• [109]  The Story Behind The Earthquake At Beijing Times (1/31/2006)  In Ming Pao Monthly, there is a piece about the Beijing Times story.  The full Chinese-language version is here.  Much of the story is known, so I will translate only the interesting sections:

From the timing of the re-organization, Guangming Daily has clearly made a careful decision.  First, the action took place at the end of December.  Basically, the Beijing Times subscription orders for year 2006 would have been mostly sent in by then.  Secondly, if the workers protest and quit immediately, the newspaper can save a significant sum in year-end bonuses (note: the Chinese New Year begins near the end of January).

The situation is now clear.  From the experience of previous efforts to re-organize newspapers, Beijing Times will not be able to maintain its edge and dash, and it will probably become another government mouthpiece like most of the newspapers now.  The sister publications Southern Weekend and Southern Metropolis Daily are examples.

The changes begin at the senior level with core members being removed or replaced one at a time.  This causes the quality of the newspaper to tumble.  Some Beijing Times workers believe that before Guangming Daily took action against Beijing Times, they must have obtained the consent of Southern Daily.  Therefore, they believe that they were betrayed.  At the moment, some of the editors and reporters at Beijing Times are hunting for jobs and it is expected that a considerable number of core members will be departing after the Spring festival.

As Beijing Times has established a good brand image and won a certain social trust, Guangming Daily will be able to enjoy the fruits in the short term.  Yet, the parent organization Guangming Daily has few readers and low circulation, so it is hard to see any long-term prospect.

I love the first paragraph.  It is all about money.  Whatever happened to ideological purity?

Reporter: Concerning the drop in the tv ratings for Artistic Life recently, how do you see it?

Zhu: ... Television ratings are just something cranked out by a machine.  It remains to be seen whether there is any science in it.  It is just some data for reference.

Reporter: You do not value ratings then?

Zhu: I feel that the media ought to have responsibility.  This is not about making up something that will attract eyeballs.  The more important thing is to let people think and to bring them meaningful programs, especially in a country like China with a deep traditional culture.  If this is just about pursuing television ratings, I could just bring a dog along.  This is the Year of the Dog, right? (laughs).  On today's program, I will shave off the hair on the left side of the dog's head.  Then I will ask the audience to send SMS to guess which other part I will shave tomorrow?  This kind of entertainment will definitely raise the ratings.  If you want to compete just for ratings, then there are too many ways to do it.

Reporter: Do you think that this is a form of entertainment?

Zhu: It is entertainment, but it would be wrong to say that it is purely about entertainment.  It is even worse to entertain for the sake of entertainment.  The program group receives a ratings report each week.  When this week's ratings are lower, some group members get worried.  So I tell them, "You do your own work well and don't let that affect you.  It is normal for the ratings to go up or down.  For example, when Jewel Of The Palace was on air, its ratings were very high and the other programs had lower ratings.  When that show is over, the other programs will come up again.  There is nothing strange about that, right?

• [107]  The Angry River People Talk Back (1/30/2006)  You have heard one side of the arguments about the Nujiang dam project (see Comment #023).  Here is the other side, which is less likely to be heard in the western media, in a Xinyushi forum post.  The writer was an environmentalist until he went to visit the site and was asked some questions for which he had no answers.

[in translation] During the visit to the Three Rivers Source Protected Zone, a pretty local girl was the guide.  She clearly loved her hometown.  I asked her how could a person who loved the Three Rivers Source be actively supporting the construction of the electricity generator plant.  She looked at me strangely and said, "The electricity generator plant will be good for the people.  You don't expect us to be so impoverished as to not even have a piece of cloth to cover our arses in the name of environmental protection?"

... Many places along Nujiang are nationally designated poor counties.  The counties generate less than 20% of their financial budget from their own revenue (note: the rest is picked up by the provincial and national governments) ... I visited a peasant home and I observed their "house" and their belongings.  It was enough to make me feel the sort of sadness that causes people's eyes to ache.  A local official responsible for children aid told me that I was only seeing those families that had the means to live.  Previously, they had accompanied a UN aid official to a village that was destroyed by a mudslide.  For one family, their entire possession was a blanket issued by the aid department and a small piece of cured meat that had turned black.  The householder said that this piece of meat was meant to be saved for later, but some had to be given to the sick child that day.

... While I was there, the most frequent thing that I heard was this: Are you against the electricity generator plant?  How about this?  You gather all the opponents here in Nujiang canyon and if you can survive for two months eating the food that the Nujiang people got out of their land through their own labor, then maybe you are qualified to start talking about opposing the electricity generator plant!

• [106]  New Year Message (1/29/2006)  Wenweipo:  SMS to Bejing residents: "The Beijing City Party Committee and City Government wish all citizens a happy spring, a safe year and happiness for your family.  Here, we especially want to ask you to watch your safety during the festival and observe the "Beijing City Fireworks Safety Management Rules."
   

• [105]  Yu Hua's Blog (1/29/2006)  From China Youth Daily via MediaChina.net, here is famous writer Yu Hua's thoughts about his personal blog.

[in translation]  Four months ago, Yu Hua opened his personal blog and this became a sensational news item.  Very quickly, the number of visitors went into the hundreds of thousand, and Yu Hua enjoyed it greatly.  He reflected: "Can I sell so many books in such a short time?"  Yet, four months later, Yu Hua is rueful.  He told the reporter frankly yesterday: "I never thought that the netizens would be so enthusiastic in leaving comments.  I started off wanting to answer every comment, but now I found that to be impossible."

Apart from this, the complex nature of the Internet environment also surprised Yu Hua, who is new to using the Internet.  There were malicious attacks, there were self-promotions and there were people who want to use the space to post advertisements.  Yu Hua had no better idea than to delete the "trash" as quickly as possible.  Compared to his early enthusiasm, Yu is now more low-keyed after these 'setbacks.'  He is no longer writing new posts, but he is just copying some lesser known essays written over the past ten years.  "I want to be lazy, so I thought of this method.  If I post once every few days, the inventory should last three or four years easily."

• [104]  Your Implicit Association Test (1/29/2006) In Why we should start measuring bias by Jay Dixit, Slate, you can find the Implicit Association Test.  Direct query about opinions on race/ethnicity does not work because people may not tell the truth (consiciously or unconsciously), so this test is measuring response times to images.  I'm a bigot (well, actually, everyone is going to be a bigot one way or the other) as I found out that I regard Asian-Americans as more American than European-Americans whereas other test takers (European-Americans?) usually get it the other way around.  I am not shocked.

• [103]  The Case of Li Erliang (1/28/2006)  China Youth Daily editor-in-chief Li Erliang must be wondering what he had done to deserve this job.  His name first came into worldwide prominence as a result of an internal letter to him from Freezing Point weekly magazine Li Datong that was leaked to the public in August 2005 (see previous post).

After attending a class on "opinion battle" for editors-in-chief, you told us back at the office that you have "finally totally understood."  What did you understand?  You understood that "propagandizing" comes from "needs."  At the meeting, you pointed to our reporter who was covering the Ren Changxia case, "Everybody knows that the relationship between Ren Changxia and her husband was very tense, but when you write the case up, you should write that relationship as being better.  This is a matter of need." ...

As for "opinions", you "understood" how it came about.   You can create rumors and tell lies.  You said, "This was how America went to war against Iraq!"  Never mind whether America was like that or whether American media were like that.  Even if that were true, we should not imitate their example.  Creating rumors and lies based upon "needs" means making up and re-arranging facts.  Such behavior have been thoroughly rejected by Chinese media, at the repeated insistence of the Central Propaganda Department.  You came over from the People's Daily.  Did the colleagues at People's Daily not reflect with pain and regret that their "propaganda" and "opinions" during the periods of the Great Leap Forward, the Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution" caused grave damage to the country and the people?  Are such behavior not to be rejected thoroughly forever by all party newspapers, including our newspaper?  Did you not notice when you spoke about how you "finally totally understood," some people in the audience were snickering?

There were in fact some honest exchanges between the two later on and Li Erliang would turn out not to be an implacable party hack from those notes.  Fast forward to January 2005.  In the recollection by Li Datong (see previous post):

On January 11, the Freezing Point special article published Mr. Yuan Weishi's essay: "Modernization and History Textbooks."  Mr. Yuan used solid historical material to criticize the history textbooks used in junior middle school.  The essay was sent to the editor-in-chief for review, and he did not agree with its publication for the reason is that textbooks represent national activities that cannot be criticized.  I disagree with this reason.  So we can't talk about party history, but why we can't we talk about late Qing history?  Mr. Yuan's essay only offered some historical materials and conlcusions known to everyone in the history field.  So why can't it be published?  Of course, this subverted the sayings in the middle school next book, but the television drama <<Going Towards The Republic>> was even much more subversive and CCTV let a hundred million people watch it.  This reason seemed to have convinced the editor-in-chief, who agreed to publication with some minor deletions and editing.

On January 25, Freezing Point was shut down for re-organization.  Included in the notice from the Central Propaganda Department is this item:

1. A notice of criticism will be directed at China Youth Daily party deputy secretary and editor-in-chief Li Erliang and China Youth Daily Freezing Point Weekly editor Li Datong;

2. China Daily will stop publication of Freezing Point for the purpose of re-organization, and impose appropriate economic sanction(s) against the responsible person(s).  Freezing Point Weekly will stop publication for re-organization as of January 25, 2006.

Li Erliang may have lost his New Year bonus this time.  Poor baby!

• [102] Toilet Business In Hong Kong (1/28/2006)  (SCMP)  A group of young entrepreneurs saw their $80,000 investment in one of this year's hottest-selling items at the Victoria Park Lunar New Year fair flushed away when HSBC "advised" them yesterday to stop selling rolls of "banknote" toilet paper.  The cheeky product - selling at $38 a roll - had buyers queuing for it since the market opened on Monday. The paper is printed with an $800 "note" on each sheet, featuring a dog in place of the bank's iconic lion to mark the Year of the Dog. And instead of "HSBC", the sheets carry the letters "HPNY", standing for Happy New Year.  "We have stopped selling it. The bank is rich and powerful - we can't take them on," he said. "More people have been asking about the paper today but we had to tell them we don't sell it any more."  Mr Chan said the notice was an advisory and did not threaten legal action. "But we take the hint." HSBC yesterday admitted that no one would mistake the toilet paper for real money.  "There is no possibility of that," a spokesman said. "It's just a straightforward infringement of our copyright. We are obliged to protect the integrity of our banknotes." 
  
  (Photo from InMediaHK)  Would you mistake this for a real HK$800 note?  Oh, by the way, there is no such thing as a HK$800 note -- only HK$500 and HK$1,000 notes are circulated.

• [100]  The Cultural Revolution In The Internet Age (1/27/2006)  Here is an interesting speculation in the newspaper comment via Miss Lee in Summer.  

• [099]  ESWN Makes BBC World (1/27/2006) Chinese bloggers debate Google: 

I wish somebody would take the position of the typical Chinese internet user. If one is going to advocate a boycott, I would like the criteria to be the material improvement in the life of the typical Chinese internet user.  I think talk of boycotting Google is a bad idea. People in China will not appreciate that because these are esoteric issues for them.
 
There are a number of search engines and there are many different ways of searching. People want more choice. Don't tell them they are free by advocating a boycott.  I conducted a little test. I searched for mention of the circumstances under which a supplement called Bingdian (Freezing Point) was recently banned in China. The editor of this supplement had written a letter of complaint.  Any mention of this on the local Baidu search engine has disappeared. In fact, when you put a banned search term in, the engine shuts down. If you put in a term like June 4 [the date of the Tiananmen Square massacre] the result is "Not Found". And then you can't search again for 30 minutes. It's a very upsetting experience.  But with Google.cn there are different ways of finding things. You can try any number of subtle combinations. Google gives you more opportunities to triangulate.

There are all kinds of devious ways in which internet democracy can work. Better to have something than nothing.  People are missing the point if they set up the debate that Google is evil. In the end it's down to local laws. The real battle is for the Chinese to fight this law. 

• [097]  Ma Ying-jeou Explains (1/27/2006)  "Please Use Civilization To Convince Us" may have been addressed by Lung Yingtai directly at Chinese President Hu Jintao, but the first person who was forced to respond was KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou.  Here is the opening salvo in Lung's essay:

In January 2006, Kuomintang chairman Mr. Ma Ying-jeou gave a speech to encourage his Kuomintang Youth League members and told this joke: "I hope that the Kuomintang Youth League can produce a Hu Jintao some day."  I believe that this is the most ill-considered joke that he had made in his entire political career.

Via ChineseNewsNet, Ma Ying-jeou had to explain the next morning (note: Lung Yingtai had an open question as to whether she is influential -- this has just been answered).  He said that he was not praising the Communist Party.  He only wanted to emphasize that the KMT must also value the views of young people, or else they would be worse than even the Communist Party.  He implied no value judgment with respect to Hu Jintao.  He pointed out that he also mentioned Germany's former Chancellor Schroder at the time as well.
 
The reason that this story is being reported at ESWN has nothing to do with Ma Ying-jeou.  It has to do with the fact that when the question was raised, the KMT chairman felt compelled to respond the same morning that the essay appeared in a Taiwan newspaper, whereas the direct addressee of the open letter, Hu Jintao, is unlikely to ever acknowledge its existence.

