Month: March 2008

This blog is currently migrating to www.mutantpalm.org.

It seems to be suffering some blockage due to keywords (I suspect), but you oughta be able to get there using https (SSL):

https://www.mutantpalm.org/

RSS Feeds here:

http://www.mutantpalm.org/?feed=rss
http://www.mutantpalm.org/?feed=rss2
http://www.mutantpalm.org/?feed=rdf
http://www.mutantpalm.org/?feed=atom

Those should work with https as well.

See ya there.

UPDATE: Rick Martin at Pandapassport and CNET’s Little Red Blog found a Youtube tutorial on Fanfou.

I’ve argued, citing the words of the Dalai Lama himself, that if you

1) Believe in democratic principles and free speech
2) You believe the Internet is a tool for unfettered global communication
3) There’s something in China (or any other country) that bothers you

Then you ought to put some energy into communicating directly with Chinese netizens about the problem. For years now I’ve seen alot of Chinese netizens discussions be completely ignored or simply missed by English-speaking netizens, who too often think that Chinese netizens are all completely brainwashed. Well, guess what? Some of them think you are too. Instead of dismissing each other as fools, how about we try to talk? So I say, Tweet Back! Tweet in English, alot of Chinese people know some. If you know Chinese… what are you waiting for? I’ve been translating alot of Chinese tweets on Tibet this weekend, and alot of them break the stereotype of the frothing nationalist Chinese blogger. These are Chinese people who adopt alot of Web 2.0 applications alot of the time, they aren’t just blowhards in chat rooms. Some are journalists, professionals and students.

Of course, this isn’t going to be easy. First steps usually don’t work so well. But its time to start trying some things instead of just throwing our hands in the air and dismissing the other side as brainwashed, indoctrinated or oppressed. There’s life out there folks, try making contact. You might be surprised. You might just learn something if you keep an open mind and try to hold a respectful dialogue despite your differences. Move out of your comfort zone, show some patience, and try to listen.

So here’s a quick tutorial to sign up for Fanfou. If you go on twifan.com and search for “Tibet” in English or “西藏”, which is Tibet in Chinese, you’ll find plenty of people to talk to. And you can always Fanfou me. My name there now is 八仙過海 means (Eight Immortals Cross the Sea).

Go to your homepage and its pretty much like Twitter. I realize this isn’t a full tutorial, but I wanna get this started. Also, you can put this link on your Firefox toolbar Zh -> En and when you view a Chinese page, press it to get an instant sloppy Google translation. It ain’t a great solution, but again, its a start, and these are short messages, so you may be able to get the gist.

Special Note: This is the perfect opportunity for Tibet internet activists like Oxblood Ruffin and concerned netizens everywhere to engage Chinese people on the Internet in discussions about what is going on. As I previously outlined in a primer to engage Chinese people, these are channels where one can register a free account and launch dialogues with Chinese individuals about Tibet. Many of the people I’ve included below are neither kneejerk nationalists or xenophobes, and some of them know some English too. It wouldn’t hurt to try. You can respond by clicking on the username link at the beginning of each tweet, sign up, and talk back.

To be updated periodically. Translations are rough and quick, suggestions helpful. (thanks to Feng37)

From Fanfou member 新闻触角:

发生在西藏拉萨的骚乱依然持续。有证据表明，这是达赖“藏独”集团暗中指示和操纵的破坏活动。根据最新获得 的电视画面显示，拉萨市浓烟滚滚火光冲天。不法之徒挥舞榔头、斧头砸毁店铺、银行、政府机关的玻璃和门窗，推翻或砸毁停放在路边的汽车，燃烧轮胎，人群中 有青年、学生和身穿宗教服饰的喇嘛。

[Events in Lhasa continue as before. There is evidence indicating the Dalai Lama “Tibetan Independence” group in secret has directed and controlled this sabotage. According to the latest TV broadcasts, a thick cloud of smoke is visible above Lhasa. Lawlessness is rampant, shops and banks have been trashed, government windows are smashed (or is it shuttered?), cars overturned, tires burning, there are crowds of youth, students and lamas.]

