open Democracy News Analysis - china - Comments

Shahidan Said on "China’s Tiananmen moment: the party rules"

Shahidan Said — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:27:20 +0100

Every year for the past two decades, we have been clobbered by the Western media in its familiar self-righteous tones on the Chinese government's failure to concede to the voice of dissent and for putting down the student movement violently in Tiananmen Square.

The Chinese student movement and its demands in 1989 certainly deserve our deepest sympathy. But the ritualisation of an event over which public opinion in the West has very little influence stands out in stark contrast to the posture of the media when discussing massacres in territories in which Western governments and public opinion are fully complicit.

The recent invasion and massacre carried out by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza is a case in point. The media bent over backwards to justify the Israeli invasion. The Western media in general has yet to find its moral compass to apply evenly its overstated values of respect for democracy and the rule of law when these are violated by their own governenments (Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.) and their allies/cronies/puppets. These guardians of human rights lose their voices and squeek like mice when confronted by the Zionist transgressions against the lofty ideals of human rights.

I write from Malaysia and am appalled at the hypocrisy of the media that is so brazenly displayed when discussing human rights violations in the South.

Anthony Barnett on "Tiananmen: the legacy of 1989"

Anthony Barnett — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:40:37 +0100

Great article - thanks

Agilis Lux on "China’s Tiananmen moment: the party rules"

Agilis Lux — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:56:04 +0100

it is very diffecult, but I have not seen coverage of such events that had taken place in the so called "civilized world", like Kent State Shootings 1970 , (So much for the rule of law!)

Our leader are et(hically any better? here few tags: looking at Ruwanda, causing with its war in Vietnam a genocide in Cambodia still looking at Dafur, sending unmaned drones out to bomb for democracy in A- & P-Stan, not getting tiered to state majority of Israelies are against the wall and settlements Lieberman and Netanjahu.

Our are our main-stream media subordiating themselves to finacial and political elitesholding the power. Look arround in US or Europe when there is a demonstration in town, the "security-forces" look like knights.

Beaking up China, like it was so conviniently done with Yugoslavia and any other Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member staates, would be the worse that could be happened for anybody in the world, not just for people in China.

Just let the metics pay their tax, so the Demos have their fun, - like anywhere else in the world!

Leon Dux on "China's soft-power failure"

Leon Dux — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:03:11 +0100

Get lost, Chinese rubbish.

Hosting Dlya Seo on "China's Olympics: a view from Brazil"

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JasonKL on "Kashgar’s old city: the politics of demolition"

JasonKL — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:42:11 +0100

What you're suggesting is cultural imperialism. Who are you to tell them what should and shouldn't be developed? In development there is always reinterpretation of culture, they're not going to live in some kind of cultural zoo just to please you.

TeeNorbu on "China’s political tunnel"

TeeNorbu — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:49:02 +0100

Lets hope that the long awaited time for people stuck at home and outside be soon over in a peaceful transition..

myTibet on "Kashgar’s old city: the politics of demolition"

myTibet — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:15:09 +0100

this is also what has exactly been taking place in Tibet as well. in the name of modernity and development, the very identity of Tibet has been vanishing day by day. while Tibetans are struggling with preservation of their culture and identity, the Government on the other hand is telling them and the world " Tibetans has never experienced such an prosperity in history, and this is brought by the CCP". VERY FUNNY! but that is what majority of the Chinese people believe or want to believe.

kuhn charle on "Death in Shanghai, law in China"

kuhn charle — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:50:46 +0100

The reality that may shock me even after several times I read this article. The author expends a lot of time for collecting the incidents in the character's life before the death taking place. I consider that an interview with Yang's mother and another with himself may fullfill the picture.

However, I believe that even if the entire picture is completed and brought to show, the motive of Yang's cannot be explained satisfactorily to everyone in the world.