• [096]  Google.cn (1/26/2006) There are a lot of other things going on right now than worry about this storm-outside-the-teacup issue (go read Danwei, Imagethief (and the links at the bottom of that post) if you want something useful).  I read Jonathan Loades-Carter's Google’s China site sparks bloggers’ outrage at FT.com.  At the end, I came out with a thought -- Who are these 'bloggers'?  Where do they come from?  I don't know who they are, but they don't seem to be Chinese bloggers.
   
  Here is the problem that I always have (see US Congressional Hearings on Chinese Internet Censorship).  This is about Chinese Internet censorship.  Maybe someone should be asking Chinese Internet users what they think, eh?  Let me propose this.  Whether Google is evil or not means nothing to the Chinese Internet users; that would be an American problem.  What matters to the Chinese Internet users is whether google.cn will make a material difference to their Internet experience, one way or the other.  So when anyone wants to propose something or the other (like boycotting Google to force them to scrap the google.cn service), please explain why the Chinese Internet users will be better off as a result under your specified criteria.
   
  (Life After Jiangxi) I did actually run a really detailed poll of one young Chinese internet user who happened to be in my flat yesterday. His response was a rather indifferent, "Who cares? I always use Baidu." Which I suspect is going to be a pretty common opinion.  I'd like to reiterate that these users are young, educated, nationalistic and very pragmatic about censorship and life behind the firewall. They neither want, nor need to be rescued by international outrage over American internet firms. If the American internet firms don't operate here, they'll just use the Chinese ones (proudly, at that).
   
  (Life After Jiangxi) I've just doubled the size of my survey of the impact of google's decision to directly enter the Chinese market on local internet users to two.
  The result is still running at 100% for "Who cares? I use Baidu."  I decided to expand the questionaire this time and also ask, "Do you care that Baidu's results, and now Google's results will be censored?"  The answer was, "Why do foreigners always get so excited about politics?"
   
  Among the 'other things' going on is the Freezing Point affair.  For those in China who need to track down documents, having one more good search engine that behaves differently is a real blessing.  They will not appreciate this as a victory for Internet freedom in China if it were not there. 
   
  The most important Freezing Point document right now is The Open Letter from Li Datong.  Since Freezing Point is now a sensitive keyword, Li's magazine has been shut down and his blog is down as well, the only distribution mechanism is through email and other personal blogs.  Here are a couple of blogs: Example 1 and Example 2.  Oh, yes, these are blogs running on the evil MSN Spaces which some people want to shut down in the name of freedom of speech.  Think again ...

• [095]  Comparing ESWN and MSM (1/26/2006)  Take the case of the shutdown of the Freezing Point weekly magazine of China Youth Daily.  You will find the mainstream media report on the news, the brief telephone interview with editor Li Datong and the idea that the article about Modernization and History Textbooks by Yuan Weishi might have something to do with it.  That is what you will get from mainstream media.  From ESWN, you get instead the full translation of Yuan Weishi's article (History Textbooks in China) so that you can see how damning it was for yourself.  You can also read a full translation of the other potential suspect by Lung Yingtai (A Chairman Bowed Formally Three Times).  On top of that, you can get far beyond the one paragraph summary with Li Datong.  You can get the full translation of The Open Letter from Li Datong.  This is the essence of the EastSouthWestNorth experience.

• [093]  The Maid's Diary (1/25/2006)  From Ming Pao, a Hong Kong former soccer goalie successfully appealed his rape conviction.  The ground was that the judge did not instruct the jury that the testimony of the Filipina maid may be unreliable.  This was a case in which the man claimed the five acts of sexual intercourse were consensual whereas the maid said that she was coerced.  The material evidence included a t-shirt with the man's semen.  The case will not be re-tried.
   
  Meanwhile, from Apple Daily (Taiwan), a man has been convicted of raping an Indonesian maid and sentenced to 7 years in jail.  The maid claimed that the man brought her back to his factory and raped her once or twice a week for almost six months, sometimes employing a vibrator or a dildo to torture her.  In his own defense, the man denies any rape at all.
  
  So how did this he-said-she-said case get resolved?  The maid kept a diary that contained a detailed description of the man's penis, as well as a dermatological scar nearby.  The judge ordered a legal doctor to conduct an examination and confirmed that the details matched.

• [091]  The Zhang Dejiang Watch (1/25/2006)  This is China and therefore all news are published (or not published) for political reasons.  There is nothing much about Zhang Dejiang within China, because the powerplay has been taking place in the Hong Kong media instead.  In the post The Case of Zhang Dejiang, Asia Weekly (and ChineseNewsNet) had reported that Zhang Dejiang's report on the Shanwei (Dongzhou) incident to the Politburo was not 'accepted.'  In essence, Zhang said that the Politburo should trust that Guangdong can handle the problem but the Politburo declined to accept that assertion based upon a string of internationally known incidents in the past two years.  
   
  More recently, three Hong Kong newspapers (including Sing Tao) cited 'informed sources' that Zhang Dejiang's position is very secure and the report about the Politburo was false.  The information in the three newspapers appeared at the same time with a great deal of similarity, so the same source was covering the field.  Great?  
   
  But this latest ChineseNewsNet commentary pointed one important clue -- these were three China-leaning newspapers but the two Beijing-funded newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao did not join in the PR campaign.  In other words, this campaign did not have the participation of the Central Propaganda Department!  The commentator went ahead with three more observations.
   
  First, Zhang Dejiang is facing a tremendous amount of political pressure, since the attacks appeared from outside China.  This is liable to shake up the senior and middle-level leadership and force them to come out eventually with an open display one way or the other.  The prior example was that when Jia Qinglin was accused of involvement in the Yuanhua case in 1999, then-Chairman Jiang Zemin had Jia accompany him for a "construction inspection tour in Beijing" to demonstrate his support.  So watch for what reports (or no reports) on Zhang next!
   
  Second, Hu Jinato and Wen Jiabao had been going about talking about "public interests" and warning that "historical errors" will not be allowed on the land issue.  What do you think this is referring to but the many bloody land requisition/compensation incidents in Guangdong?  If Hu/Wen really supported Zhang, then there had better be some latest direct statements on Zhang Dejiang.
   
  Third, if the central government wanted to support Zhang, then not just the three Hong Kong newspaper but Wen Wei Po/Ta Kung Pao and all the national government media would have directly or indirectly praised the "contributions" of Guangdong towards building a "stable and harmonious society" or some such.  Instead, the national publications said at the central disciplinary committee meeting on January 5, Hu Jintao emphasized the need to follow the party constitution and sytem to "seriously investigate those glaring problems that damage public interests."  And you can just insert the Shanwei incident at this point. 

• [090]  Lin Yi-hsiung Resigns (1/25/2006)  People's Daily was the first to report this in English ("Lin Yi-hsiung, former chairman of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on Tuesday announced that he quit his Party membership, according to sources from Taiwan"), although the news was obviously everywhere in the Chinese-language media in Taiwan.  From his open letter (UDN via Yahoo! News; in Chinese), I am going to translate three sections.  For me, the implications of these three sections reach far beyond Taiwan, for one easily substitute Hong Kong or the United States and get the same analysis.

• [089]  Abecedarian (1/24/2006)  This comment is based upon an email from Justin Mitchell: As long as you're posting Chinglish sign photos (see Comment #087), consider this ( Engrish.com is an excellent source, though it's mostly Japanese-related).
  
  One of the continuing gripes of foreign barbarian copy editors at China Daily, Shenzhen Daily etc was the reliance of some reporters on dictionaries that they'd had since high school or earlier and had apparently been culled from Victorian era vocabularies and/or based on original collaborations with Russian "English" experts in the 1950s/ 60s, who used outdated English phrases such as "gravid" to indicate pregnancy/pregnant. Many of us who consider ourselves well- versed in the English language were and still are startled and sometimes delighted to confront these archaic phrases that non-native English speaking reporters use in an attempt to show off their expertise.
   
  Another one was "abecedarian".  Sound it out. ABC-darian. It means "beginner."  Or did a long time ago in a place and century faraway. I first saw it when a Shenzhen reporter was doing a story on student ("abecedarian") drivers and decided she'd beef up the story with her fancy vocabulary from her Xinhua Book City Chinese-English electronic dictionary.  I thought she'd made it up until I later made the effort to track it down.

• [087]  English-language Public Signs in Beijing (1/23/2006)  (via Wenxue City)
  (Exit)
   
  (Baggage storage room)
   
  (Parking garage)
   
  (Staff only)
   
  (Spell check?)

• [086]  Jill Carroll (1/23/2006) For background, see Newspapers Mix Pleas and Prayers for Kidnapped Reporter's Return by Joe Strupp at Editors & Publisher.  The Monitor today linked online to four of her previous Iraq reports in which the reporter strives to show the plight of regular Iraqis (comments are by Monitor's Middle East editor Michael Farrell):

• Ordinary Iraqis bear brunt of war -- Mike says, "Jill was passionate about this story, one of the first she filed for us. For her, it was one of the most important to tell about the war in Iraq. And this particular piece led to an outpouring of financial contributions for Zeinab Yasseen and her family from Monitor readers. It was one of those pieces that made an immediate difference."
   
• Old brutality among new Iraqi forces -- "Long before revelations of secret prisons in Iraq's Ministry of Interior, Jill was reporting on allegations of increasing brutality within some the country's security forces," says Mike. "It was her ability to find trusting sources that put her on the leading edge of this important story."
   
• Sectarian strife tears at neighbors -- Mike says that "Jill is well aware that traveling around Iraq is dangerous for journalists. But what she often talks about is how dangerous Iraq has become for its ordinary citizens. Especially if they wander into the wrong neighborhood. Here she writes about how the growing sectarian divide in Iraq has led to neighborhoods segregated along religious lines."
   
• What Sunni voters want -- "Before Iraq's Dec. 15 parliamentary election, Jill was embedded with the marines in the mostly Sunni Anbar province. On routine patrols through villages around Huseybah, she used her Arabic language skills to speak with people on the street about what they hoped to achieve in the upcoming election," according to Mike. "Unlike the vote for the interim parliament, this time Sunni Arabs were planning to come out in force to the polls. And in this story, Jill and her colleague Ilene Prusher revealed that while Sunni Arabs might be joining the political process, many of them were not turning away from supporting the antioccupation insurgency."

• [085]  No Geisha In China (1/22/2006)  (The Independent by David Eimer)  

Memoirs of a Geisha, the hit film based on a best-selling book, has run into trouble in China, home to its leading actresses. Prompted by fears that it will further inflame already rampant anti-Japanese feeling, Chinese film censors have cancelled the planned release of the movie next month.  China's two most famous actresses, Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li, play the leading roles in the film, which was initially approved by the censors. But the state-run Film Bureau has changed its mind. Mao Yu, director of the bureau's propaganda and publishing section, believes Memoirs poses "complex" problems and is "too sensitive". ...

One blogger said: "She's sold her soul and betrayed her country. Hacking her to death would not be good enough." Other bloggers claimed that casting of Zhang as the geisha Sayuri is the equivalent of a Jewish actress playing a Nazi.  With Sino-Japanese relations at their lowest point in decades, the authorities are worried the film will revive lingering resentment over the Japanese treatment of Chinese women before and during the Second World War. Tens of thousands of women were raped by Japanese troops during the infamous Nanjing Massacre in 1937. Thousands more were among the estimated 200,000 Asians forced to work as "comfort women" in Japanese military brothels during the war.

So the Internet gets blamed again for inflaming passions?  Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the movie Memoirs of a Geisha has opened to little fanfare.  There was much more interest in The Chronicles of Narnia (see Alison Lurie's review).

• [083]  Why I Don't March (1/22/2006)  In the InMediaHK discussions about The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO, there is this paragraph:

• [082]  A Cartoon (1/21/2006)  This is from David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligence (1/19/2006):
  

• [081]  The Case of Zhang Dejiang (continued) (1/21/2006)  The people inside China get this even though the usual American expats never will.
   
  Evidence #1 -- In The Case of Zhang Dejiang, you can scroll down to find the translation of Guo Feixiong on January 21, 2006.  His point is this -- if Zhang Dejiang is willing to make those firm statements, then he will be held to whether he can make them happen.  That was exactly my point.  Zhang Dejiang has gone out and made a bunch of very strong statements (such as the Three No's (=three stern demands) about land requisition/compensation).  If he can't deliver, then he won't survive; if he can deliver, then this is everything that the people would want anyway and they will forget about moral retribution against him.  They don't need another faceless bureaucrat with no track record and with whom everything has to begin all over again.
   
  Evidence #2 -- In The Zhongshan Incident, you can scroll through the English-language coverage to the SCMP report on January 21 by Kristine Kwok: 

Holding a photocopy of a news clipping dated January 5, a resident of Sanjiao township in Zhongshan jabbed his finger in the air.  "I want to ask [provincial party secretary] Zhang Dejiang what he really means by the 'three stern demands'? How could the police beat civilians who just asked for what they deserve?"  The news clipping was one of the front-page editorials published by Guangdong media last month hailing a speech made by Mr Zhang.   In the speech, he demanded provincial officials observe three rules when overseeing land requisitions, one of which states building cannot start until farmers have been paid full compensation.

Isn't this a superior strategy to: "We will not talk unless Zhang Dejiang is removed"?

• [080]  Amardeep's Response to The Standard (1/20/2006)  In Hong Kong Confidential (January 14, 2006, The Hong Kong Standard):

Radically happy Apparently Hong Kong's radicals aren't radical enough for the real radicals. A Web site calling itself "Target: WTO - Derail, Dismantle, Destroy!" carries an open letter to the Hong Kong People's Alliance, accusing the HKPA of timidity and accusing them of siding with the police at the WTO confab. "How can the HKPA legitimate the police force, negotiate and follow all rules set out by the police and the HK government when they are protecting the most illegitimate institutions?"asks an activist named Amardeep. He also had concerns about the lack of direct action on the march. Tuesday's festivities, including the pepper spray, should have cheered Amardeep up.

