South Korean Actor Cha In Pyo

Those of us who are into Korean drama will recognize this photo of Korean actor - some say heartthrob - Cha In Pyo.

Apparently in 2002 he became a local hero for turning down the role of a North Korean baddie in the 007 movie Die Another Day. In the movie, James Bond wrestled with a crazed North Korean colonel who used a space-based laser to burn a massive hole in the Demilitarized Zone.

Cha turned down the role, saying that the script was "demeaning." According to reports, he also lost "a coveted ticket to Hollywood stardom."

The baddie role eventually went to Rick Yune, a Korean-American actor who, as can be imagined, received a less-than-cordial treatment when he visited Korea. At least one pop singer - Lee Jong Hyon - declined an invitation to appear alongside Yune.

As for North Korea's reaction to the movie? In classic Korean Central News Agency lingo, the movie was described as a "dirty and cursed burlesque that clearly proved that the United States is the root cause of all disasters and misfortune of the Korean nation."

China's Earlier Mediative Efforts

China's increasingly more constructive role on the international arena began way before the 2003 North Korean nuclear crisis threw it into the global limelight as a mediative heavyweight.

According to Hugo Restall in his 2003 article China's Little Help on North Korea, China played "probably the most important role" in the settlement that led to the 1993 U.N.-sponsored elections in Cambodia, as well as the peacekeeping efforts that followed.

China also supported the U.N. resolution which enabled an Australian-led peacekeeping force to consolidate East Timor's independence from Indonesia. Restall noted that just a few years earlier, the move "would have once thrown Beijing into a fit considering its own fear of "splittist" movements."

And in 2002, China's representative to the U.N. not only voted for Resolution 1448 on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but also participated in the drafting, and chaired the session at which the resolution was passed.

Robyn Lim

Maybe I am misguided. But articles by Japan's Nanzan University professor Robyn Lim some how strike me as being 1) highly cynical about China, and 2) having poor predictive value.

In her 2003 article Rumsfeld Warns China on Korea, Lim noted that China derived considerable benefit from its ties with North Korea, even though relations between the two Northeast Asian neighbors had been "rocky and complex." Lim also added that despite denials, China had proliferated nuclear and missile technology to North Korea and other countries.

Lim wrote: "Part of China's calculus was that proliferating to North Korea helped keep Japan in check, much as proliferating to Pakistan helped keep India restrained. No doubt, China also had a Taiwan contingency in mind - that in a Korean crisis, it might be able to induce the U.S. to look the other way while China retook Taiwan by force or threat."

That China expect the Americans to "look the other way" when it comes to retaking Taiwan "by force or threat" during a Korean crisis is not impossible, but far-fetched for now. To me, it is just highly cynical, and yet another indication of Lim's constant projection of China in a threatening light.

As for her articles having poor predictive value, Lim argued in the same article that Beijing must not allow Pyongyang to ride roughshod over it, as doing so might damage China's vital interests.

Fair and good. But she had to go on and add:

"The Chinese must know that the U.S. now has much wider strategic options, that will barely be hampered - and may eventually be enhanced - by a war in Iraq."

Okay, so no one could have predicted the Iraqi war to be so messy, drawn-out and debilitating. But in this particular analysis, Lim could not have been more wrong.

Eric Hotung

As someone who had covered the Yang Bin (杨斌) incident, I am ashamed to admit that I had no idea that Eric Hotung (何鸿章, pictured) was at one-time rumored to be a successor to Yang.

Yang was of course the former head of North Korea's Sinuiju free-trade zone arrested by China for commercial crimes in 2002.

Shortly after Yang's arrest, it was rumored that Hotung, a philanthropist and heir of a prominent British-Chinese family in Hong Kong, would take over Yang's job. Hotung denied the rumor, saying that "it's a job for a young man." Hotung was 76 in 2003.

An active aid donor to North Korea, Hotung, among other things, set up a children's fund, and donated soy beans and veterinary medicine to the Hermit Kingdom. He was even conferred the title of "honorary citizen" by Pyongyang officials.

Born in Hong Kong, Hotung is the eldest grandson of the the late Sir Robert Hotung, who became wealthy in the 19th century as a business intermediary in China for the company now known as Jardine Matheson Holding Ltd - one of the largest businesses in the territory. He spent his childhood and youth in Shanghai before going to the U.S. in 1947, and graduating from Georgetown University in 1951. Hotung was also a former adviser on China at the U.S. Center for Strategic Studies.

Great Leader Kim Jong-il

The following description of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il came from a 2003 article by Nicholas Kristof titled Stuck in a tunnel with Bush and the Great Leader.

"To be sure, Kim is not the crazy playboy he was said to be in the 1980s and 90s when intelligence reports on him were full of lurid stories of Swedish blondes and S and M videos. As better defector evidence emerges, it turns out that the Great Leader is actually a smart and self-confident sophisticate who surfs the Internet and watches CNN; any day now we may find that he's a fan of Wall Street Journal editorials.

"One of the assessments of Kim that rings most true to me comes from Cho Myung Chul, a defector who has known Kim since childhood. Cho describes the Great Leader as a fine pianist and table tennis player, smart and outgoing but, alas, also an aggressive risk-taker."

Japanese Yukuzas Moving Ahead With the Times

Everyone has to move ahead with the times, even the famed (or notorious?) Japanese yakuzas.

They plan to become more "structured" by dividing their members into two categories - "business experts" and "violence experts."

In a September Reuters report, former yakuza member Manabu Miyazaki was quoted as saying: "As the world becomes more borderless, (yakuzas) will need experts who can deal with this too, speaking Chinese and English."

After all, like Japan as a whole, gangsters are aging, and fewer young people look to organized crime as a career option. Police figures showed that in 2005, fewer than 20 per cent of yakuza were in their 20s.

Pointing out that today's young dislike "the tough life", Miyazaki added: "They think being a yakuza is like joining a company. There's a joke about a young man going to a gang office and asking what the salary was, and would he get insurance."

