Fool’s Mountain: Blogging for China

Written by Tang Buxi - May 6th, 2008

The LA Times follows in the footsteps of the New York Times in publishing an article discussing Chinese nationalism. See the LA Times article here , and previous NY Times editorial here.

These articles do insert some much-needed balance into the Western understanding of Chinese nationalism. The LA Times article is especially notable for offering a view that most Chinese would agree is mostly balanced. However, even in the excellent LA Times article, it seems the journalist buys into a persistent Western myth.

Myth: Chinese nationalism was recently created by the Communist Party.

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Written by Tang Buxi - May 5th, 2008

There were (at least) two significant protests on Sunday. Both involved Chinese people, and both were significant and interesting in their own ways. That’s where the similarities end.

If you get your news primarily from the New York Times and other Western media, here’s what you saw, and here’s what you missed.

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Written by Tang Buxi - May 5th, 2008

Over the past 4 weeks, we’ve seen the Chinese community world-wide rise up in protest. In the face of widespread criticism from the West, various segments of the community (including recently arrived students, fourth-generation Chinese immigrants, and even some “old generals” from the 1989 Tiananmen protests) have come together to fiercely and proudly reassert our Chinese identity. It was no small step; for the vast majority of us, this represented the first time we’ve ever waved the Chinese national flag, or participated in a political ‘movement’ of any kind.

I think it’s safe to assume that none of the critics of China wanted (or expected) this reaction from the Chinese public at large. So, what happened? Where did they miscalculate?

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Zon is a flash based interactive multiplayer online game for learning Chinese and Chinese culture. The project is co-sponsored by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International and Michigan State University. The game itself is still in early beta, but any efforts that makes learning fun is worthy to be applauded.

You can find the game play guide here.