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Banned Weibos: Protesting DPRK Nukes and More

February 16, 2013, 8:23 am
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CDT editors have collected the following posts that have been banned from Sina  as of February 14 2013.

Lanzimujin: When I went back home, I met my husband's nephew, a sophomore in high school. He hates school, but he loves  and geography. I chatted with him for a bit. He's quite a cute boy. He said he was brainwashed in elementary school to despise the U.S. and Japan and love Mao [Zedong]. In 2nd grade of middle school, he turned against his brainwashing. He said it would be much better if Xi [Jinping] was Chiang Ching-guo. He even calls himself a rightist. He knows about LXB [Liu Xiaobo]. He said his mother talks all day about the greatness of a certain party. He says his grandmother is an iron GF, and his cousin is a 50-Cent Party member who works for free. He's quite an angsty young person.
蓝紫木槿： 回老家，先生的侄子高二，厌学，但酷爱历史和地理。和他聊了一会，很可爱的一个小男孩。他说在小学时被洗脑，痛恨美日，无比热爱毛。初二时，反洗脑了。他 说习要是蒋经国就好了。还说自己是右派。他知道LXB。他说他妈妈整天就是某党好，说他外婆是铁板GF，说他堂姐是自费五毛。一个正苦恼着的少年。
Hainan-LiChao: The people of Harbin protesting the North Korean nuclear explosion…
海南-李超： 哈尔滨人民抗议朝鲜核爆……

Banner: (center, large text) Protest Against the North Korean Nuclear Explosion; Protect Our Home, People, Land, Water, Air, and Food
ZhangHuazhiV: If I can neither speak out nor sing, then discipline me as you will!
张华志V： 假使讲说话也不可，高歌也是过错，随便你处分我！

Image text: (center) Massacre: The CCP's "Greatness, Glory, Righteousness" fell from the hearts of the people.
BeijingChaoyangShibaliGuoguijun: Today we went to the Millennium Monument to call for the public disclosure of the assets of government officials
北京朝阳十八里店郭桂军： 今天去了世纪坛要求官员财产公示
Banner: (top) The Citizens Call For Public Disclosure of the Assets of Officials. (bottom) To sign: Send your "name + address + profession" to caichangongshi@gmail.com or send a text message to 15810050900
铮然02： 删贴 也阻挡不了民众的觉醒 保卫地球人类 是地球人的责任
Xuxin: Happy Lunar New Year to Big Xi []. By the way: When will the assets of government officials be made public?
徐昕： 向习大大拜年。顺便问下：官员财产何时公开？#让红包飞# http://t.cn/zYGDzWV
Tianjiliub: Thank you to the fans and volunteers for Bo [Xilai]. We have been together for 330 days! I've published over 26,000 weibos. Yesterday, Sina deleted [my account] TianjiliuA, and today, I'm back. Comrades, our iron will is forged with blood! Fight to the end! Fight to the death!
天际流b： 感谢粉丝们，挺薄的志愿者们，三百三十天，我们在一起！我发出了二万六千多篇微播，昨天，新浪删除了天际流A，今天我又回归了，同志们，我们用热血铸就我们钢铁般的意志！挺到底！誓死如归！

© Little Bluegill for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013

NBA Star Debuts on Chinese Social Media, Fans Clamor: #I want to speak to Kobe#

Tea Leaf Nation editor David Wertime spoke on February 15 on Public Radio International's The World about NBA star Kobe Bryant (@KobeBryant), who has recently opened an account on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter. Listen to the full two-minute interview:
Bryant has been a beloved figure in China for years, and it is not surprising that his Weibo account has already amassed 200,000 followers since being opened just yesterday.
Many of China's younger, more educated Internet users can likely understand relatively straightforward English language tweets, but they may lack confidence to reach out in that language. A Kobe Bryant fan Weibo account called "Kobe's Home Weibo" (@科比之家微博), which has over 200,000 followers of its own, has volunteered to translate posts from Chinese into English to help netizens communicate with the NBA star.
Other American celebrities on Weibo often use English exclusively, or at least more than they do Chinese, so fans are not taking any chances, tagging their posts with the English-language hashtag #I want to speak to Kobe#. One wrote, "Finally, you set up your microblog account, I am so excited. The furthest distance in the world is not between you and me, but when you open a micro blog and I cannot speak English."
Time will tell how engaged Kobe chooses to become with his adoring online audience in China. Bryant has been tweeting from the official Nike Weibo account since February 9, and just hours ago issued his first tweet from his own account: "Valentine's day sneaks ready to break Clippers hearts. Big game tonight." That tweet alone, which accompanies an i! mage of Bryant with a pair of red sneakers, has already been shared over 25,000 times. If early response is any indication, he will have little trouble finding eager interlocutors in Chinese cyberspace.
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Clues to why most survived China melamine scandal

February 16, 2013, 8:50 am
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AP — Scientists wondering why some children and not others survived one of China's worst food safety scandals have uncovered a suspect: germs that live in the gut.


In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 became sick after being fed infant formula that had been deliberately and illegally tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. There were some lingering puzzles: How did it cause kidney failure, and why wasn't everyone equally at risk?

A team of researchers from the U.S. and China re-examined those questions in a series of studies in rats. In findings released Wednesday, they reported that certain intestinal bacteria play a crucial role in how the body handles melamine.

The intestines of all mammals teem with different species of bacteria that perform different jobs. To see if one of those activities involves processing melamine, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Shanghai Jiao Tong University gave lab rats antibiotics to kill off some of the germs — and then fed them melamine.

The antibiotic-treated rats excreted twice as much of the melamine as rats that didn't get antibiotics, and they experienced fewer kidney stones and other damage.

A closer look identified why: A particular intestinal germ — named Klebsiella terrigena — was metabolizing melamine to create a more toxic byproduct, the team reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Previous studies have estimated that fewer than 1 percent of healthy people harbor that bacteria species. A similar fraction of melamine-exposed children in China got sick, the researchers wrote. But proving that link would require studying stool samples preserved from affected children, they cautioned.

Still, the research is pretty strong, said microbiologist Jack Gilbert of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, who wasn't involved in the new study.

More importantly, "this paper adds to a growing body of evidence which suggests that microbes in the body play a significant role in our response to toxicity and in our health in general," Gilbert said.

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Well La-Dee-Da!

Well La-Dee-Da!
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Man Found Guilty Of 'Extreme Pornography'

February 16, 2013, 8:57 am
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An ex-broadcaster tried to convince a jury that his massive collection of extreme pornography was used for research into a "Sex and the City"-style book.
A London jury found Sen Luo, 40, guilty on two counts of possessing "extreme pornography," according to the Sun.
“These videos were disgusting and distressing," Constable Kim Negus told the court during the trial. "I viewed around 18 of them and had to have the sound down."
Some of the more than 800 "disgusting" videos "showed women strapped to machines and tortured with electrodes, pins being pushed into their breasts or hot wax poured into their body," according to the Little Hampton Gazette.
Other pieces of pornography involved abusing animals, the paper reported.
Luo said he collected the perverse library for his book, which he hoped would provide a new source of income after he left his home in China.
Authorities found Luo's stash when they visited his East Grinstead, West Sussex home on an unrelated matter, according to the BBC.
Luo will be sentenced next month and could face three years in prison, according to the Sun.
-huffingtonpost.com

Is That?...

Is That?...
It is! It's a baby!
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Chinese Social Media’s Guerrilla War Against Army Privileges

February 16, 2013, 10:23 am
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All drivers in China probably have had the experience at least once. While one waits dutifully in front of a red light or gets in line to pay a toll, another car bearing a special white license plate marking its status as a vehicle belonging to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) or the Armed Police cruises by and brazenly breaks all traffic rules. Police overlook the transgressions. Toll collectors open a designated lane. Fellow drivers fume.
China's Internet users have begun to wage guerrilla warfare against the PLA's vehicular privileges on social media. Answering a call by Yu Jianrong, a sociology professor and advocate, users of Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, have sent him photos of cars with PLA license plates. A number of examples are below.
These cars tend to be the expensive kind. Range Rover, BMW and Audi seem to be the mainstay. Ultra-luxurious brands like Bentley and Maserati make appearances as well.
While many Internet users jump to the conclusion that some servicemen in the PLA use taxpayer money to get nice rides for themselves, others have pointed out that it is not necessarily the case. Many wealthy businessmen pull connections to finagle PLA license plates for their cars to take advantage of the privileges on the road. Fake PLA plates also have a large market.
Nonetheless, the campaign is another attempt by China's Internet users to chip away the privileges and mystique enjoyed by the PLA in Chinese society.
[Cover image by Steve Webel via Flickr]

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Slavoj Zizek - Rules, Race, and Mel Gibson 2006 2/8



Slavoj Zizek - Rules, Race, and Mel Gibson 2006 2/8
www.egs.edu Slavoj Zizek talking about the explicit, truth, rules, politics, Mel Gibson, society, race, racism, antisemitism; lecturing and developing a psychoanalysis of culture and societies. Public open lecture for the students of the European Graduate School EGS, Media and Communication Studies department program, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, Europe, 2006, Slavoj Zizek. Slavoj Zizek, a Slovenian sociologist, postmodern philosopher, and cultural critic is a professor at the Institute for Sociology, Ljubljana and at the European Graduate School EGS who uses popular culture to explain the theory of Jacques Lacan and the theory of Jacques Lacan to explain politics and popular culture. He was born in 1949 in Ljubljana, Slovenia where he lives to this day but he has lectured at universities around the world. He was analysed by Jacques Alain Miller, Jacques Lacan's son in law. His research focuses on Karl Marx, Hegel and Schellingfundamentalism, tolerance, political correctness, globalization, subjectivity, human rights, Lenin, myth, cyberspace, postmodernism, multiculturalism, post-marxism, David Lynch, and Alfred Hitchcock. He has published many books and translations in several languages. He is the author of The Sublime Object of Ideology, 1989, Beyond Discourse Analysis (a part in Ernesto Laclau's New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time), London: Verso. 1990, For They Know Not What They Do, London: Verso. 1991, Looking Awry, MIT Press. Enjoy Your Symptom!, Routledge ...
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Chinese Activist Web Users Take Aim at Water Pollution, and Censors Strike Back

February 16, 2013, 12:23 pm
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An earlier image of red water pollution in Lukang river. (Changhua Coast Conservation Action/Flickr
Smog isn't the only kind of pollution making headlines in China. Environmental activist Deng Fei recently encouraged users of Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, to share pictures of polluted rivers from their hometowns, taking on local issues in a national campaign. While the aesthetic aspect of this pollution has been a source of great dissatisfaction, news of intentional waste dumping by Chinese factories has also aroused widespread anger, becoming the number-one trending topic on Sina Weibo.
News broke on social media that not only were companies polluting the water, but were intentionally pumping wastewater into the ground through high-pressure pipes in order to avoid complying with regulations. The polluted water has caused cancer in many nearby residents, according to reports, and affected the development of local children. A company in Weifang, Shandong was implicated when a journalist travelled there to cover the story.

