May 1, 2005
May Day
There is a great post on May Day over at Catallarchy. When I get some free time I'll definitely be going through all the posts they link to. The few I read were excellent.
Posted by Peter Mork at 11:49 AM | Comments | TrackBack
December 7, 2004
...and it's more than just LeBron
My friend Dan just forwarded along this article from ESPN. It continues with the theme of my last few posts:
BEIJING -- China has banned a Nike television commercial showing NBA star LeBron James battling a cartoon kung fu master, saying the ad insults national dignity.
"It was never intended to hurt anybody or any culture or anything like that," James said after practice in Cleveland on Monday.
"We put the ads together basically for kids."
Again, this issue is much deeper than a Nike commercial. As the article states, as of last May the government has begun to prohibit the use of English words along with shows that promote "western ideology and politics."
Is this issue comparable to the recent controversy with FCC in the States? Probably, but our problems are not even close in terms of severity. In any event, it is possible that cable T.V. and satellite radio might end up making the regulatory group obsolete. China's has a long way to go before censoring Howard Stern becomes their primary concern.
LeBron, for one, hopes to reintroduce himself to his Chinese fans in Beijing in 2008 when he competes in the Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, it's already been demonstrated that not even this great event is safe from the censors.
Posted by Peter Mork at 6:19 PM | Comments | TrackBack
December 6, 2004
It’s More Than Just Christmas
Quite a few comments have been rolling in regarding my last post on Christmas celebrations in Shanghai. Here is one example that sums up the general feedback I’ve received:
I want to know- is it wrong that China doesn't want to lose all of its culture, that its government doesn't want it to become another America? The people can celebrate it if they want, but why encourage it?
We need to differentiate here between "China" and "its government". The quote above assumes that the Chinese people and the Chinese government are one in the same. They are not. I have no problem if the Chinese people want to keep their traditions of old and reject all Western holidays, but the issue here is that the government is prohibiting the media from reporting on the holiday. The question is not “why encourage it?” as asked above, but “why prohibit people from encouraging it?”
To put it in different terms, it would be equally offensive if the U.S. government ordered the networks to downplay Chinese New Year celebrations in order to preserve traditional American holidays. What holidays people choose to celebrate is a something that should be left to the individual, not the state. For the principle behind this idea see here.
The Chinese communist government certainly doesn't want their country "to become another America", but the issue goes far deeper than Christmas gifts and Santa Claus. Their ultimate goal is absolute control over the lives of the one billion people who inhabit the country.
If anyone is interested in a excellent documentary on the subject I'd highly recommend the PBS Special China: A Century of Revolution. It covers the overthrow of the last emperor near the turn of the century, the brutality of the leadership of the Nationalist and Communist predecessors, the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, and much more.
While the Chinese government has expanded economic freedom over the last few decades, their goal is not to enhance the freedom of the individual. Instead, this process was started to avoid economic collapse which would have been the inevitable result of their hard line communist policies. Nowhere can this opposition to individual freedom be seen more clearly than events of Tiananmen Square.
The documentary mentioned above includes several interviews with student leaders who helped organized the protests for democracy in 1989. These protests lasted seven weeks until the Chinese army stormed the area, slaughtering many of the innocent protestors. In the video a student leader, who survived the massacre but was arrested in the aftermath, described in detail what became of this life. [1]
Jailed, he was forced to kneel with his hands tied behind his back for 4 hours at a time with 15 minute breaks. This was how he spent each and every day. The penalty for moving or swaying was a beating from an armed guard who was constantly over his shoulder. Eventually, this young man decided he would rather die than continue living in his current state, so he went on a hunger strike in an attempt to starve himself. After days of refusing food he was dragged from his cell and held down as the guards forced a tube down throat. They proceeded to shove liquefied food down the tube to force-feed their prisoner.
It was at this moment, as he was forced to swallow this mush mixed with blood pouring from gashes in his own throat, that he decided he wanted to live.
Why? To tell the world of how barbaric and inhuman his government had become.
It is this ideal that prompted my last post. Repression by any government cannot be ignored whether it involves something as trivial as a Santa in a storefront window, or something as sacred as a student demanding the right to his own life. Unfortunately, with regards to China, my last post dealt with the least of their problems.
[1] I’ve lent out my copy of the DVD but once it’s back I’ll re-review his interview to make sure all the details are correct.
Posted by Peter Mork at 6:23 PM | Comments | TrackBack
December 4, 2004
Don't Spread that Holiday Spirit
As China opens up to the West, it's not surprising that cultures and traditions will start to blend. An example of this is the growing popularity of Christmas in Shanghai:
Chen Yuren, assistant manager at Pacific Department Store in Shanghai, said the growing popularity of Christmas is "an inevitable trend".
"As China opens up to the west, people have developed a better understanding of western festivals like Christmas, leading to a strong desire to enjoy the festival," he said.
Not so fast says the Chinese government's "Propaganda Department" (yes, that's their name). They are concerned with the increased popularity of the Western holiday and have ordered the media to downplay the event. Good reminder that while China is heading in the right direction on some fronts, they still have a long way to go.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:31 PM | Comments | TrackBack
November 9, 2004
Fifteen Years Ago Today
Tim over at Freespace has a good post on the fall of the Berlin Wall, relevant as today is the 15th anniversary of this event.
When I visited Berlin in early 1999 what amazed me was the complete absence of most signs that the wall even existed. They had preserved a few sections but they seemed to be few and far between. In most areas, the only tip off that you were near its previous location was a multitude of cranes and recently constructed buildings. A local told us that where the wall and the buffer zone had been was now the most active construction zone in the world.
While the progress was nice to see, it would have been beneficial to see a clearer reminder of the monstrosity that divided East and West Berlin.