Cup of Cha
This is China

In the LA Times today, Francis Fukuyama argues that the greatest tyranny in China today is local, rather than the central, government. While his argument is essentially correct, it also oversimplifies the picture and implicitly absolves the country’s top leaders of their role in the country’s ills, while at the same time misunderstanding the uniqueness [...]

Continue reading “Does the Central Government Run China?” »

After the outrage over the “goons and thugs” comments, the events in Seoul during the torch relay were just sad and depressing. Mobs attacked South Koreas and Tibetans with opposing viewpoints. These groups of people, hopefully small and unrepresentative of Chinese youth, were without question, goons and thugs. Hopefully all Chinese will be ashamed of [...]

Continue reading “Real Goons or Thugs!” »

Normally, the safest place in the world is in front of the police station. You know, normally. Yet one of the only crimes committed against me since I’ve been in China happened directly in front of my local PSB. As in four meters away. It wasn’t violent, and it wasn’t terrible, but it is a [...]

Continue reading “Robbed in Front of the Police” »

How did a group of foreigners out for a late night jog end up in Beijing police custody on Tuesday? This is the odd story of the Hash House Harriers. Olympic marathoners be warned.
A Beijing groups of Hash House Harriers, known amongst themselves as “The Harsh,” decided that there would be no better wasy to [...]

Continue reading “Running for Fun…and from the Beijing Police” »

The great Karl Rove strategy has always been going after your opponent’s strength, rather than his weakness. And that is what the Chinese Government has done. How dare the Chinese Government, which locks up reporters and silences critics, cast blame on the Western media? And how dare people in the West allow the topic to [...]

Continue reading “It’s the Chinese Media, Stupid” »

There are indications that the government, or at least university officials, are beginning to get worried about anti-Western backlash that has erupted around China following the now-infamous Jack Cafferty comments. Cup of Cha has learned that university students at Beijing Youdian (北京邮电) were told to that they needed to find constructive ways to express their [...]

Continue reading “Beijing Students Told to Calm Down” »

The rhetoric and tactics that Hillary Clinton has pushed on China policy demonstrate everything that is wrong about her campaign, and herself as a politician. Publicly advocating that President Bush should boycott the opening ceremony in response to a pu-pu platter of offenses by the Chinese Government would not only fail to help promote progress [...]

Continue reading “Clinton’s Dangerous China Stance” »

With stunning deftness, the Chinese Government has managed to completely change the topic from, why so much of the world is so upset with the the country’s official policies, to…Jack Cafferty and CNN. In the process the government has incited enough nationalism to make a Frenchman blush. How did the topic move from human rights, [...]

Continue reading “China do get PR: All Hail Anonymous Nanjing Resident” »

Now mind you, I’m definitely not advocating robbing a Chinese bank, I’m just saying that the absurd measures they go through to protect truck deposits got me wondering. You know what I’m talking about: the enormous guns that the dozen or so rent-a-cops have as they pour out of the vans to collect or [...]

Continue reading “How to Hold-Up a Chinese Bank” »

If you want to understand the difference between how Chinese and Western observers see the push toward the Beijing Games, all you need to see are these two political cartoons:
From China Daily:

Note the peace doves at the top left. The insect’s arms say “obstruct” and “destroy.”
And here is one from the Denver Post:

It seems [...]

Continue reading “Two Views of the Olympics: Pictures Say More than Words” »