Zhongnanhai

For the past few weeks a story about a Swiss fashion company, which created a label reading f.u.c.k.u China, has been getting quite a bit of press here in mainland China. At first, I figured this would blow over. But alas, (and let me deeply intone with one eyebrow raised in a serious manner) this has officially "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people." And when that happens, "official complaints" must be lodged and petitions must be signed.

I regularly read the Japanese blog site Japundit, which is kind of a Tokyo version of Shanghaiist. I can't help but feel the site likes to laugh at some of China's problems, such as a recent statement by a Chinese government official that China must "raise the quality" of the Chinese people before the Olympics. And now, they couldn't resist running an article about the offending label.

Basically the Swiss fashion design company, Philipp Plein created the limited edition label reading "f.u.c.k.u China". It was found on a Chinese boy in the German city of Bremen. After receiving furious complaints from the Chinese (and the ubiquitous "hurts the feelings of..." statement), Philipp Plein said the whole thing was one giant misunderstanding. f.u.c.k.u China actually means “the fascinating & urban collection: kiss you China.” Ahh, so nothing to worry about, right?

Well, Philipp Plein is clearly being a bit facetious, and it's not like they released the label and somebody said, "Gee, this says fuck u China on it, somebody should've probably caught that." Instead, this was meant to be a joke on China's rampant pirating of the fashion company's products. And, actually, I find it a bit funny.

It's too bad the Chinese don't.

I was discussing this topic with my dad today (although not specifically this story). As a Canadian, my country is often the butt of jokes in the United States and beyond. Who can forget Blame Canada in the South Park movie, or the bumbling, freezing cold, toque-wearing, hockey playing, toothless bumpkin stereotype that seems to persist in American media. Sure, they are insulting Canada. But it's funny. And we don't take it too seriously.

In fact, the Chinese embassy in Germany is even getting involved. Doesn't the Chinese embassy have more important things to do? By making an official complaint about a fashion stunt, it is tarnishing the prestige of the embassy and, in my opinion, "hurting the reputation of Chinese diplomats."

China could use a good dose of humour. Not every joke about China should "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" (a phrase in itself, as I have mentioned before, is a vast generalization that turns independent, thinking adults into six-year-old children). China pirates goods, and everybody knows it. Just laugh at it, and get on with your day.

One commenter on Japundit summed it up nicely: because the product is in limited edition, somebody in China has probably already copied it anyway.

First, the Chengdu Evening News runs a classified advertisement honoring the mothers of Tiananmen Square victims. And now, courtesy of ESWN, this:

At 20:31 on August 8, 2007, China Daily posted an article titled: "China invites the world to Olympics." The following sentence appeared: "Security was tight around Tiananmen Square, where troops crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 with huge loss of life, as crowds gathered for the celebrations.". (See Google Cache's screen capture below). This came about because someone did a copy-and-paste job from Reuters' Nick Mulvenney (dated 19:54 on the same evening) without checking the content. Within 12 hours, a revised version was posted (see China Daily). Someone over at China Daily is in big trouble for this slip-up.

I can only assume that the editor(s) in charge of the copy were just lazy and didn't copy edit the story properly. Unlike the Chengdu Evening News case, where the advertising clerk wasn't familiar with June 4, this sentence which was published on the China Daily site was spelled out for all to see. Surely even an editor that wasn't familiar with the event would know this sentence shouldn't be included.

At the end of the day, though, what appears in the English language press doesn't really matter. People familiar with English are usually (and this is a large generalization, I admit) at least somewhat familiar with June 4. If this kind of thing made it into the Chinese language media, I'd be much more surprised.

I am a skeptic by nature. Having been a journalist since the ripe old age of 20, it's something that has become ingrained in me. I try to see things objectively. I would occasionally get a couple of chuckles when, in Canada, when asked to introduce myself at a news event, I would announce my presence as 'fly on the wall.' So when I see the government in this country trying to give me a 'sunshine colonic,' the organ grinder in my brain starts whippin' that monkey for all it's worth. The latest white-wash is the economic stability of this country.

I'm no business expert. I understand the pure basis of economics, but when it comes to understanding cyclical activity, I am at a bit of a loss. However, though I'm not Kreskin, I like to consider myself a forward thinker. And that's why I'm going on record now as saying that this country is headed for the economic equivalent of a Turkish prison shower scene.

I love doing stories on my program about the economics of China on my program. It's the one area I can touch on here in China that is highly unlikely to get me slapped in a 6-foot-square tiger cage and shipped back to 'the home and native land.' And for months I have been -- in a somewhat backhanded way -- putting out a warning over the airwaves that there is an inflation problem in this country that the government, and its economists, are refusing to acknowledge publicly.

The latest stats released by the People's Bank of China show that the Consumer Price Index has risen 3.2-percent this year. Now, on the surface, this doesn't seem that bad, particularly in a country where the economic development is screaming along at 11.5-percent for the first half of the year. However, if you look at where the inflation is rising from, it becomes a bit more interesting. Thanks to some genius in some ministry, farmers last year in China were discouraged from raising pigs. Well, surprise, surprise, now China has a shortage of pigs, and Premier Wen Jiabao has encouraged his people to 'leave no stone unturned' when it comes to raising up pigs. Pigs, and now wheat, are driving up the overall inflation rate. Food is the staple of life here in China, and a good portion of the 900 million or so folks hunkered down in the rural parts of this country barely make enough to get by as it is. Now some will say that the rising prices will benefit the farmers in the poorer regions, because they'll get more for their products. No going to happen. I can guarantee that the pork and wheat producers are not going to be passing off their increased profits to the farmers. That's just not going to happen. So what's the result? When food gets more expensive, the farmers are going to have to find gigs that earn them more money. Where are they going to get those jobs? In the areas of the country that rely on migrant workers -- the urban centers. As such, you are going to see more migrant workers doing manual labor, which generally involves construction. That, in turn, is going to flood the market with guys who are willing to work cheaper than the guy already on the job, which is going to encourage developers to continue expanding and creating more projects, because their labor costs are on the decline. And the housing construction center in this country is the one area of the economy the government is really worried about. As more and more homes are built, more and more people are getting into real estate speculation. As such, you're going to have thousands upon thousands of people dumping their cash into developments that -- for one reason or another -- may fail. As such, you're going to see bankruptcy rates rise, leading to greater instability.

On top of all this, you've got people in this country -- mainly the poor -- who are throwing their money at the mainland's stock markets in record proportions. Every economist knows that markets rise and fall. It's the economic principles involved that make this inevitable. And this is another area that people are going to start taking a bath on. Investing in the markets is an extremely new concept here in China. And what you've got today is a vast collection of uneducated investors, who are throwing in money into companies that have to do a bare minimum of financial reporting, which is generally inaccessible to the public anyway. So when the markets go through a correction, a lot of people are going to be left fenless.

I truly believe both of these scenarios are coming. And the frustrating part is that the government continues to be sunshine and roses. And if you are conspiracy theorist, (which I can be from time to time -- within reason, of course) you could argue that the government is pouring so much hype into the Olympics because it wants us to ignore the underlying problems that this country is facing.

How long until these things happen? That I have no educated guess on. I guess we'll just have to wait until the next bout of SARS, bird flu, or other unforeseeable incident (re: Taiwan) hits to figure out what is going to shake this country's economy to its foundation. But mark my words, it is coming.

The IHT has recently published a story on former Shanghai Party Chief Chen Liangyu, who was purged from his post and put under house arrest for his alleged involvement in the Shanghai Pension Fund Scandal (is it necessary to use the word "alleged" in China?).

