Ai Weiwei

[PaperBiro]

Just deleted my post from Random Thoughts (Political Edition) and pasted it here, because I think that this deserves its own thread.

Anyways, the artist Ai Weiwei has been released!

This is good news on the surface, but unfortunately IMO it means very little in terms of China's progress towards human rights. Instead, it just confirms the country's need for good foreign relations.

Attitudes within the party need to change IMO.
China isn't the autocracy that some people think it is, and it hasn't been since the 1980s. You can't blame the human rights situation there on one person, you blame it on many. There are some people within the party, even as high up as the Premier, calling for democratic reform. Most are silent. Yet as far as I can tell, there are many others however who want to keep things the way they are for the sake of stability. I was born to a former party member, so I understand their mindset. Look what happened to the Soviet Union, for example. These people think that change needs to be gradual, and it is coming naturally with economic development.

But even by "change needs to be gradual" standards, it's still happening far, far too slowly and these kind of people are holding it back.

 

[GaryC]

Well, my grandfather was a party member as well so from what he told me, I know what you mean as well. Sadly, the problem with China (as you know) is the culture of bureaucracy. For 3000 years it's just the same style. The number of great reforms are few and far between. Heck, we've only just stepped out of monarchy..

The issue I have with Mr Ai's case is that I don't see any reason for the government to put him under soft-confinement. Seriously, that guy is world renown and a real pride of the country. They should be giving him awards and all that crap.

 

[PaperBiro]

The issue I have with Mr Ai's case is that I don't see any reason for the government to put him under soft-confinement. Seriously, that guy is world renown and a real pride of the country. They should be giving him awards and all that crap.

Sadly, I think that's part of the reason why they put him in confinement: he was too influential to be outspoken. The media supposedly started some kind of smear campaign against him around the time of his arrest, accusing him of polygamy and stuff like that.

Hooray btw: another descendent of a commie! Most people around here adopt a different opinion of you when you tell them that your father/grandfather was a commie.

 

[LeMans GTR]

Attitudes within the party need to change IMO.
China isn't the autocracy that some people think it is, and it hasn't been since the 1980s. You can't blame the human rights situation there on one person, you blame it on many. There are some people within the party, even as high up as the Premier, calling for democratic reform. Most are silent. Yet as far as I can tell, there are many others however who want to keep things the way they are for the sake of stability. I was born to a former party member, so I understand their mindset. Look what happened to the Soviet Union, for example. These people think that change needs to be gradual, and it is coming naturally with economic development.

But even by "change needs to be gradual" standards, it's still happening far, far too slowly and these kind of people are holding it back.

Underneath the veneer of absolute control the CCP likes to portray, there has to be a certain amount of political unrest. Just last month, a young man was arrested just for placing a white flower on the ground, and whichever way you choose to spin it, a country in control, even China, doesn't do that.

PaperBiro, I've always been curious about this, what exactly is the mindset of China's communist government?

Of course being from Hong Kong, I'm naturally prone to think China wants nothing of us except to swallow us whole and spit out the carcass.

 

[PaperBiro]

PaperBiro, I've always been curious about this, what exactly is the mindset of China's communist government?

Of course being from Hong Kong, I'm naturally prone to think China wants nothing of us except to swallow us whole and spit out the carcass.

Dad's always going on about how China can't lose Tibet/Hong Kong/Taiwan etc. because in order to stay strong, China must remain united. Or some bullshit like that. What can I say - China thinks it has a natural right to own Hong Kong, and that Hong Kong should be more in line with the rest of China. They don't like looking at Hong Kong as a seperate entity, they want to see the place as part of their country.

In the case of Tibet, IMO, it's just imperialism whichever way you look at it.

 

[LeMans GTR]

Dad's always going on about how China can't lose Tibet/Hong Kong/Taiwan etc. because in order to stay strong, China must remain united. Or some bullshit like that. What can I say - China thinks it has a natural right to own Hong Kong, and that Hong Kong should be more in line with the rest of China. They don't like looking at Hong Kong as a seperate entity, they want to see the place as part of their country.

In the case of Tibet, IMO, it's just imperialism whichever way you look at it.

:lol: United?

The prejudice will always be there and on both sides of the coin and it won't go away for quite some time, but I digress. China's stubborn and it shows in its people. The fact is, national stability formed by force comes at cost. Eventually, no matter how much censorship you employ or how harsh the punishments, cracks will appear. There may be predictions that China will become the next great super power, but with it even facing possible financial crisis, that future isn't quite as certain as it once was. As for Hong Kong? For the next 40 years as China's ties with the west develop, this little island will still continue to play an important part in China's economic world, but after which only time will tell, but I do know one thing, after the deal with the British ends, that's it.