rr		Решетилівка	Reshetylivka
			Рибчинськй	Rybchynskyi
Сс	Ss		Суми	Sumy
			Соломія	Solomiia
Тт	Tt		Тернопіль	Ternopil
			Троць	Trots
Уу	Uu		Ужгород	Uzhhorod
			Уляна	Uliana
Фф	Ff		Фастів	Fastiv
			Філіпчук	Filipchuk
Хх	Kh kh		Харків	Kharkiv
			Христина	Khrystyna
Цц	Ts ts		Біла Церква	Bila Tserkva
			Стеценко	Stetsenko
Чч	Ch ch		Чернівці	Chernivtsi
			Шевченко	Shevchenko
Шш	Sh sh		Шостка	Shostka
			Кишеньки	Kyshenky
Щщ	Shch shch		Щербухи	Shcherbukhy
			Гоща	Hoshcha
			Гаращенко	Harashchenko
Юю	Yu	на початку слова	Юрій	Yurii
	iu	в інших позиціях	Корюківка	Koriukivka
Яя	Ya	на початку слова	Яготин	Yahotyn
	ia	в інших позиціях	Ярошенко	Yaroshenko
			Костянтин	Kostiantyn
			Знам'янка	Znamianka
			Феодосія	Feodosiia

Примітка:	1. Буквосполучення "зг" відтворюється латиницею як "zgh" (наприклад, Згорани - Zghorany, Розгон - Rozghon) на відміну від "zh" - відповідника української літери "ж".
	2. М'який знак і апостроф латиницею не відтворюються.
	3. Транслітерація прізвищ та імен осіб і географічних назв здійснюється шляхом відтворення кожної літери латиницею.

©

Health insurance for expats in China

This guide aims to give an (impartial) overview of some international insurance plans on offer in in China. When I first came to China in 2005, I just used a Dutch insurance (Joho – Special Isis). Because that one expired after 4 years, I was forced to take a new insurance. I wrote this guide, because apparently there are no good guides to picking an insurance for expats in China. I only found some incomplete posts on several forums.
update February 2010: I've collected lots of information from various insurance companies. I aim for a budget of around 2000 USD per year including outpatient benefits without dental benefits. For each insurance company I list down the most important considerations. It has been quite a lot of work and I'm sure there are some mistakes in the table, but I hope it's useful advice for anyone who is looking for an expat insurance in China. I provide links to each insurer so you can evaluate each plan yourself in detail.

update 2: Added more information from MSH China
update 3: december 2010, attached a document from IMG ProtExPlan.
update 4: december 2010, updated Chartis insurance: full coverage emergency evacuations


note to insurance companies or expats: if you find any errors on my page, please let me know .

Some common tips:

* Since I live in China and rarely go abroad, I don’t really need an international insurance. I definitely don’t need an insurance that covers North-America (which is always much more expensive)
* Health-care in China is quite cheap, so it doesn’t make sense to have a large ‘excess’ or ‘deductible’ in your plan. An excess of ’50 euro’ for example would mean that you always need to pay the first 50 euro for each event, and the insurance company only pays over that amount. In China this doesn’t make much sense, unless you really want to go cheap. I prefer 0 excess.
* Chinese insurers such as Ping An, China Life don’t have good information for foreigners. They should theoretically be cheaper and it's possible to buy those insurances, but who wants to deal with all the Chinese paperwork?
* Chinese insurances are quite different: they offer long-term health and serious-disease insurances. For serious-disease insurances you pay for example 20 years long a yearly fee. If you happen to get one of the covered illnesses, you will get paid immediately. If not, then you can withdraw your money after X years. The serious diseases are really only the very worst, where you either die or get permanently handicapped, so it's not something for normal surgeries.
* Some companies only offer insurances to companies or groups or to specific nationalities.
* Pay special attention to things like renewal of the insurance after each year; can they deny you or is extending your insurance guaranteed?
* Dental insurance is generally expensive, and in China the dentist is really cheap. Think carefully if you want to spend 400 US$/year on a service that might only cost 200US$ in the worst case in China.
* Most foreign clinics and hospitals are located in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other Chinese cities have much less especially for foreigners. Direct Billing is usually only available in BJ/SH/HK.
* Consider if you need health insurance at all, I know several people who just save some money in their bank account. If you get some very serious illness, this is not a good option, but since normally medical bills are quite affordable in China, it's definitely something to consider. Even if you stay a few days in a hospital, you probably don't pay more than a few thousand RMB anyway. I recommend always getting an insurance, but if you are on a tight budget, it's a valid option. Otherwise try to get at least a local Chinese insurance.
* money saving tip: you can get discounts on your insurance! Those insurance sales people get quite a hefty bonus on each insurance they sell. You can ask for a discount and they will probably give you one. For an insurance of about 2000 dollar, it should be possible to get a discount of 500+ yuan!




All prices in the overview below are in US dollars:


Company Aetna AXA AIG/Chartis Allianz Bupa William Russell IMG/Ping An MSH DKV Globality Vanbreda Nordic Healthcare
Plan name Foundation Comprehensive GHSH 150 (with OP) Essential + Crystal Worldwide + Plus+ Wellbeing
Elite Silver Standard Greater China Plus Plan Plus Globe Gold
Annual limit 1,600,000 1,700,000 2,000,000 (250,000 per disability) 710,000 2,550,000 1,800,000 2,700,000 Lifetime 300,000 Unlimited 1,250,000 2,000,000
Geographical Coverage Worldwide excl. USA Worldwide excl. USA Worldwide incl USA Worldwide excl. USA Worldwide excl USA Worldwide excl. USA World ex US/CAN Greater China
Worldwide excl. USA World ex US/CAN World ex US/CAN
InPatient (Hospitalisation) Yes Yes Yes Yes (semi-private) Yes Yes Yes Yes (pre-auth required)
Yes Yes Yes
OutPatient (GP, Clinic, Specialists, Drugs) Yes 8,500 General and Specialists Up to 5,000 Up to 3,550 Up to 42,500 with sub-limits Yes Up to 10,000 Yes Yes Yes, mostly 20% Coinsurance Yes
Excess / Deductible per person 100 per condition
inside DSN 10% Outpatient Coinsurance 0 0 425 Inpatient / 170 Outpatient 0 (was 20% loading) 100 per condition 40% copayment depending on provider
350 per year 0 600 per year
Dental o Up to 850 with 25% co-insurance Optional No Yes, part of wellbeing
No NA Emergency 1,100
Routine 70
Yes
No No
Dental Waiting Period NA 6 months after enrollment
NA No NA NA NA Yes
8 months for major
No NA
Chronic Conditions Acute phases only Palliative 85,000 lt, Acute full
Not mentioned Yes Yes with waiting period Acute full cover, Palliative 1,000 Acute full cover, Palliative up 38k (lt) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Emergency Evacuation Covered in full Covered in full Covered in full
Covered in full No (Optional)
Covered in full Covered in full Yes Covered in full Covered in full Yes
Coverage out of Geographical Area - Unscheduled Treatment Unscheduled Treatment Up to 51,000 Worldwide coverage 42 days, max 14,000 No None Up to 38,000 and 45 days Yes Up to 6 weeks 90 days per year Unscheduled Treatment
Renewability Lifetime Lifetime Conditionally up to age 75 Lifetime Lifetime Lifetime Up to 74 Enroll 65, renew 70
Lifetime Yes up to age 80 Lifetime
Claims Handling (China) Direct Billing * Direct Billing* Direct Billing* Direct Billing* IP - Direct Billing
OP - Reimbursed Direct Billing* Direct Billing* Direct Billing* IP - Direct Billing / OP -Reimbursed IP - Direct Billing OP-Reimbursement IP - Direct Billing OP - Reimbursed
Underwriter Aetna Interglobal AIG Allianz Bupa Allianz China Ping An MSH DKV Munich Allianz Allianz
Established 1980 1987 1992 1980 1947 1992 1999 2000 2007 1959 1927
Out Patient Chiropractor 10 visits Up to 1,700 Not covered 710 Up to 30 visits 10 visits 0 Up to 500 Up to 700 Up to 1,250 Up to 1,500
Annual Medical / Well Being No Up to 680 No No No Up to 240 after 1 year Up to 280 after 1 year No Up to 350 Up to 750 Up to 300 after 6 months
Vaccinations No Incl. Wellness benefit No No No No 0 No
Up to 350 Under Well Being Benefit Yes incl. in Wellbeing
Coverage of Pre-existing Medical Conditions 2 Year Moratorium 2 Year Moratorium No Possible coverage with loading No Exclusion After 2 years up to 38k (lt) Possible after waiting period Possible coverage with loading Possible coverage with loading Possible coverage with loading
Annual Premium USD-Age 29 1,793 1,705 1,989 2,278 2,981 2,319 1,815 2,490 2,608 1,770 2,777
Impression website Bad, USA only Bad global, good overview plans Great Good Good
Good Bad, Chinese only Good Reasonable Good Good
Website www.aetna.com www.axappphealthcare.co.uk www.aiggeneral.com.cn allianzworldwidecare.com www.bupa-intl.com www.william-russell.com insurance.pingan.com www.mshchina.com dkv-globality.com www.expatplus.com www.nhcglobal.com
Online quote only Americans using Internet Explorer After providing all personal data Freely available Customized free quotes Simple form, immediate quote
Yes, limited personal data No, contact sales people No, form + email Doesn't work Yes, simple form No quotes for China

* Direct billing: most international insurances only have a direct billing network in Shanghai and Beijing. Some have it in Guangzhou, Tianjin and Hong Kong as well, but Shenzhen is not included in most plans, so it's of little benefit to me. If you live in Shanghai or Beijing, it's definitely something to take into consideration.

