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Oct 13

Translation: What Travesty does the Award of the Nobel to Liu Xiao Bo Reveal?

Written by: Allen | Filed under:Analysis, General, human rights, Letters, Opinion, politics | Tags:,
21 Comments » newest

Here is a translation of an op-ed from a Chinese blog about Liu’s Nobel that we at FM found interesting.

So here goes the news again: Public Enemy Number One in China, Liu Xiao Bo, has been awarded the Nobel Prize!  Not sure where that infamous title of Liu came from.  But this latest Nobel prize must be giving people in the U.S. quite a laugh.

The award of a Nobel to Liu is certainly controversial. Allegedly, the Nobel committee itself was internally divided. But given Liu’s high profile conviction last year, this decision is not totally unexpected. I originally did not plan to write about Liu. However, given the renewed and widespread interest of Liu’s Nobel, I have decided to wade in my thoughts. Here is a translation of what a typical report in the West is like. Continue reading »

Mar 13

minipost-Great wall vital for people’s rights

Written by: guest | Filed under:-mini-posts, Letters, Opinion, politics | 7 Comments » newest

(Bi Yantao’s Note: Mr. Yu Jianrong is an outspoken Chinese scholar, whom I highly appreciate. Last December I published a commentary to pay support for him when he received criticism from certain governmental officials. On March 11, 2010, People’s Daily published Mr. Yu’s essay entitled “Great wall vital for people’s rights”, which surprises me a bit considering the governmental nature of the paper. To a great degree, the publication of such a critical article in such a governmental newspaper signals the vitality and hope of China, which many China watchers have failed to capture.)

By Yu Jianrong

Social unrest and mass protests can be prevented if the abuse of power is checked and antiquated rules are appraised.
Continue reading »

Mar 10

Letter from a Chinese netizen to US President Barack Obama

Written by: guest | Filed under:Letters, Opinion | 157 Comments » newest

(Bi Yantao’s Note: Massive thanks to Dr. Sheng-Wei Wang, President of China-U.S. Friendship Exchange, Inc., for guiding me to this letter. In fact, this is the second letter I have came across from Chinese citizens to US President Barack Obama on US’s arms sale to Taiwan. Another letter is written by Mr. Tian Zhongguo, a Chinese veteran. I will not feel surprised if some Western people brush aside this letter by asserting it is masterminded by the Chinese authorities. )

Dear Mr. President,

I’ve heard that you care for the voices of web users. I’ve also noticed that you requested a direct dialogue with web users to answer their questions and concerns during your visit to China last November. Your attention to web users has encouraged me to write to you. I am an ordinary web user from China. What I want to talk to you about is the US’ arms sale to Taiwan, which has raised a heated discussion on the Internet in China. I sincerely hope this letter reaches you, and that you would be able to hear the voice of an ordinary Chinese web user and his wishes for reunification and peace and his nation.
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Jul 29

Letter: China?

Written by: guest | Filed under:-guest-posts, Letters | Tags:
 15 Comments » newest

Hello to Fool’s Mountain:Blogging for China. I have been watching the furor over the global economy for the past 8 months as a past time, being unemployed union carpenter since thanksgiving of ’08. Much has been made of the “cause of this global crisis’ mostly revolving around mindspeak from the economic community on Wallstreet. Television reports assure us daily that everything will soon be corrected and America will continue to lead the world down the primrose lane towards happy ever after, or something akin to this.

Continue reading »

Jul 13

Translation: Letter from Xinjiang – Reflections on the Xinjiang Problem

Written by: may | Filed under:Analysis, General, Letters | Tags:, , ,
118 Comments » newest

The letter was written to Mr. Ruan Yunfei 冉云飞, a well-known Chinese writer and blogger, by someone from a very small minority group in Xinjiang after the Urumqi Incident. It provides a unique perspective into the ethnic relations in the region. It is unique because the author is neither Han nor Uighur and the voice from smaller minority groups in Xinjiang is seldom heard. The author expresses her views with extraordinary candidacy and courage.

I thank Mr. Ran for helping me contact the author. I am very grateful to the author who gave me permission to translate the letter and publish it on the Fool’s Mountain. She also worked with me patiently in the past few days to clarify many points in the letter. Our communication is reflected in the translation and the notes at the end of the letter.

