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Curved posted:I think one of the biggest unanswered questions for me regarding a potential switch to pinyin is: how would the increased literacy, if any, help those who are currently illiterate? Right now, there are so many systematic and institutional hindrances in class mobility that a limited knowledge of characters isn't the real problem. The economic costs associated with a switch could better be applied to any number of areas which would eliminate the need for a switch in the first place. This... It's not characters causing literacy problems. It's lack of eduction. Switching to pinyin isn't going to solve literacy problems, improving education will. I just looked it up and at least according to the articles I looked at Taiwan has a literacy rate of a little over 98% and Hong Kong's stands at 94.6% (2011 figures). I think this supports the idea that there isn't an inherent problem that makes learning characters too difficult and that increased development of education could solve existing literacy problems. Not to mention the intensive effort that a full writing reform would take. You would need to translate every book ever written to this point into pinyin, computer software, government records, etc. would all need to be translated...It seems like the more logical thing to do would just be to fund and improve education.
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Feb 24, 2012 13:26
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I just had a big group of anti-Japanese protestors go by the place I work in Hangzhou. Alot of my co-workers (alot of them young people in their early 20s who are completely ignorant of anything political) are all in on the anti-Japanese rage. So ridiculous. Fake edit: I read a blog and some weibo posts that made a nice point: When you destroy those cars, you aren't hurting the Japanese, you are hurting your fellow citizens you bought those cars. Seriously, there was even a picture on weibo of a woman crying. She took part in an anti-Japanese protest and then later found out that her Japanese-made car had been vandalized. God people are stupid. DaiJiaTeng fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Sep 16, 2012 |
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Sep 16, 2012 07:06
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I think it's all stupid, but to be fair, Japan is also pushing this thing. Japan also had some territorial disputes with Russia and Korea recently, and kind of failed with those. I think Japan needs a victory and at the same time might want to distract people. So, China isn't the only one guilty of using this for political gain/distraction. It would be in China's best interests to not get into a dispute now, while it's in Japan's interest to push China into this. Alot of analysts have said the longer that they wait to settle this dispute, the more the balanace tips in China's favor. I think in reality, China would have preferred to wait, but Japan has to press it now if it wants a chance at winning. To be completely honest I could be wrong (and I am open to being corrected), but that's one of the perspectives I've seen discussed alot, and it does make sense. Regardless, A Sino-Japanese war would just be a disaster and I really hope that something like that doesn't happen.
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Sep 16, 2012 07:44
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Modus Operandi posted:It would be disastrous but also darkly comical. Japanese has a negative something birthrate and a rapidly aging population. Japan can't afford to waste young men for an all out hypothetical and silly war it would cripple their economy. China has way too much men but probably will still get beat down by Japan's technologically superior "defensive" military. The net result would be two nations loving themselves over rocks in the sea. Yeah, which is why it would be in China's best interest to wait until they have the upper-hand. Which means Japan is going to force them to move or back-down. The other thing: imagine the nationalist fury the CCP would have to deal with if they lost in a war with Japan. The angry youth would flip their poo poo.
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Sep 16, 2012 11:43
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I wanted to reply to FSAD and say its interesting because my experience with the people I know are very different. First: my wife (who doesn't speak English, so she can't go read American news sites or whatever) is usually pretty much up-to-date on all the big things. We also talk about politics and current events daily (Not just in China but the global economy, and everything else that's been going on the past number of years). The same with her uncle and family. We always discuss current events and things and they all know what's going on. My wife, for example, is a huge supporter of LGBT rights (supports anti-discrimination, same-sex unions, etc.), and likes to follow updates on what's been going on on that front in China. Second: Circle of friends are all also knowledgeable and discuss the same kinds of things as above. These are also just normal Chinese people, no or very very limited English and still have developed opinions about all of these things. Basically with any of my friends or family I could have as developed conversation about modern China as with anyone I've known from the US. I'm not saying there aren't ignorant people, that's true everywhere. I also wouldn't use college students as proof that no one has an idea of what ethnic minority cultures are, etc. College students generally don't have developed opinions of the world regardless of where you are. Again, the people I usually hang out with have discussed minority stuff and the differences between different minority and Han cultures, religious ideas, foods, languages, etc. The point I want to make is that large numbers of people DO know these things, are well aware of what's been going on, and like to discuss it. You just need to find those people.