In My Response to the Standard's Outrageous Representation, Amardeep responds:

First of all - I, Amardeep, am not a man; I am a woman. Clearly, this person from the Standard who wrote this article did not interview me.

Secondly, the author took one quote from my two- page open letter to justify that I accused HKPA of timidity by not being direct action enough. At no point in my letter did I view HKPA to be an organization of cowards.

Thirdly, I wrote the letter about a week before the MC6. Where did this author get the following idea of my feelings of the march that happened on Tuesday, Dec 13th: "He also had concerns about the lack of direct action on the march"? The author has made unqualified facts and feelings of people in the article to drive his media propaganda.

Fourthly - NO! Pepper Spray did NOT cheer me up! It did anything but cheer me up. In fact on Friday, December 15, 2005, I was with the women's march helping deliver Pepper Pig Stomach Soup for WTO's cold-blooded exploitations. Maybe I should reiterate our (women's) statements, "Pepper, is for soup, not for abuse." I assert woman's right to food soveriengty. 

• [079]  Rule of Law: Hong Kong vs. China (1/20/2006)  A mass incident occurred yesterday in Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong (see Mass Incidents In China).  In Shenzhen, here is the time line: 10am, four men led others to charge the police line, were arrested and taken away; 1030am, police told people to leave or else be held responsible for consequences; about 4,000 out of 5,000 left; 11am, police brought in 20 buses and started to remove the 1,000 remaining demonstrators; 11:40am, the street was cleared and opened to vehicular traffic again; by the evening, 25 demonstrators were detained for 15 days and the rest were released.  
   
  By comparison, it took eleven hours for the Hong Kong police to remove 900 plus demonstrators, who were then held for 48 hours.  Why?  You can choose among inefficiency, vindictiveness or tactical delay as the answer.  
   
  P.S.  The Shenzhen police did not let people with Shenzhen hukou (=residency) just walk away.

• [078]  Secret Weapons of Chinese Police (1/20/2006)  Richard McGregor (FT.com): China announced late last year a significant strengthening of the People’s Armed Police, a paramiltary group used to quell disturbances.  The PAP has also bolstered its firepower by acquiring what the local media calls “super-weapons” from Israel, advanced guns bought at Rmb120,000 a piece.
   
  What "super-weapons"?  From Netease, here are the photos of the 120 Rmb120,000 gun that can shoot around the corner.  Actually, it isn't even a gun because you have to supply your own pistol.
  
  Here are photos of the other weaponry in the Rmb10 million acquisition for the Beijing Public Security Bureau.  A total of 12 police officers will be trained to used them.
  
  Both FT.com as well as The Sun (Hong Kong) referred to these weapons in an article about mass incident statistics.  It should be clear, though, that these weapons are not appropriate for coping with mass incidents.  If the problem is 10,000 people in the street, there is no need for that power wedge (middle photo above) to break down a door lock.

• [077]  Calling On The Chinese To Boycott MSN/Yahoo (1/19/2006)  In US Congressional Hearings on Chinese Internet Censorship, I asked people to keep an eye on westerners who write without considering what the Chinese Internet users themselves think.  Here is Bloomberg columnist William Pesek Jr. on Chinese Should Boycott Microsoft and Yahoo:

"Microsoft, Yahoo and others are helping to institutionalize and legitimize the integration of censorship into the global IT business model,'' said Rebecca MacKinnon, a former Beijing bureau chief for CNN now specializing in Web censorship.

It's all futile, though. China will find it harder and harder to police fast-changing technologies and fast-learning bloggers. All Chinese consumers may remember years from now is how the biggest names in technology once helped keep them down. Along with a Chinese firewall, they may be creating barriers between themselves and future users.

I'd like to see the country's consumers boycott Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and others. It's just not clear that the message would reach many in China. 

Okay, let's supposed that the Chinese consumers heed William Pesek's call and boycott Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and others.  They don't have to use MSN Spaces because they know that they always have Chinese blog service providers such as blogcn and bokee.  Here is an interview with Hu Zhiguang, founder and chairman of blogcn (Business Week):

Q: What do you think is the biggest difference between the blogosphere in the U.S. and in China?
A: The difference between China and the U.S. is quite large. The U.S. has many famous bloggers, and they have a big influence. In China, because of the political environment problem, it's not possible to have that sort of thing.  So [Chinese blogs are] more lifestyle- and entertainment-oriented. But Chinese bloggers are more willing to express themselves than American bloggers. Because elsewhere in America there's more freedom, so the methods of expression are more [varied].

Q: But, as you say, the political environment in China means there's a lot that people can't express in their blogs.
A: Sometimes there are people who write about Taiwanese independence and the Falun Gong.

Q: And what happens when they try to do that?
A: We set up keywords for our programs, like "Falun Gong," and when you type in those keywords, you cannot post them. It just shows up as stars. Everybody has that.

Q: People can avoid using those words, though.
A: The problem exists, but it's not a big one. We can immediately fix it, and it's not a problem. Maybe there are some words that aren't in the keywords, but if they're published, they don't fit the content. Then the Internet police will call us, and we will delete it within 24 hours. If it lasts on the site too long, then maybe it will make some trouble. Maybe I will have to go to the police station.

Q: How often have you had to do that?
A: That has never happened. The phone calls seldom happen - it's only four or five times in two years. We have a specialist who takes care of this. These people [who post the forbidden things] are not real bloggers. They know it will be deleted.

So now do you think freedom and democracy will arrive as a result of Chinese consumers boycotting Yahoo/Google/Microsoft and using blogcn instead?

I ask once again: for the next person who wishes to comment or make proposals on this subject, please explain how the Chinese Internet users will be substantively better off as a result of your recommendations.
 
Meanwhile, for Americans, if MSN, Yahoo and Google are so evil, why don't you boycott them?  That is the question that the Chinese want to know.  Are you standing in solidarity with the Chinese or not?

• [076]  Front Page Photos (1/19/2006)  On the feature story in Sing Tao, there are photos of Hong Kong transport chief Sarah Liao and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation chairman Michael Tien.  From the photographs alone, you know that the story is grim (in terms of their respective careers; see The Standard for the details).
  
  This gets back to the main point from The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO.  There must be thousands and thousands of photographs on file of Sarah Liao and Michael Tien.  Somebody at Sing Tao sorted through them and found two that fitted the mood and thrust of the accompanying written article.  The words 'neutral,' 'objective,' 'fair' and 'accurate' have nothing to do with these decisions.

• [075]  China New Youth Magazine (1/19/2006)  From RTHK:

Two journalists in eastern China have been jailed for ten and six years for publishing an unauthorised magazine that exposed local land disputes. Court officials in Zhejiang province said the men were also charged with illegal business operations and fraud. The Beijing Times says the magazine, "New China Youth", was registered in Hong Kong in 2002 but this had no validity on the mainland. Last month, a Xinhua news agency report said the journalists had threatened the local government that they would publish stories if the peasants' demands were not met. 

Hmmm?  What do you think?  Is this the usual big bad China story?  For the details about what was happening with New China Youth, please see the previous post: How To Get Rich As A Reporter In China.  Will Reporters Without Borders fight for the two journalists?

• [074]  Page View Statistics (1/19/2006)  In the final analysis, they don't mean anything for the simple reason that I can manipulate them at will.  But of course, this would be an insult to the people's intelligence and some people know enough to avoid the trap as well as resent you for the cheap trick.
   
  Case Study:  I had a sensational set of photographs about Eating Cats in China.  I could have posted the standard GORY warning and routed people directly to the photograph page.  That would be one page view.  Instead, I set up the standard GORY warning, I routed people to an introductory page most of which is presented in French and there is a link at the bottom of that page to the set of photographs.  That should get me two page views (one for the teaser and one for the sensationalsim) instead of only one.  In truth, there were more than 10,000 page views to the photographs but a much smaller number to the introductory page.  Blog traffic is driven by referrals, and the referrers have enough sense to bypass the introductory page and bring people directly to the photographs.
   
  Why would anyone want more page views?  If your blog sells advertising space based upon page views, you would want as many as possible.  And there are cheap and artificial ways of boosting that figure just as I have shown.  But your referrers will catch on, and they will also lose a little respect for you in the process for wasting their time.  I agree with them most of the time but I obviously felt differently in the case about eating cats.  The waiting and the accompanying tension were my intended effects.

• [073]  The Shenzhen Supermarket Bomb Blast (1/18/2006)  Would you believe it was solved in 12 hours?  Here is the original report (Shanghai Daily): A bomb blew up in a Carrefour supermarket in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong Province, the Nanfang Metropolis News reported yesterday.  The bomber or bombers made undisclosed demands, and police classified the case on Monday afternoon as blackmail, the Guangzhou-based newspaper said. Three other supermarkets were threatened.  Nearly 1,000 customers were evacuated at Carrefour as dozens of policemen cordoned off the scene and searched for other bombs. Police later detonated a second bomb found in the store, the report said.
   
  (Nanfang Daily) (in translation)  First about the technology: it was a small bottle of black powder (probably stripped from firecrackers) placed in a storage locker and set off by a timer which consisted of a mosquito-repellent incense coil burning down.  Now about the demand: 23,500 yuan paid to a designated bank account.  Hmmm ... the police immediately got a hold of the bank account holder's information and a record of his withdrawal locations and habit.  The suspect was found playing an online game at an Internet bar.  Upon interrogation, the suspect gave away his two co-conspirators.  Hmmm ... not exactly rocket scientists.

• [072]  What Is Nancy Kissel Doing These Days?  (1/18/2006)  Well, wouldn't you want to know?  According to Apple Daily, even before the judge sentenced her, she was behaving unusually.  Most of the time, she said nothing but she got the prison personnel to give her towels so that she can repeatedly wipe the floor next to the bed.  She was sentenced to life in prison.  She is serving at the Tai Lam Women's Prison in a Category A cell.  She eats, drinks and works with the only other three female 'lifers' of Hong Kong.  According to a Mental Health Guidance Association consultant Dr. Lau Li-san, a repetitious sequence of actions (such as handwashing) which gets to the point of interfering with normal life is usually a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

• [071]  Demonization of the Japanese (1/18/2006)  The collection of photographs at Anti-Japanese Print Advertisements in China does not reflect the ESWN blogger's sentiments at all.  What struck him as an advertising/marketing professional is that some people have spent a lot of time doing this kind of stuff for whatever reasons and he only wants to document those efforts.  The blogger has stated many times that he is not anti-Japanese per se and there are plenty of people in China who feel the same way.  
   
  Here is a translation of the conclusions of one essay (a Shenzhen forum post via Boxun):
  (1) Are we demonizing Japan?  Answer: Yes.
  (2) What is the consequence of demonizing Japan?  It is just as bad as America demonizing China -- it will only antagonize the Japanese people.
  (3) Why are we demonizing Japan?  Answer: I can't think of any real reason.  Maybe we are losing our minds.  Worse yet, we may be sinking into depravity.
  
  Example: The sign says: "W.C.: Japanese not allowed to enter."  The words on the left say that we won't beat you and we won't scold you; instead we will just make sure that you die when your kidneys explode ...
  

• [070]  The Oscar Dream  (1/18/2006)  "The Bloody Case That Started From A Steamed Bun" is turning out to be an extremely popular Internet movie with hundreds of thousands of links on Baidu and Google.  According to this forum post, there is a sequel that will merge Chen Kaige's The Promise with Zhang Yimou's Hero.
   
  Here is the summary of the plot: Twenty years after Nicholas Tse gave a steamed bun to Cecilia Cheung, Hiroyuki Sanada became a movie director and Cecilia Cheung and Jang Dong-kun are the actors.  They wanted to take a movie titled "The Steamed Bun Murder Case" for the Oscars but they had financing problems.  Hiroyuki Sanada went to beg people everywhere but he had all kinds of problems.  The characters in Hero made their appearances as various motion picture professionals.  Thus, Jet Li was Hiroyuki Sanada's assistant, Tony Leung and Chen Daoming were investors, Maggie Cheung was a bank CEO and Zhang Ziyi was Tony Leung's secretary ... finally, after Hiroyuki Sanada agreed to launder dirty money for Chen Daoming, the movie was made and it was ready to win the Oscar.  But at the last moment, the director of the National Movie Review Board Nicholas Tse showed up and declared that this movie has not passed inspection and therefore will not be able to participate in the Oscar Awards.  Thus "The Steamed Bun Murder Case" failed to win an Oscar.

