Month: January 2022

Covid contact tracing revealed in precise detail, the movements of Mr Yue by tracking his mobile phone. Yet when his son went missing, the police was most reluctant to take up his case and track his son’s mobile phone. They even found an anonymous corpse and asked him to identify that as his son so they could close two cases at one go.

A manual labourer, Mr Yue needs to toil and slog for a living. If not for the fact that he was tested positive and his movements raised eyebrows, his story would have never been told. How rich or poor is China really? Terence Shen gives us his take.

A violent, dramatic video taken in the city of Xi An went viral on 20 January 2022. An Audi driven by a young man drove into the path of a taxi. Both drivers got out and the young man driving the Audi started shouting at the old taxi driver, threatening to hit him.

Suddenly, the taxi driver pulled out a knife and stabbed the young man. Bleeding, the young man apologised and pleaded with the taxi driver to stop. Seeing that he has won, the taxi driver asked the young man: “do you know who I was when I was young?”

The spectator taking the video then turned his camera on the Audi and saw a passerby reaching into the car to steal something. A simple “plot” and a few characters sum up the reality of the China Dream.

The young Audi driver is the “princeling” enjoying the wealth that his parents had accumulated during the early days of economic reforms. Folks like these take their wealth for granted and see bullying as a privilege. According the experience of some of my friends from China, it is quite common for drivers of luxury cars to confront and bully taxi drivers or other seemingly poorer people.

The taxi driver here represents the millions who used to be well-off but lost everything due to the bursting economic bubble and changing political winds. How big he was in the past is of course immaterial, but it was a psychological baggage he must have been carrying in agony for years. How could this happen to me? Why is it so unfair?

The thief in the incident represents the vast majority in China. They don’t necessarily steal, but they do stoop very, very low in order take whatever advantage they can of others or even the system itself whenever the opportunity presented itself. This category also includes those who sold surgical masks at grossly inflated prices in times of crisis. When donated foodstuff from neighbouring provinces arrived in Wuhan which was in lockdown, nobody was willing to provide storage facilities. It ended up that the donated food was kept in supermarkets which sold them, also at inflated prices.

Finally, there is another party not shown in the video. And that’s the ambulance that failed to respond to the stabbing incident due to strict Covid restrictions. All this has to do with China’s strict “safety” measures zero Covid target. The government has vowed to aim for zero Covid “at all cost” (to the people). Those who are overzealous about complying often end up neglecting their common sense and humanly instincts.

Every single person in this episode can make life miserable for the average Chinese person, but only those who are like the taxi driver can be a threat to the powers that be. He knew that he’d probably be going to jail for assaulting the young man, but in spite of his maturity, he was no longer able to bottle up the angst and indignation that had been building up all these years. Being bullied by a young man who had it good was the last straw needed to break the camel’s back. The Party is concerned about growing numbers like Mr taxi drive, but as long as the meek and sneaky in the last category remain the overwhelming majority, the chances of a major revolution to overthrow the Party remains slim.

Anastasia Lin (born January 1, 1990) is a Chinese-Canadian actress, model, beauty pageant titleholder, human rights advocate and Falun Gong practitioner.

Lin won the Miss World Canada title in 2015 and was to represent Canada at Miss World 2015 pageant to be held in China but was refused a visa by Chinese authorities after being declared persona non grata. Anastasia’s rejection from the pageant caused widespread reflection on the ability of China to useits economic muscle to exert its political influence far beyond its own borders.

Below is an interview by China Uncensored’s Chris Chappell. Anastasia Lin talks about her upcoming movie Unsilenced and her filming experience in Taiwan. In spite of the rejection of unification with the mainland, many businesses in Taiwan are afraid being seen opposing China. The fear of sabotage in one form or another does prevent some people from doing what they might think is right.

Prof Wen Zhao gives us another view of the KingMed Diagnostics 金域医学 scandal which ought to be a stark reminder to those who have already forgotten about the melamine milk scandal of 2008 (which also occurred in an Olympic hosting year).

Unlike Terence Shen, Wen Zhao thinks that the most likely explanation is the government trying to push blame to the company and the company trying to push blame down the corporate ladder.

From the statements made by the company, to the extent of denying the reasons for being investigated released by law enforcement, KingMed could be to a certain extent, “above the law”. With the frequent gatherings of large groups for testing (thanks to their zero Covid target), the mass testing itself could be the reason for the outbreak. That’s why Wen Zhao speculates that it’s an internal struggle with the government blaming the company and the the company finding scapegoats.

