roddy Posted July 26, 2003 at 04:14 PM Report Posted July 26, 2003 at 04:14 PM Don't worry, it was in 1971 I just accidentally came across this article http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2003-07-26/23541418698.shtml on sina.com.cn. It seems to have been written by a couple of foreigners who were accused of trying to document the dark side of Chinese society after taking photos of old people sitting in a lane playing chess. All in Chinese, but I found it quite interesting reading. Roddy Quote
ChouDoufu Posted July 28, 2003 at 06:45 PM Report Posted July 28, 2003 at 06:45 PM Here's a partial (really poor) translation of the first two paragraphs. I only read it once and skimmed it without using my dictionary which is at home.. it's a pretty weak translation, but It gives you an idea of the incident some. Arriving in Nanjing one bright sunny morning, my companion and I walked through the wooden doors(?) of a restaurant. _____ entered an alleyway near a new intersection. Under the ___ of a large courtyard, a few old men at the ___ were in the middle of a game of Chinese Chess. The everyday life of Chinese in small alleyways everyday life is (fengqing), for a westerner like myself, it's very fresh and makes me want to take a few pictures of the (minju). (Jiejing) and the Old men gathered for the picture. Just while I was enthusiastically taking a picture, several older men suddenly came over and noisily took hold [not sure here] of my camera. Soon, the surrounding area was filled with peolpe, with everyone ____ rebuking me "(?) your taking pictures of China's bad side [sorry i'm just guessing the meaning here from context.]." From within this group emereged one person who took us to the police station. The officer there grabbed my camera ____; I nervously cleared my throat (?ti dao le sang zi yan), afraid the officer would make us oppose our counterrevolutionary behavior or ____ [sorry, no idea.. no dictionary]... When he thankfully didn't open my camera, I let out my breath. [ i might be totally wrong! ha ha!] The officer first asked me which country I was from. I replied, "Canada". "What country is that? Where is it?" I replied: in North America. He vigilantly rose, and said [?], "You're an American Imperialist [capitalist? something bad-ist]." I was shocked [?] and explained myself: "I'm not an American imperialist. I'm a Canadian. It's to the north of America and is a seperate independent nation. Have you heard of Doctor Bai Qiu En? [???I have no idea who that is.]? He's also a Canadian. The officer heard "Bai Qiu En" and his attitude cooled down some. "Are you one of Bai Qiu En's relatives?" Completely surprised, I answered, "I'm not his relative. I'm just from the same birthplace." He followed up asking, "You don't look like Bai Qiu En, you weren't sent from a foreign country to cause insurrection in China, were you?" It was best for me to deny it. The officer's attitude was becoming seriously and he said to me [sorry.. zhi ze wo shuo]: "First you never came to the chinese government branch to allow yourself to take pictures. This is illegal behavior. Second, you didn't take pictures of out beautiful rivers and mountains, you didn't go to [the places where we are imporving society?] to take pictures, you didn't take pictures of us arresting revolutionaries,... , but you instead entered China's backwards alleys and took pitures of China's dark side. [something about: you gotta show some lovin' to my country... ] I'm tired of doing a poor translation... if people really want to get this article translated, let me know and I'll work on the translation and actually look up the words and phrases I don't know... Quote
confucius Posted July 29, 2003 at 04:59 AM Report Posted July 29, 2003 at 04:59 AM I read the Chinese article. I think it's a bunch of bamboo shoots. (Chinese B.S.) I was using that "Dr. Bethune" line on Chinese cops long ago when this writer was doing fang pi through kaidangku. Sina.com has a reputation for churning out this rubbish. It's still good practice for reading characters but take the content with a grain of salt. Quote
