Chinese views of the U.S.

In a recent post from a site I follow (which basically just translates popular Chinese BBS topics) I was suddenly reminded as to how ignorant people can be of things that are far away, that they perceive as having a very small impact on their lives, and which they have no personal experience of. I am sure that this can apply to many countries and many peoples. How many U.S. citizens know where Suriname is? How many Europeans understand the ethnic/linguistic diversity of China? How many South Africans know how the Japanese political system work? Of course, is also is perfectly logical to me that people are unaware of things that are completely irrelevant to their everyday life. I myself, in a slightly confrontational situation, was made aware of this in myself about a year ago when a Russian acquaintance berated me for having never even heard of the largest city in the eastern half of Russia. But what my attention was drawn to from this article in specific where some of the comments people had written which described situations in other countries. Rather than summarizing them, I think I will just post these in their entirety below:

英语绵绵 (on Tianya) & 七夜 (on LiuLiu):

All this is easy to fix, just use violence. China uses the hukou system to keep the poor population from settling in cities, and then uses chengguan [thuggish city management officials who are supposed to keep order on the streets but who often end up abusing citizens, see here and here] to beat the rabble to death. The cities will then look very nice.

bjwh50: (responding to above comment)

Actually, this is exactly how America does it, using violence to beat the Indians [Native Americans] to death, pushing the Asian, African, and poor out into the country, running the poor white people into the surrounding outskirts of the cities. America’s police are even more terrible than China’s chengguan. If you’re within two meters of a police officer, you have to raise your hands, otherwise American police have the right to shoot you dead.

The specific thing that I find interesting is the claim of the second poster (bjwh50) that "If you’re within two meters of a police officer, you have to raise your hands, otherwise American police have the right to shoot you dead." I do not know where the poster got this opinion, but the fact that it is being expressed, and therefore spread, is somewhat alarming to me. I readily admit that the U.S. police force is far from the best in the world, for I also know that this claim isn't true (right?). If this kind of mis-information is common on the Chinese-language internet, then the perceptions of many Chinese people toward the U.S. might be based off a a United States which is quite different from the real United States. Of course, U.S. citizens do the same thing to China.

Anti-China sentiment in the U.S., protectionism & nationalism

A fear mongering video which seems to predict the coming fall of the United Stated alongside the rise of China had become a bit of a sensation. It is very high-quality, and its nationalist/xenophobic message is shortly (but nicely) critiqued here. It has also spawned a parody which signifigantly alters the political message. This add in particular, and the anti-China/pro-China retoric in the United States in gerneal, is critiqued quite well in one of my favorite China watcher blogs.

There have also been some very xenophobic and anti-Chinese attack adds paid by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a part of the U.S. election. One add implies that living outside the United States is somehow bad (one of the last things we need is fewer U.S. citizens going aborad and experiencing the greater world). These attack adds are nicely analyzed here. Indeed, since seeing the Obama presidency, taking a class in which the professor stressed the inefficiency of the U.S. political process, and now seeing some of the lunacy of this election, I am pretty much fed up with the current United Stated style of democracy, which I think consists of insults, the loud stating of claims without significant factual basis, and one's favorite color of a binary option. Seeing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's homepage just amplifies my view of U.S. democracy as a one-on-one fight between two giants in which money matters more than anything else. I am gonna have to get dual citizenship in another country someday.

There is a brief call for logic and sanity when thinking about international economics here. Indeed, the very way that international trade and the assembly of products works nowadays makes traditional ideas of national origin rather obsolete. Using the example of Apple's iPod (how ubiquitous can this product and brand become?), Shikha Dalmia writes:

"Think about the IPod, for instance. It is designed in America and its 451 parts are made in dozens of different countries. But just because it is finally assembled in China, it officially counts as a Chinese import and therefore a contributor to America’s trade deficit — never mind that the Chinese add only $4 to the IPod’s $150 final value. Imposing duties on IPods to slash the deficit, then, won’t just cost Chinese jobs  in Beijing assembly plants, but American jobs in Cupertino (Apple’s headquarters) computer labs."

