Finalmente, después de una larga semana de intensa NPC CCPPCh cobertura, los primeros signos de la primavera comienzan a florecer en la prensa de Shanghai. El Oriental Morning Post abre con una imagen de las grandes vallas publicitarias que promueven la EXPO en Times Square de Nueva York, mientras que su archirrival, el Post de Shanghai Morning más conservador, se muestran los dos grandes jefes de la ciudad hablando de un congreso de Haibaos .

El Morning Post de Shanghai cuenta con los titulares más interesantes, ambos provenientes de la conferencia de prensa ayer por la delegación de Shanghai en el NPC. Ambas declaraciones son de interés: Haga clic para continuar »

Se parece a Charles en el nuevo blog de ​​China brecha se ha encontrado una nueva fuente de clics para revivir la escena de los blogs de China: debate sobre la represión de la pornografía en China .

Mientras que por lo general no apoyar ningún tipo de censura, tengo que decir que no me podría importar menos para la causa de la pornografía en China. Por lo que he visto, los vendedores ambulantes del sexo son las más vergonzosas, los sitios de spam, repletos de virus e inútil general de la Internet, y distraer a los internautas a hacer las cosas más importantes como la lectura de mi blog. Usted puede estar seguro de que usted no me va a encontrar en las filas de los manifestantes, cuando los sitios web baneado.

Sin embargo, hay un problema más importante con la prohibición de la pornografía, y es que la definición de las autoridades chinas va mucho más allá de lo que se suele entender como la pornografía. Se aplica a algunas maravillosas obras de arte, incluyendo películas como Lust Una de Lee y de precaución, o esta gran serie de televisión y un libro de Liu Liu. Se utiliza para marginar a algunos artistas excelentes como Tang Wei , y, en general, contribuye a frenar aún más la creatividad de la escena literaria y artística china.

Sin duda, muchas veces la prohibición de "no saludable" el contenido es sólo una excusa para deshacerse de los disidentes o para justificar políticas proteccionistas. Pero, en general, cuando las autoridades chinas actuar en contra de la pornografía es de una preocupación ética genuina. Y aquí es donde veo un ángulo más interesante para la discusión, que une a la pregunta que hice el año pasado en el post sobre series de televisión y la ética comunista : ¿por qué los comunistas por lo mojigata?

Desde mi experiencia de vivir en varios países comunistas y ex comunistas, llego a la conclusión de que esto no es un fenómeno estrictamente chino. De hecho, ni siquiera es un fenómeno comunista, sino más bien una característica común de la gente conservadora en todas partes. Yo sostengo que la razón por la cual se prohibió contenido erótico en China es sólo que el PCCh es una organización muy conservadora, y como todos los conservadores por todas partes que aborrezco las demostraciones públicas de sexo, aunque en privado se podría pensar que nada de ir al burdel de 5 veces una semana.

¿Por qué entonces los conservadores tienden a tener esta actitud particular en común hacia el sexo? Y en particular, ¿por qué los regímenes comunistas, todos los cuales abolieron la religión, a la vanguardia de puritanismo relacionado con el sexo?

Los conservadores Red

En primer lugar, quiero añadir aquí una definición de los conservadores, sólo para evitar que la discusión entera a su vez en torno al significado de una palabra. Al igual que los términos más políticos, éste puede tener diferentes significados en diferentes lugares. El significado que yo uso para este post es uno que creo que es más intuitivo y comprendido a nivel internacional. Desde la Enciclopedia Británica :

Actitud política o ideología que denota una preferencia por las instituciones y prácticas que se han desarrollado históricamente, por lo que son manifestaciones de la continuidad y la estabilidad. Se expresó por primera vez en la era moderna a través de las obras de Edmund Burke, en reacción a la Revolución Francesa , que Burke creía que empañó sus ideales a través de sus excesos. Los conservadores creen que la implementación del cambio debe ser mínima y gradual, que aprecian la historia y son más realistas que idealistas.

En el caso de los países comunistas como China siempre es complicado de usar los términos normales de políticos conservadores / progresistas, o hacia la derecha / izquierda. La razón es que durante 1949-1978 el paradigma ha cambiado, y los viejos conservadores fueron exterminados. Como consecuencia de ello, un "nuevo país" fue creado a partir de cero, así que con el propósito de la vida política china, las "instituciones y las prácticas que se han desarrollado históricamente" sólo cuentan como se define en la historia del Partido Comunista. Y los conservadores en China tienden a ser comunista.

Este fenómeno no es único. Sigue la lógica de los movimientos revolucionarios en todas partes la obtención de energía convencional: su enfoque de repente cambia de "cambiar el mundo" a "mantener el statu quo", y la mentalidad conservadora suele tomar el control.

No es necesario explicar esto a alguien que ha vivido en China, pero tengo la sensación de que algunos estadounidenses todavía les resulta extraño llamar a un régimen comunista "conservador". Si usted piensa que todo esto es blabber sólo intelectual, se está perdiendo el punto. Los partidarios del PCC son realmente las personas conservadoras y se comportan exactamente como cabría esperar de un otro lugar conservador.

De mis conversaciones con algunos hombres jóvenes apasionados en el PCCh, y mis largas charlas en las noches menos en Internet de Corea del Norte, tengo una idea razonable de lo que mueve a quienes están convencidos de "comunistas": que no les gusta la influencia extranjera y que conceden una importancia absurda a la nacionalidad y origen étnico, sino que se oponen a todo lo que suena como la libertad de pensamiento o el cuestionamiento de las viejas ideas, les gusta casarse con niñas muy tradicionales, de los viejos cánones, que no usan minifaldas o hablar demasiado en público; que no les gustan las personas homosexuales y ellos se apresuran a llamar "puta" cuando una niña se comporta exactamente igual que los hombres lo hacen muchos.

La tragedia es que estas personas conservadoras nunca será capaz de conectarse con sus contrapartes en Estados Unidos, porque ambas partes todavía están obligados por su propia retórica religiosa y la Guerra Fría. Alguien debería inventar una fiesta con el lema como: los conservadores del mundo, uníos!

Una sopa de términos políticos

Voy a tener que cortar esto aquí por hoy, porque mis políticas de blogs nuevos no me deja hacer más de 1000 palabras por mensaje. Vamos a seguir en el siguiente, pero antes de terminar quiero mencionar el problema de la muy interesante punto de vista político en China.

Debido a la reversión de los paradigmas mencionados anteriormente, todavía hay una gran confusión en Occidente acerca de qué palabras inglesas se debe utilizar para nombrar las diferentes ideologías en un país comunista. No soy un erudito en la política china, pero a partir de los libros que he leído sobre el tema (incluidas las obras académicas como Victor Shih ) Tengo la impresión de que los términos no están estandarizados. El único libro que he visto que los intentos de hacer una taxonomía es el pequeño manual: " ¿Qué piensa de China "de Mark Leonard.

Estoy esperando que alguien me va a echar una mano aquí y que me señale algún otro recurso donde puedo ver esto. Mientras tanto, de lo que recuerdo de ese libro y mi propia iniciativa, las principales denominaciones van de la siguiente manera:

Vieja Izquierda: línea dura en el CPP que quieren revivir el maoísmo. A diferencia de Occidente, estos zurdos son en realidad gente muy conservadora.

Vieja Derecha: Los admiradores de Taiwán y el KMT, hoy prácticamente invisible en la parte continental. Nunca he conocido a uno, así que no estoy seguro si son personajes conservadores o no. Supongo que muchos miembros de la FLG respondería a esta descripción.

Nueva Izquierda: Los políticos, como el primer ministro Wen Jiabao, que impulsar más políticas sociales, la distribución equitativa de la riqueza, etc, dentro del régimen del PCCh. La mentalidad sigue siendo conservador, pero menos de la Vieja Izquierda.

Nueva Derecha: Los políticos, pensadores y algunos tiburones empresariales inspiradas en la de Deng Xiaoping de "conocer de primera ricos" que quieren dar prioridad a las regiones costeras y construir un sistema capitalista despiadado. Ellos no tienen ningún modo de pensar, porque están demasiado ocupados haciendo rico en primer lugar, y no les importa la ideología política, siempre y cuando sus gatos cazar ratones.