It's been widely reported that Chen refused to cool Shanghai's hot property market under strict orders from the central government, which was one of many reasons for his downfall. Now it turns out Chen was interested in much more than just property, according to today's story in the IHT.

The "hai" in the word Shanghai means ocean, but the city had no beach, he would lament. So city officials built a 6-mile, or 10-kilometer, beach in the suburbs, using 128,000 tons of sand shipped in from southern China.

Chen liked tennis, too, so a world-class tennis complex was built at a reported cost of $290 million, even though few Shanghai people play the game.

In a city where relatively few can afford to own personal cars, Chen's government built a $300 million racetrack that critics say is the fanciest on the Formula One circuit.

I am a fan of Shanghai, and this is perhaps a selfish thing to say: but I like the Forumla One track and the tennis center. Both venues have drawn world class sporting events to China. (As for the beach, well, I never made it while I lived there.) Oddly, while he's criticized for this, China is about to spend more on the Olympic games than any previous host country, ironically, building world class sports venues. Tough to single Chen out for this one.

But, the IHT article continues, the final nail in the proverbial coffin came with this:

...he proposed a $5 billion expansion of a magnetic levitation, or maglev, rail line to the neighboring city of Hangzhou, a widely criticized project that raised something relatively new for China: a storm of public protest.

I lived in Shanghai during this period of public protest, and I can attest that people were very angry and were not scared of venting their frustrations. In fact, while I was employed at Jongo News, I sent out our video team to do a story on this.

At the time, we interviewed people along the proposed route who complained mostly of noise pollution. The project, which would see a new $5 billion Maglev line link Shanghai with Hangzhou, was halted in May. And many believe it was a case of the government listening to protesters:

For many, the apparent demise of the project in the face of widespread public opposition marked the end of an era of glitz-driven development, with attendant opportunities for high-level corruption, and the beginning of a new one in which the voice of China's growing middle class can no longer be ignored.

"The public is concerned with the electromagnetism of the train and the government is studying this, and that is one of the reasons the project has been stopped," a People's Congress official was quoted as having said in the China Business Daily newspaper, one of many news reports that suggested that residents' complaints had played a major role in the suspension.

I am of two thoughts on this. One, this is a sign of new China. Residents here have become much more socially active, and no longer fear the government as much as they once did. This is a sign that China is moving down a path which will hopefully lead to more responsible development and engagement with residents.

Two... I can't help but admit that I wouldn't have minded the high-tech, fast connection between Hangzhou and Shanghai. One thing that has made China special is that it is free of feasibility studies, open houses, and compromises. Because it is a communist country, it can build the biggest, most elaborate, high-tech buildings or transportation infrastructure without any public accountability. This has led to many of Beijing's Olympic venues and the current Maglev in Shanghai.

It appears those days are over. And probably for the best.

I was struck by a comment on Danwei recently regarding Chinese thoughts on foreign correspondents and foreign NGOs working in China:

In honor of this date, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Sans Frontières, and the Foreign Correspondents Club of China have all released reports and held press conferences to tell the world that foreign reporters continue to be hassled and the local media still is not free.

Many of your correspondent's Chinese friends think that the organizations listed above are just silly, trouble-making foreigners who don't really get it.

I surely hope the founder of Danwei, Jeremy Goldkorn, wasn't using the words of his friends to illustrate his own beliefs.

Too often, and much to the approval of the Chinese government, critics of foreign journalists lump them into the same ideologically-driven camp as their state-run counterparts, just at opposite ends of the same spectrum. As someone who has worked in a plethora of state-run media (and media in Canada), I can confirm that the two entities are not the same -- not even close.

First of all, it's convenient, for argument purposes, to dismiss critics of China as "silly". But those organizations listed above, and foreign media in general, have a much higher bar to reach than their Chinese counterparts. Let me give you an example:

My loyal Communist party girlfriend, who works in state-run media and can speak perfectly from Communist party talking points, recently dismissed Jung Chang's latest book, Mao: The Untold Story as utter propaganda. No, she didn't read it. But she has read reviews of the book, and I've shared its contents with her on numerous occasions.

The book is not one of my favorites, and I object to Jung Chang's obvious agenda, which is to tear down Mao's image and turn legends around Mao into myths. But the book, which took 10 years of meticulous research, can stand on its own, despite the criticism. There are detailed endnotes supplied and her work will be/has been reviewed and criticized and pulled apart at various academic institutions and by other Sinofiles. This is the process of finding the truth: letting work be dissected by peers.

Foreign journalists must also live up to this responsibility, even if they fail from time to time. If Joseph Kahn of the New York Times writes an incredibly biased story on China, it will be torn apart in the blogosphere, be criticized by other journalists at home, and hurt the reputation and credibility of his employer. It is this peer pressure which helps enforce journalistic ethics. In addition, in an open society, work can be dissected publicly. As a journalist, you do your best to ensure your bases are covered, because your own reputation is on the line.

Now, to Chinese media. As I have mentioned before, I have worked at CCTV 9 and China Radio International, among others. In both places, we talked about how Tibet has been a part of China for centuries, how the living standards of Tibetans have improved, and how Tibetans have embraced the motherland. I don't object to an organization reporting this, if they have the facts to back it up. But other organizations should be allowed to go to Tibet, and talk to Tibetans, to verify this. This is what would happen in an open and free media environment. Because China can report what it wants internally, and control what other media report, it's much less likely the truth will come out. The bar is lowered for what can pass as "journalism", because nobody's personal reputation can be challenged publicly. Thus, the credibility problem.

So when people in China, the government, or other organizations dismiss foreign reporters, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China, or Reporters Sans Frontiers as "silly", it reveals the lack of hard evidence to support critical claims against these organizations and brings them down to the level of their Chinese counterparts.

Foreign journalists aren't perfect, and often foreign organizations have agendas. But in free countries, we are allowed to determine that on our own, and decide which groups we can ignore and which ones are beneficial.

I'm tempted to go into the problems with state-run media (of which there are many), but this subject was summarized well recently on Imagethief and on Richard Spencer's blog. Both are well-deserving of a read.

It’s very popular to politicize the Olympics coming to Beijing one year from today, but I think many people are forgetting what the games are all about, which of course is the athletes. I am not standing up for China’s human rights record nor am I a fan of China’s current political regime but I think the games are bigger than my personal political bias.

I think its only fair China receive a healthy serving of criticism on its human rights record as it is also using the games to further its claims on Tibet and Taiwan. The Communist Party would be naïve not to expect some blow back from trying to politicize the games and it also needs to remember the true spirit of the Olympics.

The Chinese authorities have done themselves no favors by detaining protesters and journalists this week, and this sort of behavior should not be tolerated -- but let’s not start talking about a boycott just yet. I want to see world class athletes competing not protesters clashing with police. Congress person Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California is putting forward a motion for the U.S. to boycott the Olympics over the atrocities being committed in Darfur. Besides the hypocrisy of the motion I think Ms. Waters has forgotten what the Olympics are about. They are about running faster than the other person, and jumping farther, and personal challenge. They are about training and commitment. The games are about personal sacrifice and human beings pushing their bodies to extremes in the hope of athletic excellence. They are about fair play on the field, not the political arena. I didn't agree with the U.S. boycotting the games in Moscow and I didn't agree with the Soviet Union boycotting the '84 Olympics in L.A.