A recent WTO speech by Pascal Lamy focused on a nearly identical topic, and I consider it well worth reading in full as a reminder to not get caught up in the rhetoric of economically protectionist and politically nationalist arguments.

I am convinced

I am working forty-ish hour work weeks. From the time I arrive at work in the morning to the time I leave in the afternoon/evening is about 8.5 to 9 hours. I get a two hour(ish) break in the afternoon, which I sometimes can start 30 minutes early, and which is sometimes taken up partially or completely by meetings, lesson plannings, or other preparations for the preschool. I just got back from my weekly Spanish conversation night, at which Seamus (from Ireland) and Ben (from England) are regulars. Ben works as an editor and a writer at a magazine, and he works four hours a week. Seamus teaches English and Gaelic at a large university, and he is working six hours a week. They are both living comfortably enough. I know I have to make a certain amount of money (for the next ten years {unless I can afford to pay above the minimum [which I hope to be able to do at some point]}) to pay off my college debt, but there has got to be a way I can do it working less than forty hours a week. I have been reading some articles by Chris Guillebeau recently about getting free of a 9-to-5 life, and they are having great emotional appeal for me. I committed to a year with this preschool, and so I will do a year of work here, but I think I will at some point attempt to live off of less than forty hours of work each week and see where it gets me.

A Regular Sunday

On some Sundays I help Federico manage a group of performers in The Village in Sanlitun on the east side of Beijing. On these Sundays I will usually meet at the local juggling/fixed gear bike shop Natooke around 1, and be at The Village between 2 and 3, after which we have our performances. As an example, here is my day on Sunday October 17^th.

I woke up naturally at around seven thirty, and I promptly spent about an hour and a half putting various songs into a playlist to use for the performance in the afternoon. After finishing the playlist, I took a shower, did email and facebook things. A big thing was that I was able to linking up my blog to my facebook and I was also able to link up my twitter to my facebook. Facebook is the main way I communicate with friends from college, and although the twitter may be less important I am going to start writing blog posts more often. This is going to be one of those “keep family and friends updated as to my life” kind of blogs, much like many students write when they are on study abroad. Now every time I update my Twitter or write a new blog post, it will automatically be posted to my facebook. After selecting my outfit for the show in the afternoon, I left home at around 11am. I wanted to wait longer to wait for my couchsurfer, Ana, to wake up, but I was afraid that I was going to be late. It turns out that this was far earlier than I needed to leave home, but it turned out fine. When I got to Natooke Ines (one of the owners), Julien (her boyfriend) and friends were having lunch, so I joined them. In exchange for cleaning up the containers and the table afterward I was able to have their leftovers, which were both numerous and delicious. I had plenty of time, so I did some computer stuff and then started preparing the sanlunche (三轮车, literally three wheeled cart) for our show. Gus soon arrived and helped me get things ready, and soon the sanlunche’s sound system was all set up and we were ready to go. Federico hooked up a speaker, some lights, and put a really cool paint job on the sanlunche. Fede also has a big battery that we place in the sanlunche that powers a motor as well as the sound system, so I don’t even have to power it via my own legs with the pedals; I can just rotate the handle on the right side and the motor kicks in to send me zooming along the streets of Beijing. Arriving at The Village, Gus and I headed into the Orange and starting getting ready. Soon Jiuji arrived and after some playful banter and thumb-twiddling we headed out for the parade. We normally have a parade as the first part of our show. During the parade I will ride the Sanlunche around The Village with the music on, and I will shout out “There will be a big performance in the central square of The Village at 3:30! Big show at 3:30! All are welcome to come and enjoy this free performance!”, or something similar. Gus has really good Chinese (I think Gus’s Chinese is even better than mine, and I don’t meet many people under 30 with better Chinese than me) so he was the translator for today. We stopped every now and then for small preview performances from Gus or Jiuji, and a few times I even grabbed three balls and joined in. After thirty minutes of parade we had our big show.  I first introduced Jiu Ji, and he did a contact juggling routine. Jiu Ji’s performance was excellent (as always) and received lots of dropped jaws and wows (as always). Next up was Gus with a sharp juggling routine. I think he claims that it is nothing special, but in my opinion it is a pretty solid routine. As long as he is not being compared to any of the greats (up against which almost all jugglers would look horrible) I think he has some good tricks and he does them well. Next Jiu Ji went up again with a little light trick that he has been working on recently. This act is essentially passing a little ball of light between his hands, eating it, spitting it out, and so on and so forth. The audience loves it, and Jiu Ji’s motions are quick enough and smooth enough that most people cannot see how he does it. Just as Jiu Ji was finishing his light show, Ines rolled in (she came late due to an audition for a TV show that ran late) on her trick bike. I stalled for a bit of time by drawing out her introduction to give her time to strip out of her biking-across-town clothes and into her give-an-awesome-performance clothes, after which she hopped on and started doing her thing. All in all I think it was a good show. I prefer to have one additional performer, or some good audience interaction, but for having three performers I think that it was pretty good. After a few minutes of young Chinese girls telling Gus how cool he was (not only is he white, he also can speak Chinese and juggle!), we packed everything up on the sanlunche and headed back to Natooke. Gus came back to the shop with me to help me unload, after which we rode our bikes partway home together. By  the time I get home on Sunday evenings after managing Fede’s shows I am always exhausted, but it also one of the best times I have available to me to Skype chat with friends outside of China. No one was on/around at that time though, so I studied some language, read some news articles, and got some rest.

