laodan's favorite china web sites

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Tibet: dream and reality, by Slavoj Zizek: May 10, 1:39pm 4 reviews china, globalization, modernity
http://mondediplo.com/2008/05/09tibet; Tibet: dream and reality in Le Monde Diplomatique by Slavoj Zizek philosopher at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and author most recently of Violence, Big Ideas/Small Books
The West is projecting not only its own spiritual fantasies upon Tibet, but its own economic fears upon China, imagining a power struggle quite different from that which has actually happened in Tibet. We have to learn to look at Tibet as it is - and China too. Tibet: dream and reality This simple "good guys versus bad guys" story that we are being fed about the relationship between China and Tibet is indeed troubling, for, it is such a far cry from reality. The nine points offerered by Slavoj Zizek are a useful reminder of some hard facts that debunk this simple "good guys versus bad guys" story. What happens in Tibet is indeed no more than the imposition of modernity on a "pre-modern society". The same has been going on since centuries at the hand of the West while this time around the operation is conducted by China. We should thus be asking why the tyranny of modernity is never questioned instead of accusing the Chinese to commit a cultural genocide. China enters modernity so abruptly and with such devastating consequences for the West that it is tempting to refer to it as "the bad guy" but we ought to remember that it is the West that initially bullied China on the road to modernity. The entry of nearly 25% of the world population into a game that for centuries has been played exclusively by less than 10% of the world population is world-changing, no doubt about it. Without the knowledge that China acquired along its millennial experience in management of a huge bureaucracy the country could simply not have succeeded the rapid economic boom that we all are witnessing. Unfortunately the knowledge of this reality is not part of the Western analytical toolbox. Slavoj Zizek provocatively sketches this Western ignorance in the following question " What if the 'vicious combination of the Asian knout and the European stock market' proves economically more efficient than our liberal capitalism? Might it signal that democracy, as we understand it, is no longer a condition and motor of economic development, but an obstacle?"

EastSouthWestNorth: The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China: May 8, 4:57pm 6 reviews china, globalization, geopolitics
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20080509_1.htm; The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China via Fons Tuinstra / China Herald, in EastSouthWestNorth
Yes, the crowds were enthusiastic so far. But it also reveals the civic quality of some (but not necessarily all) Chinese citizens as shown in these photos The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China

We Westerners represent no more than 10 % of the world population. What a pity we know so little of what is going on in the rest of the world. We have been bombarded lastly with the coverage of the troubled Torch Relay in London, Paris and San Francisco and been force-fed with the idea that China was trouble. But what about the torch relay thereafter? Ziltch nada black hole. Did the flame not traverse the lands where 90% of the world population lives? Yes it did but we were kept in total ignorance. Why such a one sided news coverage? This is not the best way to succeed in answering the myriad of crises unleashed upon us by modernity but it is assuredly a recipe for tension between nations...

Informed Comment: Global Affairs: LET ONE HUNDRED BOYCOTTS BLOOM!: Apr 21, 9:05am 1 review china, globalization, worldviews
http://icga.blogspot.com/2008/04/let-one-hundred-boycotts-bloom.html; LET ONE HUNDRED BOYCOTTS BLOOM! in Informed Comment: Global Affairs by PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM
Boycotts are a blunt instrument, albeit drawn from the trusty democratic toolbox. That boycott fever seems to be the mood on the streets of China these days is a testament to how discontent with domestic problems has been eclipsed by disappointment with the West. LET ONE HUNDRED BOYCOTTS BLOOM! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rApn09pRZCk Excellent article. The beneficiaries of the recent demonstrations against the Olympic Torch Relay in Britain, France and the US are clearly the Chinese authorities, indeed, "discontent with domestic problems has been eclipsed by disappointment with the West." 25% of the world population are staying up, with their leaders, against the hypocrisy of the West. And let's not forget that the biggest losers are the Tibetans. Their case has indeed been eclipsed by something a lot bigger and to make matters even worse the Dalai Lama himself comes out of this story as a wounded leader whose Tibetan following appears to desert his middle of the road course. And, for the first time, the feudal past of Tibet has erupted in the Western public sight thus shedding doubts on what the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism really stand for. How to say? The only thing that comes to my mind is "how naive and dumb" the activist lesson-givers now appear to be. On manipulation of Western Public opinion about facts in Tibet: On Tibet and Propaganda: Follow the "Information" by Zwoof in the Daily Kos

