Global Voices » Robert Woo

China: Do Chinese people live with dignity?

Robert Woo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:21:06 +0000

China’s top leader has made a historic statement regarding human rights and human dignity which has posed both doubts and meaningful questions.

During this year's Spring Festival, China's Premier Wen Jiabao made the unusually phrased statement that his government vowed to “make Chinese people more dignified”. Last Friday, during his annual government work summary to the Lianghui, he reiterated the phrase:

我们所做的一切都是要让人民生活得更加幸福、更有尊严，让社会更加公正、更加和谐

The fundamental purpose that drives all of our work is to ensure our people live with more happiness and more dignity, and bring to our society more justice and more harmony.

According to an analysis posted by the official website of the Chinese Communist Party, Wen's policy re-statement demonstrates China's commitment toward promoting human rights.

中国的改革开放，是人性复苏、人性张扬的过程，是人权和人的尊严日益真正得到重视的过程。1982年宪法作出了“中华人民共和国公民的人格尊严不受侵犯”的规定，从尊重人格的角度保护人的尊严；2004年宪法修正案进一步明确规定：“国家尊重和保障人权。”这从更全面的权利系列和更崇高的原则层面，宣示了对人的尊严的尊重和保障。进入新世纪以来，党和政府反复强调“以人为本、执政为民”，“一切为了人民群众，一切依靠人民群众”的基本执政方针。“让人民生活得更加幸福、更有尊严，让社会更加公正、更加和谐”，铿锵有力、掷地有声。

China's Reform and Opening-Up is a process of the awakening and the emergence of humanity, and is a process where human rights and human dignity have attracted increasingly more attention. The 1982 Constitution protected human dignity from the viewpoint of personal character, by putting in words that “the personal character of citizens in the People's Republic of China should not be violated”. The Constitutional Amendment of 1994 went further and stipulated that “the State respects and guarantees human rights”. This declaration originated from a more comprehensive perspective and a nobler principle. In the new century, the Party and the government have reiterated again and again the principles such as “People First, Government for the People”, “All for the People, All Depends on the People”. Therefore, rhetoric such as “to make our people to live with more happiness and more dignity” is both compelling and resounding.

However in China, when the supreme authorities propose a particular concept in a formal manner, it is safe to assume that there is something seriously wrong with the actual situation, and the authorities are genuinely worried. For example, the concept of “Harmonious Society” was coined at a time of escalating social tensions across the nation. The same rule applies here also: when Premier Wen vowed to make Chinese people more dignified, we are all free to speculate just how ‘undignified’ the majority of Chinese people actually are.

We do not have to look back too far. Last Sunday, during the same Lianghui, a provincial governor threatened to complain against a journalist who asked a question on an apparently ‘sensitive’ topic; On the same day, the Deputy Minister of Sports criticized one athlete, Zhou Yang, who thanked her parents instead of China after she won a gold medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

An article which was widely shared in online forums and social networking sites also pointed toward the same dilemma between what is discussed over the table and what is actually happening. The article, Chinese-Style Dignity, was apparently written by an overseas Chinese who traveled back home. He was first welcomed, but later disgusted by, an old classmate. Now a corrupt local official, that classmate had become rich, powerful and proud of himself, just like many government officials all across China. Indeed, he is living in a life of great ‘dignity’, as judged by the values in the contemporary Chinese society, but it was also the ‘dignity’ based on material wealth and the servitude of less privileged people.

我们每到一处，总是被一群人围着前恭后迎，小心赔笑奉承有加，连到餐馆吃饭都是老板亲自出马，殷勤备至。我跟着他狐假虎威了一回，体验到有如皇帝出游般前呼后拥的至尊至贵，这是我在美国没有的经历。 ….. 没错，在中国，一个人是否被尊重和被尊重的多少取决于你身上披着的社会身份的大小或财富的多少。

Wherever we go, there will always be hordes of people eager to surround us with calculated smiles and effusive flattery. Even when we go to a restaurant, the restaurant owner himself will come out and act like a servant. When I am with him I experience utmost deference just as the Emperors must have experienced during their excursions, which is something I have never experienced in the U.S. … It seems in China, the degree to which an individual is respected depends almost entirely on the symbol of status they flaunt and the wealth they are perceived to possess.

像有权的同学一样，一个有钱的同学也不太明白尊严在中国是个问题。在中国的经济和司法还随处有缝可钻的时候，这个同学凭借在政府部门的特殊关系，在只赚不亏的房地产行业找到了他成为富人的位置；在中国的道德开始堕落到以更新妻子包养二奶为荣的时候，他不仅与时俱进地换了个年轻漂亮的妻子，而且在同学朋友中从来不隐瞒包养的情人。现在他家里雇佣了两个保姆和一个专职司机，这些也是他向人展示他的财产的一部分。总之，他总是踩着了时代的步伐，以至他时常感叹，生为男人，只有生在中国才值得。如此的际遇，尊严在他那儿当然不是问题。

Just like the first classmate, another rich classmate also could not understand why ‘dignity' can be such a problem in China. When China's economic and judicial systems are full of loopholes, this classmate has gained tremendous wealth in the real estate by exploiting his government connections; When China's moral landscape begin to degenerate to the point when renewing wife and having mistresses have become honorable, he follows this trend by getting a new and beautiful wife, and doesn’t conceal the fact among his classmates and friends that he has a mistress. Now, he employs two house-maids and a chauffeur, which have also become something he likes to show off to others. He always steps to the tune of Time, and always marvels that a man can only be called a man if he lives in China. For a man like him, ‘dignity' is surely not a problem.

Fortunately, many Chinese people have awakened and are now set on the road to the dignity that they deserve. We only need to look at one of the stories above to draw this conclusion. The comment by Deputy Minister of Sports' does not reflect official thought, on the contrary, it draws criticism and ridicule not only from liberal bloggers but also from the mainstream media. Clearly, the old mentality that somehow individual rights are dispensable has met some rough bumps, and more are yet to come.

China: Netizens make fun of charges for hacking Google

Robert Woo — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:07:38 +0000

The so-called ‘Operation Aurora’, which attacked Google and at least 33 other western conglomerates, allegedly originated from two Chinese universities, according to a recent New York Times story. One of these ‘universities’ is, in fact, an obscure 4^th- tier vocational school in Northern China. It is Shandong Lan Xiang Advanced Vocational College, which hitherto was known only for training automobile technicians.

The immediate surprise in Chinese cyberspace is not so much focused on the fact that Google’s recent accusation has been partly confirmed by the article, but that a school like Lan Xiang could even be considered as a candidate for carrying out such a sophisticated attack. Many have speculated that Lan Xiang’s administrators must have been filled with joy since their school has been rocketed to international fame without spending a penny on advertising. The following are some comments taken from QQ.com

找工作，到蓝翔！

Looking for job? Go to study in Lan Xiang!

山东蓝翔技工学校学生水平竟然超过老美电脑专家吗？

So, the students at Lan Xiang have really surpassed those old American computer geeks?

给山东蓝翔高等技工学校做了免费广告了！

This is such a great free commercial for Lan Xiang!

你就不能说个清华北大之类的？说个山东蓝翔，美国人面子也算丢尽了，中国一所职业技术院校学生可以随意攻击国际一流搜索引擎，中国NB了。

Couldn’t you (New York Times) blame more probable candidates like Tsinghua or Beijing University? Lan Xiang?! You Americans should be so ashamed of yourselves. An undistinguished technical school from China is capable of attacking a world-class search engine giant at will? China must be truly formidable!

