Angry German Commenters, Striving for Originality

Readers’ comments on a (supportive) review of Ian Kershaw’s “The End” on German daily Die Welt, and its description of Hitler’s “last war” (against Germany itself):

- The commenting function has been disabled [Die Welt moderation] -

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“In a final step, Hitler was waging war on Germany”
- nothing has changed
harper 1970, two hours ago

[...]

“In a final step, the federal government waged an inevitable closing sale of German national wealth by means of broken and unobserved EU treaties. The positive thing: no casualties yet.
bond issues specialist, two hours ago

[...]

At last, something about Hitler again [on this paper]. But if the GröFaz was that wrong with his prophecy may be left open:
“If the German nation should, one day, not be strong and willing to make sacrifices, enough to risk its blood for its existence, it shall perish and be destroyed by a stronger power.
planetzero3, two hours ago.

End of quote.

When the Heavens won’t Respond: the World’s “most useless Husband”

Once in a while, when violent behavior, no matter of which kind, is criticized, I’ll disagree. Children shouldn’t be considered tin-pot if they engage in a brawl once in a while, for example. But most parents and schools teach children in ways which suggest that violence is an absolute “no”. In certain circles here in Germany, you’d rather be supposed to crap on your boss’ desk, than join a fight – even if you didn’t start it yourself.

There are more gruesome things than having a fight, of course. Stuff like this: a wife gets beaten and raped, and her husband does nothing about it.

That – reportedly – is the story of Wang Juan (王娟, pseudonym), a 29-year old woman from Bao’an District in Shenzhen, and her husband Yang Wu (杨武, also a pseudonym).

ChinaSmack has a collection of Wang’s Yang Wu’s self-criticisms. Self-criticism is the only way to deflect formal or informal anger to some extent – it is hard to tell how much of it reflects genuine feelings, and how much of it is part of the ritual.

Everyone seems to be an expert on cowardice these days (if the media are something to go by) – the asked or unasked question seems to be “what kind of people we are”, especially when the talk is about what Wang Yang Wu wanted to do to the rapist (to get a knife and hack him to death), and what he didn’t dare to do, because he was too afraid.

His wife had been beaten up by the same man before, according to Nanfang Daily, by a man who was – reportedly – a member of the Public Order Joint-Defense forces (治安联防队) named Yang Xili (杨喜利, I’m not sure if this is a pseudonym, too), and when Yang added rape to the abuse, on October 23, he had brought two accomplices with him, according to an interview Nanfang Daily did with Wang Yang Wu. All that is still under investigation, and it is rarely pointed out that Yang Xili, too, is a suspect so far, but not a convict. A blogger who did point that out also referred to Yang Wu and Yang Xili as classmates, and the bullying history is said to date back to their schooldays.

During previous attacks, Wang Yang Wu had never resisted Yang’s Yang Xili’s attacks either. On October 23, when his wife was raped, he was hiding a few meters away from the scene of the crime. He – also reportedly – called the police an hour after Yang [Xili] and his accomplices had left.

Yang Xili, the alleged perpetrator, had claimed that he was closely connected to the police, Wang Yang Wu told Nanfang Daily, and he believed what Yang [Xili] said. Resistance seemed to make no sense. Besides,

My personality is also to resign myself to abuse, always afraid of trouble ever since I was small, putting up with everything.

From what I’ve heard experts (psychologists etc.) say, this isn’t necessarily exceptional. To different degrees, human beings may be shell-shocked, or frozen with fear, and unable to act in defense of themselves or someone else when the need arises. They seem to become absolutely passive, probably as if they were cats, taken by the skin of their neck.

I don’t think that any man would want to face this kind of test. A small man may rise above himself, and a big man may shrink below his usual strength in extreme moments. Whoever tells me that he knows for sure that he’d be a better man in this kind of situation looks unreliable to me, because he simply can’t know. But maybe this worrying uncertainty is exactly why there seems to be no mercy for Wang Yang Wu. The media print big pictures of his face, with tears running from his eyes, and snot streaming from his nose. Not even China National Radio (CNR), a state broadcaster, could bring itself to do without this kind of footage.

