finally handed-in my thesis today

It HAS been a while since my last post.
I didn't even read the news with my morning cup of coffee the past few days (apparently meanwhile North Korea did a nuke test of which of course I was oblivious. Hm, to think of it, is it so important for our existence to have this kind of information really?!)
And of course I didn't have any time to post here.
The last few days were physically and mentally busy and exhausting.
In just a few days I had to write my thesis. In fact it only took the time since Thursday until today 7 o'clock in the morning to finish it.
In fact I have worked on this topic for the last 3-4 years and I have collected so much material that I still haven't even managed to mention or use some of it. However writing all than on paper under emotional pressure is NOT easy.
It was an intense and wearisome experience.
Here I wish to thank my Chinese friends and classmates who helped me those few days with the overwhelming task. I wish to thank my dear (pregnant) friend H. R.F. for her help and for staying in front of the computer for hours for two days in a row. I also want to thank Z.F. for checking and being responsible for the Traditional Chinese Character script. ( I decided that since my thesis is using so much of Classical Chinese texts, it must be printed in the form that is as close to the original as possible).
Lastly said, but mostly indebted I am to L.X. for his forbearance and untiring help those few days. Without his help and support this thesis would not have been ready today.
I am indebted to all three of you. MARGA, thank you!
After sleeping for 2 hours last night and after not having key elements even ready a couple of hours before deadline, with the help of my friends I somehow managed to get it done in time.
I haven't even read the thing (or seeing it in a finished for printing form)before I printed it out. Reading it now, I find that there are quite a few places that I could have easily seen and changed if only I had time to at least read it once.
Oh, well.
Frankly speaking judging from the whole attitude of my advisor and the teachers who are going to read the paper it is very HARD to feel motivation for doing something very good. It will not be appreciated.
My defense is this coming Sunday.
For my own sake I'll try this days to at least correct the mistakes I already noticed...

i found a peephole...

I DID find another way to embed pictures!!!

This annoying Chinese censorship will make me more PC-savvy if not something else! An unexpected encouragement in creativity and a bonus out of nuisance!

something beautiful

Yesterday in the early afternoon, frustrated and for many (mainly emotional) reasons, unable to write and work on my thesis, I took a walk on campus in my favourite northern part of it. There are fewer tourists and other annoying Chinese in that part of campus, with a few secluded walk lanes and lakes. It's actually very beautiful and has given me much strength during the past few years. It's also the area where I (used to) run each day in the morning...

Yesterday, feeling rather depressed I decided it's not a bad idea instead of staying in my room, to just be outside for a while...
The weather was actually quite good, clear blue sky, very strong subnshine and the intense green of the trees...
(The day before there was a pretty nasty sand storm, something normal at this time of year here in Beijing...I am terrified to think what is the condition of my lungs after breathing this filthy poluted air for 8 years.
Yesterday it appeared all cleared up by the strong wind, so it was a fine day.)

Anyway, as I was strolling alone on a winding secluded lane in my most favourite,most secluded and peaceful part of campus (and Beijing, and whole of China)I saw in one of the lakes a mother duck with her four ducklings swimming in front of her.
It is not rare to see birds and squirrels on campus, since a part of it is a park, and I believe I have previously seen the she-duck and her partner swimming before together, but this scene was so incredibly simple, but immenselly beautiful and serene...
Imagine, lush green, patches of shadow and sunshine on the water, the gentle swishing sound of the ducks swim, a woodpecker on a nearby tree knocking hard on the tree bark, soft, but intense light of an early afternoon...and silence.

I followed slowly the five ducks' swim for a while, gracefully, passed under a sort of a concrete bridge towards the next lake, until they hid in the reeds...There was actually the male duck (you can tell from his colourfull feathers, different from her brown and simple ones) being by himself. The she-duck following her 4 ducklings gracefully passed him (he was actually at some distance) and went further away...
The beauty of these few minutes was complete. I watched very quitely, almost transfixed.
It was a gift.

As I mentioned a couple of times already, I'm suppossed to be writing my thesis these days. There isn't much time left, and I'm almost nowhere...I'm going to write some other time more about it, but what I saw yesterday, the tranquility of the scene with these ducks gave me much inspiration since my thesis has much to do with animals in the Buddhist jatakas (former birth stories), but about that, some other time...

Meanwhile Blogger is still blocked here in China, but hopefully I will be able to circumvent the censorship and post nevertheless with the use of proxy browsers...
It appears that if I post from my laptop all the options for colours and fonts might work, so that's not bad. I was afraid my posts will be too dull without any pictures and other 'embelishments'...Uploading pictures seems not to be possible, but I'm going to think something up...

