"[America] is a small isolated island in the middle of the ocean"

Have you ever wondered how Europe looked like in the 18th century for someone travelling a far way?
Well, as you can see from that quote: "[America] is a small isolated island in the middle of the ocean", not every assumption was correct, yet very interesting to have a look at and create one's own view on how much has changed here in the past 200 years, or not...

Please follow that link.

Invest in China! Really no news...

...as you can find out on the webpage http://www.china-institut.org/gedanken-zum-heute/sparbuechse.htm, there was a China-boom, before we thought about China's boom for the past years:


"Jetzt habe ich soviel Geld in das verfluchte Ding hineingeschmissen, und es kommt nichts heraus!" [Early frustration of a German investor in China: "I have put so much money in that damn thing, and nothing comes out of it!"]

(Der chinesische Automat, Karikatur von Th. Heine, Simplicissimus, 1901, aus: Thomas Brandt, Asia in those Days - A Glimpse Into the Past)

Dazu muß man wissen, was die Studie China and the World Financial Markets 1870-1930 (Yale School of Management), kürzlich herausfand:

Early in the 20th Century, China was one of the hottest emerging markets for global investment. One estimate of total foreign capital invested in China in 1938 put it at $2.5 billion, third behind India and Argentina ... and not dramatically less than the $7 billion of foreign investment in the United States at the time.