史家香港Zhenkuaiによって、この小さな作品は、から降ろされたサザンメトロポリスが、それは一部の検閲から逃れるために管理している他のサイトを 。 私は香港に君臨するCCPの王朝を批判する微妙な方法と、 "朕即国家"と"L'クーデター舍飯MOI"のクールな中国のレンダリングを言っています。

今日は言語木曜日のための時間を持っていないので、私は翻訳の仕事のこのビットを行っている。

フランスのブルボン王ルイ14世は伝え["L'クーデター舍飯MOI"と言った1 ]。 全世界の国家元首が独裁政治を愛している場合でも、それらのいくつかはとても率直にそれを言うでしょう。 ルイ14世は、1643年から1715年に中国の康熙帝と同じ期間を支配した。 康熙帝の思想は、 "L'クーデター舍飯MOI"とは異なり、おそらくありませんでしたが、明らかに彼はルイ14世より "中国の特色ある知恵"を持って - 彼はこのように依然としてながら人道的主の評判を獲得し、 "人道的な行動"の多くをしました独裁者として支配。

ソブリンの人々の考えでは、主権は国民に属しており、それが"L'クーデター舍飯MOI"ではなく、むしろ"L'クーデターは、 私たち " です 。 もちろん、アイデアのこの種の唯一のルイ14世の死の後に登場しました。 彼の年齢ではソブリン、政府と国家の概念の違いを言うことができる世界の多くはありませんでした。 中国では、たとえ前の秦の孟子は言った哲学者： "最初の人は、その状態がその後の君主"、秦漢以来、2000 +年で、実際には、愛国心が君主への忠誠を意味しており、これらのこの二つの概念は混乱しています。 をクリックして続行します»

1. 国家は私[あることを意味↩ ]

建設労働キャンプを通じて改革。 エリアの前の住民の強制避難を保留。

労働を通じて、改革のための劳动改造キャンプへようこそ。 あなたはあなたの思想僵化ための治療を受けるためにここに送られてきた。 あなたはまだそれを知らない、しかし、あなたは正確に人々と同じ病気に苦しむここに 。 心配しないで、それが治療があります：あなたがする必要があるすべては、リラックスいくつかの書籍を読んで、何人​​かの友人を作り、インターネット外の普通の生活を得ています。

あなたがキャンプにいる間、あなたは自己批判を実践し、熱心にYourenの思想を研究する必要があります。

• このブログは中国についてですが、私はあなたが私の国をどう思うか気にしない。
• 私は外国からではない、と私は外国の公式見解を表すものではありません。
• このブログは嘘と愚かさ以外のものに対してではありません。
• その人々から批判を受け入れない政府は、常に弱い政府である。
• それはその後中国共産党が実際にそれを使用しなかった場合は、共産主義は、動作しません。
• 中国は、いくつかの外国の強欲と残忍で、独自の利己的な指導者によって引き起こされる、過去に不正を受けた。 私は中国の歴史を持つ非常によく知って、私はこれらの不名誉なイベントの定数の通知をする必要はありません、ありがとうございました。

一度、上記の思想を研究している、このウェブサイトに移動し、完全に暗記する毛沢東の思想を 。 完了した後にあなたの思想革命化あなたは私のブログに戻って来ることができます。

。

の取り締まり議論：それは新しい中国の周のブログで上のチャールズのように見える中国のブログシーンを復活させるクリックの新しいソースを発見した中国のポルノを 。

私は通常、検閲の任意の種類をサポートしていませんが、私は中国ではポルノの原因についてはあまり気にしませんでしたと言わざるを得ない。 私が見たものから、セックスの行商人は、インターネットの中で最も不名誉な、スパム、ウイルスだらけの、一般的に役に立たないサイトがあり、それらは私のブログを読むようにもっと重要なことをやってからネチズンの気をそらす。 あなたはそれらのウェブサイトが禁止され得るときは、抗議者のランクで私を見つけることができませんことを確認することができます。

そこにポルノを禁止する、より重要な問題は、しかしであり、それは中国当局の定義我々は通常ポルノとして理解するものよりもさらに行く方法である。 そのような李氏のラストと注意するか、この偉大なように映画など芸術のいくつかの素晴らしい作品に適用されるテレビのシリアルと劉の本。 それは以下のようないくつかの優れたアーティスト過小評価するために使用され湯唯（タン·ウェイ）を 、一般的に、それはさらに、中国文学や芸術のシーンの創造性を抑圧するために貢献しています。

確かに、何度も "不健康な"コンテンツの禁止になることは、単に反体制派を取り除くために、または保護主義政策を正当化する言い訳です。 しかし、一般的に中国当局は、それが本物の倫理的な問題外であるポルノに対して行動を起こすときに、話す。 私は約記事で昨年尋ねた質問への連携、議論に興味深い角度を参照してください場所とここにあるテレビ雑誌と共産主義の倫理理由commiesはとても上品ぶっている？

様々な共産主義者や元共産主義国に住んでいる私の経験から、私はこれは厳密には中国の現象ではないと結論付けている。 実際に、それも共産主義の現象ではなく、どこでも保守的な人々の共通の特徴ではありません。 私は個人的に彼らは売春宿に5回行くのは何も考えないかもしれない場合であっても、エロティックなコンテンツが中国で禁止されている理由は、CCPは非常に保守的な組織であることだけであり、すべての保守主義者として、どこでも、彼らがセックスのパブリックディスプレイを憎悪を維持すること週。

なぜ、その後、保守派は性別に向かって共通してこの特定の態度を持っている傾向があるのですか？ 特に、なぜセックス関連のピューリタニズムの最前線に立って、宗教を廃止しすべてが共産主義政権、ありますか？

レッド保守党

まず第一に、私はその言葉の意味の周り全体の議論のターンを避けるため、ここで保守主義の定義を追加したいと思います。 ほとんどの政治用語のように、この1つは、異なる場所で異なる意味を持つことができます。 私はこの記事で使用する意味は、私が最も直感的で国際的に理解だと思っているものです。 からブリタニカ百科事典 ：

機関と歴史的に進化してきた実践のための優先順位を示すと政治的態度やイデオロギーは、このように継続性と安定性の症状である。 これは、最初の作品を通して現代に表現したエドマンド·バークに反応して、 フランス革命バークは、その行き過ぎを通じてその理想を傷つけ信じて。 保守党は、変更の実装が最小限に抑え、段階的であるべきだと思い、彼らは歴史に感謝し、理想よりも現実的である。

