Enough Already!

Shek O

source: SCMP

It was already the 5th time this year that we were pounded with torrential rainfall and squally winds while the typhoon signal #8 had to be issued over night. Typhoon Hagupit (who thought up this name?!) turned out to be even scarier for our location than Nuri and during half of the night I was expecting our windows to come bursting into the living room. It was reported that Cheung Chau and Tai O were affected the most and the images shown in the evening news looked pretty disastrous. The night before we were experiencing sweltering temperatures of 33 degrees after midnight, the weather has been acting really crazy lately. Pollution readings have been extremly high and I can't wait for cooler temperatures to move in. Feng Shui masters predicted already in january that Hong Kong will be hit by 7 typhoons this year, I hope they were wrong and we're done with them!

On another note - the visa restrictions we had to suffer from since the Olympics will finally be lifted in mid October. It was a real hassle for expats traveling through China on business and I am sure, hawkers at Lo Wu Commercial Centre in Shenzhen will also be relieved that the taitai's will finally return ;-) Until now we were restricted to double-entry visa for the past 3 months which was annoying and expensive when you had to travel on a regular basis. Applicants also had to show hotel and return-flight bookings to receive a visa in the first place.

J-Pop Icon Ayumi

By the way, did anybody ever hear of Ayumi Hamasaki? She's supposed to be one of the hottest pop superstars in Japan with a high-tech performance comparable to Madonna. One of my friends got tickets and we decided to tag along to experience what it would be like to observe 14.000 screaming fans at AsiaWorld Arena going crazy. Her show was exceptionally thrilling - magnificent mass dancing and very creative outfits (dominatrix, school girl, puppet, space girl) which she changed after every 2nd song - but way too loud and therefore the sound was very distorted - we couldn't even tell whether she was singing in Japanese or English. Her stage presence however was unbelievable - bombastic and perfect to say the least -but in my eyes a bit too perfect, it seemed to lack soul if you know what I mean - nevertheless her fans adored her. It's always stunning to me that the majority of these Asian super stars (with millions of followers) are never heard of in western countries although they seem to know all the American singers and their songs by heart. Never seen such heavy security during a concert in my entire life either - when I took a picture with my cellphone, 2 guards stormed towards me and made me delete them while monitoring me in the process, ridiculous! We were surrounded by bars because the stage ended in the middle of the arena where we were seated - it felt like the Pope would make an appearance, but then again - another interesting experience for us Gweilos.

Travel Blog

Below you'll find the link of a travel blog recommended to me by friends. It shows you pictures and reports about some major points of interest all over China and is very informative to read. I'll also include this Blog on the right hand side in the "Blogs I like" column, take a look.

http://www.thesanborns.com/china/china-index.html


Other than this, not much is going on at the moment. It's still VERY hot and polluted which drains you of the little energy you have left and you simply have to bury yourself inside a Mall or hide out in your apartment until sunset - these are the days where I am feeling like being imprisoned in a cage and the few weeks where I truly miss the crisp&clean air of Germany, sigh....

TschingTschangTschong

heisst eine witzige Kolumne ueber China und seine Gebraeuche, die Xifan-Yang fuer die Sueddeutsche Zeitung schreibt - wirklich sehr lehrreich und treffend dargestellt. Bei bestehendem Interesse, klickt einfach rechts unter "News Sources" auf TTT. Viel Spass beim Lesen!

Moon Festival

A Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu), the third major festival of the Chinese calendar, is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month. This festival corresponds to harvest festival s observed by Western cultures (in Hong Kong, it is held in conjunction with the annual Lantern Festival).

Contrary to what most people believe, this festival probably has less to do with harvest festivities than with the philosophically minded chinese of old. The union of man's spirit with nature in order to achieve perfect harmony was the fundamental canon of Taoism, so much so that contemplation of nature was a way of life.

This festival is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (yueh ping) prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy. Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake of celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one relief traces its origin to the 14th century. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. Chu Yuen-chang, and his senior deputy, Liu Po-wen, discussed battle plan and developes a secret moon cake strategy to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. Liu dressed up as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city bearing moon cake. He distributed these to the city's populace. When the time for the year's Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Thus, the emperor-to-be ingeniously took the city and his throne. Moon cake of course, became even more famous. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really known.

The moon plays a significant part of this festival. In Hong Kong, any open space or mountain top is crowded with people trying to get a glimpse of this season's auspicious full moon.

