Olympic Torch Protests Follow Quake
Mike Nizza, for the New York Times media blog The Lede, takes a look at discontent bubbling within China over the excitement surrounding the Olympic torch relay in light of the tragic earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on Monday:
According to Agence France-Presse, an internet outcry erupted after the official Xinhua news agency published jubilant photographs of the torch’s arrival today in the southeastern province of Fujian, its 12th domestic stop. …
The Associated Press added that “traffic on Chinese-language Web sites and blogs overwhelmingly favored some kind of moratorium — either now or next month.”
In an update to the post Nizza writes: “In a reversal, Chinese officials announced that the next leg of the relay will be ’simplified, downscaled and open with a minute of silence,’ according to the A.P.”
Origin: Mike Nizza, The New York Times
POSTED COMMENTS: 16 Responses
The entire ugly spectacle should have been cancelled weeks ago. A minute of silence for 12,000 plus dead? Life is indeed cheap in China. The unseemly celebration of the CCP must go on!
[...] New York Times (via CDT) describes how many people in China have been incensed by jubilant celebrations of the Olympics [...]
What theses western shits want~cacellation of the Torch Run, we shall never concede. The Run MUST continue but with some modifications. Just don’t be too happy, you western shits. Calamities just may come your way, someday & somehow, we shall see. Just see who has the last laugh!
I hope that Tibet activists will not take advantage of this tragedy to attack the Chinese people even more.
They have suffered enough and deserve our sympathy. This is not the time for dirty tactics.
Hey Ma Bole,
Your racism and hatred of everything Chinese is showing.
Since when did any country cancel a major sports meet over a natural disaster?
Your first sentence reveals that you ( and your like)never wanted China to hold the Olympics in the first place,independent of this earthquake which came in conveniently for your pack howling for Chinese demise to add salt to injury by saying that China is heartless vis-a-vis the victims of the earthquake.As if we are heartless monsters without feelings. The rescue workers and PLA are working in full swing to save everyone, reacting FAR FASTER than your REALLY HEARTLESS American Rescue Authorities in the Katrina Disater!! Remember all the criticism vented at the US gov’t’s couldn’t care-less attitude to the predominanty black population in New Orleans?
Why, even y7our veverabler Dalai Lama praised the fast reaction of the Chinese rescue teams and Army.
You bloody anti-Chinese bastards. Every incident, even a tragic natural calamity, is seized by racist curs like you to demonize China.
A decent human being will not exploit the tragic situation of another person ( even an enemy )to further press home attacks.
People like you are just racist curs, mongrels blinded by blind hatred.
Serves you right that the Al Qaeda and Taliban blasted the arses of your likes.
Ha ha ha ha !!!!
When did the Katrina Disaster or the 9/11 ever dampen US desire to participate in sports meet and cultural activities? Didn’t your US leaders say ” Life goes on. We will not let these disturb our will to remain on course…..” ? In fact they ( and Americans ) became even more defiant after calamities, man-made or natural.
A minute of silence for the victims of 9/11 ? Are their lives worth only that much ? Worse still, you insult and denigrate their dignity by launching a totally unjustified war on an innocent party ( Iraq) to quench your greed for oil IN THE NAME OF THE VICTIMS OF 9/11.
That is how much ( or rather how little )you value the lives of Americans!!
And we didn’t see any minute of silence for the victims of the hurricane Katrina.Where is your ( and US’s) high and lofty regard for the dignity and peciousness of every US citizen ?? Is it because the victims were mostly blacks ?
Not even one minute of silence for the more than 100,000 Iraqi victims of your invasion and occupation.
Worse still, NOT EVEN A MINUTE OF SILENCE FOR ALL THE SOLDIERS KILLED AND MAIMED IN THE IRAQ OCCUPATION.
