China Digital Times

Date archive for December 2008

• China 2009: The Confidence Deficit

  

  From the BusinessWeek:

  It’s a question that has economists worldwide scratching their heads: What will happen to growth in China in 2009? While some are predicting economic expansion in the mainland will slow to less than 7%, others are still hoping GDP gains will be 9%-plus.

  The optimists assume China will be able to buck collapsing U.S. and European demand for its phones, TVs, sneakers, and myriad other products. Their biggest hope is Beijing’s $586 billion stimulus program, announced in November. Just as important—though perhaps less likely to pay off quickly—are China’s consumers. With more infrastructure spending, expanded social welfare programs, and directives ordering banks to lend, China’s consumers and companies will rise to the occasion and spend more—or so the theory goes.

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 10:18 PM

• Slideshow: CDT’s 2008 Year in Review

  

  CDT’s Year in Review. Thanks to Paulina Hartono. (Roll mouse over slides to see links.)

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 10:03 PM

• IDF: Rocket that Hit Beersheba School Made in China

  

  From ynetnews.com:

  Brigadier-General Avraham Ben-David told reporters that in light of the rocket attacks on Beersheba, all planned events with over 100 participants will be cancelled, including New Year’s Eve parties.

  … The army official said the rocket that struck the school in Beersheba was manufactured in China, is heavier than the Qassam and can “potentially cause much greater damage.” He said the rocket contains metal pallets that can spread out across a radius of up to 100 meters (about 328 feet) from the point of impact.

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 7:57 PM

• Video Performance: 2009 Go China! (Updated)

  

  Do you ever wonder how Chinese children are being educated in nationalism? The following video, which is spreading through Chinese cyberspace, will give you a clue. It shows a group of rural grade-school students performing a poetry reading. The lines are apparently written by adults, and refer to news events in 2008. No name of the school was mentioned in the original video post.

  “This is truer than Zhang Yimou’s Opening Ceremony [of Beijing Olympics].” — a Chinese netizen’s comment on the performance, translated by CDT. Click here to read more netizens’ comments, translated by Bob Chen on Global Voices:

  2009, GO CHINA!

  Lead: Snowstorm, freely falling down to earth, like western values
  Lead: Despair fills the sky, ice covers the earth

  Lead: Did China retreat?
  All: No. The Olympics were a success! We are victorious!
  Lead: Hot blood and iron will of Chinese people, lighten up the dark world like burning the holy flame
  All: The rivers and mountains, ever more colorful and beautiful

  Lead: Earthquakes, shifting back and forth like the positions of Sarkozy, with his dirty tricks, trying to shake the great China
  Lead: Did China retreat?
  All: No. The Shenzhou-7 launched. We are victorious!
  Lead: Pathetic Europe will never stop the insurmountable force of the Celestial Empire
  All: Just the aftershocks from the earthquake would destroy France!

  Lead: The happy flowers flourish in the oil fields on Tarim Basin
  Lead: The suona [musical instrument] sings aloud in the Tawang district of the Himalayas
  Lead: Historically accumulated resentment fill the Ryukyu Trench
  All: Smiles in Sun Moon Lake became a miraculous flower in the Pacific Ocean**

  Lead: “Do not sway, Do not slacken off and Do not flip flop”***
  Lead: “Do not change the flag, Do not change the label, Do not turn back”****
  All: Step ruthlessly over all anti-China forces

  Lead: The giant ship full of patches, raise up the brand new sail
  All: Spirits are high, crash through the waves, the wind is at our back
  Lead: 2009
  All: Go China
  Lead: 2009
  All: China the Greatest

  * Read also In Short: How Chinese Nationalism is different from the justrecently’s beautiful blog.

