Archive for the ‘Cinternet’ Category
Bendilaowai blocked?
So it would seem… wonder what the point is of blocking a blog no one reads. Thanks Nanny.
Being snubbed by Han Han
Well not totally snubbed. What you see above is the magazine cover story (very nice job by our designer btw) - I got to send an email with question and even got few very evasive answers after waiting far too long. Follow up questions were ignored, but hey, that’s the privilege of the superstars isn’t it?
China’s post-communist, post-political, post-modern poster boy of the post 80’s generation seems to be getting used to, and maybe a bit tired of, being buzzed around by foreign jurnos (in his defence, we are an annoying lot). I’m not so sure why he’s giving these interviews at all but my guess is he’s looking for some book deals abroad.
My own interview is here, only for readers of ancient, obscure middle eastern scripts.
Though I didn’t get to meet the (pheno)man, I did enjoy working on this profile and my attitude towards the Han Han phenomenon has gradually changed in the process of preparing this. To put it simply, I’m still not wholly converted to the cult but have learned to like him much better. What’s more, I got the feeling he’s going through some process himself, of becoming a more serious intellectual.
OK, maybe “serious” or “intellectual” aren’t the right words. Guess he’s finding his voice and is out to make himself heard. To do that, apparently, it’s not enough anymore to rant about local government’s corruption or forced relocations. Lately,Han Han – in the off hand, ironical tongue-in-cheek manner that has become his style- is actually attacking the Chinese people more than he does their government. You can see it in this post, for instance, titled: “where-ever you go, you’ll never find such good people”
Yes, they would sometime riot. Usually it happens after the government, taking all their cakes and promising to feed them Baozi, gave them only Mantou instead. In this case, all you have to do is pick your teeth for the little meat that got stuck there. Give it to them and they’ll happily go home”.
I like this notion. There is truth in it and it is more gutsy, in a way, than critising just the government. After all, every people deserves the regime it is willing to endure. Pointing to the fault lines in Chinese culture, or the Chinese people very psyche, Han Han just might some day justify this buzz around him being the new Lu Xun.
Meantime, as I got to write about that bloke, got the magazine cover, and got few very cool photos of the boy from his very lovely PR lady, I shoudn’t complain too much. Will try to upload some photos a bit later photos by Han Renjun & Ru JIn
And some quotes from the interview, very few as it involves doing another translation and using not just one but two languages I neither like nor feel comfortable with:
“I’m not a dissident, nor am I a supporter of this government. I’m just an individual writer. When the government does good things I praise it, when it does bad I criticize. Problem is, the government hasn’t yet given me a reason to praise it”.
“I tried microblogging because everyone were trying it but couldn’t get used to it so I shut it down. I’m a writer. If I constantly update the readers, it’ll be difficult to write a book”.
“I think for people outside of China today it’s really not important to learn about China. Ever since the establishment of the new China (i.e. since 1949) this country hasn’t produced any significant work of art that is presentable to the world. Maybe two or three films were made that have limited importance. It is a real shame for a country with such a large population and such a rich culture… Only when this era of ridiculousness will go away could we talk with other cultures”
Happy Holidays
This well done video by Zhang Ting (张婷, hat tip 王小峰) describes through simple visualisation the various holidays and “public days” on the Chinese calendar, as well as those decidedly off that calendar.
Women’s day, consumer rights day, students day, worker’s day – they are all there. Also found is the 35th of May, known since the the publication of that genius of a book as the day of everything that is absurd and surreal. (The 35th of May is four days after the 31st of May)
If I were a sergey
(Ya ba da ba da ba dam)
Remember “Fiddler on the roof” and Tuvia the milkman singing? It is the privilege of losers and nobodys to fantasize how they would do everything better if only they were rich or famous, had power or ran a global Internet brand.
Watching Sergey Brin talks about Google’s China (non) decision at TED, the thought crossed my mind that – if I were to found google – the one thing I’d do is to change the motto from “Don’t be Evil” to “Don’t be stupid”.
Ok, I’d mainly do that because I have no clue how to do any of the other things Brin does, but also because stupidity, after all, is a much more wide-spread problem than actual evil. Stupidity is, for instance, not seeing reality as it is, which can lead one to false assumptions and unrealistic expectation (such as expectations for regime change or radical change of policy where there are going to be none).
“Don’t be stupid” – I kind of like this motto, altough it is not likely to become very popular.
Puzzled with Hillary’s speech
Especially this part:
You know, no matter where you live, people want to believe that what they put in to the Internet is not going to be used against them. And censorship should not be in any way accepted by any company from anywhere. And in America, American companies need to make a principled stand. This needs to be part of our national brand. I am confident that consumers worldwide will reward companies that follow those principles.”
Does the secretary of state expect American manufacturers in China to “Make a principled stand” about ensuring their workers’ right to unionize or strike? Does she expect developers to stand for residents property rights? I think she should BTW, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that this is obviously never gonna happened in a gazillion years. There’s much to be said about business practice in China and about what foreign corporations should or shouldn’t put up with, I’m just not so sure this discussion should be focused on censorship.
I’ll try to more coherently phrase what exactly bothers me here tomorrow, maybe. Let me just say that signaling out censorship as a manipulation, breaking the costumers’ trust and an all together evil practice sounds somewhat disingenuous in a world where things like er, advertisement exist.
I understand Clinton was hard pressed to come out with a reasoning supporting Google’s move that would also resonate with conventional business logic (not just diplomatic logic, or human one), but really, isn’t making it a consumer rights issue kind of misses the point?
A couple’s counseling perhaps?
So, Big Ge vs. The Evil Empire.
