She is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the new Democratic senator from New York State who took Hillary Clinton’s seat, and the word is she speaks Mandarin Chinese. Not only that, she does so with “good, straight tones.”

Gillibrand took the Chinese name when she was an Asian Studies major at Dartmouth College, where she graduated in 1988. At the time, Gillibrand went by the name Tina Rutnik. Tina sounds like “tian na,” which is Chinese for “that sky” or “that heaven.” Lu would be the Chinese equivalent of the first syllable of her maiden last name.

Here’s what the New York Times said about her in a Jan. 24 story:

She learned to speak and write Chinese before spending a semester in China, and wrote a senior project titled “The History of Tibetan Resistance to the Chinese Occupation of Tibet 1950-1988.”

As part of her studies, she and her mother visited the Dalai Lama’s house while traveling in India. The Albany Times Union reported in 2006 that mother and daughter paid to support the education of a Tibetan boy.

It turns out that a Chinese-language newspaper in New York City, World Journal, called her office this week and asked to conduct an interview in Chinese. She accepted.

Rachel McEneny, Gillibrand’s spokeswoman, provided some information to an Albany Times-Union reporter, who blogged here about what happened:

Gillibrand took the phone and spoke with the reporter in Mandarin for around 15 minutes, according to McEneny.

Gillibrand’s interview with the World Journal didn’t turn up anything particularly surprising - she spoke of her interest in US-China relations and her hope to work on those issues as a member of the Foreign Affairs committee. She also spoke about her increased concern about Tibetan issues in China.

Gillibrand wrote her college senior thesis, “The History of Tibetan Resistance to the Chinese Occupation of Tibet 1950-1988,” after traveling to India and China.

The story discussed Gillibrand’s position on immigration - namely the need to give legal immigrants the opportunity to work towards citizenship - but it wasn’t immediately clear from the story if it was from the paper’s interview with Gillibrand, or culled from previous statements. (When asked whether immigration was part of the interview, McEneny replied, “i dont know _ I dont speak the laguage…seriously… “)

On Monday, Gillibrand said this of her position on immigration:

“My view has always been that we need to right-size immigration,” she said. “We need to have the right number of visas to accommodate the right number of workers, particularly for this industry. The agriculture industry’s number one concern is, we need access to legal workers, and we need our immigration system to work for our industry because there is so much talent that we need to keep in this country that are experts in all of these various industries.”

The World Journal complimented Gillibrand’s pronunciation, saying that she spoke with good, straight tones.

Temple fairs are a big part of Lunar New Year’s celebrations in Beijing. So we walked up to take a look at the celebrations in the Beijing Dongyue Temple, a major Taoist temple.

After skirting a bunch of firecrackers on the street outside, we were greeted with stall after stall of food and knick-knacks for sale, mostly with an ox theme for the Year of the Ox.

When I started taking photos of the performers seen in the picture above, one quickly grabbed me and insisted on having my photo taken with her.

For foreigners in Beijing, the spring festival week is a delightful respite from traffic and the normal bustle of the city. Newspapers don’t publish for a day or two, and the news is quiet.

But there is unsettling news in Hong Kong, where residents set aside their quest for money briefly to consult the feng shui masters. Not good news.

A politician picked a "fortune stick" in an annual Taoist ceremony predicting how prosperous the year ahead will be, and he pulled out the worst possible number -- 27.

According to this Deutsche Presse-Agentur report, feng shui masters in Hong Kong said the fortune stick meant the former colony faced a turbulent and unsettled year with possible conflicts between the government and people.

That number was also drawn in 1992, shortly before the arrival of last British governor Chris Patten set off a series of political clashes in the territory.

Item: For those interested in learning more about the unlucky omen in Hong Kong, read this fascinating blog post. In short, the unlucky stick said: "Evil and calamity are coming and going all around you. And it comes from you."

It seemed like World War III was in full swing in Beijing last night, what with all the fireworks around the city. At midnight, the horizon in all directions was bright with colorful explosions to welcome in Chinese New Year. The coming year is the year of the "niu," or ox. Since "niu" is pronounced almost like new, it has become de rigeur in China to wish everyone a Happy Niu Year.

The above video is off our building in central Beijing off the Boulevard of Everlasting Peace.

Early this morning, the boulevard, which is normally Beijing’s business road, was so deserted that a blind man could have walked across without any danger.

It’s mid-afternoon now, and the sound of fireworks still fills the air.

New Year’s wishes are rolling into China from leaders around the world. Among the unique expressions of goodwill was the one below from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. It’s in Mandarin, a language he picked up while serving as a diplomatic in Beijing, more than a decade ago. Sorry, it doesn’t have subtitles. Roughly, he offers his hopes that the coming Year of the Ox will bring more good news in Sino-Australian relations, and that Chinese people will find prosperity and happiness.