中国のような共産主義国の場合には常に保守/プログレッシブ、または左/右の正常な政治用語を使用するのは困難である。 その理由は、1949年から1978年の間にパラダイムが変更された、古い保守派が絶滅したということです。 結果として、 "新しい国"はゼロから作成されたので、中国の政治人生の目的は、 "歴史的に発展してきた制度や慣習は"唯一の共産党の歴史の中で定義されているとしてカウントされます。 と中国の保守派は共産主義になる傾向があります。

この現象は、ほとんどユニークです。 それがどこでも主流の電力を得る革新的な動きのロジックは、次のとおりです。彼らの焦点は、突然、 "現状を維持する"ために "世界を変える"からシフトし、保守的な考え方は、通常、制御することができます。

それはほとんど中国に住んでいる誰にもこれを説明する必要はありませんが、私はいくつかのアメリカ人はまだ共産主義政権は、 "保守的"と呼ぶことが奇妙見つけるという気持ちを持っています。 すべてのこれは単なる知的おしゃべりであると考えられる場合は、ポイントが不足している。 CCPの支持者が真に保守的な人々であり、彼らは保守的な他の場所から期待されるとおりに正確に動作します。

北朝鮮のインターネット少ない夜にいくつかのCCPで情熱的な若い男性、そして私の長いチャットで私の会話から、私はそれらの確信 "共産主義"を移動させるかの合理的な理解を持っている：彼らは外国の影響を嫌う彼らは不条理な重要性を添付国籍や民族性に、彼らは古いアイデアの自由な発想や尋問のように聞こえる何かを嫌うであり、彼らはかなりのミニスカートを着用するか、公共の場であまりにも話すことはありません古い規範は、伝統的な女の子と結婚したい。彼らは同性愛の人を好きではない、彼らは女の子が正確に多くの男性が行うように振る舞うときに "売春婦"と呼ぶのが迅速です。

悲劇は双方がまだ自分の宗教や冷戦rethoricに拘束されているので、これらの保守的な人々が、アメリカでは彼らのカウンターパートと接続​​することができないことである。 団結し、世界の保守党：誰かのようなスローガンでパーティを考案すべき！

政治的な用語のスープ

私の新しいブログの方針は私がポストごとに1000以上の言葉を実行することはできませんので、私は、今日のためにここにこれをカットする必要がありますするつもりです。 我々は次のいずれかで続行されますが、私が終わる前に私は中国の政治用語の非常に興味深い問題を言及したいと思います。

上記のパラダイムの逆転のために、英語の単語は共産主義国の異なるイデオロギーに名前を付けるために使用されるべきかについての西部の混乱の良い取引が依然として存在する。 私は中国の政治には学者ですが、私は、件名（のような学術的作品などで読んだ本からビクターシーズーの ）私は、用語が標準化されていないという印象を得る。 私は分類を行うための試みはほとんどマニュアルであることを見てきた唯一の本は： " 中国は何を考えていないマークレオナルドによって"。

私は誰かが私にここで手を貸し、私はこのアップを見ることができるいくつかの他のリソースに私を指すことを願っています。 その間に、私はその本から覚えているものから、私自身のイニシアチブは、主要な宗派は以下の通り進みます。

左旧：毛沢東思想を復活したいCPPで強硬。 西に反して、これらの左打者は、実際には非常に保守的な人々です。

旧右：台湾のファンと国民党、今日は本土で実際に目に見えない。 私は、彼らは保守的な文字でない場合はそうかわからない、次のいずれかを満たしません。 私はFLGの多くのメンバーは、この記述に対応するだろうと仮定します。

新左翼：CCPのルール内の多くの社会政策、富の平等な分配、等のためにプッシュする温家宝首相のような政治家、、。 考え方は、まだ保守的ですが、旧左よりも小さい。

右新品：政治家、思想家や沿岸地域に優先順位を与えると冷 ​​酷な資本主義システムを構築したい人鄧小平の"得る豊富な第一"に触発いくつかのビジネスのサメ。 彼らが最初に金持ちになるビジー状態であり、その猫はネズミを捕まえるように彼らがいる限り、政治的イデオロギーを気にしないので、彼らはどんな考え方を持っていません。

左、右：これは、徐Zhiyongや劉暁波氏のような人々と同様に、政治改革、民主主義と公民権を求めるCCP内の一部を含むように自分自身の機能不全の用語です。 それらの多くは反体制派ではありませんが、ちょうど彼らの声を上げるためにあえてパーティメンバーを勇気。 これらは私が "進歩的"考え方の持っているアイデアに対応する唯一のものです。

この用語をどう思いますか？

注：このリストは、参照として解釈されることを意図されていないのではなく、参加を招待し、必要なすべての用語を提案するか、または現代中国の政治に関するいくつかの良いリードに私をポイントしてください。 いくつかの性別を見つけるためにここに来た人のために、私はポストの主題が続行されますと私は中国語の性的な画像を添付したときに明日戻ってください。 天気の良い日があります。

タイガーが表面に来ています。 新たな10年は、すでに欧米では来て、中国で私たちはこれに再びレッドブルとタイガーの間に太陽と旧正月の間にNO MAN'S LANDである。 振り返ると、我々が立つ場所を確認するための時間がそれです。

世界の政治に時間が数十年単位で測定され、多くは00秒、中国の年間を呼び出します。 それだけで単純ですが、この10年間は​​何も78で始まった長いプロセスの一部、さ​​らに別の十年のおそらくまだ進行中でありません。 我々は世界の政治で10年を迎えつのイベントを選択する必要がある場合、まだ、冷戦の終わりのように90をマークし、中国の台頭は、最も合理的な選択肢です。 他のイベントは、世界の歴史の中でより決定的であるされる可能性がありません。

最初にポストこの歳末版の我々は、十年の一般的な増加傾向の中で、2008年世界のメディアにおける中国のプレゼンスのピークであり、2009年は比較的正常レベルに戻ったことを証明した。 このピークは、一般的な傾向を隠すことはできません。中国は世界の超大国になるために容赦なく成長していると、それは既に人間のパワーバランスを変えている。

中国の年間の測定

我々はこの上昇分を測定する1つの単一のパラメータを選択しなければならない場合、それは私達に最高の手がかりを与えることができる経済的である。 年間の傾向を分析する際に小数点に行くにはポイントが存在しないので、計算は簡単です：中国は過去10年間で欧米諸国より約7％速く成長していると、すべてのように見えることを示し 、これは10秒に続けること。

計算*は簡単です：1.07 ^ 10 = 2

7％の差年の割合で、欧米経済の相対的な中国経済の大きさは、10年ごとに倍増しています。 今日の間にGDPの場所は中国のほとんどの推定1月4日と1月2日 、それが名目GDPやPPPで測定されるかどうかによって、アメリカ経済の。 これは、他には何も今後10年間で変化した場合、中国経済は2020年と2030年の間にいつでも世界で最大となることを意味します。