This image of severe pollution has been widely shared during the ongoing online campaign. (Via Weibo)
In a post deleted by censors on Sina Weibo, a lawyer named Gan Yuanchun described how officials from Weifang, Shandong sent some of their subordinates to Beijing to prevent media from breaking the news. China Central Television (CCTV)'s coverage of the story was shelved. and the journalist who traveled to Weifang is still being held there involuntarily. Gan Yuanchun wrote in a follow-up post, "Weifang: You think that by harmonizing [censoring] CCTV, you can cover up the truth about #UndergroundWaterPollution? And you're still trying to help this kind of soulless company complete its IPO? You must be dreaming!!"
Though CCTV has not reported on the issue, party-line paper the People's Dailyposted on Weibo:
"Many regions have reported smog, and now there are tragic reports of underground water pollution. 'Dumping wastewater underground,' is an evil act; is it any different from killing future generations? We may be keeping silent for our own sake, and unable to say, for our children's and grandchildren's sake: let the skies be clear again, let our earth and water be pure once more, tighten regulations, do not delay, for there is no time to waste; make great changes now, and there will be hope for the future. We can't talk about a beautiful China without doing something to make China beautiful; we look forward to a wave of environmentalist action. Goodnight."
Many posts by news organizations and independent journalists on the pollution and its cover-up drew hundreds of comments, most by netizens urging them to continue to speak out. With ongoing discontent over air pollution in China, as well as fears about whether radiation from North Korea's nuclear tests will affect the country, news of the government covering up intentional pollution by companies is especially provocative.
The anti-pollution campaign orchestrated by Deng Fei and increasing demand online for stricter environmental regulations mark yet another instance of social media users identifying institutional problems by sharing individual observations. Recently, Weibo users tackled corruption in the military by crowdsourcing pictures of luxury vehicles driven by members of China's People's Liberation Army.  Now that the groundwater pollution story has broken on Weibo, despite Shandong officials' attempts to hush it up, it's the government's turn to respond. It remains to be seen whether those reporting on the pollution or those causing it will be on the receiving end of the crackdown.

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Baby Crushed to Death During One-Child Policy Enforcement -- A Father Speaks Out

February 16, 2013, 4:37 pm
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China – Baby Crushed to Death During One-Child Policy Enforcement -- A Father Speaks Out


Contact: Reggie Littlejohn, President, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, 310-592-5722

WENZHOU CITY, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, China, Feb. 15, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- A thirteen month old baby was crushed to death under a car containing family planning officials in Dongshantou Village near Wenshou City on Monday. Eleven officials were attempting to collect a fine from a couple who had allegedly violated China's One Child Policy.
Photo: The father of the baby shows his jacket torn by Family Planning Officials.  Credit: Xian Dai Jin Bao News
According to a China Daily report, the discussion became heated between the officials and the boy's parents. The officials persuaded the child's mother to accompany them back to nearby Ruian to discuss options, and the boy was placed in the care of his father. The family planning officials got into their cars to return to Ruian. The baby was found crushed beneath one of the cars containing Family Planning Officials.

How the baby ended up under the wheel of the vehicle has been unclear; but in this interview, the baby's father, Chen Li has stepped forward to tell what happened in an interview published by the local Xian Dai Jin Bao News Agency:
"At noon on February 4, as we were having lunch upstairs, we heard people talking downstairs. When we got downstairs, we saw several people rushing into our room, saying that they are leaders of Qing Xiang Community, who are coming to collect the "Social Compensation Fee." I brought chairs for them, but they refused to sit down and talk. They also threatened me, saying 'Don't you flee today. Today we are definitely bringing you back.'
"When we get out of my house, they were still dragging my clothes. I said, 'You have torn my clothes.' They said 'we will reimburse you for the clothes, but you have to go with us today.' I said, 'I will go, but I have three children. My family wants to go together with me.'
"When we left the house, my wife was already in the vehicle. There were many neighbors around the vehicle. My two daughters were standing by the car door. My elder daughter was holding her baby brother, and the baby was crying for his mother. Then I went over to the vehicle, carrying the baby, preparing to go into the vehicle. At that moment there were seven or eight government officials inside the vehicle, and my wife was also inside. I wanted to get into the car and handed my son to my wife. The baby was crying a lot, and it was very chaotic. I don't know who pushed me, causing my baby to drop to the ground. At that time the car started moving, and I wasn't able to get my baby before the tire crushed him. The baby was killed."
According to a BBC news report, thousands of furious villagers protested the death of this baby outside the local government offices; and Xinhua has reported that the van driver and the Communist Party Secretary have been arrested, though it is unclear whether they have been charged.
Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, stated, "Our hearts break to learn of the violent death of an innocent child, and we extend our deepest sympathy to his parents. Those responsible for this violent death must be held accountable. Too often, under the glare of international scrutiny, the Chinese Communist Party will arrest officials who have committed a heinous human rights violation. Then as soon as the attention of the world shifts away, these same officials are restored to their former positions or even promoted."

Littlejohn compared the incident in Dongshantou village with other cases of violent death at the hands of family planning officials, discussed in a report WRWF submitted into the Congressional Record at a hearing on September 22, 2011. Case Seven of this report gives the account of a couple with a second child in Henan Province. Family planning police smashed the father in the head with a bottle. He is now permanently disabled. In Case Twelve, in Jiangsu Province, Family Planning Officials beat a farmer to death because his son was suspected of having an extra child. 

In April of 2011, in Linyi County, Shandong Province, a Family Planning Official murdered a man. They had come to seize his sister for a forced sterilization. Failing to find her, they started to beat their father. When the man defended his father, one of the Family Planning Officials plunged a knife in his heart, and he died.www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=147

Reggie Littlejohn said, "Most often, Family Planning Officials are not prosecuted for their crimes, but act with impunity. The spirit of the Red Guard lives on in the Family Planning Police, who too often function as domestic terrorists. There is a growing consensus both inside and outside China that the One Child Policy is no longer needed to control the population. China's population problem is not that it has too many people, but that it has too few young people. This 'senior tsunami' that is about to hit China is a slow-motion demographic disaster. The One Child Policy simply makes no demographic sense.

"Why, then, does the Chinese Communist Party insist on keeping this Policy? In my opinion, the One Child Policy is the glue that is keeping the Chinese Communist Party in place. The purpose of the policy is to instill terror in order to repress people under the iron fist of this totalitarian regime. It is social control, masquerading as population control."

Littlejohn points out that on January 14, 2013 Wang Xia, Chairman of the National Population and Family planning Commission, stated, "We must unwaveringly adhere to the One Child Policy as a national policy to stabilize the low birth rate as the primary task." Littlejohn concludes, "The Chinese Communist Party has no intention of ending coercive family planning any time soon. But the voices of the Chinese people are getting stronger and stronger in protest against this violent totalitarianism."

Wenzhou Folks Confront Local Government Over Baby Who Was Crushed To Death By One-Child Policy Enforcers  

温州计划生育抓超生压死婴儿 村民围堵镇政府讨公道 (视频/15图)


Infant crushed by one-child policy enforcer in China

Zhejiang, China – According to People's Daily, a 13-month-old infant was crushed by car when local one-child policy enforcer went to collect fines from his parents. The infant died shortly after the incident on February 4 in Dongshantou Village, Rui'an in Zhejiang Province.
The couple, 39, both were emotional during a dispute with local officials. Chen Liangdi, the father, was allegedly interrupt legal procedure, and refuse to pay a social compensation fee for breaching the one-child policy, the report said. His wife, Li Yuhong, however, was persuaded to be accompanied by a law enforcer to further go to the birth control office in town.
The infant was left with his father, but then found crashed by the vehicle when Li was already escorted and riding inside the starting car. The boy was rushed to hospital but died from severe wounds.
Rui'an Police started an investigation upon the death of the infant. FMN
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child father Chen Liandi clothes being extorted personnel tear


Jasmine Revolution http://www.molihua . org
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Political Cartoons 2013/02/17

February 16, 2013, 6:23 pm
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Here We Go Again: Toddler Poops In Airplane Aisle

February 17, 2013, 12:23 am
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Kid poops on plane
Kids do the darndest things. From everybody's Sina Weibo accounts, this:
Well that escalated. Lookee from subway to plane cabin.
That's the opening line to the post introducing the image, featuring a kid squatting in the aisle of an airplane and dropping a deuce. Most commenters seem unhappy that the parents would allow such a thing to happen, but hardly surprised. Here's a toddler pooping in a Taiwan airport, here's a toddler pooping in a Shenzhen hospital, and the image that started it all — the "subway" reference in the above blockquote — here's a kid pooping on a moving train.
Other places we expect to see toddlers embarrass their parents with their bowels, ranked from most likely to most desired:
  • Funeral parlor
  • Public bus
  • Teacher's desk
  • Fruit basket
  • Doorstep of Fang Binxing
  • Xi Jinping parade route
  • Moon bounce castle
Hey, parents… it might be time:
Diapers
(H/T RFH @MissXQ)
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Ronald McDonald and Donald Duck’s Illegitimate Love Child Discovered in Myanmar

RocketNews24
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This is the end♪My only friend the end♫
“Yangon… $#@%. I’m still only in Yangon!” Kuzo thought to himself as he awoke in his hotel room in Yangon (aka Rangoon), the largest city in Myanmar (aka Burma). He had been sent on a mission from RocketNews24 to find the fabled spawn of forbidden love between two high ranking mascots – Donald Duck and Ronald McDonald.
Code named Ronald McDonald Duck, it was rumored to be doing small-time rep work for a fast food joint around the city.