On Lan Xiang’s public webpage in Baidu.com, people came from everywhere to pay their tributes. Typical entries were “Chinese student delegates from Kyoto University congratulate Lan Xiang” and “Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics send their congratulations”.

The story also provides perfect material for more overt satire:

望而却步的美国人，借攻击谷歌事件污蔑我国第一名校，企图降低我校在国际上的地位。蓝翔技校发言人对此表示，虽说该校学生已经具备攻克美国政+府网站的能力，但该校管理严格，学生素质甚高，更重要的是，学生正在攻克艰深的科学研究，不会浪费时间攻击一个普通的互联网搜索网站。

The alarmed Americans use Google to defame our nation’s most prestigious school, in a vain hope to challenge Lan Xiang’s insurmountable position in the international community. The spokesperson for Lan Xiang commented that even though Lan Xiang students have acquired adequate skills to destroy a website of US government, stringent discipline and the high level of student integrity guarantee that such attack would never happen. More importantly, our students are busy with conducting more important scientific research and we would not waste their time in attacking an ordinary search engine.

Despite all the sarcasm, is Lan Xiang really behind all this? A casual look at the posts in the same public page written before the New York Times report seems to suggest that Lan Xiang is a very ordinary school indeed!

学习方面：理论多实习少且设备陈旧，好的紧供参观，（勿动嗷要罚款的）～收费方面：学费一次付清，学校出理不掉的东西强买强卖，杂费不断，没发票～火食方面：食堂混乱吃饭不便，想吃得没有，就大锅饭，比监狱还操蛋

In terms of education, there is a lot of theoretical education, but hands-on learning opportunities are rare. The equipment is mostly decrepit, while the good pieces are only for show. In terms of tuition and fees, tuition is paid up-front. Not only that, the school forces you to buy what they cannot dispose of using other means. There are also endless fees of all sorts and they never even provide any invoice! In terms of dining, the cafeteria is chaotic. It is hard to find what you really want to eat. The food is all made in big woks and is worse than prison food!

老子也是那来毕业的，那个烂学校我都没法说了。就会骗钱。

I also graduated from there. I hardly know what to say about that school. They are swindlers.

Is there really enough evidence to implicate Lan Xiang? Furthermore, will the evidence matter at all amidst the overall surge of nationalistic public opinion in China? We must wait and see how this drama plays out.

China: Amateur short film satirizes internet censorship

Robert Woo — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:51:50 +0000

Famous amateur film-maker, Hu Ge, has recently made a new satirical piece on the Internet censorship in China. The 7-minute piece, ‘Animal World: the Home-living Animal' is styled as an animal-planet type of documentary and has attracted hundreds of thousands of views in a matter of a few days. The piece presents to the audience the so-called ‘home-living animals’, who are in fact China’s tens of millions of netizens.

宅居动物的外形酷似人类，长着人类那样大大的眼睛和耳朵。他那奇特的生活方式至今还让人们叹为观止。表面上他们各自为阵、互不往来，但实际上他们通过一种叫网络的东西，互相联系。

The home-living animals bear close resemblance to the human beings with big, human-like eyes and ears. Their unique life-style fascinates many people even today. On the surface, they appear separate from and do not communicate with each other. However, they maintain close contact with each other through something called the Internet.

对于其他动物而言，幽深的网络往往难以捉摸。这里充满的各种危险。在地球上，没有比神秘的互联网更可怕，更不利于生物生存的地方了。但是，对于宅居动物来说，这里，却是天堂。

To other species, the Internet appears to be a deep and unfathomable place, filled with all forms of dangers. On this planet, nothing is more terrifying and more lethal than the mysterious Internet. However, for the home-living animals, the Internet is a paradise.

The film portrays various common patterns of using the Internet. For instance, we see a ‘female home-living animal’ who runs a private textile business simply by utilizing her computer all day; a male flirts with his potential lover by showing off his muscle in front of the computer camera while elsewhere a naked male surfs the Internet while tucked up inside his blanket.

In the film, the ‘human beings’ are portrayed as paternalistic figures who lovingly protect the home-living species by weeding out unhealthy material on the Internet.

曾有一度，网络上的色情，和不良信息，使他们的身心受到了伤害，但现在，他们受到了来自人类的无微不至的关怀和保护。

Once upon a time, there was a flood of pornography and other unhealthy information on the Internet, which had caused damage to the living animals’ minds and bodies. But now they have received comprehensive and universal care and protection from the human beings.

One form of this ‘care and protection’ is shown when a male home-living animal is on the verge of tears, when his enjoyment of an unexpectedly violent scene taken from the film Hero has been interrupted by a full-screen warning message

Han Han, the tremendously popular blogger who is famous for his witty criticism of authority, is cast in the film as a male home-living animal afflicted with ‘Compulsive Thinking Disorder’.

思考强迫症,是一种普遍存在于宅居动物中的疾病。这只雄性每天都要花大量的时间去思考各种各样的问题。这种病，不但具有极大的危害性，而且，还具有一定的传染性。因此，人类采取了一切可能的措施，来保护这些可爱的小动物。

Compulsive Thinking Disorder is a commonly found disorder among the home-living animals. For instance, this male (Han) spends a lot of time thinking about all sorts of questions every day. The Compulsive Thinking Disorder is not only immensely debilitating, but also highly contagious. Therefore, the human beings have taken all possible measures to protect these cute little animals from this kind of disorder.

In the film, we see that Han finishes writing a blog, but it is forever stuck in the ‘under review’ phase until his computer finally crashes. What happens to another home-living male is far worse. After he finishes an article, a team of plainclothes police break into his room and carry him away.

The Home-living Animal has a resemblance to another amateur film, The War of Internet Addiction, which touches on the recent ban on the World of Warcraft game. But for many people, it is seen as a powerful criticism of control in general and has attracted at least millions of views. Up to now, both of these films have curiously survived the Internet censorship.

China: The end of 32-year-long football “Korea-phobia”?

Robert Woo — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:56:51 +0000

China’s football (soccer) team beat South Korea by 3-0 in the East Asian Men’s Football Championship in Tokyo on Wednesday. The victory created a storm of euphoria among China’s sports fans and netizens, as South Korea stood at the heart of Chinese football’s decades of embarrassment, corruption and failures. For 32 years, China had been doomed in every battle with South Korea on the football field, generating the so-called ‘Korea-phobia’ that has dominated the cultural imagination.

In cyberspace, this news was immediately met with joy, amazement and even disbelief. The general opinion seems to suggest that the victory did not just happen by chance, but rather through a genuinely brilliant performance. Here are some of the comments left on a video collection of the game’s highlights, which has already accumulated 800,000 views in less than a day.

我和老爸戏说是附身了，呵呵~

My father and I say these guys (Chinese players) are all bewitched!

这个是中国足球吗那脚法那传球精度我是不是看错了！！

Is this really China’s football team? That accuracy! That agility! Am I on the wrong channel?

早上还看央视封杀国足，让球迷过个开心年，晚上就暴出个大冷门

In the morning I heard that the Central Television was ‘censoring’ the national team so that sports fan could have a happy new year. But in the evening, we were met with such a pleasant surprise.

不管真假，但是的确踢的可以！

No matter whether or not it really happened, this game was superbly well played!

今天是真拼了难得见到国足的爷们拿国家荣誉当了回事

These guys are really fighting today. It is so rare to see that those pampered boys on the national team take national pride so seriously.

