10 Years of Personal Introspection on China's Human Right

On the Milennium eve, at the Tiananmen Square, as soon as several middle aged peoples were unfurling the Falungong banners, several plain cloth polices, pounced on them and pressed them down to the ground.

Many unsuspected revellers crowded the spot and raised the cameras to capture this unexpected incident. Equally unexpected was how fast the police, mainly in uniform now, came to the scene and forcefully wrested off the cameras, one of which belonged to my friend and the crowd were not even asked to disperse as the police acted so fast to bundle off the Falungong protesters into one of the police van, always seen patrolling at the Square.

All happened so fast probably within 2 minutes.

The police who had wrested off the cameras did not seem intend to return the cameras until I intervened to say that we were foreigners. Upon which, the film roll was removed (this was pre-digital camera era) and the camare was returned to my friend. We quickly walked off not to mess with the police.

I don't recall reading the fate of the arrested protesters in the newspapers or online (the internet connection then was still very eratic). Most probably, it was never reported anywhere until this post 10 years later.

I don't support Falungong at that time and not even now. I am no big fan and always sceptical of religious celebrity like Li Hongzhi. I was careless how they were treated.

I wrote this because I thought I have learned that there was something very precious that I have hitherto ignored and deliberately defended at time in that period of 10 years. The crux was not whether one supports Falungong or not; the crux was how CCP dealt with it.

Fast track to Dec 25th, 2009, Liu Xiaobo, the initiator of Charter 08 was seemingly subjected to due process after having been detained for 6 months and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for subversion.

This blog voiced reservation on certain aspects of the Charter yet reproduced it in its entirety believing then and believing still the freedom of speech is healthy for China. Without the benefit of reading the judment and knowing the evidence alluded on the charges, my instint is that the sentence are disproportionate to the alleged crime. Liu didn't advocate revolution by force to overthrow the CCP regime. Dr. Sun Yat Sen did. Mao Zedong did. Liu was criticising at the very core the one party rule by the CCP and that is not unjustified by the facts and reasons.

China has progressed incredibly in the last 10 years almost at every fronts earning almost a place in a bi-polar world power structure. However when it comes to dealing with political dissent, CCP remains the same unrepentant authoritarian.

A lot of Chinese are proud with China under the CCP leadership (at least the last 30 years) and myself included. With that pride, we tend to hold CCP to a lesser standard calling it Chinese characteristics. Yet that pride must not water down our concern for violation and transgression of basic human rights in China in the name of national security which is often a by-word for entrenching one party rule.

The best way to perpetuate the CCP rule is to strengthen it's intra-party democracy offering ever better and ever cleaner talents for the country and usher in a free society securing the real mandate of the peoples through democratic process.

Large number of urban Chinese who have become more affluent will surely demand more of CCP in the next decade. It is better start looking at political reform now without which China will always be regarded as having more brute than grace anywhere and anytime.

My wish for the next decade is to write a note at the end of it of something sweeter and more inspiring rather than sour and mere hopeful.

Happy 2010!

Top 10 World Events of the 1st Decade

This is a list of top 10 world events that marked the first decade of the 21st century. I did this through what I consider as most significant in term of impact to the peoples, maybe fisherman in Banda Aceh or Wall Street Banker. Obviously many events are not accounted for in term of casualty and loss with natural disasters and man-made conflict. Certain selection may be even be considered as controversial such as no.2 below. Why is not iPhone or Facebook selected? Likewise, no 8-10 maybe contentious as well. This is no science and certainly abitrariness on my part is inevitable.

1. 10 March 2000
Dot-Com busted. Nasdaq tanked from 5132 on 10 March 2000 until October 2002 wiping out 5 trillion in market value.

2. October 2000
Google Adwords launched and since the world information becomes more accessible through Google's internet search technology

3. September 11, 2001
The American learns the word security and the air travel becomes less convenient experience

4. January 1, 2002
The world monetary system gains a new and powerful currency - Euro

5. Feb-April 2003
SARS outbreak reshapes peoples view on hygience and mask wearing extend from medical field to community

6. December 26, 2004
The word tsunami becomes popular vocabulary after arguably one of the least expected natural catastrophe

7.September 2008
Lehman collapsed and the world hit by the worst global recession since the Great Depression. Finance pages are all about credit crunch and stimulus packages.

8. 4 November 2008
Barack Obama won the American Presidential election and we are now watching the history unfolding

9. 1 October 2009
Marking the emergence of an aspiring world power with mixed record where observers are still arguing whether she will be good or evil

10. December 2009
Copenhagen Climate Change Conference - what the earth will be?

My Ah Pae 1927-2009

This post is personal and comes from a place that is heartfelt and full of wonderous memories. I wrote this late last January as the only way I could celebrate the memory of my late uncle who passed away on 19 January 2009. I sent it my sister who circulated it to the rest of my family during the wake. With this post, I hope a figment of my uncle (Ah Pae) forever exists in some servers the same way he remain in my memories and in my heart.

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My Ah Pae never really grew old. Although I have never known him as a young man, at heart he has always been a curious and even-tempered child. He has an easy bonhomie and always quick with a laugh or an interesting anecdotes. Despite that, beneath his cheerful and easy company, he was also by nature equally content to simply enjoys long stretches of time every day in his own company. He always seemed comfortable in his own skin, and especially in recent years came across to be in perfect acceptance of what life has given to him.

I remember him most for the countless hours of casual conversations we had and stories he had told me. They stood out from my childhood because of the special blend of curiosity, humour and equianimity in the way he viewed the world.

He often spoke about growing up in China living at the "fort end" of a walled village - where different family lived in their own houses-compounds, each with its own walls to guard against bandits. There was a stream outside the village gate where as a boy he would take the family's ducks out to feed. He said ducks are clever in that they know their way home, because at the day's end, all he had to do was to call out to the ducks and they would follow him home. Some ducks would get mixed up with those returning to other families but once that happen the duck would panic and cry out loudly. He said the geese were even smarter because they kept a look out outside homes - like guard dogs - and would bellow loudly whenever strangers comes near.

One trip I regret not taking was going with him to visit the ancestral village. Somehow this-and-that got in the way and later he had to have surgery to remove his bile. Moreover, he was also hesitant about the whole idea because he did not enjoy much his first return trip to the ancestral village. So many people, all claiming to be distant relatives?, invited them to their homes and presented them with red-dyed boiled eggs - and expecting a handout in return - it was all a little too stressful. Each time they were cornered, he and Ah Emm had to turn to speaking to one another in Malay to plot their escape!

I also remember his story from the time when he was among a band-of-boys doing odd jobs at the Japanese HQ during their occupation in Brunei. He said he had a special position because he had the key to the store room. While people outside had to skimp and save up their match-sticks, he had so much strewn around his room that he was roundly told off by Ah Chou (great grandma) for not valuing them properly when she visited him as he lay ill with malaria. Once day, the Japanese told him to expect an air raid so he went off to the riverside where he proudly constructed his own shelter. He dug a hole big enough to sit in and covered with some bamboo slats and grass. He thought it was all quite grand; until he saw a plane shooting a bullet right through a thick concrete wall a few feet before his eyes! He also told me thar it was during the war, when he learnt a secret technique (so he said) for roasting peanuts, one he picked up from observing the chefs when he was living above a coffeeshop where Ah Chek (my grandfather) was working for a time.

His natural curiousity meant that he made a wonderfully observant tourist in his latter years as he travelled through Southeast Asia, China, Europe and America. Anecdotes and stories from his travels are as varied as they come. Once he told me he learnt from a gourmet friend how to choose the best lobsters. Another time he told of the time when he persuaded the chefs at this famous Xiaolongpao restaurant to let him in on their secrets to making juicy xiaolongpaos. He loved talking about the special meals he tasted on his travels, particularly seafood. He talked about his experiences with the different airlines. He marvelled even at ordinary encounters, anything from outsized fruits, to learning about contradictions within a famous Tang Dynasty poem while he was in Suzhou, to commissioning a pair of calligraphy by a master who could simulteneously write with both hands 2 different lines of poetry.

He enjoyed Chinese tea. Over the years, whenever I visited he would offer new teas to taste. One of his favourites was a rare tea plucked from forbidding cliffs using trained monkeys in China. I suspect he enjoyed that whole idea as much as the tea itself. Once he gave me a one-leaf-tea - just one tea leaf would be enough for a whole cup - which one could also enjoy by tucking it under the tongue. He shared with me the Teochew sayings for various "moves" one could use to fill up teacups from the tiny teapot. Neither of us knew much at all but he was happy to show off what he knew (more like, what he just learnt).

Outside Asia, he enjoyed London. I remember him telling me how he felt free to venture around London on his own; he would simply carry with him the address of where he lived so once he had enough he would simply flag down a taxi home. He could spend hours looking at the markets and the shops, buying salmon fillets, appreciating outdoor artists and eating roast duck in Basewater.

He always has a fascination with gadgets. He has a Walkman, a VCR, a TV with a remote control, a microcassette recorder almost as soon as they first came out. He had a microphone that he could use to tape phone calls. He has the first Swiss Army knife I'd ever seen, a gigantic model that include a toothpick and a tweezer on the side. Above all, as a life long photographer he has a love for cameras - especially his collection of Nikons - and assorted lenses which he kept in a professional glass jar/container to keep out the humidity. Once he showed me a fascinating camera lens that is actually a periscope so you can steal a shot while pretending to be pointing the camera somewhere else. The most recent gadget he so delighted in showing me was a cheap $3 lighter from China that came with a torchlight and a pen (?).

