Poetry and Prosaic Advice

sofa

Simon,

You are wrong. Its not only the Chinese who thinks TIME and other Western media is biased. Everybody outside the West are together on this issue.

We remember your March 2008 posts you were essentially hoping for blood in the Lahsa riot.

Check this out:

"Chinese and Arab media joining hands to counter biased Western media"

http://thechinesecentury.blogspot.com/2008/04/chinese-and-arab-media-joining-hands-to.html

a very powerful/inspirational but simple message

for those who wants to see a clip made based on this poem, here's the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07zmehXVlsY

a very good collection of photos, political cartoons and images that corresponds to the messages written in this poem

enjoy

Once I was so naive,even believed of the faith of you occidenal.Now I have realized you all swindlers,the fatih behind of democracy is that the power is the only truth,so you are so afraid of others becoming better!But you know a saying says"No one on earth can stop the passage of time!"

hello!My friend now has several apartments in Beijing ,China, for rent, including the ones with one ,two or three bedrooms,and so on. All of them are in the centre of the city, close to the subway station.If you are interested, please feel free to connect me. As long as you'd like, I could send the picture and the price to you.
No matter which kind of apartments you like, I will find it out for you.
My telephone NO. is 86-13911948388 or you can mail delia@cbdhouse.com

I eventually find some one cuter than Chinese communisty party.CCP wants to represent whole Chinese people;but SOME ONE say they REPRESENT THE WHOLE WORLD? :-))))

In case you didn't read this, I repost it here:

Don't worry, crooked writing sometimes drives me crazy, but I won't lose my mind. I still go to work and talk about the slumping US dollar. In one word, your crooked writing has not turned me into an extremist, or nationalist as you have indicated several times.

Professor Vicky Y, thanks for quoting the poem. It's exactly what they have been saying about China.

For those China-bashers, this country can never be right. So we Chinese fight back and then tend to our own business as usual. We'll keep improving our industries, environment, government efficiency, human rights and society at large just as they stand on looking bitching loud against us here and there.

I always enjoy the Chinese saying: the dogs are barking and the traveler is moving on. There will always be noise, but they can never stop us from making this country better.

什么叫做清者自清……

if tibet is not belon to china in history.if we chinese invade there from han dynasty.but what about u Europeans "invade"into the north america.and u american and canadian r all invader too.and more Barbaric.
why u american don't let the the southen part of american devited from yankee.if u r demoracy enough,in that u yankee shouldn't use violent.and let southen part devited.
why u britain don't let the north Ireland devited from big britain,please tell us why.
u all don't know tibet's history.from ming dynasty ,we chinese have already
Appointed officer there,have u ever known.u westen people don't know chinese history.how can u say somthing about tibet?

the ability to take pressure in stride, and face difficulties in a rational way.

严重支持！
seriously agree！

let us make joke,in 40-50,india fight with china to gain territory around tibet area.and china defeat india,if the history changed,india won,maybe the mighty dalai will exile to china.lol

let us make joke,in 40-50,india fight with china to gain territory around tibet area.and china defeat india,if the history changed,india won,maybe the mighty dalai will exile to china.lol.and u westen world regard china as a free justic country or a biased country?

"Us against the world" ? Wasn't that the sentiment in Japan and Germany during the 1920's and 1930's ? Great way to handle a conflict.

"but also a mature mentality. This includes the ability to take pressure in stride, and face difficulties in a rational way.""

There are many ways to interpret this.

"mature mentality" could be "stand firm, hold your current position, and strike whenever possible", or "let's talk it over to see how we can settle this peacefully".

"take pressure in stride" could mean "we will bear and hold it so that nothing bad happens", or "we will strike back at those giving us pressure relentlessly, decidedly, powerfully, with all our mights, with determination, to the last man".

"face difficulties in a rational way" where "rational" could be what the Chinese posters here think as "rational", and that can be scary. Anyone not questioning their own rationale are always dangerous. And all Chinese posters here think China have unquestionable rationale, and will defend that to the last man.

