And on the Seventh Day News Rested
Yesterday was the seventh day after the Wenzhou railway crash that claimed dozens of lives and rocked the Weibo micro-blogging universe. The seventh day after a death in China is called touqi (头七) and is an important milestone of mourning. All across China, instead of paying respects to the lives lost on July 23, netizens were venting their fury at a system hellbent on burying all the facts under a mountain of oppression and obfuscation.
Harry Potter vs. The CCP
Chinese fans of a certain boy wizard may have been eagerly anticipating some wand-waving action starting Friday, July 15, the official release date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 on the mainland. Finally, we witness the final battle between Voldemort and Potter, which brings the world’s most successful film franchise ever [...]
The Grief Gap
Back in the 1990s, China stopped publishing official annual statistics on mental illness and suicide. The escalating numbers were too disheartening. This year, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 100 million Chinese are living with some form of debilitating mental illness, and that some 287,000 will commit suicide this year alone.
Kung Fu Fighting
When the first Kung Fu Panda was released in China, it caused an existential crisis. Chinese audiences marveled at how well Western filmmakers had understood Chinese culture, but deep down they all wondered the same thing: Why hadn’t this movie been made in China? In an thoughtful op-ed in China Daily, Chinese director Lu Chuan [...]
Tittle-Tattle Fatigue
I’m a regular CCTV viewer. Hand to God.
However, most shows I watch grudgingly because I can’t avoid it. Living with a Chinese partner in a miniscule one-bedroom apartment has forced me to accept the ubiquity of the television in the Chinese household—it is switched on in the morning and in the evening, and left on at full volume. Why? Just because. It is only recently that I’ve come to see the striking similarity between the television itself and the programming it broadcasts.
A Peaceful Rise to Glower
What makes the events surrounding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize so disheartening is what it portends for future geopolitics. China didn’t surprise the world by denouncing Liu Xiaobo and the Norwegian Nobel Committee; much worse, it confirmed suspicions that the country is as oppressive and obstinate as ever.
Keeping the Peace
This year there are 237 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize, the most ever. For those of you just tuning in, six of the nominees are Chinese—most of them are in jail, and all of them are dissidents. (For a primer on the nominees, read this Shanghaiist article.) This has caused much consternation for the Chinese government, who warned the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute that awarding the prize to front runner Liu Xiaobo could effect relations with Beijing. Despite international outpourings of support, some of Liu’sharshest critics are overseas Chinese dissidents who charge him with “maligning fellow activists, abandoning persecuted members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and going soft on China’s leaders.” I guess an 11 year prison sentence for Charter ’08 isn’t enough.
Not Worth Your Net Worth
Sitting opposite yet another of the innumerable Chinese businessmen I interview on a weekly basis as he puffed on a pipe stuffed with what smelled like the most expensive organic Virginia available, I was gifted an insight into China’s new elite.
Sing, Goddess, of the Rage of China
Reaction to the Philippine hostage situation is dying down but at its height the feeling in the air could be best described as rage, unfocused and abstract. I heard slurs against Filipinos; Kanye-esque incriminations that the Philippine government doesn’t care about Chinese people and that if it had been Americans, the police would have been much more careful. It was fear of the worst kind, couched in anxiety and ignorance.
Southern Exposure – Part 2: Dress Code
I talked a little bit in my last post about how the Shanghai Expo is definitely not about cultural sensitivity. But if I left any doubt, on day two of my expo adventure, my cousin told me the following story: I was walking through the entrance line like we did yesterday and approached the security check. [...]
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