Mutant Palm

Naruto’s Inner Fox Kyuubi

“What is the Chinese counterpart to Naruto? Even more to the point, will Japanese producers start making more Pan-Asian type stuff that can be accepted everywhere? Or are they doing so already?”

I’d say they are already, and Naruto is a good example. The international anime hit centers on the main character Naruto, who is the host (unwillingly) for an evil nine-tailed demon fox. Nine-tailed demon foxes appear in ancient Chinese folktales, most notably the Feng Shenbing (封神榜), often translated as “The Creation of the Gods”. Not your straightforward creation story, most of its tales take place in the legend-shrouded early dynasties of Chinese history. In one story, Zhou Xin (紂辛), last ruler of the Shang Dynasty, married Daji (妲己), whose body was possessed by a fox spirit (hulijing 狐狸精) with nine tails. Zhou Xin had offended the spirit and it sought revenge by seducing Zhou Xin into becoming a ruthless tyrant, which led to a revolt. Fox spirits are found in Chinese, Korean and Japanese mythology, and are typically seductive women who rob men of their yang and ruin their lives. Not surprisingly, the term hulijing is now used to refer to a “gold digger”. In another example of how much Pan-Asian crossover there is, the slang term is the name of a popular song by Taiwanese Alan Luo (who speaks fluent Japanese), which also appears to be a cover of a song by Shim Mina, a Korean pop star who found fame when she was photographed cheering at the 2002 World Cup.

Daji and the Creation of the Gods is a major inspiration for Chinese Cosplayers

I’m not sure what the formula is for Japanese cartoons success, but I suspect it has something to do with marketing and collectible card games. It doesn’t help, either, that when people in China call for the removal of a cartoon because it is “derivative of domestic wuxia novels and foreign cartoons”, since that seems to be part of the formula as well. It’s not clear whether China’s domestic cartoon initiatives will encourage more cartoons drawing from mythology. They have made a cartoon about Nezha, the mischievous youth who goes around killing the Jade Emperor’s pet dragons in the afore-mentioned “Creation of the Gods”, but it doesn’t seem to have the same danger or continuous storyline as something like Naruto. Then again I haven’t really watched it. I’ve always wondered if such material sets off the “feudal superstition” alarm for Chinese TV censors. It certainly gets around in other media: Chinese software company Kingsoft has a Feng Shenbing MMO game.
And a Chinese painter, Li Zou, recently displayed her series of paintings depicting 100 concubines of Chinese history, including Daji:
And I just love this Japanese woodcut by Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi (1798 – 1861), titled THE INDIAN PRINCE HANZOKU AND HIS SERVANT ARE BEING TERRIFIED BY KAYOFUJIN WHO REVEALS HER TRUE FORM AS THE NINE-TAILED FOX and from a series very appropriately titled ‘Japanese and Chinese Parallels to the Tale of Genji’, published by Iseyoshi in 1855. (Purchase for 780 Euros at Mattia Jona in Milan!)

Tom Barnett pinched a graph from Stratfor (h/t Danger Room) showing China’s steady upward contributions to UN peacekeeping, now totalling 1,814 combined troops, police officers and observers. Back in 2005 I made a map of China’s PKO presence across the world, when China was the number one contributor on the Security Council. Now, they’ve been surpassed by France (2,023), but Russia, the UK and the US all donate around 300-odd troops. I thought I’d dig up the old map I made, with a few adjustments, and post one for this months current PKO deployments (all stats from the UN Peacekeeping website). As Mountainrunner points out, China ain’t got nuthin’ on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, who contribute 39% of all PKO forces, but it continues to become more and more present. Robot Economist notes that PKO duties provide free training and support for these countries armed forces, and China may be doing the same. I think there’s a myriad of reasons for China to step up its peacekeeping contributions: on the ground experience, public diplomacy, observing operational methods and domestic pride all benefit. It’s worth noting that China has more than kept up with increased PKO operations. At the end of 2005 China contributed 1.5% of PKO forces – last month it gave 2.2%.
One other thing: on the earlier map, I noted where the Chinese International Search and Rescue Team (CISAR, or 中国国际救援队) had been deployed. In 2006 they were sent back to Indonesia, but it hard to find clear data on them. PLA members are part of CISAR personnel, but CISAR is part of the China Earthquake Administration (formerly the Seismological Bureau). CISAR has also stayed busy responding to domestic disasters such as Typhoon Kaemi last summer.
If I find anymore info on CISAR deployment I’ll add it to the map.

