By Kevin Deluca

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_10359098

With the Olympics over, I hope the Western sport of bashing China over Tibet might stop.

Working in Beijing during the Tibet riots and the preparations for the Olympics gave me a unique perspective. Growing up with Western media and Hollywood, I am used to our embrace of the Dalai Lama. Being in China, I saw the Chinese point of view.

Seeing both sides suggests the need to abandon simplistic political stances in favor of some self-reflection and historical context.

Although we should criticize China’s censored media, the Tibet riots revealed some troubling blindness among our own media. While the causes of Tibetan unrest are complex, it is clear that the March riots were started by Tibetan protesters and that they were quite violent. Indeed, they were violent enough to lead the Dalai Lama to threaten resignation if his followers did not stop the violence.

Since “violent Tibetan” does not fit our stereotype, our media fixed the news. While Chinese media showed extensive footage of violence and interviews with Chinese and Tibetan victims, Western media manipulated images and even showed footage from other countries (Nepal and India) in order to paint a picture of ruthless oppression by China’s government.

Chinese media exposed the Western media manipulations, forcing the BBC, N-TV and RTL-TV to apologize. Not surprisingly, the American media has yet to acknowledge
its bending of the truth. The point is that while the Chinese know their media is censored and do not trust it, we believe our news is objective and end up being righteous while misinformed.

If we had seen the violence of the Tibet riots, our condemnations may be more nuanced. Quite simply, no government, democratic or not, allows such violence within its own borders. Providing peace and stability, even by force if necessary, is what governments do.

Large and powerful countries tend to have regions that were not always part of the country. In America, we proudly call it Manifest Destiny and never trouble ourselves with how we got much of California and Texas from Mexico, never mind the rest of the country and our sordid history with Native Americans.

On the Chinese flag there are five stars commonly interpreted as representing the five major ethnic groups in China. One of those stars represents Tibetans. China’s claim to Tibet spans centuries and it is a claim that the United States and the rest of the world recognizes.

To Chinese people, removing one of those stars is akin to removing one of our states, such as Hawaii. Our history with the native people of Hawaii has been relatively brief and quite brutal and there exists a tenacious independence movement. Still, there is no talk in the mainstream media and among the Hollywood celebrity activist circuit of Hawaiian independence, not to mention Puerto Rican independence or the American Indian movement.

Government repression of these movements also escapes media scrutiny. Before we lecture China, we may want to tend to our own backyard.

Amid cries of “free Tibet” and calls for religious freedom, the question is what does freedom have to do with Tibet? Under the Dalai Lama, was there religious freedom? Was there any freedom? Actually, no.

We would recognize the Dalai Lama’s Tibet as a medieval religious theocracy with a small elite class served by a large and oppressed serf population. The Dalai Lama ruled a region with no religious freedom, no political freedom, indeed, no human rights of any kind. The rulers were ruthless. Torture and mutilation were widespread. Poverty and starvation were rampant. It was Shangri-La only in the West’s imagination.

Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and other Hollywood devotees may be surprised at their idol’s current positions. The Dalai Lama condemns abortion and homosexuality while accepting prostitution. For decades the Dalai Lama secured millions of dollars from the CIA and runs his government in exile like a monarch.

Despite its shortcomings, Chinese rule has provided the Tibetan region with infrastructure and public schooling and provides Tibetans with widespread opportunities and a degree of personal freedom unheard of under the feudal theocracy of the dalai lamas.

China is far from perfect and deserves honest scrutiny and criticism. To expect China not to act like a large and powerful country, however, and to throw stones from our glass house, proves nothing but our own ignorance.

KEVIN DELUCA is an associate professor of communications at the University of Utah and author of “Image Politics.”

Source: China Daily

A Chinese woman working at Germany’s DW-Radio has been suspended from her job following remarks she made in the media on human rights and other issues in China, the German press has reported.

Four days before the opening of the Beijing Olympics, Zhang Danhong, an editor with the German broadcaster’s Chinese program, reportedly said that “The Communist Party of China has more than any political force in the world implemented Article 3 of the Declaration of Human Rights”, referring to the Chinese authorities pulling more than 400 million people out of poverty.