I will never defend China’s record of human rights violations and suppression of personal rights and freedoms. I don’t subscribe to the Communist Party’s philosophy or strong arm tactics and never will. But, I do believe in the brotherhood of sport. This is an event that can bring us together as planet, as a species, as human beings. While I do believe there is room for freedom of speech and political views during the games I think we should also not lose sight of the spirit of the games, and that spirit lies with the athletes.

Zero-eight, zero-eight is a pretty interesting combination of numbers here in China. No, I'm not referring to the blood alcohol level required to be legally impaired. (though, that is a good combination of numbers, too!) I am referring to August 8th, the one-year anniversary countdown to the start of the Beijing Olympics.

In this country, it is considered somewhat rude and presumptuous to brag about ones self, and show cockiness. Modesty is the preferred style while interacting on a social level. That's why I consistently find it hilarious that the Chinese government continues to pump out the message that everything is rosy, China is rapidly developing and that this country deserves to have a major role to play in the world. Well, to be honest, I can't argue those facts. Things here aren't always 'rosy,' but they are a hell of a lot better than they were 35 years ago. And this country is developing and making major headway on a scale not seen before. However, I think this government is -- perhaps not shooting -- but slowly pushing a bullet into its foot.

The international state-run media organs in this country are creatures of habit and generally pretty tough to listen too when it comes to the news content. China Central Television's channel 9, where a number of my good friends work, is heavily scrutinized by the foreign ministry and -- I'm not making up the name, either -- the Propaganda Ministry. As such, the people in charge of the news content there want their bosses to be happy so that they can get a promotion. They won't get that promotion if their bosses don't get a promotion. Their boss’s bosses are beholden to the ministry officials, who of course, are beholden to the government officials and leaders that the news is talking about. So you see the trickle down effect here. It's the same thing at China Radio International. The 'party system' strikes again! But this time, I believe it's going to backfire.

Not a lot is known of China in the west. I would argue that there are way more misconceptions of this country than of anywhere else in the world. I mean, you really can't understand any place properly until you've lived there. But still, given the fact that China was so closed off for so many years and remains somewhat isolated because of its past, it's still a bit of an unknown quantity. As such, the government is doing what it can to put out its message that China is changing. But in blowing sunshine out its ass the whole time, it's giving the people around the world the impression that this country is a collection of clean, shiny new buildings and streets and that the people are all driving around in brand new cars, all wearing expensive suits and sipping designer teas. It also pumps out the message that all Chinese people are dignified and cultured, the ethnic minorities are all sugar and love, the culture across the country is beaming and, in the words of Chevy Chase in 'Vacation,' whistling 'Zippidy Do-Da' out their asses. But anyone who's lived here for 5 minutes knows this is a crock of shit. Walk a 里(li) (Chinese distance measure, which is the cousin of the kilometer) in my spit-soaked shoes and you'll soon see that this country is no where near the standards most people in the west are accustomed to. So, when the 'glorious' Olympics welcomes the world to see and experience China, me thinks they are going to be taking in and seeing a lot more than they bargained for. And, further to Cam's previous post, I think there might be a lot of people who come to this country and leave disappointed. And I believe that part of the blame will have to be laid on this government's international propaganda campaign. This, and the fact that the foreign media that come here are going to pick this place apart for stories like Oprah on a bag of cream puffs, is something the government here doesn't appear to be prepared for.

The last thing I'll say on this matter, for the time being, is about my previous reference to things here being much better than they were 35 years ago. This was no arbitrary date for this particular post. In the last hour before launching this post, I had the chance to have a 10 minute interview with a Beijing media veteran who came to this city in 1972. While he too agreed that there have been some great changes during his time, he too believes that the government -- quote -- 'Should sell itself short, and deliver high.'

August 1st is an auspicious day in China. No, it doesn't mark any great revolution or act of defiance of government. However, in a world where all things government and party still rule supreme, August 1st is a very important day for the leadership of this country. In 1927 when the Communist Party of China was still in its infancy, a group of armed members -- on August 1st -- fired the first potshot at the Kuomintang forces. Here in China, this is dubbed the launch of the People's Liberation Army.

Of course, back then, the PLA consisted of a rag-tag group of armed men (many of them only armed with broadswords and spears, because there wasn't enough guns to go around) who roamed in the areas south of the Yangtze River trying to avoid being snuffed out by either government troops or the armed men who were also roaming the areas under the charge of local warlords. Of course, in today's China under Communist rule, the exploits of this group of would-be soldiers is hailed as revolutionary and a great feat of man. Admittedly, one really has to be amazed that a small group of anti-government 'bandits' -- as they were then described by the Kuomintang -- were able to survive. This, of course, is attributed to the superb leadership of the Communist forces, who, at a much later point, were led by Mao Zedong. The treacherous and, more often than not, fatal Long March is also dubbed as the turning point for the Communist forces, known at this point in history as the Chinese Red Army. More often than not in today's China, the fact that only 7,000 of the original 86,000 Long Marchers actually survived it is generally added as a footnote to the heroics of the Red Army. And while I'll give the Red Army credit for striking when the time was right, the fact that they eventually drove the Kuomintang to Taiwan and eventually took over the entire country really can't be tacked up to any brilliant military maneuvering. After Japan was defeated in World War II and the civil war broke out again here in China, this country was reeling from being under foreign occupation. The Kuomintang troops, who did the majority of the fighting against the Japanese because the Communist forces were small and mostly trapped behind enemy lines, were war-weary and didn't want to fight any longer. This, combined with the hyper-inflation plaguing China at the time and a general distrust of Chiang Kai-Shek's regime, pushed a lot of locals to side with anyone who was against the current ruling government. All of these issues are overlooked in China today. China has selectively forgotten its history when it comes to the development of its military. And the same is happening today.

In 2007, the Chinese government's official figures put military spending for this year at 44.98 billion US dollars, a 17.8 percent rise in spending from 2006. The government's line in justifying this move is that it needs to increase the salaries for its troops, increase its border defense and buy their men and women new uniforms. Ok, fair enough. I don't think even the Bush administration could argue with its own mantra of 'support our troops.' And the Chinese government is also quick to point out that its military spending is about one-tenth of what the US government pours into its military. Again, fair enough. However, this raises two questions in my mind: Why does China have to compete with the US when it comes to military size and strength? And why should a country that still considers itself as a developing nation have military spending now virtually on par with developed nations such as the United Kingdom and France? I have yet to see the analysis done to compare the per-capita incomes of the people in a country compared to its government spending on the military. If there is such an analysis, I'm sure North Korea is at the top of the list. But I bet China wouldn't be too far behind.

So why does a country and a military who, in it's own spin, has never taken an offensive role in attacking another country (they selectively forget the border clashes with Russia, Vietnam and India) need to be so large and have so much money spent on it? Who is threatening to territorial integrity of China? The days of the Cold War are over. Russia isn't considering toppling the communist leadership anymore. The US doesn't have a presence in Vietnam anymore. The border dispute with India is being cleared up through negotiation. So what's the issue? I can sum it up in one word: Pride.

For as long as this country as existed, it has considered itself the center of the world. Hence the name of China in Chinese: 中国 (Zhong Guo, or Middle Kingdom). As such, whenever it is given the opportunity to flex its muscles and show the world just how well it can compete on the global scale, it will do so. This permeates through all aspects of society. Is it wrong to be proud of your country and all its great aspects? No, of course not. But at the same time, throwing billions upon billions of Yuan at a military that doesn't really do much doesn't really make fiscal sense.