Yet CNR tries to explain the case. The Yang Wu case is typical (杨武事件具有典型性), their topical webpage explains:

What Yang Wu’s family encountered is the tragedy of many nobodies at the bottom of our society. They are powerless, and on an occurence will frequently cry out to heaven – but the heavens won’t respond, and the earth will be impervious. Facing outrageous  people who are holding power and bully them, they can only submit to the humiliation. There is nothing untypical about this.

杨武一家的遭遇，可以看到诸多生活在底层的小人物的悲哀。他们无权无势，遇到事情往往“叫天天不应叫地地不灵”，面对手握权力者的蛮横、欺侮只能选择忍气吞声。只是杨武这件事更具典型性罢了。

Plus, the case reflects the terrible deterioration of the social and legal environment (案件反应了社会法治环境的恶劣).

But even if some of the analysis is surprisingly candid, and throws much of the blame piled on the victims right back onto their neighborhood, lines about particular (or exceptional) areas where “violence management” had become an important tool for the solution to management problems (在个别地方，“管理暴力”已经成为解决一些管理难点的重要手段) seems to hail right from the recently emerged CCP concept of “social management”, which may apply to channeling public feelings when it comes to conflicts between locals and migrant workers, obstinate independent candidates who try to run for local people’s congresses, or to Granny Ji when she is in need of affordable housing, close to the city center.

A state broadcaster simply needs to depend on some advice that speaks with authority.

And if the story needs to end with lines like these -

But a healthy society’s value lies in its ability to provide comprehensive protection to its citizens

- something must be wrong with it. In every society, there will be situations where state protection isn’t available, even if its absence may only last for a short time. To train the vulnerable to take a metal pipe and to beat a perpetrator up by themselves (and to train their neighbors to join an honest neighbor once the perpetrator comes back with reinforcements) should be part of the security package, too.

That’s particularly true for a country like China. Belief in state power to protect the vulnerable there is a pipe dream. But if it’s a pipe dream there, proscription of every  kind of violence in Germany is a miscalulation. Sometimes, violence can be very healthy.

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Related

» A Shame, but not on Them, Chai Jing / ESWN, November 10, 2011
» My fearful Country, March 19, 2011
» Facing Mount Kenya (aka The Gentlemen of the Jungle), Yomo Kenyatta, 1938

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17th Central Committee’s “Culture Document” – 6: Correct Guidance of Public Opinion

Click here for an explanation of the document translated in this series of posts.

« Previous post: (Socialist Honor and Shame, para [d], Erwei and Shuangbai, paras [a] and  [b]). The following is  a translation of the Erwei and Shuangbai chapter’s para (c).

c) The work of the news media must be strengthened, the correct guidance of public opinion is for the good of the party and the people, and errors in the guidance of public opinion spell disaster for the party and the people. We must adhere to a Marxist perspective on the news^*), firmly grasp the correct direction, uphold, encourage and strengthen unity and stability, with priority given to positive propaganda, expand mainstream opinion, improve public opinion guidance’s timeliness, authority, public credibility, and influence, elaborate and propagandize the party’s position, promote societal righteousness, understand public sentiments clearly, guide social hot spots, channel the feelings of the masses, handle the function  of supervising public opinion well, protect the people’s right to information, participation, expression and supervision. For information dissemination,  and with party newspapers and journals, news agencies, radio and television as priorities, the combined urban media, the internet, etc., in accordance with an overall plan, we must build a pattern of public-opinion guidance with clear responsibilities, complementary functions, wide-spread effect, and high efficiency. We must strengthen and improve positive propaganda, strengthen systematic propaganda of socialist core values, strengthen our analysis and judgment of public opinion, guidance of social hot spots and problematic issues, and – beginning with the concerns of the masses – scientifically clarify puzzles and answer questions, and effectively cohere common views. We must handle news coverage on sudden major incidents well. bring the news coverage system to perfection, build a comprehensive system of emergency coverage and guidance of public opinion, improve timeliness and effectiveness, and increase transparency. We must strengthen and improve supervision of public opinion, promote and solve problems [in the way of] high esteem for the party and the government, and practical problems to which the masses react strongly, protect the interests of the people, the close ties between the party and the masses, and advance societal harmony. News media and news workers must grasp and uphold social responsibility and professional virtue, authentically and accurately disseminate news and information, resist false points of view on their own initiative, and resolutely eradicate false news.

