China Megathread - Their navy can be taken seriously or taken littorally

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Ardennes: May 12, 2002

I like to think of the circumstances in China more as the ultimate result of a libertarian society achieved through different means, regulations and all manners of control exist but they only exist to restrict those without wealth if you have wealth then your effectively above the law. China isn't Somalia, but is Somalia has some warlord who could unite the country and industrialize...it probably wouldn't look that different.

# ? May 24, 2013 06:34

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# ? May 21, 2024 18:24

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

This one's just especially hilarious because of the big neon sign "TROPICANA CLUB WELCOMES CORRUPT CADRE AND WHORES"

Like how stupid do you need to be?

# ? May 24, 2013 06:48

Lucy Heartfilia: May 31, 2012

Ardennes posted:

I like to think of the circumstances in China more as the ultimate result of a libertarian society achieved through different means, regulations and all manners of control exist but they only exist to restrict those without wealth if you have wealth then your effectively above the law. China isn't Somalia, but is Somalia has some warlord who could unite the country and industrialize...it probably wouldn't look that different.

Yeah. Big companies and powerful and/or rich elites can gently caress over whomever they want. They don't have to follow any rules. That's a fact. If it's oficially called communism or capitalism or a monarchy or a democracy or whatever doesn't matter.

# ? May 24, 2013 06:56

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

Really, this is called a Huge Wealth Disparity and governments tend not to be it so much as they are taken over by it. China's current dilemma (and the U.S. and the Euro area's problems) are not at all caused by their government systems as they are by entrenched elites with access to enormous power through wealth. Stamping out exactly this is a big deal in establishing government power in rule of law, and you see it over and over again throughout history.

Some examples:

Rome -- The Roman Republic collapsed because of the increasingly huge gap between wealthy landowners and the rest, and the republic suffered more and more frequent crises as the rest tried to vote in someone who would give them a slice and those people kept getting loving murdered by the Senate until they finally learned to bring the loving army to the election, and then everyone realized the elections were unnecessary now that the army determined who won. The Imperial reforms that castrated the Senate also divided the wealth more equitably for the ~200 good years of Imperial rule.

The French Monarchy -- The good days of the French Monarchy was again when the King had the aristocrats by the balls, the collapse came when the aristocrats managed to use financial judo to get the crown to give back a ton of their ancient rights and in response the peasants killed everyone.

The U.S. -- It's no coincidence that the biggest expansion of government's role in the economy and the most draconian controls on organized wealth coincided with the biggest boom time in U.S. history.

There are more but I have to go teach an economics class. Governments as institutions aren't so much culpable in the current problem of wealth as they are victims, although the people in government who are part of the problem probably don't see it that way.

tl;dr You're talking about state capture, not normal state behavior.

# ? May 24, 2013 07:13

WhitemageofDOOM: Sep 13, 2010; ... It's magic. I ain't gotta explain shit.

The poor have at times complained about being ruled poorly,
The rich have always complained about being ruled at all.

# ? May 24, 2013 07:36

caberham: Mar 18, 2009; by Smythe; Grimey Drawer

Sorry to go back to food talk. I post enough in this thread as is :ohdear:

For the record, American food rules, even when my Italian clients trash talk American Pizza, or French clients bitch about bad bread, or　Mexican clients bitch about Tex-Mex. Instead of writing a wall or words proclaiming how much I love USA food and culture, or chastising sheltered guys who don't explore their surroundings, let me present you with this photo: This is what I had to pack for my co-workers in my coming business trip to Stuttgart, Venice and Berlin:

The kettle is more for making tea when we host the expo

These guys grew up in Hong Kong, a relatively diverse and metropolitan city in Far East Asia. There's easy access to different cuisine and lots of import exists. It's not that they don't touch non Chinese, but they just prefer eating instant noodles.

But to their defense, it's not just a "Chinese thing". Food is a very personal and particular subject. When I went to Beijing for goon meets and hanging out. I ended up eating Mexican, Italian, and Subway and neglecting northern regional cuisine. Sometimes expats here in China have major cravings for fast food and one of the conversational ice breaker is "Well a new Burger King opened up". But yes, there is a stark difference between not trying new things at all and be isolated and longing for something. I myself am guilty of taking a 2 hour train for some drat good pulled pork sandwiches/chicken fried steak/chicken and waffles. Or flying to Shanghai to taunt Bloodnose with pictures of Krispy Kreme/Karl's Junior. :qq:

# ? May 24, 2013 09:20

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

This speaks for itself:

SCMP posted:

'I was here' Chinese carving on ancient Egyptian wall is decried on Weibo

Etched into a 3,000-year-old clay wall of Luxor's most fabled temple is now a strange inscription that looks nothing like what an ancient Egyptian might write.