Even though fewer are joining the yakuzas, Miyazaki made it clear that the latter-day samurai groups will not disappear altogether. She also warned that those who do join yakuzas "will be very logical, very scary - and much, much more dangerous."

Okay, so they'd be even more scary and dangerous. But lots of questions remain unanswered. Such as, do yakuza members get insurance or not? And will they still continue to get full body tattoos?

Further Social Phenomenon in China

One last entry based on Xie Sizhong's (解思忠) 国民素质忧思录 (A Chronicle of Worries and Contemplation about the Caliber of Our Citizens, 香港三联书店, 1998).

1. A Chinese elementary school student was found sleeping during a history class. Infuriated, the teacher asked: "Tell me, who burnt down Yuan Ming Yuan (圆明园, or the Old Summer Palace, pictured)?" The student replied: "It wasn't me."

Even more infuriated, the teacher ordered the student to go home and ask his parents. The next day, the parents showed up in school and exclaimed: "How can you accuse our son of burning down Yuan Ming Yuan! We can guarantee you that he didn't do it!"

2. Nobel laureate Yang Chen-ning (杨振宁) once visited Changchun (长春) and was greeted at the airport by well-wishers displaying welcoming posters and placards bearing his name. His arrival coincided with the arrival of a popular entertainer whose supporters were also holding up welcoming posters and placards. The latter group asked in bewilderment: "Who is Yang Chen-ning? What songs did he sing?"

Social Phenomenon in China

In Guangzhou (广州), a work unit was responsible for inspecting all passing pig-carrying vehicles. If dead pigs were found, members of the unit had to immediate bury them, as well as thoroughly wash and sanitize the vehicles.

But as it turned out, the dead pigs were not buried. Instead, they were taken away to be cut up and sold. And not only did the unit not wash the affected vehicles, it even set up auxiliary "pig-processing facilities" to "process" the dead pigs.

In Henan (河南), an inspector was responsible for ensuring that all vehicles had the proper labels and registrations. But the job was also a means for him to line his wallet by nitpicking on passing vehicles. In one case where no fault could be found, he even issued a ticket for "violating planned birth" (or having a child without official approval) to an unmarried 19-year old male.

In Sichuan (四川), villagers deliberately dug holes on expressways and waited by the roadside. When unknowing vehicles fell into and were trapped in those holes, they would render their "services." For a fee, of course.

In Hebei (河北), an official in charge of a county's power generator was upset that a performing troupe had not given him the best tickets for an opening performance. In retaliation, he ordered the disruption of the electricity supply during the performance.

In Shanghai (上海), a group of "freelancers" found an innovative way to make a living. They did this by occupying booths in public toilets located in busy areas for several hours a day. They would of course "surrender" their booths when necessary, usually to those who urgently needed to use to toilets. Again, for a small fee of 2 RMB.

In Chongqing (重庆), in order to ensure they obtain seats, adults tossed their infants through the bus windows.

While in Beijing (北京), two public telephones located in a graduate school building were so frequently stolen that after a while, the phone company simply refused to re-install them. So for those who had to make phone calls, they'd have to bring their own telephone sets. They'd plug the sets in, make their calls, unplug the sets, and then bring the sets home.

These depressing anti-social accounts and more could be found in Xie Sizhong's (解思忠) 国民素质忧思录 (A Chronicle of Worries and Contemplation about the Caliber of Our Citizens, 香港三联书店, 1998).

Fake Products in China

Pumping water into pigs to make them heavier (hence pricier) is nothing new in China.

But what was new to me was the description by Chinese writer Xie Sizhong (解思忠) of how the pigs looked like after water had been pumped into them.

"被注过水的猪都是滚瓜溜圆, 气喘吁吁, 行走艰难, 痛苦不堪, 有的竟像傻了一样, 站在那里一动不动, 任人斩割."

("Pigs that had water pumped into them looked like fattened rounded gourds, they find it difficult to breathe, have difficulties walking, and seemed to be in extreme pain. Some looked completely dazed, stood completely still, and could do little to avoid being killed or slaughtered.")

Even though I have to confess that I enjoy bacon, it is still awful, if not painful, to picture an over-bloated pig ballooning to proportions beyond its size.

As Xie noted in his book 国民素质忧思录 (A Chronicle of Worries and Contemplation about the Caliber of Our Citizens, 香港三联书店, 1998), the scariest thing about fake products was not the manufacture of such products by merely one person or one small group of people. Rather, it is when large groups of people quietly yet concurrently conspire to undertake such illicit manufacturing with scant regard to the law and public health.

Giving the example of Wenshui County in Shanxi province (山西省的文水县), Xie recounted that at one time, as many as 3,400 people in the county participated in the manufacturing of fake liquor. Every household, whether male or female, young or old, had a hand in the scam. For example, a 70-year old grandmother roped in her two 14-year old and 10-year old grandchildren to re-purchase logos, empty bottles and white wine. She, on the other hand, would be in charge of mixing the white wine with other liquids to re-sell for a profit. The whole county even banded together to set up "alert posts" in all parts of the county so that if any inspection teams were to enter the county, early alarm bells would be triggered off.

Whoever said that Chinese are disunited, much like a plate of scattered sand (一盘散沙), need to reconsider that view. When it comes to illicit profits, there is the possibility that some Chinese (like people anywhere else actually) will see the merits of being united.

The One-Time Importance of Danwei in China

Danwei (单位, or work units) had declined in importance in China over the years, but their all embracing nature in taking care of their employees and employees' family members is still sorely missed by some.

Not surprising, given that what the danwei had been able to provide, over the decades, had been even more encompassing than Heaven Almighty himself.