Is China a military threat? Only to Taiwan. Is China angling to become the next global superpower? If so, it's going to have to pack a tent and pillow and be prepared to wait in line for quite a while, because, despite its setbacks, the United States of America -- even with George W. Bush at the helm -- is still the most powerful nation on earth, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I am not going to make friends with this post...

I remember a few years ago, living at Sunshine 100 on Guanghua Road in Beijing, and having an awful cough and cold. My landlord at the time, who was very sweet, brought over these rubbery, licorice-like balls and told me to chew on them. I did. My cough persisted, and my cold didn't die down.

Last night, as I was preparing to head to the final night of Tim's Texas BBQ restaurant in Beijing, I came down with the flu. I went home with a fever, shivered under the covers all night, and woke up feeling awful this morning. My girlfriend took me to the pharmacy and she bought me these pellets to be mixed with water. I took them. Nothing happened. I have since purchased some Tylenol and have since regained some strength.

I'm not sure if other people have had these same problems, but I'm starting to feel like the esteemed Traditional Chinese Medicine is a crock. Does this work? Or does it only work because Chinese people think it does? Does it work on Chinese but not on foreigners? If you are suffering from a migraine, will you take some silly sand-like substance mixed in warm water or a Bufferin? Pellets, granules, or rubbery balls... does this stuff actually work for you?

I meant to chime in much earlier on this topic, but didn't have the time. Now I feel a bit late to the game, but still feel I have 2 cents to add.

When it was originally reported the cardboard baozi were fake, I believed it. I am no conspiracy theorist, and after reading certain blog posts I was sure that the story must have been fake.

Then I saw the photos on ESWN which showed how disgusting and obvious baozi made with cardboard would look. Is any more proof needed?

Well, despite these facts, it appears some people will never believe the government on this issue. My good friend and fellow Zhongnanhai writer Paul James is one who refuses to believe the government's stand on the issue, and I may, slowly, be coming around to his point of view.

The first reason is that the reporter being accused of faking the story, Zi Beijia, had a long history as a credible reporter. He originally worked at China Central Television before being poached by BTV. He was the one who uncovered the use of fake vinegar in China, as well as the fake yangrou chuan story (pork was being doused in spices and tenderizers to taste like lamb). So the question is, why would this reporter, with a strong journalistic track record, all of a sudden plant a fake story?

The second reason is this, and one that I don't pretend I can prove. Hearsay is hearsay, and I'll leave it at that. But one of my very close friends is a high-level employee in state-run media. She was called, along with other state-run managers and staff, to a retreat in the south of Beijing the day after the story was declared fake by management. She was not told at the event whether the story was true or not, but journalists were scolded for not being "politically aware" (as in, don't report stories about food scares at the exact moment China is being criticized internationally on this issue). She believes, 100%, that the fake baozi story was, in fact, real.

Like the assassination of JFK, I'm afraid we'll never know.

Even before I begin, I feel that I must clarify my position. Having been born and raised in Saskatchewan, known to some as the bread basket of Canada, or to others as the gap between Alberta and Manitoba, I do hold a sense of pride in traveling on a Canadian passport. I do love my country, and, when I return in a couple of week's time for a visit, I plan to soak up all that I can of my great nation. However, I -- unlike most of the people in China -- am willing to take a critical view of my mother country and the problems that it creates for itself. The point of this particular post is not to slag my country, though, but to point out our deficiencies on the international level.

We, as Canadians, consider ourselves among -- if not the -- most tolerant people in the world, accepting all races, religions and lifestyles in the world into our fold. This attitude has given us a special place on the world stage as a country that doesn't move to offend very quickly, and, generally speaking, gives us a good reputation to travel on. Tell anyone in China that you are 加拿大人, (Jianada ren, or a Canadian person) it is usually greeted with a smile and the obligatory 'do you know that 大山 (Da Shan, or China Central Television celebrity Mark Rowswell) is Canadian' reference. I truly do enjoy that fact. It gives me a sense of pride in my country, and makes me feel welcome as a visitor in this country. However, more and more I'm beginning to become disheartened with our official face in this country, and the way our anointed representatives treat our own.

Under the Liberal majority government a few years ago, Canada had a pretty good relationship with China. Trade was strong, and there were very few disputes (minus the Lai Changxing case) to speak of. However, once the conservatives took over, the relationship with China began to frost over. Increased attachment with the United States on policy issues and a general increase in the hawkishness of the Conservative elements of the Canadian government toward China has made things a bit more chilly. In the not-too-distant past, when Canada's minister of International Trade and the Minister and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, David Emerson, led a trade delegation to China, Mr. Emerson could not make himself available to do a 10 minute interview to China's main English language radio station. Instead, his Parliamentary Secretary was thrust upon me to chat about the relationship Canada and China possess, which, to be quite honest, was a pretty pathetic interview. But that is what I am not particularly bitter about. In this stage of the game, to be quite frank, Canadian politicians are pretty low players on the international level.

That said, this is not a rant about Canada's political attachment -- or lack thereof -- with China. This is meant more to be an assessment of Canada's bureaucratic system, which is represented in this country by it's embassy in Beijing. Since my arrival in Beijing, I have heard nothing but horror stories coming out from the embassy. I had generally dismissed them as random complaints by uptight Canucks who, if you rammed a piece of coal up their ass, in a couple of weeks, would crap you out a diamond. However, recent experiences and information have led me to rethink this previous conjecture.

Most recently I've had three Canadian friends get married to Chinese brides. Each and every one of them has danced on the head of a pin, never really knowing whether or not their individual brides were going to be able to travel to Canada. At first blush, you would suspect that the Chinese government might be the problem in this equation. However, it is the Canadian embassy that was cause for concern. One of my cohorts' wives was even rejected the first time, only to be accepted two weeks later! This, from a country that prides itself on being accepting of all, and will bend over backwards and take it up the tailpipe when it comes to refugees. On top of this, two of my friends have also done work for the Canadian embassy and their social functions. Both have described said parties as lackluster and -- in the words of one friend -- 'a pathetic f*&%ing joke.' Of course, this is all second hand information and, as such, would be wrong of me to write about in detail, as I could not correctly convey the particulars of every instance in a journalistic fashion. However, this past weekend your dear narrator had his first encounter with the embassy that confirmed the need to invoke a Susan Powter-like program inside the bowls of said 大使馆 (Dashiguan, or embassy in Chinese).

Canada's national sport is Lacrosse. Whatever. Saskatchewan's provincial flower is the Tiger Lily. That's all fine and good, but in reality, no one gives a tinkers damn about either! In Saskatchewan, the only thing that people really care about that grows from the ground is wheat, barley, oats and all the other crap that you can make a buck on. And in Canada, the only sport that really garners our attention is hockey! So when given the opportunity to actually take part in our glorious game (and yes, I am officially calling hockey 'ours') one can't help but jump at the chance. Being that it's summer, and the ice rinks in Beijing are way too damn far away (and I don't have my hockey equipment here), street hockey is the only available outlet for those of us in China who grew up wearing toques! As it happens, through the generosity of many a Canadian expat before us, we just happen to be endowed here in Beijing with a full regalia of street hockey gear, including sticks, nets and two full sets of goalie gear. Not a bad little collection if I do say so myself! And, up until this past weekend, the Canadian embassy was home to said gear, and would tuck it away in a storage shed inside the compound after each session. However, unbeknownst to us, this was all about to change. Through forces that are still unable to be understood, Canada's representation in China has since decided that it is too difficult a burden to store two bags of hockey gear to give their fellow Canadians a bit of a taste of home! The ridiculous nature of the arguments the guard gave were astounding. Apparently, the chief complaint is that the equipment takes up too much space in the maintenance locker. Perhaps the removal of the dozen or so discarded bicycles would be in order. Even the clean up and organization of Mao's people's preferred form of transportation would clear up more than enough room for the equipment for Canada's game. However, as the security guard put it when this theory was suggested to him -- quote -- 'This is China.' So, because 'This is China,' we Canadians are being distanced even further from the game we love, and, in my estimation, being distanced from the country we love as well.