  ** Tarim Basin is located in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where ethnic conflicts have broken out between members of the Uighur minority and the Han majority and some groups advocate independence from the PRC. Tawang district is an area in the Himalayas whose ownership has been under dispute by China and India; Ryukyu Trench is an ocean area whose ownership is under dispute by Japan and China; Sun-moon Lake is in Taiwan

  *** & **** Words from President Hu Jintao’s speech during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of economic reform at The Great Hall of the People on December 18, 2008 in Beijing, China; translated by Dr. David Kelly, China Research Centre; University of Technology Sydney.

  UPDATES:

  From the Global Voices blog:

  Right at the time that the internet is in search of the teacher/organizer and debating on the recitation, unexpectedly, the man showed up voluntarily, and not in anywhere else but right in Bullog.cn, a turf that is well known for its intimacy to liberalism and pro-democracy thoughts, and where the work is under the most relentless attack.

  The organizer, named 左左右右 （left-left-right-right), explained how the story happened:

  快期末了，我发现孩子们提前好几天都在忙着过圣诞，还有专人组织捐款买东西，国庆节也没这么上心啊，于是我问孩子们对圣诞节有何理解。他们摇摇头

  “It is approaching the final week of school year, and I found the kids busy with Christmas preparation, and someone organizing a donation for decoration. They were even more excited than in National Day. So I asked how much they knew aboutChristmas. They shook heads.”

  我问几个学习非常努力的孩子理想是什么，他说，好好学习，将来考上好的大学，最好能去留学，我问留学什么好，他说，外国的学校就是好。好在哪里呢，他说不上来。

  “I asked some very diligent kids what their dreams are, and they told that to study hard and go abroad for university in the future. I asked why. They told the foreign education is just better, but told no reason.
  ……”

  但是，是谁教给他们不分来由的崇洋媚外呢呢，对外国不加思索的盲目崇拜，从物质到言论难道对西方没有一点质疑？

  “But, who teach them such an indiscriminate favor of all the foreign stuff, and the admiration without a deeper thought? Don’t they even have a grain of doubt towards all the western world, from its material to ideas?”

  哪些事情让你最难忘？他们答：雪灾、地震，圣火传递，奥运成功，金融危机。在值得中国人骄傲的圣火传递和奥运举行期间，也充满了刁难，2008年何止一个郁闷可以形容的！然后就想开一个主题班会，做一个视频给即将离去的2008做纪念

  “（I asked) what impressed you the most in the past year? They said: “The snowstorm in January, Si-chuan Earthquake, torch relay, the success of Olympics and financial crisis. ” In the most pride-worthy torch relay and Olympics, turbulence and harassment against China has never stopped. How gloomy was 2008! So I came up with an idea to hold class meeting and make a video to memorize the past 2008.”

  Then, in an open letter, he apologized to all those being “thundered”, and all the French people angered.

  He insists that it is for not a single bit of education of hatred.

  写这首“诗”的初衷是回顾2008年的历史，并没有宣扬对西方的仇恨，也不是宣扬暴力，更没有针对普通群众，一切以作者本人解释为准。在大家认为仇视西方民众的地方是在警告外国：2009年，不要再以任何借口挑衅中国！历史问题我们也一直记在心里！

  My initial will to write the “poem” is to review the 2008, instead of a propaganda of hatred against the western, without any call for violence, and not directed to any civilians. Only my explanation is the standard interpretation. In points that many people think that show hatred to the western is actually a warning to them: in 2009, don’t provoke China by any excuse! We have always kept the historical issues in mind!

  —–

  《2009，中国加油》
  甲：大雪，像西方的价值观，自由的飘洒，
  乙：漫天哀愁，一地冰碴 !

