Here is a simple “HEART” written by me.

(H)umanity relief workers, soldiers (People’s Liberation Army), doctors, nurses, police, and civilian volunteers unite at all fronts to pour out all their efforts to rescue and help
(E)arthquake victims
(A)mid the continuous threat from mother nature such as torrential rain, aftershocks, landslides, and other obstacles. Millions of dollars, as well as supplies such as tents, clothes, food, medicine, and water have been donated to this rescuing effort. We will see
(R)rainbows after this horrible tragic incident. May the deceased rest in peace, and the surviving victims looking forward to a better
(T)omorrow!

Yes, and picking on an extreme nationalist rant is also an exercise in free speech.

1) Human rights:
The media exaggerates and sometimes outright lies about the human right situation in China. They make it seem like there is no such thing as freedom in China. Western media focuses on a couple of dissidents and make it seem like the majority of the Chinese population holds those views. The fact is that there is a lot of freedom in China and human rights is an essential part of that. As a US citizen, I find it very interesting that while the US media and government is quick to criticize human rights abuses in China and elsewhere, they don’t see the hypocracy in their own actions. The US government sanctions and practices torture. It has the most sophisticated domestic and foreign spying apparatus. It props dictators in oil rich countries. It over throws democratically elected governments in other countries because they aren’t friendly to the US. It blindly supports other countries that have horrible human rights records. It is the biggest arms dealer in the world. The list goes on and on. There lies the hypocracy.

2) unsafe Chinese imports
Last Summer the media blitz was quite effective in distorting the true about products imported from China. Yes, there were definitely some really poor quality products, but as a whole, it represented a very small percentage of all the imports from China. The media failed or chose not to point out that many of the defective products were due to American design flaws. China manufactures the products per American specification. If the designs were flawed then the whole product was flawed. Take for example the problem with the loose magnets in toys. Don’t blame China because it made the toys per design. Blame the American toy companies for the poor designs. The problem with lead paint was a result of a few scrupulous toy manufacturers in China but the media made it seemed like the idea of quality didn’t exist in China and that Chinese only cared about making a quick buck. Product quality is the responsibility of both parties. This was evident when Mattel’s CEO made a personal apology to China regarding the whole toy recall crisis because he acknowledged that China should not have taken the entire blame for it. How often has the media focused on product recalls from other countries? It rarely happens. The truth is that products are being recalled all the time from various countries. In fact, I read that Mexico had their products recalled the most in the US last year. Belgium was the worst offender in chocolates and other sweets. And of course there is the poor quality in the US as well, namely, agricultural and pharmaceutical products. In most instances, when a recall is announced the media associates the defective product to the company but in the case of China, it associates the product to the country as a whole. Thus, smearing the China brand. How calculating…

3) Bias reporting of the subject matter
How come all I see and read in the news is negative reporting of China? Take for example, the anti-China demonstrations during the Olympic torch relay. The western propaganda machine mostly focuses on them and not the pro-China, pro-Olympic demonstrations. The number of demonstrators on the anti-China camp were tiny compared to the pro-China camp. The pro-China camp needed their voices heard but were basically shut out of the debate; thus, painting a distorted picture for the public. Another example was the Tibetans protesting in Lhasa and elsewhere in China last month. The western media and politicians alike, exaggerated and lied about China’s response to the protests. Yet, they failed to mentioned about the horrific crimes committed by the Tibetan protesters, who burned and slaughtered innocent shopkeepers and others during the riot. Where is the sympathy for those victims? Why aren’t those Tibetans called terrorist? The western propaganda machine also failed to mention anything about how much better off the Tibetan region has been under communist rule. They enjoy more government assistance than other regions in China. I visited Lhasa several years ago and did not see any oppressed people. What is this freedom that the media is talking about lacking in Tibet? Free Tibet from what? Why don’t we free our brains from being brainwashed by this smear campaign?

Cheers,
Cyrano

Your response reminds me of the Tibetan protesters interviewed by Channel 5 in SF. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHzXN3kNTs

If you bothered to look at the data more closely you would have noticed that the $151 figure is from 1999, before the tourist boom. Next, if you google “Tibet per capita income” you will find multiple sources stating that the per capita income in Tibet has reached over 10,000 yuan in 2006, which is worth around $1,500 USD today. This means that between 1996 to 2006 the per capita income in the region has raised over 30% per year. That’s more than 3 times the per capita growth of the neighboring India, the other biggest up and coming 3rd world nation.

You have a material prejudice. You always compare your living standards with other countries living standards. It’s not much compared to what you make, but they do not have to spend as much as you do. It’s not perfect, but compared to 10 or 20 years ago, they are much better off. If you want to compare the whole world’s living standards with yours, it’s not possible. Get over it!