The good news is that the equipment lives on in a different venue. The bad news is that my distain for the Canadian embassy lives on as well.

China's rural areas are falling behind; The economic boom in the cities isn't being heard in the countryside
Times Colonist (Victoria)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Page: D2
Section: Comment
Byline: Cam MacMurchy
Column: Cam MacMurchy
Source: Special to Times Colonist

My cab driver pulled up to Beijing West Railway Station around 4 p.m. I put my luggage through security and began looking around for a waiting lounge prior to my 4:30 departure to a city I had never even heard of. My ticket said Beijing to Gucheng, which is a small town in Hubei province in central China. It's also known as the middle of nowhere.

Gucheng is definitely remote, but my final destination would take me one step further. To get there, I would have to take a 40-minute van ride from Gucheng's train station to the even more remote village of Wushan.

We arrived in Gucheng the following day. I hauled my luggage down a couple of stairs and waited as the train pulled away. I crossed the rickety tracks and stepped over broken concrete before I walked through a deformed gate and out onto the street. The Gucheng train station doesn't even have an arrivals area. It was as though the train stopped by the street and passengers quickly piled into vans or walked away.

Wushan, unfortunately, is much too small for a hotel. The village has a little over 1,000 residents, most of whom survive on about $275 a year. Our sleeping quarters, shared with a small group of journalists from Beijing, would be in a government guesthouse.

Foreign media attention often focuses on the thriving nightlife and business opportunities in Shanghai, the glittering skyscrapers in Guangzhou or the political power being amassed in Beijing.

The transformation of China's east-coast cities is vast, and undoubtedly residents are enjoying drastic improvements in their living standards.

But despite these feel-good stories, the countryside is being left behind -- way behind.

We met with Communist party cadres in Wushan, who explained that though medical insurance for villagers is only $1.50 per year, even paying that fee could sometimes prove difficult for the poverty-ridden villagers. The insurance covers about 60 per cent of their medical expenses, meaning the rest of the money for treatment has to be paid by the patient.

It was explained to me that a simple operation could still consume a lifetime's savings. The irony of villagers being forced to pay exorbitant medical fees in a supposedly communist country didn't go unnoticed.

I walked through the beautiful streets of Wushan, flanked on all sides by lush greenery with a small stream going through the village centre. I stepped into a couple of rural homes, some which didn't even have four walls.

As the sun was setting I stuck my head into what seemed like a vacant house; inside a man was sitting on his couch in the dark. He didn't have any electricity and lived in a concrete room with a large door open to the elements. About 750 million people in China -- roughly 70 per cent of its population -- live in conditions like this, or close to them.

Fortunately, we weren't in Wushan just to observe peasant life. We were actually there for a good news story, one which we might hear a lot more about in the future.

The Beijing Green Cross (a Chinese non-governmental organization not affiliated with the international one), led by Sun Jun, went into Wushan about three years ago to turn the formerly dirty village into an environmentally friendly tourist spot. At the time, litter was strewn in the streams and garbage was everywhere.

"We have to learn to take care of our environment," said Sun. "We can not be a developed country if we don't take care of our surroundings." And somehow he has been able to convince the villagers to buy into it.

Wushan now has solar-powered street lights, new environmentally friendly irrigation systems and compost piles.

Villagers have been planting trees and divide their garbage into categories ready for recycling. A town square has been built, where we were treated to dance and musical performances by some of the children.

It has also taken one of its core industries -- 100-per-cent organic green tea -- and is using it to build the town's tea culture.

There is now a tea temple, and the tea ceremonies held there are becoming famous in the area. The result of all this, combined with the region's stunning landscape, has been more visitors and higher incomes for residents, not to mention a new-found pride in their village.

Our group stayed in a renovated government house that night. Although the village is now environmentally friendly, it remains very poor. We were fed the same food four meals in a row--- beans, tomato and egg soup, fatty pork, roast pumpkin, chicken soup and a few other dishes.

The sleeping arrangements were comfortable, although I spent most of my night swatting at flies and mosquitoes.

One of the biggest challenges facing China -- if not the biggest -- is improving the incomes and living conditions for rural residents. President Hu Jintao has been clear that narrowing the widening income gap between rural and urban workers is his priority. If he fails to do so, it could lead to further unrest and threaten the party's hold on power.

A quick trip to rural China shows that there is a long way to go. But through efforts like those of Sun Jun, there is reason for optimism.

Cam MacMurchy is a Victoria journalist working in China.

cam.macmurchy@gmail.com

Two items to pass along this afternoon.

I was surprised and a little bemused to see a notice going out in this week's That's Beijing weekly newsletter.  Under the June 22 events column, I found this:

» Quebec National Day
Come celebrate Quebec's National Day with The Bookworm. RMB 120 includes buffet and three drinks (free for kids under 12). For tickets, contact Denise at 139 1011 9354.
6pm. The Bookworm (6586 9507)

Yes, I know this is a private event.  And as a Canadian, I don't much care if there are Quebec Nationalist events in China, Canada, or anywhere else (we are much more secure about these things).  But I still found the event humerous, considering China's track record with others who give the slightest hint of dealing with or referring to Taiwan as a nation.  

Obviously the Bookworm is a private business, and is not a reflection of the government.  But the next time some private group/company/organization decides to Honor the Dalai Lama or Chen Shui-bian or whatever or whomever else, we should remember this event in the heart of Beijing. (I am tempted to say this event "hurts the feelings of the Canadian people.")

And for a laugh, well, if you're not Peruvian, check out this story.  It appears Cameron Diaz has landed in hot water for wearing one of those Mao bags emblazoned with the red star that we see in all the tourist markets in China.

While the bags are marketed as trendy fashion accessories in some world capitals, the phrase has particular resonance in Peru.

The Maoist Shining Path insurgency took Peru to the edge of chaos in the 1980s and early 1990s with a campaign of massacres, assassinations and bombings.

Nearly 70,000 people were killed during the insurgency.

A prominent Peruvian human rights activist said the star of There's Something About Mary should have been a little more aware of local sensitivities when picking her accessories.

I'm wondering, now that superstar Cameron Diaz has been spotted sporting the Mao bag, if I should buy a bunch of these and begin peddling them on eBay. 

Just a quick update this morning, as I rush around trying to pick up luggage from Shanghai.

• I went to the small village of Wushan, Hubei Province last week.  The village has turned itself into an eco-village led by the Beijing Green Cross. The transformation in the village has been astounding (I saw the "before" and "after" photos) and I will write at length about it shortly.  New irrigation systems have been put into place, the villagers now sort their garbage and recycle, and all the street lights are solar-powered. The village has been so successful that the program is being expanded into four new villages.
• I did another radio interview this morning on CKNW AM 980 in Vancouver, and broadcast around British Columbia on the Corus Radio Network.  It was a wide-ranging interview with more focus on June 4 (which, as I said earlier, seems to be a pre-occupation among journalists in western countries). It was nearly 30 minutes in length and even included some critical callers.  You can find the interview here, shortly after the newscast at the top of the hour.
• Courtesy of the China Law Blog comes this article in the Seattle Times about the delicious Chinese food in Vancouver.  As my hometown is Vancouver, I couldn't be more proud of the variety of cuisine there, Chinese and otherwise.
  