As Chinese writer Xie Sizhong (解思忠) noted, the danwei was responsible for one's housing, medical care, injury expenditures, and retirement pension. The danwei also took care of childbirth and children's education, and even "the supply of hot water, baths, groceries, foodstuffs during festive occasions, before and after-work transportation, spring excursions, summer cooling goodies, storage of cabbage during winter (pictured), even cremation after death, holding memorial services, making arrangements to store one's ashes, and even erecting tombs."

In his book 国民素质忧思录 (A Chronicle of Worries and Contemplation about the Caliber of Our Citizens, 香港三联书店, 1998), Xie detailed a survey conducted sometime before 1998. The survey noted that the three most difficult situations for ordinary Chinese to endure in life were said to be: 1) Children getting involved in accidents, 2) death of one's spouse, and 3) being dismissed from one's work unit.

In vivid language alluding to pigs and birds, Xie wrote about the reluctance, even difficulties, of some former state-owned employees in leaving a system that had ensured cradle-to-grave benefits.

"甚至是已频临破产, 抢救无望, 也不愿, 不敢去到市场经济的大潮中去闯荡. 就像母猪已奄奄一息, 小猪却一面斜眼四处观望, 一面还叼着干枯的奶头, 恋恋不舍地不肯离去一样."

("Even if the firms were on the brink of bankruptcy and it was impossible to salvage them, (state-owned employees) were nevertheless unwilling, or did not have the courage, to ride the waves of an open-market system. It is almost like a mother pig who is on the brink of death, and the little pigs are looking around sideways on the one hand, yet sucking on the dried tits on the other, finding it difficult to tear themselves away from the dying mother pig.")

"市场经济的实行, 就像打开了鸟笼; 久困其中的小鸟也许一时还茫然不知所向 - 外面广阔的天空和美丽的大自然诚然是一种诱惑, 但外面的风霜雨雪和艰难险阻也会使其望而生畏."

("The implementation of a market economy is like opening the door to a bird cage. Perhaps the little bird which had once been confined in the cage felt temporarily lost with its new-found freedom, and do not know which way to go once it had been released. The boundless skies and beautiful nature out there are certainly tempting, but the accompanying stormy winds, frost and snow, not to mention the difficulties, had also made it an extremely daunting move.")

"Elections" in Chinese Elementary Schools

It must be tough being a Chinese kid. Particularly a Chinese urban kid trying to get ahead, or be popular among his/her peers.

In an account by Deng Lei (邓蕾, 关于孩子的备忘录, in 空谈, 中国广播电视出版社, 2000), some semblance of "democracy" had entered urban Chinese elementary schools. Students who wished to be elected student councilors had to contest in "elections", draft "campaign speeches" (mostly with help from their parents), and hopefully "deliver" on their "election promises."

Deng noted that most "election promises" centered on "contributions" to the school. One "candidate" promised that if "elected", he (or in other words, his parents) would contribute 200 books to the school library. Another pledged that she (or her parents) would borrow a tractor to loosen up the soil so that fellow students can grow fruits and vegetables on the school's vacant plot. Another promised that school events and functions could be held in a better venue (in other words, in his father's workplace auditorium). Yet another pledged that if "elected", his parents would help organize summer excursions for teachers.

As Deng wrote: "从竞选开始一直到结束, 都是一群孩子在努力竞争, 在表现自我, 在彼此较劲. 但是我们看见的分明是一个成年人的世界. 连表情和语气都酷似, 甚至沮丧, 甚至欣喜."

("From the beginning to the end of the election, it was just a group of children competing vigorously, showing off the best of themselves, and competing with one another. But what we saw was clearly an adult's world; even the expressions and tone of voice were remarkably similar, even the sadness, and the joy.")

While I certainly can relate to Deng's lament about the loss of childhood innocence, the sense that was driven home more vividly to me was the competitive nature of Chinese society. But perhaps some might think that having the seeds of "democracy" implanted in impressionable young minds might not be such a bad thing after all?

Prof Lu Di

I interviewed Prof Lu Di (芦荻) in Beijing in 2003, and found her unforgettable.

Unforgettable because of her extreme generosity and kindness in taking in and sheltering abandoned pets in her two-bedroom apartment. Unforgettable because of the sheer numbers of cats and dogs she had sheltered that year, given the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), where countless pet were abandoned by their owners.

Unforgettable because of her determined yet persistent uphill battle in protecting every single feline and canine that she either found or was abandoned at her doorstep. And unforgettable because of the massive stench in her house where the pets were sheltered.

All I knew then was that Lu was a professor in Renmin University (人民大学), as well as the founder of China's Small Animals Protection Association (小动物保护协会). Because of her mission, she had aged considerably beyond her 70 years.

But I found out more about Lu after stumbling upon an article by Liu Hongyan (刘鸿雁, 一个没有讲完的故事, in 空谈, 中国广播电视出版社, 2000) where Lu was described as "a tragic character."

Lu lost her father when she was 3 and was raised by her mother. She had an unhappy marriage - due partly to Cultural Revolution tensions, and partly to her habit of sheltering cats and dogs. Lu apparently entered Zhongnanhai (中南海, the Chinese leadership compound), where she reportedly "read to Mao", presumably because Mao was ill at that time and had blurred vision. But Mao died less than a year after Lu entered Zhongnanhai. Immediately after Mao's death, Lu came under attack for having purported links to the Gang of Four (四人帮).

As Liu wrote: "In reality, Lu had never even met any one within the Gang of Four. During her days of being attacked, her husband stayed even further away from her. And when everything was over, Lu could have lived peacefully with her daughter in the United States. But by then, she had decided to devote her life to animal protection. This led to the start of the toughest and most difficult period in her life."

Apart from normal healthy abandoned pets, Lu also took in handicapped animals, such as those whose eyes had been gorged out, or those whose legs had been chopped off. Apart from having animals being left at her doorstep, Lu was also the target of those with less-than-charitable motives. An owner of a pet shop once visited Lu and expressed his interest in donating some pet food to Lu. When Lu expressed her gratitude and asked if there was anything she could do in return, the manager said he would like to obtain a particular animal sheltered by Lu. The animal was a rare breed, and the manager would like to cross-breed the animal with other pets, and then sell them for a profit. Lu turned down the manager's offer. This naturally also meant that the promise of free pet food never materialized.

