Comments on: Sports + Politics = No French Bread

By: Kai

Kai — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:36:14 +0000

Yeah, I don’t need to buy LV for my GF anymore.

Saving a lot of money.

By: The subtle speed of change in China | A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life | The Humanaught

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:46:09 +0000

[...] the news about all the Carrefour/CNN/Olympic malarkey, and reading comments on this blog and others where Chinese have chimed in on what used to be topics us Westerners would preach to the choir [...]

By: Hao

Hao — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:46:59 +0000

This Olympics game will definitely be writen in history. Let the history judge the whole thing. The problems just started, hope at least there will be less violence and a peaceful game.
The popularization of internet change this country a lot, the different voices are more easily to access by normal Chinese.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:31:34 +0000

@Ryan

I think you pretty much have it. I was here when Beijing was awarded and the next day I asked students the question you posted. They thought I was crazy.

I continued to ask the question every semester when students with starry eyes would ask me if I was going to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I would also say that there were going to be problems and they should be prepared for such things. They would laugh and think I was crazy.

Media is an amazing thing.

I have been reading Wang Xiaofeng for years, (in Chinese) so I know not everyone feels the same, but I hardly think his opinion is the majority.

By: Hao

Hao — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:31:32 +0000

@EATHOY
I pretty like here too. Most of the “LAOWAI” here maybe everyone are in China or have been to. So they have more rights to make comments on China, no matter positive or negative comments. And there are lots of good points from laowai here. Prejudice seems a human’s character, hope more communication between people from different countries, areas will reduce the misunderstanding. For the Tibet issues, lots of people in west know them from “7 years in Tibet” or some news, rare of them try to know it from academic articles. It is normal, will you care about the history about England and Scotland before you went to UK? Lots of people judge it by the “Brave Heart”, a English told me it is totally fake, far from the truth.
BTW, Dalian is really beautiful place, it is my second hometown.
@Laowai
There is a website called blogchina(www.blogchina.com), there are lots of Chinese people(some are really famous ones) publish their ideas there, actually now in China, lots of things could be discussed publicly online, anyone who could read Chinese may check this website.

By: EATHOY

EATHOY — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:28:42 +0000

by the way,me and my husband gonna move back to china very soon,he is british-british,but he hate his goverment so much,and I hate my goverment very much too,there is nothing wrong if we hate our own goverment coz if they are not good on their jobs,we have the right to hate them,and ask them go,I think this is the main thing bothers me about China, people mixed up “love China “with “Love goverment”,and I never feel shamed about telling people I hate chinese goverment,but some friends say I am not a good person coz I should not hate my own goverment,and some english friends think I dont love China,so I have to keep telling them I love China very very much its my homeland but I hate the goverment coz they are just bunch of w***ks,and now I deside to move back to there,becoz even there have so many problems but the life is better quality than UK,and I feel happier there than in UK,everyday I am day dreaming about I go back to DALIAN(my hometown)and having dinner with my family in a nice big resterand,so lovely!:)

By: EATHOY

EATHOY — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:38:28 +0000

as I read more comments here,I start liking this place,I dont really like beijing host the olympic game from the start,coz I would like my goverment spend some money on develop the education and hospital,but I hate bring politic into sport,I am anti-goverment person,I think there is no innoicent goverment in the world,every politacians are gulty about something,and they use their power to collect money for themselves.people are always the victims,like in this torch relay thing,chinese people are bacome victims as well as the westners,coz we all only know one side of the story and start attacking each other for no reason,some westerners dont even know where tibet is,and some chinese people dont even know why tibet protest,but we still make it look like we know more than the other.
why people have to hate each other?why we have to be controled by politics?
like war,people hate war,but the war never stop,some people hate american,some people hate muslim,they all blam each other for causing the war,but I would like to say,every war caused by some evil politicians,and they use people to earn their own goods,we kill for them,we die for them,we lost our family for them,is this mean humen right?
I think the big issue here is not about humen right and freedom,its about goverment and people.
and how much power we should give to the goverment and how much truth the media should tell?
this is not only to the chinese goverment,also for the so-called capitalism goverment,especially amerian goverment.
if one day,all politicians died and all the goverment destrayed,I think the whole world can become a peaceful place,and I love to see that happens.but I dont think I could live til that day.
so you can see my point here,this whole thing just a properganda,please dont say chinese people are stupid or brain washed,so do you,but we just have to try give each other some respect and think before we do what the politacians tells us,give a hand to help not insulting.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:37:36 +0000

