I hope somebody at Rio Tinto sees this

I guess what goes around comes around

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who wants to see a free and ethical PRC

That Day so Long Ago

Today is an infamous day in Chinese history. If you don't know why then you probably live in China. I am not going to write about that event directly today because I don't want there to be any possibility that some knuckle-dragging-aparatchnik can say "See that event which really didn't happen is only a lie to discredit China in the eyes of Westerners. Despite the fact that China is now my country too, this is a fight that needs to be fought by those with bridgeless noses and almond shaped eyes.

HOW MANY TEARS by Mark Heard.

Gunmetal gray for golden rules
White hot steel for the comfort of fools
Molten wills in iron hands
Forge new sons for the Motherland

How many tears will fall down
How many tears must fall
How much blood will stain this ground
How many tears must fall

Hidden mounds in jungle dust
Youthful voices forever lie hushed
Poets and peasants know the truth
But what in the world can one man do

How many tears will fall down
How many tears must fall
How much blood will stain this ground
How many tears must fall

A mother’s eyes ache with her hatred
Her lips they are crippled with fear
She waits for the news that she don’t want to hear
How many tears
How many tears
How many tears must fall down

Ain’t no funerals
Ain’t no prayers
Ain’t no blood in the Government Square
Reign of terror
True and tried
Dries the eyes before they’ve cried

How many tears will fall down
How many tears must fall
How many tears will stain this ground
How many tears must fall
How many tears
How many tears will fall down

From Dry Bones Dance

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who saw his wife shed some of those tears

Maybe these guys should have joined the Taliban

June 4th was the 19th anniversary of the night that PRC tanks made mush out of several hundred people that were agitating for greater democracy and freedom in China. However, it could probably be argued that the ones who died were the lucky ones. About 500 of them were arrested and have been in jail every since. 19 years in a labor camp for asking for a less repressive government.

If they'd joined the Taliban as terrorist they'd be in Guantanamo Bay receiving three squares, have religious services and chaplains, access to health care, not required to do hard labor and have the possibility albeit a small one, that they will have their case heard by a civilian court. Plus, when the US either wins or loses the WOT they might be released. By contrast, the people arrested in that government square were not terrorist, they didn't want to murder everyone who didn't hold their narrow and barbaric theology and they were not even armed. They were a threat only to the old men with shoe polish in their hair and not much of a threat to even them. Yet, they have been held without trial, forced to do hard labor, malnourished and abused for 19 years.


I don't go to the candle light vigils that commemorate what happened that night. My eyes are the wrong shape. I don't want any of the what amounts to Chinese holocaust deniers to be able to say: "See, it is just a plot but evil foreigners to discredit our great nation!" It doesn't mean I do not care.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who prays daily that China, his adopted country, can be free

Standing up to bullies

Interesting article.

In a strange way this another reason that I support the PRC position in Tibet. When the human rights crowd in the West will not let people tell the truth, or express unpopular opinions then they are no longer supporting human rights but a political agenda. When that agenda creates institutions or laws that allow thugs to use the law against people speaking the truth about the thugs then the pursuit of human rights has become something evil. Evil, politically correct Westerners have no right to tell the PRC what to do.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who rather see human freedom than human rights

My last post on Tibet

As I have said before, It really bothers me to have to stand up for the PRC government. There are lots of areas where the PRC deserves to be bad mouthed and to be bad mouthed with a mouth much fouler than mine. Indeed, in a way this is one of those issues. But the fact remains that the "Free Tibet" movement is a crock.

You may, for all I care, support the Tibetans if they start a revolution for independence. If you want to, send them money, medical supplies or buy an AK-47 on E-Bay move to the Himalayas and join up.

But, you cannot plausibly claim that Tibet hasn't been part of China for 100's of years. Taiwan yes, Tibet no.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Reluctant Chinese Patriot

The article reproduced below clearly shows Tibet has been part of China for hundreds of years. And please note it was written by a progressive American academic.


Reprinted from the book: Tibet - Myth and Reality
by Foster Stockwell

Western concepts of Tibet embrace more myth than reality. The idea that
Tibet is an oppressed nation composed of peaceful Buddhists who never did
anyone any harm distorts history. In fact, the belief that the Dalai Lama is
the leader of world Buddhism rather than being just the leader of one sect
among more than 1,700 "Living Buddhas" of this unique Tibetan form of the
faith displays a parochial view of world religions.

The myth, of course, is an outgrowth of Tibet's former inaccessibility,
which has fostered illusions about this mysterious land in the midst of the
Himalayan Mountains -- illusions that have been skillfully promoted for
political purposes by the Dalai Lama's advocates. The myth will inevitably
die, as all myths do, but until this happens, it would be wise to learn a
few useful facts about this area of China.