小时候没足球场，周末就和同学在马路正中间（挑的车比较少跑的水泥路），两边各放俩砖头，象征性做了个球门。我们这代人就这么喜欢踢足球。现在的小孩已经很少有这样的了。加油吧，中国足球。不是我们给的爱不够。

When I was a kid I did not have access to any football field, so on the weekend I played with my classmates in the middle of the road. We put bricks on both sides to make goals. This is how our generation loved playing football. Nowadays it is hard to see kids playing like this. Go Team China! Do not blame us for not giving you enough love, because we do!

To make the matter more intriguing, this victory actually came in the midst of a high-profile probe into China’s corrupt football system, which included the arrest of the president of China Football Association for match fixing. Blogger Zhu Daming wrote:

一场比赛不能说明什么，但这场比赛至少能够治愈我们的失去“自信”的多年旧疾。中国足球并不缺乏人才，而以前恶劣的环境让诸多的天才沦为仲永，假球、黑哨以及赌球严重污染了中国足坛这块土壤，再好的苗子也难以生长

One game cannot prove a lot of things, but at least it can bring us back that confidence we have so long lost. There isn’t any lack of talent, yet a terrible environment has turned many talents into mediocrities, corruption and match fixing and has contaminated the soil of China’s football and even the greatest seed cannot flourish in such soil.

Famous blogger and sports journalist Li Chengpeng tries to keep a cool head by questioning the presumption that a single victory means the problems have been finally cured.

3比0胜韩国扫不了32年恐韩，扫的就是这一场，这道理就像九年前世界杯出线扫不了44年的梦魇，只扫的是那一年那几天，因为后来到韩国比赛时就被连奸九球一球未进。

The numbers 3-0 will not cure 32 years of Korea-phobia. It means no more than a win itself. It was the same thing 9 years ago when we broke into the World Cup. We claimed then that 44 years of nightmare had been finally cured. We soon realized this only lasted for a few days, and soon afterwards we were literally raped 9-0 in South Korea.

我们是需要获胜还是需要成功，获胜就是当年抽出亚洲或这次的3比0，成功就是真正像日本足球那样按人性和球性去搞好基础建设，或像巴西人那样当成一个民族的盛宴狂欢

by What is it that we really want, victory or success? Victory was our debut in the World Cup 9 years ago, and is also today’s 3-0 win. Success is different. Success is to get the basics right according to normal human nature and the nature of normal football, just as the Japanese are doing. Success is to treat football as the carnival of a whole nation, as the Brazilians do.

我担心，担心，担心，这场胜利又会搞成行政足球的一次有力的佐证，高洪波因一场3比0而被大赦了11场该说清楚的问题球了，刑不上大夫，刑不上大胜，而且会有大批的群众也认为这样很对。

I am very, very, very worried, that this victory will again be exploited as a pretext for more administrative intervention in football. Gao Hongbo (the coach) will be free from the blame of 11 problematic games simply because of this one game. Law does not apply to the powerful, neither will it apply to the victorious. And a huge number of people will agree with this statement.

Many netizens also echo Li’s worries:

说实话，今天的球还是踢得挺不错的，希望，但是相信就是个偶然，体制不改，还是没戏！

Honestly, today’s game was a very good one, at least I hope so. But I think we were just lucky. There is no way out of our problems unless there is substantial change in the system.

China: How does the young generation view Confucius

Robert Woo — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:10:26 +0000

A rumor circulated on the web that all the 2D versions of Avatar have been pulled out of the Chinese cinemas to make way for the domestic movie Confucius. Despite reports like this, government officials quickly denied it. Yet like all rumors, even if wrong, they may contain a kernel of truth.

Confucius is often regarded as China’s most important cultural icon, greatest sage and almost as a source of Chinese civilization. However, no matter what Confucius really meant in his analects, for thousands of years many different people with many different agendas have interpreted Confucius in the ways they wished. The emperors borrowed the extensive imagery of mandate of heaven to consolidate their ultimate power; now, the contemporary leaders praise Confucianism to reinforce the concept of a harmonious society; while nationalists also join the party simply because Confucius was Chinese.

In this context, it is no surprise why such a rumor was able to gain currency. Many people ridicule at yet another possible attempt to appropriate the aura of Confucius to the service of the State, by using executive order to make sure that people will watch the new film, while ousting a popular western film that evokes sympathetic feelings among many Chinese

However, how does the young generation really feel about Confucius? A public page on Renren.com, China’s largest Social Networking Service site for young people, gives us some interesting insights.

The public page ‘owned’ by Confucius was put up last November. Since then, more than 77,000 people have ‘befriended’ him and there have been nearly 27,000 comments left for him. There has never been a reply from him yet.

A quick scan through the comments reveals that the overwhelming majority of the visitors solicited help from Confucius in his role as a saint-god, for no other reason than the passing of school exams.

圣人~物理化学分数还没出来~来拜一拜~您懂的~！

Saint~ the score of my Physics and Chemistry have not come out yet~ I come to worship/kowtow~ you must know what I mean!

孔嗲嗲来看你咯虽然不知道你的幕后操纵者是谁但还是很虔诚的拜拜你今天下午最后一门哦爷懂得哈~

Daddy Kong (the family name of Confucious is ‘kong’), I come to visit you. I don’t know who is behind you manipulating your page. Still I worship/kowtow to you faithfully. My last test is in this afternoon. Grandpa, you must know what I mean~

爷爷，保佑老师手下留情…………保佑我今天可以上百度………

Grand-daddy, bless me that my teacher will have mercy…bless me that I am able to visit Baidu.com today…

我也拜一下..子曾经曰过..中文写作不挂科!!

I come to worship/kowtow to you, too. You once said: Thou shall not fail in Chinese writing!

孔圣人…我的线代啊…

Confucius, what about my linear algebra!

拜什么也不如拜孔老夫子有用。我知道您古往今来什么都懂。2500年不是距离。明天Computer arch。晚生靠您托梦了。如果我睡的话。

Worshipping the Old Confucius is more useful than worshipping anyone else. I know you know everything in all history and 2500 years apart is nothing for you. Tomorrow I have a computer architecture test. I request you to leak the questions to me in my dream, if I am able to sleep at all!

子啊～据可靠消息，这次考试语文的作文题目就是针对您老人家的某句话写篇议论文，鉴于本人十分不擅长议论文，故前来拜拜，望给予灵感～

Confucius~ According to reliable sources, the writing section of our next test will ask us to write an analysis on one of your quotes. Considering I am really not good at writing analysis, I come and worship/kowtow to you. I wish you could give me some inspiration.

Note here that in order to translate “拜” I hesitated over which word to use. It should be translated as worship. However, worship implies rather more belief and faith than it is the case. In China, many people visit temples of all kinds and kowtow to whatever deity that is believed to promise good fortunes. It is obvious that Confucius is seen here as another one of those who sit in the Chinese Pantheon.

There are also a variety of themes besides soliciting help. Some reflect nationalistic sentiment

恩，中国文化！绝对中国！

Yes, this is Chinese culture! Utterly Chinese!

Other comments are downright entertaining.

夫子…你懂我的…拜！

Confucius! You must know what I mean! Worship/kowtow!

二哥您憔悴了让这帮小学生给你折腾的您老主意身体。

Brother No. 2, you look tired. You have to take care of your health despite the harassment of this bunch of elementary school pupils. (Confucius is the second son in the family)

老头,中国现在有一帮2B拿你拍烂片来着,你被糟践了啊,对你深表同情一下.

Old man, right now in China there is a bunch of idiots who have made a terrible movie about you. You are going to be ruined. I come to convey my deepest sympathy.

