Simplified Chinese vs. Traditional

Recently I reread the book 1984 by George Orwell, and it got me thinking alot about the simplified Chinese writing system that has been implimented in Mainland China (PRC) since the cultural revolution.

As you may or may not be aware, there are currently two systems for writing Chinese characters in use: Traditional (used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau) and Simplified (used in Mainland China, and put in place beginning in the 1950's). (here is the wikipedia entry on simplified characters).

Here are a couple examples of characters in both forms (traditional on the left):

學生 --> 学生 (student)
覺得 --> 觉得 (to think or to feel)
國 --> 国 (country)
媽媽 --> 妈妈 (mom)

If you do a quick google search you can find that there is a pretty heated and extensive debate over the two writing systems. (for more check out these links: wikipedia entry, NY Times article, the Atlantic)

Almost everyone can agree that it is impractical to have two writing systems for one spoken language, the Chinese government asserts that simplified characters are a necessity for the improvement of literacy in their country, while the Taiwanese (defenders of traditional Chinese culture) stand as a shining example that high literacy rates can indeed be achieved with traditional characters.

Now, I have to point out that I -in no way - am an expert on the topic, but it seems to me that the Chinese government used the guise of an illiteracy campaign to render their general populous unable to read anything not specifically published for or approved by the PRC. Eileen Chow said, "The inability to read traditional characters is to close oneself off to Chinese history and arts before the 1950s."

I have found it completely mind-boggling to read comments like this one: "This debate really goes nowhere. It looks really foolish when some commenter's on NYT related the topic to politics. (posted here)"

In a sense, I tend to agree with the first part of this person's statement "the debate really goes nowhere." Simplified characters are here to stay, and we can only hope that Traditional characters are as well (although it is frightening given the relatively small percent of the Chinese population world-wide who learns to read and write traditional characters).

But, I think it is foolish to separate politics from the simplification of characters. All languages evolve over time, and Chinese is no exception. But the organic evolution of a spoken and written language is dramatically different than an abrupt, government imposed simplification of the written script.

Keeping in mind that this is a government that imposes media censorship and restricts freedom of speech, how can one think that the overhaul of the Chinese written language is anything but politically motivated?

China Internet Censorship

I've been re-reading George Orwell's book 1984 for the last couple of weeks and, among other things, it has inspired me to spend a lot of time learning about Internet censorship in China. So, I'd like to take a couple minutes to share with you what I've been reading up on this last week:

As you may or may not already know, China spends millions of dollars and countless hours of man power in a never-ending effort to censor the ever-growing Internet. Their censorship is quite extensive and extends not only to the Internet but to all media and means of distributing information to the people.

Among other things, the government regulates it's citizens from creating, replicating, retrieving, or transmitting any information that they perceive as:

• Inciting to overthrow the government or the socialist system
• Inciting division of the country, harming national unification
• Making falsehoods or distorting the truth, spreading rumors, destroying the order of society
• Promoting feudal superstitions, sexually suggestive material, gambling, violence, murder
  (source: wikipedia)

The kinds of information that is actually restricted on the Internet is wide-ranging and includes:

• News sources that often cover some taboo topics such as police brutality, Tienanmen Square protests of 1989, freedom of speech, democracy, and Marxist sites.
  
• Media sites which may include unregulated content, social commentary or political commentary censored by the PRC.
  
• Sites hosted by Taiwan's government and major newspaper and television media and other sites with information on Taiwanese independence
  
• Web sites that contain obscenity, pornography, and criminal activity.
  
• Sites linked with the Dalai Lama and his International Tibet Independence Movement, including his teachings.

Some specific sites that are (or were) blocked include:

Wikipedia and Chinese Wikipedia
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
The New York Times
The United Nations
You Tube
All Blogspot and Blogger Blogs (that means this one!)
Flickr and Webshots (two popular photo-sharing websites)
(this list came from this wikipedia entry)

Despite the PRC's exhaustive and endless effort to weed out all virtual dissidents, people are more clever than algorithms, and some things will inevitably slip through the cracks. The video below, a song of the "Mud Grass Horse" is just one example.

