Is there anything in China that someone won’t copy?

That’s strictly a rhetorical question; we all know the answer. The point is driven home in this story of a Chinese official who, as he faced the judge at his corruption trial, recited a lugubrious apology, his voice choked with contrition. Only problem was, he had cribbed the apology from another corrupt official. Why reinvent the wheel when you can just copy and paste?

Music, books and Hollywood films… China can now add testimonies of regret by corrupt officials to its exhaustive list of copyright violations.

Zhang Shaocang, former Communist Party chief of state-owned power company Anhui Province Energy Group Co Ltd, wept as he read a four-page “letter of apology” during his corruption trial at a court in Fuyang, Anhui, according to a Procuratorial Daily report reproduced in Wednesday’s Beijing News.

But Zhang’s sentiments were later found to be strikingly similar to those of Zhu Fuzhong, a disgraced former party chief of Tongan village in southwestern Sichuan province, whose apology letter was printed in the Procuratorial Daily less than two weeks before.

“Before working, I never gave much thought to money and regarded achievement as the starting point and end result of my work,” the paper quoted both of the letters as saying. “I gradually lost my bearings and the scope of my position,” Zhang said at his trial, an exact copy of Fu’s own wording.

Apart from using whole sentences word for word, Zhang also — more craftily — made “slight changes” in other areas.

Sounds like another cutter and paster I once knew…

The Discussion: 37 Comments

I Believe That Cheating and Copying Should Be Allowed During Testing

Testing can be divided into two types. The first type is a “certification testing”, this is used to verify if a person has reached a certain set of standards. For example, there are finance certification tests, actuarial certification tests, Microsoft programming certification test etc etc.

The second type is “competitive testing”. That is, it is used to grant certain positions or certain opportunities to people because those positions/opportunities are limited. For example, college entrance exams and SAT tests are such examples of testing. If one day every university is equally good and there’s enough universities for everyone, then there’s no need for college entrance exams, everyone will automatically receive college education.

Today’s society is a cooperative society, it emphasizes mass production through cooperation. This is different from “agricultural economies” of the past. An agricultural economy of the past is when each household produces its own food and own clothing and own housing, and depends on no one else but themselves.

But today’s society requires a much high level of cooperation. Therefore, a modern person should be disciplined and have very good team spirits. Therefore, discpline and cooperativeness are the two pillars of a “desirable” modern citizen. Of those two, teamwork is very important. That’s why almost every company has some questions about teamwork during job interviews.

But today’s testing is used to test individuals. A student receives a test paper, there are some questions on the paper, and the students try to provide solutions to those questions. His score on the test solely depends on how well trained he is in answering these specific types of questions. Do we really want those who are well trained in answering a specific set of test questions to be our best talents?

Therefore, today’s testing system is fundamentally promoting individuality and de-promoting teamwork. Your score has nothing to do with others. In fact, you want others to do worse than you are. After several generations of such testers, people will develop very selfish tendencies. But selfish tendencies are exactly the opposite of teamwork and cooperation that’s required for today’s society. If I were taking a test, I would intentionally not do so well, so that others will get a chance as well, I would feel very cruel to score very high and watch others score low.

Therefore, this post suggests a new way of testing. Let’s call it “group testing”.

Let’s imagine that the current tests are like individual sports such as running, high jumping, gymnastics, etc. But we know there are also very team sports such as basketball, soccer, pingpong doubles, etc. Now, my thinking is, why can’t we make the college entrance exam to be such team sports? That is, we divide high school students into different teams, and each team has 10 people. And let the tests be competition between those teams. If a team’s score exceeds a certain value, then every member of the team gets admitted.

This is the same analogy as in sports. If a volleyball team wins the championship, everyone on the team, including bench players, will receive a gold medal, and everyone shares in the victory.

I believe this kind of testing is better at shaping cooperative people. For example, if there’s a math test tomorrow, everyone in the team will help each other, and perhaps during the test, each person will do a share of the questions he/she is most good at. If certain members always do poorly, others can spend more time training them, or they can reject them and find a new member.

Of course, you say individuality is also very very important! Then, to satisfy some of your desires, certain team members who stand out from others can be trained and shaped more intensely. Now, how do you pick out who is to be trained and shaped more intensely? Well one way is to let the team members vote amongst themselves who do they think is the most excellent in the team.

For example, at the end of a soccer game, if two players made great contributions to the team’s win, then other players will of course congratulate them and vote them for the best players of that game. In fact, when I was in the Army, every year’s end we vote for who do we think should be rewarded the best soldier.

