(Ming Pao via Yahoo News!)  On June 11, Chan Yuet-tung applied for a judicial review of the legality of the Election Committee, which is supposed to have 800 members according to the Basic Law.  There are only 796 members right now, and the status of about 30 of them may be subject to challenge because they are no longer in their original constituency.  However, on this day, he was unable to come up with the HK$1,045 filing fee, so he intends to file an application of fee waiver next week.
 
(Ming Pao via Yahoo! News)  On June 15, Chan Yuet-tung appeared at the campaign office of Donald Tsang.  Previously, Chan had filed a lawsuit against then-Chief Secretary Donald Tsang for exceeding his authority in seeking an interpretation from the Chinese National People's Congress Standing Committee on the length of term of the next Chief Executive.  The court had just decided that it would not hear Chan's case, and ordered Chan to pay court costs of HK$15,000.  On this day, Chan came to see Donald Tsang with a 'letter of surrender' that included a request for Tsang to pick up his court fees.


 
Donald Tsang had made it know that he would not attend forums until after the nomination process has ended, precisely to avoid dealing with people like Chan Yuet-tung and their side-shows.

P.S.  Somehow, Taiwan KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou figured in this very weird tale too.

Q: What do you people get out of this?
A: Release of pressure.  We are not satisfied here in Taiwan for the last several years.  Most of the people around me are pessimistic and have no exit.  The macro-environment makes it hard for people to decide what to do.  The economy is poor, they can't start businesses and they can't find jobs.  If they find a job, the pay is lousy.  A university graduate makes just over NT$20,000.  How does one survive?  The whole society feels helpless.
This is all Ah Bian's fault.  I voted for him twice, but I detest him now.  The KMT lost because they were corrupt, but Ah Bian is even more corrupt than the KMT.  Taiwan is like the headquarters for a gang of fraudsters.  Everyone from the president to the government belong to the gang.  They defraud the people again and again.  He is wasting away our identification and feelings for the political parties.  I used to be deep-green and passionate about politics.  I have lost confidence and I hate the world.
The Internet tribes are mostly people in their 20's and 30's.  They tend to be pan-green, because the DPP used to represent honesty, reform and hope.  But it is all over now.  We are better off relying on ourselves.  We love most of all to have Internet quarrels, disturbances and riots.  We do things that we feel are righteous.

Q: What kind of "trouble" do you make?
A: For example, around 2/28 this year, some little thug was recruiting members for his gang on the Internet.  When the netizens found out, they left comments to condemn him and then they called out for everybody to come and attack his website and call his home so that he won't do this again.  
Also, the three Chang brothers of Kaohsiung took in donations and refused to share like they promised.  Then they even came back for more Lorenzo's oil.  We called the Department of Health every day and we said: "You better not give them any oil."  Then we flooded their comment board and demanded: "You better cough up the money."  At first, the media were on the Changs' side.  After the 'riot,' they felt that the Changs ought to share some of the money.  When they eventually did, we felt it was some kind of victory.
When PCHome put in the wrong prices, we 'rioted' because they refused to admit fault.  So whenever they made another error, we would go and place orders so that we have a number of cases on file.  In the end, the relevant departments required the commercial websites to have better quality control standards and protect the consumers.  
These actions have positive meanings.  We are having fun and releasing our emotions while achieving certain goals.  We are bored but we are creative.  In the future, I want to commercialize this sort of thing, so that netizens from various walks of life can find opportunities and outlets.

 According to a recent survey, 79 percent of journalists in the city die between 40-60 years old — the average life span is 45.7 years old!

This is an old story and I have commented earlier (no idea where, though, and I don't want to spend the time tracking it down) about how this is likely to be a misinterpretation of the data.  If I can simplify this to a hypothetical situation:

According to a recent survey of school children in Shanghai, 50% of them die between the ages of 12-17 and 50% die between the ages of 6 to 11 -- the average life span is 11.5 years old!  The average life span is 11 for the boys and 12 for the girls.  The causes of death were traffic accident (60%), illness (20%), murder (10%) and suicide (10%).

You must be duly alarmed by the mortality rate!  But here is how the numbers came about:

There are 2 million school children (age 6 to 17) in Shanghai.  Within the survey period, 10 of them died.  Of these 10 dead school children, 5 were aged 12-17 and 5 were aged 6-11; the cause of death was traffic accident (6), illness (2), murder (1) and suicide (1) respectively.

Everything in the press release is factually correct, except it does not convey the fact that the majority of the school children will live for a long time after leaving school.  Ditto for the Shanghai journalists -- among those who died on the job, the average life span was 45.7 years old, but the majority of the journalists go into retirement and live on for a long time (and you won't know how old they will live to because all you know is that they are alive when you interviewed them today).  But of course that would not be a good news story ...

[in abbreviated translation]  In observing the "kleptocracy" of the Chen Shui-bian family and the aides, the author discovered a rather peculiar phenomenon -- virtually all the information came from the KMT legislator Chiu Yi.  The daily routine information from Chiu Yi about the CSB family and the DPP government are deadly precise and pointed, and basically accurate.

Previousyl, Chiu Yi was one of the few public figures ready to expose problems.  But most of the inside stories were often sensationalistic and hyped up, and based upon hearsay.  The mainstream media avoided Chiu Yi and his talking.

