Posts Tagged ‘politics’
1月 31, 2014
YAN LI! Yesterday I posted his THREE POEMS FROM THE 1980s. Prominent words and themes in GIVE IT BACK (1986), YOU (1987) and YOU (1989) are “love” and “citizen”. The most prominent news story from China in January 2014 was the trial and sentencing of XU ZHIYONG 许志永, a legal scholar and leading activist of the New Citizen movement. Trials, everything connected with rule of law has been very much in the news for a long time in China. See Han Zongbao’s poem 韩宗宝 from fall 2013, for example.
Xu’s statement in court was titled “FOR FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND LOVE“. I was rather surprised at “love” being evoked as a core political value like “freedom” and “justice”. Liberté, Egalité, Amour? Xu’s statement and the accompanying account of how authorities had tried to warn and intimidate him before he was arrested make it clear that he is not only an activist for the rights of migrant workers and for greater openness about public servants’ financial assets. “Can you explain what you mean by Socialism?”, he asks. This is certainly a very important question. China is a Socialist country, at least by name, just like Vietnam, North Korea and Laos. Are there any others? Socialism for China is like Shiite Islam for Iran. But what does Socialism mean, apart from one-party-rule? I think it’s something to believe in, and to practice, to change the fates of working people through actions of solidarity. Isn’t that what the New Citizen movement was trying to do? But Xu has all but dismissed Socialism and has not tried to invoke it as something originally worth believing in. This is understandable, under the circumstances. But can you imagine someone standing up in court in Iran and asking “Can you explain what Islam entails?” Maybe people do it, I don’t know. They probably wouldn’t dismiss religion.
Actually, it is more complicated. I think Xu is testing what is possible. how far the system will go to crush opposition. In his obstinacy he could be compared to Shi Mingde (Shih Ming-te) 施明德 in Taiwan in the 1980s. But Xu is much younger than Shi was in the late 1980s, he was only 15 in 1989.
“Me: Aren’t the communist party and socialism western products? May I ask, what is socialism? If a market economy is socialist, why is democracy and the rule of law, which we are pursuing, not socialist? Does socialism necessarily exclude democracy and the rule of law?”
C：你的一系列文章，比如《人民的国家》，整个照搬西方体制，反党反社会主义，你们的组织活动，几个月发展到几千人，你的行为已经构成犯罪，而且不止一个罪名。
我：共产党、社会主义难道不是西方的吗？请问什么是社会主义？市场经济如果是社会主义，我们追求的民主法治为什么就不是社会主义？社会主义必然和民主法治对立吗？关于反党，这个概念太极端，方针政策对的就支持，错误的就反对，而且，我对任何人都心怀善意，如果共产党经过大选继续执政，我支持。[…] 我可能比你更爱中国！你有空可以看看我写的《回到中国去》，看一个中国人在美国的经历和感想。而你们，多少贪官污吏把财产转移到了国外？
C:爱党，爱国，爱人民，三位一体，你不爱党，怎么爱国爱人民？
我：我的祖国五千年了，来自西方的党还不到百年，将来共产党不会千秋万世永远统治，怎么可能三位一体？我爱中国，我爱13亿同胞，但我不爱党。一个原因是历史上它给我的祖国带来的太残酷的伤害，数千万人饿死，文化大革命彻底摧残了中华民族的精神文化，还有就是今天这个党太肮脏，大量贪官污吏，从申请书到入党宣誓都是在公然撒谎——有几个真的要为共产主义奋斗终身？我厌恶谎言，我厌恶为了私欲不择手段，我厌恶一个人在宣誓的时刻也撒谎。
C：敢说不爱党，算你是好汉。考虑到你的主张自由、公义、爱还不错，目的是好的，本着教育的方针，还是希望爱党，放弃公民活动，多和社会各界接触，看问题更客观些。
我:谢谢提醒，我会努力更加客观理性，既看社会问题，也看新闻联播。具体活动如果有不当之处，我可以听取建议，有些行为如果超前了，可以停下来，都可以协商，但是别说什么犯罪。
C：我知道一时半会改变不了你的观点。看过你的档案，你这个人多年来就像一根针一样那么恒定，立场就在那里一动不动。下次接着谈吧。明天后天下午什么时候你觉得合适？
我：明天吧。[words marked by me, see below]
This dialogue between Xu and Beijing State Security official C is very interesting. There is a measure of mutual respect. Xu has spunk, he is brave and obstinate. He mentions “数千万人饿死”, tens of millions died of hunger, as one of the main reasons for not “loving the party” 爱党, as suggested by his interrogator. This dialogue should be very good material for studying Chinese. This section is from the end of the first day (June 25) of Xu’s interrogations in June 2013. You can compare the original to the translation on http://Chinachange.org. In the translation, I could not access the link to Xu’s patriotic article Go Back To China 《回到中国去》, written in New York a few years ago, but it seems to be available on several blogs readily accessible in China.
‘I Don’t Want You to Give Up’ – a public letter by Xu Zhiyong’s wife.
Words like “citizen” and “love”, and any other words or means of expressions, actually, become something remarkably different in a work of art, different from every-day-usage, and usage in political statements. I find Xu’s use of “love” baffling. “Love” strikes me as rather imprecise, compared to “justice”, for example. Love, simply love, not compassion or caritas. Not bo’ai 博爱, just aì 愛, as in Wo ai ni 我愛你。Imprecise, but endearing, as something obviously non-political. And thus closer to poetry, literature, art? Ubi caritas et amor, deus ibi est. All You Need is Love. And so on.
“If I had a hammer I’d hammer in the morning/ I’d hammer in the evening all over this land/ I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out warning/ I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters/ All over this land …” Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014)
The International Federation of Journalists has issued a report on press freedom in China in 2013. Here are two small excerpts:
“On May 3, a woman named Yuan Liya was found dead
outside Jingwen shopping centre in Beijing. Police said
Yuan had jumped from the shopping centre, but her
parents suspected she was killed after she was raped
by several security guards during the night. On May
8 the media was instructed to republish a statement
issued by the Beijing Police and further ordered that
no information could be gathered from independent
sources. All online news sites were told to downplay the
case and social microblogs were required to remove all
related news items.”
This immediately reminds me of SHENG XUE’s 盛雪 poem YOUR RED LIPS, A WORDLESS HOLE, from early 2007. The original is titled NI KONGDONG WU SHENG DE YU YAN HONG CHUN 你空洞无声的欲言红唇. The poem was translated into German by Angelika Burgsteiner and recited in early March 2013 at TIME TO SAY NO, the PEN Austria event for International Women’s Day, in cooperation with PEN Brazil.
“On May 14, media outlets disclosed that several
primary school principals were involved in scandals
involving sexual exploitation of minors. All of the alleged
victims were primary school students. Some bloggers
initiated a campaign aimed at protecting children, but
the authorities demanded that the media downplay
both the scandal and the campaign.”
Cf. Lily’s Story 丽丽传 by Zhao Siyun 赵思云, from 2012.
In China, a Young Feminist Battles Sexual Violence Step by Step
标签：art, concepts, 许志永, freedom of speech, horse, internet, justice, law, new year, poetry, politics, rights, speech, spring, trial, women, words, workers, Xu Zhiyong, Yan Li, 概念
发表在 January 2014, Translations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
10月 31, 2013
Han Zongbao
TRIAL
judge kids by old people judge whites by blacks
judge black by white judge dusk by dawn
judge swallows by crows judge freedom by a bird in a cage
judge elephants by mice judge butterflies by the eye of a storm
judge ants on a tree by fish in a bowl
judge times by their fools judge jobless graduates by golden iphones
judge square by round judge sea by sky
judge cotton by iron judge sheep and grassroots by tanks
the silent lambs, how meek they are!
judge art and writing by dynamite judge people by country
judge earth by snow judge jews by hitler
judge christ on the cross by judas and the last supper
judge shoes by feet judge cities by villages
judge floods by tall dams judge water by wells
judge football by whistle judge hawkers by city security
judge temporary workers by public servants judge migrant laborers by residence permits
judge B by A judge Second by First judge crying by smiling
stars and the gunpowder in bullets have never been exposed to moisture
if the chessboard says you’re guilty then you are guilty
those people who died from secret questioning those who died
when detained or arrested they must have seen
the sullied red flag and the hands when an experienced questioner
becomes a murderer her shining and glorious life
produced how many deaths how many wrongs written in blood
what kind of terror and torture
most one go through before he prefers death to life
relentless questioning what does it mean to him or her
everyone noticed his neck must have been stuck
but on tv they aired his confession
he put on his own trial of his text and the camera
we don’t need courts we don’t need laws our nation doesn’t need them
’cause the trial is completed in this giant one-way judgment
everyone can be a criminal just have to grab them
and put them inside if they are tough bones their flesh can be done with
one after another gets thrown in jail who will be the next one
what is it that’s breaking up happy days and pleasant scenes
laws appear on worthless paper in restricted public trials
just like catwalks once the process is in motion
once you get inside your only trick is to confess
so confess the grief of an innocent man small traces of blood
and disgrace tears are so helpless just what you asked for
an innocent man in the end hangs his head in confession amen
2013-10-29
Tr. MW (10/31/13)
《审判》
韩宗宝
用老人审判孩子 用白人审判黑人
用黑审判白 用早晨审判傍晚
用乌鸦审判燕子 用笼中的鸟审判自由
用老鼠审判一头大象 用风暴眼审判蝴蝶
用缸中的金鱼审判上树的蚂蚁
用小丑审判时代 用土豪金审判蚁族
用圆审判方 用天空审判海洋
用铁审判棉花 用坦克审判绵羊和草根
这些沉默的羔羊多么温驯
用炸药审判文字和艺术 用国家审判人民
用雪审判土地 用希特勒审判犹太人
用犹大和晚餐审判十字架上的上帝
用脚审判鞋子 用村庄审判城市
用高高的堤坝审判洪水 用井审判水
用黑哨审判足球 用城管审判小贩
用公仆审判临时工 用暂居证审判民工
用A审判B 用甲审判乙 用笑审判哭
星星和弹孔中的火焰 一直不曾受潮
棋盘上标明你有罪 你就有了罪
那些死于秘密审判的人 那些死于
拘禁和逮捕的人 必定见过
被污染的红旗和手 当一个审讯能手
成为凶手 她光辉而荣耀的一生
制造了多少死亡和冤屈 血书累累
需要经历怎样恐怖可怕的折磨
一个人才会 宁死不生
无懈可击的审讯 究竟对他意味什么
大家注意到了他被狠狠卡过的脖子
但电视已经播出他的口供
他对着镜头和台词做出了自我审判
何需法庭 何需法律 国家不需要这些
因为审判业已完成 这单向式的强大审判
每一个人都可以是罪犯 不过是抓起来
再关进去 硬骨头可以从肉体上消灭
一个个的人陆续入狱 下一个是谁
有什么在崩溃 大好良辰好景虚设
法律形同废纸 有限的公开审判
仿佛秀场 那木马般的程序一旦启动
只要你进去了 你唯一的招就是招
招吧 一个无罪之人的悲伤 略带血痕
和耻辱 泪水如此无力 如你所愿
一个无罪的人最终 低头认罪 阿门
2013.10.29
This poem was written partly in response to the New Express 新快报 / Chen Yongzhou 陈永洲 incident, as the author told me after he showed his poem around on Weibo. However, this is not one of those poems which act like condensed news articles, like Zhao Siyun’s Lily’s Story or Sheng Xue’s Your Red Lips A Wordless Hole (German version see Angelika Burgsteiner’s translation). Han Zongbao‘s poem seems to be less straightforward.
“When an experienced questioner/ becomes a murderer/ her shining and glorious life/ produced how many deaths how many wrongs”
Whose glorious life? The murdering questioners? Why “her”? The female pronoun seems to indicate a particular person. Please look at the comments for answers to these questions.
标签：china, death, death penalty, 韩宗宝, freedom of speech, Han Zongbao, justice, law, poetry, politics, torture
发表在 October 2013, poetry, Translations | 2 Comments »
10月 9, 2013
Yi Sha
TRAUM NR. 328
in meiner anthologie des neuen jahrhunderts
erhebt ein rechtsabweichler
seinen kahlen sträflingsschädel
seine gedichte
versteh ich überhaupt nicht
jedesmal bleib ich stecken beim lesen
wie ist er hineingekommen?
weil er rechtsabweichler war
hab ich ihn etwa nur deshalb genommen?