September 6, 2007 @ 12:46 pm | Comment

Music, books and Hollywood films… China can now add testimonies of regret by corrupt officials to its exhaustive list of copyright violations.

only chinese people copy and violate copyright laws. i mean no one downloads music or buys bootleg dvds anything.

September 6, 2007 @ 1:43 pm | Comment

ferins, that’s like sarcastically saying “only Chinese people spit on public buses and trains”, or, “only Chinese people push and shove like animals instead of waiting in a queue.”

The Chinese might not be the only ones who do it, but per capita they hold the world’s record, and they make national habits of these vices.

September 6, 2007 @ 3:15 pm | Comment

For whatever reason, the first answer came to my mind to your “rhetorical question” was Jeff Dahmer. I just can’t see a Chinese copy of Dahmer. Yeah, there have been a few Chinese serial killers. But jerking off in front of his victims’ skulls kept in a fridge? I just can’t see China producing or copying such a sick fuck…

September 6, 2007 @ 3:31 pm | Comment

I just can’t see China producing or copying such a sick fuck

I see you’ve never been to Shenzhen!

September 6, 2007 @ 3:38 pm | Comment

Yeah, isn’t there a “Hand Chopping Gang” in Shenzhen?

Oh, and Math…c’mon, buddy! China needs people to excel, to create, to innovate, in order to take the economic miracle to the next level.

Look at that wonderful story about the iPod a month or so back – nearly all of the components and manufacturing happen off-shore, but almost all of the wealth comes back to California.

September 6, 2007 @ 3:54 pm | Comment

Jxie, China has its share of serial killers, some of them pretty gruesome. The US doesn’t hold a monopoly. What is your point, exactly?

Lisa, you know better than to interact with Math. I’m convinced he’s some sort of experiment gone awry, maybe like a spambot that somehow took on some human characteristics (but not many) and is now out of control, spitting out written-by-computer “essays” based on keywords it encounters and dumping them in blog comments.

September 6, 2007 @ 4:06 pm | Comment

I Believe Math’s Brain Is Cutting and Pasting Itself

Math’s essays cannot be divided into any types at all. They are all the same. From an engineering viewpoint, this leads me to conclude Math’s brain is cutting and pasting itself. Now, some of you might ask, “Ivan, do you approve of Math’s brain copying itself?” Yes I do, because…

…because…

…because…

WARNING! WARNING! Danger Will Robinson!

…..BZZZZZZZT! (Robot falls over at waist, waiting for Dr Smith to recharge my power pack)

September 6, 2007 @ 4:12 pm | Comment

The Chinese might not be the only ones who do it, but per capita they hold the world’s record, and they make national habits of these vices.

Stats and references please :).

September 6, 2007 @ 4:49 pm | Comment

have your read this story? seems somebody is very nervous:
http://tinyurl.com/yqrfmj

September 6, 2007 @ 5:10 pm | Comment

China needs people to excel, to create, to innovate, in order to take the economic miracle to the next level.

WIPO reports a 15% increase in patent requests per annum; vs. 6% for U.S. Not saying much, but they are trying.

Jxie, China has its share of serial killers, some of them pretty gruesome. The US doesn’t hold a monopoly. What is your point, exactly?

No, the comparison is valid. Read Ivan’s post. I could bring up some “per capitas” that would make all the (semi, it’s fine if you disparage chinese people as a race) politically correct posters here run in terror. There simply are more American serial killers “per capita” than Chinese ones.

Another favorite, child molesters, are also much, much rarer in China on a per capita basis than America. Same goes for murder, rape, assault, robbery, so on and so forth. But since I’m not a degenerate, I’m not going to attribute these things to any specific culture.

September 6, 2007 @ 5:55 pm | Comment

Ferins, you may well be right – America for all its righteousness and Puritan morals has always amazed me with its record of violent crime. But again, America does not hold a monopoly on serial killers; maybe we have more per capita, but I’ve read of some awful examples in many other countries.

Shulan, thanks for that link. But remember, China does not block or censor the Internet, per Crabmeathead in the thread directly below this one.

Ivan, thanks for the vivid image. It’s a scary thought, Math’s “brain” replicating itself like a virus…

September 6, 2007 @ 6:06 pm | Comment

maybe we have more per capita, but I’ve read of some awful examples in many other countries.

America isn’t all that bad, actually. Look to Africa for the absolute most horrific crimes imaginable. But, it does go back to Ivan’s post and my post before it; I argued that copyright infringement isn’t a Chinese specific thing, and he said (in more words) that it happened more frequently on a per capita basis.

