Boom times for Chinese film
Articles on the state of the film industry from Sanlian Life Week and Oriental Outlook. Soft power, censorship, and breaking the director-centered system.
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February 29, 2008
A cup of tea for dissidents
From Mure Dickie in The Financial Times:
China’s foreign minister on Thursday scornfully waved aside criticism of his country’s human rights record, suggesting local police would be more likely to give dissidents a cup of tea than to arrest them.
The comments by Yang Jiechi come amid what human rights groups have called a crackdown on Âdissent ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August, including the recent detention of several high-profile social activists.
One child policy to be amended?
From Mure Duckie of The Financial Times:
China is considering a gradual raising of its limits on the number of children a couple can have, according to a senior Âofficial of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
The comments by Zhao Baige, family planning vice-minister, highlight growing concern about the demographic implications of the strict and sometimes harshly enforced population control rules that are a cornerstone of Chinese social policy.
Lijiang's war on "white pollution"
Do new regulations actually have a chance of eradicating plastic grocery bags? At China Dialogue, Xuedong Ke looks at Lijiang's five-year experience with a plastic bag ban:
on April 1, 2003, Gucheng district announced its ban on "production, sale and use of disposable, non-biodegradable polystyrene and plastic packaging." A small group was established to monitor the ban, and the first battle in Lijiang’s war on white pollution had begun. Soon environmental workers and volunteers were distributing leaflets about "white pollution". There were announcements on the local television station every hour.
The ban came into formal effect on July 1. At the time, Zhang was deputy head of group behind the huge political offensive, which saw posters put up across the city explaining the ban. "Using plastic bags is extremely convenient; it was an ingrained habit," he said. "Without pressure no one would change. So we had to get everybody involved, and make sure the message was spread into every single household."
February 28, 2008
M&A: What foreigners can buy in China
The China Law Blog explains the basic principles behind Chinese government decisions on what types of acquisitions foreign firms make in China.
My favourite wife
The Guardian has published a spoof 'digested read' that tells the whole story of British author Tony Parson's new novel My Favourite Wife, about a British businessman in Shanghai who embodies all the stereotypes of Western men in Shanghai, and plenty of China clichés to boot.
Beijing denies manipulating pollution data
Nick Mulvenney of Reuters reports:
An op ed in the Wall Street Journal last month said the Beijing authorities had closed three monitoring stations in the centre of the city and opened two more in less-polluted areas, thus bringing down the average pollution levels recorded.
'This phenomenon does not exist,' Du Shaozhong, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau spokesman, told a news conference.
Is Huawei cursed?
From John Kennedy at Global Voices Online, an assortment of netizen responses to the recent suicide of a Huawei employee.
Homeowners' protests in Shanghai
The China Beat interviews Benjamin L. Read, from the Department of Political Science at the University of Iowa, about homeowners movements in China:
The homeowner groups in China's new private housing estates (xiaoqu) are a complicated mosaic. Some of them can be seen as a manifestation of civil society, while others are something else. For instance, a lot of them are not actually controlled by the homeowners themselves but instead are dominated by the property developers and their management companies. Sometimes the homeowners themselves become factionalized and get bogged down in internal conflict, so that there's no functioning organization. In some places the government has blocked the formation of a formal yeweihui, although there can be informal activity regardless. In other neighborhoods, the homeowner group functions well, holding regular meetings and elections and representing the residents' interests much as, say, a healthy condo association might in the United States.
Popular movies playing to empty houses
Sun Bin looks at the most recent statistics from China's film industry, which work out to a paltry number of tickets sold for each screening, on average:
3,527 screens worth 5.1 billion RMB
What does this mean? 3.327bn/3527 = 943k/screen = 2584 /screen/night
In Beijing, e.g., the movie ticket cost 50-70 Yuan (!!! yes, that is right, almost as much as that in HK). But it is cheaper in other cities and other cinemas (eg, 20-30 for Kunming). Therefore 2584/day means 100 people/screen per day (assuming 25/ticket), which is very small considering there are more than one show per day on average.
Clear water, muddy journalism
Murdoch's China story
A book review by Eric Ellis of Bruce Dover's Rupert's Adventures in China: How Murdoch Lost a Fortune and Found a Wife. Spiked by the Far Eastern Economic Review.
The homeless of Qianmen
Blogger Tiger Temple has been writing about the plight of the homeless in Beijing's Qianmen neighborhood, whose makeshift shelters are being swept away by urban redevelopment.
February 27, 2008
Peering into China's sovereign wealth fund
Bloomberg reports:
When Lou Jiwei visited Switzerland one spring weekend in 1993, the Chinese government economist was so eager to see the inside of a Swiss bank that Credit Suisse Group opened its Zurich head office on a Sunday to show him around...
... Lou also stopped at the homes of farmers in the village of Weesen, an Alpine community with a population of 1,500 people and 3,000 cows. 'He even looked inside the fridges and cupboards,' says Dean LeBaron, a Boston-based fund manager who owns a vacation home in Weesen and hosted Lou's visit. 'He was very inquisitive.'
Today, investors, regulators and politicians are asking questions about Lou, now chairman of China Investment Corp. a sovereign wealth fund set up last year. Lou, 57, who's never been a fund manager before, has about $200 billion in his care, $70 billion of which he will invest outside China...
...His first investments for CIC have had mixed results so far. He spent $3 billion in May for a 9 percent stake in Blackstone Group LP, the world's biggest buyout fund, which has since lost almost half of its value. In December, he bet $5 billion for as much as 9.9 percent of Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm. As of Feb. 26, a 9.9 percent stake would have been worth $4.91 billion.
The article contains plenty of numbers about CIC, the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, and biographical detail about Lou.The tragedy of Yao’s left foot
Yao Ming will sit out the rest of the season and is at risk of underperforming at the Olympics. At Shanghai Scrap, Adam Minter blames overwork: several years of full NBA seasons plus duties for China's national team that Yao is required to perform as a patriotic athlete:
The tragedy in this - for both China and the Houston Rockets - is that Yao’s laudable efforts to please both masters has resulted in an injury that will disappoint both. The Rockets are in the midst of their best run of Yao’s NBA career, and I think it unlikely that they’ll be able to repeat it. Likewise, China’s Olympic basketball team was not expected to win in Beijing, but it surely expected to place well, and Yao’s (presumably) superb play was the key. Now it’s not even clear that Yao will play in the Olympics. But if he does manage to appear, he’ll be doing it with all of the rust that accompanies rehab from a major injury, and his team and country will suffer for it.