But this time was completely different.  Most of his revelations were accurate.  The question is: Who provided the information that Chiu Yi has?  Was it just a small number of people or many "deep throats"?  Are they with the opposition, or the governing party?  Do some of them work for Chen Shiu-bian?  Were they involved in those crimes too or were they breaking away due to some political consideration?

Fortunately, even if there are unfathomable motives behind the inside information from Chiu Yi, public opinion oversight in Taiwan is fully developed, even if things are sometimes relentlessly hyped and eventually repetitious and tiresome.  The non-stop coverage of the first family and the unyielding digging for information are perhaps matched only in Hong Kong, but Hong Kong may not have the kind of persistence.  The Taiwan media monitored and supervised the government, and this has provided a live example and many inspirations for other Chinese communities.

 Southern Metropolis Daily does not mention yesterday's important news about Chiu Yi.  From Taipei News:

Although the scandal involving alleged insider-trading by the president's son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) made headlines on China's state-run CCTV station last week, the legislator who first blew the whistle on the case was last night prohibited from giving a speech on the matter at Peking University.  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), who was scheduled to deliver a speech at Peking University last night, informed the press yesterday that the university had cancelled his speech at around 12:30am on Saturday.  "I believe [the reason for the cancellation] was the subject that I wanted to address -- freedom of speech -- which is what made it possible for the recent scandals to come to light," Chiu said.  ...

Chiu said the scandals were a phenomenon of the nation's "crony capitalism" -- a pejorative expression describing a close relationship between government and business -- saying that the same phenomenon was emerging in China.  "I wanted to use the speech to teach the Chinese public how to fight corruption, as corruption is also a serious problem in China," Chiu said.

Chiu said that he was not surprised that the Chinese authorities had prevented him from making the speech at the last moment, as he had feared such a consequence after he revealed the main theme of his speech to the press in Beijing.  "Although A-bian [Chen] might hate me, he wouldn't go so far as to use the power of the state apparatus to suppress my freedom of speech," he said.

And what are the inspirations from this other live example for all Chinese communities?

The Executive Yuan's Commission of Administrative Appeals on Thursday reversed an earlier decision made by the Government Information Office to penalize TVBS Satellite Television Co. for its alleged violation of a ban on direct foreign ownership of local TV stations.

TVBS issued a three-point statement praising the commission for upholding justice and protecting press freedom, saying that the commission's ruling has boosted the morale of TVBS staff and encouraged media to further their functions of supervising the government's administration as society's fourth power. 

TVBS appealed the case to the commission after the GIO decided on November 8 of last year to fine the station NT$1 million for violating the Satellite Broadcasting Law, which limits foreign capital in local broadcast media.

So there you have it.  I have nothing more to say other than "I told you so."
 
P.S. Of course, there will always be the dead-enders.  (China Post)  "Former Government Information Office (GIO) chief Pasuya Yao blasted Premier Su Tseng-chang for losing his 'chastity' by dropping a fine of NT$1 million on the TVBS satellite TV station to please news media."  Hmm ... this makes it much worse because Pasuya Yao apparently believes that a premier should meddle with judicial decisions for political reasons.  Great ... 

An excerpt from the May 25, 2006 Southern Weekend article by commentator Lin Da (林达.):

[in translation]  

Concerning the saying about "hurt feelings," one can say that between China and the United States (or, even more broadly, between the two cultures), there exists a difference.  When we live in China, the phrase "severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" appears frequently in protests, either formally or informally.  So we think that this is obvious.  Once we go overseas, we find out that most countries do not protest in this way.  Especially in the United States, the country is criticized everyday in every which way by all sorts of people.  The Americans do not say "the feelings of the American people are hurt."  At most, if necessary, they will explain why some assertion is not consistent with the facts.  For them, when they are criticized or even insulted, the clarification of the facts is more important than asking people to show some concern for their feelings.  For them, frequent claims about "hurt feelings" is a response by the weak.

This type of emotional fragility is harmful, especially in the face of historical truths.  We are used to appeasing our fragile nerves so that we will not confront the historical truth.  We regard all those who expose the historical truth as evil-doers.  Young people who are educated and reared in this cultural atmosphere become narrow-minded.  There is no other way to explain how the best Chinese students who were accepted into a first-rate university such as MIT could lose the basic ability to judge.

The other article in Youth Weekend presents Lin Da's first statement as well as the position of the student protestors.  This is the classical fair-and-balanced presentation.  But the tie breaker was that it quoted the blog 薛涌：反智的书生.  Previously, the blogger Xue Yong had read Lin Da's statement and the students' statements, and wrote to condemn Lin.  A couple of days later, he posted two more blogs after researching the subject.  Not only did Xue Yong agree with Lin Da's viewpoint, he apologized to the two professors and accused the students of creating a "false news item."  That was how that article ended, without any opportunity for rebuttal.

Fuhua Cosmetic Hosptial is one of the earliest cosmetic surgery specialty hospitals established in our nation and is called 'Asia's dream factory.'  It gained the national and international reputation of promising that 'every operation is a meticulous product.'

This is not even any pretense.  It was just a press release that happened to be published in the news section without indication as such.
 