Izquierda Derecha: Este es mi propio término disfuncional para incluir a personas como Xu Zhiyong o Liu Xiaobo, así como algunos dentro del PCCh que claman por la reforma política, la democracia y los derechos civiles. Muchos de ellos no son disidentes, pero sólo los miembros del partido valientes que se atreven a levantar la voz. Estos son los únicos que responden a la idea que tengo de "progresista" de pensar.

¿Qué piensa usted de esta terminología?

NOTA: Esta lista no pretende ser tomada como referencia, pero en lugar de invitar a la participación, por favor, me propongo cualquier término que usted desea, o que me señale alguna buena lectura acerca de la política moderna de China. Para los que vinieron aquí para encontrar un poco de sexo, por favor vuelve mañana cuando voy a seguir con el tema principal del post y voy a adjuntar imágenes sexualmente explícitas de China. Tenga un buen día.

El Oriental Morning Post de Shanghai, está haciendo una cobertura buena de los anuales de la CCPPCh NPC reuniones . Me gustó la edición de hoy el papel, que lleva un par de alpacas lindo al lado de una foto de Hu y los chicos caminando por el pasillo de la CCPPCh, que acaban de inaugurar.

Es una larga historia para aquellos que no han estado observando, pero estos simpáticos animales en la parte superior izquierda han llegado a significar una invectiva grosera en China , y uno se pregunta si no hay un editor joven malicioso en el papel de hacer la primera página diseño. Debido a que me refiero, la noticia de que "costará 5.000 euros alpacas en la feria de animales" es material de primera página casi no la parte superior de hoy, ¿verdad?

De todos modos, en esta época del año ha llegado de nuevo y aquí está la Feria de Sellos de Caucho dobles, o 两会, invadiendo todos los medios de comunicación chinos. Ayer incluso vi la inauguración, el circuito cerrado de televisión, de modo heroico ejercicio de mis habilidades para escuchar con lo que es sin duda el acontecimiento político más aburrido del año. En caso de que se lo perdieron, imaginar un gran museo de Madame Tussauds, con miles de cifras donde cada uno de ellos se ve exactamente la misma que la que viene y se sienta en la misma posición. Añádase a esto el rendimiento de un breve del himno nacional y ahí lo tienes, 开幕 了!

Aunque se reconoce ampliamente que el 两会 tiene poco poder político, y que las decisiones importantes son tomadas con anterioridad por otros órganos, el espectáculo sigue siendo importante para los observadores de China, ya que muchas políticas se anuncian en este momento. En teoría, esto es un acto en el que el pueblo (a través de los representantes regionales que asisten a las reuniones) proponer nuevas ideas para el Gobierno. En este sentido, otros canales se han abierto recientemente, como los chats de Internet de Wen Jiabao.

Este año tenemos incluso lo que parece ser una iniciativa independiente por los periódicos privados y sitios web para cambiar el sistema hukou. Aunque soy escéptico de que la propuesta va a volar (algunos de los artículos ya han sido censurados), es bueno ver que la iniciativa privada está vivo y que todavía hay poco a la izquierda del periodismo independiente en China lo suficientemente audaz para unir y proponer cambios en las políticas .

El Post Oriental también tiene un poco de la entrevista con uno de los más estruendosos los delegados de la两会, la Sra. Zhang Xiaomei . Este delegado era muy popular en Internet el año pasado como redactor ultraprolific de propuestas sorprendentes. Algunos internautas se preocupan de que este año, como todos los delegados han sido equipados con computadoras portátiles gratis (con el dinero de los contribuyentes!) El desempeño de Zhang se verá reforzada, y el número de truenos puede incluso superar al de los años anteriores.

Estas son algunas de las famosas propuestas de la Sra. Zhang, muchos de ellos se ven como lo que queda de las alas, los grupos feministas se proponen en Europa. Es comprensible que muchos internautas se muestran escépticos: es todo un espectáculo que da una impresión falsa de la libertad política que en realidad es inexistente. Pero mi opinión personal es que, cualesquiera que sean las verdaderas intenciones de la Sra. Zhang y los delegados de los truenos, siempre es positivo que haya gente con la iniciativa de proponer puntos de vista diferentes. Absurdo o no, esta actividad es sin duda una imagen más positiva que las figuras de cera de sumisión de las sesiones inaugurales.

Como Xu Zhiyong dijo ayer, el pueblo chino tiene una misión para llevar a cabo. Cuando llegue el momento, la existencia de una sociedad civil activa será valioso para China, y las iniciativas como los mencionados anteriormente son una buena señal de que el espíritu está vivo bajo la superficie.

Y eso es todo para la inauguración de la 两会 este año. Más cobertura en caso necesario después de la sesión conclusiva final.

ACLARACIÓN: La inauguración vi ayer fue sólo el de la CCPPCh, el CNP tiene una inauguración por separado el viernes, que será aún más grandiosa, ya que es el más grande con todas las delegaciones regionales. No te pierdas esa!

Por cierto, he visto la película Avatar de anoche. Fue una experiencia increíble para un observador de China, y llegar a esta conclusión esclarecedora: la película no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con China.

Incluso si el rey de la Internet y el hombre del año Han Han piensa que el contrario , la trama tiene mucho en común con los desalojos forzosos en China, como lo ha hecho con las cacerías crueles derivados de la foca de Groenlandia, o la extinción de los pitufos.

¿Qué me hace pensar que todos estamos sufriendo un fenómeno de hyperobservation, si esa es la palabra que quiero. Se justifica en el caso de 2012, en el que China se mostró de forma explícita, pero vamos a darnos un descanso y no buscar todos los números de Hollywood en busca de signos de lo chino.

Aparte de esto, si quieres mi opinión la película era sólo aceptable, nada que escribir blogs acerca. Tengo que decir que estoy más de un lector que un observador de la película, estoy enfocado en la trama / personajes y los FX especiales tienden a me dejan frío. Por otro lado, supongo que mi ver en mi televisión en 2D sin necesidad de gafas especiales o incluso gafas de cerveza no ayuda mucho. Y para ser justos con los comentaristas chinos traducidos en ESWN, la mayoría de ellos (excepto HH) estaban divagando sobre el nivel técnico de la FX.

Ah, por cierto, Avatar de DVD ya estaba en los vehículos de tres ruedas ya desde el pasado fin de semana, y la serie Woju acaba de salir ayer. Mi tienda local me detuvo mientras cabalgaba de vuelta del trabajo, que era mantener un ojo para mí. No incluye subtítulos en inglés, sin embargo, ni siquiera Chinglish.

He estado fuera por un tiempo porque todo mi tiempo de vacaciones ha sido absorbida por dos fascinantes historias de Shanghai, una de ellas una serie de televisión, la otra novela uno.

La serie es WoJu, Casa del caracol, estúpidamente traducida al inglés como Dwellingness estrecho, o lo que sea. Ha sido al rojo vivo en China desde su primera emisión en noviembre. Alice Liu, de Danwei y el blog de ​​Youku rumores cubrió recientemente.

Como los blogs ha señalado, este ha sido el éxito más explosivo que recordar en series de televisión chinos. En menos de un mes se desató acalorado debate en Internet, atrajo a millones en línea como fuera, y con ello vino la parte horrible de los censores. Una de las razones de su rápido éxito es el tema central de los problemas para comprar una casa, que acaba de salir al terreno entre el público chino jóvenes.

Pero Woju es mucho más que un cuento de bienes raíces y la corrupción. Es un drama apasionante, con argumentos secundarios ricos en evolución en torno a un triángulo amoroso central, poblada de personajes muy reales. Una aguda crítica de la sociedad china moderna, y por mucho, el mejor producto que he visto en la televisión continental. Originalmente se trataba de una novela publicada en 2007 por Liuliu, un escritor chino que deberíamos estar viendo más de cerca en el futuro.

Aquí están mis impresiones de la serie, ahora que he terminado los primeros 15 capítulos. Me centraré en los dos principales puntos de interés: los contenidos informativos para todos aquellos que buscan entender a China, y la calidad del producto, independientemente de otras consideraciones. Al final, son también algunas de las cosas divertidas que he observado en relación con la censura y otros.

