yay, finally got internet!
well, been here for a few days now> spent the first three in guangzhou, and now am in Hengyang.Having a good time, except that I fel terribly lonely at times, what with not understandng what people are saying, and being stared at all the time. I am not an alien, for gods sake.
enjoying the food, although it takes time to get used to, and blessing the guy who invented aircon. it is sooooooo hot here.
and managing a chinese keyboard is complicated.
unfortunately i cant upload my photos here, because im in an internet cafe, but thats life, itll have to wait.
i think a more detailed account of the trip might have to wait until I get home, which isnt for another four weeks or so,we re the 24th and im home on july 19th
i dare say itll be a relief to be home, because not understanding anything around you is extremely tiring. at least it s a motivation to study more :)
QUite pleqsed, becquse I found an electronic dictionary in guangzhou, and shuangs boyfriend bargained so i got it 140 yuan cheaper :)
hopefully hell be coming bqck from his job in guangzhou for the holidays pretty soon, because here weve only been seeing shuangsdd mother and her aunt, and were going out with her mother and her friends for lunch. i think shuangs mother, athough shes very kind, has written me off as a lost cause. i need to find someone around my age (or around shuangs, shes 6 years older than i am) who doesnt speak french or english and wholl b patient enough to listen to me stuttering and to explain what theyve just said!
ah well, we ll see
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
On an entirely different note, I picked up my visa for China on Friday.
Nothing will stop me now!
And I've been out of touch with the virtual world for two weeks which might help.
I just have to get through my exams first, and not meltdown, oh and finish the projet tutoré shitshitshit I'd forgotten. Shudup girl, you're talking to yourself (oh yeah, and don't make me believe it never happens to the rest of you)
New precisions on Ms L's CV in life ; she got sent to China by the French government in 1964.
Nineteen sixty fucking four. I mean, Jaysus. That's the year France actually recognished the PRC. She must've been among the first french people, perhaps even the first european people, to go there and learn chinese.
When I was saying she was crazy!
And she comes out with this like it's perfectly normal. And she gets all excited over the electronic dictionary her son brought her from China.
And that's who we've been learning chinese from (mostly) for the last two years.
(Now I get why our Uni's Chinese department is so well-rated in France)
Nothing will stop me now!
And I've been out of touch with the virtual world for two weeks which might help.
I just have to get through my exams first, and not meltdown, oh and finish the projet tutoré shitshitshit I'd forgotten. Shudup girl, you're talking to yourself (oh yeah, and don't make me believe it never happens to the rest of you)
New precisions on Ms L's CV in life ; she got sent to China by the French government in 1964.
Nineteen sixty fucking four. I mean, Jaysus. That's the year France actually recognished the PRC. She must've been among the first french people, perhaps even the first european people, to go there and learn chinese.
When I was saying she was crazy!
And she comes out with this like it's perfectly normal. And she gets all excited over the electronic dictionary her son brought her from China.
And that's who we've been learning chinese from (mostly) for the last two years.
(Now I get why our Uni's Chinese department is so well-rated in France)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
I can't believe how depressed all the Asian news sites and China blogs that deal in politics are making me feel.
You know, I go around the web a lot because I've always enjoyed it. Now it's frightening me.
Going to China this summer has been my plan for over a year now.
It's finally coming together, and all I see is that Chinese citizens are having a field day labeling their own traitors because they have the least radical positions.
Look at Jin Jing; from hero to traitor because she dared say that boycotting Carrefour would hurt the chinese who worked there.
This kind of thing makes me despair of China. Now, I know not everyone thinks that, thank God; but it seems all too common.
Chinese people are complaining that the West has distorted all the news this last month. Part of it is true.
What i'm complaining about is that the country I live in is being attacked. I just saw a photo of a taxi who had a sticker saying "no french people or dogs". Man, that's just like the anti-jew posters in the thirties. "no jews or dogs allowed". Charming.
All this because...? Because a bunch of nutters tried to grab a stupid torch. Does anyone stop to think that this might not be the opinion of the french people in their entirety?
Does anyone stop to think, hey wait, these protests have been happening all over the world, why are we having a go at France in priority?
Apparently no-one has remembered that France was the first Western country to recognize communist China in 1964.
Or is the population so convinced that a country must hold the same opinion, that they consider it to be the same here, and blame everyone for the protests?
I'm angry. I'm sad. And I'm disappointed. All those who are going on about how China's image has been tarnished should take a good, long look at themselves and see how they've tarnished China's image, to me in any case, in a way that no-one else could have done.