Once he showed me his collection of knifes he kept under his bed when he was still staying above the shop. For self-defense, he says, in case of robbers. There was a small sharp dagger by the bedside table, a parang under his mattress, a Ghurka Kukri knife in his wardrobe and under the bed was a rather unwieldy looking 7 foot long blow-pipe with a bayonet at the end. He told me ominously that he had added poison to the blades so he didn't even need to use them too aggressively...only one small cut, he said, and the robber would be finished. I often used to wonder how serious he was - and more like, how seriously a robber would take him if they come upon him at night, dressed as always in his singlet (or pajama top) and loose boxer shorts.

In a way his bedroom is like his Aladdin's cave. The bedrooms were always dark either windowless or with curtains drawn and with the aircon perpetually on. The humid air in the room heavy with a mix of cigarette smoke, Tokuhai-plasters, Vicks menthol and occasionally perfume if Ah Emm was going out. There he would often be perched languidly on his cushy lazy chair in the bedroom in the dark, the room lit only by the screen of the TV in front of him and the sounds from the TV punctuated occasionally by his rather theatrical clearing of phlegm from the throat. He said you can tell if he hadn't slept well because the bags under his eyes would throb. But he was rarely frail or lethargic and one only needed to engage him in conversation before he filled up with energy. In later years, he would try to convince me that although he looked the same his energy was ebbing; each year falling below the previous.

Surrounding his perch in the bedroom was a perfect ecosystem for his comfort and convenience. On a glassed-over rosewood side table was his ash-tray snuffed with barely smoked cigarettes amidst spit, phlegm and ocassionally the clear plastic cigarette wrappers which he used to pick on his teeth. Always nearby, a pair of nail scissors or clipper, ear-wax digger, toothpicks, his gold lighter, cigarettes (Benson and Hedges), his reading glasses and cup of tea. Under the glassed top were calenders and assorted notes and lists. On his ottoman lay his newspapers, TV and video remote controls. Eventually the ottoman too was topped with glass and use for writing the occasional cheques or notes. Next to the lazy chair was a briefcase ("James Bond Bag") with his papers, letters and stuff. Hanging on the wall next to him a Cathy Pacific calender and a small tear-off calender with Chinese calender references.

Before him, the TV was almost always on playing videotapes of Hong Kong TV serials and later Singapore serials. He would eventually discover satellite TV and spent hours watching channels from Taiwan and from different Chinese provincial stations.

After moving to Jalan Muara, he also had another perch in a rattan armchair at the patio where he spent his mornings and sunset. There he has a less elaborate collection of tools and paraphenelia on a small rattan side table and a few, hanging from hooks and loops on a nearby window grating. On the bannister before him, he would set a few joss sticks burning. Recently, he also hung up behind him a picture of the "Bo" tree where Buddha found enlightenment. In the morning, he would have his breakfast at his patio perch. Once he showed me how he saved some crusts from his toasts, crumble them up, whistle to attract the birds which he would then feed. He said he had refined a certain way of whistling so the birds would know to come down.

As he grew older, I observed him growing increasingly serene and more spiritual although less overtly interested in religious practice. He would light the joss sticks because to him it felt peaceful and he liked the smell. He says its not important if the joss sticks were not presented at the alter so long as the wishes are heartfelt. After all he said, all that he prayed was simply for a peaceful life with a light and happy heart.

He actually once came very close to dying in the late 1970s. After years of drinking somewhat excessively, his liver had given up. The specialist in Singapore said he had three months to live and that there was nothing anyone could do. Miraculously, he found his way back with a combination of exotic and expensive Chinese medicine, an ancestral herbal concoction passed down the generations and giving up the drink for good. And for as long as I can remember he maintained a careful diet. Once he found some wonderfully fresh prawns in the market but he was careful to limit himself to only 7 small ones ("or 5 if they are slightly bigger"), which he gently steamed himself. He began having medical check-ups in Singapore every 3 months, where he would stay at the Mandarin Hotel. Once he bragged to me that he could fit all he needed for his short trip in a briefcase.

In his latter years too, he devoted much of his energies helping the Chinese temple committee to manage the Chinese cemetery in Berakas. This was a job he took seriously but often cheerfully. Many mornings he would ask the driver Rudolph (whom he insisted on calling Robert) to take him to inspect the cemetery or look on as Sri Lankan workers cut the grass or construct new plots. Other times, he would generously regale anyone with macabre statistics of how many plots of various sizes he has asked to be prepared in order to keep up with his "demand projections" - over protests from Ah Emm asking him to talk about something else. To that, he would counter that its a simple truism that everyone are born, grow older and will eventually die.

Ultimately, his belonged to No. 31 Jalan Sultan or rather within the footprint of the original 102 shop houses that were built in Bandar town center in the 1950s. That is where he spent almost the whole of his life. Almost everybody knew him and he knew almost everybody and which shop they belonged to. When the shop was around, it was a popular meeting place of friends and acquaintances. If you wanted to know the latest news or gossip the back of the shop was the place to be. Many of those were people who he literally grew up as evident from a collection of photographs he once showed me. A photography buff, he took a lot of pictures of the daily comings and goings of growing up in the 40s and 50s. He used to develop his photographs in makeshift darkrooms but printing them in tiny 2 inches squares to save on paper. Many were photographs of his friends either posed somewhat stylistically in scenic locations or in groups - particularly on fieldtrips to the beach riding on the back of some lorry.

Whenever he walked about town, he would walk about in quick darting steps but often coming to sudden stops to greet someone or teasingly admonish friends he met in shops along the way. Early in the morning he would go to the fish market, which used to be right behind the shop, to check out the day's catch. He spent most of his time at the shop and rarely ate out casually, unless by invitation to an official function or celebrations.

He used to go about on a motorbike but stopped after an accident when he was much younger. He never learnt to drive a car. Even after moving away, he would return to Bandar for quick visits most days of the week driven there and back by Rudolph (or Robert?).

He ventured into brickmaking in the 60s and 70s. What could be easier, he thought, than turning earth into money? It became a rudimentary brick factory in Kiudang manned by experts brickmakers from Taiwan. But in the end that was a money loser and the factory folded into a joint-venture that continue to operate a modern factory to this day. He found it a better fit for his interest in brickmaking to be on the board of that company and occasionally going on trips to Taiwan to acquire new technologies and machinery.

Other than brickmaking, he was rarely truly excited by business. In particular, he disliked and get easily stressed by conflict and pressure from business. Although I have never seen him working himself too hard but I have seen him suffer sleepless nights and driven to distraction by a demand from the bank or a threat from a solicitor. It was clearly painful for him to close the business in 1991, rent out the shophouse and eventually selling the shophouse itself in 2002. But he saw it his duty to resolve the debts from the business and avoid passing the rancour to future generations. For a few years, I would talk him through the decisions he was facing and later helped to implement those decisions. Even if he knew what had to be done, we spent hours where he repeatedly his reasonings as if he needed to convince himself. In the end, the proceeds from selling the shophouse were enough to cover all the outstanding debt and the remainder was split evenly.

He prefers to see his legacy on the personal and family level. For sometime he reflected that he was grateful that all members of the family were well-educated and comfortable in life, he quoted an idiom saying that we could not compare with the best but are way above the rest. He was acutely conscious of being from a small family, especially after his only brother's (my father's) passing in 1997. Once he did a mental count of the entire "Chan" family in Brunei - and the numbers came to about 5 main branches and fewer than 100 persons in total - and that our branch was by far the smallest. This was probably why he often emphasized how we must be forgiving and helpful within the family because that set good examples for our children.

He was active in the Chinese community as defined by being shopkeepers and in Bandar. His most lasting involvement was with the Chinese temple committee. Earlier on he was on the Committee of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce. He is well-respected and generally regarded with affection within the community but hardly held any of the prestigeous leadership positions. That is not surprising given that he was by nature disdainful of power and prestige. He has little or no inclination or stomach for confrontation or conflict. Indeed, he laughingly contrast his peaceful and uncluttered life with the tension and conflicts of others who he saw striving and competing for attention.

About three years ago, he told me that he figured that he could sum up the most important things he learnt in life into a few words which he wrote down for me on the newspaper. I asked to keep what he had written and tore it off the page. A few days ago, when I learnt that his organs were failing and that he probably did not have long to live, I found and re-read that piece of paper:






(my translation)

"Whoever thinks its possible to satisfy everyone? But to wish to be clear in my conscience;
Everything in life has its fate; Everthing should let nature take its course."

Those words, I immediately knew, was what he wanted to say to me there and then. I shall miss him.

Shrinking Chinese of Malaysia

The post on the shrinking Chinese population in Malaysia is an important - albeit sad - reflection of reality. Behind the numbers are stories and scenes that are at once familar and sad each time we encounter them in Malaysia.


The supreme irony, of course, is that even as we discuss this, both of us are in that same mirror; ethnically Chinese sons of Malaysia and Brunei who were educated overseas and are now residing elsewhere.


Almost none of the children among my father-in-law's circle of friends still live in their home town of Seremban. They are all now in Singapore, the UK, Australia, Hong Kong or at least in Kuala Lumpur or Peneng.

Go to a shopping mall during Chinese New Year and most of the cars came with number plates from out of state, from the children who came back for New Year.