I don’t think anyone wants to go there though, there are a lot of ugly statistics you can draw up about several related subjects here.

September 6, 2007 @ 6:12 pm | Comment

“copyright infringement isn’t a Chinese specific thing”

And neither is HIV, but thanks to the Communist Party’s policies (dirty blood collection procedures, putting cash into Communists’ pockets as they literally “suck the blood” out of the workers and peasants), HIV has become rampant in China in ways you won’t find in more decent countries like, say, Japan or Canada.

September 6, 2007 @ 6:20 pm | Comment

HIV has become rampant in China in ways you won’t find in more decent countries like, say, Japan or Canada.

In your dreams. No East Asian (and I mean Siberian descended “Mongoloids”; i.e Chinese/Japanese/Koreans/Mongols) demographic has more than .1% infected. And who was it that brought AIDS out of Africa and spread it everywhere, including China? Oh right, “Enlightened” post-1800s Europeans.

But yes, even .1% infected is intolerable.

September 6, 2007 @ 6:24 pm | Comment

You asked for it, ferins, you disgusting whore; Richard has already blogged this topic:

http://pekingduck.org/archives/000133.php

Clip:

” The latest data, prepared by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nation Program on HIV/AIDS, indicate there were well over 1 million cases of AIDS at the end of 2001 and that this number will most likely mushroom to 10 million by 2010….The epidemic is worse in provinces with a higher level of commercial sex and intravenous drug abuse. It is not surprising that the most severely affected area is along China’s southwest territory, bordering “The Golden Triangle” along the Myanmar, Laos and Thai borders, a region famous for its heavy trade in heroin, methamphetamines and other illegal drugs…
As the current SARS crisis demonstrates, both the central and provincial governments are highly reluctant to discuss anything that might reflect poorly on the image of China, as this might have an adverse effect on tourism and/or foreign investment. Officially there is still no prostitution, no drug abuse, and no blood donation scandal in China….”

From the Party who gave the world SARS, tried to hush it up and now – by the way – is reinstating into a government position the former Mayor of Beijing who ought to have been shot for endangering the lives of millions.

“The Communist Party: It’s not just a party, it’s a disease.”

September 6, 2007 @ 6:34 pm | Comment

This cut and paste story is a classic. Thanks for the link.

It reminds me of another old story about copy right infringement in China – China’s unlicensed knock off of Disneyland – the Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing.

Here is the link to a post at Cartoon Brew:
http://tinyurl.com/2zbetz

September 6, 2007 @ 6:40 pm | Comment

Update your info, knuckle-dragger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_China#Predictions

In 2002, a UN-commissioned report, emotively entitled China’s Titanic peril,[32] estimated that China had about 1 million cases of HIV, and that it was on the brink of an “explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic… with an imminent risk to widespread dissemination to the general population”. The report continued: “a potential HIV/AIDS disaster of unimaginable proportion now lies in wait.”
In Septmember 2002, the US National Intelligence Council estimated that 1-2 million people were living with HIV in China, and predicted 10-15 million cases by 2010.[2] The National Intelligence Council claimed that these figures were more reliable than previous estimates because they did not rely on official Chinese sources, which the National Intelligence Council asserted “systematically understate the actual figures”, but rather incorporated assessments by academics and non-governmental organizations working in the field.
In November 2002, the American Enterprise Institute referred to the situation as the “AIDS typhoon”.[3] This report emphasized the probable damage to the economy because HIV would spread among young educated urban people.
In April 2004, HIV/AIDS was referred to as China’s timebomb by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, DC, USA).[33]
The number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in China “could rise to 10 million in the next six years unless the government acts urgently and effectively to prevent an epidemic”, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS said in its 2004 biennial report on the global AIDS epidemic. The virus has spread to all provinces of China but with no distinct pattern of infection, and there are “extremely serious” epidemics in parts of the country despite a low rate of the disease nationwide of about 0.1 percent, the report said.

Like I said, no Siberian-descended Mongoloid population has more than .1% infected. Not Chinese Americans, not Japanese Brazilians, not Korean Canadians, not Chinese Vietnamese, not Japanese in Japan, not North Koreans, or Taiwanese.

Take your tunnel vision and paternalistic worldview to someone who will accept your BS.