Kuzo had checked the dossier during his flight. The target was an unassuming cartoon duck connected to Wonderful Fast Food and Bakery. It kind of looked like Donald Duck, but there was no indication that this was the elusive duck-clown that RocketNews24 wanted him to get.
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Now travelling up the dark streets to the heart of Yangon he was bracing himself for a possible confrontation with the Ronald McDonald Duck.
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As he approached Wonderful, Kuzo could see a duck-like figure standing in the front window. The duck appeared to be begging him to come inside.
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However, walking through the entrance Kuzo was taken aback by what he saw. Truly this was not your average cartoon duck, for it bore “the mark.” As the prophecy had foretold, the upside-down golden arches emblazoned on its hat were indeed the unholy sign of the anti-McDonald.
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Then it hit Kuzo like a bucket of cold water that the duck wasn’t begging at all. His hands were making a threatening gesture as if to say “Ya got a problem, bro?” as it stared at Kuzo with cold eyes utterly devoid of either fear or compassion.
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Shaken, Kuzo decided not to make any trouble. He had got the confirmation he wanted. This must have been Ronald McDonald Duck. Having finished his assignment, Kuzo’s fear turned to hunger so he went in to eat.
Then, Kuzo found true horror. Wonderful surprisingly didn’t sell any burgers. Their main fare was fried meat cutlets, French fries, and fried rice. Despite the lack of beef, the food was alright.
It was almost as if the Duck had a grudge against sellers of burgers, possibly from having been abandoned by the biggest.
While researching the area, Kuzo discovered that there used to be a burger joint called Mac Burger nearby. However, the business mysteriously went under in late 2012 and was replaced by an exhibition hall.
eyes
The end of nights we tried to die♪ This is the end♫
Original Article: Kuzo/GO
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On the Importance of Understanding Chinese Thoughts using Chinese Terminologies

February 17, 2013, 2:23 am
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Recently, Zack brought to our attention a great article at Asia Times by Thorsten Pattberg, who is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. Pattberg dedicated his life to study Chinese philosophy, political thoughts, and culture in their original meanings. He concludes:
Western people are curious like all the people of the world. If someone gave them Chinese taxonomies, they would look them up, familiarize with them, and internalize them. They would stop calling a junzi a (British) "gentleman", or a (German) "Edler"; instead they would call a junzi just this: a "junzi".
To put "culture" back in a more economic perspective: Nations should compete for their terminologies like they compete for everything else.
I was too quick to disagree with the need for China to explicitly compete for her culture and for preserving her ideas in her own taxonomies, assuming a richer China will somehow automatically cause the problem to correct itself.  So, I was really happy today seeing perspectivehere chiming in on this topic and later on Allen giving a good gist on what this means for him. I recommend Pattberg's article linked above in its entirety and of course  perspectivehere's and Allen's remarks below.


perspectivehere February 16th, 2013 at 13:21 | #219
DeWang :
One disagreement I have with the article is in China needing to explain and protect her ideas. The way I see it is that once China becomes much richer, the West will naturally want to learn more Chinese.
I think what you say is true, but there's more to it than that. Of course, being vacation in lovely Hawaii, it's understandable that you should be outdoors and enjoying the scenery, rather than spending time typing long comments on a blog! So this is not a criticism. But I'd like to suggest some further ideas in this vein.
As you note, China being richer is fundamental. This means a larger number of students able to afford study, and able to become scholars and writers and other producers and interpreters of Chinese knowledge able to communicate in English (as well as other non-Chinese languages) and in Chinese. It takes years of personal effort and institutional support to nurture such scholars and talents. A richer and more economically vibrant Chinese society generates opportunities for careers for individuals seeking to tap into this economy. This provides opportunities for not only the population of ethnic Chinese, but also non-ethnic Chinese. Scholars like Professor Pattberg who have devoted years of their lives to Chinese studies play an enormous part in helping people understand the significance of Chinese intellectual and cultural traditions.
This doesn't "just happen" as a result of China becoming wealthier – after all, individuals need to choose to study these fields, to find meaning in what they do, and the subject matter needs to be intellectually enriching for them to build a professional scholarly career upon. But of course, the wonderful thing is that the richness of Chinese traditional intellectual culture (including the period in the last 150 years as it has confronted western and modern traditions, as well as the fracturing of Chinese social and political institutions under the onslaught of Western (and Japanese) imperialism) provides so much of interest to the scholar that there is an endless profusion of material on which to generate new ideas and new knowledge for consumption in education, cultural and markets for applied knowledge.
One of the areas in which we have seen a proliferation of "Chinese terminology" in English language during the past few decades are terms relating to Chinese martial artsand medicine. The terms "kung fu", "qi", "Tai chi (Taiji)", "yin yang", "tao" (dao) and "feng shui" have become almost commonplace English language concepts.
Perhaps someone has already traced how these terms were transmitted and became popular knowledge in English, but I suspect this has been less due to professional academics and more due to widespread attention given to Chinese martial arts movies and above all the influence of Li Xiaolong (Bruce Lee) in the world outside China.
It is also due to the influence of dozens of practitioners of Chinese medicine who plied their crafts outside of Mainland China, and taught students (many of whom are not Chinese) who then went on to practice and teach and spread this knowledge to others.
One of the great examples of the latter is this book and author: The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine. I haven't actually read this book but I've seen so many references to it as to its importance in transmission of Chinese traditional medicine concepts in English that I thought it worthwhile to mention. I think it is in the fields of applied, practical knowledge such as medicine where people who acquire the knowledge will by necessity need to use concepts that derive from Chinese philosophy, and this means using Chinese terminology.
(I should note that, with respect to the reason to use Chinese terminology, it is not because of a particular nationalistic fetish for Chinese words, it is so that concepts can be communicated accurately and with fidelity to the original source documents and historical traditions.)
The title of the work is very interesting and I think important to contemplate. The quote below comes from a review of the book in the European Journal of Oriental Medicine:
"It is instructive to look back at the original passage from which Ted chose the book's title, written by the renowned biologist and sinophile, Joseph Needham. In Volume 2 of Science and Civilisation in China there is a section which describes the Chinese insights into the inner workings of the world. Needham (as did also Derek Bodde), makes the case for the need to distinguish between the Chinese view of the internal arising of life which has its own implicit natural order and the western view of an external force imposing 'laws of Nature'. Needham writes '..the conception of a net is close to that of a vast pattern. There is a web of relationships throughout the universe, the nodes of which are things and events. Nobody wove it, but if you interfere with its texture, you do so at your peril. In the following pages we shall be able to trace the later developments of this Web woven by no weaver, this Natural Pattern, until we reach, with the Chinese, something approaching a developed philosophy of organism'."
I think there is much truth to this view. Traditional Chinese thinking is holistic and integrates natural and social philosophy. A traditional teacher of taijichuan once told me that all of Chinese thinking and practice of martial arts, medicine, health, cuisine is all linked to common ideas and similar concepts. I think this concept of a "web" or "net" that has no weaver is very fundamental (although Chinese themselves probably don't use either of these terms to describe it, but it is a useful non-Chinese concept for explaining it).
The author, Professor Ted Kaptchuk, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
According to his bio:
"As a leading figure in placebo studies, a scholar of East Asian medicine and an academic authority on medical pluralism, Professor Kaptchuk's career has spanned multiple disciplines, drawing upon concepts, research designs and analytical methods from the humanities and basic, clinical and social sciences.
In collaboration with his colleagues, Professor Kaptchuk has made significant contributions to the field of placebo studies through his investigations of the impact of placebos in various illnesses, the neurobiology of placebo effects, the experience of patients being treated by placebo, and various psychological, cultural, sociological and philosophical dimensions of placebos. Professor Kaptchuk has written well-regarded histories of placebo controls and the placebo effect, and significant ethical analyses of the use of placebos in clinical practice and research. His laboratory is currently investigating molecular signatures for placebo responses.
Professor Kaptchuk entered the field of placebo research after pioneering the study of East Asian medicine in the United States and Europe and establishing himself as a scholar of multiple healing traditions. He is the author of The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine, a classic textbook, and was senior writer and researcher for the 9-hour BBC-TV series The Healing Arts, which documented healing practices around the world. In the 1980s, he directed the pain unit at Boston's Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, a state-run chronic disease facility."
************************
It is interesting to see that Kaptchuk's place within a mainstream medical school is primarily seen from the perspective of "placebo studies".
As we know, a placebo is a medical treatment which is seen by mainstream modern medicine as ineffectual, but due to psychological or other factors, nonetheless has clinically significant effects on a patient.
Seen from the perspective of modern medicine, Chinese medicine is argued to be effective due to its placebo effects.
But the notion of "placebo effect" throws into question notions of how the body and mind function together, and perhaps there is something in the modern medicine's modelling of the human body which is lacking. Some say it is because of the "mind-body dualism" inherent in modern medicine which is faulty, and a more holistic model that integrates the mind and body as one organism would be more accurate. Chinese medicine fulfills these functions. However, in a modern institutionalized medical system, the individualistic style of Chinese medicine has a hard time fitting in.
I see an analogy here to the place of Chinese in the world. Chinese themselves are becoming more important in the world and self-aware of their own importance, and yet the mainstream world has been accustomed to fitting China within a particular box which is somewhat delegitimizing, disempowering and belittling. Like Chinese medicine which was often seen as superstitious quackery that will be swept away by the march of modern scientific thinking, yet these traditional practices have survived and flourished in a way that was totally unexpected, and now live on in an uneasy co-existence with the modern western "allopathic medicine."
Over time, I think traditional Chinese medicine will further develop and as more people become familiar with it, more of the traditional terminology will continue to enter the English language. This will be true in other fields as well. But it will take people who consciously seek to apply Chinese concepts and thinking, like Pattberg, Kaptchuk and others.