One hear of solid middle class Chinese professionals; people who spent their lifetime as bank managers, accountants, dentists etc. whose sum of their entire life's work was a simple house and the rest were sunk into their children's overseas education.

Of the kids who were educated aboard, those who are lucky and able stay and make a living abroad. The rest take up entry level jobs back in a different kind of Malaysia where they probably have no hope of doing as well as the previous generation.

The biggest surprise from the write up - and something which I believe should not be overlooked - is that in real terms the Chinese population is Malaysia is growing and, in fact, has doubled since 1970. It is only dinimished in percentage terms with all the socio-political impact that brings. Nonetheless, 6.5m+ is not a small number. Which is why the structural weaknesses of the psychology of the Chinese community in Malaysia may be a more important determinant of the vibrancy of the Chinese community and culture in Malaysia.

In the smaller towns of Malaysia, the elderly re-live their childhood in retirement; surrounded by their childhood friends and relatives but often without children or grandchildren around them.

But while the older generations are surrounded by their friends of a certain age whom they have known since childhood. Many of the younger generation probably lost touch with their childhood friends and will eventually never have as many close friends.

Spend a few days back at the hometown, the older generations will show off the relationships they treasure and depend on: relatives, old friends, the auntie-from-across-the-street. Spend a few days with people of our generation: its feeling of security depended on money with 9-to-9 days, extensive travel for work, branded goods, fancy cars/gadgets at home, children with the maid and constant complaint of tiredness.

I think something was lost in the process. I think that's what the academic referred to as "placelessness". Its something emotional and really important. I love it, for example, just reading and commenting on this blog about Brunei and its recent history because I get to see photographs and write-ups about events, buildings and places in my hometown at the period I grew up with. Its hard to over-indulge in the pleasures of the recalling even the smallest things that form the emotional bonds.

Shrinking Chinese Malaysian

This is a piece of story similar to what I have been telling and it is becoming truer with each passing day.

written by Helen Ang

No greater love hath man and moms than they lay down their life savings for their children to study overseas and emigrate.

Between March 2008 and August 2009, some 50,000 students sailed from our shores, Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan Pillay told Parliament last week. The Star speculates that many will not return. Star editor Wong Sai Wan wrote: “… some even admitted that they had already applied for their PR visas”.


They are among 304,358 persons registered with Malaysia’s representative offices abroad over the past 18 months. A review of statistics will help us to interpret this unique Made-in-Malaysia export of roughly 17,000 units of human capital on average a month.

Among the ethnic groups in Malaysia, the Chinese are the largest outflow and also experiencing the biggest change in demography.

Proportion of Chinese in Malaysia total population
Year
Percent
1957 45.0 +
1970 35.6
1980 32.1
1991 26.9
2000 24.5
2010 22.6 *
2035 18.6 **

+ Decimal point is approximate
* Projection by Department of Statistics
** Projection in The Population of Malaysia (ISEAS)


In the 80s decade, the Chinese had a negative net migration rate of -10.6 percent. “Between 1980 and 1991, the [Chinese] migration deficit was estimated at 391,801 persons as against a national increase of 777,339 persons,” statistician Tey Nai Peng found in his study.

Chinese annual growth rate also showed a consistent drop, recording only 53 percent between 1990 and 2000 during a period when the national population grew 123 percent.


Tey said in his paper ‘Causes and consequences of demographic change in the Chinese community in Malaysia’ that “the fertility of the Chinese declined from 4.6 children to 2.5 children between 1970 and 1997”. Comparatively, total fertility rate for Malays in 1987 remained a high 4.51.

Changes in the states


It is no longer true that Penang is a Chinese majority state. In 2010, Malays in Penang are projected to be 670,128 persons – outnumbering Chinese at 658,661. Between 1991 and 2000, Penang had an average annual growth rate of 1.8 percent but Penang Chinese only 0.7 percent.

Perak has significant numbers of Chinese but still, Chinese registered a negative growth of -1.0 percent in 1991-2000 whereas the average annual rate of Perak population growth was a positive 0.4 percent.

The Department of Statistics records that in the 1990s, Chinese fell in number in Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis too. In Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Pahang, Chinese were practically stagnant.

In Sabah, Chinese were 23 percent of the population in 1960 but shrunk to 10.1 percent in 2000. “In contrast, recent immigrants and refugees, with a population of 614,824 persons in 2000, form close to a quarter of the total population, or more than twice the size of the long-settled Chinese community,” writes Danny Wong Tze-Ken in his paper ‘The Chinese population in Sabah’.


The situation in Sabah is largely a result of ‘Project M’ giving Indonesians and Muslim Filipinos Malaysian ICs. Overall, the abnormality of a shrinking Chinese population ratio can be traced to government policies that actively discriminate against this community.

Small families, ageing parents

By year 2000, Chinese were mainly concentrated in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The Klang Valley accounted for 38 percent of all Chinese in the Peninsula. Nine out of 10 Chinese today are found in urban areas, concentrated in the major cities.


In the dozen years between 1980 and 1991 when the Malaysian population increase nationally was 4,634,500 persons, Chinese increase was only 530,400 persons. Or looking at it another way (as indicated in table below), the Chinese are merely doubling in absolute numbers when the population will have quadrupled.

Numbers of Chinese in Malaysia
Year
Chinese (million)
Total population
(million)

1970 3.6 10.5
1980 4.4 13.7
1991 4.9 18.4
2000 5.7 23.3
2010 6.5 28.9 *
2035 7.7 41.1 **



* Projection by Department of Statistics
** Projection in The Population of Malaysia (ISEAS)



It is conspicuous that among the younger age cohorts, Chinese are an even smaller proportion of the national average. On the other hand, among the elderly [60 years and above], Chinese constitute 5.4 percent of the population, as against the national average of 5 percent.

Among the ethnic groups in Malaysia, Chinese have the highest proportion of the elderly. “It is found that most of the ‘clients’ in nursing homes are the Chinese,” observes researcher Philip Poi Jun Hua in his essay 'Ageing among the Chinese in Malaysia: Some trends and issues'.

This situation affecting the Chinese community, with parents either in nursing homes or ‘home alone’ in Malaysia whilst the children are abroad, has ironically come about due to education as a main contributory factor.

“The Chinese community places great emphasis on education but the escalation in the cost of acquiring an education might have compelled young couples to limit their family size,” surmises Tey.

Because educated Chinese women are in the workforce as well as limiting themselves to only one or two children, Chinese couples have more money to spend on each child’s education.

This is in a way a lose-lose scenario because the couple would then tend to over-protect the single offspring – do recall China’s one-child policy outcome of producing Little Emperors – and the well-educated child is more likely to emigrate.


Self-interest vs community concerns

“All my friends plan to leave Malaysia,” a private student in the offshore campus of a premier Australian university in KL declared to me just a couple of months ago.


These youths have cogently articulated why they intend to vote with their feet. Aside from the various reasons we’re all familiar with, I’d like to introduce here the theory of ‘placelessness’ which Lee Boon Thong links to the Chinese condition.


In his paper ‘Placelessness: A study of residential neighbourhood quality among Chinese communities in Malaysia’, Lee observes that Chinese in cities have subordinated neighbourliness and personal ties to the pursuit of personal advancement.


The move to new urban and suburban residential neighbourhoods – where availability of Chinese food and access to shopping malls are often major considerations – is accompanied by other shifts, among them the increasing “technopolistic grip” [orientation towards digital entertainment] and losing some of their traditions [e.g. ancestral worship], especially if they convert to Christianity or Islam.

These shifts have the effect of loosening bonds to an old hometown – witness Chin Peng’s strong attachment for Sitiawan as a contrary example – because the young generation has become city born and bred.

Lee describes the new society resulting from intense urbanization as one breeding individuals who are more self-centred, more covetous, less considerate and kiasu to boot. “Self-interest overrides almost everything else that concerns the welfare of the community.”

He also says that if the trend persists of residents in emerging neighbourhoods failing to develop ties that bind and a sufficient sense of commonness in community life, then “urban Chinese are at risk in producing a pseudo-progressive society that appears to be outwardly prosperous through its middle-class façade but in effect lacking social coherence and a sense of shared ‘placeness’ for the neighbourhood”.

Commonality as militating factor

Further aggravating this estrangement is a social milieu that is changed, parallel to the pronounced changes in demography. It is projected that while the annual growth of Bumiputera in the next decade (2011-2021) will be 1.98 percent, the corresponding growth of Chinese will be 0.73 percent.

Saw Swee Hock in his 2007 ISEAS paper ‘The Population of Malaysia’ projects that by year 2035, Malaysia will have a population of 41 million, 72.1 percent of them Bumiputera. By then Islam would have stamped a thorough dominance on the physical and moral landscape of the country.


Concomitant to this development is the fact that in the mainstream of all spheres of life and particularly official domains, the predominant speech community will be Malay.


This fait accompli of demography dictates that the minorities have to be adept in the Malay/national language for any meaningful integration to occur. Otherwise, to borrow a turn of phrase from Lee, they will be living in “proximity without propinquity” or in other words, have trouble relating to the majority.


It is thus necessary that next generation Chinese be effectively multilingual and able to ‘code switch’, i.e. use different varieties of language in different social settings. If Chinese are unable create a connectedness especially across ethnic lines, this shortcoming would just be adding another factor to the myriad push factors driving young Chinese away.

