Story originally printed in the Westby Times or online at www.westbytimes.com

Published - Friday, April 18, 2008

Westby Sons of Norway talk about China

The Westby Sons of Norway met on March 25, at the community room.

Visitors were David and Vanessa Mills, Marilyn Forde and Tom and Sharon Sharratt. New member was Elizabeth Erickson.

Howard Sherpe announced the following members received certificates for bringing in new members, Bertha Johnson, Dennis Hagen, Rebecca Lewis Clifton, Ron Iverson, Walter Johnson and Russ Hanson.

President Ron Iverson announced the following:

n The Bethel Home’s Norway tour will be July 22 to Aug. 2.

n The Barbary Coast Dixie Band will be April 28, at Good Shepherd Church in Viroqua, at 7:30 p.m.

n The Norwegian convention will be June 11-14 at Madison.

Bertha Johnson read thank-you notes from Sons of Norway Foundation, Verna Berg who is at the Norseland Home and also for the Otis Leum Memorial.

Janet Johnson and Phyllis Eklov are on the Frokost committee which will be held on May 17, at the United Methodist Church in Westby from 7 to 10 a.m.

The Sons of Norway Club will also have a pancake supper on May 15, at the Rod and Gun building in Timber Coulee from 5-7:30 p.m. The 43 visiting Norwegians from around Biri, Norway area will be there and the “Time Traveller’s Band,” will be playing for your enjoyment and dancing. Everyone is welcome for the food, dancing and visiting with the Norwegian visitors.

Servers for the evening were Walter and Janet Johnson and Karen Hankee. The Sons of Norway Club will meet again on April 29, at the community club.

Tom Sharratt was the speaker for the evening. Tom and his wife, Sharon traveled in China by rail.

In 1949, the Peoples Republic of China was formed and in the last 58 years, they progressed to a point which took our country 229 years to achieve. China was plagued by invasion since 700 BC.

In 1949, the teachers and doctors were moved from the cities to the country so they would work with food. There wasn’t any industrial base.

The population is 1.3 billion and China has more time zones then any other country. The wealth (70 percent) is in the cities and the population (80 percent) is in the country. Less then 20 percent of the land is tillable in China.

The city of Beijing suffers sandstorms, so they have planted a lot of trees to control the sand. The highways have masses of cars, as everyday 1,000 new cars are on the road. Gasoline is hard to get there.

Coal produces 74 percent of their energy and one new coal plant is built every week.

In 700 BC, the Great Wall of China was built, some of it is a barrier of sand and it can be seen from space. China has the fourth largest army in the world and there are many protests every year. The Chinese population doesn’t know what has happened in Tibet. The news is controlled by th government and all border are sealed around Tibet.

Shanghai has a 7,000,000 population. It has a lot of steel mills ....lots of labor. There isn’t any urban spread but the people live in high rises. The people do a lot of gardening and are building tens of thousands of railroads. They have a magnetic train that runs on a thin layer of air and it can go 260 miles an hour.

The government can take a 9-12 square block of homes in a city and give the people 90 days to leave and on the 91st day, the bulldozer goes to work. Fifteen percent of all cranes in the world are located in this area. There are not graveyards as everyone is cremated.

In 1970, birds were killed because they were eating the grain. The land is owned by the government which is divided into commons. The average income in rural areas is $1 a day. The young people go to the cities and the money they make they send money back home. They have one child per family but if you are rich you can buy the right to another child.

One can buy land but the government can take the land away. The local officials are corrupt so protesting doesn’t help you. Transportation is very costly.

In 2006, China introduced a new car for $10,000.00. It is marketed to the third world countries. It isn’t a luxurious car but in the future they will be and will be sold in the United States. They have a 20 percent tax increase on these large cars while the small car tax is reduced.

China is buying U.S. land and also American bonds.

This was a very interesting and informative program which was enjoyed by all.

All stories copyright 2006 Westby Times and other attributed sources.