Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has written back to a group of U.S. elementary school students, encouraging them to continue their efforts to learn Chinese language and culture and contribute to promoting friendship between the two peoples.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, 50 fourth-grade students from Cascade Elementary School in the U.S. state of Utah wrote New Year cards to Xi in Chinese, telling him about their Chinese language learning and personal hobbies, expressing their love for China and Chinese culture as well as their hope for a chance to visit China, and wishing “Grandpa Xi” a happy New Year.
In his reply letter dated Feb. 15, Xi told the children that like the United States, China is a big country, that the Chinese civilization has a history of more than 5,000 years, and that the Chinese people are as hospitable as the American people.
He added that they can learn more about Chinese history and culture by learning the Chinese language, which is used by more than 1 billion people around the world.
Xi said he is pleased to see those students write and learn Chinese so well, and hopes that they will continue to work hard, make greater progress and become young ambassadors for the friendship between the two peoples.
Established in 1967, the public school is one of the first schools in Utah to offer a Chinese immersion program, which involves more than half of its students. Utah has one-fifth of all Chinese language learners in the United States. The state’s Chinese immersion program began in 2009 and is now available in 76 elementary and secondary schools.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption Mahjong has been referred to as the “quintessence of Chinese culture”
An apparent police ban on all mahjong parlours in a Chinese city led to panic among aficionados of China’s national pastime.
Police in Yushan in southeast China first announced the ban at the weekend, saying it was to curb illegal gambling and “purify social conduct”.
This led to shock and outrage with many calling the strategic, tile-based game the “quintessence of Chinese culture”.
Police then clarified that only unlicensed parlours would be shut.
It comes after several other cities also announced parlours encouraging gambling would be shut.
Mahjong is one of the most popular games in China, especially with older people.
While it does not have to be played with money, it is common for players to gamble with small amounts. A typical mahjong game could see players bet anywhere from $1 to $15.
‘People can gamble with anything’
On 20 October, police in Yushan, a small county in China’s southeast Jiangxi province, issued a statement announcing that all mahjong parlours in the county would be “closed” by 22 October.
Authorities said the ban would be enacted in an effort to “push forward the campaign against crimes and gangs… [to] solve the gambling and noise problem [and] purify social conduct”.
Gambling is illegal in China but under Jiangxi province law, those who engage in “win-loss entertainments such as mahjong and poker involving a small amount of money… shall not be punished”.
However, the law adds that people who “[gamble] money of more than 200 yuan ($28; £21)” could be subject to punishment.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption It’s a familiar sight to see retirees gather in parks to play mahjong
It wasn’t long before the backlash kicked in.
Some people pointed out that while China does face a widespread problem of illegal gambling dens, many mahjong parlours are in fact, legally operated with licenses.
Another commenter on social media site Weibo said: “Not all people play mahjong for gambling,” according to state media ECNS.
“My grandparents play mahjong as part of their daily entertainment”.
Others said it was a “lazy” solution by the government in an attempt to curtail illegal gambling.
“Mahjong [itself] is not a problem. People can gamble with anything,” said one comment on Weibo.
But one social media user saw the positive side of the ban, saying: “Finally! I have been woken up numerous times [by] mahjong players.”
Mahjong is known to be quite a noisy game, as the heavy tiles often make clacking sounds as they are shuffled around.
But their joy was short lived. Just one day after they made the announcement, Yushan authorities revised their statement, saying licensed mahjong parlours would not be affected.
They also clarified that the ban was meant to target places that encouraged “illegal gambling”.
Despite this, some licensed parlour owners told local news outlets that they were also not operating amid the clampdown, but it was unclear whether that was voluntary or enforced by officials.
Several other cities in Jiangxi have also banned mahjong in recent days, but had made it clear in their announcements that registered mahjong parlours would not be affected.
What is mahjong?
Mahjong is a game played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols
It developed in the late 19th century, during China’s Qing dynasty, but became popular in the 20th century
It is conceptually similar to the western card game Rummy
The game has also gone on to gain popularity in the West – and has recently made several appearances in mainstream pop culture.
It was featured as part of a pivotal moment in the Hollywood blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians, where two main characters met for a showdown of a game at a mahjong parlour.
The traditional view that the man of the house must be the breadwinner may be crumbling, according to a recent survey
Just over half of the men questioned said they were in favour of stay-at-home fathers. Photo:Shutterstock
More Chinese husbands are open to the idea of becoming stay-at-home fathers in a shift away from traditional mores, according to a recent survey.