Now you might be tempted to say China needs to have more professional journalist.  Here is how things are done in the United States -- Plagiarize Me, Please! by Jennifer Nix at Firedoglake. 

(TVBS via Yahoo! News)  There were four dishes and one soup.  The soup was egg drop soup and the dishes included stir-fried bamboo shoots, etc. 

 
(ETTV via Yahoo! News)  There were three dishes and one soup.  The soup was wintermelon+pork ribs.  The dishes were gourd+chicken, cucumber+shredded meat and stirred fried Korean vegetables.

Apple Daily reports that there were four dishes and one soup.  In addition to the ones listed by ETTV, there was also another melon dish.

I have no idea what the first son-in-law ate and I really don't care either.  I only know that these two reports cannot both be true.  

Why are the media telling us this?  For no reason except to inflame people by interviewing the inevitable person who will complain that prison food is better than what they could afford to eat at home ...

Recently, the FLG resistance has been delivering significant victorious news.  On April 25, Wang Wenyi shouted out to Secretary General Hu Jintao on the White House south lawn.  Before the news had cooled down, Internet reports on May 5 said that the FLG managed to be able to reach the telephone in former Secretary General Jiang Zemin's hotel room in Qingdao, Shandong.

Previously, the FLG only distributed flyers about the truth on streets overseas and sat down in quiet protest outside overseas consulates; inside China, they just sneaked into private residences and slide in promotional materials about "FLG Great Way is good."  Those were marginal protests that are like scratching the itch from outside the shoe.  But the recent White House shouting and the Qingdao speech showed that their resistance have reached from the skin into the flesh.  Not only are they close to the central, but they are closer to the physical beings of the central leaders.  According to street talk, they had even more dramatic encounters with the central leaders, but it was not appropriate to disclose those right now.

I ask, "What kind of democratic movement is this?"  What is the direct or even any conceivable indirect relationship between the shouting/telephone call and freedom/democracy in China, as perceived by the majority of the Chinese people?  What kind of free and democratic society will emerge as a results of these kinds of actions?  And you won't have a democratic movement unless you have some resonance with the people.  If you wonder why democracy is not advancing in China, it is because the leading 'democrats' such as Jiao Guobiao think this way.

《動物園的一天》

今天是五二○總統就職紀念日，因為英明偉大的阿扁總統建設台灣、愛護百姓的功績罄竹難書，又適逢假日，所以爸爸媽媽特地帶我們到動物園玩。

按照慣例，我們早餐喜歡吃台南地瓜粥。今天因為地瓜賣完了，媽媽只好黔驢技窮地削些芋頭來濫竽充數。沒想到那些種在陽台的芋頭很好吃，全家都貪得 無厭地自食其果。

出門前，我那徐娘半老的媽媽打扮的花枝招展，鬼斧神工到一點也看不出是 個糟糠之妻。頭頂羽毛未豐的爸爸也趕緊洗心革面沐猴而冠，換上雙管齊下的西裝後英俊得慘絕人寰，雞飛狗跳到讓人退避三舍。東施效顰愛漂亮的妹妹更是穿上調整型內衣愚公移山，畫虎類犬地打扮的艷光四射，趾高氣昂地穿上新買的高跟鞋。

我們一丘之貉坐著素車白馬，很快地到了動物園，不料參觀的人多到豺狼當道草木皆兵，害我們一家骨肉分離。妻離子散的爸爸鞠躬盡瘁地到處廣播，終於 找到到差點認賊作父的我和遇人不淑的妹妹，困獸之鬥中，我們螳臂當車力排眾議推己及人地擠到猴子柵欄前，魚目混珠拍了張強顏歡笑的全家福。

接著到雞鳴狗盜的鳥園欣賞風聲鶴唳哀鴻遍野的大自然美妙音樂。後來爸爸口沫橫飛地為我們指鹿為馬時，吹來一陣涼風，唾面自乾的滋味，讓人毛骨悚然 不寒而慄，媽媽連忙為爸爸黃袍加身，也叮囑我們要克紹其裘。 

到了傍晚，因為假日的關係，餐廳家家鵲占鳩巢六畜興旺，所以媽媽帶著我們孟母三遷，最後終於決定吃火鍋。有家餐廳剛換壁紙，家徒四壁很是美麗，燈火闌珊配上四面楚歌，非常有氣氛。十面埋伏的女服務生們四處招蜂引蝶，忙著為客人圍魏救趙，口蜜腹劍到讓人誤認到了西方極樂世界。

飢不擇食的我們點了綜合火鍋，坐懷不亂的爸爸當頭棒喝先發制人，要求為虎作倀拿著刀子班門弄斧的女服務生，快點將狡兔死走狗烹，因為尸位素餐的我 們一家子早就添油加醋完畢，就等著火鍋趕快沉魚落雁好問鼎中原。

湯料沸騰後，熱得樂不思蜀的我們趕緊解衣推食好大義滅親上下其手，一網打盡撈個水落石出。

火鍋在我們呼天嗆地面紅耳赤地蠶食鯨吞後，很快就只剩滄海一粟，和少數的漏網之魚。母範猶存的媽媽想要丟三落四放冬粉時，發現火苗已經危在旦夕， 只好投鼠忌器。幸好狐假虎威的爸爸呼盧喝雉叫來店員抱薪救火，終於死灰復燃，也讓如坐針氈的我們中飽私囊。鳥盡弓藏後，我們一家子酒囊飯袋，沆瀣一氣 ，我和妹妹更是小人得志，沾沾自喜。

