This will be my last post with Olympic connotations.
The Western AND Chinese media are starting to evaluate for themselves what the meaning of this vast spectacle that went down in Beijing really is. I will just lay down a bunch of links and let you get down on it:
This article in Time is actually pretty good and lays down a few of the real issues that China has to face now that the party is over.
The other night i watched the movie Little Red Flowers about Chinese kindergarten. Beanmilk sang along with all of the little kids and told me that — except for a slight improvement in amenities — nothing has changed. This movie is an adaptation of the book by Wang Shuo. The book is widely read in China, but the movie can only be found amongst the pirates slanging them DVDs from out of the back door … This article here talks about the growing courage of the Chinese art community and the government’s tacit approval (or ignorance of) the works that speak out about this society. This interview with the famous crime novelist Qiu Xiaolong also touches on these issues …
Some people are unsure about what the true aftermath is: some believe that the Chinese are already “affected” and will take their business into their own hands, while others are sure that this is the continuation of the CCP’s drive to crate an Orwellian society based on their “experiment” in Shenzhen … the experiment aint working, as this article tells us.
The reality is too complex for me to comprehend and I am sweating n the Sultan anyway. So here are some more links for ya, keep reading and wonder how this has anything to do with you:
Here are some “reflections” by a favorite target of the ChiCom trolls Geoffrey York. I like what he says: it happens to be true. Thats why ChiCom trolls hate him so much. It probably also has to do with the hard lean of the Western media toward China bashing, but I argue that the hard lean is a function of the Chinese media’s overall lack of courage and freedom in covering their own affairs. Other than the Southern Weekend, of course …
So thats why the media is filled with stories about China’s corruption, the Bank of China’s nefarious dealings, the insecurity of the government and on the other end: uplifting stories on how the city with the second-most cameras in the world will stage a better Olympics by highlighting .. democracy …
Here is some interesting commentary on The Fat Teacher and Dongpo Pork (which I have eaten and relished in its hometown of Meishan — actually a small village outside of Meishan) …
And last, for no reason other than i could not find a proper category for it now: an idea of “what happens next,” in this story about China’s forays into the Dark Continent.
Mad love.