Locals and archaeologists have made nothing of it, but one humiliated Chinese tourist was able to point out the culprit almost immediately. �Ding Jinhao visited this place,� the carving read � in modern Chinese characters.

�I tried to wipe it with a paper towel, but it didn�t come off. I didn�t dare to use water because the relic was more than 3,000 years old,� a disgraced Shen said on his Sina Weibo account. He said he apologised to the tour guide but still felt ashamed even after he was told it wasn�t his fault.

The inscription at Luxor Temple in Luxor, Egypt. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Shen's photos of the vandalism at Luxor Temple spread quickly on Weibo at the weekend, the Beijing News reported on Sunday. They showed seven Chinese characters carved into the torso of a drawing of an ancient Egyptian.

Shen�s post racked up more than a 100,000 Weibo comments by Sunday, with most users slamming whoever �Ding Jinghao� was for having "no quality" and being a national �shame�.

Shen said he hoped the matter would bring more attention to Chinese tourists� behaviour as a reflection of China�s image abroad.

The photos also turned the spotlight yet again to poor behaviour by mainland Chinese tourists less than two weeks after a high-profile telling-off by Vice-Premier Wang Yang.

Wang had admitted that �uncivilised behaviour" by Chinese tourists abroad was harming the country�s image and lamented them for poor �quality and breeding�.

He singled out for condemnation �talking loudly in public places, jay-walking, spitting and willfully carving characters on items in scenic zones�, state media reported.

Under a new Chinese law, travel agencies will be allowed to revoke their contracts with tourists who �engage in activities that violate social ethics�, although it does not specify examples.

It's even worse than it sounds, it's right on a heiroglyphic panel. http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1246598/i-was-here-chinese-carving-ancient-egyptian-wall-decried-weibo

# ? May 26, 2013 13:26

Deceitful Penguin: Feb 16, 2011

Arglebargle III posted:

This speaks for itself:

It's even worse than it sounds, it's right on a heiroglyphic panel. http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1246598/i-was-here-chinese-carving-ancient-egyptian-wall-decried-weibo

From the Ulm Cathedral in Germany. Graffiti and vandalism certainly aren't something that only Chinese people do but at least people seem thoroughly shamed by it.

Still, it's interesting in that they do seem to care more about their reputation abroad than certain other major nations I could mention, but I can't imagine them ever kicking anyone back home for being a huge jerk, even for poo poo like this.

# ? May 26, 2013 13:44

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

I'm glad the article specifies that they're modern Chinese characters, otherwise I've got an idea about who REALLY built the pyramids! :tinfoil:

# ? May 26, 2013 18:15

vanity slug: Jul 20, 2010

Bloodnose posted:

I'm glad the article specifies that they're modern Chinese characters, otherwise I've got an idea about who REALLY built the pyramids!

The Chinese were ancient alien astronauts, Qin Shi Huang's tomb is their current base :tinfoil:

# ? May 26, 2013 19:04

ryan8723: May 18, 2004; Trust me, I read it on TexAgs.

WarpedNaba posted:

So what happens when it's evident to both populations that they're going to starve? Aside from the riots, anarchy and so forth - How will the governments increase their food sources?

War. I don't see it ending any other way because there are just too many people and not enough resources. Thus they will have to find some way to get them one way or another.

# ? May 26, 2013 23:14

ryan8723: May 18, 2004; Trust me, I read it on TexAgs.

Arglebargle III posted:

Eat the poor.

Serious answer: the Chinese have engineered themselves into a (relative) population crash that will likely do something to ease the pressure, but they can't really go any further because the economic consequences are already looking pretty dire. Desertification is definitely going to continue encroaching on China's arable land though, groundwater will continue to be used up and contaminated*, surface water is already thoroughly contaminated so it's hard to see China maintaining its food security in the long term. Air pollution actually might see some change because it's extremely visible and people are more and more angry about it, and it's a short-cycle thing that can be easy to change. Just look at the UK and American experiences with air pollution.