拉萨星期五发生大规模藏人抗议活动，公安部门下午一点左右开始戒严，所有居民不准外出，在拉萨街头已经看见军队车辆穿梭，坦克装甲车进驻群众示威的八角广场，政府派军队包围了拉萨最大的3所寺庙，封锁现场。新华社英文网站报道证实，警察使用了催泪弹，并且朝天鸣枪。

[On Friday there were large scale Tibetan protests in Lhasa, in the afternoon Public Security began to restrict the area, residents told not to go out, in the streets already see military troop transports, tanks and armored cars approach the demonstrators in Bajiao Square, government troops surround Lhasa’s three largest temples, seal off the area. Xinhua English reports confirm police used tear gas, in addition to warning shots being fired.]

带着鲑鱼旅行 我的妈呀，西藏出乱子了。内地新闻单位机构出入必须佩带证件。

[Mama mia, Tibet has gone nuts. Domestic news organizations must have proper credentials to go in and out.]

Wayne 三月十五日，西藏发生了自八九年以来最为严重的骚乱。

[March 15h, Tibet incident most serious incident since ’89]

阿企 @远骋 坚决反对藏独，但要给与藏民适当自治权

[@ YuanCheng (distance runner?) I firmly oppose Tibetan Independence, but want to grant Tibetan’s appropriate autonomous rights]

IQ小子 大多有关西藏的贴吧都被关闭了。

[For the most part Tibet related webpages are all closed.]

三儿 西藏又暴乱了 真的假的

[Tibet rioted again true or false?]

katly58 @shippo7 嗨 真不知道西藏哪几头家伙一直在作祟 好想灭了他们啊

[Sigh, really don’t know why these Tibetan guys constantly make trouble, best exterminate them]

shippo7 腾讯QQ封锁了有关西藏骚乱的信息，有相关关键字的信息对方收不到

[Tencent QQ shutdown related to Tibet incident messages, can’t receive messages with related keywords]

浪子 [中共] 你能对西藏仁慈点吗？ 2008-03-15 22:51

[Chinese Communist Party] Can you show Tibet a little mercy?

Shadow 西藏真的暴乱鸟，明天就不让说这个话题鸟…… 2008-03-15 20:26

[If Tibet is really rebelling, tomorrow we won’t be allowed to discuss this topic… …]

痛苦的信仰 向自由、民主的西藏斗志们致敬//Less talk and More work 2008-03-15 23:33

[For freedom, Democratic Tibet will fight on// Less talk and More work]

geuro 西藏是不是也成敏感词了 2008-03-16 11:08

[Is Tibet becoming a sensitive topic or not?]

oland 问了德国朋友问题，她怎么看西藏铁路，她说中国政府很聪明，既方便汉族人去西藏玩，又可以更简单的剥削藏族人。如果中国政府能有哪怕一点的人权，尊重他们的宗教，事情可能也许不会那么遭。我的回答是，法国对非洲的政策从来不是以自由民主和平为指导思想的，其他国家的范围可能小一些，但是做法有过之 2008-03-16 11:22

[Asked a German friend how she views the Tibetan railway, she said the Chinese government is really brilliant, they’ve made it convenient for Han to visit Tibet, while at the same time can exploit the Tibetan people. If the Chinese government had granted just one human right, and respected their religion, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way. My answer is, French policy in Africa was never based on democratic peace, other countries occasionally have(?), but they’ve done it this way before]

璐人甲 美国一朋友问我西藏为什么要暴动 2008-03-16 11:23

[American friend asked me why Tibet is rebelling]

oland 不平衡这个是事实，世界上到处都有不平衡，没人能解决这个问题，如果一个藏族的当地贵族家庭在北京没有收到贵宾待遇而在做些工艺品的小买卖，如果一个汉族的农民在西藏可以把持当地经济命脉，我倒是觉得这个世界有点奇怪的让人炫目。我不知道你归纳出来的，藏人到汉族地区只能做些手工艺品小买卖是一种 2008-03-16 11:33

[Inequality is a fact of life, there’s inequality all over the world, no one can solve this kind of problem. If a Tibetan family in Beijing sells handicrafts instead of getting treated like royalty, or if a Han peasant in Tibet dominates the local economy, I think this indicates the world is sometimes strangely confusing. I don’t see how you reach the conclusion that the only opportunity for Tibetans in Han areas is to sell handicrafts.]

