• Chinese, Nigerian presidents satisfied with bilateral ties • Pang Yuliang Acquired German Parchim Airport

CHINA GEZHOUBA WINS CONTRACT FOR HYDROPOWER STATION IN NIGERIA
YICHANG - China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), the main constructor of the Three Gorges project, has won a contract to build the 2600 Megawatt (MW) Mambilla plateau hydropower station in Nigeria, the group announced on Monday.
The US$1.46 billion project is the largest hydroelectric power station Chinese companies have ever built in Africa, according to the group, which is based in Yichang city of central China's Hubei Province.
NSW OFFICE BLOCK PROJECT GETS FIRST SIX-STAR GREEN RATING
SYDNEY - The first development in New South Wales to receive a six-star green rating will use sea water to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Construction of the six-storey office block, workplace6, in the inner Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, is due to be completed in early 2009.
PAKISTAN'S AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR MOVES TO BOOST TOURISM SECTOR
MUZAFFARABAD - The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Development Working Party has earmarked Rs 330 million (US$5.4 million) to help develop the tourism sector.
One project involves spending Rs 70 million on the construction of tourist resorts.
INDONESIA'S SEMEN GRESIK BOOKS US$141 MLN IN NET PROFIT
JAKARTA - Cement maker PT Semen Gresik (JSX:SMGR) said on Monday it booked a net profit of Rp1.29 trillion (US$141 million) in 2006, up 29 per cent from Rp1.00 trillion in the previous year.
The significant increase in net profit was the result of rising net sales from Rp7.53 trillion in 2005 to Rp8.73 trillion in 2006 and business profit increase from Rp1.54 trillion in 2005 to Rp1.78 trillion in 2006, according to the company's annual consolidated financial report, a copy of which was made available here Monday.
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Document APULSE0020070403e343002xn

