Below are couple of shots taken at Lake Tahoe where I vacationed this past week. Generally, I was impressed with how environmentally conscience American society has become, and the pristine waters and clean beaches at the lake reminded me of that. Recycling is in full force. I recall back in the 80’s, recycling was still not a daily vocabulary. It is today. Read more…
As the new year approaches, we should take some time to reflect that 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the Sino-Indian war of 1962. The war has shaped and will continue to shape the attitudes of people towards each other from two global nuclear (presently or soon to be) superpowers.
The war was not only interesting in itself but interesting in how current powers in the west and India have viewed it since. Tens if not hundreds of millions of Indians today continue to believe that China is blameworthy for it. They imbibe their media’s version of the events and the versions fed to them from their politicians past and present. Since India is an ally of the US, an important strategic partner in “containing” China, criticisms of India’s policies are often muted or events described to give India a favorable light and China is treated with the opposite response. Read more…
In an earlier comment I talked about the importance of “国家,” and having just watched this music video by Jacky Chan (成龙) in duet with MEI He (美和) paying homage to that same idea made my day. Without a strong enough country, there is no freedom.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out the blueprint for U.S. foreign policy in pursuit of “Internet Freedom” around the world. As I stated in a prior post, I believed this is a way to ensure U.S. government can support political oppositions in countries around the world and to lend them a voice with propaganda on the Internet. Glenn Greenwald recently labeled U.S. hypocrisy on Internet Freedom “egregious and shameless,” while responding to Secretary Clinton’s December 8, 2011 speech at The Hague. Read more…
I was invited to Jun Lu Performing Arts as a guest photographer for their year-end performance at Santa Clara University’s Mayer Theatre this past Sunday. It was titled, “龙的传人.” Jun Lu is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Her dancers brought cheers and thunderous applause from the audience. The theatre house manager at the end of the show commented this was the best dance show he has seen performed at Mayer. I’ll just say – I was dazzled. I kept wanting to put down my camera so I could take it all in! Read more…
Around 2:15pm this afternoon, a ‘human rights’ protester fired a number of shots at the Chinese Consulate aiming for a security guard, according the the AP. Below is a brief AP report relayed on the Huffington Post:
“Shots fired at Chinese Consulate in LA, 1 arrested”
December 16, 2011 12:31 AM EST |
LOS ANGELES — Police said they have arrested a man in relation to a Thursday afternoon shooting outside the Chinese Consulate building in downtown Los Angeles. Read more…
Today marks the 74th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, where Japanese soldiers went on a rampage of rape and murder, targeting women and children alike, killing more than 300,000 Chinese during the brief few weeks when they took over Nanjing, then capital city of the nationalist government. The issue that is perhaps the most contentious between Japan and China is Japanese history text books largely having this tragedy swept under the carpet; vastly toned down without admission of guilt or completely ignored altogether. The Japanese impasse with the rest of her Asian neighbors is similarly over prevailing Japanese unrepentant attitudes towards her colonial past. Germany’s attitude and actions towards their WW2 past offer a big contrast. Read more…
The following analysis came via William Hooper at the Oligarch. Much of it resonates with me. It is in response to the latest politics between the U.K. and the European mainland where U.K. is decidedly against Germany’s and France’s efforts in dealing with the Euro financial crisis. Hooper’s characterization, eloquently, of U.K.’s latest actions is apt too, in my opinion, of the prevailing mindset in the U.S. mass media towards everyone else:
Once someone seriously looses sight of everything except their own self interest, they become a “wild beast” held in check only by “fear of punishment” not “shame”.
(Below is an editorial by blogger 龙信明 countering an article published in the New York Times by Minxin Pei, who is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California. Indeed, why would Americans subject their college-age child to such aptitude? Or, rather, ineptitude. DeWang)
Great Party, but Where’s the Communism?
Minxin Pei Proves that Freedom of Opinion is a Bad Thing
It is puzzling that apparently well-staffed Western media with an otherwise high standard of reporting, will seemingly ignore those same standards for the sake of what appears to be cheap propaganda.
Many articles on China contain no little or no news value but appear intended primarily to criticise, mock, ridicule, demonise and disparage, a country that hasn’t actually done anything to anybody. Read more…
On China by a law professor teaching in Shanghai. The article is about the legal systems in the US compared with China’s and how people’s views on law and social justice are both similar and different. Reasoned criticisms of each other’s legal systems can be beneficial for both societies but they would need to get off on a ground of mutual respect and understanding. It’s too often that the criticisms from the west (especially, IMO) are based not on legitimate reasoned criticisms but on misunderstandings, prejudices, and ulterior motives. The author illustrates that many of the same issues are hotly debated in Chinese society as well as in American society such as capital punishment and that Chinese views may be important to shed light to the debates. Crude characterizations often make real reasoned criticisms much more difficult. Read more…
I plan to blog about this general issue sometime soon. Right now however, I just can’t help commenting on just two points for the time being, particularly because many westerners have humongous misconceptions about these issues. Almost every article on the topic contains at least a reference to these two fallacious points.
Maybe we’re seeing what has played out numerous times in the history, the decline of once a great power: the institutions are still the same but the structure is slowly crumbling. The best hope is the potential of losing the #1 position will give the nation a kick that it needs. Or an existential threat may do the trick. However, if that still doesn’t work, it will be the test of the strength of the civilization and the core narratives. Historically, not many have survived that test… (JXie)
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