Skip to content

Category Archives: Development

Sewing and Reaping

(Balinyouqi town, Chifeng prefecture, Inner Mongolia) So more people can hear her story…

Congratulations! In the face of a very difficult selection process, one of your photos was selected to be included in the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and Columbia University’s Photography Society’s upcoming exhibition. This is a strong testimony to your talent, as we received over 130 photos submitted and had room for only 25. The jury was very impressed by your work and looks forward to including it in the exhibition.

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development.

1 comment

By qui tacet – September 19, 2009
Wokai microfinancing China’s development

(Balinyouqi town, Chifeng prefecture, Inner Mongolia) The seamstress I interviewed had used her loan to purchase an electric sewing machine, boosting her productivity. I’ll post the interview transcript soon…

Dear readers, you’re probably aware I’m involved with a China microfinance nonprofit, but just in case you aren’t:

What is Wokai?

Wokai delivers an internet microfinance platform that allows individuals to provide Chinese microentrepreneurs with loan capital. Our organization acts as an intermediary in this process, transferring funds from contributors abroad to microentrepreneurs in China through our field partners. Watch our video presentation!

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – June 6, 2009
Development with eyes open

(Beijing) She was there early every morning outside the subway stop.

Since I was staying with a friend who goes to the Foreign Affairs University, I had quite a walk every morning to take the subway to the Wokai office, and on the way there was a BOC branch office, and right outside was a covered area where homeless people congregated to play chess and chat. The one I noticed the most was this old man, who was always there reading a newspaper. He had a dog (everyone in Beijing has dogs, even homeless people!) and when I was walking back late at night from the subway, I would see them cuddled there asleep.

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – March 3, 2009
Muhammad Yunus speaks at Columbia

(Balinyouqi town, Inner Mongolia) One of his indirect beneficiaries?

One of the best things about going to an ivy school is the chance to listen to world leaders that come to campus quite frequently. Recently, Muhammad Yunus came to talk about the Grameen Bank and his new book on ‘creating a world without poverty’, and I managed to get into the lecture theatre before it completely filled up. I got one of the last few available seats, and there were hundreds of people in line outside (including a Bangladeshi friend) that were quite upset about the seating capacity. Here are my notes from his speech:

Continued…

Posted in Business, Development, Other Asia.

1 comment

By qui tacet – January 31, 2009
Counterfeiting and the Renminbi

(Beijing) Trans: Warning: If we discover counterfeit bills, the police will deal with you!!!

Before going to China, I had considered acquiring RMB from the banks in New York, but decided that the exchange rate would have been poorer since the supply of RMB here would have been very limited. So I brought a stack of US dollars to China with the expectation that I would exchange it there. But when I arrived at Beijing’s terminal 3, I found that the moneychangers there were offering a terrible rate, so I resolved to go out into the city and find a better one.

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development, Economics.

1 comment

By qui tacet – January 28, 2009
Beijing’s dogs and the one child policy

(Beijing) Nick loves dogs!

Despite the ‘one dog policy’, Beijingers still have a lot of dogs. There must be at least a million small dogs in the city – maybe there are more dogs than kids. I walk by dozens every day on my way to work, and usually none of them are leashed. They just roam around while the owner walks behind. You have to be careful because they leave plenty of deposits everywhere (surprising for their size), and dog owners don’t seem to pick up after.

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – January 3, 2009
Pyongyang Diaries: Why I went

(Arirang Mass Games, Pyongyang) I wonder what they thought seeing all these fat Chinese tourists.

I try to avoid telling my Korean friends in school that I went to the North, because they always look at me strangely and ask why I would ever want to go there. I don’t blame them – some have family histories and bad memories of the place. The immediate assumption is that I’m some kind of sick tourist that delights in seeing the suffering of others, or worse, that I perpetuate it. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Continued…

Posted in Development, Korea - Pyongyang Diaries, Politics.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – January 1, 2009
Getting a PhD in Saving the World

My translation: Caring about the lives of others is to treasure one’s own happiness. (Road sign on Chang’an Avenue near Tiananmen Square, Beijing)

I hate how people assume that I’m going to be an investment banker when I tell them I’m an economics major, so I’ve started to introduce myself as ‘majoring in saving the world’. I considered having that on my business cards: ‘Bachelor of Arts, Saving the World’. I even asked the dean of the college about whether I could do that officially. He asked me “do you think the world can be saved?” I couldn’t give a definite answer, so I guess I’m stuck with my current major.

With the market the way it is, I’ve been looking into grad school options. I attended an info session about the Earth Institute’s PhD program in sustainable development by one of the doctoral students.