(三)加强和改进新闻舆论工作。舆论导向正确是党和人民之福，舆论导向错误是党和人民之祸。要坚持马克思主义新闻观，牢牢把握正确导向，坚持团结稳定鼓 劲、正面宣传为主，壮大主流舆论，提高舆论引导的及时性、权威性和公信力、影响力，发挥宣传党的主张、弘扬社会正气、通达社情民意、引导社会热点、疏导公 众情绪、搞好舆论监督的重要作用，保障人民知情权、参与权、表达权、监督权。以党报党刊、通讯社、电台电视台为主，整合都市类媒体、网络媒体等宣传资源， 构建统筹协调、责任明确、功能互补、覆盖广泛、富有效率的舆论引导格局。加强和改进正面宣传，加强社会主义核心价值体系宣传，加强舆情分析研判，加强社会 热点难点问题引导，从群众关注点入手，科学解疑释惑，有效凝聚共识。做好重大突发事件新闻报道，完善新闻发布制度，健全应急报道和舆论引导机制，提高时效 性，增加透明度。加强和改进舆论监督，推动解决党和政府高度重视、群众反映强烈的实际问题，维护人民利益，密切党群关系，促进社会和谐。新闻媒体和新闻工 作者要秉持社会责任和职业道德，真实准确传播新闻信息，自觉抵制错误观点，坚决杜绝虚假新闻。

To be continued. Continued here.
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Notes

^*) see correct guidance of public opinion here, too.

Related

» Human Rights: Throw them a Bone, April 16, 2011
» Many Cents, January 13, 2011
» How Real is the 50-Cent-Party, December 20, 2008

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Dead Cats and Rotten Fish: Guangzhou’s “Niuest” Nailhouse becomes History

"On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written." (from JR's archive)

The story of Guangzhou’s most incredible or coolest (牛, niú) nail house, in Haizhu District (广州市海珠区) came to an end today, reports China National Radio (CNR). The owner, Li Xueju (李雪菊), had confirmed in an interview with Xinwen Zongheng news program‘s editor Cui Tianqi (刘祎辰) and Liu Yichen (刘祎辰) that she had just reached an agreement with the developers who had bought the landuse rights in an auction, in February 2006. The state broadcaster mentions that the editors had contacted Mrs Li late at night.

Yangcheng Evening Post (羊城晚报), a paper from Guangzhou itself, was naturally  faster – on Sunday, qq.com republished the paper’s report, with Yangcheng’s photo of Li, at broad daylight and in front of her house, rather than in the middle of the night.

Until 2006, Li ran a printing workshop to sustain her family – six brothers and sisters,  according to CNR, and her (hospitalized) father, according to Yangcheng Evening Post. Differences about proper compensation apparently arose because of the house’s commercial nature – the printing shop was located there -, and the two million Yuan RMB offered by the developers hadn’t satisfied Li. This had got the two sides into a 2,000-days stalemate. However, this hadn’t felt like a long time (然而，李雪菊说，真正折磨她的，并不是漫长的时光).

Li Xueju: How can I put this? It should rather be described as ‘time passed in fear’, because , beginning early in 2008, snakes and dead cats were thrown, then some gasoline was put here, and subsequently, a “moat” was dug.