Similarly, in a TV talk show in late July, Zhang reportedly said the Chinese government had done a lot to protect local culture in Tibet and criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for sapping relations with Beijing.

The German media is said to have reacted strongly to Zhang’s remarks.

On Aug 11, German magazine Focus attacked Zhang as someone who was “courting” China’s Communist Party. On Aug 20, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper quoted parliamentary representative Dieter Wiefelsputz as saying that Zhang’s performance was a “catastrophe”.

Two days later, the same newspaper confirmed Zhang’s suspension from work.

Zhang, 42, was born in Beijing, studied German in Peking University and in Cologne, Germany.

She became an editor of DW-Radio’s Chinese program in 1990 and was promoted deputy editorial director of the program in 2004, the broadcaster’s website read.

Many in China have voiced sympathy and concern for Zhang after the incident.

“The case proves that those who chant human rights and freedom of speech everyday in the West are so hypocritical,” a Chinese netizen wrote on major Chinese portal, Sina.com.
“The Cold War mentality, ideological biases, political prejudice, and sense of racial superiority these things are deeply rooted in some parts of the Western world. Luckily, China is not bothered by these,” wrote another netizen.

“I have noticed related information and I have read the reports Zhang had done,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday.

“We hold that the media should report under an objective and just principle.”

Zhang and DW-Radio were not available for comment at press time.

By James Shen

I recently wrote an article “Mainstream Western media stages Blemishing China Marathon” which was posted on a number of blogs and websites. Many comments were received, most were generally supportive or partly positive, while a few readers expressed their criticisms especially over my observations on politics and problems in the US or the influence of the mainstream Western media.

Some Western readers felt the discomfort of being criticized by an supposedly “outsider” (BTW, I resent that idea because I am a Chinese American with 24 years of experience of studying, living and working in the West), but it is in fact an intended simulation exercise for them to get a taste of how it feels to be criticized by outsiders. Hopefully this will help some develop the skill set to see things from different perspectives.

There are also comments that urge me to write follow up articles either to continue criticisms on the Western media or to provide more balanced and less emotional observations on differences and problems of China and the West.

My first article was inspired by a total off-balance in the Western media coverage of Beijing Olympics, and the intention was to draw attention from people to this issue and urge Western media and their reporters to rekindle their much preached doctrines of objectivity and independence. It was the hope of the article to promote the Olympic spirits of mutual understanding and tolerance so that we can share “a better and peaceful world” in “these increasingly troubled times.”

The article also was not intended to invite or intensify arguments about different views people have about the world around them, be it religious freedom in China or racial tensions in the US.

I am neither motivated nor qualified to offer much observation on a wide range of issues and challenges facing both the West and China. I am an ordinary person who usually enjoys blog writing in Chinese about family, friends, food, fun and travel. I am or was a Christian who is now increasingly attracted by the fundamentals of Daoism and Buddhism. I am more interested in learning than offering at this point. So let this article be the final one from me about the issue of Western media coverage on China.

The party is finally over

2008 Olympics just closed in Beijing and the central scene of the closing ceremony was a grand party between the audience, volunteers, officials and athletes from 204 countries. It may not be as spectacular as the opening ceremony but the idea of harmony and friendship was nevertheless presented successfully.

Although I was hoping that the presentation from London would be more centered on old British traditions, double-deck bus and umbrellas did give us a unique and truthful image of London – the one I knew very well. Let’s wish London all the best with a hassle free Olympics in 2012. By the way, it was not my intention to encourage anyone to protest in London in 2012, and the Chinese is encouraged to show the world the wisdom of restraint and generosity not to retaliate with any law-breaking protests, biased coverage or vandalism in the 2012 London Olympics.

Time to clean up China’s own house

As for the Chinese, there are a lot to be concerned about after the grand party of 2008 Beijing Olympics is over. It is time to clean up the post-party mess in Beijing and start to refocus on domestic issues and various ongoing and pending reforms.

