What a complete circus. Most heads of state don’t get as much protection as this torch relay. Hard to see that oft-talked about Olympic spirit shine through a barrage of police and security agents.

April 7, 2008 @ 10:45 pm | Comment

I think they came up with the perfect formulae in Paris. Douse the flame, and put it in an armoured car. The protesters will need the help from Al Qaeda to get to it.

April 7, 2008 @ 11:26 pm | Comment

I really enjoy the puzzlement of some western politics. It is like they were only weathercocks in the wind of public opinion.

April 7, 2008 @ 11:42 pm | Comment

I’ve just seen the BBCworld report from Paris.
They cancelled the ceremony in front of the town hall. People screaming, crying and bleeding in the streets. Looks worse than London.

It hadn’t even occurred to me that this kind of trouble was inevitable until two years ago when Kier smacked me over the head with it.

So, yes, I was stupid, but Jacque Rogges and the IOC – they were stupider. I mean, they must have had committees and expert advice and detailed discussions – and still they gave the games to Beijing. Now they’re getting upset about the controversy they caused.

April 8, 2008 @ 12:14 am | Comment

Richard, what do ya think of this Rex Murphy monologue?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2rbGU0cd2Ok&feature=related

April 8, 2008 @ 12:36 am | Comment

hers another one, I really think this French person sounds reasonnable.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TWkNqpIUjHw&feature=related

April 8, 2008 @ 12:40 am | Comment

I think this will be great for Beijing’s grip on its people. What better to stoke nationalism than this? This could backfire bigtime on them.

WSJ has a long piece on Tibet this week, on the occupation, and on the divisive class issues.

Michael

April 8, 2008 @ 12:55 am | Comment

Ya know, AQ might actually win some brownie points from the world for snatching the Olympic torch.

April 8, 2008 @ 1:03 am | Comment

AQ?

April 8, 2008 @ 1:16 am | Comment

Lu Xun’s Ah Q?

April 8, 2008 @ 1:42 am | Comment

sheesh, Al-Queda

April 8, 2008 @ 4:18 am | Comment

I went to attempt to the see the torch in London yesterday, with my girlfriend who is Chinese. I couldn’t quite work out if it was a great farce or a defining historical moment. Possibly both. One thing, though, that we can say about the last month is that China has a different relationship with the west than it did one month ago,.

April 8, 2008 @ 4:23 am | Comment

So, yes, I was stupid, but Jacque Rogges and the IOC – they were stupider. I mean, they must have had committees and expert advice and detailed discussions – and still they gave the games to Beijing. Now they’re getting upset about the controversy they caused.

Well, at least you get the first part right. Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics in a 2001 IOC vote by the participating nations, when IOC was still presided by Samaranch. The voting lasted only 2 rounds and the final vote overwhelmingly favored Beijing. Both were unparalleled among recent Olympics.

April 8, 2008 @ 9:22 am | Comment

Grab the torch, extinguish the flame. Is this the free Tibet movement all about?

Actually it is kind of amusing to watch this drama, in a pathetic way.

April 8, 2008 @ 9:25 am | Comment

Less jaw-jaw, more war-war!

Looks like Dalai Lama is being increasingly sidelined by Tibetan Youth Congress radicals.

Bring ’em on!

The full might of Chinese security apparatus awaits you.

April 8, 2008 @ 9:34 am | Comment

When Beijing was announced as hosting the Olympics, my first reaction was WTF??? Then, I thought about the pollution, the hotels, and all the preparation with the public toilets–a lil’ voice inside my head whispered, ” Don’t worry; they’ll fuck it up. Just sit back and watch it happen.” I hope the US, Great Britain, and France don’t boycott because we’re really gonna see the Party Boys into the biggest pile of crap since the Berlin Olympics except worse–a lot worse.

I could have told you so; but maybe, come on, you knew it anyway. Right?

April 8, 2008 @ 12:04 pm | Comment

I’m not too worried about this. Of course right now the CCP is acting very restrained, just like when you have guests coming, you don’t want to be seen being too harsh to your children. And if the child is smart, he would behave. Otherwise, as soon as the guests leave, hoho, hohoho…..

The CCP has a tradition of “Qiu Hou Suan Zhang”, meaning “taking a full accounting afterwards”. I’m sure CCP’s security apparatus is already making a comprehensive list of those who “performed” at each torch relay.

So to those “activists” who performed at the torch relays, don’t worry, you still got until after August. After the Games are done, the guests leave, the streets clear, the hotels emptied, then, then, then…..

Hoho, hohoho, hohoho. You won’t even know what hit you. This truly will be a storm of the century, it’ll make 1989 look like a Disney parade.

When the CCP decides to fuck someone, you won’t be able to escape, clear and simple.

I am already waiting for the fun activities after the Olympics.

April 8, 2008 @ 12:21 pm | Comment

Wars can be stopped for the games. Apparently, political schemes cannot. Making a scene of the last sacred reminder of what humans could achieve? Those politicians take stupidity to a new level. Can we really trust them to run Tibet better than the CCP runs the rest of China?

April 8, 2008 @ 1:14 pm | Comment

Red Star, what are you babbling about this time? The demonstrations around the torch relay are all taking place off of Chinese soil, in Paris, London, San Francisco, etc. Are you saying the CCP is taking names of the demonstrators in those places and will deal with them after the Games? Are you nuts? (Rhetorical question; please, no answer required.) There won’t be any demonstrations in China, except pro-Party, anti-CNN rallies. The all-knowing eye-of-Mordor CCP will make sure of that. Unfortunately, it can’t control matters the same way when they take place in the free world. That’s why they are gnashing their teeth.

April 8, 2008 @ 1:23 pm | Comment

Richard, what’s the reaction in China? Are people aware?

April 8, 2008 @ 1:32 pm | Comment

Telegraph says end the torch relay farce.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/ttv/news.jhtml?bcpid=1365202583&bclid=1365447650&bctid=1365447813

April 8, 2008 @ 1:50 pm | Comment

Michael, as you’d expect all the bad news is suppressed as usual. The CNN report suddenly blacks out when the T word is spoken, and same with the demonstrations in London and Paris at the torch relay.

The government has succeeded in washing a lot of brains lately. When you ask even the most intelligent people how they feel about the above issues, the answers are pretty uniform: the foreign media is anti-China and the Dalai Lama is behind all the grief. Thus everything being reported in the West is dismissed as anti-Chinese propaganda, and the country is energized with yet a fresh jolt of indignation, victimhood, jingoism and anti-Westernism. I had to talk very delicately with my good friends here, who were citing the anti-CNN site as gospel, proof-positive that the Western media distributes filthy lies and is forever anti-China.