• [069]  The Most Difficult To Understand Chinese Dialects (1/17/2006)  This 6Park forum post has the following rankings (from the most difficult down):
  (1) Wenzhou -- During the Eight Year War Of Resistance Against Japan, the Communists often needed to communicate by telephone or radio, which the Japanese could listen in on.  So they always used two Wenzhou person to talk.  None of the Japanese or their Chinese collaborators could understand what Wenzhou people say.  The comparable example might be the Comanche and Navajo Indian communication specialists in the US Army during the Second World War (see Code Talkers).
  (2) Guangdong -- They have their own pronunciation and writing systems.  On public transportation in Guangzhou, the announcements are made in Guangdong dialect first before putonghua.  Some Guangdong and Hong Kong people don't even understand putonghua.
  (3) Minnan -- This is a transborder dialect that has traveled to Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
  (4) Suzhou -- The most important characteristic is that it is soft sounding, especially when spoken by females.  It is said that you would rather quarrel with someone from Suzhou than hold a normal conversation with someone from Ningbo.
  (5) Shanghai
  (6) Shaanxi
  (7) Changsha
  (8) Sichuan
  (9) Shandong
  (10) Tianjin
  (11) Dongbei (Northeastern)

... The police used Cantonese to tell us to stop outside this room, leave all our stuff on the outside and then go in to be searched.  I said, "Undo my handcuffs!" because I couldn't remove my stuff otherwise.  The policeman looked at me in surprise and it was clear that he was unprepared for this.  So he asked another police officer to get some tool, and this other person brought back a tiny craft knife with a blade about 0.5 cm long.  Then he tried to slash and drag at the plastic cuff, and even wanted me to get out of my own cuffs by myself.  Then it was the turn of the mainlander Wen who yelled: "Be careful about my clothing!  They are brand name products!"  Then those two had a quarrel conducted in Cantonese, which was basically about how the Hong Kong police arrested people for no reason.  While they were quarreling, I stuffed everything on me -- headband, slogans, passport, digital camera -- into my bookbag.

Bang! The cell door was slammed shut.  The mainlander asked the police to give him a blanket.  "Later," said the policeman.  After a while, Wen's blanket came.  We introduced ourselves to each other.  The American said: "I am American.  My name is Sascha.  I work as a reporter in mainland China and I came here by myself.  I did not apply for a reporter's pass."  The Japanese said: "I am Yukihiro.  I work for a Japanese labor website."  The mainlander Wen said, "I am a tourist.  Look at me.  I don't even have my jacket here, beacuse I let my Hong Kong friends take it.  I told them to leave first, because I thought that I could get out immediately.  I didn't imagine that Hong Kong would be even more Chinese than China!"

... During the day, Wen spoke with the police in Cantonese and found out that they said that we could leave soon because the females have been released already.  Wen Zhiming translated the conversation into putonghua (Sascha was very good in Chinese), and then I translated it into English for Yukihiro.

... I chatted with Yukihiro about media and websites, and then I chatted with Wen about "one country, two systems" and the problems of going across borders.

... At around 7pm at our cell, Wen was asked by the police: "Are you the one from China?  Get up and come out!"  We embraced with Wen one after another and left the contact information.  He said, "Please come and look me up in Guangdong!"  But Wen would be walking out of this detention cell only to be charged in court.

I do not know for sure what happened with Wen.  The speculation was that he was selected for prosecution because he was tall and tanned like a farmer.  As a member of the fourteen, there was no specific evidence against Wen initially.  Over the next three weeks, it is known that the none of the original 80 listed police witnesses identified Wen (nor any of the other 13 suspects).  None of the additional police witnesses called in for the 'confrontation' line-up (that is, each witness got to walk up and stare at the 14 suspects in close) picked out Wen.  Therefore, Wen was released.
 
Was this another triumph of the famous rule of law in Hong Kong?  Well, the rule of law is not just about whether Wen was freed eventually, but also about why he was arrested and charged in the first instance.  Did the Hong Kong police make an honest mistake, or did they charge these fourteen people out of political expediency?  You should never expect to get a straight answer even if it seems quite obvious by now.  (Postscript: I expect that the response (if any) is that the police had the evidence but they cannot tell us at this time to protect the privacy of the individuals)

• [065]  Why Is Kim Jong-il In Guangdong? (1/17/2006)  It wouldn't take too long for someone to draw the obvious connection.  And it is not about the six-nation discussions, the University Library, the Guangzhou boat tour or the 12 Girls Band.
  
  In The Case of Zhang Dejian, we learned that Guangdong Province Party Committee secretary Zhang Dejiang's job is on the line after his province generated most of the internatonal scandal headlines in China for the past couple of years.  This weekend's latest addition is The Zhongshan Incident.
   
  So what?  What has that got to do with Kim Jong-il?  The author of this Boxun article noted that Zhang Dejiang is a graduate of Kim Il Sung Comprehensive University and therefore his ties to North Korea are strong.  The author then concludes that Kim Jong-il was making a personal trip to support Zhang Dejiang's continued employment at the CPC Politburo where he will no doubt offer continuous support for North Korea.  What do you think?  The author noted that this action could easily backfire (as in branding Zhang Dejiang as an agent for a foreign power).  More likely, I believe that people enjoying piling on Zhang Dejiang -- kick him hard when he is down!

• [064]  The State of Hong Kong Blogosphere (1/16/2006)  This is the translation of Jiang Xun's section on Hong Kong bloggers in Asia Weekly (issue dated January 15, 2006) (see The Dukedom of Aberdeen).

How many bloggers are there in Hong Kong?  There are no accurate statistics, because Hong Kong blogs are hosted by a variety of BSP's around the world.  But it is undeniable that the use of blogs is limited in Hong Kong, the number of bloggers is relatively small and the circle of bloggers is not wide.  On both sides of the straits and in the world Chinese community, Hong Kong is a leader in termsof freedom of speech and adoption of new technology, but its people have less desire and quality to express with words.  The young people of Hong Kong particularly have been immersed extensively in audio-visual media and colloquial culture.  Therefore they are less interested and skilled in verbal expression, whereas blogs are primarily verbal in nature.  Furthermore, the blogger spirit is about innovation, whereas Hong Kong students are used to the force-fed-duck type of education system and tend to conform.  Thus, blogging in Hong Kong remains to be developed.

There is no point in arguing with this kind of essay.  Why bother?  As the Super Girl theme goes -- if you want to blog, just blog.

• [063]  Marketing Ideas (1/16/2006)  This was the first day of the largest migration on the planet as the Chinese travel back to their hometowns for the New Year.  According to United Evening News (via Boxun), at a certain supermarket in Shunde city, a migrant laborer named Chen from Anhui was scrutinising the prices and sizes of the adult diapers.  Each year, he travels dozens of hours back home for the New Year.  He said, "Last year, the train was packed.  Even the toilet was jammed full of people.  It was harder to use the toilet than buy the train ticket.  When female comrades had to 'go,' it was really embarrassing."  So Chen was designated by his hometown folks to buy a couple of packs of adult diapers for use.  According to reports, the Shunde supermarkets are putting adults diapsers on prominent display for the season.
  

• [062]  Carrion Comfort  (1/16/2006)  In 1918, Gerald Manley Hopkins wrote the poem titled Carrion Comfort.  Here is the first stanza:

NOT, I’ll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; 
Not untwist—slack they may be—these last strands of man 
In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can; 
Can something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be. 
But ah, but O thou terrible, why wouldst thou rude on me
Thy wring-world right foot rock? lay a lionlimb against me? scan 
With darksome devouring eyes my bruisèd bones? and fan, 
O in turns of tempest, me heaped there; me frantic to avoid thee and flee?

Alas, I am aged and tired.  So when I read the interview How China Controls the Internet of Nicholas Bequelin, the China research director for Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong, by Business Week's Bruce Einhorn, I can do no more.  Somehow, these people dwell in a different China than the one that I am in.  (Hint: Go to Technorati, type in some sensitive keywords and see what is on the MSN Spaces blogs).  Anyway, I am confident that there are young and abled bodies out there who can undertake the job of addressing this fisking of this interview properly ... go for it!

• [061]  Four Types of People In Hong Kong (1/16/2006)  Consider the fact that ESWN posted The Peter Kovolsky Letter and Simon World linked to it.  That means there are four types of people in Hong Kong.
  Type 1: Those who do not read the South China Morning Post or read the English-language blogs.  That happens to be the majority of the population and they were, are and will not be relevant to SCMP.
  Type 2: Those who read the South China Morning Post as well as the English-language blogs.  There will undoubtedly be a keen sense of disappointment and it cannot be good for the SCMP in the long run.  This is an erosion in trust against which they have no defense because it is a totally one-sided affair (unless they want to come out to attack Peter Kovolsky!).
  Type 3: Those who do not read the South China Morning Post but they use the English-language blogs.  This will no doubt be a reinforcement that they should not be reading that rag because it is evidently not concerned about the people and their interests.  Please remember that these are the most dynamic and intelligent readers and opinion makers that advertisers love.
  Type 4: Those who read the South China Morning Post but do not read any English-language blogs.  It is true that they will never learn about the Peter Kovolsky letter.  But the trend is that this will be a diminishing group.  Sooner or later, Internet access (and blog reading) will be nearly universal.
   
  We will have to wait another ten years before we can pronounce judgment as to whether the South China Morning Post totally lost it or that they were smart not to succumb.  What do you think?

• [060]  The Snooker Champion (1/16/2006)  In December 2005, 18-year-old Ding Junhui won the UK Championship in York, England.  In the photo on the left, Ding is holding a piece of red paper symbolically indicating US$50,000.
  
  (CNA via ChineseNewsNet)  In an interview, Ding said: "What is the use of studying?  When you graduate, you still have to find a job?  If you can't find a job, you will have to stay and let your parents worry.  I feel that people exist in order to live better.  Right now, I am playing snooker and making money.  Things are very good."
   
  You can bet that this started an Internet debate.  On one hand, some netizens condemned Ding for being irresponsible as a public figure and urged young people not to follow him blindly.  On the other hand, some netizens believe that Ding's example proved that learning is not the only path to success.

• [059]  Filthy Stinking Liberals (1/16/2006)  The responses on the US Congressional Hearings seemed to be far too homogeneous around here: RConversation, ESWN, Imagethief, Danwei, Asia Pundit.  This is the whole problem about Group Polarization on the Blogosphere in which like-minded people in a group talk to each other in the same way.  So it will do here to bring up a dissenting opinion: "I absolutely support the action taken by American congresses and senates. Those opposed to these such measure are dirty, unethical and ummoral liberal who want to support the communist regime under the name of mulitculturalism."  Take that!

• [058]  Thieves (1/15/2006)
  
  
  There are more photos at Wenxue City.  But the strangest one is about the thief who hid himself in a suitcase and had it checked into baggage storage so that he can pilfer from the other bags.
  

[in translation]  At court, the Gang of Four and more than a dozen of their colleagues stood in a row.  But only Yao Wenyuan carried a fountain pen in his pocket, which showed why he was Mao Zedong's writer.  He began to keep a diary at age 15, and continued to write every day through the Cultural Revolution and in prison.  His diary is not just about daily trivia, but it carried his and other people's viewpoints.  In prison, he showed that he seemed to be honestly reforming himself and he listened to the lectures from the prison administrators.  This was different from the rowdiness of Jiang Qing or the silence of Zhang Chunqiao.  Every day, he read newspapers and books, he wrote self-criticisms, he talked about his viewpoints and he continued his theoretical research (especially the theory of natural dialectics) and make copious notes.
 
Based upon the news that he read in the newspaper, he made assessments based upon his understanding and he offered analyses and suggestions.  He asked the prison administrators to forward these to the CCP Politburo.  One time, he read in the newspapers that the people in the country had plenty of food and clothing, and that the people were dining and drinking during the Spring Festival.  He appeared to be quite worried because he believed that if this were to continue, then the food would run out in a few years' time.  So there had to be a plan to restrict the sales of food  just like before.  He asked the prison representative to tell the central government that one must struggle in hardship: "There has to be a plan about food.  We can't just eat like this."

Now this is truly shocking information, because it says that someone in the top echelon in the 1970s had no idea about how things work -- like not having to be self-sufficient in everything because you can always trade.  How many such people remain in that system?  After all, Yao Wenyuan isn't that old ...

• [056]  The Looting of the Palace  (1/15/2006)  ESWN v.1.0 was an actually mostly a War In Iraq blog site.  But these days I have given up talking about that subject.  After all, I meet people and they say, "Freedom and democracy have arrived in Iraq.  They just held an election in December.  Bush will go down as the greatest president in history, even better than Ronald Reagan."  What can I say?  Why waste my breath?  But periodically, some stories coming out of Iraq are so striking that they must be highlighted, as is this one from Ellen Knickmeyer at the Washington Post:

On Nov. 22, the top U.S. military and civilian leaders in Iraq handed over Saddam Hussein's most lavish palace compound to the safekeeping and control of the new Iraqi army and government, in a ceremony whose intended symbolism was as impossible to ignore as the military brass band.

"The passing of this facility is a simple ceremony that vividly demonstrates the continuing progress being made by the Iraqi government and their people," said Col. Mark McKnight, commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, who handed the keys to the palaces to the governor of Salahuddin province.

But in the days after American forces and the Iraqi brass band pulled out of the circular palace drive on a bluff overlooking the Tigris River, local officials now say, looters moved in, ripping out doors, air conditioners, ceiling fans and light-switch plates from some of the compound's 136 palaces, leaving little more than plaster and dangling electric wires.

... "The palace was turned over to the Iraqi army units in the presence of Deputy Governor Abdullah Naji Jabara," [Gov. Hamed Hamood Shekti] said. "Two weeks later I heard the place was looted. Now who can I accuse of the looting?"

U.S. military spokesmen, some expressing surprise, said this month that they had not known of the alleged looting spree after the handover. They stressed that the Tikriti palaces, after Baghdad's Green Zone the most prominent U.S. installations eventually slated for return to Iraqi authority, were no longer U.S. troops' concern.  "I think what we're seeing as we're able to leave the areas and turn them over to the Iraqi government, we're giving more responsibility back to the Iraqi government," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

...In Washington, the Bush administration trumpeted the handover. "The Iraqi forces are becoming more capable on a daily basis, and so this was, I think, an important example of that process moving forward," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that day. "It was, I think, symbolically important that this was a handover of one of Saddam's former palaces that he built in his home town, and now Iraqi forces that truly represent the will of the Iraqi people are now going to have control of that palace."

