Politics and Profits

Thirty-five years after his death, Mao Zedong still enjoys respect or even reverence from many quarters in China. For example, in April 2010, Telegraph reported that Chinese protestor throws ink at portrait of Chairman Mao:

An angry Chinese protestor has attempted to throw ink over the famed giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong that hangs in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, police in China have confirmed.

Police wrestled the man to the ground last weekend after he threw a bottle of ink at the portrait, a potent symbol of Communist Party power which hangs on the Tiananmen gate tower where Chairman Mao declared a new republic 60 years ago.

"At around 13:35pm, April 5 2010, a man was put under control after he threw a plastic bottle of ink towards the Tiananmen gate tower," the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau confirmed in a statement faxed to The Telegraph.

The audacious attack echoes the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest when three young men threw ink-filled eggs at the portrait in a gesture of defiance against China' Communist ruling party that resonated around the world.

The three men, Lu Decheng, Yu Zhijian, and Yu Dongyue, received some of the harshest sentences in the crackdown that followed the violent crushing of the protests, being jailed for 16 years, 20 years and life respectively.

That kind of disrespect to the Mao could not be tolerated by Chinese government, if it was out of political motivation.

However, if it was done in the name of development, the story could have a different ending.

Technews reported that 

A real estate company wrecked the statue of the 'Great Helmsman' -- China's most powerful figure between 1949 and 1976 -- while re-developing a district in Longlou town in Wenchang region, reported Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

Erected in 2008, the 9.9m white marble statue had attracted many visitors, China News Service (CNS) reported.

"Developers now wield the greatest power of destruction in China, tearing down houses and flattening martyrs' mausoleums in the name of development," another (Internet) post remarked on China.com."

Indeed, in the name of development, developers, often combined with power of unchecked government and ruthless mafia, wrecked homes for profit at well.




海南省、文昌市 Wenchang, Hainan Province

The demolition of Mao's statue earned some condemnation from China's leftist corners but it is doubtful any developers involved would suffer the fate of those angry protesters who "defaced" Mao's giant portrait.

Profits tramps politics.  Call it progress.

Mao's Statue in Shenyang

Alleged Han Han's Article: "Goodbye! Ai Weiwei" Goes Viral - 网传韩寒被和谐的文章：再见！艾未未

中國最著名的藝術家艾未未的消失引起了國際社會的強烈抗議，但在在中國的反應，主要是沉默和冷漠。然而，有一篇关于這個敏感的話題的文章，據称由中国最有影響力的博客韓寒撰写，已在网上疯传。韓寒的博客上無法找到此文，這可能意味著这篇有明显韓寒風格文章的作者是其他人，借用韓寒響亮的名字，以吸引注意力; 或他的文章已經被政府的網路控制器 "和谐"（消音）。

The disappearance of the most famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has caused a great outcry in the international community but the response in China was largely muted and indifferent. However, there was an article, allegedly written by the most influential Chinese blogger, Han Han, on this sensitive topic, has gone viral.  This article cannot be found in Mr. Han's blog, which can mean either the article was written by somebody, clearly in his style, else and used his famous name to attract attention; or his article has been "harmonized" (censored) by the government's internet controller.

對於那些誰不熟悉韓先生，請閱讀我以前的博客：韓寒-极有影響的中國博客 Han Han - Influential Blogger in China。

For those who are not familiar with Mr. Han, please read my previous blog: 韓寒-极有影響的中國博客 Han Han - Influential Blogger in China.

这篇文章可以在很多地方找到，比如Literary City“文學城“。下面是原文字，及我的英語翻譯：

The article can be found in many places, such as "Literary City".  Below is the full text, followed by my English translation:

韩寒：再见！艾未未

现在艾未未不能说话了，我们谁来为艾未未说话呢？

昨天听说艾未未被捕了。作为一个普通人，我十分揪心。我很难想象一个像艾未未这样的人也会被逮捕。但是想一下自己是在中国，再想一下被囚禁在家中的陈光诚和即将面临起诉的冉云飞，也就想通了。这里是一个连法律都不能做挡箭牌的国家。