不料結帳的時候，老闆露出廬山真面目，居然要一飯千金，爸爸氣得吳牛喘 月，媽媽也委屈地牛衣對泣。

啊！這三生有幸的總統就職紀念日，就在爸爸對著錢包自慚形穢大義滅親後 ，我們全家江郎才盡，一敗塗地。 

Yes, the Internet will affect newspaper circulation, but it will not eliminate newspapers.  The next logical step should be the complimentary co-development of newspapers and Internet.  When that day comes, will there be some earth-shattering change overnight?  No.  It will be a gradual and stable evolution, because the period of greatest impact by the Internet has passed already.  From now on, newspapers will co-evolve with the Internet.

Co-evolution means both sides must evolve.  Apple Daily is an example in which the print edition completely drives the online edition.  Every day, the online edition is updated early in the morning and the contents match what is in the print edition.  Oh, it is also subscription-based (note: of course, I am a subscriber).  So there is not much innovative or co-evolutionary about this.

What kind of innovative ideas might there be?  The example that I love to give is "Hit Rate" Front Page: A Change in Newspaper Publishing Method?  In Chile, the tabloid Las Ultimas Noticias became the market leader by using the hit rates on its website to decide which one story to put on the front page.  How about that?

According to the Central Blogger, there will be a new free paper called My Paper (我報) in Singapore as of June 1.  The gimmick is that the newspaper will produce three front-page designs and ask the readers to vote.  Those votes will count for 80% while the advertisers get the remaining 20% of the votes.  My Paper says that its target readers is 20-40 year old workers with good income and that its employees will have an average age of under 30.  My Paper will distribute 100,000 to 120,000 copies Tuesdays through Saturdays at subway stations, offices, airlines, residential estates and even coffee houses.  The newspaper will have a website soon.  Will the website allow the readers to choose the headline stories for the next day?

No such idiom exists in Persian, and Ahmadinejad actually just quoted an old speech of Khomeini in which he said "The occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Of course Ahamdinejad does wish Israel would disappear, but he is not commander of the armed forces and could not attack it even if he wanted to, which he denies.

I had a very disturbing short email correspondence with a reporter of a major national newspaper who used the inaccurate "wiped off the face of the map" quote. When challenged, he said it was "carried by the news wires and is well known" or words to that effect. I pointed out that the "quote" was attributed to a specific speech and that the statement was inaccurately translated. When challenged further he alleged that his trusted translator in Tehran affirmed that Ahmadinejad had said the phrase. When that was challenged, he reported that the translator said that anyway he had said something like it. When I pointed out that the translator was either lying or lazy, the reporter took offense that I had insulted a trusted colleague! I conclude that this reporter is attached to the phrase. He complained about being challenged by "bloggers" and said he was tempted to stop reading "blogs."

So this is how we got mired in the Iraq morass. Gullible and frankly lazy and very possibly highly biased reporters on the staffs of the newspapers in Washington DC and New York. And they criticize bloggers.

A mob of angry Chinese students protested at Massey University yesterday after Chairman Mao was lampooned on the cover of the student newspaper. Students likened the cover of Chaff, which this week satirises women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, to the anti-Muslim cartoons circulated around the world in February.  Tempers flared outside Massey’s library as about 50 Chinese Massey and UCOL students and a Chinese lecturer confronted Chaff staff. Students said the issue is racist and the last straw, as many have also suffered verbal abuse on the streets of Palmerston North.

Tianxiang Mao said it was common for Asian students to be lambasted with racial slurs when driving. “People yell `F-ing Asians’ when we are in the car driving down the road. I don’t say anything. What can I do?”  UCOL student Xing Tang said Chaff staff are ignorant of Chinese culture.  “Chairman Mao is like Jesus to us,” he said on the verge of tears. “We pay $20,000 in fees and a Musa fee (which funds Chaff) and this is how we are treated.”  However, Chinese Massey student Tony Song said protesters were being “too sensitive”. “It’s been done to the Queen before. I’m not offended at all. I was laughing.”

Students likened the situation to a racial slur expressed in Victoria University’s latest student magazine Salient. The “Top Five Things to Be Wary of” rated the Chinese at No 5.  Dogs also featured in the same line-up, the students said.  Salient editor James Robinson said the Top Five column and the Chaff cover are both “culturally insensitive”. “We are getting hate mail by the minute,” Mr Robinson said. Salient has been in strife over the Top Five column and the item has appeared on a Chinese news website. 

Read the whole thing at GNN, especially the comments!

[in translation]  After I finished reading the news, I was filled with loathing.  What kind of reporters are these scums?  They are just like bad officials who impose and collect unreasonable taxes, or gangsters who bully their fellow citizens.  I feel shame.  Great shame!  With people like that, it is f*cking useless to talk about the professional ethnics or news dignity that are bandied around in journalism nowadays.