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Sep 25, 2012 03:04
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Jeek posted:That depends on which part of China you are in as well. People at Hong Kong are normally quite knowledgable about such stuff, and as Tom Smykowski mentioned, regional heroes tend to get more people talking about. Yeah its "typical". My wife is from Hangzhou and lived there all her life. Most of the people I mentioned above are from Zhejiang, some are from Xi'an. I guess I've been living in a different world or something. I've seen lots of ignorant people, I've seen many who don't care, or just want to make money, or feel that it's pointless to discuss anything since they are powerless. Yeah there are plenty. But at the same time there are so many who really keep up with things, who actively discuss political problems, who discuss the party struggle with Bo Xilai, domestic disturbances, etc. There is alot of discussion that goes on about social issues of all sorts. I don't know, it's just interesting to me. I know there have to be more people who have this kind of experience. Am I the only person who married a Chinese person who is really into politics and social issues/have family who are the same?
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Sep 25, 2012 10:18
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Arglebargle III posted:Typical doesn't mean they don't exist. I've had some really long conversations with people about politics in China and the U.S. who definitely care, but the majority of people I meet just aren't nearly as interested. Really, we are on D&D right now so the vast majority of people in the world are probably less interested in these kinds of issues than people posting here. I think that's my problem with the conversation though. People are going on about how some people don't care or are ignorant of something and turning it into "Oh the Chinese are ignorant about X, Y, and Z" when there are large numbers of activist movements, discussions about economics, politics, social issues etc. I feel like alot of people are bringing up college classes they taught and kind of acting like dialogues about topics like ethnic minorities just don't exist based on student reactions. I mean if you want to say lots of people just don't give a poo poo, then yes, but that's going to be true wherever you go. It just seems alot more productive to go look at what kinds of research, discussions, etc. are actually going on than bitch "God, Chinese people just don't get (insert topic here), no one even discusses these things. Look at the class I taught, or some guy I heard who said a stupid thing." These discussions do happen. It just seems silly to pretend they don't. Weibo, blogs, websites, TV (there's a number of good talk shows that discuss a number of different issues), alot of different things exist. Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression from some of the other posters, (FSAD, etc.). If I have misrepresented what you said or feel that I'm getting the wrong idea please let me know, I don't mean this as an attack.
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Sep 25, 2012 13:24
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Okay, FSAD, I apologize for taking what you said the wrong way. But relax a little.Fall Sick and Die posted:No one has ever suggested that these discussions don't happen. You are indeed getting the wrong impression. I dunno why you said it like this in your post, "Yeah its "typical"." with typical in quotation marks which I'm going to have to take as though you don't feel it is actually typical? I dunno how else to read that. There is indeed a world of difference between the lives of typical people and those who actually discuss topics like this regularly. In my own family dinner table growing up in the US we were never discussing the failure of the US government to uphold treaties with native people, I'd say we were typical in that regard, though that doesn't mean no one talked about it. Okay, my family growing up in the US always talked about that stuff. We were also a typical family. Or is my family not typical because we discussed current events? I'm trying to word this in a way that is not insulting, because I really really don't mean it to be. But people who think it's not typical for people in China to discuss social issues or politics are usually ones who don't have a strong grasp of Chinese, or just don't really go out and look at stuff. Again, FSAD I have no idea of your Chinese level, or if you do go out and read blogs, weibo, etc., so I apologize if I've offended you. I'm really bad with words and expressing myself. But the main idea I'm trying to say is that "typical" isn't the best word to use here. quote:Many Chinese people care deeply and passionately about social issues, LGBT stuff, ethnic