September 2013
Übersetzt von MW im Oktober 2013
《梦（328）》
在《新诗典》诗人中
有一个右派
留着囚犯的光头
他的诗
怎么看都看不懂
怎么读都读不通
到底是怎么选进来的？
我开始自省
难道就因为他是右派？
2013.9
标签：1950s, 1957, history, poetry, politics
发表在 Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
9月 13, 2013
Zheng Xiaoqiong
TO MY COUNTRY
cannot abandon this country, five thousand years of meager creeks and cold peaks
five thousand years having a band of whores erecting gateways for memory
its people industrious, intelligent, brave
and used by these whores, pressed to their last drop of blood
cannot abandon this country, connected from birth inseparably
my tears becoming one of its rivers, drinking its juices
slurping its blood, look at these whores telling lies as their trade
poets are used to the emperor’s new clothes, no-one plays a small child
I cannot abandon this country, nor am I having these whores banish me
getting angry is fruitless, I’d rather become another Sisyphus
and even for dying, it is on its earth where I am going to sleep
Tr. MW, Sept. 2013
郑小琼
《给祖国》
不能放下这个国度，它五千年的水瘦山寒
五千年它让一群婊子们立满了牌坊
它的人民勤劳、勇敢、智慧
也被这些婊子们利用，柞尽了最后一滴血
不能放下这个国度，出生就注定与它不能解除关系
我的哭泣将会成为它的一条河流，喝着它的汁
饮着它的血，看婊子们对它撒谎成性
习惯了皇帝的新装，诗人们也不肯做一次小孩
不能放下这个国度，无论是遗弃或者被婊子们放逐
我的血液里仍将有爱，有着因爱而生成的愤怒
这愤怒注定是徒劳，我宁愿再做一个西西弗斯
哪怕就是死去，我也要在它的土地上安眠
Zheng Xiaoqiong MUTE 《喑哑》
标签：china, death, exile, exploitation, 郑小琼, history, nation, poetry, politics, proclamation, work, Zheng Xiaoqiong
发表在 September 2013, Translations | Leave a Comment »
9月 6, 2013
Lydia and Julia. My tastes are simple, mostly. No Fehlschmelzen. Although that word makes me think of Ai Weiwei. Rare words. Rare earths. Che, fourth tone. Like the chai of demolition, but with earth instead of hand. In a famous poem by Du Fu, On Top Of Yueyang Pagoda. Che, separation. Of Wu and Chu. Still great realms, 1300 years later. Wu is Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and so on. Wu-dialect of Chinese, as different from Mandarin as French is different from German or Dutch, at least. Wu and Chu. Chu is Sichuan and so on. Dongting lake separates Wu and Chu. Dongting lake seen from the pagoda. Heaven and earth, blablabla, the light on the lake. No letters from home. North still at war. Writing this, leaning at the railings, crying. 昔聞洞庭水, 今上岳陽樓. 吳楚東南坼, 乾坤日夜浮. 親朋無一字, 老病有孤舟. 戎馬關山北, 憑軒涕泗流. Xi wen Dongting shui, jin shang Yueyang lou. Don’t know what kind of dialect Du Fu used. Not Mandarin, that’s for sure. More something like Wu, probably. Which I don’t speak and can’t write. Heard of Dongting lake, now I climb the stairs. Wu Chu dong nan che, qian kun ri ye fu. Here comes the “che”. Rare word, in present Mandarin. Dong nan, east and south. Wu is southeast from Chu. Heard of Dongting lake, now I climb the stairs. Wu and Chu divorced; Sky reflected, night. Not a word from home. Sick and old, a boat. War steeds roam the north. I lean here and cry. Five syllables per verse. Yes, much like Haikus. Yi Sha has space poems. 2 from 2003. One about first signs of spring, lunar new year, mahjong, the space shuttle Columbia, fear of flying, freedom. The other one about space, father and son, skies at night, North Korea. This 2nd 1 was in the FAZ on June 26, 2013, when the Shenzhou 10 capsule returned to earth.
lyrikline blog
Last week, in the run up to our website relaunch and the live event, 
we started an open call and asked for your short ‘Space Poems’. The call is closed now and we would like to thank everyone who took part!! We received 15 poems, sent to us in English and German via twitter, facebook and as blog comments and enjoyed reading the poems a lot. We hope you all do!
… and here are the Space Poems …
daybreak
when we credulously
reached for the clouds
a clamour
from the mouth of
a careless fish
–
by Achim Wagner (via twitter)
words are vinds which blow roofs
–
Daiga Mežaka (via blog comment)
There’s no sound in a space poem, only the charged particles of solar wind.
–
by Dave Bonta (via twitter)
Folda Saumtar
Dark
Weil polygam in der
Weltraumzukunft
Vergessen
Dode jedan…
View original post 536 剩余字数
标签：all, asia, austria, Chu, Du Fu, English, Europe, German, Germany, Haiku, Hangzhou, life, memory, poetry, politics, seasons, Shanghai, shenzhou 10, Sichuan, space, space shuttle, Suzhou, Switzerland, Tang Dynasty, translation, Wu dialect
发表在 September 2013, Translations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
8月 12, 2013
The Globe and Mail article quoted by Paul Manfredi is well informed and sympathetic. But it doesn’t spell out any concrete reasons for Ai Weiwei’s singular status. Ai Weiwei’s status, even after his imprisonment, is that of a “princeling”. It seems to be easier to get rid of Bo Xilai. Bo’s father was one of the “eight immortals” of the Communist Party. Ai Weiwei’s father Ai Qing was a persecuted Communist writer, persecuted under Communist rule since the 1940s. Persecuted before, that’s where he got his name. Most of his colleagues denounced each other. Among famous writers, few seem to have been as obstinate as Ai Qing. He was banished to an army town in Xinjiang, a huge city today. There he cleaned toilets, together with little Weiwei. But after Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978, Ai Qing became an icon. Unlike Bo Xilai and his henchmen, Ai Weiwei did not build labor camps and organ-harvested Falungong-followers. Before he was arrested, Global Times had published many sympathetic articles about his civil rights activism. And even after his abduction and imprisonment at an unknown location, Ai Weiwei gets to keep his comparatively huge house and grounds and most of his fortune. If he was persecuted too much, the main reason for Ai Weiwei’s status would come out too clearly: It would be awkward to discuss his father’s fate in detail. Cultural policy since the 1940s is no secret to anybody in and around the arts in China. But still. Maybe it would come out too clearly how control over art and literature and everything connected to culture was deemed even more important than in other Socialist countries. How idealism had been betrayed again and again, most effectively with broad domestic and international participation in economic growth after 1989. Ai Weiwei is very different from his father Ai Qing in many aspects, as well from his older brother Ai Xuan, who is also a well-known artist in China. But like his father, Ai Weiwei remains an icon of idealism. It would be awkward and politically dangerous to challenge such icons too much and thus revive ideals in a big way.
The Globe and Mail article quoted by Paul Manfredi gives convincing evidence of Ai Weiwei’s civil disobedience and civil rights engagement. Another good recent piece on Ai Weiwei, his imprisonment in 2011 and comparable phenomena elsewhere around the world is a TED-talk by An Xiao Mina.
Ai Weiwei wrote an indignant indictment of the US behaviour in the Snowden case in The Guardian back in June. That was before the plane carrying Bolivia’s president was refused airspace by France, Spain and Italy on US orders on July 3.
标签：Ai Qing, Ai Weiwei, Ai Xuan, art, canada, childhood, china, civil rights, civil society, contact, culture, dialogue, Global Times, history, Japan, literature, media, memory, nation, politics, prison, repression, rights, Snowden, USA
发表在 August 2013, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
6月 1, 2013
Li Bifeng: A NOTE FROM PRISON
In the summer of 1992, in a vegetable garden on the roof of a shed housing inmates of the Sichuan Province Prison # 1, I spent three days alone with the old prisoner Zhang Fafu, who had been transferred to this prison at Nanchong from forced labor at a coal mine. Our task was to build a wall out of plastic parts and wire at the side where the roof garden faced the bathing pool, to prevent other prisoners from secretly watching the women taking their baths down below. I got this assignment at that time because my sentence was short, I was working at the kiosk of my unit and wasn’t considered a common criminal. So the cadre chose that old prisoner from the coal mine and me.
From the second day on he told me everything about himself. From his talking, I could feel the jolts in his soul. He had attended high school before Liberation in 1949, he loved reading and understood a lot of things; he even liked poetry. He asked me so often until I had no choice but to give him one of the poems I had written. A few days later, I was transferred. After I arrived at Prison # 3, someone from # 1 came to go over my accounts. That’s when I heard something happened to Zhang Fafu. He had taken the plastic parts from our wall, tied them to is arms and jumped from a building. He wasn’t dead, but he became a vegetable.
I don’t know if he read my poem. Later, when I was released from Prison # 3 upon completion of my sentence, I stuffed the original manuscript of this poem into a bamboo flute I had got from Liao Yiwu, and blocked the hole at the bottom with soap. This way I got to take the poem with me. All these years, whenever I think of Zhang Fafu, I think of our plastic wall. It’s not the same as the wall in my poem, but now I cannot separate the poem from Zhang Fafu.
Tr. MW, 2013
Translator’s note: Li Bifeng’s NOTE and the following poem (http://wp.me/PczcX-zk) are part of his novel Wings In The Sky (天空中的翅膀). One chapter is available on the LIBIFENG2012 WordPress site. The main characters are an old prisoner, a bird and a woman who lives in a shed not far from the prison with her daughter. The plot is rather interesting.
标签：1989, art, austria, china, literature, poetry, politics, prison, prose, reading, Vienna, writing
发表在 June 2013, Translations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
5月 28, 2013
Lesung für Li Bifeng
What is Chinese literature about? What is art about, in any medium, time or place? The reading for the imprisoned underground poet and activist Li Bifeng on June 3rd, 2013 in Vienna will include works by a diverse range of authors. Li Bifeng has become known through his association with Liao Yiwu, the exiled poet and documentary writer, now in Berlin. On his own, judging from his available work and his literary impact in China, even in dissident circles, Li Bifeng would not have become famous. This doesn’t mean he is not worth reading. But he has had little opportunity to find an audience, and not everything that is available online now is as compelling as Liao Yiwu’s signature poem Massacre, or any other famous piece of writing in Chinese. Actually, none of the works by Li Bifeng I have read up to now sound very dissident at all. They are “just art”, so to speak. He could have published them, as a different person.
I am currently translating a long poem by Li Bifeng into English, and have translated several small texts into German. Two of these will appear in the literary journal Wienzeile this summer in bilingual fashion. The artist Sara Bernal is supporting the reading on June 3rd with a display of paintings.
What other texts will be read at Vienna University on June 3rd?
On May 3rd, 2013, we had a very interesting workshop and discussion at Vienna University’s East Asia Institute, on literature in Korea, China and Japan. It was initiated by Lena Springer, who invited Zhang Chengjue 張成覺, expert on the year 1957 and the so-called Anti-Rightists-Campaign in China. Zhang and Springer were inspired by Lu Xun expert Qian Liqun from Peking University, who called for research on the late 1950s in China across disciplines. The workshop in Vienna was about censorship, political changes, publishing conditions and (self-)perceptions of artistic quality. Professor Schirmer told us about a debate in South Korea 45 years ago, in 1968. A big-wig critic who became culture minister later published an essay, lamenting the lame state of Korean literature. A poet responded and said he had poems that could not be published, and his friends also had literature that could not be published because it would be considered dangerous, unstable, unsettling. 不穩。The critic said he didn’t understand. Surely good art would be independent of politics and would only need imagination and talent? Not so, the poet replied. Art is potentially unsettling, if it is powerful art at all. The critic didn’t get it again. Sounded very much like Prof. Kubin and his friends in China. Also like Taiwan 30 years ago, of course.