I'm not going to go into too much detail about the video because the New York Times did a great job in this article, but here is the video, check it out for yourself:

Pretty clever, huh?
I am sure that there were, are, and will be more videos like this one...at least I sure hope there are. I guess that's the American in me feeling the need for democracy to spread throughout the world...

But I do believe that in this "information age" it will become virtually impossible to censor the Internet from it's largest user-base, and for the sake of the people of China... I sure hope I'm right.

Obama budget cuts funds for 'abstinence-only'!!!!

Don't have much time to write, but I just read this article on Reuters. According to the article, Obama's proposed budget eliminates spending for programs that teach U.S. schoolchildren sexual abstinence and shifts funds to programs aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy. All I have to say is:

Glory Glory Hallelujah!!

Proponents of abstinence-only sex education should ask Bristol Palin how well that works! Maybe if her mom had taught her what a condom was, she wouldn't be an 18-year old mom right now.

Finally we have someone in the White House who is able to separate his faith from our government!

Marriage Proposal

Don't get worked up, no one proposed!

I know this has nothing to do with Taiwan, but while I was uploading my last two videos on YouTube, I stumbled upon this video. I 100% agree with this girl and think you all should too:

Shoe Sculpture Unveiled

[i just found this on my computer and realized that I forgot to post is a couple of weeks ago!]

This morning I was reading the January 31st issue of the Taipei Times (an English language paper here in Taiwan) and came across a short little blurb that I thought some people may find interesting.

The article begins by saying “A huge bronze shoe sculpture has been erected in tribute to the Iraqi journalist who grabbed instant fame when he threw his shoes at former US President, George W. Bush last year. The shoe, in which a tree has been planted, stands 3m high and sits atop a white pedestal in Tikrit.”

Who would have thought that hurling your shoe at a world leader would cause a sculpture to be unveiled to your tribute!

Well, as I said before, ½ of the world would line up for the chance to throw a shoe at Bush’s head (including myself!) so maybe the shoe sculpture is appropriate! Ha ha.

Go Obama!!!

******update: the shoe statue has since been dismantled, you can read about it here*******

Barack Obama

OK, I finally have some time to write a post about our new President-Elect.

WOW, first I have to say how relieved that I am about this whole thing being over. Its good to know that Bush is officially on his way out and a breath of fresh air is on its way in. I have to say that it looks like the rest of the world agrees with me. I saw pictures and read news articles about people all over the world celebrating this election. Can you imagine the world's disappointment if we had voted in John McCain? I do believe that Obama will be able to bring America back to its place of influence and admiration throughout the world. God knows that the last 8 years have done a pretty good job of destroying that (along with our budget surplus!)

As everyone knows, this was a historic election. For the first time, we had candidates who looked different from each other, and weren't just old, white men. I would have been celebrating Barack Obama's win regardless of his skin color, I agree with him on most of the issues and believe in his ability to lead, but it was even more special because he is an African American. I was a part of history and one day I can look back and tell my children that Yes, I did vote for the first black president. That is awesome.

I felt a special sense of pride in our country for finally breaking down that barrier and showing the world, and more importantly our own citizens, that this truly is the land of opportunity. We have come a long way. I think that this is long overdue, but its here now and times, they are a changin'.

When Obama's win was announced, I was sitting in my living room with Aimee, finishing up dinner and watching NBC. As soon as the announcement came, there were people whooping and hollering outside, beeping their horns, and cheering the victory. Watching all of the people on TV over come with emotion... I have to say my eyes watered a bit as well.

This is history in the making. We were all part of it. And this is the beginning great things to come in the United States. That I am sure of.

OBAMA WINS

Praise the lord!
i'm so proud of America!
I can't even express it.

Here comes McCain to conceed.

YAY!!!

Amy Pohler is Awesome!

Sarah Palin drew the biggest crowd to watch SNL in the last 14 years! She wasn't allowed to say very much, but the fact that she was there made for a very entertaining show.

Weekend update was awesome so if you haven't seen this yet, it is a must-see!