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Cliff Racer posted:That would be off topic but the gist is that once you get over the age of 18 you should be prepared to state yourself as being a citizen of one country, no divided loyalties, etc. If you want to discuss it further you can make a thread on it. Given that half the people reading this thread are expats, I think the balloon has already gone up on this one. Holding the citizenship of a country does not make you personally or politically loyal to that country. A whole continent of Europeans - who can live, work and move freely across national boundaries - would seem to refute the idea that patriotism is the wellspring of civilised society. I agree with the idea of closing tax loopholes and fully understand why dual nationals are not permitted to serve in certain parts of the armed forces, but to suggest that people are somehow lacking because they don't feel the need to belong to one country and only one country is baffling. Next, you'll be telling me that Catholicism is unpatriotic. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 13:18 on Apr 2, 2012 |
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Apr 2, 2012 13:16
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Throatwarbler posted:Even if you've never met or spoken to a Chinese person, which would instantly disprove this nonsense, think about the business environment in China, is it more risky or less risky than the west? Now consider that business still gets done and money invested there, and what does that say about Chinese businesspeople and investors? What strange combination of fatalism, acquisitiveness and herd mentality has led to the massive new ghost cities of China? Millions of people buying unrentable second homes in the expectation that their purchase will appreciate in value despite the ever increasing supply, is a strong argument that there is a different cultural attitude towards "risk". But then, trying to understand the property market in most countries involves a good measure of ju-ju sticks and chicken entrails.
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Apr 5, 2012 00:36
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french lies posted:I thought BrotherAdso had a good approach with his government megapost: Lots of pictures, informal/conversational tone and a small dash of edginess on top. I was browsing the news today and I came across this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/mar/23/china-decade-change-interactive-timeline More visually interesting than anything else.
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Apr 7, 2012 09:09
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Fiendish_Ghoul posted:And yet Chinese people swear up and down that they need the death penalty as a deterrent. 2+2= China is a developing country with a large population, it has a long history and great culture with many famous figures such as...
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Apr 22, 2012 15:33
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zero alpha posted:Will Germany do anything to encourage German birth rate...? Bring back the prolific German Mother's Medal! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Honor_of_the_German_Mother
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Apr 25, 2012 00:34
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Pfirti86 posted:Guagua Bo put out a statement through the Harvard Crimson (http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/4/24/bo-guagua-statement-to-the-crimson/): Doesn't mention at least one obvious boo boo - he was rusticated from Oxford for being academically poo poo. That kind of things doesn't happen too often in a University which practices a tutorial system which normally observes a 1:3 staff to student ratio. Also, the description of his grade, "second class, first honours", is loving odd. It's an upper second (the top grade is a "first" or "first class honours", the next is "second class honours" with either a "first division" or "second division" and below that we have a third and then an ordinary). This kind of stuff is not something which one gets unintentionally wrong - would you ever try to hint that you were magna cum laude if you were cum laude? No, because people would call you on it. It sounds like he is trying to pad his credentials to make it seem more likely that he got a scholarship. There is no loving way he got a scholarship of any kind whilst also being rusticated. All of the University fees came from his mother.
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Apr 27, 2012 12:39
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Pfirti86 posted:Yeah, I was confused by that too. I thought maybe it meant he was a 2:1 in one subject and a first in the other. Most Americans don't know poo poo about the British academic honors system. I had no idea he was suspended. Aren't honors awarded based on how well you do on a series of final exams? Like, couldn't he be academic poo poo the whole time, then study really hard, then pass with a decent enough degree (a 2:1 isn't terrible right?)? The exact makeup of the grade varies amongst Universities, however it is normally based on final exams from honours courses (the courses included in the named title of the degree, which could be from the final and/or penultimate year) plus the dissertation grade. Here is a list of the grades, with some further explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_undergraduate_degree_classification The key idea is that the grade reflects the overall performance in the named subjects of the degree. Getting a 1st in one course is nice, but it isn't something which you would put in a press release. Bo Guagua might be a fairly typical overprivileged kid, but this kind of scrutiny is the only opportunity the Chinese public have to vet their future leaders, so don't blame them for behaving like a pack of eager hounds.
