I've just read a blog entry by a friend on the subject. Very well written summary of modern day China for anyone who is interested.

http://jasonyng.blogspot.com/2009/10...and-tears.html

Mrs JTL

Does it mention censorship ?

I am in China and I cannot access this blog !

Probably... What a shame. I thought it was a very well written article and worth a read or debate. If you want I can ask the writer for permission to copy and paste here to share with everyone.

By the way, have you got access to Twitter, Youtube and Facebook? I know the first two were banned a while back and Facebook just three months ago. You might need a personal VPN service. The following link gives some suggestions, if you can access it:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7080804AAsabmw

Mrs JTL

These sites you mentioned are still blocked. I tried Hotspotshield but it was also blocked for a while and anyway is not so reliable as my employer does not like us downloading non-standard software.

I'll try and view the blog when I next travel to Taiwan.

Also, if you can postit here, also would be very nice.

Thanks, Mrs JTL.

Here is the copy-and-paste of the column with full permission from the author Jason Ng, a full-time lawyer, part time singer, writer, model and English teacher, who now lives in Hong Kong. For fellow BE'ers who is planning to live and work in HK or mainland China, I can highly recommend many of Jason's articles.
Mrs JTL


Thursday, October 1, 2009

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Politburo has gone all-out to put on a show of all shows, determined to wow a cheering nation with military muscles and economic prowess. Center to the festivities is a massive, flawless military parade, followed by an evening of lavish fireworks and an equally lavish staged performance directed by Zhang Yi Mou (張藝謀), architect of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. To ensure that no one, not even Mother Nature, rains on their parade, authorities have been firing rockets into the sky to disperse rain clouds and have locked down much of central Beijing. Putting the propaganda machine to over-drive, the state financed an epic film The Founding of a Republic (建國大業), a 21st Century yang ban xi (樣版戲 model play), to be shown in theaters everywhere in China and Hong Kong beginning, apropos, on October 1. When it comes to throwing national parties, the Communists leave nothing to chance and spare no expense.

My brothers and I happened to be in Beijing two weeks ago. The capital city, draped in fall foliage, was magnificent, graceful and beaming with pride. Beneath the veneer of quiet confidence, however, were signs of a city frantically preparing itself for the anniversary extravaganza. As our car sailed past Tiananmen Square (å¤©å®‰é–€å»£å ´), face-lifted for the occasion with giant LCD screens and slogan banners, we spotted convoys of military vehicles docked by the roadside after a day of grueling rehearsals. In exactly twelve days, rocket launchers and tanks would rumble down Chang An Avenue (長安街), a scene that most of us associate only with North Korea, Iran and the former Soviet Union. The hoopla surrounding the military review is proof that the Politburo, despite all the economic progress it has made, still believes that a country’s strength is measured by the range of its missiles.

At dinner, my brothers and I washed down Peking duck with Great Wall cabernet, flatly mixing food with politics as we looked back on six decades of Communist rule. The history of Modern China, at least the first half of it when Mao Ze-dong (毛澤東) was at the helm, is nothing short of a horror story. To this date, however, the Politburo continues to dubiously defend Mao’s grisly legacy. 33 years after his death, the chairman's portrait is still hung high at Tiananmen Square and his embalmed body on public display in a creepy mausoleum in the heart of the capital. To keep the mythology alive, state propagandists have deified Mao as a Nietzchean Übermensch of sorts, while conveniently brushing aside the "few mistakes" he made as teachable moments for a fledgling republic. For those of us who are less susceptible to cheap propaganda, however, those few mistakes are all we can remember the chairman by.

