The lyrics include the following lines: “A country stands up in the world,” “Only when we have a strong country can we have a prosperous family,” and “Country is glorious perseverance.”

…The company’s representative said any customer who did not like the tune could switch to other options at no cost by following instructions on its Web site.  She said she did not know how long the song would continue to play otherwise… But Hu Xingdou, a reform-minded economics professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, said China Mobile went overboard in tinkering with its customers’ phones.

“The current efforts to instill ideology makes me feel that the authorities consider ordinary Chinese people to be unpatriotic or even mentally challenged,” he said. “So they enforce this patriotic education on people.”

See the video and hear the song here:

© cschultz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China Mobile, guojia, Jackie Chan
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As a rule, the concepts used in academic research must be applied consistently from beginning to end. I have not yet seen the original text of the Chinese Academy of Science report, but it is apparent from news reports that the concept of the “nation” (guojia, 国家) is applied rather vaguely. China News Service relays the report’s definition of “national responsibility” as: “In the age of globalization, a nation must take on responsibility not only for the subsistence, development, safety, health, prosperity and sustainable development of its citizens, but must at the same time the nation must, as a member of the international community, bear responsibility for the safety, health, prosperity and sustainable development of all of humanity. The two of these aspects together constitute national responsibility.” On first hearing, this seems to be well thought out. But those who observe carefully will note that the former and latter uses of “nation” are not consistent. The first refers to the national government, and is identical to the English word “government.” The second refers to a community that encompasses the citizenry, territory and state system, what is expressed in English with the words “country” or “nation.”

Before I came across this news, I had been in my own slump of sorts. Before the National Holiday editors at Southern Weekend had asked me to explore a set of questions: “What have you done for your guojia? What has your guojia done for you? What more can your guojia do for you?” I felt I had no answers because I had no clear idea what these various guojia’s” pointed to. Subsequently, I discovered answers to this questionnaire by professor Ding Xueliang (丁学良) and I was again faced with these questions. On his blog, he wrote: “The concept of the guojia (国家) gives rises to four different words in English: state, country, land and nation. The differences between these are not readily discernible in Chinese. The word ‘country’ focuses on territory and the people while the word ‘state’ refers primarily to state political power.” As professor Ding answered each question [posed by Southern Weekend] he was specific in each case about his definition of guojia (国家).

Read also What Is the Point of This Kind of Research? on the 美 Mei – Zhong 中 關 Guan – Xi 系 blog.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chang Ping, guojia, patriotism
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On the PRC’s 59th National Day, the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend published a collection of Chinese citizens’ reflections on “my country and me.” There are four collections under “what my country has done for me,” “what have I done for my country,” “what else can you do for your country” and “What else can the country do for you.”

Those collections published in Southern Weekend are colorful and informative. But they are also carefully edited. In the blogosphere, one can hear more authentic voices responding to these intriguing questions. Here are two such examples:

Hecaitou (和菜头) is the online name of a well-known Internet writer. He was born in 1975 in Yunnan in a ethnic Bai family. His father is a PLA military officer. He studied in Nanjing University from 1993 – 1997, and worked in Wujiaba Airport in Kunming since his graduation until recently. He started his web-writing life in 1997. His prolific and humorous writings range from technology and digital culture to social critiques. He answered Southern Weekend’s questions in full length on his blog, selectively translated by CDT’s Fan Linjun:
(...)
Read the rest of Chinese Bloggers: A Patriot Like Me (1,644 words)

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: guojia, hecaitou, netizens' voices, patriotism, Wuyuesanren
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