First, Tibet has been a part of China ever since it was merged into that
country in 1239, when the Mongols began creating the Yuan Dynasty
(1271-1368). This was before Marco Polo reached China from Europe and more
than two centuries before Columbus sailed to the New World. True, China's
hold on this area sometimes appeared somewhat loose, but neither the Chinese
nor many Tibetans have ever denied that Tibet has been a part of China from
the Yuan Dynasty to this very day.

The early Tibetans evolved into a number of competing nomadic tribes and
developed a religion known as Bon that was led by shamans who conducted
rituals that involved the sacrifice of many animals and some humans. These
tribes fought battles with each other for better grazing lands, battles in
which they killed or made slaves of those they conquered. They roamed far
beyond the borders of Tibet into areas of China's Sichuan and Yunnan
provinces, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai. Eventually one of these tribes, the
Tubo, became the most powerful and took control of all Tibet. (The name
Tibet comes from Tubo.) During China's Tang Dynasty (618-907), Emperor
Taizong improved relations with the Tubo king, Songtsen Gampo, by giving him
one of his daughters, Princess Wenzheng, in marriage. The Tubos, in response
to this cementing of relations, developed close fraternal ties with theTang
court, and the two ruling powers regularly exchanged gifts.

The princess arrived in Tibet with an entourage of hundreds of servants,
skilled craftspeople, and scribes. She was a Buddhist, as were all of the
Tang emperors, and so Buddhism entered Tibet mainly through her influence,
only to be suppressed later by resentful Bon shamans. Some years later
another Tang princess was married to another Tubo king, again to cement
relations between the two rulers.

The fact that the Tibetans and the Chinese had united royal families and
engaged actively in trade (Tibetan horses for tea of the Central Plain)
didn't mean an absence of conflict between them. Battles occasionally
occurred between Tang and Tubo troops, mostly over territorial issues. At
one point in the 750s, the Tubos, taking advantage of a rebellion against
the Tangs by other armed groups in China, raced on horseback across China to
enter the Tang capital of Chang'an. But, they couldn't hold the city.

In 838, the Tubo king was assassinated by two pro-Bon ministers, and the Bon
religion was re-established as the only acceptable religion in Tibet.
Buddhists were widely persecuted and forced into hiding.

Trade between Tibet and the interior areas continued during the Five
Dynasties (907-960) and the Song Dynasty (960-1279) that followed the
collapse of the Tang, although relations between the two ruling powers were
limited. During this time Buddhism revived in Tibet as a result of the
Buddhists' willingness to accommodate some Bon practices. The form of
Buddhism that resulted from this merging of the two religions was quite
different from that of China and other countries in Southeast Asia, as well
as from the form that had been practiced previously in Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhism, often called Lamaism, appealed to the Mongols, who
conquered most of Russia, parts of Europe, and all of China under the
leadership of Genghis Khan. The Mongols, like the Tibetans, were tribal
herders who had a religion of animism similar to Bon.

When Kublai Khan, the first Yuan emperor, appointed administrators to Tibet,
he elevated the head of the Tibetan Buddhist Sakya sect to the post of
leader of all Buddhists in China, thus giving this monk greater power than
any Buddhist had ever held before - and probably since. Needless to say, the
appointment irritated the leaders of the other Buddhist sects in Tibet and
the much larger group of non-Tibetan Buddhists in China. But, they couldn't
do anything to counter the wishes of the emperor.

The Yuan Dynasty divided Tibet into a series of administrative areas and put
these areas under the charge of an imperial preceptor. Furthermore, the Yuan
court encouraged the growth of feudal estates in Tibet as a way to maintain
control there.

When the Yuan Dynasty collapsed, it was replaced by the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644), which wasn't composed of persons of Mongolian heritage. Tibet
then became splintered because the Ming court adopted a policy of granting
hereditary titles to many nobles and a policy of divide and rule.

Although the Ming court conferred the honorific title of Desi (ruling lama)
to the head of one of Tibet's most powerful families, the Rinpung family,
they also bestowed enough official titles to his subordinates to encourage
separatist trends within the local Tibetan society. One of these titles was
given to the head of the newly founded Gelugpa sect, better known as the
Yellow sect. He later took on the title "Dalai Lama."

Tibet During the Qing Dynasty

The next and last dynasty, the Qing, came to power in 1644 and lasted until
1911. At the time of its founding, the most prominent Tibetan religious and
secular leaders were the fifth Dalai Lama, the fourth Panchen Lama, and
Gushri Khan. They formed a delegation that arrived at the Chinese capital,
Beijing, in 1652.