Chinese Nationalism | MetaFilter: Apr 19, 2:29pm 1 review china, globalization
http://www.metafilter.com/70972/Chinese-Nationalism; Chinese Nationalism or how and why 25% of the world population is rising against the West in Metafilter by Tlogmer
The "sacred flame" winds its way towards Beijing, creating new flashpoints like a car bumper scraping sparks from the pavement.

The chinese public's anger at CNN now has a wildly popular theme song "You can't turn lies into the truth by repeating them a thousand times"

Chinese nationalism and an American backlash are both growing. Where is all this leading to? And even if we can't understand how China sees Tibet, or know whether the Shanghai Princesses will really give up their Chanel, can we at least assure the Chinese that we don't like Jack Cafferty either Chinese Nationalism or how and why 25% of the world population is rising against the West The 41 comments on Tlogmer's post on Metafilter are particularly interesting. Also see: My Western Friends, What Do You Want From Us Chinese? CHINA'S COMING OUT PARTY Tibet at war with the utopia of modernity The Baton Passes to Asia China's new intelligentsia "Capitalism with Chinese characteristics" overcomes the Weather Waving Goodbye to Hegemony

Dissent Magazine: Apr 16, 1:36pm 1 review culture, politics, china
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article?article=767; China: meritocracy versus democracy in Dissent Magazine by Daniel A. Bell
There may be the worry that the strong meritocratic system becomes entrenched - fossilized, like the American constitutional system - and hard to change once it's in place. But what if it works well? ... In the sobering documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore notes that he has been hammering away about the dangers of global warming for decades, and he expresses frustration at the lack of interest among democratically-elected decision makers in the United States. ... The question is, who is more likely to enact laws that limit greenhouse gases in China: political leaders chosen by poor farmers who understandably worry first and foremost about their short-term economic interests or deputies in the meritocratically chosen legislature? And what if the large majority of Chinese seem satisfied with strong meritocracy? Should we complain just because the system doesn't satisfy our ideas about democratic rule or should we allow for the possibility that there are morally legitimate, if not superior, alternatives to Western-style liberal democracy? From Marx to Confucius: Changing Discourses on China's Political Future Democracy is the outcome of a process characterized by fight and negotiation between the clergy, the aristocracy and the merchants, that took place in Western Europe, along the centuries between the late Middle-Ages and the 20th century. No other country on earth has this kind of societal landscape. It is thus difficult to imagine how the historical process that led to the emergence of democracy could ever be repeated. And the exercise to impose democracy in Iraq has definitely bankrupted the idea that democracy could ever be imposed from the outside. Impossible as an inside process of maturation and impossible through outside imposition democracy appears more and more as what it is - a Western European exception that also rooted in its geographic extensions. How could we then reject the idea of other countries (90% of the world population) trying to find their own ways in managing the public institutions of their industrializing societies? I don't think that we Westerners are in any moral high ground to give lessons to others (our history and our present actions!). Nor do we necessarily have the most efficacious institutional model to propose. China has over 2000 years of practice in managing a huge state bureaucracy. Their model was based on: - the teaching of the Confucian classics that instilled the values of righteousness - exams for the scholars concluding for the successful ones in their access to the decision making process. In light of all this it is not surprising to witness a Chinese revival of a system that after all has served them quite well along their history. Who are we to even dare questioning their experimentations?