It’s an old story that was suddenly revived when I shared a few old pictures of Teresa Teng on Facebook. A familiar neighbourhood troll popped by and called her a spy.

Some of you may be scratching your heads, but he’s not the first person to call Teresa Teng a spy. The first person to do it was a man by the name of 谷正文. Actually, that is not his original name. His original name was 郭守紀 .

Guo Shouji was born in China in 1910. He claimed to have graduated from Peking University with a degree in Chinese language in 1931, but he had never shown anyone his scroll. Soon after that, military conflict broke out between the Chinese and the Japanese army in Northeastern China. He joined the Chinese Communist Party and was a commander in the army led by Lin Biao. Later, he changed his allegiance and joined the KMT.

In 1940 Guo joined the shadow KMT government led by 汪精卫. Wang’s government was really a puppet government working for the Japanese. While working for this KMT, Guo rounded up and crushed many anti-Japanese movements and organisations.

After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, Guo Shou Ji changed his name to Gu Zheng Wen 谷正文. He joined the original KMT’s secret police and was strangely immune to allegations of treason.

He was later involved in numerous cases of sabotage, bombing, arson, assassinations and kidnapping. Like the Japanese kempeitai, he was an expert in the art of interrogation and torture. Most of his victims were political prisoners.

In 1991, Guo Shou Ji (now Gu Zheng Wen) suddenly backstabbed Taiwan’s first democratic President Lee Teng Hui by revealing what he claimed was incriminating information on President Lee from the secret police files. It was Taiwan’s version of Wikileaks, published by famous Taiwanese author Li Ao (an entertaining narcissist) .

In 1999, Gu Zheng Wen targeted Teresa Teng (1953-1995) 4 years after her death and claimed that she was a KMT spy. Mainland Chinese media eagerly lapped up the story, conspiracy theorists came up with captivating “investigation reports”, but given Guo Shou Ji’s background and reputation, his claims were obviously questionable.

Gu Zheng Wen passed away in 2007.

Right into the abyss. I’ve once heard a PRC say: “If we don’t steal their technology, we won’t be able to develop so quickly.”

The new rules are as long as you are Chinese and as long as China benefits, you don’t have to follow the rules.

Going beneath the surface of China’s impressive infrastructure. Get off the tourist trail/commercial centres and you’ll see a very different China.

China’s Covid prevention measures for a human epidemic are no different from what farmers would do for an animal epidemic. Perhaps just one step away from culling the infected?

Dr Sean Lin – Microbiologist & Former US Army Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the research industry and field infectious diseases surveillance. Skilled in Operational Planning, Disease Outbreak Response, Next Generation Sequencing, Viral Vaccine Production, Cell Culture, Information Assurance, Public Speaking, and U.S. Army. Media operation and production experience on independent Chinese media that are free from Chinese government control. Human Rights activist and Indo-pacific political and military analyst with Master Degree on International Relations from Syracuse University – Maxwell School.

“上盈其志，下务其功；悠悠黄河，吾其济乎！”

– 袁绍监军都督，沮授

200 AD, Yuan Shao, with territories north of the Yellow River had a military strength of over 100,000. Across the river in the south, was Cao Cao with an army of only 30,000, still recovering from a recent battle.

Yuan Shao was fully confident of victory as he crossed the river to attack Cao Cao. His commander Ju Shou and advisor Tian Feng were the only ones against the move. Ju Shou lamented that his future was uncertain with the leader desperate to conquer and his subordinates desperate to claim credit.

“救乱诛暴，谓之义兵。恃众凭强，谓之骄兵。义者无敌，骄兵必败.” – 沮授

Ju Shou also said: An ethical army would only use violence to suppress cruelty. An army that depends on numbers to intimidate others is an arrogant bully. An ethical army keeps absorbing allies till it becomes invincible. An arrogant army is ostracized and doomed to fail. Ju Shou was spot on. Cowards on Cao Cao’s side defected to Yuan Shao’s side. Men of talent and principles on Yuan Shao’s side defected to Cao Cao’s side. Ju Shou remained loyal to Yuan Shao. When captured after Yuan Shao’s defeat, Ju Shou refused to surrender and was executed.

This battle is called 官渡之战 which is even more instructive (albeit less dramatic) than 赤壁。1800 years thence, the likes of Yuan Shao and his sycophants still exist.