Before they returned to Tibet the following year, the emperor officially
conferred upon Lozang Gyatso (the then Dalai Lama), the honorific title "The
Dalai Lama, Buddha of Great Compassion in the West, Leader of the Buddhist
Faith Beneath the Sky, Holder of the Vajra." (Dalai is Mongolian for
"ocean"; lama is a Tibetan word that means "guru.")

The fifth Dalai Lama pledged his allegiance to the Qing government and in
return, received enough gold and silver to build 13 new monasteries of the
Yellow sect in Tibet. All successive reincarnations of the Dalai Lama have
been confirmed by the central government in China, and this has become a
historical convention practiced to this very day.

A later Qing emperor suspected the intentions of the seventh Dalai Lama, so
he increased the power of the Panchen Lama (also of the Yellow sect). In
1713 the Qing court granted the title "Panchen Erdeni" to the fifth Panchen
Lama, thus elevating him to a status similar to that given to the Dalai Lama
(Panchen means "great scholar" in Sanskrit, and Erdeni means "treasure" in
Manchu.)

The largest part of the Tibetan population (more than 90 percent) at that
time was composed of serfs, who were treated harshly by the landlords and
ruling monks. All monasteries had large tracts of land as well as a great
number of serfs under their control. The ruling monks' exploitation of these
serfs was just as severe as that of the aristocratic landlords.

Serfs had no personal freedom from birth to death. They and their children
were given freely as gifts or donations, sold or bartered for goods. They
were, in fact, viewed by landlords as "livestock that can speak." As late as
1943, a high-ranking aristocrat named Tsemon Norbu Wangyal sold 100 serfs to
a monk in the Drigung area for only four silver dollars per serf.

If serfs lost their ability to work, the lord confiscated all their
property, including livestock and farm tools. If they ran away and
subsequently were captured, half their personal belongings were given to the
captors while the other half went to the lords for whom they worked. The
runaways then were flogged or even condemned to death.

The lords used such inhuman tortures as gouging out eyes, cutting off feet
or hands, pushing the condemned person over a cliff, drowning and beheading.
Numerous rebellions occurred over the years against this harsh treatment,
and in 1347 alone (the seventh year of Yuan Emperor Shundi's reign), more
than 200 serf rebellions occurred in Tibet.

Foreign Aggression
Foreign nations made numerous attempts to invade Tibet and take it away from
China. These were repulsed by Chinese troops and Tibetan fighters. The first
such invasion took place in 1337 when Mohammed Tugluk of Delhi (in what is
now India) sent 100,000 troops into the Himalayan area.

During the second half of the 18th century, troops from the Kingdom of Nepal
invaded Tibet twice in an attempt to expand Nepal's territory.

During the 19th century, Britain competed with Russia in pouring large sums
of money and many spies into a struggle to see which of the two might
eventually occupy and control Tibet. When the British finally invaded Tibet,
first in 1888 and again in 1903, the Russians were so involved in conflicts
at home that they couldn't stop the British troops from pushing all the way
to Lhasa. And the Qing government, having recently lost the Opium War to the
British, did nothing either.

The Tibetans, using spears, arrows, catapults and homemade guns, fought
valiantly but to no avail against the invading British army and its big
cannons and machine guns. The British withdrew after imposing "peace" terms
and before the harsh winter began because they feared the Tibetan resistance
would prevent supplies from getting through to the occupying troops,
thereby causing them to starve to death.

The British signed a Convention with China in 1906, the second article of
which stipulated that the British would no longer interfere with the
administration of Tibet and that China had sovereignty over Tibet. But, they
conveniently forgot the terms of this agreement when, the very next year,
they signed a Convention with Russia that specified British "special
interests" in Tibet. It would probably fill a book to detail the many ways
the British from that point on tried to take over Tibet and make it a part
of their colony of India.

Yet, something needs to be said about the conference held at Simla, India,
in 1914. Conference participants included representatives of the new
Nationalist government of China that had overthrown the Qing Dynasty just
two years before, plus Tibetans, and British-Indians. The British had
blackmailed the Chinese into attending by threatening to withdraw their
recognition of the new nationalist government and by saying they would work
out an agreement with the Tibetans alone if the Chinese didn't participate.

The Simla Conference failed because the Chinese and the 13th Dalai Lama both
opposed the British plan to divide Tibet into two parts (Inner and Outer
Tibet). The conference, however, did produce one document that since has
caused dissension -- a map drawn by the British representative Arthur H.
McMahon that never was shown to the Chinese, although it was revealed
secretly to the Tibetan delegates.

McMahon's map showed a new boundary line that included three districts of
Tibet -- Monyul, Loyul, and Lower Zayul -- within the territory of British-
India. This so-called "McMahon Line" first became public 23 years later when
it appeared in a printed set of British documents related to the conference
and other diplomatic matters. The McMahon Line became the basis for India's
failed attempt to take over this part of Tibet in 1962. The British, who
made a great show of their desire to have "independence for Tibet" at the
Simla Conference, in drawing this map were adding 90,000 square kilometers
(an area three times the size of Belgium) from Tibet's natural territory to
their own Indian colony.

