When idiots run asylum

Once upon a time, when we were young and restless - yes we did - we would touch upon these unpleasant political topics. My roommates would refer to Chinese intolerance, extreme in times like cultural revolution, as "asylum".

I had a slightly different take. "Asylum isn't that bad", I would inject my comments, "Asylum actually has its own rules. It depends on who is running it. It only gets that much worse when idiots, or inmates are running it."

That was a distant memory.

Then, when a friend talked about forming a group on Doudan, a Chinese social network, my reaction was that I would only form a group if it was about "the more you read, the more counter-revolutionary you become."

The phrase that later became the group title was an actually phrase from the Cultural Revolution. It was used as my contempt for Douban, and that unduly adulation of an "educated person". "Counter-revolution" was, of course, a word long buried in the history book. No one actually use it in everyday life, except, maybe, to jeer. My tenet of the group was that too much reading wasn't always desirable, it would stymie your original thinking, especially if you half-understand half-cooked ideas or facts. (In fact, that's my understanding of the original intent of the slogan.)

It was never an active group - as lazy as I am, you can always expect that. If I remember it correctly, the longest thread in the group was about "what would you request your daughter to read or not to read", with about 15 replies.

Fast forward to today. I got an email, informing me that the group was dismembered due to "violation of related laws and regulations". I believe it was due to Douban's voluntary compliance of internet censorship. Frankly, although not that I care, I can't quite make out what regulation it specifically violates. But the incident does reminds me of the conversation about asylum we had many many years ago.

I can't pinpoint whether the group was dismembered because of the asylum, or who runs it. But I would like to think I had a point.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

West Wing Hopefuls

I feel like watching episodes of West Wing. Actually I don't watch a lot of that TV show, but it ought to be more melodramatic than the real thing, or does it?

A young, energetic and eloquent black president-hopeful (move over Morgan Freeman) delivers a forceful speech. A man in well-tailored suit, with pristine hair that rivals the God Father, rises every two minutes, or five syllable, to applaud. His beautiful wife smiles on, trying to catch the applauding action in unison.

If election were to be decided on looks, Democrats had a thundering punch. Even Michele Obama, ever so slightly pouty-mouthed however hard she tries, has a genuine sparkle in her eyes with wifely admiration and motherly love that makes her shine. The republicans after all have only Cindy McCain to hold the court.

Enter Shara Palin.

Pageant score: R2:D1. She not only evens up casting eye-candy-ness on the Republican side, but also ups dramatic scale of the usually blandish party. She is immediately suspected of claiming her daughters baby as her own. Before you know it, her 17-year-old daughter's knocked-up is front page news. She is then questioned from the way she delivered her baby to her high school basketball team uniform. There is even rumor of tape of her daughter getting drunk available. (Do we really need to know?)

If you think paparazzi in Hollywood are sneaky, think again. I doubt West Wing writers have enough imagination to outdo the script either. I'm less convinced of vast policy difference, I just want a good show. But to prevent the show from degenerating to Beverly Hill 90210, I have an idea for future West Wing hopefuls: call Geena Davis.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

Post Olympics Entertainment

The fun of Olympics dwindles, along with mid-night TV watching. Propaganda from China is being replaced by propaganda from Denver. My brother, having attended games, now hold definitive bragging rights against me. So, I'm left to find my own post Olympic entertainment.

The press doesn't disappoint in providing entertaining material. Thomas Boswell provides a laugh or two by ruing over his Olympic experience and trying to find a negative thesis. Beijing must have done something right if Mr Boswell has only a small laundry list to complain on: Security personnel not allowing him to jump over tapes for the short cut; buses ferrying media persons for being too punctuate; people saying hello even without best command of English. He then uses his imaginative skills to parley all these experienced into his grand thesis, that's worthy of a chuckle. Oh, and everybody smiled, it's just too perfect. Mr Boswell would make a good psy-fi director - mindless robotic drones beaming smiles everywhere, while a plot against humanity brews.

Time UK doesn't miss the train in providing good laugh. I'm not sure I can qualify to pride myself as wide-eyed, but Martin Samuel's column leaves me clueless. The success of the games is attributed to the oppressing making the oppressed "march in unison, drum, smile, dance, mime, jump through hoops if necessary". Aside from the mystery of volunteer hostess " stripped naked for the judges" that is promoted (does it pass the smell test?), the article comments:

Nothing can be decided by an oppressed people... What happens next in China is no more determined by its citizens than the destiny of Iraq was in the hands of Iraqis.

