In English, it is equivalent to “cool” and “awesome”. The expression is generally used for describing some bizarre or extraordinary events or people.

You also asked: “I’m not sure though that translating from the teacher’s blog would be worthwile. It looks very defensive and sort of whiny to me. Would you recommend to spend some translation work on it?”

I’ve been asking myself the same question too. But so far I’m inclined not to so do. 2 issues are bothering me: (1) I am still not convinced that the one who is putting her hand up is actually the one who is responsible for this video. (2) The more she goes on justifying her action the more I think that she is lying and is only admitting to it for publicity reasons. Mind you I’m not the only person who says that. Several commenters have already pointed it out.

My suggestion is, if you are translating her posts, you should also translate or at least do a summary of the different views expressed by Chinese commenters towards the video. I think that this is a bit objective and fair. Don’t get me wrong. As you know me, I’m not the type who advocates fair and balanced views. But given the uncertainty surrounding this incident, it may be a good approach to cover our back, so to speak, so that we don’t look like a fool should things turn out differently, if you know what I mean.

I’ll refer to the lady as a teacher, as long as I don’t know better…
Seems she bases her argumentation on corporatism – there’s a number of posts there on her website already, including some ideological underpinnings.
This has been a matter of discussion for a long time – Kang Xiaoguang, a professor at the People’s University in Beijing, has tried to blend corporatism and Confucianism philosophically for the past four years or so. In a way, his tries to think about society fundamentally seems to mirror the ways of this teacher – speaking first, getting frightened by a rather critical public echo and starting to rationalize what they said before in a “scientific” way.
I’m not sure though that translating from the teacher’s blog would be worthwile. It looks very defensive and sort of whiny to me. Would you recommend to spend some translation work on it?

As for the qualifications it would take to write a recital like the one acted out in the video, I think both Tuluotuo and you might underestimate the skills of country teachers. Singtao Ribao carried a story some weeks ago about a job fair where highly-skilled graduates looked out for jobs in the public service, as this looks safer now than jobs in foreign-invested companies or in top-tier Chinese companies. That could mean a high degree of frustrations to vent (nationalism usually comes as a handy valve in such cases), but it would also mean some degree of qualification.

Either way – be it a routine classroom event as explained by the teacher in the beginning (a teacher’s reaction to the childrens’ apparent “lack of patriotic awareness”), or an outside educational university students’ project who enacted this video piece with a school class somewhere around Beijing – I’d still say this looks like a pretty “telling” video. Also, even if the “teacher” is in fact a moderator, only patriotic motives seem to be acceptable explanations for it.

Lemme see if this comment with the links included passes my spam filter. If not, I should somewhat liberalize the filter.

When I first read your comment this morning, I tend to agree with you that the background and public announcement sound authentic and plausible. But I am now changing my mind after I’ve discovered:

1. The putative author seems to have retracted from her claim as the author of the poem, after she was interrogated by commenters for details about the recording. Instead, she just insists that she posted the video online.

2. She is also changing her position about not wanting to draw attention to the video. She is now demanding more open public discussion about her public announcement. To that end, she is now splashing her “2009 Go China” posts everywhere. She even sets up a new website at Sina, one of the most popular portal, to publicize the video.
(I can’t post all the links here. But go and read all her postings at Bullog under the name shuangxiazuoyou. Read those that’s not related to the video as well. And of course read the comments too. The link at Sina: http://blog.sina.com.cn/ctgliyuming )

3. A Sina blogger Tuluotuo posted a very good analysis of the video from a linguistics perspective. I agree with most of his findings. Tuluotuo classifies those responsible for the production of the video as some kind of disfranchised university students who are trying to draw attention to themselves. Tuluotuo also concluded from the children’s accent and the setting of the video that this is filmed in a country school just outside of Beijing. Those who directed the performance could have been studying Education in a University and had been posted to a country school to do their practicum. Like me, Tuluotuo also thinks that the kids are too young to be in a senior high school. I also agree with Tuluotuo that the school teachers in China might be very f**ked up in many ways, but they won’t be allowed to openly push forward an anti-foreigners agenda without risking their jobs. Besides, most primary and junior high teachers in country schools will not have the language skills to write this kind of poems.

Here is the link to Tuluotuo’s post: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5cccda490100b7sb.html

nice scenario. But don’t turn this here blog into a criticize-TPD-platform!

I agree with you that there is no authentication, and there probably won’t be any. But as far as I can see, the background explanation and the public announcement suggest that the last thing the teacher had in mind was “subversion”. The approach that it was “unfair” to spread this video further and add headlines like “video leaves Westerners in terror” looks naive to me, but authentic too…

He’s developing a fine little tabloid there. Soon one expects him to start producing headlines like, “KYLIE MINOGUE SITED IN SHANGHAI GAY BAR! SIMPLY BEYOND BELIEF!”

thanks for your comment. I’ll study the sources your post links to when I’m back to my computer – the one I’m using en route right now doesn’t read Chinese.

Anyway, Hermit has politely asked the patriotic teacher(s) to authenticate themselves, and maybe they’ll do this here – would be a nice scoop, eh?
That said, I’m not thinking of my humble blog as a news website.

As for TPD, I think Richard is sort of reeling between his conflicting (strong) feelings about China. Every few days he has an encounter with something simply beyond belief, about the joys of learning Chinese, and how terrible China Daily is.

I’m looking forward to reading (and maybe translating) a bit of the Chinese threads. I worship speculation.