Mao and the marriage counselor
Jeremiah at the Granite Studio compares the Hundred Flowers Movement to a manipulative marriage spat:
Like a lot of marriages, Mao and the Party were in a bit of a rut, the passion was gone, they were missing the ZazaZoom. Not completely sure how best to rekindle the spark, Mao fell into a pattern that any $150/hour marriage counselor would quickly identify as "passive-aggressive."
First of all, his speech relied on the oft-used but fatally flawed strategy of fishing for compliments. In essence, he asked "You don’t really love me that much, do you?" — confident in his heart that there could be but one correct answer: "Yes, of course! Of course we love you Mao…"
First Yunnan - Vietnam highway completed
GoKunming.com reports:
The highway linking the town of Xinjie in Hekou County in southeastern Yunnan province with Lao Cai province in northern Vietnam was opened yesterday, marking completion of the first highway linking Yunnan with a neighboring country from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
New Beijing airport opens Friday
From The China Daily
Six international and domestic airlines will begin operating in the terminal Friday, while others will switch over from the other two terminals in March.
The new building was designed by Norman Foster. See also this opinion piece in The Independent: The Chinese get things done — at a cost.February 26, 2008
China to open POW archives to USA
ABC news reports that China is expected to open some of its archives to investigators from the US who are looking into the 8,100 Americans listed as "missing in action" during the Korean war:
A small U.S. delegation is currently in China, anticipating that a final agreement can be reached by week's end.
"We just hope that we can find something out of these records that they have. We believe that these records will help us … and hopefully, it will help us unlock clues as to the fate of our missing," said Capt. Mary Olsen, a spokesperson for the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).
Once an agreement is signed later this week, U.S. officials hope a timetable can be reached soon for American investigators to begin researching the Chinese files, which DPMO has been seeking access to for years.
Security guards to get regulated
Xinhua reports that the State Council is preparing regulations to reign in bad behavior on the part of security guards. What sort of regulations?
The draft forbids guards to do the followings: restrict personal freedom of any individual and make body search, insult, assault, battery or induce others to commit battery, withhold individual's property or identification, interfere official performance.
It also bans guards to use violence or threaten to use violence to importune for payment, infringe personal privacy or leak out secrecy and other illegalities.
In a blog post, journalist Huang Yilong welcomes the idea of kinder, gentler security guards, but finds the regulations redundant:If this regulation goes into effect, if the Chinese people no longer have their personal liberty restricted by security guards, or are subject to search and seizure at their hands, then this is indeed good news.
However, if instead of security guards carrying out the above acts, it is mayors and village heads, or police and urban enforcement, or even thieves and burglars who carry them out, must we then enact separate Service Management Regulations for mayors and village heads, police and urban enforcement, and thieves and burglars in order to guarantee that our personal and property rights are fully protected?
Then what use is the grand Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which guarantees citizens' personal and property rights? Is it just there so that we can gaze on in admiration?
Infiltrating the underground (and other seldom-seen Beijing destinations)
As part of his research for a new Beijing by Foot guide, Eric Abrahamsen is keeping a blog of his experiences in some of the city's less-traveled spots. In this post, he visits the tunnels under Nanluogu Xiang:
The entrances to the tunnels (there are many) are locked, except for the tourist section east of Qianmen, and where the tunnels are still of use to certain personages…
I and an anonymous band of doughty explorers descended into the murky, flooded depths, to bring back these stunning images of the netherworld. Sadly all the tunnels leading off into the great unmonitored unknown were bricked up or choked with rubble (including the one that made a beeline to Zhongnanhai), but the itch was mostly scratched.
Should authors get mixed up in politics?
Wolfgang Kubin on Ah Cheng and other sell-outs, and Chang Ping on Zhang Ping, the novelist who became vice-governor of Shanxi.
Peking Opera not compulsory for schoolchildren after all
Remember the hue and cry last June when China's educational authorities rolled out a new physical fitness program that included the waltz and other forms of dirty dancing? Later, it turned out that dancing wasn't compulsory, but the damage had already been done. It's happened again: a few days ago, Peking Opera was supposed to be the latest mandatory cultural enrichment activity, but public complaints that teachers aren't qualified and most of the selections are "model operas" from the 70s have forced the authorities to spin the issue. From Xinhua:
"The opera classes are by no means a nationwide compulsory class, but pilot programs implemented in certain schools from March to July next year," said ministry spokesman Wang Xuming at a press conference on Monday.
"The Peking Opera class is a meaningful move to uphold China's national spirit and cultivate student patriotism", said Jiang Peimin, director of the Ministry's Basic Education Department.
February 25, 2008
¡Viva la revolución!
Xinhua reports:
Cuban army general Raul Castro was elected the new president of Cuba on Sunday during a legislative session held at Cuba's Palace of Conventions in Havana.
Raul said his older brother Fidel Castro would remain a key figure and vowed to be on guard against U.S. 'meddling' as he assumed the presidency.
The Xinhua report also notes various facts about Cuban democracy in action, e.g.:On Sunday, 597 deputies unanimously elected a 31-member Council of State for a term of five years, which in turn elected Raul as president of the country.
The father of pinyin
The Guardian has published a video interview and transcript with a fascinating old man:
The phonetic alphabet developed by Zhou Youguang, pinyin, turns 50 this month, having helped up to a billion Chinese citizens to learn to read, write and in many cases speak the national language.
The 102-year-old linguist is renowned as the "father of pinyin", the system for representing standard Mandarin in the Roman alphabet. The country is celebrating the anniversary with lectures, a TV series and educational programmes.
The revolution is dead
From Jane Macartney of The Times:
China's Communist leaders are taking another step away from their Marxist-Leninist roots by removing the word 'Revolutionary' from the titles awarded to those who die an heroic death.
February 23, 2008
Lu Jinbo on marketing Internet literature
Eric Abrahamsen talks to celebrity publisher Lu Jinbo about print publishing and Internet authors:
Rongshu, where he works now, is not a publishing house in the legal sense, but once the publishing numbers (刊å?·, kÄ?nhà o) have been bought, the entire publication process – from editing, printing and distribution – is under their control. The company as a whole is heavily invested in the internet. "About 50% of our content comes from the internet or internet-related writers," says Lu, "compared to about 10-20% for traditional publishers. When it comes to publicity, as well, the internet is an extremely important tool – an advertisement on Sina, for instance, is far more effective than on in a newspaper. Part of that has to do with our target audiences. The majority of them are young, under the age of 30, and those readers pay very little attention to traditional media. Almost everything they do involves the internet."
Blue sky trickery
In The Wall Street Journal, Steven Q. Andrews reports on how the 'blue sky day' statistics for Beijing's air quality are being manipulated:
More than a month after Beijing's manipulation of air-quality data was first exposed, the government's response has been to -- wait for it -- manipulate the data even more. This year to date, record numbers of 'blue sky' days have been reported in the run-up to the August Olympics, thanks mainly to statistical shenanigans. The authorities are getting away with the deception, at least to judge from all the flattering media coverage they're generating.