Continued…

Posted in Business, College Life, Development, Economics.

6 comments

By qui tacet – November 13, 2008
Vote for Wokai in the Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition

Dear friends, I need a five minute favor.

The nonprofit I volunteer with, Wokai microfinance, has been selected as a finalist in the Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition on Changemakers.net. The final round is decided by online voting. It takes about five minutes to register and vote, and you can do this here, but those five minutes can change the world for us. And if you could get your network to do it too, that would be AMAZING!

Read on for why you should do this:

Continued…

Posted in China, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – November 8, 2008
Microfinancing the harmonious society

One World, One Dream? (Jianwai SOHO, Beijing)

When I first got to Beijing, my roommate Nick, who is a licensed tour guide, wanted to show me the central business district Guomao (国贸) where there’s been quite a bit of commercial development, such as the architecturally impressive CCTV building. One of the building complexes there is Jianwai SOHO, an upmarket mostly-expatriate residential and shopping area, where the glass-and-steel towers have rooftop gardens. Posh.

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – July 4, 2008
Microfinance and Post-Disaster Reconstruction

Is microfinance the key to saving us? (Beijing)

As my internship on Chinese microfinance has begun, it is timely to consider the role that microfinance institutions are playing in the reconstruction and recovery of Sichuan. Many MFIs around the world operate in post-conflict zones and post-disaster regions (such as the 2004 Tsunami), and there are important lessons to learn from how they negotiate the challenges and risks involved. During my research I came across a Mandarin press release from an MFI in Sichuan province, the Association for Rural Development of Yilong County. I did a rough translation of it below:

Continued…

Posted in China Trip, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – June 2, 2008
Going to St Gallen

I’m going to Switzerland.

On behalf of the International Students’ Committee (ISC), we would like to cordially thank you for your excellent contribution to this year’s St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award. We are very delighted about the challenge you have undertaken when working on the topic “Global Capitalism – Local Values”. In the past few weeks the jury has thoroughly evaluated the around 1,000 entries in order to choose those 200 students who will be invited to the 38th St. Gallen Symposium.

Continued…

Posted in Business, College Life, Development, Economics.

2 comments

By qui tacet – March 6, 2008
The road to the BOP

(Bank of Japan, Tokyo) I walk this empty street/ On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams/ Where the city sleeps/ I’m the only one and I walk alone/

In one of those cosmic accidents, my seat at the alumni LNY dinner was right next to someone who shares all my personal and academic interests (development, asia, microfinance, social enterprise, BOP etc), we have the same major and concentrations, we have the same career aspirations and life goals.

Continued…

Posted in Business, College Life, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – March 2, 2008
Interviewing with ViD

In retrospect it was probably a bad idea to leave interview preparation for ViD and FACES to the last minute. After pouring out my heart and soul to the University of St. Gallen and the GSGLP selection committee, I’m just too drained to reflect on such philosophical questions as “tell me about yourself”, “what would you say is your greatest weakness”, “what is something special about you that isn’t in your application”, and “how many piano tuners are there in New York City”. That and the fact that my heart was beating like a jackhammer may have contributed to a less than positive interview experience.

Continued…

Posted in Business, China, College Life, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – February 10, 2008
2008春季学期练习中文计划

When it occurred to me that I might be interviewed in Mandarin for the summer job I applied for (rural chinese social enterprise development), I realized that I was in deep trouble. I didn’t even know that 小额信贷 means ‘microfinance’, there’s no way I could explain it properly to a farmer, nor could I read a CASS paper on the topic without having to stop every couple phrases to check the dictionary. Even writing a short e-mail in Mandarin about something technical would be difficult.

In order to prepare for summer 2008 in China, my Mandarin has to improve substantially in all areas: listening comprehension, advanced conversation, reading comprehension, and composition, in order of importance. Towards this objective, I have planned various activities to practice Mandarin every day, including watching the awesome New Shanghai Bund (新上海滩） and JJ Lin’s new TW-drama So I’m Not Handsome (原来我不帅).

Continued…

Posted in China, College Life, Development.

2 comments

By qui tacet – January 31, 2008
David Ho on HIV/AIDS in China

Although I am nominally taking six (likely to be five) classes this semester, I consider attending seminars and talks to be part of an additional class. Today I attended the first of my series of extracurricular lectures in this semester, and sometimes I think I learn more from these one-off things than weeks of compulsory stuff. Greater China Initiative and CU-Asia (both SIPA clubs) invited Dr. David Ho, a leading AIDS researcher living in NYC, to speak at Columbia about HIV/AIDS in China.