Big Brother Is Watching You: China Blocked Blogger!!!

This is absolutely vexing and irritating!!!

The moment I decide to make a blog and it is sabotaged.
I have little hope that THEY are going to unblock it...Youtube has been blocked for more than a month (if not even longer) and there are no signs it will get unblocked...And now blogger...
With the sensitive anniversaries coming up, my guess is that the black-out will go on at least until October...

It took me some time to find a way to post this, but at least this time out-smartened the censor-geeks.
Here is a way to circumvent the Great Firewall:

http://www.proxyblog.cn/free-web-proxy-sites/allunblockercom/

or

http://www.allunblocker.com/

Actually these days I have many things to share here, but have no time for posting...
I am writing my thesis (or rather I am trying to), but still, I had to see if I can find a way and post this...

For now it works.

(I have a GREAT photo to go with this post, but in the current situation this option and all the rest of the "fancy" options are not available...So for the time being, unfortunately,no special fonts,no colours, no photos, monochrome with just words...)

The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake : In Memorial of All Sentient Beings

Picture: A stone at Dongkekou Quake Relic Park records the date and time of the earthquake that killed 780 residents of Donghekou village last year in China. By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

My initial intention for today's post was to title it "Selling Pain:1st anniversary of the Sichuan Earthquake" and to vent my indignation, disbelieve and disgust at the brainless, imbecile and insensitive idea to make profit out of misery, disaster and tragedy.
As I have said before, in China everything can be marketed and sold as long as there is someone willing to buy it.


Picture:On a hilltop overlooking the ruins of the town of Beichuan, hundreds of Chinese tourists now queue up to buy pieces of the disaster legend. Vendors sell picture books and DVDs of the disaster, incense and candles to be placed on memorials.

However just now, on waking up, I decided against writing the post about this. At least not today. But here is an article to give you some idea about the "earthquake tourism" that is a profitable business in the disaster zone one year after the earthquake:

Chinese earthquake park turns pain into profit
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-05-10-quakepark_N.htm

Instead of writing about this somewhat perverse phenomenon, I'll use this post to commemorate not only the people who perished as a result of the earthquake, buried under the rubble of their homes or other (sometimes badly constructed) buildings, children who never finished their classes and never went home, and the suffering and pain of those whose loved ones have perished, but most importantly I want to commemorate today the REST of the sentient beings who suffered and perished. Today, no doubt everybody will commemorate and mourn the more than 80, 000 people who died, but I'm sure nobody will even mention that along with the humans, together sometimes, possibly hundreds of thousands of other sentient beings also perished at the same time exactly.
It made an impression on me that in last year's reports for the earthquake only a few articles even mentioned the animals as the other victims of this natural disaster at all. A couple of dead pandas and a pig that survived made the news. And only one article actually mentioned the thousands of dead animals, "domestic" or wild. Another article (or the same one, I don't remember) actually mentioned the huge animal life loss, but it was in connection with the comment of the big negative impact of the earthquake on the local pork industry (Sichuan is "famous" for it's pork).

Hm, I wish I could somehow "redeem" this neglect, human insensitivity and lack of compassion today.
Suffering and pain is NOT a prerogative of humans.

So, this post is in memorial of the REST of the sentient beings that lost their lives in much the same, (if not much greater) helplessness facing this natural disaster.
I cried many times at the reports of the human tragedies, but my heart also goes to those nameless, uncounted, unaccounted-for, neglected other sentient beings who also died in pain, suffering, helplessness and terror.

And if there is a lesson to be learned, it is that people's smugness is ridiculous. Humans are NOT masters of this Planet. We are just 'visiting'. For a short while.
And we have absolutely no clue about how or why. Actually most times no clue about nothing at all.

Let ALL sentient beings be happy and safe!
.

'Empire of the Sun' author J.G.Ballard passed away

British author J.G. Ballard, whose boyhood experience in a World War II internment camp became the novel and film "Empire of the Sun," died today at age 78, CNN reports. He had suffered from cancer for several years.
Ballard was born in a Western enclave in the Chinese city of Shanghai in 1930. The Japanese occupied the city in 1937, and Ballard and his family were placed in a civilian internment camp in 1943.
"Empire of the Sun," his semi-autobiographical account of the war years, became his best-known work, and it was made into a film by director Steven Spielberg in 1987.