While the China coverage by mainstream Western media is often tainted by self-serving motives and tend to be unconstructive in many ways, many problems or symptoms pointed out by foreign papers are areas where China needs improvements. Without doubt, the contemporary challenges faced by China are much more extensive and complex than what the Western media can comprehend, and these needs to be tackled one at a time at a pace which does not upset the country’s stability so that the fruits of reform so far can be preserved and shared.

I applaud the Chinese government in making the country’s “stability” its top priority ahead of all other objectives. It is also a great relief to see this Chinese government put its emphasis on “social harmony”, “people-orientation”, “environmental conservation” and “high quality economic development”.

Granted, there is still a vast pool of problems facing the country, especially at the local levels and in less-economically developed areas. There are structural flaws in the Chinese political system, government organization, legal system and social-economic hierarchy that need to be reformed. Corruption is still rampant, environments are damaged, and the fruits of 30 years of reform are not shared equally by all Chinese people. On top of these, there are territorial, racial and religious issues which are deeply-rooted in China’s history.

How should the Chinese deal with these? Should these be resolved through direct confrontations between the people, interest groups and the government by means of protests, vandalism, movements, negative press coverage, pressure tactics or violence & riots? If these confrontational approaches don’t work, should the Chinese seek a regime change? Who is going to take over? Will the new regime be a better or a worse one? Will there be another cultural revolution, more turmoil or even an internal war?

The Chinese people already paid a dear price for following the revolution theory of Karl Marx which advocated for achieving society transformation and resolve class conflicts through violence? Enough is enough!

It was the fear of endless internal political turmoil and the cultural revolution, regardless whether they were started from top to bottom or from bottom to top, that drove me and many of my peers away from China. Should there be more turmoil in the country, China will suffer, the Chinese people will suffer, and, make no mistake about it, the whole world will suffer too. Imagine the disruptions to the global supply chain and the international financial market, destabilization of surrounding countries, massive legal or illegal immigration, to name just a few. So, think again now, does the West still want to see turmoil in China?

Learn from the West selectively and wisely

With reference to this topic, there are lessons to be drawn from the Chinese history. Faced with threats of colonization by Western powers in the 19th century, Li Hongzhang, a prime minister and a leading reformer of the Qing Dynasty, suggested that “take what is strong (from the West) to make up our weakness and pick what are good and suitable to follow” (取彼之长，益我之短，择善而从).

There is much to learn from the West by the Chinese government in areas such as the tactful handling and use of media (both domestic and international), public relations and creation of legal and peaceful venues for aggravated citizens to express their grief and opinions. There is also much to learn from the West by the Chinese people in areas such as taking advantage of peaceful and legal ways to express anger and grievances as well as government lobbying. Nevertheless, don’t learn from the illegal Western protestors and hooligans at Beijing Olympics – they are bad examples to be avoided.

At the end of the day, resolving China’s problems will depend on the wisdom of the Chinese people and leadership which are to be drawn mostly from the rich Chinese culture, traditions and heritage. Learning from the West should be selective without external pressures and any attempts to transplant other country’s success will most likely fail. A system with Chinese characteristics is definitely the way to go.

China does not need the approval of the West

Constructive suggestions from the West, whether from media, politicians, business people and friendly groups and citizens, should always be encouraged and heard with great respect. For those who are hostile or unfriendly, however, the best response to them is simply ignoring them. Arguing with those who have preconditioned mindset, questionable objectives and ill intentions is a waste of time.
“China doesn’t need the approval of the Western media” and “China has emerged as an economic power in the last twenty years without the blessing of the West,” a reader commented on my first article. Indeed, every Chinese has worked really hard to get to where the country is now, and the “mouth water” of the unfriendly Western media can not take it away or dampen China’s prospects.

Final suggestion

My final advice to the Western media – Try to be objective, constructive, respectful and gracious. Too much bad mouthing will only serve to further shrink its influence, creditability and relevance. Learn from many leading Western businesses in China which have both contributed to the country and thrived together with it.

My final suggestion to the Chinese people is borrowed from Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” – “Go your own way; let others talk!”