As I said in my post, there are misconceptions and distortions on both sides when it comes to the history of Tibet. But when it comes to media bias and distortion, the reporting in the Western media comes nowhere close to the sugar-coated, the-ccp-is-always-right state-run Chinese media.

April 8, 2008 @ 2:37 pm | Comment

@richard

If that is the case with Chinese media, the clash will come at the Olympics when and Peking receive an influx of foreign activist.

And what will happen when any sportsmen make a “statement” in any of the events?

I fear that the torch is just the beginning of worst to come…

Sad to see all this mesh.

April 8, 2008 @ 3:43 pm | Comment

Hoo-boy. Interesting times, indeed.

Seems to me that the Chinese government really screwed up by once again demonizing the Dalai Lama. I know there are strategic reasons why they’ve done this, but he still claims to support a Tibet that is a part of China. Once he’s gone, who or what will restrain the new generation of Tibetans, who don’t seem to be all that interested in peaceful methods?

And, yeah. What the hell is HongXing going on about? Dude, I think you need to adjust your meds.

April 8, 2008 @ 3:58 pm | Comment

On behalf of all at CCP, CCTV and Chinese Ministry of Propanda, I extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to our colleagues and comrades at CNN, BBC etc. You have done in just a few weeks what we couldn’t achieve in years. Your unsparing efforts have united the Chinese people around the guiding light of the Party.

Special shout out to the folks at CNN. You are an inspiration and great asset to the Party. I would like to present to you Model Worker and New Long March Pioneer award, Exemplary Red Flag Youth Medal and Honorary membership of Chinese Communist Party.

April 8, 2008 @ 4:10 pm | Comment

ecodelta, when an athlete makes a statement I suspect the government here will simply ignore it, and tell its citizens he/she was under the influence of the Dalai Lama or the Western media. They would never take action against a foreigner for speaking up like that, let alone a non-Chinese Olympic athlete. Or if they did, the most they’d do would be to tell them to leave China. To do otherwise would spark an international incident at a time when China is trying to show its best face to the world.

April 8, 2008 @ 4:12 pm | Comment

Cao Meng, have you read the debunking of anti-CNN and other smear sites by this blogger-translator? There is a lot less to those sites than meets the eye. Read it carefully, and realize that the writer is no shill for the Western media.

The name “anti-CNN” gives it all away. They sure are.

April 8, 2008 @ 4:19 pm | Comment

A post worthy of the nick you used…

While I do believe that the majority of these people mean well, and I am thankful that they care, I am also very much reminded of the saying that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. When the rush of the moment comes, obviously little thought is given into how to present their views, and as a result they are only making matters worse. Meanwhile, I’m sure there are a few gloating politicians out there who are more than willing to use these people’s good intentions to help their own plans along. Weren’t the AQ also called “Freedom Fighters” some years back? At least Dalai bothers with hypocrisy.

April 8, 2008 @ 4:25 pm | Comment

@richard

No I didn’t base my opinion on anti-CNN. Yes, I read Roland Soong’s blog regularly. The post you linked to is hardly debunking. Undoubtably you have also seen MSM biase in the West – and the cnn refutal

I witnessed the crude media manipulation by CNN when I watched the Richard Gere Interview when they had Richard Gere talk about Tibetan Oppression by Chinese while CNN constantly display video footage of New Delhi protest in the background without any captions. I guess they suppose average American is so dumb that they wouldn’t know the difference between Chinese and Indians.

April 8, 2008 @ 4:52 pm | Comment

links to MSM biases in the West – and the cnn refutal

April 8, 2008 @ 4:55 pm | Comment

@richard

What worries me more would be something like this.

Activist/sportsmen mounting some kind of demonstration in Peking which generates in a clash with some overemotional Chinese nationalist.

Given the local media information manipulation in China, I fear the scenario is already set up.

For the moment what we have is a PR fiasco for China (and IOC). I also believe that some bloggers here are not yet really aware of the consequences it may have in near future.

April 8, 2008 @ 5:27 pm | Comment

ecodelta, that scenario is certainly possible, but I expect security to be so tight the police would move in quickly and contain it. Who knows? Anything can happen.

April 8, 2008 @ 5:50 pm | Comment

Sorry to butt in Richard, but I’ve been following your blog for ages, (no doubt many other English-speaking Chinese do this as well: http://9.douban.com/subject/9026046/), and found it rather useful in understanding the mindsets of others.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this, but recently in many online discussions, any attempt made by the Chinese to put forward an opinion that’s begs to differ on the T-issue usually results in being branded as any or all of the following (if not ignored outright):

1. a frenzied Han nationalist…
2. a poor, brainwashed simpleton….
3. someone who’s too privileged to speak on behalf of his/her fellow citizens, since he can use a computer and follow this thread…(Saw this at the Guardian)
4. someone by nature who likes to massive manipulated displays, eg. gymnastics….(I thought this one was most insulting, since I personally hated gymnastics 🙂

Of course, it’s sometimes hard to make a good case (even a valid one) for the CCP’s actions, but recently I’ve read condemnations that seemed a word-for-word copy of columnists after 1989 (Simon Jenkins at the Times would be a good example.), and thought surely, the government has made a least a little progress since then?

So by attributing all comments that seek to defend the ”indefensible” into those four categories, I’m slightly concerned that these high-minded people are pushing the group of Chinese who’re most likely to support the continued reform process of China (ie. students returning from the US\UK\Europe etc, Chinese expats in those countries) into the arms of rabid nationalists (of course people might ask if there is a difference between these two groups at all) …..

Cheers,

April 8, 2008 @ 7:01 pm | Comment

@Jonathan

That makes sense. But some outbursts border nn paranoia, if we are to take the seriously:

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200804a.brief.htm#017

April 8, 2008 @ 8:28 pm | Comment

@richard
“but I expect security to be so tight the police would move in quickly and contain it. ”

This is getting more and more similar to an sport event inside a concentration camp….

