You know it’s cold in your little hutong home when your hibernating pet turtle wakes up, climbs out of his bowl, and is found huddling under the space heater. Still not sure how he did it, we’re thinking he had an outside accomplice with our cat the most likely suspect.
Some hits from around the web on this sunny and cold Friday afternoon:
———-
Yu Hua has garnered considerable press with the publication in English of his novel Brothers. Ian Johnson interviews the author for the Wall Street Journal Asia Edition and I was particularly struck by this observation on public trust:
But what bothers Mr. Yu more about these obvious problems is a lack of trust in society. The book trade itself is good example of this, he says. “It’s really hard for a young author to break in because there are few reputable critics. It’s corrupt. People pay critics to write all sorts of nonsense.” He says reviewers charge 3,000 to 5,000 yuan for a review. The accusation is impossible to prove but it is true that China has a weak scene of literary criticism. He contrasts the situation to a western publication like France’s Le Monde. He says that newspaper gave him a two-page spread, resulting in a huge spike in sales — because French people could trust the newspaper’s judgment, not as infallible but as an honest effort at reviewing a book.
This is why, he says, literature in China is so troubled. Young talented writers have a hard time finding readers and there is almost no serious criticism to help guide readers and writers. At the heart of the issue is a dysfunctional civil society — which takes Mr. Yu back to his favorite topic of society as a patient. “What China lacks is public trust,” he says. “It’s what is missing the most in China right now.”
————
Second up, the China Beat has an excellent roundup regarding the controversial sale, set for next week, of two bronze statues looted from the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) in 1860.
————
Finally, Global Voices reports on the online firestorm set off by this picture of a young woman straddling a statue of Mao Zedong in a Hunan shopping plaza.
The photo has made the rounds of Chinese BBSs and chatrooms with the conversation about the girl’s behavior soon (d)evolving into a debate over the complex legacy of the Chairman 33 years after his death.
Some pro-Mao:
“毛主席是我们的开国领袖啊
就算犯过错，也不用这样吧”“Mao is our founding father!
Even though he might have done something wrong, you don’t have to be so harsh!”
Others…not so much:
“开国？开的一个什么国？一个腐败的、独裁的专职的、草菅老百姓的国？什么开国元勋？战犯而已，有朝一日会像美军解放伊拉克时，萨达姆的塑像被群众推翻.”
A founding father? What has he founded? A country of corruption, dictatorship and careless treatment of people?
A war criminal he is. Someday it will be just like the statues of Saddam toppled down in Iraq.
Afternoon Tea: Yu Hua on public trust, China Beat on Yuanmingyuan, Young woman mounts Mao in public (no, it̵.. http://tinyurl.com/dz5xtb