When you posted this you talked about the circle-the-wagons mentality. You could have made a little more sophisticated argument, and one that was perhaps less antagonistic, about how this poem characterizes the world outside China. You could have talked about how this poem characterizes the world outside China as some monolithic entity. The poem incorporated opinions, wars, constructive criticism, plain criticism with plenty of mischaracterization to boot, and then tried to form them into some coherent and organized platform dedicated to do harm to China. This is radically reductive and glib. It unites the the Opium Wars to environmental concerns and argues that the non-Chinese think that China is to blame for the US' debts. I think the article could be better if you explained the difference between the Opium Wars of the past, criticism, and constructive criticism, and then explained how the poem incorrectly binded them all together. The scary thing about the poem is not the implied threat at the end but rather the inability of it to recognize constructive criticism. You could have discussed how the prospect of China's political culture not accepting constructive criticism from their people or anyone may hinder China's economic development. Such a hindrence would create a socio-economic quagmire in China where many hundreds of millions of people would remain in poverty. That is an outcome everyone wants to avoid.

Yeah, what Cavazos said :-)

I have a large number of chinese friends both in the US and abroad (which is odd for an american of english heritage, I know), most of them really don't have much to say about the anti-China sentiment being seen so much in the media these days, although they are quite aware of it from Xinhua and CCTV.

That said, the ones that are vocal aboout it are saying pretty much what you would expect any well-read and intelligent westerner to say if their own country, were being insulted to the same degree by China.

They talk about the need for the rest of the world to understand the truth, try to see both sides of the problem, and they refuse to be rebuffed. I have never once gotten a sense of them thinking it is "them against the world." Rather, it is a sense of people asking for understanding while they take their first steps into a world economy and make the understandable mistakes that any country would make when it is growing at light speed.

Not once have I seen condemning words or anything that would appear even remotely threatening or "circle the wagons." Mostly I have seen essays and speeches along the lines of "can't we all just get along?"

For example, the eloquent letter posted by cctv-9 talk anchor Rui Yang:
chinese version here:
http://blog.cctv.com/detail_1027_54873_1.shtml#article_status

english version here:
http://teribidwell.blogspot.com

A new award winning documentary has been released. All the reviews from the critics have been excellent, and is sure to get some prizes for the excellent, unbias and true form of independent freelance journalism.

Little wonder the Chinese govt has banned it (eventhough it is pro-China).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAtv9Ay8M3c

(it has 5 parts on youtube, and each minute of this documentary will keep you glued to the screen).

@delia:"hello!My friend now has several apartments in Beijing ,China, for rent, including the ones with one ,two or three bedrooms,and so on. All of them are in the centre of the city, close to the subway station.If you are interested, please feel free to connect me. As long as you'd like, I could send the picture and the price to you.
No matter which kind of apartments you like, I will find it out for you.
My telephone NO. is 86-13911948388 or you can mail delia@cbdhouse.com"

This is the most fair and balanced as well as informative post that we haven't seen for a long time in this forum. I salute you.

LOL@Search4T

Ok, this is the last working day of this week. I happen to have some spare time. I’m planning to write a four-part series to answer some of the most urgent questions. After days of anger and delusion, I will try to be cool and tone down a little.

I’m not saying what follows represents the voice of the whole Chinese society. It is just a spontaneous response of a common Chinese after so many emotional things that have definitively confused both people in the West and most of Chinese.

1. Why the mainstream Western media, prominent political figures and common people should not join the anti-China campaign in the run-up to the Olympics?

To answer this question, we have to ask ourselves why we should start calling for a boycott of the Olympics in the first place, or why should activists try disrupt the torch relay to grab the world attention and put China’s policy on Tibet and human rights record under the limelight of the world media.

As a Chinese who watch CNN and BBC daily, and follow every piece of China-related report of AP, Reuters and AFP, I come to this tentative conclusion:

a). Despite great progress China has made in the last three decades in addressing the Tibet issue and human rights as general, there are serious flaws. Most activists want to highlight these flaws to the world by exploiting the huge media attention and public interest attached to the Olympics.

b). Some activists that have long been frustrated at failing to get their expected response from the Chinese government on such issues, and they now grow increasing impatient. They decide to embarrass the Chinese government before the world media, secretly hoping if this cannot get what they want it will at least give the Chinese government a good lesson.

c.) Some people have long criticized the Chinese government on a lot of issues. They don’t want the Chinese government enjoy all the glory and praise it will get by hosting a successful Olympics. Somewhere in their mind, they decide it is necessary to ruin the party a little so that the Chinese government will not be portrayed just as a “nice and legitimate” government.

d.) Some other reasons.

No matter what drives those activists, politicians and common people to boycott the Olympics and to disrupt the torch relay, these kind of ations are dangerous and have the potential for serious backfire because they are usually perceived and interpreted in a quite different way in China.

