Those who want to sacrifice liberty for a little security deserve neither liberty, nor security. Awaken Your Dormant Conscience! Give me liberty or give me death! Winning your inner struggle as a "Free Being" against your nihilistic identity of "being Chinese".
那些想用放弃自由去得到安全感的人们既不值得自由也不会得到安全感。 唤醒你沉睡的良知！不自由，毋宁死！开始并赢得一场你内心的“自由人”搏击你外在的“中国人”的文化反思反省浪潮。 “自由人”必胜！ “中国人”必败！
Contact Kai Chen 联络陈凯--电邮信箱 Email：elecshadow@aol.com 电话 Phone: 661-367-7556
Zambia: Peace Corps Volunteers - Getting a Taste of Two Worlds
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809290800.html
Nkole Nkole
29 September 2008
In many of Chongwe District's surrounding villages, two worlds have been brought together over the last two months and two diversely clashing cultures have blended.
This culture gap is what the late and youngest yet American President, John F Kennedy hoped to bridge when he challenged students at the University of Michigan in 1960 to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries.
His speech so ricocheted in the hearts of those who heard it that from it was birthed an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. Established in 1961 was the Peace Corps with the guiding principles to promote a better understanding of other people in the world on behalf of Americans; to promote a better understanding of Americans on behalf of other people and to help the population of interested countries meet the need for qualified peoples.
In 1993, Zambia became a destination for those Americans who wished to move away from their social isolation and embrace the ideas and cultural dynamics of people in other lands.
Adjusting to an entire new culture is what Peace Corps volunteers must be prepared for before they embark on a journey that will eventually make them view the world in a different light.
It's not just the sky - scrapers and flashy cars that the volunteers would not have the pleasure of seeing for another two years, but even the launderettes, hot dogs and burgers that constitute every day American life have to be given up for the simplicity of ordinary rural life in developing countries.
Aston Godwin had always wanted the opportunity to see the world and particularly to see Africa.
His chance came this year when he was selected as a Peace Corps volunteer and told that Zambia would become his second home for the next two years.
Originally from the state of Georgia, Aston knew that traveling to Africa would be the experience of a lifetime for him and would change his perspective of the outside world forever.
"I had always been interested in volunteer work and I always wanted the chance to make a difference in other people's lives," he says.
At Auburn University in the US, he studied politics but when he finally graduated in 2006, he suddenly lost interest in politics and decided to turn his long burning desire into reality. For the past two months he has been living at Kakubo village in Chongwe with his newly adopted family, which numbered 12 when Aston joined them.
Chongwe has been the training ground for him as well as for other Peace Corps volunteers since two months ago as they received training on how to adapt to rural life.
He came to Zambia deliberately without any expectations he says but he has had a great experience so far.
"The beauty of Zambia and the generosity of the Zambian people is what I have fallen in love with since getting here," he said.
At the Peace Corps swearing in ceremony, Aston will be posted to Chibumbe village in Mkushi and it is there that he will be put to the acid test.
Saying bye to his adopted Zambian family in Chogwe will be hard but he will at least appreciate the fact that much of the survival language he now knows is because of them.
Since that first challenge presented to Americans in 1960, more than 190 thousand Peace Corps volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to information technology and environmental preservation.
To mark the close of one challenging chapter and the opening of another, Aston and his fellow volunteers were given the chance to cook American food for their adopted families in Chongwe in a show of appreciation to them for having kept them the past two months.
The event dubbed, the Culture Day Programme, took place at Chongwe's Chalimbana Teachers' Training College and the cooking which was done using braziers in the blistering Chongwe heat, produced a mix of foods ranging from hot dogs and burgers to curry and fried onions. Some of Chongwe's mothers, fathers, boys and girls lined up to taste the food that their adopted children had made especially for them.
It was a bittersweet moment. Chongwe had become a home away from home for the American volunteers and now their brazier - made presentation was to mark a fitting farewell to their Zambian families.
Alexandra Chen, the youngest one of the Peace Corps bunch that was training in Chongwe, has had a hard time getting used to eating nshima twice a day though she has slowly been getting used to it.
It's not like she has that much of a choice considering she will be posted to a village in Lundazi following the swearing-in ceremony where she will be living for the next two years.
"Getting used to having nshima everyday has been a huge adjustment but I don't have too many options," she said.
Like Aston, Alexandra too has been blown away by the generosity of Zambians and has been learning Tumbuka to prepare her for her two-year stay in Lundazi.
Once every week she talks to her parents and sister in America when Zain accords her the chance she says.
"I manage to call and keep in touch with my family back home at least once a week and that's if the Zain network is functioning."
"So far it's not so much a wonderful world," she adds with a giggle.
Under a grass-thatched chalet, the Chongwe families gathered and listened to speeches by the trainees that were delivered in various local languages.
There was some tongue twisting here and there as the trainees read the speeches out, coupled with a little hesitation, then the clearing of a throat and finally a rapturous applause by the families in attendance.
Country director Cindy Threlkeld, presented certificates to the 'new' families and as she did so, there were bursts of ululation from various corners of the chalet let out by jubilant 'new' mothers.
One of those mothers was Agnes Kalunga who happened to have 22-year-old American Paul, as an adopted son.
Paul has been learning Bemba in preparation for his stay in the Northern Province.
Agnes said Paul had slowly become a part of the family and she had gotten so used to having him in the house that saying goodbye was not going to be easy.
"Paul was taught how to clean the house, wash his clothes and how to cook because every member of the family has to do their chores," she said.
Currently, Zambia has 200 Peace Corps volunteers in seven out of its nine provinces and this represents the largest Peace Corps contingent in all of Africa.
According to Ms Threlkeld, volunteers in Zambia have learnt that in life it is important to share who they are not just what they know.
She said one of the biggest challenges for the volunteers was learning how to enter a rural community quietly and with respect.
During its four-decade history, the Peace Corps has adapted to the issues of the times and in a world that is constantly changing, Peace Corps volunteers learn that they have to meet new challenges with innovation, creativity, determination and compassion otherwise they would have failed to achieve the mission of the Peace Corps.
In the various rural communities where they will be serving, Aston, Alexandra and Paul will help build fish-ponds, initiate community health projects and put their hand to the plough as they learn that in their new way of life, they must dig up the field if they are to have food in their bellies.
There will be no launderettes or fast food restaurants where they are going, but their training in Chongwe would have prepared them for even what seems to be such small changes.
The drone of drums beating filled the scorching mid afternoon as the trainees and their families formed a circle and danced away to traditional music.
It marked the end of their schooling in Chongwe and as their initiation was complete, it meant they were now ready to take on their real jobs in some of Zambia's numerous villages.
Without rights for the individual to own guns, governments will have no trouble oppressing/abusing individual citizens. Gun right is a necessary right in a free society to protect individual liberty. Without means to protest oneself, where is any right for any individual anyhow? If the future China after the communist regime still suppresses individual rights to own guns to protect oneself, then there is absolutely no possibility for China to become a free society. --- Kai Chen
-------------------------------------------------
High Court’s Big Ruling For Gun Rights
美最高法院裁决所有50州不能剥夺拥枪权
June 28, 2010 - 10:07 AM | by: Lee Ross
In its second major ruling on gun rights in three years, the Supreme Court Monday extended the federally protected right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states. The decision will be hailed by gun rights advocates and comes over the opposition of gun control groups, the city of Chicago and four justices.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the five justice majority saying "the right to keep and bear arms must be regarded as a substantive guarantee, not a prohibition that could be ignored so long as the States legislated in an evenhanded manner."
The ruling builds upon the Court's 2008 decision in D.C. v. Heller that invalidated the handgun ban in the nation's capital. More importantly, that decision held that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was a right the Founders specifically delegated to individuals. The justices affirmed that decision and extended its reach to the 50 states. Today's ruling also invalidates Chicago's handgun ban.
Backgrounder:
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court appears poised to issue a ruling that will expand to the states the high court's historic 2008 ruling that individuals have a federally protected right to keep and bear arms, following an hour-long argument Tuesday. If so, the decision would mark another hallmark victory for gun rights advocates and likely strike down Chicago's handgun ban that is similar to the Washington D.C. law already invalidated by the justices.
Tuesday's lively arguments featured lawyer Alan Gura, the same man who argued and won D.C. v. Heller in 2008. He now represents Otis McDonald who believes Chicago's handgun ban doesn't allow him to adequately protect himself. Gura argued the Heller decision which only applied to Washington D.C. and other areas of federal control should equally apply to Chicago and the rest of the country.
"In 1868, our nation made a promise to the McDonald family that they and their descendants would henceforth be American citizens, and with American citizenship came the guarantee enshrined in our Constitution that no State could make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of American citizenship," Gura told the Court.
