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Section 2 of 3: Brief comments
(Xinhua) Drunk driver detained over road accident killing five in east China July 1, 2009.
NANJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Local police have detained a drunk driver who lost control of his vehicle and caused an accident that killed five people, including a pregnant woman, in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing Tuesday evening. Hu Xiaoxiang, deputy chief of the municipal public security bureau, said Wednesday that the driver, surnamed Zhang and aged 43,drove the car while intoxicated. Zhang had 381 mg of alcohol per deciliter of blood, well above the 80 mg legal limit. Zhang's car crashed into a street lamp, then hit a watermelon stand at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, before it hit nine passersby and six other vehicles. Three people died at the scene and two died later.
So what? Except this is China, where everything can be magnified into a public storm via the Internet.
First came the photos taken by netizens and reporters at the scene (via Daqi):
I am going to spare you the photo of the pregnant woman with her baby and intestines ripped open.
After these photos, there can only be rage. Where to direct any action? In China nowadays, the netizens only have the human flesh search as their tool. Unfortunately, the results are not always accurate and therefore collateral damage occurs sometimes.
At first, it was reported that the car belonged to someone who works at the Jiangsu provincial procuratorate. Later, the person was located and he said that he had sold the car to a construction sub-contractor even though the paperwork had been completed due to some problems over the auto loan at the bank. The driver was that construction sub-contractor.
(Yangzi Evening News via Lijiang Community)
According to the Nanjing police, 43-year-old Zhang Mingbao had dinner with others and drank seven or eight liang of Chinese white wine. Afterwards, he drove his black Buick Lacrosse home. On the way, he lost control of the vehicle, hit nine pedestrians and rammed six other cars.
When Zhang came out of his drunken stupor, he realized that he had committed a major mistake. During the police interrogation, his voice was trembling and his eyes were blood-shot. The reporter noticed that his hands and feet were shaking. He said that he was very sorry to be the "executioner." "I have committed a tremendous disaster. I am very scared right now. Very scared. I have hurt so many people. So many lives were lost! I felt right now that I had been an executioner. I have done them wrong. I have done their families wrong. I am really sorry. I must now try to compensate them, whether it is selling my house or my car. I must compensate them. I hope that all drivers will learn from my lesson. Do not drink and drive. Do not drive when you are drunk. You are hurting yourself and others."
Netizens have also discovered that Zhang Mingbao has a long history of traffic violations. Nonetheless, he has continued to drive. On June 26, he drove the same car through red traffic lights twice.
Meanwhile, the police is being criticized for how they disposed of the bodies at the scene. You can watch the video to see for yourself.
This may be an ordinary traffic accident. But if the authorities or principals mishandle this in some way or form, it can be an Internet storm. Then and only then will this become a western media story.
(TVBS)
With her hopes of traveling abroad dashed, Chen Hsin-yu once again lost control of herself and raged at the media. A reporter asked him where her children were going to study. At that moment, Chen Hsin-yu yelled "You are like this every day! This is enough!" She left her guards to chase after the reporter. In the chaos, she could be heard to say "My children are being affected" and she also yelled at her guards: "Don't strangle my neck!"
From the videos, it can be seen that the media were lined up in a row. When she went to the position that we indicated, she lost control as soon as her children were mentioned.
The whole phalanx of umbrellas actually stopped Chen Hsin-yu from venting her rage. She said: "Don't strangle my neck! Haven't you done enough!" The camera was kept outside by the guards and the police, so it is impossible to see where she was heading. Then suddenly she reappeared on camear with her right hand sometimes raised in the air. She said: "It has been one year! You have been following me for a year! Is this tolerable?" The clinic nurses came out to escort her in. "You will get retribution! You will have children some day! You will have children some day!"
Watching Transformers 2 was undoubtedly an audio-visual feast. Just like the first movie, this was not just an entertainment film for the eyes and ears, because it also reflects the ideology and attitudes of America. Through this film, the intention of the American military to promote its global strategy and armament was expressed to its fullest.
First, the advanced weaponry of the American military was fully presented in Transformers 2.
The American Defense Department provided the White Sands missile testing ground to the film crew for the final battle scene. In terms of weaponry, it provided two A-10 jet fighters, six F-16 jet fighters, ten armored Hummer vehicles, two M1A2 tanks and the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.