Sino-U.S. tensions are rising, and it’s not just that Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner declared yesterday that China “manipulates” its currency. It’s worse.

It involves souvenirs, or more precisely, little plastic trinkets with “Made in China” stickers.

It seems that the knick-knacks have gotten the knickers of a Democratic congressman into a knot. The trinkets were to go on sale at the Capitol Visitor Center gift shop in Washington D.C.

Recalling the glory days of “Freedom Fries” and other campaigns aimed at foreign countries, Rep. Robert A. Brady, D-Pa., has barred the gift shop from selling about $104,000 in merchandise from China.

An article at politico.com quoted Brady saying he feels "very strongly that souvenirs sold in House gift shops should be produced by U.S. companies."

That’ll teach ‘em to mess with our souvenirs.

Now that he’s triggered the “kitsch wars,” I wonder if Rep. Brady will be throwing out the Chinese-made items in his garage, and his children’s Chinese-made toys?

It might not seem surprising, but China’s economy may be performing more poorly than at any time in half a generation.

Of course, “poorly” is a relative term. China’s economy is still growing. But its sharp slowdown is certainly noticeable to the citizenry

And it has been sharp. China’s economy grew at a sizzling pace of 13 percent in 2007. Earlier today, the National Bureau of Statistics said growth in 2008 slowed to 9 percent.

But it also noted that the last quarter, growth stalled out at 6.8 percent, its lowest rate of growth in seven years. So over the past year or so, there’s been a swing of 6 percent. That’s a pretty big hit. When you jog on a treadmill, then you slow to a walk, you feel it.

In fact, China may not even be moving ahead. It might briefly be walking in place.

A Citicorp report titled China Economic Flash just came in over the electronic transom and contains this interesting tidbit about the October-December quarter:

“After seasonal adjustment, we estimate that real GDP growth was -0.3 percent (annualized) compared to the previous quarter, the first contraction in at least 16 years,” it says.

Hmm. No wonder China’s leaders are busily priming the pump. After all, sustained economic growth is the pillar of their legitimacy. At the news conference today, Statistics Bureau chief Ma Jiantian suggested five percent of all migrant workers had already lost their jobs. That could mean more than 10 million people.

Item: Here’s a link to a story I filed recently on how overburdened the rail system is during this Lunar New Year holiday period.

You can see in the above YouTube clip how quickly the Chinese state news broadcaster reacted during a live broadcast of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech.

Right at a key part about communism and fascism, a slightly befuddled announcer cuts in and asks a reporter to explain what kind of economic difficulties Obama will be facing.

Here is what the state broadcaster didn’t want Chinese viewers to hear from Obama:

“Recall that earlier generations faced down communism and fascism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

That was too much for most Chinese censors to handle. According to this Reuters story, several web portals changed the wording in their written reports, removing “communism” or excising the paragraph altogether. 

I just had one of those interesting cultural experiences, both painful and enlightening.

I’m spending a few days in Chengdu, the largest city in southwest China, and my hotel is in an utterly urban neighborhood with almost no sign of Westerners.

Coming back from lunch, I stopped in a small store to buy some crackers to tide me over till dinner. An older woman was tending the shop with what appeared to be her grandson. She smiled and greeted me, then stooped over and whispered into the lad’s ear.

He then pipes up with: “Ni hao, xiao yeye,” which means, “Hello, little grandfather.”

What the, er, heck? Little grandfather? Okay, so I’m 51 and look every day of it. But grandfather I am not. Nor do I plan to be for at least another decade.

This all happened in an instant, and was said in the most polite, affectionate, even adorable, fashion. But my own reaction just reminded me how much perception, and self-perception, of age is a culturally relative thing. For Americans, we are sensitive about getting old, or as my 11-year-old daughter is fond of saying, going “over the hill.”

I’ve never heard my wife bust a gut laughing so hard as when she heard that I’d qualify as a “senior” when reaching age 55. A few weeks ago, when we were at a movie theater in Florida, she promptly cheated and bought me a “senior discount” ticket, followed by more uproarious laughter at my expense. (She’s 10 years younger, but I keep reminding her time marches on for her, too.)

In China, age brings a measure of respect. And my experience is that many Chinese don’t try to hide their age. The exception, of course, are the nine members of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, all of whom have jet black hair, and appear to be heavy consumers of hair dye. I don’t think many Chinese are going around calling those politicos “Gramps,” or “yeye.” Until her retirement early this year, Senior Vice Premier Wu Yi was a remarkable exception, an elegant, sometimes stern-looking, woman with a big crown of pepper hair. It gave her gravitas.