A moat that surrounded the house, from October 2008 on, CNR adds (as happened in previous nail-house cases, too). Flying stones, fireworks and threats by some husky big guys (彪形大汉) had been applied too, according to media reports. All this had finally led to her decision, on October 13, to agree to the developer’s terms: the developer would provide arrange for a new place to live, pay the appropriate compensation, and help to find a new place for her shop.

Accusations that Li held out for so long to get a luxury replacement, and that she had never been very open, in her numerous interviews, about what she had been offered and what she had asked for, had emerged on the internet, according to CNR, to which Li replied that she had to insist on a replacement, given that their present home had been the only one for her and her family. Seven rooms within one place, not luxury, had been the issue.

Howsoever, Li and her six brothers and sisters had spent their last night at their old home, CNR remarks solomonically. After the five past year, Li was no longer reluctant to leave, but only wanted to take a picture as a keepsake of her old place.

Yangcheng Evening Post’s report is somewhat spicier than CNR’s (and in a way which is likely to strike a chord  with what appears to be a public sympathetic to nail houses owners anyway), in that they mention Li’s father’s funeral procession  – he died in January this year – through a landscape of bulldozers and under the gaze of the demolition teams (要在推土机和拆迁队的注视中， 给自己年迈的老父亲送葬), and adds rotten fish and dead lobsters to the account of things thrown at Li’s nailhouse during the siege.

The place she and her brothers and sisters will now move to will be a few hundred meters away from their old home. And although the photo showing her standing in front of the nail house leaves a reasonably harmonious impression, Yangcheng Evening Post quotes her as saying, “before, I didn’t know what fear is. But I’m beginning to learn” (以前，我从来都不知道害怕。现在，我开始会了).

Yangcheng Evening Post also reports some numbers. Something more than 500,000 Yuan in compensation plus a replacement house with a said market value of 1.2 million Yuan had been offered by the developers, the paper quotes Li. That would have amounted to 700,000 Yuan missing in her calculation.  (The CNR and Yangcheng reports seem to contradict each other as the amount on offer from the developers had been two million Yuan, according to CNR.)

City development is a hot spot for “social instability” in China. At times, people who lose their homes have to leave without either replacement or compensation, compensation may objectively be insufficient for relocation and continuing their trades. Given the lacking rule of law, public suspicion may either go into the direction that common people (nailhouse owners, in this case) had once again been screwed, or that astute and well-connected (even if rather “small”) business people get themselves an unfair advantage, given the hurry in which city development is moving on.

The CNR and Yangcheng reports don’t seem to portray Li Xueju in either of these fashions. She isn’t described as a cunning person (unless there’s something between the lines which escaped me), but she would be sufficiently well-connected to be no easy target either, by Chinese standards. She had once been president of the self-employed association (but with no indication of neighborhood, district, etc.), Yangcheng Evening Post quotes her.

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Related

» CCTV Homestories, March 2, 2011
» Modern Dictionary: Property Tycoons, November 22, 2010 (includes further related links)
» Zheng Yongnian about Farmland Reform, October 17, 2008

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17th Central Committee 6th Plenary Session “Culture Document” – 5

The previous installment of this translation-in-progress can be found here. For an explanation of the translated document, click here. Links within the following blockquotes were added during translation.