February 22, 2008
Theater, business and wading into the sea
Beijing Olympics logos abound
b. cheng at A Modern Lei Feng looks at Olympics-related logos, from the well-known stylized "jing" character to lesser-known designs like the one for Olympic Ticketing:
Walking around Beijing, you are met with an overwhelming number of Olympics related logos. It seems like BOCOG has gone a bit insane with logos, not being in any previous host city, I don't know how they treated the Games, but to me, by August it might seem like there are a hundred different logos and even more different "official sponsors."
Confessions Of A Propagandist
Chris O'Brian, familiar to Danwei readers as the man behind the Beijing Newspeak blog, has a piece in Forbes about his time working as an English polisher at the state-owned Xinhua news agency.
"Cornerstone" of a Mystery
In a review of The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang, Xujun Eberlein comments on the novel's portayal of Chinese society:
This conversation is so real, I can almost see those people's lips moving and hear their voices, as if they spoke in Chinese, as if I were among them....
The intimate reflection on everyday life of contemporary China is a great quality of this novel. For a reader who knows about China, this quality is engaging. Too often I can't finish a novel set in China written by non-Chinese, because it turns me off when the author gets obvious things wrong.
For readers who are less familiar with China, The Eye of Jade provides a real lens into Chinese society. The author picked a good starting time for the story. Between 1980 and 1997 there were amazing changes that took place, almost as amazing as the changes between 1997 and now.
Chinese stem cell breakthrough?
The People's Daily reports:
A Chinese biomedical firm has achieved unprecedented capacity to develop large-scale, lifesaving stem cell production with stocks of umbilical cord stem cells hitting nearly 5,000 samples, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
The Tianjin Angsai Cell and Genome Project Company is the country's first bank for umbilical-cord-blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) samples.
Against Farrow
Philip J. Cunningham has written an opinion piece for the International Herald Tribune about 'the narcissistic edge' and 'subliminal racism' of Mia Farrow's campaign against the Beijing Olympics.
February 21, 2008
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我和ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶æ— �?�?�说
——专访德国汉å¦å®¶é¡¾å½¬æ•™æŽˆ
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问他为什么独独�?喜欢《三国演义》，他的回ç”很简�?�：“�?�人太多了。�?
如今他是西方汉å¦ç•Œçš„�?��?，他的翻译和评论直接影�?西方文å¦ç•Œå¯¹ä¸å›½æ–‡å¦çŽ°çŠ¶æˆ–�?一�?作家的评判。
2006年的年末，他的一番言论在国内引起轩然大波。在接�?�《德国之声》采访时，他对ä¸å›½å½“代作家（主�?是�?说家）�??出了尖�?的批评，他说《狼图腾》是法西斯主义，�?�慧�?棉棉的作�?是“垃圾，�?是文å¦ï¿½?。在接�?�《新京报》记者采访时，他说：“王家新说的我�?�常�?��?，ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ç›²ç›®è‡ªä¿¡ã€‚�?对于当代ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ï¼Œä»–怒其�?争，觉得很多作家都丧失了对文å¦çš„崇敬之情，丧失了最起�?的尊严。
如今，由他主编的�??�?�本《ä¸å›½æ–‡å¦ï¿½?�》�?�将由�?�东师范大å¦å‡ºç‰ˆç¤¾å‡ºç‰ˆã€‚在他所çƒçˆ±å’ŒåŽŒï¿½?�的ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ä¸ï¼Œå˜åœ¨ï¿½?ï¿½æ€Žæ ·çš„åˆ†æ°´å²ï¼Ÿéœ€ï¿½?顾彬自己�?�出解ç”。
我太�?了，�?看电影
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šé¸³é¸¯ï¿½?��?�派的作�?åœ¨ä½ çš„ä¸å›½æ–‡å¦ï¿½?�ä¸ï¿½?��?ï¿½äº†ä¸€ä¸ªæ€Žä¹ˆæ ·çš„ï¿½?置？
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《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šä½ 觉得这是ä¸å›½ç‰¹æœ‰çš„情况，还是世界范围内都是如æ¤ï¼Ÿ