I have met many newspaper editors-in-chief or local news bureau chiefs who look righteous but are hypocrites who spout bullsh*t.  These people think that they have connections at all levels of government.  On the left hand, they hold the sword of the "internal reference"; on the right hand, they hold the steel rod of the special feature report.  One hand is soft, and the other hand is hard -- carrot and stick, either left or right.  These bastards don't know how to make money legally.  They only know how to extort and swindle under the cover of darkness, and they have no desire to speak on behalf of the people.

There is a national-level newspaper in Beijing which looks impressive but engages in dirty stuff.  They publish 8 pages a day, five issues a week.  I open the newspaper and I don't see any Chinese words, just coins floating around and around.  Apart from publishing promotional pieces in the paper, the publisher also encourages the reporters to construct news on behalf of enterprises to fool other media.  I have told all my reporters that they must categorically refuse to follow any leads coming that newspaper!  If they want to write about it, then it should be a f*cking negative report about how that newspaper colluded wtih enterprises to sell out their conscience and fool the media and the public.

Why did these four incidents occur in the newspaper industry?  Why did they occur at local news bureaus?  This is worthy contemplating.  I am not saying that there is no dirt at the newspaper main office.  There is.  Not only that, but it is even bigger, badder and even more f*cking shocking.  But the main office has PR ability and they are much better at harmonizing with the government.  If something bad happens, they can usually take care of it with money.  When something bad happens at a local news bureau, the main office will try to cover it up if possible.  If cover-up is impossible, then the main office will abandon the local news bureau and get by on its own.

I have sworn that I will not take one cent of black money from enterprises and PR companies.  Up till today, I have managed to do that.  But I do not feel pleased or proud about what I do.  I have never thought about forcing everyone else to be like me.  When the dark clouds hang over the city, it is hard enough to think about one's own moral behavior without worrying about other people.  The storm is powerful, and I worry that I will be drowned by the tall evil waves of their cursed filth or my downfall to corruption.

I don't want to say anymore.  I am disgusted and saddened!

According to a poll released on Tuesday, Chen's approval rating has dropped to a new low of just 5.8 percent. Obviously these allegations are hurting Chen and his government, and subsequently, the legitimacy of the pro-localization movement.

One could call Chao and his family naive, unaware of the effect their personal doings have on Chen. Others might call them idiots for not applying common sense.  Either way, knowing that outsiders are scrutinizing every move made by the members of the first family, not to mention that Chen's political rivals are eager for a chance to attack him, the Chao family should have known better. This incident has given Chen's political opponents more ammunition to attack him.  
Since Chien was the one suspected of wrongdoing, she should come forward to tell her story.

The government should also implement damage-control measures. For a start, the Presidential Office should stop simply issuing press statements, and take the time to answer the media's questions concerning the incident on behalf of Chien and her family. Given the recent spate of events concerning the first family and its associates, perhaps it is time for the Presidential Office to consider hiring a public relations firm to help revamp its much-damaged public image.

Speaking from my heart, this place was really nice and outstanding.  Overall, I don't feel that this is an office space for the district government.  Rather, the government has borrowed a nature park to conduct its business.  After a busy week, going there to stroll around and take some photographs will let people forget all the annoyances of urban bustle.

Nice!

So immediately this got played up at Massage Milk (note: winner of the 2005 Deutsche Welle's Best of Blogs award for China) which republished the entire post and highlighted the last paragraph in bold red.  The blogger did not add a word.
 
Then the exceedingly popular 连岳的第八大洲 (Lian Yue's Eighth Continent) blog also linked to the NetEase post with a blog title: "This photograph was really hard to locate" right above a photograph (see below) of the district party secretary and the district government chief.  The blogger simply said that those two were formidable characters who are in charge of the world's most awesome district.

 
In my humble opinion, the above is known as humor/sarcasm with 'a unique Chinese characteristic.'  I mean, you can't possibly send the bloggers away for 10 years of labor reform when all they did was to re-publish a People Net post?  (Related link: Hammer and Tickle in China)

[in translation]  Ever since the Central Blogger column appeared, I have begun to understand what constitutes pressure.  The persistent calls from the editor for my columns were obviously hard to deal with, but I am even more unaccustomed to various people inside and outside of Central trying to determine my identity (such as occupation, age, family background and so on).

Actually, I am using a pen name.  I don't want to use my real name because I want to avoid trouble.  I don't want the outside world to interfere with my writing style, so that I can share what I know and think honestly with the readers.  Recently, I learned from the "am 730" editorial staff that various organizations (including government departments and stock market-listed companies) have been asking "am 730" about my identity.  The publisher Mr. Lo even made it quite clear that when he dined with senior HSBC officers, the other party took out a copy of the newspaper and asked him directly.  Actually, I had a prior agreement with "am 730" not to divulge my identity.  Therefore, I want to ask my readers once again not to continue to try to find out who I am.  But if any reader has some questions or suggestions, they can still reach me on the Internet.

It is a very painful thing for an investiment columnist to conceal his identity.  My friends and colleagues are often discussing the column, but I can only listen while saying as little as possible so as not to let slip my identity.  In the investment and finance circles, money is everything.  If my friends and colleagues know who I am, they may someday ask me to write something that I would not want to.  Or if I write some negative comments about some company, there will definitely be trouble.  This is not what I want to see, and that is why I chose to become an invisible columnist.