China Digital Times & My Friends, What Do You Want From Us?: Apr 13, 12:31pm 6 reviews china, globalization
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/04/my-friends-what-do-you-want-from-us/; My Western Friends, What Do You Want From Us Chinese? in China Digital Times via China Herald.
(A Chinese response to the protests against the Olympic Games Torch Relay. The following text is quoted from cbc forums, via C'est la vie blog) What do you want from us? When we were called "The sick man of Asia", we were called peril, When you bill us the next superpower, we are called the threat. When we closed our doors, you smuggled drugs to open our markets, when we embrace free trade, you blame us for taking away your jobs. when we were falling apart, you marched in your troops and wanted your fair share, when we are putting the broken pieces together, "Free Tibet" you scream! "it was invasion". So we tried communism, you hated us for being communist, So we embraced capitalism, you hate us now for being capitalist. Then we have a billion people, you said we're destroying the planet, Then we limit our numbers, you say it is human rights abuses. When we were poor, you thought we were dogs, When we loan you cash, you blame us for your debts. When we build our industries, you call us polluters, When we sell you goods, you blame us for global warming, When we buy oil, you call that exploitation and genocide. When we were lost in chaos and rampage, you wanted the rule of law for us, When we uphold law and order against violence, you call that violation of human rights. When we were silent, you said you wanted us to have free speech, When we are silent no more, you say we are brainwashed. Why do you hate us so much? We ask. "No". You answer, "we don't hate you". We don't hate you either Bud, but do you understand us?? "of course we do", you say, "We have CNN, BBC, and CNBC". But why, do we still feel, you western people are not happy with us. What do you really want from us?? My friend, What do you really want from us?? My Western Friends, What Do You Want From Us Chinese? Ho, Ho! Hum.. I certainly understand what is being meant in this poem and I certainly also understand where the anger comes from that, rightly so, underpins those words. I fear that the Euro-centrism that animates so much of the Western discourse about democracy and human rights will not even permit or allow Westerners to hear what is pronounced in the words here above. But I nevertheless urge my white race-fellows to open their eyes, their ears and their minds and harts to what our yellow-race friends are asking us here. I humbly believe that we Westerners have no moral ground to stand on that would justify us to start lecturing others and especially the Chinese. On the contrary our history shows us that from the crusades on, passing through the great discoveries, then enslaving Africans and exploiting non Europeans along so many centuries we have killed and plundered on a scale never seen in human history. There is nothing in our historic behavior that could justify our present moral superiority; we should be ashamed of that history of ours. The proceeds of our plundering over so many centuries helped us to industrialize and modernize. But now that we impose on the whole world to follow us on the road of modernity we should remember that morality was never our stronghold and we should thus avoid lecturing those who only recently entered modernity. And we should also refrain from envy at the sight of the Chinese beating us at our own game. It's we Westerners who bullied them in following us into modernity.

Informed Comment: Global Affairs: CHINAS COMING OUT PARTY: Apr 9, 6:11pm 1 review china, us, geopolitics, eu
http://icga.blogspot.com/2008/04/chinas-coming-out-party.html; CHINA'S COMING OUT PARTY in Informed Comment: Global Affairs, by Philip J. Cunningham
And then what? What good can the gratuitous and unthinking humiliation of a trauma-racked nation of 1.3 billion people possibly serve? The antic cheerleading of demonstrations seen in recent weeks, when not outright rude or violent, has the one-sided nature of school spirit, being true to one's school at the expense of others. In trying to bring attention to one set of problems without thinking through the consequences of attention-grabbing shocks, racist chants and media stunts, a whole new set of problems is set into motion. Racially-tinged currents of rejection, betrayal and resentment are surging to the fore in a new, yet wholly unnecessary, confrontation between East and West. CHINA'S COMING OUT PARTY Beware an angry China The Protests, The Olympics, And The Yellow Peril. Excellent, Excellent article. Cunningham is right on the mark. These last few days of what appeared as rejection, in our windows on the world, has the potential to drive us all straight toward a future confrontation between East and West; a wholly unnecessary confrontation that whiteman is bound to lose. The 20th century has illustrated how the capitalistic competition between European "micro-nations" (micro at the scale of the world) could lead to the barbarity of 2 very destructive wars. Today's capitalistic competition is between world-blocs: - China and the larger Confucian area make up over 25% of the world population and are the most successful at the capitalistic game. - Europe and the US barely make up 10% of the world population and are in economic retreat. - Everything indicates that the other nations representing the remaining 65% of the world population, in case of conflict between East and West, would align in their very large majority with China against the West. Is this what we want as an outcome?