He argued the language of the Constitution's 14th Amendment forces the states to protect the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. The Bill of Rights, which was adopted in the late 18th Century, was then commonly viewed as only offering protections from the federal government.
It wasn't until after the Civil War that the Supreme Court in a piecemeal fashion began to apply--or incorporate--parts of the Bill of Rights to the states. It has used the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause to incorporate most of the Constitution's first amendments but has not yet done so for the Second Amendment. Gura argued that another part of the 14th Amendment would be a better vehicle for the justices to make their ruling but there didn't appear to be enough support from the bench on that front.
Chief Justice John Roberts was the most vocal advocate of using the Due Process Clause to extend the Second Amendment rights to the states. "I don't see how you can read -- I don't see how you can read Heller and not take away from it the notion that the Second Amendment...was extremely important to the framers in their view of what liberty meant."
The discussion over "liberty" was a major philosophical theme of the arguments. Gura and National Rifle Association lawyer Paul Clement argued that the rights articulated in the Second Amendment are fundamental freedoms and would exist to all Americans even if there was no law specifically saying so.
James Feldman, lawyer for the City of Chicago, defended his city's handgun ban and argued why the Heller decision's Second Amendment guarantee doesn't comport with the view that it represents a vital protection of liberty that needs to be expanded to the states.
"[T]he right it protects is not implicit in the concept of ordered liberty," Feldman said. "States and local governments have been the primary locus of firearms regulation in this country for the last 220 years. Firearms unlike anything else that is the subject of a provision of the Bill of Rights are designed to injure and kill."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented in Heller and wondered why the right to bear arms was necessary to extend to the states. "[I]f the notion is that these are principles that any free society would adopt, well, a lot of free societies have rejected the right to keep and bear arms."
Later in the arguments Roberts disputed that notion. "I do think the focus is our system of ordered liberty, not any abstract system of ordered liberty. You can say Japan is a free country, but it doesn't have the right to trial by -- by jury."
Roberts was part of the five member majority in Heller and there's a good chance Tuesday's case will result in a similar 5-4 outcome. All of the members of the Heller majority are still on the Court and at least one of them would have to rule against extending the Second Amendment protection in order for the opposing side to prevail.
海伦. 萨宾（Helen Sabin）是一个作家和前教师，为“Colorado Springs, Co. called The Constitutionalist Today”撰写有关教育问题数年，在福克斯新闻网上看到陈凯谈到“孔学堂”后，担心因孔学堂的进驻，为美国带来的危机，而与陈凯取得联系，并在致哈岗学区总监Nakaoka公开信中提出对学区的抗议及相关道德问题，值得所有美国人警觉。
Senator Joe McCarthy should have been rewarded for his vigilance against the communist infiltration in the 1950s, and for his resolute actions against such a menace. Without people like him, not only the Berlin Wall would not have collapsed, America itself would have been overtaken by the reds and many now would be locked in "American gulags", including those who invited communism in the first place. The danger presented by the communist infiltration from communist China can never be overestimated. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, especially now. --- Kai Chen
April 11, 2010 Book Review By Rod Allison (Detroit)
This review is from: Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies (Paperback)
This genuinely researched and documented work shows that almost everything we know about McCarthy is wrong, including all the popular factoids such as the "mistaken identity" of Annie Lee Moss, how he showed "no decency" and exposed a brilliant young lawyer's youthful indiscretion, or the one about how "he destroyed the lives of innocent people" (next time someone repeats that one, ask them to name one "innocent person" that McCarthy destroyed, and see if you get anything other than a dumb look.)
Evans shows that the "innocent" people McCarthy was investigating were anything but, and they should not have been working in the State Department, or Army communications, or other sensitive positions they were in. In many cases McCarthy has been vindicated by the Venona cables which have confirmed that several McCarthy targets, including Solomon Adler, Lauchlin Currie, and Franz Neuman, were in fact agents of the Soviets. In other instances, such as Owen Lattimore, Evans provides other evidence to show that they were not mere innocent victims of a reckless Senator. Lattimore was not a "spy," per se, who passed along classified information. Rather, he was one several influential insiders with Communist sympathies who tried to shape U.S. foreign policy in a way that would help America's enemies. In Lattimore's case, he used misinformation and other treacherous means to encourage the U.S. to abandon Chiang in China and thereby assist in the takeover by the murderous Mao regime that left a trail of tens of millions of dead bodies.
Evans also shows how dishonest the standard histories about "the McCarthy era" are, and how selective they are in choosing what information they present (and misrepresent). As Evans says, the field of study about McCarthy "has been left mostly to his political foes, dominant in intellectual circles when he lived and virtually unchallenged in academic and media precincts since." As a result, the image of a purely evil and demagogic McCarthy is so overwhelming that many people could never shift the paradigm, and they recoil in horror and moral indignation at the thought of it.
Everyone should read this book. This is more than a book about McCarthy. It is an illustration of how narrow, influential interests can distort an event in the press when it is happening and then further distort it in the history books as time passes by. There are many other historical narratives that have become conventional wisdom that need to be given a second look as well.
By Kai Chen 陈凯 June 23, 2010 www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com
陈凯一语： Kai Chen’s Words:
Hacienda La Puente Unified School District’s decision to invite the Chinese communist government, with its funding, teachers and educational material, into our high school classrooms violates the spirit of “Pledge of Allegiance” that the School Board members recite every time they meet. Can “In God We Trust” go hand in hand with “In Devil We Worship”? Tossing poison mushrooms into our salad and adding fecal matter into our dishes to achieve “cultural diversity” and “moral relativism” will only corrupt and pervert our moral judgment and divide America. There can never be a “Virgin Whore”. Neither can there ever be a “Devil God”. --- Kai Chen
(Above painting was displayed in the Alhambra City Hall in 2007, in a Chinese New Year’s Day art exhibit. My protest against such display resulted in the removal of it from the City Hall. )
In the spring of 2007, a painting of Mao and Washington together was displayed in the Alhambra City Hall, under the disguise of celebration of Chinese New Year – the Year of Pig. After I learned about this perverse display, I protested to the City Hall officials, demanding its removal. (To learn about this issue, click on this link: http://www.kaichenforum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4502 ) Ever since then I have found myself in a constant battle against an insidious, yet very dangerous moral confusion/perversion in America, not just among the Chinese Americans, but among most Americans with a leftist-liberal bent.
My current battle over Hacienda La Puente Unified School District’s decision to allow the communist Chinese regime to fund a “Confucius Classroom”, to provide the teaching personnel and material for such a program, only demonstrates how deep and how pervasive this moral perversion/corruption has infected and contaminated America.
“… One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Before each School Board meeting convenes, all attendants stand up with their hand on their chests and chant “Pledge of Allegiance to the United States”. Watching some of the School Board members who voted to allow “Confucius Classroom” into our high schools, with their pretentious and wooden expressions, I don’t know whether I want to laugh or I want to cry. Don’t they know their own very action/decision has already violated everything they are saying in their Pledge of Allegiance?
“One Nation Under God”, but they are inviting a Communist Party-State that is Anti-God, that is acting as God and above God to its own citizens, into our classroom to pervert American values, to sabotage the foundation of this Constitutional Republic. “With liberty and justice for all”, don’t they know they are condoning a murderous communist regime that denies justice and liberty to all the Chinese citizens, by making it (the People’s Republic) sound normal and acceptable to our youngsters? “Indivisible”, how can the School Board action not be divisive when they want to add water to our gas tank, to force matter and anti-matter together, to spin right and wrong/good and evil/truth and falsehood into a pot of confusion? They want to mix God and Devil into one, using “moral relativism”, “multi-culturalism”, “diversity” to muddy the water and poison our mindset and that of our children. Their tool? Marxist material dialectics with a Chinese yin-yang mentality – good is evil, truth is falsehood, right is wrong. Everything is only spinning around the axis of nothingness. Only political power is absolute and that political power, like Mao said, only comes from the muzzles of guns.
Jay Chen, a School Board member and one of the main advocates for inviting the communist regime of China into our classrooms, posted this message on my blog ( www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com ) in his attack on my position:
“There are no perfect countries in this world. You have chosen to move to one that was built on the backs of African slaves and Chinese coolie labor, that interned Japanese Americans for no crime other than ancestry, that refused to allow non-whites and women to vote, and that most recently invaded another country based on false pretense.
As someone who seems so obsessed with justice and liberty, have you somehow managed to justify these atrocities in your mind? If so then you are sicker than your writings reveal.”