Speaking of Chengdu, which generally is one of my favorite cities in China, not only because of the Sichuan cuisine but also the laid-back nature of the people, the smog this week has been atrocious. Yesterday, one could see about a block. Local media suggest that it’s “fog.” But rarely does fog make my eyes water and my throat burn. Nor does it coat cars with a layer of grime.

Beijing’s smog situation has improved noticeably since measures adopted early last year for the Summer Olympics. Chengdu needs its own measures. Perhaps it’ll take a local gray-haired “little grandfather” to do it. More power to him.

The Taiwanese are not happy campers these days. The economy stinks. And voters are happy with neither the ruling Nationalist party nor the main opposition party.

Tensions with the mainland have eased in the past few months, but even that has not swept away the grumpiness.

Click here or here for a revealing opinion poll carried out last week among 1,002 Taiwanese. It was done by the Global Views Magazine and a Nationalist Party (KMT) offshoot website carries the link. The poll results don’t spare the ruling party.

Indeed, a majority of Taiwanese are unhappy with both the ruling party and opposition leaders.

The poll shows trust in President Ma Ying-jeou has dropped to 48.4 percent and for his KMT party to 41.3 percent. Even fewer respondents trust opposition leader Tsai Ying-wen, who garnered 42.5 percent trust. Her opposition Democratic Progressive Party is trusted by barely over a third of the electorate.

They can take heart in one thing: Their approval ratings still hover above those of soon-to-be-ex-President George W. Bush. This poll says 73 percent of Americans disapprove of his performance over the past eight years.

Anybody trying to plumb Hillary Clinton’s thinking on China after the several hours she spent Tuesday at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will surely be disappointed.

She said almost nothing about what is arguably the most important bilateral relationship the United States has in the decade ahead.

I stayed up late watching the hearing (Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Washington), and just got a hold of a transcript to see if I had missed anything. There’s almost nothing there. Clinton included barely five sentences on China in her prepared remarks:

“China is critically important as an actor who will be changing the global landscape. We want a positive and cooperative relationship with China, one where we deepen and strengthen our ties on a number of issues and candidly address differences where they persist. But this is not a one-way effort. Much of what we will do depends on the choices China makes about its future at home and abroad.

With both Russia and China we should work together on vital security and economic issues like terrorism, proliferation, climate change, and reforming financial markets.”

In hours of questioning, fellow senators made only glancing mention of China. Clinton responded briefly to one question about the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions:

“Our goal is to end the North Korean nuclear program, both the plutonium reprocessing program and the highly enriched uranium program which there is reason to believe exists, although never quite verified, and it is our strong belief that the six-party talks, particularly the role that China is currently playing, along with our close allies South Korea and Japan, is a vehicle for us to exert pressure on North Korea in a way that is more likely to alter their behavior.”

And there was one last mention, following appeals by Sen. Jim Webb, a fellow Democrat, to hear her views on China:

“You know, dealing with Russia on START -- you know, some of that will be influenced by the economic situation that we're confronting. Trying to deal with the modernization of the military in China -- we've got to have a strategic relationship, as Senator Webb said, but we also have to make sure that they continue buying our debt. I mean, we have a lot of very complicated international economic issues that directly impact our foreign policy. So we're going to be working on those. And I welcome any and all advice that you might have.”

Beyond those remarks, Clinton’s views can only be fathomed from past statements, not from the hearing itself.

Beware travelers: There’s an “explosion” of rabies in China.

That determination is from the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, and anybody traveling in rural China, particularly in the south, should take heed.

The incidence of human rabies cases has spiked this decade from a very low level in the 1990s, and it has spread over much of the country.

A comment on a blog post earlier this week piqued my curiosity. Moreover, my personal physician in Beijing a few months ago strongly encouraged me to get a rabies vaccine (which I haven’t done yet). So I did a little poking around. Turns out that a study released in mid-2008 documents how much rabies has spread. Click here and here.

In 1996, China tallied 159 human rabies cases. By 2006, the number had soared to 3,279.

Rabies, a viral infection of the nervous system transmitted by animal bites, has a nearly 100 percent death rate. Those bitten by rabid animals must get painful injections of rabies antibodies within 24 hours after suffering the bite to survive. That’s not an easy thing to do if you are in the rural backwaters of Guangxi or Guizhou.

If you want to get a visual sense of how the incidence of rabies has spread in China, click here for a purported CDC document (it’s from Wikileaks so I can’t verify authenticity). Scroll part way down to see a series of maps of China showing the counties with incidences of human rabies from 1999 to 2007. It looks like a spreading wildfire.