Reactions to story from EastSouthWestNorth Blog

• 
  http://zonaeuropa.com/200805b.brief.htm#014
  3 hours ago in EastSouthWestNorth Blog · Authority: 166

  Permalink] Taiwan By The Numbers (05/15/2008) (TVBS) (1,072 persons interviewed by telephone on May 9, 12, 13) Q1. Historical trend of satisfaction with President Chen Shui-bian (purple=satisfied, dark blue=dissatisfied) Q3. Are you satisifed/dissatisfied with the performance of President Chen Shui-bian in the following areas (ranked in decreasing order of satisfaction)? 59%/30%: Transportation infrastructure 41%/45%: Environmental protection 40%/48%: Social welfare 26%/60%: Ethnic group unity 24%/66%: Improvingt public safety 21%/65% Stabilizing cross-strait relationship 17%/68%: Improving financial policies 17%/73%: Eliminating business/government collusion ("black gold") 16%/68%: Fairness in justice 14%/76%: Promoting clean government 13%/80%: Promoting economic development 12%/75%: Expanding foreign diplomacy 12%/79%: Education reform Q3-1. Satisfaction rates with the performance of President Chen Shui-bian in various areas in three points in time (May 2002, 2006, 2008) 62%/41%/59%: Transportation infrastructure 59%/40%/41%: Environmental protection 52%/32%/40%: Social welfare 45%/21%/24%: Improving public security 52%/20%/21%: Stabilizing cross-strait relationship 39%/17%/17%: Improving financial policies 60%/23%/17%: Eliminating business/government collusion ("black gold") 49%/21%/16%: Fairness in justice 32%/16%/13%: Promoting economic development 47%/23%/12%: Expanding foreign diplomacy 40%/13%/12%: Education reform Q4. Generally speaking, do you feel that President Chen Shui-bian has led us in the right or wrong direction over the past several years? (dark blue=right direction, purple=wrong direction) Q5. Do you think that Taiwan has moved forward or backwards over the past eight years? 18%: Forwards 71%: Backwards 6%: About the same 5%: No opinion Previous brief comments, see Brief Comments Archive Section 3 of 3: Blog posts (May 16, 2008) Sorry, But I'll Have To Hurt Your Feelings Writer Yang Hengjun explains why he felt compelled to be critical about government rescue efforts in the Sichuan earthquake. He wrote that his conscience would be panged if he kept silent and he wants the government to do even better. (May 13, 2008) The Sichuan Earthquake Numerous photos from various sources about the earthquake centered in Sichuan province. (May 9, 2008) The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China The crowds were enthusiastic as shown in these photos, which also exposed the poor civic quality of some Chinese citizens. (May 7, 2008) The Duke University Witchhunt Scott Savitt publishes an opinion piece in the Duke University Chronicle about the matter of Chinese student Grace Wang, and promptly gets tripped up in a minor detail over who picked up Grace Wang when she first arrived. (May 1, 2008) Huangfu Ping On Tibet The 9,000 plus word essay by Huangfu Ping is translated here in full. This essay is 'hot' at this time. (April 30, 2008) How The Western Media And The Tibetan Elite Hijacked The Tibet Issue A Chinese blogger reacts to the New York Times article about Chinese students in the United States. (April 28, 2008) Crisis Management At Carrefour Translation of a China Business report on the thirteen days of public relations crisis management at Carrefour. (April 26, 2008) Carrefour in Hefei: A Photo Play Photos of the demonstration outside the Carrefour store in Hefei city (Anhui province) on April 19, 2008. (April 25, 2008) Why Is CNN Patriotic? Chinese blogger Yang Hengjun analyzes the background, history and strategies over Jack Cafferty's gaffe at CNN about the Chinese 'goons and thugs.' (April 24, 2008) Unexpected 'Readers' of Free Newspapers in Hong Kong Free market in operation: In Hong Kong, senior citizens earn extra money by picking up the free newspapers and selling them for recycling. (April 23, 2008) Grace Wang's Essay in Washington Post A Chinese blogger gives a detailed reading of the essay by Duke University student Grace Wang published in the Washington Post. (April 15, 2008) Kitty Shelley versus France Translation of a Southern Metropolis Daily story on the brewing boycott of Carrefour. (April 10, 2008) The Olympic Torch Tour As Public Relations Disaster A public relations disaster for whom? Read the story about Olympic torch bearer Jin Jing in Paris. (April 8, 2008) Interview with Frank Sieren Translation of an interview of German writer/film producer Frank Sieren by Freitag magazine. The title of the interview is "The West has ceased to impress China a long time ago." (April 7, 2008) The Bilingual Eileen Chang, Part 1: A Return To The Frontier This is the story about the publication of the newly discovered Eileen Chang travelogue about her visit to Taiwan and Hong Kong in 1961. Previously, this was published in English but now an expanded Chinese version has just been published. (April 6, 2008) How To Find The Truth About Lhasa? An opinion column about Tibet in Southern Metropolis Daily drew condemnations from nationalistic populists about high treason. (April 5, 2008) The Enemy of My Enemy A Chinese blogger declines to equate the Tibet uprising with the struggle for freedom and democracy. (April 4, 2008) Even Jogging Is A Crime Post-March 14 Western media reported more disturbances in Lhasa, but there is the local report by a Han blogger. (April 3, 2008) Encounters With A German A Chinese overseas student reports on an encounter with a German co-worker. (March 30, 2008) A Photograph From Lhasa, March 14 Was the rioter wielding a knife in a famous iconic photograph actually a Chinese policeman playing a role for the camera? (March 26, 2008) Chinese Netizens versus Western Media The Chinese netizens rise up against the western media for their coverage of the events in Tibet through a slideshow on YouTube. What do I think? (March 23, 2008) How Can I Forget Lhasa, March 14? A Han woman from Shenzhen working at a Lhasa eyeglass store blogs about her experiences on March 14. (March 22, 2008) Most Wanted In Tibet The Lhasa public security bureau issued photos of the most wanted criminal suspects taken from surveillance videos. Should websites publish those photos and should civilian photographers publish their photos? (March 22, 2008) Phoenix TV Reporter In Lhasa Phoenix TV reporter Chen Lin was dispatched to Lhasa after the March 14 disturbance and she blogged about what she saw and heard. (March 21, 2008) Give Us A Politician Translation of an article by Lung Ying-tai about the kind of president that the Taiwan people want. (March 21, 2008) Right Time, Right Place, Wrong Reporter? This page collects the works by The Economist's James Miles. For ten days, Miles was the king of the journalists by being the lone foreign reporter in Lhasa during the disturbances. This page also contains an analysis of a Miles report by a Chinese blogger. Many, many more previous blog posts in the Blog Post Archive ... Blogroll Press email
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  Between a torch and a hard place: Regulation and the Olympics