I remember as a teenager first seeing the film and vividly remember how deeply it touched and impressed me. It is one of the most thought provoking films I have seen. I saw the film many times during the years. The direction (Steven Spielberg) , script (Tom Stoppard), production, cinematography, etc. are all excellent, but the most important is the incredibly brilliant performances of the actors, especially of the very young then Christian Bale. Because of the film I discovered also the book, which is also excellent.
"Empire of The Sun" is an emotional account of the Japanese occupation of Shanghai as seen from the eyes of a 12 year old foreign boy and is an account of the great changes that he undergoes as a result of his disturbing war experience. It is perhaps the best "war movie" I have ever seen. It has a heart.

If you haven't seen the film or read the book I recommend them strongly!!!

Links for the film on the Chinese Youku site:
part 1 http://v.youku.com/v_playlist/f1881268o1p0.html
part 2 http://v.youku.com/v_playlist/f1881268o1p1.html
part 3 http://v.youku.com/v_playlist/f1881268o1p2.html

China opposes honorary Paris citizenship for HHDL

Again!

The "feelings of the Chinese people are to be hurt" by the French!

(Reuters) – China Thursday warned France not to grant exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship of Paris when he visits next month, saying it would only anger the Chinese people.
Last year, China pulled out of an EU summit that France was to host after President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a separatist.
The relationship between China and France deteriorated after the disruption of the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay last summer by pro-free Tibet activists incensed many Chinese.
(People's Daily) - China demanded Thursday that the city of Paris stop interfering in China's internal affairs.Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu made the comment in response to a question on the city's decision to give honorary citizenship to the Dalai Lama next month.
-------
Now THAT will keep the Chinese nationalists busy for days!
Just in time to divert the attention from the upcoming Tiananmen anniversary.
By the way, also next month, the Dutch also are to hurt the sensitive feelings of the Chinese people, as the Netherlands Parlament, despite a warning (!) from the Chinese ambassador, invited and intends to meet with the Dalai Lama when he visits Holland.

Dutch to invite Dalai Lama to parliament
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGVq3ezb1jGcE4bbKxf_KQoL5LRgD97JLBQ01

The World's Loneliest Pig

This is excellent!!!

"Afghanistan's only known pig has been locked in a room, away from visitors to Kabul zoo where it normally grazes beside deer and goats, because people are worried it could infect them with the virus popularly known as swine
flu.
The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.
There are no pig farms in Afghanistan and no direct civilian flights between Kabul and Mexico.
"We understand that, but most people don't have enough knowledge. When they see the pig in the cage they get worried and think that they could get ill," the director of the zoo, Saqib said. "

(REUTERS)

The domestic pig was a gift to the zoo from China (!), which by the way usually gives away/lends pandas as good-will gifts to foreign countries. Hm, the choice of giving a Muslim country a pig is to say the least strange...

China itself recently because of the hysterics around the A/H1N1 flu virus, last week quarantined some 70 Mexicans, 26 Canadians and four Americans, some of them reportedly quarantined SOLELY on the grounds of their nationality (which is completely insane!).

The rest of the REUTERS article is exceptionally entertaining and very worth the reading.

The pictures are excellent!

Human stupidity and insanity really have no limits!

Afghanistan's only pig quarantined in flu fear

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5444XQ20090505

News Feed: Collapsed School Buildings

Really shouldn't be posting today or any of those days...I DO have to work on my thesis, there is hardly any time left.
But that's NEWS.

Chinese officials (obviously under huge pressure because of the coming up one year anniversary of the May 12th devastating Sichuan earthquake that killed more than 80 000 people and destroyed the livelihood of millions more) have finally succumbed and announced a number of the supposed schoolchildren victims, something despite of many months of probing they have been (to say it mildly) reluctant to do.
For those of you you haven't followed. Many parents have questioned authorities about the disputable adequacy of school buildings in the affected regions, the main argument being why adjacent government buildings were still standing while the schools were turned to rubble. Many people expressed doubts (and outrage) at the possible lack of enforcement of safety standards and the substandard school building which possibly might have caused their collapse ( and the possible crime of side-stepping building regulations to cut/embezzle funds ) and it is indeed one of the few more massive questioning of authority by ordinary Chinese in recent months. Until today the Chinese authorities (local or central) had not announced the figure of the dead schoolchildren. According to reports, they did so today.
The figure is not small : 5,335 students have perished under the rubble of their classrooms.
A compilation of reports from Xinhua and local newspapers at the time put the number of dead and missing children and teachers at around 9,000, but this possibly will never be known...

The important thing is that this was a great tragedy and the obliquitous attitude of the authorities will always will be raising doubts, even if most of the children actually didn't die because of shoddy construction, but because of the devastating strength of the earthquake.