My girlfriend once pointed out to me that Chinese bikes always have the seat quite low. “No one would do that in Holland”, she said, where people take bicycling quite seriously. “You can’t use all your leg strength and you get tired easily”. Of course, it’s a cliche to say that China is a “land of bicycles“. Gone are the fleets that once packed every street, replaced by a thousand honking Volkswagens. But there’s still millions of bikes, and as far as I can tell only one group places their seat high enough to extend their legs fully: sanlunche, or tricycle, drivers. Considering they haul people, furniture and nearly anything else this makes alot of sense. Most other bicyclists appear to keep their seats low in order to maintain a lower center of gravity, something helpful if you’re in congested traffic (read: always) or brake suddenly, but many suffer back problems as a result. Enter inventor Luo Jianping’s two seater bicycle – high seat to speed and energy conservation, low seat for traffic. With this, you may be able to outrun these guys.

Note: Bicycle cops look even dumber when their knees knock their elbows

There are some minor bits of technology that simply never took off in China. For example, here’s an article trumpeting the convenience of the answering machine, in which the author points out he doesn’t have to get out of the bath anymore when his phone rings. Voicemail and answering machines, however, are not at all common in China.

Another one is the clock radio. Though many are made in China, they are not readily available in shops. Consider this blog entry by a Chinese woman living abroad in the UK:

I have seen a cool device used to wake up the dramatis personae in many films in the past. As soon as I arrive the UK I found it called CLOCK RADIO in electronic shop by accident.

After a all night consideration I have decidedt to buy a cheapest one without caring if it is made in China. But, now I have another problem. The clock costs 3.49 pounds but the battery costs the same price!!!

In the end I bought the device and battery~~coz I really want to be woken up by live music in the morning but not the boring buzzer~

I am looking forward to the next morning:P~

That’s right – the clock radio, for most Chinese people, is simply something you see in the movies. Neither the clock radio or the answering machine are gadgets that Chinese people cannot afford or lack access to. These items just simply never caught on. And there are consequences – for example, clock radios gave birth to the witless phenomenon known as “The Morning DJ”.

One phenomenon I’ve stumbled onto in the Chinese internetz is a particular form of nationalism: the map of China revealed in nature phenomenon. It’s as simple as flipping through a baidu search for “Chinese maps” – numerous people and news sources post articles and pictures of rocks, trees and even clouds that look, at least to them, like China’s current territory. Sometimes they even have the appropriately sized pebbles for Taiwan and Hainan, like this one on sale at Taobao for an asking price of a modest 1,000,000 RMB (roughly $130,000 USD). Various stone collectors have rocks with markings that resemble China, depending on which historical period you’re thinking of, how patriotic you’re feeling at the moment, and perhaps how much you squint:

“Rock found resembling China” seems to also be a perennial news story as well, offering more examples:

Of course, there are also those that people have made as well from natural materials, such as tree roots, forests, and DNA:

But mostly I’ve come across pictures that are like some sort Rorschach test, where netizens have posted and shared photos of things in which they see China. In previous dynasties, the legitimacy of the Emperor was said to derive from the stars. Some Chinese netizens seem to see China reflected back in other parts of nature, but some even see it in the sky.
Frankly, I think it looks more like North America. Perhaps the poster would say “Naturally – you’re an American! As a Chinese, I see China!” Perhaps, but after searching Google I have yet to so easily find even one example on the web of an American saying “Look! That cloud looks like the US mainland!”, let alone “And those little ones to the left are Hawaii!” No, in America, as well as Europe and Latin America, it is not the outlines of nations that appear to us in fuzzy shapes. No, these Rorschach tests reveal a different priority:

Shrine to the Cookie Sheet Virgin Mary that appeared in Houston 3 weeks ago
The Glasgow Jesus Ultrasound