April 8, 2008 @ 9:36 pm | Comment

@Jonathan
“I’m slightly concerned that these high-minded people are pushing the group of Chinese who’re most likely to support the continued reform process of China (ie. students returning from the US\UK\Europe etc, Chinese expats in those countries) into the arms of rabid nationalists”

Yes. You have a point here.

conspirational mode on:
sometimes I wonder if that is really the intent of the CCP
conspirational mode off:

Well… Anyway. Some answer to Chinese bloggers are really way off. I think it is better to know the mindset of the person with whom one is speaking and try to see beyond our own mindsets. (no matter the overreactions of some of them)

April 8, 2008 @ 9:45 pm | Comment

It’s probably a good thing for the PRC that they aren’t going to try to march the torch around Taipei, eh?

When you think about it, it’s incredible how extensive a rogues gallery the PRC has managed to cultivate for itself around the world. When do you think the Falun Gongers will make their move?

April 8, 2008 @ 10:37 pm | Comment

Jonathan, interesting comment. As I said in my post, there are misperceptions and distortions on both sides when it comes to the Tibet issue. I have noticed what you have, and that’s where I get so frustrated – that there seems to be no way to clear the emotional baggage out of the discussion. It’s like talking with extremists on either side about abortion or gun control. I’ve pretty much given up hope of a rational conversation.

Lime, the IOC is now actually considering canceling the international leg of the relay altogether. They’ll discuss it on Friday with Bocog. I wouldn’t want to be in the room for that discussion.

April 8, 2008 @ 11:45 pm | Comment

@Amban: This is of course another matter that I’m concerned about……the original thread in Chinese was posted under entertainment and joke section.

I wonder which person bent on mischief translated this into English….

April 8, 2008 @ 11:46 pm | Comment

@Richard: I usually plead complete ignorance on Tibet thesedays, and save my rantings for online forums….:)

It’s not, I think, about the content of western criticism, much of which, if slightly modified, address very legitimate concerns of the Tibetans, and deserve a sensible hearing.

Rather, it’s the somewhat off-hand attitude in lumping the achievements of average Chinese citizens (please see Richard Spencer’s latest blog) with the CCP (Most protests and reports certainly aren’t working overtime in distinguishing the two, though I’m pleased to see that DL acknowleged the differences in his recent statements), and the implicit reasoning that if the media in China are tightly controlled, then the Chinese are usually by default brainwashed, or god forbid, nationalists, which render their arguments unworthy of discussion.
And that, really really drives people up the wall…..

April 9, 2008 @ 12:01 am | Comment

the reporting in the Western media comes nowhere close to the sugar-coated, the-ccp-is-always-right state-run Chinese media.

I’d say they’re equally bad. Considering the fact that these corporations brainwashed millions of Americans into thinking voting for George Bush again was anything short of suicidal. These are people with access to unadulterated information on the internet, mind you, so either Americans are particularly gullible or the propaganda machine is much more powerful.

who or what will restrain the new generation of Tibetans

Alcohol does a good number on Aborigines and Native Americans. But yes, even though the Dalai Lama made some mistakes in the past, it would be smart for them to recognize his worth instead of fanning the flames of nationalists.

I blame the “Western media” for feeding the ultranationalists. They’re out of control now.

April 9, 2008 @ 12:02 am | Comment

@ecodelta:

conspirational mode on:

I’ve always thought that the reporters in CNN and BBC were really fifth columnists for the CCP….

conspirational mode off: 🙂

April 9, 2008 @ 12:09 am | Comment

the implicit reasoning that if the media in China are tightly controlled, then the Chinese are usually by default brainwashed, or god forbid, nationalists, which render their arguments unworthy of discussion.

I don’t know about that. Everybody knows that media in China is controlled by the CCP, so I can’t see why so many cyber nationalists feel compelled to defend CCP media controls on the reporting on Tibet. Many Chinese friend I have are as upset as anyone about the way Xinhua has been reporting on events in Tibet, and they don’t feel responsible for the PRC’s handling of events.

April 9, 2008 @ 12:11 am | Comment

“””””””Of course, it’s sometimes hard to make a good case (even a valid one) for the CCP’s actions, but recently I’ve read condemnations that seemed a word-for-word copy of columnists after 1989 (Simon Jenkins at the Times would be a good example.), and thought surely, the government has made a least a little progress since then?”””””

John, your point is fine, but -I can only speak for myself- I do not think the party has improved at all. I think they have just made their tactics more deceptive, encoded and hidden. I certainly do not want to push any Chinese person toward the party and I dont really worry about that cause a lot of Chinese are A LOT smarter than that. A lot of people know that the CCP is not the only option for China, that is the CCP’s favorite myth…

Also I would like to say to people who think CNN and BBC and masses of westerners opinions are convincing Chinese that the CCP is right, well why dont those people consider that maybe the CCP is actually guilty of the things the Western people accuse them of? I think a lot of them Do know some stuff but they are no tthe ones we are hearing from since they would be the ones fearing for their lives.

Also, if the Chinese people are frustrated at being called brainwashed and that, they really ought to get some free flow of information and an environment that allows them to think freely, only then will people respect their ideas. It is true that the CCP is always guiding their thoughts through multiple tactics, so, well, they really really have got to fix that situation so they can regain their dignity. They have it both ways, they cant be the gestapo AND have people think they are good and wise. Smoldering propaganda and wisdom are not exactly found together, and if they are, you can ad in a huge amount of fear ( or bravery) on the part of the wise person for seeing through the lies.

April 9, 2008 @ 2:29 am | Comment

My office is half a block from, and has a view of, the (planned) relay route in San Francisco. Should be interesting.

April 9, 2008 @ 3:31 am | Comment

“I blame the “Western media” for feeding the ultranationalists.”
Stop the presses! Who would have guessed that you, Ferin, would point your finger at the Western media?
It kind of fits the pattern of being unable to take responsibility for one’s nation’s own shortcomings and just responding “but America…” Of course, your “passionate advocacy” for Native Americans never goes any further than using them as a comparative excuse for the Chinese government to bully and murder people.
Rather than blaming the Western media for Chinese ultranationalists, I would perhaps find it more instructive to blame the closed Chinese media system, which first of all cultivates ultranationalists by constructing a paranoid international conspiracy to “keep the Chinese people down” while covering over its manipulation of people’s sentiments by claiming to speak for “zhongguo renmin de ganqing.” Said media then proceeds to pick apart minute details of the so-called “Western media” to present it as “biased” against the “Chinese people,” which of course “greatly offends the Chinese people.” Blah!
By the way, aren’t you banned for being a racist/ misogynist?