To equate China and America morally seems to be the link for all the likes of Jay Chen. To them, the struggle in America to rid of slavery equates the worship of a State-slavery in China today. The internment of the Japanese Americans during WWII equates the Chinese Laogai (a gulag system in China to reeducate/punish dissidents) today. The collateral damage during American war against terror equates the deliberate murdering of innocent civilians during 9/11.., etc. The list of lies/deceptions goes on for these morally perverted zombies.
No wonder nowadays in America, you have people like Thomas Friedman of NY Times openly admiring the Chinese communist despotism, wishing the American left can have the same absolute power to “fundamentally transform” America, forcing its will on American population. No wonder nowadays you have “Mao’s Kitchen” and “Mao’s Diner” dotted all over American landscape. (I saw with my own eyes American youths eating in these establishments, quite obliviously and complacently, not knowing the posters right above them is saying (in Chinese) “Down with American Imperialism” and other anti-humanity, anti-freedom, communist slogans used during the murderous Chinese Cultural Revolution). No wonder nowadays you have Mao’s statue sitting in a dignified posture among the likes of Winston Churchill and Charles De Gaulle in the Nixon Library. No wonder nowadays you have Obama officials quoting Mao all the time and Mao’s image hanging among the White House Christmas tree ornaments. No wonder….
When Jay Chen and his girlfriend rounded up some Hacienda School District’s students, using them as tools to advance their political agendas, making them hold signs that says something like “Let us learn” by confusing the issues to attack the opponents positions, I couldn’t help but recall the years of the Cultural Revolution in China in which Mao used, abandoned and tortured the youths of China to advance his political agendas. Everyone ended up as the victims of Mao’s political scheme. The same game is being played by Jay Chen and the likes, even before the “Confucius Classroom” is implemented. So this is not so much of my feeling repugnant over the implementation of such a program. It is about the political cultural decay/degeneration in America that has been carefully orchestrated by the liberal left through mainstream media and American higher education of which people like Jay Chen are its products.
Is America a nation under God, or is it a government acting as God or positioning itself above God? Is America a nation governed by laws, or is it governed by men? Is American Constitution truly a suicide pact that allows anti-freedom, anti-God, anti-human, anti-life elements such as that represented by the Chinese communist regime to pervert, diminish, sabotage and eliminate this great nation that is the last hope, the last bastion of human freedom? We the American people must face this dangerous assault head on from American liberal left with their ubiquitous “political correctness”, and from the mortal threat of a mutated communism represented by China – a sworn enemy of human freedom. I for one will fulfill my duty as a free being. I hope you all will as well.
BBC TV Program "Chinese are Coming - Confucius Classroom" 陈凯抗议孔学堂视频 Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, California
My Exchange with Jay Chen/School Board
我与陈姓学委（陈介飞）的交锋
陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com
Note: Jay Chen is a member of the School Board (Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, California). He is a Harvard graduate with Obama vision of a "New World Order". He is in his late 20s harboring a big political ambition. His blog: http://jaychen.blogspot.com/ His personal information: http://www.electjaychen.com/tacl.html
"Y'all can shut up. You guys are the rudest bunch and guess what, those students organized themselves to defend their rights to an education that THEY WANT." -- From a brainwashed youth or parent. Kai Chen's Reply:
If shutting people up is what you want, you have already been poisoned by the communist tactic of brainwashing. When Jay Chen and his girlfriend rounded up a few high schoolers, using them for his political agenda, then you know what is coming with Confucius Classrooms being implemented in all high schools aross US.
Jay Chen, Norman Hsu and their cohorts have already conteminated American political culture with the way they think and behave. Collaborating with the murderous Chinese regime to implement Confucius Classroom in US is only a result of their mindset. Kai Chen
---------------------------------------------- Kai Chen's Statement:
To all students and parents:
Last night I went to the School Board meeting again in Hacienda District. The other side, the school board members (Jay Chen and his girlfriend), organized a counter attack by using the communist tactic: They call an organizer to round up a few high school students, putting words in their mouths to shout pro-China slogans in the meeting. Even before the Confucius Classroom program is implemented, the communist tactics have already been used - propaganda, brainwashing the youths, rounding up people like sheep for political purposes... I felt so bad for the students being used this way. But I am very familiar with the communistic tactics to attack political opponents. The victims are almost always those who believe vehemently in the evil ideology. This made our effort on this front more valuable, especially now in America.
Kai Chen
------------------------------------------- From a Jay Chen supporter:
Please do not make false accusations without any evidence. The words that these high school students were not "put" into the mouths by anyone. There was no "rounding up" of high school students to this meeting for PRO-CHINA SLOGANS but rather a group of concerned well educated students getting together and defending a cultural program that they passionately cared about.
Kai, your patriotic words that back your extreme position on this Confucius Classroom contradicts itself. You wrote " If shutting people up is what you want, you have already been poisoned by the communist tactic of brainwashing" on the post above but are you doing the same thing? Getting rid of programs teaching the culture of China in fear of Communism in America? If this is the path all Americans should take- what makes us different from Communists? How does that make America the Land of The Free? Is this not propaganda? Is this not a "communist" tactic?
------------------------------------------- From Jay Chen:
Kai, thank you for reading my blog. It is unfortunate that you think everyone who does not agree with your extreme views and hate-filled speech has been brainwashed. What a lonely life you must lead.
Your reliance upon grandiose statements and patriotic verbiage are not fooling anyone. Whatever it is you are trying to accomplish, it is being thwarted by your own extremism, and it reflects very poorly upon yourself and the organization you are a part of.
I am very curious to learn more about your affiliations, and who is putting you up to this type of extremism. By the way, the eagle on your blog is actually chained and captive. You may want to choose a different picture.
------------------------------------------------ Kai Chen's Response:
Jay Chen and company:
First, please do not label your blog as "School Board Blog". You are misleading people to believe that your position represents the School Board's position. It seems your title/power is more important to you than your own integrity. Your political ambition is not unfamiliar to me, a person who has seen this too much before.
Secondly, the students you and your girlfriend rounded up for your political ambition are innocent and ignorant, much like the Red Guards during Mao's Cultural Revolution. I don't blame them. I pity them for they are the ultimate victims of your socialist/communist "New World Order" agenda.
The ones you try to shut up are free American citizens who acted upon their own individual conscience. The ones I try to warn not to be the pawns of your political agenda are ignorant teenagers who are eager to please the authority and you.
Indeed after all your research you will find I do act alone. But I am never lonely, for I have conscience and justice in my heart. The only one I have to answer and bow before is God. Power, money, popularity, fame mean nothing to me, unlike you and your cohorts on the School Board.
Indeed the eagle on my blog is bond by the chains of moral confusion, political correctness, group think and other negative traits of humanity. My task is to free her and make her realize her full potentials. The eagle indeed will die without freedom to fly.
Once again, please change your blog's title from "School Board Blog" to "Jay Chen's Blog".
With respect and thanks for posting here. Kai Chen
----------------------------------------------- From a Jay Chen supporter:
Quote from Kai Chen - "Indeed after all your research you will find I do act alone. But I am never lonely, for I have conscience and justice in my heart. The only one I have to answer and bow before is God. Power, money, popularity, fame mean nothing to me, unlike you and your cohorts on the School Board."
"God?" Is that how Li Hongzi refers to himself these days? I find it disturbing that a quasi-religious organization from China is attempting to influence U.S. education. Kai, you are right. There is brainwashing going on. But you are the victim of it. Get some medical help.
---------------------------------------------- Kai Chen's Response:
("God?" Is that how Li Hongzi refers to himself these days? I find it disturbing that a quasi-religious organization from China is attempting to influence U.S. education. Kai, you are right. There is brainwashing going on. But you are the victim of it. Get some medical help.) -- Quote from some anonymous coward.
When people attack Falungong practitioners, following the Chinese communist guidelines, they fail to see that Mr. Li Gongzhi is not the one who murdered millions upon millions of Chinese. While the West and America worship someone who was killed because of his righteousness, justice and morality - Jesus Christ, the Chinese worship the biggest mass murderer in human history - Mao. Mao's corps and portrait are still displayed on Tiananmen Square.
Attacking someone who merely believes in something different, in order to deny, avoid and cover-up the murderous culture and history under communism is a common tactic by the communist followers of Mao such as the one who posted this message.
That is why he will not reveal his true name, for America would revile someone like this - a coward who sneak attack and sucker-punch like the Japanese during WWII and 9/11 perpetrators. Watch out for people like this who will inflict more damage to America with the support of the Chinese communist government and a ubiquitous "political correctness".
Best to you all. Kai Chen
-------------------------------------------- From a reader:
Mr. Kai Chen, I read your blog with interest and share it with my friends. However, all this time I thought you were a Christian since you talk about God all the time. Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your savior or do you believe in Mr. Gongzhi. I await your answer eagerly.