For a minute, I think Royal Marine would be in Tianjin harbor in 24 hours to liberate the Chinese people. Then I wake up to the reality of 21st century, not 1800s.

Actually, the two gentlemen have made some good points, but the clueless-ness nevertheless betrays them and reduced the articles to good entertainment. Judging from comments online, few take them seriously. I only wish my brother and friends in Beijing wouldn't get a bigger chuckle than me. That would be unfair.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

Yin and Yang

Someone said it to me a few days ago, "It's a boring world, everywhere is the same. Men like to sensationalize in writing, women likes to indulge to dubious relationships."

Come to think of it as the reaction to Liu Xiang's withdraw swirled, that claim captured only half the truth. There were many "Literacy Youngsters" on douban who were quick to their sensationalist style, but there were also plenty of "Angry (disgruntled)" on Tianya forum.

Disgruntled is the yin to Sensationalist's Yang; radicalism goes both ways. But the Chinese press seems to forget the ancient Chinese wisdom. And Thomas Boswell of Washington Post may never understand.

Boswell, on the basis of some disgruntled internet posts, described the Chinese as inferior cruel mobs (remember Cafferty?) who piled on their fallen hero. The sudden drama of Liu Xiong's pull-out had wide spectrum of reaction across the internet. Most voiced support; some questioned whether pulling out was a pre-determined decision; others had a hard time understanding why it had to come down to a decision on the starting block.

Let's read some Olympics press coverage, shall we? Micheal Phelps got eight gold, and New York Times had a whole column dedicated to it, discussing whether that was the greatest Olympic achievement. We were all capable of enjoying the sensation. When I turned to Sina, it had a full special page dedicated to Liu's withdraw, trumping the eight-gold-treatment. The U.S. Had also someone who didn't finish the race, although not on the starting block. Trammell pulled his hamstring in the same round and had to pull up. He got mentioned by NYT only in passing in the article covering Liu Xiang. Lolo Jones, with her unique story, was sympathized in an article.
The media non-corporation award went to Tyson Gay. NBC reporters kept giving him cue on how he was injured leading up to the event, but he insisted he was fine, just "did not get it done". Flip to sina, there were reports that Liu was running 12.96, 12.98 before the race, or more precisely, withdraw. A CCTV reporter even mention she has inside information that Liu was running close to 12.80. The numbers varied. I didn't know which one to believe exactly. But nevertheless, "Beijing Olympics should have belongs to him", as the reporter proclaimed.

There had been enough media frenzy about Liu's tragedy, most unanimously sunny, or humane as someone liked to say. (I'm quite tired of seeing the word "humanity" in Chinese press nowadays, as if the China I've lived was inhumane backward doldrums.) Liu might be fallen, but "did not “lose.” Perhaps to counter charges from the likes of Boswell, there were even reported rumors that an order was given, forbidding the country’s news media from criticizing Liu. A hero was intact.

With all this "yang" in the official media, it was not surprising to find "yin" of different voices in unofficial forums. BBS itself had been the "yin" to the official media's "yang". Together, we had "qi" of a harmonious society - joking. But whether in support of sensationalized tragic narrative or being disgustedly suspicious, it was all in accord to "one world, one dream".

I have watched Liu Xiang four years ago. He was flamboyant on camera after the surprising win, but I liked it. It was spontaneity. And I marveled.

Now four years after, I felt the sadness watching him pulling out. Liu was not on camera immediately afterward, he issued an apology - it's not like he needed to. His apology came out the same time Nike tweaked its ad campaign featuring liu. The words on the poster read:"Love competition. Love risking your pride. Love winning it back. Love giving it everything you’ve got. Love the glory. Love the pain. Love sport even when it breaks your heart." I couldn't help but thought of the word: PR.

What about the "women likes to indulge to dubious relationships" part, you may ask? Well, isn't it obvious by now? The counterpart is that men are not courageous enough.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

Autopsy of a Media Storm

A story about double-act of singing on the opening ceremony was making rounds in the media and blogsphere. In pursuit of theatricals perfection, directors combined Lin Miaoke's stage appearance and Yang Peiyi's singing voice.