顾彬：�?ï¼Œæˆ‘çš„é—®é¢˜åœ¨äºŽï¼Œâ€œé€ ï¿½??派�?除了一�?部分，其他人从�?�没有公开说过自己是错的。他们�?说，就顾赚钱。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šå¼ 爱玲最�?是在鸳鸯�?��?�派的刊物上�?�表的作�?，在解放�?，在�?�命�?识主导下，虽然�?�?和傅雷都欣�?她．但她一直�?被认为是一个纯文å¦çš„作家（如果当时就有这个概念的�?ï¼‰ï¼Œä½ å¯¹å¼ çˆ±çŽ²æ€Žä¹ˆçœ‹ï¼Ÿä½ è§‰å¾—å¥¹å’Œé¸³é¸¯ï¿½?��?�派的关系大�?�？
é¡¾å½¬ï¼šå¼ çˆ±çŽ²æ˜¯äº†ï¿½?起的。她的作 �?很难翻译�?好的德文，我们翻了�?少，但都失败了。她完全是现代性的作家，她写的故事，她的情节，和鸳鸯�?��?�派似乎有点关系，但她的观念和鸳鸯�?��?�派完全�?�?�。她刚开始写�?说时�?20�?，而鸳鸯�?��?�派那时差�?多快完了。
�?�外，她从女性的角度�?�写作，她也用英文写作，她的视野和ä¸å›½å…¶ä»–作家的视野完全�?�?�，在我看�?ï¿½ï¼Œå¥¹å®Œå…¨æœ‰èµ„æ ¼ï¿½?为ä¸å›½çŽ°ä»£æ€§ä½œå®¶çš„代表。从主题和�?想�?�看，她和鸳鸯�?��?�派没有什么关系，虽然她的题目也是风花雪月，也就是所谓的浪漫主义的爱情，和鸳鸯�?��?�派有点相似的地方一一也许她年轻的时候看过这些�?说，但她之�?�完全脱离�?超越了鸳鸯�?��?�派的局�?。这就是为什么她是ä¸å›½20世纪最�?�?的作家之一。
而且她�?�?å¼ ï¿½?ï¿½æ°´ï¼Œå¼ çˆ±çŽ²å¾ˆæœ‰å¹½é»˜æ„Ÿï¼Œå¥¹çš„è®½åˆºä¸€é’ˆï¿½?è¡€ã€‚ä½ çœ‹ã€Šå€¾åŸŽä¹‹ï¿½?�》，充满了幽默感，现代性的幽默感。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šï¿½?�安�?äº†ã€Šè‰²Â·æˆ’ã€‹ï¼Œä½ æœ‰æ²¡æœ‰çœ‹è¿‡è¿™éƒ¨å½±ç‰‡ï¼Ÿ
顾彬：我太�?了，�?看电影。至于�?说，很�?�惜，至今我也没有看过它，也许我看过？但现在记忆模糊了。现在很多人对我说应该去看这部电影，但我太�?了，我总觉得电影会比�?说差很多。这�?�能是错的，但我�?喜欢看电影。
�?玲：她还在用斗争哲å¦çš„一套�?��?考人生
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šä¸å›½çŽ°ä»£æ–‡å¦ï¿½?�上还有许多优秀的女作家，比如凌�?��?��?æž—å¾½å› ï¿½?�?�红�?�?çŽ²ã€‚çŽ°åœ¨å¼ çˆ±çŽ²ï¿½?为了媒体çƒç‚’的对象，在图书销售上也是一�?ç‹¬ç§€ï¼Œä½ å¯¹å¼ çˆ±çŽ²ä¹‹å¤–çš„ä¸å›½å¥³ä½œå®¶æ€Žä¹ˆçœ‹ï¼Ÿ
顾彬：很多年里，ä¸å›½å¤§é™†éƒ½æ²¡åŠžæ³•çœ‹åˆ°å¼ 爱玲的作�?，现在有一些çƒæ½®ä¹Ÿæ˜¯æ£å¸¸çš„。我觉得现在对�?玲的评论很有问题，�?能�?�从1942年之�?��?�看�?玲。她23�?时创作的作�?ï¼Œæ— è®ºå¥¹çš„è¯è¨€æ°´å¹³é«˜ï¿½?高，她的内容�?æ—§ç‹¬æ ‘ä¸€å¸œã€‚è¿™å°±æ˜¯ä¸ºä»€ä¹ˆï¿½?玲在国外�?�常红，影�?�?ï¿½å¸¸å¤§çš„åŽŸå› ã€‚
我们�?�以把�?玲上世纪二三�??年代创作的作�?翻译�?很好的德文。在延安时她的ä¸æ–‡æ°´å¹³æ¯”过去高一点，写得�?�常漂亮，很�?�惜的是，在接�?�了批判之�?�，她完全�?�定了自己的作�?。这就是为什么我说作家和�?�述者是两回事：作家�?是批判自己的作�?，而�?�述者�?会，�?�述者有其历�?�性的�?度，两者是分离的。
比如�?玲的《莎�?�女士的日记》，在现在的德国都很�?�欢迎。她早期和ä¸æœŸçš„作�?应该�?新看，《太阳照在桑干河上》有问题，但�?然�?�以说�?ï¿½å¸¸ä¼˜ç§€ã€‚å› ä¸ºå¥¹æ•¢äºŽå†™å½“æ—¶ï¿½?都�?敢写的农民�?��?�的情况，所以这部�?说也值得�?新�?�审视。
她（上世纪）五�??年代被打倒，“文�?��?结�?��?��?�以�?新写作。（上世纪）八�??年代我�?过她三次，也许我是唯一和她�?过三次�?�的西方汉å¦å®¶ã€‚
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šæˆ‘�?�朋�?�说，�?玲在晚年，�?�化比较大。
顾彬：这对我�?�说也是�?�常奇怪的。我跟她谈过这个问题。如果一个人�??过10年�?20年的牢，她会完全�?��?�?�外一�?ï¿½æ ·ï¿½?。她公开地告诉我，她想打很多人，我觉得一个人到了70多�?，她�?应该打什么人。她还在用斗争哲å¦çš„一套�?��?考人生。美国一�?ç ”ç©¶ï¿½?玲的å¦è€…对她也是�?�常失望。在西方，大概�?ï¿½æœ‰æˆ‘ä»¬ä¸¤ä¸ªåœ¨è®¤çœŸç ”ç©¶ï¿½?玲的作�?。
和西方å¦æœ¯ç•Œå¯¹å¥¹çš„冷�?��?�?�，西方的读者对她很感兴趣，特别是女性，都觉得�?玲是男人的牺牲�?，读了她的作�?感到很大的共鸣。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šä½ åœ¨ä»Šå¤©çš„ç ”è®¨ä¼šä¸Šè®²åˆ°ä½œè€…å’Œï¿½?�述者的分离，在�?çŽ²çš„é—®é¢˜ä¸Šï¼Œæœ‰æ”¿æ²»çš„åŽŸå› ï¼Œå¦‚æžœæŠ›å¼€æ”¿æ²»ï¼Œä½ è§‰å¾—ä¸¤è€…è¿˜æ˜¯åˆ†ç¦»çš„ï¿½?�？
顾彬：（上世纪）三�??年代她�?�到批评，于是她完全�?�定了《莎�?�女士的日记》的价值，然�?�还�?写了一个《莎�?�女士的日记》的结尾。这完全是错误的。我有机会和她谈起这个问题时，她没有æ£ï¿½?�好好地回ç”，什么问题她都没有回ç”。她还是怕，她�?敢。这也是她的悲剧。
当时�?玲已�?近80�?了，到了这个年纪，她还�?怕什么呢？这是一个多么好的机会，本�?�以让我记录下她真实的想法，�?至于现在我们�?�能�?�猜测�?�想象她的真实想法。
å…³äºŽæ”¿æ²»å› ç´ ä¹‹å¤–çš„ä½œè€…ï¿½?�?�述者之间的关系，我�?然�?��?我的观点。我这两天�?是�?�人说“王二�?就是王�?波，这是�?�?�能的，王二是王二，王�?波是王�?波。一个作家�?会也�?应该将他真实的生活照�?��?�?说，他一定会选择，一旦有了选择，就会有虚构。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šè°ˆåˆ°è™šæž„，马原很早就写过一篇�?说�?�《虚构》，他说写�?说�?天马行空，但是�?æœ‰é©¬æœ‰å¤©ç©ºï¼Œä½ æ˜¯ï¿½?�认�?�他的观点？
顾彬：对，那篇�?说是我20年�?翻译�?德文的。如果没有马也没有天空，就会�?余�?�早期的作�?ä¸€æ ·ç©ºæ´žã€‚æ®‹é›ªï¿½?余�?�开始写的时候，模仿别人的作�?，读者感觉�?到他们的生活。如果一个作家，没有什么�?历，没有什么�?验的�?，肯定没办法写出好的作�?�?�。
当然，余�?�现在有很大的�?�化，但也很有问题，比如他的《活�?�》�?《许三观�?�血记》和《兄弟》（上），总在�?�?一个故事。他太�?功了，他在美国�?�有代�?�，所以他�?�以什么都�?è€ƒè™‘ã€‚ä½†æ˜¯ä¸€ä¸ªä½œå®¶åº”è¯¥å¯¹ä»–çš„äº‹ä¸šå¿ è¯šï¼Œæ‹¿å¾—åˆ°é’±æ‹¿ï¿½?åˆ°é’±æ— æ‰€è°“ã€‚æ‰€ä»¥ä»Žï¿½?�?�?义上�?�看，余�?�和许多ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ä¸€æ ·ã€‚
马原的问题是什么呢？他�?写�?说了。有一次我在�?林举办文å¦æ´»åŠ¨çš„时候，他公开对我说他�?写作，他写电视剧。但那�?是文å¦ï¼Œé‚£æ˜¯åžƒåœ¾ã€‚çŽ°åœ¨ä»–å°±å’Œé˜¿åŸŽä¸€æ ·ï¼Œå‡ºï¿½?�自己。一个严肃的作家�?åº”è¯¥è¿™æ ·ã€‚
ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶æ²¡æœ‰ä»€ä¹ˆï¿½?想
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šæˆ‘和阿城也�?�了一段时间，他的一些观点我�?能接�?�，他说作家就是乞�?。但从作家个人的生活�?�看，我也会�?�情他的观点，很多人都�?åŽ†è¿‡è¿™æ ·ç—›è‹¦çš„æ—¥ï¿½?ã€‚ä½ æ€Žä¹ˆçœ‹ï¼Ÿ
顾彬：我�?�?��?，�?�常�?�?��?。生活确实是一个障�?，但他为什么�?在上�?�写他自己真æ£ï¿½?写的作�?，下�?��?晚上写剧本？他和许多ä¸å›½å½“ä»£ä½œå®¶ä¸€æ ·ï¼Œä¼¼ä¹Žä»€ä¹ˆéƒ½å†™å®Œäº†ã€‚
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šå¯¹äºŽä¸å›½å½“ä»£ä½œå®¶ï¼Œä½ ä¹Ÿæœ‰å¾ˆä¸¥åŽ‰çš„æ‰¹è¯„ï¼Œä½ è§‰å¾—ä»–ä»¬ä¸»ï¿½?çš„é—®é¢˜åœ¨äºŽå•†ä¸šåŒ–çš„å†²å‡»ï¼Œè¿˜æ˜¯ä¸ªäººå°Šä¸¥çš„ä¸§å¤±ï¼Ÿä½†æ˜¯ä½ å¯¹ä¸å›½è¯—人的评价�?�很高。
顾彬：ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶çš„问题是他们自身的问题。ä¸å›½è¯—人是å¤ç‹¬çš„，他们是ä¸å›½æœ€ä¼˜ç§€çš„写作者。和西�?�?欧阳江河�?�?桦�?钟鸣对�?是一件多么愉快的事情，对�?�?�常深刻，但我和�?说家�?�?ï¿½æ—¶ï¼Œå¾€å¾€æ— ï¿½?�?�说，他们没有什么�?想。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šä½ 阅读ä¸å›½å½“代作家的作�?主�?是通过文å¦æœŸåˆŠè¿˜æ˜¯ä¹¦ï¿½?？
顾彬：ä¸å›½ï¿½?�?çš„æ–‡å¦æœŸåˆŠæˆ‘都订了。但我太忙了，�?个星期有五门课，而且�?看�?�士论文�?毕业论文，所以我需�?ä¸å›½æœ‹ï¿½?�告诉我，我应该看什么作�?，基本上，我是通过ä¸å›½æœ‹ï¿½?�的建议�?�阅读ä¸å›½å½“代文å¦çš„。如果没有人推�??，我懒得看，作�?实在太多了。
我�?ä»…ç ”ç©¶ä¸å›½å½“代文å¦ï¼Œæˆ‘原�?�的兴趣在ä¸å›½çš„�?�代和ä¸ä¸–纪。目�?我在写《ä¸å›½ï¿½?剧�?�》。我还有什么别的时间呢？
我翻译了�?å°‘ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶çš„作�?，但我一个人能翻译多少呢？翻译很费力气，翻译的时候�?能够写自己的作�?，我总是为ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ç‰ºç‰²æˆ‘自己，�?�ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ï¿½?ï¿½è§‰å¾—æ— æ‰€è°“ï¼Œä»–ä»¬ï¿½?�?�翻译，也�?å¦å¤–è¯ã€‚有空的时候就�?酒�?�?�é¥ï¼Œè€Œæˆ‘一天�?�四五个�?时，就在为他们忙碌。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šåœ¨å¾·å›½æœ‰æ²¡æœ‰ä½œå®¶ï¿½??ä¼šè¿™æ ·çš„æœºæž„ï¼Ÿ
顾彬：有。我也是德国作家�??会的会员，我也是德国作�??一个分会的会长。但是德国作�??没有专业作家，�?会出现作家拿工资的情况。作家应该是独立的，当然如果有一个�??会帮助作家也�?错。作�??应该帮作家的忙，但ä¸å›½ä½œï¿½??往往�?帮好的作家的忙，关于这点，我有好多例�?，好多好多。ä¸å›½çš„作�??没什么用，�?�有差的作家�?�以从ä¸å¾—到好处。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šä½ 对ä¸å›½ï¿½?说家的评价比较低，那么有没有比较喜欢的�?说家？
é¡¾å½¬ï¼šæˆ‘è¿˜æ˜¯æ¯”è¾ƒå–œæ¬¢æ ¼ï¿½?�。陈�?和跟我说他的�?说“太主�?�?，但看了以�?�我得说我喜欢。
还有王安忆，我看了她�?少的作�?，她是个好作家没有问题，但她是�?æ˜¯ä¸ªå¤§ä½œå®¶å°±å¾ˆéš¾è¯´ï¼Œæ ¼ï¿½?ï¿½ä¹Ÿæ˜¯è¿™æ ·ã€‚åŽŸï¿½?�我特别希望王蒙�?莫言能�?为伟大的作家，现在�?�看他们问题很大。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šåˆšåˆšè°ˆäº†ï¿½?说和诗æŒï¼Œé‚£ä¹ˆå…³äºŽä¸å›½çš„�?笔和散文呢？
顾彬：我对ä¸å›½çš„散文更失望。唯一好的散文是北岛的，但他现在�?是ä¸å›½äººï¼Œæ˜¯ç¾Žå›½äººã€‚翟永明也写过散文，但是从笔力�?�看，没法和北岛比。从内容�?�看，她�?�能比北岛更有�?�?。我写过�?ï¿½å¸¸å¤šæœ‰å…³ç¿Ÿæ°¸æ˜Žçš„æ–‡ç« ï¼Œæˆ‘è§‰å¾—å¥¹æ˜¯ä¸ªï¿½?�常�?�?çš„ä½œå®¶ï¼Œä½†å¥¹æ— æ³•ä¸Žï¿½?迅�?周作人�?�?实秋�?何其芳相�??并论。
æˆ‘çš„æ ‡å‡†éƒ½æ˜¯1949年之�?的作家，看现代的ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ï¿½?能和他们比。汉å¦å®¶ä¸Žä¸å›½ä½œå®¶
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šï¿½?�尔赫斯写过一部�?说集�?�《�?��?åˆ—ä¼ ã€‹ï¼Œå…¶ä¸ç”¨ä¸€ï¿½?马�?�·波罗�?的笔法�?ï¿½å†™é‡‘å¯¡å¦‡ï¼Œä½ è§‰å¾—æ±‰å¦å®¶æ˜¯ï¿½?ï¿½ä¹Ÿä¼šå‡ºçŽ°è¿™æ ·çš„é—®é¢˜ï¼Œ �?�他们的写作是对ä¸å›½çš„改写？
顾彬：就�?ä½ ä»¬ä¸€æ ·ï¼Œä½ ä»¬èƒ½å›žåˆ°å…ƒï¿½?去�?ï¿½ï¼Ÿä½ ä»¬çš„åŽ†ï¿½?�å¦å®¶ä¹Ÿéƒ½æ˜¯åœ¨å¯¹åŽ†ï¿½?ï¿½è¿›è¡Œæ”¹å†™ã€‚ä½ çœ‹çº¦ï¿½?�个世纪以�?�ä¸å›½å¦è€…的表现，他们是客观的�?�？他们对ä¸å›½åŽ†ï¿½?�的写作是æ£ç¡®çš„�?�？�?�能有对的，但也�?�能有问题。
《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼šè¥¿æ–¹æ±‰å¦å®¶çš„工作往往�?被ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶æ‰€çœ‹ï¿½?ï¼Œä½ æ˜¯ï¿½?�也�?�过许多误解？
顾彬：汉å¦å®¶çš„水平也有高低。
马悦然�?懂文å¦ï¼Œä»–知�?�北岛是�?，顾城是�?，�?ï¿½ä»–æ ¹æœ¬ï¿½?知�?�高行�?�的作�?这么差。我是第一个将高行�?�介�?给西方的汉å¦å®¶ï¼Œï¼ˆä¸Šä¸–纪）八�??年代我在巴黎�?到高行�?�，当时他是巴金的翻译。
当时我们在巴黎开会，巴金拒�?和我说�?。我觉得真是开玩笑，我们在翻译他们的作�?，在�?�西方介�?他们，但他们�?�?我们，�?�定我们。他们觉得他们是社会主义阵�?�，我是�?�邦德国（两德统一�?的西德），是资本主义阵�?�的。我希望能和他�?�手说�?，都�?�到拒�?。所以我们现在没有办法说出他们原�?�想说的�?一�?矢�?��?�他们想说什么？
ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶å¯¹è¥¿æ–¹æ±‰å¦å®¶ï¿½?�常�?å…¬å¹³ï¼Œä»–ä»¬æ ¹æœ¬ï¿½?知�?ï¿½æˆ‘ä»¬åœ¨ä»€ä¹ˆæƒ…å†µä¸‹è¿›è¡Œç ”ç©¶ã€‚ä¸€ä¸ªä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ï¿½?敢�?�?�?抑或拒�?跟我们对�?，我们怎么办呢？我们�?�能够看书，和ä¸å›½ä½œå®¶ï¿½?�能有文本的关系。
在巴金的问题上，是我的错误�?�？�?是�?�?玲也是如æ¤ï¼ŒæŽ¥ï¿½?�我的�?�?��?求，但基本上没有和我说过�?，也许她觉得我是个外国人的缘故�?�。
摘自《çžæœ›ä¸œæ–¹å‘¨åˆŠã€‹ï¼Œç¬¬223期，2008å¹´2月21æ—¥
Hunan booze companies object to lunch-time drinking bans
The China Daily reports:
Alcohol producers in Henan province have retained a lawyer to appeal a controversial government document that bans officials from drinking alcohol at lunch during work days.
Kang Yinzhong, a lawyer retained by the Henan Alcohol Association, said that drinking was a private affair and holding public office shouldn't keep someone from consuming alcohol as long as it did not affect their work.
The ban began in January 2007 in Xinyang City, Henan Province. Soon, other cities in the central province such as Shangqiu, Kaifeng and Luohe followed suit.
Local restaurants, which get a big part of their business from alcohol sales, saw fewer lunch customers and less revenue as a result of the ban.
Fear of China stops $2 billion deal for 3Com
The Financial Times reports:
Bain Capital and its minority Chinese partner, Huawei Technologies, have shelved their $2.2bn deal to acquire 3Com, a US computer networking company, saying a key Washington committee charged with vetting foreign investments in sensitive sectors had told Bain it would not approve the purchase.
The setback to the deal highlights rising protectionist sentiment in the US as both Democrats and Republicans seek to woo an American electorate suspicious of foreign investment and the effects of globalisation on domestic jobs.
Apple takes an unfair beating on the iPhone
Paul Midler believes the huge market for smuggled iPhones proves that China Mobile was the big loser when its deal with Apple fell through:
Executives at China Mobile must be feeling pretty lousy at this point. The iPhone is a hit, and they had nothing to do with it. And for a company that is convinced its competitive advantage has something to do with its role as gatekeeper, we now have evidence to suggest that they don’t control anything.
See also: A Modern Lei Feng responds.February 20, 2008
Online game industry deals paralyzed
The Economic Observer reports on overvaluation in the online gaming arena:
Ye Youzhong, CEO of Kaixin Investments, said that online game companies had recently overvalued themselves by over tenfold, making investments in them unprofitable when considering that the current price-to-earnings ratio of listed Chinese gaming companies is around 30. He said that if bought for a price of 12-15 times their real value, it would take a full three years--including the market listing process--before the investing company saw any profit. Moreover, he added, a lot of these companies had no chance to be listed in the first place.
Ministry fights back over 'rail chaos' slur
Government agencies slug it out over the Spring Festival transportation chaos. From the China Daily:
The Ministry of Railways on Tuesday responded to criticism from Guo Xiling, a member of the Guangzhou committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, over the improper handling of railways during the snow disaster that hit southern China last month.
Wang Yongping, a spokesman for the ministry, said in an interview on the website of the People's Daily that "all of Guo's accusations are groundless". Guo had said two government agencies should be blamed for the chaos at Guangzhou railway stations, the city's New Express reported on Monday.
More on China Media Project.Spielberg withdraws. Good riddance?
