China, hao bu hao

Twitter in China: blocked but used extensively

Reva — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:03:00 GMT

A great article in The New Yorker about Ai Weiwei, an artist and activist in China. Ai Weiwei: "It's Not Beautiful"

In a sense, he's just your typical artist: a guy who likes attention and uses the neurotic, control-frenzied government to stay in the limelight. I love him anyway.

Twitter is blocked in China, but he accesses via an offshore server and twitters constantly. He has invited his Twitter followers in China to join him for dinner and hundreds of Twitter followers have showed up at the restaurant for dinner. So do the police. He watches them watching him and twitters. This is not about popularity; it's about breaking through the internet firewalls in China. It's about forcing the formation of a more open society. I love this guy.

Ai Weiwei's wife hates this photo

Reva — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:46:00 GMT

I hate this photo too. This is Ai Weiwei, a Beijing artist, the artist who contributed to the design of the Birds Nest built for the 2008 Olympics. Go here to read about him: Beijing artist blog . He is not part of the comfy, happy China visited on the tours (no artist is). He is one of the Chinese who is pushing the government to evolve and open up. This is his photo, taken by himself (this is art, however some of his art is a good deal better) that I copied from www.Socialtext.net

After a 10 month block, Xinjiang province is back online

Reva — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:00:00 GMT

I had no idea this was going on. Months ago, I found the name of a Uyghur friend on facebook and sent him a friend request. When he didn't answer, I thought something was up, but I didn't know how entirely it was up.

I didn't know that internet service had been blocked after ethnic rioting in Xinjiang province in July 2009. Even email was unavailable until late 2009. People who needed email for their jobs or businesses had to leave the province. Full Internet service wasn't restored until Friday, May 14, 2010. Xinjiang was without internet access for ten long months as reported in the New York Times .

The rioting was tragic, many Han were killed, and while I grieve this, I understand the Uyghur's anger.

A Han father who migrated to Urumqi at the encouragement of the government lost his son and only child in the rioting when the son went out to rescue the fruit cart - the family business. I saw these Han people when I traveled in Xinjiang and they were hard-working, poor people who had uprooted from their impoverished villages in the hopes of making a decent living in Xinjiang. The bereft father in this article says, "This place would be nothing without the Han."

I disagree. According to the Uyghurs, it was their country before China annexed it in 1948. The Uyghurs had their own language, their own culture, their own government. That's why they're fighting mad.
Photo courtesy of New York Times

Han Han went missing

Reva — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Had a fright last week when Handsome Boy, a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota, emailed me that Han Han's blog had been blocked by the Chinese government. I wasn't surprised; I've been expecting this to happen. So, I went to www.chinadigitaltimes.net and followed a link to Han Han's blog posts in the Chinese host, sina.com and there he was. I emailed Handsome Boy. He was able to find Han Han, too, but some of Han Han's blog posts had disappeared.

So, the good-looking intellectual and race car driver is still blogging. Wonderful!

It's amazing that he's been able to go on as long as he has with his criticisms of the government . I've attributed it to the improvement of China's government, a loosening up, a sanctioned openness and realization that the populace has been awakened and must be appeased.

Maybe I'm overly optimistic; I sure sound naïve.

Maybe Handsome Boy is right: Han Han has a relationship with someone in the government who protects him.

We don't know. But we keep reading the Han Han - Handsome Boy reads the original Chinese and I read a translation - for the news that otherwise doesn't get reported in China.

More about Han Han, one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world

Reva — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:50:00 GMT

Last Saturday, I had lunch with a Chinese graduate student who I hosted two years ago. She's a clever, friendly, unpretentious young woman. We hadn't seen each other since fall, so our conversation was polite and stumbling until I asked her if she read Han Han's blog in China. Her face lit up. "You know about Han Han?" She was delighted. "He is my idol!"

My turn to be delighted. I just posted about him a week or so ago after reading about him in www.chinadigitaltimes.net . My student reads his blogs regularly, as do many Chinese of his generation. He is the new voice in China.

She tried to tell me about him, but although her English is good, it was not quite good enough to allow her to express herself. There was so much to say about Han Han! I understand. The English needed for a degree in biostatistics is less than the English needed to talk about culture and philosophy. She did praise him as a writer, saying he is brave and clever. She did talk about the need for more freedom of speech and information in China. She was excited about his way of writing that exposed the censorship and she tried at length to tell me how he writes information in such a way as to slip past the censors. She said it is necessary to check the internet often because an article will be posted then blocked, however the readers who saw it will spread its information to each other even after the article has been blocked.

I told my student that Han Han is an intellectual, handsome and - this is true - a race car driver; he is too good to be true. We had a language gap for a moment. Her brow furrowed. I quickly explained that I know he IS true, but he is so amazing, it is like he is too amazing to be true. Okay, it is hard to explain some figures of speech . . .