Most Chinese, please note here I’m not saying all Chinese, want to hold a successful Olympics. They both personally and collectively think this is a huge opportunity to show the world that China has finally recovered from some two hundred years of national humiliation. You may criticize this victim mindset, but this is just the reality of today’s China. Some prominent, forward-looking Chinese scholars have also pointed out the serious problems in this kind of thinking. But so far, the dark memories of national humiliation are so deeply imprinted in Chinese heads. That’s why the Olympics are so important to them. Hosting a successfully Olympics will help them finally turn a page in their mind, gain self-confidence and thus paving the way for a long-delayed intellectual reconciliation between China and the West.

So, when people in the West say they will come to the Olympics, it is perceived in China as recognition of a rising China and it is immensely encouraging both to the Chinese government and the Chinese people. Some politicians in the West may think this is just of symbolic significance, but I can tell you symbolic significance is everything Chinese want at this moment. A gesture of friendship is all that the Chinese people need. And trust me, the Chinese do know how to reciprocate.

Most of us wouldn’t know the Olympics is actually a lifetime opportunity both for China and the world to learn how to get long with each other. It is too important to miss. China is still in a critical transitional period. Both economically and politically, no one knows where the most populous country in the world will eventually land. But one thing is for sure: helping the Chinese overcome their victim mindset and gain self-confidence is surely going to help them evolve in the right direction. Everyone knows the world needs a politically stable and economically prosperous China, which recognizes fair play on the world stage and honor human rights at home. Trust me, this is a China all of us want.

In a bigger picture, how the West reacts to China hosting the Olympics also have an impact on how the Chinese think they can achieve a peaceful rise and gradually fit back into the international community. There is real anxiety among Chinese intellectuals and political leaders about how China can regain its position on the world stage without engaging in serous conflicts with the existing system. Both Nazi Germany and imperial Japan have served as prominent warning examples. The Chinese coined the term peaceful rise. This is also their hope-for-best solution. But they are not sure the existing system is ready to throw arms open for them. How the West reacts to China hosting the Olympics is taken as a measuring stick. Both the Chinese government and the Chinese people will gain a lot from hosting a successful Olympics. Whether the West is ready to give them this opportunity is of great symbolic meaning for them. If the West help China hold this mega party, the Chinese will feel greatly encouraged. If not, they would seriously ask themselves: is this peaceful right really possible because they know accepting a rising China is one hundred times more difficult for the West than allowing the Chinese government enjoy the glory of hosting a successful Olympics.

I understand why some people in the West are confused by the strong reaction of the Chinese people to anti-China protests along the torch relay route. They will say, come on, we’re just voicing our legitimate concerns about serous problems in China and you are over reacting. They will also say: come on guys, we are targeting the Chinese government and we hold no grudges against common Chinese people.

Here is what I say: those concerns about China’s human rights are legitimate and justified, but this is not the right time to over blow it into serious confrontation. China has made great progress in this field, but it also lags behind other developed countries. It needs to continue to open up and reform, both economically and politically. If you follows the last communist party national congress, you will understand economic and political reform is also what the party wants. During the course of development, China needs constructive dialogue and criticisms. The door never shuts. But again, to highlight these problems in the run up to the Olympics is inappropriate. It’s like on your daughter’s graduation ceremony, one of your friends tries to point out the fact that she is actually three months pregnant and doesn’t know who is the baby’s father. The problem is real and serious, but the occasion is not right.

And then people in the West tend to distinguish the Chinese government and the Chinese people. But on issues like Tibet and the Olympics, most Chinese people actually support their government. You can simply dismiss this as a result of relentless propaganda campaign. But the truth is that most Chinese people don’t want to see their country fall apart again or fail to host a successful Olympics. The Tibet issue is very complicated, you have to explain to the Chinese people that granting autonomy to Tibetans want breaking up their country. Again, this is a complex issue, you can’t solve it in the three or months before the Olympics.

In a hurry, and lots of typos. Sorry for that. I don't know whether I can finish the other three parts or not.

For all those concerned about China's problems, I can tell them the Chinese are even more aware of these problems and have numerous sleepless nights.

The most populous country in the world presents too many chanllenges both to China and the world.

We're thinking, constantlt think about possible ways ahead.

Over 1.2 million Tibetans were massacred in cold blood by the Chinese military. Why has the world remained silent? Now it is the silent cultural genocide in Tibet.

China's human rights abuses are "staggering": the detention of hundreds of thousands of people, including political activists, for "reeducation" programs, and forced labor camps; and the liberal use of the death penalty in China -- including for political prisoners -- which makes China the site of 8 of every 10 government administered executions carried out in the world!