d) Establish and practice the concept of socialist honor and shame. The concept of socialist honor and shame represents the fundamental requirements of socialist ethics. Propaganda and education of the socialist honor-and-shame concept must be deepened, traditional Chinese morality be popularized, the process of building citizen moral as well as social and work ethics, family morals, individual character education must be promoted. Models [i. e. people, role models] of virtue must be chosen through public appraisal, and be praised and awarded, model cases must be learned from and be propagandized, the people be guided to a stronger moral judgment and a stronger sense of moral and honor, legal obligations must be fulfilled on peoples’ own initiative, societal responsibility, family responsibility, an awareness of honor and shame must take shape throughout society, and righteousness, dedication, and promotion of harmony must become good prevailing customs. Mass activities for building spiritual civilization must be deepened, volunteerism be widened, all kinds of activities which implement morals be expanded, virtues such as patriotism, respect for work,sincerity and cordiality be promoted as norms, gender equality, respect for the elderly, love for the children, charity, support and help for the weak and the disabled, comity, and tolerance must take shape in inter-personal relations. The system of moral education in school must be comprehensively strengthened, a close educational network between schools, families, and society be built, and everyone in society be mobilized to do good work in the field of the ideological and moral education of the young. More thorough learning from Lei Feng is required, and measures to promote more habitual learning activities be taken. Civil service ethics and professional ethics must be deepened, and moral problems emerging must be dealt with individually by education and by bringing them under control. Money worship, hedonism, extreme individualism must be resolutely opposed, and unhealthy trends such as power abuse, fraud, falling for illicit personal gains, and reaping profits at the benefit of others must be resolutely rectified. The building of sincerity and trust must be put first, an honest civil service, commercial and societal sincerity as well as public trust in the building of the judiciary  be vigorously built, credit information systems that cover the entire society must be built¹⁾, punishment for dishonest behavior be intensified, and an atmosphere which guards trust and honor and which defeats untrustworthy and shameful behavior needs to take shape. Legality propaganda and education must be strengthened, the socialist spirit of rule by law be promoted, the socialist concept of rule by law be established, the entire people’s performance in terms of law be improved, learning how to respect, protect and apply [or use / benefit from the law] the law must be promoted, and the authority of the law and societal impartiality and rightfulness be upheld. Human concern and psychological guidance must be strengthened, self-respect and self-confidence, rational and moderate, positive and self-improving states of mind be cultivated. A scientific spirit must be promoted, scientific knowledge be popularized, transformation of old customs be initiated, feudalism and superstition be resisted. Education to combat corruption and to promote honesty must be deepened, and the culture of honest government be promoted.

(四)树立和践行社会主义荣辱观。社会主义荣辱观体现了社会主义道德的根本要求。要深入开展社会主义荣辱观宣传教育，弘扬中华传统美德，推进公民道德建设 工程，加强社会公德、职业道德、家庭美德、个人品德教育，评选表彰道德模范，学习宣传先进典型，引导人民增强道德判断力和道德荣誉感，自觉履行法定义务、 社会责任、家庭责任，在全社会形成知荣辱、讲正气、作奉献、促和谐的良好风尚。深化群众性精神文明创建活动，广泛开展志愿服务，拓展各类道德实践活动，倡 导爱国、敬业、诚信、友善等道德规范，形成男女平等、尊老爱幼、扶贫济困、扶弱助残、礼让宽容的人际关系。全面加强学校德育体系建设，构建学校、家庭、社 会紧密协作的教育网络，动员社会各方面共同做好青少年思想道德教育工作。深入开展学雷锋活动，采取措施推动学习活动常态化。深化政风、行风建设，开展道德 领域突出问题专项教育和治理，坚决反对拜金主义、享乐主义、极端个人主义，坚决纠正以权谋私、造假欺诈、见利忘义、损人利己的歪风邪气。把诚信建设摆在突 出位置，大力推进政务诚信、商务诚信、社会诚信和司法公信建设，抓紧建立健全覆盖全社会的征信系统，加大对失信行为惩戒力度，在全社会广泛形成守信光荣、 失信可耻的氛围。加强法制宣传教育，弘扬社会主义法治精神，树立社会主义法治理念，提高全民法律素质，推动人人学法尊法守法用法，维护法律权威和社会公平 正义。加强人文关怀和心理疏导，培育自尊自信、理性平和、积极向上的社会心态。弘扬科学精神，普及科学知识，倡导移风易俗、抵制封建迷信。深入开展反腐倡 廉教育，推进廉政文化建设。

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4) Comprehensively implement the “Erwei” Direction and the “Shuangbai” Policy, to Provide the People with Even Better and Even More Spiritual Nourishment

²⁾

To create more artistic works, unashamed of history, of our times, and the people, is an important hallmark of a prospering culture. It is essential to implement the direction of serving the people, of serving socialism, and the policy of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools compete, to stimulate the development of advanced culture, to build a harmonious culture, to encourage the vitality of cultural creation, to improve cultural products’ quality, to bring in the factor of culture guiding the customs [or practice], educating the people, serving society, and promoting development.

