China Hope Live » Propaganda

Happy Leifeng Day!

Joel — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:02:18 +0000

“Cats are friends, not food!”

Joel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:55:44 +0000

I’m not kidding; that’s exactly what these signs say:

Currently in the Chinese media, and now all over the English China blog world, is the news that China is considering passing a law that would make it illegal to eat dogs and cats. But even if it passes, I have my doubts that those hypocritical pork-eating bourgeois specie-ists will succeed in enforcing their shameless attack on cultural practices that go back thousands of years.

The image on the right is a bag of dog meat one of our Chinese teachers gave us as a gift.

Anyway, I just couldn’t pass up sharing a photo of a sign that says “Cats are friends, not food!” （猫是朋友，不是食物）。 Also visible in the photo:

“Refuse to eat cats.” （拒绝吃猫）
“Please show humanitarianism, set them free.” （请发扬人道主义放过它们）
“Cherish humanity’s good friends! Refuse to eat cat and dog meat.” （爱护人类好友！拒绝吃猫狗肉）
“Refuse to eat cat and dog meat. Cherish humanity’s friends.” (拒食猫狗肉爱护人类之友)
请口下留情 is a play on the phrase 手下留情 (“restrain your hand”), as in showing mercy or sparing someone’s feelings by not meting out more punishment than is needed, often in the context of criticizing. On the sign they switched “hand” (手) for “mouth” （口）, so it might mean something like, “Be merciful; please restrain your mouth”.

For our personal encounters with cats and dogs as food in China, including a downloadable translated menu from a local dog meat restaurant, see here:

This is a dog meat restaurant near our old apartment:

The last time we ate dog, at a Korean restaurant with one of our teachers and her Korean fiancé:

Honestly, it tasted better at the dump-of-a-restaurant two photos up, but it wasn’t great at either place. Not like some of the donkey I’ve had.

If the gov owned the news…

Joel — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:51:39 +0000

… what would it sound like?
“VerdantMountains Cannot Stop Water Flowing; Eastward the River Keeps on Going”

…the sincerity, confidence, resolve and effective efforts Premier Wen brought to Copenhagen, which fully demonstrated China’s image as a responsible big country dedicated to development and cooperation.
[...]
History will remember the important contribution of the Chinese government to the success of the Copenhagen conference.

Now, imagine that all day, every day, everywhere that anything important is mentioned. And that’s just the intro…

Free Baby Accessories, compliments of Tianjin & the One Child Policy

Joel — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:28:03 +0000

In Canada the Province of British Columbia gave us a free CD with a hippie/new-age reading of a poem for infants about how “YOU. Are a chiiiiild of the UUUNiverse…”. In Tianjin our friends who had their baby here got this free bib with a One Child Policy slogan on it:

“Fewer births, scientific and healthier births, lifelong happiness”
or
“Fewer and better births make your life happier”
or
“Few births, scientifically bearing children, happiness for whole life”
少生优生，幸福一生
shǎo shēng yōushēng, xìngfú yìshēng

Other One Child Policy stuff:

“There are too many Chinese!” (translations of One Child Policy signs in a Tianjin village).

Some other Vancouver stuff:

Apparently things are changing

Joel — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:40:58 +0000

As soon as I learned how to survive in Tianjin traffic, which necessarily involves blatantly ignoring traffic laws, the traffic culture started changing. More than once during this second stint in China I’ve found myself the lone bike rider stopped in the middle of the intersection while the horde of cyclists obediently wait behind the stop line. That never would have happened in 2007. At first I wondered if it was just me, but after asking around local friends confirmed that, yes indeed, people are increasingly respecting traffic laws, and traffic laws are being more strictly and consistently enforced.

Then this morning I saw this banner near our neighbourhood when I went for my routine Friday morning Tianjin breakfast:

“Strengthening publicity & education regarding the legal system,
serving socio-economic development
Wanxing St. Judiciary Booth/Office Dec 4 Popularize & Publicize Knowledge of Laws Day”
加强法制宣传教育，服务社会经济发展
万兴街司法所 “12.4” 普法宣传日
jiāqiáng fǎzhì xuānchuán jiàoyù, fúwù shèhuì jīngjì fāzhǎn
Wànxìng jiē sīfǎ suǒ “shí èr sì” pǔfǎ xuānchuán rì

There’s a local campaign on to educate regular folks about the laws, to make them realize that, yes, laws do in fact matter; enforcement isn’t going to be totally arbitrary anymore (they may not be that explicit on the second point ;) ). So today there’s either a temporary booth set up or an office is open for people to inquire about various laws. Time will tell whether this is all just for show (as per usual) or whether this will make real changes to society (as the changing traffic culture would suggest).

Tangentially related stuff:

Slogans from the demolition zone

Joel — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:14:34 +0000

Went back recently to Tianjin’s old Nanshi hutongs to see what (if anything) was left, and found some slogans. A few months before the 2008 Olympics everyone was moved out and the partially demolished city blocks wrapped in high, long walls of billboards. The walls are still there, but inside it’s mostly flat and barren.

“Establish a sanitary city district, construct a beautiful homeland”
创建卫生城区建设美好家园
chuàngjiàn wèishēng chéngqū, jiànshè měihǎo jiāyuán

“A safe community is everyone’s duty, everyone participates in a safe community”
社区平安人人有责，社区平安人人参与
shèqū píng’ān rénrén yǒu zé, shèqū píng’ān rénrén cānyù

These buildings house a primary school. The 200-year-old traditional courtyard compound featured in the posts linked below was attached to the side (picture’s foreground). Other than a small handful of occupied lowrise apartment buildings and some squatter camps (scavenging building materials), this is all that’s left; the entire place is flat. Even most of the rubble is gone.

Nanshi hutong pre-demolition photos and stories:

Magazine article: Reduced to Memories: Tianjin’s hutongs
Photo Gallery: Tianjin’s 南市 hutongs
Photo-blog: Tianjin’s forsaken places – two months before demolition
Photo-blog: Tianjin’s forsaken places – Part II
Photo-blog: Tianjin’s forsaken places – Part III