holyman Posted July 31, 2003 at 07:28 AM Report Posted July 31, 2003 at 07:28 AM didnt read the article, just some filling up the blanks on doufu's writing... fengqing: could mean scenery, lifestyle if describing scenery, can be used on females to mean the feminine side. so a dumb guy who didnt know how to please women are deemed lack of fengqing or didnt understand fengqing. minju: traditional chinese houses. different everywhere. if it's in beijing it usually means the 'sihe yuan', in mongolia it'll be the tent. jiejing: street scenes. everyday life. the person who brought them to the police station was probably some street council member. they had a street council or something(for political propaganda mainly, plus helping out in the neighbourhood) every neighbourhood. no he didnt clear his throat. it means something like his balls are at his throat, very nervous. anti revolutionary behaviour, something not welcomed in the 70's, meaning intelligence, anti commie or anything thing to hinder the socialists development of china. should be imperialists, the common description for usa and uk. usually implying someone out to take a piece of chinese land. zhizhe woshuo: point his finger at me and spoke. quite funny thou... Quote
TSkillet Posted August 4, 2003 at 03:01 PM Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 03:01 PM Ah, Dr. Norman Bethune! Canada's only revolutionary martyr. He was in China during the Sino-Japan War and was saving people - he died when he had some sort of problem with a blood transfusion (wrong blood type? didn't have his blood type? I forget) Well, at least a telephone didn't fall on his head like poor Lei Feng. Quote
roddy Posted August 4, 2003 at 03:34 PM Author Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 03:34 PM Well, at least a telephone didn't fall on his head like poor Lei Feng. Wasn't Lei Feng run over by a car driven by some bloke named Lao Zhang? I see to remember a song about it. . . Roddy Quote
TSkillet Posted August 4, 2003 at 05:46 PM Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 05:46 PM Telephone? Curse my hands. Telephone pole. The story as I remember it was that Lao Zhang and Lei Feng were in the same army truck - and the truck his a telephone pole (or electricty pole - how many telephone poles were there in Lei Feng's day anyways) and the pole fell on Lei Feng's head and killed him. And then all his army mates had smelly socks because they had gotten too used to Mr. Lei waking up early to wash them. Quote
holyman Posted August 4, 2003 at 05:53 PM Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 05:53 PM yeah he was ran over... but he was also made a martyr for propaganda needs. in real life it as said that he wasnt really so perfect. Quote
TSkillet Posted August 4, 2003 at 08:31 PM Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 08:31 PM holyman - I got 20 bucks that Lei Feng didn't really exist. Quote
holyman Posted August 4, 2003 at 11:05 PM Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 11:05 PM i think he probably did cos there are more and more files and pics of him released recently, not all positive reports though. he wasnt really a poor man's son as required for propaganda during the cultural revolution. ie., not the really 'solid' family background. he's not really that ascetic kinda person as required by the 'party' cos he had got himself a pretty watch and some other small booty, and i think he actually came from a family with some 'party influence', son of a rather powerful local 'gan'bu' or something. Quote
TSkillet Posted August 4, 2003 at 11:41 PM Report Posted August 4, 2003 at 11:41 PM okay - maybe SOME guy named Lei Feng existed. but i highly doubt he got up early to wash socks. or sweep the floor of the tent. Quote
holyman Posted August 5, 2003 at 01:04 AM Report Posted August 5, 2003 at 01:04 AM that i agree... some kind of made up stories. Quote
cometrue Posted October 26, 2003 at 04:21 PM Report Posted October 26, 2003 at 04:21 PM Well, at least a telephone didn't fall on his head like poor Lei Feng. Wasn't Lei Feng run over by a car driven by some bloke named Lao Zhang? I see to remember a song about it. . . Roddy lOl, its so funny, Roddy, the song u have heard is not the real story about leifeng, its only a joking,haha, the song's name is north-easterners r all leifeng, its kidding leifeng actually, bcoz u know leifeng is a north easterner... ( the whole song was sung in north eastern accent, and not exactly grammar standard ) 东北人都是活雷锋 老张开车去东北 撞了！肇事司机耍流氓，跑了！ 多亏一个东北人, 送到医院缝五针 好了！ 老张请他吃顿饭，喝得少了他不干，他说： “俺们那嘎都是东北人， 俺们那嘎特产高丽参， 俺们那嘎猪肉炖粉条。 俺们那嘎都是活雷锋。 俺们那嘎没有这种人， 撞了车了哪能不救人… 俺们那嘎身上有正根， 那个人他不是东北人！ 翠花，上酸菜……” north-easterners r all alive leifeng laozhang has driven a car to north eastern, accident happened the caused driver acted shamelessly, and ran away. luckily, there had a north easterner, sent him to hospital. he was sutured with five lines and got well. laozhang treated this guy for dinner ...... its so pop last year bcoz somebody made a flash movie by it, and lots of people think the north eastern accent is funny. i couldnt finish it, who will help? Quote
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