Recommended:

China Releases Student Quake Death Figures
http://china.blogs.time.com/2009/05/07/china-releases-student-quake-death-figures/

Looking back on Chinese media reporting of school collapses
http://cmp.hku.hk/2009/05/07/1599/

a very interesting outline of the media coverage and the authority control of it...

News Feed: Again interfering with China's "internal affairs"

From today's news, 3 pieces of news that I bet will certainly make the Chinese government and nationalists go mad with indignation and make them "unhappy"...yet again.

"HOW dare those nosy westerners with ulterior motives interfere with our 'internal affairs' " is no doubt not only the government's 'Pavlovian first-order conditioning'-like response each time to ANY international criticism, investigation and report, but also this indeed actually represents the majority of popular sentiment. Actually not a few Chinese believe that China should "stand up to the West" and think the government's response is not strong enough.

And since a huge part of the Chinese population is completely ignorant or/and apathetic about what freedom of speech, democracy, free press, religious freedom, international law, human rights, etc. etc., actually mean, the misunderstanding and confrontation gets bigger and deeper.
The automaton-like reaction is almost invariably uniformly the same - they just go crazy with rage each time somebody says something not flattering or critical or which is even slightly different from the official line. On the other hand, Chinese government and the playing along media use this conditioning reactions well to draw away attention from the actual internal affairs and the actual REAL problems. (Most of the time the publicly expressed strong indignation of government officials and the announcements of the "hurt feelings of Chinese people" are quite obviously for internal consummation and/or a diversion tactics.)
(It's a very dangerous game to play with nationalism and to encourage anti-foreign sentiments, though, but that's another issue...)

My question is, why, WHY on Earth the reaction is so uniform?!!
(There are two actually : apathy/indifference or indignation.)
Is it a intended result of the (at least) decades-long brainwashing, or it is a side effect of it?!
Why so few instead of, stopping for a second and actually engaging in a rational, conscious act of individual thinking just snap.
"What?!! Cultural genocide?!! Minority and ethnic problems?!! Religious freedom restrictions, controls and interference?!! Political persecutions?!! Harassment of petitioners?!! Violations of human rights?!!
First of all it's none of your business! Second of all, there are no such things in China. Your criticisms are groundless and biased. In China everybody feels happy and harmonious. And if they don't we'll goddamn make them feel so!"

So here is the news from today:

China rejects latest US report on religious freedom (AP)http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090505/ap_on_re_as/as_china_us_religion_1

"China sharply restricts religious practices and controls activities of churches and mosques, a report from the congressionally backed U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said."Religious activities are tightly controlled and some religious adherents were detained, imprisoned, fined, beaten and harassed," said the commission's 2009 annual report, which was released last week.The report said China remained on a list of "countries of particular concern," which the commission considers the world's worst violators of religious rights. Examples of other countries on the list include Nigeria, Myanmar, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.The report pointed to China's efforts to make Buddhist monks and nuns pledge loyalty to Beijing and denounce the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet who the government accuses of trying to split the Himalayan region from the country.It said that those who refuse have been expelled from their monasteries, imprisoned and tortured.Similarly, Muslim clerics in Xinjiang in western China have been forced to undergo political retraining in order to retain their licenses, the report said. "(AP)

Eh. Should we expect a Chinese report on the "restriction of the religious freedoms" of the Mormons in the US anytime soon perhaps?!

Rights group presses China over quake 'harassment' (AFP)http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090505/wl_asia_afp/chinaquakerightsamnesty_20090505054058

"Rights group Amnesty International has urged China to end what it called the harassment of parents seeking to find out how their children died in last year's Sichuan earthquake.In a new report ahead of next week's one-year anniversary of the quake, which left nearly 88,000 people dead or missing, the watchdog documented cases of the government detaining parents who tried to question officials.Thousands of students were believed to have been killed when their shoddily built schools collapsed in the quake.A year after the May 12, 2008 quake, the government has still not released the total number of school-aged victims and has appeared eager to cover up alleged corruption in the building of numerous schools." (AFP)

Now, this is the only issue that actually has stirred some homegrown debate and probing by Chinese themselves. But only very very few people actually ask questions at all. The rest unless it personally involves them are just simply apathetic.

Spanish judge to quiz China officials over Tibet http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090505/wl_afp/spainchinatibetspaincourt3rdlead_20090505155425;_ylt=AngkodepaIWIh44R.Cz3LfUBS5Z4

Now THAT will totally enrage them.
"What?!! How dare you?!! Tibet IS part of China! It always was. Even before China itself existed it WAS!"
Of course this sort of reaction has NOTHING to do with the raised issues and the actual problems, i.e. the violation of human rights, the intimidation, the forced restriction and interference in ethnic affairs and religious freedom, etc. etc. And more importantly, this sort of reaction will NOT help addressing or solving any of the obviously existing problems.