今日はこの計算の結果は巨大であり、彼らはすでに動作しています。 政治に我々は株式市場のように振る舞うので、それは次のとおりです。決定は、考慮に入れ、近い将来ではなく、現在を取って作られています。 中国はすでにそれが主人公になりたいしない場合でも、それは欧州経済のほんの一部であっても、世界政治におけるEUを置換しています。 メディアや政治家は中国の将来価値に賭けている。

ディケイドの質問

もちろん、何も保証は00秒の成長パターンは10秒で継続されている。 を主張する思想の一つの重要な学校がありますunsustainability中国語システムでは、。 彼らは、遅かれ早かれ、という彼らの予測を正当化するために、他の問題の中で腐敗、不平等の拡大、公民権の欠如と市民社会、創造性と自由市場の弾圧、混乱してワールドクラスのブランドと金融システムを構築することができないことを、言及中国経済は崩れにバインドされています。

住んでいると中国で働く人たちのものは、これらの問題が深刻と非常に現実的であり、どこかにラインの下の深刻な再調整があるようにバインドされていることを知っています。 そして、まだ、同じ予測は最後の30年間でほぼ毎年定期的に行われている、と崩壊は、マテリアライズドていません。

この十年の本当の問題はいつですか？

それの前または後に成長を続ける中国経済の停留所は米国と同じ大きさの超大国となっているのだろうか？ 中国は先進国になっているの前または後に中国は真剣に多くの権利と自由を求めるのだろうか？ 経済と政治の再調整は、中国の新世代のリーダーと徐々に行われる、またはそこにこの10年間で危険な爆発でしょうか？

我々は、この今日の答えを持っていない、あなたはそれらを持っていると主張してすべての中国の専門家を信じるべきではありません。 私たちができるすべては、上記の質問をフレーム、および今後数年間でそれに答えるように初期兆候に注意です。

今日我々が行うことができます1つの文がしかしある。 世界を見てみると、それは多くの重要なプレイヤーは既に中国の台頭に賭けていると、このビューは、毎年多くの支持を集めていることは明らかである。 我々は世界の大半は超大国のシナリオでは信じている限り、上記見てきたように、中国はすでに大国である。 政治権力は、国内総生産（GDP）の事前に年間来、新世界秩序は、すでに今日の事実である。

写真： エリックRisberg

*これは、エンジニアの計算は、任意の深刻な数学者の悪夢です。 そして、まだ、ほとんどの橋は、我々はまだ立っていない、我々は年間の動向を話すときにこれ以上正確なものは冗談です。

ハッピークリスマス、みんな。 悲しい中国のクリスマスと、その国を愛する人と自由、尊厳と真実を信じる私たちのすべての。

ちょうど1年前、クリスマスの日に、私は公開され、この後の劉憲章についてです。 私は多くの理由のためにイニシアチブを持つ重要でした：それは矛盾を含んで、それが反応はなく、アクティブであった、それはすべての中国を統一する憲章ではなかった。 しかし、最も重要な文書が起草された方法は、それが飛ぶ機会がなかったことを確実にした。

イニシアチブは、実質的に死んで生まれた、憲章があっても初期の09年、中国の大きな課題ではなかった、それは危機と私たちはいつ見て刺激した。 パーティは初日からゲームを勝ったので、今、一年後に劉をいじめで何がポイント？ 明らかに、単に署名者の残りの部分は閉ざされ、今後数年間での新たなイニシアティブを避けるためにいることを確認する例を設定します。 "猿を怖がらせるために鶏を殺す"、中国の伝統は言う。 それは正義が、嫌なマフィアのトリックではありません。

あなたのために民主主義を信じていない場合でも、中国であっても、あなたと思えば（私のように）西の偽善的な政府がここであっても与えることなくレッスンを持っていないことを憲章は、おそらく貴族の原則を達成する最善の方法でなかった場合それは公言した。 たとえそうであっても、まともな人が、このような文書は彼の自由を奪われる人の理由であってはなりませんことがわかります。

当事者がこれを知って、それが再び、検閲や中国の人々から、その汚れた行為を隠すために、インターネット上で横たわっている。

今話はCNNによってピックアップされています、それはいくつかのノイズを行っています。 我々は幸運であり、それが十分になった場合、多分オバマは私たちに残るラインを提供します。 このすべては、中国との取引の一部であるため、それは、何も変更されません。 との文は今日、中国政府の期待できるものよりも、多かれ少なかれ、何もありません。

劉さんはよくこれを知って、彼はそれにもかかわらず、上に行くことにしました。 彼は理想主義者と主人公であるためです。 彼は記憶されます。

この場合の詳細はここ 。 また、私自身のブログから： ここ 、 こことここ 。

これらの303の勇敢な男性が2008年に中国で公開されている原則は次のとおりです。

自由 。自由は人類の普遍的価値の中核です。 言論の自由、報道の自由、集会の自由、結社の自由、住む場所の自由、そして、ストライキを示すために、と抗議する自由は、他の人の間で、自由が取るフォームです。 自由がなければ、中国は常に文明の理想から遠く離れたままになります。

人権。人権は国家によって授けられていません。 すべての人は尊厳と自由に固有の権限で生まれている。 政府は市民の人権の保護のために存在しています。 国家権力の行使は人々によって承認される必要があります。 中国の最近の歴史の中で政治的な災害の連続は、人権のために与党政権の無視の直接の結果である。

平等。整合性、尊厳、すべての自由人にかかわらず、社会局、職業、性別、経済状態、人種、皮膚の色、宗教、または政治の他のものと同じ信念が、あります。 社会、経済、文化的、市民的、政治的権利の法と平等の前の平等の原則は守らなければなりません。

電源が政府と競合する利害の異なるブランチ間でバランスを取る必要があり保持共和主義。共和主義、提供されるべきであり、伝統的な中国の政治的理想に似ている"天の下にあるすべての公平性。"これは、異なる利益集団や社会アセンブリを可能にし、持つ人文化や信念、様々な民主的な自治権を行使するために、政府と公正かつ自由な競争への平等なアクセスに基づいて公共の問題の平和的解決を達成するために審議する。

民主主義民主主義の最も基本的な原理は、人々が主権であり、人々は政府を選択することがあります。 民主主義は、これらの特性を持っている：（1）政治権力が人々から始まり、政権の正当性は国民に由来しています。 （2）政治パワーは、人々が作ることが選択肢を行使されています。 （3）すべてのレベルの政府の主要な公式のポストの所有者は、定期的な競争力のある選挙によって決定されます。 大多数の意志を尊重しながら、（4）基本的な尊厳、自由、少数民族の人権が保護されています。 要するに、民主主義は真の政府を実現するための近代的な手段である "人民による、人民のために、人々。"