April 9, 2008 @ 4:26 am | Comment

How different things would have been if the powers that be in China didn’t envision self-congratulation as the primary purpose of the Olympics.

It is getting harder to see the August games as any sort of celebration of Chinese people (who I think should rightfully be celebrated) or- god forbid! – a mere sporting event, as things veer more towards the raw arrogance of state power. I feel that so much of the confusion lies in the inability to differentiate calling out the Party on its own nonsense from unwarranted demonization of China as a country and people. Of course this isn’t made any easier by the Party’s attempts to make itself synonymous with state, country, people and culture. With so many attacks aimed at “China” in general, it’s no surprise many people are angered. And yeah, this plays right into the CCP’s hands.

But when all this Olympics hoopla dies down, I’m sure your average disgruntled HAN peasants won’t take long to rampage a government building or overturn a few police cars to protest inequality and corruption in some corner of Henan province. Far from being brainwashed, I sometimes get the feeling that many Chinese are more confrontational with everyday authority than many of us quasi-apolitical Westerners could imagine. I’ve never marched on a government office to demand justice- or started a riot to get university authorities to reverse lights-out in the dorms so the students could watch an important ping pong match (a true story I personally witnessed back in 2003).

April 9, 2008 @ 4:46 am | Comment

An interesting article

http://tinyurl.com/5r7wur

April 9, 2008 @ 4:48 am | Comment

Of course, your “passionate advocacy”

Of course your “passionate advocacy” for the Tibetan people amounts to a pile of dung as well. You only care about how you can use them for your image. That’s why you’ve said nothing for the Manchus or Tuvans; because you don’t give a crap about indigenous peoples as long as they aren’t governed by the PRC.

What’s the deal? Don’t you have some Native Americans to take care of before you run your mouth?

richard said to come back in a week, so I just took a break for two or three. The “Wests” attitude is indeed responsible for nurturing ultranationalism- by giving the hardcore right wingers in the CCP an excuse to exist, for one.

Oh but nevermind, America has never done anything wrong in the history of its existence.

April 9, 2008 @ 4:59 am | Comment

Der Spiegel should use this image in their article:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3349/post81207666410bi6.jpg

April 9, 2008 @ 5:47 am | Comment

Whoops sorry about that, forgot to tinyurl

April 9, 2008 @ 5:50 am | Comment

Don’t worry. I understand that the Western media led you to forgot to tinyurl. I’m also sure that many Native Americans are denied access to tinyurl by the US government: perhaps you were posting from a reservation, and that’s why you were unable to use it. Oh yeah, and because of the Western media.

April 9, 2008 @ 6:00 am | Comment

That’s okay, afterall CCTV led Americans to believe WMD were in Iraq, xinhua persuaded them to vote for Bush the second time, and chinadaily is responsible for the subprime meltdown.

But I wonder who it is that gives Americans heart disease and weight problems.. it must be Hu Jintao.

April 9, 2008 @ 6:05 am | Comment

hmmm… No, actually, never heard anyone in the US blame CCTV for their own problems. Sorry.

April 9, 2008 @ 6:14 am | Comment

I was focusing more on the fact that it was actually your unbiased media sources that led to the first two, and then I got carried away with the next.

Then again Americans blame everyone but themselves for their problems, it’s funny how you should accuse me of doing the same.

April 9, 2008 @ 6:22 am | Comment

@Ferin
If you don’t believe that residents of the anglosphere have the right to critique the PRC’s government then, with all due respect, why are you bothering to talk to us at all?

April 9, 2008 @ 6:45 am | Comment

Still at Ferin,
And come to think of it, if a person’s nationality is so important in judging there arguments, do you mind if I ask what nation(s) you belong to?

April 9, 2008 @ 6:50 am | Comment

oops.
“judging *their* arguments”
(I did make it through elementary school, honest.)

April 9, 2008 @ 6:52 am | Comment

I said that various news corporations of the “West” and indeed of the Anglosphere should watch their bloodsucking mouths when they report on sensitive issues, because they run the risk of continually stoking ultranationlist sentiment and playing into the hands of the right-leaning elements within the CCP.

Not even giving a half second to non-Tibetan deaths is definitely a big mistake. Has anyone here not realized yet that it’s the ultranationalists who prop up part of the CCP and not necessarily only the other way around?

Incidents like this set back progress by 5, 10, 15 years. Then again I’m starting to realize that it would probably be a good thing if Chinese people in general stopped caring so much about what everyone else thinks of them.

April 9, 2008 @ 6:56 am | Comment

Might I point out a rather basic fallacy in the assumption that Chinese people get their news from CCTV? The CCP propagandists will not admit it out right, but do you not notice a sense of having their trust betrayed by the “Western media” in the comments of the (intelligent) online Chinese community? This isn’t just about the sloppy pictures, though the pictures are singled out as the most convenient and clear evidence. The first time I had any inkling of unrest in Tibet, it was a random Google search on mountain climbing that came up with several titles and articles involving words like “peaceful demonstration,” “crackdown,” and “bloodbath.” Truthful reports came slowly and almost grudgingly, in part because of usual CCP stupidity, but by then sensationalism has already set in. Even now, there are some who would swear by movie footage that the whole thing was staged by the CCP.
Blaming everything on brainwashing CCP propaganda is just the cheap and easy way out, and no longer flies very well in this day and age, if you intend to discuss matters with intelligent people. If political meetings in Taiwan should be listed under the sports channels, then CCTV should be listed under comedy–not in the sense of Comedy Central, but in the sense it’s always a happy ending. Just ask any reasonably educated Chinese anywhere. It is common knowledge among Chinese to not trust CCTV for news. What better way to show contempt than to ignore completely? But apparently some people elsewhere are completely unaware of this common knowledge.
On the other hand, one could also argue that there is also plenty of brainwashing on the other side, where China = Communists = Evil = End of Story. You wouldn’t believe how many people believe this fervently, and you wouldn’t believe how many Chinese would laugh at that first equal sign. Consider that an average South Korean housewife would try to teach her new Chinese neighbor how to brush their teeth or how to use chopsticks, you might perhaps get an idea of what some “free media” could do. When it comes to politically sensitive issues and feeding the public what they want to hear, the worst of the crowd (and even some of the best) sometimes drop the ball. Quite…disappointing.
Of course, all of this mess goes quite well with the CCP conspiracy theory that the Olympics are being held hostage by the Dalai Lama to further his own evil political agenda to split China. Yawn.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:04 am | Comment

PBS program on Tibet

While most media coverages on Tibet in the West have been either superficial or one-dimensional, PBS had a good program sometime ago. If you are not aware of it, here
is the link to the transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june08/tibet_03-25.html

There is more discussion available by the panelists at

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/asia/jan-june08/tibet_03-251.html

I highly recommend both the program and the discussions. Jeffrey Bader had this to say:

“The Chinese rift with the Dalai Lama became overt in 1959 when he fled Lhasa for India. At the time, the United States did not recognize the People’s Republic of China, and indeed the CIA provided funding and small arms for pro-independence Tibetans. This was part of a broader U.S. effort to oppose and destabilize the PRC at the height of the Cold War, before President Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972. The Chinese leaders remember this history well and became accustomed over the years to thinking of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan independence movement interchangeably as instruments of forces seeking the overthrow of their government.”