*Several Chinese companies have been caught injecting industrial waste directly into aquifers to save money on disposable, and if one company is doing it in China it's a fair bet to assume that many are doing it.

Air pollution on that scale will take literally decades to fix and coat upwards of a trillion dollars or more to do it. The type of air pollution control system we use in the US are not cheap and can cost hundreds of millions for a single coal power plant. They will also be retrofitting these plants with proper pollution control systems (SCRs, ESPs, scrubbers, flares, incinerators, etc.) which can be a nightmare to do.

Before any of this can happen, China has to fix their corruption issues though. Otherwise you will have situations where scrubbers are installed without any medium or SCRs without ammonia injection. It would be hilariously awful if the corruption isn't fixed.

# ? May 26, 2013 23:22

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

A 26-year-old financial analyst defied Hong Kong culture to live his dream... as a bus driver.

SCMP posted:

Gary Leung Ling-yin, 26, decided to switch careers after realising money and luxury no longer represented a fulfilled life.

He scored nine grade As in his Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in 2003 and holds a bachelor's degree in quantitative finance.

But he left behind a manager-level analyst's job at a prestigious firm to become a full-time driver with Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB).

Leung said he was initially stunned that his story went viral after it was reported in the Chinese press last week. But he believes it struck a nerve with Hong Kong's young people. "I've started to live out my dream," said Leung, who has wanted to drive buses since he was aged two.

But it turns out he's just a rich kid who probably couldn't handle the pressure and hours of banking. Or maybe he could, since he could handle the pressure of acing exams. I dunno.

SCMP posted:

Some said he came from a privileged background, which allowed him the luxury of doing what he wanted. But Leung said: "We [this generation] are very privileged - most of us have never gone hungry or run out of money for food. Having enough materially has made us more aware of what materialism cannot fulfil in our lives. I think consumerism and materialism in Hong Kong is changing. I'm happy that this has started discussion and dialogue."

And then there's this story, which I don't even know what to say about :

SCMP posted:

�Most Chinese people think that Americans are honest, reliable, and righteous. But once you live in the country for a while, you may discover the descriptions above are a bit misleading, � explained its editor.

It�s not clear why the bilingual column, entitled �Immoral and Dishonest Americans� in Chinese, is called �Dishonest Americans� - with �immoral� taken out, in English.

With three articles published from March to May, the series remained largely unnoticed until earlier this week, when a huge debate began online after several prominent Chinese media outlets reported the column.

Lengthy and emotion-charged stories, some first person accounts, told of a New York City locksmith who demands US$800 for changing two locks, a payroll company that shuts down a client�s account before stealing its money, and a United Airlines staff who blocks a passenger from boarding an over-booked plane.

�Their [UA] manner is worst when dealing with Chinese passengers, who are usually timid and reticent outside of China,� concludes the Daily, citing �research� done by its online reporters.

The scathing criticism of "dishonest Americans" was greeted with overwhelming ridicule from readers.

�Why do our officials keep sending their wives and sons to this immoral and dishonest country?,� asked many.

�There are immoral and dishonest people in every country, � said Wu Zuolai, a Beijing scholar, �But we all know how many immoral and dishonest governments there are in the world - and we don�t need a column to tell us.�

The People's Daily had vowed to destroy Apple�s "unparalleled arrogance" in March.The paper was later ridiculed over its new Beijing headquarters, which bore an unfortunate resemblance to a giant penis.

# ? May 27, 2013 08:54

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

Holy Christ.

Compensation jokes be abounding, methinks.

# ? May 27, 2013 09:02

GuestBob: Nov 27, 2005

People in glass houses shouldn't ~~throw stones~~ ~~take a dump~~...

Actually I am not sure this analogy can be Sinified.

For those who haven't bothered to Google:

[edit]

Please tell me that "People's Daily" is now going to be an innuendo for morning wood.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? May 27, 2013 14:34

gret: Dec 12, 2005; goggle-eyed freak

SCMP posted:

�Their [UA] manner is worst when dealing with Chinese passengers, who are usually timid and reticent outside of China,� concludes the Daily, citing �research� done by its online reporters.

What the...

