Archive for May, 2009

The 100th Post!

May 31, 2009
By C. Custer

Yes, that’s right, there are now officially 100 posts under ChinaGeeks’ collective belt. Here’s hoping we make it to 1,000! It feels a little strange celebrating this even as the situation of Ai Weiwei, a man I’ve come to feel somewhat strongly about after spending so much time reading and translating his work, is...
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Posted in Housekeeping | 12 Comments »

Ai Weiwei Finally Harmonized

May 30, 2009
By C. Custer

As you may have already seen elsewhere, Ai Weiweis blog has been closed. Well, the one hosted on Sina, anyway. His bullogger blog is still up, but it doesn’t contain some of the most recent posts everyone else is translating. As previously mentioned, Danwei and the China Digital Times have done the translation legwork...
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Posted in Current Events | 6 Comments »

American Moron Throws Money; Bring Out Your Misconceptions!

May 28, 2009
By C. Custer
American Moron Throws Money; Bring Out Your Misconceptions!

By now you have probably seen this story already. In case you missed it, there’s basically nothing more to it than this: An American basketball player, apparently the guy in the picture below, threw money out of the bus as his team was leaving a game in China on May 23. Many of the...
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Posted in Current Events, Opinions | 17 Comments »

"Who Lives in This Room?"

May 28, 2009
By C. Custer
"Who Lives in This Room?"

When I had finished my meal and was heading home, the landlady came over anxiously and said, "Last night seven police officers came looking for you, they said they were looking for someone from Beijing who spoke Mandarin; they are checking all the guesthouses in Nanba. They were pianjing [片警, a common nickname for...
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Posted in Current Events, Translations | 1 Comment »

A Brief Note on Democracy

May 26, 2009
By C. Custer

China Daily today has a headline that’s too hilarious in its understatement to keep from sharing with you: “Experts: US, China democracy different”. Wow, who would have thought? Thank God we consulted “experts”. Anyway, the New York Times also ran an opinion piece today by Roger Cohen about the potential for democracy emerging in...
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Posted in Opinions | 8 Comments »

"In the Name of Human Rights, Set Free All Tibetan Political Prisoners"

May 25, 2009
By C. Custer
"In the Name of Human Rights, Set Free All Tibetan Political Prisoners"

International human rights group Reporters Without Borders said, in terms of reporters, dissidents, netizens, and activists jailed for fighting for freedom of speech, China is far, far ahead of other countries. And it seems as though from China's large population and 56 minority groups, Tibetans seem to be far, far ahead of everyone else...
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Posted in Translations | 10 Comments »

I Think You Forgot to Mention Tiananmen…

May 23, 2009
By C. Custer
I Think You Forgot to Mention Tiananmen…

I have always considered it rather unfortunate that the one part of Chinese history most Americans know something about — the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 — happens to be a part that many Chinese know little about. Granted, American knowledge doesn’t tend run very deep, people just know that students were killed, and...
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Posted in China From the West, Opinions | 27 Comments »

Media Control in the Wake of the Earthquake

May 22, 2009
By C. Custer

Three days later, Ai Weiwei’s blog is still silent. ChinaGeeks has confirmed that there was a brief update a few days ago that was quickly harmonized, entitled “Let Me Sleep a Bit Longer, Mom, I’m Tired”, which contained some updates and personal anecdotes about some of the students Ai’s project is attempting to memorialize....
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Posted in Current Events | 5 Comments »

Hong Kong and the Legacy of June Fourth

May 20, 2009
By C. Custer

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang recently learned the hard way that economic happiness and stability cannot erase a people’s historical memory entirely. According to Learning Cantonese, a recent question and answer section he participated in went something like this: Margaret Ng (a HK legislator): “On the 20th anniversary of the 1989 incident, many...
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Posted in Current Events, History | 5 Comments »

Ai Weiwei Harmonized?

May 19, 2009
By C. Custer

We recently translated a post on Ai Weiwei’s blog that can only be described as bitter and despondent. It is also harshly, sweepingly critical of the government, and we speculated that it might be harmonized. It has been, along with every single post from May (save one candle photo). The original Chinese of that...
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Posted in Current Events | 3 Comments »