  http://www.chinasourcingblog.org/2008/05/between-a-torch-and...
  9 days ago in The China Sourcing Blog · Authority: 13

  April is the cruelest month... Harking back to the opening line of T.S. Eliot's landmark modernist poem The Waste Land, April 2008 has come and gone with something of the ferocity of a wrecking ball. Now that the Olympic torch has finally completed its tortuous journey to China and been put out of its misery, it left in its wake not harmony and friendship but the debris of a contorted mass of hurt feelings, misunderstandings and colliding expectations between those in and outside of China. In April, the supposedly sacred flame has scorched two cultures. So writes former People's Daily deputy editor Huangfu Ping, translated by EastSouthWestNorth: We (in China) did not anticipate that the Olympics would be like an astronomical telescope that magnifies all the unsatisfactory flaws... we did not realize that the people, the mass media and the NGO's of the world would use the Olympics to criticize our government's governing and administrative styles... The two sets of expectations inside and outside China collided, and created the embarrassing situations during the Olympic torch relay. The opportunities and challenges of the Olympics are two sides of the same coin. Yet actually, he continues, ..there is no need for people to become immensely hostile to the foreign mainstream media on account of certain inaccurate and malicious reports... Because with the appropriate authority, transparent and open, Huangfu Ping claims, public power in China should be able to effectively maintain social stability. Yet in this cruel April, with so many hurt feelings and angry voices where there were supposed to be Olympic friendship and unity, what happened to the appropriate authority? Between a rock and a hard place in the midst of popular anger, foreign resentment, and frightening moods, it just ain't easy being Chinese, as Mutant Palm finds on the historical influence of humiliation and reclaiming lost dignity weighing heavily on Chinese shoulders. One can hardly blame the Chinese government for reaching out to religious leaders (while insisting that some of these closer to home stay no more than just that). With another icebreaking concert in mind, the China Philharmonic Orchestra is set to perform for Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican today. Yet as The Guardian reports, an anonymous priest in the Vatican (which still recognizes Taiwan) told Reuters that he doubted whether the Chinese government is doing it out of love for the Pope or the Holy See, while another source in the papal city said that the Chinese were shopping for goodwill. Sometimes it can indeed be very hard being Chinese. And now as the contentious opening ceremony beckons with less than 100 days before the start of the long-awaited (with bated breath) Olympics, the divisive, flame-torched preludes have played their part in inducing visa restrictions and tighter controls over daily life for the 250,000 foreigners who have settled in China in recent years, all with the aim of presenting a blemish-free image of Beijing for the big event (thus street beggars and some migrant workers in the capital are also being given their marching orders). Yet while the unexpected tightening of regulations may be a source of much frustration and irritation for some, to Richard Brubaker at All Roads Lead to China, the sense of entitlement among the foreign community about their contribution to China is not going to make it to the podium: China is not ungrateful for investment, technology, management training, loans, etc... It is that they are unwilling to continue a pattern of behaviour and development that they do not feel is in their best interests long term... They have 1.4 billion people to manage, and at all times that number will trump anything else offered. In China, Brubaker recommends, you should be prepared for anything, nothing is consistent and anything can change. And if, in these at least temporarily very complicated times, you are wondering whether global sourcing is really still worth it, you can either completely lose your sense of economic optimism (like the way U.S.-based industrial manufacturers are feeling about the U.S. economy)... - or you can wait for the Olympics to end. So here's to a momentous, exciting, peaceful (and short) Olympics.
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  Caijing Magazine: the challenges and opportunities of the Beijing Olympics