He has also been compared with Brother Chun, a popular Internet meme originating from Super Girl Li Yuchun with similar deified quality

春哥孔子一起拜

I worship/kowtow to Brother Chun and Confucius together!

他们都拜春哥。我觉得，还是拜你比较现实。

Everyone is worshipping/kowtowing to Brother Chun, but I feel it is more realistic to worship/kowtow to you.

China: Law or Justice?

Robert Woo — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:17:25 +0000

According to Chongqing Evening News, by November 15^th 2905 suspects had been arrested during a massive crackdown on gangs in the municipality of Chongqing, a major city with 30 million population and provincial status. The campaign was unprecedented both in its scope and its depth as it brought down a large number of government officials including the Director of Justice Bureau Wen Qiang, Deputy Police Chief Peng Changjian, plus scores of other police officers, government officials, prosecutors and judges. It is one of the first times that the linkage between political power and the black underworld in so many parts of China has been so publically exposed.

The success of the campaign has won tremendous popularity for Chongqing’s leadership, especially for the party secretary Bo Xilai, also a member of the powerful Politburo. However, many people expressed doubts as to whether the procedural justice was respected, whether Bo launched this campaign solely out of his own ambitious agenda, and also whether such a Mao-style campaign would be effective in solving long-term problems. In September, John Kennedy of GV reported on this debate by asking whether Bo Xilai’s corruption crackdown was good for China.

The debate reached another dimension when the State-run newspapers started to report on the sensational drama that was involved in Wen Qiang’s interrogation. The following quote comes from a tabloid-style ‘news story‘ reported by Yangtse Evening News, a widely distributed regional affiliate of Xinhua News Agency, based on the information provided by an ‘anonymous insider':

被“双规”后，文强知道自己不招供一些违法事实难以过关，最初装出很坦白的样子，在审讯时天天讲自己喜欢女人和玩女人的大量故事，他还主动讲述一些强奸少女、玩女明星的过程，“他说但凡有女明星、女歌星到重庆走穴演出，只要能想到办法搞定她们，包括用钱买、利用女星的隐私恐吓她们等，他都要和这些明星睡一觉。”但文强聪明反被聪明误，他老婆得知文强交代的这些情况后，“大哭不止，一直骂文强是个畜生，”消息人士说，“然后她交代了文强的一些问题，还带着我们去挖鱼塘取出了赃款。”

After being internally disciplined, Wen Qiang understood that he could not avoid pleading guilty for some of his crimes therefore he pretended to be very honest and during the interrogation, he bragged about the great number of tales on how he had loved women and seduced women. He even recounted the stories of how he had raped young girls and seduced actresses. He said whenever there was an actress or a female singer came to perform in a show in Chongqing, he would always go to bed with them by bribery or extortion or any other means. However, he outsmarted himself. When his wife was informed of these stories, “she cried and kept calling Wen Qiang a beast”, said the anonymous insider. “Then she gave up some information about Wen Qiang and took us to dig out the bribes he had hidden at a fishing pond.”

This story raised the eyebrows of many, notably those of columnist Chang Ping, who wrote an article on the matter in The Financial Times’ Chinese website. In the article, Chang Ping suggested that the so-called ‘anonymous insider' could only be one of the investigators of Wen Qiang’s case. He went on to question whether the investigators had followed the proper procedures by making this criminal case into a tabloid sensation. He speculated that the police most likely had not even verified the information with any of the so-called ‘actresses', neither did them follow the principle that no matter how bad a suspect seemed to be, they should not be treated and vilified as a real criminal before the formal indictment took place.

在中国，几乎所有的腐败官员都有八卦消息，但是这些消息的源头并非八卦人士，而是非常严肃的机构，不是警方就是宣传部门。与媒体略有不同的是，他们释放消息时有着非常严肃的目的，那就是证明此人道德堕落，生活腐化。而且，在他们看来，在这个阶段，从道德上打垮他，比从法律上认定他的犯罪事实更重要。

In China, there will almost always be some gossip about fallen or corrupt officials. Yet, the source of the gossip is not gossipers, but government institutions, either the police or the propaganda organs. Different from regular media, they have very serious motivation for releasing such gossip, namely, to allege that the person in question is morally degenerate. Moreover, in their perspective, to degrade and defeat this person on moral grounds is more important than to verify the facts through legal procedures during this stage.

那么专案小组为什么认为文强“强奸少女、玩女明星”是最重要的消息呢？这跟中共的历史传统有关。在这个传统中，当权者并不满足于从法律上指控落败者或犯罪嫌疑人，而是要将他全面“搞倒”、“搞臭”。生活作风问题，是一场永远不会终结的连续剧，这个国家的人民也越看越上瘾了。

So, why do the investigators think that ‘raping young girls and seducing actresses’ is the more important information? Is has to do with Chinese Communist Party’s historical tradition where the authority is never content with simply indicting the fallen or the suspect through legal processes, but has to completely ‘topple him’ and to ‘defame him’. The ‘life-style issue’ is an endless TV series, and the people of this nation have been more and more entertained.

However, Chang Ping’s essay has sparked a heated discussion in the following comment section which seems to suggest that many people believe sometimes to attack the evil, political tactics may take precedence over the due process of law. In this sense, the very mindset Chang Ping is attacking still possesses a great deal of currency. Following is a sample of such comments.

打黑是一种正义的行为，你们还说成官场斗争；我看你就有黑社会的细胞。说是官场斗争也好，是一批好官要斗倒一批黑官，对于人民来说，就是好事！当年共产党斗倒国民党，你也可以说是一场官场斗争，但是，广大的穷苦人—中华民族的根基所在，确是翻身了。这是天意！！！！黑社会是社会的毒瘤，哪个官养他，就是与人民为敌，这样的官一定要斗下去。

The anti-gang crackdown is an act of justice. How dare you call it power struggle? I think you are precisely the one who has the mafia sympathies. No matter whether you call it power struggle, if good power struggles successfully against the bad one then it is good for the people. In the past, when the Communists fought the KMT, you could also name it as a power struggle. However, the great majority of the poor – the roots of Chinese civilization – were indeed liberated! Such is the will of heaven!!!! Gangsters are a tumor in the society and whichever public official feeds them, he is an enemy of the People. We must struggle against them!

看到你写这样的文章，真是感到悲哀。我一贯对中国知识分子抱有好感，对于政客和普通老百姓对他们的奚落和嘲笑感到不平，但是，看到你这篇文章，只有一个感觉——迂腐，可恨！

After reading this essay, I feel really hopeless. I always have high opinions of you intellectuals and feel offended when politicians and masses scorn people like you. However, after reading your essay, I only have one feeling – pedantic, despicable!

你在纠缠于一些细枝末节的时候，知不知道自己已经偏离了大道？在中国当前的情况下，不采取特别手段能将这帮恶人制服吗？人家在那里冒着危险举起大刀劈向豺狼，你这里却批评人家违反了动物保护法，你这不是助纣为虐么？

When you entangle yourself in meaningless details, do you realize how far you have digressed from the right path? Given present circumstances in China, will those evil people be punished if not by exceptional measures? These brave people are wielding machetes on the ‘jackals and wolves' of our society at the risk of their own lives, while you sit there and criticize as if they have violated some sort of ‘animal protection' laws. Aren’t you aiding the evil so that they can become even more evil?

