Two last essays in Cyber China...
Ngai-Ling Sum: Informational Capitalism and the Remaking of "Greater China": Strategies of Siliconization
This interesting paper talked about how various governments try to attract high-tech industry. I got a lot out of it; it discussed many bits of news that I hadn't seen before. (Must remember to keep an eye on Ngai-Ling Sum.) What did I learn? Lots of young Taiwanese folks are moving to Shanghai where there are more work opportunities. Of course, the Taiwanese government is not pleased with this flow. Various governments try to foster high-tech industry by building business parks. This ties in to corrupt real estate developers, sweet deals, and favoritism. Taiwan has done this, Hong Kong has done this. There was a fair amount about software/content piracy--there are a fair amount of pirates in China who aren't in it for the money. But many of the sellers are kn it for the money.
Aihwa Ong: Urban Assemblages: An Ecological Snese of the Knowledge Economy
This paper seems to say that various organizations are setting up liaisons, and this helps infomration to flow. Actually, I never figured out what this paper is trying to say. Here's a sentence from the conclusion: "In ambitious Asian cities, assemblages of multiple social logics, including neoliberal rationality, depend upon space-making mechanisms that extend the technological space beyond the metropolis." I am willing to believe that there is a statement of fact buried in that sentence somewhere, but I am too lazy to dig it out. In the end, I was too lazy to make sense of this paper.