Translations

"Twenty Years Unfinished"

March 19, 2009
By C. Custer

Twenty years ago, a group of college students sat quietly at the entrance to the Great Hall of the people and raised a poster with seven demands:

  • One: Reevaluate the achievements and errors of Hu Yaobang and affirm his standpoints on democracy, freedom, relaxing , and harmony.
  • Two: Thoroughly negate and eliminate "spiritual...
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Posted in History, Translations | 3 Comments »

Paranormal China (Part II)

March 15, 2009
By C. Custer

Part II: Hauntings. As long as people have been around there have been reports of ghosts. Indeed, Chinese culture has a long and rich history of belief in otherworldly spirits, especially the spirits of the dead, and the ways they affect the living. These days, many people (Westerners and Chinese) have written off these traditional...
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Posted in Culture, Translations | 3 Comments »

"The Weak Position of the Chinese Media Can't Be Changed With Cash"

March 13, 2009
By C. Custer

On March 10, New Publication Section Chief Liu Binjie said in an interview with the media, "when compared with the international media, the weakness of Chinese media is mostly systemic. In the past, under then planned economic system, the media was a department of the press, set up by press administration officials, and did...
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Posted in Links, Translations | 10 Comments »

Grass Mud Horses

March 12, 2009
By C. Custer

As you can read in today’s New York Times, fascination with a “mythical” creature is the latest internet meme to go mainstream in China. That creature? The Grass Mud Horse. Ostensibly, the Grass Mud Horse is an alpaca-like creature that lives in the Ma Le Desert and fights River Crabs. In actuality, though, the...
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Posted in Culture, Translations | 6 Comments »

"People Being Unaware of the Truth is the Fault of Officials"

January 20, 2009
By C. Custer

"A small group with ulterior motives", "the people unaware of the truth", "evil instigators behind the scenes"...Recently, shortly after large "mass incidents" one can always see the local government hastily determining in this way. Guizhou's "Weng'an Incident", Yunnan's "Menglian Incident", as well as Gansu's recent "Longnan Incident": early on...
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Posted in Politics, Translations | 5 Comments »