Posts Tagged ‘Chinese’

Xue's side of story

Yesterday's Chinese Herald published a long interview with Xue Nai Yin, the man convicted of killing his wife and abandoning his daughter in Melbourne.This was a high profile case and it still attracts my attention even in today, therefore it's good to see that the paper did a follow up story.

In the interview, Mr Xue, now resides in Mt Eden Prison waiting for the sentencing, still insists his innocence and  believes someone else killed his wife, Anan Liu. During the interview he described the NZ police as "stupid" and "inefficient" for the obvious reason, which I kind of agree.

There was a lengthy conversation on His life with Anan Liu.  Xue  insists that he loved Anan Liu, and thinks she is still alive and dreamt her a lot even after he was arrested.

However, one specific part caught my attention - Xue mentioned an incident where he "accidentally"  threw a cellphone at her caused her nose to bleed. Liu immediately fled and reported to the police from her neighbour's house.  Xue "hated" what she did because he thinks that was "nothing big", and she lied to the police saying Xue abused her frequently. Mr Xue says "it happens in Chinese families everyday", and New Zealand "over-protected" women's rights.

What do you think? I know what I think, now I really don't have any sympathy left for him.

The rest of the conversation included details of his life in U.S. and in the cell, check the Chinese script if you are interested. I cannot translate the whole article due to copyright restrictions.

New theme

Nothing much to say really, I'm very resistant to change, so everytime when I adapt a new theme, the appearance would still look similar to previous versions - not this time though, I added another column.

I also added an interesting widget:

I always say, as a language, Chinese does more than just a tool for conversations, it is also the carrier of Chinese traditions,  philosophy, and ideas - that's why the culture lasted thousands of years, as long as the language is still present, we all remember that you cannot spell crisis（危机） without opportunity（机） in Chinese.

Xue's currently seeking bail

Most people who know me well in person know that there's a group of professions which I have no fond feelings - lawyers, real estate agents ...

Xue Nai Yin's Lawyer, is seeking a bail for his client. It's not because Xue paid him enough money so the lawyer worked hard to try to get him out, it's exactly the opposite   - Xue's run out of money, his lawyer needs to get him out so he can work and pay for the fees.

See.

Hurt feelings, the real discussion

If you are here looking for an English version of my post, sorry, it won't be here, I generally only talk about NZ related topics here.  The site that directed you here should did a much better job than me so I don't feel the need to translate the original post.

However, I do like to talk about it a bit. My original post was trying to make fun out of  this "hurt feelings" phenomena to make the topic looks less serious -  as I do in pretty much every political issue. I did express a bit of my opinion but it was quite blur and was largely undetected by translators.

By publishing that post, I hoped that  my fellow countrymen can have their own opinion on these four questions:

• Did those countries really hurt their feelings?
• Why more than 1/5 of the world are such "culprits"?
• Is there any country that has genuinely hurt their feelings not on the map?
• Or is there something wrong with that kind of diplomatic expression?

I don't mind how they would be positioned on the political spectrum, as long as they start to think themselves, not to just follow what's being said in People's Daily or Global Times, then I'm happy.

It wasn't just a pointless internet research to kill some time, I got many previously unknown facts to me out of it. The biggest "feeling hurter" of Chinese people's feelings for the last century, which is Russia in my opinion, despite the fact that it has accommodated the Dalai Lama's visits before, was not on the map. The phrase was never used on Russia even in the worst times between the two countries.

Instead, it's the countries like Nauru or St Lucia, which most ordinary Chinese would have great difficulty of finding them on a world map that have hurt the "Chinese people's feelings".

It was also discovered that meet the Dalai Lama does not necessarily "hurt Chinese People's feelings". It is highly circumstantial - Sarkozy suffered a storm of Chinese criticisms for having a conversation with the Dalai Lama; but the Polish president did that too, and hosted the Sarkozy - Dalai Lama meeting on Polish soil, and yet still got away with it.