維也納大學遠東語言文化系在今年五月三日剛進行了文學討論會，主要談不同政權、時代的言論情況。張成覺講1957年中國『反右』，朝鮮半島語言文化系的人談了在二十幾年前在韓國的文學討論，有以後當文化部長的評論家寫文章大講韓語文學敗退，非常像顧彬對當代中國文學的廢話。有一位作家回答那以後當部長的評論家說他的抽屜裡有不能刊登的詩，而他朋友有不能出版的文章。那時候韓國聽起來像國民黨獨裁的台灣，書店有希特勒的書，但如果你家裡有馬克思你會下獄。不過那位作家不用這樣說，只需說他的詩不能刊登，因為好的文學從來都是『不穩』的 。
日本語文化系有人談當代日本語文學的討論，也有老頭藐視他後代的文學和比較年輕的作家談當地政治、社會問題跟文學的關聯。『年輕人』是沖縄県來的目取真俊, Medoruma, Shun, 1960.10.6 -。老頭是大江 健三郎。他支持研究大量沖繩島嶼人在二戰結束時被迫自殺的歷史真相。所以他一點都不像韓國的評論家支持維穩。只是藐視他後代的文學。日本語文化系還有其他人講日本三十年代初檢查雜誌和『伏字』的現象。
中文系魏格林教授介紹莫言的短篇《糧食》，以後進入了長篇《丰乳肥臀》。《糧食》和莫言自傳性的文章都證明他並不像美國林佩瑞教授所指的無視大躍進飢荒，反而承認自己像其他貧窮的農村孩子因為飢餓失去了自尊。除了進入軍隊喊主席萬歲沒有很多選擇。現在說不出來什麼反對制度的話難怪，制度給他寫作的機會已經那麼難得的。魏格林教授成功地證明談論莫言應該仔細讀他的小說。最近談論莫言這樣仔細的文章很少，希望快能出版。
中文系並且提供關於朦朧詩人北島、舒婷、顧城的感人講話，還有講《天雲山傳奇》這部電影的技術和觀眾成功的現象。 總共說非常值得組織遠東系一塊談文學，大榭張成覺，Lena Springer 和所有參加的專家！
最近五月底有兩種國際消息讓我想起文學和權利的聯繫。德國工會Verdi呼籲亞馬遜(Amazon.com)員工舉行罷工，藉此要求全球零售業龍頭提高基本薪資並改善夜班待遇。五月14日第一次罷工，五月27日又報告罷工通知。李必豐第一次被關起來因為六四。第二次因為在四川小城市組織罷工，阻擋交通。現在被關第三次，得了12年有期徒刑，好像要代替廖亦武。奧地利筆會支持德國亞馬遜員工的罷工：http://penclub.at/blog/2013/05/16/2139/
第二消息是絕食。美國关塔那摩湾拘押中心絕食消息讓我想起施明德《囚室之春》。台灣1947年二二八死了幾萬人，1991年才承認。小布什時代美國長得很醜陋的面孔，像獨裁者同樣一直公佈世界上只有一種歷史觀。廿世紀美國長期支持各種獨裁、虐待政權。無論什麼地方，社會多元化、實現底層、少數權利、都需要長期鬥爭。
Besides works by Li Bifeng, the reading for Li Bifeng in Vienna will include texts by Li Khin-huann (Taiwan), Shih Ming-te and Shih Ming-cheng (Taiwan), famous fiction writer Liu Zhenyun (Henan, Beijing), the female migrant worker poet Zheng Xiaoqiong (Dongguan), famous iconoclastic poet Yi Sha (Xi’an) and last but not least Zhao Siyun, whose poem for June 5th was introduced by Michael Day on the MCLC list in 2010. Maybe also “Farewell to the 20th century” by Song Tik-lai, if we have time. Or other stuff from Taiwan and other places.
無論怎樣，諾貝爾文學獎、和平獎十二年之內三次給中國人就是很大的機會。這次給主流作家，有矛盾。有矛盾就更加討論。像顧彬在艾未未被綁架的時候站在中國政府一邊，這樣的漢學家謝天謝地畢竟很少。馬悅然絕對不會這樣。
Liao Yiwu, Meng Huang and Maria Rosen: A performance in Stockholm
Mo Yan and Liao Yiwu
Stephane Hessel and the state of the air
标签：art, life, literature, poetry, politics, prison, translation
发表在 June 2013, May 2013 | 1 Comment »
5月 28, 2013
Painting by Sara Bernal (mixed media, 2013)
WORLDWIDE READING FOR LI BIFENG ON JUNE 4th, 2013
– in Cologne on June 5th, in Vienna on June 3rd (http://penclub.at/events/worldwide-reading-fur-li-bifeng/)
By calling for a worldwide reading on 4 June 2013 for the Chinese underground poet, Li Bifeng, the international literature festival berlin is demanding that the Chinese government release him from prison.
The poet and campaigner for democracy, Li Bifeng, wrote a report in 1998 about a courageous group of textile workers who blockaded a Chinese motorway and sent a video recording of it to foreign human rights organisations. In 1989, after he had been involved in the protest on Tiananmen Square and on the run for six months, Li Bifeng was captured and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment for ³economic crimes². In November 2012, the 48-year-old was sentenced to another 12 years, with no good reason, without evidence and despite worldwide protests. The authorities
suspect him of having helped his friend, the author Liao Yiwu and holder of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade 2012, to escape to Germany in 2011.
In the short phases in which Li Bifeng has been able to write, he has written numerous poems, prose texts and plays as well as a novel. On the anniversary of the massacre on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, which took place on 4 June 1989, the Peter-Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics e.V. and the international literature festival berlin have initiated a
worldwide reading for Li Bifeng.
Appeal, texts by and about Li Bifeng: www.worldwide-reading.com,
http://libifeng2012.wordpress.com
Some new translations into English and German
标签：literature, memory, poetry, politics, prison, translation
发表在 June 2013, May 2013, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
5月 22, 2013
AERGER
aerger noch aerger noch aerger noch aerger rauch aerger noch aerger noch aerger jedes jahr fuer jahrzehnte aerger organisation gegen organisation alle machen mit es gibt endlich nach 70 jahren am 8. mai in wien am heldenplatz einen sieg mit musik mit dem heer mit ueberlebenden mit einer freude von beethoven strauss einem tanz einem stolz
MW Mai 2013
标签：art, austria, civil society, memory, military, music, politics, Vienna, war
发表在 May 2013, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
5月 2, 2013
LICHTBLAU
– für die taz, Xu Pei und Harry Heine
gut und böse, deutsch und china,
wenn es doch so einfach wär.
manchmal ist es wirklich einfach.
light is china. deutsch ist schwer.
dissonanz ist gut und wichtig,
harmonie ist selten echt.
deshalb ist das allermeiste,
was kubin sagt, falsch und schlecht.
denn er sagt ja stets dasselbe,
wenn man in die zeitung schaut.
in der forschung ist es anders.
was sich in der forschung staut,
was in vielen tausend jahren
dissonant war oder schön
ist halt nicht sehr kompatibel,
sieht man in die medien.
wer ist harmoniebedürftig,
wer ist forscher, dissident,
wer ist dichter, wer ist denker,
wer ist stiller, und wer rennt,
wer ist renitent und fuchtelt,
drängt sich stets ins rampenlicht,
ob in china oder deutschland,
wer ist prächtig, wer ein wicht?
gut und böse, deutsch und china,
wenn es doch so einfach wär.
manchmal ist es wirklich einfach.
blue is china. deutsch ist schwer.
廖亦武本來不想流亡。在中國沒工夫學德語，現在也許都沒工夫。寫作、關心李必豐、當大國敵人很費心。
Die Faszination der Wirtschaft, des Exotischen, der Kunst, der Literatur, der Wanderarbeiterinnen, der Bürger- und Menschenrechte. Die Faszination China/ Lenovo als Big Blue Chip/ Ai Weiwei/ Liu Xiaobo/ Liao Yiwu. Gao Xingjian, Liu Xiaobo, Mo Yan (und Liao Yiwu). Exil und Sprache, Dokumentation und Fiktion, Sprache(n) der unteren Schichten, der Kader, der SchriftstellerInnen drinnen und draußen. Ein mediensüchtiger Professor, der die Sinologie in die Klatschspalte der Nachrichten zerrt. Ein großer Forscher, Vermittler und eifriger Übersetzer als aufdringliche, absurd-komische Fußnote. Schweden und Norwegen sind für die heutige chinesische Literatur viel, viel wichtiger als Deutschland. Als Österreicher stört mich das naturgemäß ganz und gar nicht. Obwohl Deutschland durch die Popularität von Ai Weiwei und Liao Yiwu, in letzter Zeit wegen der Präsenz von und wegen des Preises für Liao Yiwu doch auch nicht unwichtig dasteht. Österreich und die Schweiz kommen sowieso nicht vor. Die Schriftstellerin Yu Luojin 遇罗锦 hat eine Zeitlang in Wien gewohnt, die Dichterin Shu Ting 舒婷 hat in Wien meine Frau und mich miteinander bekannt gemacht. Sheng Xue 盛雪 ist in Kanada. Und Hofmannsthal liegt in Wien begraben. Idol mancher, auch eines bekannten Sinologen. Großer Dichter, vor und im ersten Weltkrieg und nachher agitatatorisch zwischen Österreich und Deutschland gespalten. Von Stefan Zweig gepriesen, der Avantgarde hasste und faschistische Marschgruppen erst einmal faszinierend diszipliniert und schneidig fand, bevor er draufkam, wofür und wogegen sie waren. Avantgarde, Futurismus, Faschismus, Formalismus, Shklovski und Trotzki, Suprematismus, Stalinismus, Surrealismus, Pop-Art, Maoismus. Trakl, Rilke, Bei Dao, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan, Ernst Jandl, Erich Fried, Mira Lobe, Christine Nöstlinger, Elfriede Gerstl, Rosa Pock, Friederike Mayröcker, Marlen Haushofer, Christine Lavant, Hilde Spiel, Elfriede Jelinek, Robert Schindel, Maja Haderlap, Esther Dischereit, Josef Winkler. Lichtungen. Lichtblau.
标签：Chinese Studies, exile, literature, politics
发表在 April 2013, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
3月 20, 2013
Ask not what Quan Ju De Peking Duck restaurants can do for you, ask what you can do for Quan Ju De Peking Duck restaurants!
“Dear reporters, after today’s press conference, you will believe in God.”
Bloggers, and the Government, Respond to Pig Crisis
Father likes to take a nap…
From New Century Poetry Canon, compiled by Yi Sha 伊沙
father likes to take a nap
father was born in 1949.
he always liked to fall asleep.
especially now
he dozes off all the time.
it’s like he never wakes up.
actually, mother says
when father was young,
he was very active at the unit.
went there early, came back late.
then, after 10 years of confusion
he never woke up again.
even when he sleeps
his eyes are half open.
2012-05-07
Tr. MW, March 2013
And here are two more pictures. Waiting for a miracle, doing crazy things in the meantime. Like going shopping.
Photo by Kai Strittmatter
Photo by Kai Strittmatter
Or taking to the streets. Last autumn, all through the first chairmen transition period, China was full of demonstrations and looting because of an island dispute. One Politbureau contender had stumbled over his wife and his police chief. Populist mobilizer for Maoist songs. Then they came up with the Chinese Dream. Same ducks, same colors.
Boycott sushi! Defend Quan Ju De Peking Duck Restaurant!
标签：Cartoons, censorship, china, ducks, environment, food, media, nationalism, pigs, poetry, politics
发表在 March 2013, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
2月 28, 2013
photo by Sara Bernal
Chat with an old friend in Beijing who works in Chinese media. Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 7:50 am GMT
hello dear
bonjour. 早上好。
how are you ??
還可以
你好嗎？
空氣很臭嗎？
feeling nauseated, pollution is above maximum level again
855 right now
他們兩會喘氣一點也好
disgusting
+o(
you know the article i translated a few days ago to tackle the pollution? they want to forbid the barbecues !!
*^o)
like 羊肉串?
dui !!
太可笑
可悲
the state of the air is the state of the art of ruling the country. we had a guy from shanghai here at the university yesterday, there is a un conference on middle east in the city, and he is a chinese expert on jews in china and relations to middle east. very pragmatic, realist guy, sounds like some of his israeli friends. we don’t want another libya chaos, so we veto.
