Comments on: Sack this!

By: From Toronto

From Toronto — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:26:30 +0000

Hilarious!!!, Indeed.

Victor Hugo described in his “Expédition de Chine” “‘Two robbers breaking into a museum, devastating, looting and burning, leaving laughing hand-in-hand with their bags full of treasures; one of the robbers is called France and the other Britain.” In his letter Hugo hoped that one day France would feel guilty and return what it had plundered from China.

The fact is these two robbers did not feel guilty and always accuse Chinese for not forgiving them.

Please don’t make noise, right now China’s first priority is to feed hundreds of millions who are struggling for the next meal, of course you can express whatever you want, but please don’t distract China’s effeort to feed the poor.

By: Aleen

Aleen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:07:48 +0000

Actually it should be saturation. This topic has definitively reached saturation.

By: Not so young FenQing

Not so young FenQing — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:16:16 +0000

Please excuse my English. Saturation should be situation.

By: Not so young FenQing

Not so young FenQing — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:10:57 +0000

The Chinese should fight for the looted treasures because they were their properties (has nothing to do with what government, what ethnicity), the same rights the Jews have fighting for their lifelong savings, properties etc looted by the Nazis, Russia etc, the same saturation where Napoleon (France) had to return the looted artworks after his failed conquest in Europe.

I am not advocating for DVD privacy in China, but if you have bought bootleg DVD copies in china in the past, then I don’t think you have a say in this on either a legal or moral ground.

By: Aleen

Aleen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:02:43 +0000

@ Zhou

A lot of Chinese are just too damn sensitive about their country. This applies to Americans as well. Sometimes feel like I can’t bring up anything with either one of them without being labeled “anti-American” or “anti-Chinese” or whatever else…

About the DVDs

Problem with piracy in China is that it holds back local Chinese development of all types of content, so in the long run its probably in their own best interest to clamp down on piracy. As for hollywood, video games makers, other software companies ect, they may profit from having IP laws enforced but in the long run they will face competition from Chinese companies that could etch away their global influence. Korea and Taiwan followed the same development pattern. They used to rip off everything, got richer, clamped down on IP, and now produce their own stuff.

I personally enjoy the cheap DVD’s and software here, so I hope they don’t start clamping down anytime soon. Fuck paying for music, movies, and games right?!

By: Zhou

Zhou — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:08:23 +0000

From Toronto, you need to realize that the majority of people posting here are not China bashers. They are people from all over the world who love and defend China under most circumstances. I know for a fact, a lot of us on this board spend many hours defending China when people make uneducated or misinformed comments.

Unfortunately, as you are aware living in Toronto, a lot of Canadians don’t know the real China. This is probably true in other countries as well. It’s normal for us to discuss things with an open mind. Keep in mind that nobody is bashing China right now, they’re bashing the comment you wrote comparing artifacts to DVDs. Historical artifacts are much more precious than any DVD. You made a weak argument and you insist on going on with it, so in turn you meet opposition, which is normal.

That being said, i think that it’s completely OK for Chinese officials to turn a blind eye to DVD pirating, as the majority of 老百姓 can’t afford to pay 25$ for a DVD, let alone send their children to Toronto. Either Hollywood needs to offer DVDs in China at a heavily discounted price, or wait until the average citizen can afford to buy them.

By: From Toronto

From Toronto — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:29:10 +0000

@FOARP:

So you don’t see the connection in the article, Re: IP?

I expected those China bashers would jump on it to rant on the abuse of Copyrights.

By: FOARP

FOARP — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:00:21 +0000

I suppose I should also add, that I was educated in a school run by a council dominated by the Trotskyite ‘Militant Tendency’, where the teachers went on strike in sympathy with the miners. Such was their insistence on ideological purity (or, perhaps, cronyism) that they chose a former inmate of a lunatic asylum to run our school based on her beliefs. My grandfather was a member of the communist party, and did not hesitate to talk (at great length) about his opinions. Such was my ‘capitalist education’.

By: FOARP

FOARP — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:49:23 +0000

@Hong Wei Bing – I cannot fault you for inconsistency.

By: Hong Weibing

Hong Weibing — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:42:38 +0000

Personally, I don’t give a monkey’s about those baubles; I was prompted to comment by frankly your fatuous defence of robbery on supposed moral grounds. Perhaps your capitalist education has stunted your basic humanity.
Since it is, in large part, the policy of the current PRC government to allow exactly this, under cover of a ‘market socialism’ which is nothing of the kind, when are you predicting that the ‘inevitable correction’ will take place?
Not for some time, I fear – the fake communists have succeeded in creating a reasonably robust corporatist state and if their welfare reforms such as the new health plan work at all, one with a sufficient veneer of social progress to mask the true agenda. Coupled with the enormous difficulties of civil society organising effectively under the well-honed control apparatus, a general collapse is more likely than a correction in the near term. But it’s a long game, and as we all know, the choice between communism or barbarism will eventually have to be made.