Allen February 16th, 2013 at 22:09 | #220
@perspectivehere
Perhaps we should make this into a post…
I like you point about Chinese medicine. I think it's the same with Chinese philosophy, especially political philosophy. It's seen as not legitimate, and when it does have application, it has very narrow one, almost a you got lucky type of thing this one time…
A placebo…
Going back to language imperialism – it's about narrative and stories that are associated with terms and concepts… the presumptions, the pictures, the fears, the hopes, the ideals, the history, the worldviews that are invoked – that set the norms.
Think authoritarianism – the fears of 1984 … but that's a degenerative form of authoritarianism – not the ideal form. It's been hijacked.
Same thing with democracy – the hopes and ideals overrides the double standards, the double speak, the emptiness of the term.
Same with freedom… it's rhetoric that masks politics that goes all the way down …
And with Chinese terms like junzi, shengren and rendao, etc. They are deemed as so quaint. So useless and irrelevant. It doesn't work. We need people to check all the bastards in gov't. And if you want to aim for good gov't by inovoking shengren, mandates of heaven … you get laughed.
Someone here mentioned not long ago that the Chinese system doesn't work, because every few hundred years, you get a bloody revolution.
Perhaps that's a part of history, not Chinese system.
And who's to say democracies also don't go through that? If inequality continues to widen, if economy shrinks, if the West lose a major war and their status as neo-colonizer, will there really not be revolution ever?
We are too quick to judge. Too clouded by current ecosystem of ideas … framed in part by language imperialism – narrative imperialism – concept imperialism – thought imperialism – all possible because we so quickly forget our heritage … we do not have imagination to break out of the conditions we find ourselves … and we all want to join the powerful … want to move "forward."

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Russell Peter 2012 - White People Cheap




Russell Peter 2012 - White People Cheap
Funniest comedian ever
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Dam collapses in China, thousands evacuated

February 17, 2013, 4:23 am
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Thousands of people were evacuated after a dam in north China's Shanxi province collapsed, causing heavy flooding and damaging highways and rail tracks.

The top of an irrigation water duct of Quting Reservoir in Hongtong county caved in on Saturday leading to collapse of its dam walls, official media reported.

No casualties have been reported. Thousands of villagers were evacuated to safety.

The floods damaged a highway and rail lines, leaving thousands of holiday passengers stranded at various places.

While the highway was flooded with silt, railway tracks were swept away. Eight railway lines have been shut. 

More than 3,000 passengers have been stranded and temporary offices are dealing with ticket returns.

Officials said the irrigation duct was built in 1959 and attributed its collapse to its age.


Read More @ Times of India

Dam Breach in Shanxi Leads to Flooding, Evacuation


Chinese state media reports that a dam in Shanxi has collapsed causing the shutdown of a highway. This comes amid criticism of the  government’s cover up of a water contamination incident due to an industrial aniline spill. From The People’s Daily Online:
The top of an irrigation water duct at the Quting Reservoir in northern China’s Shanxi Province has caved in. This led to the partial collapse of its  walls, causing some flooding, and parts of a national highway to be shut down.
Officials say residents near the reservoir have been evacuated. And no casualties have been reported. The Ministry of Water Resources has sent a work team to deal with the flooding.
PLA troops and paramilitary police have also been dispatched to help with rescue work.The No.108 national highway is still blocked due to silt on the road surface.
According to The South China Morning Post, it is unclear how many residents were affected:
Officials said the irrigation duct was built in 1959 and attributed its collapse to its age.
A China News Service report said train services through the county had been suspended at Linfen , which administers Hongtong. A video clip circulating on the internet shows hundreds of passengers queuing at Linfen railway station to have their tickets refunded.
“The train stopped in Linfen for several hours because of an emergency at a dam in Hongtong. Some passengers have started insulting train conductors,” Sina microblogger Yang Jie Zai Long Shang wrote yesterday.
Three hours later he wrote: “The train started again and will take another route for passengers travelling to Taiyuan . Other passengers are getting off the train and taking the bus.”
Xinhua reports reconstruction of the dam has already started:
Repair work started Sunday on part of a reservoir dam that collapsed in north China’s Shanxi Province, the state-run news service Xinhua reported local authorities as saying.
Flooding had forced the relocations of more than 10,000 residents and resulted in the death of one elderly man from Nanyangxie Village, witnesses told the state-run news service Xinhua.
By Sunday night, sludge had been cleared, allowing both railway and highway traffic to resume, sources with the emergency communications headquarters said.
Some residents have returned home, while others remain in temporary shelters, the state-run news service Xinhua reported the source as saying.
© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. 

More Sights from Maui, the “Valley Isle”

Following are mostly landscape shots I took today. Even though I came across great materials of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, I have decided to wait until I am able to do additional research before writing a post on him. So, for now, enjoy this set, from Maui, the "Valley Isle."
Woman about to take a plunge at Hoopika beach
A woman about to take a plunge at Hoopika beach


Surfer riding a wave at Hoopika. The northern side of Maui is windy and has big waves.
A surfer riding a wave a Hoopika. The northern side of Maui is windy and has big waves.
Surfers at Hoopika. Some even wind-surf and boogie board.
Surfers at Hoopika. Some even wind-surf and boogie board.
Hawaiian Sea Turtle swims to shore to rest for the night and to avoid sharks as high tide rolls in.
Hawaiian Sea Turtle swims to shore to rest for the night and to avoid sharks as high tide rolls in.
Silhouette of me at Hoopika beach taken right before the next big wave crashes in.
Silhouette of me at Hoopika beach taken right before the next big wave crashes in.
Sunset at Kalama beach park in Kihei.
Sunset at Kalama beach park in Kihei.
Giant taro leaves at Iao Valley, site where Kamehameha 1 had a bloody fight in his conquest to rule all of Hawaii.
Giant taro leaves at Iao Valley, site where Kamehameha 1 had a bloody fight in his conquest to rule all of Hawaii.
Sugar cane at Iao Valley. The sugar cane plantation brought many Chinese, Japanese, Filippinoes and other laborers to Hawaii.
Sugar cane at Iao Valley. The sugar cane plantation brought many Chinese, Japanese, Filippinoes and other laborers to Hawaii.
A river at Iao Valley. Flash flood can occur when excessive rains come pouring.
A river at Iao Valley. Flash flood can occur when excessive rains come pouring.
Sunset at Black Rock beach in Kaanapali.
Sunset at Black Rock beach in Kaanapali.
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Clash over uranium contamination & unfair eviction

February 17, 2013, 4:30 am
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» Translated From Chinese By Google

Jiangxi Ganzhou uranium contamination and demolition injustice caused by clashes between police and police cars smashed (13 Figure)

江西赣州铀矿污染及拆迁不公引发警民冲突 警车被砸 (13图)



2013 years month 13 and 14 the day, Jiangxi Ganzhou Ningdu County Dongshan Jingjiaba, two consecutive days, the outbreak of mass incidents.

villagers protest against injustice mine pollution of the environment and the demolition compensation was the police force to suppress, and many villagers were injured, including elderly women and children, people were arrested. A police car and a government vehicle was the villagers smashed with stones.

county government mobilized forces of repression, including public security , SWAT, riot control, urban management, emergency vehicles, cranes, wrecker total of hundreds of people, the convoy stretched for several kilometers.

villagers revealed from 2005 onwards, the the nuclear in Ganzhou the Jinrui uranium industry in the local uranium mining, the serious pollution of the local water supply, and shattered the villagers' houses. The government has not only failed to solve the problem for the masses, forced evictions of villagers housing and low-cost land acquisition, making the villagers homeless. Communicate representations, the government used the police to arrest people, villagers last straw before the police car smashed.

in nuclear Ganzhou is a large state-owned enterprises, under the China Nuclear Industry Group.













Jasmine Revolution http://www.molihua.org. Read More » Source


If They Can Recycle, So Can You


If They Can Recycle, So Can You
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Guangxi folks take police into custody for knocking down a kid

February 17, 2013, 6:00 am
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Guangxi Yulin police car knocked down the children cited public anger thousands containment police car for six hours (video / 20)

广西玉林警车撞倒小孩引民愤 千人围堵警车六小时 (视频/23图)


2013 years month 16 at noon, Guangxi city of Yulin County Yangmei Township the shade Street, a police car knocked down a 8 -year-old girl.

news outgoing girl was killed, the driver attempted to escape, causing the masses The public outrage over a thousand people police car containment, blocking the whole road was packed.

Public Security Bureau leadership called on citizens to scattered retreat but to no avail, authorities subsequently dispatched over a hundred riot police expel crowd. Until the afternoon 6 , accident police car to leave the scene of the accident.

According to the police, knocked the girl hospital treatment, non-life-threatening.























Jasmine Revolution http://www.molihua.org. Read More » Source

Video: Qidong girl Xia Wei died raped by Communist official: mother continues to cry foul WTF is juctice ?


Chinese



several reportsBoxun the Qidong girl Xia Wei bare death case, the girl's mother is still innocence. The following is a Related video:
White-Haired Girl --- people girl
1, Jiangsu Nantong rape, Xia Wei dead true Haocan.
Public Security Bureau Liu ofsilver, the destruction of a single laboratory of the hospital. Unconscionable fraud case
2, the President of the Court Shihan Ci sold Xia Wei homicide.
ridemy home life I have no rights to the two houses in accordance with the leave of the case off. Yamen to money (the right) to the management!
3, the Procuratorate long promise with Lu, malicious pressure case is not a protest.
the superior eyes closed to audit, deprived the right to appeal the second trial. Jiangsu Province dark dark days!
4, daughter of people alive, my daughter lying in a large freezer.
the head national emblem says lie, shoulder balance to get the black money. Pervert the law to have a protective umbrella!
5, judicial corruption hoodwink the official drink the people blood him a darling black.
past there arbiter, now Aggrieved no control. Mouth anti-corruption his actual in Paul greed!
6, the CPC Central Committee and the CPC Central Committee and New Year blessing the house down.
rule of law into the illusion Frankenstein bad influence. "Harmonious society" on the B-spline!