😐
but who are they defending in the security council? sudan was massacring their own people. China supports any regime that suppresses their own population by military means.
yeaah, so now it is too late for the international community to shine, and the ones who help in Syria are the radical islamist, Al qaida etc..
exactly.
when the war will be over, do we really want an other country ruled by Al Qaida, because china did not want chaos ?
such short term vision
lets not forget the dearest firend poutine
such a nice guy to help his economy by boosting the weapons and jets industry
yes. the chinese love to cooperate on weapons with israel and do all sorts of research. he likes to talk about such things. but nobody asked tough questions. stephane hessel died two days ago in france, wasn’t it? the old guy who survived the nazis and inspired recent civil movements. it’s not easy. arab spring was risky. doesn’t look good now, on the whole.
yes, he passed away, just learned about it a few minutes ago, i just cried watching the news
every revolution takes time, the french one lasted more than 20 years
to really settle down
the name arab spring comes from prague spring 1968. there are always risks with popular movements for democracy from the bottom up. participation, human rights, civil rights, civil society.
but the good thing in the chaos in egypt and algeria and tunisia, is that now, people know they can make a difference, and wont take bullshit and abuse like sheep
so, all those who just had personal ambitions are aware that they too can be put down by civilians if they don t act according with the will of the people.
yes. two and a half years ago it looked like mubarak and gaddafi etc. would rule forever.
it will take time, but in the end, we, the basic people all want the same: quiet, freedom, work, and education for the kids
it was more convenient for everybody to support the status quo.
for us, china, eu, diplomats….
you are right. to be left in peace by the government, to have basic rights and freedom, to have work, and education for the kids. in tibetan. in mongolian. in uighur. etc. not very difficult.
你好吗？
不怎么好
头疼 头晕
那今天好好休息。。。
空气怃然挺厉害
没有办法休息没
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_68d111990101afbr.html
https://erguotou.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/lilis-story/
i was horrified by the story of Lili
i sent it to my friends and colleagues
it’s very disgusting. the poem is from last october. it didn’t look as if she would get justice. remarkably well-written report in the newspaper when you follow the link., very detailed.
my chinese is too bad to understand the original text, but i will have some of my colleagues help me understand. I am getting ready for the NPA and CCPPC. 3 weeks with no day of for this occasion.
at austrian PEN-club they have a special activity Time To Say No. Started after Malala was shot in Pakistan. I am helping them with Chinese texts. http://www.penclub.at/
One Chinese writer who lives in Canada sent a much more horrible poem than Lily’s Story. Very good poem, too. Her name is Sheng Xue 盛雪. I can send it to you, if you like. Women’s day on March 8 is a good occasion to pay attention to the real world.
yes, please, it is always good to make people aware of these facts
too many people with power still think they can get away from their acts, thank god internet is there so nobody forgets
寄給你 8:22:16 AM Sending of “Sheng Xue.doc” http://blog.boxun.com/hero/201202/shengxue/7_1.shtml
Oh my god, that’s awful
i can’t stand injustices like that
i can’t stand that these murderous pigs can get away with it !!
i am not for violence, but sometimes i think …
:@
please send it around, if you like.
i will
the english translation is not bad. but the original is even better.
or worse, of course.
i passed them around
what are your colleagues saying? Maybe they know some of the names in the poem by Sheng Xue. I didn’t know the names, but it sounds very real.
i did not hear anything from my colleagues
i guess many chinese just prefer to ignore that kind of things
like the ostrich digging its head in the sand
at least one or two of the names in the poem by Sheng Xue would get results even in English at Google or Baidu. Lily’s Story was reported in China. Even in newspapers, though not very big.
i think the more they hear about this kind of things, the more rebellious they will be towards those jerks
yes. but it isn’t big news every day. the pollution is. that’s the good thing about it. easy to say for me when I don’t smell it right now.
标签：air, arab spring, arab world, biography, china, civil rights, 盛雪, diplomacy, israel, literature, middle east, politics, protest, rape, resistance, Stephane Hessel, women
发表在 February 2013, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
2月 26, 2013
baum
sie haben den baum vorm fenster gefällt
ich weiss nicht warum
er liegt noch herum
sie standen beisammen im hof und sprachen
von polizei und so sachen
ich fragte nicht nach
wir sind nachbarn im anderen haus
es geht uns nichts an
es war nur der baum
unlängst haben sie sträucher gerodet
da ist eine gesprungen
und eine weile liegengeblieben
hat man dann erfahren
sie haben den baum vorm fenster gefällt
es steht noch ein kleiner gestutzter
und bald kommt der efeu der wilde wein
und was rotes das klettert
und noch weisse sträucher
der baum war alt
er hat halt geblüht
von uns aus gesehen das schönste im hof
jetzt gibt es mehr licht
man sieht in der richtung die serbische kirche
und weniger nester vielleicht
MW Feb. 2013
___________________________________________________________________
zug
ein gedicht ist ein zug
eine abweichung
trug dich ein zug
ein verbotener
konntest du aufatmen
schmecken nachdenken
war es genug
MW Feb. 2013
mehr züge 吸引
reden 言
abstimmung 票決
frühlingsschnee 伊沙 《春雪》
drache ade 告別龍年
wiedersehen 告別
not 莫
many-coloured days
vacation 假日
coffee-house at the end of the world 最後的咖啡館
toys and the frost
Mo Yan 莫言
ideology 意識形態
distance studies 距離學
桜
300 Recent Chinese poems 新詩三百首中英對照
The Nobel 諾貝爾獎
Dieses Leben 今生
Mo Yan’s old house 莫言故居
Lai Hsiangyin and Chen Kohua in Vienna 賴香吟、陳克華
Mo Yan and Murakami 莫言、村上春樹
Lily’s Story 赵思运//丽丽传/
Moroccan Fountain 摩洛哥噴泉
Moon From Train
Punks, empathy and torture: Pussy Riot in China and Vienna
Wang Wei: Abschied 王維-送別
Murong Xuecun, Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun, Bob Dylan and Rivers of Bablyon 慕容雪村、余華、劉震云、流行音樂
Flying over the sea, quietly 顏峻
poetry and music 詩、歌
标签：life, literature, nature, poetry, politics, protest, resistance, spring, train, trees, Vienna, winter
发表在 February 2013 | Leave a Comment »
1月 28, 2013
drache ade
der mond ist ungeheuer oben.
der drache ist bald nicht mehr da.
am spielplatz sehen wir noch den mond.
es war ein schoener nachmittag
mit kleinem bob im belvedere.
der schnee ist jetzt schon laenger da.
die rampe bei den stufen rechts
wenn man hinaufgeht. leo fuhr
auf maias kleinem leichtem bob
vom schiurlaub in kaernten noch.
es war ein schoener ruhiger platz
und niemand stoerte sich an uns.
und eine mexikanerin.
der erste schnee, ganz frisch in wien
mit ihrem freund. der kann gut deutsch
er wohnt auch hier. sie fragten uns
und leo liess sie einmal fahren
und sogar beide je einmal.
der mond ist ungeheuer oben
ein bisschen hoeher als im herbst.
der letzte mond im drachenjahr
das fruehlingsfest ist heuer spaet
es kommt am zehnten februar
der mond ist ungeheuer oben
ein bisschen hoeher als im herbst.
das drachenjahr war ganz ok
mehr wasser als beim letzten mal
es rannte damals jiang zemin
mit fackel in die neue zeit
auf dem milleniumsmonument
jetzt gibt es schon den xi jinping
viel wichtiger: es gibt mo yan
man ahnte beides lang davor
beim letzten mal wars gao xingjian
das war im letzten drachenjahr
recht lang ists her. 12 jahre frueher
da war ich in taiwan
die 80er jahre
das letzte jahr vor 89
hat da shen congwen noch gelebt?
der haett es auch noch fast gekriegt
in stockholm, aus des koenigs hand
fuer literatur aus den vierziger jahren
und dreissiger jahren. vor 49.
jetzt gibts in deutschland liao yiwu
aus taiwan kamen lai hsiangyin
und chen kohua unlaengst nach wien
in taiwan ist viel hoffnung da
in china ist die luft recht dick
der mond ist ungeheuer oben
ein bisschen hoeher als im herbst
das drachenjahr war ganz ok
mehr wasser als beim letzten mal
in peking wars sogar zuviel
im juli, mit ertrunkenen.
zum abschluss wurde es sehr kalt
am ende kam ein schlimmer smog.
war es ein gutes drachenjahr?
ich weiss es nicht. wir sind in wien
in wien gibts haeupl weiterhin
und bundesheer. an seinem platz
und wenigstens nicht fuer den krieg.
der mond ist ungeheuer oben
den fluechtlingen ist ziemlich kalt
vor 20 jahren: lichtermeer
ich war in china. doch davor
nach 89 bald danach
war ich in wien. da war der loeschnak an der macht.
der cap war auch schon funktionaer.
das boot war voll. das sagte wer.
es gab die plakate
gesetze statt hetze
als auslaenderhetze.
das als das das statt war
das wollte ich kleben
auf alle plakate. in einer nacht.
ein bisschen wie bei ai weiwei.
ich hatte nicht genuegend freunde.
dann kam der krieg. jugoslawienkriege.
und ich war in shanghai.
dann war ich zivildiener, lehrer
fuer fluechtlinge aus bosnien.
doch nur weil ich wollte.
der grissemann hat nichts getan.
vielleicht aber spaeter.
es gibt nichts gutes. man tut es.
von kaestner. wie war das?
dann ging ich nach wuhan.
und spaeter nach chongqing.
dazwischen war rumaenien.
wir lernten und lehrten.
wir kamen nach peking.
und jackie ging zum militaer.
militaer in der botschaft.
und alles ganz friedlich.
und ich uebersetzte
dann waren schon die kinder da.
der mond ist ungeheuer oben
ein bisschen hoeher als im herbst
der letzte mond im drachenjahr.
ich muss jetzt endlich schlafen gehen.
MW Sa., 26. Jaenner 2013
标签：1980s, 1990s, 2000, 2012, austria, beijing, china, diary, life, literature, military, moon, Nobel prize, politics, taiwan, Vienna, weekend
发表在 January 2013, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
1月 20, 2013
Für Zivildienst. Und ein Bundesheer mit breiter Bevölkerungsbasis. Wenn überhaupt ein Heer. Aber zur Polizei hab ich kaum Vertrauen. Wir sind neutral. Nicht bei der NATO. Vertrau ich der Polizei? Warum soll ich einem Berufsheer vertrauen? Wir gehen jetzt zur Flüchtlingsdemo. 13:30 beim Volkstheater. Bis dann, alles Gute. Martin 
We had a vote about our military in Austria on the weekend. And a demonstration for refugees on hunger strike. Complete with a huge Sachertorte. For the protesters. In commemoration of the “Lichtermeer” against racism and xenophobia in Vienna 20 years ago. I didn’t know if I was going to vote, on Sunday morning. So I got Jackie to call our old friend, Gen. A., her employer in Beijing. The Social Democrats wanted to abolish the draft. But some prominent Social Democrats wanted to keep it, incl. the president. General A. is Social Democrat. But he said if the draft is abolished, they will only get certain segments of the population as recruits. You can do all sorts of other things instead of going to the army. Work in a hospital, teach German to refugees (what I did), even go to Qiqiha’er 齊齊哈爾 for a year. (Here is another report in German, translated from 齊齊哈爾日報)。 It’s not that bad if every healthy young man is required to do something for the community. That was my reasoning. When I did that alternative community service thing, we had to do some training at first for being able to help in case of floods, storms etc. That boat thing was fun. The guy in our group whose parents were in the far-right Freedom Party volunteered and was the first to try and row to an island in the icy Danube. Boat leaked. He didn’t get very far. They sent him to hospital. He was ok. Later on he had to teach German to refugees, helping me. He wasn’t bad, they liked him. He really tried, and I’m quite sure his attitude to refugees etc. changed.