  甲：中国退缩了吗？
  全：没有！奥运成功了！我们胜利啦！
  甲：炎黄坚毅的热血，如炽烈的圣火，燃烧灰暗的世界，
  全：万里江山，又嵌上五彩的画夹！

  甲：地震，像萨科奇的立场，用猥琐的伎俩，摇晃着巍巍中华。
  甲：中国退缩了吗？
  全：没有！神七飞天了！我们胜利啦！
  甲：瘦瘦的欧罗巴，挡不住天朝的金戈铁马，
  全：地震的余波也能把法兰西催垮！

  甲：塔里木的石油盛开幸福之花，
  乙：达旺的唢呐奏响在喜马拉雅。
  甲：中山世土的积怨填平了琉球海沟，
  全：日月潭的微笑成为太平洋的奇葩！

  甲：不动摇、不懈怠、不折腾
  乙：不改旗、不易帜、不回头
  全：将反华者狠狠的踏在脚下

  甲：打满补丁的大船，挂上崭新的桅帆
  全：乘风破浪，意气风发！
  甲：2009
  全：中国加油
  甲：2009
  全：中国最大

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 12:14 PM

• China and Vietnam Agree Borders

  

  From BBC:

  China and Vietnam have resolved a border dispute 30 years after a war which left tens of thousands dead.

  The two countries announced they had completed the demarcation just hours before a midnight deadline.

  Government teams from both sides had worked for years planting stones to mark the line of the frontier which stretches 1,350 km (840 miles).

  China and Vietnam both hailed the agreement, but neither mentioned any progress on a separate maritime row.

  Xinhua’s report is here.

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 11:20 AM

• China To Start Construction Of 1st Aircraft Carriers Next Year

  

  From the Asashi Shibun, by Kenji Minemura:

  China will begin construction of the country’s first domestically produced aircraft carriers in Shanghai next year, with an eye to completing two mid-sized carriers by 2015, military and shipbuilding sources said.

  Beijing is also expected to complete work on a never-finished former Soviet aircraft carrier moored in the northeastern port of Dalian, to provide training for carrier-based pilots and crew.

  The two 50,000- to 60,000-ton carriers will rely on conventional propulsion systems, not nuclear power. They will be assigned to the People’s Liberation Army Navy south sea fleet, tasked with patrolling the South China Sea, sources said.

  China’s carrier ambitions and the build-up of its blue-water fleet have long been of interest to Pacific nations.

  National defense ministry spokesman Huang Xueping recently commented that China might build its own aircraft carriers.

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 10:35 AM

• China Urges Taiwan’s DPP To Ditch Independence Bid

  

  Lucy Hornby reports for Reuters:

  Chinese President Hu Jintao for the first time appealed directly to Taiwan’s opposition party to give up its stance for independence and offered an olive branch to Taiwanese seeking representation in international bodies.

  Hu called on Wednesday for a pragmatic approach to the political relationship to ease concerns over tension across the Taiwan strait.

  China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, its “one China” policy, since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has vowed to bring the island under mainland rule, by force if necessary.

  “As long as the ‘one China’ principle is recognized by both sides … we can discuss anything,” Hu said.

  If Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gives up “splittist activities” and “changes its attitude,” it would elicit a “positive response,” Hu said.

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 10:29 AM

• ‘Honey Laundering’ Beats US Tariffs On Chinese Food Products

  

  Chris Ayres reports in the Times from Los Angeles:

  As scientists race to investigate the sudden and inexplicable collapse of bee colonies in America and Europe, international smugglers are coming up with new and imaginative ways to get Winnie the Pooh’s favourite snack into breakfast cereals and onto supermarket shelves.

  ‘Honey laundering,’ the authorities call it.

  As the name suggests, honey laundering involves disguising drums of the sticky stuff from China by selling it to a third party—usually a distributor in another part of the world—then re-packaging it and re-exporting it, so that its source remains unknown.

  According to an investigation by the Seattle Post Intelligencer, several tons of Chinese honey have this year passed through ports in Tacoma, Washington, and Long Beach, California, after being fraudulently repackaged as the product of Russia.

