Discussion of all digital SLR cameras under the Minolta and Konica Minolta brands
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Dr. Harout wrote:
One of the worst things that politicians (I prefer the French adapted word for it: politi-chien) could think of was the globalization. Time will come and everybody will understand... after great sufferings, unfortunately.
Very true, I believe the same.
I found this, semi fits this thread.
Now apply that to photography!
Flickr - Sony A100, Sony A700 - SAL50F14, SAL16105, SAL1870, Minolta 35-70 F4, Minolta 70-210 F4, Tamron 90 F2.8 Macro
China's problem in the past and it is a warning to the future for protectionists, is that in its trade with the West was that they did not want trade ( most Chinese goods of the time were probably better and cheaper ) but cash on the barrel head ( silver bullion ). China was largely a controlled and closed economy with much of what it did import being from overseas Chinese merchant groups.
Even with silver from Spanish America a lot of the world's silver was disappearing into China and not circulating into what was by the end of C17 an increasing world market.
The British government and the East India Company were always looking at ways to redress the balance and so not only then developed tea plantations in India and later Ceylon but also tremendously increased Opium production to be smuggled into China to meet Chinese demand. A vicious circle then developed with the larger the Chinese demand lead to more Opium being produced more cheaply which then feed an increasing demand. And with increasing profits from Opium ....
peterottaway wrote:China's problem in the past and it is a warning to the future for protectionists, is that in its trade with the West was that they did not want trade ( most Chinese goods of the time were probably better and cheaper ) but cash on the barrel head ( silver bullion ). China was largely a controlled and closed economy with much of what it did import being from overseas Chinese merchant groups.
Even with silver from Spanish America a lot of the world's silver was disappearing into China and not circulating into what was by the end of C17 an increasing world market.
The British government and the East India Company were always looking at ways to redress the balance and so not only then developed tea plantations in India and later Ceylon but also tremendously increased Opium production to be smuggled into China to meet Chinese demand. A vicious circle then developed with the larger the Chinese demand lead to more Opium being produced more cheaply which then feed an increasing demand. And with increasing profits from Opium ....
Only too true. Few people now have any idea how huge and powerful China was in the past. And will be again far sooner than we realise. Interesting times are just ahead.
I just read through this thread. Very interesting. A couple of good books that sort of peripherally apply:
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond is a fascinating book that I can recommend. Also, his later companion book called Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (which I am almost finished reading right now) is quite good.
Last edited by bakubo on Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
David Kilpatrick wrote:
Only too true. Few people now have any idea how huge and powerful China was in the past. And will be again far sooner than we realise. Interesting times are just ahead.
David
There's an ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."
I believe that all too soon we'll know just what that means.
Dusty
An a700, an a550 and couple of a580s, plus even more lenses (Zeiss included!).