Victims of the CCP:
* An estimated 100 million Falun Fong practitioners and their families. They are enduring ever more stringent persecution; tens of thousands of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have been killed for their organs, which are sold to “transplant tourists” [http://organharvestinvestigation.net].
* Hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens, held as political prisoners without charge or trial. These include democracy activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, religious leaders, journalists, trade unionists, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighurs, ‘‘unofficial’’ church members, Falun Gong practitioners, environmental activists, health and reproductive rights activists, and political dissidents.
* Gao Zhisheng. A respected human rights lawyer, now missing, Gao was persecuted and kidnapped after a letter to the US Congress, addressing his government’s many human rights crimes.
* People who are evicted to make way for commercial construction. They are placed in secret jails or killed if they protest. (See the video, “China’s Olympic Lie.”)
* Millions of Chinese sent to slave labor camps without trial. They are frequently tortured and forced to work long days producing consumer goods. Recent product recalls highlight the dangers of these goods to the public, which, for higher profits, often incorporate toxic ingredients.
* The victims of China’s forced abortion and sterilization program (‘‘One Child’’ policy).
* Reporters and prisoners. China imprisons more reporters, and executes more prisoners than any other country in the world.
* The people of Darfur. Chinese regime funds and arms the Sudanese-government-supported Janjaweed militia, which is committing mass murder in Darfur. Hundreds of thousands have been murdered and nearly two million displaced from their homes.
* The Burmese people. The Chinese regime supplies financial, logistical and technological support to Burma’s military dictators, who have brutally repressed its people, including its monks, for 19 years.
* The public at large, inside the Mainland. Stringent internet censorship and public surveillance with technology supplied by western companies, enables widespread monitoring and suppression of free speech.

The CCP has a clear agenda - "expansionism" at all costs under the guise of peaceful liberation. Once a territory is gone, there will be 1.3 billion brainwashed fools who will come here and defend war crimes of the CCP and brag about Xinhua as free press. If the West remains complacent, South-East, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific would be occupied or rather "liberated" territories in a few decades. Don't come back and tell us that all we need to do is give the Chinese more time to think about the nicety of Western Liberalism.

CCP is full of deceit and has figured out how to play the West. They can't be trusted at all and they have a bag full of tricks to fool not only Tibetans but the people of China with a state-controlled press. The best solution is a free Tibet. There is no doubt that a sovereign Tibet would be a savior state not only for Tibetans but for all ethnic groups of China who have nowhere to go if they disagree with the CCP. A free Tibet would be such a free democratic heaven and haven.

Blablablabla. Sorry to burst your bubble cyberslacker Ming. But take it from me, the longer your essay and the more serious your tone, the less likely people bother to read it through to get to your points.

Wow, Rick. You wrote these all by yourself? And check out all these big words you've learned. EXPANISONISM. LIBERALISM. COMPLACENT. Your elementary English teacher will be so proud of you she's going to pinch your cheeks red.

Search4T，maybe you're right. ^_^

But, I'm not a cyberlacker. I always finish my work before I write something here. I'm really good at what I'm doing. Hahah

And then, why should I bother? Despite all those name-calling things and anti-China cliché, let's still at least pretend this is meant to be some kind of forum for DEBATE.

Maybe when I get completely bored, I'll just stop and try to enjoy a late spring weekend with my wife.

@Munir Ming:
I'm sorry, but that last part was about the smartest thing you have said for a while.

Take it from me. Enjoy the party of two while you can. Once the diapers and bottles enter your universe, you would wish you had spent more time with her instead of engaging in meaningless debates like this. On the other hand, I do realize that you live in China and have access to free nanny care known as grandparents. ;-)

The poem does make some good points. It is unfair that people blame China for taking their jobs. But the poem itself is also very unfair. It is not right to lump all Westerners together, as if we are all the same and have all committed equal sins towards China. The US has done many good things for China. If it wasn't for FDR, China would not even be on the Security Council. Furthermore, I think a better approach is to pick your battles. Sometimes Western criticism is unfair, and sometimes it is not. There is a pretty huge difference between what the US is doing in Iraq and what China has done in Tibet. Say what you will about the decision to invade, but we have helped the Iraqis hold an election, and are preparing to do so again. Allowing a fair election is something that the Chinese government will not even do for its own people. And whatever the merits of the argument that many of the Tibetan protesters are criminals, many of the wounds that the poem laments the West has inflicted on it are continually being inflicted by the Chinese on Tibet. I have heard the argument that China needs Tibet as a security buffer, and that is fine, but why not give the Tibetans some autonomy?