BRIEFING - ASIA ENERGY - APRIL 3, 2007
1,878 words

3 April 2007

Asia Pulse

APULSE

English

(c) 2007 Asia Pulse Pty Limited
An executive briefing on energy for April 3, 2007, prepared by Asia Pulse ( http://www.asiapulse.com ), the real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, commercial intelligence and business opportunities.
BANGLADESH INTERIM GOVT EXTENDS FUEL IMPORT DEAL WITH KUWAIT
DHAKA - Bangladesh's Cabinet Purchase Committee yesterday approved the exentsion of the nation's fuel import agreement with Kuwait by another 12 months.
The decision gives state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) the scope to continue its import of petroleum fuel from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) until December 2008.
STATE GRID CORP OF CHINA ACCELERATES BIOMASS ELECTRICITY PJTS
BEIJING - The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has accelerated its construction of biomass electricity projects.
Construction has recently started on five SGCC biomass electricity projects in Awat of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Juye of Shandong, Chifeng of Inner Mongolia, Heishan of Liaoning and Fugou of Henan.
BANGLADESH GOVT HIKES FUEL PRICES
DHAKA - Bangladesh's caretaker government raised fuel prices by between Tk 7 - 9 today (US$0.10-0.13), with officials claiming the nation could no longer afford to maintain local prices below global rates.
Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury said that the government had no choice but to raise prices amid escalating losses caused by Bangladesh's fuel subsidies, but admitted the rise could push up inflation.
PETROCHINA TO SELL 30,000 METRIC TONS OF LPG TO PERTAMINA
JAKARTA - PetroChina (SEHK:0857) has agreed to sell 30,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from a gas field in Jambi, Sumatra, to state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina at market price.
So far PetroChina has sold its LPG production from the Jabung gas field to spot market in Singapore.
US$247 MLN IN GAS PROJECTS BEING COMPLETED IN PUNJAB, FRONTIER
ISLAMABAD - Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Amanullah Khan Jadoon said on Saturday that gas projects worth Rs.15 billion (about US$247 million) were being completed by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in Punjab and NWFP.
Presiding over a high level meeting here to review goals and targets set by the government in the gas sector, he said these projects, when completed, would usher in an era of rapid economic development in the country.
ACQUISITION OF INDONESIAN MINES TO SECURE COAL SUPPLIES: TATA POWER
MUMBAI - Tata Power Company's (BSE:500400) acquisition of stake in two Indonesian coal mines last week is meant to feed its upcoming projects in the west coast such as Mundra and Trombay, a top company official said on Monday.
"The 30 per cent stake will get the company assured supplies of high quality coal at a preferential price," Tata Power managing director Prasad Menon said.
CHINA GEZHOUBA WINS CONTRACT FOR HYDROPOWER STATION IN NIGERIA
YICHANG - China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), the main constructor of the Three Gorges project, has won a contract to build the 2600 Megawatt (MW) Mambilla plateau hydropower station in Nigeria, the group announced on Monday.
The US$1.46 billion project is the largest hydroelectric power station Chinese companies have ever built in Africa, according to the group, which is based in Yichang city of central China's Hubei Province.
AUSTRALIAN GOVT AWARDS OIL/GAS EXPLORATION PERMITS
CANBERRA - Energy companies will spend more than A$1 billion (US$815.55 million) seeking oil and gas off the Australian coast after the government awarded 12 new offshore petroleum exploration permits today.
Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said the permits were for exploration areas off Western Australia, Tasmania and the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Indian Ocean.
CHINESE COAL BASE SHANXI TO COLLECT MONEY FOR SUSTAINABLE D'MENT
TAIYUAN - Coal producing enterprises will have to contribute to sustainable development in north China's Shanxi Province, China's leading coal producing province, according to local authorities.
The charge will reflect the quantity of resources utilized. Specific charges will include 14 yuan for a ton of steam coal, 18 yuan for a ton of anthracite coal and 20 yuan for a ton of coke.
CHINA WAITS FOR RIGHT TIME TO ADJUST REFINED OIL PRICING MECHANISM
CHENGDU - China is waiting for the right opportunity to adjust its refined oil pricing mechanism, according to a senior official on Monday.
Reform of the refined oil pricing mechanism is closely tied to international oil price fluctuations, said Chen Deming, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
CHINA'S OIL FIRMS CALLED TO BOOST OFFSHORE PRODUCTION
BEIJING - The country should look increasingly offshore to shore up dwindling onshore production, oil companies were told on Monday.
"The current offshore oil and gas exploration and production should focus on the Bohai Bay basin and the Pearl River estuary as the top priority," Pan Jiping, a senior researcher with the Ministry of Land and Resources, said at China Offshore Summit 2007.
PT BUMI RESOURCES SELLS 30% OF SHARES IN COAL UNITS TO TATA POWER
JAKARTA - PT Bumi Resources Tbk (JSX:BUMI), Indonesia's biggest coal exporter, has agreed to sell 30 per cent of its shares in two subsidiaries operating in coal business -- PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) and PT Arutmin Indonesia (Arutmin) -- to Tata Power Company Limited (BSE:500400).
"This cooperation will improve the company's future prospect to become a solid company and with Tata Power we are ready to expand to other areas of common interest," the president director of PT Bumi Resources, Ari Saptari Hudaya, said to newsmen here on Monday.
CHINA OKAYS 300,000 KW WIND POWER PROJECT IN INNER MONGOLIA