During and after World War II and shortly before Britain's departure from
India, the American Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S., the forerunner of
the C.I.A.), operating under Cold War guidelines, joined the British Foreign
Office as the instigator of the Tibetan "freedom movement."

Much of what the O.S.S. did in Tibet remains hidden in secret files at C.I.A
headquarters near Washington, D.C., but one of their plots has been widely
reported. It involved a smear
campaign launched against the regent who had been appointed to act for the
young 14th Dalai Lama after the 13th Dalai died in 1933. The regent was
hostile to U.S.-British intrigues in Tibet, so the O.S.S. spread rumors
about his alleged incompetence and criminal activities. Eventually these
charges led to the regent's arrest and murder in a Tibetan prison. The 14th
Dalai Lama's father subsequently was poisoned because he was a friend and
supporter of the regent.

Tibetan Buddhism
Before considering Tibet today, some words should be said about Tibetan
Buddhism as a religion. The accommodations it made with Bon resulted in its
becoming very different from other forms of Buddhism, particularly from the
more common and much larger Chan Buddhism of China (called Zen in Japan).
Images found in Tibetan Buddhist temples are much fiercer than those found
in other Buddhist temples, and some Tibetan ceremonies that once used human
skulls, human skin, and fresh human intestines clearly reflect the animistic
elements of Bon.

Also, Tibetan Buddhists rely a great deal on prayer wheels, which most other
Buddhists scorn. These are mechanical devices with prayers written on them
that are constantly turned by water or wind so the forces of nature do the
work of sending prayers to heaven.

The reincarnation of Living Buddhas, which is unique to this form of
Buddhism, began as early as 1294 with the Karma Kagyu sect, a sub-sect of
the Kagyu sect (known as the black hats). It then spread to all of Tibetan
Buddhism's other sects and monasteries, but it didn't reach the Gelugpa sect
(the one that includes the Dalai and Panchen Lama lines) until after 1419.

From the beginning, the system of selecting Living Buddhas was open to abuse
because it was easy for clever members of the monk selection committee to
manipulate the objects presented to potential child candidates in order to
make sure a particular child was chosen. In the case of the fourth Dalai
Lama, the child selected was the great-grandson of the Mongolian chief Altan
Khan. He was chosen at a time when the Gelugpa sect badly needed the
protection of the Altan Khan's followers because the Gelugpa were being
persecuted by the older Tibetan sects, who were jealous of the Yellow sect's
rapid growth.

Tibet Since 1949
In 1949, the Chinese Communists won the revolution and overthrew the
Nationalist government. But they didn't send their army into Tibet until
October 1951, after they and Tibetan representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama
and 10th Panchen Lama had signed an agreement to liberate Tibet peacefully.
The Dalai Lama expressed his support for this 17-point agreement in a
telegraphed message to Chairman Mao on October 24, 1951. Three years later
the Dalai and Panchen Lamas went together to Beijing to attend the first
National People's Congress at which the Dalai Lama was elected vice-chairman
of the Standing Committee and the Panchen Lama was elected a member of that
committee. After the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered Tibet, they took
steps to protect the rights of the serfs but didn't, at first, try to
reorganize Tibetan society along socialist or democratic lines. Yet, the
landlords and ruling monks knew that in time, their land would be
redistributed, just as the landlords' property in the rest of China had been
confiscated and divided among the peasants.

The Tibetan landlords did all they could to frighten the serfs away from
associating with the PLA. But, as the serfs increasingly ignored their
landlords' wishes and called on the Communists to eliminate the oppressive
system of serfdom, some leaders of the "three great monasteries" (Ganden,
Sera, and Drepung) issued a statement, in the latter half of 1956, demanding
the feudal system be maintained. At this point, the PLA decided the time had
come to confiscate the landlords' property and redistribute it among the
serfs. The landlords and top-level monks retaliated by announcing, in March
1959, the founding of a "Tibet Independent State," and about 7,000 of them
assembled in Lhasa to stage a revolt. Included were more than 170 "Khampa
guerrillas" who had been trained overseas by the O.S.S. and air-dropped into
Tibet, according to a former C.I.A. agent. The O.S.S. also gave them machine
guns, mortars, rifles and ammunition.

The PLA put down the revolt in Lhasa within two days, capturing some 4,000
rebels. The rebellion had the support of the Dalai Lama, but not of the
Panchen Lama. After it failed, the Dalai Lama, along with a group of rebel
leaders, fled to India.