The author wants the readers to know that the information she provided in her letter about the policies and conditions of ethnic minority eduction reflects her experience in a particular university and at a particular time (early 2000) in Xinjiang. The author does not claim to know situations in every universities in Xinjiang or in the whole country. Readers should be careful when making generalizations. She also said there might be some changes in the policies and conditions of ethnic minority eduction in recent years that she is not aware of.

The original letter is here.

Letter from Xinjiang – Reflections on the Xinjiang Issue
Continue reading »

Jul 12

minipost-Letter: A Tiny Memorial For A Tiny Life

Written by: Charles Liu | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture, Letters | Tags:,
No Comments » newest

“This maybe the world’s tiniest memorial hall. Not quite 5 meter by 5 meter, it’s intent is not to mark an important historical event, or eulogize a famous person, only to remember an ordinary life.”
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Jul 01

minipost-Addition To My “Follow-On Article (2)”

Written by: Chan | Filed under:-mini-posts, Environment, General, Letters, politics | Tags:, , , ,
45 Comments » newest

*** ( NOTE : This is an addition to the 2nd “follow-on” article I wrote recently. I would highly recommend you read that article first before starting this one if you haven’t already. The purpose of this article is to answer a couple of questions raised by some readers. ) *** ( click here to read that follow-on article )
Continue reading »

Jun 19

Fatherly advice: Eight success principles for being an official

Written by: admin | Filed under:Letters, politics | Tags:, , ,
42 Comments » newest

It is often said that to be successful in the Chinese officialdom, you have to acquire a thick face, and a black heart (厚黑, there is an English book if you want to learn more about 厚黑学) .

Nine years ago, the director of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Construction, Xu Qiyao (徐其耀), was arrested  for taking bribes of over 20 million yuan. He also distinguished  himself among other corrupted officials by having extramarital affairs with 146 women,  including a mother and her daughter. Recently, a letter to his son, allegedly found in his diary during the investigation, is circulating on the internet.  In that letter, he demonstrated his theoretic superiority in the application of “thick face, black heart.”

Here is a translation for your enlightenment.

Continue reading »

Jun 16

Green Dam-Youth Escort

Written by: Steve | Filed under:culture, education, General, Letters, media, News, politics, q&a, religion, technology | Tags:, , , , , , , ,
118 Comments » newest

China Internet

It seems the western media and Chinese blogosphere agree on one thing; Green Dam is not winning any popularity contests. Today, the Chinese government backed down on the mandatory usage of the software, though it will still come either pre-loaded or be included on a compact disc with all PCs sold on the  mainland from July 1st.

There are several problems associated with this software, each one an interesting topic in itself. I’d like to run down the issues associated with its release, one by one.

1) Why the sudden announcement of this invasive software with virtually no implementation time given to the manufacturers?
Continue reading »

Mar 29

minipost-Letter:No Such Thing as China

Written by: Lime | Filed under:-mini-posts, Letters | Tags:,
40 Comments » newest

A week or so ago, in one of the final classes of the fourth year history seminar on Christianity in China that I am currently taking, the professor, in an apparent effort to coax us into some critical thinking, posed these questions; “Did Christianity become a Chinese religion? And if so, when and how did this happen?” The answers that we came up with in class included when the first Chinese person converted to Christianity, when the first independent churches (meaning churches that were not controlled by foreign missionaries) were established, and when Christianity was indigenized (meaning transformed by existing factors in Chinese culture to create a form of Christianity unique to China).
Continue reading »

Mar 24

minipost-China in the Year 2020: Three Political Scenarios

Written by: Steve | Filed under:-mini-posts, Letters, politics | Tags:, , , , , , ,
72 Comments » newest

In our Dalai Lama Warns of Looming Violence thread, Wukailong linked to this essay covering three political scenarios that China might face in the year 2020. The author, Cheng Li is Senior Fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution and William R. Kenan Professor of Government at Hamilton College. His summary is as follows:

Continue reading »

Jan 22

Members of Chen’s Immediate Family Plead Guilty To Money Laundering Charges

Written by: Allen | Filed under:Analysis, Letters, News, politics | Tags:, , , ,
7 Comments » newest

The money laundering saga of self-proclaimed son-of-Taiwan Chen Shuibian continues.

On Wednesday, Chen Shuibian’s son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching both pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in exchange for leniency.

According to China Times, the main terms of the plead bargain includes: Continue reading »

Dec 18

minipost-(Guest Post) Can China Save American Automakers?