The statistics tell a very sobering story. In another short 25 years, Chinese will only be a mere 18.6 percent of the population. They will soon fall below the sustainable threshold for propagating their culture, and their diminishing numbers will only increase the pressure for assimilation – something Chinese are reluctant to do.

Let us recall Lee’s description how “[i]n a sense, ‘placeness’ may be defined in terms of ‘belonging to a residential neighbourhood that demands a reciprocity of identity in terms of behavioural or interactive response. The lack of such may be termed as ‘placelessness’.”

Neighbourhoods today are increasingly Malay, and one of the largest is Shah Alam where the authorities have disallowed the building of a Catholic church, tried to restrict the sale of beer, made it very difficult to own a dog, and residents protested against a proposed Hindu temple.

To extrapolate Lee’s allusion of ‘placeness’ to a wider national context, we can infer that having a poor facility in Bahasa Melayu would only compound the Chinese placelessness in a country that has purpose-built for one race such a locality as Shah Alam, and one that will in future be dotted with more mini Shah Alams.

China gives history lesson on warming

This is an interesting article that offer a different perspective to the impact of global warming to China's fortune.

SCMP.com - China gives history lesson on warming: "SCMP.com - China gives history lesson on warming"

China gives history lesson on warming
While world weighs how to fight climate change, Chinese recall past glories when mercury rose
Stephen Chen Dec 08, 2009

If 3,600 years of history is anything to go by, Chinese civilisation has flourished when temperatures have been at their warmest and declined when the climate cooled.It is a relationship that could hold lessons for today, says Professor Xie Zhenghui, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' International Centre for Climate and Environmental Sciences."

Ask the scientists and some will warn the growing season for farmers will become shorter, the weather more extreme and sea levels higher. Moreover, they say China, as the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that cause warming, risks being blamed by other countries for disasters around the world. Others see potential benefits. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would accelerate the growth of crops, higher temperatures would open up for cultivation land in northern areas such as Inner Mongolia that are too cold to grow crops today, warmer air over the oceans would bring more rain to China's drought-plagued interior and the frequency of extreme weather would eventually decrease once temperatures stabilised, they say.

"Chinese historical records show that the temperature would stabilise after a sharp climb. Mother Earth has a lot of mechanisms to adjust herself to a new equilibrium," Xie said. "In my opinion, the sooner the temperature increases the better. The longer it takes, the more extreme weather we will have to face. Extreme weather is the hallmark of transitional periods. Once we enter the warm and stable periods like those in the Han and Tang dynasties, we will be fine."

History was a word on the lips of many in the Danish capital as the biggest and most important UN climate change conference yet opened, with organisers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the last, best chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming.The conference, the climax of two years of contentious negotiations, convened in upbeat mode, but major issues holding up a binding agreement have still to be resolved.

Conference president Connie Hedegaard, a former climate minister of host Denmark, said: "This is our chance. If we miss it, it could take years before we got a new and better one - if we ever do."

As the division of opinion among Chinese experts suggests, predicting the future may be beyond contemporary climate science. But the past may indeed hold lessons. For thousands of years, Chinese scholars have kept meticulous meteorological records; such information was crucial for the government to plan and guide agricultural production. Everything was archived, from the date each year that ice began forming at the mouth of the Yellow River to the flowering and seeding patterns of certain plants. The data allows scientists today to chart a reliable pattern of climate change in China over three and a half millennia.

From the prosperity of the Shang dynasty 3,600 years ago to the ruin of the Bronze Age, the cultural peak of the Tang dynasty in the seventh to 10th centuries and the subsequent ravages wrought by horsemen from the north, Chinese civilisation has reached its highest points when temperatures have been warmest and its lowest points when they have cooled.

Wang Zijin, an environmental historian at Beijing Normal University, said the relationship between temperature and success was no coincidence. When the weather cooled, agricultural output fell, wealth contracted, discontent rose and China became more vulnerable to invasion from the north."In the long term, warming may not be a curse but a blessing [to China]," he said. "If the temperature continues to rise, we may not see the return of elephants but it will be very possible that rice and bamboo can again grow along the Yellow River. Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia will become much more habitable than today."

This relationship between temperature and dynastic potency was first drawn by meteorologist Zhu Kezhen in a 1972 paper. Zhu plotted on a graph temperatures in the Yellow River region from 1500BC to 1950. Based on archaeological artefacts and historical documents, the graph charted the rises and falls in average temperature.It showed that there were three extended periods of warm temperatures.

The first coincided with the Shang dynasty (1600BC-1046BC), when the annual average temperature reached as high as 11.3 degrees Celsius. This period saw the emergence of the first comprehensive set of Chinese characters, massive construction of palaces and cities, large-scale farming and the production of systematic astronomical records and sophisticated bronze wares.

The second extended period of warm temperatures lasted more than 700 years, from the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770BC-256BC) to the Western Han dynasty (206BC-9AD), when average temperatures peaked at 10.7 degrees Celsius. In the Eastern Zhou, China's territory expanded from the Yellow River to Guangdong, Yunnan and Sichuan. There was an enormous bamboo forest along the Yellow River, while the Yangtze River cut through lush rainforest. At this time slavery was abandoned, iron tools became popular in farming and Confucius and other scholars established the philosophies that still shape Chinese society. By the time temperatures started to dip, China had built the Great Wall and a national road network and conquered Xinjiang, Vietnam, Taiwan and Korea.

A third warm period, when average temperatures peaked at 10.3 degrees, coincided with the Tang dynasty, widely seen as the peak of Chinese civilisation. Some historians estimate China accounted for 60 per cent of global gross domestic product during this era. From textiles, ceramics, mining and shipbuilding to paper making, China led the world. And there were more poets in the Tang than at any time in history. In between these great dynasties, average temperatures plunged and chaos reigned. The Chinese empire retreated, and was even driven into the sea by the invading Mongols who established the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). The longest period of relative cold lasted from the end of the Tang to the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

Now temperatures are on the rise again, matched by scorching economic growth. According to the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, the average annual temperature was 10.3 Celsius from 2001 to 2007 - the same as in the Tang dynasty.Zhu's research was based on records which make for interesting comparisons with the present day. Rice could be harvested twice a year to the north of the Yellow River in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, whereas the region is generally dry now. Plum trees were common along the Yellow River in the Tang dynasty, but since then have only grown further south. Xu Ming, chief author of a study by global environmental group WWF on the impact of climate change in the Yangtze River region, said China should focus less on prevention and more on mitigation - water redistribution facilities, tree planting and developing new crops. "China should do something within its limited capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but no matter what we do, global warming is inevitable," said Xu, a professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A rise in sea levels would pose a threat to coastal cities, which could end up below sea level and needing protection by dykes, he said. "Adaptation requires a tremendous amount of money, resources and advanced technology. China is far from ready."

Can China be a true global leader?

This morning I read a letter in the FT from a Chinese woman living in Hong Kong that says, along the lines, that China is not interested in being a global leader, not interested in any action that is driven by "values" and is instead focused only on an "exchange of needs" driven by national interest. And so, she continued, with Europe and Japan having problems of their own, America will be without any real allies and should therefore retreat from global leadership.

I am uncomfortable with her conclusion. Firstly, I think leadership abhors a vacuum - if America stays home there will be some power (even if its not China) will be more than willing to fill it. Secondly, I dare say that in the scope of history America has (largely) been benign power. From a historical perspective of the dominant empires through the ages, it says something that people can openly complain about America - or even work to undermine America - and not worry about their families being enslaved, imprisoned or slaughtered.

But her view on China actually caused me even more discomfort, mainly because I worry it has some semblence of reality.

My observation is that China has a classic international policy i.e. there are no allies/enemies, only national interest; heavily leavened with a strong emphasis on national sovereignty (as a proxy for absolute internal control by the State/Party), the effects of which makes China popular to smaller countries or weaker governments because China treats all sovereign states as equals and without questioning anyone's political legitimacy so long as they are in power. China stands up for others rarely and only when it serves as a proxy for its own issues such as national sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs.

China is used to being an authoritarian empire but is less adept at being a team player. Without question China is a real player in many arenas of the world - especially in economics and trade - but it picks and chooses only those where it stands to benefit. It invests reluctantly in the responsibilities to the 'global system' or in global institutions makes it possible. However its dealings, while shrewed and often effective, often reflects purely a power relationship. Where it really matters, China does not seek to build coalitions or institutions rather it would rely on its own bargaining position and power.

In many ways, this is a reflection of reality that there are limits to China's resources and ability to contribute. Premier Wen's statements that China 'is a still a developing country and we should be sober minded". But I suspect even when it is more powerful, it will still be more comfortable dealing with power relationships than being a team player, either in concert with other global powers or within global frameworks or institutions especially one based on rules and law.

I suspect China is fine with global systems so long as it is winning and hear praises but it will have a hard time accepting criticism of "peers" or be subject to limitations under a rules based system. China will say its a question of sovereignty but at its heart China has not learnt to share power or responsibilities. For China, one is either a loyal supplicant/vassel state or a rival power to be deftly managed and defeated. I am not sure Chinese statecraft has a tradition of dealing with a multi-polar world with "peer" states; much less be willing to give up benefits in order to protect and respect the rights of the weaker party purely on the ground of righteousness (otherwise known as "values").