I found an article about Han Han in China Daily. It's dated 8/20/2009.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/20/content_8592410.htm

Buddhist monks and nuns told to leave earthquake zone

Reva — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:42:00 GMT

A story in the Guardian.co.uk Monks told to leave earthquake zone reports the Buddhist lamas have been told to cease their relief efforts and return to the monasteries. Woeser, a Beijing-based Tibetan poet and activist, said that Han and Tibetan acquaintances stated the orders were very strict but a reason for leaving was not given. "Local officials told them through translators in Tibetan: 'You've done everything already. You've done too much. You have to leave Yushu now, otherwise there will be trouble.'"

That last phrase is ominous.

Tibetan monks hand out bottled water from a relief truck in Jiegu following the recent earthquake. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

Help has arrived and it's the army - pay no attention to those monks and nuns handing out food!

Reva — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:22:00 GMT

This partial article is from 4/21/2010 New York Times. Following internet courtesy, I do not have the entire article here. For the whole article go to: An Official Mourning in China for Quake Victims
The article describes how the Chinese government has declared a national day of grieving - which is honorable, however domestic media coverage has been tightly controlled and reporters have been instructed to focus on the heroism of official rescue workers and to not write stories about the Buddhist monks and nuns who are doing rescue work. This earthquake is on the Tibetan plateau. The government apparently does not want Tibetan Buddhism to look heroic.

Every thing I learned about institutional racism in China enlightened me on racism in the USA. The banners declaring, "Whether Han or Tibetan, we are one family," is one of those experiences. Having traveled with a minority person in China, I know this is essentially a crock. Another word: propaganda. But previously, I would read that kind of banner in the USA and believe it meant we were committed to equality, civil rights for all, etc. I do believe we have made great progress, and demographics - the rapidly growing populations of people of color - will keep us moving forward.

Associated Press

BEIJING — In an elaborately orchestrated outpouring of grief, China on Wednesday mourned the victims of the earthquake in western Qinghai Province by printing monochromatic newspapers, shutting karaoke parlors and canceling sporting events across the country.

The quake, which struck a week ago and killed more than 2,000 people, devastated Jiegu, a high-altitude Tibetan city that sits atop a plateau where the thin air and remoteness have bedeviled rescue efforts. More than 12,000 people were injured, and as many as 100,000 survivors have been left homeless.

The national day of grieving on Wednesday, not unlike the one in 2008 for those killed during a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, was sweeping and in some cases compulsory. . . . . . .

Sitting before a backdrop that said “We are together,” newscasters introduced scenes of mourning from across the nation: rows of uniformed police officers clutching candles, disheveled quake survivors weeping in the rubble and hundreds of students in raincoats forming the words “We love Yushu,” the name of the county that was hit hardest by the quake.

The programming was the same on every channel. . . . . Although the Qinghai death toll is far smaller than the 90,000 who died in Sichuan, the government’s aggressive relief effort in Jiegu, the breathless coverage in the official media and the organized bereavement underscored the Communist Party’s determination to rally the nation and transform the disaster into a showcase of the party’s benevolence and resolve.

In recent days, Beijing has promised to spend $161 million on relief efforts, and more than 10,000 soldiers, police officers and emergency workers have made the arduous journey to the quake zone, which sits 13,000 feet above sea level. Relief convoys were so thick earlier this week that they caused a 24-hour jam on the only road that links Jiegu to the provincial capital 500 miles away. Would-be volunteers have been ordered to stay away.

Given that most of the victims were ethnic Tibetans, the earthquake has also presented leaders of the party an opportunity to show its softer side to a citizenry that is sometimes at odds with the Han-dominated government in Beijing. Newspaper headlines have emphasized ethnic unity in the face of tragedy. Banners draped across military relief trucks declared, “Whether Han or Tibetan, we are all one family.”

Domestic media coverage has been tightly controlled, with reporters instructed to focus on the heroism of rescue workers and to avoid stories about the thousands of Buddhist monks who dug through debris or handed out food from the trunks of cars. Even the daylong broadcast of mourning on Wednesday excluded any images of the monks, whose crimson-and-marigold robes have been a ubiquitous sight on the streets of Jiegu. . . . .

Although some Chinese reporters who raced to Jiegu after the quake were later instructed to leave, others said they were allowed to work unimpeded. Pang Jiaoming, an investigative journalist, said that there were some restrictions but that those who made it to Jiegu were able to write a wide variety of stories. There were exceptions, however.

“We really had no way to touch on the ethnic and religious issues,” he said.

Foreign reporters who covered the earthquake say they experienced little government interference.

In an interview on Wednesday, Woeser, an influential Tibetan blogger who is in frequent contact with people in the earthquake zone, said several monks told her that they had been ordered to leave Jiegu in recent days, although such accounts could not be immediately confirmed.