As everybody knows, these are the "traditional products" that America pushes in the international armaments market. The movie showed the mobility and excellent qualities of these products. They are going to be tempting for arms purchasers as well as nations in conflict zones. In reality, these are not the most advanced weaponry. For example, take the F-16 jet fighters that American likes to sell to conflict zones and third world countries. Although it has a mature technology, it is not the most advanced American jet fighter. The most advanced American jet fighter is the F-22, but it is not being exported. Technologically speaking, the F-22 is a complete generation ahead of the F-16.
In conclusion: You can watch my advanced weaponry in this movie! Come and buy some now! But I won't sell you my best stuff! So even if you spend a lot of money, you won't be able to beat me!
One netizen said jokingly: "Transformers 1 was advertising for American automobiles, whereas the sequel was advertising automobiles alongside weaponry! You even have to pay to watch the advertising!"
Secondly, American has global strategic and military plans. America believes that other nations should cooperate with its strategies.
At the beginning of the movie, the American military and the Autobots were fighting the Decepticons in the streets of Shanghai. The Egyptian air force and the American military attacked the Decepticons on the pyramid together. Actually, we observe the typical thinking of the American military: no matter whether it is the yet-to-happen alien invasion of Earth, or the regional conflicts or human wars on Earth, the best guarantee for world security and defending human civilization is to unite politically with America at the core and to have the American military as the command center.
Throughout history, America has interfered with the internal politics of other nations using excuses such as "democracy," "human rights" and "religious freedom." There are even numerous examples of America starting wars. The justification for attacking Iraq was because that nation possessed "weapons of mass destruction." Have they found them yet?
The movie debuted around the world on the same day. It showed the strength of American power and the role of the American military in defending peace and justice. The imperceptible influence on the whole world (especially the young people) is: it is legitimate and just for America to station troops all over the world; if not, who is going to save you against the alien invaders from outer space or the "axis of evil" or "rogue nations" on earth?
Thirdly, the movie is deliberately trying to idealize the image of American soldiers.
I can clearly remember the scene in Transformers 1 in which the American soldiers formed friendly relationships with local children in the Middle East. In Transformers 2, when the Decepticons attacked the Egyptian village, the American soldiers and the Egyptian militia fought alongside each other while actively evacuating civilians on camels. This is using military-civilian harmony to make up for the dreadful image of American soldiers in the Middle East.
The movie gave a full portrayal of the bravery and fearlessness of American soldiers. As a Transformer fan said: "When I watched the Transformer cartoons in my youth, human weapons were basically useless against the Transformers. But in the movie Transformers 2, human weapons could knock down the Decepticons. The invincible Devastator was easily knocked off the pyramid by a shot from an American destroyer."
The Pentagon has no compunction in stating that apart from providing the grounds and various weapons, they also provided extra actors who are current servicemen who had just returned from Afghanistan and Iraq. They were willing to provide so much support for one reason -- to create a good and positive image for the American military.
Actually, it is customary for Hollywood to use movies to communicate American values to the world. In the past, the best example was Titanic. But I think that the most successful collaborations with the military are these two Transformer movies.
The Democratic Progressive Party runs a website ecfa.dpp.org.tw for this campaign. Recently, people have discovered that if they mistype 'ddp' instead of 'dpp,' they will end up with a page of naked women instead. Some people have wondered if this was a plot by China. But finally, this ersatz website has made the ECFA website famous. The Democratic Progressive Party is delighted as well as embarrassed.