这个作者显然对中国的政治还不了解，就来这里试图忽悠别人。记住了，一件事，不看动机，而是看结果。如果这件事情最终的结果是让坏人死掉，好人受益，那就是好事。这件事情，文强是个坏人，付出代价，那是正常的。现在作者在这里矫情西方的所谓‘无恶意假定’，想要说明什么？难道想说审问农夫和蛇中的蛇，也要给他仁义道德？作者明显是为了稿费炮制这么一出添西方媒体屁股的文章～

Obviously, this author wrote here to dupe others even though he knows very little about Chinese politics. Remember, when we look at something, we don’t ask about the motivation, but the result. If this thing eventually leads to the death of bad people and the benefit for good people, then this is a good thing. In this case, Wen Qiang is a bad person and it is only natural for him to pay the price for being bad. Now, what do you try to prove by flirting with this Western notion of ‘presumption of innocence’? Do you want to say that in the parable of the farmer and snake, kindness should be granted also to the snake? Obviously, by writing this kind of essay the author was kowtowing to the western media and all he wanted was only his payment.

长平，总觉的自己都是对的，嘴里叫着法制，就站在道德制高点，他的评论无论对还是错，都是特别的专业，总能从一些事情中抓住事物的本质，比如就这件事，贪官有几个不乱淫，在中国都报道很多，可是法制联系在一起，人权就出来了，就把人带到另外一个境界，忽悠的好像就是那么一回事，特别有逻辑

Chang Ping always thinks he is correct. His mouth is always full of rule of law and he always takes the moral high ground. No matter whether his comments are correct or not, they all sound so professional, so close to the crux of matter. Take this case as an example. All corrupt officials indulge in debauchery and there is plenty of this kind of report in China. But when he brings out the rule of law, then human rights floow and readers are suddenly elevated to a whole new level. It is as if this should actually be the case. He is so logical.

To be fair, many people also show support for the ideals that Chang Ping stands for.

如果没有证据，那这些消息不是炮制出来的是什么？司法机关又不是娱乐媒体，说话不应该负有严肃的责任么？

If there is no proof offered then isn’t all this just fabrication? Judicial institutions are not media entertainment companies. Shouldn’t they be held accountable for their own words?

我认为长平的想法是值得重视的。事实上媒体对性的过度关注，从某种程度上转移了对更严肃主题——政治腐败的注意力；同时，我们重视严肃的法律审判，保护犯罪嫌疑人的基本权益，就是为了从制度上进行更深刻的反思，避免“胜者为王、败者为寇”的循环。

I believe Chang Ping’s thoughts deserves to be heeded carefully. In fact, the over-emphasis our media has placed on sex has diverted the attention from the more serious theme which is corruption. In addition, we must take legal processes seriously and uphold the basic rights of the suspect because we have to profoundly re-examine our system and to avoid the present cycle of ‘winner is the king, loser is the prisoner’!

长平是中国为数不多的谨守职业操守的媒体人之一，可惜的是，大多数国人不在乎这些。

Chang Ping is one of the few media people who still stick to professional ethics. Yet unfortunately, most people don’t care about this.

为什么没有人关注程序的合法性了？难道将一个堕落分子从灵魂到肉体都批烂、批臭就是我们追寻的目标？我们如何保证不会在消除罪恶的同时，产生更多的罪恶？

Why is it nobody cares about the legitimacy of the procedures? Is it really the case that all we want is to publicly humiliate the fallen one both body and soul? How can we make sure no more evil will be spawned after eradicating the one at hand?

缺乏现代公民意识的中国人民,只能继续在这种清官的盼望中轮回.

Chinese people, without the knowledge of a modern citizen, can only keep going around in circles in this fantasy about this upright official who will eventually save us all.

曲高和寡, 这是痛苦.

You sing so nobly, yet those who sing with you are so few. It is so painful.

A third, more cynical sentiment can also be found occasionally in the comments. For these people, not only this story on Wen Qiang’s sexual affairs but the whole crackdown is merely a part of a power struggle. Therefore, in their opinion, there is simply no point in arguing whether it follows procedural justice or not.

法只不过是打倒异已的手段,

Law is no more than a tool used to defeat the enemy.

政治斗争自古以来尔虞我诈。什么打黑，什么严打之类其实就是对本来就不健全的法律的践踏。没有什么合理合法的事。

Political struggle is all about deceiving each other since the ancient time. Political movements such as this crackdown are a violation against the already defective laws. There is no such thing as ‘lawful’ or ‘proper’ in this affair.

政治斗争, 谈不上什么正不正义, 手段而已, 多点娱乐资料, 没什么不好.

Political struggle has little to do with justice. It is all about scheming and tactics. At least it provides more material for entertaining ourselves.

现代人都活的太压抑，在这个全民娱乐八卦时代，把注意力放在花边上也可以理解。

People’s lives are too repressed. In such an era of universal entertainment and universal gossiping, relishing such peripheral matters is understandable.

如果愚蠢到认为在中国还可以按法律程序来处理社会问题，尤其是黑社会问题，那对中国的国情实在太不了解了。如果说世界上还有什么非法治国家，中国自然不会不出现在名单上。历来的运动或事件是从来不会考虑社会进步和百姓需要的，而总是政治工具而已。等什么时候中国各级当权者真正为老百姓的利益考虑事情，中国也就真正开始强大了。只是，这种愿望可能永远都不会实现。

If you think that China can solve her social problems, especially mafia-type problems, through legal processes, then you know little about China’s realities. If you list in which countries there is no rule of law then China will surely appear on that list. All the movements or incidents of the past seldom take into consideration people’s needs or society’s progress. It is all just a tool for politic gain. If the time comes when China’s rulers become truly concerned for the people’s interests, then China will become truly strong. But, such a wish may never come true.

China's Dark Satanic Mills

Robert Woo — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:39:24 +0000

On Oct. 14^th, Chinese photographer Lu Guang won this year's $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his photos on China’s environment. The Fund’s website posts the following paragraph describing Lu Guang’s project:

Lu Guang has been documenting the ecological disasters in China resulting from the rapid growth of the economy since 2005, focusing on environmental pollution and the problem of schistosomiasis (bilharzia). Over the last three decades, peoples' living standards have constantly been on the rise in the country. At the same time, industrial pollution has brought serious consequences for public health and for the environment at large.

It was the first time for a Chinese national to win this award and, what was more important, one of the first times that China’s perilous environmental situation was presented with such visual power. What is in his photos is something far beyond any single environmental issue, but the desperation and hopelessness of people whose life has been stuck in a hell on earth.

China Hush shows the entire photo collection with translated captions. Here are some samples:

There are over 100 chemical plants in Jiangsu province coastal industry district. (江苏滨海头罾沿海化工园区) Some of them discharge wastewater into the ocean; some heavily contaminated sewage is stored in 5 “Sewage Temporary Pools”. During the 2 high tides in every month, the sewage then gets discharged into the ocean with the tides. June 20, 2008

Hebei Province Shexian Tianjin Iron and steel plant (河北省涉县天津钢铁厂) is a heavily polluting company. Company scale is still growing, seriously affecting the lives of local residents. March 18, 2008

Villagers from Kang village in Linfen City, Shanxi Province (山西省临汾市下康村) due to long-term consumption of the polluted water contaminated by industrial waste, there were 50 people who have cancer and cerebral thrombosis. 64-year-old Wang Baosheng got ill since 2003, he has fester all over his body so he cannot go to bed and lying face down on the edge of the bed each day. July 10, 2005

Henan Anyang iron and steel plant’s (河南安阳钢铁厂) sewage flowed into Anyang River. March 25, 2008

Inner Mongolia province Heilonggui (黑龙贵) Industrial District, the couple who worked at the Plaster Kiln and just got home. March 22, 2007

It is not only the critics overseas have been deeply impressed, but citizens at home have also been startled by these images. On one of China’s largest web portals, 163.com, more than thirteen thousand people commented on their frustration, fright and gratitude to the photographer for revealing it in such graphic manner.