“I think the government sees them as competitors for the hearts of the people,” Ms. Woeser said. . . . . .

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting. Zhang Jing and Xiyun Yang contributed research.

Han Han: a voice of change for China's yellow generation?

Reva — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:07:00 GMT

Southern Metropolis Daily: Let Us All Vote for Han Han

This partial article is from the Southern Metropolis Daily Despite most of my experience in China and my reading about the nationalism of young Chinese, dissent exists and a longing for more freedom of speech has a strong foothole in China.

After dealing with the Internet giant Google’s challenge to their authority, the Chinese government is now facing another, potentially even greater, challenge: the blogger Han Han. Time Magazine’s selection of Han Han to its most influential 100 list, and his subsequent response, has become the focus of attention and debate in China, online and off. Han Han is a homegrown rebel. He turned down an acceptance to the prestigious Fudan University to become financially independent through his best-selling books and car racing career. Han Han now writes the most popular blog in China; despite – and perhaps because of – the fact that many of his blog posts are deleted by censors for their sharp critical tone, his following continues to grow. But Han Han is not simply a critic of the government; he has articulated a sense of justice, honesty, and compassion that his readers deeply relate to in today’s Chinese society. He has become a voice of change for the young generation.

When Time Magazine nominated him as a candidate for their 100 list, he responded with a passionate post which points his pen directly at the heart of the regime. The post garnered 20,000 comments, overwhelmingly supportive. And so Han Han is providing a new test for the authorities. In the past two decades, authorities have never allowed dissident figures a public space to express themselves or given them any recognition, even through public criticism. But Han Han’s following is too massive for them to simply ban or ignore, and so the battle will have to be fought in a more subtle way. In recent days, the authorities have used their propaganda machine – including People’s Daily and Xinhua – to send a message that Han Han and his fans do not represent China. People’s Daily, for example, ran a voter poll in which one question asked: “Do you think Han Han can represent China?” And the answer choices included:

-Absolutely can’t represent
-Can only partially represent
-Unclear

Obviously, such a choice would force even his most ardent supporters to answer that Han Han “only partially” represents China. At the same time, all commercial Internet portals have been given instructions from propaganda officials not to set up Han Han as a topic page or poll. The Great Firewall has also established “Han Han” + “Time” as blocked keywords.

But Han Han’s millions of fans are not his only allies in this battle. In a testament to the true influence of Han Han, some reform-minded media have taken the unusual step of publicly taking sides. On April 11, Southern Metropolitan Daily published an editorial calling on its readers to vote for Han Han in the Time poll. Excerpts translated by CDT:

Because the darkness is too thick and heavy, the ray of light that is Han Han is being treated as total light. Actually, Han Han is only trying to be himself. He does not have privilege. Publication of his magazine is being constantly set back and his blog posts are often deleted. We never know if someday his name will become another sensitive word. His discontentment is many people’s discontentment. His ideals are being buried in the earth. He is surrounded by 300 million clicks, but as Chen Danqing said, he is alone and lonely. When everyone puts their own hope on Han Han’s shoulders, that is the time he is most lonely without support.

[...] Han Han produced a one-man racket, in contrast to the silence of so many. This is not the way it should be. The key to change is not in Han Han’s hands, it’s in everybody’s hands. The sound of hope is in the footsteps of everyone moving forward. Han Han’s value is to provide a reference to remind everyone one has to save himself and to find their lost courage and tenacity facing a gloomy life. How can one expect a writer and race car driver to save you? Han Han is lonely, fighting this battle by himself. Han Han does not lack people to worship him, he just needs co-travelers.

[...] Let us all give our vote to Han Han. This vote is not for the public intellectual Han Han, nor is it for opinion leader Han Han. Rather, it is a vote for an explorer who clearly defines his distance from the system. Vote for a sensitive young man who inspired people to look for their true self. At this moment, the identity of Han Han has no importance here. Voting for him is not voting for someone else, but voting for yourself. It’s voting for everyone who can be called human. Whether his name is Han Han or another name makes no difference.

Brain Drain to China

Reva — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:28:00 GMT

Today, The New York Times ran a story about U.S. educated Chinese scientists who are returning to China. Shi Yigong, pictured above, is a naturalized American citizen and 18 year resident of the U. S. He resigned from the faculty of Princeton University to become the dean of life sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

This should not be surprising considering the growth of China's economy and the resultant national pride. Also, China's government has been wisely increasing its spending on research and development for the last decade.

Nontheless, returning to the homeland has its trials. From the article:
The tension has spilled over into the Chinese blogosphere, where Dr. Shi has been attacked as insincere and untrustworthy. In a posting in 2008, Liu Zhongwu, a professor of science and engineering at South China University of Technology, said that Dr. Shi should be excluded from any projects that touch on China’s national interests. “Bear in mind, he is a foreigner,” he wrote.