On May 8, Henan province, Yanshi city State Land Resources Bureau director Li Junhu told the team of peasant laborers: "So what if you contacted the news media? Didn't we fix the several teams that came previously? What is so big deal about People's Daily? Although they don't drink our water, they don't smoke our cigarettes, they don't eat our food and they don't live in the hotels that we arranged for them, it does not matter because they are news media in the final analysis. Even if something goes wrong, it is the former director who will be accountable. It has nothing to do with me. Besides, I have already visited the provincial and city Land Resources Bureau and I have made reports to the city government leaders. Let me tell you. We have fixed the accounts of the bureau back in 2005. It is flawless. Even if the Central Disciplinary Committee shows up, we are not afraid. Whoever spends state money is not spending it! It is a real joke for a few peasant laborers to bring us lords of the land down! As long as the cadres in our bureau do not reveal that we each got 30,000 RMB, nobody can do a thing! The accounts do not indicate this. The judiciary department will only check the account transactions and they do not check the planning, design and construction details. They don't check the allocation of the money for the reclaimed land. If you want to sue the government, you should arrest the former director. We are presently reporting vertically upwards and the local government can't do a thing about us. Didn't People's Net reported this already? They are just electronic garbage. All the reporters for People's Net are assholes! Hasn't the Yanshi city party secretary talked to us already? Didn't I manage to fix things? We have no troubles whatsoever. I cannot be rated in the same class as other bureau directors!"
After presenting the accomplishments of director Li, I must make a special statement: "I sincerely praise director Li for his delightful words. He did not play hide-and-seek with the public. Instead, he punctured another piece of Chinese reality in a thoroughly satisfying manner. We know that any government official who talks this way is committing career suicide. So I have serious doubts about whether director Li wants to be a 'human suicide bomb' in officialdom (note: thus bringing down many others)."
On June 27, a 13-story apartment building toppled over in the Riverside View Estate by the Lianhua River in the Minhang district, Shanghai city. This drew netizen comments such as:
- The 2009 popular saying: A building says "I fall!!!" and it really fell.
- This is the first time that I saw a building collapse with such panache.
- The building said that it fell accidentally. It also said that it will get up from wherever it fell. Don't worry.
- While it stood, it was a commercial building; where it lays, it is a urn for ashed."
- The Transformers have arrived in Shanghai.
- Since high-level apartment buildings are no longer popular, the Urban Planning Department decided to let it lie down and be sold as single-story units.
- The significance of this building collapse is that it will create two new industries in China -- the business of predicting building collapses and the business of raising toppled buildings.
- Actually, the building has not collapsed. The problem is that you have the wrong angle of observation. From the viewpoint of the building, you are the one who has fallen down.
- The quality of Chinese window glass astonished the whole world.
- This is astonishing happiness is like watching a pretty woman trotting past you in a long skirt but suddenly she does a handstand and the skirt falls down to reveal all ...I don't have the ability to determine the cause of the building collapse, but I am very interested in the comic effects as shown in the netizen comments. Under normal circumstances, any building collapse should be a tragedy regardness of whether there were any inhabitants. So why did the Shanghai building collapse create a comic effect? I find it very funny. William Hazlitt had this to say about funniness: "Something unexpected has happened. If this incident is incongruous with the subject, people will laugh. When this incongruity conflicts with social habits and the result contradicts normal expectations, it becomes funny." Under this theory, I can imagine that when people read this story, they must be subconsciously thinking: Shanghai is not Wenchuan and there is no earthquake here, so how can this building fall down on its side? People normally expects buildings to be like the Great Wall of China and stand forever. But this building was dead before arrival. This becomes exceedingly funny from whence came the comic results.
The netizen comments represent how they capture and respond to the comic effect. When something funny happens, people cannot stop giggling, even loudly, in order to release the tension. Who says the Chinese are not humorous? Among the comments, we can see the netizens were adept in using various linguistic techniques. Lu Xun lived in Shanghai and he said: "Comedy is about ripping about the valueless things for people to see." When the building collapsed with the bottom exposed, this valueless thing was exposed and captured by the people. As we look at this building, we remind ourselves of Mr. Lu Xun's teachings.
Of course, among this ecstatic talk, I also recognized that there is even much more information behind. For the longest time, the public have paid a certain degree of attention to issues such as the quality of public housing, "tofu dreg" construction projects and so on. The underlying problems such as government-business collusion, shortchanging on labor and materials and so on remain unsolved. The collapse of this Shanghai building woke up people's memories and linked it to these other past incidents. When people are unable to discuss such problems normally, they have to resort to using sarcasm, humor and spoofing. Therefore, this kind of ecstatic talk may seem cold-hearted but it is actually a distorted expression of deep pain inside the heart.
Once we realize this, we are not longer shocked by the Internet talk. In my judgment, these subtle, humorous and wise expressions represent the maximum truth under the current conditions.
