i saw the translation of 牙防组 here today for the first time. i have always associated 牙防组 with some japanese crime organizations such as 熊本组 and 山口组 in ganster films made in Hong Kong.

this said, i object to the glorified english translation of 牙防组 in your story. i have no idea whether it was rendered into english by the translator of this story or by a master translator and handpicked by a leader of the 牙防组 when a list of candidate translations of the name were presented for the final decision years ago.

china's national committee on oral health? in china's bureaucratic system, government agencies such as 部，委，办, 局，处，科，etc, are all well defined and politically prioritized. there are huge and hair-splitting differences in these names that can mean promotion and exile for some politicians. so when it comes to the english translation of 牙防组，the name used in your story is out of the place. if high-ranking officials should bother to ask questions and make a difference and decide upon a name or its english translation, there would be a huge difference between oral health and dental health.

i don't mean i embrace the bureaucratic system and the way all the ingredients are named. i just find this english translation of 牙防组very enlightening and funny. try to call a spade a spade in this case and the english translation definitely highlights the absurdity in the powerful ruling of the 牙防组 in the national toothpaste authorizations over years.

joe: The NCOH wasn't really part of the government bureaucracy, was it - it styled itself as a professional organization along the lines of the ADA, it seems. Here's their web page (it's actually for oral health in the logo; I've made the change above).

Of course, now that the name is defunct, organized crime is free to make use of 牙防组.

从一个中国人的角度来看，你写的很多会让人不开心。
但，
管它呢。
一个包容性很特别的民族……

about the bureaucratic system: the 牙防组 was first set up by the mihistry of health. that's why the ministry disbanded it now. though it was not part of the national government systme, it was closely related. that's why i found the english name quite funny.

on second thought, i don't object to the english translation if it was done by the 牙防组 itself. the translation was exactly the royal part of the absurdity of something big and authoritative.

the english translation reflects both the ambition and the worry the 牙防组 had. guys in the 牙防组 probably knew they at least needed a proper english name to justify what they did. they certainly knew what 名不正则言不顺 meant.

by "it was closely related", i mean when the boss within the system said it should be called “牙防组”，he or she knew all the nuanced implications in these chinese names such as 部委办局处科 for government agencies. the ministry set it up outside the system and called it 牙防组 for a very good reason. it certainly indicates that the namer thought the organization should be way below all other agencies in name, even though it was outside the system.

i tend to believe the chinese name was to indicate its proper position in a governmental hierarchy with all its baggage including these government-sponsored things. even though 牙防组 was not in a government systme, its name was right in the pecking order. no one in the system would make any mistake about what a 组 was all about. those in the system certainly did not want a small-time two-penny 组 to style itself as a 全国委员会, or did it?

Quote:
[从一个中国人的角度来看，你写的很多会让人不开心。
但，
管它呢。
一个包容性很特别的民族……]——阿明
啊~ ~！我也不知道该说什么好了！我觉得这里的版主有点像柏杨，他们写东西不是为了让中国人开心或不开心，而是想通过一些事例让中国人去反思，去领悟，而且他们都是心怀善意的。从这一点上说，我确实十分感激这里的版主Joel。

我也不知道该说什么好了！我觉得这里的版主有点像柏杨，他们写东西不是为了让中国人开心或不开心，而是想通过一些事例让中国人去反思，去领悟，而且他们都是心怀善意的。从这一点上说，我确实十分感激这里的版主Joel。
Don't tell Jeremy you've been promoted to 版主, Joel!
I hope Chinese readers like studentyoung and 阿明 bear in mind that Joel is providing accurate translations of content that originally appeared in Chinese. I imagine Joel's intended audience is foreigners interested in Chinese society but excluded from many debates by the language barrier. I've always thought that translation services like this can only help foreign observers of China realise that opinions and views are not monolithic in the country. That in itself will aid a clearer understanding and undermine some of the simplistic and stereotypical views that prevail.

As Jim says, practically all the pieces put up here are translated/summarized from the mainland Chinese media. I won't deny that there might be selection bias present - things swing back and forth, and recently we've had quite a few pieces that shine a rather unkind light on certain aspects of Chinese government and society. But other months have seen strings of upbeat, less political pieces.

Jim, your final two sentences are what I would have written here if you didn't write them first.

That's China all over! No need to be surprised. You can call it the "Chinese Characteristics". I am not some angery youth which in Chinese is " 愤青". I just want to express my personal feelings about these unreasonable facts!