Yes, yes, I KNOW. Han Chinese people's human rights are also violated, actually every day. Yes, Han Chinese people also undergo cultural genocide. But the difference is, the Tibetans try to make a stand. Despite how desperate and hopeless it is, they are trying.

China Rising: Society with Chinese characteristics ?

Two things from my daily China reads last week that shook me up into a fit of disbelieve, amazement, shock and (I must admit) amusement were the China's
surrogate mothers industry and the "modest number" of Chinese people that suffer from mental illness reports.

Especially the first report (about the surrogate mothers, forced abortions, etc.)manifests the reality of complete and utter lack of commonly established and adhered set of ethical and moral values in modern Chinese society, hence the chaos when it comes to issues such as these. And the obvious and all-permeating spiritual and ethical degradation.

picture: a statue representing the very popular in China "Laughing Buddha". He is seated on a huge gold ingot(i.e. money). Hm, the message is not subtle. (The irony is that this particular "Buddha" is the Chinese representation of the Future Buddha (or the Buddha to come) Maitreya. Oh, the humanity!)

Behind any act of most Chinese there seems to be only ONE guiding principle - utility.
(The other major guiding principle being conformity, but that's another topic.) And this is not even obscured by some fancy ideals or justifications.

EVERYTHING is justified if it can bring money, material prosperity, usefulness. Anything!
Or as a person who by the way does NOT rank high in my esteem (i.e. Comrade Deng) said :
"It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white as soon as it catches mice".

This Chinese life-credo doesn't stop at the approach to economy, this "any means justify the end" principle is actually adhered to in everything else.

picture:one of the most popular Chinese "deities", the Money God. He is so popular that in one form or another is represented in ANY possible temple, Confucian, Daoist or Buddhist. Or in some cases, as illustrated with the above statue of the Laughing Buddha, he is "undercover" as a "Buddhist" deity. This message is not subtle too.

This materialistic approach to human existence in Chinese people is no wonder. It is my observation (which if not 100% true and accurate, then at least 80% and more)that too many Chinese people suffer from a serious condition called lack of spirituality or/and basic integrity. The numbers are staggering, as is the number of the population of this country.

Many (if not all) of the (Han) Chinese are superstitious (about ridiculous things like numbers, ghosts, etc. for instance), huge numbers of people are "atheist" mainly as a successful result of systematic Marxist/Maoist "education"/brainwashing or due to their deep ignorance and misinterpretation, and without any actual knowledge or understanding by rote equal religion to superstition. Some who claim to be religious, in fact are not, and in many instances what they think to be religiosity is actually superstition and misinterpretation. Somehow or else huge numbers of people in their lives and worldviews lack what is (in my view) the most valuable thing of any religion - morality and ethics. Now, Buddhism (originally) is a religion not based on god(s), in fact it is a non-theist religion, it is essentially and mostly a philosophical worldview firmly based on ethics. (It doesn't deny the existence of god(s), but it doesn't think that's important...)

For 2000 years Buddhism has tried to influence the Chinese. Despite its well-established ethical value system and very clear distinction of what is 'right' and 'wrong', and its clearly outlined requirements for 'correct' human behaviour, it seems as if almost none of that is actually observed in even rudimentary form today by the Han Chinese. Obviously (and amazingly since it made a GREAT and systematic effort over a very long period of time) Buddhism has failed.
Instead, the Chinese have turned this jewel of human wisdom into a mere superstition void of its morality, ethics and philosophy.
(With the exception of the development of the Chan/Zen school, but THAT happened more than 1ooo years ago and except on paper doesn't exist anymore).

But even in its Sinicised and distorted by centuries of sinification form Buddhism could do a lot for the despiritualized Chinese, but let's be honest, the "God" and guiding principle in China has always been and (it seems) will always be "Money".

The Buddha (and all other Buddhas and Bodhisattva's) are sought and asked not for wisdom and knowledge of the Path to end ignorance and suffering, but are asked for, guess what, children (preferably male) and fortune (i.e. money).

picture: a drawing representing "The Laughing Buddha" granting (male) children. Again, the message is not subtle and I greatly doubt its very dubious (if any) connection to Buddhism.

So the ludicrous claim that China's civilisation is a spiritual one, is a LIE. It never really was, and most certainly it isn't now, and by the look of it, it is going nowhere near to becoming one.
That's it.