(WorldPublicOpinion.org via HKU POP)
US President Barack Obama (a lot of confidence/some confidence)
Hong Kong: 89%
Macau: 80%
Mainland China: 55%
Taiwan: 81%
USA: 70%
Britain: 93%
France: 88%
South Korea: 88%
Germany: 89%China's President Hu Jintao (a lot of confidence/some confidence)
Hong Kong: 85%
Macau: 92%
Mainland China: 94%
Taiwan: 60%
USA: 25%
Britain: 15%
France: 14%
South Korea: 51%
Germany: 33%(HKPOP) (see annual trends from 1997-2009)
50% Being proud of becoming a national citizen of China
49%: Not being proud of becoming a national citizen of China53%: Positive evaluations of Central Government's policy on Hong Kong
11%: Negative evaluations of Central Government's policy on Hong Kong(Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Q1. Will you attend the July 1st, 2009 march?
71.0%: No
21.8%: Possibly/undecided
7.2%: DefinitelyQ2. Every 7.1 marcher has his own demands or reasons. If you participate in this year's march, what is your main demand or reason? (Base: Those who chose "possibly/undecided" or "definitely" in Q1)
30.4%: Dissatisfied with social and economic conditions/serious unemployment problems
22.1%: Dissatisfied with the government's efforts in political reform
19.4%: Double universal suffrage/increase the pace of democratization
8.7%: Show of force for civic society/attended every year/continue the spirit of the July 1 march
8.7%: Enjoy the atmosphere/skipped the 6.4 evening vigil/introduce my children/keep company with friends
2.8%: Dissatisfied with the sayings and performance of the Chief Executive
1.2%: Lehman Brothers/mini-bond affair
1.2%: Strive for labor rights/minimum wage
0.8%: Dissatisfied with Central Government
4.7%: Other reasons
2.4%: No particular reasonDemographic breakdown of "definitely will participate":
7.2%: Total
10.3%: Male
4.7%: Female8.3%: Age 30 or younger
6.6%: Age 31-50
7.4%: Age 51 or older2.1%: Elementary school education or less
6.0%: Middle school education
10.7%: University education6.5%: Unemployed
7.9%: Employed4.3%: Monthly personal income HKD 10,000 or less
8.9%: Monthly personal income HKD 10,000 to 19,999
10.8%: Monthly personal income HKD 20,000 or more6.2%: Subjective lower or lower-middle social class
8.2%: Subjective middle social class
6.9%: Subjective upper or middle-upper social class1.2%: Have no attended July 1 march previously
26.2%: Have attended July 1 march previously
Final design of the Riverside View Villas
Kung Fu Mahjong game
Sexual enhancement drug advertisement
Previously, the Jiangning district, Nanjing city, Jiangsu province Housing Administration director Zhou Jiugeng was exposed on the Internet for smoking "sky price" cigarettes that cost 1,500 RMB per cartoon. As a result, he was dismissed from this job. The evidence had been a photo of Zhou attending a meeting with a pack of those very expensive cigarettes in front of him. Of course, netizens also researched the Constantin Vacheron watches that Zhou was wearing.
A new photo has now drawn attention. The photo came from a meeting of the Ningynag (Shandong) government. In front of the leader was a plate with four cigarettes in it with no cigarette boxes visible. These cigarettes are now known as the "naked cigarettes" (no box = no clothes). Netizens think that government officials are getting smarter and therefore protecting themselves.
Based upon the name of the official (Wang Qian), the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter was able to contact Wang Qian of the Ningyang county (Shandong province) party standing committee and organizational department. Wang confirmed that he was the individual in the photo. He was surprised at the Internet reaction and speculations around this photo. He said that he seldom pays attention to the news and has never near of the name Zhou Jiugeng until the reporter called up. He said that he does not pay attention to details such as the brand of cigarettes being provided.
The Ningyang county publicity department that there was a new strategy after the Zhou Jiugeng case. A publicity department worker said that this has the way for five yars. However, the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter found two 2007 meeting photos at the same Ningyang city government website in which the cigarettes come in boxes.
Yesterday evening the relevant controversial photos were scrubbed from the website.
Recently, certain Internet celebrities whom I admire and their supporters were hurling verbal abuse at each other on Twitter and Fanfou. In so doing, they forget that they are doing so in public -- this is like people having arguments in your living room every day and you can't even squeeze any serious conversation in.