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Apr 27, 2012 13:31
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Modus Operandi posted:Why should it be handed down to the children unless they are also criminally complicit? That's silly. Are you a big fan of collective responsibility? I support the questioning of authority within this context of highly limited speech and political feudalism, even if it is limited to someone who is on the periphery of the main event. On his own account, Bo Guagua is certainly an example of a growing social problem within China; of a "Communist Aristocracy" which is becoming increasingly abusive of its position. The lack of decorum (and I choose this word specifically) which Bo Guagua demonstrated is very insulting to Chinese people. He breaks the unspoken contract which the Communist Party has made with its people. For a corollary: http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/stories/nepotism-wang-ran-government-deputy-bureau-chief.html
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Apr 28, 2012 09:57
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Modus Operandi posted:Nepotism is unfortunate but this isn't a China problem but a global issue. Just look at the sort of multi-generational control various anglo blue blood families have historically had (and still have) in the world of global banking. He is the third generation of a family which has held major political power since the beginning of Communist China - he is not average in any way. His peers are not the average bunch of Ivy league trust fund twats, they are people like Prince William and the sons of tinpot African dictators. It is [ill gotten] public money which put Bo Xilai's son where he is so why don't the public have a right to comment? GuestBob fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Apr 28, 2012 |
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Apr 28, 2012 10:35
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Hit quote instead of edit - laggy connection.
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Apr 28, 2012 10:38
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Jazerus posted:...Say "gently caress YOU, dad!"... I expect him to do what a good young Communist princeling should do, wear his red neckerchief, study hard and provide the public with the appearance of merit which justifies his charmed existence. That's the price one pays for inheriting power in a one party state. This isn't some kind of witch hunt or populist persecution. This is a debatable extension of legitimate public interest.
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Apr 29, 2012 08:24
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Fangz posted:'Territorial integrity' and 'domestic sovereignty' is China's core value in international affairs. China will *NEVER EVER* act in such a way that it appears that they backed down under US pressure. If they do it for Chen, then they lose all Fixed that for you. The Chinese government cares a drat sight less about international opinion than it does about the Party's domestic image. The jingoistic nationalism which is pumped out through the media and fostered in schools and Universities is a double edged sword. China's economic strength and international standing are pretty much the only two issues that people have been taught to judge the government on. Nothing is going to happen with this until Clinton et. al. have left China. The central government will probably send Chen to a "University town" out West like Lanzhou and give the Shandong government a thorough bollocking for letting this get out of hand. That or he will disappear (although blind people aren't so good at sowing footballs). Fangz posted:To make any concrete measures take place, the Chinese must be allowed to develop a narrative that they *chose* this. The stronger the public pressure foreign powers put on them, the more the Chinese will shift to the defensive position of 'gently caress off, none of your business', and CGC will never get a positive resolution. If the CCP can weather the media cycle for another few days then they will be "in the clear" to act (either send Chen to University or stuff his body into a bin bag). As long as the cameras are rolling though, the government is not going to act in a conciliatory manner. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 05:22 on May 4, 2012 |
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May 4, 2012 05:13
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The Oldest Man posted:No, it's not. Just caught that - I am going to check this one though because I swear to goodness that I saw this in a grown up academic book somewhere. [edit] Sorry - I got "gung ho" confused with jingoism. The former is most certainly a loan. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 05:28 on May 4, 2012 |
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May 4, 2012 05:23
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Arglebargle III posted:It's important to remember that in historical terms all Asian states are young states. A lot of the odd things these governments do are common behaviors of young political systems. Compared to ... Germany? I don't want to snipe here, but I think you need to explain or qualify what you mean by this. When you put states in "historical terms" you fuzz the meaning of the word rather alot.
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May 9, 2012 13:44
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Ronald Spiers posted:Hey look another Asian island dispute: I have just finished a two week news extravaganza (research several stories, write and deliver a news-like presentation whilst being recorded) with 100 Chinese college students and it has been fascinating how many of them wanted to do this story at first, but then changed their minds after looking at a few of the maps on the BBC.
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May 10, 2012 09:58
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Arglebargle III posted:At least your students had the decency to reconsider their opinions after looking at a map. If you can't convince a group of brainwashed, naive young Chinese kids that something belongs to China then who can you convince? You know, a big part of me wonders whether the CCP is a bit cagey about being able to win this kind of dispute and will therefore let the whole thing slide after dipping their dick in the water. Remember the media context - scandals and an upcoming change of government. Nothing better to shore up a transition than a firm stance on how many Chinas there are. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 12:57 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 10, 2012 12:52
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All of this has been really interesting and I have a firmer understanding of what's going on, but I still have no idea how anyone could think that buying a new flat in a development on the outskirts of a T2 city would make money. The sheer volume of oversupply is staggering - especially when there are so few people renting and so many people living in extended family units. It's not like there is an influx of middle class people from the countryside either. Take the train into any T2 city anywhere in China at night and you will pass through acres of finished highrise flats, each with a dozen lights on. Trying to figure out why this is making money for someone is like a loving Zen puzzle. The "otherness" of this property market clearly has my middle class sensibilities all a flutter! What aspect of this situation am I not seeing [correctly]?