September 6, 2007 @ 6:44 pm | Comment

Maybe Chinese communism cannot be copied! I just ask!
Don’t forget the word 学 means “to study” and “to copy” in Chinese. The way Chinese students learn at school is different than in western countries. Here they learn their lessons by heart without questioning themselves unlike in Europe or the US where you shall not re-transcript the lesson but also have some solid questioning.

September 6, 2007 @ 6:44 pm | Comment

No industrialised country’s government other than China’s has actually played a major role in CAUSING and SPREADING HIV among its citizens.

As for your .1 percent figure, that’s at least 1.3 million Chinese. One fourth of the total number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. Yet the statistics coming out of China can never be trusted; as a general rule, one must always assume the situation is many times worse than the CCP says or allows the outside world to know.

Ferins, your beloved Communist Party put my life in danger during the SARS epidemic. Now go and find some statistics to try to justify that.

September 6, 2007 @ 7:01 pm | Comment

Your annoying, paternalistic attitude doesn’t warrant death or suffering but you lived, so what’s the big deal? I care more about the Chinese people who were threatened by SARS. Note, I said LESS THAN .1%. It’s estimated to be at 650,000. Which is .05%. This was done with international organizations, btw, it wasn’t just a typical CCP statistic that they crapped out.

Another thing, 750,000 Chinese die from pollution a year. Which is also 1/8th the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. Yes, it’s horrible. But you’re betraying your emphasis on “per capita”. Is that your missionary instinct showing disappointment?

This is one of the main disagreements I have. Some people simply look for the worst data on China and then howl about the CCP. I tend to try and keep up to date and I’m genuinely happy when situations improve. It almost seems like some posters here are disappointed when it turns out there aren’t as many people with HIV/AIDS in China than previously estimated.

September 6, 2007 @ 7:08 pm | Comment

And yet ferins has not – because he cannot – defend the CCP against this, I’ll repeat:

“No industrialised country’s government other than China’s has actually played a major role in CAUSING and SPREADING HIV among its citizens.”

Bloodsuckers. Statistics – even the kind of fraudulent statistics the CCP whores produce – can’t
get you out of that. Your Communist Party’s POLICY was to spread HIV around.

September 6, 2007 @ 7:12 pm | Comment

But they failed, sadly enough for you. Now you won’t be able to get on your pedestal and tell people they need “American values”.

September 6, 2007 @ 7:16 pm | Comment

whatever-it-takes-to-get-ahead strategy
has been in use for a long time
(preferred strategy of the underdogs)

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/26/a_nation_of_outlaws/?page=full

September 6, 2007 @ 8:27 pm | Comment

This is beginning to bore me again. But ferins, I challenge you to find just one single instance in which I ever advocated “American values” on this site in the past 2 and a half years. “American values” aren’t what I believe in – and in fact I find that phrase to be idiotic. But then it’s your phrase, not mine.

And don’t tell us the Communist Party “failed” to spread HIV in China. That’s in the same category as Holocaust denial.

September 6, 2007 @ 9:06 pm | Comment

maybe jxie should read th scarlett diaries or the nine commentaries. Guess what? The CCP is so evil that it has made the people in China so hateful, so I figure they dont do the same types of crimes as in the US cause they dont feel the need to be normal on an every day basis and so their crimes appear less extreme. they are hateful and foul on an every day basis. I think Chinese girls are more like prostitutes than American girls,, anyway,

How about the commmunist party harvesting persecuted peoples vital organs for sale? Wouldnt you say its grosser that dalmer since they are doing so systematically and forcing the whole socity to participate and cover it up?

Did you know that during the cultural revolution the party got right into feasting on the persecuted peoples corpses and it was a big thing at that time. They are materialists, they see people as animals, as raw materials, as drones for their use in maintaining power YUCK!

I have heard that the doctors who do the abortions i China love to eat those little babies cause theyre freaks. Personally, I think there are a lot more severe criminals in China than you think, ust its not revealed completely to the public. How about what they do to the environment, how bout contaminated food, all sorts of “soft” anti human psychopathy.

Maybe you think i am conspiring, exaggerating, I’m not. And Ferins, I wish I was. Prove me it’s not true and I will feel better. Go into those campy regimey places and find the truth and tell me what you see.

September 6, 2007 @ 10:43 pm | Comment

ok there are some points of exaggeration, the WHOLE of society is not involved, but ever commie brainwashed who doesnt demand the truth and justice, I say is a contributor to the evil acts. But the media in China, and the doctors who ectract the organs, the judges who sell their souls, the police who turn to evil corruption, all higher level party members who collaborate, and everyone who knows and practices complacency, is part of the problem.

