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Friday, March 12, 2010 - 9:58pmSanction this postReply
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It's about time.

Post 1

Friday, March 12, 2010 - 10:22pmSanction this postReply
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Why is this not on the TV news?

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Post 2

Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 6:01amSanction this postReply
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It would be on TV news if The One made a statement about it.


Post 3

Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 2:41pmSanction this postReply
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For a highly entertaining and accurate feel for the Chinese mindset, I suggest the Chung Kuo series of novels by David Wingrove.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Kuo

You'll have to go to EBay or similar to find them.  Having worked for a Chinese/Taiwanese company for almost two decades, as well as having read several of the classic Chinese works (in English) and derivatives from them, such as "Thick Face, Black Heart," I can attest to the overall accuracy of Wingrove's vision.  I watch for fine details and he gets them right, every time.

In brief - see the wiki for more info - these sf novels - 7, in all - portray a fictional (?) future in which the Chinese fought and won a war of global domination about 50 years hence, and then used their power to erase the real history of the world, replacing it with a version that has them invading Europe in what should have been the Dark Ages.  Virtually everyone outside the ruling 7 families has no idea of any other history.  Classis Western novels - Bronte, Rand, etc., - that portray a different picture are systematically rewritten.

Scientific progress is permitted, but only after being thoroughly vetted against the policy of strict conservatism aimed at preserving the semi-mythical Han paradise on Earth, the Middle Kingdom.

While there is plenty of intriguing drama, romance (including some of the most incredible erotic depictions I have ever read) and heroic action throughout Chung Kuo, the real story is the clash of philosophies.  After 200 years of mostly peaceful and relatively prosperous world rule, despite the best efforts of the 7, information leaks out to contradict their version of history, especially via a secret document whose possession is a death sentence if caught, the "Aristotle File."  And technology causes unforeseen changes in a culture where "change" is a bad word.  And, corruption has slowly but surely crept into every aspect of what at first glance appears to be a minimalist benign Confucian totalitarianism.

I think that any objectivist would enjoy this and benefit from seeing how the Chinese cultural mindset works out in the concrete, in the minds and actions of the characters.

In relation to Google's departure from China, I conclude that the ruling party intends and has, so far, been relatively successful in creating a social/political/economic model strikingly similar to the world that Wingrove depicted in the early '90's.  Like the NAZIs attempted and intended, once their rule was consolidated, or Orwell's portrayal in "1984," the Party intends to take an ever more sophisticated and thorough control over information in general, especially anything that does not fit their goals.  The typical Chinese citizen will think that he is getting a full picture, for example painting Japan as ultimate evil, the Dahli Lama as a political threat, and Taiwan as a U.S. puppet that rightfully belongs to the Mainland.  Any feed that denies the official truth will be carefully altered.  Anyone who publically asserts a different view will disappear.

The only problem, long-term, is that such a process cannot be ultimately contained.  Eventually, it will eat itself, just like the string of dynasties before it.

(Edited by Phil Osborn on 3/13, 2:51pm)


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Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 6:52pmSanction this postReply
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There's a little mystery surrounding "Chung Kuo" that I just discovered.  I had thought that I had the entire series (I'm starting book 4 now), but realized upon checking from the wiki info that I was missing the finale', for good reason, as it turns out.  Oddly, Wingrove, who started on the highly successful series in 1988, was presented with an ultimatum by his publisher that required him to condense and revise what was supposed to the third of three trilogies into a single book, and in a hurry.  Then, in spite of the excellent record of sales for the series up to that point, this work was released only in a limited edition and only a couple years later in the U.S., again in a very limited run. 

One can only speculate, given Wingrove's clear portrait of the Chinese soul, and the depiction of a Neo-Confucian society rooted in rampant corruption and a phony history, on why such as successful series was effectively cancelled.  What kind of pressure from whom went into that decision?

Paperbacks of that final book are selling for a minimum of close to $50, reminiscent of John Shirley's "Eclipse" trilogy that in the early '80's predicted not only the break-up of the Soviet Union in the late 20th century, but also its resurgence, culminating in a war with the West, in which cybertechnology and information warfare are key.  At one pont, the Eclipse trilogy was selling used for around $300 in paperback.  Finally Shirley reedited it to eliminate obvious problems - LPs and cassettes instead of MP3, etc. - and republished it.

Further research reveals a similar situation with "Chung Kuo."  The rise of China to become the 2nd superpower was no more on the radar in the late '80's than Shirley's prediction of the the Soviet collapse and reemergence under control of the hardliners.  The latest word is that a new, revised edition, including the original planned ending is on the way, starting in September of this year.  Wingrove had to acquire all the rights to the series in order to do this.  I hope he has made multiple backups in secure locations.  Crossing my fingers. 


Post 5

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - 8:39pmSanction this postReply
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Last night I saw the movie "Formosa Betrayed."

 

My impression is that this is a "message movie."  If you were turned off by the political subtext in "Avatar," you probably will not like this either.  It's easy enough to portray anyone on screen as a hero or villain.

However, just because something is propaganda, does not mean that it is incorrect.  I have plenty of independent corroboration of what happened in Taiwan under the Kuo Min Tang.  Just to give one example, a physicist who works out at the same Ballys that I do told me how his family just barely escaped being machine gunned as Chiang's army, notorious for brutality, rape and general corruption (which is why the Reds won the mainland) swept through Taiwan from one end to the other, killing everyone who might possibly oppose them.  They told the Taiwanese that they were brothers, and then they saw how rich and prosperous they were and decided to steal everything.  Two million fascist Chinese ended up enslaving 18 million Formosans for the next fifty years in a brutal police state responsible for the murders as well - as the movie portrays - of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.

Fortunately my friend's family had dug a spider hole in their living room hidden under the floor to escape expected bomb attacks under the Japanese.  Their house and virtually all their possession, however, were reduced to shreds and rubble as it was machine-gunned to pieces.  My friend says that the admitted figure of 20,000 unarmed protestors that were gunned down by Chiang's goons is a small fraction of the estimated 100,000 who were killed in the weeks after.

Every doctor, dentist, engineer, school teacher, businessman - anyone with brains and ability - was murdered in the same pattern as the Soviets set in the Ukraine and then again in Eastern Europe at the end of WWII. 

This is a rather chilling movie, to say the least, but it's good that someone is getting the truth out, even if over half a century after the fact.  Too bad it will probably never be shown on the mainland.

(Edited by Phil Osborn on 3/17, 8:44pm)


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Thursday, March 18, 2010 - 6:01pmSanction this postReply
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Meanwhile, at work, the buzz is about how they purchased a large quantity of some electronic component at the "China price" for resale and it got blocked by customs.  Why?  Seems the Chinese mainland supplier bought the items from someone else who thought it would improve sales to just put the UL label on the parts, on the assumption that since there were hundreds of suppliers of similar components, nobody would check to see that they actually were certified by Underwriters Labs.  Probably they got away with it so many times before that they weren't worried.   Now, however, it has hit the fan.  Of course, if it costs them too much, the mainland company will just close down and reopen under a new name and do the same thing.

This is not the first, nor the tenth time the company I work for has gotten burned by Chinese mainland suppliers.  Usually its more a matter that the sample electronics test and work fine, but the product actually shipped is another matter.  I'm reading Peter Navaro's "The Coming China Wars," in which he details how virtually every aspect of the Chinese market is eaten up with corruption and fraud.  It is estimated, for example, that about 20% of the children's nutrition products, such as baby formula, are simply starch and flavoring, or worse.  And there is virtually no inspection of the Chinese food products that are showing up all over in the U.S., especially at the discount outlets such as the 99 cents stores.


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