艾未未，胖子，有大胡子。和我们一样爱捣鼓一些稀奇古怪的玩意，也爱翻墙出去看新闻。从不计较送朋友东西，也爱拍真实的故事。追求真实，反对虚假。遵从邓小平爷爷“求真务实”的号召。也为国家奥运会工作做出了极大的贡献。

他先前被限制出行过，被警察殴打过。但是被拘留超过24小时这还是第一次。以我有限的社会常识也可以猜到这次与以往不一样。或许，再过几天张思之大律师就会多出一个客户。从此，再也看不到绝伦的艺术品，再也看不到推特上狂野的回复。我抽屉里的几颗陶瓷葵瓜子也许会寂寞，但是我身上印着板砖的文化衫依旧会坚挺出现在街上。

我已经不想呼吁什么，我也无力号召什么。从一九四九年本朝开国算起：反右、文革、严打、学潮、维稳，每一个时期都有无数揣着自己良心走进监狱的人，也有无数揣着自己良心被割下头颅的人。五星红旗为什么是红的？是无数还有良知的人鲜血染红的。

艾未未曾经为上访者说话，为三聚氰胺奶粉受害者说话，为汶川地震遇难的小学生说话。现在艾未未不能说话了，我们谁来为艾未未说话呢？如果连凭着良知说一句真话的勇气都没有了，那么我真相信历朝历代“吾皇万万岁”的口号都实现了。最后，我想用李志的一首歌来作为结尾：“人民不需要自由，这是最好的年代”。

译文 Translation:

Han Han: Goodbye! Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is now unable to speak, who amongst us will speak for Ai Weiwei?

Yesterday, we heard that Ai Weiwei was arrested. As an ordinary person, I am very worried. I can not imagine that someone like Ai Weiwei would also have been arrested. But remembering that I am in China, and remembering Chen Guangchen, who was under house-arrest, and Ran Yunfei, who was facing prosecution, it all made sense. Here is a country that laws cannot be used to shield us.

Ai Weiwei, fat, big beard. Like us, he loved to fiddle with some strange stuff, and love to climbe over the [internet] wall to look for news. Never hesitated to give things away to friends, and loved to shoot true true stories. Pursuing truth, against falsity. Followed Grandpa Deng Xiaoping's call of "pragmatism". Made great contribution for the State's Olympic Games.

He had previously been restricted from traveling, and beaten by the police. But being detained for more than 24 hours, this is the first time. With my limited social knowledge, I can guess that this time it would not be the same as the past. Perhaps, in a few days, the famed barrister Zhang Sizhi will have one more client. From now on, we can no longer see superb works of art, or read uninhibited replies on Twitter. The few ceramic sunflower seeds in my drawer might be feel lonely, but the culture T-shirt on my body, with the print of brick would again appear in the street, stubbornly.

I do not want to appeal for anything; I have no power to call for anything. Counting from the founding of current dynasty in 1949: the anti-rightist, the Cultural Revolution, Severe Punishment of Crimes, student unrest, stability maintenance - each period, there were countless people walked into prisons with their consciences, and there were also countless people had their heads cut off for their consciences. Why is the five-star [national] flag red? It was dyed by the blood of those countless people who still had consciences.

Ai Weiwei had spoken for petitioners, for the victims of the melamine milk powder, for the primary school victims in Wenchuan, Sichuan earthquake. Ai Weiwei is now unable to speak, who amongst us will speak for Ai Weiwei? If we no longer have the courage to tell the truth with conscience, then, I truly believe that the slogan every dynasties had been striving to achieve "Ten-Thousand Years, Our Emperors!" have finally realized. Finally, I would like to use the lyrics from a song by Li Zhi to end this article: "People do not need freedom, this is the best of the epoch."

这篇文章是否出自韩寒之手已不重要，重要的是它的存在及广大反响。

If this article written by Han Han or not is not very important now; it is very important that it exists and its great impact.


艾未未行为艺术——腾飞不忘挡中央 -- 在他手中, 一个叫草泥马(操你妈)的玩具, 因此, 此图可以被读成 [草泥马(操你妈), 挡中央(党中央)].  几年前, 一个叫草泥马(操你妈)的YouTube视频, 造成YouTube在中國被屏蔽.
Ai Weiwei Performance Art - Taking-Off Did Not Forget to Block the Center (挡中央 (Blocking the Center), homonym 党中央 (Party Center)) -- in his hand, a toy named Cao-Ni-Ma (Grass-Mud-Horse, a homonym with a most insulting Chinese cursing phrase, Fuck Your Mother, therefore, the whole images can be read as Fuck Your Mother, Party Center.  Several Years ago, a YouTube segment of Cao-Ni-Ma (Grass-Mud-Horse) caused the blocking of YouTube in China.