标签：austria, civil rights, civil society, democracy, demonstrations, Europe, migrants, military, news, police, politics, refugees, society, solidarity, Vienna
发表在 January 2013, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
1月 9, 2013
Song Tik-lai 宋澤萊
FAREWELL TO THE 20th CENTURY
Thank you, 20th century
We all grew up some time with you
I was born and grew up too
In your arms I feel at home
In your last year
You are generous
To set me free
One hundred years
Two world wars
Cold war east-west
Countless other wars and conflicts
I don’t have much experience
I carried my gun
Two years military service
Thank heavens
I stayed alive
One hundred years
One economic depression
America’s streets full of beggars
Some nations went hungry
Russia and China adopted
Communism
I have only shallow experience
When I was small
There was no rice
But there were dried sweet potatoes
Thank you
I didn’t stay hungry
Although malnourished
There was political tragedy
Military dictators
Even governing through terror
Countless people
Went to jail
Wailing was heard on
The earth’s every corner
I have limited experience
Held and carried
Flags and banners
Walked in streets
Of silent protests
There was art in various ways
Dadaists and surrealists
Stream of consciousness, expressionism
Existentialism, postmodernism
Baffling and shouting, collapsing
Suicide and going crazy
I don’t have much experience
Still at my desk
With simple words
Writing my poems
I went to Grandpa’s grave
One hundred years of graves and mounds
Thousands and millions
Buried simply
Left in the 20th century
Wrongs and grievances abroad
I don’t know much and beg your pardon
I went through this time
And stayed alive
20th century
I don’t count as your victim
Listen, century
I’m not qualified
To raise my voice
In blame
But begging your pardon
At night when the Milky Way blazes
Raising my head
I often think of
Flying away
Tr. Martin Winter, Jan. 2013
With help from Khinhuann Li 李勤岸
宋澤萊
告別二十世紀
感謝二十世紀
庶呢長e時間
予我會凍出世、生長
值妳e懷中我感覺有歸屬
最後e這年
妳寬宏大量
予我離開
一百年
有兩遍世界大戰
東西冷戰
無數e大小戰爭
庶我呒是攏有體驗
干擔八揭搶
做二年e 兵
感謝天
我平安度過
一百年
有一遍經濟大蕭條
美國滿街攏乞食
有人民大飢荒
露西亞、中國實行
共產主義
我e 體驗真淺
干擔值囝仔時代
無米通食
但是，猶有番薯簽
感謝
我無飫著
雖然有卡欠營養
有真濟e政治悲劇
軍人獨裁
甚至恐怖統治
有算朆了e志士
入監牢
哭聲值地球e
每一個角落
我e 體驗無深
干擔八揭
幾遍旗仔
值街仔路
恬恬抗議
有真濟藝術
達達、超現實
意識流、表現主義
存在主義、後現代主義
迷惑、喝喊、瓦解
自殺、起犭肖
我呒是攏有體驗
猶原值桌子頂
用尚簡單e字
寫我e 詩
我八去阿公埋骨e
百年大墓仔埔
歸千歸萬人
埋值土腳
亻因值二十世紀留落
外濟e委屈
原諒我呒是完全清楚
我猶原值世間
繼續活落去
二十世紀
我假那受害無夠深e
世紀
無資格大聲
責備
但是，原諒我
值夜晚銀河燦爛e時
揭頭
我不時道想卜
飛離開妳
标签：1999, 2000, 20th century, 21st century, art, death, hunger, literature, poetry, politics, poverty, protest, Song Tik-lai, taiwan, Taiwanese, terror, war, 宋澤萊
发表在 1999, 2000, January 2013 | 3 Comments »
1月 7, 2013
Please click on the image
My favourite comments on Mo Yan in the last few months are in the article by Liu Jianmei (刘剑梅), published in FT Chinese on Dec. 11 and posted on the MCLC list on Dec. 19. The title asks something like ‘Does literature still work like a shining light?’ Maybe my translation is not too bright. Should literature be a shining lantern? That’s one of the questions in Liu’s article. Literature and art were thought of as relevant to society and the nation in the 1980s. Liu talks about different approaches and relationships of life and art. Mo Yan deserves careful reading, just like Yan Lianke and Lu Xun. Nothing more or less. Liu uses “Save the cildren”, the last line from Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman, for a close look into Mo‘s works as well as Yan Lianke’s latest novel Four Books (not published in Mainland China). The main characters of Republic Of Wine and Frogs are unable to save the children, like Lu Xun’s narrator. Republic of Wine features cannibalism and a riotous carnival of language. It’s my favorite among Mo Yan’s novels, along with The Garlic Ballads.
What is art? What is it for? A little more than 100 years ago now, the Dadaists (in voluntary exile in Switzerland and other places) concocted a virtual antidote to the First World War. Words, ordinary and exalted speech, had lost any meaning in the collective carnage. Not much later, Hu Shi, Zhou Zuoren, Lu Xun etc. attempted to change the Chinese language, in written form and on stage. Yomi Braester shows in Witness Against History how Lu Xun’s most famous passages retain ambiguities that belie any straight nationalist reading, even if the author himself would have read them that way. I like the crazed language of the Madman. Republic of Wine, more experimental than any other works by Mo (to my knowledge), goes into that direction. In Bei Dao’s Rose of Time (Shijian de meigui), a collection of essays that appeared in Shouhuo (Harvest) magazine in the early 2000s, when Bei slowly became acceptable in China again, he writes about Pasternak and Mandelstam. In his youth, Pasternak praised Stalin. Later he tried to extricate other writers from the Gulag, with mixed success. Mandelstam believed in Communism all the way to his death in a labor camp. Bei Dao doesn’t say that. But the chapter on Pasternak invokes Russian Formalism and Structuralism that grew out of the abortive 1905 revolution. Art makes reality appear strange and different, enabling the spectator to perceive it more clearly. And the flag of art is always different from the flag on the citadel.
Republic of Wine is wilder than the real Mo Yan on the Nobel stage. When the real Mo (sounds funny, doesn’t it? The real NO, or the real NOT, like NOT A WORD), when the real Mo Yan talked about his mother, I was moved. It sounded like my grandmother in rural Austria around 1920. Sometimes she couldn’t go to school in winter because she had no shoes. But Mo Yan also said his mother was afraid he would “leave the collective” with his storytelling. Qunti 群体, the masses, the collective, could that be called an example of Mao wenti or Mao-ti, Mao-Speak in this usage? Actually not, qunti 群體 is an older word, could have been used by Li Dazho and other founders of the Chinese Communist Party, before Mao, Prof. Weigelin told me recently here in Vienna. She was right, I encountered qunti in another text I liked very much, was it by Yu Hua? Anyway, I was rather baffled when Perry Link related how a mother would tell her child on the bus to “jianchi 堅持”, to hold it until the driver could stop and let the child out to go to take a leak. Would “jianchi” really sound strange outside of Mainland China? But the discussions about Mao-style are still relevant – Mo Yan is an establishment figure nowadays, and generates critique of China’s established system in general.
I was a little surprised when Chinese critics of Mo Yan talked about the carnivalesque language in his novels. As if you had to be careful not to lose yourself in there. I did think of Mikhail Bakhtin and his concept of carnival in Dostoyevsky’s novels when I read Republic of Wine. But as far as I remember, Bakhtin had defended language and storytelling that would sound strange and crazy, as opposed to Socialist Realism. So when was Mo Yan’s writing first associated with carnival? Maybe in the 1980s? And how did this association evolve?
A few days after the recent massacre in a primary school in Connecticut, Ross Douthat in the New York Times talked about Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. Although Dostoyevsky was a Christian, Douthat says, the senseless cruelty against children in the novel is just cruelly senseless, there is no “rhetorical justification of God’s goodness”. You have to look at the behaviour of characters who show “Christian love” to find any counterpoint. Below this op-ed, there are 121 reader’s comments, all within one day. Many say they want to talk about guns, not literature.
What is literature for? Why is there a Nobel for literature, but not for music or fine art? Or films? Nobels make for debate. Very much debate, in this case. Great.
标签：children, china, cruelty, literature, media, Nobel prize, politics, religion, theory
发表在 December 2012, January 2013 | 2 Comments »
12月 9, 2012
Please click on the image
Thanks to Charles Laughlin for his eloquent and far-reaching defense of literature. A defense, at least a deeper discussion of art and literature, is what has been missing from the debate. We’ve had apologies of Mo Yan 莫言, or the Nobel prize 諾貝爾獎. From himself, in his storied speech. From commentators, including me. I said debate in China is the best thing, perhaps the only thing, that comes from this prize. But what kind of debate? And why? Shouldn’t we be glad about the attention for Chinese literature, and for literature in China? Isn’t it enough to read more, and read more carefully?
Nick Kaldis has observed that Anna Sun’s article was the first attempt to debate Mo Yan and the current situation of Chinese literature in literary terms. Charles has pointed out the crucial flaws. The concept of Mao-speak or Mao-ti 毛體 came up in the 1980s in the context of a renaissance of culture, writing, philosophy, debate- everything that had been missing in the Mao-aftermath. Charles has emphasized that new literature in the 1980s, like the fiction of Yu Luojin 遇羅錦, Dai Houying 戴厚英, Zhang Wei 張煒, Zheng Yi 鄭義, Zhang Jie 張潔, A Cheng 阿城, Wang Anyi 王安憶, Liu Suola 劉索拉, Zhang Xianliang 張賢亮, Han Shaogong 韓少功, Jia Pingwa 賈平凹, Can Xue 殘雪, Ma Yuan 馬原, Yu Hua 余華, Ge Fei 格非 and many others, along with the critical writing, philosophy etc. around it, was supposed to overcome the effects of Mao-speak. Charles has also shown how Anna Sun’s view deliberately blocked out major portions of Chinese literature in many centuries, including the last 100 years.
But let us go back to the 1980s. In hindsight, it was very naive to believe that art and literature could renew the nation. What nation? What kind of nation, stemming from which revolution? It’s very easy and futile now to say all the hope of renewal was naive. The hope ended in 1989, and has been ending ever since, in the selling off of land 地, air 空氣, culture 文化, heritage 傳統, water 水, people 人 – with steadily worsening consequences. On the other hand, art and literature are still involved in an ongoing renewal, with very interesting results.
The only flaw in Charles’ essay, from my point of view, is what I’ve said before, too many times perhaps. I believe that ideology isn’t harmless. Questions involving ideology and philosophy aren’t harmless. At least they were thought of as relevant in the 1980s. Copying Mao’s seminal 1942 speech on literature and art in 2012 is just a ritual, yes. But what do Mao Zedong, the “Yan’an Talks” 延安講話, the involved concepts and the furious critique of ritual obeisance signify in the first place?
Are they all more important than reading more art 藝術? Maybe not. Still, how about a little theory 理論? What is ideology 意識形態? Lacan’s 拉岡 answer, according to Žižek 齊澤克, comes down to emptiness 空虛. No, this is not about Buddhism 佛教. Ideology is what people hold on to in their hearts and minds, in order to belong. To belong to a group. To have an answer, the hope of an answer, a meaning. Do you need to know what your ideology is all about, where it came from, what it involves? Not really. It’s there. Like the believe that everyone is entitled to buy automatic weapons. Every citizen.
In the 1980s, such questions, or more intelligent ones than I can elaborate here, there and anywhere, were asked a lot. A very, very big hope was involved. That’s where Liu Xiaobo 劉曉波 comes from. That’s where Wang Shuo 王朔 comes from. That’s where Yu Hua 余華 comes from. With some writer’s, it’s not always obvious where they come from. Liu Zhenyun 劉震云 and Feng Xiaogang 馮小剛, who are known for lively comedies, with sometimes well-hidden serious issues, have just released “1942”, a film about famine 飢荒. Man-made famine, mostly. And campaigns. Campaigns to unite the nation, to beat intruding foreigners.
It is rather obvious where Gao Xingjian 高行健 comes from, when you hear him speak. Some Weibo 微博 users did that last weekend, for a comparison in Nobel literature speeches 諾貝爾文學演講. Gao’s Nobel speech was available, copied on Chinese servers, which had not been policed very severely in this case, apparently. Gao Xingjian’s Mandarin has a southern accent. He is not hard to understand, but it’s not the kind of Mandarin Mo Yan commands, rather effortlessly, it seems. Mo Yan is the Writer’s Association’s 作家協會 vice chairman 副主席. The chairwoman is Tie Ning 鐵凝. I like her stories, they are very much about memory. But I haven’t heard her speak in public. Don’t know if a shining, booming Mandarin like Mo Yan’s is the standard at official cultural associations these days.
Is it obvious where Mo Yan comes from? Everybody knows where he comes from, we know his aunt, father, wife and brother, as far as they have been interviewed and compared to how they might appear in his novels. That’s what Mo Yan said in his speech. Is that all we need to know? Mo Yan spoke about is mother. It was very moving, at least to me. It’s a great text, that speech. Censorship-resistant. Available in six or seven languages on the official website. Which is blocked 被阻擋 in China, of course.
