Cup of Cha
This is China

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” »

The great coming out party is how the Olympics are usually described. The Beijing Games were supposed to show that China has truly arrived on the international scene. Strong, economically powerful, militarily able and fully confident. As the last few months have shown, China perhaps is not as far along as the world once thought.
There [...]

Continue reading “Will the Olympics Destroy China?” »

Several people have argued that there should not be an Olympic boycott of any kind, and I’m inclined to agree. If athletes want to make statements (i.e., 1968) I would be all for it, and I have no problem with non-violent torch protests. Here’s what the the always entertaining Andrew Sullivan had to say:

I’m thrilled [...]

Continue reading “Arguments Against Olympic Boycotts” »

The Olympic torch has only visited a few places, but everywhere it goes, trouble follows. Athens was a disaster, with a press-credentialed person storming the stage. In London T1betan independent supporters ran afoul, with severe consequences the Chinese papers were only too happy to play up. Now in Paris thousands of protesters apparently forced the [...]

Continue reading “Any Way You Cut It, Trouble Ahead for Beijing Olympics” »

The Chinese Government has apparently acknowledged that there has been unrest in X1njiang Province, perhaps partially inspired by recent events in T1bet and other T1betan regions. It is little secret that Muslims and Han Chinese have poor relations in the northwestern province, and the unrest to the south and east seemed to have sparked [...]

Continue reading “Nothing Quiet on Western Front: Unrest Extends to X1njiang” »

If you want to realize just how scary the neocons are, then you might want to check out John Bolton’s piece in the LA Times in which he argues that the way to ensure peace in East Asia is for the US to recognize Taiwan diplomatically. He seems to think this would be the [...]

Continue reading “Neocon Arrogance on Taiwan” »

Considering the fact that virtually everyone under 35 that I meet in China is working in PR, you would think the government would be able to run a halfway decent campaign. And yet this T1bet situation has shown the stunning misconceptions that the country has about what will create good press coverage.
As I’ve mentioned before, [...]

Continue reading “China Don’t Get PR” »

I once heard someone ask a Bush apologist if George W. was not the worst president ever, who was worse. The answer, after several moments of thought, came back Rutherford B. Hayes (it may have been someone else from the same era). The fact that someone who voted for Mr. Bush twice would have such [...]

Continue reading “Is Bush the Worst President Since the Great Depression?” »

YouTube is unblocked. This clip is old but it brings a smile to my face and sums up my sentiments beautifully:

Continue reading “This Makes Me Happy” »

Something strange happened in the last week: the Chinese media/government propaganda machine began heavily covering “Tebet” (certain places and people will be spelled creatively). For the first few days of the uprising the government tried to keep things as quiet as possible, blocking dozens of sites and forcing Western media out of the area. Yet [...]

Continue reading “Chinese Media Switches Tacts on “Tebet” Situation” »