Reactions from three journalist-bloggers to Steven Spielberg's announcement that he won't participate in the Beijing Olympics.
China, the bear, and the overseas carpet-bagger
Elizabeth MacDonald analyzes the reactions to the possible Bear Stearns/Citic Securities deal:
The issue of foreign money washing up on US shores is a big, big, controversial issue. I urge you to read through to the bottom of this blog to get a cheat sheet on the issue in this presidential election year.
Back to Bear-Citic. Some odd sound-bites on this one seem to be tendered by ivory tower nosebleeds with an extraordinary talent for dissimulation, who devote more time trying to sound smart rather than trying to examine the terms of a deal now yellowing, as the deal was struck months ago in October.
The passing of two translators
Noted translators Chen Bingyi (陈冰夷) and Cai Hui (蔡慧) have passed away. Jeff Keller translates Cai's obituary in The Beijing News:
Cai Hui, whose translations include Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream and Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead passed away in Shanghai from liver cancer on February 10th at the age of 77. Regrettably, he did not get to see his beloved translation of The Gadfly published, as this novel still has three years before it enters the public domain.
Farrow on Spielberg
Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow have a piece in the Wall Street Journal about Spielberg's withdrawal from the Olympics titled 'One Olympic Victory', and they are now calling for action from corporate sponsors of the Games and George W. Bush, who plans to attend.
February 19, 2008
The German press loves Johnnie To
At Variety's Kaiju Shakedown blog, Grady Hendrix muses on why everyone (except English-language critics) is lauding Johnnie To:
Wong and To both use mood and style as valuable modes of expression, treating character psychology and narrative as just two more pieces of a singular cinematic experience they're trying to create. They use all the tools in their arsenal to make movies that are complete works of art, rather than making their movies simply vehicles to deliver a narrative. But whereas Wong has his feet in emo romance, To has his in macho genre. He's who Wong Kar-wai would have become if As Tears Go By was his true starting point, rather than a false start which gave way to Days of Being Wild, the movie that Wong and critics embraced as his "real" first film.
A taxing time for China's non-profits
The Economic Observer looks at what a new 25% tax on the operating income of non-profits means for charity work:
According to calculations by Xu Yongguang, a member of the National Committee of CPPCC, even if total yields of foundations average 10% per year, their yearly income would still be under 1 billion yuan, one fourth of which would be paid to the state treasury according to the new rules.
"Compared with state revenues, which amounts to six to seven trillion yuan each year, 250 million is a trifling sum. If we say 250,000 yuan is needed to build one new charity school, then paying 250 million yuan to the state treasury means losing the chance to build 1,000 schools," said Xu.
Paying for nature
At China Dialogue, Katherine Ellison describes government plans to subsidize farmers who raise water-conserving crops:
"We’re spending a huge amount of money," Xiaoping Wang, a high-ranking official at Beijing’s Parks and Forestry Department, said of the Hebei agreement, in which the Beijing municipal government essentially pays to increase water conservation in the neighboring province.
As part of the deal, two Hebei prefectures will switch from traditional farming to water-saving crops, meaning less rice, more corn and potatoes. Farmers will also plant and tend trees on their property and reduce pesticide use to help cut back on the sediment and pollution entering rivers that feed the capital’s two main reservoirs. In return, among other things, Beijing will provide some US$16 million in direct yearly payments to farmers for water stewardship, according to the amount of land they own; subsidise Hebei farmers’ chickens, eggs, and milk; and build two new highways for products from Hebei to reach the capital’s lucrative market more easily.
"Fei-fei" Lydia Shum dies at 60
Bloomberg reports:
Hong Kong television veteran Lydia Shum died after a protracted fight with liver cancer, local broadcaster Radio and Television Hong Kong reported on its Web site, without citing anyone. She was 60.
The actress, affectionately known as Fei-fei for her plump appearance and jolly disposition, died at 8:38 a.m. Hong Kong time at the Queen Mary Hospital, the report said. She was best known for her comedic roles in Hong Kong films such as "Drunken Tai Chi."
SCMP has an obit, if you have a subscription. More info on Wikipedia.The old dog and medal show
China has stringent, detailed standards for Olympic hostesses, leading Adam Minter at Shanghai Scrap to think of another sort of "beauty contest."
Highlighting the Bund as Shanghai looks to the future
At the Zhongnanhai blog, Cam responds to a blog post by Richard Spencer about the changing face of the Bund with his own comparison of Shanghai and Beijing:
Shanghai was much different. Sure, you had the tourist-ridden Bund waterfront and Nanjing Lu. But the French concession, Suzhou Creek area, and People's Square were nice places to wind down an evening (or start your morning, depending on the time of day). I also enjoyed my morning walk to work from the Hengshan Lu subway station to Zhaojiabang Road, traversing streets filled only with pedestrians and delicious xiaolongbao steaming in bamboo baskets. What made it different from Beijing (in this one particular neighborhood near Hengshan Lu) was the lack of cars, honking, and noise (at least in comparison to Beijing).
China to build railway in Libya
AfricaAsia.com reports:
A Chinese contractor has won bids to build two railways in Libya worth a combined 2.6 billion dollars as China enhances its economic presence in energy-rich African nations, state media said Monday.
Under one contract, China Railway Construction Corp., the firm that built part of the controversial rail to Tibet, would construct a 352-kilometre (220-mile) west-to-east coastal railway, the Xinhua news agency reported.
It will also build an 800-kilometre-long railway linking the southern city of Sebha to Misurata in the north to facilitate transportation of iron ore and passengers, the report said. Both projects are expected to start in June.
February 18, 2008
Era of transparent government dawns in Kunming
From China Media Project:
China’s leaders say the long-awaited national ordinance on openness of information, due to take the stage in May this year, will usher in an era of "sunshine" governance in which government affairs are marked with clarity and transparency. Don’t count your chickens. The ordinance is hardly a panacea, and there are major questions about how effectively it will be enforced. But some government leaders ARE taking transparency seriously — or making a show of it anyway.
Since the weekend the Web has buzzed in China with the news that Kunming Daily, the mouthpiece of top leaders in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, printed a list of the names of city officials, their contact numbers and their specific areas of responsibility.
Smugglers return iPhones to China
The New York Times reports on how iPhones are manufactured in China, shipped to the US, and then reimported on the grey market:
IPhones are widely available at electronic stores in big cities, and many stores offer unlocking services for imported phones.
Chinese sellers of iPhones say they typically get the phones from suppliers who buy them in the United States, then have them shipped or brought to China by airline passengers. Often, they say, the phones are given to members of Chinese tourist groups or Chinese airline flight attendants, who are typically paid a commission of about $30 for every phone they deliver.