Tibetan Language Protests: Some Factual Tidbits That I Think Are Useful to Know

As a person who has done a good deal of research on ethnicity, language and education in mainland China, I think there are some things that I can contribute to the recent news on language protests among Tibetan students which might help people gain a more informed and nuanced view of the situation. I hope that you benefit from my tidbits.

Note: I tend to use the term minzu extensively when writing about ethnic situations in China. In short, minzu is a government-created category which does not correlate with either ethnicity nor nationality. Since it lacks an accurate English equivalent, I just use the term minzu untranslated. Further explanation available here, and a more academic treatment is available here.

P.R.C. is an incredibly linguistically diverse country. The highest number that I have seen myself states that China hosts over 200 distinct languages (Bruhn, Daniel. "Minority Language Policy in China, with Observations on the She Ethnic Group." May 20, 2008), and the linguistic challenge for minority minzu students can be immense. Students in minority areas often speak one (or sometimes more) minority minzu language(s), the local dialect of Chinese, the official Mandarin Chinese, and they also study English in school. In areas with more linguistic diversity (commonly in the southwest, but not unheard of in other areas) it is also normal for students to learn the languages of other nearby minzu. Taking in this linguistic challenge can be made even more difficult by the fact that the language seen by many people as the most important for the economic advancement of the students (Mandarin) is often one of the languages that is least used outside of the classroom. In minority areas it is common for a non-Mandarin Chinese language (commonly called dialects, or 方言) to be the lingua franca of the county or prefecture, or even for a non-Chinese minzu language to be used (Stevan Harrell’s book, Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China, touches on this in many ways). Present-day Mùlǐ County, for instance, hosts 18 ethnic groups—including Chinese, Tibetans, Yí, Nàxī, Miáo, Zhuàng, Bùyī and Lìsù, making for a highly linguistically and ethnically diverse location (Sangay, L. Education rights for Tibetans in Tibet and India, in Human rights: Positive policies in Asia and the Pacic Rim. J. D. Montgomery. Hollis: Hollis Publishing Company, 1998.). And do not doubt that Mandarin language ability is important for Chinese citizens to be successful. A Chinese citizen who speaks fluent Mongolian, Tibetan, Zhuang, or any other standard minority minzu language is going to be unable to get an education, and will have a difficult time getting a good job in a Chinese company. For a particularly personal and touching story on linguistic success and failure and the consequences for learning one’s traditional culture to the neglect of the majority han’s culture, see Bulag, Uradyn. "Mongolian Ethnicity and Linguistic Anxiety in China." American Anthropologist 105, no. 4 (2003): 753.763