• [055]  The Jiang Zemin Reverse Sting  According to Ming Pao, nine people in Hong Kong have fallen for the Nigerian 419 scam over the past two years for a total loss of HK$3.7 million.  According to Ming Pao, an Englishman named Elliott Hambrook working in mainland China received an email from 'Alex Guei' concerning the 'fortune' worth HK$230 million from a deceased west African general.  Hambrook promptly replied using the name of Jiang Zemin to indicate interest and also informed the Hong Kong police.  
   
  A meeting was set up with two representatives of the 'Eastern Asia Diplomatic Services' in a Wanchai hotel, at which point two police officers posing as Jiang Zemin and his secretary signed the receipt.  When the police officers identified themselves, the first defendant ripped up his EADS 'identification' card and attempted to flush it down the toilet.  The police was able to retrieve only parts of the evidence.  The two suspects were identified as 28-year-old Jean Agbegnon Kondo and 29-year-old Oriakhi Oje from Togo and Liberia respectively and are illegal immigrants in Hong Kong.  Yesterday, the two people admitted to conspiracy to commit fraud, possession of false documents, illegal entry into Hong Kong and assaulting police officers.  They were sentenced to 26 and 27 months in jail respectively.
   
  This leaves an open question: Why Jiang Zemin?

As for what the US Congress Represenatives want to legislate, this is totally the business of the American people.  I don't feel that the freedom of speech of the Chinese people can be protected by the US Congress.  If the freedom of speech of the citizens of a great country has to be protected by the legislature of another country, this shows how distant the country is from the greatness that we longed for.  Opposing the shutting down of my blog and my defense of my freedom of speech should not be based upon relevant legislation by the US Congress.

To state it more clearly, we want legislation from China's Congress.  We want the Chinese to defend the freedom of speech by the Chinese.  Maybe not today, but it will be possible tomorrow.  This is the only glory and dream for continuing to live on. ...

Furthermore, at a time when globalization and politics are mixed up, I do not think that we can treat everything in black-and-white terms as being for or against the improvement of freedom and rights for the people of CHina.  On one hand, Microsoft shut down a blog to interfere with the freedom of speech in China.  On the other hand, MSN Spaces has truly improved the ability and will of the Chinese people to use blogs to speak out and MSN Messenger also affected the communication method over the Internet.  This is two sides of the practical consequences when capital pursues the market.  How the Americans judge this problem and mete out punishment is a problem for the Americasns.  If they totally prevent any compromised company from entering the Chinese market, then the Chinese netizens will not be freer at least in the short term.  Besides, we must distinguish between the sellout by Yahoo and the compromise by Microsoft, because they are completely different matters. 

• [053]  Sing Tao Hits Spain (1/14/2006)  From the Spanish news agency EFE to the Spanish portal LaPatata.com.es (and also at El Universal of Mexico):

El diario de Hong Kong "Sing Tao" utilizó una foto de sobre los disturbios ocurridos en Caracas en 2004 para ilustrar su información sobre las protestas ocurridas durante la reciente cumbre de la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC), según denunció hoy el autor del blog informativo "ESWN".

Roland Soong, autor de "ESWN" y quien afirma que fue testigo de las protestas durante la cumbre de la OMC en Hong Kong, el pasado mes de diciembre, denunció en su página web que la foto aparecida en el mencionado diario, de tendencia conservadora, fue tomada en Caracas durante las manifestaciones de la oposición venezolana en febrero y marzo de 2004.

ESWN es uno de los blogs informativos más populares de China y Hong Kong.

La imagen publicada por "Sing Tao" muestra a un hombre cuya cara está tapada con una máscara de gas, usando un tirachinas para arrojar clavos y en el título se explica los manifestantes de Hong Kong usaron ese tipo de armas y "causaron heridos entre la policía".

Con esa foto, "Sing Tao" mostraba su apoyo a las teorías de la policía honkonguense, que aseguraba que muchos de los manifestantes estaban organizados de forma similar a grupos paramilitares y eran muy violentos.

Según sostiene Soong, la foto fue en realidad tomada durante las violentas protestas en 2004 de la oposición venezolana para exigir un referéndum revocatorio del mandato del presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.  Durante la cumbre ministerial de la OMC en Hong Kong, celebrada el pasado mes de diciembre, más de 1.000 activistas antiglobalización fueron detenidos por la policía local, entre ellos dos españoles, aunque la mayoría eran campesinos surcoreanos.

El blog "ESWN", que en 2005 se convirtió en una nueva referencia para la prensa extranjera en China, destacó que la utilización de esta foto demuestra que hubo "manipulación" sobre las manifestaciones. EFE abc/pdp

• [052]  Sing Tao Hits Brazil  (1/14/2006)  From the Spanish news agency EFE to the Brazilian news portal UOL:

O jornal de Hong Kong Sing Tao usou uma foto dos distúrbios de 2004 em Caracas para ilustrar sua informação sobre os protestos que aconteceram durante a recente cúpula da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC), segundo denunciou hoje o autor do blog ESWN.

Roland Soong, autor do ESWN e que afirma que foi testemunha dos protestos durante a cúpula da OMC em Hong Kong, no último mês de dezembro, denunciou em seu site que a foto divulgada no jornal, de tendência conservadora, foi feita em Caracas durante as manifestações da oposição venezuelana, em fevereiro e março de 2004.

O ESWN é um dos blogs informativos mais populares da China e de Hong Kong.

A imagem publicada pelo Sing Tao mostra um homem usando uma máscara de gás e atiradeiras e, no título, a explicação de que os manifestantes de Hong Kong usaram esse tipo de arma e "deixaram policiais feridos".  Com essa foto, o Sing Tao mostrava seu apoio às teorias da Polícia de Hong Kong, que garantia que muitos dos manifestantes estavam organizados de forma semelhante a grupos paramilitares e eram muito violentos.

Segundo Soong, a foto foi feita durante os violentos protestos em 2004 da oposição venezuelana para exigir um plebiscito revogatório do mandato do presidente da Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.  Durante a cúpula ministerial da OMC em Hong Kong, realizada em dezembro, mais de mil ativistas antiglobalização foram detidos pela Polícia local, a maioria camponeses sul-coreanos. 

O blog ESWN, que em 2005 se transformou em uma nova referência para a imprensa estrangeira na China, destacou que a utilização da foto demonstra que houve "manipulação" sobre as manifestações.

• [051]  Censorship and Technology (1/13/2006)  From Howard French in Letter from China: Big Brother is playing a game he can't win (NYT/IHT):

• [050]  The Cat Beats The Sling Shot  (1/13/2006)  I just checked the log files to the website.  Notwithstanding my personal preferences, the blog post behind Eating Cats in China had several times as many visits than what I considered to be the most important media event of the year so far at The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO.  This is how the people have voted through their mouse clicks.

• [048]  Demonizing the Condom (1/13/2006)  (Southern Metropolis Daily)  According to the "Shenzhen Plan To Implement General Use of Condoms To Prevent AIDS," all hotels, motels, hostels and inns are required to have condoms in guest rooms; dance halls, karaoke clubs, bars, teahouses, saunas, gymansiums, footbathing places, beauty and hairdressing salons must have condoms available for sale; vacation villages, recreational areas and parks must have condom vending marchines.  The reporter went on a field trip in Lowu on the evening of January 9 to check up on public places:
   
  - 9:50pm, Great Capital Coffee House.  When a female service worker was asked, she smiled and said: "We don't sell condoms.  Why don't you go to the pharmacy or hotel to buy it!?"  This was the first time she had ever been asked about condoms.  "Consumers come here to drink coffee, relax and meet friends.  It seems too much to sell condoms."
   
  - 10:05pm, New Generation Disco Bar.  The two front desk female service workers looked embarrassed and said no.  "No customer has ever asked.  If they need condoms, they would have brought their own or else they know that if they get a room at a hotel, the hotel will sell it."
   
  - 11:00pm, Waldo Bar.  The manager on duty said: "We have a place for normal consumption.  We do not offer sex services, and so we don't sell condoms.  Nobody has ever asked.  If they need it, they should have brought their own."  She has no idea that the government wants them to sell condoms at the bar.  "I don't think there is the need."
   
  According to famous CASS sex researcher Li Yinhe, "This was a wise move by the Shenzhen government.  Even though certain people or organizations won't understand and they feel awkward at first, this move is essential because it will save many lives."

• [047]  The Slingshot Heard Around The World  (1/12/2006)  The story of The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO will not die.  At the bottom of that post, you can find a copy of the letter from Pranjal Tiwari at In The Water.  Pranjal has taken the trouble of contacting the people who took the original photograph and established that Sing Tao had never contacted them to use that photograph and they would have never ever agreed to it if they knew how it was going to be used.  The Venezuelan Ernesto J. Navarro wrote: "Expreso mi profundo rechazo a la manipulación de la información para cualquier fin. Defiendo la libertad de expresión y el derecho de los ciudadanos a estar informados de forma oportuna y veraz." (in translation: I express my profound rejection of the manipulation of information for whatever end. I defend the freedom of expression and the right of citizens to be informed in an opportune and truthful manner. I reject the use of any press material for the public that is distorted, and in this way accuses citizens.).

• [046]  Global Journalist (1/12/2006)  One inch forward, one foot back is written by Megan Shank for Global Journalist.  The sub-title is A look at the Internet from behind the Great Firewall.  I was one of the bloggers interviewed by Megan.

• [045]  A Real Korean Riot (1/12/2006)  Did the Korean farmers engage in a riot?  That will have to depend on the definition and standards for a 'riot.'  The following photographs at Wenxue City is for a riot in South Korea.  To repeat, this occurred in South Korea and not in Hong Kong.  How do you think Hong Kong's Tango squad of female police officers would have coped with this onslaught?  Look at those South Korean policemen -- they were down on their knees in surrender position.  It is in that sense that many people refused to classify the 'fall of Wanchai' as a riot.
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  

• [044]  False Advertising As Law Enforcement Tool  (1/12/2006) Back in Washington Square in New York City, it is noted that there are always marijuana dealers hanging out. Why haven't the police arrested them? The dealers whisper "grass? grass?" or "weed? weed?" to passerbys and they are actually selling 'grass' and 'weeds.'  Except these are not marijuana and you can get as high as one inch off the ground if you jump hard enough.  The police cannot charge them with narcotic sales.
   
  According to Eastweek (print only, no link), that business model has just been deployed in Hong Kong.  Throughout most of last year, the police has been cracking down vigorously on the pirated adult video stores in the shopping malls of Hong Kong and Wanchai.  But two months ago, the adult video outlets have returned with a vengeance.  The business model began with a test case of a police raid on November 2.  At the time, a  young man pulled out a knife and put it on his own neck, saying "How can you even confiscate legal disks!?"  He had also dozens of his allies at the scene, and it was quite chaotic.  In the end, the man was arrested and the merchandise taken away.  To the surprise of the police, the VCDs/DVDs were packaged as adult entertainment, but the contents would not fall into Category III or Category IV.  Regardless of the brand new alluring covers, the contents were usually decades-old movies with the naughty bits blurred out.  For that case then, the man was released without any charges.
   
  Encouraged by this development, the gang led by someone nicknamed Tall Guy Kwok with Sun Yee On triad background, went and rented nine store fronts in the Mongkok district selling the fake adult VCDs/DVDs.  These days, the stores are mobbed every evening by customers.  Tall Guy Kwok rents out his stores to others at HK$3,800 per month and promises to supply them with VCDs/DVDs.  The typical daily take is HK$6,000 per store, so the renters are taking in more than HK$2,000 per day.  Meanwhile, Tall Guy Kwok is estimated to be making better than HK$1 million a month.
   
  What is the police doing?  They know that they cannot arrest the operators for selling adult material, so they say that they are studying the possibility of charging the operators with false advertising.  Actually, the easier path is to let them be -- at this rate, the operators will burn through the customer base, none of whom will ever return.  In a few months' time, the entire industry would be extinct for good.

The women riot police who faced the wrath of Korean protesters during last month's World Trade Organisation mayhem said they had to act like models at a fashion show and make a quick change when trouble broke out.  But instead of the haut couture of the catwalk, they were donning full riot gear.

The 200-strong Tango Company had been put on the frontline without full kit in the hope that the sight of the less-equipped women would help ease tensions between the protesters and the fully geared-up police standing behind them.  But when the demonstrators tried to break through the lines anyway, the women - who had only handcuffs, batons and pepper spray - were forced to retreat.  "We were not running away," said Constable Leung Kam-oi, recalling the events of December 17.  "It was like a fashion show, running back behind the line and getting changed into the full riot gear we had brought along." 

...

Constable Leung and fellow frontline officers do not hold a grudge against the Korean farmers who attacked them with anything they could get their hands on and splashed them with a liquid that smelled like kerosene.  Senior Inspector Anita Ko Kit-nam said: "It's impossible to ask us not to go to Korea for a holiday just because of what happened." 

I have nothing against Tango and I want to hear even more Police Stories at WTO.  But when I see the same Tango story at Apple Daily, Ming Pao, Sing Pao, Oriental Daily and The Sun, then I get a little bit resentful about this transparent public relations game.  As the saying goes, I resent being made to become paranoid, but what is the motivation for doing so now?  It is as simple as giving some credit to Tango?  Or as nefarious as demonizing the demonstrators (namely, the kerosene dousing)?

