Losing something in translation?
From China Daily:
"Protests against "Tibet independence" continued in several Chinese cities on Sunday. Protestors gathered in front of outlets of the French supermarket chain Carrefour, chanting "Oppose Tibet independence", and "Oppose CNN's anti-China statements" on Sunday morning. Chinese police were monitoring the demonstrations, which had no effect on the supermarkets' normal operations, Xinhua said. More than 1,000 students and citizens in front of the Carrefour in Xi'an (Xian is about as far from Lhasa as Lerwick from London....C) held banners, saying "Strongly oppose CNN's anti-China statements" and "Condemn Tibet secessionist in France tearing up the Five-Star Red Flag"(I really like this one. The language that is, not the sentiment. C). They chanted "Support the Olympics", "Go China" and "Condemn CNN" through loudspeakers".
Maybe they sounded snappier in the original. Also, could they not have wheeled out 'running dog lackeys', just for old times' sake?
Labels: 'People's Republic' of China, Tibet, WLOSAF
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on Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 10:39 am.
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Yes, but I bet at least half of them crossed the road to go shopping in there after their demo. Personally, I rarely visit the local Carrefour outlets as they are far too noisy and promote instant headaches; and moreover, they are not as cheap as some of their local competitors.
Shades of the Lebanese of yore who would burn Old Glory in front of the US embassy in the morning, and queue up for a green card in the afternoon. Supposedly.
Croydonian - Yes, and the Iranians used to do the same thing. I think they just demonstrated in front of the embassy to allay the boredom of waiting for opening time.
Actually, Iranian immigrants to the US are universally charming and quick-witted. And nice looking, too. In V S Naipaul's 'Among The Unbelievers', although the ayatollahesque government of Iran comes off as a fruitcake, the ordinary Iranians he met come off as very sharp-witted and entertaining.
I have a friend who lived in Iran just before the revolution, and he said the people were very sharp and witty and the women demonstrated great faith in the powers of slap, big hair and dizzying stilettos. He loved it. I hope it recovers its footing eventually.
Not that this has anything to do with the price of Tibet in China.
Verity: I agree with you. During my years of wandering the middle east I met and became quite good friends with a number of charming and liberated Iranians of both sexes. Most of them were not at all happy with what has happened to their country over the past 15-20 years, but seem powerless to do anything about it.
What I don't understand is why the female half of the population still put up with all the nonsense. If they got their act together (eg until there are radical changes, no cooking, cleaning, conversation, sex etc) much of the crap they are forced to endure could be made to disappear very quickly. Bit like the UK really...
Nomad, I suspect public beatings would ensue. Somewhere in the Koran or the surahs there will be some justification for beating wives who don't obey their husbands. And the mad mullahs in Iran would enforce the rules.
They are such intelligent people that surely they will cast off this craziness ... but then, one remembers that it was in 1979 that Khomeini took over - almost 30 years ago - two generations, and they haven't managed it yet. Even in the age of the internet. So who knows?
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