Some like it spicy, some do not.
There is so much going on in China these days.
Hm. That sentence itself is way too general. Let’s try it again: China, through it’s imperial, communist, capitalist histories, has always been a fascinating place. Whether you’re a traveler, a journalist, a Chinese National or an expat this place is a world of entertainment, a place for the senses and as volatile and mixed up as a boiling (never simmering) vat of Sichuan ying-yang hot pot…(hence the photo banner I’ve chosen up above since this blog launched).
I was traveling in Europe when the 6/4 anniversary passed. I observed the day and kept watch on BBC News to see reports coming in from Hong Kong that thousands had gathered for a candlelight vigil. Then, uproar from the 250 million Internet users and over 70 million bloggers in China about a government announcement that censorship software would be mandatory and installed on all PCs and laptops sold in China. China is the most wired country in the world, and Chinese netizens, or 网友 as they are often called, are increasingly vocal and outspoken against censorship and various episodes of injustice. After criticism from foreign governments and an unprecedented surge of online opposition, with calls by prominent bloggers for Chinese netizens to climb, attack and demonstrate against the “great firewall”, the Chinese government backed off. No censorship software (official meant to curb “pornography”) for now, they said.
Today, bloody news over breakfast of riots in China’s North Western province of Xinjiang. Clashes between Muslim Uighurs (an ethnic group numbering over 8 million in China’s western province of Xinjiang) and Han Chinese have left more than 150 dead, the AP reports. As expected, censors are in full swing in China. Blogs are down, twitter is banned, but news is still leaking out within China. Abroad, reporters must rely on Western sources to plump up their stories and then gather what they can from the official government reports. I’ve written about Uighurs in the past, for Howard French’s Reporting on China class. But truth be told, I’m wary to be writing about these sensitive topics on my blog.
I hope to live and travel in China in the future. The year I spent there in 2007-2008 was the happiest in my life. I learned to read and write in Chinese, I made lifelong friends, I traveled across the country and saw the beauty and diversity China has to offer. I came to better understand the people and the culture. On numerous occasions, while many Chinese found it strange that a “Chinese looking” person called herself a Canadian or spoke Chinese in a funny way, I was welcomed by locals. They called us 华侨 – a word that means Chinese sojourners — Chinese who are temporarily staying elsewhere — as if all Chinese would naturally, inevitably return “home” to China.
Blogging, writing, and thinking about China is a passion of mine. This is all I can do, until I can get back there myself. I, like many journalists reporting on China, write about a place because there are stories to be told, voices to be heard, and it’s our job to get that out there — whether the stories have good news or bad news.
Today, alongside headlines of the riots in Xinjiang, news that a young couple from Chongqing won second place in a kissing/dancing contest in Sichuan. Doing the splits while making out? China’s Got Talent.