Most of the reports in the western media seemed to be based on an interview of the music director by the Chinese media. transcript shows

陈其钢：“对。也可以说这是最后一分钟的不得已的选择。因为我们经历了若干次审查，都是相当严格的。我们听过一次林妙可的录音，在现场放的，是在联排的时候。然后有各方面的人，尤其是中央政治局的领导，在听的时候，给我们提出了意见，说必须要改变。这是没有办法的”

which indicated Lin's voice was not good enough and had to be mimed by another voice. Whether he was telling the whole story was another matter.

While some reports got that fact straight, others totally missed boat. Chicago Tribune for example, reported as: "one member of China's Politburo revealed Miaoke had lip-synched the song, after the original singer, Yang Peiyi, was told she was not good-looking enough." Chen, who revealed news, was not political leader. the Tribune might not realize it was in conflict with its next line: "Chen Qigang, the ceremony's music director, had been asked last minute by the Politburo official to replace Peiyi with Miaoke, according to an interview with Beijing Radio."

Nevertheless, the "not quite" headline of "girl kicked out of ceremony performance at the last minute" because of "chubby face" and "Bucket/crooked tooth" had became the main theme of the story. I am not sure where journalists got the crooked tooth part. It sounded like their own interpretation by looking at the picture.

Time UK emphasized that theme by using headline of China banned child singer with crooked teeth from singing at opening ceremony. "Chubby-cheeked with crooked teeth, she was substituted at the eleventh hour by Communist Party officials desperate to present the best possible image of Chinese youth to a curious world. " it asserted.

Whether Lin's voice being subbed in the 11th minute or Yang being substituted, fact remained Yang did not get on the stage except her voice. Who said good looks and stage presence weren't "talent"? Jessica Simpson would probably agree.

Fake, is the predominant word used in headlines across UK press. Headlines such as China 'faked' awesome Olympic opening ceremony was already in place when it was revealed parts of the "footprint" show was not shot in real time. Maybe the Brits didn't know that was not made of secret. NBC mentioned it during the broadcast. Past TV productions, such as fire in the studio fireplace during the 2002 Salt Lake Games, was also generated digitally.

Fake might be an uneasy word, but perfection was always an illusion. Lest we forgot.

Guardian hedged their report by pointing the source to a translation by the China Digital Times website.

"We had been through several inspections - they were all very strict. When we rehearsed at the spot, there were spectators from various divisions, especially a leader from the Politburo, who gave us his opinion: It must change," said Chen.

In deed, by leaving out details such as it was Miaoke's voice they were listening at the rehearsal, that translation could lead to confusion conclusions. That's what you got by sending reporters who are not versed in the local language.

Whatever the source, British media finally found their controversial story about the opening ceremony. BBC called it the second "fake" story about the opening ceremony, and asked openly for comments whether this has damaged the image of the Beijing Olympic games. Its own tone was made apparent in its editing choice of comment to appear on the main page - a Beijinger comments: "If the stories are true, it is absolutely disgraceful and I am ashamed as a Chinese citizen."

It's understandable that British got extra mile from this story. London after all has to host the game in four years. As Telegraph put it:"it might now be easier for London to end the 'arms race' that requires every staging of the Games to be more spectacular than the last. "

In fact, the media storm was not broken first in the west hemisphere, Chinese media and blogs were seethed about the story first when the interview was first published. There was something about China and fake that struck a cord in people's mind. Some English language reports even cited Chinese message board writings in the initial confusing hours. Yes, that what journalism reduced to.

The stand-in singing is a result of complex social value system we have today. There is China's overwhelming desire for perfection; there is this film director who is famous for meticulousness in aesthetics; there is Eastern culture of "face value", there is also this today's "looks" obsessed culture - American or British or Chinese. Think of Audrey Hepburn singing to the voice of Marni Nixon. Although it should be pointed out that both girls get credit on both the ticket of the ceremony and DVD that is released, the concern of influence of adults value system - and what kind of system should it be - on the two girls is genuine and legitimate. Personally, I think the directors miscalculated the social amplification and should have simply used best vocal. That being said, some of the directions and tones of this media storm are not surprising. After all, controversies are relatively scarce on these Games, how else can the media be fed on.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

无题

(1) To translate or not to translate
Maybe the Olympics should be hosted by Babel, before the tower-building was stopped, that is. Ring Blog reports:

Normal interview rhythms are being disrupted by the translation of every question and answer to Chinese.
....
The translations irritated some reporters working on tight newspaper deadlines in the United States. One asked why the questions and answers had to be translated when they were all in English. Two minutes later, a question was asked in Chinese, reminding everyone of why there are translations in the first place.

