Translation: "Luke, I am your father"
If you’re in Beijing and not doing anything tonight, there’s a “Star Wars Party” hosted by Snap Adventures that begins at 10 pm at 4corners to commemorate May the Fourth (get it?). (Some of the BJC gang will be there, so come say hi.) By buying drinks, one collects “tokens” with which to buy trivia questions, and correct answers of said questions yield “credits,” enough of which can lead to prizes such as the above t-shirt. Neat concept.
We’ve shuttled the Chen Guangcheng links to its own post, which is forthcoming. For now, other links.
Eric Abrahamsen hits all the right notes in this column about self-censorship. “For several years I tried coaxing writers into confessing to me how oppressed they felt, perhaps with the aim of encouraging them to buck up somehow. // This went over poorly. While a few agreed boisterously with my arguments, usually over beer or baijiu, most just squinted at me or let their eyes wander, then changed the subject. Others, even though I was sure they shared my point of view, would lean back and smile Sphinx-like at the ceiling.” [Latitude, NY Times]
Corollary: “[Thursday was] World Press Freedom Day but instead of celebrating the freedom of the press, Chinese netizens have decided to mark the ‘Tweet Deletion Festival’ (删帖节) because the date 5-3 sounds like ‘I delete’ (‘我删’) in Chinese.” [Shanghaiist]
Hillary Clinton’s “unexpurgated” remarks at the opening session of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue: “And let’s face it, our two nations are not that different. We each have our own internal political dynamics to suffer through. You have your rogue populist leaders to smack down, we have populists like Sarah Palin Ron Paul Newt Gingrich — well, to be honest, our political rivals are generally of the filthy rich establishment type. You have princelings driving expensive sports cars, paid for with money they did not earn, and we have kids like Chelsea Cl– uh, I mean Luke Russert, in jobs they do not deserve.” [Stan Abrams, China Hearsay]
Actually, here’s what she really said: “‘We raise specific matters of individuals and situations whenever necessary because we cannot ignore our areas of difference in the comprehensive relationship that we are building,’ Clinton said. // China’s top diplomat Dai Bingguo called the talks a ‘tremendous’ success with a candid exchange of views. He said human rights were discussed but there are differences. // ‘On the issue of human rights, no country can claim to be perfect. China will continue to stay on the right course it has chosen,’ Dai said.” [AP]
Harder for foreigners to get a green card these days — unclear what it means for our Tianjin friends. “Experts are calling the requirements to get the green card ‘extremely difficult.’ This high threshold has hindered China from bringing in more expertise from overseas, observers said.” [Global Times]
Your Yi Jianlian dunks over Thunder interlude:
Finally…
Preview of the Hanggai Music Festival this weekend. [Beijing Daze]
“Massive rise in Asian eye damage”: a curious report by BBC. [BBC]
First we had a homemade car, now we have a homemade wooden helicopter. [Global Times]