Few random thoughts:
No matter what Google’s motives in giving the ultimatum really was, it’s certainly a legitimate business decision, even if for PR reasons it is disguised as a moral one. Is it the right decision? It’s a pretty huge bet for both The G and The Emperors.
As Mr. Danwei aptly put it (who seems to have his own little fit of exasperation with the GFW): “China’s Internet does not meet international standards. Without Google, there is no way to pretend that it does“. This is a risk for the censors: a crisis of confidence that might enhance some of their worst fears, or might have broader consequences on the world’s willingness to do business withChina. If google.com is blocked in China (and this is not at all a necessary, or even likely to happen following google.cn departure), the GFW will become more noticeble, and therefore less effective.
From Google’s point of view, of course, there is the risk of China managing to pull it off (as it has done so far), continue it’s snail-pace reforms with the help of the more patient Baidu and Bing and becoming even more important a market for Internet companies. Once exiting, it won’t be easy for google to make it’s way back to that market.(English translation here)
If the great wall of fire crumles down soon, google is likely to get much of the credit, but really, how likely is that to happen? If not, this momentary PR victory will be quickly forgotten.
And just one more regarding the “Tightening” of the censorship, widely seen as the reason for Google’s January surprise: There has been a tightening of supervision and censorship over the Internet this last year, and especially since the July 5th Urumqi events. That is undeniable. However, this tightening, rather than being proactive, is a retroactive – and rather desperate – attempt to seal the floodgates after these have already been breached. The last few months seem more like a panicked response to something that has already happened, and is quite irreversible, so why pulling out because of a policy that’s already doomed?
Remember Hotmail and Yahoo Mail being blocked in many parts of China around the time of the SARS epidemic? or CNN site being kept behind the wall? That was a response to a rapidly growing number of Internetusers in China – and the unease of the government with the new access for information. It is basically the same now, only those who whine about the censorship being “unprecedented” forget that twitter and YouTube as main news sources is also an unprecedented phenomena. There is likely to be an adjustment, and the pendulum is likely to go back towards more tolerable censorship.
Who would have thought the next superpowers clush (WWIII?) will be between C & G? And just like most other wars, it’s pretty damn hard to find justification or a good reason for why it has broken out in the first place.
OMG Google wants a breakup
I might say some more about the news later. For now, Just wanted to say I’ma bit baffled with those who take Google’s announcement at face value.
Come on, reconsidering it’s China operation because Human Rights activists’ Gmail accounts were hacked? Was there ever anyone with a functioning brain who assumed rights activists’ accounts aren’t being hacked and constantly monitored?
US government in a drive to spread pornography among harmonious Chinese
Posted by: Rachel in Cinternet, East Vs. West on August 16th, 2009
This is the kind of headline you’d expect from the China Daily, wouldn’t you?
Well, surprise surprise: CD report on the new US initiative to promote FOE – a new system that bypasses internet censorship in China and Iran is actually quite balanced, bringing several voices – both inside and outside China – who oppose government censorship.
Yeah I know, it presents the issue as if the main reason for web filtering is to keep porn out, but anyone with half a brain can understand what this article is all about.
Here are two of the very sensible quotes:
The US government wants to send a message to countries applying strict control over the Internet that people have the right to access any information they want, that is why FOE is developed by the US government, said Pan Wei, a professor in Peking University’s School of International Studies.
“China should be confident enough to be transparent and take criticism. It’s about time China loosened its control over the Internet,” Pan said. “It actually damages China’s international image.”
Charles Mok, chairman of the Internet Society of Hong Kong, said: “It would probably be more ideal if civil society’s efforts within the community gathered resources to come up with a similar sort of implementation rather than being government driven.”
There is also a lively discussion over at the comment section
Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn is also quoted in the article. I’m taking a wild guess here, that Danwei itself will be accessible again pretty soon.
Could find nothing on Chinese websites though, except this blog (in Chinese) stating: “The US is a really good guy. Now they even care about my web/surfing”
The Rabbi & The Green Goat – a China adapted version
(This story reads better in Yiddish, or so I’m told)
An old European-Jewish fable tells about a poor man in a small town who came to see the town’s Rabbi for advice.
“Rabbi” the man said, “My children are many, my wife is pregnant again, I have no icome and am very poor, so we all live together in one shabby room. It’s unbearably crowded and I can’t take it anymore. Please advice me what to do to get my family better off”
“I know you have a goat that you keep in your tiny back yard” The Rabbi answered, “So here is what you should do: take that goat to live with you in that single room”.
The man was surprised and a bit reluctant, but he still wouldn’t dare countering the Rabbi’s advice, so he did as told
A week later he stormed into the synagogue, knelt down before the Rabbi and begged for help:
“Rabbi, I can’t take it anymore. I tried to follow your advice, but now my house is even more crowded. The goat is shitting everywhere, the children can’t sleep, and I can’t find a spot to even sit down at”
“Well then”, said the Rabbi, “Take the goat out of the house”
A week later the Rabbi run into the same poor man in the street.
“How are you, Reb Yehudi”? He asked
“Ah, Rabbi, I am so much better”.
“Did you find a better place to live”?
“Oh no, the old place is just fine. Really spacious now that the goat is out”
***********************
Pretty obvious the Green Dam fiasco will end in this regulation getting quietly scraped off. Guess it’ll make the cinternet (the area confined within the great firewall) look spacious all of a sudden.
Could it be that this is actually the motive behind this idiotic idea? I know it’s far fetched, but I haven’t read or heard a better explanation. Can anyone tell me: What is Green Dam for? It will be impossible to enforce and isn’t likely to have that much impact anyway. Does it really worth all the bad press? and would you please take the goat out already?