  http://blog.speak4china.com/?p=20
  12 days ago in Blog for China · Authority: 8

  Written by Tang Buxi, May 4nd, 2008 Caijing is one of the best news magazines in China today. Its primary emphasis is on financial and economic issues, but it also touches upon social and political commentary. Its closest analogues might be the British Economist, or the American Wall Street Journal. I plan on making translated versions of Caijing articles a regular addition to this blog. A feature article in this month’s issue discusses the challenges and opportunities behind the Beijing Olympics. The by-line reads: The opportunities and challenges of the Olympics were always two sides of the same coin. Despite external pressures and internal worries, it’s not necessary, nor is it possible, to modify the direction of our future progress. 奥运会的机遇和挑战原本就是一枚硬币的正反面，没必要、更不能因为外部的打压和内部的疑虑，而改变我们前进的方向. The author helps us take a step back and see the larger view. The Olympics, as well as the events of the past month do indeed represent incredible challenges, but China’s development over the past 30 years can not, and will not stop on the basis of these events. The Chinese version is here, and the English translation (courtesy of the must-read blog ESWN) is here.
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  explode together

  http://bloodandtreasure.typepad.com/blood_treasure/2008/05/e...
  13 days ago in Blood & Treasure · Authority: 101

  Away from the parish pump, Roland Soong translates a 9000 word essay on China, Tibet and the Olympics by Huangfu Ping, a former chief editor of the People’s Daily who enjoys a kind of unofficial role as representative of Beijing on earth. This is basically as close to a detailed explanation of the Chinese government’s current stance as anyone is going to get, or at least that of its generally reformist wing – and the fact that Huangfu Ping is the message bearer on this issue means that the reformist wing has been given general control on the issue. Here he takes a swipe at some of his more aggressive comrades: We also need more flexible social administrative systems and ethnic autonomous-rule systems to ensure that social problems do not get politicized. Wise leaders are always good at separating political and ideological problems and reduce things to specific individual social problems to be solved one at a time. They do not label the various demands from various interest groups as "political plots" "with ulterior motives" and let these demands coalesce into politicized problems that explode together. Therefore, the relevant leaders in charge of the Tibet issue must break away from the traditional political thinking and deal with the unique social, ethnic and religious problems in Tibet in a pragmatic way. There have been concerns expressed that the latest Tibetan uprising would tilt power towards hawks in the Chinese administration. They were already in charge in Tibet and across the Chinese far West generally, and for all their bluster after the event they are the ones who allowed the uprising to happen. As for the “pragmatic way”, that seems to consist of holding talks with the DL in an attempt to split him from militants in the Tibet independence movement, one of whom recently speculated that the Tibetan cause may be better advanced if it resorted to suicide bombings.
• 

  explode together

  http://bloodandtreasure.typepad.com/blood_treasure/2008/05/e...
  13 days ago in Blood & Treasure · Authority: 86

  Away from the parish pump, Roland Soong translates a 9000 word essay on China, Tibet and the Olympics by Huangfu Ping, a former chief editor of the People’s Daily who enjoys a kind of unofficial role as representative of Beijing on earth. This is basically as close to a detailed explanation of the Chinese government’s current stance as anyone is going to get, or at least that of its generally reformist wing – and the fact that Huangfu Ping is the message bearer on this issue means that the reformist wing has been given general control on the issue. Here he takes a swipe at some of his more aggressive comrades: We also need more flexible social administrative systems and ethnic autonomous-rule systems to ensure that social problems do not get politicized. Wise leaders are always good at separating political and ideological problems and reduce things to specific individual social problems to be solved one at a time. They do not label the various demands from various interest groups as "political plots" "with ulterior motives" and let these demands coalesce into politicized problems that explode together. Therefore, the relevant leaders in charge of the Tibet issue must break away from the traditional political thinking and deal with the unique social, ethnic and religious problems in Tibet in a pragmatic way. There have been concerns expressed that the latest Tibetan uprising would tilt power towards hawks in the Chinese administration. They were already in charge in Tibet and across the Chinese far West generally, and for all their bluster after the event they are the ones who allowed the uprising to happen. As for the “pragmatic way”, that seems to consist of holding talks with the DL in an attempt to split him from militants in the Tibet independence movement, one of whom recently speculated that the Tibetan cause may be better advanced if it resorted to suicide bombings.
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  Huangfu Ping on Tibet

  http://www.sichunlam.com/blog/2008/05/huangfu-ping-on-tibet/
  13 days ago in The Blog by Si Chun Lam · No authority yet