minority rights. But you've got to be kidding yourself if you really believe that these are large percentages of the population. Bring up LGBT issues with 100 Chinese people and I would guess the response from 95% of them would be a giggle or 'ick'. You're just handwaving away the differences. Can I get something to back up these numbers? You are just throwing out numbers to support your argument and try to minimize the amount of discussion that goes on. I mean I can do that too: out of the people I know 90% support or feel indifferent about homosexuals. Guess that means that most people do. Personal anecdotes used to try to paint a picture an entire population isn't the best way to go about things. quote:"Oh if you're going to say large numbers of people don't give a poo poo sure that's true everywhere." That's a really useless argument to make, because you're ignoring the fact that there's a large difference between even 1% of the population giving a poo poo about X and 10% giving a poo poo about X. Again, please state where you get these numbers. Your answer was just as useless as you say my argument is. quote:Chinese people are on average, far less informed about the state of the world, and even if they don't believe the media, it affects them in a subconscious manner because it's the only media they have. Okay, at the same time don't try to make up stats about how many people care about or discuss X based on your experience with college students. Also, my family would not identify as intellectuals and would probably laugh if you said they were. I never said there was freedom of speech or that everything got discussed on open platforms all over the country. The point I'm trying to make is that there is a lot of discussion that goes on about many different problems, and I got the impression in your past posts that you were trying to minimize that. Apparently I got the wrong impression, but I feel like in the above quotes you are still trying to minimize it. quote:Also Wonton that's really disgusting to suggest that foreign men are only interested in Chinese girls for sex and thus we won't find these hidden magical not-hot thinking girls who can't speak English according to your incomprehensible statement. I think he was (in a very sarcastic/joking matter) stating that a lot of intellectual discussion isn't going to be going on in English, and that so much exists beneath the surface that foreigners who don't speak Chinese and go looking for it aren't going to find it, because you know, haha, Laowai bar culture.
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Sep 26, 2012 14:03
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Fall Sick and Die posted:You need to calm down, stop freaking out on me dude! Your posts are just full of angst and it's clear you're really personally invested in making sure that people don't think Chinese folk are 'ignorant' even though no one said that at all. So just take a few deep breaths, relax, step away from the keyboard and try to drink some green tea and do some calligraphy to soothe your upset qi. Haha wow see, anyone can suggest another person is upset on the internet even though it's not true. Care much?? Look at all those words! Don't do that stupid poo poo, this is a debate and discussion forum, if you're uncomfortable with people posting responses to your statements that aren't properly harmonious, I dunno what to say. Anyway... Okay... quote:Sorry but I'm just an ignorant ocean devil ghost, can you show us these amazing blogs and weibo feeds you're on where people really cut to the heart of the matter and freely criticize the government, openly discuss matters like Tibetan independence, government repression of Uighurs, control of religion and a host of other matters that apparently Chinese people love to discuss? I know weibo has a ton of really deep conversation going on, love that 140 character limit, it's really conducive to getting to the heart of the matter when confronting imperialism. Since when are those the only social issues in China? How about food safety? The wealth gap? Housing prices? Corruption? Social issues that don't have anything to do with what you mentioned above? quote:What is the argument you're trying to make? You're admitting that Chinese people aren't as tuned in as westerners, aren't as aware of historical issues, can't bring them up in public, and aren't taught about them, yet despite all that you're still arguing for what? No one said Chinese people are dumb, no one used words like 'all' or 'every' when referring to Chinese people. Wait sorry I'm confused. Where did I admit (or say) they weren't in tune as westerners or aren't aware or issues? The point I was trying to make is that they are more knowledgeable and discuss a lot more than the impression I had gotten form your past posts. Can you please tell me where I