兽兽 @oland 你问了一大圈英国、美国、印度人、IMF、World Bank，你干嘛不问问，由什么人控制经济命脉，西藏当地人怎么想。当地的妇女、僧侣、下层民众怎么想？ 2008-03-16 11:35

[@oland You keep talking about England, America, Indians, the IMF, World Bank, why don’t you ask who controls the economy, how Tibetan locals feel about it, or what women, monks, the lower classes, think about it]

LeafDuo 百度百科的 西 藏 词条被锁定，wiki 的 西藏 词条被半保护 2008-03-16 21:05

[Baidu Baike has locked out the term “Tibet” wiki has partially blocked the term]

GONG youtube访问不能,我想看台山交警事件,西藏事件,入联公投事件的视频啊… 2008-03-16 19:32

[Can’t visit youtube, I wanted to see videos of the Taiwan traffic incident, Tibet incident, the UN referendum (in Taiwan), arggghh]

Gerald 西藏、青海、甘肃等省区的主要官员，目前都在北京出席全国人大会议，他们能否准确掌握藏民示威抗议的诉求、骚乱的形成，将直接影响胡锦涛的最后决策。 2008-03-16 18:40

[Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu provincial leaders, presently all in Beijing attending the NPC meeting, they can’t adequately deal with the Tibetan protests, growing disturbances, will directly influence Hu Jintao’s final decisions]

浪子 历史上的西藏从来和中国都是暧昧着忽近忽远。也没有哪个民族，哪个个体和一个国家的关系就不可分割。还是那句老话：个人的命运个人决定，同样，一个民族的命运由那个民族的大多数来决定 2008-03-16

[Historically Tibet and China have always had a rocky relationship. No ethnic group or individual is inseperable from nations. Hence the old saying: one’s fate is one’s own choice, just as a peoples fate is decided by the majority of the people]

As news of the turmoil in Tibet reaches Chinese netizens, reactions on Chinese Twitter-clones Fanfou.com and Jiwai.de are mostly of astonishment according to a search on Twifan. Meanwhile, on Twitter, whose users are mostly from other countries, reactions are less surprised, according to Tweet Scan. Again, I’m not a pro translator, so by all means, send corrections. [Thanks wgj, twice, but I’m keeping “underdog” cuz I like it; thx kdobson]

ＴＡＮ 大家现在知道拉萨的新闻吗 [Everybody now know the news on Tibet?]

乱云/Akay 不知道拉萨今天的情况怎样了，哎。[Don’t know how the situation is in Lhasa today, whats going on?]

sprife 拉萨暴动，很担心！[Tibetan rebellion, really worried!]

李清扬cherry 达赖集团在拉萨策划骚乱活动 [Dalai Clique scheme behind Lhasa riots]

effie 拉萨到底怎么了？？？[So what’s the deal with Lhasa???]

kaixintao07 香港流感，西藏骚乱…… [Hong Kong Flu, Tibet riot… …]

虫仔 拉萨·西藏，台北·台湾：中国永远的刀痕。[Lhasa Tibet, Taipei Taiwan: China’s eternal scars.]

zbright 惊愕，西藏出现动乱 [holy crap, Tibet in turmoil]

Zola 支持西藏人民的抗争。[supports Tibetan People to stand up and fight.]

兽兽 拉萨情况不明朗，朋友的弟弟在拉萨旅游仍没有消息。今早BBC请西藏问题学者分析此次骚乱，他不认为是达赖策划的；而且与20年前相比，发生藏人攻击汉人和回人的事件，这还是第一次。他批评了北京谈判策略上的失误：拖延时间，等达赖去世。可是现在除了宗教问题，又出现了种族和发展的新问题。

[Lhasa situation unclear. Still no news from friend’s younger brother in Lhasa on tour. This morning the BBC asked an expert on the Tibet problem to analyze this disturbance, he doesn’t believe its a plot by the Dalai Lama; moreover, unlike the riots 20 years ago, for the first time Han and Hui people have been attacked. He criticized Beijing for poor negotiation tactics: for too long, simply waiting for the Dalai Lama to die. But now besides the religious problem, there emerges new problems related to ethnicity and development.]

vinwolf 西藏 应该定性为恐怖袭击？[Tibet should be classified as a terrorist attack?]