Contenido

Esta serie es el paraíso de los 中国 通, los aspirantes a expertos de China. Cualquiera que trate de entender a China tienen que verla. Si los personajes no son exactamente real (no ficción puede ser nunca) sus preocupaciones, sus problemas y sus motivaciones son un reflejo de alta fidelidad amplificada de aquellos que se mueven los jóvenes ciudadanos de la China actual. Es un concentrado de la realidad china.

Todos los elementos que hemos estado hablando durante los últimos años están ahí, ni uno solo le falta: la construcción guanxi, cuadros '二奶 (amantes), los hombres de Shangai intimidados por sus esposas, padres que trabajan y no pueden ver a sus bebés, ilegal préstamos con altos intereses, la colusión entre los desarrolladores y los funcionarios locales, el conflicto entre shanghaiers y extraños, los ricos durante la noche de Wenzhou, la ética de la nueva China, el 拆迁 o "destruir y desplazar", el "clavo" las personas que se resisten, la shanzhai teléfonos móviles ... lo que sea.

Y todo es tan preciso que incluso se puede ver la cantidad de los personajes ganan en sus trabajos, lo que el interés de los usureros preguntar, o cuánto cuesta un cuadro del partido para conseguir su primer 二奶 poco (amante).

Hay libros sin duda mejores que retratan la sociedad china en el pasado, pero el tema está cambiando tan rápidamente que son obsoletos. Yo no creo que haya ninguna otra obra de ficción de hoy que refleja con mayor precisión la sociedad de Shanghai alrededor de 2010.

"Hola, soy canción Secretario del Comité Municipal del Partido (y yo acabamos de follar a tu novia)"

Si usted está aprendiendo chino, la serie es un deber doble para su gran idiomática mandarina. Si no es así, entonces estar en alerta por los DVD con subtítulos en inglés, con la esperanza de los piratas un traductor humano con sus niveles de TOEFL este momento. Definitivamente hay un mercado para esto, y yo no estaría sorprendido si ellos vienen con una película el próximo año, a condición de que el gobierno no se detiene.

Calidad

Pero más importante que todo lo anterior es la calidad del producto. Se trata de la buena ficción y un buen entretenimiento.

La historia es conducida por un triángulo de amor intenso centrado en los jóvenes Haizao, interpretada por la bella actriz Li Nian . Todos los elementos mencionados anteriormente, incluyendo a los ganadores y los perdedores de la moda de Bienes Raíces, gravitan en torno a esta historia de amor / odio que pone en contacto dos mundos diferentes: el laobaixing y los cuadros, las dos clases de zonas urbanas de China.

Pero quizás el mejor aspecto de la serie, un soplo de aire fresco en la televisión china, es su absoluta falta de lecciones de moral para el público. No hay héroes o villanos aquí. El desarrollador del codicioso, la esposa insoportable vano, el pusilánime esposo de Shanghai, el enigmático, escandalosa chica de Shanghai desempeñado por Li Nian. Todos y cada uno de ellos es sólo humano, con debilidades y ambiciones, como todos nosotros. Cada uno de ellos puede ser de hasta el mejor y lo peor.

Incluso el funcionario corrupto es demasiado humano. Un hombre débil en una crisis de mediana edad con demasiado poder en sus manos y un sistema que no comprueba sus actos. La corrupción, como el amor, sucede como un curso natural de los acontecimientos, el resultado de una sociedad enferma y no de un plan personal mal. Y Jiangzhou, los chinos de Gotham que se encuentra en Shanghai, es un torbellino poderoso de acción donde todos los personajes son irremediablemente a la deriva.

Censura

No es de extrañar, la serie ha sido censurada por el gobierno. Sin embargo, ha sido censurado en formas que me parecen mojigata, si no sencillamente idiota.

Puesto que soy ahora en Europa, he podido ver la serie en YouTube y compararla con la censura disponible en el sitio chino Youku. No hubo censura en la imagen de arriba, donde un oficial de Shanghai del Partido descaradamente charlas con el novio de la chica que acaba de hacer violada libre uso de su fuerza política.

En cambio, las imágenes de abajo fueron censurados:

Véase la escena original, y por debajo de la versión censurada como se muestra en China.

Esta es la primera escena de sexo adecuado de la serie. En la versión original se ve la cara gimiendo de Haizao en el cuarto de la pantalla, mientras que las otras imágenes corresponden a la esposa respectiva y su novio, que se muestran en la casa preocupándose por sus seres queridos, mientras que se están realizando los cornudos de la categoría Juegos Olímpicos .

Es la cara gimiendo de Haizao más obsceno que el Sr. Song feliz se muestra más arriba? Saquen sus propias consecuencias. También es interesante señalar que los productores han participado en el proceso de censura, y las escenas calientes no son más que cortar, pero corregido y sustituido por otros originales, como en la imagen más grande de la mujer arriba.

Otros detalles y preguntas

Voy a volver con más detalles cuando haya terminado con la serie, pero por el momento tengo 2 preguntas para el público, y especialmente para los chinos que conozco que ya han visto los 35 capítulos enteros:

1 - ¿Por qué el programa de serie, de manera prominente la "Coogle" teléfono shanzhaied de Haizao, es sólo para hacerlo más realista o se trata de una venganza debido a que Google se negó a patrocinar?

2 - Hay una parte de la trama no puedo entender: ¿cómo puede Haizao ser virgen cuando ella se acuesta con la canción, si ella ha estado viviendo con su novio desde hace años? ¿Es esta una brecha en la trama o me estoy perdiendo algo serio (y preocupante) los elementos de la cultura china?

En los primeros dos mensajes de esta serie, hemos visto que el chino es el idioma por última vez en el mundo para mantener un conjunto completo de las raíces del vocabulario independientes y una secuencia de comandos no fonético para que los represente, lo que podríamos llamar una palabra de sistema independiente. Por esta razón, sostuvo que China puede ser el idioma más difícil de obtener fluidez completa, independientemente de la procedencia lingüística del alumno.

Sin embargo, hay implicaciones más interesantes que la simple dificultad de la lengua, en particular los culturales y políticos. Debido a la negativa a utilizar los préstamos y la escritura fonética es el resultado de decisiones conscientes. No hay nada en el propio lenguaje que prohíbe la importación de palabras extranjeras o el uso de un alfabeto, de hecho, ya hay algunas excepciones de los préstamos directos en el uso actual que están escritas en letras latinas, tales como DVD o KTV.

China tiene un sistema en paralelo la Palabra divergente del resto del mundo, y el gobierno tiene un papel activo en el mantenimiento de este sistema. Sin embargo, esta política no es unilateral impuesta desde arriba. Es sin duda alentado por el sistema educativo, pero los hablantes de chino parece que lo siga de manera natural y con frecuencia prefieren raíces chinas, incluso cuando no supervisados. Esto está en contraste con la situación en muchos países donde el sistema trata de proteger a los términos locales, sólo se encuentra a la que la gente todavía prefiere "email" a "servicio de mensajería electronique".

Cualquier persona que viva en China el tiempo suficiente se da cuenta de la manera china conscientes son de su larga historia y su condición de una civilización diferente. Este discurso es irritante para los occidentales, porque recuerda demasiado ultranacionalistas credos volver a casa. Pero tiene una diferencia esencial con los credos: en el caso de China, es cierto. Como hemos dicho antes , China se justifica a sí misma como una cuna de la civilización, y es la única cultura de tal manera que ha sobrevivido prácticamente independiente de la corriente principal del Mundo hasta los tiempos modernos. Esta toma de conciencia cultural es la principal razón para la preservación de la lengua tal como la conocemos, sobreviviendo a los diferentes regímenes e incluso períodos de caos.

Al estudiar chino no son más que aprender otro idioma, estamos aprendiendo las palabras de un mundo paralelo, el último sistema independiente de vocabulario y la escritura que la humanidad todavía tiene. Es la experiencia más similar disponible en la Tierra para aprender la lengua de otro planeta. Si China es realmente tan difícil de aprender, esto debe proporcionar la motivación suficiente para que cualquiera pueda probarlo.