It will be an uphill battle, but an exciting challenge. Dr. Shi said,

“In the United States, everything is more or less set up. Whatever I do here, the impact is probably tenfold, or a hundredfold.”

China is luring scientists home

What did Jackie Chan say and what did he mean by it?

Reva — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:12:00 GMT

Here's Jackie with his son, Jaycee. Jackie Chan set off a hail of critcism recently by saying, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled," during an economic conference on Hainan Island. "If we are not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."
Jackie Chan Strikes a Chinese Nerve   According to The New York Times, the comment was considered extremely insulting in Hong Kong and Taiwan, especially, but also on mainland China. A spokesman for Jackie insisted the comments were taken out of context.

I wonder.

He's an avowed patriot. He sang at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and denounced the protesters who interrupted the torch relay.   No doubt he's brown-nosing the Chinese authorities. Democracy is not on the government's near future agenda. Economic growth and continued power are. I also heard from my students in China that too much freedom is not a good thing, leading to disharmony and instability. Same as stated in the NYT article.

I also wonder at the outcry against his comments. They really surprise me. Of course the NYT article mostly quotes sources in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Taiwan is a democracy and Hong Kong, though controlled by China, has more freedom than mainland China. Here in the west, we often don't distinguish between these Chinese places, though they are separate entities and vastly different.

Neither in my time in China, nor in later internet comments from young Chinese have I heard demands for democracy. The young demand respect from the West for China; they demand the West stop using democracy as a standard for good government; they state that China will have its own system of government that will be distinctly Chinese.

Yes, there are those on the mainland who long for democracy, but realistically, I expect only a few will risk instability for it. And frankly, if life keeps improving, as it has for the Chinese over the last two plus decades, why make a change?

China muscles its way about Africa

Reva — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:15:00 GMT

Europe and the U.S. have abandoned Africa. China has swiftly moved in with financial aid. In return? Read the following article.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg this week, hoping to keep good relations with trading partner China but instead generating a storm of criticism.

Friday's peace conference was organized by South African soccer officials to highlight the first World Cup to be held in Africa, which South Africa will host in 2010.

But because the Dalai Lama isn't being allowed to attend, it is now being boycotted by fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President F.W. de Klerk as well as members of the Nobel Committee.

"It is disappointing that South Africa, which has received so much solidarity from the world, doesn't want to give that solidarity to others," Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad told The Associated Press in Oslo, referring to the decades-long fight against apartheid.

An eclectic mix of Nobel laureates, Hollywood celebrities and other dignitaries are coming to discuss issues ranging from combating racism to how sports can unite people and nations.

But Thabo Masebe, spokesman for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said a high-profile visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader would have distracted from the conference's focus.

"South Africa would have been the source of negative publicity about China," he said Monday. "We do value our relationship with China."

China's largest trading partner in Africa
South Africa is China's largest trading partner on a continent in which China is heavily and increasingly involved.

Tamu Matose, a spokeswoman for Tutu, told the AP that Tutu would not attend "because of the Dalai Lama issue." Tutu was quoted Sunday as calling the barring "disgraceful."

"(South Africa) should admit anyone with a legitimate and peaceful interest and should not take political decisions on who should, and who should not, attend," de Klerk said Monday, announcing he also would skip the conference.

The Norwegian government said it "regrets" the South African decision, and was considering whether to withdraw.

However, the South African Communist Party backed the move, saying March was a particularly sensitive time for a visit.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet's regional capital, and 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after Chinese troops crushed a Tibetan uprising.

China claims Tibet as part of its territory, but many Tibetans say Chinese rule deprives them of religious freedom and autonomy. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence and fomenting anti-Chinese protests.

South Africa decided last month to refuse to issue an official invitation, without which, Masebe said, the Dalai Lama cannot visit.

Masebe said the spiritual leader had been welcomed twice previously in South Africa and would be welcome again in the future — but "not now, when the whole world is looking at South Africa." for the entire article: S. Africa bars Dalai Lama from peace forum

A bibliography for today's China - We need to know this place

Reva — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:37:00 GMT

I recently finished a book proposal for my manuscript I Ran Away to China: Three Years in the Next Superpower. I needed to make a list of the competition - nonfiction books about China that indicate there is a reading public for my book. I have been reading everything about China that I can get my hands on for several years, so I was astonished to find many recently published books I hadn't heard of. And I was pleased. American publishers are "catching the wave," to use a phrase popular with my Chinese students in 2001.

I've read some of these books. For the books that I haven't read, I gleaned descriptions from reviews. There is a fabulous array, from humorous travel stories to indepth journalistic reports to academic discourses. I've divided them into two categories, the first are books about China in general, the second are about Xinjiang province and Uyghur people, my special interest.