It took the major powers in Europe many centuries of warfare to learn co-existance and cooperation, even though in Europe no power was ever dominant since the Roman Empire hence has a deeper tradition in dealing with a multi-polar world of diplomacy and compromise.

I am concerned that the rise of China, unless accompanied by a willingness to strengthen the global system, will weaken global institutions and international governance - which was after all founded on Western ideals of equality, fairplay, democracy, respect for rules including acceptance of majority decisions after open debate.

It would be tragic if the arrivial of the world's oldest continuous civilization on the world stage will be to set the clock back on human progress and to a less enlightened age.

Soldiers of the Republic

Let me make a slight diversion before getting back to the topic of "Chinese History Revisited".

Today, 11th November, is Veteran's Day in the US. In Commonwealth countries, its Rememberance Day to commemorate the end of World War I.

Earlier this year, my office moved to Madison Avenue just one block away from Fifth Avenue where the Veteran's Day Parade is held in New York City. So I had the opportunity to get my first glimpse of the parade a little while ago.

Well, parades happen all the time in the city so this is not a big deal. As military parades go this is a relatively low key affair compared to parades in other parts of the world. But what struck me was the spirit of the parade which embodies the values that I admire in the United States of America.

First of all, the parade was a civic event and not an "formal" or "official" event: yes, there were troops marching but also school bands, beauty queens, hobbyists (like vintage car enthusiasts and Harley-Davidson bikers) and various veteran groups of old comrades who used to fight together, veterans who now work together (like a band of subway workers), veterans who now study together (such as a group from Columbia University) etc. Old soldiers came out in their old uniforms marching with the old comrades. Families of veterans (who died? too old to come out?) came out waving photographs of their man in uniform. There is a strong display of diversity and respect for self-organized groups and grass root initiative. I got a sense that the parade belonged to everyone no matter how "unimportant". The atmosphere was relaxed, informal and celebratory. By the way, although there is a small dias for dignitaries and VIPs, the real place for the VIPs in an American parade is leading and marching (or at least riding along in a car) in the parade itself. That's what the mayor did today.

Moreover, I was reminded of the values of a republic as opposed to the state. The parade was not to glorify the state or the military power, it is to show appreciation for the individual citizens in uniform; in active service, in the national guards, in the reserves and veterans. They come in all shapes and sizes and colours. They marched without weapons. The troops smiled and waved as they marched, as if they were sportsmen returning from the Olympics. It made me think of the classical notion of the soldier as a noble sacrifice and solemn responsibility that go hand in hand with the rights and priviledges of being a "citizen" of a republic; and not just a self-less and unquestioning tool of the state.

And then there was the show of appreciation and affection for the troops that is uncommon. The crowd lining the streets waved handmade signs that says: "Thank You", "We Salute Our Troops" etc. The soldiers both active and retired were greeted with applause and cheers by the crowds. I saw a man wish a soldier good luck as he march by and the soldier nodded and said thanks. When a large flag was carries past, people clapped and saluted. Nothing suggested it was anything but genuine or sponteneous.

In the city today, I see many soldiers going about proudly in their dress uniforms, some with wives or girlfriends at their elbows. In many pubs tonight, any one showing up in uniform gets a free drink. For me, its a reminder of the real source of America's strength.

---- update 15 minutes later ---

This speech yesterday is widely reported but not widely appreciated. I just read it and found it to be very good. I was most taken by the passage, "....instead of claiming God for our side, we remember Lincoln's words, and always pray to be on the side of God." Note his remarks that addresses the slain soldiers as individuals. And how it tries to explain the value of military service in a liberal democracy in times of plenty.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/11/10/obamas_speech_at_fort_hood_the.html

What China Reveres Today? Part II

Most mainland Chinese simply do not have access to alternative views. I also don't agree that people who are not used to critical views are able to discern propaganda when they see it especially one that is disseminated through soft culture means such as film.

Talking about the literature in china, there are not too many that accentuate modern values. Bao Ching Tian is a story of a justice and not a justice system. Shi Ji is critical but successive generations of historian failed to live up to it. This is evident with the successive 24/25 official chronicle of dynastic history.

Analect is not taught in school any longer. Further, Analect promotes benovalent governance (ren) and not democracy; Analect teaches obligation (忠孝) and not rights and not interest; Analect focuses on code of conduct (li) and not system.

The various wu xia novels amplifies wu and xia behaviours which are today conducts mainly outside the legal bound. The concept of yi promoted in these novels could be easily manipulated to downplay the neccessity to observe law and regulation.

The worst is that there are too many of writers in the mainland who were doctrinated by an education that is neither inclusive nor objective. Even if they are not doctrinated they are influenced subconsciously from the communist perspective of things.

The few critical writers and reporter are cowed and few got their view aired through media. For instance, the last two books that I spoke about are both banned in China. Even with the almost omnipresent internet is censored in mainland. This is just not good. But this is the status quo!

With that it leaves the majority of 1.3 billion Chinese subservient without critical thinking. This is a vicious cycle with a government sets upon restraining freedom of expression which in turn produces a bunch of uncritical and passive subjects and not a group of citizen seeking to actively advancing rights and interest.

Be fair, even the few of us who are fortunate enough to be informed simply have no guts to compromise our comfort our liberty to fight against a high-handed government intend to perpetuate in power. That's the irony!

What China Reveres Today

An interesting way of looking into the question you posed is to look at the films produced in the mainland which in turn reflect what the censor is endorsing and what is not. The censor is obviously the powerful CCP propaganda commission.

At one time around the turn of the milenium, the various Qing emperors were chronicled in positive light against what we were once taught - racist, brutal and etc.

Kangxi was portrayed to have unified the modern China against the various rebelions never mind that some were led by the Han like the Zheng in Taiwan and Wu in Yuanan.
In another series, Yongzheng was credited to have clean up the corrupted bureacracy never mind that he launched brutal purge on scholars critical of his regime; the same goes to Qianlong who was credited to consolidate the empire never mind that his regime marked the decline of the chinese civilization.

These Qing's historical drama was followed by various series on Wudi, Taizhong (Li Shiming), Taizu (Zhu yuanchang)and others.

The message through these emperor-centric series is clearly one for unified China and that the central government is more partial to the peoples againist the corrupted local government or the renegade warlord. (this justify the need for a strong central government). Today, wee see lot of aggrieved Chinese petitioned their grievance through adminisgtrative means in Beijing rather than resorting it via the legal system. This of course point to the disfunctional legal system in which the judges are not regarded as independent. This is another story.

I recall a particular series (Towards the Republic, literal translation) that gave a revionist view on the turn of events during the 19th century. This series was the first attempt made to reproach the KMT linking up the two republic to SYS.

This happened in early 2000s. From then on until the most recent film "The Founding of the Republic", the theme remains the same. This film is a romanticized version of history where Mao was invitably portrayed in the most heroic and magnificent manner and Chiang was unusually for a mainland film portrayed as one who was a victim rather than a leader of corruption and incompetency by his own administration.

During the same time, critical literature or investigative report are constantly being scrutinized and the reporter.writer at time were harassed if not sacked from position. Activists or human right lawyers were beaten up and at time jailed for leaking secret or some made-up charges.

No question, the reverence today is still tipped in favor of the official preference - unification and central government centered at CCP rule.

There is still not loosening of censor over literatures, film production critical to the CCP rule. I only hope to see one film chronicling the misdeed of Mao or the tragedy of Cultural Revolution or the disaster of Great Leap Forward, will I believe that China is heading to the right direction.

The fact remains that the continuous adoration to Mao as seen in the recent national parade does not augur well for a free and democratic China. What will be a historical moment of China transformation is the the moment when Mao's portrait is taken off the Tiananmen and the RMB, that's the day signifiying real and meaningful reform.

To conclude, CCP is more of Qin than Zhou and more Han-Tang than Song. Having said this, China must depart from even Zhou and Song and align herself more with the universal values. The claim of Chinese characteristic is just an excuse to disassociate with democracy, human right and constitutionalism.

I would like to think that copying the USA,a continental system, to China which is pretty much a continent itself, will do more good than the present form of unitary structure. I will leave this discussion to another day.

Revisiting Chinese History - Xiao Jiansheng

Chinese History - A Revisit, a banned book in mainland China, critically reviews the Chinese History from her mythical foundation from Pangu to the present day of the CCP's rule.

The writer, Xiao Jianzheng gave an elaborate and at time repetitive account as to why human right, democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law failed to develop in China even though there were several opportunities in the the 4 millennia of history.

Xiao gave generous credit to the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period for allowing an atmosphere of relative freedom to the peoples then. I was surprise to learn that there were then many practices that requires the ruler to defer to the "Guo Ren" (arguably the closest concept is citizen as opposed to the general subject who have no political rights).

He was highly critical of Qin Shihuang, Han Wudi, the Yuan Mongol, the Ming's Zhu Yuanzhang and the Machu Qing for imposing a dictatorial, illiberal and oppressive regime.

He complaint that the Legal School of Thought for the largest part of Chinese history was the various dynasty ruling philosophy with the Confucianism co-opted to legitimize the heavenly mandate. The imposition of brutal penalty by killing indiscriminately the offender's family members simply by association or massacring the defeated soldiers or civilians after conquest was a constant feature of the Chinese history.

The respect for life and the mercy for the weak are absent in larger part of the Chinese history and are not regarded as virtue but seen as a weakness. There maybe literature recorded the suffering and poverty of the peoples but none were critical to scrutinize the rulers. None offered a rival ideology or political doctrine to challenge the status quo. All dynasty were established by and large by the concept of replacing the heavenly mandate except that of the racist Yuan Mongol.