Pankaj Mishra: At war with the utopia of modernity | Comment is free | The Guard…: Apr 2, 8:59am 4 reviews china, geopolitics, modernity, worldviews
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/22/tibet.china1; Tibet at war with the utopia of modernity in The Guardian by Pankaj Mishra and in "Informed Comment: Global Affairs" by Philip J. Cunningham.
Tibetans' rage is directed not at communist rule, but the consumerist threat to their traditions and sacred lands. Well-off Chinese supporting harsh suppression of the "ingrate" Tibetans echo the middle-class media commentators in Delhi and Mumbai who egg on the police to "crush" those daring to resist their dispossession. But then corporate globalisation has rarely been more successful in inculcating a culture of greed and brutality among its most educated beneficiaries. Western commentators may continue to tilt at the straw man of communism in China. Tibetans, however, seem to have sensed that they confront a capitalist modernity more destructive of tradition, and more ruthlessly exploitative of the sacred land they walk on, than any adversary they have known in their tormented history. At war with the utopia of modernity by Pankaj Mishra MIDDLE WAY TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM by Philip J. Cunningham Reading the media recently about what is going on in Tibet one is confronted mostly with propaganda that is reminiscent of the old days of the cold war and don't get me wrong it is not just Beijing that propagandizes; Western media and NGO's are equally painting their reporting and affirmations in propaganda colors. Here are 2 articles that stand out for their more objective tone. Pankaj Mishra observes a totalitarian modernity that is fighting the resistance of "primitivism" or religion or localism. The fact is that Tibetans like muslims and other local cultures are resisting their dispossession at the hands of capital holders. In the case of Tibet the capital holders are the Communist Chinese State and some of its Han citizens. Philip J. Cunningham narrates the dilemma of the Dalai Lama. "... after going on the CIA payroll at a time when the US sought to wage psychological warfare in tandem with covert destabilizing of China along its borders from 1959-1972"; the Dalai Lama is now preaching socialism as the future economic road for Tibet. What he envisions is not socialism with Chinese characteristics but socialism in its pure Marxist form. A form of socialism that he hopes will come to the rescue of traditional Tibetan culture that is being aggressed by the modernity of the logic of capital. The comments on Pankaj Mishra's article are most illuminating.