————————————————————————————-

James Shen is a US-based independent business analyst supporting multinational companies that seek cohesive growth in China. He is a native of Beijing and a naturalized U.S. citizen. He studied in the UK in the 1980s and has lived in the US in the past 19 years.

Synopsis

This is a follow-up article of “Mainstream Western media stages Blemishing China Marathon”. With the Beijing Olympics closing successfully, the author calls China to clean up its own house and draw selectively from the West. However, China’s past economic success was not built on Western blessing and it does not need the approval of the West. Those who are hostile and ill-intentioned should simply be ignored and deemed irrelevant.

Source: Chinadaily.com.cn / 2008-08-25 09:02

‘TAIPEI - Taiwan is considering building a bridge linking Kinmen, one of its outlying islands, to Xiamen city in Fujian Province on the mainland, the Central News Agency said on Sunday, in a sign of improving cross-Straits ties.

“The idea, talked about by many Kinmen residents, of building a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province could also be discussed,” the agency quoted Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou as saying.

The government will complete a proposal by the end of the year on whether constructing the bridge would be feasible, Ma was quoted as saying in Kinmen.

Ma, who was in Kinmen to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1958 artillery battle between Taiwan and the mainland, also said the island planned to offer landing visas or multiple visas to mainlanders visiting Kinmen, to boost tourism exchanges.

Ma has been unveiling a slew of policies to boost trade ties with the mainland, such as allowing more tourists to visit Taiwan and increasing direct flights.’

Chinationreport considers this news to be very significant for the future of Taiwan and China relationship.

According to Wikipedia/Kinmen:

Kinmen or Jinmen means literally “Golden Door” or “Golden Gate” in Mandarin. It is administered by Republic of China (ROC) government. But it is claimed as part of Fujian’s Quanzhou Prefecture by the People’s Republic of China. The island was the site of extensive shelling between PRC and ROC forces in the 1950s and 1960s and was a major issue in the 1960 United States Presidential Election between Kennedy and Nixon. In the 1950s, the United States threatened to use nuclear weapons against the PRC if it attacked the island.

Kinmen was originally a military preserve. However, the island was returned to the civilian government in the mid-1990s, and travel to and from Taiwan was allowed.

Kinmen witnesses history: ‘Retaking the mainland’

‘Wu Wang Zai Ju’ stone written by Chiang Kai Sek, photographed by seasurfer on 6.7.2005 in Kinmen.

中文: 蔣中正的毋忘在莒石碑 金門縣的莒光樓

English: Calligraphy by former President Chiang Kai-shek (Taiwan) etched on a rock in Kinmen reads, “Forget not that you’re in J?” - an allusion to the Warring States Period when the State of Qi, cornered into the City of Ju by the State of Yan, successfully counterattacked and retook its territory. This is intended as an analogy to the situation between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China. Other slogans alluding to “retaking the mainland” can still be found in Kinmen.

Xiamen is a coastal city in Fujian province, People’s Republic of China. It looks out to the Taiwan Strait and particulary Kinmen. Xiamen and the surrounding countryside are famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese and one of China’s earliest Special Economic Zones in the 1980s. It covers an area of 1 565 km² with a local population of 5 million. It was recently named China’s 2nd most livable city.

View of Xiamen from Gulangyu Island’s mountain peak. Foreground: Gulangyu. Background: Xiamen
Taken 2008-06-15, picture released in public domain
Text source: Wikipedia.org/Xiamen

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Please share your thoughts on the future of Taiwan and Mainland China. It is our goal to facilitate dialog and increase understanding of different views and perspectives. Serious bloggers only please.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinmen

By: Chinationreport Editor

Allegedly three Chinese Gymnasts are under 16, the minimum age allowed to compete in the Olympic gymnastics. This incident has caused serious global consequences, namely:

• America lost one to two gold medals in the Beijing Games.
• The hard work of American gymnasts is not fairly awarded and recognized.
• The feelings of 300 million Americans are hurt.
• The feelings of Chinese gymnasts are also hurt. They insist that they did nothing wrong.