The idea that the man of the house should be the breadwinner, while child care and domestic duties are the woman’s duties, is deep-rooted in Chinese culture.
But the survey, jointly conducted by the state-run China Youth Daily and questionnaire website wenjuan.com earlier this month, found that 52.4 per cent of male respondents supported the idea of men being a full-time carer.
The number in favour was lower among women, just 45.8 per cent of whom supported the idea.
But however keen men may be about the idea, there may also be practical difficulties.
Yu Xiang, a middle schoolteacher in Shanghai who has a six-month-old daughter, said he was willing to be a stay-at-home father but in reality it was not practical to do that because his wife, who is also a teacher, did not earn enough to support the family.
He also said his wife was not happy leaving him to do the housework, adding that she often scolded him for doing it badly. “She also said he would not feel comfortable letting me take care of our daughter,” he said. “She says I am too careless.”
Chinese father decides to drop in on daughter’s school … via helicopter
Robin Ge, a financial manager from Shanghai, admitted he took a more old-fashioned view of household duties.
The father of a five-year-old boy said he would not accept the idea of becoming a stay-at-home father even if his wife, an office worker, started earning more than him.
“Perhaps I am a traditional Chinese man,” he said. “I believe men should earn more than women. I remember my father told me years ago that a man’s status in his family is determined by his economic status. Compared with stay-at-home mothers, the acceptance rate for stay-at-home fathers among the public is very low.
“I agree that a father caring for the kids has benefits, such as helping the kid to be brave and responsible. However, that doesn’t mean a man needs to be full-time father. What he should do is to spend much of his spare time caring for and playing with his kid.”
The survey questioned 1,987 married people, some 89.2 per cent of whom were parents. Sixty per cent of the respondents agreed that the stereotypical view of the husband being the breadwinner put fathers off staying at home to look after the children.
However, the number of women who said they were opposed to the idea of stay-at-home fathers, 30.9 per cent, was slightly higher than the 28 per cent of men who did not support the notion.
But women whose husbands have given up their jobs to look after the children generally appreciated what they had done.
“I don’t think a man who stays at home is a failure in life. His sacrifice helps me so much and I really am grateful for his support,” a woman wrote on China’s leading parental website ci123.com, adding that this kind of family is more stable and the relationship between husband and wife is more harmonious.
Chinese father takes daughter, 10, to top school’s open day despite her being on an IV drip
Zhang Baoyi, a sociology professor at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, said he believed attitudes would change as society evolved.
“To embrace this practice, we need to recognise the contribution and value of homemakers,” Zhang told China Youth Daily.
“The fact that dads are willing to be more involved in their children’s lives shows that the traditional mentality of ‘career husband and domestic wife’ is changing.”
Zhang also said that more parents in general were willing to stay at home to provide full-time child care because they were attaching increasing importance to their children’s education.
“The number of stay-at-home fathers or mothers is increasing,” he said.
“Couples should adjust the [family] model … according to their economic conditions and abilities to educate the children.”
Delicate balance for Disney in its portrayal of China’s classic tale of female heroism
Too Americanised, or pandering to a mainland Chinese audience?
Chinese-American actress Crystal Liu Yifei plays the title role in Disney’s Mulan. Photo: Disney
Since the trailer for Disney’s live-action film Mulan was released last weekend, both mainland Chinese in the East and the diaspora in the West have been abuzz about their cultural identity and its representation in Hollywood – albeit for different reasons.
Chinese viewers have, on one hand, been enthusiastic about the casting of Chinese-American actress Crystal Liu Yifei in the lead role and the chance for a seemingly more “authentic” Chinese story to be told on the global stage.
On the other hand, they have pointed out historical inaccuracies – such as the southern Chinese setting when the source material states that Mulan is from the north – and expressed concerns that the plot has been too “Americanised”.
Meanwhile, many Chinese-Americans were surprised to discover upon watching the trailer that the beloved 1998 animation had changed beyond recognition – most notably with the absence of talking dragon Mushu and male love interest Li Shang. Some also felt that the new film pandered too much to a mainland Chinese audience.
“The idea of a mythic mash-up of China [in the new film] … seems to play to the idea of a unified, singular China, an artistic representation of the one-China policy, which is troubling to me,” said Jeannette Ng, a British sci-fi author with Hong Kong heritage.