HOHHOT - China's National Development and Reform Commission has recently approved a 300,000 kilowatt wind power project in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The project is designed to produce 809.6 million kilowatt-hours of power a year.
CHINA UNDERTAKES DEEPWATER OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION PROJECT
GUANGZHOU - China has started a deepwater oil and gas exploration project, holding the first work conference to appraise the project and work out technical guidance and practical methods in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, recently.
According to the Guangzhou Ocean Geological Survey Bureau under the Ministry of Land and Resources, which heads the project, the continental slope of China's South China Sea has sound oil and natural gas prospects.
CHINA'S FUJIAN BOOSTS THERMAL POWER CAPACITY
FUZHOU - East China's coastal Fujian Province has built a number of thermal power plants near its deep ports to alleviate power shortage tension.
Statistics show that the province had installed power capacity of 22.04 million kilowatts (kw) by the end of 2006, up 4.42 million kw over 2005.
JINCHENG COAL TO BE CHINA'S LARGEST COALBED GAS LIQUIFYING BASE
TAIYUAN - Jincheng Coal Industrial Corporation will form a daily liquifying capacity of 1.25 million cubic metres of coal-bed gas in 2008, becoming the country's largest coal-bed gas liquifying base, according to Shanxi provincial bureau of land and resources.
The corporation plans to expand the utilization of coal-bed gas and accelerate the application of coal-bed gas in power generation.
CHINA BOOSTS WIND-DRIVEN POWER GENERATING CAPACITY
BEIJING - China's wind-driven power generating capacity will reach four million kw by the end of this year, according to Li Junfeng, secretary general of the China Association of Resources Comprehensive Utilization.
Capacity is expected to surpass the scheduled 2010 target of five million kilowatts next year.
SOUTHERN URANIUM LISTS ON AUSTRALIAN BOURSE AT HEFTY PREMIUM
MELBOURNE - Yellowcake spin-off Southern Uranium Ltd (ASX:SNU) has listed on the Australian sharemarket at more than double it offer price of 20 cents.
The listing follows an oversubscribed offering of 70 million shares to raise A$14 million (US$11.42 million), to fund an exploration drilling program starting in the middle of the year.
JAPAN OFFERS TO TRAIN 1,000 ENERGY EXPERTS
BANGKOK - Japan has offered to train 1,000 Asian energy officials over the next five years as part of its efforts to improve energy efficiency and adopt clean technologies in Asian countries.
Kotaro Tamura, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office for Economic and Fiscal Policy for Finances Services, said Japan would send 500 experts to assist Asian countries in energy efficiency.
MACQUARIE BANK URGES ALINTA TO ALLOW INDEPENDENT REPORT ON BID
PERTH - A Macquarie Bank Ltd (ASX:MBL) syndicate has challenged the board of Alinta Ltd (ASX:AAN) to allow an independent expert to evaluate its bid after the energy utility endorsed a rival bid for its assets.
Alinta recommended a A$7.4 billion (US$6 billion) takeover offer by a consortium led by investment bank Babcock & Brown Ltd (B&B) (ASX:BNB) and Singapore Power International (SPI) on Friday.
ORIGIN TO EXPAND COAL SEAM GAS OUTPUT FROM QUEENSLAND FIELD
MELBOURNE - Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) will spend another A$53 million (US$43.22 million) to expand coal seam gas (CSG) production from its Spring Gully field in Queensland by another 20 terajoules per day.
It also plans to build a reverse osmosis water treatment plant to assist in managing the water produced as part of the process of recovering coal seam gas (CSG).
INDONESIA'S BUMI PLANS TO PRODUCE 90 MLN TONNES OF COAL IN 2010
JAKARTA - PT Bumi Resources Tbk (JSX:BUMI), Indonesia's largest coal exporter, expects its coal production in 2010 to jump to 90 million metric tons from 53.5 million metric tons in 2006.
This year the company has set a target of producing 60 million metric tons of coal, chief of the company's board of commissioners Nalinkant Rathod said on Monday.
AUSTRALIAN TREASURER WARNS PETROL RETAILERS WHO COLLUDE
CANBERRA - Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says petrol retailers who collude to artificially jack up prices at the pump this weekend will be prosecuted.
Mr Costello says the consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has previously placed millions of dollars of fines on companies that had been found to be working with competitors.
INDIA'S PFC SEEKS AG'S VIEWS ON SASAN-LANCO CONTROVERSY
NEW DELHI - Power Finance Corporation (BSE:532810), the nodal agency for ultra mega power projects, has sought legal opinion on whether Lanco Infratech (BSE:532778) had violated the norms while bidding for the Rs 160 billion (US$3.7 billion) Sasan power project.
According to sources, PFC has asked the Attorney General and the Additional Solicitor General to give their views on alleged violations committed by Lanco Infratech, which won the project in partnership with Globeleq Singapore, hitherto 100 per cent subsidiary of Globeleq Ltd UK.
S.KOREAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES INTL DEAL FOR NUCLEAR FUSION ENERGY
SEOUL - The National Assembly on Monday passed a bill to ratify an international agreement to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor in France by the next decade, completing local steps to participate in the costly deal.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor agreement, signed last year, pushes for providing a clean and limitless source of energy that can replace fossil fuel. South Korea and six other members - Russia, China, the European Union (EU), the United States, India and Japan - signed the treaty that requires them to complete an experimental 500-megawatt thermonuclear reactor in Cadarache, southern France, by 2015.
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Document APULSE0020070403e343002xl
Containers of Life: Pottery and Social Relations in the Grassfields (Cameroon)
Forni, Silvia