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Brad Pitt Banned From China Again (This Time From Sina Weibo)

February 17, 2013, 8:00 am
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American actor Brad Pitt has been banned from China proper for some time thanks to his performance in Seven Years in Tibet, a film that China's government was not a fan of (to put it mildly). But now, it appears Pitt may also be banned from Chinese cyberspace, as a Sina Weibo account he set up last month has apparently been deactivated.
Pitt's account had been verified as legitimate by Sina, and under the handle @Brad_Pitt he sparked quite an uproar when he joined weibo and posted the cryptic message:
It is the truth. Yup, I'm coming...
But apparently Pitt spoke too soon, as his weibo account is now gone. Pitt's account, which had been located here, now results in Sina's default "page doesn't exist" error message (pictured below) and the page's URL indicates that the user account itself no longer exists. 
So Pitt is no longer on weibo; that much is clear. Everything else about this story is a bit more opaque. Among other things, it's not clear exactly when the account went down, or how. It's possible that Pitt dismantled the account himself, though I'm not sure why he would do that barely a month after setting it up. It's also possible that Sina itself removed Pitt's account. Finally, it could be that Sina allowed the account but then was ordered to remove it by Chinese authorities after word of Pitt's weibo presence got out. Personally, I find the second explanation -- that Sina removed Pitt's account itself -- to be the most likely. Admittedly, it sounds a little odd given that the company had already verified the account and thus was obviously aware Pitt was joining. But it's possible that the speculation surrounding Pitt's first message -- and the fact that it led to net users discussing Pitt's ban from entering China and Seven Years in Tibet -- made the whole thing a bit too political for Sina's taste, so the company bailed on Brad. It's also possible that one department of Sina verified Pitt's account before the content (read:censorship) department got a chance to take a look at it, and when the content guys finally noticed, they pulled the plug. Whatever happened, there's no more Brad Pitt on weibo. I'm sure the actor is very disappointed, but hey, there's always WeChat.

The post Brad Pitt Banned From China Again (This Time From Sina Weibo) appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Friday Gifdump
Friday Gifdump
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Anti-North Korea Protests in China

February 17, 2013, 9:47 am
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North Korea tells China of new nuke tests

North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks, said a source with direct knowledge of the message.
Further tests could also be accompanied this year by another rocket launch, said the source, who has direct access to the top levels of government in both Beijing and Pyongyang.

Anti-North Korea Protests in China
News » Boxun

On Feb. 16, 2013, protesters in Guang Zhou and Shenyang showed angery with latest North Korea's nuclear test.

The pictures and videos below are from Guang Zhou:



Photo below:Protesters in front of the North Korea Consulate in Shenyang (North East of China)
Boxun released a MTV that uses a song with new words to critisize North Korea and its new leader. The video got over 10,000 viewers in two days.
Read More @ Source


Some Chinese Souring on Being N. Korea’s Best Friend
 

According to Reuters, North Korea has told China that it is prepared to stage one or two more nuclear tests this year. This information emerged after China’s condemnation of North Korea’s underground nuclear tests.
“It’s all ready. A fourth and fifth nuclear test and a rocket launch could be conducted soon, possibly this year,” the source said, adding that the fourth nuclear test would be much larger than the third, at an equivalent of 10 kilotons of TNT.
The tests will be undertaken, the source said, unless Washington holds talks with  and abandons its policy of what Pyongyang sees as attempts at regime change.
North Korea worked to ready its nuclear test site, about 100 km (60 miles) from its border withChina, throughout last year, according to commercially available satellite imagery. The images show that it may have already prepared for at least one more test, beyond Tuesday’s subterranean explosion.
“Based on satellite imagery that showed there were the same activities in two tunnels, they have one tunnel left after the latest test,” said Kune Y. Suh, a nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University in South Korea.
Chinese state media outlet Global Times says China needs to find the right way to punish North Korea:
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo are anxious to see China change its North Korean policy. Since Pyongyang’s nuclear test has damaged China’s interests, it’s necessary for China to give Pyongyang a certain “punishment.” The key problem is what the extent of this punishment should be.
Beijing should punish Pyongyang, but should also try to avoid being the focus of North Korean and global public opinion. The reduction in China’s assistance to North Korea shouldn’t be more prominent than the increase in sanctions by the US, Japan and South Korea. This should be the bottom line for China to participate in international sanctions against North Korea.
The Korean Peninsula has remained in a Cold  state. The West tends to perceive the North Korea issue from an ideological perspective, and the US has its own strategic considerations on the peninsula. The nuclear issue has become a time bomb. Both North Korea and the US, Japan and South Korea should take the blame for this. It’s unreasonable if Washington, Tokyo and Seoul don’t make any changes but demand that China change its attitude toward North Korea.
China should stick to being a mediator in the nuclear issue, and not join any side to confront the other. It’s possible that tensions on the peninsula will further escalate and a war could break out. China should prepare itself for any extreme situations, which is important for it to safeguard its security and not be held hostage by either side.
While China has urged the UN for prudence on North Korea, some Chinese are beginning to sour towards their friendship with Pyongyang. From The New York Times:
At home and abroad, China has long been regarded as North Korea’s best friend, but at home that sense of fraternity appears to be souring as ordinary people express anxiety about possible fallout from the test last Tuesday. The fact that North Korea detonated the device on a special Chinese holiday did not sit well, either.
Among Chinese officials, the mood toward the young North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has also darkened. The Chinese government is reported by analysts to be wrestling with what to do about a man who, in power for a little more than a year, thumbed his nose at China by ignoring its appeals not to conduct the country’s third nuclear test, and who shows no gratitude for China’s largess as the main supplier of oil and food.
“The public does not want China to be the only friend of an evil regime, and we’re not even recognized by North Korea as a friend,” said Jin Qiangyi, director of the Center for North and South Korea Studies at Yanbian University in Yanji City. “For the first time the Chinese government has felt the pressure of public opinion not to be too friendly with North Korea.”
Other experts suggested the test could worsen relations between the North and China and urged China’s new leadership to consider taking a tougher stance to curb the North’s  program, which appears to be advancing after some early technical difficulties.
Despite China’s open criticism of North Korea, NKNews.org reports that China’s trade with North Korea has reached a record high. CDT previously reported despite the tensions between the two countries due to failed business ventures, North Korea’s trade with China has increased:
[...] Despite crippling sanctions related to the North’s missile and nuclear programs, some of which China has agreed to enforce as a member of the UN Security Council, bilateral  between the two has increased to a record high of $6.03 billion – twelve times the 2000 total.
Much of this growth has been driven by natural resources, with China remaining the North’s main source of oil, while the North’s primary export to China is minerals, especially iron ore. The North has also begun upgrading its poor information and communication infrastructure, with computer and component  from China growing an average of 61% per year between 2005 and 2010.
However, there is also a significant consumer aspect that cannot be measured because much of it derives from the underground trade in everything from Chinese electronics and clothes to bootleg copies of movies and tv shows. This trade continues to thrive, despite reported border closures and increased security.
Still, while some analysts saw the most recent nuclear test as a possible breaking point for the Chinese, initial statements point to continuation rather than reexamination of their approach, at least for the time being. China has continued to expand trade with North Korea largely for strategic reasons, and despite the poor investment climate and provocations, the benefits still outweigh the costs. Some of this is based on geopolitical considerations. The most oft-heard argument is that North Korea acts as a buffer state between China and the US-allied South, but this is perhaps a bit overstated. The simpler geopolitical reason remains that, mercurial and unpredictable as it is, North Korea remains China’s only ally in the region, and is not to be discarded easily.
As trade of legal goods increase, The Economist reports that illegal items, such as crystal meth, are also crossing the border:
Fuel, , wheat and basic consumer goods all flow legally, usually by lorry over bridges on the Yalu, into North Korea. Imports from the North include minerals, coal, scrap metal and seafood. There is also a thriving black-market trade both ways, usually by boat. This feeds the growing demand for other non-staple products among the new North Koreannouveaux riches. Border police, especially in the North, are known to take bribes to allow illicit trade to pass. One illegal North Korean export causing social problems is crystal meth, a drug known in China as bingdu, or “ice”. If China’s government clamps down on official trade with the North to express its displeasure at the nuclear test, the result will only be more smuggling, says a local who has invested in North Korean minerals. Illicit trade brings its own problems. North Korean border guards shot dead three Chinese smugglers in 2010, and tensions remain.
Meanwhile, as goods flow into North Korea, people continue to flow out. Some come legally to work in North Korean restaurants in Dandong and will return home. Outwardly they are unswervingly loyal—“China is all right, but North Korea is better,” says one—but local Chinese say they are more confident and chatty than before. Many more flee illegally across the river and live in secret in China or try to make it to South Korea, often through a third country. Tesco, a British supermarket chain, has a store in Dandong with a special section offering “Korean food”—mainly imported from South Korea—that an employee says specifically caters to North Koreans.
Wealthy tourists from elsewhere in China pay for boat rides on the river or can even book a trip into North Korea itself, perhaps to remind themselves how far China has come. Others buy cigarettes and trinkets labelled as North Korean but, according to locals, actually made in China. There is sympathy for North Koreans, but no-one wants to miss a good  opportunity.
© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013

DPRK to conduct further nuclear tests? Chinese diplomats write-off their Spring Festival

Shanghaiist
 North Korea has continued its sustained offensive against the Chinese diplomatic corps's Spring Festival, ruining any chance of resumption of relaxation by announcing that they may be conducting further nuclear tests later this year. This of course comes after Chinese diplomats were sent scrambling for aspirin and antacids on Tuesday after news of the rogue state's third nuclear test shocked them from their post-CNY-feast stupors. 