# ? May 27, 2013 16:21

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

They obviously didn't understand that United Airlines is awful to all passengers. It's an honest mistake one could make if not from the US.

# ? May 27, 2013 17:12

Vladimir Putin: Mar 17, 2007; by R. Guyovich

It's interesting how the article conflates morality and dishonesty with poor customer service.

# ? May 27, 2013 17:29

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

Honda-induced riots in everyone's favorite province, Henan:

SCMP posted:

When the side rearview mirror of a black Honda bumped a 10-year-old girl on her way home from school, the driver - instead of helping the child - insulted and hit the mother. "I come from an influential family," the driver said.

The incident on Friday evening in Henan province soon attracted an angry crowd of people who smashed and overturned the 26-year-old woman's car. A man surnamed Zhang tried to set it on fire, according to a police report.

It took police until midnight to pacify the crowd as photos and video footage of the scene circulated online. Many of the comments represented outrage against the sense of entitlement of the privileged few.

...

Such was the pressure that police in Jiyuan, where the incident on Friday occurred, hurried to prove that the driver, named Bi Jiao, had no "official background".

On its microblog, Jiyuan's public security department released the woman's age, place of residence and profession, as well as those of her 23 relatives, none of whom seemed to be in a senior government position. Bi is unemployed and unmarried. Her siblings are factory workers, and her parents are retired, police said.

It was also discovered that her black Honda sported fake licence plates.

Bi has since been put under administrative detention. The man who tried to set her car on fire has been criminally charged and detained. The man who sold her the fake plates was also held.

The girl who was hit is in hospital. Police reports did not elaborate on her injuries.

Many netizens were not convinced by the barrage of information, however, and wondered how the unemployed daughter of two retired ordinary workers could afford to drive a Honda.

Something isn't adding up.

# ? May 28, 2013 09:56

Pro-PRC Laowai: Sep 30, 2004; by toby

Bloodnose posted:

Honda-induced riots in everyone's favorite province, Henan:

Something isn't adding up.

Bitch hit a kid, thought she could fake her way out of it... didn't quite go according to plan.

# ? May 28, 2013 10:17

TheBalor: Jun 18, 2001

Sad thing is, from the description the child wasn't even hit that hard. If she had stepped out, apologized, and helped the kid up, I'm betting things would have been fine.

# ? May 28, 2013 12:11

hitension: Feb 14, 2005; Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language

I think the bigger question is, why would an unemployed factory worker own a Honda?

# ? May 28, 2013 12:44

VideoTapir: Oct 18, 2005; He'll tire eventually.

I think the bigger question is "is anything the government has said about the perpetrator true?"

# ? May 28, 2013 12:47

TheBalor: Jun 18, 2001

VideoTapir posted:

I think the bigger question is "is anything the government has said about the perpetrator true?"

Yeah, their reaction is a bit...odd. Riot mob tries to lynch a woman? Better give out all of her personal info, as well as the personal info of everyone she's related to.

# ? May 28, 2013 13:01

NaanViolence: Mar 1, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

GuestBob posted:

Please tell me that "People's Daily" is now going to be an innuendo for morning wood.

God drat that has to be intentional.

# ? May 28, 2013 14:08

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

Longanimitas posted:

God drat that has to be intentional.

Well, if it's an organ of the nation that fires out half-built information packets and boiling piss on a regular basis...

# ? May 28, 2013 14:14

GuestBob: Nov 27, 2005

WarpedNaba posted:

Well, if it's an organ of the nation...

I missed this pun. How could I miss this pun?

I have some thinking to do.

# ? May 28, 2013 14:38

Pro-PRC Laowai: Sep 30, 2004; by toby

TheBalor posted:

Yeah, their reaction is a bit...odd. Riot mob tries to lynch a woman? Better give out all of her personal info, as well as the personal info of everyone she's related to.

Eh, there's no "right" move to make.
They treat it for what it is, a minor accident, fake plates, and apply the maximum penalties (not all that crazy) and every screams that the government must be covering something up. Release all the personal info of all her relatives, and obviously, the government must be lying.

So, either the government flat out executes anyone and everyone who the public has a suspicion of (CR2.0), or the government is "wrong".

She's driving a Honda Accord, looks to be something from after 2008, which brand new, fully loaded is something like 20w. Used, around 10~14ish. Nothing insane.