The Chinese government denies this allegation and has since shown various official documents and explanation to prove its innocence.

According to numerous sources, the pre-war Iraq intelligence was forged. The Huffington Post reports on August 5th, 2008:

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.
Suskind writes in “The Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery - adamantly denied by the White House - was designed to portray a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

By now we also know that the forged CIA intelligence has had and is still having some severe global consequences, namely:

• A war has been waged against Iraq.
• Saddam was captured and executed, followed by domestic violence in Iraq and increased tensions between US and Iran.
• Over 4000 American soldiers lost their lives.
• An Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey conducted August 12-19, 2007 estimated 1,220,580 violent deaths due to the Iraq War (range of 733,158 to 1,446,063). Out of a national sample of 1,499 Iraqi adults, 22% had one or more members of their household killed due to the Iraq War (poll accuracy +/-2.4%). – Source: Wikipedia.org/Iraq-War
• During an NPR interview on March 3rd 2008, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, co-author of The Three Trillion Dollar War explains that Americans will spend decades treating the physical and psychological wounds of Iraq veterans — and when the economic consequences of the invasion are taken into account, the costs are staggering. – NPR.org
• Indirect consequences may include: US record budget deficit, record oil price, US and global financial crisis

On August 24, 2008, I searched ‘CIA Forged Document’ and ‘under age gymnasts’ on Google with the following results:

Results 1 - 10 of about 59,600 for cia forged document

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,110,000 for under age gymnasts

My dear loyal visitors:

I am not trying to defend China on this age controversy. I am not trying to accuse the USA on its CIA intelligence. History will be our best judge. I ask why our freedom loving Western citizens, given the dramatic different impact of these two incidents, you are more outraged by China’s unproven cheating than America’s well-documented lying?

If China is proven wrong, the medals can be returned to the USA. When USA is proven wrong, can any lives be returned to their loved ones?

James Shen’s response to Joe’s criticisms on his article

“Mainstream Western media stages Blemishing China Marathon” at www.Chinationreport.com

Thank you, Joe, for your patience to read my article “Mainstream Western media stages Blemishing China Marathon” and your criticisms.

You were right to point out some quotation discrepancies. Indeed, there are different versions of translations for the saying of Confucius (己所不欲，勿施于人), and I agree that your version of translation is more suitable in the context of this article. Also you mentioned about the biblical source of “let he who is not sin cast the first stone”. Again there are multiple sources including John 8:1-11, Matthew 7:12 in the Bible citing this criticism of Jesus on Pharisees. I have updated my article to reflect your suggestions. Thank you for helping me improve this article.

However, I have to say you have misread some parts of my article and I feel obliged to clarify and respond.

I do know Barack Obama is neither a Muslim nor the “anti-Christ” and I only cited media reports of these lies to show how some Western media would like us to believe them despite how obvious the truths are. For the record, I happen to be an Obama supporter.

I also happen to know very well what cannibal or cannibalism is. While my English may or may not be as good as yours, it certainly is much better than the Chinese of most, if not all, Westerners living in China.

Your comments seem to suggest that I was advocating for the official Chinese media, but if you read my article carefully then you realize I was only hoping that there was more positive coverage on China by the mainstream Western media so that people who do wish to read about some positive developments in China do not have to rely exclusively on the official media.

You also indicated that I do not know what is really going on in China. I don’t know where that came from, but let me tell you I spend at least three months in China each year, work with ordinary Chinese employees routinely, have a blog in Chinese where I share thoughts with Chinese bloggers, read internet news in Chinese often, and have the experience of worshipping in house churches, government-approved churches and international churches in Beijing. Do these convince you that I may know just a little more than you or Western reporters about China?

However, I am particularly disappointed that you have repeatedly referred China and the Chinese government as “your country” and “your government” in your comments to me despite my statement in my article that I am a Chinese American and a naturalized American citizen. For your information, my government is the US government and I am electing a new president in November. Regardless how some Americans would like to discriminate or prejudice against my ethnicity and race, I refuse to give up my rights and entitlements as an American and no one can take away my pride as a patriotic American with Chinese heritage.