First lady on the moon: It is generally conceded that Neil Armstrong , the American astronaut, was the first man on moon ( he made that historic landing in 1969). But that's not necessarily the truth to Chinese, who believe that the first people on the moon was a beautiful woman who lived during the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766BC)

This somewhat complicated moon-landing story goes like this: A woman , Chang-O, was married to the great General Hou-Yi of the Imperial Guard. General Hou was a skilled archer. One day, at the behest of the emperor, he shot down eight of nine suns that had mysteriously appeared in the heaven that morning. His marksmanship was richly rewarded by the emperor and he became very famous. However, the people feared that these suns would appear again to torture them and dry up the planet, so they prayed to the Goddess of Heaven (Wang Mu) to make General Hou immortal so that he could always defend the emperor, his progeny and the country. Their wish was granted and General Hou was given a Pill of Immortality.

Another version of this story notes that Chang-O, the wife of the Divine Archer, shot down nine of ten suns plaguing the world and received the Herb of Immortality as a reward.

Whoever the hero was, Chang-O grabbed the pill (or the herb) and fled to the moon. In some versions it is uncertain whether she ever actually got there, because Chinese operas always portray her as still dancing-flying toward the moon.

When Chang-O reached the moon, she found a tree under which there was a friendly hare. Because the air on the moon is cold, she began coughing and the Immortality Pill came out of her throat. She thought it would be good to pound the pill into small pieces and scatter them on Earth so that everyone could be immortal. So she ordered the hare to pound the pill, built a palace for herself and remained on the moon.

This helpful hare is referred to in Chinese mythology as the Jade Hare. Because of his and Chang-O's legendary importance, you will see - stamped on every mooncake, every mooncake box, and every Moon Cake Festival poster - images of Chang-O and sometimes the Jade Hare.

The old man on the moon: There is a saying in Chinese that marriages are made in heaven and prepared on the moon. The man who does the preparing is the old man of the moon (Yueh Lao Yeh). This old man, it is said, keep as a record book with all the names of newborn babies. He is the one heavenly person who knows everyone's future partners, and nobody can fight the decisions written down in his book. He is one reason why the moon is so important in Chinese mythology and especially at the time of the Moon Festival. Everybody including children, hikes up high mountains or hills or onto open beached to view the moon in the hope that he will grant their wishes.

To celebrate this sighting of the moon, red plastic lanterns wrought in traditional styles and embellished with traditional motifs are prepared for the occasion. It is quite a sight to see Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, or Morse Park in Kowloon, alight with thousands of candlelit lanterns. These "Lantern Carnivals" also occur spontaneously on most of the colony's beaches.

The lantern are made in such traditional shapes are rabbits, goldfish, carps, butterflies, lobsters and star-shaped fruits. However, in modern Hong Kong you will also see lantern in the shape of missiles, airplanes, rockets, ships and tanks. In Chinese mythology, the butterfly is the symbols of longevity and the lobster the symbols or mirth. Star-shaped fruit is the seasonal fruit in the autumn, and the crap is an old symbol of the Emperor, personifying strength, courage, wisdow and, of course, power.

Copyright by REGIT Sdn Bhd. All rights reserved

Michael and I will be spending the evening on Lamma Island, definitely WITHOUT moon cakes, they're just too sweet for our taste. Looking forward to lots of seafood, hmmm

Wrong Woman, Wrong Message

Wrong Woman, Wrong Message
By Gloria Steinem

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.

Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.

Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.

So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.

Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest.

Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.

This could be huge.

Gloria Steinem is an author, feminist organizer and co-founder of the Women's Media Center. She supported Hillary Clinton and is now supporting Barack Obama.

SZ: China Intim

Homosexualität in China
Text: xifan-yang

Ist Homosexualität noch ein Tabu oder stößt sie auf wachsende Akzeptanz? Diese Frage ist in China schwer zu beantworten

Mitte Juli tauchte im größten chinesischen Internetforum Tianya ein Video auf, das ein voyeuristischer Fahrgast in der Shanghaier Metro mit seiner Handykamera aufgenommen hatte: Ein Mädchen sitzt in der U-Bahn. Lange passiert gar nichts. Ein zweites Mädchen kommt hinzu. Sie legt ihren Kopf auf den Schoß des ersten Mädchens. Dann küssen sie und fassen sich an. Ende. Das verwackelte Knutschvideo ist in China innerhalb weniger Tage zu einer viralen Netzberühmtheit geworden. Nicht zuletzt wegen der hitzigen Forendiskussionen , in denen das Verhalten der beiden als „ungehörig und pervers“ bezeichnet wurde. In der gleichen Stadt eröffnete gestern Nacht zwischen Kolonialbauten und Wolkenkratzern auf dem Shanghaier Prachtboulevard „The Bund“ ein Großraum-Gay-Club für gehobenes Publikum.