Chinese Condemn Regime’s Response to NK Nuclear Test

By Michelle Yu & Jack Phillips @ Epoch Times
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un salutes as he watches a military parade in Pyongyang,  April 15, 2012. The Chinese regime's response to North Korea's recent nuclear test has frustrated many Chinese.  (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un salutes as he watches a military parade in Pyongyang,  April 15, 2012. The Chinese regime's response to North Korea's recent nuclear test has frustrated many Chinese.  (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese scholars, dissidents, and bloggers this week condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s official reaction to the North Korean nuclear test that took place Tuesday after the Party offered up a lukewarm response to Pyongyang’s testing just miles from the border. 
The Party also did not inform some residents on the border that an explosion took place, with some local Chinese thinking that the nuclear-triggered aftershock was an earthquake.
After the nuclear test took place on Tuesday morning, the Chinese regime said it “resolutely” opposed the latest nuclear test, according to state media. China has long been a key ally to the isolated, communist regime and any United Nations Security Council resolutions on North Korea has to be vetted by Beijing.
The Chinese regime has remained patient with North Korea, despite the nuclear test and a December rocket launch that successfully sent a satellite into space. The Chinese regime is still not committed to placing harsher sanctions on North Korea after the recent episode. 
Communist Party mouthpiece CCTV claimed that the underground nuclear test was “high quality, safe and perfect” and had no effect on the environment. The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection released a report on Wednesday saying no nuclear pollution was found in major cities in China.
But there has been a litany of criticism directed at North Korea from Chinese of all walks of life after the test.
Residents of Jilin Province, which is located on the border with North Korea, blasted the Chinese regime and Pyongyang over the nuclear test.
“The authorities did not inform people about the explosion,” an indignant Jilin resident told The Epoch Times. “I found out the news from internet.” 
In the city of Baishan in Jilin, near the Changbai Mountains where a dormant volcano is located, locals had more reason to fear. “The residents are panicking because they fear the explosion may have caused the volcano to erupt,” a local travel agency employee told the Epoch Times.
Experts also disagree with CCTV’s claims that the six- or seven-kiloton nuclear blast caused no environmental damage.
German nuclear physicists Fei Liangyong told Sound of Hope Network that nuclear pollution is always emitted during such an explosion. “The temperature at the explosion center rises to tens of millions of degrees, which vaporizes many objects nearby. It also sends out extremely strong radiation and high-temperature, high pressure shock waves in all directions,” Fei said.
“Nuclear dust will be carried to remote areas by wind too,” Fei said, referring to fallout.
Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia also told Sound of Hope that he never trusts any of the data published by Chinese agencies after they openly falsified information relating to the SARS outbreak in the past decade. He also said that much of the air pollution data is doctored.
“I’m deeply, deeply worried,” Hu said of the nuclear blast.
There were also concerns over how the Chinese regime would diplomatically deal with North Korea. Chinese professor Yu Jianrong said that if the Communist Party always concedes to North Korea, there may be consequences in the future—including detonating a nuclear device near the border region. “You asked for it,” he wrote on his microblog account.
Political commentator Chen Pokong said that the Chinese regime’s public statements against North Korea was only a show to appease the international community. “Perhaps they want the world to believe they are not always on North Korea’s side,” Chen told Radio Free Asia.
Chen also said that Japan, South Korea, and the United States might also use North Korea’s test to form a regional military alliance
“This may be the real reason why Beijing is angry at Kim Jong Un, especially due to the current tension between China and Japan” over the Senkaku Islands, Chen said.

If Marx Had Weibo


Netizen yansuanzhi (@验算纸) imagines  in the age of the Chinternet.


“Genie” is a nickname for the propaganda departments.
Checking the water meter is a clever excuse for the police to get someone’s door open.
State media blamed external hostile forces for the Southern Weekly protest in January.
Via CDT Chinese.
© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013
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Wukan Democracy & Government Reform

February 17, 2013, 9:56 am
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Wukan Democracy Leaves Village Divided
josh rudolph @ China Digital Times (CDT)


After months of demonstrations over land-grabs in Guangdong province’s Wukan village in late 2011 garnered popular support in China and worldwide, high-ranking authorities compromised, caving to protest leaders’ demands and unleashing speculation that a new era of CCP discontent mitigation may be in its beginnings. Guangdong governor Wang Yang agreed to village elections, and The Telegraph’s Malcolm Moore reported villagers’ belief that  would be hosting the country’s first “wholly transparent, completely open, democratic election.”  In September of last year, some villagers again demonstrated in frustration – while they now had a democratically elected village committee, they hadn’t yet seen a return of their land. As the one year anniversary of the Wukan elections approaches, Teddy Ng reports on resentment between villagers and officials, and doubts about readiness for democratic reform. From South China Morning Post:
“We are not satisfied,” said one villager. “We removed corrupt officials to get our land back, but have received nothing, and the new village committee has not given us an explanation.”
[...]Lin Zuluan , 69, was elected head of the village committee. But now he says that, while democratic governance was worth trying, he regrets taking part in the campaign, because villagers have unrealistic expectations of their leaders.
“I am old,” Lin said. “I can’t stand the pressure and fulfil all of their expectations. I’ve gained nothing from the whole campaign; I should not have taken part in it.  is something that all people should pursue, but the implementation of it should be gradual, and there should be an environment that is conducive to it. We can’t let it happen overnight.”
Lin also said the villagers were not clear about their rights and had raised “unreasonable” demands, such as asking the committee to publicly release every detail of contracts it signs.
For more on Wukan, land-grabs, or democratic reform, see prior CDT coverage.
© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013


Government Reform: Super-Size Me

[...]The government believes that fewer and bigger ministries will boost bureaucratic efficiency. It could also, officials say, help the country change in more fundamental ways.
[...]In recent weeks speculation has been growing that a new round of ministry mergers will soon unfold. The 370-odd members of the Communist Party's central committee are expected to meet later this month to finalise arrangements for the annual session of the National People's , China's legislature, which begins on March 5th. Further steps to create what officials call a "big-ministry system" are likely to be discussed.[...] Bigger ministries, it is argued, should mean smaller government.
[...]Some worry that creating bigger ministries with more responsibilities could backfire. Instead of making government more efficient, it could create even more powerful bureaucratic interest groups that could thwart efforts to make government nimbler and more responsive to public needs. In recent months discussion has burgeoned online in China about the possibility of creating a new commission to oversee economic and political reforms and ensure that ministries co-operate in carrying them out. The lack of co-operation has been evident recently in behind-the-scenes feuding over a blueprint for reducing the . It was eventually published on February 5th, with a telling lack of detail.
Officials say that the "big-ministry system" is not just about redefining bureaucratic boundaries, but is an important part of more thoroughgoing . Alongside small government, they sometimes stress a need for "big society", with much greater non-governmental involvement in the provision of basic services.[...]
© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013


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10 Incredible Scientific Inventions


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I was surfing Listverse earlier and I found something pretty cool that I'd like to share to you guys... so here it is :)

10 Incredible Scientific Inventions (by Listverse)

10. Exploding Bacteria
Scientists working in the field of synthetic biology have thought up a new way to cure diseases. They have created an Escherichia coli cell which – upon contact with certain pathogens – literally explodes, killing both the pathogen and itself.

9. Glow-in-the-dark Dog
Scientists in South Korea have combined both in an effort to help fight Alzheimers and Parkinsons by engineering a dog with genes that makes it glow in the dark.

8. Anti-Malaria Mosquitoes
After having a sip from the irony cup, US scientists have decided that the best way to cure malaria and dengue fever is with mosquitoes. By genetically modifying mosquitoes that live longer and are naturally resistant to malaria, scientists hope to stop its spread and eventually eradicate it. Science conquers all.

7. Bomb-detecting Plants
Scientists, after getting bored with things like bees and mice, have been trying to alter plants so that they can search for bombs.
Dr. Jane Medford is developing plants that will turn white when exposed to explosive and environmental pollutants.

6. Silk Worms With Spider Silk
On the one hand you've got spider silk, one of the world's strongest biological materials, with a tensile strength greater than steel. On the other hand, silkworms are mass-producing silk-making machines. So researchers – deciding we need more bullet proof vests made out of sticky insect goo – decided to make the Amazing Spiderworm!

5. Artificial Jellyfish From Rat Cells
Not satisfied by merely turning other animals into glow-in-the-dark dolls, scientists have used rat cells and silicone to build an artificial jellyfish. Dubbed the 'medusoid' – though lacking the ability to turn people into stone – it swims and behaves just like a real jelly fish when placed in an electric field. The jellyfish was designed by Harvard biophysicist Kit Parker, who is now planing to build other life forms.

4. Synthetic Telepathy
Seeing as it's incredibly hard to understand what people say sometimes, science has stepped in to grant us one of life's most requested superpowers – telepathy. The military is developing a synthetic device which can read electrical activity in a person's brain, make sense of all the thoughts, and then send it to other soldiers as voicemail or text messages.

3. Laser Guns
Military scientists, developed lasers which are able to shoot down mortars and missiles. The Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, has a longer operating range than current naval missile defences and will be a massive upgrade to the American Navy.

2. Bullet Proof Gel
Science, in its never-ending quest to stop us from killing ourselves, has developed a liquid gel that hardens upon impact. It can be slid between sheets of Kevlar, and is lightweight and bullet proof, giving soldiers additional protection.

1. Regeneration
Corporal Isaias Hernandez, a soldier who had more than 70% of his leg blown apart in battle, returned home and was told that his right leg muscle would never heal, and he'd be better off with an amputation. Deciding to keep the leg, Hernandez and clinical researcher Steven Wolf tried a new approach – a teeny bit of pig's bladder. Called the extracellular matrix, or ECM, it has the power to reawaken a body's natural healing abilities. By inserting the ECM into his leg – and by combining this with physical therapy – Hernandez regenerated the greater part of its muscle; today it's as strong as his healthy leg.


So what do you think?

-jabberjay
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Scam - China shuts down 2 temples for cheating tourists

February 17, 2013, 10:04 am
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China shuts down 2 temples for cheating tourists

China Cheating 
The Mount Wutai Administration Bureau closed two of the mountain’s dozens of temples and revoked their business licenses Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said the six people were arrested over illegal funding and that the temples had reportedly hired fake monks to con tourists into buying expensive incense and paying unreasonable amounts of money for ceremonies.  

An official surnamed Ma at the Wutai Scenic Spot Administration confirmed two temples had been closed and six people detained, and said the case was still under investigation. He refused to give his full name.  

Last year, the government’s religious affairs office called on local authorities to ban profiteering related to religious activity and told them not to allow religious venues to be run as business ventures.  

The Chinese government has strict controls on religion, with temples, churches and mosques run by state-controlled groups. Even so, religion is booming, along with tourism, giving some places a chance to cash in.   

