Tag Archives: intellectuals

Translated interviews from the authors of Unhappy China (中国不高兴)

(4)中国想真正成为超级强国,首要的条件是不是军事的强大?造航母是不是我们成为强国的一种指标? Is being a military power a necessary condition to China becoming a superpower? And would be making aircrafit carriers be a benchmark of that?   那不是首要条件,但肯定是不可缺少的一环。一个超级强国,经济上要很强大,话说过来,经济上不强大军事上也强大不起来。科技上也要非常先进,这个世界上应该是科技创新层出不穷的,但我们确实就差得很远。在文化上面也要有影响力,这点美国就有这个架子,不管好莱坞大片水平高低,全世界人民都在看,我们就需要这样的东西。但我认为,文化的东西可以放在后面一点,但经济科技军事肯定是少不了的。 No, that isn’t a sufficient condition, but it is definitely necessary. A superpower has … Continue reading

China, books , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Pirouettes on the edge of madness: Bertrand Russell, me, and other fucked up peeps

With my own sanity and mental health at greater peril than ever before, i start reading, for some inexplicable reason, about Bertrand Russell’s personal life. I have read some of his books before, on happiness, marriage, etc. and of course … Continue reading

Life , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Books I’m Reading: Paris: The Secret History

I looked up the word “flaneur” in the index of hte boojks and skipped straight to it: I’d heard this term first in books by and about Walter Benjamin, and the idea of these urban wanderers–poets, wastrels, misfits, outsiders, rebels–was … Continue reading

Life, books, literature, poetry, politics , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 Comments

BBC Chinese on the “harmoniousness” of the Olympics

BBC 中文网 | 中国报道 | 奥运外围:当“和谐”被重复千遍 via kwout BBC Chinese journalist Meng Ke tells it like it is in the above article. He roasts some of the sacred cows of Olympics propaganda, like the “100 years dream of the Chinese … Continue reading

China , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

China, universal values, democracy

Skimming the Chinese media, I’ve seen a lot of cyber ink spilled on the issue of a debate on “universal values” that erupted between the Southern (Nanfang) group newspapers (don’t know off the top of my head which one of … Continue reading

China, politics , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Poet Billy Collins: the theme of poetry is death

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fpeijinchen.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F01%2F31%2Fpoet-billy-collins-the-theme-of-poetry-is-death%2F’; addthis_title = ‘Poet+Billy+Collins%3A+the+theme+of+poetry+is+death’; addthis_pub = ”;

America, books, literature, poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment