China Digital Times

Stories tagged with: notable quotes (16)

• Zhou Guoping: “What a Dull Era We Are Living In!”

  

  Author and philosopher Zhou Guoping (周国平) is a researcher at the Philosophy Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is well-known in Chinese intellectual circles as the translator of Nietzsche. The following quote from his blog, has been frequently cited in many Chinese online forums. Translated by CDT’s Linjun Fan:

  “What a dull era we are living in!

  I look around and find everybody is busy, with weariness, greed and helplessness on their faces. There is no sparkle of excitement in their eyes. Seniors get together in parks and enjoy themselves in dancing, but kids are confined in classrooms all day bent over endless school work.

  I see scholars hectically attend various meetings and forums and laud each other as great masters, creating an unprecedentedly boisterous atmosphere in an era without real academic masters.

  I see publishers collaborate with mass media to produce one cluster of bestsellers after another, successfully turning reading from a personal interest into a mass revelry.

  I see real estate developers work closely with officials, resolutely sweeping away historical architecture and ancient streets, and replacing them with monotonous large squares and columns of skyscrapers.

  I see many things interesting are being destroyed, and the phenomenon of no-fun is spreading.

  I can’t help but lament that what a dull era I am living in.”

  “这是一个多么无趣的时代。

  我朝四周看，看见人人都在忙碌，脸上挂着疲惫、贪婪或无奈，眼中没有兴趣的光芒。我看见老人们一脸天真，聚集在公园里做儿童操和跳集体舞，孩子们却满脸沧桑，从早到黑被关在校内外的教室里做无穷的功课。

  我看见学者们繁忙地出席各种名目的论坛和会议，在会上互选为大师，使这个没有大师的时代有了空前热闹的学术气氛。

  我看见出版商和媒体亲密联盟，适时制造出一批又一批畅销书，成功地把阅读由个人的爱好转变为大众的狂欢。

  我看见开发商和官员紧密合作，果断地将历史悠久的古建筑和老街区夷为平地，随后建造起千篇一律的大广场和高楼群。

  我看见许多有趣的事物正在毁灭，许多无趣的现象正在蔓延。

  我不得不说，我生活在一个多么无趣的时代。”

  » Read more
  • October 3, 2008 9:51 PM

• Does “The State Council Party and State Organizations Special Food Supply Center” Really Exist?

  

  The following quotes from Wen Jiabao, together with a denial from the official media about the State Council Party and State Organizations Special Food Supply Center is spreading through the Chinese Internet.

  “A government which is the flesh and blood of the people, has no privileges except responsibility, service, dedication and cleanness.

  “一个同人民有血肉联系的政府，除了责任、服务、献身和廉洁，没有其它特权。”

  - Wen Jiabao’s speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York, September 24, 2008.

  “The Activity Center of Elder Officials of the State Council has no such agency called ‘The State Council Party and State Organizations Special Food Supply Center,’ it has never held ‘certificate ceremonies,’ nor does it have a person named ‘Zhu Yonglan.’ Any related online information is purely rumors.”

  - A anonymous spokesperson of the The Activity Center of Elder Officials of the State Council, from the official China News Agency, September 25, 2008.

  However, netizens continue to dig out search engine cache pages from an already deleted website of the The State Council Party and State Organizations Special Food Supply Center. It has many more photos and text, including the following introduction, translated by CDT.

  » Read more
  • September 25, 2008 11:56 AM

• Wang Wei: “The Chinese Culture Always Emphasizes the Concept of Harmony”

  

  From The Ninth IOC/BOCOG press conference:

  Wang Wei:

  On the issue of demonstration, the basic situation has been already announced by the authorities. And I think you should be satisfied with that. The demonstration parks are announced. There are three places on the basis of Chinese law. The idea of demonstration is to hoping to resolve issue it is not demonstrating for the sake of demonstration. We are actually quite happy to hear that many of the 77 cases have been resolved. Now the resolution of these protests was through dialogue and communication. And this is also a part of way to do in Chinese culture. For instance, in China, if somebody wants to complain to courts or they want to launch a protest to the courts, the courts probably first engaged mediation first to see whether dialogues are a possible solution. Even for civil cases, for instance, people want to get divorce, the community tries to mediate fist.

