Mutant Palm

Since the Chinese government has begun not only saying that the Dalai Clique organized the violence in Lhasa, but that he’s done it with the help of the Xinjiang terrorist group the East Turkestan Independence Movement. They’ve tied the Dalai Lama to Chen Shuibian in Taiwan in the past, as well, and there’s a tendency to see some conspiracy amongst people who are perceived as “anti-China”. It all reminds me of Saturday morning cartoon supervillains, and the Dalai Lama seems a dead ringer for Lex Luthor, so let’s just imagine… China’s Legion of Doom!

I’ve been busy getting this site up and fixing it so the old blog redirects here (there will be some problems with links from Google for a little while, unfortunately, because I redid my permalinks after the spider was here). Besides that, I’ve been suffering from TFS, or Tibet Fatigue Syndrome, severe enough to find it difficult as many have to know what to say next. It’s hard to find the right words in this situation, especially since I believe that in order to move forward we all have to choose our words carefully, and even then we’re clearly not working with the same definitions. And I’m not talking about photos of Nepalese cops being attached to articles about Tibet. I mean the sort of schizophrenic dissonance we see with binaries like independence vs. separatist, demonstrator vs. rioter, or occupation vs. unity. But not just that. Basic words like “nation”, “country”, “people” (as in “a people”), and at heart the very names “China” and “Chinese”. The way they are commonly used by both Chinese and Non-Chinese are separated by a yawning chasm of history and identity. And not a 5000 year one, as some people on both sides are rather hasty to assume. More like a 150 year one, going back to the Opium War. China’s encounter with modernity, and with it the modern system of nation-states and national identity, was a wrenching one that to this day casts an enormous shadow over the meaning of the very words “China” and “Chinese” unlike many countries around the world, particularly Western ones. These are highly emotional issues for China, and in my opinion they are not simply the product of the government’s propaganda or ideology. Though those factors intensify the problem, they are more products of those issues rather than producers.

So I’m hoping to try and find a way to explain how these issues and Chinese perspectives inform the process of engaging in dialogue with Chinese netizens in coming posts, but while I’ve been hesitant to post, I’ve kept reading piles of material. So I’ve made a working list of some articles that I think are relevant and categorizing them to try and break it all down into bite sized pieces for myself. You can view the list, which will be updated again soon, on this site, or mirrored on Google Docs here. Now, to outline the categories. All the links below are to previous things I’ve written, so its also a way to get reacquainted with this blog. I’ve linked to each section of the document along the way. Feel free to suggest more reading materials.

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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.