Yet I've been dreaming of going there for a while; one of my best friends at university is chinese; i study the language with a teacher, Ms L, who went there years and years ago and tells us stories of how she wore the mao suit, how she was chosen by the french government to go there at the time to reinforce ties and all that; someone who really loves China. The other teachers i have are Li Na, who is chinese; Mr C, who is half; and Mr D, who is also passionate about a country he's studied, written books about, translated books written by chinese authors.
With them as teachers, I don't think any of us could not long to go there; their enthusiasm is infectious.
I think chinese citizens should be reminded that in the west there are many people like this. That recognize the faults of China but love it anyway, and communicate this passion to others.
You know, I go around the web a lot because I've always enjoyed it. Now it's frightening me.
Going to China this summer has been my plan for over a year now.
It's finally coming together, and all I see is that Chinese citizens are having a field day labeling their own traitors because they have the least radical positions.
Look at Jin Jing; from hero to traitor because she dared say that boycotting Carrefour would hurt the chinese who worked there.
This kind of thing makes me despair of China. Now, I know not everyone thinks that, thank God; but it seems all too common.
Chinese people are complaining that the West has distorted all the news this last month. Part of it is true.
What i'm complaining about is that the country I live in is being attacked. I just saw a photo of a taxi who had a sticker saying "no french people or dogs". Man, that's just like the anti-jew posters in the thirties. "no jews or dogs allowed". Charming.
All this because...? Because a bunch of nutters tried to grab a stupid torch. Does anyone stop to think that this might not be the opinion of the french people in their entirety?
Does anyone stop to think, hey wait, these protests have been happening all over the world, why are we having a go at France in priority?
Apparently no-one has remembered that France was the first Western country to recognize communist China in 1964.
Or is the population so convinced that a country must hold the same opinion, that they consider it to be the same here, and blame everyone for the protests?
I'm angry. I'm sad. And I'm disappointed. All those who are going on about how China's image has been tarnished should take a good, long look at themselves and see how they've tarnished China's image, to me in any case, in a way that no-one else could have done.
Yet I've been dreaming of going there for a while; one of my best friends at university is chinese; i study the language with a teacher, Ms L, who went there years and years ago and tells us stories of how she wore the mao suit, how she was chosen by the french government to go there at the time to reinforce ties and all that; someone who really loves China. The other teachers i have are Li Na, who is chinese; Mr C, who is half; and Mr D, who is also passionate about a country he's studied, written books about, translated books written by chinese authors.
With them as teachers, I don't think any of us could not long to go there; their enthusiasm is infectious.
I think chinese citizens should be reminded that in the west there are many people like this. That recognize the faults of China but love it anyway, and communicate this passion to others.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
a ruined day
It's so sad.
Today the olympic flame was going through Paris; of course, it was a mess.
The flame was invisible, in the hands of the athletes surrounded by chinese policemen and french policemen. Invisible. And what you could hear was shouting, insults, people running from the police, fights.
There were some dignified protests; our representatives held up banners on the walls of the Assemblée Nationale (parliament) RSF (Reporters without borders) managed to hang their flag everywhere, from the Eiffel Tower to the Town Hall and Notre Dame.
It's such a shame. The passage of the flame is supposed to be a celebration, a party, a day to be proud of. Today's exhibition is enough to reduce anyone to tears.
And France's chinese immigrants are furious, of course.
And none of these incidents were seen by chinese viewers, although if the CCP wanted to rile up the people against the West, it would have been just too easy.
I was ashamed, and no-one could say i'm a fervent admirer of the CCP.
London yesterday was just as bad. I just don't see the point anymore.
I'm going to China for the first time this summer. Not during the games, of course, I'm not crazy, I'm just going to stay with a friend, and going to try to improve my chinese.
AT the moment China is not popular here.
I don't know if people are stupid, but they just don't seem to be able to dissociate a state and it's people. I've had the impression that people think I'm crazy because i want to study chinese, go to China, etcetera.
It seems so complicated for people to realise that we tend to act the same.
China and its people feel victimized by the west especially as information there isn't free; of course it stokes the country's nationalistic feelings.
It's the same everywhere.
Say anything bad about the US, you'll get a bunch of rednecks attacking you; say something bad about France, the french will get in a huff; etcetera, etcetera.
Human nature doesn't change much.
And I'm going to strangle Fred the next time he states that China is linked to Russia. For fuck's sake, the fool drives me nuts.
Today the olympic flame was going through Paris; of course, it was a mess.