The most disruptive event of recent years was the "cultural revolution,"
which lasted from 1966 to 1976. It turned most of Tibet's farm and herding
areas into giant communes and closed or destroyed many monasteries and
temples, just as it did elsewhere in China. At its end, the communes were
disbanded and the temples and monasteries were repaired and reopened at
government expense.

The idea that most Tibetans are unhappy about what has happened in Tibet and
want independence from China is a product manufactured in the West and
promoted by the dispossessed landlords who fled to India. Indeed, to believe
it is true stretches logic to its breaking point. Who really can believe
that a million former serfs - more than 90% of the population - are unhappy
about having the shackles of serfdom removed? They now care for their own
herds and farmland, marry whomever they wish without first getting their
landlord's permission, aren't punished for disrespecting these same
landlords, own their own homes, attend school, and have relatively modern
hospitals, paved roads, airports and modern industries.

An objective measure of this progress is found in the population statistics.
The Tibetan population has doubled since 1950, and the average Tibetan's
life span has risen from 36 years at that time to 65 years at present.

Of course some Tibetans are unhappy with their lot, but a little
investigation soon shows that they are, for the most part, people from
families who lost their landlord privileges. There is plenty of evidence
that the former serfs tell a quite different story.

You will find some Tibetans who hate the Hans (the majority nationality of
China) and some Hans who hate the Tibetans, a matter of ordinary ethnic
prejudice - something any American should be able to understand. But, this
doesn't represent a desire for an independent Tibet any more than black-
white hostilities in Washington, D.C., Detroit, or Boston represent a desire
on the part of most African-Americans to form a separate nation.

Tibetan Culture Today
The final part of the Tibetan myth has to do with Tibetan culture, which the
Dalai Lama's supporters say has been crushed by "the Chinese takeover of
Tibet." Culture is an area that requires great care because it is fraught
with biases and self-fulfilling judgments. The growth of television in
America, for example, is cited as killing American culture by some and as
enhancing it by others.

Regarding the field of literature, prior to 1950 Tibetans could point with
pride to only a few fine epics that had been passed down through the
centuries. Now that serfs can become authors, many new writers are producing
works of great quality; persons such as the poet Yedam Tsering and the
fiction writers Jampel Gyatso, Tashi Dawa, and Dondru Wangbum.

As for art, Tibet for centuries had produced nothing but repetitious
religious designs for temples. Now there are many fine artists, such as Bama
Tashi, who has been hailed in both France and Canada as a great modern
artist who combines Tibetan religious themes with modern pastoral images.

Tibet now has more than 30 professional song and dance ensembles, Tibetan
opera groups, and other theatrical troupes where none existed before 1950.

No, Tibetan culture is not dead; it is flourishing as never before.

Our Silence is Deafening

What a great article!

All the "Free Tibet" people should read this carefully. Please, don't misunderstand. China has been pretty brutal in Tibet but there are many place that are much worse that receive no attention from the media or protesters.

Compared to other places in the world the people of Tibet have it good; Zimbabwe for example. Because the people of Zimbabwe do not have a charismatic guy, who speaks good English promoting their cause and because Robert (The Genocidal Maniac) Mugabe does a decent job of playing the "I'm a victim of European colonialism" card the left-wing protesters don't care how many people die in Africa. Besides the people in Africa are black and the Dali Lama looks almost white and does concerts with U2. I guess Africans suffering at the hands of true left-wing dictator types are not as fun to care about as Tibetans suffering under the hand of ex-left wing semi-dictatorships like China.

Let me see; who has more freedom, opportunity, social mobility or human rights A or B?

A----------------------------------- B
Buddhist in Tibet ----------Christians in Saudi Arabia
Almost anyone in Tibet - --Almost anyone in Sudan
Farmers in Tibet - --------Farmers in Zimbabwe
Women in Tibet ----------Women in most Muslim countries
People in Tibet ---------- People in Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti

The answer in every case is "A"

It would seem to me that if people wanted to work for a group of people to be freer then any of the places in column "B" would be a better place to start. Not that "A" is necessarily a very good place to be

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who really does not like to defend the PRC

Mac-the-Knife in the PRC and Tibet

Introductions to post, especially post about controversial topics are always the hardest part of an essay to write. As a blogger I am, or so I believe lumbered with the triple task of catching the reader's interest, setting out my topic and doing that in a creative, manor that encourages readers to think about their own opinions. Not that those aren't the job of any writer but I think, with so many bloggers posting it is important to kind of have that hook to keep people from cruising on by. However, I also have to be careful lest a reader simply sees that first sentence and says "What a jerk" and then doesn't finish reading. It is a line I don't feel that I walk very well at times. All of that brings me to my topic today which is actually something I've spent several days thinking about. I want those who would have a knee jerk reaction against my topic to take a deep breath, count to 10 and keep reading until the end of the post.