Las consideraciones políticas

Mandarín no es en sí un lenguaje muy difícil, lo que hace que sea difícil es su palabra de sistema complejo, que es en su mayor parte no es esencial (es decir, el lenguaje podría existir con los préstamos y un alfabeto). Este sistema hace que sea difícil para los extranjeros y chinos para comunicarse, y es un serio obstáculo en la educación de los chinos. En el último siglo, el desarrollo ha sido la principal prioridad de China con el fin de recuperar su gloria pasada, y las reliquias ineficientes han sido derribadas sin parpadear, al igual que las murallas de Pekín. Palabras chinas y los personajes son el último de los monumentos obstructivas de permanecer, y por mucho, el más antiguo de todos. Es un milagro que hayan sobrevivido hasta hoy.

La invención de los métodos convenientes para introducir caracteres en el teclado ha hecho que el futuro de los personajes parecen más seguro, pero su permanencia no es en absoluto garantizada. Muchos lingüistas famosos han abogado por el uso de pinyin como principal lengua escrita y la eliminación de los personajes de la vida cotidiana, no menos importante de ellos Lu Xun, o el fallecido Juan de Francisco. Por mucho que admire a estos hombres y su trabajo, estoy completamente en contra de su posición como una cuestión de principios. No creo que nadie me va a creer en esta era de los economistas, y menos aún en la China de las nuevas filosofías , pero tengo esto que decir: La eficiencia no es un valor supremo. De hecho, ni siquiera es un valor en sí mismo, sino sólo un medio. Y un medio triste sería para recuperar la grandeza de China, si no hubiera nada que recuperar.

Creo que es claro para la mayoría de chinos hoy que su palabra de sistema es demasiado valioso como para abandonarlo en aras de la eficiencia. Sin embargo, algunas concesiones razonables se puede hacer lo que podría asegurar la supervivencia misma del sistema en el largo plazo. En particular, la aceptación de los préstamos extranjeros para las nuevas palabras técnicas pueden facilitar el acceso de China a la investigación extranjera y la incorporación de talentos extranjeros cuando la verdadera china fuga de cerebros comienza en serio. La aceptación completa de la escritura latina para representar fonéticamente Nombres propios extranjeros (que ya se utiliza de manera informal) también sería un paso hacia la eficiencia sin sacrificar el corazón del sistema, y ​​sería de gran ayuda para todos los chinos tratando de aprender Inglés.

Aparte de las cuestiones prácticas consideradas, no menos importante es la mentalidad que subyace a la palabra de sistema chino. El vocabulario cada vez más común en todas las lenguas en el mundo representa el reconocimiento por parte de la mayoría de las culturas que hay una gran parte de la cultura humana común, y que, puesto que esta parte sólo va a ser más grande con el progreso de la tecnología, la solución sensata es adoptar un lenguaje común para comunicarse. Al decidir quedarse fuera de este sistema, la opción lingüística de China representa una posición frente al resto del mundo, y en cierta manera se perpetúa el aislamiento tradicional del Reino Medio, incluso en la era de la interconexión global. La insularidad de la comunidad de Internet chinos y los malos entendidos entre las culturas que han surgido de ella son, en cierta medida, una consecuencia de esta elección.

El papel que desempeña el lenguaje en las relaciones de China con el mundo probablemente no es de primera importancia. Pero aún hoy en día esta parte no es despreciable, y con los avances en las comunicaciones, nadie sabe lo importante que será en el futuro. En última instancia, es sólo hasta los chinos para decidir qué lengua quieren para sí mismos. Sólo podemos esperar y ver, y espero que encontrar una manera de mantenerse en contacto con nosotros, mientras que la preservación de su patrimonio único de las palabras.

Last Friday I wrote a very long post where I ended up including too many ideas. The main point got a bit obscured as a result, but it was simply this: that vocabulary plays an essential role in learning a language, and that because of this Chinese is not only extremely difficult at an advanced level, but also growing more difficult with time.

I don't suppose this is groundbreaking research, but it is interesting because most people are not aware of it, and also for its implications in the limit betwen language and politics, two fields we like to cultivate in this blog. Here is the argument in full with conclusions, for examples and details see the previous post and its comments:

• To learn a new language the main knowledge required is in three areas: grammar, phonetics and vocabulary. Grammar and phonetics differ essentially from vocabulary in that the first two are rules applicable to infinite cases, whereas the latter is raw data. We can call them the Code and the Data elements of the language. The Code elements are finite and not growing. The Data element is practically infinite and growing, to the point that it is not completely mastered even by native speakers.

• When studying a language, the Code elements play an essential role in the basic and intermediate levels , but at advanced level the real obstacle for communication—and therefore for progress—is Data. For example, in German advanced students may sometimes use the wrong declension, and in Spanish they may fail to differentiate “rr/r”sounds. These things tend to not hamper communication because human languages are highly redundant. I would never understand “pero” (but) when a speaker says “perro”(dog). Ultimately, imperfections in the Code elements amount to the same as having an accent: most of the times they are only relevant as metadata.

• Sin embargo, aunque el Código encima de cierto nivel es muy redundante, de datos sigue siendo esencial en todos los niveles. Los préstamos de este gran artículo : La frase "jacuzzi se encuentra eficaz en el tratamiento de flebitis" no tiene sentido, cuando uno o ambos de los nombres son desconocidos. Una sola palabra que falta a menudo pueden oscurecer el significado de un párrafo entero o un artículo.

• El número de palabras que se usan de forma pasiva en la vida real supera con creces las listas típicas normales de los niveles del lenguaje. Esto se debe a semi-especializados-palabras como acuzzi j iónica, o la matriz no se incluyen en las listas de vocabulario, ya que se consideran demasiado rara. Ciertamente, cada una de estas palabras se utiliza muy poco, pero hay tantos de ellos que en su conjunto que son en realidad muy a menudo. Este elemento de datos es tan grande que no se pueden memorizar en un aula, y la única forma de adquirirlo es a través de muchos años de inmersión.

• La razón por la cual la mayoría de los estudiantes de idiomas no se dan cuenta este problema es debido a que están "engañando". En la mayoría de las lenguas en el mundo, este vocabulario de alto nivel es prácticamente idéntica y no necesitan ser aprendidas. Hay un nivel determinado límite para cada idioma por encima del cual las palabras más modernos son internacionales y los datos no es más específico de la lengua.

• This limit level of vocabulary convergence is different for every language, but it doesn't so much depend on the language family or geographical origin, rather it depends on the size and the development of the community of speakers. That is the reason why even non indo-European languages like Basque are extremely easy above the intermediate level: the community is not big enough to support complex terms, and all higher Data is adopted from International words. Most people tend to misunderstand and attach too much importance to the concept of language families, and they come up with absurd lists like this one .

• The internationalization of vocabulary is growing with the advances in telecoms and globalization, especially since English has become the only language of scientific research. There is little point in inventing new Swedish terms in science, for example, when all the scientific community are reading/writing their papers in English. Often, in spite of political efforts to promote a local vocabulary, the economics of language revert the higher Data back to Internationalese.

• No hay un solo idioma en el mundo que por razones históricas, políticas y demográficas se ha mantenido una excepción a esta tendencia: que el lenguaje es el chino (mandarín, cantonés o de otros, la diferencia es irrelevante aquí). Constituye un sistema paralelo de datos de alto nivel que tiene muy pocas palabras en común con el resto de la palabra. Japanese and Korean are partial exceptions in that they draw from both the Chinese and the International System, but modern words are increasingly International and these languages are converging with the rest.

• In addition to this, Chinese has a ridiculously difficult writing system unique for its lack of a functional phonetic script. This compounds the vocabulary problem: not only there are more words to learn than in any other language, but each word contains much more information as it needs to be associated with its corresponding characters.

• Moreover, since there is no standardized way to transcribe foreign Proper Nouns, even names of places and persons tend to be “translated” into Chinese, sometimes completely departing the original phonetics and becoming Chinese Names in their own right. This adds to the already massive Data element in the Chinese language.

All this takes us to the conclusion: Chinese is the most difficult language to learn at a high level, regardless of the origin of the student.

This is particularly interesting because up to now the right answer to this question was only: “depends on your own mother tongue”. With the possible exception of Japanese/Korean students, this post justifies that Chinese is actually the hardest for everyone else. Inversely, it is also very difficult for Chinese to learn other languages, although this is mitigated by the fact that other languages do have functional phonetic scripts.

Another interesting conclusion: Chinese is not only difficult, it is actually growing in difficulty.