Lu noted that her most urgent task was not only to ensure that the abandoned animals were fed, but also to change people's perceptions about pets - a task which she described as monumentally more difficult.

Liu ended her article by saying: "Many people often asked me, "there are now so many Chinese who are unemployed, and humans don't even have enough to eat, why bother about pets?" I do not know how to answer them. But I believe that Teacher Lu's job is extremely meaningful."

I agree with Liu. And I certainly hope Lu and other animal-lovers in China had made a lot more headway in their mission since I last saw her/them.

Li Ao

My impression of Li Ao (李敖) over the past several years was mainly of him as a vocal social commentator and an independent politician.

But I discovered other aspects of the Taiwanese after picking up the book 文化顽童 - 李熬被忽视的另一面 (Cultural Urchin - The Forgotten Side of Li Ao, Zhongguo Youyi Publishing House, 1999). These include Li as a hard-hitting writer, and a one-time husband of former Taiwanese actress Hu Yinmeng (胡茵梦).

In 1962, Li wrote an article castigating traditionalism within the Chinese culture. One aspect that he took to task was the 泛祖宗主义 (or pan-ancestors mentality).

An excerpt:

"俗语说, "穷极呼天, 痛极喊娘". 无知的人们遇到困难, 左冲右撞, 还是解决不了, 只好求救于"逆退" (regression) 心理, 退到穿开挡裤的时代, 拿出吃奶的力气, 喊几声妈. 因为在孩童时期每一叫妈, 问题就有人代为解决了, 所以总觉得叫妈很灵, 所以总想叫妈. 但叫妈是个人的事, 对一个民族而言, 人人叫妈成何体统? 于是聪明人想出一个好办法 - 叫孔夫子! 这真是一大发明! 因为这样一来, 天下大事就好办了, 孔子是我们 "泛祖宗主义" 的焦点, 是我们全民族的"父亲意象" (father image), 也是我们的弥赛亚. 不幸的是, 在300年来欧风美雨的吹打下, 我们的弥赛亚不但不灵, 反倒误了我们 - 我们想占祖宗的便宜, 结果反倒吃了大亏."

("As the saying goes "when in extreme poverty, cry out to the skies; when in extreme pain, cry out to mother". When ignorant people meet with difficulties and cannot seem to solve them, they have no choice but to resort to a regressive mindset. They will return to the era when they were still wearing open-crotch pants, and muster all the strength they can and start calling out to their mothers. Because when they were children, all problems were solved simply by shouting out to their mothers. Hence they feel that the method is very effective. But while calling out to one's mother is a personal matter, it is ludicrous if an entire nation resorts to doing so. So some clever people came up with a good idea - they'd call out to Kong Zi (Confucius)! This is really a great discovery! It seems to make things easy. Kong Zi is the focal point of our "pan-ancestor mentality", the father image of our entire people, as well as our Messiah. But unfortunately, after 300 years of turbulence inflicted upon us by Europe and America, not only is our Messiah ineffective, we have also been fooled. We wanted to take advantage of our ancestors, yet we ended up being the victims.")

As for being the one-time husband of Hu Yinmeng, well, the marriage reportedly lasted only 4 months and 22 days. According to Li, even when they were living together (presumably before their marriage), Kuomintang agents began to make life difficult for Hu.

The KMT made sure that Hu could not land any roles, and even threatened her to falsely testify against Li, who in 1980, was still seen as a troublemaker, even though by then he was no longer a jail-squatting political prisoner.

Li added that after Hu falsely testified against him, she was "rewarded" with the Golden Horse award. And after the two were divorced, Hu was allowed to return to her high-profile role as actress.

On his time spent in jail as a political prisoner, Li had this to say:

"坐牢的时候难免性欲冲动, 我就对自己说: 我的"大头"可以原谅他们(国民党), "小头"却不可以. 将来再坐牢一定要犯风化罪, "小头"害"大头"一次, 不要每次都是"大头"害"小头", 要反过来一次." 知道了吧!"

(When I was in jail, it was natural to have sexual impulses. So I told myself that while my "bigger head" can forgive them (the KMT), my "smaller head" cannot. If I have to go to jail again, it will have to be on charges of sexual crimes, so that the "smaller head" can, for once, get the "bigger head" into trouble. It should not always have to be the "bigger head" always getting the "smaller head" into trouble. There must be a reverse. You understand?!")

Wife Beating Among East Asian Men

After detailing an account of a woman who was brutally beaten and slashed with a knife by her husband, Chinese writer Guo Lin (郭霖) had this to say:

"东北是出过土匪最多的地方之一, 东北人好斗, 也热情. 东北人打老婆比较普遍, 大丈夫思想严重. 据说是受了日本人与朝鲜人的影响."

(The Northeast is one of the places with the most bandits. North-easterners are militant, and gregarious. It is common for North-easterners to beat up their wives; their sense of male chauvinism is strong, and this is largely due to the influence of the Japanese and Koreans.")

Good grief. Positive cultural/social traits in Japan and Korea are often attributed to the positive and civilizing effects of Chinese culture. Yet any negative attributes are blamed on the Japanese and Koreans? Come on. At least be honest and take responsibility for one's own nasty attributes!

The above excerpt can be found in 解读罪与错 - 当代中国家庭教育与犯罪心理调查 (Interpreting Crime and Misdemeanor - A Psychological Investigation of Contemporary Chinese Family Education and Crime, Zhongguo Shehui Publishing Press, 2000)

Separately, according to a 2003 article by Cortlan Bennett, a research by the Korea Women's Hotline that same year revealed that one in three married Korean men beat their wives.