  The Chinese cultural always emphasis the concept of harmony, so if it can be resolved through mediation and the divorce is withdrawn, then everybody is very happy about that. Other countries may not think that is very good but in China, we think it is a good thing. Of course, if you insist on divorce, you can go through the legal process to get the divorce. So I think for these people who want to demonstrate or protest, this is my personal opinion, is that they want to find a solution to their problem and once there is a solution, they will be satisfied. Of course, solution should come through legal means and not through demonstration. But now the Chinese law also accepts possible to use this method. I think that is a characteristic of Chinese law. You mentioned just now Mao Zedong led a ‘100 flowers bloom’ that is in an attempt to let everybody to express their opinion. I think everybody has the right to speak. Nobody said that you don’t have the right to speak. This is another thing. This is not the same as demonstrating. Thank you.

  Mr. Wang Wei is the Executive Vice President of Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG).

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  • August 20, 2008 3:59 PM

• China’s Dream of Becoming a “Great Power” Again

  

  China.com.cn/BBS 中国网和平论坛 is an online forum whose editorial position has a strong nationalistic bent. The following quote is from an essay, written by Wang Li, published on China.com.cn, and reposted on the front page of Netease.com, one of China’s most popular online news portals. The title of the article is “The Olympics have arrived. How can ordinary Chinese respond to the world?”, translated by CDT:

  This ancient country, it is integrated and fragmented, it is fragile and solid. It is anxiously waiting for an opportunity to rise again.

  The Beijing Olympics is such a signal. It is China’s official, legitimate date with the world. Every Chinese wants to get back the name which once belonged to this land, the name is: “great power.” “大国”。

  Yes, it is such a great power that, “all neighbors submit to her and all foreigners come to her to offer congratulations” “四方臣服，群夷来贺”. It is such a great power that, “anyone who offends the powerful Han will be destroyed regardless of the distance.” “犯强汉者，虽远必诛” In order to rebuild such a dream of a great power, the whole country has been mobilized. Domestically, we have built up facilities, constructed roads, improved the environment; externally, we have demonstrated good will, carried out promises, consolidated foreign policies. This country has made enormous efforts and sacrifices; the people here eagerly hope to gain corresponding recognition. However, in a pluralistic world, differences between cultures, races and values make this process of China emerging into the world particularly difficult.

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  • August 4, 2008 2:14 PM

• Beijing’s Forgotten Promises

  

  From Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s Update: BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008:

  Numerous press reports over the last two days have described limits China has placed on Internet access at Olympic press facilities. Blocking of web sites by Chinese authorities
  has affected large numbers of foreign reporters arriving in Beijing to cover the Olympic
  Summer Games, which begin next Friday, August 8….As a resource to CECC Members and others following this issue, the CECC has compiled the attached hyperlinked list of select official statements and background material related to this issue. One document that may be highly relevant, but that China has not made public, is Beijing’s Host City Contract.

  “There will be no restrictions on journalists in reporting on the Olympic Games.”
  -Beijing’s Bid Documents (2000)

  “It was confirmed to the Commission that there will be no restrictions on media reporting
  and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games.”
  -Report of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission for the
  Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008 (2001)

  “I think we will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China.”
  -Wang Wei, Secretary General of the Beijing Olympic Games Bid Committee (2001)

  » Read more
  • July 31, 2008 6:08 PM

• Hu Jintao Answers an Eight-Year-Old Japanese Boy’s Question

  

  An interesting tid-bit from Hu Jintao’s tour of Japan, via news.sohu.com:

  Yesterday [May 9, 2008] afternoon, Hu Jintao visited Yokohama Yamate Chinese School, marking the first time any high-level Chinese leader has visited an overseas Chinese school. During his visit, Mr. Hu audited a third grade Chinese class and taught children to read the Tang Dynasty poem “Reflection in the Quiet Night.”

  During Hu’s visit, eight-year-old Songtian Haoji stood up and asked the Chinese leader: “Grandpa Hu, why did you want to be the president?”

  His question inspired laughter in the classroom.

  “I want to tell you, I myself did not want to be the president,” Mr. Hu answered. “It was the people in the whole country who voted me in, and wanted me to be the president. I should not let the people throughout the whole country down.”