Indeed, the rights of minorities in America have improved dramatically in the past 50 years. But by no means has racism submerged in today’s Western societies. While you may wish to dispute it, my personal feeling is that racism and racial prejudices are simply taking new forms, and racial tension is growing in political, social-economic, legal and cultural arenas in Western countries. Your own assumption that I, a Chinese American, am somehow an outsider serves to show the racial mindset of many Americans.

Your criticized my citations of various political and social problems as well as foreign policy issues in the US and the West. You also implied explicitly that I am somehow ignorant about the foreign policies of “your country” although I clearly indicated in my article that I am a Chinese American who has lived here for 19 years and received advanced education in the West.

If studying, living and working in the UK and the US for a total of 24 years does not qualify me to comment on the problems and politics of “your country” where I live, work, pay taxes and vote, why do you feel those Western journalists who have little or no living experience in China know that country better than me and deserve to bash China regularly for its policies and problems?

It is obvious you felt the discomfort of “your country” being criticized by an “outsider”, but please don’t get too excited about it – it is not good for your health – I learnt it from having to deal with similar discomfort every day

Well, I have to admit my article was intended to give you and people in the West a taste of that discomfort in the hope you realize how we, as Americans with Chinese heritage, feel when China is pushed around by over-simplistic, ignorant and biased media reports routinely.

The point of my article is neither to criticize the West nor to enter into debates about race and international politics, but rather about “don’t do unto others what you don’t wish to do unto yourself” and “to live and let live”. It is obvious there are differences and disagreements between countries, races, religions and interest groups, if we choose to focus too much on them, we will argue and fight forever without peace, no to mention living in a better world.

Lastly, you spoke about appointing a Uighur or Tibetan to the position of the Chinese premier. Perhaps you are not aware of the fact that Uighurs and Tibetans are already well-represented in the governments of their respective autonomous regions. People from these two minorities also hold important positions, such as the Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, in the Chinese political system. Dalai Lama himself held an important position at the CPPCC before rebelling in 1959.

As to a Uighur or Tibetan premier for China, I am quite hopeful you will see this happen by the time we have an American Indian as President of the US.

With reference to the remarks that China does not allow Tibetans to read religious texts, I am surprised that you actually bought the story since you quickly pointed it out that Obama is not a Muslim. I have not been to Tibet, but at the least I do know there are many monasteries and monks in Tibet. If they don’t read religious texts in the monasteries, do they study and read English instead? No wonder the Western journalists can communicate with them so well.

Since you touched on the issue of minorities and minority regions in China, let me share another personal story with you to show where I am coming from. I have always wanted a big brother from very young. The fact is I do have a big brother but I hardly know him at all. He was a well-educated young man with a lot of future, but he responded to the callings of the government and volunteered to relocate from Beijing to Kashgar, Western Uighur in late 1960s to support the development there as a technician for the local frozen-meat factory. He passed away two years ago in Uighur at the young age of 59 due to various diseases associated with the hardship he endured there. Make no mistake about it, he was just one of the many many Han Chinese who volunteered to help Uighur and Tibet in the past fifty years. For whatever that is worth, they deserve to be remembered and our respect.

……………………..

Finally, I apologize if I hurt your feelings in any way because it is not my intention to be mean. Wisdoms from the Bible and my Chinese heritage teach us to be more generous and not mean-spirited, but I guess we are all too weak when provoked. This is probably why the Chinese culture always calls for harmony and avoidance of direct confrontations.

The Bible teaches us “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9) and “…be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:49). Let me conclude by offering my reconciliations to you despite our disagreements. Let’s focus on our common values and interests rather than underscoring differences, and join hands in the hope of a better and more unified world….

…. if not anything else, for the sake of our children and their children!

Joe’s comments on my article : Mainstream Western media stages “Blemishing China Marathon”

You should read more carefully. Barack Obama isn’t a Muslim. Confucius said that you shouldn’t do unto others as you would not want done to you. You might have been quoting Jesus in Matthew 7:12. I’m also not sure if you know what a cannibal is. Eating scorpions is only cannibalism if you are another scorpion.