Since spousal abuse was outlawed in South Korea in 1998, the number of reported cases of domestic violence had soared from 41,497 in 1999 to 114,612 in 2002. But only two per cent of these cases went to court. Many Korean men argued it was their "marital right", while many women reasoned that women who were abused "must have deserved it."

In his 1994 biography Honey, please help me, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun admitted abusing his wife during their early married years.

As Bennett noted: "Such admissions from the man who is now president, and traditional Confucian values in this painfully patriarchal nation, go some way to explain why wife-beating is so widely accepted."

Jin Renqing's Dismissal

Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing (金人庆, pictured) recently resigned, and the official reason cited was that Jin had done so due to "personal reasons."

Citing undisclosed sources, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (南华早报) reported that Jin had a mistress who had also been romantically linked to another official currently under investigation for corruption. Other Hong Kong papers also reported likewise, with variations and elaborations of this "romantic" link.

But according to the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times (大纪元时报), Jin's resignation had to do with his illegal transfer of money in the wake of Jiang Zemin's (江泽民) crackdown on the Falun Gong (法轮功) spiritual sect.

Citing undisclosed sources, the paper reported on 7 September 07 that since the crackdown began in 1999, funds had been transferred from various sources to help Jiang crack down on the spiritual sect. Initially, Jiang thought that the crackdown would be swift, and that the sect would crumble after a while. But the group proved to be more resilient than earlier thought, and hence more funds had to be diverted from various sources, including provinces, ministries and the military.

Money that were diverted were used to run mandatory "brain-washing" schools and classes which Falun Gong practitioners had to attend, as well as prisons and rehabilitation centers. Funds were also needed to counter and tackle the influence and publicity of Falun Gong groups based overseas.

By the end of 2002, the money that had been diverted had to be "returned", as the military and various ministries had become impatient and wanted their money back. It was then that Jin, in his capacity as Finance Minister, and with the backing of Jiang, purportedly diverted funds from elsewhere to return the funds to the military and ministries.

How Jin did it and where the funds were diverted from were said to be currently under investigation by the leadership headed by Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) and Wen Jiabao (温家宝). After all, the funds were clearly not authorized for transfer by the Politburo Standing Committee nor the State Council.

The report even added that more than just being "placed under investigation", Jin was kept in a safe place to "protect him from harm."

What a riveting account! But the account should be taken with a grain, even a large handful of salt given that it emanated from The Epoch Times, what I would call a one-dimensional newspaper. More than just seeking redress for and championing the rights of Falun Gong victims, the paper is basically out to tarnish the record of the Chinese government.

Gu Hongming

Gu Hongming (辜鸿铭, pictured) was a somewhat fascinating character. Though his family originated from Tongan in Fujian province (福建同安), he was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1857. He died in 1928.

At 16, he began his education in Edinburgh University, before furthering his studies in Germany, France and Italy. After his graduation, he worked in the then colonial Singapore government for some time. In 1885, he went to China and worked in the think tank of the reform-minded Chinese politician Zhang Zhidong (张之洞). Gu occupied a variety of posts during his career, and was a Peking University professor since 1915.

Gu was familiar with French, Italian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Japanese, and Malay, as well as Chinese, English and German. Gu's English was even described by Chinese writer and inventor Lin Yutang (林语堂) as "the best in China."

Though exceedingly well-educated and well-traveled (and presumably ahead of his time), Gu was extremely conservative. He embraced polygamy and foot-binding. He was a strong advocate of monarchy and Confucian values. He also chose to preserve his plait even after the Qing Dynasty was overthrown.

Even though he wrote a number of books outlining his world view, few scholarly edition of his works remain. Gu was a cultural curiosity later on in his life. After he died, he was remembered as a cultural oddity.

In his book 中国人的精神 (The Spirit of the Chinese People, Hainan Publishing Press, 1996), Gu justified his support of polygamy by arguing that the greatest sacrifice a man could undertake was to protect and provide for his wives and children.

Hitting out at Europeans who argued that polygamy was immoral, Gu had this to say:

"那些摩托装备的欧洲人, 从马路上检回一个无依无靠的妇人, 供其消遣一夜之后, 次日凌晨又将其抛弃在马路上, 要更少自私和不道德成分. 纳妾的中国官人或许是自私的, 但他至少提供了住房, 并承担了他所拥有的妇人维持生计的责任. 事实上, 如果说中国官员是自私的, 那么我将说那些摩托装备的欧洲人不仅自私, 而且是些懦夫."

(Some of these Europeans who possess motorized equipment, they pick up a homeless and helpless woman from the streets, and after a night of enjoyment, they abandon the same woman on the streets the following morning. This is even more selfish and immoral. Chinese officials who have multiple wives - at least they provided accommodation, and take on the responsibility of maintaining the livelihoods of all the women he possessed. If Chinese officials were described as selfish, then I would say that these Europeans who possess motorized equipment are not only selfish, they are also cowards.")

Inside North Korea

For a glimpse into the daily lives of ordinary North Koreans, it is instructive to read the accounts of Moon Hae-sung - a North Korean who had escaped from North Korea to South Korea via China.

Moon noted that while it is normal for South Korean children to play on their own, "the idea of playing alone, or even spending time alone, is pretty alien" in the Hermit Kingdom.

"We always had at least 10 kids gathered together, usually more; I can't remember even playing with just one other kid. It's as if the tenets of communal living were pounded into our very bones."

As for the leadership cult, Moon pointed out that if a house in North Korea is on fire, the first thing its citizens have to rescue is the portrait of the Dear Leader. If the portrait is burnt down with the rest of the house, the family might be put on trial at one of the "weekly general assemblies."

Moon also revealed that every school has an office whose task is to research the ideological history of Great Leader Kim Il-sung and Dear Leader Kim Jong-il.

"These offices are sacred places and have perfectly ironed white carpeting, and you can only go in after you've put on bright white slippers."