Compare with that, Iceland and Jordan, hurt Chinese people's feeling by allowing the visit of former vice president of Republic of China Lien Chan in the late 90s. Needless to say, he later turned out to be an "old and great friend" of Hu's.

The reflections of my findings I gathered from China-related blogsphere were surprisingly diverse - as long as my fellow countrymen start to think themselves rather than just follow what's being said in the People's Daily or the Global Times, then I'm happy that my effort is worth something.

Most people seem to agree with me on the fact that the vast majority of the "hurt feelings" incidents happened after 1970s is as the result of China opening up itself to the world  - the famous economic reform（改革开放）started in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping.

However, some attributed that fact to Mao's death in 1976, suggesting that his departure left Chinese people's feelings unprotected and vulnerable to the outside world, and the economic reform has severely undermined the interests of ordinary Chinese people.

Some Chinese netizens were equally surprised as myself to discover that countries like Australia, South Korea or Russia were not the map. Equally, other people were surprised to find countries like Albania ("the only shining beckon of communism in the sea of Soviet revisionism/Capitalist Europe? [I'm not quite sure]") in the list. What do these facts mean is up to their own interpretation.

It also raised discussions about the phrase "hurt Chinese people's feelings" itself. I always regarded it as a very absurd and childish thing to say on the diplomatic stage.  Countries don't hurt each other's feelings - they speak with 'carrot and stick'(at least for now). You don't say somebody hurts your feelings when he attacked you
with a stick, you either fight back (... well, if you are powerful enough) or just get over with it.  Put yourself in a 'weak' position and make yourself sounds like the "justified" side does not do anything good but only fuels unhealthy hate and revenge thoughts among the general public as people discover that crying for "hurt feelings" won't solve anything.

And even worse, repeated use of the phrase diminishes the power of the "real" feelings of the Chinese people. The value of Chinese people's feelings deflates every time the phrase is being used - it looks less important in the foreign eyes as the feelings can be "hurt" repeatedly with no apparent consequences.

There are people who do feel that their feelings have been genuinely hurt by the countries I listed, and made a good use of my map by keeping it for future "revenge".

However, for most of the Chinese who remain apolitical for most of the their life, the expression is just something demonstrating the total
disconnect between the State's affairs and real people's life. What's the point to care who's been hurting me lately? I don't run the country, and I never had a say on anything even regarding of my own feelings.

What do you think? Any different thoughts? I would love to hear it from you.

two for the price of one

Everyone likes bit of bargin (not just ladies), when there's a  two for the price of one deal, I would be more likely to purchase that item, especially if I really need them.

It's about this.

If you don't know what this is about, it's in Botany Electorate.

This ad has caused a bit of trouble because, according to  National's Pansy Wong office, it sort of endorse votes to go for Pansy, effectively making it an election campaign for Pansy Wong, without her financial agent's authorisation.

Kenneth completely rubbished the claim that he might breached the Elecoral Finance Act. I kind of agree. Kenneth is an electorate only candidate, a vote for him sure means no vote for Pansy. "get  ... and Wong" means get Wong through the National's party vote. The ad is more like a statement of fact, rather than a promotion for National.

But I was somewhat amused by Kenneth Wang's claim that this ad is offering voters 'two for the price of one' deal for the Botany electorate. Well I knew politicians are usually cheap, but I didn't know they are THAT cheap:)

Despite of that, politician is not something that you want more when IT IS at the half price.

Nah just joking. Botany electorate would be a very interesting spot to watch in the election. It's not just about who wins, it's more about how Asian, especially how Chinese vote.

Labour Party list announced

Chinese candidate, Raymond Huo(霍建强)is ranked 21st. Quite good for a first timer, I have to say. It is almost certain now that we'll see at least two Chinese MPs in the next parliament, well, unless Labour falls in a huge landslide.

It would still be interesting to see who will be able to get his/her hands on the Howick seat.

It is also glad to see more ethnic minorities on the list.

Here's the whole list.