Bingfeng Teahouse

a quick note.

i read an article this morning about how to put several internet applications together to enhance the communication while keep the freedom and leverage of independent tools like blog.

at the CBC, rebecca discussed how to narrow the communication gap between chinese and non-chinese blogshperes, and she raised two cases of independent blogs, one is eswn, another is global voice online, to explain how blogs could help the narrow the gap. and she also talked aoubt another initiative using the technology of tag to enhance the understandings between chinese and japanese.

tag is a very clumsy tech and don't have the power to accomplish such a task, and independent blogs are still like isolated islands that are hard to reach a large aduience. new technology nedded to narrow the communication gap.

via: wang jianshuo's blog

related links:

image thief - China Bloggers Learn Hard Lessons about International Media

wang jianshuo, unhappy with BBC's abuse of his "no comment" statement about chinese media censorship, put a post to complain. the post attracted defense of the BBC reporter, sympathies as well as vehement attacks.

micah contributed one of the smartest comments (i am not totally agree though):

WJS and the rest of the Chinese webloggers see their world/internet as defined by the boundaries that the government has set for them. Of course, the economic boundaries are loosening so they are excited to expand into new territories (even territories that other countries don't include in their laws, and that China is uniquely able to take advantage of). And when somebody mentions the walls, they see the walls far from where they were before, and get frustrated that the rest of the world is so focused on the limits when there is so much room to expand that didn't exist before. "Take advantage, seize the day!" they say.

As for the BBC and the rest of the world, they see the walls expanding too. But from their point of view the Chinese walls still enclose a much smaller space than their own laws, and they themselves are not participants in the new expansion because they are not living in China and because they are more blind--due to language and culture differences--to a lot of the growth and excitement that is going on there, socially, economically and politically. So from their point of view they can only wonder why the WJS, Isaac and the CN Bloggers are reluctant to talk about the limits being too small.

Of course, the speed of expansion and consequences for criticizing the walls are also issues, issues that have two sides as well.

one commentator accused wang of lying or covering up in front of foreign media:

Fortunately, most Chinese netizens I believe have no trouble to pinpoint the shamelessness on WJS's part in his denial of the existence of censorship. Mr. Wang Jianshuo, you are so arrogant and self-indulgence, that you even think you are above truth? You are dead wrong. You are living in a 3rd world country without basic human rights to expression, and your blog says it all.

another blogger called woz developed a long post (in chinese) to comment on chinese reactions towards western interests in media censorship in china, the title is "there must be somebody to tell the world the other truth" and the writer argued that the interest in media censorship in china is not a pre-set perspective by western media, that is the mission of any journalism, some chinese won't tell the "other" truth because of self-censorship or pride, it's fine, but they should not feel uncomfortable when people tell the "other" truth or when western media ask for the "other" truth. the post ended with a following question:

when Mr. Wang Jianshuo says "As everyone can see, there is not much censorship on this blog and I can talk the topic I choose to talk about." and "I don't want to comment on this" like a piece of cake, has he ever realized that the blog of Isaac Mao, the same guy he mentioned in his post, has been stopped for several monthes, why?

fair comment and i totally agree, the only problem is why they think wang jianshuo lied in front of BBC? their attitute towards wang jianshuo makes me very uncomfortable. chinese democratic fundamentalists still keep the intolerance inherited from their red guard forefathers, what a sadness.

update 11/10:

another interviewee Zhang Yining (one of the organizers of CBC), angered by the BBC's interview and the way of distorting his views, wrote a post (in chinese) and protested:

Rabiya, BBC, and all the big media:

Do NOT set the interviewees up, do NOT use the interviewees, do NOT manipulate them by cornerning them and directing them to the opinions you yourself want to present, so to fit into your own political agenda.

So if that's what you are doing, sorry, there is no way I can cooperate.

Tonight, it's not about censorship, but fair and professional reporting. Censorship is another game, we will play it another day.

sorry for my ignorance, i have met people from many places who love chinese cuisines or at least don't hate them, but i find that english gentlemen are exceptions. they don't eat this and don't eat that, i asked, "what's your favorite?" and our english gentleman thought for a while (very hardly) and replied, "i love chicken".

via: china daily - China needs to forgive Japan

one reader tells the reason why chinese can not forgive japan:

It is not that China does not want to forgive Japan.
It is only that Japan does not think she needs to be forgiven.

update 11/10:

not surprisingly, richard of the peking duck blog focused again on the "blind rage" these photos might cause and totally forgot the key point i want to explain by showing these photos - why chinese can not forgive japan. perhaps that is not what he wants to understand.

the following is the comment exchanges between me and richard:

richard, i was wondering what would you say if those people in the photos are former german soldiers and young germans hailing to their nazi buddies and holocaust butchers in berlin today. i am 100% sure you won't be able to keep the same calm as you are now.

look at the faces of those former japanese soldiers, just image how many jews they would murder if they were in europe.

and read the lines at the beginning of the post:

It is not that China does not want to forgive Japan.
It is only that Japan does not think she needs to be forgiven.

Posted by: bingfeng at November 10, 2005 04:44 AM

 

The lines at the beginning and whether they are Nazis or Japanese, it doesn't matter: the effect of the photos mirrors that of the 2-minute hate, elevating people's emotions and making them hate. Maybe the hatred is justified; I make no judgement on that. But it's the same thing. If they were Nazis and you showed similar photos of them and their victims like this, it would still be a 2-minute hate. Whether the parties deserve that hatred is not my point. Those who committed the atrocities you depict deserve to be hated. But by doing this, don't deny what you are doing: whooping up hatred. Personally, I think it makes you appear obsessed, but that's your privilege.

Posted by: richard at November 10, 2005 04:51 AM

 

i think the purpose of the photos is explained in the subject and the two lines very clearly, if you want to interpret it as something else, it's your choice.

actually my "obsession" becomes quite reasonable because of the existence of many westerners like you, who are obsessed in defending japan or trying to be evasive by pointing fingers to chinese.

without doubt, the question why chinese can not forgive japan doesn't fit into your political agenda

Posted by: bingfeng at November 10, 2005 05:10 AM