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May 19, 2012 12:22
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hitension posted:In an ironic way, I think it's a sign a country's really "made it" if they are dealing with an influx of immigrants. I know "our economy get very good" but in what way is 600,000 people, not all of whom work, an "influx" in a nation of 1.4 billion? Chinese immigration policy is specifically designed to keep out low paid, low skilled economic migrants who do exactly the kind of jobs on which the Chinese economic boom of the last two decades has been based. I am not sure that "economic success = immigration" in China (elsewhere, sure). Also, if anyone wants to argue that English teaching is a low skilled job then you can have my dick in your ear.
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May 22, 2012 05:51
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shrike82 posted:Isn't it though? Most foreign (read: white) teachers have no background or qualifications in ESL education and everyone I've met in the field treats the career as a means of living in Asian country x. How do you think people gain enough experience to get onto the MA TESOL programs which lead to teaching pre-sessional University courses? Or working for the British Council? Or getting into the International School circuit? Granted this represents a tiny proportion of people - the same people who are teaching rather than just farting about at the front of the classroom. I suppose you could be right about the colour thing though, the black dude who works at my school is pretty experienced. 
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May 22, 2012 12:10
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shrike82 posted:It's interesting how you focus on jobs (can't say I'm particularly impressed by the people at the British Council either) rather than educational outcomes for the ESL students. Case in point of how teachers just fart around and then leave. shrike82 posted:Isn't it though? Most foreign (read: white) teachers have no background or qualifications in ESL education and everyone I've met in the field treats the career as a means of living in Asian country. Yeah, I wonder why I am focusing on the ideas of qualification, jobs and careers. Those people who are into language teaching and who are building a career in it are certainly not a "case in point" of people who are just passing through. [edit] This is probably not for D&D though - come over to the T&T threads and try your luck there; plenty of feckless drifters who haven't the wherewithall to defend themselves. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 12:44 on May 22, 2012 |
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May 22, 2012 12:37
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menino posted:Keep in mind this was when I walked in this morning. I am very curious about why you have this information to hand.
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May 23, 2012 05:11
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Modus Operandi posted:...tit for tat tle... I haven't seen this pop up in this thread yet: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-05/25/c_131611554.htm This year's CCP Report on the deplorable state of human rights in America. The report is mostly a rather strange cocktail of quotations from "The Guardian" newspaper, pressure groups and the US Government's own research. Many of the links are not accessible from within China.
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Jun 3, 2012 02:48
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May I suggest reading Li Yinhe for further information on the status of women in China. This person is absolutely heroic in her pursuit of the rights of rural women and Chinese LGBT people. Example: Wiki: Li Yinhe posted:As a member of the national committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Li had submitted proposals to legalize same-sex marriages in 2003, 2005 and 2006. None have succeeded so far. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Yinhe In addition to the bibliography listed here, she has published alot of articles in translation.
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Jun 3, 2012 07:03
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SharpyShuffle posted:It's inspirational! Just look ladies, you too can bootstrap your way out of that forced sterilisation clinic! An unintended consequence of the one-child policy is the extended period of economic activity during the lifetime of the average Chinese woman. Nobody agrees that meddling with a woman's uterus is the way to solve macro-political issues (though both the US and China seem to think it has potential) but "hurr hurr one-child policy" is not a valid response to every single issue related to China. Before the one-child policy, the average Chinese woman had five kids. Spending most of your life pregnant doesn't seem empowered to me. Obviously, neither does having state mandated abortion/rape. A fascinating and unique social situation requires nuanced discussion. [edit] Maybe you were making a joke though. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Jun 3, 2012 |
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Jun 3, 2012 12:44
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Fangz posted:Would euthanising the elderly be really unthinkable in such a circumstance? You are being extremely speculative. Nursing homes are considered unfilial, so the idea that people are going to knock off granny for the sake of the economy is questionable.
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Jun 3, 2012 14:01
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Fox...and...Soup posted:...both genders are specified in the brackets following their names... GuestBob (江豚) hitension posted:For the second part, I prefer to learn about those measures rather than anecdotal evidence. I am sure that Chinese people enjoy many favourable government measures, along with democracy, the rule of law and free speech. The maternity leave period is 98 days I believe, with shorter paid leave available to those who abort the fetus. I know that many companies in China side-step maternity leave laws by not hiring women in the first place; also, ugly people. In other words, I wouldn't put too much stock by the official laws and regulations because, well, they are often bullshit. Much better to read academic research. Li Yinhe has written several pieces on the rights of rural women and there are studies of migrant workers and prostitutes which highlight a number of issues related to gender, status and the rural/urban divide. Here's something from the popular press: http://english.hebei.gov.cn/2010-03/10/content_9573554.htm But there are plenty of  out there on this topic.Also, today is the first day of the Gaokao examination. 