said all of that? I had stated a lot of people don't know things, and then mentioned that that is true anywhere you go. You then said that my argument was dumb and made up some numbers. quote:I already addressed this with flatbut but as I said, we're all operating on our personal experiences, yourself included, you're right, I have no exact numbers to back these things up (hey maybe I should start a polling firm in China to randomly call people and ask them their opinions about these things, how long do you think that would last eh?). Your personal experiences with family, friends and forums, do you think that's not just as likely to have confirmation bias rear its ugly head? According to my experiences on the forum I frequently read, 99% of Americans are socialists who frequently discuss topics ranging from ethnic violence in the Caucasus to fighting for land rights for Australian Aborigines. Do you really not understand that this poo poo isn't the "typical" stuff people choose to talk about in their spare time? Do you understand that, "Me and my friends (who I've chosen) and family (again, chosen) and people I choose to hang out with online" is honestly not as good of a random cross-section of society as several thousand university students? Does that make sense to you? I taught large numbers of students in the past as well and I found very diverse opinions. Of course there are students with undeveloped world-views, there are others who have really developed ones. On top of that, when someone asked what Chinese people thought about things, you made the post of what your wife said and I thought it was interesting and just brought up my own stuff. quote:You keep talking about this discussion. You have to understand that the only discussion that goes on is discussion the government allows to go on. If the discussion gets out of hand, it will get shut down or deleted entirely. Of course they can't do that to people in real life, and I've also had plenty of intelligent discussions with people about issues, but there's always the joking nervousness in the background, and maybe an added, "Don't tell anyone I said that" at the end of the conversation. You've barely got any idea what you yourself are arguing, and you're putting words in my mouth. Again, no one said these discussions don't happen, we were making a comparison to the general political and social consciousness level of the average Chinese person and we generally stated that typically it's pretty low. Does that offend your wife or your friends you spent so much time learning to speak Chinese so you could communicate with them about the plight of the Dalai Lama? Honestly when discussing social issues with Chinese people I've generally found that more than anything they don't want to be condescended to or told their perceptions are 'wrong' just like anyone else, so I try not to do that. Okay first, I had stated that the impression I had gotten from your posts were that discussions didn't happen (because of your replies and past posts) I got the wrong impression, and I corrected myself, but then saw from one of your following statement that I got the feeling you were trying to minimize how much goes on. (the 10% to 1% thing) Second: When I say social issues, the range is large. Cultural preservation, income gap, pollution, food safety, corruption, whatever. Yeah they also don't get offended because we just have normal conversations about current events. The point that I was trying to make is that lots of people discuss a multitude of things going on in China. More than the 1% statement that you made earlier. The whole point that I have been trying to make is that a lot of people are really knowledgeable and up-to-date about a multitude of topics and discuss them regularly. I had gotten the impression from some of your past posts that you just wanted to bitch about how people just didn't understand X or weren't aware of Y because of your experiences with college students that you said yourself is a random cross-section of society. I wanted to argue that there is a strong awareness and discussion among large amounts of people of many different issues. I had gotten on this point, again, because of you talking about your experience as a teacher (you had stated ignorance of a large number of students) and quote about ethnic minorities by some Chinese guy. I will read your posts again. Like I said, I got the wrong impression and have tried to correct that. I try to not put words in other people's mouths, and since I apparently have, again, I apologize for doing that and I've tried to explain what led me to do doing that. We both agree that discussions happen. Our difference is just in how many people we think take part or how prevalent it is in daily life. Is that correct? quote:Son, I've been hearing jokes and humors since before you were born That's cool?