An Abbreviated Bibliography on China

Chinese entrepreneurs see an opportunity with Obama

Reva — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:17:00 GMT

In Shanghai, Malcolm Moore writes for The Telegraph on Nov. 7, 2008 Chinese entrepreneurs get Obama-mania

China's state media has been exuberant about Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential election.

China's State Trademark Bureau has received official applications from 16 companies so far, keen to exploit Mr Obama's popularity both in China and abroad.

Polls in China before the election found overwhelming support for Mr Obama, and the state media has been exuberant in the wake of his victory.

"We are elated at the landslide victory," said an editorial in China Daily, the state English-language newspaper. "We wish him all the best in re-energizing the world's largest economy with his brand new ideas and vision," it added.

T-shirts emblazoned with the three Chinese characters for "Obama" sold briskly before the election and factories have already started producing a range of Obama merchandise.

In the famously entrepreneurial and cut-throat coastal city of Wenzhou, a trademark application was made by an unnamed shoe manufacturer in March, according to the Oriental Morning Post newspaper. The paper quoted employees who said the idea came from their boss "who believes there is great market value in the name".

The company asked for the right to emblazon "Mei Obama", or "American Obama" on belts, jackets, children's clothes and shoes.

In Guangzhou, a pharmaceutical company was the first to register "Obama" in February as a brand name for its lines of iodine, surgical spirit and traditional medicine. Meanwhile, requests for "Barack Obama" have come from companies producing instant noodles, coffee and even wooden logs.

None of the applications has so far been approved, and the likelihood of success is slim: all politician's names are censored in China. To get around the block, some companies are already producing clothes marked "Aobama", which is phonetically similar in Chinese.

Mr Obama's half brother, Mark Ndesandjo, lives in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen, where he runs an internet company that promotes cheap Chinese exports to the United States. The company, called Worldnexus, helps Chinese companies set up websites for foreign customers. Mr Ndesandjo is the son of Mr Obama's late father and his third wife, Ruth Nidesand.

Meanwhile, there was also some evidence that the drama of the American election had electrified certain segments of Chinese society to push for a democratic process of its own. Wu Xinbo, vice president of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said the result sent "a very encouraging signal to the world". He added: "In many regards, the US represents more progressive ideas which China could learn from. China should have its own traditions, its own ways, but should not view this [democratic] system as alien to its own cultural values. It should be open-minded."

Obama prevails!!!!

Reva — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:55:00 GMT

Here in America, I am ecstatic! We have weathered through an 8 year nightmare of failed policies instigated by authoritarian leaders who hated democracy. Nonetheless, democracy has saved us! Barack Obama is pragmatic, thoughtful, smart and honest.

Below is a report from China that I have reprinted from Reuters http://ww.reuters.com

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - China welcomed Barack Obama as a youthful president-elect with the energy to tackle the financial crisis now threatening its economy and an ethnic heritage that could help America reach out to the rest of the world.

Excitement about the billion dollar race filtered down to the streets of Beijing on Wednesday, where ordinary Chinese citizens who have never voted themselves and some who could not even name the candidates embraced Obama's message of change.

"The black guy is a good choice, he has so much more energy than the other one, who was far too old," said Han Xue, a new father who runs a small cigarette and alcohol store and followed the results on a television behind the counter.

The dramatic victory, in which Obama carried some states that had not voted for his Democratic party in decades, was a major boost to America's reputation.

"I am very happy U.S. history was made. I think in a lot of Chinese people's eyes America was a racist country, even today the television said that white people wouldn't vote for Obama," said Li Nan, a student at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"I think that a lot of Chinese will change their mind now."

But gathering economic storm clouds, which threaten to undermine decades of rapid growth, mean the economic policies of the next leader of the United States are almost as big a concern in Beijing as they were in polling booths across America.

"Obama may be more ideological and that could be less good for China in terms of trade," said Wang Hongtao, an Obama supporter studying for a doctorate at the Central Party School in Beijing, and following the results at an embassy election party.

Belt-tightening by U.S. consumers as their economy flounders has hit Chinese exporters hard in the "factory of the world," even though strict controls have protected its banks from the worst of the financial tsunami swamping foreign competitors.

"Officials say there is no impact, but you only have to look around to see that the crisis is already affecting us," said retiree and firm Obama supporter Yu Ze, during a break from a ping-pong game in a Beijing park.

"It's better to have a young person with the energy to handle this. We are a little worried about his position on trade issues, but we think his vice-president really understands China."

Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, is a foreign policy veteran, chosen partly for his years of experience.

TREAT US AS EQUALS

Many Chinese hope Obama's message of unity and respect, and his promise not to demonise China, will usher in a new era for U.S. ties with the emerging Asian giant.

"Obama needs to treat China as an equal, he needs to respect what we are doing and what we have achieved. Bush was too pushy," said 24-year-old English teacher Wu Shan.