无名 西藏这帮秃驴居然敢在两会期间制造不合谐因素。[Tibet’s bald weasels dare not to conform to a harmonious society during the Two Congresses.]

Qiushi 西藏喇嘛示威咯～给奥运会和两会的礼物 [Tibetan Lama demonstrators give Olympics and Two Congresses a present]

jobirn.com 据拉萨前方(在西藏旅游的朋友)发来的报道: 今天拉萨大暴乱 我刚刚逃回宾馆 我们已开始躲在一个藏民家里 他说几十年没有看到过这么严重的了 杀人,烧车 …

[From the Tibetan Front (a touring friend in Lhasa) comes this report: today in Lhasa huge riots I just fled the guesthouse We’re hiding out with a Tibetan family He says in all his years he’s never seen anything this serious – killings, burning cars…]

meadow 弱势群体永远正确吗？何况还不知道谁是弱者呢？在南昌读书那会，本地人说附近有个中学有西藏学生，经常打汉人学生，家长去投诉，学校劝家长息事宁人，因为从老师到学校到教育局到地方领导，对他们都是“迁就”。说这个的同学是汉人

[Is the underdog always right? While at university in Nanchang, local people said that a local high school has Tibetan students who regularly beat up Han students, parents complain, school administrators said not to cause a fuss, because from teachers to the school to the education bureau to local leadership, the watchword is “accomodation”. It was a Han student who told me this story]

Meanwhile, this is what’s being tweeted in English on Twitter:

atosdps : When can you show us the real Tibet, my violent government!!!

quanmengli : Reading: “(可怜的美国佛教徒) Actor Gere calls for Olympics boycott if China mishandles Tibet – Yahoo! News”

lonniehodge : My professor friends in schools in regions around Tibet called into emergency meetings and warned of internal pro-independence spies

wwwdotjenna : wow, tibet. the world is watching.

thijsjacobs : @sioksiok everyone tweeting about Tibet = Twitter soon to be blocked.

squidlord : Oh, goodie, Tibet is in political upheaval again. Maybe they’ll kill enough people to get things straightened out, one way or another.

borekv : thinking about Tibet and also remembering Tiananmen Square Massacre http://tinyurl.com/2sa7o8

Watching the build up to the Olympics has been, for me, like watching the world’s biggest, slowest traffic accident. For a while now its been pretty obvious that alot of contentious issues about China were going to come to the front as we approach August 8th, but the problem is that there are two completely separate parallel worlds on these issues: the Chinese one, and the rest of us. Westerners have been exposed to rhetoric and information about Tibetan discontent, Darfur’s international and Chinese dimensions, and of course old chestnuts like Tiananmen provide a larger context of long term, ongoing problems. Meanwhile, Chinese mainlanders by and large have no knowledge of these events or issues. While for the rest of the world the Olympics will be largely a referendum on China’s ability to deal with what everyone else has talked about for years, for Chinese citizens it will be about China winning a beauty pageant of sorts.

Two Worlds, Two Dreams: prepare for the SchizOlympics.

Note: Chinese blogger Beifeng was relaying SMSes from a friend in Lhasa, but since only one message about the military headed to Jokhang Temple, there have been no further updates.

Right on the heels of banning liquids in government officials, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has banned liquids on planes as of Tuesday, March 11, with the exception of baby formula and prescription medication. Details sketchy at the moment, though AVBuyer.com*, the website behind this weeks China Southern’s Xinjiang CYA press release blitz, says that there are plans to install liquid scanning machines in all major airports, most likely the already approved Nuctech‘s THSCAN LS 8016 X-Ray Liquid Security Scanner.
Meanwhile, news on the alleged airline terror plot continues apace, the major new bits being more information from two people who claimed to be passengers, lots of confusion, and snazzy graphics recreating the scene. The best has to be this one depicting the 18/19 year old suspect being apprehended while wearing a traditional Uyghur dancing costume. Subtle, guys.

