八八吧 :: 88 Bar

From the Shanghaiist:

It’s a shame that those fans weren’t actually North Korean. The almost touching displays of North Korean patriotism were in fact put on by Chinese actors, ahem, “volunteers.” Hired by the China Sports Events Management Group and the North Korean Sports Committee, the actors were brought in because few people in North Korea could afford both the airfare and the game ticket, much less obtain a visa to leave the country, and the Chinese team didn’t make it to the tournament. And because in world competitions, “Chinese fans will stand for Asia teams,” China promised North Korea the fans to boost morale.

Oddly, though, the volunteers still told press that they were part of a group of North Korean fans hand-picked by the DPRK government to represent the country, even though China had already admitted twice (here and here) that they were flying actors in. Sure, the whole thing’s a little morally dubious (and impractical. Couldn’t they have cheered on North Korea and stayed Chinese?), but isn’t this a sweet little tale of football camaraderie? Look how it’s bringing nations together!

See full article.

From Chinfographics:

Read the original post with some background info.

From ESWN:

[ESWN comment:  Why do the Chinese media and Internet users seem to want to see Foxconn dead?  I cannot not help but go back to August 2006 when Foxconn sued a newspaper editor and a newspaper reporter for 10,000,000 yuan each on defamatory reporting.  They did not sue the newspaper -- they sued the individual media workers for huge sums of money which they don't have and will never have.  (The Unpublished FoxConn Story)  "The FoxConn method of litigation was particularly vile.  If they succeed with this, all reporters would live in fear of litigation about their reporting.  This was a challenge to the entire field of journalism in China as well as the freedom of press.  Therefore, the reaction of the field of journalism carries an instinct for self-preservation.  FoxConn had used a similar method to prosecute Commercial Times reporter Joyce Kuang in Taiwan, but they retreated under pressure from the Journalist Association.  From thereon, very few reporters in Taiwan dared to report on Foxconn and even fewer dare to criticize Foxconn."  A suicide cluster is a valid news story and therefore the Chinese media are using this occasion for payback time.  That is one way to look at the media coverage at the moment.]

Read the original article here.

Photo from Time magazine online

Observe: Han Han (韩寒). He’s a race car mini champion, author of China’s bestselling book of the last 20 years (a novel about student high school life in Shanghai) and one of the most read bloggers in China. What’s he blog about? Anything from his latest fling with the press to sarcastic social commentary.

Time Magazine obviously thinks he’s important: They nominated him to be one of the top 100 people of 2010 (201 people were nominated): “Han Han’s first novel… sparked a debate about the quality of the country’s rigid education system… [he has a] blog that pokes fun at prominent cultural figures and incompetent officials.” (See full article.)

The New York Times also profile him, highlighting his merits as a freedom fighting blogger: “If Mr. Han’s tongue is sharp, he is careful to deliver his barbs through sarcasm and humorous anecdotes that obliquely take on corruption, censorship and everyday injustice.” (See full article.)

ChinaGeeks highlights that we should not idealize him as the western media (above) seems to have. They’ve translated two articles to prove that he’s not as profound, deep or intelligent as the press would make him out to be:

1. Xu Ben from Nanfeng Daily: “Han Han’s voice is a language game which defies common principles. It is quick, surprising, but not necessarily well thought through. This game will only exist in a society of lies. Because it is risk-taking and suppressed, it is exciting. What Han’s audience is looking for is a sense of excitement, or even entertainment, but not necessarily new knowledge or profound ideas.”
2. Li Tie in Time Weekly: “If you know the problems, but are helpless about them, what will you do? Make a laughter and joke of it – how the weak expresses themselves… Han Han’s gags and naughtiness hit the sweet spot of our age.”

(See full article.)

Yet another Nanfeng Daily author, Xiao Shu, believes this shallow quality is exactly what makes him accessible (translation by Tim):

“Just look at Han Han. He’s honest, happy and open. He speaks about his pain but he doesn’t need to wallow in tragedy… He speaks out. He speaks about a kind of salvation, about having dignity and health. We can be normal people like this too, sharing in his dignity and health. We can share a normal life.

This is the aim of civil society. It’s not about resisting, rebelling against, or subverting anything. It’s about treating and curing each and every person.  It’s about the self regeneration of every cell in our society.”

(See full article.)

Want to judge for yourself? Read ChinaSMACK’s translation of his blog post answering questions about the World Expo in Shanghai.