8,311 words

1 April 2007

African Arts

PAAR

42

Volume 40; Issue 1; ISSN: 00019933

English

© 2007 African Arts. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Pottery production has been a central activity in the kingdom of Babessi since precolonial times. Used extensively as daily cookware, ritual containers, and prestige items throughout the western Grassfields region of Cameroon, Babessi pots have been part of a network of exchange of objects that has played a crucial role in defining regional cultural identity at least since the eighteenth century.1 As noted by many scholars, material culture is an essential element in the understanding of the commercial and competitive relationships among independent Grassfields kingdoms. This is particularly true of those items associated at various levels with hierarchical political power through which prestige and identity are defined.
Consistencies among regional cultures, then, should not be attributed to a common origin, but considered the result of an elaborate system of commercial and symbolic exchanges through which food, utensils, prestige objects and, in certain cases, institutions and meanings have circulated for centuries among independent polities (Fowler 1997:67).
Even though pottery is an art that is mostly associated with the sphere of domesticity and the realm of women, and thus not immediately associated with political power, Babessi is one of a number of pottery centers that acquired a special regional reputation between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries thanks to their production of ornate clay pipe heads and elaborate pots.2 Known for their particular strength and beauty, Babessi pots were sought after as ritual containers, medicine pots, or plates for notables and titleholders, even where locally produced pottery was normally employed in daily use. These pots have acquired functions and meanings specific to each locality.3 In Babessi they continue to be considered crucial as markers of local identity (FIG. 1).
In this article I analyze Babessi pots in light of recent scholarship concerning the inherently social nature of material culture (Appadurai 1986; Hardin 1995; Arnoldi, Geary, and Hardin 1996; Gell 1998). This perspective emphasizes the relevance that objects might acquire in their contexts of production and use, regardless of the labels attached to them once appropriated by others. In particular, art objects, Gell states (1998:171ff.), are "secondary agents," which do not have the capacity to initiate causal events through their will but that can amplify the effect of human intentionality, thus affecting their social and material milieus. Gell's view then shifts the locus of definition of art objects from their aesthetic or institutional dimension to their indexical quality, thus stressing their ability to affect the context in which they operate as agents.4 This particular perspective sheds light on the relevance of the relational dimension in understanding the form, the use, and ultimately the power of Babessi pots, which in virtue of their mode of production and of their function may become agents in particular circumstances.
Babessi pots, as with pots in other African settings (Barley 1994; Berns 1990, 1993; Berzock 2005; Gosselain 2002), are treated as people from the very onset of their making. In the Grassfields, this association persists throughout their social life, in which, as people, they continue to play a role as containers of substances that insure the prosperity of the society and the respect of its laws. From birth to death and beyond, pots are important agents in social life and are used in the majority of events that mark individual and community life passages. Pots also mediate physically and conceptually between genders, bringing together contrasting discourses of power-particularly the tension between male control over the reproduction of hierarchy and female generative powers-that otherwise are rarely expressed in the official narratives and accounts of local society.
Although these aspects may emerge in a variety of contexts, here I focus primarily on the production process and on selected instances that clearly show the role of pots as actual persons embedded in complex networks of social relations. The examples I have chosen show how Babessi pots are invested with variable functions and meanings, which are informed by the intention of their makers or, more frequently, by their social interactions. In these varied roles as "social agents," pots embody a broad set of shared meanings and practices, which reveal important facets of Babessi culture.
MAKING POTS, MAKING BABIES
When talking with my informants in the field about the ideal image of Babessi culture, pots are often described as the "work of women." This expression implies that they can be identified as women's distinctive contribution to the family's economy and the community's social life. As in many other kingdoms of the western Grassfields, women contribute to the household's economy primarily through farming, which provides the basis of livelihood and, in many cases, an important cash contribution to the family's finances. Pottery, however, defines the role of women in a way that is perceived to be intrinsically Babessi (FIG. 2). Until the 1940s-50s, all Babessi women were taught to mold clay pots. Even though many opted for other kinds of income-generating activities in their adult lives, each woman I interviewed recounted memories of the times spent working at her mother's side, helping with the collection of clay or with the firing of the pots. Young boys and men, on the other hand, would participate in the production of clay pots only as occasional helpers, and even then only in activities that are not directly connected to the shaping of the pot or its decoration.