Oh well, look on the bright side I guess, at least she wasn't sporting some fake white plates.

# ? May 28, 2013 14:47

Nilbop: Jun 5, 2004; Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

So they pulled a newborn baby out of a sewer pipe. Video and pictures in the article. I won't link them here because it's extremely disturbing.

quote:

It�s not clear how the baby originally became lodged in the pipe just beneath the building�s fourth-floor bathroom, but according to Zhejiang News, China�s state-run news service, residents reported hearing a baby crying through the piping this weekend, summoning firefighters to the Jinhua-based apartment complex Saturday morning, where they worked for two hours to carefully disassemble the sewage system.

The little guy's alive though, at least that's something.

Nilbop fucked around with this message at 02:31 on May 29, 2013

# ? May 29, 2013 02:28

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

Here's my new favorite China story:

Holy poo poo check out this guy with Donald Tsang!

Oh man, there he is with Li Ka-shing! He must be really important!

SCMP posted:

A self-claimed �successful� businessman from Hong Kong scammed three billion yuan from 600,000 investors via a pyramid scheme on the mainland before he and his criminal gang were caught by police, China�s Guangzhou Daily. reported.

The suspect, Li Xin, had claimed he was associated with Hong Kong tycoon Li Kai-shing and former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.

These �powerful" men, who appeared in photos with Li were actually just wax figures at Madam Tussauds Hong Kong, a police investigation revealed.

The wax figures looked so real that Li had decided to exploit them to attract business investors from China, the report said.

Besides the fake business connections, Li also claimed that Li Kai-shing's son, Richard Li Tzar Kai, held 30 per cent of his technology company �ABM�, whose star product was an internet software called �Mycool.�

A Shenzhen investor, surnamed Xie was among thousands in China who fell for the scam. Xie said she had paid a visit to Li�s Hong Kong office after a neighbour introduced her to the organisation in 2009. Initially, the ABM 200-square-metre Admiralty office impressed Xie with "photos of Richard Li hanging on its wall" and she believed it was an honestly-run company.

Xie paid a 23,000 yuan �membership� fee to join ABM. Thrilled about its business potential, she later spent another 28,000 yuan out of her own money building a �product experience centre� in Shenzhen.

But Xie grew suspicious when Li suddenly disappeared in 2010, so she notified the authorities. Shenzhen police arrested Li and other members of his criminal gang last year.

The suspects have been charged and handed over to a Shenzhen court, the report said.

Well this was actually a great idea for how to scam uninitiated nouveau riche .

# ? May 29, 2013 06:53

get that OUT of my face: Feb 10, 2007

GuestBob posted:

People in glass houses shouldn't ~~throw stones~~ ~~take a dump~~...

Actually I am not sure this analogy can be Sinified.

For those who haven't bothered to Google:

[edit]

Please tell me that "People's Daily" is now going to be an innuendo for morning wood.

If the Chinese gay community can co-opt the word "comrade," anything is possible.

Grand Fromage posted:

Caberham use your libertarian dystopia to keep sending me Shaoxing wine and I'm a happy man.

My ex is from Shaoxing... they make wine there? The only industry I know in that city is textiles.

# ? May 29, 2013 11:29

GuestBob: Nov 27, 2005

Y-Hat posted:

My ex is from Shaoxing... they make wine there? The only industry I know in that city is textiles.

A village a little way north of me makes very, very bad "alcohol" (it deserves no more specific label). Should I actually get to Hong Kong this summer then that's going to be my standard gift.

Shaoxing is pretty famous though.

What I am talking about is drain cleaner. Ironic drain cleaner, but drain cleaner.

GuestBob fucked around with this message at 13:19 on May 29, 2013

# ? May 29, 2013 13:16

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Shaoxing wine is a big thing, rice wine that's used in a looooooooooooot of recipes. Easy to get in the US but nearly impossible here in Korea. I don't know why.

# ? May 29, 2013 13:18

hitension: Feb 14, 2005; Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language

Shaoxing is awesome! Aside from the cooking wine (which as Grand Fromage noted is actually famous famous and not just "stop trying to make your 特产 happen, it's never going to happen" famous), they have museums for Lu Xun and Qiu Jin, two of the coolest Chinese people ever.

