Anyone active in the China blogsphere back in August surely remembers Chinabounder and his rather conspicuous blog “Sex And Shanghai“. The blog received some rather heated attention (making it as far as the nightly news in Shanghai) mostly brought on by Professor Zhang Jiehai and his call to hunt down the author because of the blog’s content, which is essentially a Western man detailing his sexcapades with local Chinese girls.
Zhang’s hunt for the Chinabounder ended with the operator(s) of the site shutting it down. Rumors abounded, with the rather weighty Sydney Morning Harold reporting that it was all a hoax created by a group of performance artists looking to draw attention to the mob mentality of the Chinese Internet.
Well folks he’s back. As reported by fiLination, the Chinabounder has started posting again and has resumed with what is sure to be a racket:
From the first time you see her you know she’s special. She’s got that something, that spark of sass, of drive; it animates her, energizes her. She’s full of secrets and laughter, plans and hopes. Her presence fills a room and her absence empties it. She’s not someone you forget. I want to know her, know what her life is, who she is, how, what she thinks. [...]
And then the lunacy that lurks beneath the male skin slithers to the surface.
He smashes her head against the desktop several times, hard, brutal; she falls to the floor. He kicks her, thick, heavy blows from his feet into her stomach, her ribcage. He jumps on her, kicks her head. Already she’s covered in blood and barely conscious. He grabs an iron bar that’s used to pull open the high windows and beats her with it, beats her, smashes her, bloody, murderous, brutal. [...]
Where were you brave citizens of China then? Where was the anger? Where was the press, so like dogs baying for Chinabounder? The outcry? The mass of internet idiots so concerned about China’s honor and dignity? They offered silence and remain silent. Not a word, not a sigh, not a shrug of the shoulder, not even a raised eyebrow. - Post: A New Girl
Now granted, I liked the old sexy stuff as much as the next voyeur hobbyist, but this new ‘Bounder is a whole other animal. Reading through the comments you immediately get a sense of the array of feelings towards this topic. What I don’t get is how those from ‘free nations’, that (cough) know better, can argue that what he’s doing is wrong. I mean, has life in China actually made me more sensitive to the whole ‘free speech’ ideology?
I could understand the argument if the writing was crap and if it compromised the identities of his ‘acquaintances’ - but as it is, it stands for everything free speech is designed to protect. Perhaps I’m pushing the Larry Flynt line here, but we have a subject matter that the masses dislike, something that challenges our perceptions of what is morally “right” or “wrong”, and an honesty that mirrors many of our ‘黄色的想法‘. Further to that, we have a post that rubs raw the hypocrisy of these “Internet witch-hunts” that are becoming somewhat common-place in the New (Web-enabled) China.
A common opinion seems to be that he brought this shit storm on himself - and that may be - but no more than any other anonymous blogger posting about the crap that enters their everyday. Certainly no more than the numerous Chinese blogs that detail the sexual exploits of the Chinese men and women that write them. So, the controvery comes at the drawing of race lines - a battlefield fraught with the overly race-sensitive West and the somewhat race-biased East.
It’s little wonder a blog that rubs salt into the gaping holes of both these ideals is getting so much attention. I can hardly wait to see where it all leads.
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February 6, 2007
9:15 am
I have to say, I didn’t bother to read many of his other posts.
But this new one, THIS is interesting.
I’m betting the response on this one isn’t quite as noticable on the Chinese net.
The Chinese “Spaz-out threshold” is lower when it comes to reacting to foreigners, as compared to dealing with “problems in their own house,” as they say.
February 6, 2007
11:52 am
Hey Ryan,
I too was a little surprised at many of the comments on Chinabounder’s new post that seemed to suggest that the commentator either didn’t “get” the concept of free speech or just downright rejected it.
I remember reading Roland Soong’s translation of Zhang Jiehai’s xenophobic fury last summer and coming to Roland’s comment:
Assuming the first question is rhetorical and the answer is “no”, it seems that Roland doesn’t “get”/believe in free speech either. Well, fair enough. Roland is Chinese. Different culture, different history, different values. To be clear, when I say “free speech” I mean that you can say anything you want as long as it is not inciting violence against others, and do anything you want as long as it does not break the law and “get away with it,” ie., not be the prey of an internet lynch mob or deported. Does having sex with consenting adults and writing about it online break Chinese law? If so, when will A Zhen and Muzi Mei be arrested? Furthermore, is mob “justice” allowed under Chinese law?
However, living in an increasingly global world, where communications between people all over the world take place instantly over the internet, and people the world over have different ideas about the meaning and/or value of “free speech”, it is obvious that the answer to Roland’s second question should be thought out in advance of opening one’s mouth.
Jeremy Goldkorn has an interesting opinion on this, a sort of realpolitik philosophy:
I guess it’s time to stop being surprised.
This comment cross-posted at The Weifang Radish.
February 6, 2007
4:01 pm
Oh lordy, the insanity continues! You gotta love it.
I think a lot of the reason for the argument going nowhere has to do with the fact that people are arguing about different issues entirely.
A lot of people are pissed about the content of the posts, and everyone else is arguing about censorship and free speech. I think these things are different. Not that they aren’t connected, but the arguments are different.
I never really liked the posts too much, (not because of my moral standing, I just thought the author kinda sounded like a douche bag), but that by no means effects my opinion on free speech and anti-censorship. Don’t like it? Don’t read it. You can’t expect everyone to just bend to your personal preferences. Deal with it.
February 7, 2007
6:00 pm
[...] of this is the long-term effect the internet may have on ideas about free speech. From Ryan’s blog: Reading through the comments you immediately get a sense of the array of feelings towards this [...]
February 9, 2007
6:35 pm
So, now that Chinabounder’s back, should we expect BlogSpot to return to the bad list in the near future?
February 12, 2007
2:18 pm
God I hope not. My internet is slow enough without going through proxies.
March 3, 2007
9:42 am
Who cares? I personally think my blog is more interesting than his.
Shopgirl’s Shanghai
http://www.siyansblog.blogspot.com
I have around 300 readers per day (soon it will surpass Chinabounder’s) HAH!
December 12, 2007
10:26 pm
This chinabounder is in the stickiest situation since sticky the stick insect got caught on a sticky bun !
July 14, 2008
5:37 pm
[...] with his last return, he seems much more focused on sticking it to the Chinese government than he does sticking it to [...]