check your pop music history. it was a world wide hit back in the day. rick astley is British. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gMLkIMVTeVA&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gMLkIMVTeVA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pqNbR-tMSbo&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pqNbR-tMSbo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
I am speechless, do you really think like this, anyone who cannot afford or is not accustomed to a prosthetic leg must be "forced" to move around in a wheel chair? After all she is an ordinary athlete who only earns about 100 euros a month. Even if you argue that Commies should have bought a new prosthetic leg for her, it's not a good idea to run a torch relay with it w/o proper training. She is a only trained for fencing in a WHEEL CHAIR
LOL, this is a joke being passed around the Chinese internet. Four western journalists visited Tibet and got into a traffic accident. A few days later the cops came looking for them and asked a Tibetan farmer. The farmer said he had buried them. "Were they all dead?" asked the cops. "Yes," said the farmer, "one of them said he wasn't dead, but you know they lie about everything." ....
I'm coming very late to this thread but the original article doesn't seem to be saying that the protests have backfired but have actually helped to raise the issue of Tibet worldwide and in the PRC. [rquoter]But what has changed? Well, I may be an ignorant outsider, and not have looked hard enough, but I never before saw or heard much discussion by intellectuals and journalists or by anybody else of the possibility of a new approach to Tibet. All the people who have surfaced on the blogosphere saying "Of course the government got it wrong over Tibet, but there was still no call for the western media bias we have seen" were, until now, strangely silent - or silenced - on the government's wrongness over Tibet. Now they are writing, being read, and being discussed. Some people are even questioning what they have been told to date. And for all the nationalists pouring out their proud Chinese hearts on the cyberether, there must be many more saying just to themselves: "Funny. Tibet? What's that all about? I'd never thought about that before." They may, when asked, say they agree with their government, but there must be now a certain amount of wondering about the reality of life in Tibet that was never there before. There were many British, I guess, who before the late 60s never gave any thought to Northern Ireland. Then, all through the 70s, 80s and most of the 90s, you would not hear anyone outside the republican heartlands who had a good word to say for the IRA. But Irish policy itself became a major subject of political debate, which eventually led to a settlement that included the IRA. Many of us continue to regret that, in many ways - the fact that the IRA were part of the solution, not that there was one, of course - but such is the reality of life. That violence is self-defeating is a platitude we all repeat to ourselves to reassure ourselves. It is something we all like to believe, whether by "violence" we mean cruise missiles, bomb attacks, or the much more moderate "violence" if that is what it is - and I stress I do not in any way equate pro-Tibet protesters with IRA terrorists - of trying to grab an Olympic torch. But unfortunately the history of the wretched race that is humanity proves otherwise. Mao, Stalin and Kim Il-sung, all violent revolutionaries, died in their beds and in power. Mao's political legacy remains. Gerry Adams went to the White House. America lost Vietnam and saved South Korea at the cost of many, many lives, and the resulting political systems remain in place. The Dalai Lama, on the other hand, is stuck in Dharamsala. I say this not to urge violence on the Tibetans. I am as much in favour of non-violent politics as the next man. Indeed, it is my fervent hope that governments everywhere are sensible enough to act before violence occurs, or is even threatened, and prevents it wherever possible. But I noted one interview with Jin Jing herself, in which she said that before she went to Paris, she had never heard of pro-Tibet independence campaigners. She has now. [/rquoter] The writer is pointing out that while few condoned IRA terrorism the IRA did raise awareness of the situation in Northern Ireland that few Britons had ever considered so even while there were mass condemnation of the IRA the issue of Northern Ireland did result in negotiations that resulted in a peace treaty. The writer seems to be saying that even while Chinese are upset about the protest the protests are raising the issue in the minds of many who had never heard of the issue.
Demonstration in front of a French-owned Carrefour store in Hefei city, Anhui province, China. The firestorm is spreading inland from the big cities.
Then again, they bristle at the notion of "outside forces" telling them what to do for what they consider an internal problem, even if they don't know that much to their internal problem. I'm getting the impression that they'll side with their government by default if the international response grows.