My insurance:

I have decided to buy Chartis GHSH 150 with Outpatient insurance (about 1989 USD / year). I like the fact that Chartis has quite a clear policy and doesn't seem to require upfront approval of almost all treatments. Just hand it in after your treatment is done. Outpatient has a limit of 5000 USD which is not a lot, but probably more than enough in China where most treatments are very cheap. Since my employer pays for the insurance, I also wanted to pick a low deductible; Lots of insurers have deductibles that are global, for example 100 USD. That makes little sense in China, because most of the time the costs will be well below 100USD. I will consider several of the other insurance options next year again though, because I don't like worldwide coverage (I only need China) and some other companies seem to offer better coverage.

I also bought an AIA serious disease insurance (7780 yuan per year) because you can get money back, and that it offers more continuity over all the yearly insurances. You still need to pay per year and you can stop each year, but the longer you continue, the more money you collect in your account. If you ever happen to get (very) sick, then at least you have some money to take care of it. I treat this insurance more as a life-insurance than a health-insurance, because it only covers the worst possible diseases where you either die or permanently get handicapped. Some more details about how this works: you need to pay for X years (in my case 20) and if you get one of the few covered illnesses during this period, they will pay you a fixed amount of money. If you don't get sick, you can get part of your money back at the end. It's a bit like saving money in the bank, but you also get the benefit of insurance in the meantime. As long as you didn't get your money out, you are still insured. Many other Chinese insurance companies offer similar schemes (Ping An for example). The benefits are : cheap and you can get some money back if you stay healthy. Disadvantages: no substitute for a real health insurance and if you get sick, they don't pay much either.

Other impressions insurances:

+ AIA - Chinese insurance

My girlfriend made an appointment with a salesperson from AIA, Chinese branch. They don't offer any policies on their website, so you really need to talk to them individually. We asked about this, and the guy said all Chinese insurance companies work like this. I guess they want to get your contact information and they expect better conversion rates like this. Anyway, what we found out was the following: they don't offer out-patient insurances, only in-patient and a separate serious-diseases insurance.

The normal health-insurance is paid just on a yearly basis and is quite cheap: about 1200 yuan per year for the most expensive offer for people aged 18-29. This insurance is non-refundable and they pay quite little as far as I am concerned: only about 10K rmb/event. Apparently this is enough for an appendix surgery (the sales-guy said about 5K rmb). You can pay also several times the rate and then you get several times the coverage as well.

This is for the normal health insurance, scanned for your information :

thumb_aia_insurance_startinchina
click for full-size version


++ AIG Global Health / Chartis - http://www.chartisinsurance.com.cn/en/en_index.html

Great website, clear information, immediate access to quotations (Expatriate Medical Insurance, pdf at the bottom) without filling out details. Reasonable prices as well and three different packages (GHSH 150, 350 and 400). It would be nice if they offered to exclude North America for GHSH 150 or to include out-patient into 350, but all packages are quite reasonable. Has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Shenzhen. Insurance is targeted at the Chinese market. I have bought this insurance myself (GHSH 150).

Contact information (English speaking) - printed with permission :

Lucie Lu (Support department of Shenzhen Chartis insurance)
11 Floor, Diwang Commercial Center,5002 Shennan Road | Shenzhen| 518008
Phone: +86 755 3685 6162
Email: lucie-y.lu@chartisinsurance.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it




++ Allianz Worldwide Care – http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/
One of the biggest insurers worldwide I guess and although their website is a bit overwhelming, they have a good quotations page (http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/individual-international-health-insurance-cover-quote ). I got a quote for about 1800 euro for a classic individual plan + crystal individual out-patient plan.
Great overviews:
http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/compare-our-out-patient-plans-for-individuals
http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/compare-our-core-plans-for-individuals


+ Bupa International - https://www.bupainternational.com/
Impression: looks professional, backed by Allianz. Bit too expensive, nice to have option to exclude North-America. Can get quotations online (after fill out some data). Price for all-in-coverage: about 3289 euro (inpatient+outpatent+preventative checkups, ex-USA). Too expensive for me.



+ IMG ProtExPlan - http://www.protexplan.com/

Impression: this insurance was mentioned to me by another expat living in Shenzhen. I like the fact they give a clear overview of their insurance on their website and you can immediately see the costs.

Costs for someone aged 30 without cover for USA range from 2704 US$ (gold cover) to 1784 US$ (silver cover) to 917 US$ (bronze) and this is with nil deductable.


+ MSH China (also GBG) - http://www.mshchina.com/
Chinese insurance company that offers a decent website and online apply for quotations and they have some plans especially for Greater China. MSH China is the brand new joint venture established by Shanghai Tai Kai Business Management Co., Ltd (STK) and Mobility Saint Honoré (MSH) in June, 2009. MSH has three ISO certified claim centers located in Paris, Calgary, Dubai, and soon Shanghai, which proves our commitment to continuous pursuits for service excellence.
Greater China Plus Plan

* Routine and Emergency coverage in Mainland China, Taiwan, Macao and Hong Kong.
* Other areas are deemed restricted areas, where only Emergency coverage is covered.
* Emergency coverage must be approved by our Care Coordination Company.


I think this insurance is too expensive for the levels they offer. Sure, it includes some dental insurance (but low limits) and outpatient, but the cost is too high compared to other insurances, especially considering the 2M RMB annual limit.

~ Ping An - http://insurance.pingan.com
One of the major Chinese insurance companies, unfortunately their entire website is in Chinese and you can really only get information about their products if someone who reads Chinese can help you. They have some English material about their products, but it is hidden behind many pages of Chinese.

+ William Rusell - http://www.william-russell.com
Website looks professional, won an award previously for service. Online comparison of plans and easy access to quotations: http://www.william-russell.com/benefits/compare/ Global Health Elite Silver (with outpatient) looks good. Price for Silver (no access) + travel + accident (no USA cover) was about 2500USD/year. Their guide mentions something about renewal of the insurance each year after their approval. Not sure what to make about that.
©

Китай: мифы и реальность

Финанс

О восточном соседе в России бродит множество домыслов, которые порой сильно мешают и в жизни, и в бизнесе. Самые распространенные мифы разоблачает живущий в Китае русский бизнесмен Евгений Визитей.

1. Китайская экономика выросла за счет дешевой рабочей силы
Дешевый труд, безусловно, сыграл большую роль в китайском экономическом чуде. Но, во-первых, это не означает, что Китай умышленно эксплуатировал копеечный труд своих рабочих. Дешевые людские ресурсы – естественное богатство любой аграрной страны, которая идет по пути интенсификации производства и урбанизации. На протяжении почти трех десятилетий китайская деревня ежегодно выплескивает на рынок 9–10 млн крестьян, которые становятся рабочими и трудовыми мигрантами. Однако сейчас та самая дешевая рабочая сила тормозит модернизацию производств в промышленно развитых регионах Китая. Повышение доходов рабочих стало насущной необходимостью даже несмотря на то, что еще около 150 млн китайских крестьян должны перекочевать в города. Во-вторых, своим экономическим ростом Китай обязан целому комплексу факторов, прежде всего инвестициям в инфраструктуру и производство, а также экспорту. Большую роль играют растущее потребление внутри Китая, развитие сферы услуг, либерализация финансового рынка и другие сферы, постоянно открывающие новые возможности для развития и инвестиций. Китайская экономика привлекает инвесторов по самым разным направлениям, а не только в области дешевого производства.