A standardized test is required to pass from elementary school to junior high school in China. This examination is composed of information chosen by the government as a part of the nation-wide education that all Chinese citizens are supposed to receive. This includes the ability to use the Mandarin language. Needless to say, taking a standardized test in a non-native language is very challenging, so without excellent skills in Mandarin a student is unlikely to be able to advance to the next level of schooling. Unfortunately, relatively few minority minzu students advance, and “of the Tibetan children who enroll in elementary school, less than 10% will go on to junior high school.” (Sangay, L. Education rights for Tibetans in Tibet and India, in Human rights: Positive policies in Asia and the Pacic Rim. J. D. Montgomery. Hollis: Hollis Publishing Company, 1998.) Another test is required to get into high school, and yet another for college. These successively harder examinations are a major reason, although by no means not the only reason, why so few minority minzu students advance academically.

To further complicate matters , the P.R.C.’s minzu category of Tibetan encompasses multiple distinct (by self-identification) ethnic and linguistic groups. This is not unusual in China, as many minzu groups contain multiple languages and groups of people who consider themselves somehow different from other people in the same minzu group. In the Tibetan minzu, there are people who natively speak various Qiangic languages, such as Nàmùyì, Minyak (Mùyǎ),  Ěrgōng,  Ěrsū, rGyal-rong (Jiāróng), Prinmi (Púmǐ) and Guìqióng. Aside from languages, ethnic/cultural (definitions get tricky, so I am purposefully broad with the terms) identification of people in the Tibetan minzu is also diverse. “The Tibetans of Shuǐluò County alone can be further subdivided into a dialect related to the Tibetan dialect continuum on linguistic grounds): (1) Khams Tibetans (speaking a dialect belonging to Khams Tibetan group); (2) Prinmi Tibetans (speaking the Prinmi (Qiangic) language); (3) Xùmǐ Tibetans (Shǐxīng, Qiangic) and (4) Bùláng Tibetans (speaking the western dialect of the Ěrsū (Qiangic) language)” (Chirkova, Katia. "Between Tibetan and Chinese: Identity and language in Chinese South.West." Journal of South Asian Studies 30, no. 3 (2007): 405.417.) There are also people classified in the Tibetan minzu who disagree with this classification, such as the baima people. Reclassification as a different minzu is very difficult though, and creation of a new minzu is unheard of, and therefore practically impossible. I make this point because even if the local, provincial, or Chinese government decided to teach a large amount of school classes in the official Tibetan language, there would still be many people who would be left out. If 80% of the school’s students are native speakers of Tibetan language X, and the remaining 20% of the school’s students natively speak Tibetan languages Y, Z, W, and V, that is a microcosm of the language-focused struggle which seems to be going on at the moment. The extremity of the “people should be educated in their own language” view’s solution would likely be to have each distinct language group having it’s own school, but that involves massive segregation. Things get a little more complicated than Tibetan’s-who-want-to-preserve-their-culture versus Chinese-government-which-wants-to-standardize everything when you look a little deeper, eh?