Gao Xingjian and Mo Yan are very different in their language. Everyone who has read Soul Mountain 靈山 and One Man’s Bible 一個人的聖經 in the original knows that. Mo Yan and Gao Xingjian are very different in their attempts to overcome Mao-ti. Both have written great novels, in my experience. Both stay away from day-to-day political issues and debates. But Gao Xingjian emigrated in order to write and paint in peace, comparatively. Mo Yan worked on his spoken Mandarin. Ok, that was unfair, I don’t know how he sounded in the 1980s. His novels from back then are great, especially The Garlic Ballads. Liu Xiaobo liked Red Sorghum 紅高粱, because it was very sexy, in the 1980s. I like The Garlic Ballads 天堂蒜薹之歌, and The Republic of Wine 酒国. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out 生死疲勞 and Big Breasts And Wide Hips 丰乳肥臀 are fascinating, too. All stories about more or less recent decades. Sandalwood Death 檀香刑 is a 19th-century-story. Sex, gore and folklore. Very well done. And maybe as moving as Mo Yan’s words about his mother.
Yu Hua’s first novel Cry In The Drizzle 在細雨中呼喊 has a guy running amok in China’s 1970s. The hero’s father, if I remember correctly. Gao Xingjian’s Nobel made many exiled and self-exiled writers and other culture workers think about their paths. Maybe the prize was for all of them, in a way. Is Mo Yan’s prize, in a symbolic way, a reward for everyone in China? Depends on your ideology.
(Sorry, I am not sure where exactly Žižek 齊澤克 published what I’ve related above. Maybe in Has Someone Said Totalitarianism?)
标签：1989, awards, china, conscience, ideology, literature, Nobel prize, politics
发表在 December 2012, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
11月 30, 2012
李勤岸
距離學
從嘴巴到筆尖有多遠？
從筆尖到街頭有多遠？
從街頭到法院有多遠？
從法院到牢獄有多遠？
從牢獄到槍聲有多遠？
法院到民主有多遠？
牢獄到民主有多遠？
槍聲到民主有多少光年？
Li Khin-huann
DISTANCE STUDIES
how far is the mouth from the tip of the brush?
how far from the tip of the brush is the street?
how far is the street from the court?
how far is the court from the jail?
how far is the jail from the shots?
how far is democracy from the court?
how far is democracy from the jail?
how many light-years away from the shots?
(Taiwan 1986)
Tr. Martin Winter, 2009-2014
__________________________________________
Li Khin-huann
ENTFERNUNGSLEHRE
wie weit ist die pinselspitze vom mund?
wie weit von der strasse?
wie weit ist die strasse entfernt vom gericht?
wie weit ist es vom gericht zum gefängnis?
wie weit vom gefängnis zum schuss?
wie weit vom gericht ist die demokratie?
wie weit ist die demokratie vom gefängnis?
und wie viele lichtjahre vom schuss?
(Taiwan 1986)
Übersetzt von MW 2009-2014
标签：art, Chinese literature, death, death penalty, democracy, distance, law, poetry, politics, prison, taiwan, translation, writing
发表在 November 2012, Translations | 12 Comments »
11月 14, 2012
the noble
the nobel is stronger than china
china jumping up and down
on feet of clay
The situation is maddening for every serious literature critic who cannot acknowledge the encroachment of such a hyper-prize-situation on their territory. On the other hand, this is the perfect opportunity to see, and maybe even acknowledge, the impossible challenge of writing a balanced political or literature and art history of the last 100 years, or even 20 or 30. You could see the huge discrepancy between the international relevance of China and its surroundings and the impossibility for Chinese Studies (and Taiwan Studies etc.) of doing it justice in research, of reacting in adequate or satisfying ways. Actually, Anna Schonberg has found a convincing personal way of talking about Mo Yan’s work and the current debate. Goenawan Mohamad has written an article on Mo Yan and Yu Hua, seen from Indonesia. And Yang Jisheng’s investigation of the Great Leap famine is spawning documentary work in villages in the way of writing “people’s histories” in the People’s Republic. Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the US came out in 1979. China is catching up. There is Yang Xianhui, and there is 1942, a new film centered on famine, after the story Remember 1942 Liu Zhenyun wrote in 1992. But how relevant is literature on the whole?
Li Bai, China’s most famous poet, has been constructed as a would-be useful patriotic official in a recent play. I remember one or two other political readings of his poems. The political role of all literature and art that the CCP ostensibly demanded led to, or enforced overwhelmingly political reading of everything. Now Mo Yan cannot escape political criticism because he is a CCP official. He has written great literature. But because he got this larger-than-anything-even-China-in-a-way-prize, on one hand he can finally be a public intellectual, let his conscience speak and speak out for a return to reason in Chinese-Japanese relations and for a release of Liu Xiaobo, both taboo topics. A voice of reason after “street protests” against Japan (?), somehow evoking both Cultural Revolution and Fascism. Tolerated and stoked by a system in the midst of a supposedly tightly choreographed leadership transition. Leaders of the Bo Xilai generation installed. They’re different, of course.
Yang Jisheng in the international media is the perfect contrast, or antidote, to the 18th Party Congress spectacle. Another good contrast is running a detailed article on the One Child policy, like Die Zeit did. Speaking of family planning, Mo Yan’s Frogs is coming out soon in English and German. Granta magazine has an excerpt online.
Mo Yan spoke out, but he still was attacked because he didn’t speak out before, which is kind of unfair, because it would mean every writer has to be like Liao Yiwu, every artist like Ai Weiwei etc. The Nobel prize is very unique, because it entails so much international attention. And so especially societies with a huge inferiority complex, stemming at least in part from a rather recently constructed nation (as in Turkey) have to turn the recipient into an anointed emblem. The only alternative is to deny, like in Gao Xingjian’s case, that he/she belongs at all to the country he/she comes from and the language he/she wrote most of his/her works in, as Anne Sytske Keijser and Maghiel van Crevel have pointed out in a recent article in “De Groene Amsterdammer” (10/17/2012). In today’s China, for a virtual, fleeting audience online, you can show you are not part of this official face. Up to a point, that is. No mentioning of other recent Chinese Nobel laureates. But you can criticize Mo Yan, no matter if you have read his fiction or not. So anyone interested in freedom of speech has to be thankful to the Nobel prize and to Mo Yan for all the national and international attention they have generated. Mo Yan has chosen to speak out, so he should be respected. You can speak about your own impression of his work, as you should, according to Kant, if the question is “whether it is beautiful” (Critique of Judgement, Book 1). Or you can speak about your personal relationship with him and his work, as Howard Goldblatt has done. But you can also write about Mo Yan in a political light, which is what everybody has done, including me. Reading “Republic of Wine”, for example, both in Chinese and in translation, is much more rewarding.
The debate after Mo Yan won the Nobel is about debate. How much debate is allowed? How does debate get allowed or possible at all? It’s obedience vs. disobedience. What Charles Laughlin said on the MCLC list sounds like this: Demanding outspokenness from Mo Yan now is the same as demanding, in effect, obedience to the Party line in 1942. This is how it sounds like, not only to me, I am afraid. Obedience and disobedience are thus blurred. One-party systems enforce obedience and silence. Draconically, as the 8-year sentence on Oct.31 in Kunming of a young father of an unborn child for talking about a multi-party-system online shows. Multi-party systems include and tolerate traditions of disobedience. In some countries, civil disobedience is highly valued- think of Thoreau and Ghandi. Doesn’t mean these places are always better in every area and aspect.
Apart from Mo Yan and the Nobel subject discussed nobly or not, the New Statesman issue from Oct. 19-25 (guest-editor: Ai Weiwei) and the new issue of Words Without Borders provide worthwhile reading.
标签：china, literature, memory, Nobel prize, poetry, politics
发表在 November 2012, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
11月 3, 2012
It was great. Lai Hsiangyin 賴香吟 read part of her story about a member of a former underground movement who has to confront his own weakness when his divorced wife needs his attention. I read Julia Buddeberg’s translation. Chen Kohua 陳克華 read three poems. First came Nothing 無, very Buddhist. Then a couple of last things. The last café 最後的咖啡館. The last motel 最後的汽車旅館. Very Taiwanese kind of motel dive. Secrete details, medical details, scientific details included in all three poems. Questions and answers. Audience members asked a few questions, and we had an interesting discussion. How and why did Ms. Lai write the story? What comes first, life or politics? And so on. Students, immigrants, veterans maybe, of Taiwan politics. Chinese Studies, East Asian Studies Institute, Vienna University 維也納大學東亞文化系. Austrian PEN. Two days in Vienna. Two nights. 維也納卌八小時左右。Arriving, getting lost on the airport. Translator’s fault. Translator’s idea, the whole thing. Not lucrative. I am sorry. Not smooth. Interesting, yes. Freezing. Exhausting. Fun. Fruitful, hopefully. Thanks very much! To the organizers. Thank you! Everyone who helped us. But above all 賴香吟、陳克華多謝！辛苦你們！Liebe. Liebe und Erinnerung. 愛和記憶。Love and memory. 賴香吟小說的主要題材。維也納很適合你們。柏林也是。柏林比較像現在的台北，相當開放、國際化的。柏林非常重視記憶。維也納的過去其實比柏林可怕，因為沒有柏林那麼公開的重視記憶。
So we had Q&A. Then the encore. We had Vienna in the café, in my translation. Apocalypse. Pouring coffee, to the last. Tabori. Hitler and Freud. Is there a Freud statue? There is his private clinic. Oh well. Statues of Strauss, Beethoven. Vivaldi, very recent. With his orphan students, all girls. Musicians, composers. When Aids broke out in Taiwan, the government forbade intercourse with foreigners. As well as doing it from behind. That’s how Chen Kohua thought of the poem. As a medical man. And risk group member. No intercourse with foreigners, no sex from behind, and we’ll be fine. Right. That’s where the quotation marks in the title come from. Freud and Jelinek. Dreams of Vienna. Love and memory.
陳克華
今生
我清楚看見你由前生向我走近
走入我的來世
再走入來世的來世
可是我只有現在。每當我
無夢地醒來
便擔心要永久地錯過
錯過你，啊–
我想走回到錯誤發生的那一瞬
將畫面停格
讓時間靜止：
你永遠是起身離去的姿勢。
我永遠伸手向你。
1985
Chen Kohua
DIESES LEBEN
Du näherst dich aus meinem früheren Leben.
Ich seh’ dich ganz klar, du gehst in meine Zukunft.
In die Zukunft der Zukunft.
Aber ich hab’ nur die Gegenwart. Wenn ich
traumlos aufwache,
hab’ ich jedesmal die Sorge,
dass ich dich verpasse, für immer —
Ich möchte zurück in den Augenblick des Fehlers,
den Film anhalten,
die Zeit und das Bild:
Für immer stehst du auf, um zu gehen.
Ich streck’ dabei die Arme aus.
1985
Übersetzt von Martin Winter im November 2012
标签：aids, austria, Chinese, contact, Elfriede Jelinek, 陳克華, 賴香吟, fiction, German, intercourse, life, literature, love, medicine, memory, poetry, politics, revolution, sex, Sigmund Freud, taiwan, translation, underground, Vienna, 國際交流
发表在 November 2012, October 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
10月 22, 2012
I want to thank Charles Laughlin for his recent posts on the MCLC list and on Facebook. His conclusion included these words: “Mo Yan’s critics are expecting the same of him that Mao Zedong would have: the political subservience of writers and their responsibility to serve as the political conscience of the nation”. Now I have written another blog post about this. 罗老师多谢!
Mo Yan’s 莫言 situation is ironic, as Charles Laughlin says. But serving “as the political conscience of the nation” is not the same as “political subservience”. It is rather the opposite. As we know, Murakami Haruki 村上春树 and his colleagues can be “the political conscience” of Japan, making “politically progressive gestures”, but Chinese writers in China, because of “political subservience” cannot be “the political conscience of the nation”, except obliquely in their fiction, poetry etc. Or in the first few days after they win a Nobel.