In case people only like to read what Xinhua tells them or watch cctv, these same criticisms of China are available from Indian, Korean…media.

There are a plurality of sources for media in the West be they independent, not for profit, single issue, for profit, institutional, governmental, non-governmental, international. Also, almost every country has an English language paper which western viewers can read wherever the country is …Xinhua is a government mouthpiece.

To talk about CNN putting up phony pictures and praising Xinhua is a horrible hippocracy. Some of the pictures in Chinese papers are flat on their face fakes to the naked eye.

It is a huge step towards infantilism to believe what your government tells you time and time again. It is worse off to portray run of the mill propaganda as a positive Chinese trait.

It is a moot point to talk about other countries biases when you don’t even know what is going on in your own country. If people get news from official sources and foreign sources aren’t let in, then it is a monument to self deception for someone to think they know what is going on anywhere.

It is also absurd that you talk about racial tensions becoming worse in the last few decades in the US. Do you think the situation was really better in the 1930’s? The 1800’s? Even comparing the 1980’s to today, you believe racial tensions have increased?

I don’t agree with Bush on the vast majority of issues, I believe the war in Iraq was completely wrong and I do believe there is a lot of media bias towards China in General, but to show Western foreign policy as retrograde in the last few decades is not really sound either. While World war 1 killed more than 9 million people and World war 2 killed 50 million. Since then, however, the cold war resulted in the Korean War and Vietnam, but the total death tolls in both wars combined was less than half of World war 1’s.

Countries such as Japan and Germany were engaged as allies and enjoyed great leaps in prosperity, and stability instead of being humiliated and robbed. The US is unique in history of ending wars and leaving without family ties as in the old European system. Did Germany do this? Did England? Did Japan?

Past choices by China are the reason that it wasn’t the world’s richest country a long time ago. It’s allies as well as its fellow communist countries have also suffered economically. Chinese support for Burma has meant nothing but poverty and death for a nation bounding with minerals. Chinese support of Sudan, has left Arabs richer, but has meant that blacks are victims of genocide with Chinese weapons or being pushed into deserts to die. Chinese Weapons to Zimbabwe go to a dictator who has completely ruined his country’s economy and killed his own people…

To bring up this lovely 5,000 years is really to look past the fact that the country itself is less than 50 years old and that large swaths of it are regions of other groups such as in Xinjiang. If you want to talk about a Chinese way in reference to the country, then why not make an Uighur or Tibetan premier and then prove how unified you are instead of sending a bunch of han to live in their regions and not letting them read their religious texts?

By ASSAF LICHTASH

The politics surrounding Beijing’s hosting the Olympic Games have exposed two interrelated phenomena: the wounds and self-consciousness of the Chinese, and the extent to which the West misunderstands them. But they also represent a significant opportunity to better understand a country that will play a more influential role this century than previously.

For several thousand years, China existed as a regional hegemony. Its soft power extended to the far reaches of East Asia, and its riches drew bold explorers from the West. China’s very name - the “Middle Kingdom” - indicates it has long viewed itself as a leader, and was indeed long regarded as such. Yet by the middle of the 19th century, China had become a vastly different place. Foreign invasions and occupations devastated China’s national pride. The most traumatic of these were the British Opium Wars of the 1860s and Japan’s brutal occupation prior and during World War II. For a nation that had traditionally dominated its region, the slicing and dicing of the homeland by foreigners constituted a profound humiliation from which the Chinese are still recovering.

The years following the war saw a beleaguered China emerge unified, thanks to Mao Zedong. While his rise to power and solidification of communist rule featured extraordinary brutality - including the political persecution of hundreds of thousands - Mao ushered in a period of massive transformation and an invigoration of Chinese national pride. His exclamation on independence in 1949 that “the Chinese people are back on their feet” still reverberates in China. Like Russia’s current image of Stalin, the Chinese (many of whom did not live under Mao) see his legacy as the man who unified China against all odds and reclaimed its dignity. Such is the power of a national symbol in China.