Here is the controversial part:

I believe that the government of China was justified in the way that it controlled the protesters in Lhasa Tibet two weeks ago.

Why?

Because I believe that Niccolò Machiavelli was correct when he said that the primary purpose of the state is to ensure that it continues exist. No nation, at any time, not even France last summer will allow citizens to agitate for secession. Notice if you will, that shortly after this tragedy started there were pro-Tibet protest in other Chinese cities, including Beijing. Did the PRC kill those people? No they did not. The issue in Tibet was, at least in part that the racial Tibetans were burning and looting the homes and businesses of Han Chinese that the government had moved into the area. This wasn't a group of monks walking peacefully down the street waving signs.

In this respect, the actions of the PRC mirror those of France last summer when the racial minority North African Youths rioted around Paris. Was the PRC more brutal? Yes it appears so but they also stopped the riots in less time. While the issues involved are different the principle by which both nations responded was the same.

Like it or not, Tibet IS part of China. Whether Tibet was part of China, or an allied power with Imperial China until 1911 is a moot question. In the early 1950's the PRC invaded Tibet, conquered it and assimilated it into to the PRC. Tibet is part of China by law of conquest. I do not necessarily like that. You may not like that. At least some of the Tibetans pretty obviously don't like it but it doesn't matter what any of us like in this case. It only matters that China invaded Tibet, subdued it and added Tibetan lands and peoples to the PRC. This is the way that empires have always been built.

None of this means that I like what is happening in Tibet.

There is another issue involved here which isn't thought about by the protesters either as far as I can tell. If the Chinese give Tibet independence they'd have to do the same for Taiwan. The population in PRC have been taught for nearly 60 years that Taiwan is part of China. They'd never stand for that. Also, if they give Tibet Independence then why not a Free Hong Kong movement? What about all those Western Chinese provinces that would like to become their own 3rd world Muslim slum? Why not "freedom" for the 160 to 200 million Cantonese speakers?

If China were to let Tibet slip from its iron-fisted grasp the whole nation might fall apart. While there are people who think that might be a good thing I doubt the leaders in Beijing would. Indeed, as the US has just spent 5 years learning in Iraq, overthrowing a bad government does not mean the next one will be better.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who doesn't really like to defend the PRC on this issue

Beijing Keeps shooting itself in the Head

Why is it that all the people in the Chinese government are such knuckle-dragging thugs?

Until Next Time
Fai Mao

Of Cavemen, Spirinters, Rocketships and Nationalism

I find it odd how the Chinese seem to have an overwhelming desire to be able to trace every aspect of human history back to China. Every invention, every political, philosophic or political thought simply has to have been at least foreshadowed in China a thousand years before anybody else thought of it. I must admit that I don't really like racial interpretations of history or ideological ones either and it appears to me that often times the Chinese engage in a well stirred blend of both.

They've found a fossil of a caveman this week that is a prime example. It is supposedly 100,000 years old and according to the local news reports shows that ancient humans where in China long before anyone in the West thought they were. In other words, though not stated as such, everything started in China. They wouldn't care if this thing had been found in Canada. It might make a short blurb on the "Culture Express" program on CCTV9 but nothing more. But, because it was found in China it is all over the news. You'd think they'd found the signature of Slartybarfast on a rock and that it was in Chinese.

The manufactured excitement over the Beijing Olympics is also somewhat scary to me. I really wonder about people whose national identity is so shallow or fragile that they feel they must prove their national manhood by winning more medals than anybody else. I would expect wealthy nations with relatively large populations to do better in a setting like the Olympics than a poor and corrupt country like Chad or the UK. Make no mistake, China is a nation that is both wealthy and populous. They should, therefore, win their fair percentage of medals at the Olympics. But the Chinese I've talked to and those they quote on TV seem to want Chinese to finish with the top three spots in every sport to prove how superior China is to the rest of the world. "Zek Heil" anyone?

I lived in the US during the Atalanta, Lake Placid, LA and Salt Lake City games. I don't remember 30 minute TV mini-series on the Olympics airing every night after the news.

If I were the IOC I'd make every Chinese athlete pee into a cup three times a day and draw blood as well from now until after the Olympics and do a complete test for steroids or banned substances in every sample. Otherwise they could just ask those women divers on the Chinese team why they suddenly have all that hair on their legs and have started growing hooves, horns and tails and going "mooooo" when they pass a bale of hay. Herbal supplements? Yeah right.

Then there is the Chinese space program. Why are they so proud of it? The PRC is doing things that the US and USSR did nearly 50 years ago. You'd think they'd be embarrassed rather than proud. Especially since they didn't even do it by themselves. They simply photocopied the blueprints of old Soviet rockets.

