Drama in Dongzhimen

As I look out my window here in Beijing, I can see directly across the street to the roof of the local police station where a woman has perched herself on a narrow ledge and is threatening to jump. The police are in full scramble mode with officers below clearing the street and a few on the roof yelling at her. She’s been there for the better part of an hour.

She’s so hysterical, I can’t make out what the problem is or why she’s out there.

Needless to say, this has become THE EVENT in my little neighborhood with everyone pouring out of the complex to watch and laugh. It’s all quite horrifying really. She doesn’t seem serious, but who really knows, and the level of mirth by my neighbors at this woman’s expense has been quite appalling.————————————UPDATE 2:15 p.m. She’s still out there and now has a cellphone. Also there is a fellow in plain clothes on the roof of the station taking many pictures of my building (across the street) and the lane below while jotting notes down in his notebook. The police are trying to keep the street clear, but without much success.————————————UPDATE 3:11Sometime between 2:30

Blogger unblocked…again

I noticed my hit counts jumped three fold this week and sure enough, blogger is unblocked again in the PRC. Of course, a lot of those hits are people looking for “sex” and wandering onto an old post about Chinabounder, but no matter. Such is. We’ll see how long this unblockage lasts…on a related note, Youtube is now off-limits.

Hua Guofeng Spotted!

At the risk of this becoming a Chairman Hua fansite…thanks to Chris Amico for spotting the former chairman in a NYT slide show of the 17th Party Congress.

According to the NYT caption writers, that’s Hua (sleeping, we hope) on the top left. I mean, he looks asleep…but I wouldn’t put it past the CCP to pull a “Weekend at Bernies” either.

Bad History: Hong Kong edition

Donald Tsang (amusingly dubbed “Darth Bow Tie” by the chattering set) seems to have gotten himself in a bit of sticky wicket:

From AP: Hong Kong’s leader said Friday that too much democracy could lead to another Cultural Revolution, when gangs of youths were given free rein to persecute suspected government opponents in mainland China.

Donald Tsang’s comments quickly drew criticism from pro-democracy lawmakers who questioned his willingness to fight for democracy in Hong Kong. Days earlier, Tsang delivered an annual policy address that was criticized for lacking a timetable for establishing full democracy in the former British territory.

Tsang said Hong Kong must promote democratic development without compromising social stability and government efficiency.

“If you go to the extreme … you have the Cultural Revolution,” Tsang said on government-run RTHK radio. “For instance in China when people take everything into their hands, then you cannot govern the place.”

While the roots of the Cultural Revolution are complex, the cliff notes version* is that it occurred when Mao (put to pasture by a committee of leaders including Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping) and those in Mao’s inner circle decided to do

Come back Hua Guofeng, all is forgiven.

As Beijing readies itself for the 17th Party Congress, much of the gossip, I mean analysis and speculation, is focused on who will be put in a position to take over power when Hu Jintao retires in five years.

Ah, for the good old days of a major natural disaster portending the death of the leader, followed by a hastily played game of “last man standing,” the rounding up of your political enemies, and the printing of new posters, new stationary, and a giant framed oil painting of yourself hanging in a square.

I’ve been fascinated with the career of Hua Guofeng, who was paramount leader of China for about 18 minutes in the mid-1970s, since I began studying Chinese history. I would stare at my professors’ notes on the board:

1949-1976 Mao Zedong 1978-present Deng Xiaoping.

“Wait,” I thought, “What about 1976-1978?”

That was Hua. And it’s not like he wasn’t a big deal. The man had his own personality cult (sorta) and everything.

The problem was that everybody forgets about Hua. Sure he ordered the arrest of the Gang of Four, but then what? After the chaos and tragedies of the Cultural Revolution, it seems his colleagues really

日历

October 2007
M T W T F S S
« Sep   Nov »
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031