September 6, 2007 @ 10:47 pm | Comment

Oh wow. Another thread that starts on something interesting and then degenerates into an Ivan-snow-ferins flame war.

September 7, 2007 @ 3:08 am | Comment

maybe jxie should read th scarlett diaries or the nine commentaries. Guess what? The CCP is so evil that it has made the people in China so hateful, so I figure they dont do the same types of crimes as in the US cause they dont feel the need to be normal on an every day basis and so their crimes appear less extreme. they are hateful and foul on an every day basis. I think Chinese girls are more like prostitutes than American girls,, anyway,

What stupid, vapid garbage. Oh yes, every single Chinese person is so hateful they don’t commit crimes because it’s “normal”!

How about the commmunist party harvesting persecuted peoples vital organs for sale? Wouldnt you say its grosser that dalmer since they are doing so systematically and forcing the whole socity to participate and cover it up?

How are they “forcing the whole society” to do it when no one in China is consulted when it happens?

Did you know that during the cultural revolution the party got right into feasting on the persecuted peoples corpses and it was a big thing at that time.

Oh yes.. the regime, doing those regimey kind of things, like a regime does, “ate” people who starve! This isn’t stupid at all. It’s not the 70s anymore.

I have heard that the doctors who do the abortions i China love to eat those little babies cause theyre freaks.

Yes, with worcestershire sauce I’m sure. Those delicious aborted babies, who wouldn’t want to take a bite out of one?

who knows and practices complacency

Do you want some kind of “revolution” where millions of people die and the country is set back in every imaginable way for 100 years?

September 7, 2007 @ 3:11 am | Comment

Its already set back every imaginable way my friend, you must love propaganda cause it gives you a nice feeling..

By the way, the media people are complacent, they lie to the people through their teeth, the doctors do the forced organ removals, the people agree to treat Falun Gong and other so called dissidents are vermin, The people are so scared of the party that they give up their real thinking,

By the way, those fiends who led people to cannibalism, well, thats the communist party, do I have to remind you its the same party that you love to defend now?

Actually they say those babies are really not delicious but they think it makes their skin more youthful…

T_co, so wheres your interesting comment? I am not here to entertain you. If you want entertainment go to a show, if you want a discussion, participate.

September 7, 2007 @ 11:01 am | Comment

while the Chinese are brilliant at copying, the product often comes out with an Alice-in-Wonderland type feel… its looks perfect but there’s something that just doesn’t feel right.

September 7, 2007 @ 12:20 pm | Comment

In this guy’s defense, it has always been considered okay within the law to copy someone else’s legal materials. The thinking goes that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and it saves the client money. Nobody thinks anything of taking ten pages right out of someone else’s brief, for instance. I mean, the work is not to impress but to win, right? So while this guy’s copying was highly questionable from a tactical standpoint (I mean, won’t this reduce sympathy?), it is not so uncommon.

September 7, 2007 @ 3:30 pm | Comment

China is nothing more than a copy-cat-nation.
What have the Chinese invented in the past 250 years? Anything?
They will cheat, violate patents, and do anything to gain the place in the world they think they are owed. Keep in mind. This is a nation that was nearly defeated by a much smaller Japan in the ealry 20th Century. The myth of China is that they are smarter than the rest of us. They are not. They are just better thiefs and they have a very low skill low pay workforce.

September 8, 2007 @ 10:37 pm | Comment

Luckily they aren’t riddled with illiterate jackass morons like yourself that suck the intelligence out of any population like a black hole.

What did your inbred, degenerate ancestors invent during your entire sad lineage? What were the ancestors of Americans doing 500 years ago? 10,000? Heh, if you want to return everything you “earned” with gunpowder (or stole, if you want to be frank) then you can start by packing your bags and going back to Europe.

September 12, 2007 @ 10:41 pm | Comment

Oh, and you can thank “us” for holding off the Mongols for about 60 years so they didn’t run off and depopulate your entire continent of origin in 9 months given how pathetic their armies were at the time.

September 12, 2007 @ 10:49 pm | Comment

CLB: Nice. Where would anyone be if we had to do everything from scratch.

All hail, Ferins of the “us”.

September 13, 2007 @ 11:19 pm | Comment

You mean the “us” of the why do “you” hate America, “we” freed Europe, you’d be speaking German/Japanese, “we” fight for freedom, “we” are so generous?

http://www.answers.com/mockery&r=67

Now, take that entry. And go back to Europe.

September 14, 2007 @ 5:54 am | Comment

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