憲法上のルール。憲法規則は、法制度や憲法で綴られている原則を実装するための法的規制を通じルールです。 それは、自由と市民の権利を守る制限し、合法的な政府の権力の範囲を定義し、これらの目的を果たすために必要な管理装置を提供することを意味します。

最初に2 ポストは、このシリーズの、我々は独立したWordのシステムを呼び出すかもしれないもの、中国はそれらを表現するために独立した語彙のルーツと非音声のスクリプトの完全なセットを維持するために、世界で最後の言語であることがわかりました。 このような理由から、私は中国人にかかわらず、学生の言語的背景の、完全な流暢さを得るために最も困難な言語かもしれないと主張した。

しかし、特定の文化的、政治的なもので、言語の単なる難易度、より興味深い影響があります。 ローンと表音文字を使用するには、拒否は、意識的意思決定の結果であるためです。 アルファベットの外国語または使用の輸入を禁止して、言語自体には何もありませんが、確かに、DVDやKTVなど、ラテン文字で書かれている現在使用中の直接ローンのいくつかの例外が既にあります。

中国は世界の残りの部分から分岐パラレル·ワード·システムを持っており、政府はこのシステムの維持に積極的な役割を持っています。 ただし、このポリシーは、一方的に上から課されていません。 それは確かに教育システムに励まされたが、中国のスピーカーは自然にそれに従うと、頻繁に監督しない場合であっても、中国に根を好むように思われています。 これは、人々はまだ、 "宅配便electronique"から "電子メール"好むことを知って、システムがローカル用語を保護しようとする多くの国の状況とは対照的である。

中国長期的に誰も住んで十分な中国人は彼らの長い歴史と異なった文明としての地位をどの程度認識して実現しています。 それは家に帰っ超国家主義的な信条のが多すぎるを思い出させるので、この談話は、西洋人のために刺激性がある。 しかし、それはそれらの信条の1の本質的な違いがあります：中国の場合には、それは本当です。 我々が言ったように前に 、中国は文明の発祥地としての地位を見て正当化し、それが現代までの世界の主流から実質的に独立して生き残った唯一のそのような文化です。 この文化的意識は、我々が異なる制度も混乱の期間を生き残った、それを知っているような言語の保存のための主な理由です。

我々は単に別の言語を学習されていない中国語を勉強するとき、我々はパラレルワールド、語彙の最後の独立したシステムの言葉を学習しており、人類はまだ持っていることを書き込みます。 それは別の惑星の言語を学ぶことに、地球上で最も類似した経験です。 中国人は本当に学ぶことは困難である場合、これはそれをしようとする人のための十分な動機を提供する必要があります。

政治的配慮

マンダリンは難しい（つまり、言語はまだローンやアルファベットで存在する可能性がある）の大部分は必須ではありません、その複雑なWordのシステムであり、作るものは、それ自体は非常に難しい言語ではありません。 このシステムは、それが外国人のためのハードと中国の通信になり、それは中国語の教育に深刻な障害です。 最後の世紀に、開発は彼女の過去の栄光を回復するために、中国の主要な優先順位であったが、非効率的な遺物はちょうど北京の壁のように、点滅せずに取り壊された。 中国語の単語や文字が残っているために、それらの閉塞的なモニュメントの最後であり、はるかにすべての最も古い。 それが今日まで生き残っていることを奇跡です。

キーボード上の文字を入力する便利な方法の発明は、文字の未来をより安全に見えるが、その永続性が確保決してありました。 多くの有名な言語学者は、日常生活、それらの魯迅や、故ジョン·デ·フランシスの少なくともいないから文字の書かれた主な言語と除去としてピンインを使用するために主張している。 私は、これらの男性と自分の仕事を賞賛する限り、私は完全に原則の問題としての地位に反対しています。 私は誰もが新たな中国でも少なく、経済学者のこの時代に私を信じていますとしていない哲学が、私は言うためにこれを持っている：効率は最高値ではありません。 実際に、それもそれ自体の値ではなく、単に意味します。 回復するために残って何もなかった場合、それは中国の偉大さを回復するであろうと悲しいことを意味します。

私はそれが彼らのワードシステムは効率のためにそれを放棄するには余りにも貴重であることが今日のほとんどの中国人には明らかであると思います。 しかし、いくつかの合理的な譲歩は、長期的にはシステムの非常に生存を確保する可能性のある行うことができます。 特に、新しい専門用語の外国融資の受け入れは、外国の研究と実際の中​​国の脳ドレインが本格的に開始され、外国人材の取り込みへの中国のアクセスを容易にするかもしれません。 （すでに非公式に使用される）音韻外国語の固有名詞を表現するためにラテンスクリプトの完全な受諾は、システムの心臓部を犠牲にすることなく、効率性への第一歩であろうと、英語を勉強しようとしているすべての中国にとって大きな助けになるだろう。

離れて考えられて実用的な問題から、あまり重要でなく、中国語の単語·システムの基礎となる考え方ではありません。 世界のすべての言語での成長の一般的な語彙は、一般的な人間の文化の大きな部分があることをほとんどの文化による認識を表しており、この部分だけで技術の進歩に大きくなるようにしているので、賢明な解決策は、つまり、それを伝えるための共通言語を採用する。 このシステムから離れて滞在することを決定することによって、中国の言語選択は、世界の残りの部分に反対の姿勢を表しており、特定の方法でそれもグローバル相互接続の時代における中王国の伝統的な分離を永続させる。 中国のインターネットコミュニティとの島国誤解 、そこから生じた文化間では、ある程度まで、この選択の結果である。

世界と中国の関係に言語によって果たした役割は、まず重要なのかもしれません。 しかし、今日でもこの部分は無視できない、通信の進歩に伴い、誰もそれが将来になるかの重要な知っていません。 最終的に、それは彼ら自身のためにする言語を決定するまで、中国にのみ有効です。 私たちは待ってください、と言葉の彼らのユニークな遺産を維持しながら、彼らは我々と接続を維持する方法を見つけることを期待することができます。

だからオバマは中国にあり、彼が私の社長ではない場合でも、彼はまだ私の好きな​​社長です。 ここでの訪問の私の最初の手の分析がある。

驚くべきことにすべての観察者によって見過ごされて最も重要なニュースは、オバマが中国でユーロバーマになりたいということです。 それは私としてのウェブサイトによって提案され、文字で彼の名前の新 ​​しいスペルを読み取る方法です。 ホワイトハウス ：

欧巴马（oubama）は、欧ユーロバーマのような中国での名前と音を立てて、ヨーロッパへの中国の文字である奥巴马を置き換えます。

いくつかの新しいスペルが大きい音声的類似のために選択されていることを言うかもしれないか、またはそれは台湾の標準であるからではなく、時の政治家は学者に耳を傾けましたか？ そこユーロオバマのネーミングで明確な政治的動機であり、私は、プロジェクト内の明るい未来を参照してください。

私たちは実行中に最終的にこの計画を見て非常に満足していると言うとき、私はヨーロッパの多数のために話すと思います。 オバマ氏は、無能な大統領や首相のすべての私達の束を一掃し、欧州連合（EU）のキングになってください。 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 .

