Clever Turtles

I ran across this joke in PASSIONS OF THE CUT SLEEVE, by Bret Hinsch, who took it from Howard Levy's CHINESE SEX JOKES IN TRADITIONAL TIMES.

A Taoist gentleman did the bedroom thing, taking off his clothes, folding his hands, and proclaiming, "It's not I like sex, but I do it to continue my ancestral line."

I was just watching the US Senate remarking on the anniversary of Tianaman Square. A few short observations:

• What's up with Uighur's all of a sudden? I heard of them for the first time four years ago, and then only in the context of Asian Area Studies. Now, every time I turn on the TV, it's Uighur, Uighur, Uighur.

So said Jackie Chan, while giving a lecture before a business council in China. He went on to support authoritarian Chinese rule and criticize Chinese youth and manufacturing.

"If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." Seriously, isn't that the point? What's wrong with doing what you want?

I think Mr. Chan is getting crochety in his old age.

"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."

Leading scholar on Chinese passed on recently.

I hadn't heard about this at all, but apparently he's in my department (although a different language, of course). At any rate, it sounds like his loss is a tragedy to Asian area studies.

Here is probably the only time you'll see me recommend an article in American Conservative magazine.

Basically, a British guy knocks the faux-progressive pro-Tibet movement. And he's right; the pro-Tibet lobby in the West is frankly insulting to Tibetans. Liberals often see it as some sort of non-materialist oriental Disneyland.

China didn't allow singer onstage, hired a lip-syncing ringer.

Aside from the obvious statement on body-image in young women, didn't the chick they decided to put up front look kind of freaky? She looks too mature, not really childlike. I think the "real" singer was the cuter kid. Their choices suggest more disturbing things about self-image than the fact that they hired a ringer, I think.

Apologia on Tibet.

The tricky part of colonial studies is dealing with claims of development. The imperial apologists always make a point of showing the Signs of Progress, or how the Advanced Nation helped it's lesser brethren, albeit by the barrel of a gun. And, they usually are able to produce evidence of postive change.

China finally admits to fate of US POW from the Korean War.

After the war, the lack of full accountings of a large number of soldiers, as well as dodgy POW management in North Korea, left many Americans convinced that there may still have been secret POW camps hidden in Manchuria.

Language Log did an actual analysis and tried to trace the precise origin of the bizarre presence of "fuck" in poorly translated chinese signs and documents.

Excellent reading, and it goes beyond the, "well, probably, maybe, sort of" excuses usually given.

Humorous examples are included.