What about a minute of silence for the 7 million ( mostly civilians)you killed in Vietnam, the victims of Agent Orange ( the world’s worst ecological crime by US Air Force) who are still suffering from deformities and all kinds of cancer,for the 600,000 victims of US SECRET BO0MBING OF CAMBODIA,for the poor starving and disease-afflicted people of Cuba slowly strangled to death by US sanctions ( even the Pope was highly critical of this inhuman and atrocious US perpetration of slow enforced genocide of the innocent Cuban people, or for the more than 300,000 dead Iraqi children as a direct result of US sanctions on Iraq after the First Gulf War,the poor peasant and intellectual victims of the murderous Latin American military dictators and right wing miltias funded by USA ( eg. Contras, UNITA in Angola) etc, for the more than 200,000 East Timorese killed by the Indonesian Army ( funded, armed and egged on) by USA etc.
Gosh, so many millions have been killed ( and are being) by USA, either directly or by proxy, BUT WE HAVEN’T SEEN ANY SOUL SEARCHING OR EXPRESSION OF REMORSE ON ALL THESE DEATHS CAUSED DIRECTLY BY CYNICAL & CRUEL US/AMERICAN MILITARY INTERVENTION.
MIND YOU, THESE DEATHS WERE NOT CAUSED BY NATURAL DISASTERS BUT BY CRUEL US PLANNING AND COLD-BLOODED IMPLEMENTATION.
Where is your humanity, where is American humanity, Ma Bole ??
Are you humans indeed ???
CDT –
You do the world a great service by pulling together these very relevant stories regarding China.
Please consider dropping your comment function, or at least require official registration with a .edu address.
Many of the riff-raff who comment here are extremists who have nothing constructive to say.
(By the way, “Truly Asia” is welcome to meet me outside anytime.)
I second Ma Bole’s suggestion that the torch relay should have been cancelled weeks ago. In light of the devastation caused by Monday’s earthquake, continuing with the relay seems nothing less than perverse. Perhaps the Chinese should have chosen to shorten the route by a week or so – at least until the situation in Sichuan stabilizes.
In response to B.Singhee. See a shrink. You’ve got a loose screw – or two or three. Your post says a lot more about you than it does about Ma Bole. Run, Mr. Singhee, don’t walk, to the nearest mental healthcare professional. You are looney tunes.
Hey, yourself, B.Singhdee. I’m hardly a racist – particularly when it comes to the Chinese. In fact, I am half Chinese myself. My mother is originally from Beijing. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, I am fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, and I am married to a Chinese woman (also from Beijing). My degrees (all three of them) are in China-related fields, and I presently live, work, and eat in Taipei on the beautiful, democratic island of Taiwan. On most days, you can find me loitering around Academia Sinica.
Commenting on the particulars of you response to my first post would be a waste of time. Suffice to say, you are a monumental ignoramus. Next time you feel cause to respond to a post, try not to lose your mind in the process. And please, stay away from Taiwan and Hong Kong!
Ah, now the picture is clearer.
This could be a site run by Taiwanese ( perhaps many are Lamaists) or whoever has a desire to see China implode for their own selfish interests.
It is clear that you n your gang are dead bent on seeing that China does not ever hold the Olympics, even long before this earthquake happened. Now you put the cart before the horse and use the earthquake as an excuse to stop the Olympics in China.To say that celebrations be scaled down in view of the earthquake is reasonable ( everyone agrees), but to say the whole Olympics should have been scrapped long before the earthquake is just PLAIN MALEVOLENCE and HATE.This is what I am fighting against.
The Olympics are not important now. It is your insinuation that the Mainland Chinese are heartless in the face of the natural calamity that now becomes the bone of contention.Look at the videos of rescue work going on before you spew hatred.Are you contributing any help at all to the victims in China? Only adding salt to injury.I am a handicapped person suffering from chronic illness since childhood, but every time China or any country experiences a disaster, I contribute my hard-earned savings to the Red Cross without any malevolent finger-pointing.