Chinese Communist leaders have long believed that the United States is determined to subvert and overturn its one-party rule, a theory reinforced by President George W. Bush's support for pro-Western "colour revolutions" in ex-Soviet states.

And many ordinary Chinese see Western criticisms of their country as a product of fear and envy over its rise, and worry they will try and hold back further development.

"The president needs to understand that China is still a developing country," said Guo Jie, a student of Japanese.

In general though, the outgoing administration is less unpopular in China than many other parts of the world.

"Actually, Bush's presidency was quite good for China in many ways," said street-cleaning supervisor Wang Erxiao, citing expanded trade and adding he would have been happy to see Republican candidate John McCain continue his party's free-trade legacy.

But in a country where getting involved in politics has long been a recipe for trouble, many ordinary Chinese were steering well clear of a vote taking place thousands of miles away.

"Politics gives me a headache," said taxi driver Li Hong with a grin. "I stick to entertainment shows on my radio."

I meet Han Shan on the St. Paul Art Crawl

Reva — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:28:00 GMT

Saturday, I went on the Lower Town Art Crawl. I was with friends Shelley and Betsy. I got waylaid by heated glass earrings and Betsy was grabbed by an artist's spinal xrays. When we found Shelley, she was talking to videographer Mike Hazard. He and Deb Wallwork have co-directed a film called Cold Mountain. It will be released Fall 2008.

The film is about Han Shan, a famous Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. Mike writes:

Over a thousand years ago, a man laughed up and down the slopes of a cold mountain in China. He wrote poems on trees and walls of caves and on leaves. He limped. He sported a birch-bark hat, big wooden clogs, a patched robe, a pigweed staff and a demeanor interpreted by others as craziness.

He was Han Shan, and he wrote poems for everyone, not just the educated elite. A man free of spiritual conceit, it is unclear whether or not he was a monk, whether he was a Buddhist or a Taoist or both.

By great good luck, we flew to Japan and China to videotape a story about Han Shan, also known as Cold Mountain. We interviewed Burton Watson and Red Pine, two of his key translators. Then we recorded with Gary Snyder, whose Han Shan translations he published in his first book.

Mike and Deb's website is at: http://www.thecie.org/ Scroll down to Sept. 10, 2008 for Han Shan.

What the Chinese need and want: they know, we don't

Reva — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:28:00 GMT

The resounding lesson from my travels in China and experiences with Chinese people outside of China are that Chinese people want to determine the future of China.

Whether they support or object to the Chinese government, whether they long for democracy or distrust it, they resent Americans telling them things are wrong in China and China needs democracy and needs it now.

Our road is democracy, the Chinese are on their own road.

My reply to my commentators

Reva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:18:00 GMT

(#3) On September 5, 2008, Reva Rasmussen says:

Tom,
I very much appreciate your comments and concerns. I had been reading about Amy Goodman and all the arrests everyday. I understand that those arrests are a danger to us and the news is true.

I also assure you that my story is true. It was astonishing to me when I got home to hear of the riots because they happened while I was not far from that area. Just goes to show that one cannot know what is happening when one relies only on your own experience.

My point was that I saw 10,000 people peacefully marching. The reason I asked police to take their photo initially was because I could see how tense they were. It's always good to approach tense people carefully. Maybe we should not have to, but it's reality. Also, I wanted to keep thinking of the police as people like me, and remind them that I was a real human being. That's why I kept talking to them all day.

On our way home, my student and I stopped at the Guantanamo Cell at West 7th street and Walnut street. Amnesty International gave us a full explanation of the unlawful detentions and torture that have taken place in the name of democracy.

I lived in China for 3 years. I was in China during the WTO meetings in Seattle in the year 2000 (or was it 2001?). China did a fabulous job covering what dissent looks like. I will never forget the photo in the Chinese newspaper of police in full riot gear clubbing demonstrators. Underneath was the headline in Chinese and English: This is democracy. Most Chinese think democracy is a joke. They don't believe that 10,000 demonstrators can march for peace and make fun of our leaders. We did this on Labor Day. Despite the rioting elsewhere, we made fun on the hooligans.

In American we are still struggling to practice democracy and free speech. I explained to my student that the Bush administration has attacked democracy in America. I said in my article that free speech is difficult to live up to, even to those of us who are totally committed to it.

By the way, my student was offended by the article. She states that although she understands we have more freedom in America, no country is perfect and the Chinese are proud of China. She was not there to learn about democracy and why can't Americans accept the Chinese having a different system?

All I can conclude about all the above experiences is that we must guard free speech and keep working at tolerating each others' thoughtful or even thoughtless opinions. We need to respect those countries that don't have and don't want democracy. We need to keep talking.

Reva

Readers comments on my description of a Chinese student outside the RNC

Reva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:13:00 GMT

#1 On September 3, 2008, beryl knudson says:

This was an interesting article; a guided tour for one student from China through the streets of downtown St Paul; site of many demonstrations of dissent the last few days and more to come. It was like a "Dick and Jane" version of what-happens-here...'Dick' being the cop, and 'Jane' being the protestor.