这是中国吗？国庆阅兵应该把这些图片展出来。

Is this China? These pictures should be shown during the anniversary military parade

山西啊，在山西活了20多年，临汾呆了四年，然后下定决心，这辈子再不去临汾了。那边真不是人呆的。记得以前爸爸说过他年轻的时候去临汾，都说那里是花果城，街道旁边都是果树。现在我是没看到什么花果树，在临汾的时候都不愿意上街，出去一圈，鞋子就是黑的了。晚上在屋里睡觉，早上起来，鼻孔里都是黑乎乎的，两天洗一次头发，水象墨汁。在那四年，学会了不穿浅色的衣服，我的衣服都是黑色的。淡色的没法穿，一天洗一次，但是晾着也脏啊，没几天就洗不干净了。从来没见过月亮星星。晚上的时候感觉天空压的很低，都觉得快喘不过气来了。唉，糟蹋啊

Shanxi! I lived in Shanxi for 20 years with 4 years in Linfen. There I promised myself I would never ever go back to Linfen! That place is definitely not fit for human beings! I remember my father once talked about the time when he was in Linfen. He said at that time Linfen was the city of flowers and fruits with fruit trees were planted everywhere along the streets. For my part, I never saw any fruit tree. Indeed I even gave up hanging out on the streets, because as soon as you went out, your shoes were turned black. Every morning when I woke up, my nostrils were black; I washed my hair once every second day and the water trickled down like ink. During my 4 years there, I learnt never to wear light-colored clothes. All my clothes were black, and you just couldn’t wear any light-colored clothes, because even if you washed them every day, they still got dirty when you dried them outside! It did not take long before you could never get them properly clean. I never saw the moon nor any star there. Every night I felt the sky was so low and so oppressive that I could not breathe. It was simply terrible!

死了一部分人穷了一部分人然后富了一些人

Let some people die, let some people get poor, as long as some people get rich.

是个有良知的中国摄影师！

This is a Chinese photographer with a conscience!

我是学环境工程的，看到这些，心里就不舒服。我们天天喊着奔小康，奔小康，都不知道人们的贫富差距越来越大了。那些只为赚钱，不管他人生命的人，不是畜生而是禽兽。。。

I am majoring in environmental engineering. Whenever I see things like this I feel really guilty. Every day we shout the slogan of Going For Xiaokang, Going For Xiaokang, to the point that we fail to realize that our society’s schism has become ever wider and wider. Those who only care about money at the expense of other’s lives are worse than cattle, they are monsters!

As expected, there always will be some people irritated by the fact that this is a Chinese photographer getting a reward from foreigners by disgracing China.

将最丑陋的一面展示给世界就可以拿奖，这位摄影师的人品啊····

Getting a prize by showcasing the our ugliest side to the world; this photographer’s quality is suspicious.

However, such an attitude is quickly rejected by the common sense of most of other people.

老卢，支持你，我们太需要正视自己的缺点了。那些说三说四的人，你们没有生活在那种地方，不知道他们多么希望有人帮他们能说句话。

Bro Lu, I support you. We desperately need to look seriously at our own problems. Those who are making disparaging remarks never have to live in those kinds of places, and they do not know how much those who live there desperately need people to speak out for them.

China: The Founding of a Republic! Propaganda, or a commercial success with some irony?

Robert Woo — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:49:37 +0000

Only 3 weeks after hitting the screen, The Founding of a Republic has already taken in nearly $ 60 million. Naturally, it has created a huge stir in China’s online community. A simple indication is Google China’s hot trend list, where this movie has remained on top since release. In less than 1 month, The Founding of a Republic is firmly on track to be the hottest domestic movie ever shown in the Chinese cinemas.

Why is this movie so successful? Certainly, one should not forget that 176 celebrities of Chinese cinema were cast, which made the trailer almost seem like a Power Point presentation. The fact that such cast will be once and never again has generated a huge buzz. Kai Pan of CNReview commented:

Come now, it’s true, and it’s true because — believe it or not — many Chinese already expect the film to be propaganda. They’re keenly aware of the circumstances surrounding it and the bigger question for them is: How many stars can they spot and identify?

An even simpler reason many bloggers have pointed out is that, the movie is not at all bad! It is not the type of third-grade propaganda nonsense that Chinese viewers were brought up with in the past. In a defense against the likely dismissal of the movie as mere propaganda, Kai Pan wrote:

…I’m happy to report that while a few events were portrayed in a noticeably skewed manner, there’s thankfully few — if any — obvious to outrageous rewritings of history (excusing dramatic artistic license). In fact, the movie was far more gracious in their handling of Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT Nationalists than I expected. (Of course, this was because I feared the worst from this movie, and now I probably owe the CCP responsible for this movie a measure of respect for, well, not living up to my fears.) Unlike so many lesser PRC produced films and television shows set in the Chinese Civil War era, Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT were not grossly vilified here. They were portrayed, I think, rather respectfully as multi-faceted humans with their human greatness, human flaws, and human mistakes.

IMDB User Markringo, likely someone from outside China, also praised the movie from a cinematic point of view.

I think Han (the director) really did his best this time - Kaige Chan successfully portraits warlord Feng Yuxiang, Jet Li as a hero and Andy Lau as an air force commander, Jackie Chan as a journalist..oh my what a crew… The most unforgettable role that I think is Jiang Wen as Mao Renfeng. Actually it is a personalized history of Han himself - the story telling almost sticks with Zhang Guoli and Chen Kun from the start to the end. The Shanghai gang bloodbath is the most decent scene in this film, full of Han's style. If you've watch some movies he made you will realize that. This is definitely not, as some unknown media says, a government's propaganda film.

However, the same comment pointed out another key factor behind The Founding’s success: the guaranteed support from the state around the time of the People’s Republic of China’s 60^th anniversary:

Usually government doesn't invest money on commercial films, once it does, it should reflect the highest film making level of this country as least. John Woo made the movie in which five pigeons fly out, whilst Han made this one nearly 5,000 pigeons fly out with a gunshot, what a difference!

The presence of the state may be felt everywhere, even outside the sphere of physical resources or financial backing. For instance, all 176 movie stars are allegedly “volunteers”, which means, as if for a charitable movie, they all chose to receive no pay no matter how involved they were. This helped to trim the budget to no more than 10 million dollars, a stunning feat with Chinese characteristics that the whole world will try very difficult to emulate.

No surprise that despite sincere portrayal of history and aggressive marketing strategy, the movie always follows the Communist party line. Kai Pan commented:

As for the Mao Zedong and the Communists, well, they were portrayed decidedly without much weakness and fault, save maybe being far poorer than the KMT Nationalists. While Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists are repeatedly shown being driven around in fancy cars and pondering the precariousness of their rule within grand villas, Mao & Co. are huddled in mud huts, conserving candles, and laughing about getting stewed meat twice a month. This juxtaposition, of course, serves to make Mao and his band of merry Communist leaders seem the rugged, scrappy, and long-suffering David that eventually brings down the Goliath.

The movie itself might not be bad, and the heavy odor of propaganda may be set aside from the discussion for a while, but a much bigger irony remains: If the story of the founding of People’s Republic of China is a struggle for the prosperity, equality and democracy for all people, as it was portrayed in the film, what then of the result?