You claim that you are a Chinese, but your hatred shows that you do not love them at all. Why are you so jealous that the Olympics are in China? Perhaps you think that it should be held in Taiwan.Perhaps you think that Taiwanese are the best and the only human Chinese in this world. Wait till I tell you how we Malaysian, Singapore and Indonesian & Australian Chinese think of you. Perhaps you think that your half-white blood gives you the right to regard every other Chinese as an inferior savage.
My brother & sister and relatives married whites and live in Western countries, yet all them regard themselves as staunch Chinese when encountering Western racist prejudice, and so do their children.
All your words show nothing but hatred for the Chinese people.
The way you n your friends talk shows that you believe there are no good Chinese in China and that all of them are so evil that they do not deserve the Olympics.Yours is such a childish and immature attitude.
Any mature person knows that there are good and bad people in every nation and race. And hating or badmouthing others of your own race ( without qualifying your generalisations by the reiteration that the evil ones are the minority) reveals a pathological hatred, vengeance, unforgiveness and meanness of the heart.
My philosophy is very different from that of yours or ur friends.
To me, it does not matter whether this Chinese comes from taiwan , Hong Kong or Mainland China. We are all brothers & sisters not only by blood ties but in the eyes of Jesus. And the same I see for every other nationality. My best friends are Africans, Bangladeshis, indigenous natives of any country, Latin americans ( & Indians there), Irish,Iranians, Mexicans etc. etc. Even some American Peace Corps members are still my best friends.
You cannot even love your own Chinese brethren in mainland China.
My dearest desire is to see ALL CHINESE ( no matter where they come from )love each other as brothers and sisters, and also love other races and be loved.When I was studying at British and German Universities, my flat was always the gathering place for all Chinese from everywhere : Taiwan, Mainland China, Singapore, Indonesia,Hong Kong, malaysia etc. Never for one moment did we feel that we are different from each other. We also gladly accepted Koreans, Lebanese, Arabs, Iranians and Cypriots in our midst.
What the hell are you doing : separating the Mainland Chinese from the common brotherhood of all human beings? Even Communists – one can change them if you have unconditional love for everyone.
Rather than hating mainland Chinese and stereotyping them as incorrigible devils, love them and reach out to them as Jesus does, with genuine love and patience. I have met many who are lovely in their hearts.
Teaching at 2 Universities ( including a Western one ), I enjoyed having Mainland Chinese ( & Africans, Bangladeshis) as my students.I really love them, they are lovely people and I was able to bring 85 % of them to Christ, EVEN DIE-HARD COMMUNISTS.In fact many mainland Chinese make the best Christians.They know what is real love and what is just posturing of “democracy” and “human rights” See the difference between Love and Demonization( your approach).
You may say ” Oh. But I am against the Communist Party in China”.You are stating the obvious and there’s nothing new in that. Who likes communism? It’s just another fallible human system like democracy or socialism which will be hijacked by an evil person cos all humans are evil thru the original sin.
I believe in the right to stand up and rebut any racist stereotyping of any race( not only just Chinese but anyone who is bullied), the right to practise my own religion and form my own opinions.
Just because the leaders are authoritarian does not mean that the entire nation should be demonized. The West sees everything in one blanket stereotyping, seeing the 1.3 billion Chinese as all the same inscrutable slit-eyed monolith.This is borne by my ( & my friends’) experience in the West.We are not communists but whenever we walk down the streets of British cities, we hear cat-calls of Chinks, Ching Chong. etc. Now tell me is that because of communism ? Just plain racism, so don’t give us the communism shit excuse.
Do you know of Christ’s exhortation ; ” Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, render unto God what is God’s” ? Whatever government is in power, we continue to do God’s work to sow HIS LOVE AND HIS TEACHINGS.To confront head-on an authoritarian gov’t is not the answer. Change it from within, start at our workplace & colleagues, then spread the change thru the institution, then local authorities, the leadership, the county levels, then regional etc….
