Jottings from the Granite Studio: Jazz and Poker Edition

East Shore Jazz Club on Qianhai is one of my new favorite spots and by the look of the house last night, it’s probably one of yours too. Jazz pianist Bob King played a crazy set in which he deconstructed any number of jazz classics. It was atonal, challenging, and wonderful. Unfortunately I have a head cold that would kill a small- to medium-sized walrus and so I couldn’t stay for the whole thing, but I really regret not doing so. Today is “Greet the Station Chief” day at the police station across the hutong from our apartment. There’s a big red banner and a long table that has a couple of uniformed officers milling about. So far nobody’s asked them anything, and I suspect they’re not unhappy about that.* Last week, I was taking a walk in our local park when two “police volunteers” with basic English showed me their identification and asked for my papers. Since I was wearing running shorts and an Arsenal jersey at the time, I didn’t have any pockets or papers. They took down my name and address and promised to “have someone go to my apartment later.” Ah, Beijing 2008! Feel the

September 22nd, 2007

Li Datong on "New History, Old Politics."

Last September, a new set of history textbooks for use in Shanghai public schools set off quite a stir. So stirring in fact, that the new texts–which downplayed Marxist teleology among other changes–got pulled almost immediately.

Li Datong, a historian and former editor of Freezing Point 冰点, has a new essay up on openDemocracy.net that takes the Shanghai textbook controversy as a jumping off point to criticize the government for its insistence on unity of thought and ideology both in education and in the larger society.

History is a prime vehicle of propaganda, from the textbooks which recycle the myth that “class struggle is the driving force of historical progress” to the classes which exaggerate China’s suffering at the hands of imperialism in order to foment among the young a desire for revenge against foreign countries. Students are also taught lies about how “great, glorious and correct” the communist party is, and how history “chose” the party to rule China.

In the study of Chinese literature and language too, many of the set texts praise the party; some are even written by party leaders themselves. The students are asked to judge literature on

September 22nd, 2007

BBC: The Politics of Guidebooks

Welcome to Tiαnαnmen Square. Note the museum on the east side and the Great Hall of the People to the west. The increasingly skinny old fellow in the glass case in the center used to run the place. Oh yeah, and on Jυne 4, 1989 nothing happened here. It was just another summer day in the Olympic City. Birds chirped. People sang. Deng Xiaoping played a round of bridge with the boys.

That’s basically the take as Harper Collins borrows the CCP’s airbrush and plans to sanitize its newest guidebook on China.

From the BBC Magazine (blocked in China):

Hotels are a must. So are tips on the local cuisine. A few key phrases. Some maps. A list of the best tourist sites and their opening hours. Perhaps some cultural do and don’ts. All are key ingredients of a typical guide book. And yet many also feel the need to offer something more – a grounding in the history of the place that can help flesh out its culture, architecture and art. Take Nuremberg. You could describe the city’s medieval architecture, its beautiful perch on the River Pegnitz and its role in the German Renaissance.

But many travellers might

September 21st, 2007

Getting your PhD in prison: Jailed Guangzhou Daily publisher earns degree, organizes prison paper

From the Shenzhen Daily:

Veteran journalist Li Yuanjiang, who founded China’s first press group and was later sentenced to prison for accepting bribes, has become the first person in Guangdong to complete a Ph.D. in prison.

Li, former president of the Guangzhou Daily Press Group, has so far served three years of a 12-year term in Sihui Prison.

On Aug. 2, Li, 54, received a certificate from school of international relations of Renmin University, yesterday’s Southern Metropolis Daily cited Shang Dongping, head of Sihui Prison as saying.

Li Jingzhi, a Renmin University professor, lauded Li Yuanjiang’s graduation thesis on the internationalization of Chinese media as having “great academic value.”

Frankly, I think he may be on to something. How much easier it would be to finish a dissertation without all of those nasty distractions like “fresh air,” “travel,” and not having to waste time TAing to come up with the cash for big ticket items such as “food,” “shelter,” and “clothing.”

Not that Li is study, study, study. In his spare time, he is famously an editor and writer for the prison newspaper.

“I know the operations of the paper, this is my speciality,” Li

September 19th, 2007

Easy, new fix for blocked sites in China–Hotspot Shield

YJ just sent me a new fix that seems to work on ALL blocked sites in China, even system-level blocks. It’s called Hotspot Shield by Anchor Software and appears originally designed to hide IP addresses and other information for travelers using WiFi in airports and the like. The ability to view blocked sites seems to be a pleasant–and very useful–side effect.

You install the program and it appears as an icon in your toolbar. When it’s activated, it seems to be able to skirt its way around most blocks. I just tried China Digital Times, it worked fine and YJ even used it to view Duowei News, a site that previously had been unviewable by any other means that we’ve tried. It appears to allow users to leave comments and use sites as they normally would.

Now for the bad news…when using Hostpost Shield, it does have a bothersome pop-up that appears at the top of your screen. This can be easily closed, but it’s kind of annoying. Also when I was installing it, my protection software kicked out a piece of Adware software that seemed to be attached. The pop-up is no less annoying then the anonymouse free version

September 18th, 2007
 
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