As the World grows more interconnected and technology occupies a more important part of our lives, new semi-specialized vocabulary takes an increasing part in everyday language. Expressions that refer to international concepts such as “spam”or “plasma TV” increasingly take the place of expressions referring to local cultural heritage. In this sense, we can say that all languages in the World are converging, while Chinese is an island diverging from all the rest.

Then there are the political conclusions that we can draw from this, but I am committed to writing shorter posts, so we will leave that for the next day. Comments and corrections are welcome to my arguments above.

There comes a point in the life of every student of mandarin when he feels the call to write about the difficulty of the language. The time has finally come for me, and I will follow the path of the masters . In fact, I intend to go even further. I am set out to prove that Chinese is the most difficult language in the World.

I know I am treading on dangerous ground, and the sect of the Japanese learners is sure to fall on me with all the weight of their declensions. To make this a fair game, I will define first what I understand by difficulty: the time needed by one average person without previous contact with related languages, to attain a functional level, where functional is understood as being able to execute every normal activity in mandarin without significant disadvantage, such as: writing dissertations, hosting formal meetings, reading at a normal speed, chatting in a noisy a bar. I am taking my own level of French as standard measure of this level.

Of course, this standard and the whole notion of “significant disadvantage” are subjective and difficult to measure, but for the purpose of this post it should be enough. Note that the key factor here is utility : I am deliberately paying less attention to aspects such as accent as long as it doesn't get in the way of normal communication. The reason is that I am considering the language as a communication tool rather than a mark of status, origin or other possible functions. In China, any possible use of imitating accent is lost to most foreigners because the facial features give them away immediately.

Apart form the accent, important fields like Classic Chinese are given very little weight in my definition of “functional”, for obvious reasons. It is true that by using this definition I am weakening my case for the Most Difficult Language, but we can afford that, because our most formidable weapons are still in reserve.

Una cosa más antes de continuar: este ejercicio se ha intentado ya muchas veces, como aquí , aquí y aquí . I am ignoring previous results because the criteria used in each of them—such as teacher's perception or comparison of certain conventional parameters—do not have any use in real life. Each student is free to chose his own definition for difficulty and functional level, but it seems to me that the one in this post, summarized as “ the level needed to use the language seamlessly in native contexts” is the one that most people would naturally accept.

My argument follows the process of studying Chinese through 3 stages: First I prove that Chinese is easy, then I prove that it is difficult. Finally, I will give the reason why Chinese is THE MOST DIFFICULT language in the World. If you are already familiar with the study of mandarin you might want to skip straight to the third chapter.

Chinese is Easy

The simplicity of Chinese grammar at a basic level and the easy pronunciation and memorization (without tones) of the first lists of words makes for a very mild learning curve at first. I've had many occasions to compare with students of Spanish in Spain, and almost always the students of Mandarin in China are faster to start using simple sentences. Apart from the language itself, I suspect that the curious and chatty nature of the Chinese is an important part of it.

If you have been in China long enough you have probably seen some of those miracle students that learnt Chinese in 1 year. I have met a few of them myself, and in some cases I was amazed by the results. These people are essentially natural communicators, they don't need the tones or the characters because they use a very powerful tool in mandarin, which is context. Their intonation and body language channel tons of information, and so they are able to entertain a band of adult Chinese for hours on end, while you sit there bitterly wondering where to put the 了. That is a real story, by the way.

Of course, not everyone can be such a great communicator, but the point here is: for a certain kind of person and for a certain kind of objectives, Chinese can be in fact an easy language when learned in immersion. That is the kind of superficial level that is referred to when you hear someone say “he speaks 14 languages fluently”. It includes just the most basic characters, practically no grammar and long lists of everyday vocabulary memorized without tones. It is nowhere even near my definition of functional level , but it is useful and rewarding, and for most people it is all they need.

It is for this reason that to every foreigner coming to China, especially the curious and communicative ones, I strongly recommend studying Chinese conversation without characters. At this first level it makes economic sense for most of them to study seriously.

Given a prolonged exposure to mandarin speaking environment, a speaker can go a long way without characters. However, for serious students of mandarin, the non-character path is not sustainable. Among other reasons, because it will make it impossible to read and write, effectively leaving off limits large areas of knowledge.

Chinese is Difficult

The potential student should think very carefully before stepping into the next phase. Because it requires an investment in time that is out of proportion with the study of almost any other language, or even with such complex undertakings as, for example, obtaining a PHD. In the vast majority of cases it does not make economic sense, and it is simply not a rational choice. So if you decide to go there, just make sure you have irrational motivations.

The difficulties that appear in this phase, such as characters and tones, have already been described in the excellent articles mentioned above , so I will not go into details. I will just stress the factors of context and interdependence, which I feel are sometimes understated. The idea, summarized, goes like this: Those two diabolically difficult codes that are spoken and written Chinese are made even more difficult to learn because they tend to be not self-supporting in the mind of the student, but relying on each other, and then both of them rely a good deal on context.

This is the most absurd part of the system, because intuitively one would imagine that a (semi) ideographic script is independent from Speech. The truth is that not only they are not independent, but the whole system is so inefficient that Chinese themselves rely heavily on their Spoken language to interpret the characters. This explains, for example, why it is so easy to come up with characters that your average Chinese cannot read, or why they can read a newspaper knowing only 2000* characters but you cannot, as they successfully use their spoken language to remember/guess the missing characters.

In the other direction, the dependence on written material to learn to speak is common to any second language, as being able to read words in a phonetically significant way makes them much easier to remember. In China, the existing material in proper pinyin (Latin letters with tonemarks) is practically zero, and the tendency of some letters and tones to vary among regions makes it almost impossible to learn them properly just from listening. To make matters worse, Chinese speakers themselves rely on the characters to solve ambiguities, as is often the case with names of people and places, or when they explain a new word: “My name is Jiang,” they say, “the beauty-woman Jiang” referring to the 2 parts of the character 姜. Ambiguities tend to happen a lot in contextual languages like mandarin, even more when a foreigner is involved.

This mutual influence between speech and writing has many other consequences unique to Chinese: for example, it is impossible to write down or even read foreign words without an advanced knowledge of characters, making it very difficult to understand familiar names both in writing and in conversation.

All these factors (and many others I haven't mentioned) provide an extremely difficult learning environment for a foreigner. This is the main reason why it is impossible to reach functional level without following a balanced approach on spoken and written language, plus immersion in Chinese culture. It explains why sinologists with a vast knowledge of characters never get to speak the language functionally , and neither do old China Hands living for decades in language immersion. They both stand on a wobbly platform with one leg shorter than the others.

In short, to study Chinese the effort is similar to learning 2 different languages that need to be pursued in parallel**. And each of these two languages is a LOT more difficult than French (for an English speaker).

This however, has still failed to impress the students of Japanese, who are already grinding their katanas to come after my head. I will admit that, up to here, the Japanese language still has a good chance of beating Mandarin. Move on to the next section to see my checkmate.

Chinese is the Most Difficult Language in the World

Now is when we get to the third phase, that of students at a functional level , without any “significant disadvantage”compared with native speakers. As far as I am concerned, this phase is just hypothetical: I have never seen a foreigner who got there. I am not saying this person does not exist, I just mean that after 3 years in China I haven't met any, that is how rare it is.

In terms of the measure standard established, I could phrase it like this: I have still not met a single foreigner who is fluent in Chinese at a level to compete with my own level in French, which is my 4th language, learnt as an adult in 3 years spent in France. I have an accent and a few faux amis , but I can read and write as fast and complex as any of my French colleagues with similar backgrounds, and I can't remember the last time I didn't get something on TV. I challenge anyone to get me a non-native Chinese speaker that can speak or write like I do in French, or even at a comparable level. Excuse me if I sound cocky, I am just writing this because it is the basis of the argument that follows.

But let's get to the real point of this post: Why is Chinese the most difficult Language in the World?

The main basis for this assertion has to do with vocabulary. I think that in most studies about learning Chinese, this factor has been greatly understated. It is in my opinion the single most important obstacle for a student to get to the functional level . Before I explain why, let me give some background:

In the origin there are deep cultural reasons, that come from the fact that China is seen by its speakers as a cradle of civilization. Actually, it can be accurately said that China is one of the cradles of civilization, and the only one that has kept a living language to this day. Linguists will say that the language has changed completely since the times of the Shang, but this is a purely technical objection. Culturally, it is STILL the same people and the same language, it is felt like this by the speakers, and this entails a series of attitudes that are unique to Chinese.