In most media coverages these days, this important CIA connection has been overlooked. China sees this omission as clear a sign of hypocrisy. It is one reason why the Western media has so little credibility with Chinese people inside and outside China.

Then Prof. Lopez had these thoughtful words:

“I believe the key to communicating concern to the Chinese about Tibet is to persuade Chinese that we are approaching them not as adversaries but as friends who wish China well. If they are approached as adversaries, they will have the natural reaction of people in any country, namely to circle the wagons and reject outside scrutiny. They will see criticism and suggestions as part of a broader plan to embarrass, humiliate, or even destabilize their country. We should acknowledge that every country has problems in relationships between ethnic groups, and between majority and minority populations, that issues involving religious conflicts, territorial claims, and disparities of income such as Tibet presents are not easy. Therefore, our suggestions and even our criticism should be offered in the spirit of trying to help them help themselves, not in order to judge them as morally deficient.”

April 9, 2008 @ 7:05 am | Comment

The first time I had any inkling of unrest in Tibet, it was a random Google search on mountain climbing that came up with several titles and articles involving words like “peaceful demonstration,” “crackdown,” and “bloodbath.”

And it continues. I’m also extremely annoyed by gross misuse of the term “Han”, occasionally “Hui”, and just the general idiotic perception of Tibet that many of these news corporations hold. From reading several articles, from IHT to theage to timesonline, new york times, and now Times, I get the feeling that they simply learned everything from wikipedia and then tossed some esoteric China buzzwords around to sound authoritative.

This article in Time even confused the dates for the Uprising with that the Invasion.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:09 am | Comment

These are the images going around Chinese forum now. Picture like this will shape Chinese public opinion for next decade.

Less jaw-jaw, more war-war!

April 9, 2008 @ 7:11 am | Comment

@ferin: Isn’t right-leaning less conservative than left-leaning? I thought the left-wing extremists would be more out to get “the West” and right-wingers would be more friendly and open to democracy and reform. Forgive me. I do not have the latest copy of the Handbook to CCP Factions.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:11 am | Comment

I’m just going by the American standard where right wingers stand for religious bigotry, having sex with children, ethnic nationalism, racial purity, xenophobia, and douchebaggery.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:16 am | Comment

@Ferin
I think you’ve stumbled on the root of the problem.

Have you ever talked to people who have grown up in English speaking countries outside of Asia or Asia-oriented forums like this? If you get a chance, you’ll notice we don’t know or care much about Asia at all. There is a fondness for all things Japanese among a substantial minority, but with China we’re pretty much limited to Chinese Food, the Great Wall, Bruce Lee/Jet Li/Jackie Chan, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and a lot of random images of people in conical hats slogging about in rice fields. Bottom line is that China is just marginally more important than Kazakhstan to the average Anglophone.

So of course most of our news anchors got what ever little bit of Chinese trivia they need from wikipedia. Very few people will care, so why bother to send a whole bunch of reporters, or hire experts?

April 9, 2008 @ 7:20 am | Comment

I know they don’t care or know anything at all. That’s why they should shut their pieholes. That’s the problem with a culture where idiots are encouraged to speak loudly to compensate for the lack of substance in their words.

All the crocodile tears and half-assed BS being spewed is enough to make anyone vomit.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:24 am | Comment

I think what also might be a good idea is if the CCP could get their country in order and keep the street violence below a point where the rest of us have to take notice, so everyone can remain blissfully ignorant of what’s going on in Tibet, the Olympics can go off nicely, and we can go back to pay attention to the presidential race.

Otherwise, there’s a chance that we will all start paying attention to the PRC a lot more, and, although we might look more sympathetically on the CCP’s immediate response to the violence in Lhasa, the whole Falun Gong witch hunt, restrictions of the press, etc. etc., might just start giving everyone a bad taste in there mouth everytime they hear ‘China’.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:36 am | Comment

Damn. Same mistake again.
“bad taste in *their* mouth”

April 9, 2008 @ 7:38 am | Comment

LOL racial purity. Yeah…good luck with that in China. Han people who speak of racial superiority or purity probably just don’t know their own family tree very well, and minority ethnic groups who speak of racial superiority or purity just won’t be heard much. Unless they are the younger and stupider Dalai Lama. Good thing not many people these days remember those comments, or we might really not have a peaceful way out.
War-war is only liked by weapons manufacturers, the military, and stupid kids with nothing better to do with their lives. In the last case, if they want to see blood so bad and obviously have too much of it in their veins, then they should just donate some to the Red Cross.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:43 am | Comment

I laugh every time I see a dark-skinned, flare-nosed fenqing talk about how China is the most racially pure nation in the world.

I think what also might be a good idea is if the CCP could get their country in order and keep the street violence

Should they do it the French way where they have people burning cars right in the capital or the American way, killing/enslaving everyone that might dissent in the future?

I think I’d prefer the CCP over manifest destiny, but that’s not saying much.

April 9, 2008 @ 7:47 am | Comment

“the Party messed it up big-time and it may not recover; the shadow of Tibet could cast its pall over what was supposed to be the most crapspectacular demonstration of harmony and joy the world had ever experienced. Stupid, stupid, stupid. ”
========================
How? If anything, the recent events have only pushed chinese ppl together. united around CCP, or more “harmony” than ever before.

believe it or not, chinese ppl, especially the educated ones, used to put alot of trust into western media outlets such as CNN/BBC. That is why many of them get so angry this time.