I don't dare about the rights and wrongs in private matters. I care about the theory of Internet discussion and social discourse, especially about the possibility of conducting effective conversations on the Internet. This is a serious issue because we are unable to converse in real life. Fortunately, the Internet has provided a testing ground for holding conversation. But if several so-called elite Internet opinion leaders are being so brash and inconsiderate, how can be test go any further?
The point of conversation is not to exaggerate or be excessive, because it is a characteristics of human life. Charles Taylor said: "We become the embodiment of the human spirit because we have the rich expressive style of humans. In this way, we understand ourselves and we can build our consensus." He was describing language in a broad sense, which includes not just language as we commonly understant it but also the other self-defined expression styles such as the "language" of art, form and love. Yet, such languages are natural endowments. Instead, people need to communicate with others in order to learn these expression styles. Nobody can learn these languages by doing so independently themselves. On the contrary, people must interact and communicate with those around them in order to get into the language. George Herbert Mead described such persons as "significant others." This means that the origin of human thought is not a monologue completed by a person but a conversation with others.
Taylor went on to say: "We always build a consensus through a conversation on a certain subject (sometimes this may even before a struggle). This is what significant others want to see in us." This means that the nature of self-identification on the conversation between self and others. Without conversation, how would you know who you are?
If conversation is so important, we can ask everybody a simple question: Do you know how to converse?
In 1989, the Czech intellectuals including Havel and others, established eight rules on conversatoin at the Civic Forum in Prague. They distributed street posters on these eight rules:
1. The purpose of conversation is to seek the truth, not to attack
2. Do not make personal attacks
3. Adhere to the subject
4. Debate must be based upon evidence
5. Do not persist on your errors
6. Distinguish between conversation and monologue
7. Keep a record of any conversation
8. Try to understand the other side as much as possible
These rules are simple and practical. If you follow these rules, conversation will be effective. Unfortunately, on the Internet, even the so-called Internet opinion leaders cannot do that, so what can we expect of ordinary netizens?
I feel sorry when I see the "Internet elite" make rash personal attacks, flaunt themselves vulgarly and narcissitically and issue preposterous but empty threats. I was particularly offended by a certain influential Internet personality: "Apart from my acquaintances, I only pay attention to those who pay attention to me. I hope that those who pay attention to me but who don't do so after I reciprocate my attention to notify me so that I don't have to pay attention to them anymore." The sound in an echo chamber cannot replace the sounds of nature in the outside world.
The good thing about these quarrels is that people have a good close-up view of these Internet leaders and appreciate the saying, "To err is human, to forgive is divine." At the same time, this supports Mr. Ai Weiwei's saying: "Do not hold any illusions about me." Fanfou friend "m ostarich" said: "Even pretty girls have stinking feet, so please do not think too well of everything."
The more fundamental problem is just what kind of Internet opinion leaders do he need? Professor Xiao Qiang of the University of California (Berkeley) have these following observations about the "representative figures" or "spokepersons" on the Internet:
1. He/she has a speech platform, such as a blog.
2. He/she should have a basic message (signal) which becomes a signal for "identity." This is not just a theory about being able to discuss things as they stand, or using good techniques, or having good craftsmanship.
3. His/her message (signal) is not about crafting the words but about actual practice. Under many circumstances, he/she has to pay a "price" than ordinary people don't have to, including time, money or freedom.
4. He/she should ideally be a certain kind of "expert." In modern society, everybody has a job and people tend to believe more in "experts."
5. His/her personal character should stand up to the public gossip as well as attack from enemies. In the Internet era, private matters can easily become public. Public trust can easily be dissolved by other matters.
We should perhaps add a sixth item: Learn to listen. If you don't listen, you will lose public trust.
If these are the rules, then it is really not easy to build influence in the complex and messy world of the Internet. It is also not easy to be a "spokesperson."
Section 3 of 3: Blog posts
(July 2, 2009) The Hong Kong 7/1 March: Media Coverage Review of media coverage and numerical estimates for the July 1 marches in Hong Kong.
(June 23, 2009) The Incomprehensible China And Its Difficult Problems Translation of a blog post about how a Chinese tries to understand China.