------------------------------------------------- Kai Chen's Response:
Dear Reader:
Thanks for raising this question. I am never a FLG member or a believer in their doctrine. But I do believe in freedom of religion. As long as one does not hurt other individuals, one can believe in anything he/she wants.
I do believe in the spirit of Jesus Christ. "Only truth shall set you free." But I don't always agree with certain churches, such as the one Obama attended in Chicago, or the ones who believe that Christ is a socialist/communist, such as the People's Temple (Jone's Town tragedy)falsely lead people into suicidal misdeeds.
Indeed I do find it weird and perverse that someone is more concerned about Mr. Li Hongzhi with what he preaches than what Mao, the biggest mass murderer in human history, has committed in his atrocious anti-human crimes. It is indeed revolting to think someone who wants to attack Mr. Li and his practitioners more than the communist regime which still swallows millions today in China and in the world by supporting all the despotic regimes and threatening all the democracies (such as Taiwan).
I hope you are not one of those who is perverted in his moral judgment in questioning who and what I am. With respect. Kai Chen
-------------------------------------------- Kai Chen's Statement:
To Jay Chen:
You mention repeatedly your want to teach culture to American kids. What culture?
The ancient Chinese culture?
The ancient Chinese culture is a culture of despotism and dynastic cycles. What part of that culture do you want the American children to learn? Let me know the specifics. Chinese culture has never produced the concept of freedom. It has imbued into the Chinese population with fear of despotic rulers, passivity, stagnation in cultural development, tolerance of evil, moral confusion about right or wrong, truth or falsehood, good or evil.... The world should stay far away from such a negative and oppressive culture.
The modern Chinese culture?
What kind of modern political culture does China have? Communism/socialism/totalitarianism, period. If your fathers and grandfathers have been murdered by the Chinese regime, if your mothers and sisters have been raped by the Chinese regime, if millions upon millions of people have been tortured and damaged emotionally and psychologically..., yet the modern political culture wants the Chinese people to forget, to forgive, to numb themselves into oblivion, to tolerate more murders, tortures and mayhem, then what kind culture is it? Is it a culture you want to spread around the world, to teach American children, to numb their sense of justice and righteousness? If a billion people tolerate the killer and murderer of their family - Mao, and even worship him as some kind of patron saint, then what kind people are these? Should these people who close their eyes and all their senses to evil, just to survive, just to be able to climb the social ladder, have any moral right to teach your children? If a culture that preaches the power and money of the collective and those with authority, but ignores the trails of blood and dead bodies as the result of such an evil cult, do you want your children to be exposed to such a cult? If the Chinese today want to escape that Party-State with droves to come to the West and US for safety and a sense of peace, then why do you want to invite a culture that drives them to the US to our school district.
It just doesn't make any sense to learn from an outhouse people want to escape from. It is insane for people like you to use the contaminants and feces to pollute America which is relatively clean with freedom and human dignity still respected. Simply because you see a chaff in American bread, then you want to mix the Chinese feces into it. How insane can you be?
With respect. Kai Chen
----------------------------------------------- From Jay Chen:
Kai Chen,
It is clear that you have a very shallow and narrow grasp of Chinese and U.S. culture and history.
There are no perfect countries in this world. You have chosen to move to one that was built on the backs of African slaves and Chinese coolie labor, that interned Japanese Americans for no crime other than ancestry, that refused to allow non-whites and women to vote, and that most recently invaded another country based on false pretense.
As someone who seems so obsessed with justice and liberty, have you somehow managed to justify these atrocities in your mind? If so then you are sicker than your writings reveal.
True patriots do not need to manufacture enemies and rewrite history to their own liking and comfort. They recognize a country for all that it is, and all that it can become. I'm sorry Kai, but you are not a patriot.
It is sad that in your zeal to seem more loyal and more American than everyone else, you have adopted so much self-hatred. It is not necessary to mindlessly attack the country of your birth in order to prove that you are a "true" American. That type of acceptance is the beauty of the United States, and it is unfortunate that you do not understand that.
With warm regards, Jay Chen
---------------------------------------------- Kai Chen's Response:
To Jay Chen:
This message just exposed what a dangerous mindset you have and what a despotic vision you envision in your liberal world -- Moral equivalency of a legitimate government based on the consent of the governed and on the US Constitution with a government of Party-State based on bloodshed, repression and fear. Your "multi-culturalism" is exactly based on your erroneous premise that all cultures are equal and should be respected.
First, it is exactly based on the spirit of Declaration of Independence and US Constitution, America progressed from slavery toward freedom, mistakes have been made along the way. But using these mistakes to justify atrocities by despotism and tyranny shows your extreme moral confusion and corruption. To simply compare, not contrast US and China is a perverse approach to understanding of human history and the direction of human progress. Your view of the world mirrors the Chinese view of the world - everything is going nowhere but revolving around nothingness. This nihilistic view of the world dooms not only the Chinese society, it will doom anyone who takes such a view. So no wonder you don't give a damn about right or wrong, truth or falsehood, good or evil. To people like you who sees no meaning in life, who sees everything is relative, power/social status/money is what you worship and see as absolute. All the socialist/communist countries are essentially nihilistic. So are all the liberal leftists in America. This is why people like you as Obama's follower in his vision for America pursue mindlessly and soullessly to emulate China - a model of fast growth without liberty, justice and human dignity. People like you and Thomas Friedman of NY Times really admire the power the Chinese Party-State has.
It is too bad American college campuses have already been inundated by the morally perverse leftist professors who produce people like you. Now you want to take it further in your power to take American youths into the morass of socialism/communism and proudly declare you are only following some politically correct "diversity" doctrine. People like you in America should spend some months in the Chinese Laogai (gulag) to experience the fruits of the vision you so cherish. Then you can come back and tell me you still want to invite this kind society and mindset into the US to be learned by our youngsters.
Thanks for exposing yourself so thoroughly that you cannot really call yourself a closet communist. You are truly a communist with your dialectic goggles. Good luck in your pursuit of power.
Kai Chen
------------------------------------------------- From a Jay Chen supporter:
Mr. Kai Chen,
I understand your deep abhorrence with mainland China, but do you not see the burden of proof fallacy that lies on the crust of your entire argument?
To say that we were "rounded up" by Jay Chen's girlfriend just for this issue is quite fallacious. If you noticed, the majority of us did not speak, since this was the first time we attended such a board meeting, and it was at this meeting where we first met Ms. Karen Chang. Those signs were created by us, as concerned students of our school district. To go ahead and say that we are "brainwashed" lies on false pretenses.
If you have actually seen and read the course materials, then you would know that there is nothing that would demonstrate anything near "communist". I have seen the materials, and read through them. If you think books that teach a child how to read, write, or pronounce certain characters such as "motorcycle", or "rainbow" is communist, then I really do advise you to go back to primary school. Other materials include Sun Tzu's Art of War, and Laozi's work on Taoism--all created before common era, and are currently taught in many other schools and universities. Understand that Hanban, the organization which is the host of this Chinese course, has been working with College Board for many years already. Unless you find SAT, ACT, and AP tests to be "tainted with communism" now, then there really should be no problem with this course at Cedarlane Middle School. I have spoken with Mrs. Ezaki (the principal of Cedarlane) four days ago, and she told me that there were absolutely no complaints from both parents and students that were reported.
Mr. Kai Chen, I do agree with you that China does demonstrate human rights violation, along with censorship, but this does not distort the materials provided to us. Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth grade students are wise enough to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong.
I would find it beneficial if you read/re-read Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. The ideal communist regime is a system where the working class and every member of society rules democratically, not to be confused with totalitarianism.
What I find quite confusing is how you believe learning Chinese, even if it is simplified, would "fundamentally transform" the United States of America. Learning Chinese does not destroy "young minds with their sense of individuality, common sense and moral judgement", nor is this a trait of "socialism and communism".
Being culturally aware does not destroy a child's sense of individuality; if a child understands what happens in different nations, it would allow them to expand their knowledge (becoming more aware)--hence turning away from the fascist practice of a "singular collective identity". With regards to the destruction of our common sense and moral judgement, I do not see how this develops. I understand the injustices which occurs in China, along with the injustices that occur America's capitalist system, but does knowing this "destroy" my "common sense", and "moral judgement"? It would be very beneficial to see both sides of the argument, rather than sticking with such adamant beliefs that seems to be built on speculation.
-Jeffrey Tso
Graduate of Cedarlane Middle School in 2008, and current student at Glen A. Wilson High School
---------------------------------------------- Kai Chen's Response:
Dear Jeffery:
Thanks for posting this message.
It indeed shows America how confused and ignorant some Americans are with regard to the Communist ideology and its effect upon humanity.
This is why the current American political culture is sickened by the likes of Obama and his cohorts who preach socialism and worship the biggest mass murderer in human history - Mao.