April 9, 2008 @ 8:40 am | Comment

trusting CNN or BBC.. hahahahaha

April 9, 2008 @ 8:48 am | Comment

STQ, whether you want to face it or not, the past couple of weeks, and especially the last few days, have been nothing but bad for China’s image abroad. It might make them look just swell inside of China. I wasn’t talking about that, and I wasn’t even talking about whether they are right or wrong on Tibet. I was talking about how they are perceived, and their lack of finesse in dealing with highly sensitive issues. Those in power in China are not happy about how Tibet highjacked their One World One Dream. They see it as a huge loss of face and an act of evil. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. The point is that the government’s objectives were definitely not met and their own stupid handling of the matter was largely to blame – the have to learn that what goes down in China Daily and CCTV-1 won’t go down in the NY Times and the NBC Nightly News.

April 9, 2008 @ 9:05 am | Comment

Kevin, per your question above: ferin and nanhe were both recently banned, and as usual, after a couple of weeks I let them back and asked them to stick to the rules, which both have done, at least so far. Since I started this site only two or three commenters ever achieved Permanently Banned status, which is something you have to really strive for.

April 9, 2008 @ 9:20 am | Comment

Ha ha. Something funny I learned today. Fenqing actually used to be a quite positive word. Basically, these were the youngsters, mostly college students, who went up and marched against the corrupt Nationalist regime to seek more democracy. The “angry youth” was a mark of progress.
Apparently, that’s why in many Chinese online conversations today, the angry brats who are just out for blood because they can’t have their ways, are still referred to as “fenqing,” but with different characters–the first of which is related more closely to bodily excrement than anger. Snicker.

April 9, 2008 @ 9:38 am | Comment

Richard, what would the Chinese government have done otherwise that would make you give them a higher remark? They were watching their own Reginald Dennises being beat up on the streets of Lhasa and couldn’t do a thing — and worse yet got CNN’d, what else do you want?

We’re living in an activists’ golden era. Every nation worth their beans, has their own enemies. This torch relay thingy will have to go — it’s just such a cheap way to PR your points across the globe. The Olympic Games, I am afraid, eventually will become like the Kananaski G-8 rendezvous.

The silver lining though, is the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan early. For the PR effect to work, people need to be engaged and there is still the buzz factor for politicians to hitch on, regardless how logically silly their points may be. People’s attention span is short and soon it’ll lose its momentum. Chances are when the real Games begin, the real games will take over with their intrinsic beauty.

April 9, 2008 @ 1:17 pm | Comment

Richard:
Sure, CCP could have done better, could have responded faster to the riots before it went out of control for a whole day. They probably could have relaxed the media control a bit to allow more access to Tibet.
But personally I highly doubt any of these will make any difference. The way western media is reporting issues, my guess is regardless what Beijing does, they can always spin it in a negative way. Tibet or not, it is simply used as an excuse. Even without the Tibet riot, they could have used Darfur just as easily to bash China. The end result is still the same. I don’t think Beijing should shoulder most of the blame here.

April 9, 2008 @ 2:20 pm | Comment

Jxie, I am not condoning the violence. I am commenting on how the government mishandled the way they are perceived. This has been a long-term process of fucking up its image that can be traced back to 2001. I won’t go into the details but here’s the bottom line: when you know you have a trouble spot, you don’t go out and shine the world’s spotlight on it. Trouble spots like Tibet. Spotlights like the Olympics. There has been a long list of blunders that indicate the CCP never realized, mever dreamt their position in the eyes of the international community was so fragile, so open to extreme criticism. They had to do everything the same way they do it domestically: the biggest, the longest, the most grandiose, the most extravagant, the most craptacular, with the loudest and most vacuous slogans, with the assumption the world would eat up their bullshit and ask for more, with whipped cream on top. That’s their long-term fuck-up.

In the shorter term, it’s so simple one could cry. Call the world’s bluff and reach out to the DL. Avoid demonizing the least radical of your enemies and try to use him to seek some sort of accord. Open Tibet instead of nailing it down. Stop censoring everything with the T word. All these and many other actions have a cumulative effect of making China (or at least the CCP) appear to be the same prickly, ultra-sensitive, ultra-inferiority-complexed, hysterical, terrified-of-losing-power ham-fisted tyrants, thus fueling the arguments of the demonstrators to the party’s detriment. I could go on…

April 9, 2008 @ 2:30 pm | Comment

“Chances are when the real Games begin, the real games will take over with their intrinsic beauty.”

Umm, the only people who really care about the Olympics as a whole are the Chinese, the US and the Russians as these are the people who generally have an opportunity to compete in most events. Everyone else is only interested in the events their country specialises in. There is deep cynicism in Europe, has been for years (how do you spot a drugs cheat? by the gold medal they are wearing etc etc), and this year’s olympics only helps to focus on that. This means that the focus for many will stay very much on the perceived shortcomings.

As Richard has said, all the CCP has succeeded in doing is confirming everyone’s negative impressions of the CCP. The papers in the UK are now full of the heavy handedness of the Chinese minders who have been described as bullies and thugs by the torch bearers and the head of the BOA. There is a deep feeling that Gordon Brown should never have let the torch anywhere near him, and there will be a great deal of pressure in the UK and Europe as a whole not to be seen kowtowing to the CCP. This is something that has united both left and right, a rarity in the UK.

April 9, 2008 @ 4:53 pm | Comment

Richard,

For someone who profess profound hatred for CCP, you seem to care so much for them that you almost treat their failures like a disappointed parent confronted with failures of his favorite child.

CCP, no matter how crude their methods, VERY effectively control and shape domestic public opinion. In turns of how China should be governed, including handling of Tibet, Chinese domestic opinion is ONLY one that really matters.

True, Chinese government needs to learn how to handle PR when it comes to dealing with the West.

Equally true is the fact that Western perception of China matters very little in whether CCP will hold on to power. This has been true since Mao’s days. I suspect with new economic strength of China, Western opinions matters even less now.

I will quote blogger China Matters on Al Jazeera International in America,

” in the iron law of the media business, the least important market gets the fewest resources, the shallowest coverage, and the shoddiest product.”

Sorry, you are just not among the core audience in the CCP’s outreach program.

April 9, 2008 @ 5:14 pm | Comment

Cao Meng, where have you seen me express “profound hatred” of the CCP? I hate aspects of the CCP, strongly dislike other aspects and have some actual admiration, however grudging, for other aspects. You obviously haven’t been reading this blog for very long. In general, I think the CCP is a bad thing for many specific reasons, but there are many good and well-intentioned people who are members, and tragically there is nothing better in China to step into its shoes anytime soon, thanks to the party’s efficiency in stifling dissent and scaring the shit out of its citizens (the arrest and sentencing of Hu Jia is a great example of how they play this game). Anyway, what’s your point? Should I shut my blog down because Western perceptions don’t matter?