  » Read more
  • December 31, 2008 10:24 AM

• Photo: Making homemade candy in Beijing, by chrissuderman

  

  

  Making homemade candy in Beijing, by chrissuderman

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 10:32 PM

• China Dairy Manager on Trial for Milk Scandal (Updated with Video)

  

  Four executives from the Sanlu Dairy Company are on trial Wednesday for their role in the contaminated milk scandal that killed and sickened Chinese babies. From AP:

  Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group Co., and three other top executives who also went on trial Wednesday could face the death penalty if convicted.

  The high-profile trials and the release of details in a 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) compensation plan signal that authorities hope to end what was widely seen as a national disgrace, highlighting widespread food safety problems and corporate and official malfeasance.

  [...] Seventeen others have gone on trial over past few days with at least four facing the death penalty, Xinhua has said. The defendants included people accused of producing melamine and marketing it to milk producers, as well as milk collectors who mixed the chemical into raw milk sold to major dairies.

  A Xinhua report gives a few more details of the trial, including the fact that one of the defendants arrived in a wheel chair after an apparent suicide attempt. Xinhua also says the defendants face a maximum penalty of life in prison, not execution. From their report:

  The four defendants were arrested on Sept. 26.

  Tian told the court that she learned about the tainted milk complaints from consumers in mid-May, and then the company set up a working team led by her to handle the case.

  Sanlu Group submitted a written report about the problematic milk powder to the Shijiazhuang city government on August 2, she said.

  Read CDT’s coverage of the tainted milk scandal here.

  Update: Tian Wenhua pleaded guilty to the charges against her, according to the New York Times, which has more details about the trial.

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 10:06 PM

• More Party Organs Open to Media

  

  The State Council Information Office has announced plans to increase government transparency by setting up press offices and spokespeople in more official government departments. Xinhua reports:

  Press offices have been set up and spokespersons have been selected and trained for seven of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) core bodies, State Council Information Office (SCIO) Minister Wang Chen told a news briefing on Tuesday.

  [...] Leaders from more top Party organs are also scheduled to meet the press next year, he said.

  The seven Party departments include the CPC Central Committee’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, United Front Work Department, Organizational Department, International Department, Taiwan Affairs Office, the Party Literature Research Center and the Party History Research Center.

  A brochure containing contact information on each of the department’s spokesperson, as well as those of other government ministries, was released prior to the briefing.

  Reuters reports that at the same press conference, Wang Chen lauded the increased transparency in reporting in 2008, especially of the May earthquake in Sichuan:

  Release of prompt and accurate information, especially during emergencies, was a focus in 2008, Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office, told a news conference.

  “This shows that China has changed in a positive way, and such changes are recognized by the international community,” Wang said as the country celebrates 30 years of reform and opening up to the world.

  Wang said his office would push for more transparency in “some areas where officials have not released information in a timely manner”.

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 9:40 PM

• ‘Two Faces’ of Deng Xiaoping

  

  In the third part of a series on 30 years of reform, Bao Tong writes about Deng Xiaoping. From RFA:

  In October 1984, a group of university students spontaneously unfurled a banner that read “Hello Xiaoping” and marched in an ebullient mood towards Tiananmen Square. This was an expression of the public mood. Five years later, countless students coralled in their dormitory buildings smashed “little bottles” (xiaoping) in an expression of their indescribable anger and grief. This, too, was an expression of the public mood. Both expressions gave voice to the two-faced nature of Deng Xiaoping.

  Deng’s two-sidedness was like a pendulum. One minute he wanted reforms, the next he was resolutely upholding the four basic principles of socialism. One minute he wanted to escape from a political dead end, the next he had returned to it.

  Deng was like that. You could criticize him for logical inconsistency, but you couldn’t say he said one thing and did another. Both his words and his deeds were in earnest. He was a genuine supporter of reforms, and yet also a staunch protecter of the very things we were supposed to be reforming.

  Read an earlier essay in the series here. On the Time China blog, Austin Ramzy recalls meeting Bao and comments on his latest essay.