Most Americans are confused morally and intellectually to think China is just another country, no different from America. Yet I challenge you all to demonstrate an iota of legitimacy of the Chinese government. To confuse recognition with legitimacy indeed shows this moral and intellectual confusion and corruption.
China does not have procedual legitimacy for it is never elected with the consent of the government. It is a regime based on guns, violence and threat of violence against its own citizens. It does not have moral legitimacy, for it is a criminal regime which killed 80 million innocent lives in China without any remorse or admittion to its own atrocities. Even Tiananmen Square Masscre in 1989 is still being covered up and a taboo subject in China. Persecution of minorities, dissidents, religious groups, Falungong practitioners is still continuing to this moment. "One Child Policy" with million upon millions of forced abortions and sterilizations, with millions up millions of infanticides is still being enforced.
Chinese history books are propaganda tools with perverted and twisted history. The more education you have in China, the more morally and historically hadicapped you will become.
Mao's image is everywhere in China, on Tiananmen Square, in the Chinese notes of currency, in school campuses..... Chinese flag with its one big star and four small stars symbolizing tyranny and unconditional submission of individuals to the governmental power flies everywhere in China. The children in China have to ware red scarves to show their loyalty to the communist government. If you are not connected with the communist party, you will not advance in society. Communist organizations are everywhere -- in churches, in law firms, in businesses, in schools, in every governmental organs....
China is not a nation. Yes, you heard right. China is a Party-State. Everything and everyone is China is a tool for the communist party to maintain its power and control over the Chinese people.
Yet, you and confused mind like yours want to view China as a normal country, a normal society, a normal government. What a joke! Yet the joke is on you. The joke is on America. What a pity.
When China and Islamic terrorists view America as the biggest enemy, Americans are numb and complacent to think otherwise, to turn a blind eye to the moral threat from China and terrorists. Political correctness indeed reign supreme now under the current Obama administration and a sicken political culture in society.
Wake up America! Wake up not just to outside threat from China and Islamic terrorism, but to your own moral confusion, ignorance toward socialism/communism, and your own passivity and inaction.
I, for one, will stand up for this great nation, for this last bastion of human freedom and hope. I hope more people will stand up with me and join me to fight America's enemies - domestic and foreign.
Best to you all. Give me liberty or give me death. Kai Chen
China does nothing that doesn’t benefit its politics, its governmental control of its people or its image. So why is it spending millions into promoting its Confucius Curriculum in the United States? Is it a desire to help Americans learn Chinese and the culture of China as is stated in the program advertising? No, says Kai Chen, an anti China activist, former Chinese basketball star, and author of One In A Billion: Journey Toward Freedom, who was forced to live under Communism. “China wants to infiltrate and teach communist thinking in America. Foolish Americans who ignore China’s history and abuse of its people, are allowing it.”
Chen was forcibly taken away from his parents when he was young. He had to live under harsh conditions as punishment for his parents who didn’t believe in Communism. He states that if American children are taught that China is a great place to live, work, and thrive without being told of its human rights abuses and taught about its true history and culture, they will be easy prey for China’s propaganda and its goal of world dominance.
China has done exquisite marketing of its program to schools and colleges all over the nation. Here is an example from the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district in Texas.
The Chinese government has awarded the district $60,000, split between L.D. Bell and Trinity high schools, that will pay for the program expansion. The grants came as China designated the schools as Confucius Classrooms, beginning in the fall. "One-third of the world either speaks Hindi or Mandarin," Superintendent Gene Buinger said. "We feel by offering the Asian language we are giving students an edge. Students starting classes in the seventh grade who continue through high school will be sought after by colleges, corporations and government agencies,” Buinger stated. Money from the award will set up the two classrooms and help pay for instruction and materials. The classrooms will also receive 1,000 volumes of books, including audio and multimedia materials to help students learn the language, history and culture of China.
According to Chen, there are many Communist terms and ideas in just the Chinese dictionary alone as well as in the books and teaching materials. "Here is an example," he explains. “Have you ever seen the food chain, Mao’s Kitchen?” he asks. Chen laughs sadly at this ironic name for a restaurant. Consider that Mao, who is even today revered in China, and was glorified by Michele Obama by putting his picture on an ornament on the White House Christmas Tree, killed over 60 million of his own people! He starved many of them to death. The only thing the Chinese people were fed was Communism,” states Chen who remembers being punished and tormented in school, forced to live in freezing cold and not having enough to eat.
“Also consider that China is sending over ethnic Chinese whose salaries are being paid by China.” He proclaims. “They will promote these Communist ideas as they have lived under them for years. Their salaries and lives depend on doing so.” Apparently American schools that opt for the program are not permitted by the Chinese government to use American Chinese teachers! Not permitted? Instead, school districts are laying off American teachers to hire those from China! “That alone should be a red flag for all school districts,” stated Chen. These same Chinese teachers are not certificated and thus an American teacher needs to be in attendance during the lessons raising the cost of education for parents and taxpayers in the district. Chinese teachers are being hired while American teachers are being laid off! It seems that China has already made an impact on the jobs in America! What will it do to the children?
Helen Sabin
----------------------------------------
An Email to a Concerned Parent:
Linda - I am sorry to hear about this proceeding in your son's school. I also see that you are a writer - good for you. I will have to order your books and read them.
I had talked to Kai Chen about this curriculum as my paper has assigned me to do a year long series of articles on Education. I saw him on Fox and was fascinated to hear his story and about the curriculum.
This Communist government curriculum is like that of the other "international" curriculum, International Baccalaureate, I have been writing about and which is somewhat the same way in terms of the demand for time and the stress on the children. Some parents have pulled their children out of the program due to these factors.
What American parents don't realize is that the Chinese government is infiltrating our country at the level where they will be most effective - the children. Confucius is reported to have said, raise up your children in the way you want them to go and they will not stray from the path. Mao followed precepts of Confucius who thought women were only good for child bearing - they were not to be educated.
If American children are "brainwashed" into thinking China is a great place, that it is a fun way to live, they will be like the Chinese today who have no idea what it means to live in freedom. We are headed that way under the current administration and it scares me to death. Read comments about what Chinese learn about Mao and you will see this reflected in the books your child will be reading:
Please contact Sean Hannity at Hannity@foxnews and ask him to do a segment on this curricula and invite you and Kai Chen to speak on the show to raise awareness of this insidious creeping of Chinese thought into the schools.
Some arguments you can write/speak to your board about are the following:
1. The true culture of China is not evident in the curriculum. Human right abuse are not mentioned anywhere in the curriculum.
2. American Chinese teachers can teach Chinese as easily and at less cost than an ethnic Chinese one. Students complain that they cannot understand their Chinese teachers when they speak English and thus have a hard time learning.
3. Ask parents if they want their children to stand and bow to their American teachers - and like in China are never protested against, are dishonored if they ask questions, etc. i.e. the teacher is always right.
4. Ask parents if they have talked to Chinese speakers who have lived under Communism and if they have actually looked at and read every discussion, lecture, etc that will be given.
5. Ask what is the culture studies going to entail - dances, food, costuming, ceremonies, etc or will the true human rights abuse culture be presented to kids.
6. What options exist for NOT putting your child into the curriculum. Threaten to sue if this happens and follow through. It would be a shame if you had to pull him out to attend a school in another area from where you live.
7. Go to your city council and ask them to raise the question of this curriculum as your son and others who don't want to learn Chinese may be forced to move. Ask them if they can put through a law or requirement about this matter?? Let those who want this program to move themselves to another school.
Ask if any of the board members have gone to China - and at whose cost? If so, is this a violation of school board rules about accepting free gifts. Kai Chen says many are taken to China, wined and dined and men are offered women for their stay. For most educators who are lower income and who don't have this experience they are swayed by the carefully crafted experience.
Please keep in touch and consider writing a few chapters on your experience with this curricula and what your school board does and join us in doing a book on the terrible effects of international curriculum on American children. The idea is great - learn a foreign language and something about the culture of the country but the implementation is not. In International Baccalaureate, for example, one Christian girl was told to read a book with sexually graphic language in it - it took the threat of a lawsuit to make IB back down and give her an acceptable alternative.
Right now I am working on International Baccalaureate (stay away from that also) and want to expand into the Confucius Curriculum and will use your information for the article coming up in August on CC and its effect on communities.
Thanks for writing and keep up the good fight! You might consider home schooling your child or putting him in such a group where he gets individualized attention and learns in a small group.
You are to be commended on speaking up for your son and actually being involved in what he should learn. By NOT giving children play time, the school is violating the very thing that is most effective in teaching children about life - play is vitally important to children and this school is denying it. Fight for your son and see if you can find an attorney to do a pro bono suit on your behalf.