But more concerning is that alot of facts seem to be getting confused, or at least confusing. From the beginning, many English news outlets have been reporting that Wang Lequan said on Sunday that the “terrorist” group captured in January aimed “specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics”. The source of this appears to be Xinhua’s English website which reported that Wang Lequan said “Obviously, the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics,” a report that the Telegraph’s Richard Spencer said had been removed but appears to still be online in at least one place. Xinhua also quoted Wang saying “The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event, but there are always a few people who conspire sabotages. It is no longer a secret now,” and “Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from.” But is this what Wang actually said in Chinese?

According to this transcript of the press conference on the China Radio website, no. Here’s what Wang Lequan said in response to a Reuters reporters** question. Translation criticism and tips always welcome.

路透社记者：我们知道新疆有一部分人想对奥运会发动袭击，为什么会有这样的想法，这与中国在新疆的政策有关吗？

Reuters reporter: We know Xinjiang has some separatists who plan to attack the Olympics, why do they want to and is it related China’s policy in Xinjiang?
　　
王乐泉：总有那么少数人在很多问题上对新疆始终抱有敌意。本来在北京举办奥运会是件大好事，但有人就是要千方百计地进行破坏，在奥运会举办之前就千方百计 地进行干扰。这已经不是什么秘密，他们已经在国际上到处做宣传。但事实上，他们这一举动遭到全世界爱好和平的人民的坚决反对，包括各国政府都已明确表态。 把体育比赛政治化，这是大家坚决反对的，是不得人心的。

Since the beginning in Xinjiang there’s been a small minority that has been hostile. Of course the Olympics is a big deal, but some people have tried to ruin it by any means necessary in the run-up to these Olympics. This is no secret, they’ve publicized it internationally. But the fact is, by this very act they meet with the opposition of peace loving people all over the world. The governments of every nation of the world have already made this crystal clear, when it comes to politics in sports, everyone is opposed, its unpopular.
　　

新疆有有“东突”、“三股势力”，即“宗教极端势力、民族分裂势力和暴力恐怖势力”，在国内只有极少数人，主要是在境外。他们有一个代表人物热比娅，在境 外到处鼓噪、煽动，就是要我们办不成奥运会。但这只能是幻想，他们没有多少力量，只能到处胡说八道。这件事境内有少数人响应，确实有这个情况。

Xinjiang has “East Turkestan”, “Three Evil Forces”, namely “religious extremist forces, minority splittist forces and violent terror forces,” domestically they are a tiny minority, primarily they are outside our borders. They have one representative, Rebiya [Kadeer], who goes around the world clamoring, instigating, she doesn’t want us to successfully host the Olympics. But this is only a fantasy, they have no significant power, they can only go around talking nonsense. Within our borders there’s only a few of these people, that’s really the situation.

　　

前不久，新疆安全部门刚刚打掉了一个团伙。他们制造炸药、手雷，就是要搞破坏，在准备过程中被我们发现了。抓捕时，他们向我们的干警让了三枚手雷，七名干警受了轻伤。

Not long ago, the Xinjiang PSB recently cracked down on a cell. They were making explosives, grenades, wanted to cause destruction, in the course of their preparations we discovered them. When we launched a raid, they attacked us with three grenades, and seven officers suffered minor injuries.

　　

对奥运会有少数人在那里干扰，第一，我们不希望有这样的现象，第二，我们不怕有这样的情况。我们的原则是加大各方面的工作，把那些想搞破坏的人，在预谋阶段就毫不含糊把他打掉!

There is a small minority determined to interfere with the Olympics. First, we wish this wasn’t the case, [but] second, we don’t fear facing the same circumstances again. Our principle is to increase our work across the board, these people who want to cause destruction, we will resolutely crack down on them during their planning stages!