Bernard Arnault offers support to China after threat of LVMH boycott Adam Sage in Paris Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, the French luxury goods group, distanced himself from the Dalai Lama with a show of support for Beijing yesterday amid growing concern in France over Chinese calls for a boycott of Gallic products. France’s best-known business leader spoke out with Chinese internet users targeting Paris for criticism following the pro-Tibetan demonstrations that accompanied the Olympic torch relay. Consumers are being urged to boycott groups such as Carrefour, the supermarket chain, and Mr Arnault’s celebrated LVMH brands, which include Louis Vuitton, Hennessy and Fendi. With French exports to China worth €9.1 billion (£7.3 billion) last year, officials and industrialists in Paris are keen to smooth over the row. Mr Arnault is in the front line following a widespread but, he says, unfounded rumour on Chinese websites that his group had provided financial support to the Dalai Lama. With Goldman Sachs predicting that China will become the world's biggest luxury goods market within a decade, alarm bells are ringing at LVMH’s head office in Paris. “I refute categorically the allegations over backing for the Dalai Lama,” Mr Arnault said. He went on: “I understand why the Chinese population could be affected by the attacks against its country. “Even if it may be shocking to see what’s happening in Tibet, it’s equalling shocking to see China being attacked,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro. Mr Arnault urged his compatriots to “stop trying to teach lessons, since there are a lot of things which need improving in the world and even here in Europe”. Carrefour is also the butt of virulent criticism, partly because Mr Arnault is the joint owner of a 10 per cent stake in the chain and partly because it is among the most visible French companies in China. The company has 122 hypermarkets and more than 280 hard discount stores there. “Boycott Carrefour. Slap them in the face. Let the beast disappear from Chinese territory,” one comment on a chat forum said. After protests outside Carrefour stores in Beijing this week and calls for a consumer boycott on May 1, the group sought to appease the tide of anger. It issued a statement to deny playing any role in Chinese internal political affairs or international relations and to pledge support for the Beijing Games. Although there have been demonstrations throughout the Olympic torch relay, France has been singled out after protestors repeatedly broke through police cordons in Paris and at one point attacked Jin Jing, a 27-year-old wheelchair-bound athlete. Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said: “You can’t on the one hand talk of the importance of the relationship between France and China and, on the other, see things which the Chinese people can’t understand and don’t accept.” Anne-Marie Idrac, the French Overseas Commerce Minister, said there was no indication yet of a fall in sales of French goods in China.
This is in Qingdao, Shandong. We can expect a lot of protests and demonstrations all over China against Carrefour as the weekend rolls around. Poor Carrefour. They really haven't done anything, but they are one of the most visible French companies in China. It's the price of success.
wow. I was living in Hefei for many years. where is this plaza? Good to see Hefei is still leading all the protests in China.
You're probably correct as you even see Americans rally around the flag often in the face of outside criticism. That doesn't make it right and I would hope that people would take the time to learn and think for themselves rather than just buy the government line. What may come from this situation is that many Chinese themselves learn more about the situation and in time soften their stance. In the short term nationalistic actions might drive them to stick with the hardline but if this raises knowledge of the problem things might change. Its too early to declare whether the prtotests backfired and the article seems to be saying that very thing.
No offense but I don't think the Chinese should be proud of massive boycotts and demonstrations of French businesses. IMO its as relavant and intelligent as those Americans who called for boycotting Chinese restaurants during the EP-3 incident.
Why boycott French products and companies? Because of demonstrations by the public? Did I miss something? This makes as much sense as the GOP Congress renaming the french fries served there "Freedom Fries," and equally stupid. Impeach Bush.
The protests didn't backfire. This is just a Pavlovian response by Chinese nationalists to their paranoid perception that the free world hates Chinese. When they're done protesting Big Macs at McDonald's, perhaps they'll have a genuine discussion about what really goes on in their country, how their government treats its people, and why the free world protests it.
Hey CommieWin, first of all, the "world" that you live is not really free. Second, say you are a quintessential member of the "free world," I have not to this date seen one post from you saying anything positive about China or Chinese in general. You have your chance to prove I am wrong.
While those are things that Chinese could discuss, it isn't high on their priority list at the moment or will be in the near future. Curruption, improve living standards, improve environment, secure energy sources (hopefully green) for the future. Those are things most Chinese worry about much more than human rights or Tibet at the moment. Over half of Chinese still live a very impoverished life, which means they just have enough to get by.
Having read many of your hateful posts it's fortunate I have the freedom not to take you seriously. Good luck goading someone else.
You might be right but I think when a true Chinese middle class comes of age, the discussion of civil rights cannot not be far away. It is only a matter of time.