• [042]  The Photo That Shook Taiwan (1/11/2006) (TVBS)  Found on the Internet was a photo of an unidentified Chinese soldier posing in front of ... gasp! ... two American F-16 jet fighters.  It is believed that these two 'airplanes' are in fact dummy models that are to be used as practice targets for training bombing runs by the Chinese air force.  These targets are set up on an island off Guangdong province in an airfield designed to resemble an actual airbase in Taiwan.
  
  This particular news report ends with stating that the release of such allegedly personal photographs may be part of a campaign of psychological warfare by China against Taiwan.  Alternately, it could be staged by the Taiwan government to hype up the threat from China.  Who am I to tell you which is true?

• [041]  The Rule of Law (1/11/2006) Some days, I say the hell with the rule of law, as this was how this Associated Press story struck me:

Fifteen Cubans who fled their homeland and landed on an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida Keys were returned to Cuba on Monday after U.S. officials concluded that the structure did not constitute dry land.  Under the government's "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach dry land in the United States are usually allowed to remain in this country; those caught at sea are sent back.  The Cubans thought they were safe Wednesday when they reached the Old Seven Mile Bridge. But the bridge, which parallels a newer one, is missing several chunks, and the Cubans reached pilings from a section that does not touch land.  Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said officials in Washington determined the Cubans should be considered "feet wet" because they were not able to walk to land.

• [040]  Means and Medians (1/11/2006)  The follow item appeared in Ta Kung Pao:

• [039]  The Huaxi Verdicts (1/10/2006)  For the detailed background, Huaxi/Huankantou: A New Chinese Tourist Mecca, Q&A about Huaxi/Huankantou, Citizen Reporters On The Huankantou/Huaxi Incident and The Long Story About Huaxi/Huankantou.  Here are three stories from the trial of nine citizens, and these stories are incosistent with each other.  Why?  I quote: " Neither the Lanxi court nor Dongyang officials were available for comment" and this is another example why restriction of information is not such a good idea.

(Reuters AlertNet)  Liu Huirong, 29, five years in prison on a charge of assault; Wang Liangping, 39, a 15-month jail sentence and Wang Zhongliang, 34, one year on a charge of creating disturbances; six others villagers were also convicted of creating disturbances but received suspended sentences.  Source: Beijing-based lawyers Wei Rujiu and Li Heping.
 
(Washington Post)  Liu Huirong, 29, was sentenced to five years for assaulting a policeman; Wang Liangping, 40, sentenced to 15 months and Wang Zongliang, 34, sentenced to one year, both for inciting social disorder.  Six others were convicted of causing disturbances and received suspended sentences.  Source: Beijing-based lawyer Wei Rujiu.
 
(SCMP)  Liu Huirong , 29, up to five years for assaulting police officers; Wang Liangping , 40, sentenced to 15 months in jail; Wang Zhongliang and Wang Hongwei were sentenced to 18 and 8 months jail respectively; Wang Xiaopan , Lu Hongping , Jiang Yonggen and Wang Fagen received suspended jail terms of up to 17 months. Wang Xinwang ( who turned government witness) was acquitted.  Source: Beijing-based lawyer Wei Rujiu and family members.

• [038]  Protectionism on Television (1/10/2006)  In Taiwan, the Government Information Office intends to study restricting the broadcasting of foreign drama series during television prime time (8pm-10pm) as well as setting up a buying coming to make sure that the prices do not get bid up through competition.  
  
  (front page story in Apple Daily)
  Why do they believe that this is necessary?  Because the Japanese and Korean dramas have proven very popular.  This measure will guarantee that only local made dramas appear during the most lucrative time period, and it will provide employment and income for the local industry.  Since this may be against WTO rules, this may be done on the basis of 'mututal silent understanding' among the television stations.
   
  According to the Apple Daily instant poll, "Do you think Korean draams should be banned during the prime period of 8pm-10pm?"  Yes 29%, No, 45%, Don't know/no opinion 26%.
   
  What about China?  Well, they have had gone through the same Korean storm and soul-searching, as the Korean drama series Jewel In The Palace may just be the most popular series in Chinese television history.  Here is Lee Han Shih in Asia Inc:

Movies and television serials from South Korea, featuring an endless number of surgically-altered actors and actresses, have been gaining popularity in China, and indeed, in the entire Asia. What triggered the current outrage, however, was the television series Jewel in the Palace, the story of how a poor orphan girl in ancient Korea managed to overcome all manners of difficulties to rise high in the king’s esteem.

The series, with its well-paced plot, pretty actresses and endless bouts of cooking contest and tear-jerking events, have taken China by storm. Activities grind to a stop whenever the episodes are shown, mostly in the evenings. Suddenly all things Korean, from cooking to costumes to its history, have become objects of interest to the Chinese. Rates for advertising spots on the show soar. Many Chinese are now taking tours to South Korea, especially to a theme park named after the main actress in the show. None of these have gone down well with Chinese filmmakers.

To rub salt into the wound, a mega-budget Chinese-made serial on the great Han emperor Wu, has been largely ignored by audience who preferred to follow the trials and tribulations of their favourite Korean actress.  This led some filmmakers to openly and bitterly complain about the “lack of taste” of the Chinese audience. “The Emperor Wu serial is every bit as interesting and well-acted as the Jewel in the Palace. Why is the audience so blind?” they asked.  

An impartial observer could have told them the first, last and ultimate test of a television serial lies in audience acceptance. It does not matter how much effort and money have gone into making a show, it is junk if it is rejected by the people. The Emperor Han serial may be magnificent — and it is, by many measures — but it is just bad luck that it has come across something that appeals more to the audience. This is what open competition is all about.

The complaints and the subsequent request for protection illustrate a shady, sorry side of the Chinese market. On one hand China is now the bogeyman who is eating everybody’s lunch. Yet, hiding in the shadows are many industries that are not equipped to cope with the pressure of doing business internationally. With China committed to open its market under its agreement with the World Trade Organisation, the days of many of these industries are numbered.

...

The Chinese film industry, which has just celebrated its 100th anniversary, is moribund.  For this, much of the blame must go to the filmmaking companies themselves. Just take a look at the object of contention, Jewel in the Palace. If it was made in China, it could breeze through the censors, nothing said in the show is controversial. No politics, no sex (not even a glimpse of the legs, as everyone is enclosed in those voluminous Korean hanbok), hardly any action. It is just people talking, cooking, laughing and crying. Yet it holds the entire Asia spellbound. Lured by the show, a record number of Japanese have visited Korea. In Hong Kong, conversations in the public transports are full of what happened the night before and what would happen next. Jewel in the Palace has made South Korea the Asian country after Japan to become an international film power.

So why couldn’t China, which has many times the population of South Korea, and a history reaching back 4,000 years, do it? The answer is that the producers, instead of making what the audience wants to see, make what they think the audience would like to see.  They make films under the same old, tired formula and expect to get good reception. When that fails, they complain and cry for protection.  They are, in effect, spoiled brats who must have things their way. Unless this attitude is changed, the Chinese film industry will never move beyond where it is today.

• [037]  What Did Guan Yi Say?  (1/10/2006)  From Chester Yung at The Standard:

Last month, Democrat lawmaker Andrew Cheng invited [Hong Kong University virologist Guan Yi] to Legco to clarify his allegation that ran on December 9 in Toronto's The Globe and Mail.  The paper quoted him as saying: "Quite honestly, some provinces have the virus and they still haven't announced any outbreak. I can't show direct evidence because China is trying very hard to block my research. The government doesn't do any surveillance studies, but they say there is no outbreak." 

Guan has denied he made an allegation that China is covering up avian flu outbreaks.  In a written reply submitted to the Legislative Council health panel Monday, Guan insisted: "I have not said in my previous interview that the Chinese government is hiding, masking or manipulating the information on bird flu." 

Here is even more mystery:  According to The Globe and Mail (see Workopolis and Future Health Solutions), the quote was:

“Quite honestly, some provinces have the virus and they still haven’t announced any outbreak. I can show direct evidence, even though China is still trying very hard to block my research. The government doesn’t do any surveillance studies, but they say there is no outbreak.”

There is a vast difference between the sentence "I can show direct evidence" in the original Globe and Mail article versus the sentence "I can't show direct evidence" quoted in The Standard.  What is going on?

• [036]  Ten Big 'Jokes' From 2005  (1/10/2006)  From John at Sinosplice, here is a list of statements in the public record at People's Net.  The original post contains the names and titles of the emininent public figures who said the words, but I am going to spare them the ignominy in the translation below.  Please note that these are not 'jokes' in the sense of being funny or humorous; these are 'jokes' in the sense that your reaction is something like: "You must be joking because I can't believe anyone can possibly say this."  Also, in some of the quotes, I have added the context of the event (e.g. the explosion in #10 is identified as the Jilin PetroChem explosion that contaminated the Songhua River).
   
  1. "The petroleum, telecommunicatinos and electricity industries are not monopolies.  They belong to the country and the people, and the profits go to the people."
  2. "Educational reform in China has succeeded!  As an educational system that has the heaviest burden in the world, we have realized two 'breakthroughs': 85% of the people receive free education and 20% receive higher education."
  3. "Pharmaceutical drugs cannot be sold like steamed buns!  The price of drugs is not expensive.  We do not agree to reduce the prices."
  4. "Real estate is about sudden huge profits!  Let us keep sudden huge profits going!"
  5. "Mining disasters such as the one in Jitaihe (Heilongjiang) have to do with the poor quality of the mine workers!"
  6. "When 'police-criminal' collusion is present as in Chengdu, an important cause is that police pay is too low."
  7. "If the minimal wage threshold for taxation is set too high, it will deprive the low wage-earners of the honor of becoming taxpayers."
  8. "The eight hundred million farmers and dismissed workers are a great source of wealth for China.  Without their existence, a small number of people will not be enjoying so much.  It is essential that they exist and maintain the current situation."
  9. "The new anti-terrorism method -- let the families of Guangzhou subway workers travel free in the system so that they can help evacuate and rescue in an emergency.  This is a safety procedure as opposed to handing out free passage as welfare."
  10. "The Jilin Petrochem explosion created only water and carbon dioxide.  It will not contaminate the water supply."

• [034]  When I Grow Up, I Want To Be ... (1/9/2006)  At the support rallies for the Korean farmers, there is a 7-year-old Hong Kong boy named Lee Sin-hang who comes with his family of five.
  
  Here is the photograph that has been zipping around the Hong Kong blogosphere (see Sidekick).  The text is translated as follows: "I wanted to become a dog-handler (police) because I like little dogs and I want to become a police man.  During the WTO period, the police had no self-confidence.  The police used pepper spray, water cannon and tear gas.  They used it to spray the demonstrators.  The demonstrators got a bit mad, they charged harder.  The demonstrators charged the defensive line.  Those with Hong Kong ID can leave, but those without had to go to the police station.  I feel that this is unfair.  I think that the police was wrong.  So I don't want to be a dog-handler.  Lee Sin-hang, 7 years old."
   
  The boy's mom had sent this letter to the various newspapers in Hong Kong.  Which ones will publish this?  Probably none.  There will no doubt be a debate about whether this 7-year-old has been brainwashed by his parents, as if parents don't tell 7-year-olds what to do.  You can tell 7-year-olds to wash their hands or do their homework, but you can't talk to them about how the police treated those with and without Hong Kong ID's differentially because you are brainwashing them about how the rule of law does not actually exist.

• [033]  The Korean Farmers Saga (To Be Continued)  (1/9/2006) (Apple Daily) Of the fourteen people charged during the WTO demonstrations, 11 are South Koreans.  They are presently prohibited from leaving Hong Kong while awaiting the completion of the police investigations.  Why is it taking so long?  There were issues with the police line-up at first, because of the difficulty in finding actors who are conceivably pass as Koreans.  Reportedly, a new police line-up had been made with one demonstrator being identified for posing as a photographer (huh?).
   
  After the next hearing, if the South Koreans are not released, then it has been announced that the South Korean farmers union will organize 300+ (some accounts give 1,000+ but that was an error by the simultaneous interpreter) farmers to come here to demonstrate against the Hong Kong law enforcement agencies.
   
  Here is the conundrum as defined in the Sing Tao editorial of 1/9/2006.  On one hand, there is the opinion that if these people are simply released and sent away, peace and quiet will return to Hong Kong.  On the other hand, this is now a very public case.  If the demonstrators are simply released, there will be a price to pay in the rule of law.  Someday, Hong Kong demonstrators may clash with the police in the same way and they will demand equal justice (or lack thereof).  Other foreign demonstrators will come here and expect the law to be a 'paper tiger' for them.
   
  The Sing Tao editorial recommends that the legal process takes its course according to the law; it also asks organizations which assisted the Korean farmers during the WTO MC6 period to explain to them about Hong Kong law and the fair trials that the defendants will receive.  On this last point, even this blogger must ask just which planet that came from.
   
  There is another element here important in Chinese culture -- face.  Dick Lee and his Hong Kong police arrested 900+ people and charged 14 of them.  Can they afford to just let them go for lack of evidence?  It is as if they are forced to put them on trial, however weak the evidence is.  So those 300+ South Korean farmers should book their airplane tickets (circa January 22).

• [032]  Frost Watching (1/8/2006)  The concept of frost watching is probably alien to 99.99% of the world population, unless you live in the same latitude as Hong Kong.  Here it is cold enough to be uncomfortable but not enough to ever see snow.
  