The School District Superintendent informed me that it will take up to 10 days to gather the information requested in the list. Today is June 17, 2010. I will expect the arrival of the requested information by June 27, 2010.
Kai Chen: An Open Request List for the School Board
陈凯发函要求学区澄清真相
陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com
Dear Ms. Barbara Nakaoka: (Superintendent of Hacienda La Puente Unified School District)
June 17, 2010
In order to fully comprehend the scope and magnitude of implementing "Confucius Classroom" with its negative and harmful effect on school children, the entire process of contacting the Chinese government by certain School Board members should be sufficiently scrutinized. Hereby I formerly request the entire information regarding certain members on the School Board and their conduct with regard to this matter, especially with regard to their many trips to China and their interaction with their fellow members.
Request list:
1. How many trips did Mr. Norman Hsu make to China since he was elected as a member of the Board? To whom did he make the contact (mainly the Chinese government officials) with regard of "Confucius Classroom" both in the US and in China?
2. Who paid for these trips (air tickets)? Who paid for his other expenditures (hotel, meals, banquets, traveling, entertainment, services rendered..) while he was inside China?
3. How many members on the School Board were approached by Mr. Hsu and invited by him to have gone to China? Who paid for their expenses (air tickets, hotel, meals, banquets, traveling, entertainment, services rendered...) both from US and in China? How many members on this Board have been approached by the Chinese government officials with financial offers to them and to the School District? Please list each member's specific expenditures.
4. Is there any member(s) on the School Board who is offered free China trip before the vote (on Confucius Classroom) took place? If yes, who, when and where did these offers take place?
5. Has any government official(s) from China or the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles visited the school(s) in regard? If any, how many times and when?
Since publicly elected school officials should be held accountable for their conduct, these requests should be met by Hacienda La Puente Unified School District without delay. Any negligence and attempted delay or cover-up will be recorded and sent to proper authorities.
I also tagged the book. If you like the review, I would appreciate a yes vote on "was this review helpful?" (voting buttons under the review). Helpful votes improve my status as an Amazon reviewer.
Still no word on the Socrates decision. I've been emailing conservative authors and publishing trying to interest them in writing about the Confucius Institute and the threat to American students. So far, no responses. I'll keep trying.
Linda
-- L.C. Evans, Author http://lcevans.com Now available from Amazon.com
Books published:
Talented Horsewoman Jobless Recovery Night Camp We Interrupt This Date
-------------------------------------------------
Book Review - One in a Billion by Kai Chen
书评： 【一比十亿 - 通往自由的旅程】
Linda Evans
http://lcevans.com
What if you were born in China during the time of the "Cultural Revolution," yet you yearned for freedom and happiness that are not possible under communist rule? This was the dilemma of Kai Chen, author of One in a Billion: Journey Toward Freedom.
Mr. Chen writes movingly of his early years and separation from his parents who had been removed from good jobs and relocated to a city in the far north of China. Their crime? Having connections with another political party and having family in Taiwan. Eventually Mr. Chen and his two brothers were reunited with their parents. In the new city they suffered incredible hardships--lack of sanitary facilities, a tiny apartment, extremely cold and harsh winters, and not enough food or heat. Eventually Mr. Chen was recruited to play basketball for China, thanks to his athletic skill and his 6' 7" height. But even as a top player, he chafed under the petty and arbitrary decisions of the communists and resented the life he and his family were forced to accept. He was often in trouble for expressing his views and refusing to knuckle under. He was made to confess his failings at political meetings, where he was called bourgeois and taken to task for being too much of an individual. His brother was denied to right to attend college because of his family connections. Even to move from one city to another or to request a change of jobs required months and endless struggles with countless bureaucrats. As Mr. Chen grew from a child to a man, his yearning for freedom solidified and became his burning need. He knew he could never achieve happiness if he wasn't free. Eventually he found the freedom he craved in the United States. He is now an American.
If you want a firsthand account of life under communist rule in the 50's up to the early 80's this is the book for you. Highly recommended, especially for those who take for granted the privilege of living in a free country.
------------------------------------------------
From Kai Chen:
6/18/2010
Thanks so much Linda for your excellent review of my book. I appreciate very much. I have voted "yes" on your comment being very helpful.
Last night I went to the School Board meeting again in Hacienda District. The other side, the school board members, organized a counter attack by using the communist tactic: They call an organizer to round up a few high school students, putting words in their mouths to shout pro-China slogans in the meeting. Even before the Confucius Classroom program is implemented, the communist tactics have already been used - propaganda, brainwashing the youths, rounding up people like sheep for political purposes... I felt so bad for the students being used this way. But I am very familiar with the communistic tactics to attack political opponents. The victims are almost always those who believe vehemently in the evil ideology. This made our effort on this front more valuable, especially now in America.
I am very grateful to have people like you to stand up with me and with truth and freedom. Indeed America is in grave danger and America is under vicious attacks. We must fight back.
Is the "China Fantasy" starting to get deflated by reality? Three years ago, Jim Mann's provocative book of that title identified the "China Fantasy" as the dogmatic belief of many Western political and commercial elites that China's economic liberalization and growth would lead inevitably to democracy at home and responsible conduct abroad. The operative word was "inevitably" -- the assumption being that China's remarkable economic success would automatically produce a middle class that demanded greater political rights, and that China's growing integration with the global economy would produce benign and responsible international behavior. Based on this assumption, the corollary policy prescription for the West was to pursue a policy of engagement and encouragement towards China's rise.
This paradigm seems to be shifting. I recently participated in a conference in Europe on China, attended by a cross-section of policy, academic, and commercial leaders from Europe, the United States, and China, and came away struck by palpable attitude changes in at least three dimensions. Taken together, these are signposts that the previous conventional wisdom on China is coming under question:
European attitudes. Many of the Europeans present voiced a pronounced skepticism towards China, both for the Chinese Communist Party's ongoing refusal to liberalize the political system as well as for what they perceive as China's irresponsible international posture. Various reasons were suggested for this change in European attitudes from even two years ago, but the most salient one seems to be European ire over China's obstreperous conduct at last year's Copenhagen climate change conference. If Europe has a litmus test for international good citizenship, it is climate change. But China's behavior on that front seems to be prompting increased European frustration with China on other issues as well, including human rights, Iran's nuclear program, and China's military build-up.
Business attitudes. American and European business leaders with extensive China experience also expressed significant disillusionment. As one noted, whereas 5 or 10 years ago the business community was virtually unanimous in its enthusiasm for the China market and in support of closer political ties between China and the West, now the consensus is fractured. Causes for this disenchantment include widespread corruption, intellectual property rights violations, the protectionism of the new "indigenous innovation" policy, and the general restraints on private sector flourishing imposed by China's state capitalism model. To be sure, many multinational companies remain profitably invested in what is still the world's largest emerging market, and many more are eager to get in. But Google's recent exit from China may not be the only one, and some multinationals looking at China are weighing a new set of cost-benefit analyses.
Chinese attitudes. If assessments in the West are changing, so are elite Chinese attitudes. Most of the Chinese participants were from universities or think-tanks (i.e. not People's Liberation Army hard-liners), but even they displayed a nationalistic confidence and rather defiant posture towards the West, especially the United States. At its most benign, this is an understandable attitude of a proud rising power. But in too many ways it is not benign, especially considering that the Chinese participants took worrisome stances on issues such as human rights, Taiwan, Tibet, mercantilist nationalism, Iran's nuclear program, shielding North Korea, and especially the security "threat" purportedly posed by the United States.
The erosion of the "China fantasy" does not mark from a precise date, but a watershed moment ironically may have been the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Anticipated as China's grand arrival on the global stage, the Olympics were by many measures a major success -- and not just for people named "Michael Phelps." Yet surrounding the Olympics were constant reminders of Beijing's authoritarianism, whether the petulant rhetorical attacks on Tibet supporters, the draconian efforts at pollution reduction, the omnipresent surveillance, and the tight control on any voices of dissent. Put it this way -- as obnoxious are those %&*!@ vuvuzelas at the World Cup, they are also the sound of a free society. You can bet they would have been banned in Beijing.
The end of the "China fantasy" does not necessarily prescribe a wholesale shift in the free world's posture towards China -- just a more realistic one. For the United States, this has several policy implications:
Remember that "engagement" doesn't just apply to the government to government relationship with Beijing, but also to the people of China. A forward-looking China policy must include increased support for the seeds of civil society in China -- especially young entrepreneurs, religious leaders, human rights activists, students and scholars. Much more than the CCP, they are the best hope for the future of China. Keep cultivating our alliance partners in Asia, and also build ties with emerging powers. Nations as diverse as Australia, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, and India have two things in common: they are wary of China's aspirations to regional hegemony, and they desire closer ties with the United States.