@Hao: Regarding globalization - I absolutely agree that many N. American and European workers need some education on the benefits of a global marketplace. Someone needs to give these folks an abridged version of The World is Flat.

As for the media focusing on the negative - that’s not “China news” that’s all news. Sit down in any American city and watch the 6 o’clock news and you’ll be lucky to see a “good” story all hour.

Terrorism, crime, scandal, war… it’s all on tap and all being served with a shit-eating smile. That news out of China - that far off place that most Westerners still view as the other site of the world (in a 20th century sense, not a 21st) - is bound to fall subject to the same formula.

I think the real reason this is all coming to a head is that in the past the technology (and dispersion of Mainland students) wasn’t in place to give China (or any other country) such an intimate peek inside foreign media.

Couple that with the stark contrast of HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY media that gets played in China, and it was bound to ruffle feathers.

If you had asked your average Chinese person a year ago if they thought foreigners might feel China doesn’t “deserve” the Olympics - do you think a single one of them would ever had said “yeah, probably, China has its problems and internationally it doesn’t always have the best reputation - but we are improving as a country. We are proud and committed to making it a great place both domestically and internationally. Hopefully by hosting the Olympics we can illustrate we are taking positive steps in showing the world we’re here to foster greater understanding between cultures and let the international community we want to be an active, positive force in it.”

Naw - it would have been “不可能！” Not an ounce of Olympic conflict reached the news here, and never would. Everything was internalized and RA RA RA. So when that pep rally hit the streets in foreign lands and those protests fell on the eyes of Chinese (unlike yourself) who hadn’t any idea that there were folks who felt China shouldn’t have the Olympics, it was like a cold slap to the face.

And we all know how China feels about face.

By: Hao

Hao — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:12:07 +0000

Yes Matthew, that is why I said a democracy in China is a process, could not be built in one day, a real democracy need most people in this country get well education.
“foreign students will be sent home” - this actually reported and quoted by some German medias.
Honestly, lots of Chinese people, especially leaving abroad, they really feel angry is about the prejudice, especially this time. I watch CNN and some German medias almost everyday, as a Chinese, mostly negative news. Someone told me, 10 years ago, in Germany, lots of good news about China, and China will be a so attractive huge market and oppotunities to Germany, even I think at that time human rights all these things are worse than right now. One of the deep problems is the globalization, the “made in China” make some lower level of people in Europe lost their jobs. They don’t know the “made in China” also make the local inflation lower. I understand them, just I understand actually lots of Chinese cheap labours only get 1/10 of a salary compared with a European workers. If they don’t accept it, the job goes to Vietnam, goes to Africa. That is my understanding of globalization and why the attitudes from the west are uncertain and varies right now. China now is a more attractive market to the world, but at the same time it is also a strong competitor.

By: Matthew Stinson

Matthew Stinson — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:24:08 +0000

Yes Hao, but there’s a difference here. When Westerners hear a rumor and spread it, then the rumor is repudiated, there’s a strong incentive to settle the issue and “kill” the rumor. That’s what’s happening to the “foreign students will be sent home” rumor you mention, which appeared on a few blogs, was sent around in messages, and has now been debunked and settled. As for the Carrefour thing, Chinese are still spreading the rumor that the “owners” of Carrefour gave money to the Dalai Lama, even though there’s no proof of it and several on-record denials.

As for the Western media and whether it reported the demonstrations, you can see accounts in the LA Times and France’s Liberation.