  (Oriental Daily)  Yesterday was the coldest day this winter when the temperature dipped to a low of 8 degress centigrade at the Hong Kong weather observatory.  Four university students went out early in the morning to go up to the peak of Tai Mo Shan, the highest point in the Hong Kong SAR.  The recorded temperature in the open space was -1.3 degrees of centrigrade.  They waited and waited but saw no sign of frost.  Although they were disappointed, they consoled each other: "Actually, it was a lovely sunrise.  We are content and this was not a wasted trip."
   
  As for me, I have been through snow storms in which the the snow drift was about 4 feet over my head.  It is not very romantic to have the ice particles coming at your face horizontally at 50 mph.  It is even worse when the snow melts, because it is all wet, icy, slippery and filthy.  So I regard this Hong Kong tradition of frost-watching at the peak of Tai Mo Shan with morbid fascination.  They want what they can't have; but if they ever get it, they would wish that they didn't.  Note: If you think that there is a political message here, you are over-interpreting ... you need to take a break.  Really.

• [031]  The Hou Guixin Interview (1/8/2006)  In the unlinkable South China Morning Post, there is an interview with Chinese blogger Hou Guixin by Josie Liu.

How would you define a weblogger?

Someone who has something to write, writes regularly and has a personality. The first wave of weblogs surfaced in China in late 2003 when a large group of media people had something to say. They used to write for their own newspapers and magazines and then, one after another, started their own weblogs. 

Do you think you have more freedom of speech with blogging?

There is less freedom in terms of subjects. I, as well as other bloggers, know which subjects cannot be touched. Some bloggers have had their sites closed down. They also lost all they had written because they didn't save their work. I don't want that to happen to me. But I can write about what I'm interested in, and there is no limitation on length or style. With traditional media, writing is largely for the consideration of readers, and the results fell short of me expressing my true feelings. 

How do you think weblogs will influence Chinese society?

There are many things that can't be published in newspapers or magazines but can be posted on weblogs, and this helps people to learn more about what is happening and guide them to form their own opinions. The pool of bloggers will become vast in China because Chinese people generally lack means for expression. When the group reaches tens of millions, they possibly will become a force to advance the system. 

• [030]  Chinese-style Boycott (1/8/2006)  Here are some alternate voices with respect to MSN Space:

[Oiwan Lam at InMediaHK] (in translation) At Isaac Mao's blog, he wrote that bloggers must force MSN to get out of China.  But what are their options afterwards?  Go back to blogcn in China, donews or that even more damnable bokee?  Anti and Mao chose foreign blog hosting services that are blocked in China.  But are others supposed to go back into the danger zone in which their indigenous companies help the government to censor the Internet?  While MSN is contemptible, those nationalistic websites who are hoping that MSN would shut down Anti so that they can profit from its demise are even more disgusting.

A truly open and free path is that we must condemn MSN while at the same time we must also condemn those companies that want to play on nationalism, destroy freeom of speech and rely on government power to profit.  Otherwise, we are doing exactly what they want.

[Chiu Yung's Blog]  (in translation)  Faced with the same circumstances, which BSP (Blog Service Provider) in China can say that they can do better than MSN?  Blogbus, Blogcn, Blogdriver, Donews, Sina or Netease? (and never mind that shameless Blogchina).  I dare say, if the people on top want to delete a certain blog, then the BSPs in China will oblige without further thought, and they will even voluntarily take preventative measures against "sensitive" content.

I ask which Chinese BSP has the courage to say: "Come, Anti, and set up home here.  We will protect your forever."  None.  Absolutely none.  Therefore, when the Chinese (especially those BSPs) ask the people to boycott MSN Spaces, aren't they somewhat less than righteous?

To die on MSN Spaces will at least get some international impact.  It is a glorious death for a good cause.  To die at the hands of a Chinese BSP is as light as a feather.  No one will mourn for you, because you are just one of the many mistakes.

A very unfortunate fact is right in front of us: as far as content and freedom are concerned, MSN Spaces is far better than all you BSPs.  An even more unfortunate fact in front of us is that we are not even qualified to boycott MSN at this moment.

• [028]  Apple Daily Front Page Headline News (1/7/2006)  There is a legend about how Apple Daily chooses its front page story in Taiwan.  Rule #1: No politicians (e.g. the President, the Premier, etc ).  This is based upon an empirical tracking study of newsstand purchases -- when the President shows up, sales plummet.  But there is also Rule #1a: A politician can be featured on the front page in the event of a political scandal.  Again, according to the tracking study, sales soar.  But most of the time, the front page features social stories.
   
  On this day, here is the Apple Daily front page.  The headline is "Teacher grabbed breasts of pretty doctoral student."
  
  In truth, the story is skimpy.  The teacher here is a guest lecturer from mainland China teaching classical Chinese literature in Tsinghua University in Taiwan.  The student is a Lin Chiling look-alike.  In late November, the teacher grabbed the student from behind and touched her breasts.  After a struggle, the student broke away and ran.  Several days later, the student complained to the Gender Equality Commission at the university.  The teacher was interviewed and admitted having done so.  He wrote a letter of apology.  The newspaper was not able to interview either principal.  When the reporter approached the teacher (named Wang), the man said, "No, my name is Li!" and then took off like a 100 meter sprinter.  There were obviously no photographs, so illustrations were used to enhance the imagination.
   
  So will this generate more or fewer sales?

• [027]  The Sing Tao Apology (1/7/2006) With respect to The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO, the following item appeared in a small box on the editorial page (A18) on Thursday, January 5, 2006.  I thank a journalist in another newspaper of the Sing Tao group for pointing that out to me.
  
  (In translation) Notice of Clarification: On January 3, our newspaper had a report on page A4 titled "Sling used to fire screw bolts, Police hurt painfully" with which there was a file photo of a Venezuelan demonstrators using a sling.  The source of that photo was not noted.  A reader has written a letter to point out that this can easily cause misunderstanding.  Our newpaper thanks the reader for pointing that out, and we apologize for having caused any misunderstanding.
   
  While this is the typical amount of space and attention given to corrections in mainstream media, this is woefully inadequate because this is not a simple case of a missing caption.  This was an intentional act.  The only thing that this notice of clarification is good for is that when the Hong Kong Press Council calls, the newspaper can say that a notice of clarification had been published.

It seems that the political map in Latin America is undergoing a certain change.  But this change is in exactly the opposite direction of the world trend towards free democracy ...

The United States is still and will continue to be in the leader position in the Americas.  The political counter-current in Latin America has raised concerns among the American government, American politicians and American intellectuals.  The United States will continue to promote the democratization and liberalization in the Latin American region.  Those countries in which the left-wing counter-current political authorities are located still contain open and competitive democratic oppositionists who have international support.  The left-wing counter-current political authorities offer a counter-example as a lesson: it is necessary to rear true and powerful modern democratic political parties in Latin America, it is necessary to have truely free social systems and it is necessary to inject various global mainstream cultural trends into Latin America in order to prevent various kinds of socialisms, nationalisms and populisms to use elections to domininate the political stages of these countries.

What are we missing here?  Apart from Castro, all the other leftists -- Chavez, Lula, Kirchner, Morales, Vazquez, Bachelet and Lopez were (or will be) democratically elected in fair and open elections.  So why are they said to be counter-current?  Well, here is real deal -- unless you agree to adopt 'global mainstream cultural trends' (read IMF/WTO/USA/EU dictates), you are not a 'free democracy' even if you elect your own president and government in open and transparent elections with universal suffrage.
 
And if this is a counter-current, you should look back at the original current that existed in the 1980's and 1990's -- they elected governments which followed the IMF/WTO/USA/EU prescriptions but life did not improve for the majority of the population.  So that is why there is a democratic 'counter-current.'  If you want a democratic counter-counter-current, then you better believe that advocating 'global mainstream cultural trends' is NOT the right message -- the electorate had been there, they did that, they didn't like it so why would they choose it again?  The reason why the leftists are winning elections everywhere is that the countries are watching each other and they are seeing that the 'leftist' model is better than the IMF/WTO model which brought so much grief to so many.
 
If you a true believer in freedom and democracy, this is the problem that you should be thinking about, not about spending more money to create oppositional parties.  Giving them the right issues has greater impact than more cash (and you should not let the people who were getting the cash previously tell you otherwise).

• [025]  The Sling Shot Appears At Economic Journal (1/6/2006)  My photoplay The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO made it into the Hong Kong Economic Journal (see InMediaHK at the bottom of the page near January 6, 2006.  The relevant paragraph is this:

• [024]  Blame It On The Internet (1/6/2006)  (TVBS via Yahoo! News)  In Taiwan, independent legislator Li Ao picked up a copy of a report from the Defense Ministry and ripped in up, literally and figuratively, on television.
  
  Li Ao: "Everybody look.  Why did I rip it up?  I tell you.  Let me tell you.  How can you make numbers up?  Let me divide for you.  Is the South Korean defense budget 4.38?  The answer after division is 1.987.  Even the basic number is in error.  Why take it to try to fool us legislators?  This is nonsense."  "Can the legislator let me explain?"  "You made it up.  What is there to explain?  Okay, you explain."  "We downloaded this number from the Internet."

• [023]  Nujiang Ruver  (1/6/2006)  On one hand, I ask you to read Jim Yardley at the New York Times via The Ledger (Lakeland, FL).  On the other hand, I am going to publish (without permission) a private email (and I hope that she doesn't mind):

I went to Nujiang and deep into the canyon, I stayed with a farmer family there. When I had my breakfast or dinner, at least 3 dogs and one little pig waited on us to feed them under the table. It was so funny to eat with them ( but I was also surprised to see my friends eating pork when there was a lovely pig around). And I was amazed to watch the puppies playing with the little piggies. It was a wonderful experience.

The scenery along Nujiang is beautiful.  However, the lives of the peasants are terribly bad. I went to some poorest villages, the peasants live in very raw wood houses.  Even though the timber there is cheap, they can only afford to build a tiny house usually around 10sq m. I visited a family and saw them making To Fu Fa to celebrate new year.  A wok, an old wooden bed and some glass bottles are the total assets of the family of three. 

Despite life is difficult, they don't find themselves very poor, they love their village, they love NuJiang and they love their land. However, the proposed water dams will definitely further worsen their livelihoods in the future. This is very unfortunate.

I have been thinking a lot for the past week, especially about the problem of over-consumption. Electricity won't cost us much who live in a developed city, but the social cost is very huge. We have to sacrifice the beautiful scenery of Nujiang for 13 water dams and hydro-electricity plants, we have to take away the lands from the farmers. (Now, I have to switch off some lights first).  But do we really need so much electricity?

• [021]  The Penetration of Mobile Phones (1/5/2006)  Somebody ought to translate this New York Times piece (found thru my orange-colored website) into Chinese and have a lot of fun with it.  Or shall I guess that it has been done many times already before.

I had barely sat down when I heard a voice from the other bathroom stall saying, "How are you?" I don't know what got into me, but I answered, somewhat embarrassed, "Doin' just fine." And the other person said, "So what are you up to?" (What kind of a question is that?)

At that point, I was thinking, "This is too bizarre," so I said, "Uh, I'm like you - just traveling." At this point I was just trying to get out as fast as I could when I heard another question. "Can I come over?" O.K., this question was just too weird for me, but I figured I could just be polite and end the conversation. I answered: "No. I'm a little busy right now."

Then I heard the person say, nervously: "Listen, I'll have to call you back. There's an idiot in the next stall who keeps answering all my questions."

• [020]  MSN Spaces Explains Anti  (1/5/2006)  

Followup to Chinese thing, off to CES  Scobleizer

I have been talking to lots of people today, though, inside and outside of Microsoft. In every instance they asked me to keep those conversations confidential. Why? Cause we’re talking about international relations here and the lives of employees. I wish I could go into it more than that, but I can’t. Not yet. See, it’s real easy as Americans to rattle the door and ask for change, but we don’t live there. Saying “give them the finger” isn’t that easy when there are real human lives at stake. And I don’t need to spell out what I’m talking about here, do I?

One thing I’ve heard is that we spell out our terms of service very explicitly on MSN Spaces. Here in the United States we pull down stuff too at government request, like child pornography or other illegal content.

• [019]  3G Applications (1/4/2006)  Why would you want a 3G mobile phone?  What can you do with it?  (Apple Daily, Oriental Daily)  On May 2, 2004, a 31-year-old female 3G user named Han received a call.  At first, the video image was unstable, and she saw a male reproductive organ on which masturbation was being performed.  She hung up the phone and called the police.  
   
  On June 20, 2004, a 17-year-old female 3G user named Tsui was giving private tutor lessons when her phone rang.  The screen showed a male reproductive organ.  She hung up the phone immediately.  Seven minutes later, another call came and there were scenes of masturbation.  She was disgusted and called the police.
   
  From the 3G service provider, the police found out that those two calls came from the same number.  In the month of mid-June to early July last year, there were more than one thousand random calls made from that number.  The police contacted some of those numbers and found a 17-year-old female named Ku.  On the morning of June 22, 2004, Ku was sleeping when a telephone call woke her up.  A voice said, "It's me!" and then the picture showed a male reproductive organ.  Ku was scared and hung up immediately.  Twenty minutes later, another call came and the picture showed masturbatory action.  She hung up but did not call the police at the time.
   
  Yesterday, at the Kwun Tong (Hong Kong) court, a 23-year-old male named Leung pleaded guilty to three counts of making harassing (obscene) telephone calls.  For prospective copycats, this is a bad idea because the 3G service provider knows who called whom.  Once again, this has been a English-language public service announcement from your favorite website, which brings all the news that South China Morning Post and The Standard deemed unfit to print.