... when there is piece of news, the identity of the writer is insignificant.  The most important thing is whether this is unique and accurate.

1. Zhuo Wei deceived Ding Jiali's mother into admitting that Ding Jiali had an intimate relationship with Sun Honglei.  When Sun's mother got down her knees to beg Zhuo Wei not to file false reports, Zhuo Wei refused.

2. Zhuo Wei harrassed the family of Tong Guoqiang's ex-wife and dug the up background of Tong's divorce as well as the ex-wife's suicide.  Then he penned a long report with a shocking vileness.

3. Zhuo Wei harrassed the family of Jet Li's ex-wife and then used their one-sided explanation to write an essay to condemn Jet Li for abandoning his wife Huang Qiu-yan.

Not to be outdone, Zhuo Wei's editor Yang Bingbing also has his own list of famous achievements:

1. In 2001, Yang Bingbing used a single comment from a single person to come up with the exclusive story: "Shaolin Soccer" not approved for release in China!    While the story might have rocked China, it was also untrue.

3. At the end of 2002, Yang Bingbing found out from an "entertainment circle friend" that Zhang Jian and Liu Pui were getting divorced.  He called Zhang Jian, who said: "I won't confirm this.  You can ask Liu Pui."  So Yang immediately published the report that said Zhang Jian has made a "silent admission."

Of course, these counter-attacks will have no impact if (1) the subjects do not feel any shame and (2) there is no damage to their professional careers.

It was to the Argentina dressing room [military dictator General] Videla marched after the match. Defender Alberto Tarantini wasn't impressed. Friends of his had disappeared in the Dirty War. He told his captain, Daniel Passarella: "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that if Videla comes in I'll rub soap all over my balls and when he comes up to me I'll shake his hand". The wager was struck. "Videla came to meet us," recalls Tarantini, "while I'm soaping my balls, and he had to shake hands with me, with photographers there. Then he pulled a face! It was all very funny but I had to go abroad and play after that. I'm very proud of what I did and I don't regret it. I did not agree at all with what they were doing."

Q. What is the difference between blogging and publishing in the supplement section of newspapers?

A: In the past, when I published a book or in a newspaper, reader feedback comes through the editor which may be days, weeks or even months afterwards.  But Internet reader feedback is direct.  I push the button to publish, and the netizens will have immediate feedback.  For someone who has been writing for decades, this is a fresh feeling.  But I am a traditionalist and I act familiar only with people that I know.  I cannot get too close to netizens that I don't know, so I will only respond to the direct questions from netizens.

I don't care about hit rates.  My blog articles are principally about reading, essays and novellas, unlike Chang Shi-Kuo (張系國) who sometimes touches politics and other hot topics.  But I was reading the news about how Taiwan airplanes can now overfly mainland Chinese airspace to Europe and elsewhere and EVA was the first one.  This made me think about the first Taiwan surveillance airplane pilot Chen Huai-sheng who flew over Chinese airspace and died in the line of duty, and so I wrote "Do you remember Chen Huai-sheng."  After the essay was published, the reception was enthusiastic.  Although there was not a hint of politics in the essay, it created an Internet battle among netizens from different political stances.  Later I realized that certain netizens are only interested in politics.  They like to expound on their own viewpoints at great length while criticizing and attacking the other side.  They don't really care what your blog post is about.  They just post their same set of comments everywhere.

According to a senior official, the American side gave no room for negotiation and high-handedly restricted the president from passing through continental United States and allowed only a five hour transit in Honolulu or Anchorage.  "If we really agree to this, we will be national sinners."  Against KMT chairman's Ma Ying-jeou's assertion that only returning through Alaska will bring US-Taiwan relationships back to normal, a senior official disagreed and said: "Do you want us to be the 'son of turtle' of the United States?" (難道我們得當美國的龜兒子？)

It is believed that the unnamed senior official is National Security Council Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) (see ETTV).  ETTV noted that some China hands in the United States are wondering just how the term "son of turtle" can be translated in English.  People close to the Bush administration are saying the term is too harsh and may cause even more unhappiness among senior American officials.  
 
How to translate "son of turtle"?  A turtle is a cuckold, and therefore the son of a turtle is a bastard child.  ETTV reports a Taiwan parliamentary debate in which it was said that "son of turtle" should be just "S.O.T." in like manner that "son of a bitch" is "S.O.B."  BOC pointed out that "S.O.T." is also "Son of Taiwan" (usually personally identified with Chen Shui-bian) so that an unfortunate consequence of this will be the linkage or equivalence of the two terms.  This is an unintended result.  
 
Do the Americans care?  According to United Daily News, a US State Department official joked to the reporters: "How can you write so much about just three words 龜兒子?"  The official pronounced the Chinese words and this means that the Americans know exactly what was said.
 