四、全面贯彻“二为”方向和“双百”方针，为人民提供更好更多的精神食粮

创作生产更多无愧于历史、无愧于时代、无愧于人民的优秀作品，是文化繁荣发展的重要标志。必须全面贯彻为人民服务、为社会主义服务的方向和百花齐放、百家争鸣的方针，立足发展先进文化、建设和谐文化，激发文化创作生产活力，提高文化产品质量，发挥文化引领风尚、教育人民、服务社会、推动发展的作用。

a) Uphold the correct creative direction. The correct creative direction is the principal problem of cultural creation and production. All progressive cultural creation and production comes from the people, is for the people, and belongs to the people. The point of view that the people are the creators of history must be firmly established; uphold the creational guideline that the people must be at the center, sing the praises of reform and opening and and the great practice of socialist modernization, vividly demonstrate our people’s hard-working and promising spirit and style, and its splendid accomplishments in creating history. Guide the cultural workers to bear in mind their holy obligation to serve the people, and to serve socialism. Adhere to the correct cultural standpoint, conscientiously handle and positively pursue the social effects of cultural products, popularize the true, the good, and the beautiful, denounce what is false, ugly, and evil, and blend artistic exploration and creation into the cause of the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation. Keep enhancing scientific democracy, artistic democracy, create a positive, healthy, tolerant and harmonious atmosphere, advocate and develop different viewpoints and schools in ample discussion, advocate types, subjects, shapes, methods, promote concepts, contents, styles, and schools, for positive innovation. With an innovative spirit, penetrate the process of cultural creation and production, popularize the fine national cultural traditional and May-4th-shaped revolutionary tradition. Learn from the useful achievements of foreign cultural innovation, be all-embracing, be absorbing, strengthen the epochal feeling and attractiveness of the cultural products.

(一)坚持正确创作方向。正确创作方向是文化创作生产的根本性问题，一切进步的文化创作生产都源于人民、为了人民、属于人民。必须牢固树立人民是历史创造者的观点，坚持以人民为中心的创作导向，热情讴歌改革开放和社会主义现代化建设伟大实践，生动展示我国人民奋发有为的精神风貌和创造历史的辉煌业绩。要引导文化工作者牢记为人民服务、为社会主义服务的神圣职责，坚持正确文化立场，认真对待和积极追求文化产品社会效果，弘扬真善美，贬斥假恶丑，把学术探索和艺术创作融入实现中华民族伟大复兴的事业之中。坚持发扬学术民主、艺术民主，营造积极健康、宽松和谐的氛围，提倡不同观点和学派充分讨论，提倡体裁、题材、形式、手段充分发展，推动观念、内容、风格、流派积极创新。把创新精神贯穿文化创作生产全过程，弘扬民族优秀文化传统和五四运动以来形成的革命文化传统，学习借鉴国外文化创新有益成果，兼收并蓄、博采众长，增强文化产品时代感和吸引力。