And finally, to try and put things in perspective, the purpose of national education is to unify a country’s people in thought, and to give a common identity. The United States certainly does a far worse job than China in providing minority language learning materials. Japan barely even recognizes the ethnically non-Japanese people which live inside Japanese borders, and at least in the case of ethnically Korean people, it seems that Korean culture can be learned in public schools in China to a far greater extent than it can in Japan (Min, Pyong G. "A Comparison of the Korean Minorities in China and Japan." International Migration Review 26, no. 1 (1992): 4.21). Although the idealist in me is certainly not pleased by it, linguistic “flattening” (Friedman would be so proud of me!) is a norm of the globalized world. Ability to speak the Irish language (commonly called Gaelic) has been reduced greatly, and I suspect one of the reasons is that English is so much more useful nowadays. Flemish speakers in France want their children to learn French and leave Flemish behind, because skill with use of the French language is seen as a tool of social advancement, while skill with use of the Flemish language is seen as something which restrains social and economic progress. I bet that the small number of Iroquois people fluently speaking the Iroquois language in the United States is partially due to the greater usefulness of English in the U.S.. (note that the previous few sentences are full of untested assumptions. I think that these are logical and reasonable assumptions, but I have not researched the Flemish, Irish, or Iroquois language extensively, so if you have evidence to prove me wrong, please show it to me.) Similarly, minority minzu parents in China will sometimes push their child toward Mandarin so strongly that it involves a conscious decision to push their child away from their traditional minzu language. Minority minzu individuals often have very strong motivation to learn Mandarin and understand han culture. No non-han person in China is going to earn respect, a good salary, a good position and a good life in a han environment without understanding the han language and culture. The following analogy speaks concerning this idea: Dru Gladney met a Hui Hajji who spoke fluent Persian and Arabic, had lived in the Middle East for twelve years and was a master of Islamic Natural Sciences. Despite this, the Hui Hajji claimed that he “had no culture.” (1999d. "Making Muslims in China: Education, Islamicization, and Representation" In China's National Minority Education: Culture, State Schooling and Development. Gerard A. Postiglione, ed. New York: Garland Press. Pp 55-87.) (As a side note, I do consider it perfectly possible to earn respect of a community and to live a good life in a non-han environment. I have no doubt that many non-han people are able to be happy an enjoy themselves in an environment in which they have very little contact with han culture. I know of numerous foreigners living in China who do exactly this.) Parents often see Mandarin language skill as a vehicle for social and economic advancement, and adopting Chinese culture is often seen as one of the primary methods for advancing one’s socioeconomic status. (Bruhn, Daniel. "Minority Language Policy in China, with Observations on the She Ethnic Group." May 20, 2008.) Due to people’s desires for their children to live a better life, and the perception that the best way to a better life in through economic advancement, “There is almost certainly nothing that can be done to maintain ancient cultures intact and unchanged” (Time to reconsider the meaning of “autonomy”).

 Note: If you are interested in reading of the papers or articles that I references here, just let me know via email and I can send them to you.

On learning Spanish, and on being (thought of as) mixed blood

I took the level test at the Cervantes Institute today, and I tested into B.12, which is a lower/middle level of the intermediate level. It was a little shocking to realize just how much I have forgotten since June, but I think it is perfectly understandable since I have studied less than a dozen hours over the past four months. Although the Spanish conversation nights are going well and adding a few new faces each week, I think that nothing but sitting down and studying is gonna help me remember all of the verb tenses that I have forgotten how to construct. Anyway, since it would take me so long to get from my home to the Cervantes Institute I decided to enroll in an online course (for about 1/8 of the price of an in-person course). If I want to take a course in person, I can always give that a shot in January, when a new round of classes start. In the mean time I will use self-study, the online course, and the conversation night to try and improv my Spanish a bit.

Aside from actually registering for the class, the most interesting part was when one of the people working in the office asked me (in Chinese) "Are your parents both from the United States? Why can you speak Chinese? Are you a mixed blood child?" I told her that both my parents were born in the U.S., and I just happened to decide to study languages when I was in college. She said I looked like I could be a mixed blood child. It once again illustrated what I perceive as a common view here in China: foreigners learning Chinese is not normal, so if a foreigner (like me) can speak some Chinese (like I can) there must be some special reason or unusual situation for it (such as being half-Chinese, as I am not). I think the idea that people can learn any language they like without any special reason is quite foreign to many people's mindsets around here.

