rolling buried alive in china 2012

I think the 'propaganda' posters are more subtle than that - don't think the CCP would ever endorse that kind of explicit, strong female sexuality. I think it's important that the artist is a woman. apologies if I'm being male-gazey though :/

i really get the idea behind the dafen tiananmen paintings. most of the painters working there were probably born around the same time as or after 6。4 and nobody knows the picture in china, even if they know about the event....

i'm often confused by this sort of thing with tiananmen. there are so many examples of people recreating this experiment: show chinese people pictures from tiananmen, ask them if they know what's up in the picture, express quiet shock that they don't. in the tank man pbs documentary the filmmakers do exactly that with a picture of tank man and some students at beijing university. the kids either don't know or politely play dumb and we're SHOCKED that they don't know about the tiananmen massacre.

then you get those horrible conversations where the western interlocutor runs up against the person who says, "yeah, dude. we know about tiananmen. they did what they had to do. sorry, bud."

let's understand what's happened politically/socially/economically in the country over the last 25 years before forcing china to come to terms with tiananmen. at this point, the stakes are pretty low with tiananmen, especially compared to the various fucked up shit happening in the country right now.

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/asia/tibetan-writer-says-china-is-blocking-her-from-award.html?_r=1";>Tibetan Writer Says China Is Blocking Her From Award</a>

<a href="http://woeser.middle-way.net/";>woeser</a> locked down

<i>Since last March, at least 22 Tibetans in western regions have set fire to themselves to protest rule by the Han, the dominant ethnic group in China. Fourteen of those died. In recent months, there have also been clashes between security forces and Tibetans in towns across the Tibetan plateau; in several cases, security forces opened fire with live ammunition, reportedly killing some of the protesters.</i>

not sure about the "rule by the han"... makes it sound like tibetan complaints have a more explicitly racial element than they do. like, the problem isn't that the oppressors are han chinese but mostly that they're brutally oppressive. :)

fuck, i always forget to hit that convert simple html to bbcode button

Tibetan Writer Says China Is Blocking Her From Award

woeser locked down

Since last March, at least 22 Tibetans in western regions have set fire to themselves to protest rule by the Han, the dominant ethnic group in China. Fourteen of those died. In recent months, there have also been clashes between security forces and Tibetans in towns across the Tibetan plateau; in several cases, security forces opened fire with live ammunition, reportedly killing some of the protesters.

not sure about the "rule by the han"... makes it sound like tibetan complaints have a more explicitly racial element than they do. like, the problem isn't that the oppressors are han chinese but mostly that they're brutally oppressive. :)

it's not just about race though? it's about race + claim to sovereignty

I've been thinking about the situation in taiwan and how it's similar to tibet - like, the han chinese who are there now and who form the ROC, basically took taiwan from the japanese, who took it from qing dynasty dudes + taiwanese aboriginals. or rather, I've been thinking about taiwanese aboriginals and how nobody talks about them when they talk about taiwan belonging to the ROC.

like, there's this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/228_Incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Taiwan)

wondering if this was written by a mainland nationalist

just interesting to me, how taiwan is propped up by western media &c. as a 100% legitimate democratic alternative to the CCP and PRC in china

You ever see City of Sadness? It's set during the White Terror. Everything I know about that era is from the film and the little reading I've done around it (and handful of films set a decade later), so I can't say how accurate or interesting it is in relation to the real thing, but it's a great movie.

nah, but I am making a pact to watch all of HHH and Edward Yang's movies before i die

I'm just thinking out loud here as I find out that what it means to be 'taiwanese' is actually really complicated

oh yeah, race is part of it. but when the writer says "to protest rule by the han" i guess i just thought it'd be better to express that they're protesting more loss of sovereignty, erosion of cultural autonomy or SOMETHING than simply that it's some chinese dudes. haha, okay, maybe it's better to just say "rule by the han," sorry. i just wanted to say: i wish it was more clear why they were lighting themselves on fire.

the taiwanese aborigines : tibetans thing... both situations are sort of born during the qing, sorta, or at least the stickier aspects of chinese->other ethnicities. there's lots of good writing on the qing and ethnicity!

like this:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=EtNVMUx9qIIC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=empire+at+the+margins+mark+c.+elliott&source=bl&ots=OBjtZDvroL&sig=_7yo1WiWrh2c7IdtdeOVUa-I-CU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RvJTT6DDJ-nn0QGmmN2mCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

x-ps

You should definitely see all the Yangs (including the omnibus film In Our Time, which is explicitly about post-ROC Taiwanese history, but mostly elides the kind of questions you're asking here). HHH's filmography is a little spottier, imo, but I guess that's a minority opinion.