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 9:16 PM

• China Modifies Water-Diversion Plan Over Environmental Concerns

  

  Authorities are implementing a four-year delay in the south-north water diversion project amid environmental concerns. The Wall Street Journal reports:

  The total project, at an estimated $62 billion, is expected to cost nearly three times the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest dam, and to take decades to complete. It is expected to require the relocation of some 300,000 people, and, when finished, to carry a volume of water equal to more than half of California’s total annual consumption along its eastern, central and western routes.

  The eastern route, which mostly follows the ancient Grand Canal, is largely done. The mountainous western route, which is the most controversial and technically challenging, isn’t slated for completion until 2050. The central section was supposed to start operation in 2010, but officials now say it will be finished in 2014.

  In a written response to questions from The Wall Street Journal, the South-to-North Water Diversion Office under the State Council, China’s cabinet, confirmed changes in the plan, but said the new timetable represents an “adjustment,” not a delay. “We have taken appropriate measures to mitigate the environmental adverse effects that the construction projects may make,” the office said. The new measures include dams that could maintain higher water levels and reduce pollution.

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 11:34 AM

• China Admits Flaws in School Construction

  

  A government report acknowledges shoddy construction of schools across the country, like those that collapsed in the May earthquake in Sichuan. In Yunnan Province alone, 20% of primary schools are structurally unsound, according to the report. From the New York Times:

  The Ministry of Education report is a rare government admission of substandard school construction. The issue has been a delicate one since the earthquake, which killed 88,000 people, many of them children crushed in shoddily built schools.

  The report called on the central government to finance the reconstruction of vulnerable schools quickly, especially those in rural areas and western parts of China that are seismically unstable. Speaking about the report, Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said in an interview with the China News Service that Beijing would increase construction subsidies by 25 percent to 150 percent, depending on the region.

  Mr. Lu was quoted as saying that nearly 2.5 percent of all primary and middle schools in China have structural problems, on a built area equal to 360 million square feet.

  The NPC has also recently passed legislation setting stricter standards for school construction.

  In related news, a teenager from Sichuan who raised money for earthquake survivors has been invited to attend President-elect Obama’s inauguration in Washington next month. From AP:

  Li Zizi, 16, is making the trip because she participated in the Global Young Leaders Conference in New York and Washington this past summer. The program, run by a U.S.-based nonprofit, invites alumni to attend the presidential inauguration every four years.

  Li moved in August to Sichuan province, which was rocked by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in May that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. She now attends the Chengdu Experimental Foreign Language School, which is close to many of the hardest-hit areas.

  Her family is from Sichuan, but she was born and raised in Japan and living there when the quake hit.

  “I was so worried, we were on the phone and on the computer dialing away and we couldn’t get through to anyone because all the phone connections were down,” she said in a phone interview Monday. “I couldn’t wait to get back and start volunteering for stuff and fundraising.”

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 11:20 AM

• Liang Jing, 2008 and China’s ‘National Destiny’

  

  Overseas political commentator Liang Jing’s new piece, translated by Dr. David Kelly of the China Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney.

  Since the 1990s, China’s rapid social transformation has brought much uncertainty to individuals, leading Chinese people to seek everywhere for spiritual resources. This is the case both with the people and the elite. The need for faith stimulated the rise of Falun Gong and the revival of folk religion, stimulated in particular the astonishing development of Christianity in China, emboldening some of the intellectual elite who are critical of autocratic politics to convert to Christianity. A trend is thus emerging among the ruling elite, a return of interest in “guoxue” [national studies] and “guoyun” [national destiny]. [1] A mysterious figure catalyzing this development is the somewhat legendary Nan Huaijin [南怀谨]. Mr Nan made an influential forecast regarding China’s national destiny: “the time of turmoil that we are in will probably not continue for too long; extrapolating on historical principles, since the year 1987 our ethnic prosperity and national destiny should have begun turning toward the prosperity of the reigns of Emperors Kangxi [1661-1722] and Qianlong [1736-1796], and may continue two or three centuries.” [2] I don’t claim Mr Nan made this statement to please the CPC, but the CPC leaders’ mentality of trusting to luck was undoubtedly encouraged by it.

