Environment and energy. The dirty coal that gets burned in China doesn’t just stay there, says Steven Kline, vice president for federal government and regulatory relations at PG&E Corporation. By 2010 a major chunk of California’s ozone pollution will be directly attributable to particulate matter generated

It’s almost impossible to have your child be the only Asian kid in class, says Amy Klatzkin. Just to be able to walk down the street and not be looked at as a foreigner is a great thing for a kid.

by Asian power plants. That’s why PG&E and the state utility commission have taken a major interest in helping China create environmental standards that will improve energy efficiency and reduce the nation’s need for electricity. The state also wants to sell the Chinese on using solar power and other specialized technology developed by California firms, a prominent item on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s agenda during his trade mission to China in November.

Babies. Statistics compiled by the State Department show that more Chinese babies are adopted by U.S. parents each year than children from any other country, more than 7,900 from October 2004 through September 2005. Naturally, California parents find the multiracial character of the state an asset in child rearing. Just by living in San Francisco, we’ve got friends, neighbors, and a dentist who are Chinese, says Amy Klatzkin, whose daughter, Ying Fry, now 12, attends the Chinese American International School. Just to be able to walk down the street and not be looked at as a foreigner is a great thing for a kid. It’s the real connections [between China and America] that make this a good place for a mixed-race family.

Michael Zielenziger, a former Asia bureau chief for Knight-Ridder newspapers, is a visiting scholar in International Studies. His book on Japan, Shutting Out the Sun, explores the cultural pathologies of modern Japan, a stressed-out nation on the edge of a national nervous breakdown. It will be published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday in September.

Reagan Louie is an internationally acclaimed photographer based in the Bay Area. His photographs have been widely exhibited at museums such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Modern Art in Seoul, South Korea, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Louie’s monographs have received critical praise; the New York Times Book Review named his book on China, Toward a Truer Life, the photography book of the year. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships.

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