b) Richly develop philosophy and social sciences. To maintain and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is necessary to vigorously develop philosophy and social sciences, for their important function in a better understanding of the world, to inherit and to bequeath our civilization, to innovate theory, for the political consultation and the education of the people, and to serve society. The theory and science of Marxism must be consolidated and developed.  Equal emphasis be put on fundamental and applied research, traditional and newly-developing disciplines, and cross-disciplinary research, and our country’s actual characteristics and the characteristics of our times be linked with each other. Philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics and style must be built. We must adhere to the major practical issues as the main political direction, strengthen research concerning the overall, strategic and forward-looking issues, accelerate the transformation of philosophy’s and social sciences’ fruitful results [into practical application], so that they will better serve economic and social development. We must implement the innovative projects of philosophy and social sciences, apply funding and exemplification as guiding functions, advance the academic system, scientific points of view, innovative research methodology, support the establishment of projects which practice socialism with Chinese characteristics, and lend our efforts to outstanding achievements which represent our country’s standing (水准), achievements which are of global influence, and which pass the practical and historical tests. Combine the strengths of philosophy and social sciences, build bases for social science and key national laboratories, think tanks with specialized superiorities, and strengthen the infomationization of philosophy and social sciences.

(二)繁荣发展哲学社会科学。坚持和发展中国特色社会主义，必须大力发展哲学社会科学，使之更好发挥认识世界、传承文明、创新理论、咨政育人、服务社会的 重要功能。要巩固发展马克思主义理论学科，坚持基础研究和应用研究并重，传统学科和新兴学科、交叉学科并重，结合我国实际和时代特点，建设具有中国特色、 中国风格、中国气派的哲学社会科学。坚持以重大现实问题为主攻方向，加强对全局性、战略性、前瞻性问题研究，加快哲学社会科学成果转化，更好服务经济社会 发展。实施哲学社会科学创新工程，发挥国家哲学社会科学基金示范引导作用，推进学科体系、学术观点、科研方法创新，重点扶持立足中国特色社会主义实践的研 究项目，着力推出代表国家水准、具有世界影响、经得起实践和历史检验的优秀成果。整合哲学社会科学研究力量，建设一批社会科学研究基地和国家重点实验室， 建设一批具有专业优势的思想库，加强哲学社会科学信息化建设。

Continued (Nov 8th) -
part 6 »

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Notes

¹⁾ this translation of 全社会的征信系统 is highly questionable, and 全社会的征信系统 may actually refer to a more general climate of trust within society – however, the only actual translation I found on the internet is the one used in the post above. (Besides, credit information is currently a big issue in China.)
²⁾ The CCP website describes the Erwei direction as the two ways in which literature and art are supposed to serve the people, and socialism. Within this definition, the people consists of workers, peasants and soldiers, intellectuals, cadres, and all those who support socialism and who love the motherland. To serve socialism actually spelled the same thing as to serve the people, because socialism was in the interest of the people. This wasn’t meant to restrict artistic creativity, but to encourage writers and artists to serve the people and to serve socialism, to create better spiritual products, and to contribute to spiritual civilization. The same website defines the  Shuangbai policy as a policy in correspondence with the objective pattern of artistic as well as scientific and technological development and promoted that development. The Shuangbai or “double-hundreds” refers to the one-hundred flowers and one-hundred schools (百花齐放、百家争鸣 – referred to in the document’s second chapter, too) [“双百”方针是党和国家关于发展文学艺术和科学技术的基本方针，即“百花齐放，百家争鸣”，其基本精神是艺术上不同的形式和风格可以自由发展，科学上不同的学派可以自由争论。“双百”方针符合文学艺术和科学技术发展的客观规律，是促进艺术发展科学技术发展进步，促进社会主义文化繁荣和科技兴旺的方针。“二为”是指文学艺术要“为人民服务，为社会主义服务”。“为人民服务”就是为工农兵、知识分子、干部和一切拥护社会主义、热爱祖国的人们服务。社会主义是广大人民群众的根本利益所在，“为社会主义”服务也就是为人民服务，“二为”方针并不限制艺术家的创作性，而是鼓励文艺工作者在为人民服务，为社会主义服务的前提下，创作出更多更好的精神产品，为社会主义精神文明建设作贡献。（中共北京市委党校研究生部 师霞）].