Surprising he gave raft review of the Song even though the Song was regarded generally as the weakest of all dynasty in the Chinese history. Xiao's justification vest in the Song's founding philosophy in governing the country with civility and humanity and that in turn allows mercantilism and high culture to flourish as witnessed by the quantity of finished goods and literature, poem and painting unearthed.

With the end of Song at the end of the genocidal Yuan Mongol, it also ended the Chinese civilization which once honored self integrity, respect life, relative equality for the woman, merciful of the aged, orphan, widows and the sick, promote mercantilism and literature.

What became the subsequent Chinese civilization are best exemplified by the values promoted by the classical novels of the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin. The violence committed by the various heroes against many innocent was not condemned. The practice of camaraderie akin to gansterism is worshiped and not despised. The conduct out of legal bound is not criticized but regarded as loyalty to the clans and the family. These negative values together with the authoritarianism inherited from the earlier authoritarian dynasty became the mainstream vices into the present generation.

Xiao also analyzed the structure of power of the government. The earlier dynasty divided the power between that of the ruler and the prime minister. However the Ming destroyed the prime ministerial office with the power soley vested in the ruler which was then usurped by the eunuch or empress without check and balance. The Qing continued with the practice without the prime minister.

Coming close to the modern era, Xiao was also critical of the conduct of Dr. Sun Yat Sen in the early years of the Republic for failing to deliver a constitutional China. Admittedly many of the Sun's shortcomings while known but is not widely published. Sun's dictatorial traits in managing the KMT came to be scrutinized and his political decision away from a federated China in early 1920s was heavily criticized.

Most interestingly, the May Fourth Movement was severely criticized. The movement whilst promote science and democracy was premised upon a sense of lawlessness and mass popularity.
Eventually the movement was stolen by the Communism to legitimate violence revolution as opposed to a constitutional change of government.

Toward the end of the book, it became very clear that Xiao viewed the failure of China to develop democracy, constitutionalism, human right and the rule of laws to the lack of faith in God unlike the Judeo-Christian civilization in the West.

He favor a multi-polar power structure to keep a healthy check and balance for the peoples welfare. No wonder the single polar ruling structure of CCP China bans the book.

Kudos to Khunying (Dr.) Pornthip Rojanasunand !

Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China

I came across some very sad and troubling pictures by Chinese photographer Lu Guang (卢广) on the price for environmental damage in China. The environmental is not an abstract issue in China, it is poisoning and killing the Chinese people. It is an equal opportunity killer that does not discriminate between the powerful and the powerless - except its simply bad for everyone in an affluent area and disastrous for everyone in the poorer areas. Which is why things must and I am convinced it will change for the better. Why do I think so? The local Party Secretaries, county chiefs and bureaucrats themselves live there and they have children too (even if they can be shipped off to cleaner places or overseas). And here is something that even absolute-power can only go so far. Secondly, official inaction (on top of official abuse and corruption that created the mess to start with) simply creates a powderkeg of resentment and trouble. Thirdly, the Chinese government knows thats not what they want. No matter how profitable, this is now officially something to be ashamed of and not something to play victim or be defensive about. This is the big difference with India (right now) and China (from 5-10 years ago).

Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China

Key issues about the world according to Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew is a great man and one of my heroes since I was old enough to discuss news and current affairs with my late-father who held him in high regard as well. In fact, there is a family story that during my grandfather's funeral back in 1960, when the time came to place the headstone to his grave, my great-grandmother (a very pious and spiritual woman - but who did not read newspapers - and who died in 1970 age 80 ) told everyone to wait. Why they asked? She simply said she had a feeling that a great person would be passing by. Who? No idea. So everybody waited no knowing what would happen next. And then she gave the signal to go ahead to place the headstone. At that very moment, Lee Kuan Yew's motorcade drove past the cemetary. Then, he was only 37 years old and one year into being Chief Minister of Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew has his critics and yes, he has his flaws. But as Henry Kissenger once said, whatever one's view of him - good or bad - one has to listen to him because you always learn something from him. My own take is that he is a pragmatist so, in fact, as far as he is concerned much of the criticisms about him are irrelevant. He is not a romantic so he has no yearning for his ideas or his actions to be perfect. He is not a populist or revolutionary so he is not always looking for an opponent or strawman to knockdown. He is not after money otherwise he would be a failure on that count. He knows there is a price to pay for everything, so everything considered whatever he has achieved is more lasting and significant than the costs for achieving it. This is such a simple notion but one that is very hard to apply unless one has a clear understanding. He is obsessed above-all with delivering what he feels to be necessary for his passion - Singapore - so he has no qualms about his methods (unless he feels it was not working).

Which brings me to something else my father always tells me. He says everytime a new US President comes into office, not long after that he would see Lee Kuan Yew to get advise and learn about the world. So this week, Lee Kuan Yew is in town and looks like he will be meeting everyone there is to meet in the Obama Administration, including the President himself this coming Thursday.

So which is why last weekend, I get to watch him interviewed by Charlie Rose (one of the few smart and serious TV journlist left in American TV - but then, he is on PBS the high quality public TV channel). Even at age 86, I hear a towering intellect giving an astute reading of the world with the mind of a strategist. This is too good not to share.

His life-long experience of understanding politics and world statesmanship lent him a clear mind to discerne short-term noise and distractions from the fundamental strategic issues. Every one of his statements made a point; there was no political non-answers. He recalls his statistics carefully and not - as it is tempting for many public figures to do so - make them up to make a point. I appreciate listening to someone who observes the world in order to learn and not to "prove or disprove" some pre-conceived position.

Put simply, he is in a class of his own.

Please enjoy (this is part 1 out of 6).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNhcOwhpR1E

10 Forecasts for 10 Years Out

Let me start a new annual tradition to present 10 projections about 10 years in the future.

October 20, 2019.

1. The biggest source of anxiety in the whole world is bewilderment at how quickly the world is changing all around everyone. Bewilderment and feeling disconnected from the future of the world becomes the "mother-of-all-fears" that show itself in more extremist activities rooted in nationalism, religion and economic grievances.

2. Action against climate-change becomes a money-spinner, vote winner and source of national pride. The public came around to realise that those who pollute stays poor and governments also learnt that they always gets blamed for poor environment that leave their people sick. The biggest new boom industry is "Clear Industries" which involves scrubbing and filtering technology to produce clean water and clean air. And the winner in this turn-around game (so far) is ... China.

3. The world is in a new financial crisis driven by bursting of an economic bubble in China after 10 years of loans growth, real estate boom and unfettered investment. The economies of the US, Europe and Japan are not strong enough to compensate, while most of the rest of the developing world is, by now, wrapped in reliance on the Chinese economy. Chinese youths - reared on a diet of "China-never-makes-a-mistake", being unfamiliar with self-reflection and coping with disappointments - behaves in volatile and dangerous ways increasing regional tensions. China responds with policial reforms but finds it hard to manage expectations.

4. The biggest source of social and regional instability comes from environmental degradation especially lack of access to water. Tensions breakout into violence and wars in Africa, Middle-east, Indian-subcontinent, Central Asia and within China amongst people who are trapped by poverty or national borders from shifting life sustaining resources.

5. India promises but sputters as age old divisions (and sheer numbers of population growth) stayed ahead of growth. Intense dislocation and "bewilderment" within its massive, under-educated and traditionally conservative population creates a volatile domestic and international situation with politically motivated clashes with China. Indian politicians vie to become the new global spoilers as the standard bearer for the "have-nots" against the global economy which China and the US champions.

6. Iran - the ancient civiliation of Persia - flowers after reformist factions takes power after overthrowing the reactionary elements. The economy is in shambles but politically, together with Iraq, it tries to be a model of "The Shiite Way" of a modern Islamic nation that combines piety, traditions with modern progress. Meanwhile, Egypt and Saudi Arabia slides towards anarchy as the state falters in botched political successions.

7. America gets to a point of reckoning if it will retain its pre-eminent military power which it can no longer afford, or reorientate to rebuild its economy to cope with an ageing population, global competition and gross inefficiencies (despite the best of efforts in 8 years of the Obama Presidency) in its healthcare, infrastructure, education and governance systems.

8. Thailand starts to remind people of the Philippines. Philippines begins to remind people of Zimbabwe. Malaysia becomes more like Thailand with a succession of weak governments, stronger civil society and resulting in a lost generation. Vietnam is the stunner which trumps them all with the most vibrant economy in Southeast Asia. Indonesia thrives on diversity and finally show its promise but also rearing its heads with regional ambition. Singapore roars ahead and settles into a comfort zone like Danmark. Brunei has trouble with over-population which nudges closer and closer to 1m. Sri Lanka becomes the economic dark horse and tries to join ASEAN.

9. Mass and conspicuous consumption becomes unfashionable as the average age of the "haves" in the world gets older (but the world's "have nots" gets younger). Shopping malls become a place associated with the lower classes. Instead, people spend more time and money on creative arts, health, experiences and investing in human relationships. The health, vacation and education industry keeps booming. The quest for authenticity in experiences of nature creates stress on world's cultural and natural heritage leading to persistent tension between the "haves" and "have-nots".

