Re: China Studies
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:36 pm
bob wrote:While we should uphold our values (such as human rights, etc.) to maintain our own spirits and moral high ground, we also must consider Tienzen's points above on any practical strategy.
david wrote:Tienzen wrote:... For example, are Chinese people moved by our action of awarding a “Somebody” a Nobel [Peace] Prize?
What did we (the America) gain from this?
Did we move more Chinese people to our side?
Or, we just helped Chinese government with our action?
What kind of action from us can move Chinese people, especially to our side?
The questions asked by Tienzen in his first post of this thread can be the best practical questions for our consideration.
I am a Taiwanese growing up by singing anti-communist songs. My dislike the Chinese communist regime goes way beyond her human records.
I do think that Tienzen’s question on the effects of awarding Liu Xiaobo (劉 曉 波) the Nobel Peace Prize is a truly a key question for the China studies. Do we advance our aim of moving Chinese people to our ideas of human right and democracy?
I have talked to many Chinese friends and not a single person giving a damn about Liu. Of course, this personal survey is not done statistically, but it is still a good indication.
Did this act impress me? If Liu has done a great work, I will be impressed. I did not know about him at all before 2008. I heard about that he and many other wrote a Charter 08 in the news but without knowing what that Charter was all about, then the news about his arrest by Chinese government and finally his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. That is, Liu was a nobody to me as my contemporary. So, I went to the Nobel Peace Prize website to read about him.
It says that Liu is a great writer with many great books written. I did not read any of his book and thus cannot comment on them. But, I do read his Nobel Prize statement “I Have No Enemies: My Final Statement” in Chinese (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ ... ure_ch.pdf ). His Chinese language skill is quite poor in that statement. I will just show one example here.
Liu’s sentence (我 被 從 監 視 居 住 處 轉 到 北 京 市 公 安 局 第 一 看 守 所,)
The following three sentences are the better and the correct ways for Chinese sentences.
1. 從 監 視 居 住 處, 我 被 轉 到 北 京 市 公 安 局 第 一 看 守 所.
2. 我 從 監 視 居 住 處, 被 轉 到 北 京 市 公 安 局 第 一 看 守 所.
3. 我 被 從 監 視 居 住 處, 轉 到 北 京 市 公 安 局 第 一 看 守 所.
At the Nobel website, info about Liu is available at the following pages,
Biography (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ ... iaobo.html )
I Have No Enemies: My Final Statement (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ ... cture.html )
The “Documentary” is a video (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ ... -docu.html ). One Chinese lady in the video did upset me by saying “kill the monkey to scare the chicken, 殺 猴 儆 雞” to describe the treatment of Liu by the Chinese government. There was no such idiom in China. The correct idiom is “kill the chicken to scare the monkey, 殺 雞 儆 猴”. While the language is alive and free, she must respect the usage of idiom. Of course, she can create a new phrase “kill the monkey to scare the chicken, 殺 猴 儆 雞” for her own creativity but must not claim it to be an idiom.
While not knowing the detail of dispute between Liu and Chinese government, I found that Liu is a Nobody as a literary man. As Chinese is a sage culture, someone like Liu will not gain much respect from the Chinese commoners.