Thumbs-up for Emma Watson

I am doing case study on the commercial success of Harry Potter, and the actress of Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) caught my attention for a while.

Miss Watson is a good actress. She is pretty and smart. What differentiate her from most of the other young actresses is her personality, intelligence and maturity.

She maintained very impressive academic performance ("in the A category") while shooting all the films. She is now a first year at Brown University.

She showed great maturity, balance and self-control as a young, rich, world-famous, successful actress. She is not wasting her gift.

I think she has got almost everything a girl could ever dream of, though I am not professional on girls' dream. Emma Watson has earned money and fame and very unique experience at such a young age. She is beautiful and smart and interesting.

We are glad that she is using her "endowment" very well and is having a "sustainable development". Too often is the case that young stars lose control in front of the crazy world and get drowned their own success.

One interview indicated that Watson said she is "a bit of feminist". Outstanding girls are always a bit of feminist.

I believe feminism should never exist. There is feminism because there are too many arrogant and ignorant men. It's actually a pity, and men should do some self reflections.

China & Intellectual Property Rights

China has a bad record on intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection. I have to confess that I am still "benefiting" from the free download of some teenager Hollywood films, but there is a deeper history in the intellectual property stuff.

The lack of protection for IPRs in China has a historic reason. The notion of property rights is a very new thing for Chinese society. In the past, for at least five thousand years, the emperor owns everything under the heaven. The emperor even owns the life of his people.

So the concept of property rights began to take root in people's mind in recent decades, and IPRs are even newer.

The four great inventions in ancient China has made huge contribution to the world civilizations. They are the compass, black powder, paper making and type printing. China didn't not ask for money for the usage of any of these invention, which is quite a big commercial loss from the capitalist perspective.

In the past, Chinese intellects produce all intellectual products to make social changes and express themselves. Poets encourage everyone to copy their poems and writings so that his work will be passed on through generations. In Chinese culture, money is always considered inferior and less important to spiritual and intellectual activities. This is no more true today, of course.

In comparison, western society is based on capital and money. The purpose of production is to make profit. When the guideline is different, policies and attitudes are also different.

Now the western rules are dominating, so China need to find out a middle way and proper strategy to join the big global game.

Hamshire College Faculty/Student ratio is 8/1

I went to a "Academic Check-In" organized by Cultural Center for multicultural student, and it turned out that I was the only student there. On the other side, there are eight teachers.

This is the advantage of Hampshire. You get a lot of personal attention, which is evident in the faculty/student ratio: 8/1.