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Jun 7, 2012 06:22
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hitension posted:Your article is about Guizhou -- Shanghai might not represent the whole population, but does Guizhou? We might as well get an article about West Virginia coal miners and use it as a model for everyone in America. No, the article is about the village of Houfangzi in the Southeast of Hebei province, which isn't exactly a million miles from Beijing. This isn't West Virginia coal miners. This is booming China's backyard. The picture at the bottom of the article is from Guizhou, so maybe that's where you are getting confused. [edit] For above. Can I suggest a book which people might like to read: East Asian Sexualities: Modernity, Gender & New Sexual Cultures. Published by Zed Books, this contains a whole range of essays on topics closely related to what we are all discussing here. It has a range of contributors and chapters with enticing titles like: "Sexualised Labour? 'White Collar Beauties' in Provincial China" (Liu Jieyu). Liu Jieyu posted:The high participation rate of women's employment in socialist China has sometimes misled scholars in believing that Chinese women enjoy gender equality at work. However, quantity does not equal quality. Western and Chinese feminist schoilars have demonstrated that in the Maoist era, owing to the absence of a revolution in the domestic sphere, women workers suffer from a double burden (Honig and Hershatter 1988; Wolf 1985). The rather stark conclusion is that women in China cannot escape their assigned gender role within the public sphere and that the consequences for trying to do so are comparatively severe. Even the envied, "middle class" office girl is often the object of (uncomfortable) gendered expectations from her co-workers, superiors and business clients. No-one is suggesting that "my country is the worst rarggle barrggle!" without some evidence and argument to back it up. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Jun 7, 2012 |
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Jun 7, 2012 14:15
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Arglebargle III posted:Physical proximity is a weird thing to focus on. I'm not really sure what point you were trying to make with the houfangzi article about that women and education. I'm kind of confused now. The article looks at the rural/urban divide in attitudes towards gender, highlighting differences by focusing on two women who, for a variety of reasons, no longer fit into that environment because they transgress their expected gender roles. The article suggests that in rural China women have a much more limited role and have to negotiate their involvement in public life (the factory owner) and even the "business" of the domestic sphere (Wang's desire to financially aid her family). I repeated hitension's thing about West Virginia because he suggested that the article was not representative because it talked about Guizhou. It does not. Past that, ignore the geography chat (also, my Chinese geography is apparently better than my US geography).
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Jun 7, 2012 23:55
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Arglebargle III posted:Wow, who would call Chinese women lazy? I don't know if you are responding to something or just starting with rhetorical questions. I don't know anyone who would call Chinese women lazy. I think that might have been a joke. Alot of places where I have worked in China, there is a bloke in charge of the department (or such) but all of the most useful people tend to be women. Even in the UK, half of the administrative work in many departments of Scottish Universities seems to be completed by a lone woman in her late forties, normally called Morag. This latter phenomenon occurs for different reasons though. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 09:34 on Jun 8, 2012 |
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Jun 8, 2012 09:22
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computer parts posted:Unless that's a decreasing number, no, you would say exactly the opposite. Break out the party hats and squeakers.
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Jun 8, 2012 15:58
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Xandu posted:I wouldn't be suprised if there were differing speech patterns amongst men and women (I'm not exposed enough to the language to know), but isn't that true in many langauges? From the perspective of Pragmatics this is true of every language.
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Jun 22, 2012 06:18
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Arglebargle III posted:Does anyone even know where Bo is right now? Last I heard he was under investigation and suspended from all his posts. Are you asking if any of us are members of the standing committee because I think they are probably the only ones who know the whereabouts of Bo at the mo'. I know that Bo, and his father Bo Yibo, were no favorites of the current court. Does anyone have any insights into how he relates to the incoming order?
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Jul 29, 2012 08:22
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Cefte posted:When you get down to the towns, then you get goons throwing rice at Hui. Which is dumb as gently caress, but a function of a stratified administrative system with weak oversight, highly abstracted inter-level instruction, close to zero attention to human rights or national rule of law and upwardly-mobile local officials. I think people pay attention to upwardly mobile local officials.  Your explanation made me think of Yes Minister: I think a fairly good analogy is when the EU comes out with some random bollocks about British sausages not fitting the legal definition of "sausages". The Daily Mail goes apeshit and suggests that we are going to be eating "high fat emulsified offal tubes" for breakfast because some balding Belgian enjoys a good bit of pointless committee work. Whole thing vanishes the moment the ink has dried on the copy. I have seen female students at a minorities university wearing headscarves around campus and in class. Of course, this being China, the girls were also wearing tiny shorts. Silly China. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 03:10
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So these are interesting times. Anyone care to lay odds on what is going to happen in the Daioyu islands. Trade embargo? Attempt to blockade the islands (sailing in circles around a rock)? Piss and hot wind? Also, who is next in line if Xi isn't going to take the top spot? Pro-PRC Laowai or Bloodnose?