In his account in Richard Harris' Faces of Korea, The Foreign Experience in the Land of the Morning Calm (Hollym International, 2004), Moon also pointed out "one interesting thing" he observed when he arrived in South Korea.

"I discovered that America is written with the Chinese character for beauty, mi (美) but in the North it's written with the character for rice (米)."

So the United Stares cannot be portrayed as "beautiful." But using the second character conjures in its impoverished and hungry people's mind that rice (read: food) is abundant in America? No?

Foreigners' Perception of Korea

Having lived in Korea for a year, I can relate to some foreigners' perception of the country.

Such as Monica Montero Lim - a half-Korean who had lived outside of Korea all her life - who noted that Korea is "a society that's so old and set." It is also a country where thought and behavioral patterns are very clearly defined, whether it is the way Koreans worked, or the way they dated each other.

As Lim added: "(But) if you touch a Korean's heart, they'll move the world for you. It amazes me how Koreans are moved by emotions like love and hate - and they love to cry!"

Korean adoptee Julie Kim - also qualifies as a foreigner! - remembered thinking to herself when she was in Korea: "God, this place is so cosmetic! They're so vain. The women are so concerned with how they look , their clothes. They're so materialistic."

William, a teacher from the U.K. was exactly right when he noted that English is not learnt in Korea "for joy or pleasure." Rather, the language is seen as a weapon, "giving a competitive advantage to those who have it over those who do not."

He added: "Koreans have no appreciation of the culture behind the English language. They regard English as a skill, like playing the piano or riding a horse."

University instructor Ted Gray recalled his first impression when he first landed in Korea in 1995.

"Everything seemed organized, though imperfect in some ways. It was kind of like Japan, minus 25 percent."

These accounts and more were found in Richard Harris' Faces of Korea, The Foreign Experience in the Land of the Morning Calm (Hollym International, 2004).

But the observation that had the strongest hold on me was when Gray noted that Korea "can break your heart", but yet it "can also put you on top of the highest mountain."

Homosexuality in Korea

As early as the 8th century, there was reference to homosexuality within the Korean royal family.

King Hyekong, the 36th king of the Shilla Dynasty (57 BC to AD 918) was ordained king in 765 at the age of 8. But 15 years later he was killed by subordinates who could not accept his abnormal "femininity."

This was according to Richard Harris in his book Faces of Korea, The Foreign Experience in the Land of the Morning Calm (Hollym International, 2004).

Harris also added that one of the earliest instances of early lesbianism in Korea dated back to the 15th century, when King Sejong (1397 - 1450) convened a meeting to discuss rumors that one of his daughters-in-law was sleeping with another woman.

"According to the Annals of the Chosun Dynasty, the daughter-in-law was expelled from the royal family, but under different pretexts," Harris wrote.

Coming back to the modern age, Harris noted that the largest "gay entertainment street in Korea" is in the foreign-dominated area of Itaewon (pictured) in Seoul. And that the first gay campus organization was said to be formed at Yonsei University in 1995.

The former observation came as no surprise. But the latter certainly did.

The Korean Word for "God"

This account came from former American Christian missionary Ronald Nielsen and can be found in Richard Harris' Faces of Korea, The Foreign Experience in the Land of the Morning Calm (Hollym International, 2004).

Nielsen noted that although the Korean language can be very confusing for foreigners, it facilitates certain words and ideas about Christianity "a lot better than Chinese does."

For example, when saying the word "deity" in Chinese, you have to choose between the words tian (天), which means "heaven", and shangdi (上帝), which means "the guru on high".

But the Korean word for "God", ha-na-neem (하나님), according to Nielsen, "is more in harmony with Christian monotheism."

Ten Thousand Sorrows

My first introduction to the seven sins of Korean women was when I read Elizabeth Kim's Ten Thousand Sorrows at the end of 2001.

I remember December 2001 clearly. A month earlier, I seemed to have fallen in love. A few days before Christmas I set off in the freezing winter from Beijing to Shanxi (山西) with Mary and Ay Shin. The three of us spent Christmas in Taiyuan (太原), Shanxi's provincial capital. Mary was so cold that she stepped on a tiny piece of cardboard in the bus hoping that the flimsy piece of object would provide her foot with extra warmth. That had since become a joke among the three of us. And I had the book Ten Thousand Sorrows with me to while away the time when it was too depressingly cold to walk, and when we were not jokingly pointing accusatory fingers at each other asking "whose idea was it to come to Shanxi in winter?"

Anyway, I digress. The chilgo chiak, or seven evils are:

Disobeying her in-laws
Bearing no son
Sexual looseness
Being jealous
Carrying a hereditary disease
Talking too much
Stealing

Set in the aftermath of the Korean War, the book is about an orphan - known derogatorily as honhyol (or non-person, mixed race, animal) - who was shunned by society, and later adopted by American parents.

As Kim pointed out: "If you were a childless couple and you didn't mind having an Asian son or daughter, Korea was fertile ground at that time. There were so many forgotten children, the product of brief liaisons between soldiers on their way through, and women on their way to hell."

Incidentally, Korea is still "fertile ground" for "forgotten children", even till this day. The only difference is that children put up for adoption in the past few decades are more likely to be those born out of wedlock than honhyols.

But overall, the book is uplifting. As Kim noted in her concluding chapter:

"We all struggle along through the ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows of our lives. But because we are ultimately alone, and because life is so hard, every moment of beauty, every belly laugh, and every kiss are powerful and precious. I'm intensely grateful for every fragile instant of contentment."

Me too.

And in her concluding paragraph:

"Maybe this life is like that. Maybe this pain is like that. Fears and hopes and dreams and sorrows all will dissolve like the fog that they are, and what will be left is the light and warmth of my deepest self or soul or whatever it might be. I want true love in this life, and true contentment and peace. But maybe the only way I can find those things is to let go of the belief that this life is my reality."