私はヨーロッパであることの好きなものの一つは、UEに対して徹底的に非国民であるということです、誰も気にしない。 のコメンテーター親愛なるワシントン·ポスト 、もう心配しないでください。 アメリカはまだ下落ではありません、それは長い時間ではありません。 他の理由の中でそれが国際政治に団結することに著しく不適任である欧州諸国が必要とされているためです。 彼らはアメリカの指導者を見るように、実際に、中国の人々がオバマを見たとき、彼らははるかに西のリーダーを参照してください。 ここから見たので、西ヨーロッパ、アメリカ、またはEuramerica（欧美）の概念は、すべてその異なったたことはありません。

この重要な戦略地政学を考慮した後は、訪問について読むことで他に何を読み続けることができます。 本質的に何もない、本当のニュースはまだ現れなかった、と同様にほとんどのジャーナリストやブロガーは中国の一般論とその列を埋めるために最善を尽くすために。 別に上記のリンクから、興味深い質問は、次のとおりです。

• オバマ氏はにコメントされヒューマン·ライツ·ウォッチの黒い刑務所やその他の人権問題についてのレポート？ もちろん、これは起こりませんが、胡よりも多くの新しいについて詳しく説明しません理論チベットの解放である。 しかし、それは議論のために興味深いものです。

• 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.

Now that I am in a free internet country, I have taken the chance to look at the CDT website, and I have found this interesting question coming from al Jazira: what would have happened if Mao had lost?

I am not in principle against counterfactual history, it can be useful in many cases to see the events from a different point of view. It also makes for lively pub conversations and blog comments. But the basic condition for this kind of exercise to make sense is, in my opinion, that the chain of events analyzed had any chance to have actually happened.

For example: it might be interesting to imagine how the world would have been if Hitler was killed in the 1944 assassination attempt, or what would have happened if Mao died before the Great Leap Forward. In a similar way to an experiment in physics, by isolating later factors, we try to analyze the effects of their policies up to that point. But there is little interest in analyzing the outcome of impossible or even absurd events, other than for humorous purposes. What if Hitler had suddenly become a pacifist in 1941?

Back to the point: “What if Mao had lost?” This question treats the defeat of Jiang Jie Shi as a mere accident of history, a question of luck in which the outcome, like Hitler and the bomb, could have been decided by fluke.

But the defeat (or rather the retreat) of Jiang was not the outcome of a single battle. People asking this question forget that Jiang had the power for many years, with all the instruments of the State, the largest part of the population and territory under his control, and military and economic aid from other countries. For years, all the odds were on his side. The opportunity implied in the question “what if Mao had lost?” was already given to Jiang. And the best answer to the question is:

If Mao had lost, Jiang lost anyway

There were profound reasons that made Jiang's system impossible. His ideology–or lack thereof–was not appealing enough at a moment when China needed a catalyzer for all its unleashed energy. Something was needed to rally the people against the oppression of the foreigners and of the local tyrants, and Jiang was not delivering in any of the two fronts. China needed something to believe in. If Mao hadn't been there, another leader would have sold the idea, or other worse ideas , and who knows the frightful regime that might have resulted.

This failure of Jiang to inspire, together with the corruption inherent to his regime, condemned him to impose power by raw force. A scheme that worked well when he moved over to Taiwan with supporters and soldiers in large number relative to the local population, but it simply could not have worked in mainland China. It would have required a level of organized brutality that only a fanatic could accept.

So Mao won, and then what?

So back to reality: Mao won. He played his cards much better and he won by a mile. Then some years later he proved to be less gifted as a politician than as a revolutionary. Worse still–and this is really his worst sin–he fell in love with himself and with power, and he didn't have the good sense to listen to capable advisers, nor the dignity to retire when he was still in time. The “70% good/30% bad” judgement passed by Deng was probably too generous, but inevitable: to condemn Mao was to condemn the work of his life. Deng could not do more than he did, and of those who came after him, not a single one had what it takes to even dare touch this question.

And here is, in my opinion, the heart of the matter: why is Mao still so present in the Chinese psychology? When are we going to move on? The Chairman is not just stuck on a wall, he is imprinted very deeply in the collective mind of the Chinese, and through compulsory education, propaganda and parades like last week's, he holds to his place and no amount of economic progress can sweep him away.

Here is an example of what I mean : Recently I lent the book “Mao: The Unknown Story” , by Chang Jung –a book that is very critical of Mao– to a Chinese friend. This friend is young, and liberal to the point that he believes Dalai Lama is a good man. And yet, when two weeks later I asked him about the book, I got a reaction that shocked me. “This woman is not really Chinese” , “You cannot understand”, were among the broken phrases that he grumbled. I know this book is surely not the most balanced biography of Mao, and I was open to accept many of his arguments. But I saw there was no point in discussing further, because somehow we had landed in the territory of hurt feelings.

But the interesting discussion today is not whether Mao was 70% right or 17.5%. The past is past, and there is no use in digging up the skeletons again, except for specialists in history. The key is the present, and the reason why Mao still holds his place should be searched in the leaders of today.

The answer is simple: Mao is there because he is still needed. No matter how terrible his failures and how cruel the consequences–and most Chinese know them well–Mao is still the only one that gives some ideological content to the system. He provides the meaning to the colourful parade of last week, and to the other parade of black suited mummies that is “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”. And that is the reason why most Chinese are so quick to excuse him: “He was good man used by his wife”, they say, or “it was not his fault, he was senile”.

Ideals are important for a society to believe in itself. In the West we have democracy, human rights, religion, a whole range of them to suit all the sensibilities. As often as not, they are utilized by politicians for their own selfish goals and devoided of any real meaning. But at least they are ideals, and they give us the illusion that our struggle is worth fighting. I see people discussing Obama or Bush, and whatever the real effect of their policies might be, it is obvious that they give a meaning to politcs in America.

In China, on the contrary, the only ideal since Mao died has been Deng's “Get Rich”. Many theories have been published since, filling thick books with party rhetoric, but not a single one of them contained anything that the people could believe in, or even understand. Once and again, the actions of the party have shown that above any other consideration, the only important objective is GDP, and the maintenace of the status quo.