I have a wonderful Christian brother who radiates so much character & love in his Department that even all the Muslims love him and the director protects him. Love, not demonize.
Do you think only the communist leadership ( actually authoritarian capitalist)is solely to blame for the present state of lack of freedom in China? Isn’t it PARTLY because of fear of the outbreak of anarchic forces among the people? Think carefully. DO THE CHINESE PEOPLE IN GENERAL ( ASIDE FROM THE TRULY EDUCATED ONES) REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT DEMOCRACY AND ITS INHERENT RESPONSIBILITIES ARE?
Have they eradicated their old basic ( or rather BASE)character : SELFISHNESS,EGOCENTRICNESS, I AM THE BOSS, JEALOUSY & ENVY, GIMME GIMME,If you oppose me I’ll do you in, or I’ll purposely oppose you for the purpose of opposing you cos I don’t like you, personal attacks and playing out grudges rather than focussing on the issue,… you can write a whole page. I am afraid the majority still hasn’t rooted out their old nature.
BEFORE ONE CAN GIVE FULL DEMOCRACY TO THE CHINESE, THEY HAVE TO BE CHRISTIANIZED to remove all traces of selfishness and infighting divisiveness.This will take many years. For some nations like S. Korea or Taiwan, it takes more than 50 years of military rule before the peoples can mature to democracy, riding on the back of Christianization.
Your Taiwan had to go thru a shamefully long military rule, killing 10,000 aborigines in a week,before you arrive at a slugging fist-fight form of democracy in your parliament.So did S> Korea, which had to kill thousands of students in Kwangju to mature into a democracy now, actually enabled by Korean christianization.
That is why Singapore is not going to give democracy yet to the Chinese there. Wait till they feel as one people and love their country and each other. USA loves Singapore in spite of its authoritarianism. Its previous leader is a gifted Cambridge graduated lawyer .What say you?
And Ma Bole says to me not to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong. Who wants to go to places inhabited by Chinkies who only know how to fight themselves??
I have many brothers and sisters living in Western countries and they all tell me that if I ever come to the West, I must never live in any area with lots of Chinese cos they will not only do you in but there are many Chinese gangsters( enjoying western democracy) there who have spoiled the image of all Chinese, causing the whites to hate ANY Chinese there.Two places that I don’t want to go are especially Taiwan and Hong Kong.Both only know how to bash their brother China in front of the Westerners, as if they are the paradise on earth .Actually they are gangster-ridden places with Chinese bashing and killing each other.
You talk as if Chinese gov’t is the worst in the world. I wish you tried living in Indonesia under the Suharto regime not long ago. Every now and then there was a terrible pogrom against the Chinese, rape, killing, looting, burning. Chinese could not speak Mandarin, were badly discriminated,Chinese business were openly extorted at every turn by the Police and army.After living there, you will feel that China is a better place.But of course you are ignorant.
I should have listened to my dad who said ;” Why should you care so much for the Chinese? They only care about their own selfish interests and will be the first to do you in in spite of the passionate love in your heart for them.” How true it is. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ching Chong , King Kong, Ding Dong, Dim Sum, Ah Chong, Fu Wong, Sing Song, Chop suey, Taiwan Beef noodles, Wonton, Two Tonnes,Pak Choi, Wong Bok, …
Last Comment: Any Chinese who cares for the entire Chinese people( throughout the world )and truly loves them will die a broken-hearted person.
Confucius died a broken & diappointed man. He taught so much to Chinese, but no one listened to him. Everyone is mad with money, Taiwan & H
ong Kong dollars, Yuan etc. Sun Yat Sen said:” Chinese are but a handful of loose sand “– slipping thru the fingers quickly and disappearing. Qu Yuan killed himself by throwing himself into a river to protest the materialism of the Chinese after pleading in vain for more spiritual and moral renewal… Taiwan, Hong Kong Dollars, Renmimbi….. Lu Xun, the Chinese writer, talks of Chinese people: ” Even when the Japanese are beheading the pitiful Chinese, there are still crowds of Chinese crowding roung the execution site, talking about the victims, their stupidity… ” Such trite people…..Taiwan, Hong Kong, King Kong, Ding Dong Dollars and Renmimbi…..