As dictated by this movie’s subject matter, a proper appreciation will inevitably involve a serious re-consideration of China’s past and present, after which, most people will find out something very awry. The People’s Republic now is still far from the kind of nation the founding fathers had imagined. It is a promise yet undelivered. It has been a long, long winding road with no end in sight. Han Han, the famous racer and satirical blogger, raised up this question in his typical sharp style:

我很怀疑导演是在用反讽的手法来拍摄这部电影。看着那些开国元帅们纵情唱着国际歌，毛泽东说，我们永远要团结。我看到了这部电影成为一部真正的优秀电影的潜质——那就是它不在1949年结尾，而是以1976年结尾。在1949年的时候，诚挚的人民诚挚的望着诚挚的毛泽东和诚挚的新中国，然而六十年后，人们依然没有一米自己的土地，大家都是寄生而已。以前我们的旧社会由很多的阶级组成，现在简单了，只有四个阶级，那就是穷人，房奴，富人和富豪。

I am highly suspicious that the director is employing irony in his method. Take for example that scene when those founding generals uproariously sang L’Internationale, and when Mao Zedong said, we should be forever united. (At that moment) I sensed this movie’s real potential to become a true classic: if it did not end in 1949, but rather in 1976! In 1949, the sincere people sincerely embraced the sincere Mao Zedong and the sincere New China. Yet, after 60 years, the people still do not own even a single meter of their own land. We are all no more than tenants. Before, our ‘old society' was composed of many classes. Now it is much simpler, there are only four: the poor, the housing slave, the rich and the obscenely rich.

从另外一方面来讲，建国大业是一部爱情文艺片，它委婉的讲述了穷小子追求富家女的故事，当时的共产党就是穷小子，新中国是待嫁的富家女，国民党是订了婚的情敌，各民主党派和社会名流是富家女的朋友，穷小子成功的秘诀就是一开始要有理想，谈未来，许承诺，拉拢朋友，乱开空头支票，当然，会打架是排在第一位的。最终终于成功的娶了新中国。当然婚后的生活就和在座的各位当年花言巧语的男同志们的婚后生活差不多。

你们泡妞时的承诺都做到了吗？

In another sense, The Founding of a Republic is like a love story. It artistically recounts the story of an impoverished boy who was pursuing a rich family’s daughter. The Communist Party was the poor boy, the New China is the daughter waiting to be married, the KMT is the fiancé and all those democratic parties and independents are the daughter’s friends. The boy’s secret to success is to have dreams, brag about future, relentlessly network and make many empty promises. Of course, being unafraid to fight is the most important of all. At last, he successfully married the New China. Apparently, the life after this marriage is not much different than the life after your marriage.

Have you met your promises you made when you were dating?

China: Mainland Blogger’s ironic review of shabby government buildings in Taiwan

Robert Woo — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:34:40 +0000

Blogger Lv Se De Shou Cang recently ran a photo journal titled ‘A look at some of the administrative buildings in Taiwan', which has also generated interesting comments. (All pictures cited from the blog)

陈水扁家族弊案最近吵得沸沸扬扬，让许多人对侦办扁案的特侦组感到很好奇。事实上，座落于日据时代建筑的特侦组外观非常老旧，墙壁水泥斑驳脱落，看起来甚不起眼，很多民众经过还不知道这就是鼎鼎大名，专门打老虎的特侦组。

The corruption scandal and the conviction of Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian have become such a public affair recently. It provoked great curiosity in the team which investigated this case, the Special Investigative Unit. In fact, the building that houses the SIU is a decrepit structure built during the Japanese occupation. It looks so drab that many passersby simply do not know that this is the home of the famous, tiger-beating SIU.

当看到taiwan行政院的照片…我实在不知该说甚么…

When I see the photo of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, the executive branch of the government, I really don’t know what to say.

这是台湾的立法院（下图）也就是一般所谓的国会，常常上电视打架的立法院

This is Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, the so-called parliament, where we sometimes see fist-fights erupt on television.

It is quite obvious that what this blog is really about is not just a photo tour, but a thinly veiled criticism of many of mainland China’s government bodies and public officials’ extravagant work and life-styles. Even though there is not a single word in the blog directly flagging this intent, comments below show that almost everyone quickly understood.

Here is a sample of some of the comments, many of which are masterfully sarcastic.

对岸的公务员们，你们弃暗投明吧，过来给你们大房子住，奥迪车开～～～～

The public servants across the strait, you should all embrace our great cause so that you can enjoy our splendid offices and luxurious Audi transport.

看了台湾的穷酸样，我们很有“成就”感。

After seeing Taiwan’s stinginess, we have gained such a strong sense of our own splendid accomplishment!

我们的镇政府大楼也比他漂亮。

Even our township government buildings are more embellished than these.

看得我眼泪直流，台湾人民真的生活在水深火热之中，我们一定要解放台湾。

This makes me so sad and shed so many tear! The Taiwanese people are living in such a hell. We must liberate them!

民选政府就是不一样！记得某法国朋友来宁公干路过雨花区政府大楼时，惊诧地问道：这幢像白宫一样的建筑是什么？

Government elected by people is so much different! I remember once one a business trip to Nanjing, a French friend of mine passed the government building of Yuhua District and was startled: what is this White House look-alike structure used for?

Incidentally, the district-level (the second lowest level) government building the last netizen spoke of looks like this:

China: Why Zhu Rongji remains popular

Robert Woo — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:27:03 +0000

Zhu Rongji (朱镕基), China’s former Premier (the second-ranking leader), was a popular statesman praised for high moral standing, general truthfulness, resolute behavior, work ethics, dedication towards the economic reform and intolerance of corruption. He attempted, with much success, to resolve many deep-seated problems in China. For instance, under his leadership, a large number of state-owned enterprises were modernized, remarkably without creating huge amount of unemployment or major social disorder. His style of speech was also memorable, as he was one of the few Chinese leaders who did not stick to a script. As a result, frank, memorable and even touching moments abounded in many of his press conferences.

On September 2, more than six years after Zhu retired, a book titled “Zhu Rongji in Press Conference” (朱镕基答记者问) was published. It presented the archived transcriptions of all major press conferences Zhu attended during his term as the Vice Premier and the Premier. The book immediately became such a hit, that the publisher announced that sales would soon top one million, an enviable feat in the printing industry.

For the record, Zhu deliberately avoided public attention after his retirement. For instance, even as a former Premier, he did not attend either the opening or closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. He refused to read the biography his cousin had written for him. As for the current collection, he requested that his name on the book cover should be printed in a less noticeable format than “in Press Conference” (答记者问), as has been done. All these acts gave people a strong impression of his self-discipline and humility.

However, the new book has propelled Zhu back into public’s gaze. Both the market reception and internet interest in this book have proved that even though Zhu has retreated from the limelight for so many years, his popularity is far from waning.

This can be reflected in blogger Jia Junjun's summing-up of Zhu Rongji's life:

朱熔基是那种真金不怕火炼的实干家，经得起时间检验。相信随着时局推移，朱熔基的价值和意义会更加凸显。朱熔基是当今政坛的一股清风；他的出现，是体制内的异数；朱熔基的干才胆魄，朱熔基的亲民作风，朱熔基的清廉志洁，善于面对公众，雷厉风行的行政风格，对贪官庸吏的不留情面，仿佛都不属于这个时代，不属于这个时期的中国。朱熔基是超出于时代的伟人。

Zhu Rongji is a true leader and his reputation will stand the test of time. I believe as time moves on, the legacy of Zhu Rongji will become more obvious. Zhu Rongji was once a refreshing breeze in the current political system. He was a class of his own. His courage, his close interaction with the common people, his incorruptibility, his self-composure in front of the public, his steadfast managerial style and his lack of mercy for the corrupt and mediocre officials — all of them regrettably do not belong to this age, or in this age's China. Zhu Rongji was a great man who was situated before his time.