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Sep 26, 2012 17:06
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Arakan posted:I don't know, it does seem like DJT's experiences are pretty atypical. I mean he's using examples of his Chinese family (who lives in America) and his wife and friends from Hangzhou and Shanghai (both pretty rich cities). Ah sorry I think I should clarify. When I said Chinese family I meant my wife's side. My in-laws. I should have clarified better. They are all here in Hangzhou as well. I agree with your statement about the countryside completely. I think poverty is a huge obstacle to (among alot of things) discussion. Like you said, you aren't going to be discussing much when you are barely able to survive and put food on the table. Although, current food prices are getting crazy and that in itself might start sparking something. I think the part of the conversation above that I took issue with was this: quote:"Oh if you're going to say large numbers of people don't give a poo poo sure that's true everywhere." That's a really useless argument to make, because you're ignoring the fact that there's a large difference between even 1% of the population giving a poo poo about X and 10% giving a poo poo about X. I felt that discussions about society and current events was a part of life for more people than numbers presented here, for example. Also I wanted to ask anyone who is knowledgable about Taiwan stuff: Does the GMD still say that it is the rightful ruler of China? I was curious if they have stances on Tibet and Xinjiang (is it an integral part of China, or do they support autonomy, or something else)?
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Sep 27, 2012 11:23
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GuestBob posted:Can I just throw something into the mix: I am pretty sure that the majority of civil disturbances in China happen in rural areas and small towns. They may be about local disputes, but land reform is as political as it gets in China. And even though the government "contains" dissent by ensuring that it is vented against local officials, it still counts as dissent. Just because it isn't the kind of political discussion which gets posted on weibo doesn't mean it isn't political discussion. Good point. I don't disagree with yours either. People in rural areas face alot problems, land disputes being a huge one. There was also the whole Hukou reform thing a few years ago. A large amount of dissent comes from the countryside. You're right that discounting a large chunk of population was too black and white, and my own statement on the matter conflicted what I had been trying to argue in the first place, so thanks for the point. quote:Officially, the government of the Republic of China, once synonymous with the Kuomintang but no longer, claims everything that once was Qing China and the Republic of China. That means they actually claim MORE than the CCP. Because it includes all of Mongolia and even Tuva, which is today a Russian republic. Of course, they haven't pressed any of those claims in like a billion years. I thought that the RoC eventually removed claims on Mongolia and Tuva? I'll go do my homework, I need to read up on things.
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Sep 27, 2012 13:28
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Bloodnose posted:I've surprised lots of Chinese people by telling them Russians are actually one of the 56 Chinese ethnic groups. That in turn surprised me, because I thought there was a song or something so everybody knew all of them. I've had number of people, instead of saying "foreigner" say "xinjiang ren". I have no idea why. I don't really look a lot like someone from central Asia. I'm a white guy with curly hair and green eyes. I'm in Hangzhou, so the foreign population exceeds the Uyghur one by alot. I have no idea how they came to the conclusion they did. Other funny thing of the day: I was studying Japanese on the bus (using a textbook that is in Chinese). There were two young people sitting next to me and one asked the other "Is that foreigner studying Chinese?" The other looked at my book and said "Yes" and then continued to say "The strange thing is he is using a book in Japanese to study Chinese." Despite the fact that all of the vocabulary and grammar descriptions were using Chinese, and the title of the textbook, in Chinese, written in big letters on the top of the page said "Standard Japanese", nothing clicked for this person. It made me laugh. On the other hand on the acceptance thing, when people say being accepted or not being an outsider, are they just talking about walking down the street, etc.? What about with family and close friends? I guess what I mean is to my (wife's) family and close friends I'm not an outsider (not saying I'm seen as Chinese, just that there isn't some "us" and "you" barrier put between us. To them I am family). But yeah outside, or with people I don't know, or whatever there will always be a perception of me being different or an outsider.
