A thought-provoking and sure-to-be controversial post by a China blogger. When I say “controversial,” I really mean it – this is the kind of post that can lead to fist-fights. I can’t take a stand because I don’t know enough about the subject. But I can say that it’s an intriguing read, and I’m hoping it generates some intelligent comments so we can see all sides of the story.

Yesterday I wrote about the government-deleted online survey in which too many respondents said they’d rather their nationality not be Chinese. That was too much for the sensitive souls in the censorship office, so, as well all know, the whole thing got zapped and two editors lost their jobs.

Now CDT offers a translation of how the story was described over at wenxuecity.com. It’s quite revealing:

The survey, started on Sept. 4 and ended on Sept. 10, registered 10,234 votes with 64% saying ‘don’t want to be a Chinese in the next life.’ Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the poll was whitewashed well before its original plan to run through October 11. (Note: the poll page is now pure white, unlike most deleted pages where visitors can see an automated error message.)

Someone says in a posting, ‘I want to answer below, like Albert Einstein: If I have a choice, I hope to be a Chinese in a China where there are civil liberties, rights protection, promoted citizenry welfare, freedom from poverty and fear. If possible, I would like to pay my due to help bring about the reality of such a China…’

Commenting on the survey, columnist Wang Yifeng says it ammounts to a satirical swipe at the Chinese Communist Party, which has always touted itself as ‘great and glorious.’ Under the evil-spirit rule of a foreign Marx-Leninism, people in this ancient, historically glorious nation have to depend on human trafficking for freedom, Wang observes. But for the vast majority who cannot get out of the country via the illegal means, they can only pin their hopes on the next life, which is a tragedy for the Chinese people.

Imagine, the CCP being incapable of tolerating a “satirical sweep.” Every year the president of the US gets up in front of the National Press Club to get roasted, and makes fun of himself. Can you imagine Hu and his colleagues ever actually laughing at themselves? (Although, to be fair, it’s hard to imagine any Asian leader getting up in public and laughing at himself.) There were lots of little lessons in this story, not only from the poll results (which, as with all Internet surveys, is questionable) but from the reactions to it from all sides. One of the best single posts I’ve read on the event and why it’s so interesting is over here.

I am blogged out. Here’s an exceptional column from Herbert, who was writing about this grotesque injustice before it got catapulted onto the front pages.

The Torture of Liberty
By BOB HERBERT
Published: September 21, 2006

After traveling to Ottawa to interview Maher Arar last year, I wrote: ‘If John Ashcroft was right, then I was staring into the malevolent, duplicitous eyes of pure evil … But all I could really see was a polite, unassuming, neatly dressed guy who looked like a suburban Little League coach.’

It turns out John Ashcroft was wrong. After an exhaustive investigation, a government commission in Canada ruled definitively and unequivocally this week that Maher Arar was no terrorist. He was nothing more than a quiet family man who found himself sucked into a vortex of incompetence, hysteria and a so-called war on terror that has gone completely haywire.

(more…)

Orwell’s prescience never fails to amaze me, and the more I read him, the more awestruck I become. Two posts today drive this point home. Each of these posts contains a touch of genius, and I read them with a true sense of wonder. Who needs salaried pundits anymore when you have such brilliant minds doing it better, and for free?

The Codpiece in Chief today delivered a speech of extraordinary meaninglessness to the United Nations, inspiring the great Fred Kaplan to write:

President Bush had nothing to say at the United Nations today. This was the clearest message of his 25-minute speech before the General Assembly – that he has no plans to change course, no desire to talk with his enemies, no proposals to put on the table, no initiatives of any sort, except to name an envoy to Sudan.

His address was full of stirring words, signifying nothing. At one point, he spoke “directly to the people across the broader Middle East.” To Iraqis, he said, “We will not abandon you” – which many Iraqis must have taken as a mixed blessing at best. To Afghans, he said, “We will stand with you,” to which they could be forgiven for blinking a skeptical eye. To the Lebanese, he expressed admiration for their courage but said surprisingly little else.

We simply have never witnessed another president like our George. The man is a blank slate, an empty shell, a tabula rasa. In short, he’s nothing at all. And we made him emperor of the universe. How very peculiar.

I’ve been enjoying this new site which has aspirations of becoming what Living in China used to be – the Chinese blogosphere’s water cooler, where many of us used to hang out to enjoy the convenience of a comprehensive blog aggregator bringing us the lastest posts as they came in. It’s still in beta stage and there are some bugs to be ironed out, but it definitely has promise. I suggest you register your own blog there and take a look at how it works.

In the words of the site creator: “The Chinalyst is an informal community for China related English-language blogging. The goals of the community are to encourage the growth and development of English content about China and to serve as a platform for finding and discussing up-to-date China related information and news.
In order to achieve these goals, Chinalyst provides a steady stream of updates from member blogs writing about China, and community members are invited to read, comment, rate and discuss blogs content and related issues.
The Chinalyst is an equal opportunity community with no overarching agenda. All political leanings and viewpoints are welcome. Our mission is also yours if you choose to accept it. Chinalyst is an open community welcoming all China-related blogs and all interested readers.”

Let’s hope it takes off as intended.

In an article appropriately titled Broken China, guest writer James Grant paints one of the funniest and saddest portraits of China’s banking industry you’re ever likely to read. Here’s how it starts.

Out of a population of 1.3 billion, there must be one honest Chinese citizen. It defies belief that there wouldn’t be. Yet this singular uncorrupted individual is making himself scarce. Scandal chases scandal in the People’s Republic. Misdeeds seem especially prevalent in the bustling city of Shanghai, where a dustup surrounding the alleged misappropriation of assets from the $1 billion city pension fund has led to the forced resignation of three senior executives at the Shanghai Electric Group. And the Shanghai branch of Huaxia Bank has been exposed by a government audit in a scheme to underreport its nonperforming loans, according to Chinese news reports.

But the Chinese press, though sometimes damning, is sweetness and light compared with Chinese prospectuses. Tales of bribery and embezzlement fill the “risk factors” section of the offering documents of the big Chinese banks. You’d swear you were reading the Shanghai police blotter. Insofar as the world depends on China’s growth, the state of the Chinese banking system is the world’s problem.

There is a lot to laugh about in this story, especially Gran’t quotations from some of the big banks’ prospectuses, which blandly note the crimes for which their former executives were fired and/or arrested (“Mr. Wang Xuebing, our former chairman and president and the former general manager of our New York branch, was convicted of accepting over 1 million renminbi…”). Only in China. The Wild, Wild East indeed. This is great reading, but it’s another of those stories where you keep having to wonder whether or not it’s satire.

Via this blog, via this site.

You have to see it to believe it.

This is the official list, with pictures. I report, you decide.

This time, the breadth and depth of her hypocrisy is truly astounding. Suddenly she’s willing to give 100 percent of the benefit of the doubt to convicted terrorists – just so long as they are Christians. When it’s Moslems we’re talking about, arresting them illegally, torturing them and generally treating them as swine is just fine with Ms. Malkin-Belsen. Greenwald’s post, which is spreading rapidly through the blogs, is a classic.