  The intensifying domestic and international crises in 2008, above all the global financial crisis triggered by the US, was a major test of Mr Nan’s predictions. If correct, China will have headed off disaster. Since the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997, China has been in an age in which the nation has been run by slaves and mediocrities, leaving huge and deep social trauma, and building up high risk of disorder. The sudden onset of the global financial tsunami took place at China’s political, economic and social Achilles heel; what does this bode for China’s national destiny? The greatest test for China’s “national destiny” of the crisis that broke out in 2008 was the fact, plain for all to see, that the power to decide the fate of 1.3 billion people lay in the hands of some very mediocre and incompetent leaders. Hu has never had any language of his own, and has difficulty really communicating. During the decade of silence when Hu Jintao was Emperor In Waiting, many people hoped that some profound stratagem lay behind his inscrutable “poker face.” It is now realised however, six years after his accession, that the emperor has no clothes; Hu responds to all changes by not changing at all, and his sole intent is to “retire quietly.” For a China once again setting sail on stormy seas, will disaster beyond redemption be brought by such a captain? At a recent meeting in commemoration of 30 years of China’s reform, Hu had a new saying that surprised many: “bu zheteng” [don't flip-flop]. It now seems that some important information was transmitted in this much-pondered phrase.

  Hu Jintao’s “don’t flip-flop” was, it seems, a response to “Charter 2008.” In other words, he could not adopt the advice of Chinese political dissidents, and carry out constitutional democracy in a big way. This response of Hu’s was of course not surprising—he had already displayed this attitude by ordering Liu Xiaobo’s arrest. “Don’t flip-flop” may also however have been Hu’s a response to power struggles in high levels of the CPC. In the face of increasingly serious internal crisis, the high Party levels are anything but peaceful; there are those want to cool things down, and my sense is that there those as well who are pushing for Hu’s replacement to be brought forward. Hu’s “don’t flip-flop” is in answer to these two forces; at least on the surface, he wants to preserve the current Party power structure.

  Hu Jintao, however, has never said anything of his own, and this time was no exception. The real source of “don’t flip-flop” was Xi Jinping. When newly appointed Zhejiang Party Secretary, Xi used the expression, “even with the best ideas you can’t flip-flop.” [3] The fact that Xi’s idea was introduced into Hu’s speech showed that the 2008 crisis has accelerated the new generation of Party leaders stepping into their roles. As a result, China’s national destiny is to a large extent linked to the leadership not only of Hu Jintao but of this whole new generation of leaders. What, then, was the message conveyed by this new generation saying “don’t flip-flop”? The message, coming from the mouth of an heir to the red revolution, was in my view quite profound. As has been pointed out online, “don’t flip-flop” is a tacit admission and self-examination of decades of disastrous flip-flopping by the CPC.

  The question is, was the late Qing Dynasty not trying to avoid flip-flopping? A question raised by China’s history of over a century of flip-flopping is, can the Chinese people do without it? In other words, why do the Chinese keep flip-flopping? This may be a vital issue in determining China’s national destiny. My criticism of “Charter 2008″ is that while its moral courage is praiseworthy, it lacks depth of thinking. One defect is its failure to answer a key question: why is it that despite centuries of struggle the Chinese people’s dream of constitutional democracy has remained unachievable? Is it only because there are always bad people in power?