All I can say is...run Spot run.

What was missed was what could have been one great souvenir for the observing foreign student...one of those empty tear gas containers rattling in the gutter near Mears Park.

(#2) On September 4, 2008, Tom Poe says:

Some would call the article, interesting. I call it appalling, if true. Hopefully, Reva will have the good sense to have the Chinese student type in the URL, wwww.democracynow.org and spend a few minutes watching, reading, listening to Amy Goodman's account of her arrest during the time she was on her tour.

I hope Reva takes a moment, and visits the site, twitter.com/coldsnaplegal, and reads back to the posts that were coming in while she was touring the dissent. I really hope Reva makes time to take her Chinese student to their offices, and discusses the topic of dissent in our country, today. It's a great responsibility to host a Chinese student. It's even greater responsibility to be honest. In America, we don't have to ask a policeman for permission to take their photo.

Showing free speech to a Chinese student outside the Republican National Convention

Reva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:43:00 GMT

Labor Day I took a Chinese student to downtown St. Paul. It was the first day of the Republican National Convention and a Peace March was planned and I was worried; maybe there would be riots.  I offered to take her to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, instead but she knew the RNC was an historical event and she wanted to go. I was pleased. I wanted to show her America and nothing is more American than a Peace March. The following is my account which I published in www.MinnPost.com on September 3, 2008.

http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2008/09/03/3296/outside_the_rnc_showing_free_speech_to_a_chinese_student

On Labor Day I was at home cooking supper with a graduate student from China when we heard on the radio about riots in downtown St. Paul. We looked at each other in shock. We had just returned from downtown, where I had proudly shown my visiting student America’s best example of democracy: Americans of different races and beliefs peacefully protesting government policies. It was a message I had tried to communicate to my students when I’d taught in China, and I had utterly failed. They had flatly disbelieved me.

I now was hosting a student from China who was eager to see the events surrounding the Republican National Convention. I had worried when we arrived in Rice Park at 1 p.m. about getting caught up in violence, but there was no hint of it. My student excitedly took photos of the MSNBC broadcast stage outside Landmark Center.

“All these people out here,” she observed. “In China, when leaders meet; no one can come.” She then wondered if she could take photos of the many police and security people.

I’ve lived in China and I understand taking photos can get you into trouble. I also saw that our own police and security people looked tense. I stepped forward, hands open in the universal show of no weapon, and asked an officer if my student from China could take his photo. He was pleased, but he wanted to know if he should smile or look tough.

“Smile,” I said. “You're representing America.” He seemed perplexed for a moment, and then he beamed.

A gasp at signs for Falun Gong
We strolled around Rice Park until my student gasped at the sight of a couple of women with signs supporting Falun Gong. When I stopped to take their literature, one woman explained about the persecution of the followers of Falun Gong in China. When she realized my student was Chinese, she made it very clear she was not against the Chinese people, but against the Chinese regime. My student listened with a furrowed brow and took the literature.

Around the corner, we were offered free hats and a disc with a photo of Michael Moore looking happy on the cover. “What's it about?” I asked. The two young men explained it was a very funny movie that gave an alternative to the liberal bias of the media. I told them I didn't agree there was a liberal bias and explained why. They listened closely and looked a bit shaken. I assured them I would watch the movie and said we must always keep talking to each other - always. They happily agreed. When we were out of earshot, my student examined the disc, frowned and asked if it was legal. I assured her it was.

I knew a peace march was scheduled but saw no sign of it, so I consulted a park ranger. “Be careful if you go in that direction,” he admonished. In fact, I was quite worried about getting caught in a crowd. When panic sets in, people get foolish. However, I can’t imagine a better way to learn about democracy than watching American protesters. It didn’t take long to find the mass of peace marchers.

My student was thrilled. No wonder, because it was real America, a beautiful nation of disagreement.
Amazing array of issues
Some of the marchers were marching against the Iraqi war; others carried a huge inflated world to represent environmental issues. There were Oromos demanding Ethiopia get out of their country, Code Pink demanding America get out of Iraq. Somalis carried a sign I couldn’t read; a group of Hmong people marched for immigrant rights. Along came George W. Bush dressed as a groom holding the hand of John McCain dressed as his bride. My student was amazed.

“Is it legal?”

“Yes it’s legal.”

Out came her camera and we stepped into the march to get a good photo. We returned to the curb. Above us was one helicopter. “Security?” she asked. “Yup,” I replied. She was impressed. “If this was China, there would be 20 helicopters above.”

Then we watched Israelis with a cause written in Hebrew; a few Jews for Jesus; people representing President Bush, Vice President Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wearing prisoner stripes and chained together; and angry-looking people carrying black banners written in another language. I had to jump into the march again to ask them what they were saying; it was a list of names of allied Iraqis who had died in Iraq.