Imperial Mausoleums of Mao Zedong and his Successor Hua Guofeng - 毛澤東和他的繼任者華國鋒的皇陵

Chinese emperors love to build impressive mausoleums.  The First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi built vast underground terracotta soldiers to guard his still hidden mausoleum, and earned his world renown.  Other emperors were not far behind.  Below is the tomb of a Han Dynasty's Emperor Liu Qi:

中國帝王愛建令人印象深刻的陵墓。秦始皇建了巨大的地下兵馬俑守衛他的仍然隱藏着的陵墓，並獲得了世界聲譽。其他皇帝也不甘落後。下面是一個漢代皇帝劉启 (? 音译)的墓：



Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Qi's Mausoleum

However, mausoleum building didn't end with the empire.  The provisional president of Republic of China Sun Yat-sen had his mausoleum built in Nanjing (Nanking):

然而，陵墓建築並沒有随帝國而結束。中华民國臨時大總統中國孫中山有他建在南京的陵墓：


Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum, Nanjing (Nanking)

The de facto emperor Mao Zedong got his, courtesy of his hand-pick care-taking successor, Hua Guofeng (1921-2008), in the heart of Tian'anmen Square:

事實上的皇帝毛澤東得到了他，由他親自挑選護的看守接班人，華國鋒（1921-2008）修建，在天安門廣場的中心：


Mao Zedong's Mausoleum Under Construction - Portraits in Center: Mao Zedong and his hand-pick successor Hua Guofeng


Mao Zedong's Mausoleum Inauguration Ceremony (September 9, 1977)

Not long after the completion of Mao's Mausoleum, Hua was pushed out of political posts by Deng Xiaoping et al. and largely forgotten.  However, after his death in 2008, there is a movement to re-evaluate his achievement and to crown this effort, his home province Shanxi, built a gigantic mausoleum for him (See pictures below).  The mausoleum occupies an area of 100,000 square meters (over 14 soccer fields), with total investment: about 100 million yuan (US Dollar 15.3 million).


完成毛澤東紀念堂後不久，華被鄧小平等人从政治職位上推下去, 幾乎被人遺忘。然而，在他去世於2008年之后，兴起了重新評估他的成就的運動，包括他的故鄉山西省，為他建立了一個巨大的陵墓（見下列圖）。陵墓佔地面積10萬平方米（超過 14個足球場），總投資約 100億元人民幣（1530萬美元）。

His mausoleum story came in a very interesting time - recently there were many reporting in China on people's inability to pay for tomb lots.

他的陵墓故事是在一個非常有意味的時間嚗光- 最近有許多報導说在中國人们無力支付的墳墓费用。

Self Determination 人民自決

According to People's Daily, on March 22 2011, during a routine press conference, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu claimed that Libya's future should be decided by the Libyan people themselves.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956, was crushed by the invading Soviet army.

According to some sources, the Chinese leader Mao Zedong played an important role in Khrushchev's decision to suppress the Hungarian uprising. Chinese Communist Party Deputy Chairman Liu Shaoqi pressured Khrushchev to send in troops to put down the revolt by force.

So far, Chinese government has not apologized to Hungarian people and government.

True, current Chinese leaders are not Mao and Liu.  But if they truly believe in the self determination of people, inside and outside China, they would have offered such apology long ago, and welcomed true democracy everywhere.