Strengthen our defense capabilities to deter China's emergence as a viable peer competitor. The problem with China's military build-up is not just that it is non-transparent, but that much of it seems designed specifically to counter American force projection and capabilities. For the United States, this means everything from improved cyber-security, command and control system protection, and anti-ship missile defense to, yes, a sufficient F-22 force to preserve air superiority.
Get our debt under control. Not that the United States needs yet another reason to tackle its mind-blowing $13 trillion debt, but the fact that China owns close to $1 trillion of it is a further concern. The debate will continue over whether this debt financing imbalance actually leaves China or the United States more vulnerable in the aggregate (see this Dan Drezner article for a thoughtful analysis), but at a minimum it is a strategic constraint on the United States.
None of this precludes continued bilateral cooperation with China on important issues, or continued support for sound investment in such a vast market. The "China fantasy" was based more on hope than experience, but the benefit of recent experiences with state capitalism is the chance to replace hope with prudence.
World Tribune: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/s0528_06_14.asp
Suddenly, 'The China model' is not looking so progressive
中国模式行不通
An outbreak of strikes in China's high-tech industries may not constitute the Marxist " revolutionary situation". But they must alarm Beijing leadership, gripped in an unresolved transfer to so-called fourth generation leadership.
Strikes are technically illegal in China. But the most publicized, a series of "walk abouts" at Honda, continues despite repeated settlement announcements. The strikes have been spreading — so far largely to foreign owned companies. They come after government actions — including the conviction for bribery of four top executives of the mining giant, Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto — have alarmed foreign investors fearing a wave of xenophobia.
That they are taking place in China's critical high technology sector is another blow. For while economists debate how much Beijing's economic miracle is export-led, there can be no doubt it depends heavily on markets in the U.S., the EU, Japan and Australasia. Those markets are already jeopardized by the attenuated worldwide recovery, now threatening to go into double-dip recession.
The combined effects could test the very essence of "the China model" — recently highly touted by Beijing and some Third Worlders, and even some admirers in the West. Until the real estate bubble and all that hung on it burst in the U.S., there was a growing worldwide acceptance of "the Washington consensus" — "neo-liberal" policies including market economics, private ownership and representative government. Beijing has tried to shortchange it with partial economic liberalization but effectively limiting civil liberties beyond repeated feeble efforts to "democratize" the local workings of the Communist Party monopoly. The absolute sine qua non of the strategy was encouragement of massive foreign investment with its transfer of technology and boosting exports through an undervalued exchange and subsidies.
Furthermore, the strikes seemingly have been carried out by leaderless workers using tools of the digital revolution which Beijing welcomed for economic development but which threaten its political control. Not even a reputed quarter of a million government agents monitoring the internet blocked the strikers.
The implications are enormous for a leadership still trying to hang on to tattered Soviet planning. Most high value Chinese exports — the generally accepted estimate in Beijing's artful rendering of statistics is 65 percent — originate in the Mainland branches of foreign multinationals. That a very large proportion of these is Taiwanese-owned — there may be as many as a half a million Republic of China [Taipei] managers working on the Mainland — is again political dynamite. [Beijing and the current Taiwan Administration — against bitter opposition — is trying to work out a free trade pact to further economic integration to preserve Taiwan's own exports.]
A major strike has occurred at Foxconn International, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd., now Taiwan's largest company presided over by the Island's richest man, Terry Gou. The company which makes electronic components was never noted for its largesse. [Among it products is Apple Inc's iPhone.] Management also has been struggling with a spate of suicides which focused attention on poor working conditions. It has now announced a 20 percent raise and an eventual doubling of wages on the assembly line, a part of which it is negotiating to pass on to its customers.
The People's Daily, the Communist Party spokesman, in unusual self-criticism, called on the All-China Federation of Trade Unions to act as mediator — in fact, a different role for what has been a government control bureaucracy. As a response to the unrest [and to a spurt in consumer prices], from July 1, the minimum wage in Beijing will rise by 20 percent from 800 yuan [$117] a month, while the minimum wage in Shanghai has recently risen to 1,120 yuan per month [$164.20]. Guangdong province, including the center of China's exports, the Pearl River Delta, currently has the highest hourly minimum wage, 9.9 yuan [$1.44), according to official media. Of course, in the welter of corruption surrounding all Chinese economic activity, it's doubtful this writ extends to thousands of subcontractors, especially in low-priced garment and other labor-intensive manufacturing.
It has been argued that "the China price" is unassailable given the vast differences between labor costs in China and Western, Japanese and South Korean manufacturing. But that claim could now be jeopardized with some Japanese companies already looking to Vietnam and other South Asian alternative assembly sites.
Above and beyond the immediate issues, however, this new phenomenon questions whether Beijing can continue its half-pregnant love affair with capitalism. It is probably true, as some Chinese sources maintain that working conditions in Taiwanese and Japanese-owned industry were merciless. That would be a function of their more efficient management and worker discipline imported from their home-based manufacturing combined with abysmally low Chinese wages. But a social revolution has been taking place wherein migrant workers from the countryside are striving to become legal, permanent urban dwellers with equal rights and access to the limited benefits of the coastal economic boom.
Even some Chinese economists quietly have argued against the export-led strategy as discouraging the growth of domestic markets and indigenous research and development. They now may get more of a hearing. But any reorganization of the economy faces enormous difficulties and would threaten the regime's political control.
Sol W. Sanders, (solsanders@cox.net), writes the 'Follow the Money' column for The Washington Times on the convergence of international politics, business and economics. He is also a contributing editor for WorldTribune.com and EAST-ASIA-INTEL.com. An Asian specialist with more than 25 years in the region, Mr. Sanders is a former correspondent for Business Week, U.S. News & World Report and United Press International.
Production ends 30-year trek to bring pic to screen
By DAVE MCNARY
The long-brewing feature version of author Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" has begun shooting in Los Angeles as a $5 million indie produced by John Aglialoro and Harmon Kaslow. Cameras began rolling over the weekend on a five-week shoot for "Atlas Shrugged Part One" with Paul Johansson directing from Brian Patrick O'Toole's script. Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn't in production by Saturday.
A spokesman for Aglialoro -- the CEO of exercise equipment producer Cybex -- said there will be at least one more "Atlas Shrugged" shot after the current film's completed. Rand's massive novel is divided into three parts, each consisting of 10 chapters.
"Atlas," published in 1957, takes place in a dystopian version of the U.S. in which society has collapsed as the government gains increasing controlover industry. The decline occurs while the most productive citizens, led by John Galt, begin vanishing.
Johansson ("One Tree Hill") portrays Galt. The lead role of railroad executive Dagny Taggart has gone to Taylor Schilling ("Mercy) and the part of Henry Reardon is being played by Grant Bowler ("Ugly Betty").
Michael Lerner ("A Serious Man") portrays lobbyist Wesley Mouch and director Nick Cassavetes has signed on for the Richard McNamara role. Other key cast include Matthew Marsdan as James Taggart and Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt.
"Atlas" also stars Edi Gathegi, Jsu Garcia, Rebecca Wisocky, Ethan Cohn, Patrick Fischer, Neill Barry, Christina Pickles and Nikki Klecha.
There have been unsuccessful attempts to bring "Atlas Shrugged" to the bigscreen and TV dating back to the 1970s.
In 2007, Angelina Jolie was to star in a Lionsgate version, with Vadim Perelman directing and rewriting "Atlas Shrugged" from a script penned by Randall Wallace. Husband-and-wife team Howard and Karen Baldwin and Media Talent Group's Geyer Kosinski were set to produce.
关于中共党奴朝的两部好莱坞影片(The Karate Kid and Red Dawn)的再制暴露了美国公众舆论界里两种对共产中国的观念的冲突。 亲共媚共的美左与反共抗共的美右在此形成了鲜明的对差。 “孔子课堂”引起的容共与抗共的争议也是美国目前正处在对中共政策的岔路口前的一个体现。 --- 陈凯
The remake of these two new Hollywood films (The Karate Kid and Red Dawn) regarding China reveals the conflicting views of American public toward communism/socialism - Chinese style. The left is for appeasement and cooperation. The right is for resistance and inoculation. The contrast between the two can't be more conspicuous. By the same token, the controversy over “Confucius Classroom" program by Chinese government in American high schools reveals the same conflict among American public. American China policy makers are at a cross road. And the stake can't be higher. The scenario similar to that before WWII is looming large. America: Please brace yourself for an unprecedented storm. --- Kai Chen
What Do The Karate Kid And Red Dawn Remakes Tell Us About America's Relationship With China?