2. Низкая цена китайских товаров объясняется невысоким качеством
Сама по себе низкая стоимость товара может достигаться за счет самых разных факторов: дешевой рабочей силы, зональной концентрации производств и ресурсов, развитой логистики, налоговых льгот, больших масштабов производства, копирования технологий. Высокая конкуренция среди производителей постоянно толкает их на поиски новых возможностей оптимизации издержек. Экономия на качестве – хотя и распространенный, но далеко не единственный путь.
Китай производит огромное количество самых разнообразных товаров: от шнурков до космических кораблей. Среди этого разнообразия есть товары по самой разной цене и самого разного качества. У покупателей (в частности, иностранных импортеров) всегда есть возможность выбора между огромным числом производителей. Поэтому преобладание на рынке той или иной страны низкокачественных товаров говорит скорее не о китайском производстве, а о качестве самого рынка. Например, очень дешевый китайский текстиль, который российский рынок массово потреблял в начале 90-х годов прошлого века, со временем был перенаправлен в Африку, а Россия стала требовать более качественные товары. То же можно сказать и о китайской контрафактной продукции: ее наличие на рынке объясняется спросом населения и слабостью таможенного контроля.
Не стоит забывать, что большинство крупнейших мировых брэндов основали в Китае производства, где выдерживаются высочайшие стандарты качества. Кроме того, постоянный рост уровня жизни китайцев, с одной стороны, повышает стоимость производства, а с другой – ведет к падению спроса на товары низкого качества. Все это в ближайшие годы приведет к тому, что производства, ориентированные на самый низкий ценовой сегмент, покинут Китай или перестроятся.

3. Китайцы очень трудолюбивы и довольствуются малым
Многие местные жители вынуждены сверхурочно работать и постоянно экономить, чтобы содержать семью и обеспечивать старость: массовое социальное обеспечение лишь начинает внедряться в Китае. Однако трудолюбие нельзя назвать национальной чертой. Сибаритство и праздность здесь традиционно считаются признаками достатка, поэтому китайцы не преминут продемонстрировать его окружающим при удобном случае. Кроме того, китайская молодежь, которая выросла в стране, демонстрирующей двузначные цифры рос­та на протяжении 20–30 лет, относится к жизни иначе, чем их привыкшие к лишениям родители. В китайских городах высока текучесть кадров. Клерки и мелкие менеджеры не держатся за место и редко работают в одной компании более двух лет. Еще сложнее обстоят дела в промышленно развитых регионах страны, где постоянно требуются рабочие руки. Там даже сельская молодежь отказывается идти на низкооплачиваемую работу без социальных выплат. Час­то, отработав сезон, рабочие массово переходят на другую фабрику, где условия чуть лучше. Это приводит к приостановке и даже свертыванию производств.

4. Китайские компании хотят купить все ресурсы на свете
Необходимость обеспечения ресурсами быстрорастущей экономики является одним из приоритетов государственной безопасности Китая, впрочем, как и любой другой державы. При среднесрочном планировании своего сырьевого импорта страна реализует так называемую «стратегию трех третей». Предполагается, что треть импортируемых ресурсов Китай будет покупать на мировом рынке, еще одну треть будет получать по долгосрочным договорам поставки, а оставшуюся треть обеспечат зарубежные предприятия с участием китайского капитала. Сегодня доля последнего канала весьма скромна, по разным оценкам – от 3 до 6%. Поэтому стремление Китая к покупке активов добывающих компаний по всему миру (особенно в Африке и Латинской Америке) говорит о том, что страна владеет недостаточным их числом, несоизмеримым с потребностями. Китай часто обвиняют в том, что он не просто потребляет много ресурсов, но делает это неэкономно и сильно загрязняя окружающую среду. Так было еще 10 лет назад. и это продолжает оставаться серьезной проблемой. Но сегодня Китай уделяет огромное внимание энергосбережению, альтернативной энергетике и всему тому, что направлено на оптимизацию использования ресурсов и охрану экологии.

5. Китайцы лицемерны и часто обманывают. Договор для них – пустой звук
Для китайцев в основе любого бизнеса лежат личные отношения между сторонами. Плохие отношения или их отсутствие ни к чему хорошему не приведут. Далеко не всегда, но все же часто, китайцы не считают себя связанными моральными обязательствами перед незнакомыми людьми, тем более иностранцами. В то же время крепкие, постоянно поддерживаемые отношения между парт­нерами являются залогом прочного сотрудничества и даже дружбы. Обмануть друга – значит потерять лицо, а это для китайца намного страшнее потери денег.
Особое отношение у китайцев и к договору. Для европейца – это основа, на которой строятся и проверяются отношения между сторонами. Для китайца парт­нерские отношения являются основой, на которой заключается, а затем и исполняется договор. Для европейца договор после подписания становится истиной в высшей инстанции, документом, обязательным к исполнению. Для китайца изменение экономической (а иногда личной) ситуации является достаточным психологическим основанием для неисполнения (или приостановки действия) контракта. Договор всегда должен соответствовать реальному положению вещей и отношениям между сторонами. Именно поэтому в Китае часто можно услышать фразу, что настоящие переговоры начинаются после заключения сделки.

6. Китайцы умеют только копировать чужое и воровать технологии
Китай старается использовать все шансы для получения новых технологий. В условиях, когда западные компании очень неохотно делятся своими ноу-хау, китайцы не брезгуют и другими возможностями. Проблема существует, однако это не означает, что китайцы не создают ничего собственного. Правительство инвестирует огромные суммы в науку (в 2006–2010 годах почти $100 млрд) и R&D в целом (почти 1,85% ВВП в 2011 году). В стране началась масштабная многоплановая модернизация, подкрепленная реформой образования. И хотя современный Китай пока не изобрел нового пороха или бумаги, он явно накапливает критическую массу для серьезного научно-технического прорыва.
Интеллектуальная собственность – относительно новая концепция для Китая. Хотя в последние годы власти стали намного активнее бороться с нарушениями в этой области, многие китайцы продолжают искренне верить, что в выпуске и покупке товаров под чужим именем нет ничего зазорного. Между тем, Китай обладает хорошими механизмами для защиты интеллектуальной собственности, за некоторыми исключениями, касающимися авторских прав на печатную и аудиовизуальную продукцию. Здесь ситуация, хотя и улучшается с каждым годом, все же остается довольно сложной. В остальном китайские законы и практика их применения соответствуют мировым стандартам. Чтобы добиться защиты интеллектуальной собственности на территории Китая, необходимо там ее зарегистрировать. После чего можно воспользоваться судебными или административными средствами защиты, которые позволяют пресечь контрафактную деятельность и получить адекватную компенсацию.

7. В Китае процветает капитализм
Такой же миф, как и его противоположность: «В Китае процветает коммунизм». На самом деле, в Китае создана уникальная гибридная модель, в которой есть место и рынку, и государственному регулированию. Китайские госкорпорации контролируют ключевые сегменты экономики, однако более 70% ВВП страны приходится на частный сектор. Конкуренция между госкомпаниями практически настолько же свободна, как и конкуренция между частным бизнесом. А вот между государством и частным сектором конкуренции почти нет. Китай отказался от экономического планирования, поэтому ценообразование происходит по рыночным законам. Компартия Китая продолжает полностью контролировать армию, а также все ключевые посты в правительстве, госкорпорациях, медиа, вузах, правоохранительных органах. При этом Китай не является «коммунистической диктатурой». Все важнейшие решения в стране принимаются не единолично президентом, а коллегиально членами Политбюро, иногда с привлечением других заинтересованных сторон.

8. В Китае нет брэндов
В Китае очень много брэндов, но далеко не все из них являются мировыми (международными), поэтому часто малоизвестны иностранцам. Этому есть несколько причин. Во-первых, китайские компании только начинают выходить на зарубежные рынки. Большинство из них сталкиваются с массой проблем, связанных с жестокой конкуренцией, неумением действовать в незнакомых условиях, слабостью консалтинга и юридической поддержки. В то же время постоянно рас­тущий китайский рынок предоставляет местным брэндам массу возможностей для развития. Так зачем пытаться стать международным бизнесом, если внутри Китая можно заработать больше? Во-вторых, до последнего времени конкуренция между китайскими компаниями развивалась вокруг цены, а не качества производимых товаров. Поэтому многие брэнды, вместо того, чтобы инвестировать в R&D и развитие имени, старались уменьшить издержки на производство, снизить цену продукции. Но сегодня ситуация кардинально меняется. С повышением уровня жизни обеспеченные китайцы отказываются от некоторых отечественных товаров, предпочитая переплатить 2–3 цены за «западное качество». Китайские брэнды вынуждены конкурировать по новым правилам. Многие из них стараются как можно скорее стать международными, в частности, чтобы вернуться в Китай и продаваться в новом качестве.