Along with Charles and many other people I am very glad that after Mo Yan was announced as a Nobel winner, he finally felt up to, or forced to open his mouth as a public intellectual, in contrast to the meaning of his pen name. Now he can be a public figure, like Murakami in Japan, not just an ambivalent functionary and a reclusive writer. Or can he? Is he going to say anything more on China-Japan relations or political prisoners? Is he going to mention Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波 in Stockholm? He will certainly be asked about other Chinese Nobel winners. That’s the nature of this particular prize, whether you like it or not.
Murakami and his colleagues can “serve” as public intellectuals, when their conscience tells them to do something additional to their writing. The irony is that under CCP 中国共产党 rule, there are no public intellectuals in China. There are occasional trouble-makers and commentators, like Ai Weiwei 艾未未 and Murong Xuecun 慕容雪村, Yu Hua 余华 and Wang Shuo 王朔. But can any of them speak their mind in public at length about Sino-Japanese relations or other sensitive topics? Apart from these writers and artists, there are professors like Cui Weiping 崔卫平, who issued the call to turn back to reason in Sino-Japanese relations, which got censored on Sina Weibo 新浪微波. She has often been prevented from traveling abroad. And there are some civil rights lawyers, who sometimes disappear.
Murakami and his colleagues can “serve as the political conscience” of Japanese society in and out of their books. Mo Yan has to be very circumspect with his topics. The Garlic Ballads was censored and supressed for a while. Mao’s “Talks” 讲话 at the “Yan’an Forum” 延安文艺座谈会 helped to make sure writers and artists could not speak their conscience. Vague documents like this have played an important role as instruments of obedience inforcement in one-party societies, as Anne Sytske Keijser and Maghiel van Crevel have shown in a recent article in “De Groene Amsterdammer” (10/17/2012). Mo Yan knows about this dilemma. His comments after he won the Nobel, and even some comments before, suggest he cannot find hand-copying and displaying Chairman quotes quite as harmless as Charles. That would be the difference between working with political realities in China and teaching about them in the US. The conditions of these political realities are still determined by largely the same factors as decades ago. As Keijser and Van Crevel put it, Mao’s “Talks” and other directives are up on the shelf, routinely mentioned in speeches by present leaders, and ready to be enforced again as needed. Yes, Mo Yan and his colleagues fought successfully for enough freedom to write great literature. Isn’t that enough? Not outside the realm of fiction, unfortunately. The cultural achievements of the 1980s couldn’t prevent the 1989 crackdown and everything that stays vague and threatening in theory and practice today.
Mo Yan writes “stupendous” novels, as Charles Laughlin says. Yes, he does. His development as a writer was influenced by the threat of starvation, the brutality in the name of revolution, and by the ideology. Yes, including the Yan’an “Talks”, as Charles shows. Now, Charles says, “China’s writers are receiving much-deserved international recognition simply because they are devoting their souls wholly to literary art.” Yes, they do. Liao Yiwu’s 廖亦武 speech in Frankfurt was in Sichuan dialect 四川方言. The text is available on the Internet. Try to find a video not dubbed into German. The German translation was fine, it just wasn’t dialect or even colloquial German. And it didn’t sound half as humble as Liao himself did. Politics made him into the writer, musician, poet and activist he is now. And his temper, his foolhardiness, as he readily admits. Not a hero, as Jonathan Stalling suggested. The German Book Trade’s Peace Prize has often been awarded to writers such as Orhan Pamuk.
The irony is that in theory, as taught by Charles, “Mao Zedong would have” reminded writers of their “responsibility to serve as the political conscience of the nation.” In practice, he silenced them. Virtually all, in time. So there would be no political conscience. That’s what Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four is about. Words like “Ministry of Truth” 真理部 are very well-known in China. 1984 is a vision of the closed world of a one-party state. Some moments of life in other societies can feel just as eerie, like a progressive college professor who turns into a cult leader, as in Murakami’s 1Q84, or, even more so, the perfectly cultured killer with secret roots in Korea. But on the whole, Japan in the 1980’s, evocatively and masterfully portrayed, is not ironic enough for connecting to Orwell’s 1984. I guess Taiwan under martial law 台灣戒嚴, in 1984, could have just made it.
Hu Ping 胡平, elected as independent candidate in Beijing’s Haidian district towards the end of the brief Beijing Spring over 30 years ago, recently circulated an excerpt from Mo’s “Life and Death Are Wearing me Out” (Shengsi pilao 生死疲勞). The novel was already well-known before the Nobel. A land owner who had his head blown off in the land reform in 1950 is born again as a farm animal several times, most famously as a donkey. In this excerpt, the donkey/landlord laments his unreasonable and unnecessarily bloody execution, until the guy who shot him tells him he acted with expressive backing from local and provincial authorities, to make sure the revolution was irreversible. So was it “a matter of historical necessity”? I don’t know what Hu Ping meant by circulating the email that somehow ended up forwarded in my inbox, because I don’t follow Chinese exile communications very closely. To me, the excerpt sounds just as absurd, evocative, tragic and yes, “stupendous”, as Mo Yan’s novels usually do. And thus rather close to Orwell’s 1984, or Wang Xiaobo’s 王小波 2015, in a way. I don’t think most readers would think that the author wants to commend, recommend or even excuse such acts of brutality.
There is another irony. Gao Xingjian 高行健 was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2000 even though, or maybe because, he did not and does not make himself available for political comments. Gao emigrated to France in the late 1980s and rescinded his Party membership in 1989, and it doesn’t seem he wants to come to terms with the powers that be in China in his lifetime. But on the whole, Gao has made about as many explicit political comments in the last 20 years as Yang Mu 楊木.
Chinese writing in 2012 is very complex. At least there is “much-deserved international recognition”, finally. Yu Hua’s essays “China In 10 Words” 《十個詞彙里的中國》 were serialized in the New York Times 紐約時報, among other international papers. And now Yang Mu, Mo Yan and Liao Yiwu appear together in headlines, also in the New York Times. What more could we wish for?
标签：china, culture, fiction, German Book Trade Peace prize, history, Japan, literature, memory, Newman prize, Nobel prize, politics, taiwan, theory
发表在 October 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
10月 16, 2012
I like both Mo Yan’s 莫言 and Murakami Haruki’s 村上春樹 novels. But 1Q84 left me disappointed, although it’s brilliantly written. Great evocation of ordinary lives and neighborhoods. But not very much connection to Orwell. No prison. The two lovers escape at a terrible price. Maybe I sort of hoped neither Mo Yan nor Murakami would get it. Although I think they’re both great writers. Murakami deserves great credit for his political candor, both in some of his novels and otherwise. He recently spoke out for a return to reason in Chinese-Japanese relations. After Mo Yan got the Nobel, he also said something in this direction. Mo Yan has never made political comments before. Now he can do it. So maybe it is a good thing that he got the prize.
Making handwritten copies of the speech that was the reference point for decades of repression in literature is an absurd, shameful act.
On the other hand, Mo Yan’s novels could be called an important continuation of the magical realism tradition. The realism of The Garlic Ballads clearly shows the helplessness of peasants and ordinary people in the 1980s. The Republic of Wine is a fantastically powerful indictment of official corruption. Some other novels have broader historic scope. The stories take place in many different periods, under CCP rule as well as before and even in the 19th century. But they are all fantastic tales of familiar people in villages and small towns. Ma Lan’s 馬蘭 How We Killed a Glove 我們如何殺一隻手套 employs different techniques, but when you are in the middle of reading you also realize the details refer to massacres and tragedies that seem very fantastic in hindsight but which are actually quite familiar still for many people even now. So I have great respect for Mo Yan 莫言 and Tie Ning 鐵凝, even though they chair the Chinese Writer’s Association. They don’t even have Party members in their stories, as far as I recall. There are no chairmen or even higher functionaries at all in recent Chinese literature. There are no vindications of official policy, in contrast to the 1950s and 1960s. As to the Yan’an Talks or Yan’an Forum 延安文藝座談會, it was not really a discussion with different voices being respected. Maghiel van Crevel 克雷 has put the whole context together in his book on Duo Duo 多多 in 1995, on the basis of Bonnie McDougall etc. The Chairman had remarkable rhetoric skill, but it can’t be separated from the context of writers disappearing, getting imprisoned and killed, not to speak of other people, right then and there in 1942, on the grounds of what Mao was saying. It’s not the kind of literary theory you can discuss on its own. Socialist realism with its many facets and developments in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, GDR etc. is certainly worth a great deal of attention and discussion, but it is always very directly connected with politics. In some countries, like the former Soviet Union and China, this connection was compounded by dictators considered as intellectuals. Marxism, Socialism and Communism were taboo in the US for a long time. This kind of repression is still quite visible in the propaganda against Obama, who isn’t really leftist at all. And because of this, literary and social theory have a very strong and special status in US academia. Infatuation with China and/or what was perceived as its politics is an additional factor, also in other countries. When I look at the social and political context of literature in China, I prefer Yu Hua 余華 to Mo Yan. But it’s not that simple. Mo Yan is a soldier, joining the PLA was the only way for him to become a writer. He has done and is doing what is possible in his position, and deserves respect.
标签：army, china, freedom of speech, Japan, literature, Nobel prize, politics
发表在 October 2012, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
9月 2, 2012
300 Modern Chinese Poems (Chinese-English) 汉英对照版《中国新诗300首》
Zhao Siyun 赵思运, who was introduced on the MCLC list by Michael Day a while ago with a poem called June 5th 六月五日, has a list of authors and poems on his Blog, for a Chinese-English anthology of over 300 modern Chinese poems 中国新诗300首. Compiled by an institution called International Poetry Translation and Research Centre, IPTRC. Very welcoming, diverse and expansive. Including writers from Taiwan, and many young voices. Liao Yiwu 廖亦武 is included, though not with his most representative work, probably. Lü Yuan 绿原 is there, he did a Chinese-German anthology, introducing Yu Jian 于坚 in 1990, rather early. Bei Dao 北岛 was included in there, but with a comparatively insignificant poem. He is better represented in this new effort, although I miss the mosquito. It’s very hard to include one or two significant poems from an author who is obviously politically significant.
Interesting to compare this with other anthologies, in Chinese and other languages. Zhongguo Xin Shi 中国新诗 (Fudan UP 2000), ed. Zhang Xinying 张新颖, has two poems by Zhou Zuoren 周作人, one against unnecessary water dams and a drinking song, both very impressive. Zhou Zuoren has not made it onto the IPTRC list. Of course it’s rather easy to come up with some of your favorites who are not represented, compared to shifting through many thousand poems and coming up with such a list. Huang Xiang 黄翔 is included, despite his dissident status, but he is already in Zhongguo Xin Shi 中国新诗. As usual, I am looking at newer people first, although I only recognize two from those born in 1970 or later. Zhou Yunpeng 周云蓬 is there, the blind folk singer. But not Cui Jian 崔健. Woeser 唯色 is there, which is great! But in general there are hardly any poets from minority nations in China.
Ha Jin 哈金 is missing, but he writes in English. Gao Xingjian 高行健 does not appear, but is mostly known for fiction and drama. So who else hasn’t made it? Yang Ze 楊澤、Hsiang Yang 向陽、Hung Hung 鴻鴻、Mai Mang 麦芒 (Huang Yibing 黄亦兵), who sometimes writes in English and teaches at Connecticut (there is another Mai Mang 麦芒 in China, known for one-liners).
On with the non-list: Sun Wenbo 孙文波、Li Nan 李南、Yang Jian 杨键、Zhu Wen 朱文、Yin Lichuan 尹丽川、Zheng Xiaoqiong 郑小琼、Ma Lan 马兰、Hong Ying 虹影、Pang Pei 庞培、Che Qianzi 车前子、Yan Jun 顏峻. I would have included Yan Jun’s 反对 Against All Organized Deception (translated by Maghiel van Crevel) and Ma Lan’s 事故和理由 The accident and the reason, maybe even combined with 仿佛 As If. And How We Kill a Glove 我们如何杀一只手套, if it wouldn’t be too long. Hong Ying’s 饥饿 Hunger, also written abroad. And one of Zheng Xiaoqiong’s 郑小琼 new female migrant worker’s portraits.
Then there would be others. Not compatible, maybe. Wu Yinning 吳音寧 and Li Ch’in’an 李勤岸 are very much from Taiwan. Wu Yinning 吳音寧 is more well-known for her reportages. The poems contain many fascinating local expressions, hard to translate. I’ve only read two poems by Li Ch’in’an 李勤岸, in a three-volume anthology of about 100 years of poetry in Taiwan. One of these two poems is a personal favorite, 解嚴以後 – 一九八七年七月十五日臺灣解嚴紀念 After Martial Law Was Lifted – In Commemoration of Lifting Martial Law in Taiwan on July 15th, 1987.
