Perhaps it was in the strictest sense an unlawful gathering; maybe they were naive. But the people who were assembled in Tiananmen Square on this day in 1989 formed a cross section of Chinese society. From farmers to teachers, students to shopkeepers, and factory workers to intellectuals, all were looking to their government to fulfill the promises enshrined in the very name of the country; the People’s Republic of China.
Indignant towards widespread corruption and angered by the staggering indifference of a party elite more interested in their own private power squabbles, the People came together to ask for a better tomorrow. Nineteen years later most of them have their wish.
None of those gathered were …
For all those Chinese parents looking to get their kids into Harvard or Yale, they should take their noses out of those how-to-books writen by parents of successful students and instead read the biography of one of their countrymen. Yung Wing’s My Life in China and America (China Economic Review Publishing) is the biography of China’s first graduate from Yale — way back in 1854.
But Yung isn’t a guy to just rest on the merits of his college degree. This is a guy who was at the center of many of the major events in China in the 19th century — both through contacts and luck. …
With flak jacket on, and earplugs in place, I thought I’d usher in the new lunar year with a little post about the origins of the Chinese New Year, as well as some useful language for the holiday.
This is my fourth endurance of the explosive holiday, and I always approach it with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it’s about as abrasive as a holiday can get. It’s full of filial duties that force a massive population that most days can’t afford meat to spend a year’s worth of savings on appeasing culture and custom. It’s also loud and dangerous, as fireworks and firecrackers go off pretty much nonstop for several days with little to no regard for public or …
When I got an e-mail a few months back from book publisher DK to see if I was interested in reviewing their new book, “China: People Place Culture History
“, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I had, wrongly, assumed that the book would simply be a token collection of pages about the Middle Kingdom. However, what came in the mail was a massive tome full of eclectic photos and information, as its title suggest, about the country’s people, geography, culture and history.
The absolutely beautifully bound book features stunning photography by Christopher Pillitz capturing China from a number of different angles …
Today marks 70 years since the imperialist Japanese army entered Nanjing, then capital of China, and began one of the most brutal massacres of the 20th century and has led to harsh friction between the two countries in the years since.
I’ve always liked history, in a purely sofa sort of way. Back when my TV spat out more than CCTVgrime I spent hours of well-wasted time watching documentary after documentary on the History Channel.
So, when I came across The Rape of Nanking while I was hanging out in Northern Thailand a few years ago, it surprised me that I had gone a quarter of a century on this planet and never heard of Nanjing, never mind anyone raping it….
In a previous entry on my own blog, I was a bit scathing about our local Water Wheel Park, but I had another look recently and I must admit I have revised my opinion.
On a hot, sunny late September day, I took the screaming yellow 144 bus to the bridge over the Yellow RIver nearest the park, and backtracked a bit to get a view of the whole thing from the bridge. It is quite a sight.
There were over 250 of these wheels on the banks of the Yellow River in Lanzhou in 1952, irrigating thousands of hectares of land. There are six pairs in operation in the park, and I reckon it takes …
So, it looks like everyone’s favorite Angel has gotten herself in a bit of Peruvian hot water when she wore a bag with Mao’s famous slogan “为人民服务” on it while visiting the lost Inca city - Machu Picchu.
Ya see, Peru had some issues with the commies during the 80s, when the Peruvian Communist Party (more commonly known as ‘Shining Path’ - likely for wanting to avoid confusion with trailerpark cookhouses) attempted to take over the country. The Maoists launched a guerrilla war against the ruling “bourgeois”, and pretty much every other Peruvian that even remotely stood in their way (or didn’t give their 110% support). Communist “for the people” revolutions are funny …
By now, just about all laowai should have heard of our “Harmonious Society“.
The first time I saw those words was about three years ago, in Chinese, written in huge font on a billboard along the road just after the Lupu Bridge in Pudong, Shanghai. At the time the sign was an anomaly, but within the last year it’s become ubiquitous.
It’s on red banners. It’s on billboards. It was a major theme in CCTV’s 2007 Chinese New Year program, probably the best indicator of its priority as a government message. It’s the name of the new high-speed trains, the “Harmony Lines 和谐号”, which started running in April. It has even jumped the party …
I love etymology.
I’m not sure what about knowing “why” a word is what it is that steams my baozi, but I just dig it. I confess, I’m not hardcore about it, but do frequently visit www.etymonline.com for casual reading.
For armchair etymologists like myself, the Chinese language is a fantastic source of wonders. Learning new words in Chinese is unquestionably an uphill battle, and sometimes looking at the literal translations of character combinations is not only helpful for memorization, it is also just a whole lot of fun.
Back when “Chinese” was still just something I said mostly for the amusement of onlisteners, I remember being taught “小心”, which of course means “take care, be careful.” Literally translated it …
I think it is a fairly common phenomenon in China for foreigners to get angry and make snide remarks when we hear the government make comments about how they will have a peaceful rise to world power or how they will be number one by 2050. I must admit something in me shutters when I hear it. But recently I have started to think about it in a new way.
I love history and I have been reading Chinese and Russian history for years. One thing that stands out is that China and Russia have been made the bogy man by Western Europe and the US for the most part of the last two hundred years. From the great game …
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