I don't know. I feel that patriotism is a good thing generally. It is also true that the last refuge of scoundrels is patriotism. Too often those who are not scoundrels go along with the scoundrels for personal gain, out of complacency or out of fear. I think that the patriotic Chinese need to rid themselves of more than a few scoundrels in their government. It is time that the Chinese become able to separate themselves from their history and be able to look at their national flaws as well as their virtues. But that would require an amount of honesty and freedom that isn't present in China. Not yet anyway; maybe soon.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who loves China but doesn't always understand China

Sarko the Lady Killer

Take that Bill Clinton!

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger Who has never had a Chinese Pop Singer propose to him

Shoppers make sacrifices to avoid China goods

This is why I think that there is a real possibility that the Chinese stock market will crash in the next several months. There are more and more people in Western countries that are avoiding goods made in China. It will be interesting to see how harmonious the society is when everybody goes broke over night.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is becoming Bearish about the Chinese economy.

China Communist Party moves to avert election upsets

So, in the CCP they don't only want party members but the "right" party members elected.

And here in Hong Kong we're hoping for universal suffrage in 2012?

Maybe 3012, if we're lucky.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who isn't Optimistic

A Revolution of Culture

I watched our fearless bureaucrat the Human Bow-Tie (THBT), Donald Tsang on the ATV program Newsline last night. I was astonished that when asked "Are you a leader?" His reply was "I am a faithful son of Hong Kong" What does that mean?

I've actually come to like Newsline since Michael Chugani took over the job as host from the reflexively pro Beijing, anti-American, old Chinese guy who never smiled and who always looked as though he just sat on a vertical corncob. Michael Ghungani appears to be a very competent interviewer. He is pleasant without asking to many softball questions. But last night I was disappointed.

It appeared that THBT knew the questions in advance and had his replies written out. You could see him turning pages as he read his answers to the questions. As is usual THBT was able to use enough slimy words to avoid some direct answers and spent the rest of the time in a state of active self promotion.

I did almost agree with one thing that THBT said however, what is the good of preserving old building and the cultural heritage of Hong Kong if people don't use those buildings. He used the example of the Western market which was saved and renovated and to which nobody much goes as an example. Now, he didn't talk about the huge tunnel vents for the MTR that block the best views of the building or the other problems in the area that might prevent people from going there. But it is still sort of a valid point.

He also had another point that was a lie but contains just enough truth to make it look like a fair thought. When he talks about universal suffrage in Hong Kong he is fond of pointing out that he thinks that the real issue is good government and that universal suffrage does not necessary equate to good government. Assuming that you are talking about the governments that have Manila or Mexico City as their capital he might be right. But, since Hong Kong does not resemble either of those places is it a fair comparison to say that good government and no universal suffrage is better than a corrupt government with universal suffrage? Are we really so stupid that we cannot be trusted to elect our own mayor?

Tell us again Donald how asking for Universal Suffrage could cause us to set off a Cultural Revolution in Hong Kong like the one that happened in the PRC in the 1960's. Are you saying that if we persist in petitioning the government to honor the rights we are guaranteed under the Basic Law then the government will be forced to suppress dissident expression by force and send the leaders to re-education camps in the Gobi Dessert? Make no mistake. Suppressing dissident views was was the purpose of the Cultural Revolution.

Lastly, Michael Chugani asked THBT about the Anson Chan versus Regina Ip cat fight for the vacant Legco seat. I found the question rather than the answer interesting because Michael ask THBT to comment on the fact that it had been reported that some people didn't see a great deal of difference between the two. I wonder if Michael had read my post on that race? Probably not but I can always hope.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who still watches TV

Green Red and Orange

The article above is from the New York Times which is getting to be a less and less reliable source for news. However, this looks to be spot on from what I have seen about China. I'll not go so far as to say that air quality, or lack of it will be the downfall of the CCP but it wouldn't bother me if it was.

What is good is that stories are finally beginning to appear in the Western press about the incredible level of pollution in China and the rest of Asia.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger calls it the the "Ewww Yuck, Slimes!"

Sports that the PRC would like added to the Olympics

OK I admit it. This is too easy; but I'm in a vile mood today and governments are easier to pick on than individuals.

Here are my top 10 choices for sports that the PRC really excels at and that should be in the Beijing Olympic but aren't.

