One China! We love China! We love Wen Jiabao!
While most folk's attention is rivited on the three tax cheats Obama "nominated" for positions in his new government of Change, wispers and rumours against have risin up again. Perhaps this was inevitable, or perhaps Geitner's silly comments about the Yuan fuled anti Chinese sentiment, after Obama's unfortunate remarks about communism and "transparancy" in his inaugaration speech.
Let's take a look at these recurring "rumors."
First, the rumour that China persecutes Christians and that the Chinese cannot buy a Bibla in China. Please see what this blogger has to say about that...
A Bible For Beijing
A few weeks ago my mother learned at her Greenwich, Conn., church that, beyond church grounds, Bibles cannot be purchased in the People’s Republic. Her informant was a man from the Bible Society of Singapore who gave an evening talk on the state of Christianity in China at my parents’ mainstream Protestant parish. My mother soon asked her son in Beijing, me, about this fact over the phone and I couldn’t say either way: a Chinese-language Bible was not something I’d been actively looking for yet I could have sworn I’d spotted one in a shop a while back when living in China’s Northwest. Then again, that was a long decade ago. I am clearly no expert on the subject.
Then on a recent morning in a basement bookstore in the National Library in Beijing a volume with a black binding and gold lettering caught my eye. I pulled it off the shelf. In no shape to identify the Chinese word for “Genesis” or for “Psalms”, I checked the volume’s opening passage: “Shen shuo: ‘Yao you guang’, jiu you le guang,” it read. God said: “Let there be light,” and there was light.
I was holding a Bible.
As for my new Chinese Bible, it’d be a challenge for me to get through it, so maybe I’ll pass it on to a curious friend. Which brings me back to the Bible Society and its talk-China tour: It’s easy to get sloppy when you’re preaching to the choir. But if tracking Bibles is your business, at least get the facts straight.
I've bought a bible in China and seen them often. In both Xinhua Bookstores and private stores.
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Now, today, the headlines scream that Chine has sensored the news about the shoe. But, wait, is it really true? In fact, China, like many other governments, like to assess a situation first, and then have a "press release." Here we have an AP story, reluctantly reporting, and with unusual candor, (pun certainly intended) that yes, China is reporting the news to the Chinese people.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iC0lWaABkp1FcBZSBb-sJNsWvMOQD9648AQO2
With unusual candor, China reports shoe throwing
Still, incidents that could be seen as unflattering or insulting to the Chinese leadership have long been treated with the greatest sensitivity. The first Chinese reports on the protest during Wen's visit to Britain's Cambridge University left out key details, including that a shoe had been thrown.
But the China Central Television broadcast had it all. The evening news showed the footage among the first stories of its half-hour broadcast, leading into it with a report on Wen's speech itself and his return to Beijing.
Then the shoe-throwing footage was shown, with no commentary from the anchors, just a simple news setup.
The camera was fixed on Wen, but later cut to the whistle-blowing protester being removed from the hall, while the audience shouted "Get out."
"How can this university prostitute itself with this dictator here? How can you listen ... to him unchallenged?" the man — who has yet to be identified — could be heard shouting.
The sound of the shoe hitting the stage, away from Wen, could be heard as well.
Wen paused for about one minute and then continued his speech.
"Teachers and students, this kind of dirty trick cannot stop the friendship between the Chinese and the British people," Wen said, followed by applause.
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In an apparent move to show national dignity had been maintained, reports by CCTV and the official Xinhua News Agency included prominent references to Britain apologizing.
The BBC reported the 27-year-old protester would appear before magistrates on Feb. 10 in Cambridge on charges of committing a public order offense.
China's online activity — with 298 million Web users — makes it increasingly tough for censors to keep sensitive news, like the shoe throwing, offline. Media watchers say that may be prompting official media to report on other news it would have suppressed before, such as riots and protests.
But the expanded coverage may also reflect a recognition by propaganda authorities that showing such events can work to the government's advantage.
Two incidents last year were given wide state media coverage: Attacks on the Olympic torch overseas before its journey to Beijing, and the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.
The torch attacks sparked an outpouring of angry nationalism among Chinese at home and abroad. The second brought a wave of compassion and assistance for the quake victims.
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I would like to note, that unlike the beating the Iraqi show thrower recieved, in public in front of president Bush, no such public beating took place in front of Premier Wen Jiabao.
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