There is a serious lack of leadership in the communist party of China, partly due to the internal mechanisms of the party itself . Strictly materialistic objectives are quickly dissapointing, for those that achieve them as much as for those left behind, and the people naturally turn for inspiration to the only ideals available: nationalism and Mao. And so it happens that the old portrait cannot be taken down, because it is there to cover a hole. The black hole of Chinese politics.

Yesterday I went for a walk on Nanjing Lu and I witnessed a strange phenomenon I had not seen before: the mooncake brokers. It was last Saturday of mooncake picking season, so they were all busily walking up and down the street, scanning the crowds for potential buyers and sellers.

A bit of background: Every few moons, the Chinese celebrate some important festival dating back to the dawn of history, which they spend visiting their extended family and enjoying traditional activities together. The core of these activities involves, of course, eating things, which is why every festival is associated to some particular edible present, generally small, sweet, and roundish in shape.

Of all the very commercialized Chinese festivals, the Autumn Moon is probably the most profitable for the companies involved. The mooncake, particular snack of this festival, has the advantage of being relatively durable, and so well adapted to spectacular red and gilded packaging in the Chinese style. Under these circumstances, there is virtually no excuse for a Chinese not to give and receive the traditional present. Company to employees, neighbour to neighbour, cadre to “ ernais” , for a fortnight the beautiful boxes circulate freely in the country, always given in pairs.

A lonely box of mooncakes separated from its partner

Now, the funny thing is that, as far as I have ascertained, mooncakes are not to the taste of many Chinese, who rarely eat more than half in one sitting. But this is of little importance, because few by now see mooncakes as foodstuffs. Rather, they treat them as legal tender of the Face Reserve. Failing to give and receive the appropriate amount and value of mooncakes before the Autumn moon is akin to social bankruptcy. Everybody knows the price of the major brands, so this “face currency” is as reliable as 24 carat gold.

The final result of all this is that most families end up with a surplus of mooncakes. Of course, knowing the keen commercial character of the Chinese and their aversion to “langfei”, you don't expect them to sit on their piles of boxes. They don't, and the whole season turns into a curious race to get rid of mooncakes before the Autumn Moon is gone and they loose all their social value (the edible value lasts a bit longer, but that is secondary). And so, the boxes received from the company are given to a neighbour, the ones from the neighbour quickly handed to old auntie Li, who gives them to her park dancing instructor and so on, each pair of boxes passing through many pairs of hands.

Fortunately for the families in Shanghai, mooncakes have an extraordinary liquidity during their 2 week trading time, partly fueled by the habit of the large public corporations to hand out mooncake vouchers instead of giving the boxes directly. All the major mooncake companies have outlets in the commercial streets to redeem vouchers. It is in the vicinity of these points, particularly on Nanjing Lu, that the street brokers set up shop. They buy the vouchers at a discount from passing employees, and then sell the redeemed mooncakes to the less fortunate self-employed and to other bargain hunters.

Saturday, the asking price for the main brands was at 50% of face value, and selling price was at 70%. The difference between these numbers is the spread, which is also the net profit of the broker.

The Nanjing Lu mooncake stock exchange

As I walked in Nanjing Street I was analyzing this phenomenon with my friend Little Yi, who was also there to redeem some vouchers.

“Wouldn't it be better,” I said, “if the companies just gave money directly?That 20% spread is a net loss for both employees and company”

“No, no,” she assured me, “the mooncake voucher is essential, companies wouldn't give money”

“But they do give envelopes of money in the Spring Festival!”

"しかし、これは秋のフェスティバルです"と、彼女は私の愚かなlaowaiの外観を与えて、ため息をついた。 "いいえ家族は、秋の月の月餅ずに放置されたくない！"

One of the things I learned this Summer is that, while I may leave on holidays to Europe, China doesn't really leave me anymore. More than just a country, it is a force of nature, the other face of mankind that is now part of my life. China is always there, and she is everywhere, showing up in unexpected circumstances.

Take Spain, for example. The Chinese community there is largely new, not fluent in languages, and originated from one single point in China: the tiny county of Qingtian, upriver from Wenzhou. When it comes to languages, the Spanish are not much better than them, and the whole situation is full of opportunities for the literate laowai. While a simple “nihao” is usually enough to be the hero of the day, some preparation yields better results. Just wander into a Chinese shop casually dropping a Qingtianese greeting, and comment on the remarkable history of the old stone-carving county, home of the Chinese-Spanish. This makes you popular. And you can drink tea and practice your Chinese conversation for hours on end.

What follows is a true story that happened in my last day of holidays. It includes a Chinese family with extraordinary sleeping abilities, and a team of adventurous Spanish ducks. I hope you enjoy it:

It was the first morning flight from Bilbao to Paris, where I was scheduled to connect with the Air France to Shanghai. As I entered the cabin of the A319, I marked immediately a Chinese family sitting in one of the front rows: a middle-aged mother with her son.

She was wearing a shapeless purple jacket in the style of the hundred names, and her teenage son covered his head in a Korean hip-hop hoody. They stood out in the business atmosphere of the early flight. But what made me notice them—and I couldn't help a smile—is that they were already fast asleep before I even got to my seat. As far as I could see, they didn't switch their positions for the duration of a rather eventful flight.

From the start, the journey proved trying for my nerves. As we were taking off, there was a loud bang coming from the back of the plane, followed by a vibration that grew stronger as we flew. For a while nothing else happened, but then, as we were approaching France, the plane suddenly leant to one side, and the Pyrenees mountains turned 180 degrees around us, until we were headed back West from where we came.

The noise grew worse, and the passengers with notions of geography were increasingly anxious. The town of San Sebastian appeared below us for the second time, only this time the ground seemed much closer. All the service call beeps went off one after the other. I looked around to the other passengers and they were all looking around. Nobody spoke.

Finally, the cabin crew appeared on the aisle, delivering row by row the official version of the facts: during take off a flying object had collided with the blades of engine 2, producing the bang and subsequent vibrations that we were experiencing. It was a common occurrence, and there was no danger. As part of the normal safety procedure, the captain had decided to return to the home airport for maintenance.

“It was probably a bird,” said the stewardess when she got to our row.

“A bird?” laughed the steward, “that was a team of big fat ducks!”

I figured he must have been instructed to keep a light mood. I tried hard to laugh, picturing circles of ducklings turning in the turbofan as we struggled to get past the sharp Basque valleys.

***

After an endless flight we were safety landed back onto Bilbao airport. As we were waiting to disembark, the pilot confirmed that the airplane was done for the day. We had to pick up our luggage first and then go to the Air France office on the second floor to request a new ticket. As usual, my suitcase was one of the last to appear on the rolling band, and by the time I got to the office there was already a long queue, about the length of a duck-stricken A319, and every bit as noisy.