So, back to the "surrogate mother" report.

"Forced abortions shake up China wombs-for-rent industry " http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090430/hl_nm/us_china_surrogacy_2

It turns out that in China you can not only buy a new wife or a child (recently some western media reported on the kidnapped children industry, which is a "flourishing" business) , but actually pay to someone to lend you their womb if you don't feel so comfortable (as many Chinese are) about adopting and raising someone else's child, and prefer to have one that is your "bone and blood".
(I'm not even going to comment on the forced abortions part of the report...)

I visited one of the existing China Surrogate Mother websites http://www.aa69.com/ (in Chinese). It has sections for prospective clients (people willing to pay for the service offered) and sections for enrollment of those willing to be used (for money) as surrogate mothers. There is a extremely lousy tune as a background, and pop-up windows prompting you to chat with the online "advisers".
In a country where there is strict birth control and where there are cases when women are even forced to abort their own children (if it exceeds the governmental allotted quota) is this business actually legal?!

I even watched most of a video of a talk show on the subject posted in support of this
"win-win" industry. (link: http://www.aa69.com/daiyun/wzjj/200809/64.html).
The talk show (in Chinese) with audience, talk show host and all, is a surrealistic "gem".
First, the client-mother wearing a ridiculous mask (to "hide" her identity) is interviewed, with the talk show host without much subtlety asking her almost any uncomfortable question, then the surrogate-mother is the next guest. What's amazing to me is that the video is supposed to act as sort of an advertisement to the business and the company (this site is obviously run by a firm that offers the "surrogate mother" service)...
In my view, to any person with some basic ethical and moral integrity this kind of commercial transaction obviously should not be acceptable.

What can I say? I'm speechless.
Who said money can't buy you "happiness"?!

In China EVERYTHING can be sold and bought. I'm not saying that those issues exist only in China. I'm saying that in China there is nothing (i.e. established set of moral and ethical values) to counteract this. The pervasive moral and ethical degradation and the state of public morals is in a dreadful state, which cannot and should not be ignored anymore.
There is an occasional debate perhaps, but since there doesn't exist an established principle, like most things in China, the moral and ethical set of values are yet to be established.
Because the fact is, China with its so-called "5000 years old" civilisation and history is one of the youngest countries in the world. It has yet to build its civil society.

It's like a huge giant baby that (in many aspects) has not yet really learned how to walk. And talk. And think.

Yes, China is a big and powerful country, but at this moment (and in near future) it is very very far from being a great country as it obviously aspires to be.

Quantity is not quality.

-----

"A Modest Number": China has 100 million people with mental illness

The other (absurdly amusing) news that drew my attention these few days was the statement made by the director of the China National Centre for Mental Health (Huang Yueqin) that "China has at least 100 million people suffering from mental illness" and added that"This is a modest number" and possibly much more.
In an interview with UK's "The Telegraph" (China has 100 million people with mental illness
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5235487/China-has-100-million-people-with-mental-illness.html) she expressed doubt that modernisation has made more people crazy, saying:
"People nowadays are less crazy than they were during the Cultural Revolution, that’s for sure. People are definitely happier now than in that special period,” she told the Telegraph. (I'm NOT making that up!)

China suffers from a serious lack of qualified psychiatrists, since the profession was outlawed during the Cultural Revolution. From the late 1960s, Maoist thought attributed any mental illness to an incorrect appreciation of the class struggle.
Many mentally-ill patients were taken from hospitals and sent to labour camps because of their "counterrevolutionary" behaviour.

Hm, doesn't this last thing remind you of "1984"?

----
In connection to the mentally ill topic, recently a Peking University law professor caused an outrage when he said in an interview that he believes that 99% of Chinese petitioners (people with grievances who come to the capital to file petitions) are mentally unstable/insane and should be locked-up without consent. As a result some petitioners went to PKU and staged protests against the professor, demanding his apology.

Apart from other things, this case illustrates a very interesting phenomenon and typical behaviour in China.

People almost NEVER see the big issues and almost invariably busy themselves with small grievances and if they protest at all, they protest against the particular matters at hand, and against the "small fish", and NEVER against the real and significant reasons (and the system that ALLOWS those things which they protest against to exist), never against the big and powerful "sharks". It is a self-protective instinct I guess, but such protests are purely "cosmetic" and have no real constructive or lasting result really.