(June 21, 2009) The Shishou Mass Incident In Shishou city, a man died under suspicious circumstances. The police came to seize the body for immediate cremation but thousands of citizens took to the streets to repel them.
(June 7, 2009) The "Virgin" Schoolgirl Prostitutes of Kunming Twists and turns in the case of the two elementary school girls who were arrested as prostitutes but later tested to be "virgins" (or maybe not).
(June 6, 2009) Citizens Versus Garbage Collectors In order to force businesses to pay garbage removal fees, the garbage collectors resort to dumping garbage in front of the businesses. Netizens posted photos of the garbage heaps and generated public pressure that forced the actions to be stopped.
(June 5, 2009) The Chengdu Bus Fire Spontaneous combustion or planned arson? Graphic photos from the fire on the Chengdu bus.
(May 27, 2009) An Investigation Into The Jiangsu Hospital AIDS Rumors A pretty female pharmaceutical company sales representative, bribery, wanton sex, doctors and nurses, AIDS and human flesh search came togehter to become AIDS Gate at the Jiangsu Province People's Hospital.
(May 25, 2009) The Yingde Mass Incident Overseas Chinese from Vietnam protested government corruption in Yingde city.
(May 23, 2009) Yu Qiuyu's Earthquake Essay On The Anniversary of the Wenchuan Earthquake Chinese writer Yu Qiuyu offers a controversial response to criticisms about his activities around the first year anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake.
(May 10, 2009) The 4.25 Anchu Traffic Accident When the request came to delete an Internet post that questioned how the traffic police handled/caused a traffic accident, the local Yunnan forums rebelled and refused to comply.
(May 8, 2009) Female Sports Reporter Files Libel Case Famous sports commentator Huang Jianxiang made a blog post to say that the national soccer trainer had caused a top female reporter to have an extra-uterine pregnancy. Now the purported subject Lu You is suing him for libel.
(May 7, 2009) Thirty-Year-Old Execution Photos The reason why 30-year-old execution photos of a corrupt government official is very red-hot on the Intenet today is because people hate corruption and demand decisive, powerful and public actions now.
(April 30, 2009) Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China React Differently To Jackie Chan's Comment Southern Weekend reviews the different responses in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China to Jackie Chan's comments.
(April 26, 2009) What Did Jackie Chan Say? My transcription of what actor Jackie Chan said at the Bo'ao Forum. You can decide for yourself what the context is.
(April 21, 2009) Xinjiang Newspaper Gets Privately Banned A newspaper is suddenly banned from entering the properties managed by a large corporation, which had recently gotten negative press from that newspapers. All sorts of explanations were given.
(April 19, 2009) 《小团圆》的 BLOG 宋以朗有关《小團圓》的BLOG。
(March 20, 2009) 《小團圓》後記 張愛玲《小團圓》出版後語。
(March 17, 2009) A Visit To Chen Guangcheng's Family Investigative journalist Wang Keqin details his failed attempt to visit the family of blind human right activists Chen Guangcheng.
(March 17, 2009) A Female BFSU Student Blogger In Trouble A female Beijing Foreign Studies University student blogged that she was forced to quit school after blogging critically about the Ministry of Education.
(March 8, 2009) 《小团圆》新闻 有關張愛玲與《小團圓》的新聞報告和評論。
(February 24, 2009) 張愛玲遺劄，十四年後送達 陳子善: 張愛玲生前擬付郵寄往上海的一封感謝信和贈送收信人的一只女式小錢包，在相隔漫長的整整十四年之後，終於安妥地送達收信人之手。
(February 21, 2009) Eluding the Cat A man dies in a Yunnan province while playing a blindfolded catch game, which the netizens found to be an unbelievable explanation. So the Yunnan government invited a netizen committee to investigate on site and issue a report without interference.
(February 20, 2009) The "Bad Things" About Democracy Translation of a blog post about how a Chinese house church that advocates freedom and democracy will not practice freedom and democracy itself.
(February 15, 2009) The Shoe Thrower In Cambridge yWeekend interviewed a Chinese student who sat right behind the person who threw a shoe at Premier Wen Jiabao during the Rede Lecture at Cambridge University.
Many, many more previous blog posts in the Blog Post Archive ...
