Signese

Interesting. From this bio piece of the calligrapher, I would expect this couplet to be adorning the front door of a subdistrict office.

胡不字！

That video requires a health warning. Click on it at your own risk.

A health warning?

Yes. Nothing like a bout of nausea to start off the day.

Ignore the visuals, listen to the joke, it's funny!

Why would that make you nauseous? Jealousy? It's a funny story, if a bit tame, and 大山 is indeed just very good at Chinese (I can't judge his 相声, but people are laughing so it must be alright).

Roddy says we should play nice now. Besides, there are plenty of other threads here bashing him.

 

But some things should not be forgotten.

 

For most, June 4 was a massacre. For DS, it was an opportunity.

42 minutes ago, 889 said:

For most, June 4 was a massacre. For DS, it was an opportunity.

That sounds damning. What do you mean?

"In a documentary, filmed in 1996 by the Canadian National Film Board, Dashan is in a pedal boat on Beijing's imperial lakes, explaining his phenomenon and refuting claims he is an apologist for the communist regime.

 

"His fledgling career was only six months old when the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, on June 4, 1989, to confront pro-democracy students, some of whom studied alongside him at Beijing University, and their supporters.

 

"As Beijing brooded and the world looked on in shock, many foreigners were either kicked out of or left the Middle Kingdom. Rowswell was one of the first to return.

 

"'I didn't see staying away or coming back as a statement for or against the Chinese government,' he says in the film. 'I frankly find people who believe foreigners should not have gone back to China as just stupid. It is so imbecilic, I cannot argue against it. Dashan is neither pro-Chinese government nor against it.'"

 

http://www.scmp.com/article/731167/acting-fool

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/akadashan/24370226990/in/photostream/

 

There's long been a perception that the Chinese authorities have eased DS's way because of his support at a time when China was abandoned by many other foreigners.

Interesting article, thanks. I don't know much about Dashan, but judging from that article it seems to be the Mo Yan discussion all over again: does a famous artistic person have an obligation to call out the bad sides of the country they are working in? I suppose being Canadian, Rowswell has more obligation there than Mo Yan who has more at stake.