9. Манипуляции курсом юаня привели к экономическим дисбалансам в мировом масштабе
Китай привязал юань к доллару в 1994 году, что позже, во время азиатского кризиса, помогло стабилизировать ситуацию в регионе. Тогда это отмечали и США, и Евросоюз. В 2003–2004 годах, на волне роста торгового дефицита США в торговле с Китаем (который с тех пор все увеличивается), страну стали обвинять в сознательном занижении курса юаня для создания профицита за счет дешевого экспорта. Теперь не только в Америке, но и во многих других странах распространено мнение, что дешевые китайские товары угнетают местных производителей и что ревальвация юаня исправит эту ситуацию. На самом деле, недооцененный юань во многом следствие финансовой политики самих западных государств, которые стимулировали кредитование потребителей и резкий всплеск ликвидности. В 2005 году Китай начал постепенную ревальвацию юаня: за 3 года курс юаня вырос на 21%. В 2008 году ревальвация приостановилась, но затем опять продолжилась. Это делается не под давлением Запада. Усиление юаня выгодно и даже необходимо самому Китаю, который в последние годы не справляется с притоком горячих денег из-за границы. Но маловероятно, что при нынешней экономической модели резкая ревальвация юаня и, как следствие, удорожание китайского импорта смогут как-то исправить ситуацию в мировой экономике. Сначала это ударит по кошелькам потребителей, а потом увеличит импорт из таких стран, как Вьетнам, Индия, Филиппины.

10. Китай – отсталая страна
Такой же миф, как и его противоположность: «Китай – супердержава и скоро будет править миром». Китай очень разный. Крупные города развиваются весьма стремительно. Рост цен на жилье и потребительские товары сильно беспокоит местные власти. В крупных китайских городах цены вполне соизмеримы с московскими. Потребление люксовых товаров ежегодно растет на 15–25%, а число долларовых миллионеров перевалило за миллион. Очередь на покупку дорогих иномарок тянется от нескольких месяцев до нескольких лет. При этом в Китае, по разным оценкам, от 50 до 100 млн человек живут за чертой бедности. ВВП Китая в пересчете на душу населения в 7 раз ниже, чем в США.
©

Назидание

Иосиф Бродский

I

Путешествуя в Азии, ночуя в чужих домах,
в избах, банях, лабазах – в бревенчатых теремах,
чьи копченые стекла держат простор в узде,
укрывайся тулупом и норови везде
лечь головою в угол, ибо в углу трудней
взмахнуть — притом в темноте — топором над ней,
отяжелевшей от давеча выпитого, и аккурат
зарубить тебя насмерть. Вписывай круг в квадрат.

II

Бойся широкой скулы, включая луну, рябой
кожи щеки; предпочитай карему голубой
глаз — особенно если дорога заводит в лес,
в чащу. Вообще в глазах главное — их разрез,
так как в последний миг лучше увидеть то,
что — хотя холодней — прозрачнее, чем пальто,
ибо лед может треснуть, и в полынье
лучше барахтаться, чем в вязком, как мед, вранье.

III

Всегда выбирай избу, где во дворе висят
пеленки. Якшайся лишь с теми, которым под пятьдесят.
Мужик в этом возрасте знает достаточно о судьбе,
чтоб приписать за твой счет что-то еще себе;
то же самое — баба. Прячь деньги в воротнике
шубы; а если ты странствуешь налегке —
в брючине ниже колена, но не в сапог: найдут.
В Азии сапоги — первое, что крадут.

IV

В горах продвигайся медленно; нужно ползти — ползи.
Величественные издалека, бессмысленные вблизи,
горы есть форма поверхности, поставленной на попа’,
и кажущаяся горизонтальной вьющаяся тропа
в сущность вертикальна. Лежа в горах — стоишь,
стоя — лежишь, доказывая, что лишь
падая ты независим. Так побеждают страх,
головокруженье над пропастью либо восторг в горах.

V

Не откликайся на «Эй, паря!». Будь глух и нем.
Даже зная язык, не говори на нем.
Старайся не выделяться — в профиль, в анфас; порой
просто не мой лица. И когда пилой
режут горло собаке, не морщься. Куря, гаси
папиросу в плевке. Что до вещей, носи
серое, цвета земли; в особенности — белье,
чтоб уменьшить соблазн тебя закопать в нее.

VI

Остановившись в пустыне, складывай из камней
стрелу, чтоб, внезапно проснувшись, тотчас узнать по ней,
в каком направленьи двигаться. Демоны по ночам
в пустыне терзают путника. Внемлющий их речам
может легко заблудиться: шаг в сторону — и кранты.
Призраки, духи, демоны — до’ма в пустыне. Ты
сам убедишься в этом, песком шурша,
когда от тебя останется тоже одна душа.

VII

Никто никогда ничего не знает наверняка.
Глядя в широкую, плотную спину проводника,
думай, что смотришь в будущее, и держись
от него по возможности на расстояньи. Жизнь
в сущности есть расстояние — между сегодня и
завтра, иначе — будущим. И убыстрять свои
шаги стоит только ежели кто гонится по тропе
сзади: убийца, грабители, прошлое и т.п.

VIII

В кислом духе тряпья, в запахе кизяка
цени равнодушье вещи к взгляду издалека
и сам теряй очертанья, недосягаем для
бинокля, воспоминаний, жандарма или рубля.
Кашляя в пыльном облаке, чавкая по грязи,
какая разница, чем окажешься ты вблизи?
Даже еще и лучше, что человек с ножом
о тебе не успеет подумать как о чужом.

IX

Реки в Азии выглядят длинней, чем в других частях
света, богаче аллювием, то есть — мутней; в горстях,
когда из них зачерпнешь, остается ил,
и пьющий из них сокрушается после о том, что пил.
Не доверяй отраженью. Переплывай на ту
сторону только на сбитом тобою самим плоту.
Знай, что отблеск костра ночью на берегу,
вниз по реке скользя, выдаст тебя врагу.

Х

В письмах из этих мест не сообщай о том,
с чем столкнулся в пути. Но, шелестя листом,
повествуй о себе, о чувствах и проч. — письмо
могут перехватить. И вообще само
перемещенье пера вдоль бумаги есть
увеличенье разрыва с теми, с кем больше сесть
или лечь не удастся, с кем — вопреки письму —
ты уже не увидишься. Все равно, почему.

XI

Когда ты стоишь один на пустом плоскогорье, под
бездонным куполом Азии, в чьей синеве пилот
или ангел разводит изредка свой крахмал;
когда ты невольно вздрагиваешь, чувствуя, как ты мал,
помни: пространство, которому, кажется, ничего
не нужно, на самом деле нуждается сильно во
взгляде со стороны, в критерии пустоты.
И сослужить эту службу способен только ты.
©

Cherenkov radiation

Here is a snapshot from Google Earth. A boat moves with velocity higher than the phase velocity of the waves in water.

US risks war with China and Russia

PressTV

While revolts in Tunisia and Egypt caught the US by surprise there is speculation that they are behind revolts in Libya and Syria. Russia and China are also see observing these developments.

Press TV talks with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary to US Treasury in Panama City who concisely provides insight as to the larger scope of American hegemonic strategy that seriously risks Russian and Chinese interests.

Press TV: There is talk about Washington being advised to arm the revolutionaries in Libya. Do you think this is a good idea?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: They are already arming them. That is what's unique about the Libyan revolt. It's not a peaceful revolt; it's not taking place in the capital; it's an armed revolt from the eastern part of the country. And we know that the CIA is involved on the ground and so they are already armed.

Press TV: How do you compare this military intervention to the one in Bahrain?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: We don't want to overthrow the government in Bahrain or in Saudi Arabia where both governments are using violence against protesters because they're our puppets and we have a large naval base in Bahrain.

We want to overthrow Gaddafi and Assad in Syria because we want to clear China and Russia out of the Mediterranean. China has massive energy investments in eastern Libya and is relying on Libya along with Angola and Nigeria for energy needs. This is an American effort to deny resources to China just as Washington and London denied resources to the Japanese in the 1930s.

The interest in the Syria protests, which Wikileaks shows the Americans are behind -- we are interested in that because the Russians have a large naval base in Syria and it gives them a presence in the Mediterranean. So you see that Washington is all for invading against Libya and is putting more and more pressure to intervene in Syria because we want to get rid of the Russians and the Chinese.

We don't have anything to say about the Saudis -- how they treat protesters or anything to say about the violence used against protesters in Bahrain.

Press TV: Are you saying the ultimate goal in attacking Libya is because of the oil factor?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: It's not just the oil, it's the fact of China's penetration of Africa and China lining up oil supplies for its energy needs. You may be aware that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a report that says that the 'Age of America' is over and that the American economy will be bypassed by China in five years and then the US will become the second largest economy rather than first. So one of the things Washington is trying to do is to block; to use its superior military and strategic capabilities at this time to block China's acquisition of resources in order to make the development of the Chinese economy slow down.

This is a major reason why the CIA has been active in eastern Libya and it's the reason protests broke out in the east not in the capital like in the other Arab countries and it's the reasons it's armed.

Press TV: Do you think Libya's diplomatic isolation was the main reason for this military intervention?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: I don't think it was the main reason. The main reason I think was to evict China from Libya, which is what is happening. The Chinese had 30,000 people there and they've had to evacuate 29,000 of them.

