Harassment case ignites online debate (4)

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Two comments:

First, I think the policy for both authorities and newspapers to NOT list the ethnic/religious affiliation, or the name and address and so on, of a criminal suspect is a good practice.

In my country Sweden too, we have this practice: Authorities and newspapers all refrain from characterizing a suspect beyond his/her gender and age. The main reason is to protect basic human rights: To expose a subject’s identity before there is a trial and a verdict, is wrong. This is different from the US and some other countries where suspect’s names are deemed in the public interest and so are immediately published. In the case of innocent persons, this ruins their reputation, career, and personal life, for starters, which is gross, and I think this alone justifies the policy and tradition we have in Germany, Sweden and apparently China to some extent (in China obviously it is all political, these rights are not extended to political cases, in which they torture people into performing fake pre-trial public confessions, so not just revealing their identity before trial, but forcing the person to smear himself). Continue reading →

China punishing UC San Diego (2)

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That’s truly low, and petty.

Worse, this kind of petty campaign replicates the awful way in which the Chinese government has even bullied whole countries, like Norway and Spain, separately, for not being “obedient.”

When they use the proverbial method of “killing the chicken to scare the monkey,” one should take note that the bully is not only scaring the “monkeys,” but reducing them to … “monkeys,” without dignity.

Let’s refuse to be those “monkeys,”

Sincerely,

Magnus Fiskesjö <nf42@cornell.edu>

China punishing UC San Diego (1)

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This is not the starting point of the Chinese government’s punishment of UC San Diego. As a Ph.D. student from the Department of History of UCSD, I arrived in China in July to do dissertation research. Most universities in China refused to write letters of introduction to me and my classmates because of the Dalai Lama incident, including those who have official academic affiliations with UCSD. We are having a very difficult time in China, almost impossible to get any archival material below the provincial-level archives.

Yupeng Jiao <yujiao@ucsd.edu>

Where Has Time Gone portmanteau film

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Source: China Daily (8/31/17)
Movie coproduced by BRICS countries to be showcased at Xiamen BRICS Summit
By Xu Fan

With the ninth BRICS Summit to open in Xiamen, Fujian province, Where Has Time Gone?, the first movie coproduced by five BRICS countries, will be showcased at the summit, giving an insight of cinematic cultures and customs.

Jia Zhangke, a famous art house director, known for his fancy of Shanxi province-set stories, led the project as the movie’s chief producer. Continue reading →

China punishing UC San Diego

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Posted by Magnus Fiskesjö <nf42@cornell.edu>
Source: Inside Higher Education (9/20/17)
Is China Punishing a U.S. University for Hosting the Dalai Lama?
Chinese scholars may have more difficulty coming to the University of California, San Diego, after the university invited the Tibetan religious leader to deliver a commencement speech.
By Elizabeth Redden

Is the Chinese government punishing the University of California, San Diego, for inviting the Dalai Lama to be its 2017 commencement speaker?

Victor Shih, an associate professor of political economy at UCSD who studies Chinese banking and fiscal policies, posted on Twitter on Saturday an image of a document “regarding questions about government-sponsored study (visit) abroad to UC San Diego.” Shih posted a Chinese-language document — which he said a colleague received directly from the China Scholarship Council — and an English translation suggesting that the agency will no longer process applications for prospective visiting scholars to UCSD who have not already scheduled visa interviews.

“China Scholarship Council puts a freeze on all CSC-funded scholars to @GPS_UCSD, presumably due to Dalai Lama visit,” Shih said on Twitter. Reached via email, he said, “My only comment now is that CSC did not freeze any funding to UCSD, or provide us with any funding in the first place. It seems from the statement that it will freeze funding going to Chinese scholars who wish to be visitors to UCSD.” He did not respond to follow-up messages seeking more information about his sourcing. The chair of UCSD’s 21st Century China Center, Susan Shirk, who was copied on Shih’s email to Inside Higher Ed, did not respond to inquiries. Continue reading →

Harassment case ignites online debate (3)