The flame was invisible, in the hands of the athletes surrounded by chinese policemen and french policemen. Invisible. And what you could hear was shouting, insults, people running from the police, fights.
There were some dignified protests; our representatives held up banners on the walls of the Assemblée Nationale (parliament) RSF (Reporters without borders) managed to hang their flag everywhere, from the Eiffel Tower to the Town Hall and Notre Dame.
It's such a shame. The passage of the flame is supposed to be a celebration, a party, a day to be proud of. Today's exhibition is enough to reduce anyone to tears.
And France's chinese immigrants are furious, of course.
And none of these incidents were seen by chinese viewers, although if the CCP wanted to rile up the people against the West, it would have been just too easy.
I was ashamed, and no-one could say i'm a fervent admirer of the CCP.
London yesterday was just as bad. I just don't see the point anymore.
I'm going to China for the first time this summer. Not during the games, of course, I'm not crazy, I'm just going to stay with a friend, and going to try to improve my chinese.
AT the moment China is not popular here.
I don't know if people are stupid, but they just don't seem to be able to dissociate a state and it's people. I've had the impression that people think I'm crazy because i want to study chinese, go to China, etcetera.
It seems so complicated for people to realise that we tend to act the same.
China and its people feel victimized by the west especially as information there isn't free; of course it stokes the country's nationalistic feelings.
It's the same everywhere.
Say anything bad about the US, you'll get a bunch of rednecks attacking you; say something bad about France, the french will get in a huff; etcetera, etcetera.
Human nature doesn't change much.
And I'm going to strangle Fred the next time he states that China is linked to Russia. For fuck's sake, the fool drives me nuts.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Last night on TV there was a very interesting debate about the Olympic games and Tibet, with the Chinese Ambassador Qu Xing, Rama Yade, secretary of state to human rights (that would be the translation from the french) Alain Duhamel, a well-known political commentator, Laurent Fabius, socialist heavyweight and former PM, the editor of Libération, a eft-leaning newspaper, and another guy whose name i've forgotten.
Qu Xing compared the incidents in Tibet to riots in Villiers-Le-Bel a few months back, where after an accident between a police car and one of those stupid mini motorbikes the two kids on the motorbike died (how they both managed to fit on the thing is behond my understanding), which started riots in which kids from the suburbs stoned, shot at, and basically attacked policemen.
Now, this comparison isn't really relevant; as I recall Villiers-Le-Bel has something like 26000 inhabitants and it was a bunch of angry kids who were doing the attacking.
I guess that's how Qu Xing saw it; citizens disobeying the law, nothing more. Thing is, those kids weren't asking for autonomy, and apart from those two poor kinds on the bike and a cop i think, no-one died.
Anyway, they went on about boycott for a while; today there's a meeting between european ministers of Foreign Affairs, and Rama Yade was lambasted because she refused to say clearly whether Bernard Kouchner, our minister, was going to propose boycott if the situation didn't sort itself out. She actually is one of the most useless people in government because she's never allowed to do anything;when Sarkozy went to China, he didn't even let her come. Probably afraid she'd create tensions, she's suposed to be outspoken and frank. Which doesn't stop her from evading questions she doesn't want to answer, like all politicians.
And it's been said that Angela Merkel, the german chancellor, won't be attending the opening ceremony of the Games.
All in all, a very interesting program.
Qu Xing compared the incidents in Tibet to riots in Villiers-Le-Bel a few months back, where after an accident between a police car and one of those stupid mini motorbikes the two kids on the motorbike died (how they both managed to fit on the thing is behond my understanding), which started riots in which kids from the suburbs stoned, shot at, and basically attacked policemen.
Now, this comparison isn't really relevant; as I recall Villiers-Le-Bel has something like 26000 inhabitants and it was a bunch of angry kids who were doing the attacking.
I guess that's how Qu Xing saw it; citizens disobeying the law, nothing more. Thing is, those kids weren't asking for autonomy, and apart from those two poor kinds on the bike and a cop i think, no-one died.
Anyway, they went on about boycott for a while; today there's a meeting between european ministers of Foreign Affairs, and Rama Yade was lambasted because she refused to say clearly whether Bernard Kouchner, our minister, was going to propose boycott if the situation didn't sort itself out. She actually is one of the most useless people in government because she's never allowed to do anything;when Sarkozy went to China, he didn't even let her come. Probably afraid she'd create tensions, she's suposed to be outspoken and frank. Which doesn't stop her from evading questions she doesn't want to answer, like all politicians.
And it's been said that Angela Merkel, the german chancellor, won't be attending the opening ceremony of the Games.
