Article

2004-08-15 China-Japan-Koreas

Chinese top leaders vow to fight typhoon ~~in 12 rounds with no falls~~

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Posted by Zenster 2004-08-15 2:39:19 AM|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Amen, Zenster, for recognizing exactly what's wrong with the PRC ... oh wait, in Chinese, they're called heroes. :-P

(It's a linguistic thing - the Chinese phrase for hero really means "ballsy guy with strong ambition and determination", and has no inherent moral connotation whatsoever.)

Posted by Edward Yee 2004-08-15 3:00:47 AM|| [http://edwardyee.fanworks.net] 2004-08-15 3:00:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm in Zhejiang province - the typhoon was a kitten. Just some mildly strong wind and rain. We've had heavier rains before. Typhoons really don't compare to real Hurricanes in strength for some reason. But in the countryside you see some really ramshackle houses. For the wedding of a coworker, we went out into one of the REALLY rural parts of the province (45 minute ferry ride, 20 minutes on a dirt road) and there were thatched buildings everywhere. Not really houses, but outbuildings, workshops, and suchlike. And even the Big Bad Wolf could blow those down.

Posted by gromky 2004-08-15 7:19:17 AM|| 2004-08-15 7:19:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 gromky - no net censorship there?

Posted by Frank G 2004-08-15 8:31:48 AM|| 2004-08-15 8:31:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Frank G: gromky - no net censorship there?

I don't think there's much censorship of English-language material. My use of the Internet in China is episodic, and coincide with my trips there. But I've never had any problem getting access to English-language web sites, including Fox News, CNN or MSNBC.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-08-15 11:45:55 AM|| [http://www.polipundit.com] 2004-08-15 11:45:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 They block BBC, plus blogspot.com and typepad.com and an assortment of other sites that you wouldn't really think of, such as a newspaper in Florida and a few others. Half the time, it's not that it's blocked, but that the so-so infrastructure can't reach the site. Outbound ICMP is blocked upstream, so no traceroutes or pings. What's interesting is the sites they don't block...pretty much all of American sites are there. Probably because they figure it's English-language and not much of a threat.

As for me, I just set up a simple unecrypted squid proxy on a box in the States and anytime I hit a block I just enable the proxy (F12 and x in Opera!) and off I go.

Posted by gromky 2004-08-15 1:24:57 PM|| 2004-08-15 1:24:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 P.S. my Chinese name is Zhang Lei...I briefly considered posting under that name here, but obviously it might cause some confusion! So nadsat slang instead.

Posted by gromky 2004-08-15 1:42:04 PM|| 2004-08-15 1:42:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 gromky, off topic, but while we've got you online here ...

Were there ever any arrests and prosecutions in the "bloodheads" case? I've been looking for any sort of sentences (or heads) handed down for this massive wrongdoing. The only arrest of note was that of Wan Yanhai for actually publicizing the medically caused AIDS crisis.

I've seen executions and other charges of corruption, like the recent case of Bi Yuxi and the fake milk fraud in Anhui, but never a peep about the bloodheads. One would think China wants to trumpet their prosecution of the devils who promoted such a devastating plague.

Posted by Zenster 2004-08-15 2:39:10 PM|| 2004-08-15 2:39:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 gromky ... do you agree with my statement on "hero"? (ying xiong)

Posted by Edward Yee 2004-08-15 4:19:58 PM|| [http://edwardyee.fanworks.net] 2004-08-15 4:19:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Zenster, no idea. I don't really keep up with domestic news, it's dry as dirt. The English-language CCTV-9 is one of the most boring TV stations I've ever seen.

Yee, I don't speak Chinese. A city of 6 million, and there are no Chinese language schools here. Go figure.

Posted by gromky 2004-08-16 12:44:05 AM|| 2004-08-16 12:44:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 EY: gromky ... do you agree with my statement on "hero"? (ying xiong)

Based on my readings of the translated Chinese classics the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin, both of which form the basis of the canon of chop-socky movie classics, I would have to agree that heroes in the Chinese context don't have to be moral - they just have to win. Lying, cheating, backstabbing - all are acceptable. To paraphrase Stalin* - based on the Chinese classics, winning has a moral quality all its own.

* Stalin is reputed to have said, in reference to the fact that his forces were, man for man, inferior to German forces, the following: "Quantity has a quality all its own".

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-08-16 1:18:20 AM|| [http://www.polipundit.com] 2004-08-16 1:18:20 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Hero = "ballsy guy with strong ambition and determination", and has no inherent moral connotation whatsoever ...

Day late and a dollar short, but since gromky was good enough to respond, here's another question;

Hero= "[S]trong ambition and determination" - [with] - no inherent moral connotation whatsoever.

Edward Yee, not that you might argue the case, but how does this connotative disconnect properly signify a true hero? While comprehensive altruism need not be the prime ingredient of heroism, some degree of uplifting and protectiveness must be, elsewise it is only self-service in the worst sense.

How can heroism be so devoid of moral polarity? I do not so much expect any explanation from yourself save some sort of acknowledgement of the absurdity. My own doubts could be summed up in less than a sentence.

Posted by Zenster 2004-08-16 2:21:57 AM|| 2004-08-16 2:21:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 As an aside, I can't reach polipundit.com without my proxy. Bad connection, or the Great Firewall?

Posted by gromky 2004-08-16 3:40:45 AM|| 2004-08-16 3:40:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 gromky: As an aside, I can't reach polipundit.com without my proxy. Bad connection, or the Great Firewall?

It's hosted on blogger, which may explain the problem.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-08-16 2:16:17 PM|| [http://www.polipundit.com] 2004-08-16 2:16:17 PM|| Front Page Top

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