據人民日報报道, 在2011年3月22日的例行新聞發布會上，外交部發言人姜瑜稱，利比亚的未来应该由利比亚人民自己决定。

1956年匈牙利革命，一個全國性自發活动, 反抗匈牙利人民共和國政府及其蘇聯強加的政策，從10月23日持續至11月10號，被入侵的蘇聯軍隊粉碎。

據一些消息人士透露，中國領導人毛澤東对赫魯曉夫的決定鎮壓匈牙利起義發揮了重要作用。中共黨的副主席劉少奇对赫魯曉夫施加壓力，派軍隊平息了叛亂的力量。

到目前為止，中国政府尚未向匈牙利人民和政府道歉。

目前的中國領導人与毛澤東和劉少奇的確不同。但是，如果他們真正相信不论在中國内外的人民自決，他們应该已经作出這樣的道歉，並歡迎世界各地的真正的民主。

Chinese Authors Accused Search Engine Baidu Stealing - 中国作家指控百度搜索引擎盗窃

Search engine Baidu, which has a 75 percent market share in China, after the exit of Google, has long been accused of supporting piracy through its web site.  Its mp3 search has been accused of sharing hundreds of thousands of illegal songs hosted on third-party sites.  Just two weeks ago, two of China's biggest websites, the search engine Baidu and online retailer Taobao, were named as "notorious markets" in a new U.S. government report for allegedly supporting pirated and counterfeit goods.

Recently, more than 40 writers have signed a letter to accuse Baidu of providing their works for free to download on its online library Baidu Wenku, without their permission.  The author said "Baidu has become a totally corrupt thief company" that runs a "marketplace of stolen goods."

Copyright protection is still relatively new in China and the emergence of eBooks definitely made it a greater challenge.  Considering it is still a very thorny issue in the U.S., it is no surprise that it would be very difficult to combat such theft in China.



百度搜索引擎，占有自谷歌退出後的百分之75的中國市場份額，一直被指責通過它的網站支持盜版。它的MP3搜索被指責，導致幾十萬非法歌曲在其第三方網站上被分享。就在兩個星期前，兩名中國最大的網站，百度搜索引擎和網上零售商淘寶，在一個新的美國政府的報告上分別命名為 "臭名昭著的市場", 涉嫌支持盜版及冒牌貨品。

最近，40多個作家簽署了一封信，指責百度沒有他們的許可, 在其網上圖書館百度文库，提供他们的作品免費下載。筆者說： "百度已經成為一個完全腐敗的小偷公司，運行一个"贓物市場"。

版權保護是在中國還是相對較新的问题, 電子圖書的出現無疑使其成為更大的挑戰。考慮到在美國，它仍然是一個非常棘手的問題，毫不奇怪, 在中國, 對付這種盜竊將是非常困難。

Book Group - 读书俱乐部

Reading, Oil on Canvas

© Matthew Felix Sun

Just finished reading a book for the "assignment" of my book group, which I joint about five years ago. Before I lived in the U.S. from China, I didn't know anyone who was associated with of any book group or book club.  It is quite ironic considering that I grew up in a household filled with books.  I remember that when I was little, I never had any toy of my own, but I had books.  The only times I asked for something in shopping streets and would roll in mud if my requests were denied, were occasions I wanted to have some new books.

In China, when people get together, they feast, they play Mahjong, and they chitchat aimlessly.  Discussing a book?  No.  Oh, no, my dear sir.  No.  Chinese nowadays give little thoughts to literature.  Considering any congregation might be viewed suspiciously by the ever-nervous government, it is also very wise not to get together with other thoughtful people and converse intelligently.

剛剛讀完我的書社的“任务”。 我是約五年前加入这个書社的。在我從中國移居美國前，我不认识任何人与任何读书团体或读书会有关。這很具有諷刺意味，因为我生長在一個充滿了書籍的家庭。我記得我小時候，我從來沒有我自己的任何玩具，但我擁有書。唯一時候，我在購物街里要买东西，而如果我的要求被拒絕，我在泥濘中打滾，是我想要一些新的書籍。

在中國，當人們聚到一起，他們宴饮，他們打麻將，他們漫无目的地侃大山。討論書籍？不，哦，不，我親愛的先生。中國人現在很少想到文學。考慮到任何集会可能愈来愈緊張的政府被視為可疑，不與其他有思想的人作深刻的交談，是很明智的。

Mobile Positioning in Beijing - 北京手机定位

Various media in China recently reported that Beijing Science and Technology Commission proposed to use modern technology to monitor the movements of mobile phone users to facilitate the traffic layout and population management.  As soon as the news came out, it immediately drew attention to civil liberties and personal privacy concerns and other issues.