Dogs As Used In The Chinese Language

According to Chinese writer Fu Zhongshi (符中士), dogs must be the most maligned creatures in China.

In various Chinese idioms and expressions, the word "dog" (狗) is often used in a derogatory manner, Fu noted in his book 吃的自由 (The Freedom of Eating, People's Literature Publishing Press, 1999).

走狗 - "running dog", used to describe a traitor who works for the enemy

狗屁 - "dog fart", used to describe something ludicrous

狗东西 - "dog thingy", used to describe someone worthless/deplorable

狗腿子 - "dog leg", another description for a "running dog"

落水狗 - "a dog that had fallen into the water", to mean that someone had fallen into disgrace

癞皮狗 - "lai pi dog" - a kind of dog to imply that someone is shameless

哈巴狗 - "ha ba dog" - another kind of dog to mean the shamelessly demeaning and lowering of oneself in order to curry the favor of someone more powerful/important

狗屎堆 - "a pile of dog shit" - versatile expression that means hogwash

狗娘养的 - "raised by a bitch" - self-explanatory

狗头军师 - "dog-head military commander" - someone who gives lousy advice

狗仗人势 - "dog relying on the power of humans" - someone who acts arrogantly because he had the backing of someone more powerful

狗急跳墙 - "a cornered dog jumping the wall" - someone who does drastic things at wits' end

狐群狗党 - "a group of foxes and dogs" - to mean dubious and questionable company/friends/allies

狼心狗肺 - "wolf's heart and dog's lungs" - to use on someone who is evil, heartless and diabolical

狗眼看人低 - "a dog's eye looking down on people" - self-explanatory

狗改不了吃屎 - "a dog can never stop eating shit" - used on people who cannot break their nasty/diabolical ways, habits and practices

狗嘴里吐不出象牙 - "elephants' teeth cannot come out of a dog's mouth" - to mean that something valuable and precious cannot come out of something lowly and humble.

闻到狗肉香, 和尚也跳墙 - "with the fragrance of dog meat, a monk would also jump over the wall" - self-explanatory.

猪朋狗友 - "pig friends and dog pals" - fair-weathered friends

挂羊头, 卖狗肉 - "hanging a goat's head, and selling dog meat" - having a respectable facade so as to hide one's sinister motives/intentions.

Yet when it came to the naming of dog meat dishes, fanciful or at least nice-sounding names were used. These include "地羊肉" ("ground goat's meat") or "三六味" ("three-six taste").

As Fu concluded: "幸好狗不懂话, 不识字. 如果它知道忠心耿耿为人"效犬马之劳"换来的, 是什么坏事都要把它挂上, 纵算不集体自杀, 也会全部气成疯狗."

(Thank goodness dogs don't know what we say, nor can they read. If only they had known that their utmost loyalty towards humans had resulted in all these derogatory expressions. Even if they won't commit mass suicide, they'd be so fuming mad that they'd all turn into mad dogs.")

Fake Blood in China

Fake products are nothing new in China. Most of us have heard of fake liquor, fake cigarettes, fake medicine, fake television sets, and so on.

But fake blood? This has got to be one of the grossest accounts I have read so far.

In the book 百姓话题,当代名言 (China Wenlian Publishing House 1999), author Yi Ren (伊人, a pseudonym) noted that the director of a Heilongjiang medical college affiliated with a hospital (黑龙江省佳木斯市医学院附属医院输血科) had reportedly purchased blood for 2 RMB per ml.

Where was the blood purchased from? The city's maternity hospital.

And what blood was it? Blood from women who had just given birth. Or to be more exact, the waste blood ejected from women's wombs after they had delivered their babies.

The blood was then reportedly re-sold at 16 RMB per ml. Needless to say, many people died after being infused with such fake blood.

I can only think of the expression 丧尽天良 (utterly devoid of conscience) to describe heartless sub-humans like these.

Why Chinese Prostitutes Prefer Korean "Clients"

This account is a back-handed "compliment" of Korean men.

According to the book 百姓话题,当代名言 (China Wenlian Publishing House 1999), Chinese female prostitutes generally prefer Korean "clients" over their Chinese counterparts.

Chinese "clients" are said to be rude and discourteous. After business had been "transacted", Chinese men would pull out money from their wallets, and then tossed the money dismissively on to the bed.

But Korean "clients", on the other hand, would delicately remove their money. They'd then place the money on the women's hands, and utter something thoughtful like "little sister, here is a little something for you to purchase some cosmetics."

Hmm, that certainly does not gel with the generally MCP (male chauvinist pig) image of Korean men. Or maybe Korean men are just MCP towards Korean women.

Another Look At Corruption in China

According to the book 百姓话题,当代名言 (China Wenlian Publishing House 1999), corrupted officials can be downright audacious.

A corrupted official who was "investigated" by the Disciplinary Inspection Committee reportedly said:

"我是在为厂子谋福利, 你们要再调查下去, 影响了整个厂的利益, 那你们得负责任."

("I am seeking benefits for the factory. And if you continue to investigate, and if the bottomline of the entire factory is adversely affected, you'd have to bear responsibility.")

Corruption had also triggered off many local sayings, and this one goes "吃半天, 喝半天, 酒足饭饱睡半天, 要办事情等明天."

("Feast half a day, drink half a day, drank and fed to his heart's content he has to sleep for another half a day. If you want to get anything done, wait till another day.")

Changing Views on Marriage in China

He Si (何思) was described as a "Chinese romance expert", according to the book 百姓话题,当代名言 (China Wenlian Publishing House 1999).

He noted that given the revolutionary fervor in the 1950s, women were keen to marry "people's heroes" who were liked and admired. "Not only would the woman feel honored, so would her family, friends and relatives."

When politics became polarized in the 1960s, women were more interested in finding someone from either a "compatible", or at least an "unbourgeois" background.