“A lot of the time, this conversation acts like the only Chinese people who matter are the ones who live in mainland China – that they are the only truly authentic ones and everyone else is too Westernised to count,” she said.
The online discussion indicates the delicate balance Hollywood interpretations of Chinese classics have to strike in portraying Chinese versus American values, as big US-China co-productions try their hardest to integrate the two for bigger global box office takings.
Despite ticket sales in China falling 3.6 per cent in the first half of 2019, owing to tightened government censorship, China is still projected to overtake the US box office next year, according to a recent report by professional services firm PwC.
Disney has tried hard to make the new film more true to its ancient Chinese source material, with a detailed – if inaccurate – historical setting featuring the ancient tulou roundhouses of the southeastern province of Fujian, and a star-studded, all-Asian cast with several icons of Chinese cinema such as Jet Li, Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen and Gong Li.
Disney’s live-action version of Mulan is truer to the ancient source material. Photo: Handout
“Disney’s tent pole movies are aiming at a global audience. That being said, given that China is the largest international market and the story is based on a Chinese folk tale, Disney will definitely take the Chinese audience’s taste into consideration,” said a Chinese film producer, who asked to remain anonymous, at a major US studio in Beijing.
“However, this is also a double-edged sword, as people tend to be more picky when they see things they are familiar with.”
Indeed, several Chinese media think pieces have questioned whether elements of the original legend had become too Americanised in the film, leading to an inauthentic representation of a beloved Chinese heroine.
For instance, the Disney trailer suggests that Mulan joins the army to escape an arranged marriage, breaking away from family traditions and establishing her independence as a woman unbound by gender roles.
But in the original folk song Ballad of Mulan, on which the film is based, she volunteers to take the place of her ageing father in the army – making her a symbol of filial piety, courage and patriotism in traditional Chinese culture.
Some critics say Mulan has been Americanised. Photo: YouTube
In a widely shared analysis discussing whether Disney’s Mulan was a feminist icon, Peking University Press wrote: “Perhaps this is a cross-cultural creative misunderstanding that reflects the core differences between Chinese and Western culture. If Mulan is seen as a feminist symbol, I fear this may be wishful thinking.”
However, both Chinese-Americans and Chinese nationals agree that the film, slated for release in March, is an inspiring tale for young girls.
“I feel like the people who are criticising the film are too attached and focused on the nostalgia factor. They are not seeing the bigger picture and the positive implications of this movie,” said Alex Diep, a 23-year-old American of Vietnamese-Chinese descent.
“They are disregarding that this film gives an opportunity for young Asian girls to look up to Mulan and see her as a role model,” he said.
Some Chinese have interpreted it as an inspiring fable of female strength and liberation, especially when ingrained patriarchal values and government initiatives such as the one-child policy have restricted women’s rights over the years.
“[Mulan] remains one of the very few fighters and not conventionally feminine figures in the Disney princess canon,” Ng said.
“[T]his is some sort of feminism education for a single-child generation in China that girls can fight like men do,” tweeted Chinese journalist Li Jing.
Chinese-Americans are also optimistic that it will be a sure-fire win for Asian representation on the big screen, especially after the success of last year’s romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians.
“[Critics of the trailer] are disregarding the fact that this movie is another opportunity to showcase Asian people in a movie where we are not perceived as a negative stereotype,” Diep said.
Others feel that the film can help build a bridge between East and West.
“Mulan is a Chinese story. It comes from a completely different culture, one which I’m not at all convinced that Hollywood, or the West at large, truly understands yet,” said
New Yorker Jonathan Pu, who is of Taiwanese descent. He said he enjoyed the lighthearted animation, but that it did not define his expectations for the remake.
“If Disney can stay true to the source material and convey [filial piety] in a way that even just some of the audience can grasp, then it will go a long way towards building bridges,” Pu said.
Ultimately, the success of this American spin on Chinese culture will rest on box office sales, which Disney hopes will exceed the 1998 animation that flopped in mainland cinemas. Recent Disney live-action remakes have had a mixed reception in China – Dumbo flopped in March, while The Lion King did moderately well on its release last weekend.
“I’m sure there will be a mixed response when the movie is released but it should have enough buzz and do well,” said the Beijing film producer.
“I hope it will be able to convey the spirit of Mulan and inspire millions of young girls.”
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 