Wie groß die Akzeptanz von „Tongxinglian“, die gleichgeschlechtliche Liebe, in der chinesischen Gesellschaft ist, kann man schwer beantworten. In Shanghai, Beijing oder Shenzhen zum Beispiel gibt es schwulesbische Sportvereine und ein lebendiges Nachtleben, Homosexuelle gehören dort zu einer neuen gebildeten, kreativen Klasse. Auf der anderen Seite lief vor drei Jahren auch in Shanghai (so wie im restlichen China) „Brokeback Mountain“ nicht im Kino. Der Film wurde vom Zensurkomitee der Partei mit dem Prädikat „unzüchtig“ versehen. Bis 2001 galt Homosexualität offiziell als eine Geisteskrankheit.

Heute werden Schwule und Lesben nicht mehr wie zu Zeiten der Kulturrevolution systematisch verfolgt und eingesperrt, aber ihr rechtlicher Status bewegt sich in einer undefinierten Grauzone: Homosexualität ist in China weder legal noch illegal.
Die offizielle Linie lautet: Nicht drüber reden und nicht handeln. Ähnlich verfahren die Medien: Über Christopher Street Days im Westen wird regelmäßig im Panoramateil berichtet, über die Situation der Homosexuellen in China bekommt man dagegen kaum Informationen.

Dabei war im alten China war Homosexualität nichts Ungewöhnliches: Verglichen mit der vorherrschenden Moral im Christentum galt sie zu keiner Epoche als Sünde oder Verbrechen. Die Lehre des Daoismus besagt zwar einerseits, dass bei einem Verhältnis von Mann zu Mann oder Frau zu Frau die Balance zwischen Ying und Yang gestört ist, aber der Daoismus gesteht immerhin auch zu, dass ein Mann neben einer maskulinen Yang-Seite auch eine feminine Seite (Ying) in sich trägt. Die Präsenz von Weiblichkeit bei Männern wurde also nicht als befremdlich gesehen. Etwa wurden nahezu allen Herrschern der Han-Dynastie (206 v. Chr. - 220 n. Chr.) homosexuelle Neigungen nachgesagt. Männer beim Liebesspiel sind auf vielen alten Gemälden abgebildet und nicht wenige Gedichte aus der Vergangenheit erzählen von quasi-sexuellen Beziehungen zwischen minderjährigen Mädchen. Im 18. Jahrhundert wurden in dem Literaturklassiker „Der Traum der roten Kammer“ sowohl hetero- als auch homosexuelle Liebesgeschichten beschrieben. So lange ein schwuler Mann seinen gesellschaftlichen Pflichten nachkam und Kinder in die Welt setzte, wurden seine privaten Affären geduldet.

Eine Umfrage der bekannten Sexualforscherin Li Yinhe aus dem Juni 2008 ergab ein gemischtes Bild: 91% der Chinesen unterstützen die Gleichstellung von Homosexuellen im Berufsleben. 80% stimmen der Aussage zu, dass Hetero- und Homosexuelle „gleichwertige Individuen“ sind. Allerdings befürworten nur 30% eine Homo-Ehe und eine Mehrheit findet, dass Homosexuelle keinen Lehrberuf ergreifen sollten. Nur 7,5% kennen einen Schwulen oder eine Lesbe im persönlichen Umfeld. Vermutlich liegt das daran, dass der gesellschaftliche Druck immer noch sehr groß ist: Ein öffentliches Coming-Out ist nach wie vor ein heikler Schritt. Häufig werden Homosexuelle nach ihrem Outing von ihren Arbeitgebern entlassen. Gerade in der chinesischen Peripherie ist eine homophobe Grundeinstellung tief in den Köpfen der Menschen verankert. Vereinigungen von Homosexuellen, Internetplattformen und Hotlines werden dort besonders oft von Polizeibeamten dicht gemacht. So bleibt nur, die eigene Sexualität im Geheimen auszuleben. Die meisten Schwulen und Lesben über 30sind verheiratet und haben Kinder. Bis die ersten Gay-Parades auf dem Platz des himmlischen Friedens stattfinden können, wird noch sehr viel Zeit vergehen.

Sarah Palin - The Gender Card

- and this is why politics is by far the best comedy of our daily lives - thank you Jon Stewart!