  Show on map

  » Read more
  • May 11, 2008 8:54 PM

• A Cup of Tea

  

  

  Time magazine Beijing correspondent Austin Ramzy writes on Times-China blog:

  To follow on Simon’s post below about Zeng Jinyan, it’s worth noting what Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had to say yesterday regarding human rights. During a joint press conference with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Yang said, “The Chinese people enjoy extensive freedom of speech,” according to the Financial Times.

  “You could ask 10 people on the street to stand in front of public security officers and freely say ‘human rights are far more important than the Olympics’ 10 times or even 100 times and I’ll see which officer arrests them,” the newspaper quoted Yang as saying. “If they get tired, the public security officer would probably offer them a cup of tea.”

  I’m guessing Yang wasn’t intentionally referring to the practice of state security agents asking activists out for “a cup of tea.”

  Photos: Hu Jia, Zengjinyan and their daughter Hu Qianci.

  » Read more
  • March 2, 2008 10:44 PM

• The Olympic Games Are Not Politics?

  

  Are the Beijing Olympics political? Overly political? Non-political? Beijing-based blogger Shizhao published the following three quotes on his Chats in Banmutang (半亩塘闲话）blog, translated by CDT:

  [From Xinhua] Mr. Jiang Xiaoyu (蒋效愚) executive vice-chairman of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee said: the Committee welcomes media from everywhere in the world to objectively, fairly and comprehensively report on the preparations for the 2008 Olympics and to point out shortcomings, but we oppose politicizing the Olympics. To do so would not be consistent with the spirit of the Olympics, nor with the principle in the Olympics charter that “Sports competition should not have any discrimination.”

  [From Chinese media QQ Sports] The head of the All China Sports Bureau said: The 2008 Olympics are a political mission; everything else has to give way unconditionally.

  [From BBC Chinese] Ms. Hua Xinmin, a Beijing city preservation activist said: One important reason that Beijing succeeded in its 2001 bid to host the Olympics is [the application] emphasized the cultural uniqueness of Beijing as an ancient capital. Now in the process of preparing for the Olympics, it is wrong to destroy this cultural landscape.” She also said: “It is ridiculous and invalid to use the Olympics as an excuse. The Olympics are the Olympics; the Games are a festival of sports competitions. They are not politics. Now some people are using politics to suppress other voices, as if opposing the Olympics equals opposing the government. In China, the Olympics have been raised to the level of politics. This is a wrong way of thinking.”

  UPDATED: From The People’s Daily on Jan. 29, 2008, translated by CDT:

  “Those who want to use the Olympics to discredit China, and those who think the Olympics will promote China to change in the way they “hope”, are doomed to be disappointed. Their efforts will be futile.”

  » Read more
  • February 1, 2008 11:18 PM

• Listening to Netizens? - The Talk and Practice of Shaanxi Province Officials

  

  The following excerpt is from the Shaanxi government official website CNWest.com, December 30, 2007:

  When asked by a reporter to say a few words to four million Internet users of Shaanxi Province, Yuan Chunqing, governer of the province, had a grin on his face: “I too care about netizens’ attitude a lot. I believe the Internet has greatly strengthened people’s social, economic and political participation. Speaking from a government position, we need to use the Internet channels to listen to people’s voices better, and also build better interactive relations by including those voices into the decision-making process. I hope our netizens pay more attention to the government, support the government, and give the government constructive suggestions as well as criticism.”

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  • January 21, 2008 9:19 PM

• Confessions of the Corrupt - dwnews.com

  

  See some amazing remarks from Chinese officials caught with hands in the till. Translated by CDT from dwnews.com:

  Chen Zhaofeng (陈兆丰) took bribes while he was the county party secretary of Dingyuan in Anhui Province. “You worked very hard in cracking down on corruption, but I also worked hard on corruption!” he told investigators on his case.

  Former vice mayor Yu Bin (余斌) of Linxiang (临湘) in Hunan Province was arrested for taking bribes. He invented a theory of “taking bribes to alleviate poverty,” according to which, “I take bribes to invest what’s from the people on things for the people.”

  Former chief of roads bureau Li Guowei (李国蔚) of Ganzhou City in Jiangxi Province was sentenced to a life term for taking bribes and large amounts of unexplained assets. He noted, “I committed this because of bad social morals. And I was an unlucky dog when I got picked out.”