  I really like this exceedingly long, 9000-word post by ‘Huangfu Ping’. It convincingly sets out a case against rising Chinese ultranationalism and policy towards Tibet – and with Huangfu Ping’s historical relevance, the article could actually be groundbreaking as it signals the Government’s new approach. If so, I am optimistic! Background on Huangfu Ping: Huangfu Ping (皇甫平) is the penname of Zhou Ruijin (周瑞金), a former deputy editor-in-Chief of Shanghai’s Liberation Daily《解放日报》and the People’s Daily《人民日报》; best known for a series of articles in support of Deng Xiaoping (邓小平)’s tour of Guangdong Province promoting his economic policies and reforms in the early 1990s. Read the full article: English translation on EastSouthWestNorth Original Simplfied Chinese version on CaiJing.com.cn Here are a couple of selected quotes… On the Chinese boycotts of French goods: “I understand the young Chinese people who gather to protest outside the Carrefour hypermarts in certain cities, but I do not approve of the boycott action. China is a member of WTO, and calling for boycotts of foreign products and producers is not a smart move. We must be wary about the influence of narrow-minded nationalism and populism on these young people. The government must also take steps to prevent the deterioration of the investment climate in China.” “When the paralympic torch bearer Jin Jing used her body to defend the Olympic torch, we can shower her with high praises; when she opposed the Carrefour boycott, we should not treat her as an enemy.” On media freedom: “The government should quickly withdraw from the role of omnipotent government” “We should continue to lift the transparent of internal Chinese information and respect the right of the Chinese people to be informed. In suddenly breaking incidents or mass incidents that involve ethnic and religious issues, the information should be released honestly, sincerely and openly in a timely manner. The sky will not fall down as a result. We cannot rely on the system of media control within China to work for overseas propagandizing. We need to do media public relations in an environment of multi-culturalism, including media management during public relations crises.” On the Olympics: “We should be able to recognize that a successful Olympics depends not just on economic and sports power, but more importantly on political, cultural, social and people quality power. It is a delusion to be able to dominate the world through economic progress and sports gold medals alone.” On Tibet - including working with the Dalai Lama: “The Chinese government stated [...] it intends to meet with the private envoy of the Dalai Lama. The classical approach in the theory of social movements is to win over the moderates and isolate the radicals. This was how the United States deal with Al Fatah and Hamas, and this is worth our trying. We can urge the Dalai Lama to use his own influence to restrain the violent activities of the Tibetan radicals, which befits his status as a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Dalai Lama should also do things (including towards Tibetans) that are helpful to the peaceful rise of China.” “We must also recognize that the injection of wealth into Tibet is not equivalent to the injection of happiness. [...] We must pay attention to the spiritual needs of the Tibetan people and their Tibetan Buddhist religion, we must respect their culture and customs…” “The Emperor Qianlong took remedial lessons in the Tibetan language for the purpose of meeting with the 6th Panchen Lama. I suggest that the government should raise its own stance higher.” “Emperor Kangxi: “When a emperor reigns, there is a natural logic that does not require taking risks. The way to defend the borders of the kingdom is to be benevolent and make sure that the people are happy. When the people are content they love their nation and the borders will be secured.”“
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  ZonaEuropa’s Title Tag Changed to EastSpitjWestNorth

  http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/02/zonaeuropa-title-tag...
  14 days ago in Shanghai China Snippets · Authority: 28

  Update Mystery solved, it was a typo and it has been corrected, see comment by ESWN. While getting updated on the latest in China I visited the always very informative EastSouthWestNorth blog to read the translated essay by Huangfu Ping. Suffering slightly from professional deformation I didn’t start reading the text of the article right away but looked first at the top left corner where the title tag is displayed. EastSpitjWestNorth, it reads. Is it a typo, was it hacked or something else? © - visit China Snippets for more great content. or find Shanghai information on MyChinaStart . --- Related Articles at Shanghai China Snippets:Harbin Travel | Maybe LaterA Chinese LawyerInternet Police China | A Boring JobAdult Diapers | China TrainsA Story | The Chinese Hair Salon Girl

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