I myself don't blame the democracy status in China.

andrew.llanwarne on "Kashgar’s old city: the politics of demolition"

andrew.llanwarne — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:03:18 +0100

Reading about Kashgar reminds me of a visit to Lijiang in Yunan Province in 2005. It is another old town that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year - indeed, a world heritage site - next to a modern city. It's the stepping-off point for visits to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Michael Palin gave these locations prominence in his "Himalaya" BBC TV series. There's still a vast area of traditional style housing in the Old Town. However, looking at the "traditional" shops in the Old Town they seem to have concrete foundations to which the timber walls are attached. Maybe this was reconstruction as a result of the severe earthquake in 1996, but it was interesting to see that across the square from these shops, new shops and restaurants were being built in the same "old" style to extend the revenue-raising potential of the Old Town.

On the road up to Tiger Leaping Gorge, new tourist chalets were similarly being built in the old style. I expect Kashgar will get the same treatment and still manage to attract lots of visitors. The ethnic Naxi people seemed very much in evidence in old Lijiang, many of them making a healthy income from the tourists, but it's hard for a visitor to know who calls the shots here politically (see www.walkingstories.com).

In case we cry "fraud", we in the UK should reflect on the traditional designs used for many a travel inn and "themed restaurant" built in the last decade or so next to our main roads with artificially aged timbers, old bricks from demolition sites, and bits of old junk festooning the walls.

Andrew Cox on "Kashgar’s old city: the politics of demolition"

Andrew Cox — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:21:28 +0100

Reading the articles about demolitions in Chinese cities - and the loss of local heritage and culture - reminds me of what happened in the UK in previous decades.
Many UK towns and cities lost large portions of their historic centres and many fine buildings during the 1960s and 70s. Large numbers of ugly concrete horrors were erected - shopping centres, libraries, civic centres, etc. These acts of vandalism were frequently partnerships between developers and local authorities [who were armed with compulsory purchase powers]. Many communities and businesses were destroyed in the name of progress and greed. Does this sound familiar?
Perhaps we should ask the Chinese to look at the urban horrors we created in the recent past and learn from our mistakes.
Many urban planning disasters are now being torn down and replaced with a new generation of buildings. We hope they will be more appreciated by the local populations.

Anne Adams on "China's soft-power failure"

Anne Adams — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:21:03 +0000

Johannes Adamsen said:
"I simply find it difficult to comprehend just why China was given the possibilitiy to host the games only a little more than one year after the crackdown on Falun Gong in 1999, blah blah blah ..."

This is just so typical of western arrogance. The Olympic games are a part of humanity. They are not there for anyone to give, but for all to bid. The winner gets to host by the nation's merit. The chinese won and put up a good show for world. Good for them. Get over it, loser.

Franc on "The perils of forced modernity: China-Tibet, America-Iraq"

Franc — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:44:00 +0000

Tsongi must have a short memory, I read western mind you, not eastern records of tibet the last century, it was hell for the lower class, 90% were slaves of monastery and upper class now reside in India and elsewhere.
Tsongi should know that holing up in a reservation is not that a good deal for human development.

freethink.org on "China’s political tunnel"

freethink.org — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:12:50 +0000

It would be ironic if the Chinese government succumbed to a bourgeois-labour revolution of the 1848 or 1917 type, wouldn't it?

China has been able to create wealth, in the high capitalist style, by distributing capital to favoured elites who build factories and roads, and are protected by a devalued exchange rate and poor labour standards.

But it hasn't really tried to distribute that wealth, or create a welfare safety net.

Wei Jingsheng doesn't really consider the possibility that Beijing might do a Bismarck and create a universal health system and some labour standards out of their fiscal stimulus. After all, they're planning to do this - and it might help to soothe the workers.

SteveM on "China in 2009: a year for surprise"

SteveM — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:00:12 +0000

China's discovering something everyone should know: capitalist economies are inherently cyclical.

She go-a up; she go-a down, as Chico would say.

This sort of thing is inevitable; it's not a bug, it's a feature.

The market pricing mechanism is a feedback governor, and like all such it 'hunts' around an equilibrium.

The long expansion of the past two decades means something like this had to come sooner or later.

Every long expansion leads to the same sort of reckless conviction that things will go up forever, and meets the same denouement. The recession squeezes the inefficient and restores labor discipline and more realistic prices. Then the cycle starts again.

Only the details differ. It's been happening since the Tulip Mania of the 17th century, if not before.

Public policy can shorten the recession a bit, but it can no more prevent it than it can change the weather.