Zigong inquired, “What if everyone in a village despises a person?” The Master said, “It's not enough. It would be better if the best villagers love and the worst despise, this person.” -Analects 13:24 There's no one more emblematic of Chinese wisdom than the ancient Chinese sage, Confucius (Kong Zi). His legacy as a philosopher in Chinese history is … [Read more...] about Defaming Confucius
Analysis
The Economist’s Anti-China Stance on Diaoyu Islands
The following tweet by Gady Epstein, a correspondent for the Economist based in Beijing, is not surprising. The way I read it, he seemed dissatisfied that China and Japan haven't yet escalated their tension into war. Yes, this is that same trash magazine that had a sort of mea culpa not too long ago for their role in justifying British imperialism against the Chinese. … [Read more...] about The Economist’s Anti-China Stance on Diaoyu Islands
Rethinking the Freedom-Innovation Nexus
A lot has been discussed on this blog recently with regards to censorship, most of the discourse so far have revolved around the justice and standards of censorship. I want to take a different but related direction, and discuss yet another myth propagated by the democracy/freedom advocates - the notion that "free" societies are always more innovative than their "non-free" … [Read more...] about Rethinking the Freedom-Innovation Nexus
The Euphemism of Freedom – Case Study on Google in the Aftermath of Benghazi
Whenever a for-profit - or even non-profit - organization professes to do good, to be a society's guardian - as Google has - I feel queasy. It's not that I think Google (or more generally corporations, NGOs, charities, even churches) is inherently evil. It's just that no non-government entity owes society at large a fiduciary duty per se, as governments do. Take as a case … [Read more...] about The Euphemism of Freedom – Case Study on Google in the Aftermath of Benghazi
On Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China
Recently a TED video featuring Michael Anti on China's censorship seems to be making the rounds. I think Anti does bring some unique insights to the English speaking audience about China that we don't generally see in Western media; hence I am providing his video below. However, I think Anti can also be a stubborn ideologue who insist on viewing the world through ideological … [Read more...] about On Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China