10. Brazil finally becomes the global power it always had the potential to be but never did. Vast new energy resources, unrivalled prowess in farming, prolonged political stability and (finally) social reforms and stronger rule of law creates a new force in the world equal to Japan and EU and below that of only US and China. The main driver for Brazil's rise came from Brazil's strategic economic partnership with China (also Australia) where Brazil is both a source of raw materials and a new 400m people market for China in Latin America.

Chinese Renaissance Day

[Updated on 13 oct 2009]

Congratulations for celebrating the true spirit of Double-tenth at the Memorial to Dr. Sun Yet-sen. I remember visiting Dr Sun Yat-Sen and President Chiang Kai-Shek's memorials as a teenager. They both paid homage to the most tumultous era of Chinese history, but I do feel that Dr Sun's was way more authentic, truthful, less propagandistic but also (being older) more dated and shabby.

Seizing upon our recent discussions on important aniversaries in Chinese history.

I certainly hope for the day when the whole China can celebrate the Chinese revolution (with a small "r" and "Chinese" rather than "China") a non-political celebration of Chinese progress as a nation*, a people** and and a civilization***: one born of intense love for the country, idealism, modernisation and rejunevation - but also immense sacrifice, suffering, disappointment and injustice.

One should, in fact date the Chinese revolution at least from Emperor Guang Xu's 100-day Reforms in 1898. Or even before to the many modernisation-reform movements began on commercial, education, industry and military affairs for many decades before that often from sponteneous progressive personal initiatives. The 1911 revolution itself followed many repeated but unsuccessful attempts to establish the Republic. The new political order did not survive but the revolution continued from a hundred blooms: some patriotic, some democratic, some nationalistic, some regionalistic, some militaristic but mostly opportunitistic, autocratic, egoistic and kleptocratic.

Also, one should remember that the Chinese revolution is not one taking place solely within China. Especially in the earlier days, the Chinese overseas diaspora was a bastion of progressive politics and activism. They offered funding, freedom for political and intellectual debate and safe haven for intellectuals and officials under persecution.

In China, there were countless false starts and failed attempts at a national government in the years that followed, including many led by Dr. Sun himself who died a frustrated and disapppointed man.

Dr Sun died but the Chinese revolution continued. The KMT inheriting Dr. Sun's moral prestige but more importantly established a relatively-more-capable military force gradually consolidated a national government with power over China. Although even as it unified China it created new fractures; even as China came together it was undermined in other ways; it came to embody the best but also the worst about Chinese. But through it all, the national yearning for progress and unity grew.

Through the 8 years Anti-Japanese war, the Chinese revolution rode on patriotism and nationalism as a strong unifying force. But the upheaval also catalysed the CCP victory over KMT in the mainland in 1949. As for "New China": why 1949? Why not 1959 when Tibet was taken into the fold? Or perhaps it is still an unfinished business with Taiwan..hence there is not a complete "New China" yet?

[Digressing a bit: why was the Anti-Japanese War counted from 7-7-1937? Should we in fact count from 18-9-1931 in Manchuria? or to 1919 over Japanese moves Shantung and Manchuria? or 1895 from the Sino-Japanese War which led to losing Korea and Taiwan?].

Under my definition, the Chinese revolution in fact continued - and often tragically - after 1949. There were important progress to celebrate under CCP, cheifly with the 1978/79 opening up and reform policy - because it was a leapforward in Chinese economic progress. More problematic but no less significant perhaps were the land reforms in the early years of the PRC which was a revolution on China's age old feudal class system. On hindsight, the democratisation movement in Taiwan in the 1980s-90s and continuing today deserves credit and historical adulation. After all, it was a historic leap forward in Chinese political rights. The return of Hong Kong and Macau in 1997/1999 are also important chapters to close a 150 years old chapter that began with the Opium Wars.

It has taken more than a century for the Chinese revolution to mature - from the constant need for violent rapture from its reactionary forces - into a national consensus for social and economic progress and modernisation. That is a good thing. The real capstone would be progress towards rule of law, civil and political rights and democracy in the mainland. I hope that to result from a benigned and enlightened evolution and not a revolution.

Here is what I believe. It is the mission for every Chinese to live up to the best ideals of Chinese revolution and through our actions redeem the sacrifice of the millions of often young people whose misfortune was merely to be caught up in history.

To recognize and celebrate the Chinese journey of national and cultural renaissance? To me, there one best date: May-Fourth. Day of Chinese Renaissance.

* nation = an abstract sense of belonging which can comprise of more than one state or political entity;

** people = a collective national identification regardless of ethnicity, nationality or religion;

*** civilization = an identification with Chinese historical, linguistic and cultural heritage.

98th Double 10 Anniversary

Taipei has decided to cancel the anniversary celebration after the recent disastrous typhoon that killed couple of hundred peoples.

Unlike 9 days ago where my family and I were watching the National Parade and fireworks before the TV screen, I decided to take them out to visit Sun Yat Sen Muzium.

The history of Republican China matters more than the New China. From a subject of the Qing Dysnaty to a citizen of the Republic, never mind that it was more conceptual than real, the fact of the matter was the Chinese stepped into an era that demarcated itself from the imperial era.

Little is remembered that the Republican China at the inception was not run by the KMT and the flag hoisted in 1911 was different than what we know today.

Prior to 1949, before the era New China, there were epic historical event like the reawakening of May fourth movement and the heroic 8 years resistance against the Japanese agression and occupation.

Let's salute and pay respect to the many Chinese who gave their life for the Republic, whatever ideology that they may have, and many of them were simply young men and women who just wanted to have a nation free of domination, any form of domination both foreign and domestic, a country of peace, freedom, democracy and development, a Republic everyone owns and no one dominates.

Kokang Incident

I had wanted to write something on this back in August. But most of which are out of the limelight now and I decided to give it a pass.

Suffice to say, with some googling, one can get to know about this tiny sino-burmese community and her history. The Chinese community particularly those in the mainland was very vocal when the Burmese junta went to eject the ruling force then and replaced it with its proxy.

What is of interest to me is how this once autonomous Burmese region is replicating everything China including the military parade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJA6JUVw6mM

Impressed? Puzzled?

Great Malaysian Nomination

Very difficult exercise.

I am trying to think hard if there is anyone who is inspiring and near flawless.

Most likely, it is a simple person, anonymous, who is kind hearted.

She maybe just a "kampong machik" or a "new village ah chim" who just want to raise a big and happy family; He maybe one who tend to the surao and educate the kampong kids or he maybe a shopkeeper who gave a small donation to the impoverished school so that the school kids have the chair or the school has a zink roof.

He maybe one who joined the MPAJA but was never recognised as a hero for fighting the Japanese. Instead he was subsequently gunned down during the emergency being member of the insurgency.

She maybe one who fought for a just society but detained without trial under the ISA.

History is written by the victors. Memory of the others is fading fast and forgotten. Since these name are forgotten, my nominee for the Great Malaysian go to the anonymous.

Seige of Changchun 1948

Last week, I read this article on the New York Times and felt very emotional about the sufferings that the common people of Changchun went through. This should never be forgotten or censored out of history. We owe to the people who suffered that their lives, pains and deaths are not made meaningless.

Another reason for this blog to be banned in PRC.


CHANGCHUN, China — Unlike in other cities taken by the People’s Liberation Army during China’s civil war, there were no crowds to greet the victors as they made their triumphant march through the streets of this industrial city in the heart of Manchuria.

Even if relieved to learn that hostilities with Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Army had come to an end, most residents — the ones who had not died during the five-month siege — were simply too weak to go outdoors. “We were just lying in bed starving to death,” said Zhang Yinghua, now 86, as she recalled the famine that claimed the lives of her brother, her sister and most of her neighbors. “We couldn’t even crawl.”

In what China’s history books hail as one of the war’s decisive victories, Mao’s troops starved out the formidable Nationalist garrison that occupied Changchun with nary a shot fired. What the official story line does not reveal is that at least 160,000 civilians also died during the siege of the northeastern city, which lasted from June to October of 1948.

The People’s Republic of China basked in its 60th anniversary on Thursday with jaw-dropping pageantry, but there were no solemn pauses for the lives lost during the Communist Party’s rise to power — not for the estimated tens of millions who died during the civil war, nor the millions of landlords, Nationalist sympathizers and other perceived enemies who were eradicated during Mao’s drive to consolidate power.

“Changchun was like Hiroshima,” wrote Zhang Zhenglu, a lieutenant colonel in the People’s Liberation Army who documented the siege in "White Snow, Red Blood,” a book that was immediately banned after publication in 1989. “The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months.”

The 40,000 who survived did so by eating insects, leather belts and, in some cases, the bodies that littered the streets. By the time Communist troops took over the city, every leaf and blade of grass had been consumed during the final desperate months.

There are no monuments or markers recalling the events that decimated Changchun’s populace. Most young people have no knowledge of the darker aspects of the siege, and the survivors, now in their 70s and 80s, are reluctant to give voice to long-buried trauma. “I’ve always heard that Changchun was captured without bloodshed,” Li Jiaqi, a 17-year-old high school student, said as she sat on the steps in front of the city’s Liberation Memorial.

Chinese scholars have largely steered clear of the subject. Several historians, when asked about the episode, declined to be interviewed. Zhou Jiewen, a retired nuclear physicist in Changchun who has become a self-taught expert on the siege, explained that many key details, if widely disseminated, would tarnish the army’s reputation as defenders of the common man. Those include shooting civilians who tried to escape the city and ignoring the pleas of mothers holding aloft starving children on the other side of the barbed-wire barricades. “To cause so many civilians to die was a great blunder by the P.L.A. and tragedy unparalleled in the civil war,” Mr. Zhou said.