Here is a turtle-related photograph (from ETTV), in which people are writing the words 滾蛋 on photographs of US President George W. Bush.   滾蛋 is literally "roll the egg" and it means "Scram" or "Beat it!"  (Note: As a curious cultural fact, the translation of the White House Easter Egg Roll in Chinese is usually 白宮復活節'滾蛋' where it is usually necessary to put in the apostrophes to show that it does not have the traditional meaning)

 
Related post: The Battle of the Turtle Eggs - Feminists versus Naturalists

(in translation)

Some years ago, I was trying to learn English and I listened to BBC on shortwave radio.  The radio service usually have some reports on natural or manmade disasters.  The stories may be different, but all the reports always included after the number of casualties: "including XX women and children."

It seems that this approach is not "news" anymore because women and children are not "attractive" anymore for readers' eyeballs.  By comparison, Chinese reporters seemed to have become better trained."  For example, during the May 1st golden week, there are many stories of tourists in trouble and the national media were able to discover and highlight the selling points of the news: "13 university studies stuck in Mongolian desert with 40 other tourists"; "three Peking/Tsinghua university students dead in Yunnan."  Even the national-level news agency report included language such as "Among the six dead, one was a Peking University student and the remaining are ordinary tourists."  This sentence was overdone and caused readers to immediately wonder: "So the Peking University student is not an 'ordinary tourist'?"

Obviously, university students are rarer than women and children in the population, so they qualify to be news attractions.  But the problem is about what else the news is supposed to express beyond the factual descriptions and the points of emphasis?  When overseas media emphasize women and children, it may seem commonplace and repetitious, but it reflects a certain moral responsibility for the media.  They remind people that women and children are more vulnerable and they deserve sympathy, concern and assistance in disasters.  In overseas disasters, there is likely to be scenes in which "women and children leave first" and this is the more or less related to the media messages.  Inside China, we have not yet seen "university students leave first," but "the leaders leave first" is a true event.

The media should not be a purely commercial organization.  They cannot remember only "selling points" and "commercial opportunities."  At a time when ethics and morality leave a lot to be desired, the media should remember their responsibility when they write their reports.

[in translation]  "Putting aside the effect on people, sandstorms have its special functions in nature.  Sandstorms can clean up the environment and bring  nutrients to the oceans," so said Wang Rusong, an ecology expert at the Chinese Academy of Science.

When one conjures up sandstorms, one thinks about not being able to open one's eyes and being covered with dust all over.  People tend to think that sandstorms are caused by environmental destruction.  Actually, sandstorms have existed for a long time.  There are two causes: one is natural and the other is man-made environmental damage.  ... When the sand comes down, the other particles in the atmosphere come as well and therefore air becomes cleaner.  The sand also contains many mineral elements which could bring a lot of nutrients to the living organisms in oceans.

With a backdrop of sandstorms battering Beijing, Professor Wang was untactful enough to praise the good points about sandstorms.  This contrarian approach was no doubt the reason why Professor Wang has been receiving "bricks" at Internet forums as well as critical comments in mainstream media.  Here is a comment at Southern Metropolis Daily by Zhang Ruoyu (张若渔):

I am willing to treat this as a conflict between "factual determination" and "value judgment."  Without doubt, sandstorms are subjectively regarded by people as "bad things" and this is a value judgment.  "The good thing about sandstorms" is a determination of facts, and cannot be altered as a result of the people's will.  The ordinary social psychology is that value judgments usually rule over all else and obstruct the implications of the factual determination.  Unfortunately, under the influence of this either/or social psychology, people cannot tolerate anyone expressing even a tiny piece of dissident opinion about something that they have already concluded to be "bad."

Yesterday afternoon a tall thin and dark female student came to our dormitory building.  She claimed to be a classmate of Ye Jianying and she had taken the train for nine hours from Harbin to see Little Ying.  At the time, we thought that this was abrupt and so we told her that Little Ying was away.  She said that she came early to give Little Ying a surprise.  At the time, we thought that this was awkward.  She said that she was unable to make contact with Little Ying but it would be just as well to get the telephone number of Little Ying's boyfriend.  We thought that she was hapless and so we found a room for her over the Internet.

She said that it was still early and she had nothing to do.  So we took pity on her and let her hang around the dorm room.

When she came up, she talked a little bit and then she took out a camera and began taking photographs.  We thought that this was not a good thing but we did not refuse on account of the fact that she was Little Ying's classmate.

Afterwards, she began to talk to us about Little Ying.  The questions were all personal in nature.  Soon, she saw that we did not like her.  She went downstairs to buy some fruits and returned to chat with us again.  Then she left soon afterwards.

Afterwards, she sent us an SMS to say that she was moved and she was sending this SMS to us with tears in her eyes.  We were perplexed.

This morning, we learned that Little Ying was dead.  We searched for the news on the Internet and we found out that Sina.com and Huaxia Times both reported about Little Ying.  We were outraged!!!

The deliberate attempt to deceive us and sold out our sentiments in order to attract eyeballs was outrageous.  We demand a public apology!  The dead has passed on, but the survivors would like to see her leave in peace.  There is no need to ask anymore.

Little Ying's dormitory mates are now emotionally distraught.  We are publicizing the facts so that everybody can understand.

After this Huaxia reporter Ju Dongzhe used this underhanded method to extract the information that she need, she immediately wrote the report titled "Peking University female student died in Shangri-La."  In the report, she showed photographs of Ye Jianying and her boyfriend, which she stealthily took while she was in the dormitory room.