• And finally, imagine Rosie O'Donnell as host of the Price is Right.
  

A huge hat-tip to Danwei for this article on a controversy in Salt Lake City. As I was reading through it, I couldn't believe this wasn't a satire of some kind. There are so many angles to this story.

The premise is this: Real Salt Lake hosted China in a football friendly at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Considering the game was in the United States, it could be expected that the fans cheered for the home team, and they didn't disappoint. That wasn't the problem -- the problem was the taunts given to the Chinese side. Did they hurl racial epithets? Make faces with squinty eyes? No. Their crime was to wave the flags of Tibet and Taiwan.

Coker said he and several others, including five Tibetan men, were escorted out of the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium by about 10 officials, including stadium personnel and Real Salt Lake representatives, because they had been waving Tibetan flags and had refused to put them away when the officials told them to do so.

The controversy began shortly after halftime, when Chinese players complained about fans displaying Taiwanese and Tibetan flags and a sign that said "6-4," written in Chinese. That sign referred to June 4, 1989, the date of the Chinese government's attack on protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Members of the Chinese National Team stepped off the field and refused to continue playing unless the flags were put away.

Now, clearly waving the Tibet and Taiwan flags would not be appreciated by the Chinese players. Although I'm sure chants of Osama in Mexico City a few years ago didn't impress the American side, either. Unlike Tibet and Taiwan, 9/11 happened only a few years ago and left a deep scar on the American psyche.  It has directly lead to two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thousands of Americans are dying overseas. Many people lost loved ones in Washington, Pennsylvania, and New York that day.  I would argue most Americans have been personally touched by 9/11 in some way, whether they lost someone in the attacks, lost a family member or friend in the wars, or has seen someone head off to Iraq or Afghanistan. As such, I would argue that the wounds from 9/11 go much deeper to today's generation of Americans than the plight of Tibet does to today's generation of Chinese.

Despite this, fans in Mexico city chanted "Osama! Osama!" to throw off the American players and score political points. One American player summed up his experience in the game this way.

"Since Mexico won convincingly, every fan walked out cheering," U.S. goalkeeper D.J. Countess said Wednesday after training. "I've been hit with bags of urine, limes and batteries. There even was a dead chicken thrown on the field next to me in El Salvador, but since Mexico got the result they wanted, there wasn't much of that.

"I'm sure if we would have won the game, there would have been a lot of stuff thrown at us and a lot of chants."

Dead chickens? Being pelted with batteries? The Americans played through it regardless, even though there were threats against their personal safety. The Chinese can't bear seeing a flag they consider offensive. Draw your own conclusions.

Sports is about having fun, and generally shouldn't be political. That being said, fans will be fans. I'm a big Vancouver Canucks fan, and their playoff drive this spring saw them go through the Dallas Stars and struggling goaltender Marty Turco. Game in and game out, fans chanted "Turco Sucks!" I couldn't image how hearing 18,000 fans, chanting in unison that you suck, could make a player feel. Nonetheless, he played his heart out, was terrific, and was arguably Dallas' best player in the series. In other words, he was mature about it.

I don't totally object to taking things to a political level either, as long as it's done with respect. No burning flags, no burning effigies, no racial epithets. Waving a Tibet flag, while it carries inferences of "Tibetan Independence" does not necessarily mean so. It's a fairly benign way to make a point. Likewise with Taiwan, which has a flag that is flown in Olympic ceremonies and in places all over the world. Perhaps references to 6-4 were a little over the top, but I still err on the side of free speech. At the end of the day, the game was in America, and if you can't make political points there without fear of repercussion, where can you?

I can understand why the government and players objected to having these banners and flags flown while they played. Just like I understand why goalkeeper D.J. Countess didn't like being pelted with batteries, or why Marty Turco didn't like being told repeatedly he sucked. But I can't help but think that this is life, and this is sports -- grow up, and get over it. I'm still waiting for an official Chinese government spokesperson to say that the flags "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people", a phrase that turns supposedly thinking, mature adults into defenseless children. It's a sorry state of affairs when the world's apparent future superpower won't even play football because it's offended by some piddly flags.

Regardless of the political implications, many fans admitted they were just trying to throw the team off.

Fitzgerald said the fans who were ejected weren't really interested in protesting China's politics and instead just wanted to harass and disrupt the Chinese team. He said other fans have frequently complained about those particular fans' use of profanity and sexually explicit language and props during previous games.

Again, trying to distract the opposition is perfectly normal. Just watch an opposing player try and throw a free throw in the NBA.

Despite Fitzgerald's reasons for being there, others were definitely trying to make a political point, and feel their rights were infringed upon -- and rightly so.

Coker admits that he displayed the flag partly to distract and annoy the visiting team, but he said it was mostly a "form of expression about the plight of the people of Tibet."

"I'm going to be contacting the ACLU, and I'm going to pursue it," he said. "I want to hold people accountable if they broke the law, because I know I didn't."

Ironically, the flags flown by Tibetans, Taiwanese, and other concerned Americans was nearly a direct result of China's control of information within the P.R.C. When people can't make these points directly to the Chinese government, they spill out in sporting events and other activities. If China was to allow free debate and discussion on things like Tibet and Taiwan, or engage with those critical of it, perhaps there would be no need to use this kind of an event to score political points. I highly doubt people would be carrying banners saying "6-4" if the Chinese government had already given a full vetting of the event.

At some point the Chinese government and people will have to come to terms with its sometimes brutal and controversial past.  The longer things like June 4th are ignored, the more they will crop up in events like this.  Keeping the people shielded from opinions and events that might be uncomfortable may work inside the P.R.C. for the time being, but it will spill out in other places, like this week's football match. And it's going to spill out a lot more frequently in the years to come.

This also boils down to the players, management, and owners of China's football team.  Were they really so offended that they couldn't play?  Was seeing a Tibetan flag so offensive and utterly disgusting that they were prepared to walk off the field?  Is this the mindset of the Chinese people?  And if so, the rest of the world is scared about what, exactly? 

__________________ 

Notes:

• Video from the game, including shots of the forbidden flags, can be found here.
  
• A fan, who was at the game and waved an ROC flag, blogged about his experience getting kicked out of the stadium here.
  

This is a letter that was published in Wednesday's edition of the National Post.  It is a follow-up of a column that was published on Monday to coincide with the June 4th anniversary.  I think the letter writer raises some good points.

Tiananmen no concern of a 'capitalistic' China
National Post
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Page: A15
Section: Letters
Byline: Petros Dratsidis
Source: National Post

Re: Chinese amnesia, Cam MacMurchy, June 4.

With all due respect to Cam MacMurchy, the so-called Tiananmen Square Massacre is not a major anniversary in Chinese history. We are talking about a nation with a 5,000-year history, a nation whose population is one-fifth of humanity, an emerging and ambitious superpower. What happened in early June, 1989, in Beijing is merely an episode in history caused by misguided and impressionable students, an episode equivalent to the 1968 riots in Paris or the student unrest in North American universities between 1968 and 1972, but far smaller in scale.

Talk about amnesias: Should the French commemorate the anarchy on their streets some 40 years ago? Should the U.S. president lay a wreath every May 4 to commemorate the killing of the four students at Kent State University in 1970?