Mount Wutai was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2009. It is known for its five flat peaks and a cultural landscape with 41 monasteries, including the highest surviving timber building of the Tang dynasty. -- AP

Mini Cooper Wins Horsemeat Scandal

Smart, timely print ad.

Via the UK.
The Mini JCW Roadster is a very beefed up Mini.
FYI: Here's the UK horsemeat scandal timeline.
Mini Cooper has a reputation for good advertising.
Via: reddit.com

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Yum! Brands 'instant chicken' scandal hits earnings hard

WantChinaTimes.com
A woman ignores a KFC bus stop advertisment in Shanghai. (Photo/Xinhua)A woman ignores a KFC bus stop advertisment in Shanghai. (Photo/Xinhua)

The Chinese division of US fast good giant Yum! Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, on Jan. 10 apologized to customers, admitting it failed to inform authorities of tests which showed high levels of antibiotics in chicken used in its foods.
The apology comes after authorities launched a probe in December as KFC China became the focus of a food safety for using chicken tainted with high levels of antibiotics and hormones. The negative attention devastated sales, the Chinese-language Economic Weekly reported.
Yum China chairman Sam Su made the public apology and vowed to strengthen quality-control measures and reform the company's supply system. On Jan. 21, Yum announced it had disposed of all tainted chicken, the report said.
As of 2012, Yum has opened more than 5,000 outlets across 700-plus Chinese cities, far more than its archrival McDonald's, the report said.
The scandal exploded when authorities in Shanghai and the northern province of Shanxi said in December that they were investigating KFC suppliers over claims of high levels of antibiotics found in chickens.
Until recently, Yum faced few troubles and had become one of the most successful companies in the country, the report said. There is rising sensitivity in China to the issue of tainted food following a string of scandals, although foreign brands in general enjoy more trust than smaller, local names.
The giant market has accounted more than half of the company's sales, so the reputation it enjoys with more than one billion customers will directly affect its future prospects, the report said.
Yum has stopped has already stopped using local supplier, Liuhe Group, the source of many of the tainted chickens.
The firm's rapid expansion has made it tricky to establish a completely reliable chicken supply. "There is a lot of pressure to maintain a quality chicken supply in China as we need to purchase more than 200,000 tonnes very year," said an unnamed Yum executive.
In the third quarter of 2012, 56%, of the company's total sales were made in China, and sales in that market accounted for 44% of global revenues for the whole 2011.
The scandal has hit Yum's sales there hard. The company forecast sales would fall 6% in the fourth quarter of last year following the probe, higher than the previous forecast.
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New Burning Protest in Tibet

February 17, 2013, 10:23 am
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The self-immolation marks the second to hit China's Gansu province in days.

Photo courtesy of a Sangchu resident

Namlha Tsering self-immolates on a busy street in the seat of Sangchu county, Feb. 17, 2013.

Updated at 12:40 p.m. EST on 2013-02-17

A Tibetan man set himself on fire in China's Gansu province Sunday in protest against Chinese rule in Tibet, bringing the total number of Tibetan self-immolations to 102, sources said.

Namlha Tsering, 49, also known as Hoba, carried out his protest in the middle of a busy street in the seat of Sangchu (in Chinese, Xiahe) county in the Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a source inside Tibet told RFA's Tibetan Service.

"Today, Feb. 17, a Tibetan named Namlha Tsering self-immolated in the downtown area of Sangchu county in protest against Chinese policy in Tibet," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"He was a resident of Gengya township, an affiliate township of the Labrang monastery in Kanlho prefecture in Gansu."

The burning marked the second in Sangchu county in days.

On Wednesday, Drukpa Khar, 26, died after dousing himself in gasoline and setting himself alight in Achok town in Sangchu.

Photos sent to RFA by a source from the area showed Namlha Tsering's body engulfed in flames as he sat cross-legged in a roadway with cars passing by him.

Later photos show Chinese security personnel surrounding the area where his body had lain, ashes clearly visible on the ground.

Namlha Tsering's condition was unknown Sunday, but reports said that he was unlikely to have survived the ordeal and that he had been bundled away by Chinese authorities.

The London-based Free Tibet advocacy group said in a statement Sunday that eyewitnesses had described Namlha Tsering as being "severely burned" in the protest and said that he had been taken away by security forces who subsequently stated that he had died.

Free Tibet said that Namlha Tsering has a wife and four sons, the oldest of whom is a monk.

His protest comes on the fifth day of the traditional Tibetan Losar New Year, which has been marked this year by most Tibetans with prayers for compatriots! who burned themselves to death during the year to challenge Chinese rule.

The latest incident raised the self-immolation toll to 102 despite Chinese government moves to detain, charge, and jail Tibetans over suspected roles in the burnings or other protests questioning Beijing's rule in Tibetan-populated areas and calling for the return of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Namlha Tsering's identification card.

Blame

Beijing has defended its rule of Tibet and says the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders in exile have orchestrated the self-immolations from their base in India.

But Tibetan exile leaders deny involvement in the burnings and have called on Tibetans in Tibet to exercise restraint.

At least 15 Tibetans, including monks, have been jailed in recent weeks in connection with the self-immolations. Some were handed sentences of up to 13 years.

Rights groups have condemned the Chinese authorities for criminalizing the burning protests and cracking down on Tibetans who are seen to have provided encouragement or support.

In addition to the harsh sentences, Chinese authorities have also deployed paramilitary forces, shut down communications and restricted travel in the areas where self-immolations have occurred.

Stephanie Brigden, director of Free Tibet, said that the burning protests had continued, despite the tough new measures Beijing had introduced in the region.

"During November when the Chinese leadership transition took place, self-immolation protests were an almost daily occurrence. Since then, China has introduced a slew of new repressive measures in an attempt to stop them," she said.

"It is now clear that there are still Tibetans willing to undertake this most extreme form of protest and just as importantly, other Tibetans willing to risk the wrath of the state by reporting their actions to the outside world."

The U.S. State Department on Friday noted the "horrific figures" of burning protests in Tibet and expressed deep concern over the self-immolations.

"We call on those who are immolating or those who might be considering this to think hard about whether it's the best way to express yourself," department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

"And we also, as we always do, call on the Chinese Government to address its own policies in Tibet that have caused these kinds of tension and frustration."

Reported by Kunsang Tenzin and Chakmo Tso for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Dalai Lama
By HH The Dalai Lama



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Anti-graft official killed on the job ?

February 17, 2013, 12:27 pm
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SW China anti-graft official falls to death
China.org
An anti-graft official in southwest China's Sichuan Province died Sunday morning after falling off a building, local authorities said.

Ke Jianguo, 45, head of the Anti-Embezzlement and Bribery Bureau of Chongzhou City, fell to his death at about 11 a.m., a Chongzhou municipal government official said.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

A related story ...



Shanghai official probed over property

Authorities in east China's Shanghai said on Sunday they are investigating a local official after he was reported to own a large villa, a property that would usually be out of the financial reach of such an individual.

A recent Internet post claimed Lu owned a large house on 2,000 square meters of land.
An initial probe showed the main building of Lu Ming, deputy head of the Pudong New District government, had a floor area of 247 square meters with a 63-square-meter affiliated one-story house, said a Shanghai discipline inspection source.

Lu's family built the house in their own dwelling place, said the source, adding authorities were continuing the investigation.

The surrounding walls of the house and land have been dismantled after the exposure.

Several officials have been targeted with the exposure of their property scandals by whistle-blowers in China since last year as the ruling party vows to continue fighting corruption.

In early February, a police officer was dismissed by authorities as he reportedly owned 192 houses with double national identity cards.

Anti-Corruption Sweep Targets Hundreds of Domestic Security Officials in China: Source

Zhou Yongkang, the former security czar. Many officials in the security apparatus have recently been secretly arrested, according to sources.  (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)
Zhou Yongkang, the former security czar. Many officials in the security apparatus have recently been secretly arrested, according to sources.  (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)
Hundreds of officials from the powerful Communist Party organ that controls almost all aspects of domestic security have been secretly arrested in Party leader Xi Jinping's anti-corruption sweep, New Epoch Weekly has learned from a highly placed official in Beijing. The ultimate goals of this purge are the arrest of former security czar Zhou Yongkang and the dismemberment of the organization he headed.
According to the source, a former senior official of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) recently delivered copies of a report to former party heads Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, informing them of mass arrests within the PLAC during the past three months.
The report stated that 453 PLAC officials from all levels have been detained for interrogation, including 392 from the Public Security Bureau, 19 from the Procuratorate, 27 from the court system, and 10 from nonpublic security bureaus. In addition, it said that 12 high-level officials had committed suicide.


The source, who is close to Hu Jintao’s office, said the report was meant to attract the attention of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao in the hope that they would step in and send a warning to Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan, who heads Xi's anti-corruption effort.
Hu Jintao has not made his position known on this matter, the insider said, but he ventured to say that Hu was not likely going to interfere with the policies of the new Party leaders.
Jiang Zemin’s reaction is also unknown.

