BBC Blog Network

User Profile

typingfromwork

Listed below are comments made by typingfromwork between Wednesday, 16th July 2008 and Wednesday, 10th June 2009.

«Newer
Older»

Trying to get into Tiananmen Square 1:08pm on 10 Jun 2009 how is this brilliant converage? It's like batting a beehive with a stick and complaining when you get stun.

It seems the best way to create a story in China is 1) be a westerner, 2) have a camera and 3) start barging into places forbidden by law and making a huge fuss when refused. If I was to try to get into the house of commons from the front door without a pass then it would only be natural for the security there to prevent me from going in.

Try going there at any other time of the year and no one could care less. There is a certain narrative that western reporters want to write, and that is "China is a police state". Which is so far from the truth it's not even funny.
Pandas - a gift from China to Taiwan? 2:55pm on 15 Sep 2008 Panda's are awesome. 2 pandas doubly so. If they can nooky and get a third one, then it can only get better.

Of course China wants better relations with Taiwan. Whatever divides them politically, the people at least want contact and dialogue. Direct flights between the two had just started. That surely is a good thing.

The mainland may not respect soverignty for the Taiwanese, but they do not want to see it ruined either. Right now, little gestures like this are designed to foster communication- there's a lot more in common between the mainland and Taiwan than most people realise.
In retrospect 02:21am on 25 Aug 2008 Ordinary Chinese people may have had those fears, but I don't think the government or the organisers had any doubts at all. Maybe a bit on the pollution, and that's about it.

They are a pretty confident bunch, and I am proud of them. When an algal bloom occured just a week before the sailing competition, no one in the government said a thing- they just cleared it. Same with the pollution and security. I remember there were so many anxious people in the Athen's Olympic committee about wether they would be ready on time that they started bickering among themselves about what was going to happen. In the end the opening ceremony was watched by people with no seat cushions. Still looked nice, though.
China's Olympic highlights 2:31pm on 21 Aug 2008 Lin Dan, always the showman. Those sneakers will be worth their weight in gold.
Filming me, filming you 2:32pm on 15 Aug 2008 Yeah James how do you like it? How do you like having a camera belonging to DARKEST CHINA GOVERNMENT pointed at you, scrutinising every one of your moves?

You sounded uncomfortable there. But don't worry. The Chinese Government is very impartial when it comes to covering foreigners. Just as impartial as you are when you cover China.
Learning to slam dunk 3:37pm on 11 Aug 2008 James, as absurd as your comments about non-slam dunking equating a loyal Communist is, I find that the spirit of the statment does have a basis in reality. It wasn't too long ago that China used to have the most comformist sports regime in the world. During an all Chinese finals of a Table tennis world championship in the 70's or 80's (I forgot) one of the athletes was instructed from the top to lose, just so that his opponent could become a three-in-a-row world champion. The athlete decided to disobey, beat his opponent and grabed the trophy for himself. This was chided in China at the time as extremely selfish, and how dare he not put the glory of China's reputation first instead of self advancement, etc.

Nowadays Chinese people are way more individualistic. Is it really Western influence? A bit. Mostly it comes from simply opening up. Chinese society is also much more tolerent of individualism. As far as I'm concerned, this is a very good direction for us to go in.
What do you think about Monkey? 12:05pm on 24 Jul 2008 I was surprised when I saw the intro- I didn't know Journey to the West was known in Britain at all. The animation was great, the theme a bit confusing- isn't this supposed to be Britain at the Olympics rather than Mythical creatures from an ancient Chinese novel? I loved it none the less. I hope to see more of these animations during the coverage.
Lucky number 1:22pm on 17 Jul 2008 I for one would like to take the middle path, so my number plate is an average of the most lucky and unlucky- 666 666.

Wait...
National sentiment 5:51pm on 16 Jul 2008 tommywang,

Terrible troll, will not read again. 1/10

All history of all nations is either stolen or inherited from others. I for one am quite fond of my Korean brothers, and the rich culture they have.
National sentiment 5:26pm on 16 Jul 2008 Great post James, it clears a lot of misunderstandings that westerners have always had about China. Most of it comes from ignorance- not stupidity, but a simple act of miscommunication.

I remember reading a childrens book once (Horrible Histories, a long time ago) about the Opium wars, in which the author admitted that he didn't have a clue about why the Chinese bought so much opium. I was angry at the time at this act of insensitivity, but later on realised why. The English at the time was trying to open up China to it's commodities- manufactured goods such as clothes, machines and weapons, but there was no demand in China. Chinese people thought they already had everything they needed. The only thing they didn't have was opium, which they bought in spades. From the Chinese perspective it was seen as a conspiracy by Westerners to poison the Chinese people into submission, but from Western perspectives the Chinese were seen as weak willed individuals who only bought opium because of addiction- after all, there were also many other better things Western nations offered for trade, such as machines and weapons, but the Chinese never seemed to be interested. So a simple case of supply and demand was misinterpreted on both sides, and the scars from that misunderstanding still fester to this day.

Of course there were Western individuals from that period who wanted to keep China down with the use of opium; and there were many Chinese who wanted to buy Western technology and modernise, but were frustrated by their compatriots still locked in the "China is great we have everything we need why import infernal white barbarian magic" kind of mentality. But they were few in number, and the vast majority of people just wanted to get on with their lives, on both sides, for better or for worse.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

typingfromwork