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Monday, August 28, 2006 12:00 AM

Chinese lessons

How do you say "economic superpower" in Mandarin?

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  • Monday, August 28, 2006 10:32 PM

    Lee Hai Chien Ren

    You may be slightly ahead of the curve. In time Americans who speak Mandarin will have the exotic and bankable cachet bi-lingual talent in Spanish -- and to a lesser extent French, German, or Russian -- has today.

    Mandarin speakers already command a huge default premium here, for which demand will doubtlessly rise in the forseeable future. But it's hard to imagine a Peitou district for Mainland Chinese sprouting up anytime soon near Whichta or West Covina.

    If a few hundred fun-loving and adventurous young Chinese people manage to descend on San Francisco, L.A., or New York for a year or two at a time, and are able to support themselves in relative style and comfort (as similarly situated Americans have done for a generation in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea), well, we'll ALL be better off.

    My guess, though, is the secret rooms and inner workings of China's ascendance to economic superpower status will remain inscrutable to the average American for quite a while yet.

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