Another netizen commented that:

朱总理的胆略、智慧、谐趣幽默、能力、视野在当今世上无谁能敌！

At present, nobody can surpass Premier Zhu’s courage, wisdom, sense of humor, ability and vision!

In addition, shorter praises such as “He was a great Premier” and “People love you” float everywhere in the online community.

Why is Zhu Rongji so popular after so many years? Why do people still think so highly of him even though they did not technically vote for him? Best explanation seems to be that his is so special.

In a way, Zhu Rongji, embodies people’s aspirations for a type of politician that Chinese bureaucracy so seldom produce. Zhu’s best qualities, such as frankness, openness and responsibility, run counter to most people’s perception of Chinese government officials. So in truth, the continuing enthusiasm for Zhu Rongji not only stems from a degree of nostalgia, but also from the wish to have more people like him in the government now! In an indirect but obvious way, such enthusiasm shows the strong popular support for deeper, braver and more substantial reforms, for more transparency, for the fight against corruption and for more government accountability.

In ending, I would like to translate some of the most memorable quotes from Zhu Rongji, so that you may have a better picture of who he is and why people still miss him.

反腐败要先打老虎后打狼，对老虎绝不能姑息养奸，准备好一百口棺材，也有我的一口。无非是个同归于尽，却换来国家的长久稳定发展和老百姓对我们事业的信心。

In the war against corruption, we should beat the (stronger) tiger before beating the (weaker) wolves. As for the tiger, we should never show mercy. Let us prepare one hundred coffins, including one for me. The worst case is only a destruction of them and me, but what is that is in exchange is the long-term stability and development of our nation and people’s confidence in our cause.

至于说我什么时间退休，退休以后干什么，我在1998年的时候就讲过，我将勇往直前，义无反顾，鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已。我现在，还是这样做！不过请大家不要误会，死而后已不是说我要是不死就老赖在这个总理位子上，这不是这个意思啊！只是说，只要我活着，还有一口气，我就要为人民鞠躬尽瘁、死而后已。

As for when will I retire and what I will do after my retirement, I already spoke about that in 1998. I said I would march on courageously. I would not look back. I would work hard and would not cease till my death. Today, I am still keeping that promise! However you should not misunderstand me. “Not cease till my death” does not mean that if I am not dead I will stick to this chair of premiership. This is not what I mean! I only want to say that as long as I am alive and have one more breath, I will “work hard and will not cease till my death”.

我只希望在我卸任以后，全国人民能说一句，他是一个清官，不是贪官，我就很满意了。那么再看开一点说，朱镕基还是办一点实事，哎呀，我就谢天谢地了！

I only wish that after my retirement, people from all over the country could say, he is a good official, not a corrupt one. Then I will be more than satisfied. If they could take it easier, and say, Zhu Rongji really did something, then I will thank the heaven and the earth!

China: PetroChina's “Group Purchase Gate” created an online stir

Robert Woo — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:59:11 +0000

Some employees of PetroChina, the state-owned oil giant and the current no. 2 on the FT 500 List, are going to be allowed to ‘group purchase’ eight apartment buildings near Beijing’s CBD at only about thirty per cent of the actual price.

PetroChina is a state-owned monopoly, along with its sister company Sinopec. Because they are state-owned, they often enjoy preferential government policies and because they are monopolies, they are always able to manipulate the market to their own advantage. Thus they enjoy the best of both worlds.

Recently, almost all the major news stories about them have been negative in tone. They include the corruption case of Sinopec’s former chief, a new pricing mechanism which helped PetroChina to make staggering profits during global economic recession and a revamp of Sinopec’s office building that included a 12 million RMB (1,750,000 USD) chandelier.(Sinopec claimed that the chandelier ‘only’ cost 229,000 USD, which merely served to stir yet another round of ridicule.)
The current ‘Group Purchase-Gate’ scandal especially touched on the nerves of China’s urban middle-class and lower middle-classes. Many of them have recently become car-owners and so fairness in gas pricing system naturally becomes one of their concerns. Moreover, tens of millions of these people, many of whom young people, also feel victimized by the soaring housing prices in the recent years in all the major cities of China.

The market price of the apartments that PetroChina's employees are going to purchase is 23,000 RMB per square meters, a price that most Chinese citizens, even those living in the urban areas, can not afford. However, for PetroChina employees, the price is only 8,000 RMB per square meter. This huge difference creates profound suspicion in people's minds, especially when PetroChina already enjoys such a privileged position. It may not have exploited its position in this instance, but huge suspicion of abuse of power is sure to result. For instance, many people immediately suspect that PetroChina has arranged an under-the-table or even illegal deal to compensate the developer for the lower price.

A netizen summed it up in this way:

毫无疑问,其中存在以权谋私问题.仗着垄断地位,以国家给予的权力来交换谋求个人的私利.让国家蒙受某种损失,让人民为其买单.严重破坏了社会的安定,这样拉大贫富差距的社会是没法团结的.

Undoubtedly, abuse of power exists in this affair. Personal interests are pursued using the power conferred by the state and the status of a monopoly. They make the state bear the cost and make the people pay the bill. This seriously wounds the harmony of the society. Solidarity of a society cannot exist with such acts of widening the economic gap.

A degree of envy is also prevalent among many people.

大树下面好乘凉！草民是无望啦！

It is easy to find shade under a big tree. We little people can never hope for that!

此生争当中石油人.

I will devote my whole life to trying to become a PetroChina-man.

On the Aug 26, a PetroChina official announced that it had not paid a single penny towards this group purchase, which seemed to suggest that no public funding was used as in many people's minds, ‘state-owned’ equates with ‘public’. The official admitted that PetroChina had helped to make the arrangements but the contracts would be signed by individual employees. In addition, the negotiation process for this deal was begun in 2005 when housing prices were still low and this was the major reason that PetroChina employees were able to enjoy such a huge discount.

However, as many bloggers and netizens have pointed out, such a response fails to dispel the suspicion. For why else can a real estate developer appear to be so stupid, or, in PetroChina’s terms, so generous?

On the other hand, people like real estate blogger Niu Dao expressed the opposite opinion:

中石油尽管也是一个垄断性行业，员工的收入和福利应该是不错的，但是，哪一位即使干了十年的普通员工，能够站出来说：我买得起现在的房子。既然买不起，作为公司用团购的方式，为职工谋福利有什么错呢？

PetroChina is a profitable monopoly and its employees' income and welfare should not be inferior. But, can any ordinary PetroChina employee, even after 10 years' working, stand up and say ‘I can buy an apartment at this time?’ Since they can't, what is wrong with providing employees with adequate welfare through group purchase discounts?

PetroChina may not be wrong in this instance, but the rumors and envy still abound. The giant cannot get away with its original sin. What the current controversy has revealed is the urgent need to reassess the role and the rights of state-owned enterprises. What is even more urgent, as with Chinese government as a whole, is that comprehensive and transparent systems need to be established and implemented, so that trust can be rebuilt and unnecessary suspicion can be effectively neutralized.