Some of this actually reminds me to an extend of George Orwell's "1984" description of the "proles" and of the mechanism of the "Ingsoc" society.
The resemblances are just uncanny:

"……The Party claimed to have liberated the proles from bondage. Before the Revolution they have been hideously oppressed by the capitalists, they have been starved and flogged, women have been forced to work in the coal mines (women still did work in the coal mines,as a matter of fact) , children had been sold into the factories at the age of six.....So long as they continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance.....It was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings.All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice......"

----

To add to the above, another scary/insane piece of Chinese reality.

Recently I came across a report about a young Buddhist monk (I express my strong reserves that he should be called that) and his activities as a singer and his pop-star status. A phenomenon such as this is not isolated, it's just an example how deeply disturbed and upside-down everything is.
Here is the video report I saw (it's in English)

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12949576&ch=4226715&src=news
After I shared this disturbing piece of Chinese reality with several Chinese classmates, one of them (L.X.) send me the link to this so-called 'artist-monk' 's ("艺僧") blog ：http://shidaoxin.blog.sohu.com/ (it's in Chinese).

We discussed this phenomenon in my/our weekly Buddhist Reading Group and I expressed disbelieve that he and similar people like him are not renounced and expelled from the Sangha (Buddhist monks order/community), since, obviously his activities are harmful to the Sangha.

Each Buddhist monk is supposed to represent the Sangha, the initial aim of Buddha Sakyamuni forming the Sangha (the monks and nuns being subject to a set of rules and precepts for right conduct called Vinaya) was for it to represent the Dharma (The Buddha's Teaching).

When one becomes a Buddhist (by official "procedure") there is a ritual in which each believer "takes refuge" in the Three Jewels (The Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha). The Buddha is not present now, the future Buddha has not come yet, hence, the importance of the Sangha for the spreading and preservation of the Dharma is paramount.

In my observation the present state of the Sangha is far from ideal to put it mildly.

The Chinese Buddhist nun that takes part in our reading group revealed that in China there actually is no central community and actually no way to even control (apart from locally at the monasteries themselves) monk and nun activities in society.

Hm, I know a few monks whose behaviour and qualifications are very wanting...
But what else is to stop them if they are ready to bend or even trample their monastic vows?!

I guess somewhere here Sakyamuni would say (as he always does in the 'jatakas' (Buddhist former birth stories):"Indeed it is no wonder that this brother has thus transgressed, in a previous birth, many eons back, he also did so..."And then tell a story that illustrates and proves that karma follows us hard on our heels...

I know what some of you would say. I am saying the same myself.
Stop posting and write your thesis!!! You have almost no time left!
(My thesis is about the jatakas, Buddhist ethics, etc. and their Sinification....Hm, will post about it more some other time...)

China Rising: a Chinese style local "stimulus pack-age"

Chinese officials in Hubei are ordered to smoke.

"No butts: China orders officials to smoke"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090504/od_afp/healthchinatobaccooffbeat_20090504060821

Officials in Gong'an county in central China (Hubei province) have been told to smoke nearly a quarter million packs of locally made cigarettes annually or risk being fined, state media reported.
The Gong'an county government in Hubei province has ordered its staff to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-produced cigarette brands a year, the Global Times said.
Departments that fail to meet their targets will be fined, according to the report. (AFP)

----
Hm.
No comment.

UPDATE:

China cigarette order goes up in smoke
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090505/lf_nm_life/us_china_smoking_1

(REUTERS)"The government has now backtracked after an uproar in the local press criticizing the policy as being harmful to health and a waste of public money.
"We decided to remove this edict," said a statement placed on the county government's website, saying it violated regulations about the issuing of notices.
The edict had originally been made to prevent the illegal distribution of cigarettes in the county and "to protect tax revenues and consumers' rights," it added."

Beijing's odourless "Nature"

It's my 8th (and last) spring in China and Beijing and for the span of those many years what struck me the most is the COMPLETE absence of natural scent (in any season), even in natural surroundings such as parks.
The trees are blooming, the grass is growing, etc., but no smell.
Granted, this is one of the dirtiest, dustiest and lifeless cities I have seen or imagined. But even outside of the city, in the parks and hills, (with very few exceptions) I feel completely detached from the natural scenery.
(Hm, maybe because it is almost 100% actually man-made?! Or because it was trampled by hundreds of thousands during a few millennia and in result there is actually nothing natural left?!)