Cover story: Chinas new intelligentsia by Mark Leonard | Prospect Magazine March…: Mar 6, 9:56am 6 reviews china, globalization
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10078; China's new intelligentsia in Prospect by Mark Leonard Executive director of the European Council on Foreign Relations author of the book "What Does China Think?" just been published by 4th Estate.
The debate between Chinese intellectuals will continue to swirl within think tanks, journals and universities and - on more sensitive topics- on the internet. Chinese thinkers will continue to act as intellectual magpies, adapting western ideas to suit their purposes and plundering selectively from China's own history. As China's global footprint grows, we may find that we become as familiar with the ideas of Zhang Weiying and Wang Hui, Yu Keping and Pan Wei, Yan Xuetong and Zheng Bijan as we were with those of American thinkers in previous decades; from Reaganite economists in the 1980s to the neoconservative strategists of the 9/11 era. China is not an intellectually open society. But the emergence of freer political debate, the throng of returning students from the west and huge international events like the Olympics are making it more so. And it is so big, so pragmatic and so desperate to succeed that its leaders are constantly experimenting with new ways of doing things. They used special economic zones to test out a market philosophy. Now they are testing a thousand other ideas\u2014from deliberative democracy to regional alliances. From this laboratory of social experiments, a new world-view is emerging that may in time crystallise into a recognisable Chinese model - an alternative, non-western path for the rest of the world to follow. China's new intelligentsia This is assuredly one of the best articles about China that I have read this last couple of years. Check also what the following China Hands have to say about it. Change with Chinese characteristics in "China Herald" by Fons Tuinstra China's new intelligentsiain "A Glimpse of the World" by Howard W. French I guess the only lament I would express after reading Mark Leonard's article is the absence of historical references to China's experience in political management. Fact is China is the oldest surviving nation. China succeeded at reproducing itself over the Milena while all other nations disintegrated. What is most mis-understood in the West is how the Chinese nation and its culture could be reproduced over Milena. Very early on China doted itself with a political philosophy (Confucianism) and a culture of institutional management (mandarinat) that allowed for its political institutions to survive all other kingdoms and empires whatever crises it confronted. Out of this historical context of knowledge build-up in management of huge institutions China could simply not have succeeded so brilliantly in reforming its economy and in tolerating such a lively intellectual debate while remaining under a one party political system.

Year of the Rat Spirit Prevails As China Overcomes Its Weather | China Briefin…: Feb 8, 4:10pm 1 review economics, politics, china
http://www.china-briefing.com/blog/2008/02/08/year-of-the-rat-spirit-prevails...; "Capitalism with Chinese characteristics" overcomes the Weather via China Law Blog; in "China Briefing" by Dezan Shira & Associates China's largest independent business advisory
China's long ten days of extreme snowy conditions finally relented as a massive coordinated effort by the national and regional Governments together with the military enabled the nation to enjoy a peaceful new year. Snow was cleared, trains although delayed, arrived, and fuel got through to power stations to permit Chinese nationals the luxury of a few days holiday. ... What other government, one has to ask, would commandeer commercial trains and vehicles, to divert them to where power was needed - for the good of the whole, rather than pander to the continuing profits of energy and transportation companies ? Who else would step in and cap the prices of basic foodstuffs, when rampant profiteering had threatened to drive them out of the hands of many of China's poorer people ? "Its not market-driven" scream the detractors. Definitely not, but its a good deal more civilized. ... As the snows in China recede, and as the nation can bask in the joy of a new Chinese Year, the main lesson to be learnt is that the Chinese system of managing their country seems just about right. "Capitalism with Chinese characterstics" works - when the State has the power to step in and correct adversity. Having solved the problem of keeping 1.3 billion people happy during the most important social time of year and under difficult national weather conditions, the Spring Festival of 2008 may well go down in history as when global economists - and donu2019t forget the new World Bank Chief Economist is Chinese - start to apply more of that medicine to curb the rampant selfishness of some capitalist theory and the insane ideology of the worst of communist social control that we see with depressingly now frequent occurance in the West, and in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere in Asia in different guises. The new global economic thinking is now Chinese influenced, and we just saw it in action in China. It was impressive. "Capitalism with Chinese characteristics" overcomes the Weather Here's an interesting approach of China's societal system. Some will reject the ideas in this article. Fact is that no other country in the world could solve so successfully a problem so huge as the last snow storms that immobilized China. The world is starting to acknowledge the successes of China's model and I think its impact is going to be felt ever more powerfully in the years to come. But what is China's model? It's capitalism with Chinese characteristics. But what does that mean? - It's the recognition that the logic of capital is the most effective and transforming societal force in history. - It's the recognition that the logic of capital has to be framed within a more globally encompassing logic, human logic, in order to harmonize the functioning of societal. - It's the application of China's ancestral ideas about morality and the organization of society in its politics - It's the technical knowledge China has gained along more than 2 Milena of management of large bureaucratic structures; knowledge that has been transmitted to the present generations who put it successfully in application. What do you think?