Censorship

September 22, 2010

After writing the post Global Censorship and Corruption, I did more research and discovered that Reporters Without Borders ranked the United States 20th in their 2009 Press Freedom Index. 

In 2008, when G. W. Bush was president, that rank was 36 of the 175 countries listed.

The People’s Republic of China was ranked 168. 

Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally to the US and an important source of foreign oil, was ranked 163 – not far from China, yet we seldom hear or read complaints about censorship in Saudi Arabia.

James E. Hanson, who worked for NASA, appeared on 60 minutes and said that the G. W. Bush White House censored climate-related press releases reported by federal agencies to make global warming seem less threatening

Does the U.S. Constitution allow freedom of press and expression for government employees?  It doesn’t look like it.

In addition, if an employee for an American corporation speaks to the media without permission, he or she may be fired.

The September 2010 AARP Bulletin had a piece about books banned in America. 

Did you know that the Harry Potter series was burned in New Mexico and challenged in 19 states and the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was frequently censored from 1789 to the early 20th century? Source: AARP Bulletin

I do not agree with what President Bush’s White House did to James Hanson’s report about climate change.

However, if the U.S. government can censor government employees, why can’t China’s government do the same to their employees?

To learn about China’s Constitution see Dictatorship Defined

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival

September 22, 2010

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival starts today according to Suite101.com.

It is customary to have Moon-Watching parties, and offerings are still made to the Moon. 

Around the world, Chinese and Vietnamese celebrate this festival.

For example, San Francisco’s Chinatown will host a festival street fair from September 18th to 19th in 2010. Over a hundred thousand people are expected to attend. Source: Moon Festival.org

Also known as the “Full Moon Festival,” the Mid-Autumn festival falls on the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month.

To the Chinese, this festival is similar to the American Thanksgiving holiday, celebrating a bountiful harvest by coming together as families to eat, drink and be merry.

At this time, the moon’s orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear brighter and larger than any other time of the year.

There’s even a legend for eating Mooncakes. It seems that revolutionaries needed a way to bring the people together to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty. Source: The Legend of Eating Mooncakes

Discover China’s New National Holiday, The Rice Cake Festival

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese food, Chinese history, cultural differences | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Global Censorship and Corruption

September 21, 2010

Gordon Ross at Global Geopolitics & Political Economy reports that in spite of “overwhelming obstacles” in China, a few courageous reporters are exposing official corruption and criminal behavior and it is dangerous.

Why doesn’t Ross’s piece mention that there are crime fighters in China like Bo Xilai, who may be China’s number one crime fighter?

Bo’s much-publicized crackdown on gangsters in Chongqing resulted in the arrest and conviction of thousands of gangsters, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Source: The Diplomat.com

How about crime and corruption in America?  UCLA Professor of Public Affairs Mark Kleiman is “angry about having too much crime and an intolerable number of people behind bars.”

The United States is home to five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, yet, says Kleiman, our high incarceration rate isn’t making us safer. Source: Reason.com

Threats and fear or reprisals and lawsuits in the U.S. have put witnesses, police, reporters and whistle blowers in danger.

For example, Serpico, the true story of an honest New York cop who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn on him.

Being a witness in the United States can also be dangerous, which is why the U.S. Government has the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.

Due to many of the same problems China faces today, America also has the U.S. Department of Labor Whistleblower Protection Program.

Then Serendipity says that censorship exists to some extent in all modern countries, including the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Crime and corruption is a global problem and is not exclusive to China.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Some Rules are Meant to be Broken

September 21, 2010

Global warming, fossil fuels with an expiration date, oceans turning acidic threatening life as we know it, polluted air and water, and the U.S. slogs along burdened with rules, regulations and red tape when it comes to the environment and green energy, which is necessary if we want our civilization to survive.

In China, that challenge doesn’t exist and Western countries and the World Trade Organization burdened with bureaucratic red tape are complaining.

The New York Times with Reuters writes a piece about Global Business and headlines it On Clean Energy, China Skirts Rules.

Who cares?  If China is getting the job done and that leads to cleaner air, water and energy, I say go for it.

In fact, the U.S. and other countries should look to China as a role model in this area. 

However, considering partisan politics in the U.S. and the GOP of “NO”, America may have already lost the race.

What does that mean in a century or two?

The New York Times piece I’m talking about was written by Keith Bradsher, and it was educational. 

By the time, I finished reading the long piece, I knew why the West isn’t weaning itself off oil any time soon, while China appears to be moving fast in that direction.

Why can’t the West play the game by China’s rules?

After all, according to Sun Tzu and the Art of War, which applies to business, you do what you must to win. 

If Western countries are so rigid they can’t adapt, that means another expiration date.

Also see China’s Going Green Challenge

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Jingyun Dagu, Beijing’s Story Telling Opera

September 21, 2010

Jingyun Dagu is a form of Chinese opera where stories are often sung in a Beijing dialect accompanied by a drum along with one or two other musical instruments. 

The stress is on singing and depicts the stories in short episodes.

Dagu was first popular near the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and is still popular in China’s capital today.

One super star of Dagu is Luo Yusheng,who was born in 1914. Her stage name is Xiao Caiwu.  Even in her 90s, she emcees TV programs and occasionally performs.

This link, Happy Spring Festival, will take you to a video of Luo Yusheng performing for about 2.5 minutes in 1995, playing wooden clappers and drum while singing in a Beijing dialect.

Although this performance of Dagu is not her best known work, it was the only example I found on the Internet and I couldn’t embed the video in the post.

Well known by most of China, her fans call her the Queen of the Golden Voice. She studied Peking Opera at the age nine and switched to Dagu at 17. 

After the PRC was founded in 1949, Dagu singers were regarded as people’s artists or actors, who sang traditional stories and new operas with themes reflecting contemporary life such as patriotic Communist stories like Glorious Journey, Red Flag Over Mount Everest, and Patriotism and Roaring Waves.

The singer/drummer is often accompanied by the Sihu (a four-stringed instrument similar to an Erhu) and Pipa (lute) in addition to three-stringed lutes and wooden clappers. One of the sources for this post was China Culture.org.

See Peking Opera

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese arts and music, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, cultural differences, history | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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