I have just returned from China, and I can assure you that the epithet "communist" does not fit China today. There are no pictures of Mao glancing admonishingly from billboards -- except the one overlooking Tiananmen Square, where his mausoleum is. The police on the streets are almost invisible, and owning private property is encouraged, as is opening a private business. Western music is everywhere, Shanghai's stock market is booming and China is full of "capitalistic" energy, in fact, too much of it.

If we must give a name to the Chinese system of government, then a correct name would be centralized democracy. Foreign investment agrees with this assessment, and is pouring into China at rates never seen before in history.

David Brady, deputy director of the Hoover Institute of Stanford University, recently said: "The normal pattern is for at least two parties to alternate in power … but I wouldn't say that has to be China's way. I am not smart enough to tell what China should do."

The same should apply to Mr. MacMurchy. Is he, a freelance journalist, knowledgeable enough to tell the Chinese people how to conduct their affairs?

Petros Dratsidis, Toronto.

Petros makes some good points about other movements that have been crushed by the government or law enforcement officials, especially the one at Kent State in the United States (although that was 4 people to an estimated 3,000 in Beijing).

Governments, including the Chinese one, should never feel obligated to remember those who died challenging their authority. However individuals -- the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins of the victims -- should be able to remember what happened, publicly, if they so choose. 

People in Paris can read about the riots of 1968, and lay a wreath if they like.  People in America can read about what happened at Kent State or watch a documentary on the subject.

Unfortunately, when it comes to June 4, 1989, people in China aren't so lucky. 

Huang's funeral was held at Babaoshan Cemetary, where all the major government leaders and revolutionaries are buried.  Even disgraced former leader Zhao Ziyang was buried there, despite his opposition to the government's crackdown on June 4, 1989 and subsequent house arrest, which lasted untl his death in January 2005.

Jiang Zemin and his ailing wife made it up from Shanghai and all the way out to Shijingshan for the memorial, which makes it all the more curious that Li Peng and Qiao Shi weren't there - as Beijing residents, they didn't have nearly as far to go.

Those familiar with Li Peng will know he was the Premier under Zhao Ziyang in 1989. He was the most vocal and supportive of bringing in the military to rid Tiananmen Square of protesters. Students in the square (and people around the country) loathed Li Peng for everything from corruption to overusing government vehicles and stopping traffic for simple trips to the grocery store (Zhongnanhai hears this may have also been his wife). 

Li Peng was no fan of Huang Ju, and speculation has run rampant for the reasons behind this.

As for Qiao Shi, he served as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1993-1998.  He was previously known for his dislike of Jiang Zemin, and Huang Ju was a Jiang loyalist and member of his Shanghai clique. 

They were the only two high-level officials or former leaders who were not present for the memorial. 

It's been a big week here.  Besides moving from Shanghai to Beijing (and I am still seeking suitable living quarters in Beijing), trying to blog, Huang Ju's death, and the passing of the June 4th anniversary, lots has been happening.

Fortunately one of my columns this week was picked up by Canada's Toronto-based national newspaper, the National Post.  I was subsequently called to be a guest on Adler Online, a nationally-syndicated radio program. Yes, despite everything that's going on in China, the Tiananmen Square crackdown (or massacre, if you prefer -- see Imagethief for an excellent post on this) remains one of the most compelling stories for foreign audiences.

I hope to post the audio from the interview here shortly, but for the time being you can find it here.  Click "Mon June 4" and "2:00pm" and then fast forward to about 2:45. They have a nice intro complete with broadcast news snippets from June 4, 1989.

The article I've posted below, and my radio interview, largely deals with the lack of attention (obviously) paid to the June 4 anniversary.  It's remembered by those who lived in Beijing, and discussed by the older generation in the provinces.  But thanks to strong and centrally-controlled media, many in the younger generation have no idea what happend.  Here is proof. 

In the meantime, I have posted the National Post column below.

------------ 

Chinese amnesia; Today is the 18th anniversary of Tiananmen. But few in China know --or care
National Post
Monday, June 4, 2007
Page: A12
Section: Editorials
Byline: Cam MacMurchy
Dateline: BEIJING
Source: National Post

BEIJING - Today is a major anniversary in Chinese history -- but you wouldn't know it from the country's media. In fact, China's Communist rulers go to great pains to make sure no one publicly mentions what June 4, 2007 represents: the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

At least that's what the West calls the event. In China, it's simply known as "June 4th." On the 15th anniversary, in 2004, a large sign on the front door of state-run China Radio International informed staff not to mention the date, and all programs were pre-recorded for the entire week lest anybody slip-up.

The seeds of the massacre were sown when the Communist Party declared martial law on May 20, 1989, after a month of protests and hunger strikes by hundreds of thousands of students calling for improved economic conditions, a crackdown on corruption and democracy. The tanks rolled into the outskirts of Beijing, where they sat until June 3, when then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping gave the orders to clear the Square "at all cost." The tanks began heading through the streets of the capital after sunset.

What happened that night is hard for me to imagine, though I've lived in Beijing for nearly two years. Tanks rumbled through neighbourhoods such as Muxidi, which I used to pass daily on my way to work, and Dongzhimen, where many of the city's best eateries are located. The troops met fierce resistance, as citizens clamoured onto overpasses and hurled rocks at their countrymen. The army responded by firing into the crowd, and even into people's homes.

That night, the city burned. Estimates of the number of people who died vary from a few hundred to several thousand. No clear number has ever emerged, partly because the Communist Party still denies what happened. To this day, the event, in official terms, is dubbed: "The counterrevolutionary riot."

I went down to the square late at night on June 3 a few years ago to mark the anniversary. The lights that normally lit the revolutionary statue and Mao's famous portrait were turned off, and the middle of the square was closed. It was crawling with plain-clothes police, some of whom were flying kites -- in the dead of night. Police cars with lights flashing were doing laps around the square, looking for the first sign of anything suspicious, such as somebody laying flowers to remember those who died.

This campaign of official amnesia is working: Many in the younger generation have no idea what happened 18 years ago. I had a local friend visit me the other day, a woman who was seven years old in 1989. I asked her about the event, and she said, "Nobody ever told me what happened. I just know it was bad."

I brought her to the computer, clicked on Google and searched for images of "Tiananmen Square." Dozens of photos popped up -- including images of that famous unnamed man, standing defiantly along Chang'an Avenue in front of a tank. She had never seen the photo.

I proceeded to give her a brief description of what happened. She had no idea of the carnage in her own hometown.

The event is slowly being forgotten in China as people clamour to make money, live in luxurious apartments, and buy BMWs and Prada handbags. The Communist Party opened fire on its own young, and the bloody offensive seems to have paid off.

Even foreign governments, which initially imposed sanctions on China following the massacre, long ago moved on. They now trip over themselves to please China's Communist emperors and tap into the country's massive market.

An English-language Web forum was launched two years ago in China. Surprisingly, it allows a great deal of free debate. Included among the permitted topics is Tibetan Independence, the status of Taiwan and relations with Japan --all hot-button issues in China. But discussing June 4 remains forbidden.

Despite this, ghosts of the event still haunt the country and foreign news pages. Yu Dongyue, now 40, was released in February last year after spending 17 years in prison for throwing ink at Mao's looming portrait during the protest. He was tortured for his crime, and his father said he's unable to properly communicate with his family.

And leading up to last year's anniversary, a group of mothers of Tiananmen Square victims again asked the government to review its official position on June 4 and remember those who died. The mothers, and the rest of the world, may be waiting a long time for satisfaction.