SZ: China Kolumne

31.08.2008 19:00
Der wichtigste Moment im Leben
Text: xifan-yang
"Gao kao" heißen die gefürchteten Abschlussprüfungen nach zwölf Jahren Schule. In China entscheiden sie über die gesamte Zukunft Morgen, am 1. September beginnt in ganz China das neue Schuljahr. Für meine jüngere Cousine wird es das letzte vor den „Gao kao“, den großen Uni-Aufnahmeprüfungen sein. Meine Cousine ist 17, sie wohnt in unserer Heimatstadt Pingxiang, einer „Kleinstadt“ mit rund 500.000 Einwohnern und besucht die Stufe „Gao san“, das ist die dritte Klasse der Oberschule, die 12. Klasse in Deutschland. Wenn nach den Klausuren in Chinesisch, Mathe oder Chemie die Ranglisten neben der Tafel ausgehängt werden, steht ihr Name immer an erster oder an zweiter Stelle. Ihr offizieller Status wechselt regelmäßig zwischen „Bang yi“, und „Bang er“, also Klassenerster und Klassenzweiter. Ihre Lehrer sprechen sie manchmal nur so an. Deswegen muss sie seit Jahren auch immer in der vordersten Reihe sitzen, während Mitschüler, die auf den Listen weiter unten landen, in die hinteren Reihen verwiesen werden. Die Schule, auf die sie geht, liegt auf einem kleinen Hügel in Pingxiang und trägt den Namen „Pingxiang Oberschule Nr. 1“, die Schule mit dem besten Ruf in der Stadt. Die zweitbeste heißt „Pingxiang Oberschule Nr. 2“, die drittbeste „Nr. 3“ und so weiter. Die „Oberschule Nr. 1“ ist ein Internat, für meine Cousine ist das praktisch, weil sie abends, wenn sie gegen Mitternacht mit Nachhilfe und Hausaufgaben fertig ist, nicht mehr durch die dunkle, schlafende Stadt nach Hause fahren muss. In den Sommerferien und am Wochenende darf sie theoretisch heim, aber oft bleibt sie einfach da, weil alle dableiben und weil sie daheim auch nur wieder ihre Schulbücher aufschlagen würde. Es sind noch knapp elf Monate bis zu den großen Abschlussprüfungen, und jeder einzelne Tag zählt, an dem sie Übungen machen und sich vorbereiten kann. Ihre Lehrer kümmern sich besonders um sie und hoffen auf ihre guten Prüfungsnoten, denn auch für sie gibt es eine Art Liste im Lehrerzimmer, die über die Höhe ihres Gehalts entscheidet. Eigentlich hat es meine Cousine ziemlich gut. Nicht viele ihrer 60 Klassenkameraden werden es auf eine Uni schaffen. Meine Großeltern hoffen, dass möglichst viele ihrer Prüfungsergebnisse die 100 erreichen. 100, das ist die höchste Punktzahl, 1 mit *, und je öfter und näher sie der 100 kommt, desto näher kommt sie Beida, Qinghua und Fudan, das sind Namen der Universitäten, die in den Ohren chinesischer Eltern so verheißungsvoll klingen wie Harvard, Yale oder Stanford. Allerdings sorgt sich meine Familie wegen dieser Quoten. Beida, Qinghua und Fudan haben jeweils eigene Quoten für jede Provinz von China, die festlegt, wie viele Schüler pro Provinz aufgenommen werden dürfen. Meine Familie sorgt sich deswegen, weil nur vier Schüler aus der Provinz Jiangxi Erstsemester der Beida-Universität in Beijing werden können. Jiangxi ist eine bevölkerungsreiche und strukturschwache Provinz im mittleren Süden Chinas, es gibt zehntausende „Bang yis“ und „Bang ers“, und die Punktzahl, die man erreichen muss, um auf der Beida zu landen, liegt hier höher als in Beijing selbst. Meine Tante sagt, dass das einerseits ungerecht ist. Andererseits, und das ist ihr leider bewusst, spiegeln diese unterschiedlichen Schwellen die Bildungsverhältnisse in China wieder. Das Bildungsniveau in der Hauptstadt ist viel höher als das in den Provinzen, und deshalb reichen einem Schüler in Beijing vielleicht schon 90 Punkte in Mathe, meine Cousine braucht aber mindestens 97. Meiner Cousine gehen diese Listen, Quoten und Punkte ständig durch den Kopf, es ist wie ein permanentes Hintergrundrauschen, das nie aufhört. Bisher stehen die Zeichen für sie sehr gut, aber sie hat Angst, dass sie im nächsten Frühjahr patzt. Alle Bauarbeiten in der Gegend um ihre Schule werden in der Zeit der Abschlussprüfungen stillstehen, die ganze Stadt wird für einige Tage den Atem anhalten und auf Zehenspitzen laufen, damit die Klausuren in absoluter Ruhe abgehalten werden. Sie hat Angst, dass sie im wichtigsten Moment ihres Lebens von einem Blackout gelähmt wird und damit alles versaut. Dass einer ihrer Mitkonkurrenten einen Vorteil daraus ziehen könnte, dass er vor kurzem in die Partei eingetreten ist. Dass sich ihre guten Leistungen nicht in Punkten niederschlagen, denn es zählen nur die Punkte, die sie in diesen drei, vier Tagen erzielt, alle anderen aus dem Unterricht, und seien es noch so viele, sind egal. Dann gibt es wieder eine neue Liste und meine Cousine kann nur hoffen, dass die neue Liste so aussieht wie die alten.

Real Time - Finally Back!

This is for those of you who love Bill Maher's "New Rules" as much as I do, enjoy!