PLAC Purge

Since taking over as head of the Party, Xi Jinping has repeatedly talked about reform and the need to root out corruption in the Party, in particular speaking of the need to target both "flies" and "tigers." Though a few arrests have been made publicly, they seemed scattered and unable to accomplish anything substantial. However, the large-scale secret arrests of PLAC officials suggest that Xi has chosen the PLAC as his specific target.
The Beijing source said that many observers believe that this is a purge of the PLAC by the new leadership. Many public security police and cadres are unsure of the spirit of the anti-corruption drive, and the arrests have caused a huge shock inside the PLAC and the "stability maintenance" system, the source said.
The observations by the Beijing source are in line with the memo sent to Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, which reported that PLAC operations are in a semi-paralyzed state, with the morale being low, and a pessimistic mood permeating many offices.
Sources told New Epoch Weekly that Xi's anti-corruption campaign aims to demolish the PLAC. This Party organization has an annual budget of nearly 700 billion yuan (approximately US$ 112.24 billion)—exceeding China’s military budget. It controls the police, Armed Police, procuratorate, courts, prisons, labor camps, united front work, and other departments. The PLAC has become so powerful as to challenge top Party leaders.
The source in Beijing said the detention and interrogation of so many corrupt PLAC officials was laying the groundwork for the future arrest of "key figures." The biggest of these is the former PLAC head Zhou Yongkang.
Zhou retired at the 18th Party Congress in November from the Politburo Standing Committee and as head of the PLAC, which he had run since 2007.
Zhou has been at odds with Hu Jintao and former Premier Wen Jiabao and was a mentor to ousted Politburo member Bo Xilai, who is now awaiting trial. The Epoch Times has reported that Zhou was grooming Bo as his replacement in the Standing Committee. In addition, Zhou and Bo had planned a coup, intending to remove Xi Jinping once he took power.
Last week, Beijing human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang publicly denounced Zhou Yongkang on his Weibo accounts, calling him a "poison" of society and a "traitor of the people" who "has brought huge disasters to the country."
Pu told Voice of America (VOA) that Zhou's approach to "stability maintenance" is the major cause of China's social instability. "None of the social conflicts in China were truly resolved," which include incidents such as the June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre, the Falun Gong persecution, forced demolitions, and environmental destruction, Pu said.
Current affairs commentator Jin Zhentao told The Epoch Times for an earlier report that the fact that Pu didn't quickly suffer violent retaliation indicates that Zhou Yongkang is not in favor with new leader Xi Jinping. Zhou will likely "be the next to be hunted down," after Bo Xilai is put on trial, Jin said.
The Beijing source told the New Epoch Weekly that the PLAC is an obstacle to Xi’s rule. Removing that obstacle is not easy. Behind the main PLAC officials are those in local areas with financial ties to the security apparatus and some ministries, as well as some of the most powerful men within the Party, the Beijing source said.
The hundreds of recent arrests and subsequent interrogations may be meant to give Xi the information he needs to justify taking down one of the Party's big tigers.
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Political Cartoons 2013/02/18

February 17, 2013, 6:23 pm
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With Creativity and Profanity, Chinese Web Users Lambast “Drug Lord” and “Criminal” Kim Jong-Un

February 17, 2013, 7:30 pm
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Images like this one poking fun at Kim Jong-Un briefly saturated the Chinese Web. (Via Weibo)

"Wanted: Evildoer, drug lord, arms trafficker, may be wearing ladies' makeup to avoid detection. If you spot him, you should immediately report it to the American FBI."
Criminal lawyer Gan Yuanchun's February 12 announcement on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, accompanied by photoshopped images showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un with eyeshadow, lipstick, and various colored wigs, was obviously tongue-in-cheek. But in the aftermath of North Korea's widely panned decision to conduct a third nuclear test last Tuesday, the post was representative of the type of online reaction that would follow throughout the week: bawdy, creative, and utterly disdainful of a northern neighbor that Chinese Web users now appear to view more as a criminal enterprise than as a country.

We've seen this movie before
Animosity toward North Korea has long simmered among Chinese grassroots Internet users. In May, 2012, North Korea authorities captured a Chinese fishing boat and held the fishermen on it for ransom. As Tea Leaf Nation reported then, it was evident even then that China and North Korea had completely grown apart, with online language painting North Korea as a rogue vassal state and "de facto enemy."
Over the past several days, that online anger has intensified in both severity and volume. A recent search for the term "North Korea" found over 39 million recent mentions on Weibo. Meanwhile, images mocking Kim Jong-Un briefly saturated the Chinese blogosphere. One (shown above) satirized Kim as the pudgy lead character of the movie "Up." Another showed a nuclear mushroom cloud in the shape of a middle finger.
Online rhetoric was perhaps even more damning. A reporter named Liu Xiangnan asked, "Let's say Korea and the U.S. had another war, which side would you choose? Would you still exhort everyone to cross the Yalu River [separating China and North Korea] to 'resist the Americans, assist the Koreans, defend the nation?'" Some users continued to view the United States as a bigger threat. @胖子冯中杰 took implicit aim at the U.S. by posting a picture of Kim Jong-Un next to one of U.S. President Obama, writing, "How evil is North Korean really? North Korea has invaded…Vietnam…Afghanistan…Iraq…Libya. North Korea bombed the Chinese embassy, struck a Chinese plane, sold arms to Taiwan, helped the Japanese seize the Diaoyu islands, supported every destruction of Chinese power, supported Tibetan independence, supported Xinjiang independence."

A clear and present danger?
But most commenters seemed to regard North Korea as a clear and present danger to Chinese interests. Many called for an end to North Korean drug trafficking. In a widely-shared post, a lawyer named Chi Susheng wrote, "There are actually some people who still don't admit to the iron-clad fact that the Kim dynasty is making and selling drugs, not to mention those who don't understand the depth of harm that North Korean drugs have had, particularly on China's three northern provinces [of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning]! So many families have been scattered and broken because of this, with many sentenced to death in just the past few years. [Meanwhile] we continue to needlessly send rice to North Korea [while] they send us drugs. Can those who understand the truth please retweet." Another lawyer named Wan Wenzhi wrote, "Kim III has willfully sent 'ice' [a type of amphetamine] into China, harming the northern three provinces. North Korea has already become the third big foreign exporter of drugs into China along with the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent."
Others expressed concerns about the environmental fallout of the latest test. In the number one trending tweet the day after the test, sociologist Ma Yong asked, "Why can't China's environmental bureau show a bit of concern, and go to the China-North Korean border to test the pollution situation?" When the Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that the fallout would blow to North Korea's southeast and "does not threaten the health of the Chinese people," users like writer Yu Shenghai skeptically responded that they hoped the Ministry was right, and "should not hide the truth from us just to look good."

(Mis)managing the message
Indeed, so often happens, Chinese citizens' perception of foreign aggression began to turn back against the Chinese government itself for failing to take sufficient protective or retaliatory action. Many worried China had fallen into a pattern of inaction or even appeasement. One user wrote, "TV told us that North Korea would not have a nuclear test; the result was a detonation. Experts immediately said, North Korea would not have a second test; the result was a detonation. Experts then said right away, North Korea would absolutely not have a third test; the result was that North Korea broadcast its intention to have a third test. Experts opened their mouths to say that even with a test there would be no pollution…I just heard that China was safe, and I quickly began to cry, are these people experts or ravens?"
Official efforts to calm citizen ire appear to have misfired. When the vice president of a prominent government-affiliated think tank went on China Central Television to argue that "China has spent a lot of effort to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula: for example, holding the six-party talks, providing the space for free, providing free coffee and other beverages," the mocked refrain quickly became a viral meme. User @热门头条 posted an image comparing Chinese government responses from 2006, 2009, and 2013, writing, "North Korea conducts its third nuclear test, China issues its third statement; the similarities between the words are 99.99%." @杨锦麟 wrote, "This is the true foreign enemy force, this is the greatest threat to China's national security… A government that really took responsibility for its country and people would absolutely not tolerate this kind of thing happening, it would act preemptively and worry about the [cleanup] later. On this kind of issue, any hesitation is a crime!" Another started a hashtag, "#China needs to wake up."

North Korea against the world
Some commenters felt that government inaction on North Korea was harmful not only to Chinese people, but to people everywhere. User @直言文化-陋习屌丝团 put it this way: "How does North Korea threaten the world? Answer: 1) It's provided a standard template the world over for how to found a dictatorship, carry out highly repressive internal governance, and limit people's thoughts and freedoms; 2) A spirit of disrespect for agreements, doing as you please, and making a business of drugs, nuclear weapons, and other inhuman things has progressively spread; 3) It's established an illusion of warriors struggling against the U.S., misleading young people into mistakenly [wanting to] participate in international conflict, ultimately leading to a narrow theory that victory is all that matters, regardless of the means."
Exasperation with Chinese authorities was not limited to the social web. Liberal columnist Zhao Chu (@赵楚) penned a widely-shared column for the Wall Street Journal's Chinese language site in which he wrote, "It is unbelievable that nations the world over have sat idly by while small neighboring countries walk the road of nuclear armament. North Korea already declared the six-party talks dead back in 2009 when it tested a nuclear weapon, yet China has continued willingly to sit by as it loses control of the peninsula."
Others felt that China had already lost control. User @李冰冰 posted a variation of a joke well known among Chinese watchers of their troublesome neighbor, one that suggests that Chinese influence over North Korea is far less than Chinese–or Americans–might hope:
North Korea: Big brother, I want to do a nuclear test!
China: When?
North Korea: Five.
China: Five days?
North Korea: Four.
China: Four days?
North Korea: Three.
China: Can you just tell us when?
North Korea: Two.
China: Are you an idiot?
North Korea: One. Fire!
China: We tried to prevent a North Korean nuclear test up to the very last second!

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Golnoush Khaleghi Fantasy Part 2 of 2



Golnoush Khaleghi Fantasy Part 2 of 2
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 21 June 2009 www.tarakamangar.com Composer Golnoush Khaleghi wrote this piece in 1987. The melody that inspired it was written in the 1930s by Morteza Neydavoud as a pishdaramad, or prelude, in the mode of Esfahan. Instead of the free improvisation commonly used in Persian music, this is measured, or metric improvisation. GOLNOUSH KHALEGHI is a graduate of Tehran's School of National Music, where she studied Persian music with Javad Maroufi and Hossein Saba, and The Tehran Conservatory of Music, where she studied Western Music under Emanuel Melik-Aslanian. She spent three-and-half years at the Akademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, specializing in conducting under the tutelage of Professor Kurt Prestel and professor Gerhard Wimberger. She has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in the same field from Oberlin College and the University of Wisconsin, respectively. Ms. Khaleghi has worked closely with such renowned conductors as Helmuth Rilling, Robert Fountain, Karol Teutsch, and the late Rouben Gregorian, and has performed in the United States, Europe, Canada, Venezuela, and Iran. She is the founder of the National Iranian Radio and Television Choir (Hamavazan) and the Rouhollah Khaleghi Orchestra. Since the cultural upheaval of the Islamic Revolution in 1974, she has been a prominent figure in promoting Persian music and culture through the concerts of the Rouhollah Khaleghi Orchestra and other activities abroad. At present, she resides in ...
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