_{Qiu Jin, the woman knight of Mirror Lake.}

Qiu Jin was a women's rights activist. In Qing era China. Let that sink in for a moment.
When she was young her parents married her off to some guy, but she just ditched him and went to study abroad in Japan by herself.
In Japan she started wearing men's suits and took up martial arts and swordfighting :black101:

After Qiu Jin came back to China she became head of a military school, founded the first women's newspaper in China, and plotted an uprising against the Qing. She also wrote a ton of poems like this one (shamelessly ripped from Wikipedia)

quote:

漫云女子不英雄，
萬里乘風獨向東。
詩思一帆海空闊，
夢魂三島月玲瓏。
銅駝已陷悲回首，
汗馬終慚未有功。
如許傷心家國恨，
那堪客裡度春風。

Don't tell me women are not the stuff of heroes,
I alone rode over the East Sea's winds for ten thousand leagues.
My poetic thoughts ever expand, like a sail between ocean and heaven.
I dreamed of your three islands, all gems, all dazzling with moonlight.
I grieve to think of the bronze camels, guardians of China, lost in thorns.
Ashamed, I have done nothing; not one victory to my name.
I simply make my war horse sweat. Grieving over my native land
hurts my heart. So tell me; how can I spend these days here?
A guest enjoying your spring winds?

Qiu Jin fought really hard for women's literacy and the right to choose their own spouse and ending footbinding. Keeping in mind this was around 1900 and women's rights didn't become a "thing" even in the West for another 50-60+ years... some people are so ahead of their own time it just blows my mind

Eventually her plotting caught up to her and she was arrested. When the authorities beat her up and tried to make her confess, she refused to confess because she is a badass. She wrote in place of a confession: "�秋風秋雨愁煞人" (something like "the autumn wind and autumn rain worry me to death" :emo:

also a pun on her last name) So then she was beheaded at the age of 31 and never lived to see the Xinhai Revolution

hitension fucked around with this message at 00:14 on May 30, 2013

# ? May 29, 2013 23:59

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

hitension posted:

Qiu Jin fought really hard for women's literacy and the right to choose their own spouse and ending footbinding. Keeping in mind this was around 1900 and women's rights didn't become a "thing" even in the West for another 50-60+ years... some people are so ahead of their own time it just blows my mind

Not to dis on Qui Jin but women's rights was a thing in the west starting in the last three decades of the 19th century. By the time they got the vote in the early 20th century there had been women agitating for a long time.

Also the pun is "Qiu's wind and rain scare people to death" which is like a mega-pun because it could refer to her "thunder" scaring the authorities, refer to her being put to death over her activities, and also "wind and rain" is a double entendre for sex which I'm not sure she intended to put in there but it could be that she's so good at sex people die???

Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 01:52 on May 30, 2013

# ? May 30, 2013 01:49

hitension: Feb 14, 2005; Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language

Man there is a lot I could say about women's rights but in terms of individuals I suppose that is pretty fair. I like to go ahead with my hyperbole sometimes. Qiu Jin's story is certainly more exciting/dramatic than any others I can think of ...

Also the quote is basically a poem/creative writing so it is open to interpretation

It's not like Qiu Jin made a footnote like "note: here the author uses a literary allusion"

I never heard the sex thing though :geno:

Qiu Jin isn't supposed to be sexy

hitension fucked around with this message at 02:13 on May 30, 2013

# ? May 30, 2013 02:02

Arglebargle III: Feb 21, 2006

In Chinese literature any time a male and female character are together and then some "wind and rain" stirs up outside their tent/yurt/cave/house it means they're having sex. It's like the one thing I remember from my erotic Chinese literature class and yes, I had to take an erotic Chinese literature class for reasons.

# ? May 30, 2013 02:18

Barto: Dec 27, 2004

Arglebargle III posted:

Not to dis on Qui Jin but women's rights was a thing in the west starting in the last three decades of the 19th century. By the time they got the vote in the early 20th century there had been women agitating for a long time.

Also the pun is "Qiu's wind and rain scare people to death" which is like a mega-pun because it could refer to her "thunder" scaring the authorities, refer to her being put to death over her activities, and also "wind and rain" is a double entendre for sex which I'm not sure she intended to put in there but it could be that she's so good at sex people die???

I don't think every reference to wind and rain is necessarily sex, old sport.

# ? May 30, 2013 02:20