Chinese Curiosities: Question 1, Why Kaifeng?

In August of 2007 I moved from Chicago, IL to the Chinese city of Kaifeng. I relocated there with the intention of imersing myself in the culture and to study the Chinese language.

I'll admit that this is not the most obvious choice of places to decamp to from America. I'm pretty sure that my choice probably even baffled most of my Chinese friends (very sure in fact). And yet I chose it all the same. But why?

First a little background on Kaifeng. Kaifeng is a smallish Chinese city of around a half million people. (I always introduce it this way in some feeble attempt to try to shift people's understanding of both the scale and depth of China.) It is located on the North China Plain just a few miles south of the Yellow River. It was once a great Imperial Capital about a thousand years ago, probably the most important city in the world at the time. Then came the barbarians (first the Jurchen followed up quickly by the Mongols) and then a disasterous flood of by the Yellow river (one of many) which completely inundated the ancient city and permanently buried it under meters of sediment. (That ancient city is still beneath today's Kaifeng streets.)

Amazing video of Chinese Bank Robber

Maybe we will have something a little lighter today. I saw this a while back but it is still great to watch.

This guy is a not a little bit persistent.

And a slew of more links that have been backing up and on my feelings on the matter at hand

Am I really posting everything I can on Ai Weiwei's disappearance, yes it seems like it. Here is Ai Weiwei and Qingming. Here are a few articles trying to take in the disappearances from a wider perspective. Both are very good. Really there is not much to say on the issue. Anyone who has seen or read enough can perceive that the powers that be in China are afraid. There are so many issues which keep them up at night.

Often I was asked pointed questions about what I thought about the CCP by young Chinese people while I was living there.

I suspected that they were trying to bait me, to get me into an argument, in which they could stand up and defend China's honor against the ignorant American who dares come to China to criticize it. I always made it my policy (for good or for ill) to sidestep the question, to deflect it, to answer truthfully and yet to avoid falling into any rhetorical or logical traps.

Why Ai Weiwei?

It looks like Ai Weiwei is going to be the driving force at ShanzhaiZhongguo this week.

Other than scrounging for details on Ai Weiwei, I've been reading a lot about the budget, or lack there of, in the American Congress; some on Google in China (and its many missteps there); watching Nicolae Ceausesu's last speech in Romania in 1989 before his execution; and contemplating Bob Dylan's recent performance in Beijing (care to comment or compare yourself to Mr. Ai Bob?).

Here the Financial Times discusses Princelings (sons and daughters of former Party bigwigs) and their connections to Ai Weiwei and the general "Jasmine Revolution" crackdown.

Ai Weiwei Detained (again)

Artist, critic, and Chinese Communist Party provocateur Ai Weiwei was detained by security personel on his way out of Beijing a few days ago. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ai, he is a remarkable figure. A conceptual artist in China today who splits his time between making brilliant pieces of art and poking, prodding, and critizing the Chinese authorities. And really doing both at the same time more and more often.

Most resourceful driver in China

Patience will reward you (watch all the way to the end...)

How Chinese View Foreign Elections... and other stories

This article by Yang Hengjun (杨恒均) in China Media Project reminds me of talking to Chinese friends of mine about elections back in early 2008. I had not a few dinners with my friend, Jane, during which I was quizzed about the on-going Presidential election. As you'll remember the Democratic Primary went on and on, and each time we met for a meal I went further into my explanation of the American National election system. First explaining what are primaries, then to having to explain the electoral college (nothing makes you feel like this is a stupid system than having to explain it to people from another country), and ultimately to super-delegates. I told her that, even the most educated people in America had never heard of such things until they came up in the spring of 2008. I was only a little surprised by her inquisitiveness, Jane is one of the most intelligent and hardworking people I've met in my life. But it is a little curious to be grilled on the inner workings of our "American experiment" especially by someone who lives in a country which generally eschews all notions of messy democracy.

Now this is some big news

China "backs Korean unification"

It was always assumed that the Chinese would be very unhappy at the prospects of united Korean peninsula. (This would of course be a Korea united under the government of the South). The main reason for China to oppose such an outcome was that it would place US troops (the United States has some 30,000 soldiers stationed in South Korea) across the Yalu river from China. Al Jazeera reports on findings from Wikileaks:

The latest documents released by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks on Tuesday detail conversations between US officials and Chinese diplomats, as well as a senior South Korean official's discussion with his Chinese counterparts.

Cheng Guoping, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, was reported to have told Richard Hoagland, the US ambassador, that "China hopes for peaceful reunification in the long-term, but he expects the two countries to remain separate in the short-term".