The crowd was growing unruly. Some French passengers harangued the masses with true revolutionary spirit, launching slogans against all winged creatures, including ducks, airbuses, and Air France pilots. Since I was last, there was not much point in queuing, so I just stood on one side in a way to signify my disapproval. Then I noticed the focus was gradually shifting, as the keen Robespierres directed their anger to some unidentified target at the front of the queue. I walked over to have a closer look.

It was the Chinese family.

Clearly, they hadn't understood the instructions to pick up the luggage, and they had come straight to the airline office before anyone else. They were first, and they showed no intention of giving up their position. On the contrary, they were holding it admirably. The mother covered the rearguard with her fierce eye, while the son held fast to the desk. They were obviously well trained in conflictive queues, and they seemed unimpressed by the mob.

Linguistically, the situation was not ideal. The mother was screaming in Qingtianese, the son translated into Chinglese and an Air France employee replied in elaborate Spanglish, while the French head of office stared in disbelief. I was alone, and my faithful friend the Electronic Dictionary & Thesaurus was out of reach in the bottom of my bag. But the time was to act, and I did not falter in the hour of peril.

I cut right to the front and put in a “Qué pasa?什么事?”. All four faces turned to me at once. The queue became suddenly quiet.

“They want to go to China!” cried the employee in Spanish.

“We want to go to China!” cried the son in Chinese.

The positions of the parties seemed to me very much unanimous, and ripe for an easy consensus. But further enquiry proved that it was not exactly so. I managed to reconstruct the following facts:

The family had slept through the flight, right until we landed back in Bilbao. Then they had not understood the strongly accented message of the pilot and they had dashed out of the plane straight to the connections desk, where they had been redirected to the airline office. And they acted so urgently because they only had one hour to catch the connecting flight. All they asked is to board their plane immediately, and they were pretty suspicious of this whole attitude of the staff in Paris.

Because they actually thought they were in Paris.

The problem was not an easy one to explain. Not only the mother's mandarin was as bad as mine, but also she was determined, and she had a deep rooted common sense. They had just flown into Paris and therefore this was Paris, she would take no nonsense from a laowai. I used all my persuasion. I noted how the souvenir shops were selling bullfighters, and not tour eiffels. Finally the young son understood, and he helped me convince her. The fact was settled: We were in Spain, and there were no direct flights to Shanghai from this airport.

The rest was fairly easy to manage, and after a few minutes the three of us left the office with a new ticket. Once their infinite gratitude had been sufficiently expressed, I couldn't help asking the son:

“But, how could you not realize that this is the same airport as before?”

“Well,” he smiled shyly, “Mum was just telling me that she finds all airports in Europe look strikingly similar!”

And his mother, who was tough but good-humoured, found it rather funny, and we all joined in a face-saving laughter. Then I knew I was engaged as official interpreter of the sleeping family.

***

In the end, my work as a translator served my interests well. We got our new tickets before anyone else, the last three places left to connect with the evening Paris-Shanghai. The revolutionaries were so stunned by the performance that they forgot to guillotine us, and the Air France employee gave us some free lunch vouchers for the VIP lounge. To make our wait more pleasant, she said, the company was offering one of their specialty dishes in the “Restaurant des Mondes”.

It was still far from the Spanish lunch time, so we had to wait while they opened the kitchen for us. The prospect of a free lunch worked well to improve the mood of my Chinese friends, and we had a lively chat in the VIP sofas. I took the chance to impress them with my baidupedic knowledge of their hometown. After that they opened up to me, and the last lines of suspicion finally vanished from the woman's brow.

息子は浙江省のラップシーンの状態の私を知らせたように私は取り乱して聞いていた。 A terrible state that was, apparently, and I waited for a chance to switch topics. It was his mother that I found most intriguing. All the while she was sitting very still, as if lost in her own thoughts. She had an outside appearance that in China would be classified as “peasant”, but her proud, resolute eyes didn't quite fit in the picture. What was she doing flying around with her single son? I finally asked him.

As it turned out, she was a renowned chef back home. Qingtian is the origin of thousands of Chinese restaurants across Europe, and their extended family had made a fortune with a popular chain of Chinese food. She had come as an expert to establish new recipes in the family restaurants in Spain, all the while teaching her son the secrets of the Chinese cuisine. They had toured the country for three months, making the company's food “more delicious, more authentically Chinese”.

“Her most famous recipe is Beijing Duck,” said the kid, licking his lips, “You have never tried anything like that!”

“I would love to have a chance to try it,” I answered, suddenly hungry for duck.

Then the mother, who hadn't said a word all this time, looked at me with a strange smile. I felt there was an invitation coming. Instead, she opened her eyes wide and nervously shook her son's shoulder.

“Heavens!” she cried, “we still haven't picked up our luggage!”

***

When I took them down to luggage collection, their belongings were still lonely turning around on the band, a number of shapeless pieces covered in woven tarpaulin. As we loaded them one by one onto a trolley, the son suddenly found something was wrong. It was the last packet, a cardboard box with some strange little holes pierced on the top. He held the box on his knees and showed me one of the corners where it had been torn open. The box was empty.

The woman was very upset. She started moving her arms up and down and speaking in her sing-song dialect at an alarming speed. I couldn't understand a word of what she was saying, but the replies of her son were more composed, and I could more or less make out the gist of it:

“I told you we couldn't take them on a plane, mum!”, he was saying.

“But how can we pass the long winter without them?”, she replied.

Suddenly I had a very dark premonition. While they were busy arguing, I walked over to the broken box and examined it carefully. As I held it up in front of me, a small, delicate object floated down from the broken corner. It was a feather.

I dropped the box as if it burned my hands, and I kicked it behind the rolling band were it wouldn't be seen. I was in panic now, and I joined the arguing party with my own version of alarmed mandarin:

“We have to het out of here, NOW!”, I said.

"何ですか？ But the box?,” said the mother.

“Forget it!” I pushed the trolley towards the door, “we will see to that later!”

"何ですか？ But we have to file a complaint. They might have found …”

“No!”

I tried to control my nerves, as I envisioned charges for terrorism, and the dire diplomatic consequences of China's national dish being presented as evidence of the crime. I tried to relax telling myself that at least there hadn't been any human casualties.

“Please help us,” she said.

“We can't do this now! Spain is a bureaucratic country, these things take a long time…” I muttered. “And anyway I'm sure your little friends are going to be fine!”

She gave me another inquisitive glance, like the first time I suggested she was not in Paris. She was clearly reconsidering about my sanity.