The reporter Ju Dongzhe did something completely against the principles of journalistic ethics and destroyed the minimal conscience of journalists.  Even more infuriating is the fact that she did so with the approval of the editors at Huaxia Times.  In a personal blog, the Huaxia Times editor boasted about how they were able to beat Beijing Times and Beijing News in the coverage of this traffic accident and how they were able to win on the aspect of "human emotions."  We also noted that it was not just Ju Dongzhe alone, because there was a male reporter named Wu Peng who went into the Tsinghua University student dormitory.  Therefore, we note that Huaxia Times' slogan "Humanism is Strength" is exactly opposite to humanism.

Related Link: The Huaxia Times Debate  Non-violent Resistance

[in translation]  On November 11, 1918 the four-year-long First World War ended with the victory of England, United States, France and other countries and the defeat of Germany, Austria and others.  In January, 1919, the victorious alliance held a peace conference at the Versailles Palace in Pari.  The People's Republic of China attended the conference as a victorious country.  The representative of the People's Republic of China proposed to eliminate the special privileges of others nations in China, the 21 articles and other proper requests, but he was refused.  The conference actually decided that Japan will take over all of Germany's privileges inside China.  The representative of the People's Republic of China was actually prepared to sign and accept this treaty that would be a national shame as well as a loss of rights.  When the news arrived home, the entire country was irate.  The May 4th patriotic movement led by the students erupted like a volcano.

The problem here is that the People's Republic of China was founded officially in 1949.  The English-language Wikipedia entry on May Fourth uses the term "Beiyang government" while the Chinese-language Wikipedia uses the term 北京政府 (Beijing government).  The Baike entry is not only factually challenged, but it is actually damaging to the image of the People's Republic of China.  You want to take credit for the good things but not for the bad things.  And this entry showed how stupid and craven the representatives of the "People's Republic of China" were in 1918.
 
Syaoran noted that this entry had gone through editorial review and still ended this way.  There are now more than 70,000 entries in Baike, already more than the Chinese-language Wikipedia.  More is not necessarily better, as this example shows.

[in translation]

At 12:40am May 4, the US State Department spokesman said that "the understanding is that Chen Shui-bian will transit through Anchorage on the round trip between Paraguay/Costa Rica and Taipei."

At about the same time, the Taiwan official representative in the United States, David Lee, and others were preparing to head for Washington DC's National Airport to head towards Alaska.  The AIT director Raymond Burghardt (normally based in Haiwaii but was in Washington DC on account of the matter of Chen Shui-bian's transit through the United States) was also heading towards the airport.

At around 1:10am, David Lee received a telephone call from Taipei in his car and learned that Chen has decided to cancel his transit through Alaska.  So he notified the United States quickly and then he turned his car around to head back to the office.

At that time, the media still did not know that there was such a big change in events.  Our reporter was booking an airplane ticket to Anchorage.  During the booking, he found out that there was something fishy going on, because his friend at the airlines said cryptically: "Do you need to go to Alaska?  Think about it!"  The reporter repeatedly questioned the friend, who declined to elaborate because this was confidential information.

In retrospect, when David Lee and others turned the car around, they notified the airlines to cancel their tickets.  Therefore, this friend was the first to learn about the change in plan for Chen Shui-bian's trip.  But he could not say so directly, so the reporter had to find other means to check.

At the time, the official agency's information was that the transit issue had not changed.  For example, an American official stated clearly: "That's correct.  Chen Shui-bian wants to transit through Anchorage twice.  This is the information that we have."  When the reporter called the friend at the airlines again, the other party still refused to yield the confidential information.  The reporter finally asked: "Let me put it this way then.  If I don't go to Alaska today, will I be sorry?"  The friend said in English: "No!"

At 2:10pm, the State Department's East Asia Bureau telephoned the Taiwan reporters based in Washington DC with a brief message that Chen Shui-bian will not be transiting through Anchorage.  At that moment, our newspaper was already being printed.  But due to the importance of this piece of news, we confirmed the the information and then stopped the presses, redid the page and started printing all over again. 

STEPHANOPOULOS: And is it curious to you that given how much control U.S. and coalition forces now have in the country, they haven’t found any weapons of mass destruction?

SEC. RUMSFELD: …We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. 

Yesterday, in Atlanta, Rumsfeld was once against asked about east, west, south and north (see Think Progress for the video and transcript):

QUESTION: So I would like to ask you to be up front with the American people, why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary, that has caused these kinds of casualties? why?

RUMSFELD: Well, first of all, I haven’t lied. I did not lie then. Colin Powell didn’t lie. He spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence Agency people and prepared a presentation that I know he believed was accurate, and he presented that to the United Nations. the president spent weeks and weeks with the central intelligence people and he went to the american people and made a presentation. I’m not in the intelligence business. they gave the world their honest opinion. it appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.

QUESTION: You said you knew where they were.

RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were and –

QUESTION: You said you knew where they were Tikrit, Baghdad, north, east, south, west of there. Those are your words.

RUMSFELD: My words — my words were that — no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let him stay one second. Just a second.

QUESTION: This is America.

RUMSFELD: You’re getting plenty of play, sir.

QUESTION: I’d just like an honest answer.

RUMSFELD: I’m giving it to you.

Archives