For the Chinese, Beijing’s

hosting of the Olympics is yet another national symbol, a step in reclaiming the national pride stripped away 150 years ago. In this regard, the discourse headed by prominent Western leaders such as Angela Merkel of Germany and Gordon Brown of the UK prior to the Games on targeting the opening ceremony for boycott is indicative of how misunderstood China is, and the extent to which such threats could backfire.

CRITICS RIGHTFULLY point out China’s myriad political shortcomings and problems. China’s violence toward the Tibetan minority and its own citizens, its support of Sudan’s genocidal regime, and its harmful environmental policies are surely unacceptable. We must demand of China that it assume the role of global leadership more responsibly. Nevertheless, the attempt to bully it into changing its policies through a symbolic Olympic boycott only exacerbated these problems.

The core of the problem is a failure to adequately distinguish between the policies and shortcomings of the Chinese government and the views and aspirations of the Chinese people. The threat of an Olympic boycott embarrassed the latter, while doing little to sway the behavior of the former.

Despite China’s rapid ascendancy, we must remember that the Chinese people are deeply suspicious of the intentions of foreigners; at the same time, they desperately wish to be included in the global community. Calls for boycotts and other forms of delegitimization, rather than encouraging China to change, have deepened these public feelings of suspicion. Overall, they have made it less likely China will respond positively to the goading of Western democratic powers.

Even those Chinese who oppose the policies of the Communist Party of China have rallied around it when they felt their national identity under attack. Continued threats to delegitimize China will push the Chinese people further into this defensive posture. If we truly want to positively impact China, our engagement has to be constructive and carefully weighed. Gradual engagement, rather than rhetoric of shaming China, should be our modus operandi, if we wish to avoid alienating the Chinese people. After all, it is the will of the Chinese people, rather than any one particular policy of the communist party, that represents the best long-term hope of greater democratization and political freedom taking hold.

PAYING HOMAGE to China’s rich history and culture at the Olympics is a good starting point. This should be concomitant, though, with calls on China to improve itself on various issues. Criticism must be aimed squarely at the CCP while keeping China’s national pride intact, as US President George W. Bush wisely chose to administer in Bangkok on his way to the opening ceremony.

Western governments should enrich relations between the Chinese community and their own by means of cultural exchange and cooperative projects. The message needs to be unequivocal: We respect China and celebrate its culture, but demand responsibility on China’s part. Mismanagement of foreign policy, including decisions by Western leaders to pursue delegitimizing actions such as cultural boycotts, will create greater distrust bereft of constructive policy impact.

The writer is a graduate of the departments of international relations and East Asian studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in Chinese studies.

By now everybody must have got the news: China’s national hero hurdler Liu Xiang is out!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/writers/michael_farber/08/18/liu.xiang/?bcnn=yes

http://www.chinationreport.com/liuxiangpictures.html

Liu Xiang won China\’s first Man\’s Gold at Athens Olympics

Liu Xiang’s pain is China sorrow. His Olympic dream is torn into pieces, right in front of the 1.3 billion people. The sky has fallen, on the empty lanes and tracks. The country in tears! The Bird’s Nest falling apart. Along with the glory of the opening night, the controversy around the 9 year old girl’s lip-syncing, Liu Xiang, too, has written his chapter into the history of this year’s Olympic Games in the most heartbreaking way.

But why?

Adam Thompson writes in The Wall Street Journal Blog August 18th:

“Our closest equivalent is Tiger Woods — who, like Mr. Liu, competes in an individual sport and has his image plastered everywhere but the moon. Both have also broken racial barriers, casting aside stereotypes about who can succeed in their respective sports. One difference: when Mr. Woods announced his season-ending injury after winning the U.S. Open this summer it made huge headlines, though no one got morose about it.

But imagine if, instead of playing in four majors a year, Mr. Woods played in one every four years, and just before his big event, news of his injury broke. That’s not even taking into account the nationalism that raises the emotional stakes higher for fans during the Olympics. It’s hard to guess how Americans would react. Have we ever experienced injury news this wrenching on a national level?”

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