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Hmm, yes, with no disrespect intended, I do nevertheless have a funny feeling that W. Kubin missed the point of the article, as well as the problematic nature of general discussion of this event.
First of all, on the event itself, there are longstanding issues in contemporary China with dealing with sexual harassment (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1067359.shtml) and rape. In this context, the otherness of the perpetrator has likely enhanced the visibility and discussion of the case, which could otherwise sadly be brushed aside in some situations as just “what men do.”
Second, this enhanced visibility is ironically a positive result with considerably more distressing origins, and as a result, distressing outcomes. I’m not sure I want to solely bracket this under the label “Islamophobia,” but rather propose an “Islamophobia with Chinese characteristics” that combines Islamophobia with the various quite widespread prejudices that Chinese citizens can hold against the former “barbarians” who are now supposedly fellow citizens.

Continue reading →

Florida State position

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Assistant Professor in East Asian Languages and Linguistics

The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at the Florida State University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in East Asian Languages and Linguistics beginning August 2018. The successful candidate will contribute to both undergraduate and graduate programs in the department’s East Asian Division. Primary responsibilities of this position include English-taught courses in East Asian linguistics and language pedagogy, in addition to Chinese and/or Japanese language courses depending upon the candidate’s expertise. Candidates should have by date of appointment a Ph.D. degree in linguistics or language pedagogy with a concentration in either Chinese or Japanese. Applicants with interest or specialization in historical linguistics are especially welcome. Preference will be given to candidates with native or near-native proficiency in both Chinese and Japanese, as well as fluency in English. Continue reading →

Sha Fei exhibition

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Source: China Daily (9/19/17)
Exhibition focuses on work of noted army photographer
By Lin Qi

Exhibition focuses on work of noted army photographer

Sha Fei, Chinese photographer [Photo provided to China Daily]

Two gunshots were heard at the Bethune International Peace Hospital in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, in December 1949. A Japanese doctor was shot dead by Sha Fei (1912-50), a patient of tuberculosis and a noted photographer of the People’s Liberation Army.

Two months later, Sha was sentenced to death by a military court in China.

A retrial in 1986 acquitted Sha posthumously saying he was in mental distress as he was reminded of the cruelty of war scenes when seeing the Japanese doctor, and he thought the doctor had attempted to poison him.

Sha took up photography in the 1930s and became the first full-time photographer of the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party of China around 1937.

But, Sha’s career as a photographer was short lived, and his work was not studied or presented until in recent times.

A Tower of Light, an exhibition now on at the museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, sheds light on Sha’s contribution to 20th-century Chinese photography. On show are some 100 images from Sha’s oeuvre, which are printed from the negative plates owned by his family. Continue reading →

Harassment case ignites online debate (2)

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This is – by all respects – clearly a false statement of Mr. Kubin and a islamophobic argument. It is rather reversed: whenever a person of color commits a crime, the ethnic background is all over the news. When a white person or a so-called “german” (how ever this might be defined) commits a crime, he/she is described in terms of age or his/her profession.

Lin Hierse <linhierse@posteo.de>

Liyuan Library closed

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Source: Sixth Tone (9/20/17)
Popular Beijing Library Closed Over Pirated Books
Nestled in the countryside outside the capital, Liyuan Library is a favorite reading spot for villagers and tourists alike.
By Wang Lianzhang

An exterior view of Liyuan Library in Huairou District, Beijing, April 23, 2016. Zhang Xinghai/VCG

An exterior view of Liyuan Library in Huairou District, Beijing, April 23, 2016. Zhang Xinghai/VCG

Beijing authorities have ordered one of the world’s most iconic libraries to suspend operations after its shelves were found to contain pirated books.

Liyuan Library, a nonprofit organization in Jiaojiehe Village on the capital’s outskirts, provides free reading material to nearby households. The stark building, whose design was inspired by tree branches, also draws plenty of tourists looking for a quiet day’s escape from the bustle of Beijing — even if they just come for a few selfies. Continue reading →

Smash-hit mobile game

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Source: Tech Node (9/14/17)
China’s smash-hit mobile game Honour of Kings is coming to Nintendo Switch
By Emma Lee

Chinese tech giant Tencent is bringing its blockbuster game Honour of Kings to Nintendo Switch platform. The free-to-play MOBA game will receive a beta test this winter. Instead of the original game that features Chinese characters and stories, the game landing on Nintendo Switch platform will be the global edition that’s been rebranded under the new title of “Arena of Valor”.