All in all, a very interesting program.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Tibet again
situation not evolving, really.
Here there is a starting to be a call for a boycott of the Games.
Apparently 53% of the french are in favour of Sarkozy boycotting the opening ceremony of the Games, not the competitions. (well, yes, it'd be a shame not to win a few medals, wouldn't it :D)
interesting position though; a token boycott, just the opening ceremony.
55% of the population does not want the athletes to boycott the games; and 71% thinks that the Olympic Committee should meddle in human rights, although its president, Jacques Rogge, has been saying that it isn't the Committee's purpose, and a number of political figures, such as george Bush, have opposed the boycott on the ground that the Games aren't political, but are just a sporting event.
Which is slightly naive, especially after the USA's call to boycott the 1980's Olympics in Moscow after the invasion of Afghanistan. Which, according to Vladimir Federovski, aide to Mikhail Gorbachev, had some slight use.
We've had to listen to Bernard-henri Levy's usual flowery indignation (french left-wing philosopher and writer); Robert Ménard, head of Reporters sans Frontières (reporters without borders) has been calling for a boycott for months to protest against China's imprisonment of journalists; well, let's say he's on overdrive at the moment.
The reelected mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, thinks that a boycott isn't the solution, but that something has to be done. Not hearing any proposals though.
From what I've heard, boycott isn't a popular solution in most of Europe; Britain is against it, but that might also be because they're hosting the Games in 2012 and fear a backlash; on the other hand, Gordon Brown should be seeing the Dalai Lama in the coming days or weeks.
Yes, populations are in favour of boycotting (like in Sweden, 70% of the population) but governements, athletes, national olympic committees are opposed to it.
The question is : would a boycott make China change it ways? Or would it drive the country into isolation and make enemies out of the chinese people who are very proud to be hosting these Games?
I don't think China will change because a bunch of jumped-up foreigners didn't come. And yet something needs to be done.
The problem is, China seems to see the West as wanting to smear China, which is practical since then anything said against China can be cast off as gratuitous.
Like Nancy Pelosi, who the Chinese accused of being muddled and habitually bad-tempered. ( a reason for her comments, which didn't agree with them of course)
Rather unfair, and terribly sexist. But that's a whole other story.
I'm betting there won't be a boycott. The Olympics are in five months; that gives China ample time to smooth things over.
Here there is a starting to be a call for a boycott of the Games.
Apparently 53% of the french are in favour of Sarkozy boycotting the opening ceremony of the Games, not the competitions. (well, yes, it'd be a shame not to win a few medals, wouldn't it :D)
interesting position though; a token boycott, just the opening ceremony.
55% of the population does not want the athletes to boycott the games; and 71% thinks that the Olympic Committee should meddle in human rights, although its president, Jacques Rogge, has been saying that it isn't the Committee's purpose, and a number of political figures, such as george Bush, have opposed the boycott on the ground that the Games aren't political, but are just a sporting event.
Which is slightly naive, especially after the USA's call to boycott the 1980's Olympics in Moscow after the invasion of Afghanistan. Which, according to Vladimir Federovski, aide to Mikhail Gorbachev, had some slight use.
We've had to listen to Bernard-henri Levy's usual flowery indignation (french left-wing philosopher and writer); Robert Ménard, head of Reporters sans Frontières (reporters without borders) has been calling for a boycott for months to protest against China's imprisonment of journalists; well, let's say he's on overdrive at the moment.
The reelected mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, thinks that a boycott isn't the solution, but that something has to be done. Not hearing any proposals though.
From what I've heard, boycott isn't a popular solution in most of Europe; Britain is against it, but that might also be because they're hosting the Games in 2012 and fear a backlash; on the other hand, Gordon Brown should be seeing the Dalai Lama in the coming days or weeks.
Yes, populations are in favour of boycotting (like in Sweden, 70% of the population) but governements, athletes, national olympic committees are opposed to it.
The question is : would a boycott make China change it ways? Or would it drive the country into isolation and make enemies out of the chinese people who are very proud to be hosting these Games?
I don't think China will change because a bunch of jumped-up foreigners didn't come. And yet something needs to be done.
The problem is, China seems to see the West as wanting to smear China, which is practical since then anything said against China can be cast off as gratuitous.
Like Nancy Pelosi, who the Chinese accused of being muddled and habitually bad-tempered. ( a reason for her comments, which didn't agree with them of course)
Rather unfair, and terribly sexist. But that's a whole other story.
I'm betting there won't be a boycott. The Olympics are in five months; that gives China ample time to smooth things over.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Well
As a first post on an unknown blog, I suppose i could choose easier than the situation in Tibet.