These “attitudes” include not recognizing Latin or Greek as cultural references, and by extension not accepting English or other foreign roots in the creation of new words. This is the heart of the matter. This makes things extremely difficult for foreigners studying mandarin, and also for Chinese studying foreign languages. And it has implications that go beyond the scope of language learning.

Regarding the practical consequences for the student of mandarin, consider this: the active vocabulary required to obtain a standard level of language—for example, the vocabulary required for highest level of HSK— typically contains no more than a few thousand words, which are more than enough for everyday general conversation. And yet, the HSK11 people that I have met were not even close to competing with my French.

The reason is that for people with a higher education, the passive vocabulary really needed to attain a functional level is much larger than the vocabulary required in any standard test of proficiency. Think of vector , ion or metaphysical . None of these words enter the standards lists of vocabulary because in theory they are technical terms, and yet they appear in normal conversation and you are expected to recognize them even if you have no idea what an ion really is. You acquire these words through a lifetime of living inside a culture.

So what happened with my French? Obviously, I just learned the few thousand words necessary to get along, and from then on it was extremely easy… because the vast pockets of specialized vocabulary were for the most part already known to me. And that is because, once you have learnt to decode phonetics and grammar, and above a certain level of vocabulary, all the languages in the World become almost the same—except for Chinese, that is.

And as a consequence of this Chinese differentiation, the only practical method for most people to achieve functional level is to spend a lifetime in immersion, in order to acquire the vocabulary in all those fields that are not studied in language school and can only be learned through experience. In summary, for a student to become functional it would take, following our three phases above:

1. Exceptional communication abilities, talent and motivation.
2. Years of full-time study to learn reading and writing.
3. Even longer – min around 10 years? – in 100% immersion in China.

Essentially, we are speaking of a person who is dedicated to Chinese as a career, who has a talent for language and who lives in a total Chinese environment for many years. It is not impossible that this person exists, and we might even have someone in comments below who responds to this description. But the conjunction of those 3 conditions in one single person is extremely rare, and for the vast majority of students, functional level in Chinese will always be out of reach.

Excuse the long post, I wrote it out of frustration the other day when I got stuck in the middle of a sentence containing ionic treatment, partly because the word for ion, 离子 (li2zi3) like many other technical words, does not give you any clue when it is out of the context of physics. I would like to see what the Japanese (who are pretty good at saying “ion” phonetically) have to answer to this. Jaque mate.

And Chinese has won the dubious honour of being the most difficult language in the World.

NOTAS:

*There has been much discussion about this and the number is probably wrong. The point is that even when you get to know more characters than a native Chinese, he will still be able to read much better and faster than you. This is frustrating.

** I am using terms very loosely here, Written Chinese is not in itself a language but a representation of Chinese. It is not really studying 2 languages, but I find this comparison useful to give a feel of the raw amount of data that needs to be stored into your head.

PS. If you are interested in this debate, see the summarized and hopefully more clear post here .

So Obama is in China, and even if he is not my president he is still my favourite president. Here is my first-hand analysis of the visit.

The most important news, surprisingly gone unnoticed by all observers, is that Obama wants to become Euro-bama in Chinese. That is how I read the new spelling of his name in characters, as proposed by the website of the white house :

欧巴马 (oubama) will replace 奥巴马, where 欧 is the Chinese character for Europe, making the name sound in Chinese like Euro-Bama.

Some might say that the new spelling is chosen for greater phonetic similarity, or because it is standard in Taiwan, but when have politicians listened to the linguists? There is a clear political motivation in the naming of Euro-Obama, and I see a bright future in the project.

I think I speak for a large number of Europeans when I say we are very happy to see this plan finally in execution. Mr. Obama, please sweep away all our bunch of incompetent presidents and prime ministers, and become King of the European Union. Then, perhaps, in the next meeting with China you can represent our united interests, instead of having each European tribe sending its little pathetic chief for the CCP to cleverly divide and manipulate a la Sun Tzu .

One of the things I like of being European is that you can be thoroughly unpatriotic against the UE, and nobody cares. Dear commentators of the Washington Post , please do not worry anymore. America is not in decline yet, and it will not be for a long time. Among other reasons because it is needed by European countries that are too incompetent to unite in international politics. And indeed, when the Chinese people see Obama, they see a leader of the West as much as they see a leader of America. Because seen from here, the concepts of West, Europe, America, or Euramerica (欧美）have never been all that distinct.

After this important geostrategic consideration, you can continue to read what else is to read about the visit. Essentially nothing, because no real news have emerged yet, and most journalists and bloggers alike do their best to fill in their columns with China generalities. Apart from the links above, interesting questions are:

• Will Obama comment on the Human Rights Watch report about black jails and other human rights issues? Of course this will not happen, no more than Hu will elaborate on the new theories of the Liberation of Tibet. But it is interesting for the sake of debating.

• Perhaps more likely is that he mentions the environment, as this blog suggests . I am pretty sure the two leaders will mention it, actually, a different thing is how much of a commitment will come from the meeting. From the voiceless rest of the World we will be watching to see if the 2 giants finally decide to make a move and quit sending their fumes to our back yard.

• Finally, a lot of articles out there speak of Obama-mania and make a big deal of the Obamao icon, which has been circulating in China since before the election . My view is that young modern Chinese tend to like Obama, and he is marginally more popular than Bush was. But there is no such thing as the Obamania we saw in Europe, and most people here adopt a cold stance of “wait and see”. The minute 欧 mentions some delicate issue or meets some old lama, it will take no more than a minute of well phrased CCTV news to wipe the Obamania into thin air.

So already, quit the Obamaos and give me some Eurobamas, we are growing tired of politics over at the other side of this continent.

I have realized lately that, due to a certain unbalance in my training methods , my Chinese reading skills might be running ahead of my speech, and I have been forced to take severe corrective measures. At the risk of turning this into an SM blog, I am going to speak today of the terrible penance I imposed on myself to make up for that error. Brace yourself: I watched a whole 22+ hours communist TV serial on CCTV, all in a single week and pausing to understand every word and chengyu.

It is the latest super production of the “Red Army against Capitalists” kind, called 冷箭 , or “Stab in the back”. The first chapter was launched the day of the 60th Anniversary, on CCTV 1 prime time, proving that it was born to be big. Even if it didn't live up to expectations (it was switched later to CCTV 8 nights), I am guessing that more people have watched this than the “Foundation of the Republic” film that so excited Western minds. Admittedly, there is little buzz on the internet about 冷箭, but that is just because the target audience is a different (and much larger) group than the internet community. My own investigations with taxi drivers indicate that it had a very strong following, at least in the first weeks.

For all those who complained about political propaganda in the “Foundation of the Republic” (or in Independence Day, for that matter), those are just amateur efforts next to this “Stab in the Back”. Because the Stab is not concerned with distorting facts, but with edifying and providing a complete moral system for the people. And like most of these widely watched Chinese TV serials, it still follows loyally in the spirit of the first moralizing plays organized by the 1930s partisans in Shaanxi.

A Little Critique

Regarding artistic merit, I will just briefly say that, although this looks like one of the highest budget “Red Army” serials to date, an improvement in quality does not follow. The main problem is the visible incompetence of its producers and actors almost without exception. Knowing that Chinese are very well capable of doing good films when they are given some freedom, I can only suppose this is the result of dead imaginations bureaucratically selected and nurtured by CCTV mummy-cadres.

In this case the main story is about — surprise– a Long March towards the West, where the Captain discovers that there is a Capitalist enemy spy infiltrated in the team. In fact not only one, but two, and three, and more are found in every chapter, until by the end of the serial the largest part of the brigade are actually undercover agents. This gives the poor captain played by borderline Huang Zhizhong countless occasions to run his fits of histrionic paranoia, apparently a main selling point. One can't help wondering why all those spies don't just get together to kill their clownish captain, rename their brigade with the KMT star, and get on with their counter-revolutionary business.

