Cup of Cha
This is China

Listen up! France is a villain! And this isn’t about freedom fries. They hate people in wheelchairs. Wheelchairs! Oh, you thought Japan was the evil enemy? Well, I guess you haven’t been reading the newspapers or watching the news. Japan is China’s great friend!
The odd storyline that has emerged in recent weeks and months is [...]

Continue reading “France as Enemy, so Japan as Friend” »

It is always amazing to me how much Chinese people admire America in a begrudging way. For all of the talk of American neo-imperialism, interference in other countries’ “internal” affairs and cultural hegemony, many countries still try to emulate the US. And there are few places where that is more apparent than in China.
At a [...]

Continue reading “America’s Export to China: Arrogance” »

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?” »

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” »

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” »

Slate has an interesting take on the torch relay from Anne Applebaum. I don’t agree with all of her conclusions, and I think parts of it show the bias of someone looking from afar (note: my use of “bias” is not the same as my Chinese brethren). Yet she nonetheless makes some good points. She [...]

Continue reading “The Harsh Spotlight” »

As I’ve always suspected, the top levels of the Chinese Government eagerly await Cup of Cha’s thoughtful advice. After I advised China to look for a PR firm three weeks ago…they did. Image Thief has a link to a NY Times article on the issue.
Now I know what you’re thinking: but of course they listened [...]

Continue reading “Government Takes a Cup of Advice” »

Without in any way endorsing or rebuking the torch relay protests, I have come to the distinct conclusion that they are extremely important to the psyche of the collective Chinese populace. The jubilation expressed in message boards when the torch’s Argentina stop went smoothly is striking. You would have thought that it is really unusual [...]

Continue reading “Why Olympic Torch Protests Matter” »

If you had any doubts that the Chinese media campaign to convince its population that there are three threats to the stability of China (Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang) is working, let me dispel those notions. Recently I was chatting with a 20-something, highly-educated Chinese friend of mine about the Olympics. She said she was looking [...]

Continue reading “The Tibetan，Taiwanese Terrorists and the Scourge of Nationalism” »