  Why was the sound and realistic reform strategy of Chen Baozhen [4] obliterated in Kang You-wei’s opportunistic 1898 coup, and not vice-versa? Why did Sun Yat-sen, who in order to seize power did not scruple to betray national sovereignty, become a national hero, while the robustly reformist Li Hongzhang was saddled with the name of traitor to the nation? Why did the born hoodlum Chiang Kai-shek win power in the Guomindang, while Chen Jiongming, that outstanding personality who provided the revolutionaries with a base in Guangdong, was cast aside by both Nationalists and Communists? [5] Why did Hu Shi lose the limelight to Lu Xun? Why was Mao Zedong able to topple Liu Shaoqi, rather than Liu curb Mao? Why could the moral indignation of university teachers and students help the conservatives topple Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, yet prove unable to stop Jiang Zemin making China’s universities into hotbeds of slave philosophy and culture, and corruption? The emergence of “Charter 2008″ and the “don’t flip-flop” response show that China reached a crossroads in its destiny in 2008. Compared to Putin’s appointment of opposition leaders as regional leaders, the dialogue of “xiangyuan” [6] taking place between China’s powerholders and opposition makes it hard to accept Nan Huaijin’s optimistic forecast of China’s national destiny.

  * Liang Jing, “2008 yu Zhongguo de ‘guoyun’” [2008 and China's 'national destiny'], Xin shiji, 29 December 2008 [梁京： "2008与中国的'国运'"， 新世纪，2008年12月 29日 (URL pending).].

  [1] Seeker of Learning, “Xuejie gaimo yidai zongshi” [Academic model, master of his generation], wenxue.folo, 24 February 2004 [问学： "学界楷模 一代宗师 "，2004年2月 24日(http://wenxue.folo.cn/user1/11344/archives/2007/33964.html).].

  [2] Nan Huaijin, “You Laozi dao Sunzi—Nan Huaiqin” [From Laozi to Sunzi—Nan Huaijin], 29 December 2008 [南怀瑾： "由老子到孙子—南怀瑾"， 2008年12月 29日 (http://www.success001.com/b/2/nhj/laozi.htm).].

  [3] “Yangshi ‘Dongfang shikong’ shengwei shuji xilie zhuanfang: Xi Jinping” [CCTV's Oriental Horizon series of interview with provincial party secretaries: Xi Jinping], Dongfang shikong, 29 December 2008 ["央视《东方时空》省委书记系列专访:习近平"，东方时空，2008年12月 29日 (http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2003-11-16/11182145564.shtml).].

  [4] (Translator’s note) Chen Baozhen (Chinese: 陳寶箴; pinyin: Chén Bǎozhēn; 1831-1900), was a Chinese statesman and reformer during the Qing dynasty. Chen was born in Xiushui in Jiangxi province and obtained the second highest degree in the imperial examinations in 1851. During Self-strengthening movement, Chen became closely associated with Zeng Guofan efforts to rearm China. In 1895, he was appointed governor of Hunan province, where he carried out a reform program with the aid of Tan Sitong and Liang Qichao. Chen’s sympathies to the Hundred Days of Reform attracted criticism from his superiors, and he was dismissed from his post in 1898. He died in Nanjing two years later. (From Wikipedia; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Baozhen).

  [5] (Translator’s note) For a similar view of Chen Jiongming see John Fitzgerald, Awakening China (Stanford University Press 2004), ch. 4.

  [6] (Translator’s note) xiangyuan may be translated as ‘hypocrite’ or ‘goody-goody.’ Confucius (Lun Yu 17.13) calls them ‘thieves of virtue:’ they assume a character which is not their due. In Mencius’ description, they are ‘eunuch-like, flattering their generation.’ Wan Zhang, speaking as the naive man, objects that “…their whole village styles these men good and careful. In all their conduct they are so. How is it that Confucius considered them the thieves of virtue?” Mencius (7b 37.11) replies, “If you blame them you would find nothing to allege. If you criticized them you would find nothing to criticize. They agree with an impure age. Their principles have a semblance of integrity and sincerity [zhong xin 忠信], their conduct is a semblance of disinterest and purity; all men are pleased with them, and they think themselves right, so that it is impossible to proceed with them to the principles of Yao and Shun. On this account, they are called the thieves of virtue.”

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  • December 30, 2008 12:08 AM

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