Making clay pots, which is the most visible form of artistic production in Babessi, is considered the most appropriate "handwork" for women (FIG. 3), and the reason for this is often expressed in metaphysical terms. As many of my older female informants stated, pottery is a "gift of God to women" which underlines their importance in community life. Although women are for the most part excluded from the local power hierarchy and take no part in official decision-making processes, their fundamental social role as farmers, mothers, and potters is often stressed in conversations with men and women alike. Indeed, each of these three roles underlines the generative and nurturing role of women, whose ability to give and maintain life lies at the core of the wealth and power controlled by the male political hierarchy and of the community itself.
In Babessi, working with clay functions as a very strong metaphor for human reproduction. As noted by Nicolas Argenti, "It is not the forms of pots, but the technique of potting which is inherently procreational in the Grassfields" (1999:9). In Babessi this is true from the very onset of the process. The site where the clay is collected, called the mvoh, is equated to the king's inner room, the most private and sacred core of the palace. This is the place where the king (fwa) conceives the offspring who will insure the continuation and the vitality of the kingdom, carefully controlling the vital substance that warrants the existence and prosperity of the village (FIG. 4).5 In a similar way, the mvoh is a place of great potential where the material necessary for the production of pots-and, metaphorically, of people-is found.
The association between pots and people is expressed in many ways during the process of pottery making. The bottom of the pot (nyikuh) is in itself considered a potential person (FIG. 5). Magdalene V., an elderly Babessi potter, once explained to me
You were very lucky to be able to see how they make pots in this village. In the old times this would have not been easy, as strangers could not witness this process .... When god is molding man you cannot know the center of a human being. As god makes it you will not see, you just see the man when it is complete. That is why Babessi people did not want strangers to see how Babessi women were closing the bottoms of the pots.6
The bottom of the pot, with its symmetry, balance, and regularity, is like the "center of a human being," as Magdalene V. put it, that needs to be regarded with care because it contains the potential for human life. Once the process is initiated, in fact, the potter cannot decide to suspend it at her will, but must carry on the building and the modeling to its final form. Should a significant disruptive event occur to interrupt the process, such as an accident or the announcement of a relative's death, the potter may be forced to abandon the bottom before pulling up the walls. In this case the nascent pot cannot simply be thrown back with the rest of the clay and recycled: Either the potter calls on one of her friends or relatives to continue the work for her or, if that is not possible, the bottom is left in a corner until chance intervenes to damage it. Only cracked and broken pots can be recycled and remodeled.
Me boh, the verb used to refer to the molding of clay, is also used to describe the process going on in the womb during the first months of pregnancy. Like pots, children are "molded" in the womb thanks to the productive and reproductive abilities of women, who are perceived as transforming a soft malleable material into structured beings (FIG. 6). The firing process, like labor and delivery, is a critical phase in the making of pots (FIGS. 7-9). Although the vocabulary used to describe the two activities differs, many potters told me that having unfired pots is like being pregnant.7 One should never sell a pot before it is fired, as "one cannot show a baby before she has delivered." Indeed many factors could still jeopardize the outcome of the firing. During this period, one should be very careful to avoid quarrels and fights, or even engage in any sort of conversation while placing the pots on the fire. Jealousy, witchcraft, and evil forces may be particularly dangerous during this liminal phase and contribute to the destruction of long hours of productive work. It is only after the pot has been removed from the embers and sprinkled with ntse (the red, bloodlike liquid that gives to the pot its final "skin")8 that the work of the potter can be assessed and her "delivery" considered successful (FIG. 10). According to Lydia T., "It is just like when you deliver and you hear the baby crying. Then you can be happy that you have given birth."9
POWER AND FORMS
Once fired, pots start their lives as social objects and acquire a multiplicity of meanings and roles. While many are used for cooking and serving food, as storage containers or to cook traditional medicines, certain pots acquire a more distinctive social agency. By virtue of their primary function, Babessi pots undergo a number of semantic transformations over the course of their lives depending on the occasion. In certain ways, then, the plasticity of clay and its potential to adapt to different needs continues even after the vessels are fired.
As in many parts of Africa, Babessi sacred and ceremonial pots are often identical in form to their domestic counterparts (cf. Barley 1994, Berns 2000, Spindel 1989) and it is only through their use that one is able to determine the functions and meanings of the vessels. Cooking pots, which are generally decorated with a simple pattern made by a roulette,10 may become containers used in a variety of ways both domestic and ritual. More elaborate anthropomorphic and zoomorphic relief decorations embellish the surfaces of water pots, wash basins, and palm wine pots, whether destined for private use or for public display.
The application of the decoration generally follows a strict sequence that can take from one to four hours, depending on the commission and the inventiveness and skill of the potter. First, she delineates the space for the decoration through the application of two fine parallel coils (koke, meaning 'belt' or 'necklace') just below the neck of the pot. Within that space, the potter then composes the decorative program, choosing a subject and the patterns she prefers. Once the space between the koke is smoothed with the