In the dog days of summer 1958, Mao launched the most ambitious national experiment during his reign, an economic program that made FDR’s New Deal look like child’s play. Designed to fast-track China’s industrialization, the Great Leap Forward (大躍進) diverted tens of millions of farm workers to backyard steel production, leaving harvest to rot in the fields and filling houses with useless lumps of pig iron made from pots, pans and farming tools. In the end an estimated 30 million peasants perished in history’s worst man-made disaster, 40 times more those who died in Ireland’s Potato Famine in the 1840s and five times the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Horrific as the death toll may seem, the Great Leap Forward still paled in comparison to the unfathomable terror of the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命), as Mao attempted to regain his grip on power after his many failed policies. Carried out mainly by the Red Guards (紅衛兵), a legion of hypnotized youths, the mass political movement was the sum of all fears and the sum proved to be much more fearsome than its parts. What started as a political maneuver to oust Liu Shao-qi (劉少奇) and Deng Xiao-ping (鄧小平) quickly spun out of control and plunged the nation into eleven years of all-out anarchy and domestic terrorism. By 1976, the total destruction of society and the undoing of 3,500 years of history were complete, and the human capacity for atrocities and suffering pushed to new heights. History had never seen a more grotesque and twisted chapter.

Then things started to turn around when Deng Xiao-ping re-emerged to power following Mao's death. Realizing that endless class struggles and cults of personality would do nothing to get China out of its rut, Deng initiated a series of market-oriented reforms, making China one of the fastest growing economies in the world and in the process gaining popularity for himself and earning widespread approval for the Politburo even among its staunch critics. But just when things started to look up for the republic, the flicker of hope was snuffed out by the Tiananmen Square crackdown. If not for the blood on his hands through action or inaction during that fateful summer, Deng might even have been worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize for bringing stability to a people so thoroughly ravaged by previous leaderships. Students of Chinese history know all too well that good times rarely last, and on June 4, 1989, reality hit them in the head like a ton of bricks. Such is the grim destiny of the Middle Kingdom.

Back in the hotel room, I was eager to post my Beijing pictures on Facebook, only to find out that the social networking website, along with Twitter, You-Tube and Blogger, were summarily blocked by a mysterious force. I instinctively looked over my shoulders to see if anyone was watching me, suddenly overcome by a feeling of vulnerability. I abandoned my now-useless computer and walked over to the window to admire the stunning view of the CCTV Headquarters (中央電視台總部), nicknamed da kucha (大褲衩 big panties) for its curious shape. Next to it was the north annex torched by a fire caused by unauthorized fireworks in February. The steel carcass, now completely covered with rust, was left standing seven months after the fire, as authorities tried to downplay the blunder by insisting that the structure was salvageable. Both the Internet blocks and the burned tower are bitter reminders that, sixty years on, there is still a long way to go before soon-to-be the world's second largest economy starts acting like the rest of the developed world. China has every reason to celebrate its economic ascent. But on this 60th anniversary of the republic, the country has as much reflecting to do as it does celebrating.

Very impressive blog. Thanks for posting it. Mrs JTL.

I will look for Jason Ng on Facebook when I am next travelling outside of China - and hope he is also able to access it somehow.

There are ways and means of accessing blocked sites when in China. I'm not sure how, but my friends do, so worth exploring.

I'm glad you liked it and am sure Jason will be pleased to know too. He has no problem with internet access because he is based in Hong Kong.

Cheers,
Mrs JTL

They are programs that you can download, however some people can get them to work, others not. Also, using a works laptop means not always easy to download stuff without getting into trouble !

a VPN should get past the blocks. many expats use them in UAE

Found Jason's blog page - now hopefully can keep up with his interesting writing, as long as it is accessible in China !

(using FB etc, in Hong Kong/Taiwan for a few days)

Good stuff. I wonder if they'll ever allow access to FB, twitter, youtube, etc again in the mainland? I'll be in HK in mid-November for a 6 week visit and will no doubt be catching up with Jason. He'll be glad to know his readership has grown.

Enjoy your web access while it lasts.

Mrs JTL

Hi, this is Jason. Thanks for spreading the word about my column. Please keep reading!

Let me know if either one of you happens to be in Hong Kong. I'm always happy to make new friends!

Cheers,

J.

Hey, just sent you a PM. I'm in town now and looking forwarding to catching up with you.

Mrs JTL

I am new to British Expat and can't read any PM yet. You can leave me an email on Facebook. It's www.facebook.com\jasonyng.hk. Thanks.