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Sep 13, 2012 07:35
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I am more concerned about how this is going to affect the power transfer which, you know, is actually going to happen unlike a war. Does this mean that the new administration is going to have come into office trumpeting a hard line? How is that going to stand next to the economic renewal they are expected to bring? This whole thing just seems to make things very awkward for the standing committee. Unless of course they flip the switch after the 18th and it all goes away. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Sep 17, 2012 |
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Sep 17, 2012 00:07
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Y-Hat posted:I know that this issue has been a sticking point for a couple of months now, but is there any particular reason why protests and demonstrations are happening today? Mukden Incident?
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Sep 17, 2012 04:21
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Fall Sick and Die posted:I'm going to make my bet that this won't end without the Chinese having seized the islands. Status quo is a loss for China, and China isn't going to take a loss. Care to put your money where your mouth is? A new avatar says that this will end without any seizure by force. There may be a bit of bump and grind on the briny sea and I would certainly expect some kind of blockade but nothing invasive. China has pissed off enough of South East Asia to make its strategic situation quite precarious. If it takes over these islands then the ASEAN nations are going to scream blue murder because they know they are next. Now I am not sure what would happen then, but if I was a Chinese general I Too many unknowns, too many possibilities and too much up-fuckery on the horizon in other words. Take my bet tough guy? GuestBob fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Sep 17, 2012 |
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Sep 17, 2012 07:27
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You sir, are a girl! Fall Sick and Die posted:If China attacks Japan over these islands or far more likely lands some troops on the islands in the night, both Japan's military and the support of the US, if not militarily at least diplomatically, will make China out to be a ridiculous aggressor, and there's no way the Chinese air force/navy are capable of holding the islands if the US and Japan decide to reclaim them. What other pressure can China put on Japan? Stop trading with Japan? Watch China get ejected from the WTO, there are already enough nations annoyed with Chinese state subsidies and the like, which would be a major loss for Chinese prestige as they attached so much importance on joining it. Not that this is going to happen because they know it would be impossible. China has been brought into the international system over the past 30 years and now they're stuck with it. I don't really understand why any of this makes military action more likely. China has to try for a three point put-the-island-in-the-basket military play because the alternative is that they would get their wrist slapped for refusing to trade with Japan? In what world is China going to continue trading with Japan whilst it is conducting military action against them? Why is shooting at people going to be more internationally acceptable than having a massive hissy fit? Invading these islands is much worse than any of these options which you have listed. China is going to end up with egg on its face, not because of some Machiavellian scheme gone wrong but because they have a victimhood complex a mile wide which sometimes makes the jade rattle leave the pram. I am not sure why the anti-Japan protests are so batshit this time around, but it makes me worried about the incoming administration's grip on things. The government is never going to be led by the masses, but the leash which they have allowed them on this occasion is a little bit too long - precisley because, as you point out, China is going to be left looking like a right dipshit.
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Sep 17, 2012 08:42
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Fall Sick and Die posted:
It doesn't count unless it is a recognized military action. It's okay if they are delivered by fishing boat, but if they claim "just to be fishermen" then no dice. Cod War standards here Also, every year there are several dozen (at least) Chinese fishermen caught by the S. Korean coastguard, so I wouldn't expect this to produce a new precedent for something (unless the government wants it to, which it doesn't, because Hu Jintao told me so because he was like totally getting a blowjob from that girl Gu behind the People's Congress but I was like what eva! Everyone knows she is a total slag and was only with Bo for the money or something or nothing anyway my grandad was Kong Zu). GuestBob fucked around with this message at 13:08 on Sep 17, 2012 |
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Sep 17, 2012 13:03
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Munin posted:Russia when they invaded ... Britain... What? Chinese fishermen are always up to illegal poo poo. I only care about whether or not there is official military support and, even if it is a "defending our citizens line" I will still bet a custom title that it simply isn't going to happen. There will be no shots fired in anger at the military forces of either side, by the military forces of either side: bump and grind maybe, but there will be no guns. [edit] Ginger stepchild.
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Sep 17, 2012 13:38
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