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Oct 1, 2012 07:54
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Lien posted:For what it's worth, I'm an international student at Tsinghua, doing a Master's level program. It's less rigorous than my undergrad in North America. It's one of the newer programs, so they've got a vested interest in everyone doing well, but we've been straight up told as long as we show up and do the work, we will never get less than 80 percent in a course. I can't really speak for other departments, and I'm not in a STEM field. I've heard that Tsinghua is very good for STEM, but in my experience I can't say the same for non-stem departments. Could I ask what you are studying? I plan on doing my masters in the mainland at some point in the next year or so and I'm always interested in hearing people's experiences. If you don't want to say though no problems. I have always wondered how rankings (especially international rankings) are done. I remember seeing rankings showing a few unis in China skyrocketing in international rankings, but I'm really skeptical of any of those lists. It seems to me it's better to just find a place that you like, that has a good adviser, and has resources you need to do your research. If you are self-motivated you can get a lot done. If not, well, you can half-rear end your way through just fine, I guess. I agree with the above comment about English majors, though. I've met more than a few who after 4 years can barely stammer through a conversation. (To be honest though, I feel the same way about a lot of Chinese language majors in the US). I think the bar is set low because at the moment the powers that be are pushing quantity over quality. They just want numbers.
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Feb 17, 2013 13:27
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Bloodnose posted:It literally requires a Top Secret security clearance to be a CALNA. Even casually mentioning anything about work will get you drawn-and-quartered if the chain of command found out about it. Yeah I don't believe anything the consulate says. My anecdote of the Shanghai consulate: I'm an American citizen. My wife is Chinese (from Hangzhou), she got denied twice for a visa and they told her to never to apply again. This is with all the bank stuff, Hukou, etc. a letter of invitation from a US congressman (friend of my dad) and a letter from my grandmother's doctor (notarized) saying that she only had a few months to live and it would be my wife's only chance to meet her before she passed away. Not only did they deny her, but the person asked my wife at the interview "have you ever met your husband's grandmother before?" My wife says, "no". He then says something along the lines of (he apparently spoke poo poo Chinese so maybe he didn't realize the kind of tone he was using): If you've never met her before I don't get why you care enough to go see her." And threw in some line about how my wife and grandmother had a bad relationship or something (she had a hard time understanding the point he was trying to make). They said if she wanted to go to America she could apply for immigration, otherwise she could never go. She said she didn't want to immigrate and they just blew her off. I absolutely detest those people and don't believe a word they say about anything. It's one thing to deny someone, but it's another to insult them and treat them like trash while doing so. Edit: I have horrible typing skills. DaiJiaTeng fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Apr 10, 2013 |
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Apr 10, 2013 17:23
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Fangz posted:I think you need to separate carefully the difficulty of getting out of China, to that of getting into the US, and it seems the latter is at play here. I know of a friend who had enormous problems emigrating from the US to live in the UK with her husband, because of a recent government crackdown on 'sham marriages'. They ended up having to get married in a third country, and then do the immigration checks. Hmm? My whole thing was talking about the US embassy being ridiculous. We've traveled to a ton of other countries no problem. I never understood people saying there were exit visas/leaving China is impossible. hitension posted:To be honest though, how many people in a Western guy - Chinese girl relationship are serious about settling down in China? My wife and I plan on staying in China for the long-term. If we have a kid we would probably give it Chinese citizenship for a lot of the reasons that Pro-PRC mentioned. There are a couple I know of. Some I've known even go to the US just to get a green card (for status) and then come right back and live in China and brag about it, while saying the US is bad because they made next to nothing. The person in question thought that they would just get rich within a few months of living in the US. Also Pro-PRC, thanks for all the words. After everything happened we researched stuff and a lot of the answers we found were pretty much what you said. It still boggles my mind, though.
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Apr 11, 2013 04:21
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hitension posted:There are some major disadvantages to PRC citizenship though. A US citizen can travel visa-free (or visa on arrival) to 166 countries. For China it's more like 30 (and not so much the "good ones"). I know Chinese citizens studying in the USA can't even hop over the border to Canada to see Niagara falls without a visa. While I agree, if said child lived their life here in China, went to school here, etc. It would probably be better to get them Chinese citizenship. It saves a lot of trouble. computer parts posted:
Yup. Easiest way I know of is that you can apply after having been married to a Chinese national for five years (most of that time has to be spent living in China, I can't remember the exact number). Only thing is they usually want you have own a house and have a stable job etc. (housing being the key difficulty here). Just two more years and I never have to do a stupid visa again.