Continued…

Posted in China, Development.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – January 26, 2008
Microfinance education via television dramas

Microfinance usually isn’t this dramatic…

In July 2007, the South Korean ministry of finance announced that it had hired the lead actor and actress from a hit television serial that aired May-July to promote their microcredit program. That television serial, “War of Money” (쩐의전쟁), was about the informal moneylending industry in South Korea, reaching an average of 32.8% of households in the greater Seoul area and 31% nationwide, and it was the top-rated serial of the season, so popular that ‘bonus’ episodes were produced – it remains one of my personal all-time favorite kdramas. Much of its storyline emphasized themes of income volatility, uncollateralized credit, innovative entrepreneurship, and good (and bad) borrowing practices – all themes relevant to microfinance. In an interview prior to the serial’s airing, the lead actor Park Shin-yang (박신양, of Lovers in Paris/파리의연인 fame) had even noted that one of the sources of inspiration that he drew from was the work of Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.

Perhaps it may be useful to take “Money’s Warfare” one step further, and consider a similar application of television serials in microfinance education, through its plot, themes, and product placement strategy.

Continued…

Posted in China, Development, Essays & Writing, Korea, TV Dramas.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – January 17, 2008
The people who inspire me

As I wonder where my life is going, I look to where others ahead of me have been. I love reading the profiles of the incoming Lauder class of 2009, or Columbia’s Chazen fellows, or the 2008 Acumen fellows, or the Echoing Green fellows, because their life stories chart paths of achievement that inform not just where one can go, but how to get there step by step. I was inspired by Rory Stewart’s ‘extreme MBA‘ in postconflict Afghanistan in the new HBR issue. But at the same time, these role models seem so far ahead of me that it is sometimes hard to see how I could follow in their footsteps. Their first steps are like marathons for me.

Continued…

Posted in Bildungsroman, Business, College Life, Development.

3 comments

By qui tacet – November 18, 2007
Summer Anime/K-drama Update

War of Money / 쩐의전쟁 (Summer 2007)
From Chosun Ilbo:

The male and female leads of a hit Korean drama about the illegal loan sharking industry were appointed public relations envoys for the Finance Ministry on Wednesday. For one year Park Shin-yang and Park Jin-hee of “War of Money” will promote the ministry’s “micro-credit” system which offers low-interest loans to people with bad credit. The government in February will use dormant deposits to establish a W200 billion fund to finance the micro-credit program.

I absolutely adore the SBS k-drama War of Money and I think it is so awesome that the stars of the drama have been co-opted by the Korean finance ministry to promote their microcredit program, which no doubt needs a lot of help, although I think they should pursue a more commercial approach. Also, given the number of SK dramas imported to the north through China, the stars might well be supporting much-needed microfinance/small-business education in NK and paving the way for economic reform and development efforts in the north.

Continued…

Posted in Anime, Development, TV Dramas.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – August 1, 2007
Not going to Beijing

I might be attending the Global Forum for Health Research in Beijing in Oct/Nov, which would be about 7-8 months too late to when I should’ve been there, or 8-9 months too early. Might being the operative word – I am very unlikely to succeed.

Thank you very much for sending an essay for our competition. All essays have now been reviewed and we are in the final round of judging. Results will be announced at the beginning of August. I am pleased to be able to tell you that your essay has been shortlisted.

Continued…

Posted in China, Development, Essays & Writing.

3 comments

By qui tacet – June 30, 2007
Escaping the Resource Curse book launch

While I stopped over in the city I attended the book launch of Macartan Humphreys‘ Managing the Resource Curse at the Earth Institute in Columbia. Here’s what happened:

Continued…

Posted in Development, Economics.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – June 11, 2007
White Castle in Harlem

So after the grueling literature exam, I went to see Spiderman 3 with the 6th floor kids to destress. For some reason they chose to see the film in the Apollo theater in Harlem. It always amazes me how much the environment changes only ten or so blocks away.

Continued…

Posted in College Life, Development, Economics.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – May 4, 2007
A review of Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako

Joseph Stiglitz’s Committee on Global Thought organized a private screening of the film Bamako on campus tonight, and I had the opportunity to attend. I had heard so much about the film on the World Bank’s Private Sector Development blog, as well as through Socially Conscious NYC, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Even though I had invited several friends to come along, I ended up watching it alone, as usual. There were some 20-30 people in the auditorium. Here are some thoughts about the film.

Continued…

Posted in Development, Film.

Comments Off

By qui tacet – March 22, 2007