Problem is, it is bugging me at the moment. So I shall have a short rant.
I won't presume I'm very well-informed on the subject, but as a student of chinese and China it holds a personal interest.
Shuang, my mainland chinese fwend (definitely not to be mistaken with the taiwanese students hanging around in our classes, especially since she nearly had a full-blown argument with one of them Thursday) came out with a terribly subversive stance earlier: "the situation is very grave and western media is deforming the truth". She didn't go as far as to say that it was because we all hated China; on the other hand we are in France, studying in a State university with a fair number of chinese students(and students learning chinese), so it might've been slightly paradoxal. Although, leaving aside the fact that she loves her country, she's not usually quite so nationalistic, and is a lot more perceptive.
Some things, like Tibet and Taiwan, seem there just to drive China crazy, it would be quite entertaining if people's lives weren't at stake.
So last week Shuang, I and a couple of friends had a presentation to do in our geopolitics class on the relations between China and Taiwan, which was pretty fascinating, and i think some of the conclusions we came up with can be transposed to Tibet.(is transposed actually used in English?I've lived in France too long)
The crux of the matter was this obsessive idea of China's of becoming a major power in this world; behind all this there seems to be this idea that as long as China is divided (so, missing Taiwan, or dissent in Tibet)the country isn't a major power, and so isn't safe.
Could also be behind the urge to get Hong Kong and Macau back.
On the other hand, as a french journalist was going on on TV a few nights ago, the world is afraid of China, underneath it all.
Just look at the US; China holds the largest amount of what's their names,US bonds;the US economy is shaky enough at the moment, thanks to some brilliant bankers who initiated that subprime mortgage crisis.
I can only give my own opinion here, and it would be that China is going to lose a lot out of this.
I also think the international community should agree on some kind of pressure to stop this. It's just not acceptable that the world stands by while people are dying before our very eyes. Yes, we need China, but China also needs us; and i don't think we're doing ourselves a favour by putting out that this repression is acceptable.
I can only hope the chinese government will accept the Dalai Lama's calls for peace and negotiations. How they can go on insulting him when he has always advocated peace, and then accuse the western media of trying to smear China, is beyond my understanding.
And the cat is trying to use my keyboard as a bathroom.Fitting.
Problem is, it is bugging me at the moment. So I shall have a short rant.
I won't presume I'm very well-informed on the subject, but as a student of chinese and China it holds a personal interest.
Shuang, my mainland chinese fwend (definitely not to be mistaken with the taiwanese students hanging around in our classes, especially since she nearly had a full-blown argument with one of them Thursday) came out with a terribly subversive stance earlier: "the situation is very grave and western media is deforming the truth". She didn't go as far as to say that it was because we all hated China; on the other hand we are in France, studying in a State university with a fair number of chinese students(and students learning chinese), so it might've been slightly paradoxal. Although, leaving aside the fact that she loves her country, she's not usually quite so nationalistic, and is a lot more perceptive.
Some things, like Tibet and Taiwan, seem there just to drive China crazy, it would be quite entertaining if people's lives weren't at stake.
So last week Shuang, I and a couple of friends had a presentation to do in our geopolitics class on the relations between China and Taiwan, which was pretty fascinating, and i think some of the conclusions we came up with can be transposed to Tibet.(is transposed actually used in English?I've lived in France too long)
The crux of the matter was this obsessive idea of China's of becoming a major power in this world; behind all this there seems to be this idea that as long as China is divided (so, missing Taiwan, or dissent in Tibet)the country isn't a major power, and so isn't safe.
Could also be behind the urge to get Hong Kong and Macau back.
On the other hand, as a french journalist was going on on TV a few nights ago, the world is afraid of China, underneath it all.
Just look at the US; China holds the largest amount of what's their names,US bonds;the US economy is shaky enough at the moment, thanks to some brilliant bankers who initiated that subprime mortgage crisis.
I can only give my own opinion here, and it would be that China is going to lose a lot out of this.
I also think the international community should agree on some kind of pressure to stop this. It's just not acceptable that the world stands by while people are dying before our very eyes. Yes, we need China, but China also needs us; and i don't think we're doing ourselves a favour by putting out that this repression is acceptable.
I can only hope the chinese government will accept the Dalai Lama's calls for peace and negotiations. How they can go on insulting him when he has always advocated peace, and then accuse the western media of trying to smear China, is beyond my understanding.
And the cat is trying to use my keyboard as a bathroom.Fitting.
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