Spielberg, the Olympics, and oil
At Global Voices Online, John Kennedy translates a detailed blog post by Hecaitou in which he explains for his readers the historical and cultural context behind Spielberg and the Hollywood left's criticism of Beijing:
The problem, looking at this from China's point of view, is ‘do we denounce the Sudanese government?' Well, does China still want the oil? China is a country which has already transitioned to full reliance on oil imports, and where does the gasoline and diesel we burn up every year come from—Daqing, or Karamay? Of course it's a problem that the blacks in Darfur are being attacked, being massacred. Well, the gas tanks of the cars and wallets of car owners on China's roads are problems as well. With any humanitarian spirit, the Sudanese government should be denounced. But, once the denunciation is done, what are we gonna burn then? Denouncing the Sudanese government, supporting the people of Darfur, I imagine everybody would raise their hand for both. But, to say that for the people are Darfur, we would rather go without gasoline, or endure much higher fuel prices and overall hikes in commodity prices, would anybody still raise their hand for that? When it involves vital interests, we might see things differently as we consider the problem. Would you choose three years of a lagging economy if it meant not another person in Darfur would have to die?
February 17, 2008
Let the protest games begin
The Sunday Times details the circumstances surrounding Spielberg's withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics and guesses at what might happen next:
Spielberg's unease deepened after that. He had taken up the Olympic challenge for two reasons, friends say. One was his friendship with Zhang Yimou, the director of the hit film House of Flying Daggers, who is in charge of designing the opening and closing ceremonies. The other was the hope, "perhaps naive in retrospect", the executive admitted, that he could change policy on Darfur from within China.
February 16, 2008
Top 10 news photo of the year was faked
ESWN translates a Chengdu Evening News article that explains how a composite photo of Tibetan antelopes underneath the Qinghai-Tibet railroad, done up for a picture postcard, came to be chosen by CCTV as one of the top ten news photos of 2006, and how netizens uncovered the truth.
February 15, 2008
Thoughts and more on editor Yu Huafeng's release from prison
At Global Voices Online, John Kennedy rounds up some blogger responses to the release of Yu Huafeng, the former general manager of Southern Metropolis Daily, who was jailed after the SARS affair on charges of embezzlement. From the blog of his lawyer, Xu Zhiyong:
Never before has someone convicted of embezzlement consistently received so much respect and love from their own workplace colleagues. Even when when was in prison, Old Yu went on as normal issuing strategies and suggestions. During those years, from the executives at Southern Media Group down to the ordinary employees, group after group paid him visits, sending joint letter joint letter of appeal. Old Yu suffered for Southern Daily Group, and for the cause of press freedom in China, and to have defended this "criminal", I feel truly proud.
The political re-education of Rupert Murdoch
At Slate, Jack Shafer reviews Rupert's Adventures in China, by Bruce Dover, once Murdoch's right-hand man:
Because sucking up to government bigwigs has served Murdoch very well on several continents, Dover writes, the tycoon believed that China's hostility to Star, which he bought into in 1993, could be overcome. If he could sit down with the proper political leaders, he was certain he could reach an accommodation that benefited all.
But the powerful Chinese potentates routinely snubbed Murdoch, dispatching him and his underlings to speak with powerless junior officials. Dover writes that the "Chinese were well aware of his proclivity to involve himself in a nation's politics if it were to the advantage of his business interests," and they weren't going to budge. The prospect of a Westerner beaming uncensored TV signals directly into Chinese homes appalled the country's leaders.
2007's top Chinese books
Rankings as selected by China Reading Weekly, Yazhou Zhoukan, and Douban users.
China intervenes to stave off "super consolidation"
At Mining Weekly, Keith Campbell suggests that BHP Billiton's attempt at a hostile takeover of Rio Tinto was scuttled by ignorance of historical and cultural context:
The Chinese economy, the basis of the country’s power and the source of wellbeing of its people, is today dependent on the import of key inputs. This has been the case since the 1990s. This is also probably the first time in China’s some 4 000-year history that the country has been so dependent on such crucial imports.
This must have created a degree of insecurity among China’s topmost decision-makers in the government, the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). But businesspersons are not famed for their knowledge of, or sensitivity to, history.
The PLA – this is the name for the Chinese armed forces as a whole – is also the second most powerful institution in China after the Communist Party itself. Its influence spreads far beyond purely military matters, and it is doubtful that anyone at BHP Billiton ever bothered to try and meet with key figures in the PLA General Staff.
Blue truck taxi drivers on hunger strike in Ningbo!
Jesse Owen at the Blue Third World blog has news and photos about taxi drivers protesting outside of the Ningbo Bureau of Transportation:
The protestors gave me a newspaper article (available here in Chinese), even though it is from the People's Daily it does explain the story a bit. Apparently they drivers had to pay a high license registration fee, several tens of thousands of RMB (they told me 20,000rmb or US$3000), but the government changed the blue truck taxi policy to be more liberal, for there to be more competition. So the requirements for people who wanted to get the license later on was lower and the new drivers didn't have to pay such high fees. The old drivers think this is quite unfair, to waste all their money on a large fee that was then reduced and at the same time having to enter into greater competition.
Via Global Voices OnlineFebruary 14, 2008
CJ7 and the fantasy of Chinese class integration
Barking at the Sun looks at the portrayal of migrant workers in Stephen Chow's new movie:
Could this be that rare popular movie that transcends its normal limits and become serious social commentary?
At first it certainly seems possible. The father and son duo are squatters living in a dilapidated and half-destroyed concrete block; Mr. Zhou works overtime every night at dangerous construction projects so he can afford to send his son to a private school. For these two, eating rotten apples is a treat; flushing out and stomping on cockroaches is a pastime.
Interview with Catherine Sampson, mystery writer
Nicole E. Barnes at The China Beat interviews Catherine Sampson, a former journalist who now writes mysteries set in China:
I found it hard to live in Beijing and write about London. So, when it came to my third book, I was determined that I should write a mystery set in Beijing, and that's how The Pool of Unease was written. It is set in Beijing, in Anjialou, a neighbourhood just down the road from where I live, and has a Chinese protagonist, private detective Song Ren.
February 13, 2008
Mao and the 10 million Chinese women
AFP reports on the recently-released transcript of a 1973 conversation between Henry Kissinger and Mao Zedong:
In a long conversation that stretched way past midnight at Mao's residence on February 17, 1973, the cigar-chomping Chinese leader referred to the dismal trade between the two countries, saying China was a "very poor country" and "what we have in excess is women."
He first suggested sending "thousands" of women but as an afterthought proposed "10 million," drawing laughter at the meeting, also attended by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai.
Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon's national security advisor at that time, told Mao that the United States had no "quotas" or "tariffs" for Chinese women, drawing more laughter.
via The Granite Studio.