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  • December 16, 2007 9:06 PM

• Lanzhou Party Leader on the Role of Public Servants - CCTV

  

  “Parenting Official (Fumu Guan) (父母官)” is a term that was often used in Chinese dynasties to call officials whose role was “to parent” the people they ruled. This is the political heritage of the official Confucius education. However, this political heritage is slowly changing in today’s China.

  When interviewed on CCTV’s program “From Decision Makers (决策者说),” Chen Baosheng (陈宝生), the Communist Party Secretary of Lanzhou (兰州) said on the nationally broadcasted program: “I do not like the term ‘Parenting offcials’ We cadres are servants of the people. Ordinary people have paid their taxes, and taxpayers bought our labor. We work for the taxpayers who provide our income. We should provide good service for ordinary people.” [Original Chinese Text]

  » Read more
  • December 11, 2007 5:14 PM

• Caring For Mum, Dad Key To Career In China - AFP

  

  From AFP, via Zee News:

  Up to 500 people may be interviewed before the government decides if an employee shows adequate devotion to his or her parents.

  “Officials should possess traditional values of filial piety and family responsibility, which are the foundations of a successful career,” the paper quoted the county`s Communist Party chief, Liu Sen, as saying. [Full Text]

  » Read more
  • April 9, 2007 9:03 AM

• On Knowledge and Responsibility - Zhao Tingyang

  

  The following passage is from a book by Chinese philosopher Zhao Tingyang:

  As a question of epistemology Foucault talks of ‘knowledge/power’ relations, which is the political meaning of knowledge. But at the same time we also must stress the relations of ‘knowledge/responsibility’ as the theoretical meaning of knowledge. … Truth is not the highest judgment, truth must be good, truth must be responsible [i.e. bear responsibilities], because in the end what humanity needs it life, not truth.

  (Zhao Tingyang, Tianxia tixi [The All-under-Heaven system], Nanjing: Jiangsu jiaoyu chubanshe, April 2005, pp. 5-6)

  
  
  Professor Zhao is researcher of philosophy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Thanks to professor William A. Callahan for the tip.
  
  

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  • March 19, 2007 4:37 PM

• “I Don’t Welcome Excessive Negative Media Coverage” - Wang Min

  

  Following excerpts are from a Southern Weekend reporter Zhao Lei (˵µËïæ) interview with Wang Min (ÁéãÁèâ), Party Secretary and governor of Jilin Province, a delegate from Jilin to this year’s NPC conference, translated by CDT:
  
  

  Reporter: You have just mentioned that various governing systems are coming into being, and at the same time many problems are just showing up. As the Party Secretary of the (Jilin) Province, do you welcome the supervision from the press?

  Wang Min: The supervision of the press is an effective way to ensure that the party committee and the government will make correct decisions and conduct scientific governance. The effect is becoming more and more noticeable. But I don’t welcome excessive negative media coverage. Generally speaking, excessive negative coverage will create a negative feeling among the people. It’s very detrimental. I think the press should have a broad perspective and be politically correct. It should be responsible for the party, the government and the society. The press can’t blindly insist on being eye-catching. It should do more support and encouragement. When I was in charge of education, once I said that good kids are cultivated by praise. If everybody praises you, you will slowly have very good self-discipline. I haven’t been in charge of propaganda, but I think doing propaganda is just like educating kids, and good behavior is created by praise. [Full Interview in Chinese]
  
  

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  • March 18, 2007 6:26 PM

• Li Zhaoxing (李肇星)’s exchange with a Taiwanese reporter on democracy

  

  At the opening ceremony of the CPPCC annual meeting, foreign minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) was surrounded by reporters. Here is an exchange between Minister Li and a Taiwanese reporter, as reported on club.china.com, translated by CDT:
  
  

  When a reporter asked Minister Li about China’s policy on Taiwan, Li answered: “All policies follow the will of the motherland and will of the people.”
  
  “Do you mean you want them to vote?” a female Taiwanese reporter asked.
  
  Li Zhaoxing (laughing): “This question is a tricky one. The answer is No. No!”

  » Read more
  • March 7, 2007 10:36 PM