April 9, 2008 @ 6:02 pm | Comment

western perceptions of china don’t matter – that is why the chinese come on here and rant at us because they don’t care what we think.

the ccp doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks of them and that is why they arranged the longest international olympic torch relay ever.

spare me.

April 9, 2008 @ 6:15 pm | Comment

It really just wasn’t the CCP that messed up. Both them and “Western” pontificators have worked together to make the situation as bad as possible.

April 9, 2008 @ 10:06 pm | Comment

Richard, but on the other hand, what the Chinese government (almost synonymous to China in this context) has done, has made them very popular among countries outside of North Atlantic nations. I’ve been traveling around the world and talking to people from different backgrounds. If I have to imagine a scenario that people in the world get to vote out some of the current PUNSC members, chances are the US, the UK and France will get voted out before China does.

China genuinely gives hope to many disenfranchised people in the world. It was why Beijing was by far the most popular final winner in recent IOC votes. Heck the talk in the certain circles in 2001 was pretty much the same as now, and China was just as negatively viewed as back then. Just as many in the West secretly wish China to fail, a whole lot MORE in the world wish China to succeed.

Often an event happens, and its true significance won’t be known until much later — much like people remember Rosa Parks today but nobody knows Claudette Colvin, but you wouldn’t have noticed the difference in the 50s. The Beijing Olympics may go down in the history as the beginning of the end of Western dominance.

April 10, 2008 @ 12:58 am | Comment

Jxie, we’ll see. I know a PR fuck-up when I see one, and even if every point you make is valid (and I think some of them are), China now faces a global crisis in terms of its reputation. I fear they may have slid back a good distance, even if everyone was happy with the IOC decision seven years ago.

April 10, 2008 @ 1:41 am | Comment

I know a PR fuck-up when I see one

Like certain media corporations not mentioning non-Tibetan deaths and calling murder, arson and looting “peaceful demonstration”?

Then what are the 7/7 London bombings, “quiet dissent”?

April 10, 2008 @ 4:00 am | Comment

Well, the excitement is over here in SF. The city bamboozled the pro- and anti-Chinese protesters by bussing the torch over to a completely different route. So there won’t be any scenes on CCTV of throngs of cheering, flag-waving people in San Francisco watching the torch go by. And this has made the Chinese censors’ job easier, too — now they don’t have nearly as many Tibetan flags to digitally erase from the video. Hooray!

April 10, 2008 @ 8:51 am | Comment

I wonder at the following questions.

1) Was the CCP totally unaware of the PR backlash they were going to find with the olympic games given the lack or progress in HR and the handling of TB? (CH cultural difference?)

2)Were they aware of it, but decided to pull it through anyway, and hidden the protest behind some intensive censure and video editing? (any idea if more photoshop licenses were sold in CH lately?)

I am really sorry for the average CH person in an outside CH who would like to be proud, and also work hard, to show a good image of CH during the Olympics.
Fear it is going to get worst as we get nearer and during the Olympics.

Any chance Shanghai gets the nomination?

April 10, 2008 @ 9:13 am | Comment

@ferin
“Der Spiegel should use this image in their article:
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3349/post81207666410bi6.jpg”

Hi ferin! Nice to see you again.

April 10, 2008 @ 9:15 am | Comment

hello!

I’m sure the CCP doesn’t mind that they can flood China with images of people robbing one-legged wheelchair ladies or screaming in the faces of Chinese girls. Nationalism gives them more power and authority.

April 10, 2008 @ 9:33 am | Comment

If they were really smart, on an unreleased date they should have loaded the torch in the back of an unmarked van with tinted windows and driven it around San Francisco just before dawn, called it the torch relay, and then got the hell out of there. That would have shown those rotten protesters.

April 10, 2008 @ 9:44 am | Comment

“Then what are the 7/7 London bombings, “quiet dissent”?”
Ferin forgot his pills again.

@Vaara
“So there won’t be any scenes on CCTV of throngs of cheering, flag-waving people in San Francisco watching the torch go by.”
Actually, despite the change in plans, CCTV still managed to capture plenty of shots of “patriots” and conduct a number of interviews with them. I just watched it on CCTV4. There was a group cheering “Zhongguo, jiayou!” and then a dancing troupe, and the announcer stated that one park was filled with bristling “five-star red flags” as “people of Chinese descent and other Americans cheered and celebrated the Beijing Olympics.”
Glad I wasn’t eating dinner at the time, as I might have tossed my cookies if I were.

April 10, 2008 @ 9:49 am | Comment

@ferin
“I’m sure the CCP doesn’t mind that they can flood China with images of people robbing one-legged wheelchair ladies or screaming in the faces of Chinese girls. Nationalism gives them more power and authority.”

Our good old ferin. Somethings never change. 😉

Glad to see you anyway.

April 10, 2008 @ 9:57 am | Comment

Some sensible suggestions:

http://tinyurl.com/4dhw4q

April 10, 2008 @ 10:08 am | Comment

“Nationalism gives them more power and authority.”

That is true. But as we have seen on any number of occasions over the last century, nationalism can be an evil genie, powerful enough, but once out of the bottle, it is not so easily restrained, and the results rarely match the intended wish.

April 10, 2008 @ 11:03 am | Comment

lol for kevin in pudong and Nanhe

you hate everything in china, why do you torture youself to choose to live in china, unbelievable logic, no one can force you to live there, right?? hahahaha

right!!! i think i might have an answer,mmmm are you guys spy?? that makes sense

April 10, 2008 @ 12:22 pm | Comment

@KevinNLIP: According to local news reports, many of those “patriots” were bused into San Francisco on Uncle Hu’s dime. Quelle surprise!

I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed that the torch didn’t go right past my office as planned — I love the smell of tear gas in the early afternoon! — but all in all, I think the city made the best of a bad situation. The protesters got to imagine that they “ran the torch out of town”; the city avoided a repeat of the scenes in Paris and London; and as you say, the CCP got its footage of joyous Chinese and Americans “celebrating the Olympics.”

April 10, 2008 @ 12:33 pm | Comment

Everyone figured this would happen at the games. Sketchy officiating that always favors China or its “friends” (cough, cough) or at least goes against certain blocs of countries, star athletes with sudden bouts of intestinal instability or findings of doping that also knock out star athletes.

