Rosemary’s Q&A

Tickled as I was to see that old rascal Roman Polanski at the Beijing Film Academy Q&A on Monday, October 27th, the event quickly devolved into a study on how not to stage a Q&A. The sprightly 75-years-young director, looking not a day over 60, appeared onstage to resounding applause, only to discover that the Q&A was inanely planned and transparently bureaucratic, with audience members barred from asking but a single question at the end. Forget it Roman, it’s Chinatown.

Hypocrisy and Face: An Open Letter

The China-Tibet Olympics commotion depresses.

We all knew CCTV was a joke. Now we are disappointed to learn that the BBC has a political agenda as well, joining what Mick Hume of The Times calls the newest Olympic sport—”China bashing.” No Pulitzers for this mess. CNN will win the gold medal in “China bashing” for mislabeling Nepalese crackdown pictures as Chinese (the single most effective Chinese propaganda tool in years—good job CNN!); the BBC will have to settle for the silver for their coverage of the London Olympic relay.