But this spring, maybe in honor of me leaving, (and in order to prove me wrong in my "theory" about lack of life and spirit in Nature in China), these days on campus in the university (the park part is one of the reasons I have stayed relatively sane until now) especially in the evenings there is an impossibly wonderful and gentle smell of blooming trees in the air. And not just if you get close to a tree and stick your nose closely to the bloom, no actually in the air!
Now, that is an unexpected treat!
Also, in the mornings there is a LOT of bird singing and chirping in the air.
(Hm, we did have already a couple of dust storms...And for several days a freakish amount of pollen in the air. )

Unfortunately the temperatures since yesterday have risen to the climate-change induced anomalous heights of 30 degrees Celsius and it's only the beginning of May, and the freshness in the air is somewhat stiffened.

Did someone else actually notice that there is this wonderful scent of bloom in the air these few days?!
Or as with bad smells it went by unnoticed?

I have observed an apparent lack of odour-distinction in most Chinese people. Good for them of course, since there is a lot of stink around. Actually it is not a lack of it, but rather they have the amazing, but very useful, capacity, to switch off their olfactory function. In the same way as some people who can filter-out noise and are just not bothered by it.
However, me with my foreigner's "big nose" and my hyper-sensitivity, never learned how not to notice the foul stench in China. Or to learn to ignore the spitting and the filth, or the smell of unwashed bodies and/or unwashed clothes.

There is NO excuse to NOT be clean! Or at least try to.


Hm. This post was supposed to be about something positive, but not surprisingly, turned into a "China bashing" rambling...
I DO need to get away.

News Feed: more recent "splittist activities" of HHDL in the USA

The past few days Dalai Lama has been continuing his visit to the USA, namely going to Boston area. During this visit to Boston - the Dalai Lama's sixth trip to the region - apart from visiting and lecturing at Harvard University, he dedicated a new ethics center, named after him, at MIT; discussed the relationship between meditation and psychotherapy at a Harvard Medical School-sponsored panel discussion; and hosted two large public events, including an introductory course in Buddhism, that was attended by as many as 17,000 people on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

So among his "splittist activities" were:

1. Giving a speech co-hosted by the Divinity School and the Graduate School of Education co-at Harvard University's Memorial Church. The speech was entitled “Educating the Heart.”

2.Planting a birch tree in Harvard

3.Heading a psychology conference organised by Harvard's Medical School about meditation and compassion.at the Georgian Ballroom of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Before him were about 1,000 medical professionals and academics, eager for his wisdom.

4. Speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which dedicated a new ethics center named for him

5.On May 2 delivering grace to thousands at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts. The speech he gave was entitled 'The Path to Peace and Happiness'

At one of the above events (the lecture at Harvard I think) he emphasized infusing education with compassion. “The brain alone will not bring joyfulness or happiness,” the Dalai Lama said, adding that “one must practice love, compassion.”


Picture: Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, takes his seat before speaking to a crowd about the 'The Path to Peace and Happiness' at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts May 2, 2009.REUTERS

He DID make some political comments such as:

At a news conference, the Dalai Lama, asked whether, after 50 years with no success in his quest to win greater autonomy for Tibet, there is any reason for hope for the Tibetan cause, acknowledged that, "if we look at issues locally, then, it is almost hopeless." However, he said, "if you look from a wider perspective, there is real hope."
He offered several reasons for hope, including "Tibetan spirit," which, he said, "remains very strong" despite the passing of the generation that remembers the Tibetan uprising of 1959. He also cited "big change" in China, calling China's ruling party "a Communist party without Communist ideology" and labeling it as "capitalist-authoritarian-communist, something like that."
As for whether he will ever see Tibet again, the Dalai Lama said, "Oh, yes."

I admire him for his optimism and good humor, but frankly, is there any hope really?!

My point with these posts about the Dalai Lama is, instead of vilifying this charismating and influencial monk (who can exhersice much positive influence in solving the Tibet issue), and who if nothing else has the GREAT merit to make many people at least HEAR about Buddhism, compassion and spirituality, the Chinese need to find a way to engage him constructively.
But on this point too, I see no hope.
So, at least in his hopeless cause the Dalai Lama at least has the merit of "spreading the Word". That, I think, in terms of single person's accomplishment, is merit deserving to be admired.
-------
News articles:

Mind Games: The Dalai Lama Takes Harvard (TIME)http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1895470,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Dalai Lama inspires reverent silence, cheers at stadium
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/03/dalai_lama_inspires_reverent_silence_cheers_at_stadium/

words of wisdom: Buddha

"Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life. "

-----

"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. "

-----

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

-----

"The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground."

-----

"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."

-----

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

-----

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

-----

"I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

-----

"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true. "

-----
"However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them? "

-----
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

-----

"The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart."

Gautama Buddha

-----

---Today in China Buddhists celebrate the birthday of Gautama Buddha Shakyamuni.