It's also payback to Gaddafi for refusing to join the US Africa Command (AfriComm). It became operative in 2008 and was the American response to China's penetration of Africa; we created a military response to that and Gaddafi refused to participate -- he said it was an act of imperialism trying to purchase an entire continent.

And I think the third reason is that Gaddafi in Libya controls an important part of the Mediterranean coast; as does Syria.

So I think those two countries are just in the way of American hegemony in the Mediterranean and certainly the Americans don't want a powerful Russian fleet stationed there and they certainly don't want China drawing energy resources.

Washington was caught off guard by the outbreaks of protests in Tunisia and Egypt, but quickly learned that they could use and hide behind Arab protests to evict Russia and China without a direct confrontation, they wouldn't want that, so they've engineered these protests.

We know for a fact that the CIA has been stirring discord in eastern Libya for some time, this is a known fact. And the release of Wikileaks cables show that the Americans are involved in stirring up unrest in Syria.

We didn't stir up unrest in Egypt or Bahrain or Tunisia or Saudi Arabia. We probably are responsible for the unrest in Yemen because we were using drones and strikes against various tribal elements.

So, that is the big difference that the Syrian and Libya affairs have American hands in them, organizing the demonstrations, providing money and so forth. There are always discontented people that can be bought and promises given.

Press TV: Drones are now being used in Libya. From where do these drones operate? Technically they cannot fly from Italy because of a shortage of fuel so where do they operate from?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: I don't know -- could be from American naval vessels. I believe the last report about the drones did come from a Navy officer.

I'd like to add something to this conversation. Probably the biggest risk and the one that's being ignored is China's attitude. The Chinese companies are losing hundreds of millions (dollars) from this intervention. They have 50 massive investments there all going down the drain and this is clearly perceived by China as an act against them. They don't have any illusions; they don't read the New York Times or Washington Post and believe all of that crap. So what they see is a move of the Americans against China.

Press TV: Are you suggesting that the Americans want to take out China and replace these investments with American companies?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Or anybody, that's right. And I think the Russians are beginning to perceive that the whole Syrian thing is a move against them and their base there.

So what we're really doing is antagonizing two large countries: China, which has an economy that is probably better than the US because their people have jobs; and the Russians have unlimited nuclear arsenal -- and so we're starting to press very strong countries in a very reckless way. We're behaving in a very reckless and dangerous way.

Once you start this and Russian and China come to the conclusion that the Americans simply cannot be dealt with in any rational way and are determined to somehow subdue them and do them damage, all kinds of escalations can result. This is the real danger and we're risking a major war.

Press TV: (Italy is heavily reliant on Libyan oil) What about the role of Italy (as part of NATO) in Libya?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: This is another unique thing with this Libyan intervention. What is NATO doing fighting a war in Africa? NATO was formed to guard against the potential of a soviet invasion of Western Europe. The Soviet Union has been gone for twenty years. Steered by the US and the Pentagon it has been turned into an auxiliary force and we now have NATO involved in an aggressive war in Africa. This is a war of aggression, a war of attack.

So this is an extraordinary development. Why is this happening? We didn't use NATO in Egypt, Tunisia and will certainly not use it in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain so we see something highly unusual -- NATO at war in Africa. This needs an explanation.

SC/MMA
©

Libya: The DC/NATO Agenda and the Next Great War

Foreign Policy Journal
by Paul Craig Roberts
April 7, 2011

This article was originally published by the Trends Research Institute. It has been republished here with permission from the author.

In the 1930s, the US, Great Britain, and the Netherlands set a course for World War II in the Pacific by conspiring against Japan. The three governments seized Japan’s bank accounts in their countries that Japan used to pay for imports and cut Japan off from oil, rubber, tin, iron and other vital materials. Was Pearl Harbor Japan’s response?

Now Washington and its NATO puppets are employing the same strategy against China.

Protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Yemen arose from the people protesting against Washington’s tyrannical puppet governments. However, the protests against Gaddafi, who is not a Western puppet, appear to have been organized by the CIA in the eastern part of Libya, where the oil is and where China has substantial energy investments.

Eighty percent of Libya’s oil reserves are believed to be in the Sirte Basin in eastern Libya, now controlled by rebels supported by Washington. As seventy percent of Libya’s GDP is produced by oil, a successful partitioning of Libya would leave Gaddafi’s Tripoli-based regime impoverished.

The People’s Daily Online (March 23) reported that China has 50 large-scale projects in Libya. The outbreak of hostilities has halted these projects and resulted in 30,000 Chinese workers being evacuated from Libya. Chinese companies report that they expect to lose hundreds of millions of yuan.

China is relying on Africa, principally Libya, Angola, and Nigeria, for future energy needs. In response to China’s economic engagement with Africa, Washington is engaging the continent militarily with the US African Command (AFRICOM) created by President George W. Bush in 2007. Forty-nine African countries agreed to participate with Washington in AFRICOM, but Gaddafi refused, thus creating a second reason for Washington to target Libya for takeover.

A third reason for targeting Libya is that Libya and Syria are the only two countries with Mediterranean sea coasts that are not under the control or influence of Washington. Suggestively, protests also have broken out in Syria. Whatever Syrians might think of their government, after watching Iraq’s fate, and now Libya’s, it is unlikely that Syrians would set themselves up for US military intervention. Both the CIA and Mossad are known to use social networking sites to foment protests and to spread disinformation. These intelligence services are the likely conspirators that the Syrian and Libyan governments blame for the protests.

Caught off guard by protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Washington realized that protests could be used to remove Gaddafi and Assad. The humanitarian excuse for intervening in Libya is not credible, considering Washington’s go-ahead to the Saudi military to crush the protests in Bahrain, the home base for the US Fifth Fleet.

If Washington succeeds in overthrowing the Assad government in Syria, Russia would lose its Mediterranean naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus. Thus, Washington has much to gain if it can use the cloak of popular rebellion to eject both China and Russia from the Mediterranean. Rome’s mare nostrum (“our sea”) would become Washington’s mare nostrum.

“Gaddafi must go,” declared Obama. How long before we also hear, “Assad must go?”

The American captive press is at work demonizing both Gaddafi and Assad, an eye doctor who returned to Syria from London to head the government after his father’s death.

The hypocrisy passes unremarked when Obama calls Gaddafi and Assad dictators. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the American president has been a Caesar. Based on nothing more than a Justice Department memo, George W. Bush was declared to be above US statutory law, international law, and the power of Congress as long as he was acting in his role as commander-in-chief in the “war on terror.”

Caesar Obama has done Bush one step better. Caesar Obama has taken the US to war against Libya without even the pretense of asking Congress for authorization. This is an impeachable offense, but an impotent Congress is unable to protect its power. By accepting the claims of executive authority, Congress has acquiesced to Caesarism. The American people have no more control over their government than do people in countries ruled by dictators.

Washington’s quest for world hegemony is driving the world toward World War III. China is no less proud than was Japan in the 1930s and is unlikely to submit to being bullied and governed by what China regards as the decadent West. Russia’s resentment to its military encirclement is rising. Washington’s hubris can lead to fatal miscalculation.
©

Alice Cooper - Poison

Songwriters: COOPER, ALICE / CHILD, DESMOND / MCCURRY, J

Your cruel device
Your blood, like ice
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill

I want to love you but I better not touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

Your mouth, so hot
Your web, I'm caught
Your skin, so wet
Black lace on sweat

I hear you calling and it's needles and pins (And pins)
I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name
Don't want to touch you but you're under my skin (Deep in)
I want to kiss you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't wanna break these chains
Poison

One look could kill
My pain, your thrill
I want to love you but I better not touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't wanna break these chains
Poison

I want to love you but I better not touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison, yeah
I don't want to break these chains
Poison, oh no
Runnin' deep inside my veins,
Burnin' deep inside my veins
It's poison
I don't wanna break these chains
Poison
©

Jim Jarmusch Wanders On in ‘The Limits of Control’

NYTimes.com

The director Jim Jarmusch with Gael García Bernal, left, and Isaach De Bankolé, center, two of the stars of his new film, “The Limits of Control.”

By DENNIS LIM
Published: April 23, 2009

THIRTY years ago, when he was a student at New York University, Jim Jarmusch used some scholarship money meant for tuition to make a movie called “Permanent Vacation.” Like many first films, it is a little awkward and more than a little precious. But viewed today this imperfect debut also sums up the themes of his career: it gets across the sense of being a stranger at home and the empathy for life on the margins, and it even offers a kind of manifesto about the art of storytelling. “What’s a story anyway?” its protagonist muses, “except one of those connect-the-dots drawings that in the end forms a picture of something?”