Police looked tense
No one was getting unruly, but I saw the police were tense and had lined up shoulder to shoulder blocking cross roads. I thought it was an extraordinary number of police, but my student disagreed. “There would be many more in China.”

We walked miles in downtown St. Paul on Labor Day. We saw some 10,000 people in the march and walls of police - and all were peaceful. I only saw one man and woman, dressed in very good clothes, arguing with the police. The man and woman had badges on lanyards around their necks. They were trying to cross the police line, but the police would not allow them, despite their angry admonishments to allow them to get back to the convention. That was the first time that day that I thanked the police for their work.

“It's hard work,” I said, “Thanks for doing it.” Their faces softened; they nodded, appreciative. I quickly took my student to the other side of the street; I was worried there would be trouble.

A long walk home
We had to take a long, circuitous route back to my car, as the police would not allow us to walk back to the Rice Park area. We didn’t mind. My student was thrilled with her photos; she plans to send them to her friends in China. Along the way, I often thanked the police. I saw men and women doing a hard job, standing tensely with heavy gear fastened to their uniforms on a hot day. They had to be ready to take action but do nothing for hours. It’s a strain on a human being.

During the three years I taught in China I longed for dissent; I hungered for the cacophony of American voices in disagreement. Free speech is the crux of democracy, and to live in a democracy, to practice free speech, you have to be strong. It takes strength to calmly listen to people saying absolutely revolting stuff. I tried to explain that we do this in America to my students in China, but they never understood. How could they? What they had seen on China Central TV was footage of American police in riot gear tear-gassing and clubbing American citizens.

Yes, that’s part of democracy, too, until we learn to speak and allow others to speak, until we learn to listen and until we are heard. May we be strong enough to keep learning. Democracy scares the Chinese. Let’s not let it scare us.

A sinologist's take on China's future as a superpower

Reva — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:06:00 GMT

A couple months ago, I discovered M. Dujon Johnson's blog, Black American Lawyer in China. I was fascinated with the perspective of this lawyer and sinologist. Many of the journalists who are writing about China, even seasoned journalists, write like tourists. M. Dujon, on the other hand, writes with understanding. He's there, he's been there several years, he's speaks the language and he's a scholar immersed in what he's writing about. I've added his blog to my blogroll, please go to the source.

I've copied one of his entries in entirety below. It's not my writing, it's his and he's good.

A rising military power, a robust and strong economy, a crucial player within international affairs in Africa and Far East Asia, a vital trading and investment partner to over 2/3 rds of the world's economy, and one of the largest weapons supplier in the world. These are but some of the reasons that many believe China has positioned itself, in the very near future, as a rising superpower. It also doesn't help that the United States is seen by some as a nation in decline. But the question remains, is China on the verge of ruling the world?

There are several things (and I could easily mention a half dozen) that would prevent Mainland China from dominating the world; I will begin with the question of culture.

During the middle 1500's, there was an internal struggle in China's imperial palace on how to interact and deal with the outside barbarian world. That is, should China strengthen and improve itself by contacts with the outside world or should China isolate itself and protect itself from foreign cultural contaminants. China, as we all know, chose the latter...and it was a decision that it still has not yet fully recovered from.

When I use the term 'culture' I am referring to a reference point, a shared history, norms, behavior patters and values. Culture also means the socialization of a people, a programming of the mind so to speak. We all have it to one degree or another. What I find interesting about Chinese culture is that the term 'culture' is also a license to disassociate or excuse one from accountability.

One of the things about culture in Chinese society is that it says "you can't tell me I'm wrong although we both know that I am wrong. If you do then I will lose face (diu lian)." This conscious failure to hold oneself accountable for his or her acts does not exactly put Chinese society in the driver's seat for world domination. Culture prevented the Ming dynasty from making the tough choices it had to make as a leading nation of that period; it appears tht the China of this era has not learned her history well and is repeating the mistake being a culture centric nation at the expense of all else.

If the economy is bad, it's because of the Americans. If our environment is devastating our country and killing Chinese people, it's because Americans modernized too (although the government doesn't mention we're talking almost 150 years ago). If people are asking for democratic change, it's because of foreign outside influences that justify us keeping a closed society.

China in many ways reminds me of a small child, never admitting her responsibility and blaming it on someone else, or never mature enough as a nation to get beyond it's perpetual adolescence mentality of what happened in its ancient history. China continually says as a culture, no matter what we do...it's never our fault!

Leadership in the world community at the political, economic and military levels require, foremost, accountability. In the simplist terms, accountablity is the assumption and responsibility for one's actions, decisions and policies. The world is looking for leadership but I don't believe that anyone in their right mind can see China and its culture of 'do as I say and not as I do,' as fitting the bill.