1. The Green Card Relay race: Normally played by those who attend university in the USA.

2. Square Tanking: Seeing how many Protesters a single tank can crush in a minute

3. The Great Firewall of China: Finding Internet Sites that disparage the PRC government and blocking them.

4. Wokathon: Turning non food items into gourmet foods

5. Violation Derby: Seeing how many building codes can be violated simultaneously in the same building.

6. Death Race: Driving on a Chinese Freeway

7. Litter Skitter: Seeing who can identify the greatest number of different types of empty bottles that people have thrown on the sidewalk

8. The Newlywed Games: Like the Green Card Relay only normally played by divorced Chinese women with older, preferably wealthy Western men

9. Translation Spelling Bee: Finding misspelled words on t-shirts

10. Pick Pocket Obstacle Course: Trying to walk through a Shanghai tourist area with your wallet in your back pocket.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who really does like china more than he lets on.

Chinese man dies in an Internet Cafe

So the government in China wants to turn the Internet into a platform to promote the Communist Party and prevent this kind of thing eh? What they might then get is a nation where everybody dies of boredom.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who doesn't play online games

PotC

The last movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy will start its Hong Kong run this Thursday. I plan to go see it if I can on Thursday evening.

I got into sort of an argument this morning with one of the more patriotic and socially minded students here at the school I work for about this movie. She is upset that Chow Yung Fat plays a part that is a stereotypical Chinese Kung Fu villain (Though how she knows this is beyond me as the movie isn't playing here yet.) and is not a positive role model. She conveniently forgot that this is a movie where all the major characters are PIRATES! None of them are particularly good role models and the whole movie is based around comic versions of stereotypical characters.

She just reinforced my notion that the voting age in all elections world wide should be raised from 18 or 21 to about 38 or 40. The young have no stake in the world. That's why they want to change it. It is often said that the world belongs to the future generations but that is a lie. The world belongs to middle-aged farts who had the money to buy from over-the-hill geezers. The middle-aged take care of the Earth because we want to protect our investment. Attempts by 20 somethings to change the world are really just an attempt by those without money to gain access to the wealth of those who have spent 25 to 30 years earning it.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who likes to say "Arrrrrgh"

This is why I keep saying that China will never be a Super Power

I try not to write on politics much. However, this is an interesting article because it shows why I do not think that China will ever be a Super Power. They need too much of their huge army to keep the peasants from rioting. This is not the simple growing pains associated with industrialization. This is the repressed dissatisfaction of a people who are systematically denied their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The government in China is a bunch or geriatric geezers who use shoe polish for hair dye and are afraid to lose control of the country because they know that they then might be tried and condemned for their crimes. They also like the good perks that high level party members get that prove that "all animals are equal but some are more equal than others."

What is scary about this to me is that I do not think that it is beyond the realm of reason to think that the shoe-polish-hair-dye set that runs Beijing wouldn't reach down to Hong Kong and tell us to cease and desist or else. There is no paranoid like one who really has something to worry about.

Rulers who are afraid of he people rule are generally pretty scary guys.

I really think that Beijing could learn a lot about Hong Kong as could the rest of China. When we have a protest here it is peaceful and polite but the point is made. There was one exception to that but the meanies were from Sout Korea and not locals.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who wishes that China would live up to its constitution

So much fun

Hemlock is in top form this week.

If you haven't stopped by in a while then you should

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger wishing he could have breakfast a girl named "Winky Ip"

Ever Feel Like You are Being Watched?

The cameras described in this article are bad enough but they are now talking about electronic ID devices planted under the skin!

Tell me, is this just sick, sick, sick or, simply 6-6-6?

It gets worse if you look at the DNA database being compiled by the UK government. Various officials want this thing to include everyone.

The UK cannot be considered a free country if this type of practice continues as standard practice. However, it looks to not only be standard practice it looks to be becoming even more ubiquitous.

I can't believe that people there cannot see that the government will abuse this system. The temptation for some policy wonk ideologue to use a system like this to further a political end is just too tempting.

The problem is that once the government abuses begins it may very well be too late. By that time dissent will be easily eliminated by simply altering a few tapes to make it appear that dissenters are just common criminals. I would rather deal with a higher crime rate than have every citizen considered to be a criminal. I refuse to be a suspect simply because I breathe!

I have been and will continue to be an out spoken critic of the mandatory ID cards in Hong Kong. The old ones were bad enough the new "Smart Cards" are a horrific infringement of privacy. Indeed, I fried the chip in my ID card by placing it in a Microwave oven so that it won't work. I encourage every one to in Hong Kong to do the same. But, this kind of thing goes way beyond anything going on here in the Pearl of the Orient.

There is an anonymous saying, wrongly attributed to Benjamin Franklin that the citizens of the UK should perhaps think about: "People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both."

The UK is on the road to losing both.

Kind of reminds of the old Larry Norman song:

"Well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped
from whispering through the fence.

You know every move I make
or is that just coincidence?

Well you try to make my way of life
a little less like jail if I promise to make tapes and slides
and send them through the mail."

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger Who is Glad He Doesn't Live in the UK