Arrogance, that's what being in a dominant culture could do to you. And the media people wonder why people don't like them that much. Question at hand: do people of the hosting country deserve the privilege to know what is being asked of athletes and what the answer is? Despite the effort in promoting English, there are a lot of people in China who don't understand English well.

(2)
The country that Chinese audience gives most sympathy to in those games is Iraq, the oil rich but war torn nation. After almost missing the Olympics, they received a big cheer in the opening night. Their rowing team appeared to have no team uniform (see picture) and used a patch work of wore out personal T-shirts.

(3)
China has begin her full chase for the gold. But the most I am interested in seeing, is how Chinese media and public treat those who lose. In the past, the media has not been very enthusiastic towards those who failed to clutch the gold, and even not too kind to those who were suppose to medal but crumbled under pressure. Early indication is that the mentality is much more forgiving this time around.

(4)
The most exciting competition so far: 4x100 men's freestyle relay that resulted in a gold for America. The most nerve racking but inspiring competition so far: Men's team Gymnastics in which Chinese team vindicated themselves with a gold.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

Open contraversy

The opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics Games has still a week to go, but has already created media controversies.

This time, a South Korean TV network, SBS TV released video footage of rehearsals of the ceremony, violating the implicit consent of not leaking details by the media. Details of the opening ceremony was guarded as "state secret" by China, understandably to keep the stunts fresh. It was said that those who were invited to the rehearsal had signed on to the no-disclosure agreement.

This gave Chinese netizens new ammunition to get angry against South Korea. Public opinions in China towards South Korea have not been particularly warm and fuzzy since Koreans claimed rights to cultural heritage of many Chinese traditions. Many people have dubbed the Koreans "cultural thieves" and "men from Mars" since then, and the newest episode added new controversy to the fire. Even CCTV has showed discontent in its news program "One Plus One".

It's not clear whether SBS has "the right to report" or it has violated "professional ethnics", as many claimed.

[update: SBS TV formally apologized.]
PS: Travel channel is currently having a "China Week". The varieties of food on display are having me drooling.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

The Myth and Common Sense

It's fun to check your level of common sense, especially when it comes to China.

Let's first be entertained by a story straight out of the Jame Bond movie - if you so wish to think. An UK band gets their name right: Panic! at Disco. It's reported a Shanghainese disco bunny compromised an UK government official. A top aide to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was seduced by a hot woman he met in a Shanghai disco, who came back to his hotel room. In the morning, his (unencrypted) Blackberry was gone.

With my common sense, I see it no more than an extra curriculum activity by shrew "service provider". There is no ethnic code in Shanghai sex deal world that a women won't nick your cellphone or other valuables.

But it doesn't prevent UK officials to extend their James Bond pedigree and painted it as a honeytrap operation. "A senior official said yesterday that the incident had all the hallmarks of a suspected honeytrap by Chinese intelligence", as Times UK reported. Maybe when you are an UK government official, your common sense is wired differently.

The same panic was shared by U.S. government officials. There were numerous report about their hysteria about Chinese cyper espionage. I will care not to list them, you can just google for it. Almost every official has had some sort of claim about his laptop being compromised during trips to China, the most famous being allegations that US Commerce secretary's laptop was hacked during a December trip to China.

The common sense here is that China's web space is ripe with all sorts of malware. If you plug your laptop into China's network unprotected, chances are your computer will come into contact with some sort of malware or spyware within minutes. That has happened to me before. Or if your computer is protected, the firewall will have a line that such such ip address tries to contact your computer without authorization. On the other hand, it would be extremely difficult for the Chinese government to pinpoint your laptop on the open net if you are mobile and gets online possibly from anywhere. But maybe senators and secretaries are not tech savvy enough to know?

The myth is not limited in the James Bond world. Apparently it can be propagated in the bar world also. South China Morning Post reported a story that Beijing authorities are to ban Blacks (Chinese don't usually bother to call blacks "African _" because racial tension with blacks was a no issue historically with China) and Mongolians from bars During Olympics, based on one anonymous source. The stories was subsequently debunked, but still managed to catch some fire among some media and blogs.