Hu Jintao Draws Blood with the Wang Lijun Scandal

i don't know who's been seriously following wang lijun's recent problems (vice mayor of chongqing/head of psb, who helped bo xilai smash the gangs of chongqing, gets kicked out of office, rushes to chengdu and spends the night at the us consulate, comes out and gets put under house arrest) but this is a good summary of the bigger picture, i think.

link doesn't work

http://tinyurl.com/6mlo6vk

wow that post is really inside baseball

peregrine 2 ----- check out the essay on chinese scifi by kun kun at the start, lots about liu cixin etc. and more peregrine, one of v v v v v v v v v few places to read contemporary chinese fiction in translation by the few people that are in the business of translating it. #6 has brendan okane translating my girl sheng keyi is about as good as this kind of stuff gets (this is me saying: it's okay and i'm excited about it but it's still got the problems that chinese-engl translation often has + it all reads like howard goldblatt + it's a bit boring).

more inside baseball, lei feng: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=39091&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=25&cHash=004f169fa675b5370f16042eebf39216

Learning How to Argue: An Interview with Ran Yunfei

ran yunfei has some of the worst traits of chinese internet intellectual guys... zero useful political insight (he actually believes in the "jasmine revolution" -------- so does jon huntsman) + catnip to western chinawatchers (here, he's noticed by ian johnson, who's into writing stuff about MAO'S VICTIMS and FALUN GONG and like... this, about the rise of DAOISM in china and manages to quote lao-tzu and mention little yue yue getting run over)... unforgivably boring (he patronizingly criticizes ai weiwei for reacting "excessively")... BUT

i'm sort of interested in reading the book he mentions, a sort of microhistory of a temple in chengdu. i guess it's sort of impossible to find, though.

I finished it last year before being detained and it was printed. But then after I was detained the publisher refused to release it. So I told this to the guobao and they said, “You are detained but you haven’t been convicted so you can publish. You’re not yet a criminal and you have the right to publish.” I said, “Hey, can’t you tell the publisher that?” They said, “No way, we can’t call up the publisher like we’re your agent or something. Anyway, we’ll frighten them to death! But you can tell them our views.” So I did and they published it but it’s not available on any online service. We had a press run of 5,000 and I’ve sold about 2,000. They sell it at the temple but only if you ask for it. It can be bought but it’s unavailable.

i find i follow shit like utopia <a href="http://www.wyzxsx.com/";>乌有之乡</a> because even if the majority of opinions they publish or sympathize with are mostly newfarleft stuff, i dig it because-- the writers are more likely to have a much deeper knowledge of how politics/economics/the SYSTEM works in china and when they criticize the leadership (when not attacking american imperialism and eulogizing kim jong il and shouting nationalist slogans), they are a lot sharper and realistic, whereas guys like ran yunfei believe in the jasmine revolution and want to tell us that lei feng was FAKE oh my god THE PARTY HAS LOST ITS WAY.

FUCK bbcode

anyways. reminded of tricia wang dump1ings for sale piece + factory girls obv, the veggie vendors-- excerpt from Eating Bitterness: Stories from the Frontlines of China’s Great Urban Migration

温家宝：政改若不成功文革悲剧可能重现

thought that was a weird headline to see at the top of my qq news, just 'cause not every headline mentions the "tragedy of the cultural revolution"

wen jiabao answers reporter questions after nat people's conference

"after reform and opening, the party set about rectifying a bunch of historical problems. but the excesses of the cultural revolution and the influence of feudalism have not been completely wiped out.

"along with economic reform comes problems like financial inequality, lack of credibility, and corruption. we can't concentrate on economic reform but also must look to political reform, especially reform of how the party and the nation are governed. ... with reform nearing a crucial period of time, we have to complete political reform to succeed economically. the successes of reform and opening can be lost. these new social problems we're seeing can't be ignored. historical tragedies like the cultural revolution can happen again. every party member and leading cadre should feel a sense of urgency.

"of course, reform is difficult. to change things, we need the everyone's enthusiasm, awareness, and support. in this nation of 1.3 billion people, we must proceed step by step, as the conditions of the country dictate, to establish socialist democracy. this isn't an easy. but reform can only march onwards. we can't let things stagnate. we can't stop. we can't go backwards. the only way is to go forward.

"i know people are going to say, this is all talk. but just watch me. let me tell you everyone right now, i will fight until my last breath for the project of reforming and opening china to the outside world."

it's interesting becauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse, it just shows you why EVERYONE loves him... because there's something in there for the new left people and the laid off workers who still yearn for the days of central command economy: he's attacking shit like financial ineq, corruption, which new left guys say was introduced by all the neoliberal economists that run the party now + everyone in china can get behind hating on corruption. and like, if you're a reform minded person, you could think, hey, yeah, we do need political reform to catch up to economic reform (wei jingsheng went to prison for 15 years for something like that)

but just as always, there are no actual concrete suggestions what political reform actually is or who's going to look after it. and there seems to be no movement in that direction, either. so.