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Apr 11, 2013 14:57
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VideoTapir posted:What is this visa/program called, so that I might find more information about it? I'd only ever heard about it becoming easier to get a long L visa (whoopee!) if you were married to a Chinese national. 外国人永久居留证 If you go to a visa office they can answer questions you have about it, or you can just 百度 and get a bunch of info. Honestly I don't know how hard it is to actually get one. When I talked to the guy at the visa office he made it seem like it wouldn't be too difficult after fulfilling the time requirements and having a steady job and a house, but I honestly don't know for sure.
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Apr 11, 2013 16:25
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Fiendish_Ghoul posted:1. The chance of dying in a school shooting in the United States is so minimal, let alone in a kindergarten, as to be a virtual non-issue compared to the near-guaranteed destroyed childhood that Chinese schooling will give you. That's a wee bit dramatic isn't it? quote:2. The extra attention is NOT a good thing. I knew a couple in Beijing, American dad and third-country wife sent their kid to local preschool and she was basically subject to all kinds of scary "oh how cute" assaults by strangers who would presume to pick her up. Of course, they were not actually equipped to deal with a kid from another background, so she was simply presumed to be mute and basically left out of everything. Last time I saw her her language development was pretty messed up. I'm worried about how that kid is going to turn out. They should really have gone back to the states, but I think the dad found a job above anything he would get back home. I know a couple (both Italian citizens) who work in China. Their daughter has blonde hair and blue eyes, goes to Chinese schools and speaks fluent Chinese (as in, exactly the same as the Chinese kids, no accent or anything). She has a lot of friends and gets along well with her classmates. I mean it's just anecdotal, but since you threw one out I thought I would too. But since our conversation was more about half-Chinese babies: language development, in cases where one spouse is Chinese, would probably be a non-issue since they would grow up hearing and speaking Chinese from a very young age. I mean it's a life choice thing and just comes down to where you want to raise your child. Both the US and China are valid choices, you can raise a well-adjusted, educated child with excellent critical-thinking skills in either country. Edit because I forgot to add this: caberham posted:Nice thing about HK compared to the mainland. No need to get married And homosexual marriages from foreign countries are recognized! I didn't know this and it's really cool. I hope that the mainland can improve in this sense, gay marriage and homosexuality in general is becoming a more discussed topic in the mainland. While there is still tons of prejudice (god don't even need to go into that), the acceptance of homosexuality and transgendered people is improving in many ways. Has anyone ever watched 金星撞火星(It first started showing in 2012)？The host, 金星(Jin xing) is pretty much the most famous modern dancer in China, and probably one of the most famous modern Chinese dancers in the world. Jin xing got a sex change (male to female) in 1995. Went through a lot of hardship (her family was apparently horrified), but is still highly highly respected in the dancing world, still teaches dancing and hosts shows, etc. She adopted three children and is currently married (I believe her husband is German). Anyway the show above is a talk show where she discusses different issues of the day with experts, etc.. It's kind of hit or miss, but sometimes they touch on some really interesting topics and opinions. Anyway, I just think she has an interesting story. It shows that more people are opening up and hopefully it will continue. DaiJiaTeng fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Apr 13, 2013 |
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Apr 13, 2013 06:59
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Arglebargle III posted:
I'm curious about this statement. I know the whole thing about ethnic groups in China, etc. etc. But how is an ethnicity fictional if it is something that people, for whatever reason, identify as? Aren't all ethnic groups fictional since they are all created from different internal and external influences causing a group to identify (or be identified) in a certain way? Are you making the argument that Han didn't exist as some monolithic ethnic group in the past, and it's formation is a more recent thing (In which I would agree with you), or something else? Honest question, not trying to do some  thing.quote:and visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. 