My common sense tells me there is no way Chinese authority would pursuit such a policy during Olympics when a significant proportion of Olympic athletes are of African ethnic origin and are likely to frequent bars. Not to mention Beijing will be under the whole world's watch during the time. My common sense also tells me there's virtually no way to successfully tell Mongolian women from Chinese women from the looks. But apparently common senses of SCMP's reporter and quoting media's are very different and, should I say, unique.

Beijing was notorious for lax in enforcing the rules. And Western press often rightfully pointed it out. Now that in the wind of Olympics, China begins to enforce formerly lax enforced visa laws, Washington Post calls it China growing unfriendly to foreigners. And enforcing rules to shut down a foreigner owned club that lacks performance license catches the attention of the Time. Sure, it brings some inconvenience to some individuals, but my common sense tells me no matter what intentions are, a rule is a rule is a rule. Protest the rule if you must, but don't protest the enforcement of it as unfriendly. My common sense, as I know of China, also tells me that foreigners have long enjoyed super-national status in China, Chinese have long been very friendly to them. In fact, many foreigners working in China are doing so without proper visa or documents. They are staying on tourist visa but earning money in China. Oh, they are not doing hard labors as many Chinese do also. Where did the rule promoting western media go this time around? For visa, I believe average Chinese traveling to Europe or America have to jump through far more hoopla than foreigners to China. Just ask any random Chinese. In fact, there was an article on this blog of a rant by a famous Chinese sports reporter of American visa officials' attitudes. But these seem completely escape the media. The unfriendly article is particularly funny because it was frequently said of China as Xenophobia on those papers, yet the story turns out so many foreigners who are working in China illegally and live comfortable lives, including the lead-in story. But, somehow, the fault is still on China.

Of course, Chinese can probably do more. Beijing's People's University sent out students from its Sociology Department to observe people's public conduct and concluded that manners had greatly improved. For me personally, I wish Chinese have learned how to wait a line. I was in a double-line waiting for taxi dispatches in Beijing airport a couple years ago. A Beijing young man cursed out almost looked like wanting to start a fight because I was not taking advantage of the spaces in front of me in the parallel line, waiting instead patiently the man in front of me. To him, it slowed him down. Of course, he saw me as a Chinese. There's no telling what he would do if I was actually of different skin color. My guess is he would be less rude. That's a myth now, but also my common sense.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

Mirror world

Remember "don't be so CNN" was all the rage? That was not a long time ago.

CCTV, known as China Central TV in China, is under intense scrutiny recently in revelation with the earthquake coverage. Allegedly CCTV cut off camera in a news conference when questions are raised about corruption and punishment of shoddy buildings.

For British though, CCTV is commonly referring to the Close Circuit TV. maybe the British should lend China's CCTV that name, for free, to better reflect its operations.

But hold on, free press of the West shouldn't be too proud either. CNN's Yellin, in response to Scott McClellan's White House memoir, reveals that news executives actively pushed her not do hard-hitting pieces on the Bush administration.

The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings. - Yellin

So whether in China or in the freer U.S., the intentions to control message, from power-that-be, are the same. The U.S. being a more sophisticated society, makes it less obvious.

* The CCTV camera is in Trafalgar Square, London

Related Content of This Rocking Post

The media coverage and the compassion fatigue

The media coverage of the Si Chuan earthquake has been, for the most part, excellent. It was said that was due in part to the increased transparent of the government. The most exposure though, was in press and on-line, rather than on TV - at least from what I've seen. NPR did some splendid cover also, I've heard.

I'm not sure how the difference in media affected the donation. For me, the printing press coverage had the distinctive advantage of not only covering the "news" but also paying more attention to the "stories", which was more detailed in description than average Chinese news coverage.

According to released numbers so far, donation from the U.S. is estimated to be in the above $30 millions range. It is a far cry from the Tsunami response, which had Mr Bush and many prominent celebrities go on TV pleading pledge and generate about $1.3B. At least, Aids to China far exceeded that to Burma, which adds up to $12.1m so far, partly due to large number of Chinese diaspora in the U.S. in addition to the transparency issue.

A.P. contributed the relatively small response to compassion fatigue. However, I think other explanations merit consideration also: #. American Economy is in a slump. #. Election primary takes away people's attention. #. Many Americans think Chinese government, if not people, is now rich and should be able to handle it on their own. After all, the U.S. owes more than a trillion to the Chinese government. #. Some people just don't like or care Chinese government or in extension people much.