Muslim-originating anti-U.S. terrorism: possible roots and causes

Stephen M. Walt's (very) rough calculations estimate that just over 280,000 Muslims have been killed by Americans in the past thirty years, while slightly over 10,000 U.S. citizens have been killed by Muslims in the same time period. He actually writes Americans, but I am going to write from the assumption that he means U.S. citizens. This is an imbalance of great proportions, with the number of Muslims killed by Americans roughly 28 times higher. That is a lot of times! Compared to the number of Muslims killed by U.S. citizens, only 3.5% of that number of U.S. citizens has been killed by Muslims. I just can't stress how incredible the difference is here.


Nir Rosen also states a similar point very bluntly in an interview on Democracy Now!, from which I will quote directly: "stop supporting the dictatorships in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and elsewhere, stop supporting the Pakistani dictatorship or quasi-dictatorship, stop supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Be perceived as a fair player in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Stop killing Muslims, and Muslims will not want to kill you. It’s really very easy. "


Nir Rosen is not alone in the matter either, as a very prominent (and controversial) thinker, who happens to be one of the most cited sources in arts and humanities academic papers, states the same basic idea.


The piece that really spurred me to write this blog post, however, is a bit more empirical. Based on facts and research rather than emotional appeals, a recent article in Foreign Policy calls for new approaches in reducing terrorism. It cites occupations, and (perceived?) religious differences as major sources of suicide bombings. I will not attempt to summarize the entire article here, since it is easy enough for you to clink the link and check it out for yourself, but seeing as how easy it is for emotions to push people toward illogical conclusions an actions which are inefficient in achieving stated goals I thought it would be good to draw attention to this.

Netbook, iPod, Spanish

The best part of life at the moment is that I am still so excited about my new computer. Just so you know, it was not a frivolous purchase either. My previous computer was crippled by an internal hardware problem which caused it to freeze up after a few minutes of use. I was able to find, via NewEgg, a new laptop which fit my requirements for the lowest possible price. I got a netbook, so it is very small and very light. As a consequence, it is very portable. I am actually writing this into a word processing document while sitting on the bus. I am very pleased that I found a seat. In fact, the reason that I have my little netbook with me is related to the worst part of life at the moment: my iPod touch is broken. I am now the owner of a very expensive second hand Apple-brand paperweight. I normally wouldn’t complain a lot about a small piece of electronic equipment getting broken, but this is a piece of electronic equipment that I tend to use a LOT and which is expensive enough that I would want to think long and hard before purchasing a new one. I used the iPod for making phone calls via Skype, for sending text messages to friends in the United States, for keeping up to date on both world news and on China-specific news, as well as for mapping locations and routes, converting currencies, and the incredibly versatile English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary. Fortunately, my new netbook can perform most of these functions either at the same level of effectiveness or at a lower but acceptable level. However, despite how beautifully small it is, it is neither as convenient nor as portable as the iPod.

Why am I using my netbook on the public bus? Because this is a long bus ride! It takes more than an hour to get from my home (which is on the west side of town) to the Cervantes Institute (which is on the east side of town). I went to the Cervantes Institute for their Spanish corner, which happens every Saturday afternoon. I didn’t go just to practice speaking and listening though! I also came armed with several sheets containing details about my own Spanish conversation night that I am having over on the west side of town, near where I live. I got Professora Selma (the lady who taught the first Spanish class that I ever took) to correct it, and I met and told several Chinese students about it, some of whom I think are very likely to come!

My favorite adds

These adds are in the Beijing Zoo (动物园, dòng wù yuán) stop on the line 4 subway in Beijing. I love instances in which characters can be transformed into art or images of different types. Of all the adds I have seen these are some of my favorites, especially the elephant one.

A Repost of a Video from Another Blog

I saw a very interesting little clip to do with Chinese food, which, as a TED talk, I feel needs very little introduction other than to say that it fully held my attention for the entire duration of the video and I feel like I learned from it. I also find it interesting that her middle name is apparently 8.

Jennifer 8. Lee hunts for General Tso | Video on TED.com

How to Stay Up-To-Date on China

I would like to let everyone know exactly how I get my information and stay up to date on China. Although Democracy Now!, The Economist, and Foreign Policy are mainstays of my general news intake, this post is going to be focused on China-specific news. This is mainly meant for people who wish to be well-informed and stay up-to-date on China issues. I will divide this into four categories: Podcasts, Blogs, Tweets, and other sites.