• [018]  What Did Anti Think When He Found Out (1/4/2006)  So what did Chinese Michael Anti think when he realized that MSN Spaces had shut down his blog?  Here is the translation of the section of his post at his blog-city site (mirrored at ZonaLatina.com):

On the afternoon when Microsoft deleted my space, I did not feel anything at all.  A few days ago, I was at Peking University speaking to students and someone asked me whether MSN Spaces would be shut down on account of me.  My response was, "When the warning comes, Microsoft will sell me out first.  So everybody should feel free to use MSN Spaces."  I sensed that the day will be coming.  Over the last days, the daily traffic was about 15,000, and then everything was deleted.  Damn Great Wall, damn Microsoft.  I will make Microsoft pay.

That night, I felt bad and I cried.

It is so hard to be a free Chinese person.  This year, my blog was shut down twice because I supported media (Chinese Youth Daily and Beijing News).  When I was in Hong Kong, I told the reporters that I know where the bottom line is.  The problem is that when my fellow media are in trouble, it is my obligation as a member of the news media to offer support immediately.  Under this type of moral obligation, personal bottom lines are irrelevant.  One can continue to live meticulously and technically, but one must also have another side that puts everything aside to express true feelings.

• [017]  Chinese Blogger Anti  (1/4/2006)  In December 2005 Comment #100, I noted that the MSN Spaces blog for Chinese blogger Michael Anti (aka Zhao Jing) was gone, as was his English blog.  What can I do?  I am nobody.  But a couple of heavyweights have stepped in on his behalf.  First up was Rebecca MacKinnon,  Next, we have Scobleizer of Microsoft:

Why is this so important to me? Well, you ignore the voices of individual people at your peril. And, I’ve been raised by people who taught me the value of standing up for the little guy. My mom grew up in Germany. Her mom stood up to the Nazis (and got a lot of scorn from family and friends for doing so).

I do believe in a slippery slope. If they come after you today, maybe they’ll come after me tomorrow. Gotta stop this kind of stuff while we’re still talking about you.

Oh, and to: Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti I’d like to offer you a guest blog here on my blog. I won’t censor you and you can write whatever you’d like.

If and when Michael Anti begins a guest blog at Scobleizer, I promise that I will mirror everything and ask all my readers to do so as well such that it becomes impossible to banish, block, censor, ban, whatever.
 
P.S.  Anti is reviving his Blog-city site.  This foreign site is not accessible inside China.  I am offering an alternate version without the full functionality at ZonaLatina.com, and you have information to subscribe through feedburner and gmail.  I use my Latin American site because it is unlikely to come to the attention of the Chinese Internet censors.

• [014]  The Dongying Protest (1/4/2006)  The Dongying Protest post was submitted to EastSouthWestNorth and published without verification.  The fact is that this blog is run by a single individual without any means of verifying anything in a place such as Dongying.  Therefore, I am forced to make a personal and subjective judgment as to whether it is appropriate.  There are plenty of precedents: The Water Crisis in Harbin was made much more personal and compelling by the local reports from Harbin residents sent directly to me.
   
  On one hand, I have no intention of becoming like the Boxun (Peacehall) website.  I will not have a policy of publishing any and every submission and let the people figure out what the truth is.  I have said many times that this is irresponsible and deleterious to the credibility of independent media (see, for example, Signal-To-Noise Ratio In Internet News).  Thus, I am forced to make a personal and subjective assessment about the credibility of any submission.  For example, there is a recent story about by a certain "cult-related" website about how a Russian surveillance satellite recorded Shanwei residents being hunted down and executed in cold blood.  With due respect, the shooting occurred between 8pm and 10pm in total darkness; infrared satellite films of a mass incident cannot show what was happening on the ground; even if they did, the Russian government would not have shown them to a certain 'cult-related' Internet publication.
   
  On the other hand, I have to balance the value of such a report.  The Dongying Protest post was interesting to me, because it is an example of the ineffectiveness and harm due to information control.  The Dongying citizens walk around the streets and they can see with their own eyes that something is askew.  But there is no public information.  That leaves them to depend not on Reuters, but on the Roadside News Agency.  I ask you to read that post and ponder what you would think as a Dongying resident.

• [013]  Young Girls Bathe in Public  (1/4/2006)  In yesterday's post, Young Girl Bathes in Public, at least the young girl was wearing a swimming costume when she leapt into the bathtub in front of the spectators.  Of course, such a gimmick goes stale quickly and it is necessary to beat it.  Indeed, someone has.  From this Xici Hutong post, we have a case of not one (but three) young girls; furthermore, they were not wearing anything!  This time, they are promoting liquid soap for bathing at a certain Wangjingfu shopping mall, Beijing.
  
  What next?  Soon, people would be yawning even if there are only a hundred naked girls selling whatever.
   
  [WARNING: The provenance of these photos is in doubt.  This may not be Beijing as stated; it could be South Korea or Japan]  (See Chosun)

• [012]  The Sling Shot Photo  (1/3/2006)  This post The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO has aroused tremendous responses.  I am glad that I am not the only one in the world who still professes astonishment about this sort of stuff.  At InMediaHK, Oiwan has these four recommended actions:
   
  1. Please do not buy this lying newspaper that pretends to be neutral.  Sing Tao is even more disgusting than Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, which at least make clear where they stand.
   
  2. Please tell all your friends and relatives not to buy this newspaper.
   
  3. Please refuse interviews from any member of the press in the Sing Tao group, and refuse to write for Sing Tao.
   
  4. We ask all the editors and reporters at Sing Tao still with professionalism to reflect the seriousness of this matter to their bosses.
   
  These actions will not stop until the group publicly apologizes and the responsible editor is removed.  These actions are meant to tell the mainstream media that the people are not idiots and they know how to say no to shameful newspapers.
   
  P.S. Shangri La has a protest letter and addresses for the Journalists Association, Press Council and Sing Tao.

• [011]  Three Chinese Blogs of 2005  (1/4/2006) Flypig's weblog published this item (in Chinese) from Economic Observer.  EastSouthWestNorth is listed alongside two Chinese stars: Massage Milk and Mu Mu.  Massage Milk is the Chinese winner in the Journalism categoy at the Deutsche Welle Best of Blogs Competition while Mu Mu was just featured in the New York Times.  So that is quite an honor for me, given that I am an English-language blogger living outside of mainland China.  Here is the translation of the section about EastSouthWestNorth:

The world is flat?  In New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's bestselling book for the whole year, the Internet seems to have broken down all the boundaries between nations and between people.  Various types of information flow unrestricted through the fiber optic cables at the bottom of oceans.

But in practice, there are objective differences in language.  The information relay between the Chinese- and English-language blogospheres was in an imbalanced situation from the very first day.  "If an event was not described in English, it did not really happen," according to Chinese judge Michael Anti at the Deutsche Welle Best of Blogs Competition.  Currently, Chinese intellecturals go to the English-language media to get the first-hand news about what is happening on the other side of the ocean.  But most European and American persons can only depend on non-indigenous foreign correspondents based in China to observe the rapid changes in this mysterious eastern country.

The appearance of EastSouthWestNorth has more or less altered this situation.  This blog run by a Hong Kong person was able to use astonishing speed and accurate expression to disseminate in English the most important viewpoints in the Chinese media and blogs.  In the many news stories in China this fall, EastSouthWestNorth has unwittingly influenced the viewpoints of the foreign media organizations based in China, in terms of opinions as well as the manner in which suddenly breaking incidents ought to be handled.

From the viewpoint of communications theory, the information in mass media does not flow directly to the audience.  Rather, they go through those opinion leaders who have frequent contact with media information in order to influence more individuals.  Without doubt, EastSouthWestNorth has begun to play the role of opinion leader in the process by which information is spread from the east to the west.

• [010]  2005 Statistiscs  (1/3/2006)  For the year 2005, here are the combined website statistics:
   
  Total number of hits: 15,198,304
  Total number of page views: 3,601,423
  Total number of user sessions: 2,943,488
   
  On a daily basis,
  Average daily number of hits: 41,638
  Average daily page views: 9,866
  Average daily user sessions: 8,064
  Average time spent per session: 10:12
   
  Not counted is any traffic re-directed to external sites such as Curbside @ WTO.  It goes without say that the numbers were a lot higher in December than in January due to the rapid growth in traffic.  In the final analysis, I'll have to say that I really don't care.  I know how to boost traffic numbers -- show a lot of scantily clad of women and that is not my objective.  I will merrily go my own way, and I hope that this is the reason why you come here.

• [009]  Young Girl Bathes In Public (1/2/2006)  (6Park)  In the city of Chengdu (China), a hot water system manufacturer had this promotional idea.  Outside it is 3-10 degrees, and hundreds of freezing citizens are gathered in front of a bath tub filled with hot water.  Soon, when the water reached 42 degrees, a young girl came out and jumped into the bathtub.  After a few minutes, she was directed to stand up and used the showerhead to direct water on herself.  In less than a minute, she turned and whispered to the director: "It's so COLD!"  So she was allowed to lay back down into the hot water.
  
  An old female spectator said: "Marketing is getting worse and worse nowaways.  It is so cold out, and that they had to get a young girl to come and suffer."  A company representative said that the girl was getting a four-figure compensation for the few minutes.  The girl came out later and was interviewed by the reporter.  She is a student at an etiquette professional school.  Her family is well-off and she is not doing this for the money.  Instead, she wanted to have more professional experience.

• [007]  If Hwang Woo-suk Were Chinese ...  (1/2/2006) (Nanfang Daily) A Fudan University scholar speculates what might happen if there were a case of academic fraud like Korean "Father of Cloning" Hwang Woo-suk.

On one hand, it was only forty days when Hwang's American collaborator announced that he has withdrawn on "ethical" grounds, twenty-three days since television network MBC aired a program and seven days when Seoul University began its investigation before the matter was concluded.  On the other hand, it is speculated that the case would have drawn on forever in China (long enough that no one would remember it).
 
On one hand, no senior Korean political figure said anything in defense of the "national hero" and "leading scientist", made obstructions or interferences or looked for scapegoats on Hwang's behalf.  On the other hand, it is speculated that the case would have been banned from public discussion, or obstructed and interfered with by people in politics, academics, departments and local governments due to personal or group interests, or else an unfortunate assistant or graduate student will emerge to accept the blame.
 
On one hand, the results of the investigation in Korea were open, clear and timely, and Hwang has been stripped of his academic duties and research funds.  On the other hand, it is speculated that such an investigation would be dragged out over a long time with an ambiguously worded report that would be kept secret, while the principal continues to function as before.

Of course, all this is speculation.  We will know what to look for when it does happen.

• [006]  The Greek Colonels, Brazil and Beijing News  (1/2/2006)  You look at the subject title and you are taken aback.  What have the Greek Colonels got to do with either Brazil or Beijing News?  To begin the debriefing, you can start with this previous post: Brazil In The Time of Dictatorship.  There was this quote:

During the height of the Brazilian military dictatorship of Gen. João Baptista Figueiredo (1979-1985), one political satire and humor magazine, Pasquim, developed an ingenious ploy for publishing criticisms of the military that got by the censors. Whever the magazine meant to criticize the Brazilian dictatorship, it simply substituted the word "Greek" for "Brazilian." At the time, Greece also had a military government. Pasquim published numerous articles of gross human rights abuses by the Greek military government. It took government authorities a year to figure out that the magzine was publishing criticism of the Brazilian government to a select segment of the audience that understood the ploy.

It would now appear that there is a brand new occupation, in which each and every thing that appears in Beijing News is subjected to this type of interpretation: (see comments January # 005 and January # 003, and the famous bird flock photo at the bottom of From Inside Beijing News - Part 1).
 
The fun and joy of this exercise is that the thing in itself is not damnable -- if you whine about it, then everyone will think that you are paranoid and grossly over-reacting, and that is part of the entertainment.  This is subversion at its best.

• [003]  Basketball Scores in Beijing News  (1/1/2006)  Round 18 of CBA: Beijing 89, Xinjiang 102.  News headline: The Home Base Has Fallen.
  

• [002]  The Beijing News Story  (1/1/2006)  This particular story highlights the difference between the EastSouthWestNorth blog and mainstream/alternative media.  First, there is no mainstream media coverage inside China.  You would not have a clue that anything had happened.  Next, there is sporadic coverage at the Chinese blogs and forums.  It was a game of whack-a-mole, as things gets deleted at the most popular blogs and forums almost as quickly as they get posted.  Next, there are the western mainstream media stories (see The Beijing News Strike), which are usually terse, factual and cold.  You have no sense how people in the eye of the storm feel.
   
  By contrast, you can read here From Inside Beijing News - Part 1, which is a translation of a blog post by an individual Beijing News worker who urged her fellow workers to fight on: "It cannot be the case that when the bad guys show up, the good guys retreat.  We cannot give up ... We can still fight one headline at a time, one topic at a time and one article at a time."  You can also read here From Inside Beijing News - Part 2, which is a translation of a blog post written by another Beijing News worker  about what happened at the office on the day when the news came out about the dismissals, and then about the department dinner that evening.  "The little Wen girl cried.  She said that she came here because XJB is XJB.  If it isn't anymore, she wouldn't know what to do.  I cried too ...."
   
  The lessons are these: the game of whack-of-mole can kill some of the blogs and forum posts, but there are far too many blogs are there to patrol.  This is a matter of numbers now, and my bet is on those ten thousand points of light out there.  For the English-only readers, a bridge blog such as this one can bring all the action to you.

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