The author Fang Fang has been writing some fiery blog posts since being locked down in her home city of Wuhan. Now, thanks to the brilliant Brigitte Duzan, a couple of these blogs are in French, on Brigitte's website. The original blogs in Chinese (frequently taken down as soon as they went up) have apparently found a more stable home on Caixin.
Comments
Philly/NPR just announced that all non-essential .gov services will get into 'halt' state of being... including all pre-hearings IN criminal courts... no juror duty until further notice... WOW! non-existing is better than 'frequently up and downs... ah? ) One can only hope this wind will blow OVER real soon now, ah?
sye, March 16, 2020, 6:22p.m.
Wuhan party secretary Wang Zhonglin recently experienced a backlash after calling for "gratitude education" so that Chinese citizens could properly thank the Communist party for its efforts battling the coronavirus. He was reportedly quoted in the Changjiang Daily as follows:
"[We] must through various channels carry out gratitude education among the citizens of the whole city as well as cadres so that they thank the general secretary [Xi Jinping], thank the communist party, listen to the party's words, follow the party's way, and create strong positive energy."
It appears that this call for "graditude education"-- roundly criticized within China itself -- is now being extended to the global community.
Read Qian Gang's insightful and amusing analysis, The Politics of Gratitude, which includes tables charting the use of the term from the Mao era onward:
In the Mao era, “gratitude” was a word belonging to the sphere of feudalism and capitalism. But even as “gratitude” was seldom used, and rarely positive, the headlines were full of slogans like, “Our gratitude to Mao Zedong is higher than the sky” (毛主席的恩情比天高), “Thanks to Chairman Mao!” (感谢毛主席), “Thanks to the Chinese Communist Party!” and so on.
Bruce Humes, March 25, 2020, 12:06a.m.