FIGHT, FIGHT AMONG YOURSELVES. KILL EACH OTHER OFF. NO WONDER THE WESTERNERS CALL ALL OF YOU “CHINKS”.
THE ONLY THING YOU KNOW: “AI PAK BOH? AI PAK LAI LAH.” ( You want to fight? If you want, come now! )
And Ma Bole, please don’t parade your qualifications to show that I am an ignoramus.Everyone in ignorant in some areas.
A wise man knows that he knows nothing, or at best a wee bit only.
And i am just as educated as you. I am teaching at 2 Universities and speak,read & write 14 languages: German, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Portuguese ( Continental & Brazilian) , Russian, Korean, Hindi, English ( my mother tongue), Mandarin, Malaysian national language, Japanese, Hokkien, Foochow, Hakka and some Cantonese plus another native language of Malaysia.
What’s the use of all this parading? Knowledge does not make a noble person but genuine love in one’s heart makes one.
Jesus reigns!! I look only at our Lord Jesus, not to any human being, especially Chinese, Taiwanese or Hong Kongites or any westerner.
One thought: Only when a Chinese has stayed in the West or anywhere not Chinese and experienced denigratory name-calling and discrimination ( & persecution) will he/she begin to appreciate the importance of a strong China.You are too lucky- Taiwan & Hong Kong.
This will be my last posting about you Chinese.Don’t bother to answer.I won’t read it anymore.Those who care about Chinese will die an early death. Stuff yourselves with your wonton soup and Taiwan beef. noodles!
[...] the New York Times (via CDT) describes how many people in China have been incensed by jubilant celebrations of the Olympics [...]
They’ve already scaled down many of the torch relay celebrations.
The Olympic Committee is also using the celebrations to raise money for earthquake victims.
whether Olympic torch should carry on as it has done so far, its not my business.
In light of this tragic disaster, thousands of school children parished on top of ordinary poor people. PLA offiers said all PLA facilities are ok and not damaged, including the nuclear sites. Local govt. buildings also stood up, but why all major school building collapsed??
Now there are victims families pointing to the school rubbles that no proper safety regulations were followed, i.e. no proper mix of cement, no proper iron standings, etc….
Victims’ families express anger and frustration and disgust that local officials and building contractors colluded, sipping up money and building cheap n poor school buildings.
Furthermore, although it is a natural disaster, yet these questions must be answered for and that all complicit in negligence of protecting citizens must be brought to justice, even if it leads up to Hu Jintao, Jain Zemin or granpa Wen.
This earthquake has shown lights on so many issues, which ordinary chinese people has rights to held thier govt. accountable. Hope this time, there is through independent investigation, leaving the CCP regime no chance to cover up and blame on something else.
My prayers and condolences to all the victims and their families. Cheers!
[...] New York Times (via CDT) describes how many people in China have been incensed by jubilant celebrations of the Olympics [...]
Reflecting on Realist’s posting:
How can one be so arrogant and full of himself to laud CDT for “pulling together these very relevant stories regarding China”, and at the same time ask CDT to restrict its comment section arguing “Many of the riff-raff who comment here are extremists who have nothing constructive to say”.
That is a seriously narcistic mental disorder and shows an utter lack of personal insight.
CDT – your are great as you are!
[...] netizens who complained right after the May earthquake government television was still showing triumphant images of the torch relay when the time had come to focus on the suffering of the people of [...]
[...] netizens who complained right after the May earthquake government television was still showing triumphant images of the torch relay when the time had come to focus on the suffering of the people of [...]