To cater to the appetites of global users, Tencent reinvented most of the game’s characters for the global edition. The 60-plus characters coming from Chinese history and myth have been replaced by American-style heroes such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Continue reading →

Harassment case ignites online debate (1)

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The problem of Muslims is not a problem of China, it is a problem of Germany, too. Whenever a Muslim rapes or kills a girl in Germany, the press is only wiriting “a man” as if the “man” would be a German. The German press is not willing or not allowed to say where the rapist etc. comes from. Very often as we guess he is a refugee misusing our friendship. Among the raped girls are Chinese too. I am crying for this all the time.

W. Kubin from Shantou <kubin@uni-bonn.de>

Art and China after 1989

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Source: NYT (9/20/17)
Where the Wild Things Are: China’s Art Dreamers at the Guggenheim
By JANE PERLEZ

From left, Kan Xuan, Yu Hong, Sun Yuan, Peng Yu and Qiu Zhijie are in the Guggenheim exhibition “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World.” The backdrop is Qiu Zhijie’s ink-on-paper “Map of Theater of the World,” commissioned for the show. CreditGilles Sabrie for The New York Times

BEIJING — The signature work at “Art and China After 1989,” a highly anticipated show that takes over the Guggenheim on Oct. 6, is a simple table with a see-through dome shaped like the back of a tortoise. On the tabletop hundreds of insects and reptiles — gekkos, locusts, crickets, centipedes and cockroaches – mill about under the glow of an overhead lamp.

During the three-month exhibition some creatures will be devoured; others may die of fatigue. The big ones will survive. From time to time, a New York City pet shop will replenish the menagerie with new bugs. Continue reading →

Soft power, hard sell

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Source: Chublic Opinion (9/18/17)
Soft Power, Hard Sell

Wolf Warrior

This summer, the Chinese cinema was not short of home-made explosives. Military-themed Chinese movies marked the PLA’s 90th birthday, and thanks to the Domestic Film Protection Month, no Hollywood blockbusters or other foreign movies diverted the attention of Chinese moviegoers.

One such film, The Founding of an Army, was supposed to be the feature of the month. It is based on Party legend about the Aug 1, 1927 military uprising in Nanchang, Jiangxi province that gave birth to the Communist Party’s force which later became the People’s Liberation Army. The movie joined The Founding of a Republic (2009) and The Founding of a Party (2011) as the final piece in the Founding Trilogy dedicated to the Communist Party’s struggle to establish New China in the first half of the 20th century. Apart from its ideological purity, the movie boasts an all-star cast that includes some of the most popular names with the country’s millennials, a sign of the filmmakers’ intention to win the eyes and ears, if not already the hearts and minds, of a younger generation. In today’s China, the second largest film market in the world, the Party’s blessing alone is not sufficient guarantee of box office dominance. The majority of viewers need to be lured, rather than forced, to see a movie. In this regard, ideological purity could be a liability. Continue reading →

The great hive of propaganda

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Source: China Media Project
THE GREAT HIVE OF PROPAGANDA
by  | Sep 16, 2017

The Great Hive of Propaganda

In December 2012, just weeks after Xi Jinping took the reins of the Chinese Communist Party, the official People’s Daily ran a front-page editorial called, “The Internet is Not a Land Outside the Law.” While it is “unrealistic,” the piece said, to demand that “everyone say the correct thing in the correct way,” all Chinese “must have consciousness of the law, being responsible for their words and actions.”

The People’s Daily article came months ahead of a crackdown on influential “Big V” users on Weibo. It predated by more than a year the creation of Xi Jinping’s Central Leading Group on Cyberspace Affairs, and its powerful new Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Looking back, however, the editorial appears to have presaged an era of obsessive law-making on the internet — until these days, it seems, there is no end to the regulations governing the hills and valleys of Chinese cyberspace. Continue reading →

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