Written by: guest | Filed under:-mini-posts, Analysis, Letters, News, technology | Tags:, ,
38 Comments » newest

No, China will not buy GM, Ford or Chrysler. But there is another way – a scheme of division of labor in which the U.S. will focus on design and innovation while China on manufacturing efficiency. Continue reading »

Sep 19

Let’s Talk some Cross-Strait Politics

Written by: Allen | Filed under:Analysis, General, Letters, media, News, politics | Tags:, ,
148 Comments » newest

It’s been almost four months since Ma Ying-jeou has been sworn into office in Taiwan.  After the first few weeks of euphoria, there hasn’t been that much published about Taiwan in English sources – partly because of the Olympics, and partly because not much concrete has happened. Continue reading »

Sep 15

The Next U.S. Administration and the Future of US-China Relationship

Written by: Allen | Filed under:Analysis, Letters, News, politics | Tags:, , , ,
63 Comments » newest

Several bloggers here have asked that we start a discussion regarding which of the U.S. presidential candidates might be better for China – or at least, better for a solid U.S.-China relationship.  Continue reading »

Sep 05

minipost-Pocketbook References for Tibet

Written by: Allen | Filed under:-mini-posts, Analysis, culture, Letters, politics, religion | Tags:, ,
187 Comments » newest

Two of the most commented threads over the last week relate to Tibet.  Even a neutral posting on the administration of the website has also somehow “devolved” into a debate over Tibet.

Continue reading »

Sep 01

(Letter) Tibet: A Way Forward?

Written by: Otto Kerner | Filed under:Analysis, Letters | Tags:, , ,
323 Comments » newest

In the comments to an earlier post related to Tibet, I found it striking that, although by different routes, bianxiangbianqiao and wuming and I have reached roughly the same conclusion, viz that there’s no logical reason why Tibet should remain part of China, but, at the same time, it is completely impossible for China to let it become independent, since that would invariably be seen as China giving up 19% of its land area (or even 13%, which is what the TAR is). Particularly so since, as bxbq points out, the boundaries of “Tibet” are quite fuzzy. I could draw a border that I think would be a fair delimitation of “where Tibetans traditionally predominated and still do”, but obviously there would be a lot of people who would disagree with any given attempt. Continue reading »

Aug 30

Understanding Democracy

Written by: Allen | Filed under:Analysis, culture, Letters, politics | Tags:, , ,
191 Comments » newest

For all the talk about democracy leading up to the Olympics, perhaps it is time – in the wake of the Olympics – to take a step back and ponder about what democracy really is.

An interesting article appeared in the New Yorker earlier this month about the process of politics. Digging under the hood of democratic politics, it tries to explore two strains of forces that in real life can be di-opposed: rough and tumble democracy v. good governance and social policy.

Continue reading »

Aug 24

minipost-(Letter) A China-friendly foreigner’s Post Secret

Written by: Joel | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture, Letters | Tags:, ,
36 Comments » newest

Just saw a China-related Post Secret (I swear it’s not mine! 😉 ). Continue reading »

Aug 14

(Letter) Chinese gymnasts age controversy

Written by: guest | Filed under:culture, Letters, News | Tags:, ,
1 Comment » newest

Last night after the women’s gymnastics team final, NBC announcer Bella Caroli commented that the Chinese team cheated with underage athletes, and their passports were doctored by the Chinese government.

After some digging, it seems the age allegation had surfaced some time ago, but was quelled after passports and birth certificates where produced to the satisfaction of the gymnasts federation in charge.

Have not seen much of this since, except the NBC commentator and some 2nd tier reporting from NYT.

The reporter mentioned that there were some government documents on this, so I set out to find them. Here’s what I found while searching the gov.cn domain:
Continue reading »

Aug 10

(Letter) Watching the Opening Ceremony with a few thousand Tianjiners

Written by: Joel | Filed under:Letters, video | Tags:, , , , ,
5 Comments » newest

My wife and I, along with a German, an Aussie, a TCK (third culture kid), and an American watched the Opening Ceremonies on a giant screen in one of Tianjin’s biggest parks. There were thousands of people there, and very few foreigners. We’ve posted pictures, video, and blogged the experience, particularly the crowd’s reactions to different things (Watching the Opening Ceremony with a few thousand Tianjiners!).
Continue reading »

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