I don't know if you have experienced this before when watching a film, but it is one of those instances when deplorable script and performance manage to kill the suspension of disbelief right from the first sequence. Then, suddenly, you find yourself watching a bunch of adult people walking around in funny clothes and uttering pointless nonsense. The result is embarrassing.

I have never been much of a TV watcher, but I do understand that TV films are substandard anywhere in the World, and nonsensical plots or braindead dialogs are by no means exclusive of China. Even the fixation with the deeds of the Red Army marching West is not necessarily more ridiculous than, say, the fixation with illiterate cow herders during the golden age of Westerns. But there is something in these Chinese serials that makes them unique beyond the obvious propaganda and quality issues, and that is the complete set of values that they embody for the edification of the masses.

Edifying the Masses: A Communist Catechism

This is the first time, (and most surely the last) that I watch a complete Chinese propaganda serial, but I believe that the effort is not wasted. Because only getting inside these long works one can appreciate that deeper level that flows underneath, the construction of a public moral system that is very much akin to Religious Instruction .

Here are a few of the points I noted while watching the Stab, for the benefit of those who want to understand these works without throwing 22+ hours of their life down the drain:

• Love: The scenes of love are tacky to nauseate an armored brigade, with perhaps the best example in this scene in minute 40 chapter 4, when the captain “falls in love”. In general, love among the communists is virtuous and innocent, and always secondary to the interests of the organization. There is not the slightest romantic indulgence, no concessions to passion other than for the party. When the communist lover is told that her beloved is a Capitalist spy, she abandons him on the spot, and volunteers to kill him if necessary.

• Sex: Of course, this puritanism does not stop the young lieutenant from having proper sex (under the sheets) starting chapter 25, in a clear effort by the authors to attract more audience. “乱搞男女关系!” (disorderly do man-woman relations!!) chastely exclaims the captain when he gets the news through a disgustingly virtuous informer. But worry not, the ethical purity is safeguarded. These two sinners have betrayed the higher cause, and they receive their deserved punishment without further delay: death at the hands of some brigands.

• Violence: We have seen enough of the likes of Eastwood in Alcatraz to have some expectations about the frightful fate of new prison inmates (especially if they are male!). I don't know to what extent this violence is consistent with reality, but what I am pretty sure is that prison wardens do not tell off the inmates screaming “don't be naughty”, and major disputes in the common cells are not settled through pillow fights. This is exactly how things are done in 冷箭, making the whole experience for the high level KMT prisoners like a children's Summer Camp. This is one of the most puzzling parts of the communist ethics, and the most difficult to grasp in a movement that was imposed largely through violent revolution. It seems to come from a belief in molding mentalities through peaceful labour, but, as we will see below, it has little to do with the Christian notion of “turning your other cheek”.

• Class virtue: Virtue is presented as a characteristic of the proletarian class, and salvation must necessarily follow. Like the ancient Christians looking for consolation in the Bible before they were thrown to the lions, so the Chinese Laobaixing today seem to find solace in these serials, while they wait for the next corrupt CCP cadre to come and tear their homes to serve a rich developer. The notion of a Final Judgment that accompanies this kind of teaching is represented through the iconic verses of the Internationale, sung at several points in the serial, with the main theme conspicuously inspired in the melody of the first verse.

• Forgiveness and Revenge: There is an appalling scene of revenge (ch 31 38:00) when the main spies are apprehended, that completely shocked me after 20 hours of mellow bloodless harmony. The righteous blows of the officers are completely devoid of mercy, enjoying the raw pleasure of revenge. In my observation of the Chinese, this represents very well the paradox of their ethical system: Chinese are by nature far more tolerant than any Western people, but –perhaps as a necessary consequence – once a certain level of crime is attained, this sets off a mechanism of ruthless punishment where the object ceases to be seen as human. This is perhaps the most important difference with Christian influenced ethics, where our less tolerant natures were softened by the love doctrines of the New Testament. The whole discussion of d eath penalty in China vs. Europe is an interesting modern development of this difference in outlooks.

Some Conclusions

There are many ideas here worth commenting further, perhaps one of the most interesting would be to see how this communist system of ethics is working (or failing) to keep the always delicate balance between 道德 (virtue) and Deng Xiaoping's 致富 (getting rich).

Clearly, Chinese are not the only ones to introduce ethics into their TV serials. Popular Western serials have long been educating us with teachings as varied as respect for minorities, tolerance of homosexuality, patriotism or democracy. But crucially, while the Western system of moral instruction has evolved with the times and deals with problems facing today's society, the Chinese system has remained stuck in the 1930s, with the characteristic rigidity of Religious ethics . As a consequence, there is a growing, insurmountable gap in China between the ideas preached and the real needs of the ordinary citizens. This may be having the catastrophic effect of eliminating all ethics from mainland Chinese life.

When we speak of problems like perceived racism, corruption, lack of respect for the public goods or environment, how much of these are related to a lack of a realistic, up-to-date moral support, or to the hijacking of ethics to serve the single interests of the CCP power elite?

I would like to say more about this, but unfortunately this post has got out of control already, and I know nobody reads past the first 1000 words. Write your ideas below about any particular point and if we get some interesting discussion going on we can try to expand the subject in a new post.

I was pleasantly surprised when I booked my last minute flight to Japan, I got a very reasonable price for the 1st October National Day. When I went to Pudong airport I understood why: the streets were empty in Shanghai, nobody flew at that time because they were all at home with the eyes glued to the TV set, watching as thousands of men and women, looking silly in their flowery dresses, marched on Beijing's Chang An Avenue.

I had the chance to watch the parade for 30 minutes as I waited to board my plane. I have to say it was beautiful. Sure enough there were cringeworthy moments, like when the TV showed the communist model peasants, workers and miners , shining like Mario Bros in 256 colours. But of course, a good deal of hypocrisy is always mandatory in these State events, in China and elsewhere. And regarding the execution, I have watched quite a few of the famous mass events in Pyongyang, and I am pretty sure North Koreans are white with envy watching this one, if their state channel even cared to broadcast it.

All this display of patriotism reminded me of the conversation I had last week with little Yi. It was after we watched an advert on TV, the one where the little girl stands on Tiananmen Square squeaking in that ghastly toddler tone: “妈妈我爱你!” (mum, I love you), and a similar girl says the same in Tibetan in front of the Potala temple of Lhasa. The screen then goes white, and a message comes up: “祖国我爱你”. Motherland, I love you. I don't remember which was the company announced, but the advert has been showing continuously for months, and it was the eleventh time I watched it.

I had a delicate stomach that day, and pushed to the limits of resistance, I couldnt help bringing up the subject:

“This is ridiculous,” I said bluntly, “you can't love a country like you love your mother!”

“Of course you can,” said little Yi, “you don't understand the feelings of the Chinese!”

“Yeah, right.”

Babbling toddlers and feelings of the people. That was about as much as I could take before lunch. I regretted I'd spoken at all.

“Our country is like a mother for all the Chinese, ” she continued, “that is what they mean.”

“Yeah, OK, except that it is NOT the same. A mother gives you life, she will always love you and no matter what happens, no matter what mistakes you do or how stupid you behave, she will be there for you. A country, if you fail to comply, will just abandon you or even put you to death ”

“Well, it is a different kind of mother. If you fail, the punishment is terrible. If you work hard and succeed, the prize is much greater. It is a mighty mother with higher stakes, what is wrong with that?'

“Nothing wrong, just that that is not Love”

“It is,” she insisted. “Or don't Christians teach love of God, and isn't He much more terrible, that if you fail to behave even your life is not enough, and you get an eternity of pain?”

“I…,”

I shut up. She had some point there. I don't particularly believe in the Christian god, and besides, 2000 years ago they invented a mother Mary precisely to deal with the rough edges of the Old Testament. But it is true that, in religion and in politics, many people in the West feel that same kind of loving feelings as the Chinese. So this was not really a discussion about China, but a more general one on patriotism.

My problem is that I do not accept the word love to refer to a country. For one reason, because I understand love as a feeling that can only happen between persons, perhaps sometimes with animals, but not with things. And definitely not with abstract and easy manipulable concepts like “nation”. But granted, this is merely a problem of language, and I don't have the authority to prescribe how the word “love” should be used, even less how “爱” is employed in Chinese. Still, there is a more compelling argument against love for the motherland: I think it is not in the best interest of the “loving” party.