Tenzing Gyatso, aka the Dalai Lama, rather than rejecting his identity as a Tibetan-Chinese and demanding Tibetan racial purity along the lines of his Nazi mentor, SS Captain Heinrich Harrer, should instruct his band of reactionary theocrats huddled in Dharamsala to forsake their quixotic dream of “restoring” a “Shangri-La” that never existed, return to Lhasa, and shoulder to shoulder with fellow Chinese, help illiterate serfs they once exploited become the Andy Groves and Bill Gates of the 21st century. “

I was just picking on Kai, he’s really annoying. I am not against him personally, but I can not stand him! I shut my door, and I do not respond to him anymore. Every region/country/race has good and bad people. :-)
I admire Shanhai’s beatiful beautiful landscapes.

If I were in Shanhai, we could go and grab a drink. I’d love to learn more about China.

“Facts and Figures on Tibet in 1999

The Statistics Bureau of Tibet releases the following facts and figures about the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1999. The gross domestic product (GDP) of Tibet reached 10.335 billion yuan last year, up 9.1 percent over 1998, and surpassing the national average for six consecutive years.

The average per capita income of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet reached 1,250 yuan (151 U.S. dollars) in 1999, an increase of 7.9 percent over 1998.

Some 180,000 people from overseas visited Tibet in 1999, an increase of 12 percent over the previous year, and foreign exchange earned from tourism amounted to 36 million U.S. dollars, up 9 percent.

In 1999, the industrial output value of Tibet rose by an estimated 7.8 percent over 1998, with large increases in the output of gold, cement ,and electricity.

Tibet’s tertiary industry is expected to achieve 4.585 billion yuan in added-value in 1999, up 12.7 percent over 1998, thanks to the measures taken to stimulate domestic demand and consumption.

The import and export volume of Tibet is expected to reach 166 million U.S. dollars in 1999, a rise of 51 percent over the previous year, with export volume surging by 87.6 percent.

Last year, Tibet introduced 6.48 million dollars of foreign funds. . . .. see link to continue” http://www.index-china.com/index-english/Tibet-s.html

The most of so called China toys are made in China but bear the international brand. It is the international firms’ responsibility to define the criteria and Chinese subcontractor firms’ to abide the criteria. Without going into the toy issue in details, it is simply a failure of both international toy brands and chinese factories. I support that international toy brands to find alternative source rather than the problematic ones in China if that will solve the problem. Just like American beef is still banned in some countries. It is unfair to even think that “American Beef brings mad cow disease.”

So far, as my working experience with my customers and suppliers, it is my responsibility to ensure my customers that my products are good no matter what. It is strange to tell customers “it is all my supplier’s fault”. However, if the chinese toys subcontractors are not following the contract and standards, the international brands should sue them. Law over misbehavior.

As I heard since last time China dumping poison issue in Japan, in fact, Chinese government stopped to give new license to the Chinese food exporters, to minimise further damages. Clearly they dont want to create trouble.

Again, opinions kept to your own are perfectly fine, no matter how bad you think China and Chinese. We all can understand and recognize that. But, openly generalizing certain group of people, race and religion are destroying whatever moral value are being delivered. I am glad at least we are on the same page.

Nice to debate with you.

Yes, I agree with the sentiment to some extent. I think it’s fair to characterize toys with lead paint and contaminated drugs as “junk.” And I think the tactics of the Chinese government toward Tibetan protesters, the Falun Gong, rights activists, and others hs been reprehensible. I could think of a lot stronger terms for them than “goons and thugs.”

What I don’t agree with is the way Cafferty said it. He was snide and rude and used inflammatory language. The points he was trying to make about the changed Sino-US relationship got buried in the rhetoric. But on the other hand, some of these commentators talk like this about almost everything. I think most Americans have gottern pretty desensitized to it.

OK, maybe we do agree in most aspects, but I think many of your remarks are highly misleading and it makes others believe you are unfairly generalizing. Sometimes you talk about “we do this too so we can’t blame others”, sometimes you talk about “we have extremists wo do that”, and you don’t separate “we” from the “extremists” very clearly.

Anyway, if you really care about calming down thos extremists, you should do so in Chinese forums.

I don’t think Kai is from Shanghai, he probably just works there. I am originally from Shanghai and if I were to talk about a girlfriend who happens to also be from Shanghai I would never refer to her as “my shanghaiese girlfriend”, just like someone from NYC would never refer to his girlfriend as “my New York girlfriend”.

Sorry to hear about your sister though. Shanghai guys can be shrewed but they are known to be pretty nice to women inside China.