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Related Blogposts: Social Management »

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Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua Resigns

Huang Huahua (黄华华), who has been governor of Guangdong Province since 2003, has resigned his post on Friday, local time, reports the BBC Chinese website. Deputy governor Zhu Xiaodan (朱小丹) has taken over as acting governor. No official or informal information for his reasons to resign have been given, but the BBC quotes “some analysts” as saying that “economic issues” may have played a role. A commenter  from Hong Kong, [apparently] Johnny Lau  (Liu Ruishao, 刘锐邵), is quoted as saying that Huang’s resignation looks different from previous resignations by top Guangdong officials, but as corruption had played a role in previous cases, it was “normal that people associated” Huang’s resignation with those cases.

The BBC also points out that Guangdong’s governor isn’t the top official, as the provincial party chief is a governor’s immediate superior, Wang Yang (汪洋).^*)

Issues like industrial pollution, income disparities, unrest and clashes with police, conflicts between permanent city residents and migrant workers and land grabbing had become prominent in recent years, writes the BBC, and the current global recession also had a significant impact on Guangdong’s economy.

However, a much more natural possible motivation to resign is also discussed on the internet, writes the BBC. Netizens reportedly remember Wang saying two years ago, at a Zhongshan University alumni gathering, that given that he was 63 years old at the time, he would “retire in two years”.

Reuters also touches upon Huang’s retirement age, but adds that he still had two years to run in his mandate.

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Note

^*) This power-sharing arrangement is universal all over China, and crucial in Tibet and Xinjiang, where a governor is usually picked from the national minorities, while the party leader (and ultimate ruler) is Han-Chinese.

Updates/Related

Willy Lam: normal retirement age, Bloomberg, Nov 6

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Confidential: EFSF CEO in Beijing

Jordan Pouille, a French correspondent, quotes Klaus Regling, the European Financial Stability Facility’s CEO who was in Beijing last week.

“Chinese buyers don’t disclose these informations. Neither do we”,

Regeling reportedly told a press conference there last Friday, when asked which institutions were buying.

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Related

» Daily Dose of Pain, October 30, 2011

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Health Minister: Market Tools don’t work Properly

From Beijing Morning Post (北京晨报), November 2, 2011:

Health minister Chen Zhu, on invitation of the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave s speech at the “Chinese Science and Humanities’ Forum”, titled “Let medical science serve the entire people”, and answered students’ questions.

昨天，卫生部部长陈竺应邀在中科院研究生院举行的“中国科学与人文论坛”上发表了“让医学科学服务于全体人民”的主题演讲，并现场回答了同学们的提问。

In his speech, Chen Zhu explained that there was an area of misunderstanding, in that there was a belief that the market economy could solve every problem, but that practice tells us that market tools frequently don’t work properly in the area of social services, and the outcome of too much market orientation is that “to get medical treatment is difficult, and expensive”. Current medical reform was “to make basic medical health services public goods, available to all people”. The achievements of the past three years of reform were eminent, as China had established a system of guaranteed basic health services which covered more than 95 per cent of the population. By newly established rural cooperative health systems, rural leukemia and congenital heart disease patients were provided with insurance for major diseases, and nearly one million cataract patients had received free surgery to have their eyesight restored.

陈竺在演讲中介绍，曾经有一种认识误区，认为市场经济能够解决所有问题，但实践告诉我们，市场手段在社会服务领域往往失灵，过度市场化造成的后果就是“看病难、看病贵。“ 此次医改就是要“把基本医疗卫生服务作为公共产品向全民提供”。医改开始三年来成果显著，我国已经建立了覆盖95%以上人口的基本医疗保障制度，通过新型农村合作医疗制度为农村白血病患儿和先天性心脏病患儿提供大病医保，为全国近百万白内障患者进行了免费复明手术。

Article-related commercial: the Shijiazhuang Health and Peace Hospital head physician wants to talk to you on the phone (click photo for source)

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Related

» Sincere Thanks, February 15, 2011
» Tossing the Mountain around, November 8, 2010
» Rural Social Security, December 24, 2009
» Once a Barefoot Doctor, The Lancet, Oct 20, 2008

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