The largely plotless movie ends with an image that now seems neatly symbolic: its hepcat hero is on a boat pulling out of New York Harbor, the Manhattan skyline receding into the distance. Since then Mr. Jarmusch has found his place as a poet of travel and a global ambassador for downtown cool. His protagonists are typically solitary adventurers, and his stories are usually mere clotheslines on which chance encounters and running gags are hung. His career, while not exactly a permanent vacation, has been consecrated to the romance of wanderlust and the possibilities of cross-cultural exchange.

A true independent who insists on final cut and who even owns all his negatives, Mr. Jarmusch has long been a world-cinema brand name, especially popular in Europe and Japan. Except for parts of the taxicab anthology “Night on Earth” (1991), however, his films have been set in the United States, which he has a particular knack for depicting through the eyes of outsiders. But with his 10th feature, “The Limits of Control,” which follows an impassive man of mystery (Isaach De Bankolé) on a lethal mission through Spain, Mr. Jarmusch, no less than his protagonist, is the stranger in paradise.

“Being in a place where you don’t understand certain things is really inspiring for your imagination,” Mr. Jarmusch said in a recent interview in the Manhattan office of Focus Features, the distributor of “The Limits of Control,” which opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles.

“Maybe it’s because I grew up in Akron, Ohio, and never thought I would get out,” Mr. Jarmusch said, reflecting on the importance of travel in his films. It could also be, he added, because his first trip abroad, as a college student in Paris, reading André Breton and watching movies at the Cinémathèque Française, had such a mind-expanding effect.

Mr. Jarmusch has made a specialty of the deadpan odyssey, starting with his breakthrough film, “Stranger Than Paradise” (1984). “The oldest narrative in the world is the journey,” he said. “I don’t really believe in originality. Art and human expression are about variations. There’s an ocean of possible ways, but they don’t ever come in the same configuration.”

The road movie is certainly not the only genre Mr. Jarmusch has tailored to suit his needs. “Dead Man” (1995) is a western with both cosmic and political dimensions. “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (1999) cross-pollinates the rituals of the samurai film with those of the Mafia movie.

“The Limits of Control” harks back to the existential crime films that enjoyed a golden age in the late ’60s with Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Samourai” and John Boorman’s “Point Blank.” Mr. Jarmusch summed up his intentions with typical dry perversity: “I always wanted to make an action film with no action, or a film with suspense but no drama.”

In keeping with his fondness for repetition and episodic structures, “The Limits of Control” takes shape as a series of interactions and transactions. The lone man runs into a series of colorful types (Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Bill Murray and others, making the most of minimal screen time), most of them envoys of a sort, who dispense gnomic instructions and presumably less pertinent ruminations. Matchboxes branded “Le Boxeur” are exchanged. Some contain a piece of paper bearing coded inscriptions, which the De Bankolé character dutifully folds up and swallows, washing down the clue with a gulp of espresso.

Mr. Jarmusch’s previous film, the melancholic “Broken Flowers” (2005), in which Mr. Murray played a graying lothario who goes in search of his former flames, seemed like the product of a mellowed middle age. But “The Limits of Control” affirms that at 56 he remains open as ever to experimentation, perhaps even to new ways of making and seeing movies.

There are obvious affinities between “The Limits of Control” and Mr. Jarmusch’s most adventurous film, “Dead Man,” which received mixed reviews when it was released but found its way onto many critics’ lists of the best movies of the ’90s. Each film undertakes a journey that is as much metaphysical as literal: a trip in more than one sense. By opening with a quotation from the Rimbaud poem “The Drunken Boat,” with its hallucinatory visions of being lost at sea, “The Limits of Control” even picks up where “Dead Man” left off, with Johnny Depp’s character being pushed out to sea and into the spirit world.

The title comes from an essay by William S. Burroughs about mind-control techniques. “I like the double sense,” Mr. Jarmusch said. “Is it the limits to our own self-control? Or is it the limits to which they can control us, ‘they’ being whoever tries to inject some kind of reality over us?”

But the title also registers as an acknowledgment that control, while unavoidable in the messy collective endeavor of moviemaking, runs counter to Mr. Jarmusch’s free-form approach. He starts with specific actors, gathers up seemingly unrelated ideas and settles on situations and moods before filling in what passes for a plot. “I work backwards,” he said. “That can be dangerous, and it can take a while.” For “The Limits of Control” he had even fewer starting points than usual: an actor, a character and a place, the curving Torres Blancas, a Madrid apartment tower that he first visited in the ’80s.

Location scouting was critical, since the movie, as Mr. Jarmusch saw it, was very much a matter of finding evocative spaces and landscapes and responding to them. The film came together as a connect-the-dots exercise. He sketched out the character’s itinerary, beginning in the cosmopolitan capital, Madrid, then heading south to the Moorish city of Seville on a high-speed train that traverses the olive groves and almond orchards of the Andalusian countryside. The eventual destination is the southeast, the lunar desert terrain near the coastal town of Alméria (where many spaghetti westerns were shot).

Mr. Jarmusch started filming without a complete script; instead he had what he called “a minimal map,” a 25-page story. The dialogue was filled in the night before a scene was shot. “With Jim it’s always about what’s between the lines,” said Mr. De Bankolé, who has appeared in three of Mr. Jarmusch’s previous films.

The odd little totems and fetishes embedded throughout the movie may seem arbitrary, but mention any one of them and Mr. Jarmusch will riff at length about its personal significance. He had received the Boxeur matches, which are common throughout Africa, as gifts, first from the musicologist Louis Sarno, then from Mr. De Bankolé, who was born in Ivory Coast. The black pickup truck that transports Mr. De Bankolé’s character to his ultimate destination, down to the slogan emblazoned on it (“La Vida No Vale Nada,” the title of a song by the Cuban singer and revolutionary Pablo Milanés), is modeled on one owned by Joe Strummer of the Clash, who appeared in “Mystery Train” and, before his death in 2002, lived part time in the south of Spain.

The clearest sign of Mr. Jarmusch’s commitment to a looser way of working was his decision to team up with the cinematographer Christopher Doyle, best known for his seat-of-the-pants collaborations with Wong Kar-wai. “I wanted Chris’s wild side to find things I might not find,” Mr. Jarmusch said.

Music was the most important key to the rhythms and textures of the film. Mr. Jarmusch’s soundtracks are the height of hipster connoisseurship: Neil Young’s feedback-choked guitar vamps on “Dead Man,” RZA’s sinuous hip-hop on “Ghost Dog,” Mulatu Astatke’s Ethiopian jazz-funk on “Broken Flowers.” For “The Limits of Control,” which called for a soundscape that he described as “layered, big, sort of damaged,” he relies on distortion-heavy epics by ambient-noise bands like Boris and Sunn O))).

Mr. Doyle, who has worked extensively in Asia, said there are ways in which Mr. Jarmusch’s methods are more East than West. “There are certain aspects of Asian filmmaking where you’re always looking for the essential in the picture,” he said. “We’re not sure what the film is until we find it.”

Like Forest Whitaker’s urban samurai in “Ghost Dog,” Mr. De Bankolé’s character is an apparent adherent of Eastern philosophy. The lone man practices tai chi and has a deliberate, Zenlike air to him. (At museums he takes in only one painting per visit.) Mr. De Bankolé said he got into character by reading the Japanese martial-arts manual “The Art of Peace.”

“It would slow me down,” he said. “He should be almost floating when he walks.”

Mr. Jarmusch is not a practicing Buddhist, but he said, “it’s a philosophy that speaks to me more clearly than others.” He does tai chi and qigong and has come up with a concentration exercise — “a cross between meditating and taking a hallucinogenic drug” — that requires him to pay close attention to all noises within earshot. (In a lovely sequence Mr. De Bankolé’s character lies on his bed in a Seville apartment as the light changes and the sounds of the neighborhood wash over him.)

To the extent that “The Limits of Control” is a puzzle, Mr. Jarmusch said he drew inspiration from Jacques Rivette’s films, where the pleasure often lies in disorientation in the accumulation of cryptic clues and resonances rather than in solutions. Accordingly, he was more eager to hear interpretations of the film than to offer his own.

“It’s not my job to know what it means,” he said, adding that the Juan Gris painting seen at one point could be taken as a hint to the movie’s Cubist nature. “It’s interpretable in different ways, and they’re all valid.”