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Jul 7, 2013 11:59
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quote:"We take it for granted that we can travel here without having papers on us or paying fees. They can't just jump in the car and go without having government approval. And they are fascinated by the fact that we can do that in America. They are here to find out how to make that happen in China." For some reason whenever I see articles like this use the word "fascinated", I always think of innocent little children learning something amazing, or seeing something eye-opening for the first time. I think that's a big problem: I feel like so much of the media and even political organizations seem to treat Chinese people like these little children who don't know anything about the outside world. I remember years ago when I went on a tour of the Voice of America HQ in DC. The woman who was our guide actually said with a straight face that the Chinese word for democracy was completely locked down and blocked on the internet, that most people had never heard of democracy, had no idea what democracy was, or that other countries had elections. On the same trip we went to a foreign relations NGO that apparently lobbies the government or something. Their China expert (who couldn't speak Chinese), said that if we go to China we should tell them that they shouldn't say "Inner Mongolia" and should teach them to say "Southern Mongolia" since it is less sino-centric that way. She said if you go there and say that people will think you are really smart and you can change they way they think. I remember telling my wife that story at some point awhile ago and she joked that in her opinion it just makes the "China Expert" sound like a separatist. I have so many other stories, but this post is already too long...
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Aug 30, 2013 09:37
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At least it wasn't on the floor... Maybe I've just been in China too long, but a little boy peeing in a public place doesn't phase me one bit. Would it have been okay if it had been outside against a wall or into some bushes?
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Aug 30, 2013 09:52
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Hey Goons. So I hardly, hardly ever post, but something happened and it’s too good not to share. My wechat friends circle had possibly one of the most racist poo poo-shows I have ever seen. This Chinese guy posts a conversation he had with an American friend (both of these people I barely know), and both of them are just going on and on about the Japanese. Now the reason why this is interesting and I want to share it is this: 1. It’s an interesting case in which a person who seems to be well-adjusted and sensible can, because of some tiny trigger turn into a racist whose rhetoric becomes psychopathic. 2. It’s an interesting case of someone who claims to be an anti-communist intellectual at the same time endlessly spout hard-line party rhetoric. Now I don’t want this ever getting back to me. The guy is posting these in his friend’s circle proudly for the world to see so it probably isn’t an issue, but I plan on typing it out instead of posting the pictures to be absolutely sure I don’t miss anything that can identify anyone. It’s really long, so before I start typing I want to know if goons are interested in seeing this kind of thing. If anyone seems interested I'll type it up when I wake up tomorrow.
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Sep 2, 2015 19:23
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So background. The American guy who we shall call Murika is just some typical expat. Chinese guy, who we shall call Anti-PRC Paiwai or Anti-PRC for short is a translator of French and English, spent a lot of time living in North Africa, hates the CCP, but spouts hyper nationalist rhetoric. Generally he has seemed like a pretty well adjusted person, the 70th anniversary has flipped some crazy switch in his head. Here we go… Looking back, this American guy is just as horrible. quote:
Celebrate the war against Fascism with Xenophobic Fascist rhetoric! Yay! So this morning I wake up and check my wechat, Anti-PRC Paiwai’s avatar is a Chinese flag (the PRC one) and he is posting about watching the big military parade. He is talking about the importance of being patriotic.
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Sep 3, 2015 04:06
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 22:01 |
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JaucheCharly posted:Stopping the japs carrying out the jap plan and also stopping the nazis. Convey my thanks for winning the titanic struggle. Indeed. And the worst part is that the Communists coming into power is ALL THE JAPANESE FAULT. Look at how much the Chinese have to continue to suffer at the hands of the Japanese, even 70 years after winning the war. Every problem in China over the past 70 or so years can be traced back to the Japanese. No need to take responsibility for anything! Also Stopping the japs carrying out the jap plan and also stopping the nazis Can this be the new thread title? Please?
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Sep 3, 2015 07:50
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