Yes... it could be true!  Zhongnanhai has confirmed this morning that all state-run media have been instructed to refrain from giving Huang's cause of death, which is widely believed to be cancer.

The concern stems from recent stories about China sending shipments of tainted toothpaste overseas. The toothpaste contained a chemical widely believed to cause cancer.  And... just what if... Huang Ju had been using that kind of toothpaste?  What if using tainted toothpaste killed Huang Ju?  The story was too sensational for China's Propaganda Department, which issued an edict ordering newspapers, radio and TV stations to refrain from giving Huang Ju's cause of death. 

One can never be too careful. 

Now, it's one thing if the hated Japanese and their former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi make visits to the infamous Yasukuni Shrine.  The disgust with the Japanese runs deep here, and Koizumi's decision to attend the shrine each year he was in office just confirmed Chinese beliefs that Japan, and its ruling Liberal Democratic Party, had not "come to terms with history."

But now this... former Taiwan President Lee Tung-hui plans to visit the shrine to pay respects to Japan's war dead.  Why, you ask?  According to an article in the Taipei Times, he will be honoring his brother. 

Former president Lee Teng-hui yesterday said he would like to visit the Yasukuni shrine, a controversial memorial to war dead where his elder brother is enshrined.

Lee's elder brother served in the Japanese navy and died while on duty in February 1945 in the Philippines.

"I have not yet decided on the timing, but since I am here, I think that I should go see my brother," Lee told reporters on his arrival at Narita airport near Tokyo.

"I will meet my brother for the first time in 60 years," Lee said.

Lee, accompanied by his wife Tseng Wen-hui, left for Japan yesterday for a 10-day visit.

Speaking to Japanese reporters on the flight from Taipei, the 84-year-old former leader said he wanted to pray at the Yasukuni shrine because he did not know how much longer he would live.

The issue has touched a nerve in Taiwan, and rightly so.  Last year I made a visit to Yaskuni myself.  It's a very sombre place, and steeped in history. Adjacent to the shrine is the Yasukuni War Museum, which I also visited.  Outside the building it lists the different exhibits inside.  For example, "World War II", "The Meiji Restoration", etc.  And at the bottom of the list is the last exhibit, simply titled "The China Incident."

Inside, great pains are made by the museum to explain that Japan was never at war with China, because Tokyo had never "declared" war.  Thus, the word "incident".  After reading Iris Chang's excellent book on the Nanjing Massacre, I was anxious to read what the museum had to say.  Indeed, it was simply called the "Nanking Incident". This is the exact wording:

After the Japanese surrounded Nanking in December 1937, Gen. Matsui Iwane distributed maps to his men with foreign settlements and the Safety Zone marked in red ink. Matsui told them that they were to observe military rules to the letter and that anyone committing unlawful acts would be severely punished.  He also warned Chinese troops to surrender, but Commander-in-Chief Tang Shengzhi ignored the warning.  Instead, he ordered his men to defend Nanking to the death, and then abandoned them.  The Chinese were soundly defeated, suffering heavy casualties.  Inside the city, residents were once again able to live their lives in peace.

I added the Italics. If that's not enough, here is the official Japanese take on "the Russo-Japanese War to the Manchurian Incident".

Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent annexation of Korea resolved concerns about national security, which had been festering for years. Relief and exultation delayed the Japanese response to a new world situation. When World War I began, Japan cooperated with the Allies, capturing German possessions (Qingdao and the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands), and dispatching a special fleet to the Mediterranean Sea and other troops to Siberia. Meanwhile, at the Washington Conference in the U.S., plans were made to disrupt the new, postwar order in Asia and to prevent further Japanese expansion. The Chinese, now nationalistic and xenophobic after the revolution, focused their animosity on Japan.  An anti-Japanese movement in Manchuria and discord within the Kwantung Army resulted in the Manchurian Incident and the establishment of Manchukuo.

The exhibit goes on to say that Manchukuo is territory that is "currently governed by the Chinese."

Clearly, this is the way that the Japanese military establishment views its past, and on that note I sympathize with the Chinese.  Anyone that knows me knows I love Japan and Japanese culture.  Japan, and what the country has been able to accomplish in the past 60 years, sets a great example for other countries, like China.  Japan is industrious, the people are hard-working, and it has been able to pull off something perhaps China is failing at: holding onto old traditions while embracing western culture and modernity (which are not the same, I hasten to add).

Nonetheless, places like the Yasukuni Museum puts a taint on Japan. I have no problem with Japanese leaders remembering their war dead, but enshrining class A war criminals goes too far. 

Back to Lee Tung-hui. His visit is being criticized by lawmakers in his former party, the KMT. This, from a second article in the Taipei Times:

KMT lawmakers Hung Hsiu-chu and Joanna Lei called a press conference yesterday morning to condemn Lee's planned visit, calling Lee a "liar" for saying he wished to honor his deceased brother.

They said the spirit of Lee's elder brother had been brought back to Taiwan about 20 years ago and put in Chihua Temple, Peipu Township, Hsinchu County.

They showed a picture of a tablet bearing the Japanese name of Lee's brother, his date of birth and pointed to the name of Lee's father, Lee Ching-long, as evidence.

"There is no tablet, remains or any spirit of his brother at Yasukuni. There is only an enshrinement list there. The spirits of [Taiwanese] soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni were all relocated to the Chihua temple. I don't know what Lee is going to honor." Hung said.

Hung said she suspected that Lee's planned visit to the shrine was aimed at infuriating China.

I would guess the two lawmakers are correct.  As much as I support the right of the Taiwanese to determine their own future, actions like Lee's can only be seen to enrage China, and he has a long history of such actions. Hopefully Chinese leaders will ignore Lee's provocative move.

It started off as a simple YouTube video, and now it's even on the front page of the Drudge Report, which has a link to it's frequently-used news service Breitbart.

The video has struck a chord with many people in China, and if you haven't watched the video yet you can do it here, or watch one with English subtitles here.

In brief, the video shows several students from Beijing's Haidian District Art Vocational School abusing their 70-year old teacher. Excellent summaries of what happened can be found on EastSouthWestNorth and in the Jiefang Daily (hat-tip to Shanghaiist). I would get into the details here, but the case is already fairly well-known in China. I also blogged about it a couple of days ago. But I thought I would post an interesting email from my Chinese girlfriend, who works for the Beijing Youth Daily and is a born-and-bred Beijinger:

I don't like the beijing boy title of the video. Not all Beijing boys are like that.

There are some updates about this story in beijing media.

There are lots of internet users are so pissed off after watching the video. Yesterday, a few people went to the school to show their anger. There is a culture thing. In china, we have a tradition that all the teachers should be respected, like fathers should be respected in a family. In  the old times, when there were no public schools, only rich people can afford to have a tutuor. The tutor is like the student's father. Students have to take care of the teacher for his whole life. The student has to pour the urina pot and wash feet for his teachers.

So such a thing caused a lots of discussion about the value systems of young people in china.

The teacher is 70 years old, when he interviewed by reporters, he said, "they are all young people, I think it is sort of my fault that I
didn't teach them well."

I really disappointed by what they did. I think the whole Chinese society went crazy, Chinese people's value system has been distorted.
Is this because of the reforming of the society? Now in China, the only thing that matters is money. Being a successful business man is
a dream for more and more young people. The media does contribute lots to it. See all the TV shows. Teachers, researchers are not any
more a respected profession. Because they are not rich! If this thought can not be changed, there will be more and more beijing boys!
When money and social stutas become the priority of all the things in a society, I can not see any hope in the country.