The other day his friend the actress Ingrid Caven told him she had assumed the little pieces of paper that Mr. De Bankolé’s character swallows are tabs of blotter acid. “She said each time he eats one of those, he gets perky,” Mr. Jarmusch said. “I hadn’t thought of that, but I’ll take it.”
©

Breaking the codes

Posted on ArtForum:

* * *

JIM JARMUSCH’S NEW FILM, The Limits of Control, is a cryptographer’s dream. In this interpretation—fittingly, one among many—the cryptographer is at once the filmmaker, the viewer, and the film’s protagonist, a professional hit man (played by Isaach De Bankolé) who travels through Spain, following a series of gnomic clues as he tracks down his target. The dream is the film itself, an embodiment of the Surrealist notion of movies as oneiric experiences—elusive projections where memory and desire are coded in images of disturbing beauty. Thoroughly implicated in the very apparatus of moviemaking (photography and editing) and exhibition (projection), Surrealism infiltrated many popular and art-film genres. The Limits of Control is partly inspired by one such strain—French secret-society conspiracy narratives, most pertinently the silent serials of Louis Feuillade (Les Vampires [1915], Judex [1916]), Jacques Rivette’s early New Wave Paris Belongs to Us (1960) and his epic Out 1: Noli Me Tangere (1971), and many of the films that the Chilean director Raúl Ruiz has made over the past thirty-odd years in France and Portugal.

Acknowledged worldwide as an “American independent,” Jarmusch has always kept one foot in the US and the other abroad in terms of the form, content, and financing of his movies. His United States is a land of immigrants and subcultures, where no one seems at home—except for the Native American spirit guide in his greatest film, Dead Man (1995). Beginning with Stranger than Paradise (1984), all his films could be described as “travelogues,” but only one, Night on Earth (1991), is situated, even in part, outside North America. The Limits of Control is in that sense a first: Set in Spain and shot by the brilliant, freewheeling Hong Kong–based cinematographer Christopher Doyle, it fabricates its alluring dreamscape from the vistas, architecture, and dramatically shifting light that inspired a century of surrealist visions. And yet this is also a movie made from an American perspective, albeit a subversive one. Its title is taken from an essay of the same name by William S. Burroughs, and its production company, PointBlank, named for the 1967 chill neo-noir puzzle movie directed by John Boorman and starring Lee Marvin as a blinkered but implacable avenger, perhaps come back from the dead to put a bullet through the heart not only of his nemesis but of the Hollywood studio system as well. Most crucially, Jarmusch’s villain, identified in the credits as the “American” and played by Bill Murray, faces down the man who comes to kill him, raging against everything that the director, his films, and their audience hold dear.

Like Jarmusch’s Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), and Broken Flowers (2005), The Limits of Control is built around the journey of one man: an outsider with a mission. Here the character is even named the Lone Man (though no one ever calls him that). The narrative alternates sequences of this inscrutable sojourner alone—traveling by plane, train, and automobile and performing private rituals to hone his body and his imagination—with one-on-one meetings with his contacts, played by an international array of actors, including Hiam Abbass, Gael García Bernal, Paz de la Huerta, Alex Descas, John Hurt, Oscar Jaenada, Youki Kudoh, Tilda Swinton, and Luis Tosar. Although the hit man presents an enigmatic face to the world, he is also a fully human presence—De Bankolé’s performance suggests that he contains multitudes—especially compared with his contacts, who, despite their intense and colorful obsessions, are as flat as tarot-card figures. In the endless succession of hotel rooms he briefly inhabits, the hit man practices tai chi and listens to Schubert, but his quest is driven by a score that features noise bands, including the Japanese ensemble Boris, who sound like early Velvet Underground combined with New York No Wave (a scene in which Jarmusch participated in the early ’80s)—all processed through a contemporary Japanese rock sensibility. The Limits of Control presents a vision of a culture, not without limits, perhaps, but certainly without borders.

The Limits of Control opens in New York and Los Angeles on May 1.

Amy Taubin is a contributing editor of Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

AMY TAUBIN: Has anyone ever told you that you look amazingly like Lee Marvin in John Boorman’s Point Blank [1967]?

JIM JARMUSCH: Well, yeah, because I’ve been in this secret organization—the Sons of Lee Marvin—for twenty years. We consider ourselves his theoretical sons. Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Nick Cave are members, and so was [the writer] Richard Boes, who just died. Both Sam Fuller and John Boorman told me I remind them of Lee sometimes. John Boorman even asked me to read Marvin’s war diaries for a film. He said my voice sometimes reminds him of Lee’s, too.

AT: It’s a remarkable resemblance, given that your body language is nothing like his. The similarity is just from the neck up—in close-up. When did you first see Point Blank?

JJ: Probably in the late ’70s, not when it came out in the ’60s. When we made The Limits of Control, we weren’t trying to imitate Boorman’s film. We were merely using it as a strong inspiration. Chris Doyle and I would watch it together and talk about how it was constructed or comment on certain camera angles, not to replicate them but just to sort of soak in things we both responded to. The editing and rhythm of Point Blank is way far from our film. And the main character is quite different because in Boorman’s movie, Lee Marvin is on a revenge thing, and it’s very emotional to him. Our film avoids that, to the point where one character says, “Revenge is useless.” I find revenge to be devolutionary. It’s like capital punishment. That’s just going backward. I get bored with revenge plots. They’re so easy.

AT: I noticed a couple of parallels between the two films. The repetition of close-ups in which your protagonist is framed dead center so his face is like a mandala. Boorman did that with Marvin. And the use of architectural structures with multiple levels. Both films have really extreme camera angles in relation to the architecture.

JJ: Yeah. Boorman sort of alternates between a kind of classical symmetry and something very unusual or striking. He did something beautiful in the contrast between the symmetry of the shots of Lee Marvin and the asymmetry of so many of the other shots. We kind of did that too, but I’m not sure how consciously we did that because of Point Blank.

AT: And the position Isaach’s character gets into each time he lies awake on his back in bed is very much like the shot of Lee Marvin in bed, but every time you do it, you have the light moving to gradually reveal his face, which is nothing like the style of Point Blank.

JJ: But it is a repetition of something, and there is a lot of repetition in Point Blank. Variations were very important in making The Limits of Control. The whole film was really just built on variations of similar things happening again.

AT: Compared with your other films, the camera positions and moves are unpredictable. There are the close-ups of Isaach’s face that anchor the film and some of your signature lateral tracking shots, where Isaach walks across the frame, but beyond those I had the feeling that I never knew where the camera was going to be next.

JJ: Chris has an amazing eye. He brought that plasticity of camera position for me. And yet it’s very careful. It’s not haphazard. Preparing a scene, I would say, “We’ll start on this side and this is what’s going to happen. What do you think? Where would you put the camera first?” And that’s not how I usually work. I’m usually like, “I want the camera here. I’m thinking this is 32 mm. What do you think?” But I’m pretty rigid. Here, I was always open. I would ask him what he thought and usually just go with that. A few times I placed the camera somewhere and he was like, “No, that’s not dynamic, man. Oh, I’ve seen that. That’s what you want? You want to do what’s expected?” And when I said I didn’t, he’d say, “Oh good, try this.” He has this intuitive gift. Obviously, he has to plan certain things technically and know about his film material and light and exposures. But he’s always in the moment. The moment of any take you’ve done—that moment is gone. That’s what filmmaking is. It teaches you that everything is momentary.

For the last shot of the film, we were going up the escalator and Chris had the camera on his shoulder. He couldn’t hit the button to turn it off until he took it off his shoulder, right? We did two takes of that move, and each time at the end the camera was still rolling when he took it off. When I saw that in the dailies, I was like, “I want to keep that part.” We had been so careful up until then and in the last shot we throw it all away. It wasn’t intended. It was just when I saw it, I thought, How could you not use that as the nature of the film and Chris Doyle? He likes accidents and mistakes, so he was perfect for this film that way.

AT: How did this project come about?

JJ: I had a very vague set of notes about creating a film for Isaach De Bankolé, as a very strong sort of criminal-type guy. Then I just started, as I usually do, collecting elements in my notebook. Then I wrote a twenty-five-page story. I approached Focus Features, saying, “I’m going to start with this. Here’s my cast, what do you think?” And they said, “Oh, we’d like to finance it and leave you alone,” which they did completely.

AT: Was it conceived for Spain?

JJ: For Spain and for Isaach. I had always loved Seville and just wanted to shoot there. And I had been in the south of Spain, in Almería, where that strange, bunkerlike house is that we kind of doctored up—you know, the one where the helicopter lands, bringing Bill Murray’s character. And I had known that amazing building, the Torres Blancas in Madrid, for twenty years. I just started collecting those things. The twenty-five pages didn’t really have any dialogue, but they were a map of the story. It was very, very minimally written on purpose. I even tried to make the language very minimal, not very descriptive at all. So I started with that.

AT: So many elements in the film—the references to Cubism and Surrealism and particularly the combination of Western European and Moorish elements—are central to Spanish culture. And then you have Isaach, whose face could be a Cubist painting.

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle shooting The Limits of Control, Madrid, February 22, 2008. Photo: Teresa Isasi-Isasmendi.


JJ: Yeah. The planes of his face are insanely beautiful. Isaach is African, and Cubism came from African masks and those planes of the face.