In the 1970s, women set their sights on soldiers and those with military backgrounds.

In the 1980s, women were attracted to intellectuals - known previously as "stinking old nine" (臭老九) but by then as "fragrant old nine" (香老九).

From the late 1980s, women's attention were turned to men who had fat wallets. And since He had not spoken about the 1990s, it is assumed that wealth was still a factor in women's choice of marriage partners then, and even now.

He also coined a "Four Awareness" (四悟) on marriage.

结婚是失误,
独身是觉悟,
离婚是醒悟,
再婚是执迷不悟.

(Marriage is a lack of awareness,
Singlehood is a discovery of awareness,
Divorce is waking up with awareness,
Re-marriage is a refusal to imbue oneself with awareness.)

Regional Personnel Changes in China

Another piece of speculative trivial from the Chinese media in the U.S.

This one speculated that alongside the impending personnel changes at the 17th Party Congress in Beijing in October, significant personnel changes had already taken place at the regional level. These include the appointment of leaders who were students at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Incident.

Some names thrown up include:

Fang Jun (方军) - 41 years old, former secretary of National People's Congress chairman Li Tieying (李铁映, pictured), recently appointed vice-mayor of Hefei (合肥), provincial capital of Anhui province (安徽省). At the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Incident, he was a 23-year old graduate student at Beijing Normal University's Philosophy Department.

Zhang Xiaolin (张晓麟) - 46 years old, also recently appointed as vice-mayor of Hefei.

Yang Zengquan (杨增权) - 44 years old, ditto.

Sun Jinlong (孙金龙) - 45 years old, recently appointed Hefei party secretary.

Wu Cunrong (吴存荣) - 44 years old, recently appointed Hefei mayor.

The article dated September 4 noted that during the 17th Party Congress, some younger cadres will be appointed as alternative members of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee.

Despite the largely intransparency of the Chinese political system, the infusion of younger talent and new blood seems to be on ongoing process. Clearly, the process of institutionalization is here to stay. And that is surely a gratifying development for many China watchers.

Why the Support of Yang Shangkun and Zhao Ziyang Before the 17th CCP Congress?

With weeks to go before the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress convenes on October 15, the media, in this case the Chinese newspapers in the U.S., is flooded with subtle and not-so-subtle observations and insights.

One newspaper raised its eye-brows over the high-level official commemoration over the 100th birthday of former Central Military Commission vice-chairman Yang Shangkun (杨尚昆, pictured).

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) was said to have spoken at a seminar marking Yang's 100th birthday. Chinese Central Television had reportedly televised on prime-time a documentary on Yang. Yang's old home in Sichuan (四川) also launched a Yang Shangkun museum.

In Hu's speech, the Chinese President positively appraised Yang, describing the former leader as being courageous in "seeking the truth, applying strictness in self-discipline, as well as being honest and upright." Yang was also hailed as someone who "embraced unity, never losing sight of the big picture, and principled." Hu also called on the country to learn from Yang's "noble qualities and character."

The newspaper said such a high-level official commemoration was noteworthy, but did not explain why. It only mentioned that Yang had always supported former CCP General-Secretary Zhao Ziyang (赵紫阳), who was later put under house arrest after his support of the student demonstrators in 1989. Even though Yang initially supported the use of military force to quell the demonstrations, he later called for the reversal of the 1989 verdict.

Also deemed significant in this "sensitive period" - the publication of an article by former vice-premier Tian Jiyun (田纪云). The article was published in 炎黄春秋 - a publication run by a group of retired senior cadres, and described as "bold and daring."

In the article, Zhao received extravagant praises - the first since he was disgraced. Zhao died in 2005, after 18 years under house arrest. Again, there was no explanation on the significance of singling out Zhao for praise.

But the newspaper did mention that these former top Chinese officials had nothing to fear, as they no longer held official positions. In an earlier article, Tian reportedly remarked that in the past, State Council organs were known to be "thrifty, humble, and appointed people based on merit." This, the newspaper suggested, was clearly a not-so-subtle dig aimed at chief CCP housekeeper Zeng Qinghong (曾庆红).

Actually I do wish I am in Beijing right now to breathe in some morsels of all that change, wonder, and speculation that's in the air!

Paper Shadows A Chinatown Childhood

Wayson Choy's Paper Shadows A Chinatown Childhood is a vivid and moving memoir of Choy's childhood in Vancouver's Old Chinatown. It is also a beautifully wrought portrait of a child's world.

One commentator remarked that Choy "writes like an angel." Another noted that Choy waited until he was 60 to tell us his childhood, "all in all, it was absolutely worth the wait."

Choy was 57 before he found out he was adopted. A startling revelation. "All those years that I had taken "home" and "family" for granted ... A long drawn-out sigh escaped from me. I had become a kind of orphan three weeks before my fifty-seventh birthday."

Choy added: "Suddenly, nothing of my family, of home, seemed solid and specific. Nothing in my past seemed to be what it had always been." "Half a century later, like shards of glass in a kaleidoscope, old patterns of memory shifted, bringing strange shapes and shadows into view."

More vividly:

"The couple I had called Mother and Father died believing their son would never find out that he had been adopted. I didn't spend much time wondering why they decided not to let me know, nor did I wonder too long why, in a family of eight surviving blood-relatives, not one of my five step-uncles and four step-aunts ever told me anything about my adoption. As for all the other Chinatown aunties and uncles who took care of me, who knew the truth and kept their silence - Well, I thought, that was the way things were. The past was another country, where they did things differently. There was nothing more to know."

Choy's grandfather had been educated as a scholar, but would work most of his life as a laborer. But whether peasant, merchant or scholar, the secrets of old Chinatown families were said to have been buried among the hundreds of assumed names that were "left behind to be hidden or forgotten, in shame or humiliation."

As Choy surmised: "Like a good mystery novel, I thought to myself, one's life should always be read twice, once for the experience, then once again for astonishment."