News/Politics

The Rise of Nations

I just caught this story on ESWN and found it extremely interesting to get a more in depth look at what Chinese people think. The article is basically a collection of translated comments from people who happened to have watched CCTV's recent 12-part series called The Rise of Nations. The show details, using CCTV-style history, …

November 29, 2006
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Blogger Unblocked, Again

So, don't I just finish posting a new LLW entry regarding getting around the Great Firewall of China, when it opens up and lets Blogger/Blogspot blogs through. I swear there's just some Party member hanging out in a room somewhere deep underground in Beijing flicking a switch connected to various Web sites. Just sitting there …

November 28, 2006
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Internal Affairs – 放屁

Not sure if you folks have been following this stuff about the cold–hot treatment that Stephen Harper (he'd be Canada's Prime Minister, for all the non-Canucks that read) has been receiving by China at the APEC conference in Vietnam this week, but it's just stupid. My buddy Dezza has a great post about it over …

November 18, 2006
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Wikipedia Unblocked In China, Kinda…

I’ve been caught sleeping. The Chinese blogsphere is abuzz with the news that the flagship to Web 2.0, Wikipedia, is now unblocked in China. (see references below) After almost precisely a year of having to access the site through proxy services (or the secure.wikimedia.org version of the site), all us in China are able to …

October 12, 2006
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Islam: Fundamentally Flawed

Alright, give me a moment before you start the respective religious retaliation that my post’s headline might invoke. I dig Islam and I dig Christianity. By and by I agree that the two promote relatively peaceful and more fulfilling lives for several billion people. That said, I’ve never been overly kind or sensitive to any …

September 17, 2006
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AIDS: Safety First

“Chinese AIDS Vaccine Safe, Possibly Effective” I caught this headline on CCTV 9 yesterday at Maggie’s parents’ house (FINALLY, after a year and a half in this country, learned how to make dumplings). It’s also gracing the top of a Xinhua article announcing the same thing. I’m not sure what about it just made me …

August 19, 2006
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Freezing Point, Dead But Not Forgot

“I actually only did not think that human rights ought to segregate according to political position.  The Nationalists, the Communists, the Democratic Progressive Party, any fucking party … if human dignity is not your core value and if you permit human rights to be determined by those in power, then you are just someone that …

July 20, 2006
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Notes On Being Banned

Ok, between the TAM Sq. post and the Google post… I’ve hit on a couple controversial topics this week. Looks like the former at least, had an effect on the ability of people to access this site. This has made me consider what exactly goes into banning something in China. This is to open up …

June 9, 2006
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Damn Google, Buncha Commies!

So, it’s not just June 4th… it’s semi-official – Google is now blocked in China. Like a bulb itchin’ to go out, it had teetered on accessible for a few days, but now Google.com is out. Fortunately for those that like Google searches that are censored for your viewing pleasure, you can still access Google.cn …

June 7, 2006
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Enviro-China: The Green Guard

I know I’m often a bit cynical of many aspects to this country I call home. So, I’m going to curb that for this post and relay the highlights of “Environmental Protection in China (1996-2005)“, a white paper the government recently released outlining their environmental protection/pollution control efforts over the past decade. (much of this …

June 5, 2006
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Tiananmen Massacre Anniversary

And so, once again it’s June 4th. For the last 17 years this day has been marred with a rather crimson taint. It is, of course, the day the People’s Liberation Army was given the go-ahead by then CCP leader Deng Xiao Ping to use whatever means needed to quell the protests in Tiananmen Square. …

June 4, 2006
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