AT: Because the style of the film is so minimal, Isaach seems like an even stronger center than Johnny Depp in Dead Man or Forest Whitaker in Ghost Dog. How did you direct his performance?

JJ: We didn’t want to define where his character was coming from or where he’s going. Basically, we talked about his procedure on his voyage and how he comports himself. And tai chi was very important because it gave his character a way of centering himself. It also gave the title a double meaning. Are the limits of control limits on the way we are controlled or the limits of our own self-control or what? Doing tai chi or yoga or qigong or any kind of meditation that is physical and involves your breathing is a centering thing that connects you with all other things. It connects you with the universe. We talked a lot about how that’s how he looks at himself in the world and how looking at a painting on the wall is no different for him than looking at a blank brick wall and seeing the quality of light on that. Or how you see a plate of pears on a table, as opposed to a painting of a plate of pears in a museum. That is taking something out of context and then out of context again and putting it in a museum. Shifu Yan Ming—the martial-arts master who heads the USA Shaolin Temple in Manhattan—instructed Isaach’s tai chi, and he is sort of a philosophical advisor to me in life.

AT: There are only two points in the film where Isaach openly expresses emotion. One is in the scene where he goes to a flamenco bar and gets carried away by the music, but his biggest reaction is in the confrontation with the American at the end. Even though he says, “I don’t believe in revenge,” there’s real anger in him there. It’s not just “I’m doing my job as an assassin.” Did you steer him in that direction?

JJ: Actually, we used the least angry take we did. I wanted it cool, but I didn’t want it devoid. He’s not a robot, and if he’s representing human nature and the imagination or whatever he’s representing metaphorically in the film, then he feels things. And you know, Bill Murray’s character is like a condescending school principal the way he talks to him. I heard that so much in my life—“You don’t know how the world really works”—from my father, from cops, teachers, any authority figure. So it’s hard for it not to be personal in some way. He’s pretty cool. He’s doing his job. But he’s feeling it, too, so it was the right balance.

Amy Taubin and Jim Jarmusch’s conversation continues in the May issue of Artforum.
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A Cultural Glossary to The Limits of Control

By Nick Dawson, posted as a slide show at TheLimitsofControl.com

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Talking about his creative process while writing Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Jim Jarmusch revealed that in his earlier days, "when I wrote a script and some idea came to me from another source, I would immediately shove it away and say, 'That's not original, that's not my idea, I don't want that entering this story.' But in this case, I decided, well, why not just open the doors to those things in this case? Don't hide them. When Charlie Parker quotes a standard in the middle of a solo, he weaves it in beautifully, and it makes a reference, but he's still making his own music out of it.” In The Limits of Control, Jarmusch weaves in a few familiar melodies into the fabric of his cinematic symphony, and the following slideshow takes a look at a few of the artistic influences and cultural references that are visible in the film.

The title for The Limits of Control is a reference to an essay of the same name written by seminal Beat writer William S. Burroughs. As Jarmusch says, Burrough's essay "is mostly about language as a control mechanism; 'words are still the principal instruments of control. Suggestions are words. Persuasions are words. Orders are words. No control machine so far devised can operate without words, and any control machine which attempts to do so relying entirely on external force or entirely on physical control of the mind will soon encounter the limits of control.' While that inspired me to think about how we perceive things and how they are attempted to be controlled, I didn't use the essay directly for the film's content but I did use the title."

The Limits of Control opens with a quote from Arthur Rimbaud's verse poem "Le Bateau Ivre" ("The Drunken Boat"), which the 19th Century French poet wrote when he was just 17. The image conjured in the quote, of a controlling force being removed, was one that Jim Jarmusch felt was appropriate for the film's credit sequence, as he explains: "I did want a jumping-off point, or, more accurately, a boat getting pushed out from the shore. But I didn't think of putting the quote on until the film was finished, so it wasn't an initial inspiration. And the fact is, though, that "Le Bâteau Ivre," as a poem, is a kind of metaphor for the derangement of the senses; an intentional disorientation of perception."

Another influence on Jarmusch for The Limits of Control was the work of the French New Wave director Jacques Rivette, whose first few films, such as Paris Belongs to Us, resonated with the kind of vision the director had for Limits of Control. As Jarmusch sees it, Rivette's early movies "incorporate the idea of a conspiracy that's hard to pinpoint and seems to grow entropically. At the end of some of these films, you understand the conspiracy less than you did earlier on, because it's grown out of control."

Jim Jarmusch has explained that one way he thought of the movie was, "What would it be like if Jacques Rivette remade John Boorman's masterpiece Point Blank?" Boorman's classic 1967 revenge movie starring Lee Marvin was such an influence on the film that the production company formed to make Limits is even called PointBlank Films. In its visual style, The Limits of Control is influenced by Boorman's film stylistically, as Jarmusch looked to echo its use of "frames within frames, objects framed by doors or windows or archways, shots that intentionally confuse as to what is exterior and what is interior due to reflective surfaces."

In addition to Boorman's movie of Point Blank, the novel which inspired it – The Hunter by Donald Westlake (writing under the name Richard Stark) – was also an inspiration. Parker, the protagonist of Point Blank – and a series of other novels by Stark / Westlake – is a similarly clinical and controlled character to Limits' Lone Man. "Parker is a professional criminal," says Jarmusch, "and he is very, very controlled; when he's on a job, he will not be distracted by sex, by alcohol, by any kind of diversions. …It's a fascinating character. So these books were a big influence, although I didn't go back and re-read any of them. The character in the books and in Point Blank was always connected, in my mind, to how the character in this film came out."

Just as with Jarmusch's conception of the film being a collision of Rivette and Point Blank, the Limits auteur pondered the question, "What if Marguerite Duras remade Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï?" The movie certainly boasts a Duras-esque minimalism while this is the second of Jarmusch's films to give a nod to Le Samuraï's as buttoned-down, hermetic assassin after Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai put a contemporary, hip hop spin on Melville's classic thriller starring Alain Delon. The way that Jarmusch describes Melville's style also recalls the mix of influences in his own films: "They are so French, and yet he want them to be so American. Is his vision American? Western? Eastern? Hip-hop? What is it?"

A movie poster seen on a building by the Lone Man in the later stages of Limits shows a picture of Tilda Swinton's character, Blonde, and the title Un Lugar Solitario. (The poster declares the film to be the work of Roi Prada, an enigmatic Spanish animator and designer.) The direct translation of the Spanish title is In A Lonely Place, which is the name of a 1950 film directed by Nicholas Ray starring Humphrey Bogart about a Hollywood screenwriter suspected of murder. Ray, who is most famous for films like Rebel Without a Cause, co-directed the 1980 documentary Lightning Over Water with Wim Wenders, to whom he was a mentor figure, just before he died. Jarmusch, then a film student, also worked on Lightning Over Water, and became friends with the German director. In 1982, Jarmusch contributed original music to Wenders' The State of Things, the first of a number of collaborations. Subsequently, both directors contributed music videos of Cole Porter songs for the Red Hot and Blue AIDS charity project in 1990, directed segments of the portmanteau movie Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002), and had cameos in Mika Kaurismäki's 1987 Helsinki Napoli All Night Long.

In his explanation to the Lone Man about how the term "Bohemian" came to mean a young artistic type, the Guitar mentions La Bohème and recommends an unnamed film version of the story by a – once again unnamed – Finnish film director. This reference is an affection nod to Aki Kaurismäki and his movie La Vie de Bohème (1994). (Matti Pellonpää and Kari Väänänen, the two leads in Jarmusch's Helsinki segment of Night on Earth (1991), also starred went on to star in La Vie de Bohème a year later.) Jarmusch and Kaurismäki both share drily understated comic sensibility, and the two have long been friends. Jarmusch takes a cameo as a NYC car dealer in Kaurismäki's cult classic Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989), and Jarmusch and Kaurismäki played Silver Rider and Cadillac Man respectively in Gilles Charmant's 1994 Iron Horsemen. Jarmusch also appeared with Sam Fuller (another mutual friend of Wenders') in the 1994 doc Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made, directed by Aki's brother Mika Kaurismäki.

For Jarmusch, the paintings the Lone Man sees at the Madrid art museum Museo Reina Sofia – El Violin (1916) by Juan Gris, Desnudo (1922) by Roberto Fernández Balbuena, Madrid Desde Capitán Haya (1987 – 1994) by Antonio López and Gran Sábana (1968) by Antoni Tapies – were a major creative touchstone while generating his visual vocabulary. "He goes there and picks out only one painting each time," the director says. "For me, if something moves me, I get flooded with it. So the idea was that he looks at everything in the way he looks at paintings. The way he watches the nude girl swimming in a pool. There's a scene where there are pears on a plate, and I wanted that to look like a painting. The way he compares the Tower of Gold to a postcard. Even the moving landscapes, when he is traveling by train."
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