PODCASTS
Podcasts are perhaps the most convenient way I have of consuming information. The fact that it is given to me through an audio medium means that I do not need to use my eyes or my hands, making it ideal for consuming while walking, talking the bus, or doing other tasks. Of all the ways I have of consuming information, podcasts lend themselves to multitasking to a far greater extent than any other format.

The combination of the Sinica Podcast and The China History Podcast, hosted by Kaiser Kuo and Lazlo Montegomery, provide excellent information of the china of today and of history. Kaiser and his friends have very high quality discussions about a wide range of issues relevant to contemporary China, while Lazlo Montegomery is clearly well versed in his field and delivers very informative and very digestible summaries of Chinese History.

BLOGS

Although there are plenty of blogs I would like to recommend on language learning and other interesting things, I will limit this to China-related blogs.

To start out fairly light-hearted, I would highly recommend ChinaSmack to anyone interested in the popular and sensationalist news that is happening in China. From BDSM Dungeons in Nanjing to Chinese netizen's reactions to important international political events, this gives the reader a quick glimpse at what is happening online for Chinese people. To get good recommendations of Chinese (including Taiwanese and Hong Kong) movies, as well as films from Japan and South Korea I would say that Populasian is a great resource. I have been pointed to numerous high-quality film through this blog, and without it I would have missed out on the vast majority of quality film that I have seen over the past year. Moving to more serious readings, ChinaGeeks does an excellent job analyzing news, and the folks at The China Beat to a great job reporting on it. China Hearsay, Mark's China Blog, and The Peking Duck all provide good information to me on a more seriously level than movies of SM in Nanjing. The mainstays of my blog digest, though, consist of China Digital Times and Danwei, both blocked in China, and both highly attuned to political news, and (in my opinion) valuable fonts of straightforward information about China in the modern day. Aside from the two behemoths of online China news in the form of CTD and Danwei, I find Fool's Mountain to be some of the most intelligent blogging about china on the web today. Some posts on Africans living in China and some vicious racism concerning a black/Chinese girl were some of my favorites. (the complete list of blogs that I follow is available here)

TWEETS
I just started using Twitter a few weeks ago, but after a few incidents of being aware of events before said events were reported in the western media (beating the New York Times on the news is certainly a point of pride for me!), I now swear by it as an excellent way to get up to the minute information. Of the few dozen Twitter accounts that I follow(the full list can be found here), imagethief, niubi, ChinaGeeks, Jeremy Goldkorn, and GadyEpstein tend to give me the best information. Aside from that, a lot of these guys (along with Kaiser Kuo, FoundinChina and David Moser) talk with each other via Twitter too, so following their conversations can give me some excellent clues. The Asia Society, an excellent resource in general, has their own Twitter account, and Eric Olander focuses intelligently only China-Africa issues.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES
I want to recommend all kinds of global news sources, from Times of India (most widely read English-language newspaper in the world)  to Al Jazeera (now a widely respected source of world news), I will again restrict myself to China-relevant news sources. Within this category of the obligatory Wall Street Journal's China topic page and the New York Times's China page (a great number of NYT's china articles are authored by Edward Wong, whom I am beginning to respect). Aside from those big names are anything that The Economist or Foreign Policy happens to have on China, while the East Asia Forum is a bit more of a focused and specialized site. I get all of this information through Google Reader by use of RSS feeds, which I highly recommend EVERYONE look into as a fast an easy way of having your news delivered to you.

And that is everything. All the information I wield about current events in China come from the resources listed on this blog post. Although I by no means consider myself an expert on China (except perhaps in the realm of China's minzu and ethnicities, but even that would be a pretty shaky claim: all I did was read a hell of a lot of sources and the summarize some of them), with these fonts of information supporting me I hope to gain more and more knowledge of China and it's role in the world.