It doesn’t appear that Wang Lequan said “Obviously, the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics,” or anything else directly linking the captured group to a planned attack on the Olympics, at least not at the press conference. There may have been off the cuff remarks made elsewhere, but there is no evidence of this. If this is the case, then Richard Spencer’s comments about China retreating from its claims of an Olympic terror threat have two problems: one, not all the English reports on Wang’s comments were pulled off the ‘net; second, Wang never said it. And not just Mr. Spencer, but the many repetitions of these quotes floating around the web [without clear attribution either, I might add].

Xinhua is giving less coverage (and certainly not continuing wall-to-wall) of the terror stories, but I don’t think this is because the government is “retreating from its claims.” As official state media, they are no doubt under very specific orders about what the narrative for the National Peoples Congress is to be. That means that the words of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao cannot be eclipsed, not by any sexy stuff like terrorism, unless Hu and Wen say it. There are grand five year plans and slogans that have to be at the top of the page, terror plots be damned. Meanwhile, alot of information is coming from Hong Kong (Phoenix TV, Sing Tao Daily, Wei Wen Po, Da Kong Bao). Hong Kong doesn’t have the heavy hand of Mainland censorship, and has a media market more directed to selling papers (read: sex and violence). Foreign media, likewise, sees a hot story in tales of terrorism and the Olympics (hence mentioning the Xi’an bus kidnapping in the same breath as Xinjiang terrorists, though we know the would be bus bomber was a Han man named Xia Tao from the Xi’an Youliang district work unit who apparently had a grudge with local police), and so they are interested in continuing to follow the story as well. It’s not so much that Xinhua is signaling that the government cannot or will not back up their claims, but that they want attention focused elsewhere.

Spencer does raise a good point, however, wondering what the Chinese government is trying to say to the world. Xinhua did, after all, quote Wang Lequan saying that the group was targeting the Olympics, though his point may have been that they are cut from the same cloth as those who would like to see the Beijing Olympics ruined. From my perspective, its important to remember that Wang Lequan is not a typical provincial leader. Xinjiang and Tibet are special cases in the Chinese government. Wang Lequan is head of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as well as provincial party chief and a member of the Politburo, giving him a unique position. He is the replacement for Wang Enmao, who controlled Xinjiang for nearly thirty years [except when he fell from favor during the Cultural Revolution]. In many ways he is more of a strongman than his peers, and security and “ethnic unity” in Xinjiang have been the obsessive focus of the government for years. While he may not have made a direct link between this attack and the Olympics, he certainly hasn’t been afraid to mention the Olympics as context, and he’s made more than one disparaging remark about Rebiya Kadeer, which has roughly the same effect internationally as his closest peer, Tibet Party Secretary Zhang Qingli’s rough comments about another figure associated with the Nobel Prize, the Dalai Lama. It seems that this sort of less-than-diplomatic talk comes with the job, especially for a domestic audience, and foreign audiences are not the concern of these officials. Add Time Magazine’s quote of Russell Leigh Moses of the China Center in Beijing that “this is exactly the kind of thing that happens around the time of the National People’s Congress… cadres who don’t necessarily get noticed a lot normally want to be seen as publicly carrying out the orders of the central government” and I think you get a pretty good picture of what’s going on.

Also reported recently: China Southern CEO Liu Shaoyong told Phoenix TV that this hijacking was different from others as it was “politically motivated”. I think he needs to read my previous post, An Incomplete History of Chinese Plane Hijackings. Guangzhou Daily also tried to interview Urumqi airport security personnel, but didn’t get very far. And Richard Spencer, who is making a great effort to figure this whole thing out, has also discovered that Sing Tao Daily in Hong Kong is reporting that the Uyghur girl on the plane was sent abroad for “training” when she was six. Just remember, Sing Tao is a pro-PRC paper that first reported rumors of the raid in Urumqi that Wang Lequan was discussing, but managed to get some of the facts wrong.

———————————————————–
* An interesting aside: AVBuyer has apparently plagiarized ESWN’s translation of Southern Weekend’s Searching for Eyewitnesses for CZ6901 Incident, and not credited the original author Ding Bu either.

** It is not clear who the Reuters reporter was, or if the original question was in English. If it was, this question may not be clearly translated. It sounds like its been harmonized a little.