美国舆论被中共党奴朝两面性迷乱
By Katey Rich: 2010-06-10 17:09:13
In 1984 Ronald Reagan was re-elected based on, so far as I can tell, two things: he was protecting us from the vicious Soviet armies abroad, and he was making us all rich back at home. That same year two different movies came forward to represent each of those 80s-era fears and desires. In Red Dawn, average high school kids took up arms for their country to fight off Soviet troops that, for some reason, were occupying a town in the middle of Colorado. In The Karate Kid, an average teenager landed himself in a suburb packed with upwardly mobile 80s types, and straddling the ever-widening gap between the middle and upper class, overcame it through martial arts.
At the time those movies didn't have much in common beyond a general appeal to young audiences, but 26 years later they're both back as remakes, and with an odd central connection: China. This Friday the new Karate Kid film transplants the action to Beijing, where young Dre (Hollywood progeny Jaden Smith) is trained in kung fu and woos a girl named Meiying, but basically all the other details stay the same. Beijing is depicted as a beautiful, modern, wholly accepting city, and a place where an American family would have no problem resettling. While the Red Dawn remake isn't due until later this year (or whenever MGM gets it together to release it), it was in the news earlier this week when Chinese newspapers criticized the fact that their country has replaced the USSR as the villain of choice. Two remakes, two different stories, two completely contradictory views of China.
What's interesting isn't that two Hollywood movies have different, somewhat incoherent political viewpoints-- that happens all the time. What's interesting is that these two films, apparently not on purpose, seem to crystallize the paradox of the current American attitude toward China. It's a country we simultaneously fear and marvel at, a country that processes our recyclables and makes our electronics, that puts on incredible spectacles like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and that we know is capable of obliterating us entirely if we ever gave it a good reason. It would have been insane to set the original Karate Kid in the USSR as the Wolverines fought them off in Red Dawn, but the same reason China wooed the new Karate Kid is the same reason they're not quite our enemies now: we need China's money, and to get it we need to at least pretend they're our friends.
Following the money is how the new Karate Kid wound up in China to begin with-- the China Film Group agreed to help finance the picture, and in return the movie got to shoot at some fantastic locations with the government cooperating fully. It isn't just Hollywood heading to China with hands out though-- even as China cuts off military ties to the United States, our Treasury Secretary is asking Congress to help build our economic relationship with the country. The ever-shifting politics make China a whole different beast than the USSR was in the 80s, and for that reason most Americans-- including the audiences for both of these new movies-- haven't quite figured out how to feel about that massive country west of California.
In their original incarnations The Karate Kid and Red Dawn represented two very different kinds of fantasy, one about finding acceptance in a new home and the other about saving the world. The new versions presumably represent those same fantasies along with one more-- that the American relationship with China is simple and definable. The fact that they go in opposite directions only shows how far from the truth that is. We rely on Hollywood to help us filter and understand the world around us, but as our government and our businesses still struggle to balance the good and bad China has to offer us, the movies have fallen into the same trap. The Karate Kid and Red Dawn remakes, with their vastly different takes on what China represents for the U.S., have perfectly captured the average American attitude toward China. We have no idea what to believe, and for the moment, neither does Hollywood.
A True American(a free being), Former Pro-Basketball player in China, National Team, August 1st Team (1970-1979). Graduated from UCLA in Political Science, 1986. Staunch Anti-communism/socialism/despotism activist. Author of "One in a Billion - Journey toward Freedom". "My Way"(my life story)DVD produced and released in 2008 by NTDTV.
一个真正的美国人（自由人）；前八一队、中国国家队男篮队员(1970-1979)；1986年毕业于加州大学政治系；坚定的反共反专制/崇尚自由人士；【一比十亿】一书的作者；【我的路】四集视频（通往自由的旅程）2008年由新唐人电视台【人杰地灵】制作播放。
One in a Billion - Journey toward Freedom by Kai Chen "一比十亿--通往自由的旅程" 陈凯 著
Click Bookcover to Order Kai Chen's Autobiography: One In A Billion - Journey toward Freedom (The Story of a Pro-Basketball Player in China) 点击书面网上购书/陈凯自传“一比十亿--通往自由的旅程”（一个中国职篮球员的故事）
Never Forget 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre 绝不要忘记中共反人类罪行：The Spirit of the Tank Man “坦克人”与天安门大屠杀视频
Click Photo to View Video Clips on Tank Man and Tiananmen Massacre 点击照片观看“坦克人”精神与六四天安门大屠杀视频
Global Museum on Communism 全球共产邪恶博物院 Learn/Educate Yourself on Evil of Communism 勿忘共产罪行，请点击如下链锁
Click DVD Cover to Watch Video "Killer Chic" (Chinese Subtitles, Translation by Kai Chen) 点击DVD画面观看视频" 崇魔的时尚"/陈凯访谈（中文字幕，陈凯翻译）
Video Program with Kai Chen Interview on Danger of Socialism in America 珊瑚崖对陈凯采访视频：社会主义对自由的不容置疑的威胁
Click Photo to View Video of Kai Chen Interview with Coral Ridge Ministries on Danger of Socialism in America 点击画面观看珊瑚崖圣训网的最新视频节目及对陈凯的个人采访 - 社会主义对自由的不容置疑的威胁
陈凯演讲： 从天安门广场到自由广场 Kai Chen Speech: From Tiananmen Square to Freedom Square
点击画面观看陈凯演讲： 从天安门广场到自由广场 Kai Chen Speech: From Tiananmen Square to Freedom Square
My Basketball Career in China 我的篮球生涯-八一男篮/国家男篮
Click Picture to See Photos from My Basketball Career in China 点击照片观看我的篮球生涯照片
“自由人”对抗“中国人”- 陈凯中文文摘集萃 Kai Chen's Signature Articles in Chinese - "Free Being vs. Chinese"
绝真实的丑态：一个崇尚虚无的受辱无尊严的奴才居然也每一刻都奢望着将造奴作奴的文化心态繁衍到世界的每一个角落。"Free Beings" vs. "Chinese" - Click photo to read Kai Chen articles in Chinese 点击照片阅读陈凯主要中文文章
屎虼螂的颂歌/陈凯谈中国专制文化心态 Sing in Praise of Dung Beetles/CK on China's Despotic Culture
Click Photo to Read Related Articles in Chinese on Chinese Despotic/Slave Culture/Mindset 点击屎虼螂图片阅读关于华语系人们专制心态与奴文化的中文文章
自由vs.专制 = 记忆vs.失忆 Freedom vs. Tyranny = Memory vs. Amnesia
Click Picture to See Wonderful Photos & Read the Article 点击照片观看陈凯“自由vs.专制 = 记忆vs.失忆”一文与家庭照片, 视频与文章
子女不是父母财产，人不是国家政府财产 Children Are Not Parents' Property, Human Beings Are Not Governments' Property
Click Picture to See Photos and Read the Article 点击照片观看陈凯“子女不是父母财产”一文与照片
从"文字笼罐"到"文字狱"-陈凯论中文的弊病危害 Chinese Language Fosters Despotism and Tyranny
Click Picture to Read All Articles about Chinese Language Defects and Harm 点击照片阅读所有关于中文语言弊病危害的文章
逐毛像签名录及媒体报道 Petition Signatures to Remove Mao Statue from Nixon Library/Museum & Media Coverage
请点击漫画进入签名录并阅读媒体报道 Click cartoon to view all the signatures on petition & read media coverage
Revisit 2007 Mao's Portrait Incident in Alhambra 重温2007年阿罕布拉市“毛像事件”
Click Painting to Review 2007 "Mao Portrait Incident" in Alhambra 点击画面重温2007年春节阿罕布拉市“毛像事件”
Protest at Mao's Kitchen 抗议道德腐败的“毛的厨房”
Click Picture to View Video, Photos and Article about "Mao's Kitchen" Protest 点击照片观看抗议“毛的厨房”的视频，照片与文章
Kai Chen Protests "Confucius Classroom" 陈凯抗议“孔学堂”
Click Photo to Review All Related Articles/Reports about Kai Chen Protesting "Confucius Classroom" in American Schools 点击照片阅读有关陈凯抗议“孔学堂”的文章与报道
Olympic Freedom T-shirt Global Movement 奥运自由衫全球运动
Click T-shirt to Learn about My Olympic Freedom T-shirt Global Movement Video Clips, Photos and Article. 点击自由衫观看视频，照片与文章
“国歌”- 安.兰德 著，陈凯 译 "ANTHEM" by Ayn Rand, Translation by Kai Chen
Click Bookcover to Read "Anthem" in Chinese, Translation by Kai Chen 点击书面阅读安. 兰德“国歌”一书，陈凯翻译
My Daughter's (Alexandra Chen)Life in Zambia 