Speaking of doping, it seems China has taken the preemptive measure of knocking out the Greek weightlifting team. Wouldn’t the Russian, US or German teams be obvious targets? Greece has an up and coming track and field team, but weightlifting has been a consistent award winner for Greece and the entire team has been taken out (which helps China’s team) due to an accidental “impurity” that made it into some training meds the team imports from …..China!

Let’s hear it for medical outsourcing from Mordor!

This story is apparently excerpted from Hong Kong’s English language daily, the South China Morning Post:
(Quote)
A Shanghai pharma company may have managed to disqualify the entire Greek weightlifting team from the Olympics after shipping them tainted health supplements. A surprise inspection of the Greek team by the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed that 11 of the team?s athletes had unapproved substances in their systems. The Chinese firm has already apologized for providing the bad product, saying: ?We send [sic] you L-tyrosine mixed with something else that it [sic] only for research purposes.?

This is another one with quality fade written all over it. Looking to widen its margins, the factory probably cut an active ingredient with a molecular lookalike that was slightly cheaper. Since the general public to this day still doesn?t understand the extent to which quality fade occurs across China manufacturing, the recent supplement spike will likely be seen as sabotage. Some will suggest – if they are not already doing so – that China deliberately attempted to knock Greece out of the weightlifting competition.

Foreign athletes are going to be on high alert this summer in any event. The foreign catering companies that will set up shop in Beijing are promising to do an an excellent job of controlling quality, and they will be shipping in meat. All the same, they still need to source many ingredients in China. Athletes who somehow manage to bring their own food into China are going to have to get around rules that prohibit outside food in the athletes? village.

There is nothing that the Chinese are more proud of than their cuisine, and they are likely going to take dietary ambitions of foreign athletes the wrong way. By rejecting food products made in China, the foreign atheletes may inadvertently cause China more embarrassment than all of the protests combined. Protests abroad do not upset the Chinese. In fact, they offer proof to the Chinese that along with freedom comes an anything-goes social order, and it?s highly undesirable. The food snub is a different issue. It will genuinely sadden many Chinese, though, oddly enough, they won?t seem to understand the extent to which they have only themselves to blame.
(Unquote)

April 10, 2008 @ 1:56 pm | Comment

Vaara, wonderful to see you and thanks for the first-hand reports.

April 10, 2008 @ 2:42 pm | Comment

The day before the torch ran through SF, the propaganda in China already had photos up of a faked torch relay. I guess they wanted a clean image to show, there was no one around, just two atheletes, the torch and the golden gate bridge, not even the blue gestapo in the pictures…

April 10, 2008 @ 3:02 pm | Comment

yes, when i look at news at chinese website, i just keep laughing and laughing, our govenment is really pathetic, even there are so many chinese can read english news on BBC, CNN etc, the stupid communist government still try to fool the people that torch replay went on smoothly, geeze, smooth my arse, now i really think the government is deserved to be humiliated, such a good liar

April 10, 2008 @ 3:11 pm | Comment

I think it is a pity. A lost opportunity for CH

Where are the PR experts hired by the CCP?

They are either not getting their money worth, or are simply unable to take their advice.
A frustrating job in this case for PR expert indeed.

I wonder if there is still time, and will, to do some damage control before the games… besides the usual CCP answer to this crisis so far.

I expected more from CCP illustrated despots, I wonder if they are so “illustrated” after all.

If things go on as now, it is going to be a rocky Olympics this summer.

It was sad to see a photo of a small kid with both Olympic and China flag waiting for the torch to pass. Yes, there is blame to give to all those protester, but more blame is to be put on CH government for they way the handle all of it.

If you want to come up to the stage and be the center of attention, you better be ready to face the problem you will meet and if not…” if you cannot stand the hear, keep yourself out of the kitchen”

Yes, even if CCP had given more than enough compromise on HR and TB there would be protesters anyway, that is the way it is.
But they have done, so far, far too little. It is going to be a hot summer in BJ, I fear.

I wonder what they are thinking now…

April 10, 2008 @ 6:55 pm | Comment

Ooops

“if you can not stand the heat, keep yourself out of the kitchen”

April 10, 2008 @ 6:56 pm | Comment

@UK Chinese

“lol for kevin in pudong and Nanhe

you hate everything in china, why do you torture youself to choose to live in china, unbelievable logic, no one can force you to live there, right?? hahahaha”

What makes you think that Kevin and Nanhe live in China? Have you ever wondered why Kevin calls himself kevinnolongerinpudong now?

“right!!! i think i might have an answer,mmmm are you guys spy?? that makes sense”

Are you a Chinese spy in the UK? Be careful with the “spy” word! You might attract attention nobody really wants.

April 10, 2008 @ 7:34 pm | Comment

@ecodelta

“Our good old ferin. Somethings never change. 😉

Glad to see you anyway.”

Yeah, we all really missed comments like this:

“Kinda like how you happily bought a wife from the evil PR of C.

Posted by: ferin at April 10, 2008 08:40 AM”

April 10, 2008 @ 7:40 pm | Comment

I meant to say “brought”. It was a typo!

April 10, 2008 @ 8:32 pm | Comment

Yeah, sure, ferin. I would actually believe you, if you hadn’t made similar comments in the past. Richard is right, you are really smart. You usually post the most vile of your comments at the end of threads that are already quite old, so there’s a good chance the administrators are not looking there, anymore. If somebody points out one of your nasty ad-hominems, it suddenly becomes a “typo”. Suggestion: use the “Preview” button more often!

April 10, 2008 @ 9:05 pm | Comment

Ferin, you’re such a loser.
Sorry , typo! I meant to type “person who is able to look at the Tibet issue cLOSER and help us pathetic ‘palefaces’ see the truth.”

April 11, 2008 @ 12:29 am | Comment

Paleface stole my land.

April 11, 2008 @ 2:56 am | Comment

Glad to see there is a blog site trying to help the CCP improving their PR. In this aspect they suck big time all these years with their single formated, most boring lanugage.
However, if this is really the purpose of it, please concentrate on giving suggestions on how they should improve it, just not to suggest to us that China should set Tibet completely free which is not acceptable to the Chinese at all. Ohh, why do I sense some kind of joy here about what is happenning? — A Chinese who lived in the free world for 12 years.

April 17, 2008 @ 3:43 am | Comment