Echemos un vistazo a los hechos. Human society has to be organized some way, and the power needs to be held by someone. In the past it was the tribe, the emperor or the feudal lord. Now it is the nation-state, nothing particularly wrong with that. All forms of organization require the respect and participation of the citizens to work, and it is in the interest of everyone to treat them accordingly, once their legitimacy has been established. Therefore, I understand it is important to respect and work for the improvement of one's country, and I try to do it, just like I do for my company or for my university. But love them like a mother?

It might be that I am speaking from a very European perspective–though by no means mainstream even there. Perhaps I am failing to take into account the particular circumstances of countries like China. Europeans used to be the haughtiest and most virulent motherland lovers, until their excessive feelings brought about ruin and destruction. Patriotism in China never caused any catastrophe of even comparable magnitude, and instead worked well to save the people from foreign-imposed sufferings. So the feelings of many Chinese are understandable, if not necessarily beneficial today.

And still, the key question we have to ask ourselves is: are these feelings in the interest of the citizen, and in the interest of mankind as a whole? Can the World really be in peace if the relation between citizens and their countries is one of blind love, like child to mother? When there is a conflict of interests, is the loving child not forced to fight for his beloved to the last consequences? Since conflicts of interests and greedy rulers are facts of life that will not disappear, is not the love doctrine in contradiction with the ideal of World Peace that most of us profess?

I would like to hear opinions about this. Of course, I understand that for many sentimental people the feeling of love for their country is very much alive, and there is little to explain since it is just a feeling . But Chinese tend to be very rational and in control of their feelings, and when they choose to love it is rarely out of blind passion, but rather because they consider it a good option. I suspect their patriotism is in most cases the result of a prisoner's dilemma : if other countries act patriotic, the only rational attitude is to do the same.

But I wonder if people are actually following this logic (ultimately a defensive attitude) or are really so in love with their country and their flag that they don't even think much about it. And if you do think about it, do you actually believe that a peaceful World is possible in the long term?

Perhaps I think too much sometimes. Perhaps the fact that I am writing from Nagasaki, where I have just seen one of the most chilling exhibitions of human-caused horrors, might have some impact on my thoughts today. And still, I stand by all I write here.

What are your views?

(PS. On the same subject, also see this post just published on Chinageeks )

The discussion about racism in China keeps coming back every once in a while, and each time it arouses the strongest passions. This is a post I've been wanting to do for some time, following the interesting comments we had in March, and as a conclusion to the Xinjiang series.

The story that sparked the debate this time is that of Lou Jing , a Chinese half black participant in a TV talent show who has been the object of racist remarks on the internet. I don't think this is in itself significant, netizens of all countries are well known to post outrageous comments that they would never utter in real life. But quite apart from that, it is clear that there is a particular attitude to race in China that shocks many in the West, and this bears some reflection.

Because it is not just immature netizens, but also respected people with names and surnames who support jokes like this , or write comments like this. Of course, in many cases what we see is just a visceral reaction to accusations coming from the West. It is ironic and surely annoying for many Chinese to think that, even in a field where China has always fared better than them, the arrogant, patronizing Westerners still feel justified to give them public lessons.

But after the first wave of heated comments has passed from both sides, it is worthwhile to look at things calmly, and see what is the reality behind these misunderstandings. And the reality is that it is all too common in China to hear such statements as “Uyghurs are dangerous” or “Africans are less intelligent”, or even, surprisingly enough, “whites are more capable than Asian”. All of them rather startling comments to a Western ear, but which Chinese never ascribe to racism.

In fact, most seem to follow the simple logic: “there is no problem in China because, unlike Westerners, Chinese are not racist”. This idea clearly comes from the fact that the large majority of Chinese have no experience with different races other than the studio material produced by the propaganda department, where nations are smiling children in colourful costumes. And behind it all is the “Union of the Peoples” inherited from the communist doctrine, which still stands on what might be described as the center of the country:

Mao: “For the union of the peoples of the World, hurrah”

I am not implying that this communist ideal was not sincere. It was, and it probably still is for many people. The problem is that, while some decades ago this surely was in the vanguard of tolerance and respect, in the globalizing World of today it just doesn't cut it anymore.

Because sure enough, the Chinese are right to say that it is not for Westerners to dictate acceptable racial attitudes. But neither is this a prerogative of the Han. Ultimately it is the peoples that feel discriminated, be it Africans or Uyghurs, who should have a major say. For in any dispute, it is not the offending, but the offended party who decides (within some reasonable limits) what words or attitudes are insulting.

Ultimately, the development of new racial attitudes in China will have important consequences for the whole World, and in particular for its own national interests. The process is still in its initial steps, but already some key challenges are apparent: internally, as more minorities are questioning their treatment by the Han; and externally, as China tries to expand its influence in strategic regions like Africa and South America. All the soft power obtained in these areas will be worthless if the Chinese fail to show convincing respect to the peoples living there.

And again, is China racist?

So is there really a problem, and if so, what can be done to solve it? As some Chinese would have it: Is it wrong just because we say that Asians are better at math and black Americans better at basketball? In other words, is China racist?

From my own observation, China is in essence no more racist than most other countries. Which is to say, very much indeed. Because that is how most of the World is today, and how it has always been. If there is a notable difference between China and the West, it is just one of appearance: we are better at hiding our prejudice.

Indeed, in the West we censor ourselves to a point that it is hardly even acceptable to ask questions like the one in italics, which boils down to: “Do different races have on average different sets of skills?” The non-prudish answer to this is obviously yes, as can be learned from simple observation. Different races, just like different genders, tend to have slightly different characteristics, and this diversity has never been a problem for honest, open minded people, but rather the opposite.

The problem comes when obtuse individuals choose to focus partially on these differences, and then theorize them in a way as to satisfiy some low psychological needs. And at times such individuals have even convinced enough people to be able to rule their country, invariably leading it to ruin and to shame. From old Sparta to imperial Japan, history shows that short-sighted ideas of ethnic purity do not yield best results, groups based on those premises consistently falling behind the creative power of diverse societies.

So, knowing that in every country the obtuse are legion, what has the West done to prevent those outbreaks which oppose diversity and “brought untold sorrow to mankind”? Recognizing that human stupidity knows no bounds and cannot be eliminated, Western societies have instead learnt to sweep it under the carpet. And in an amazingly short period of time, in the second half of the XX century, they have developed a series of norms to regulate speech, enforcing them through the power of the socially acceptable. This non-written code, derisively known as PC, ensures that individuals can remain as prejudiced as ever, but will refrain from making it public, or else face social exclusion.

In the meantime, China's insular society has never really felt up to now the need to develop these restraints, and so its racial prejudice is able to run free in conversation, shocking the sensitive ears of the occasional foreigner, and earning little goodwill from the peoples they are supposed to befriend.

Should China follow the West?

There is a natural resistance from the Chinese to adopt any kind of PC solution, mostly because they don't feel the problems described apply to them: in the history of racist madness, they were mostly on the receiving end. And it is fair to say that, as a people, Chinese have always been one of the most tolerant, accepting different religions and cultures at a time when their counterparts in the West were already going berserk to eliminate the infidel. Why would such a civilized society need to apply the same rigid standards of restraint as the wild West?

It should not, in my opinion, and China is right to ignore upfront many of the Western over-reactions. In a healthy community there is nothing essentially wrong with calling a black “black” or a yellow “yellow”, like Chinese and other peoples do. The complex, guilt-ridden American style PC is best suited for the conditions of that particular country, and should not be forced onto the Chinese.

But this is not to say that the system should not be improved. From my observation of some of the affected communities in China, it looks like the present state of affairs is far from ideal. Chinese should work to modernize their rusty, communist era conceptions and little by little come up with a more realistic, more equal and less condescending racial attitude that will be key for the success of the coming challenges, internal and external. And the State alone cannot undertake this modernization. Like in the West, it is society at large, with its authors, and celebrities, and other public role models that should join in the effort.

Chinese have a golden opportunity now to build their racial attitudes starting almost from scratch, from intelligence and generosity rather than from guilt, and to regain the image of tolerance and good sense in international relations that their country has deserved.