While history is often written by the victors, the Communist Party has never been shy about shaping the past to serve its central narrative. Textbooks portray the revolution as the inevitable outcome of a popular uprising; the patriotic films that have flooded television in recent months are not subtle in their glorification of Mao’s troops as munificent liberators. The unpleasant aspects of the revolution, including innocents caught in the cross-fire, are often omitted.

“The party has no use for objective history,” said Bao Pu, a Hong Kong publisher who infuriated party leaders last spring by printing the memoir of Zhao Ziyang, the deposed Communist Party leader who spent 15 years under house arrest after opposing the violent crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989. “The basic idea is that history can be rewritten and used as a tool of the state. But this requires constant censorship. And it has a destructive effect on society.”

Other unintended consequences of suppressing the truth are hard to quantify. Many Chinese, especially those who grew up during the tumultuous decades of war, famine and political persecution, carry psychic wounds that are seldom expressed, let alone healed.

Lung Ying-tai, a University of Hong Kong professor who studied the siege of Changchun, said nearly every elderly army officer she interviewed for her book about the civil war, “Big River, Big Sea — Untold Stories of 1949,” broke down when recounting what he experienced. “It’s an unspeakable national trauma that has not once been opened up and gently treated for 60 years,” she said.

The book, which was published last month in Taiwan and promptly banned on the mainland, seeks to portray the horror of the civil war through the stories of those who survived. “There are not too many left who can clearly remember,” she said.

The elderly survivors who gather in Changchun’s Labor Park most days are not eager to tell their tales. But after some prompting, the details spill out. They describe babies too weak to cry, brides sold for a morsel of food and the milewide no man’s land where thousands perished in full view of troops under orders from Gen. Lin Biao to turn Changchun into a “dead city.”

In the first few months of the siege, food could be purchased, albeit at exorbitant prices. By the end of the summer, people were trading thick gold rings for a biscuit.

“At first we ate rotten sorghum, then corncobs and then the bark off the trees,” said Meng Qinghua, 85. “After a week of not eating you’d get very sleepy. Once that happened, you would start to die.”

The few airdrops of aid, delivered by American planes, were quickly gobbled up by Nationalist troops. When those stopped, the soldiers stole food from civilians at gunpoint. In the poorer quarters of the city, according to “White Snow, Red Blood,” 9 of 10 families were wiped out.

Although her family was relatively well off, Zhang Yinghua said there was nothing to be bought by the end of summer. They opened their pillows and consumed the corn husk filling. Later they boiled and ate leather.

Then 25, Ms. Zhang understood that swallowing such unpalatable matter was the only way to survive. “Every day we would eat a spoonful, just enough to maintain the flicker of life, but the children would not,” she said. When her 6-year-old sister and her 9-year-old brother finally died, her parents, barely able to stand, dragged their bodies to the street.

Some of those charged with enforcing the blockade have come to regret their participation. Wang Junru said he was 15 when the Communists forced him to join a militia for teenagers. Later, he joined 170,000 other soldiers ordered to drive back hungry civilians. “We were told they were the enemy and they had to die,” he said.

Whatever zeal he had for the revolution was extinguished by the 23 years he spent in a labor camp — punishment, he said, for insulting the relative of a party official when he was a college student. After his release, he spent the rest of his working life hauling logs.

Now 76 and embittered, he said young people should learn about what happened in Changchun — and during the rest of the civil war. “They only know the propaganda,” he said. “Maybe if they know how horrible war is, they can try to avoid it in the future.”

Great Malaysians In History

Any interest to start a list of great Malaysians in history, as defined by persons (of all races) having outstanding contributions to humanity (wherever in the world)?

A Gentler and Kinder China

I read about Dr Wu maybe 10-15 years ago and had since had his name forgotten. This is rather embarrassing until you rekindled my faded memory.

1910 was a time Chinese wherever they were had no idea of citizenship. If they are born Chinese, they are Chinese nationals.

The call for service to the motherland who was so often besieged by war and conflict, poverty and disease then, was as patriotic as idealistic. Many forsaken their comfort, wealth to help their fellow countrymen even if they are so distant in the far north of China to a man who was born in the South Sea.

It is men and women like Dr Wu, who helped made China what it is today. In the words of Premier Wen who uttered the following words whilst paying respect to Mao Anqing, the eldest son of Mao Zedong who was killed in the Korea war: 中国现在强大了人民幸福了 (China is now strong and the peoples are happy).

These words sound too premature and not truly reflecting the reality. I am hoping one day that, like what Dr Wu’s great granddaughter has hoped, a stronger China can be a gentler China, a richer China can also be a kinder China. Only this China that blend hard- and soft power (钢柔并重) will be truly respected.

CCP administration should start looking at De (德) and Li (礼). This topic will warrant a long write up.

Dr. Wu Lien Teh 伍连德

A Personal Account about a Malaysian-Chinese Doctor Honored for Fighting the Plague in Harbin in 1910. Dr Wu was born in Malaysia and was the first person of Chinese-descent to graduate in medicine from Cambridge University.

From TIME Magazine Monday, Sep. 21, 2009 article: A Family Journey
By Ling Woo Liu

My great-grandfather, Dr. Wu Lien-Teh, was sitting down to dinner in Tianjin, a port city near Beijing, when he received a telegram. It was Dec. 19, 1910, and China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had alerted him to an outbreak of deadly pneumonic plague near the Russian border. A Cambridge-educated vice director of the Imperial Army Medical College, Wu, then just 31, was to report immediately to Beijing before heading to Harbin in China's remote northeast.

After a three-day train ride, he arrived in the frigid city to lead an international team of plague fighters. "As [we] entered the town, [we] could sense an air of tenseness and foreboding among the inhabitants," he wrote in his memoirs. "Everywhere there were guarded talks and whispers of fever, blood-spitting and sudden deaths, of corpses abandoned by roadsides and open fields." He introduced the practices of wearing face masks, cremating infected corpses and observing strict quarantine — methods used today to fight pandemics such as SARS and swine flu and even a small outbreak of pneumonic plague in Qinghai province in July. My great-grandfather implemented these measures despite -22ºF (-30ºC) temperatures, decrepit facilities, traditional preferences for land burials and — what he found most worrisome — the fatalism of local residents. His initiatives worked. Within four months, the outbreak was stamped out, but not before it took 60,000 lives.

In 1937, with Japan's full invasion of China, Wu returned to his native Malaysia and, since then, most of that side of my family has scattered to Singapore, Australia and the U.S., where I was born and raised. Yet last month, almost a full century later, I found myself making the same journey my great-grandfather made that winter. After flying to Beijing from my current home in Hong Kong, I headed to Harbin to attend the opening of the Wu Lien-teh Memorial Hospital and the 60th anniversary of another hospital affiliated with Harbin Medical University, one of several medical institutions founded by Wu. Some 700 government officials as well as doctors from China and abroad attended the elaborate, televised event. Walking around the Wu Lien-teh hospital and associated museum, and listening to trained docents shed light on my own family history, I was deeply moved. But I also wondered: Why, after so long, is China honoring my great-grandfather?

The answer, on reflection, lies as much with how China has changed since the People's Republic was founded 60 years ago as with Wu's vital work. Over the decades China has lurched from serial revolutions to social experiments to, now, the wildly successful pursuit of wealth. In the process, hundreds of millions of lives have been both upended and uplifted. My great-grandfather and his family were buffeted by some of those forces too (though with nowhere near the terrible consequences experienced by countless other Chinese). While his achievements have long been recognized by epidemiologists worldwide, they were largely forgotten in China after the communists took over. In the aftermath of "liberation," foreign links and laurels, once celebrated, became perilous liabilities. Wu's relatives, including my father, fled in 1949, in part because they feared that their overseas ties might hurt them in the new China.

Yet as the nation continually transforms itself, so does its idea of what is acceptable and what, indeed, constitutes a hero. At first, those touted as model citizens were chosen for their political pedigrees and correctness, and used as propaganda tools by the Communist Party. Of all the comrades who were lionized, a young soldier named Lei Feng, utterly loyal to the Party, came to epitomize the ultimate hero.

The Lei Fengs of yesterday are no longer relevant, however, to the vast majority of Chinese today. As China modernizes at speed, its icons are resembling those of other developed nations: athletes, pop stars, entrepreneurs. To some extent, that represents a normalization of Chinese society. But it also exposes, worry some of the country's leaders, a growing obsession with frivolity and materialism. Enter my great-grandfather — a nonpolitical, service-oriented figure with no history whatsoever with the Party and whose life's work transcends any ideology. "In today's society, people's outlook and values have big problems; people are focused on their individual interests and, frankly, on making money," said Gu Yingqi, China's former Vice Minister of Health, who attended the Harbin ceremonies. "Not only can we in the health field learn from Wu Lien-teh, everyone can learn from his international spirit and his care for others."

In Harbin, upon meeting me, one nursing student gushed, "She resembles Dr. Wu!" I didn't mind being recognized for being someone's relation rather than for being myself. Chinese authorities have resurrected my great-grandfather because they think his memory can help create a kinder, gentler society. That gives me profound happiness — and gives China, I believe, reason for hope.