“Well, excuse me ,” she said, “but they are important to me, and if you don't want to help me I will have to file the complaint myself”

Just at that moment the airport PA system cracked with a life-saving announcement. All the passengers of the cancelled flight were asked to go back immediately to the second floor, were new information was awaiting us from the captain.

“Quick, this must be our lunch, let's go before we miss it!” I translated, and this argument finally seemed convincing enough for the stubborn lady.

***

On the second floor, the slick French captain was putting in practice the company's open information policy. The maintenance staff had just confirmed—he said—that it was indeed the impact of external objects on the engine that had caused the vibration. The strange bodies had been already extracted and brought in from the hangar for analysis. The decision to return to the airport had proven a good choice, as it was the chief engineer's opinion that we would have never made it to Paris.

A drop of cold sweat fell down my right temple as I considered the chances of those little animals finding their way into the turbine. Even if they managed to tear open the box and then break free from under the piles of luggage, even if they could unlatch the hold door with their little beaks, still, how could they fly over to the engine? It seemed impossible. I remembered the laws of fluid dynamics, and how turbulent airflows exhibit nonlinear, chaotic behaviours. For the first time in my life I felt I understood the real meaning of the Chaos Theory.

In the meantime, the mother had sent her boy to inquire about lost objects, and he was explaining their problem to the captain in such a perfectly unintelligible English that the brave man could only smile politely. They looked around at a loss, only to see that their laowai friend was nowhere to be found. I had just in time slipped into the gentlemen's restroom.

At this point, the airport loudspeakers buzzed again:

Passengers of the AF2435 to Paris, please proceed into our VIP lounge. As a special attention, we are offering you the chef's specialty in our exclusive “Restaurant des Mondes”

***

I joined the family again as they walked down the corridor to the VIP Lounge. It seemed that the luxury meal kindly offered by Air France had conquered the heart of the frightful woman. Her expression showed no more pain for the loss of her beasts, and I hoped she had decided to give up the search. Presently, she was impressed by the quality of the service, and her mood was chatty.

“They know how to treat a client, in France,” she said conversationally, “back in China it's not even comparable.”

“Oh, sure, great service here,”

“Even if they don't have any proper backup plans,” she noted, “they are just great at doing nice surprises.”

“Oh, yeah, you can count on the French for surprises”

“It is all in the attitude, isn't it?”, she said, and her only child nodded in agreement.

As we approached the “Restaurant des Mondes”, the atmosphere was so relaxed that I thought we had passed the worst. I just had to get them on our plane right after lunch, and there would be no more nonsense of lost object complaints. Then I saw the stewardess at the restaurant door, smiling. She held a large sign written in all the major languages of the World, including mandarin. It read:

TODAYS SPECIAL DISH:

“Thin-sliced duck Beijing style”

In case there were any doubts, underneath the text there was a colourful picture of a team of ducks thinly sliced as if by fast rotating blades, swimming in the dark sauce of the traditional Beijing recipe.

I tried with my body to hide the sign from their view, but I was too late. There was not much point anyway, the pictures were all over the place, and the food was coming out any minute. As we sat down, I peeped at her out of the corner of my eye. Her expression was enigmatic, the initial apprehension had turned into something more lofty. Was it triumph? I trembled.

The dishes were served and, unexpectedly, nothing happened. I glanced at my two friends. The were obviously enjoying their meal, emitting now and then favorable grunts and other judgements with the assurance of the true connoisseur. Then, halfway through their ducks, they looked at each other with an understanding smile and, following some mysterious signal, the lady suddenly stood up, knocking her chair behind her, and crying out loudly:

“I want to speak to the person who cooked this!”

There was a spark in her eye as she glared at the kitchen door on the other side of the dining room. I could not think of anything to say this time, so I just sat still, helpless as the slings and arrows flew swiftly towards their target.

Seeing that no help was forthcoming from my side, the mother ignored me and took direct action. She strode across the room and, without further preambles, she thrust open the kitchen door, roaring in Qingtianese. In a minute, the cook came out sporting a high chef hat and howling even louder than her. To my surprise, he was also employing some variety of Zhejiang dialect.

Then something strange happened. The moment he saw the chef, the son stood up and ran across the dining room charging like a fighting bull, and when the three of them were at a close distance, they came together in a long, warm hug.

I stood rather awkwardly next to them, wondering what was next. The chatter of the adults had risen to undecipherable speeds under the flow of emotions. I looked at the teenager for an explanation, but he was too absorbed speaking to the cook. Finally, I managed to catch some fraction of the conversation:

“Uncle Li, we knew it had to be you, nobody else in the World can cook Beijing Duck like mother! What are you doing here?”

“You know, I got a catering contract with Air France, didn't I tell you?”

“Uncle, you really need to help us, mother is really worried! This laowai is with us, but his Chinese is so-so, and he just doesn't get it!”

“Say, my boy, what is the problem?”

“It is the new down-filled coats that mum bought to take home for the winter. She was so upset when we found out that they've been stolen from our luggage…”

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.

So OK, I am censored, but why NOW?

I mean, I haven't been writing anything for ages, is the Propaganda Department punishing me for being lazy? Has some big Chinese BBS linked to me recently, is Uln hot now? As I was looking around for an answer, I found out that the Peking Duck blog was blocked more or less at the same time as mine, and it was asking the same kind of questions.

That is when I got this idea of the LIST, which I wrote on their comments. Everyone knows that GFW is unpredictable, it starts and stops and nobody ever knows why, if you don't believe me look at this funny chronology . But this random behaviour usually affects only some websites, and never touches others. So necessarily, the guys at the GFW Control Deck are working with a number of websites that have been shortlisted beforehand.

I am quite sure of the existence of this LIST, because I noticed very precisely the moment my blog was shortlisted. It happened earlier this year with that political post that was picked by the New York Times. Since then I had strange things happening, with miniblocks now and then, a perceived slower speed loading in China, and, of course that particular Chаrter 08 post has been blocked ever since (even as the rest of the blog remained open). Also, look at that weird comment in Chinese in that post , where the guy says I am interfering in China's internal affairs… could be a troll. Or could be not.

Anyway, my guess is that this blog and the PKD's block have probably nothing to do with our recent activity, but rather with the tense atmosphere in the censors office these last weeks, after the Green Dam fiasco and the Google affair . At some point someone must have said: “hey, let's block some more sites”, and we were unfortunately the next names on the LIST. And, unlike Google, I am afraid sites speaking specifically of politics are blocked permanently, such as this one , or this one . I hardly imagine the censors taking the trouble to monitor our blogs every day to see if we are behaving better. So my guess is, both for me and for PKD, that the block is here to stay and there is no solution.

… or perhaps there is?

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