‘This world is not Paradise – the death of Lin Jun’ — 1510 Digest

This 1510 Digest is the first of a new weekly roundup of recent articles published in Chinese on My1510.cn.

’1510′ （yi wu yi shi 一五一十） is a Chinese idiom which means ‘to tell things objectively and honestly’. The site was founded by Phoenix TV journalist Rose Luqiu Luwei in 2007, and brings together essays by a range of Chinese writers.

This column is a collaboration between Danwei and The Marco Polo Project, a Melbourne-based website that crowd-sources translation of contemporary Chinese writing. This work is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at The Australian National University.

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This world is not Paradise – the death of Lin Jun
by Luo Boxue, June 3 2012
Recently, Chinese overseas student Lin Jun was brutally murdered in Canada by the ‘Canadian psycho’ Luka Rocco Magnotta. This post offers a reflection on the loneliness of young Chinese people, their alienation from their families, and the risks of sending them overseas unprepared.
Original link: 这个世界不是天堂——林俊之死 (罗博学)

Does China still have “friends”?
By Feng Qingyang, June 1 2012
This post reflects on the various types of ‘friendships’ that other countries are developing with China. Russia is a friend on the surface, but acts against China by selling arms to its neighbours. Vietnam and the Philippines want access to Chinese markets, but maintain territorial disputes. North Korea receives diplomatic and military support, but is an unreliable ally. Developed countries treat China like a nouveau riche, looking to benefit from its wealth, but despising its character and values. Uncertainty about Chinese territorial sovereignty may be the reason why China finds itself thus surrounded by potential hostility on all sides.
中国还有没有“朋友”？ (风青杨)

Nothing that happened will easily be forgotten
Cui Weiping, June 2, 2012
Cui Weiping is a well known film critic and social commentator. In this essays, she meditates on a photograph of a boy whose mother was just taken away by chengguan (urban street management patrols with a thuggish reputation). The photo was widely circulated on the Chinese Internet. Cui Weiping offers a reflection on the consequences of trauma, the way violence affects people’s individual beliefs and values, and how repressing feelings about a trauma only makes the wounds deeper.
所有发生过的，都不会轻易消失 (崔卫平)

A brave father from the seventies.
By Qiu Ye, June 4 2012
Chinese parents put high pressure on their children to succeed academically from a very
young age. This post challenges the view that such pressure will make children happier as adults. Future success depends more on the parents’ achievements than their own. It
will also depend on children’s capacity to build relationships, and for that, they need to spend time competing, collaborating and playing with other children, rather than studying alone. Finally, the main economic burden that today’s children will face as adults will be maintaining their parents and grand-parents – and so the author invites parents to contemplate suicide in their old age, for the sake of future generations.
做一个勇敢的70后父亲 (秋叶)

Slogans we’ve all been shouting together
By Feng Qingyan, June 4 2012
Why do Chinese people like to shout slogans? This post explores the role and evolution of slogans in China, from Cultural Revolution politics to recent marketing campaigns – and points out their lack of effectiveness.
那些年我们一起喊口号 (风青杨)

It all belongs to the country
By Ling Chen, June 4 2012
In February 2012, Wu Gaoliang, a villager from Sichuan, discovered rare ebony wood on
land contracted to him. The town officials declared it was State property, and convinced him to give it up. He never received the promised compensation. The post explores the arguments used by officials to appropriate the ebony, exposing their sophistry, and denounces the manipulation of property rights by the State and party officials.
什么都是国家的 (凌宸)

Ebony disputes and land rights
By Yu Yiwei, June 7, 2012
Another essay triggered by the Wu Gaoliang ebony case mentioned above, in this piece Yu Yiwei proposes an in-depth reflection on land rights, the philosophical assumptions that underlie them, and their historical evolution, comparing European and Chinese traditions.
从乌木纷争看地权演进 (余以为)

All articles in this digest and a large range of other Chinese readings are accessible at Marcopoloproject.org. Some are available in English, French and Spanish translation. (You can join the project if you’d like to help with translations.)

China Heritage Quarterly and East Asian History are two other publications supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World.