Tidbits From the World

September has been a busy month. September 1st was the first day of class. I started level 4 of Chinese (out of 6 levels) and this semester, I noticed that the teachers are giving us more and more ideological (communist) or nationalistic (Chinese) examples to explain the meaning of new words. For example, in order to explain to us the meaning of the verb:

让步 (make concessions), the teacher used the following example: “Over the question of Taiwan and Tibet independence, we Chinese, must never make any concessions (让步) to foreigners!”

For the word: “recognize” (公认):
“We recognize (公认) president Mao as the greatest leader China has ever had!”

For the verb: “to interfere” (干涉):
“China will never accept foreign countries to interfere (干涉) in its interior affairs”.

Last July, riots sparked by racial tensions resulted in the death of hundreds of people. After the intervention of the police and the return to calm, according to some reports, some Uighur terrorists started to prick people with syringes, apparently as a way to attack people without attracting suspicion from the authorities. This method propagated into many cities in China, including Xi’an. On this picture, the suspect is not a Uighur as one would expect, but a Han (the ethnic majority). And she doesn’t target any minority in particular (but rather women and old people).

The poster of a suspect wanted by the police:

嫌疑人刻画：女，年龄： 30-40岁，
身高：160-165cm, 黑色长发
披肩或扎马辫，本地口音或普通话，
瓜子脸，体型较瘦，身挎大包，
单肩包或超市购物袋。
作案方式：在公交车上利用上下
车拥挤背包中针扎人。
侵害人群：妇女和老人。

Description of the suspect: Woman, between 30 and 40 years old,
Height: 160 to 165cm (5′3” to 5′5”), long, black hair.
Local accent, speaks Mandarin,
Oval face, carries a big bag,
A strap bag or a plastic bag.
Modus operandi: enters crowded buses
and uses the syringe in her back pack to prick people.
Targets: Women and Old People

September 18 was the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of China in 1933. On that day, anti-raid sirens from all over the country rang out during one minute. Some old people took advantage of that day to write hate messages on the walls with chalk, directed at the Japanese.

October 1st will be the 60th anniversary of communist rule in China. As it is written on this poster: “no pain, no gain”, indeed the first 30 years were quite harsh… The Chinese characters are written in their traditional form 我愛中華60年/我爱中华60年 (I love China, 60 years). I wonder why they used English for their design of this patriotic poster. Very few people in Xi’an can understand this message in English.

The entrance to the University.

To prevent an outbreak of H1N1, the body guards at the entrance of the campus take the body temperature of each person entering, using a contactless thermometer. Those who are discovered having a fever will be escorted to the district hospital where they will be quarantined. A police agent is present in the morning to make sure that all the procedures are properly followed. In order to leave the campus, one must have a special authorization from their program director. For those who live off campus, it is easy to obtain that authorization, however for those who live on campus, in the dormitory, it is much more difficult.

I found something very interesting last summer, when my friend from Beijing came to visit me in Xi’an and he gave me this magazine.

The magazine was a special issue of National Geographic about China.

Before he arrived in Xi’an, he skimmed through the magazine and noticed that some pages were thicker than others… and also, yet another strange observation, page 125 was followed by page 130… (instead of page 126). He then discovered the reason for these pages being thicker than others: they had been glued together! The “X” that you see here on the left page on the photo are the marks left by the glue that pulled off ink from the next page, glue that was placed there by the Ministry of Propaganda.

The text is about the repression of political dissidents and also mentions a case where an artist cut his little finger to protest against the 1989 events at the Tian’anmen Square.

At pages 100 and 101, one can see four artistic representations of chairman Mao: Mao with Stalin’s moustache, Mao swimming in a river of blood, Mao with a flower on his lips and the official portrait of Mao, out of focus.

Chinese cartography has always been a controversial issue. This is because on some parts of the border, the limits have still not been negociated with the neighboring countries and some have not yet received international recognition. On this map, Taiwan appears in white, as if the Island was not a part of China.

On this map it is not Taiwan that is missing, but some borders claimed by China are not recognized. These regions are currently under the administration of foreign countries, mainly India.

And finally, the most ridiculous example of censorship in our era of widespread computers and Internet: censorship by a black marker pen! Under a strong light one can see what lies hidden behind the black marks:

“After 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion swept across Beijing, every decade included at least one major political upheaval. Usually these events were violent, ranging from…”

[the Japanese invasion to the Cultural Revolution to the massacre around Tiananmen Square in 1989].

The pages that were not censored are mostly about the new Chinese Economy, the Nouveaux Riches, the ancient Chinese Culture, the technological achievements of China, fashion, urbanism and also about air pollution and water shortages.