一些媒体最近报道说北京市将利用现代科技手段，掌握手机用户的行踪，以利交通布局和人口管理。这一消息刚一传出，立即引起人们对公民通信自由、个人隐私权等问题的担心。

I searched the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper People's Daily for such report and found results as shown in the image below:

我在中国共产党机关报人民日报搜索了该报告, 发现下面的图片中显示的结果：



However, most of the links to the search results led to only error message pages now, such as the first result Beijing Science and Technology Commission response to "mobile positioning public travel" - which linked to a message: "The Page You Want to See Does Not Exist!":

但是,大部分的搜索结果，链接到错误信息网页，比如第一个检索结果 - 北京科委主任回应"手机定位市民出行":



After a bit more carefully worded search, still on People's Daily, I was able to find some archived stories, such as Mobile Locating Makes Citizens Uneasy and It Is Also Unsafe, which was credited to China Economic Times, which in turn, credited the story to Beijing Morning News.  However, I couldn't find such story in Beijing Morning News anymore.

经过一些在人民日报上措辞更谨慎的搜索，我能够找到一些存档的故事，如手机定位公民行踪, 让人不爽也不安，这篇稿是源于中国经济时报，而它又援引了北京晨报。不过，我在北京晨报无法找到这个故事了。

The story gave more details of the proposal tha:

这个故事提供了该建议的细节：

Beijing will based on China Mobile's 17 million mobile phone users data, to establish a "dynamic information platform of people's travel information in Beijing," in order to grasp the population distribution in selected area and the flow distribution at different times.  "In addition to service traffic needs, it will be helpful to population management.  For example, [we can] obtain more comprehensive information regarding the number of people in one region at a time," said Li Guoguang, Deputy Director of Social Development, Science and Technology Commission, Beijing. (March 2, "Beijing Morning Post")

北京将以中国移动的北京1700万手机用户数据为基础，建立“北京市市民出行动态信息平台”，掌握选定区域的人口数量分布以及人口在不同时间段的流动分布情况。“除了服务交通外，对于人口管理也很有帮助，比如某一地区在某一时间的人口数量，通过手机定位获取的信息将更加全面。”北京市科委社发处副处长李国 光说。（3月2日《北京晨报》）

Story continued with people's reactions:

报道继续下去描写人们的反应：

Mobile positioning has such power, one can imagine that when this technology is used on ordinary people, our travel trends, every movement were all in the hands of governmental power. If so, are there any privacy? Of course, the original intention of Beijing's such mobile location is to grasp the number of people in a certain zone within a certain time, at first glance appears to be in the public interest; it is clear that the mobile phone positioning is double-edged sword, people today can use it to grasp the population trends, tomorrow, they can locate the whereabouts of the every one of us; today, the target is a group, tomorrow it may be individuals.

手机定位有如此威力，可以想见一旦用于每个普通人身上，我们的出行动态、一举一动无不尽在公权力的掌握之中。果如是，还有何隐私可言？当然，北京此 次手机 定位的初衷，是为了掌握某一地区某一时间内的人口数量，乍看起来是为了公共利益，但很显然的是，手机定位是把双刃剑，今天可以掌握人口数量来定位，明天则 可以另一个借口定位我们的行踪；今天定位的是群体，明天就可能定位个体。

Although Li Guoguang said that in the process of data services, privacy protection will be strictly enforced.  The question is, who is watching the governmental power?  Morality is unreliable, to rely on the power to monitor themselves is also unreliable.

尽管李国光表示，在数据服务的过程中，将严格执行隐私保护。问题是，谁来监督公权力？道德是靠不住的，自己监督自己同样是靠不住的。

In contrary to the general mobile positioning on only a few mobile phones, Beijing's new proposal is to target as much as 17 million mobile phone users; once the user's personal information got stolen, the consequences could be disastrous.

与一般手机定位的只是少数人不同，北京此次手机定位的对象多达1700万手机用户，用户的个人信息一旦泄露，后果不堪设想。

Mobile location will no doubt increase the scope of supervision of public authority, the privacy of citizens face greater challenges, which make people unhappy and this is disturbing.

手机定位无疑加大了公权力的监督范围，公民的隐私面临更大的挑战，这让人不爽也不安。

The original articles are shown below:

下图是网上原文：