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/watch-your-language-and-in-china-they-do/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120314

lot of great stuff in there! May 35, everybody. also that awesome song about grass-mud horses, so naughty and sensitive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezKfa0YOFSg

while wen jiabao talks about inequality and corruption...

richpeople npc delegate internetlaughs:

Should Chinese political delegates wear Should Chinese political delegates wear Should Chinese political delegates wear Should Chinese political delegates wear $2,000 suits?,000 suits?,000 suits?,000 suits?

CPPCC delegate, CEO of China Power International Development Ltd, Li Xiaolin, wears a salmon pant suit from Emilio Pucci’s spring-summer 2012 collection, prcied at 12,000 yuan. That amount could help 200 chldren wear warm clothes, and avoid the chilly attacks of winter. Li Xiaolin has said, “I think we should open a morality file on all citizens to control everyone and give them a "sense of shame".”

人大代表倒是先富了！奢侈的一身。

Netizens Scour High-Res Photo of ‘Two Sessions’, Mock Members

<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/03/china-and-the-unofficial-truth.html";>China and the Unofficial Truth</a>

<IMG SRC="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/li-xiaolin.jpg";>

damn li xiaolin, daughter of li peng

CUNT.

China and the Unofficial Truth

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/li-xiaolin.jpg

damn li xiaolin, daughter of li peng

I'D CRACKDOWN ON HER PRO-REFORM DEMONSTRATIONS AM I RIGHT FELLAS

http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080305/Img255540479.jpg

"my dad could crush your dad with tanks"

http://www.cenews.eu/wp-content/uploads/p100606102.jpg

李鹏访问一个学校，到处彩旗飘扬,甚为高兴。

突然发现一欢迎标语写到：热烈欢迎李朋总理。

不禁大怒：我的那个鸟呢？

btw if u ever need li peng jokes: 江泽民李鹏笑话集锦

quiddities and agonies 《夫妻那些事》 it's new

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWEtI8dDhhI

hahhaahaha wow bo xilai got ousted

to avoid another cultural revolution

http://www.wyzxsx.com/ COINCIDENCE THAT UTOPIA IS DOWN TODAY?????????

薄熙来被免职：官方网站关闭评论栏目

薄熙来落马正是包含有秘密关押条款的刑事诉讼法修改方案在争议声中经中国人大通过，有推友于是在微博上调侃薄熙来是第一个测试新刑诉法第73条的人。但媒体人洪晃在新浪微博上写道：“我不是重庆模式的支持者，但是也不喜欢看见一系列落井下石的嘲弄。我希望薄熙来和他的家人不会成为新的刑法73条的第一个执行对象，希望当过官的人下台能好自为之，返老还乡，平安无事。洪晃指出：目前文化中喜欢”整人“的素质是文革噩梦永远伴随我们的原因之一。”

另外，被看作是毛派网站的乌有之乡、红色中国网、民声网周四均已无法访问。

that this american life story from a while ago has a weird update

An acclaimed Apple critic made up the details

and then tal retracts it all: Retraction

weird

Interesting analysis of Bo Xilai's downfall:

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/19/chinas-falling-star-bo-xilai/

really wondering where bo is going to end up. private sector? say fuck i t and go overseas?

Is prison out of the question?

dylannn do you have anything to add to the reports of tanks in beijing xp

some china expert said that usually when demotions are announced, they'll also announce some ceremonial position also - since there wasn't one for bo's announcement it could very well mean he's going to jail

I think there's a really nice 'prison' they send officials convicted of corruption to, it's like a minimum security hotel

no idea but... this is a pretty common occurrence, i think. the tanks rumour, i mean. and weibo just amplifies it...

i sure haven't seen anything solid enough. bo xilai is not taking zhongnanhai by force.

The Chinese first started buying chateaux in Bordeaux in 2008, with some turned into luxury hotels for high-end Chinese clientele. China is now the biggest importer of Bordeaux wines with consumption up by 110 percent in 2011 alone, and it is even building a Saint-Emilion-inspired wine theme park in the northern Dalian resort, due to open this year.

http://v.qq.com/cover/3/389tljp77jmi437.html?vid=d0011q4yhfb

lol

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-puts-nephew-blind-activist-trial-17843694#.ULi-PNPjm4d

http://www.ministryoftofu.com/2012/12/chinas-first-masturbation-contest-unveiled-before-world-aids-day/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/world/asia/how-crash-cover-up-altered-chinas-succession.html?hp