Blogger Hu Xingdou calls for a boycott of the Jackie Chan’s May 1st Beijing concert in light of Chan’s controversial comments about Chinese people and their need to be regulated or controlled. In some way i am sympathetic to Chan, because an intellectual he’s not and he really doesn’t have either the brains or [...]

（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 to have economic strength, and you could say that without economic strength you could never develop economic strength. [...]

I was just reading in the BBC Chinese about a recently released report from the Chinese govt’s national audit office, whose job it is to figure out where corrupt officials are stashing their ill gained loot. Here’s the article in its entirety, so that if you are in China and don’t have access or are [...]

Some thoughts on China’s New Human Rights Plan
So China has just recently unveiled its human rights plan, marking the first time there has been a specific plan for human rights. The document outlines the Chinese govt’s overall strategy, and for the most part, observers have been positive about this development. Southern Weekend newspaper enthusiastically noted [...]

Normally I prefer to write a straight up review, but in light of an unusual experience in watching film, I thought I’d make this a meta-review of sorts:
I went to watch this film at Zhongshan park in Shanghai last Tuesday. When the lights dimmed, a “documentary” about Tibet came on. As you know, this [...]

Just got this courtesy of a fanfou feed: the Chinese government is sending “stability” teams to local governments to help maintain social stability. Of course, as this fanfou person pointed out, this year marks several sensitive anniversaries: uprising in Lhasa, 20th anniversary of June 4th, etc. The news reports even mention how impt this year [...]

I suppose that BIll Maher’s ego has gotten the best of him and he decided, that he just HAD to make a movie and somehow contribute to the demise of organized religion, which he believes is one of the greatest obstacles to human progress. So he goes around, skewering religious types, ranging from the truck [...]

Someone please tell me what the point of this movie is. If it’s meant to be satirical, which it is in spades, couldn’t it have been more LOL funny like SNL? If it’s meant to be some kind of historical political biopic, then all i can say is too soon, too soon. The gags, the [...]

I was just reading chapter from Richard Sennett’s book Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilization, a chapter entitled “Fear of Touching”, which was about the creation of the Jewish ghetto (and whence the term originates) in renaissance Venice. It’s quite a fascinating history, and reminds us that anti Semitism has [...]

I’ve always like Ken Loach movies because i’m a lefty symp and a sucker for women with British accents. The last one I saw from him was, if memory serves, My Name is Joe, i know that he’s done a few since then, like the well-received Wind That blows through the barley (or whatever it [...]