Foreign universities: Campus collaboration. In China's Cyberspace, a Code for Criticism. Internet Controls Tighten Under New Administration. Watchwords: Reading China Through its Party Vocabulary. The China Media Project is pleased to announce the publication of Watchwords: Reading China Through Its Party Vocabulary, a new commentary series unpacking the most important political watchwords to watch in present-day China and explaining how they are critical to any understanding of China’s political past, present and future. The series is a must-read for anyone interested in the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and what it means for the country’s future.
We will begin posting the series on September 10, 2012, and will maintain an archive of links below. [For Chinese versions of the articles in the series, stay tuned to the Chinese online edition of the New York Times.] Soon the curtain will open on the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, a crucial meeting of the country’s top leaders that will set the tone for the next decade in China. But in what direction will these new leaders take the country? CHAPTERS1. China's incoming first lady a challenge for the image makers. Peng Liyuan sings during a national gala honoring the Chinese army in 2007.… (Feng Li / Getty Images ) BEIJING — She has a resume that would make U.S. political consultants drool: A renowned soprano who's performed for troops serving the motherland, opera fans at Lincoln Center and ordinary Chinese watching annual TV variety galas, she's also a World Health Organization goodwill ambassador in the fight against tuberculosis and HIV.
She's volunteered to help earthquake victims and hobnobbed with Bill Gates at an anti-smoking event in Beijing. An "artist-soldier" in the army, she holds a civilian rank equivalent to major general, and sometimes belts out patriotic melodies in military skirt suits (some favorite tunes: "On the Plains of Hope" and "People From Our Village"). And the 49-year-old with the approachable good looks has the Tiger Mom base covered too: Her daughter is studying at Harvard. The popular Peng could be a real asset for Xi, Terrill said. Xi Jinping: The man who must change China. Reading Campaign: Ai Weiwei’s Blog. Philosophy of Ai Weiwei. This is the first post in a three-part series based on Ai Weiwei’s blog and book, Time and Place, or 《此时此地》。
It is an attempt to make sense of and discuss some of Ai Weiwei’s ideas. We hope that from this series people can understand why he was one of China’s most popular bloggers and what his significance is as an historical cultural figure. Although most of his essays use art as a basis for making a cultural observation, you need not know about art to understand it — I at best have browsed Beijing’s 798, but cannot claim any special knowledge. Important Ideas of Ai’s Essays In his first essay of the selection, “Chinese Contemporary Art in Transition and Dilemma,” Ai describes the challenges faced by Chinese contemporary art.
Within China, communist discourse has long considered contemporary art to be “spiritual pollution” because it lacks an ideological basis. Artists within China used to be attacked and repressed for creating art that fell outside the ideological guidelines. Like this: Ai Weiwei, Art with Chinese Characteristics, and the need for both Unity and Disunity. Picking up from where Hannah left off yesterday, I want to look at a couple ideas from Ai Weiwei’s essays that jumped out at me. Chinese Contemporary in Dilemma and Transition Ai’s essays provide a great reminder of why Ai was so popular in China before the West took an interest in him – he isn’t speaking to a western audience and he is directly challenging Chinese culture. In fact much of his essay on Chinese art is in direct opposition to how the gov’t tried to paint him after his arrest; Ai is in no way infatuated with Western ideology, as he wants to see a strong and prosperous Chinese art scene, and by extension China.
That Chinese artists should resist western influence, and instead look more deeply into their own history to inspire their works. Uli Sigg’s art collection, which Ai admires for its breadth. Who Are You? In the next essay we read, “Who Are You?” “In certain social situations we may say: ‘I am you, and you and I are the same.’ Like this: Like Loading... Don’t read too much into the Olympics and other practical advice from Ai Weiwei. Today, we continue our ongoing series on Ai Weiwei’s book, Time and place. A World Without Honor By 2006 China had already tapped Zhang Yimou to direct the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. To Ai this was completely unacceptable, and he decided to devote a rather fiery post to the injustice of this decision. It was shortly before this that the once daring director had begun to back away from the line.
As a friend who had attended film school with Zhang told me, it seemed to her that the gov’t had finally “gotten” him. But Ai’s essay is still relevant today, especially as we sit through two more weeks of Olympics. He says, “Every competition has a winner, and the victorious side always uses its success to prove a fact.” Ai goes deeper into the nature of competitions in the Chinese context and argues that, “A world with no true goodness and no beauty is necessarily this way. As soon as You’re not careful…an Encounter with Idiocy on a Sunny Day Aftershocks Like this: Like Loading...
Let’s be clear about the actual issue — Ai Weiwei, final installment. This final installment on Ai Weiwei’s book, Time and Place, will look at two essays: one about the Beijing Olympic Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and one about, well, you’ll see. “About the Bird’s Nest” is an interview with Ai in 2008 conducted by the Chinese Business Weekly. For most of the interview he fields questions about the architectural structure and the bidding process, in which he and his Swiss architect partner had to gruel through endless bureaucratic conflict.
Most of the interview is about the architecture itself, but at one point touches on something a little more provocative. The reporter asks him to expand on the inevitable conflicts that can arise between Chinese and foreign architects (Reporter: “[The Swiss architect] once said that ‘Chinese people rely on their own way to create the Bird’s Nest’ and in saying this expressed discontent. I’m very glad he responded in this way. My thoughts exactly, Ai. Like this: Like Loading... Translation: One Author’s Plea for a Gentler China. [Dear readers, please note: The Chinese version of Murong Xuecun's speech is appended at bottom. 亲爱的读者, 请注意：演讲稿的中文版在下.] On Wednesday, July 25, a famous Chinese author and liberal voice with the pen name Murong Xuecun (@慕容雪村) shared a long and heartfelt plea to his countrymen via Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, based on a speech given earlier in Hong Kong.
According to Hong Kong University’s Weiboscope, which tracks Weibo posts popular with influential users, the text of this speech became the most popular image for July 25, with over 36,000 reposts and 8,000 comments. Just over one day later, the post was deleted by censors. Three Tea Leaf Nation writers have combined to translate Xuecun’s ambitious but important piece. (Section headings are our own.) Please enjoy. The water in autumn and the unending sky There is one clear advantage to living in mainland China: It’s always easy to separate theory and reality. Modern China is a strange new world. Numbness “Yes, perfectly.” Unreality Servility.