Whichever is the reason, or a combination of some, is anybody's guess. You can draw it on your own.

Related Content of This Rocking Post

The not so subtle news

When we have a billion people, you said we were destroying the planet./ When we tried limiting our numbers, you said it is human rights abuse/When we were poor, you thought we were dogs./ When we loan you cash, you blame us for your debts./ When we build our industries, you called us polluters./ When we sell you goods, you blame us for global warming. - a silent, silent Chinese（Nic)

I've barely had time to comment on recent news reports with eyes on China. Although I do come across people whose impressions are influenced by those "news" slash analysis everyday.

European business officials warned anti-French boycott could be met by similar action against Chinese products in Europe. Well, way to convince the average Chinese that European leaders really care about human rights in China. Guess what? Protest and boycott are human rights of individuals. And guess what? Unlike EU officials, Chinese official didn't come out to incite the situation. Rather, they tried to calm it down, fairly or unfairly. Paris city councils hung the "Paris defends human rights everywhere in the world" banner during the torch run. I guess they should really hung "Paris pretends to defend human rights, except when you moved my cheese."

My main complain of the media isn't even presentation of the facts or angle of the stories. It's the subtle use of words that betray reporters personal inclination, such as the insistence on calling Tibet(Xizang) Tibet while referring other parts of China as China instead of "the rest of China". It subcontextually convey the message Tibet isn't part of China. Ladies and gentlemen, the film (see previos post) by the U.S. War department 50 some years ago says the opposite. It clearly shows Tibet as a part of China.

(For that matter, why didn't I see any report of Tibet People's Uprising Movement while there are plenty references of the Dalai Clique quote. )

Even when the media tried to show some sympathy, the disparate tone carried over. In a recent NYT story about Chinese students fighting for their country's image, it said of their handouts "contained a jumble of abbreviated history, slogans and maps with little context. A chart showing that infant mortality in Tibet had plummeted since 1951, when the Communist Chinese government asserted control, did not provide any means for comparison with mortality rates in China or other countries." judging by that remark, you would think of the students were asked to hand in their term paper. Did I see any handouts from the "Free Tibet" crowd ever subject to this standard? Of course, never. (You won't know from the article that Chinese Student Association of USC discouraged members from going to the event, "just ignore it". I Learn it from 77, who's about to graduate from USC.)

In this media age, it's simply difficult to differentiate news reporting from commenting. And the newest fashion in the China reporting is to play psychologist. Not to worry most of them are ill equipped to understand Chinese psychology.

Simon Elegant of Time wonders loud why China is burning mad. The answer is of course conveniently found in China's victim mentality, or nationalism. All else fails, blame it on the Government education. as if blaming on the CCP would make everything explanatory and well.

Allow me to complete go off topic here, but is Elegant really Simon's given name? Given that the royal house of England merely changed their last name to Windsor from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, it's a bit...I'll refrain...to call yourself Elegant, isn't it?

One of the example that Time's China Blog uses to chastise Chinese insecurity is that how the French seemingly not care much during the freedom fry episode. Hello?! The French fry isn't really French or even French invented. Why should the French feel insulted? Is Time's reporter this ignorant? BTW, personally I wouldn't care "Chinese fortune cookie" being called "Zimbabwe fortune cookie" or whatever either. There isn't anything Chinese about them. The ironic part is that the whole freedom fry farce is the U.S. congress's reaction over France's stance on Iraq. The U.S. freaking congress. Tell me who is sensitive now? In fact, if Americans are so cool, Rev. Wright's remarks wouldn't be causing Obama this much trouble.

Oh, I forget, in the U.S.'s case, Time should duly refer nationalism as patriotism. Nationalism is reserved for country like China.

Now I'll be the first to admit things like lack of sincere apology from the Japanese do hinder Chinese people to turn over the history page, and gain a more modern concept of nationality. However, foreign reporters like Mr Elegant never stepped into Chinese shoes. They never have to experience what Chinese have been through, even the more recent ones. The first time they stepped onto Chinese soil, they were foreigners living in a comfortable high life. That by itself makes them the privileged class in China. They may think living in China makes them qualified to play psychologist. They are not.

I'll save the Chinese history class for another day.

Related Content of This Rocking Post