I have been reading a great anthology of Lithuanian poetry in the last few days. And there are beautiful anthologies of recent Chinese poetry in English, like the online treasure in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of thedrunkenboat.com, edited by Inara Cedrins, or the Atlanta Review China issue. Without any Chinese characters, unfortunately. But these are important collections, with some great translations. The Drunken Boat collection is very diverse, including minority people in China, extra sections on Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore, as well as very much else from abroad. Even half of the non-minority nation poets in China who are in The Drunken Boat are not in the IPTRC 300. The Antlanta Review China collection, edited by George O’Connell, contains some of the best Chinese poetry I’ve read in translation anywhere in any language. And there is a good volume in English of Che Qianzi’s 车前子 poems and some of his friends, with a note in the back that the Chinese text can be found in some university library. Oh well. Many contemporary poets from China, including some world-famous ones, are not easily found in China. This has been going on for decades. Anyway, there is not enough modernity, not enough experiment in Chinese literature in general, especially in China. So it would be great to include some people like Che Qianzi 车前子 in any anthology. There is also not enough performance, that’s where Yan Jun 颜峻 and other sound and music stuff would come in.
The Lithuanian anthology mentioned above is from Poetry Salzburg Press. I love the long hallucinating love poem Bird in Freedom by Vytautas Bložė, written while imprisoned and “treated” in a Soviet psychiatric hospital. And the song-like evocations of Vilnius’ old city and the empty Jewish ghetto by Judita Vaičiūnaitė. The translations of these poems and many others by Laima Sruoginis are hauntingly beautiful. Much of the identity of the Baltic countries is built on songs, a great foundation for poetry.
标签：anthologies, china, Chinese poetry, experiment, history, language, Latvia, life, literature, Lithuania, music, performance, poetry, politics, reading, Salzburg, taiwan, translation, writing, Zhao Siyun
发表在 September 2012, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
8月 17, 2012
Aug. 25
Daniele Kowalsky showed me a very interesting interview with Jonathan Campbell in the L.A. Review of Books. Jonathan Campbell talks with Jeffrey Wasserstrom about 盤古 Pangu，崔健 Cui Jian，無聊軍隊 Wuliao Jundui and other details of rock music and punk in China.
Unfortunately, I can’t agree with Jonathan that yaogun 摇滚 (Chinese rock music) could galvanize China like Pussy Riot seems to have galvanized opposition in Russia. Cui Jian 崔建 did have some very memorable moments, and people in China do remember them, and they will tell you readily about the parts before 1989, mostly. But those moments in 1989 were so painful in the end that no one knows if there will ever be a similar broad-based protest movement again. 1989 brought hope in Europe. Risk, very risky change, and some very ugly violence in Romania. But overall there was hope, and whatever came out of it, 1989 is generally remembered as a year of wonder. In China it’s a trauma. A wound that is usually covered up, but even China is very much connected to the world nowadays, and the world knows. And there are much deeper and older traumata, which can be accessed and shared via 1989. So in that way, there is hope. Connected to underground music. Like the kind that Liao Yiwu’s 廖亦武 music comes from.
There are parallels, certainly. Parallels between Pussy Riot and Ai Weiwei 艾未未, in the pornography. Parallels in the way of some Ai Weiwei news or other embarrassing news everyone gets to know about, and the dark stuff below. The disappearances, the longer ones, see Gao Zhisheng 高智晟. And the corpses. I learned about the late attorney Sergei Magnitsky via Pussy Riot. He died in jail in 2009, and among people concerned with Russia he is as famous as Gao is in and outside China, which means not so many people want to talk about him or even admit they’ve heard of cases like that. Of course, there are corpses under the carpets in every country. Only China is the oldest 5000 year old one, of course.
Aug. 22
2 years for singing in church. Perfectly absurd. Punk music, controversial art. Public space and religion. Russia, Africa, China. What is art? Depends where you are, what you are, who you are, who is with you. What you believe.
One week ago I read two books. A few months before I got to know a poet. Still haven’t seen her. A Jewish poet in Germany, soon to be teaching in Vienna. Esther Dischereit.
Last month I finally got around to pick up a book that contains many poems I translated. Freedom of writing. Writers in prison. A beautiful anthology, edited by Helmuth Niederle, currently head of Austrian PEN.
Connections. Connected to China. Punk music isn’t all that subversive, not in a big way, usually. What if musicians insult the government on stage. Well, I’ve been to about 300 concerts in China, said Yan Jun. Sometimes someone was screaming something in that direction. But they aren’t big stars. They can be ignored.
Christa Wolf. Stadt der Engel. The Overcoat of Dr. Freud. Long and convoluted. Gems in there. How she was loyal to the Party in 1953. And insisted on protest against Party policy. How and what they hoped in 1989. How and what Germany was and is.
Aug. 21
2 years for singing in church. And many more arrested. It does sound more like China than Russia, doesn’t it? The case of Li Wangyang 李旺陽 （李汪洋） comes to mind. Li Wangyang died around June 4th 2012 in police care after being released from over 20 years of jail. He was a labor activist in the 1989 protests that ended with the massacre on June 4th in Beijing. Li Wangyang supposedly killed himself, but the police report was disputed in China and in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of people protested. Li’s relatives and friends are still being persecuted. One has been formally arrested and accused of revealing state secrets, because he photographed Li’s body.
Parallels between Russia and China were drawn in media comments after the verdict in Moscow. One comment wondered whether Russia is trying to emulate China, where the word civil society is banned on the Internet. China has had economic success for decades. People put up with authoritarian one-party rule there, the comment said. But it won’t work in Russia, because the economy depends on natural resources, not on industry. The comment contained the old misunderstanding that in China, government policy and enforced stability have caused economic success. Beijing wants the world to think that, of course. However, the prominent law and economy professors Qin Hui 秦暉 and He Weifang 賀衛方 have been saying for years that the economic miracle of the 1980s depended on a consensus to move away from the Cultural Revolution, as well as on investment from Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas. After 1989, there has been no comparable social consensus. After 1989, the social drawbacks and the gap between rich and poor may have grown faster than the economy. But the middle class has also grown. Regional protests are frequent but limited. Or the other way ’round. The Internet remains vibrant. With Weibo microblogs inside the Great Firewall, and very much Chinese going on outside. Not because the government initiates it. They let it happen. The economy, the art, the internet. Even protests, when they are against Japan, and/or not too big. And they profit. The oligarchy is the Party.
Religion and more or less independent art have been growing in China, about as much as the social conflicts. Art brings huge profits, so they let it happen. In Russia, Pussy Riot have succeeded in connecting independent art, oppositional politics and religion in a highly visible way. Art, political activism and religion are voluble factors, so much that societies where everyday news has been fixated on finance for at least four years now could almost grow jealous.
Pussy Riot were not mentioned in our church on Sunday, as far as I could tell. I had to look after the children. But the preacher drew on her experiences from jail work. She championed the rights of refugees and was a prominent anti-governmental figure in Austria in the 1990s. Direct relevance for religion in Austrian politics is rare. We had Catholic Austro-Fascism in the 1930s, paving the way for Hitler. Some Protestant Nazis as well. After the Holocaust, religion in Austria has a somewhat undead quality. A bit like traditional opera in China, which is rallying, hopefully.
For international discussion about the relevance of underground art, music and religion, China has Liao Yiwu 廖亦武. And Russia has Pussy Riot.
Photo by Vincent Yu/AP
Aug. 17
Worldwide empathy for Pussy Riot is great. The trial in Moscow ends today, so I don’t know yet if three women have to remain in jail for years after singing in a church. There was a lot of worldwide attention last year as Ai Weiwei 艾未未 was abducted and detained by Chinese state security. He was released and voted most influential artist worldwide. I have seen graffiti in support of Pussy Riot here in Vienna in the last few days. One at newly renovated Geology Institute. Not very nice. And there was some kind of happening at the Vienna Russian Orthodox church, I heard. Church authorities not amused. Well, hopefully worldwide support can help enough this time. Quite recently, many political prisoners in China have been sentenced to more than 10 years. There was a lot of attention abroad in one case. And a Nobel.
Austria is a nice place, generally. Sometimes it’s uglier than Germany. Generally uglier, in terms of police abusing, even killing people, always getting away with it. Have been reading Vienna Review and Poetry Salzburg Review in the last few days. News and poetry. Many of our friends here in Vienna are not from Austria. Coming from abroad often provides a clearer perspective.
Aug. 14
Read two good books. Not in Chinese. Ok, in Chinese I’m reading poetry. And other books, not enough. Anyway. Cornelia Travnicek and Manfred Nowak. Both in German. Non-Fiction and Fiction. No connection. Like Liao Yiwu 廖亦武, Bei Ling 貝嶺 and that Berlin novel, what was it called? Plan D. Ok, there was a connection. Taipei Bookfair 台北國際書展. Ok or not, no connection. A novel. Punks in Austria. Young and female. Male protagonists dead or dying. Ok, not all of them. Anyway, good novel. Vienna, occupied, death, youth, love, society, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s. 2012 exhibition at Wien Museum. Empathy. And the other book? Torture. Human Rights, UN, Austria, torture in Austria (see this newspaper report, also in German), Moldavia, Equatorial-Guinea or how do you call that country, Uruguay and so on. Neglect. Conditions of/for empathy. Ok, so both books are about empathy. Good. And in German. Oh well, maybe some people who read this read German. Or they’ll get translated. The books, not you. Manfred Nowak’s books and other written sources are available in several other languages than German. You can get some very useful stuff in English for free here.
标签：art, austria, books, catholic, censorship, china, death, economy, empathy, finance, internet, jail, life, literature, love, music, opera, orthodox, parties, poetry, politics, protest, protestants, punks, religion, russia, Salzburg, taipei book fair, torture, United Nations, Vienna
发表在 August 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
8月 5, 2012
I don’t think Murong Xuecun exaggerates, like one commentator suggested on the MCLC list. Yes, you could encompass many alarming, saddening, embarrassing stories in one speech in other places than China, and people do it all the time, naming names, practices, products. The difference is that in China you will be silenced more swiftly and harshly. Yes, there are exceptions.
Does Mo Yan revel in cruelty like Dan Brown? Does Yu Hua make better use of the cruel parts in his novels? Ok, I’m an interested party, I can’t really say. Would be interesting to analyze in detail. Mo Yan’s novels are great works, at least those I have read, he has written a lot. Deep, cathartic, even accusing use of cruel events and structures. I love Yu Hua’s tone. And I associate Liu Zhenyun in Remember 1942, and Murong Xuecun’s Sky and Autumn speech.
We had Jeremiah in church today, along with that story where a guy goes abroad and gives his gold and silver to his servants. The ones that receive more trade with it, and when their lord comes back, they can give him double. The one who received very little buries it, and when the lord comes back, he digs it out and says, I know you are a harsh governor and reap where you haven’t sown, so I was afraid to lose what you gave me, and kept it double safe. His colleagues get to join the big party, and are rewarded with great posts. He is cast out into the darkness, which is filled with howling and chattering teeth. It’s a horrible story. Yes, it’s a parable, and if you have very little reason for faith, you should still risk it and try to make more, because if you bury it deep in your heart you might lose the little trust you had and received and be cast out into the darkness. But if you are the one who has reason to be afraid, how can you trust your lords? The ones who have more and get more have it easy. Even if they lose everything, they are often rewarded – those powerful managers and functionaries. And if there are enough of those who are cast out, and they get organized, maybe some bishops or other lords might dangle from lamp posts. A Hussite reading, said my wife. Yeah, maybe. No shortage of horrible stories in Chinese literature, like in the Bible.
Jeremiah is even worse, it’s a much bigger story, infinitely more horrible. And there is a detail, not in the Jeremiah parts used in church today, but in the songs in exile. By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat down, where we wept when we remembered Zion. And in the end the singer wishes, or the singers wish they will one day brutally kill the children of the oppressors. That’s the detail in Murong Xuecun’s speech I was thinking about.
The calling of Jeremiah, where he says he’s too young, and God says he has to go and obey, and open his mouth, and God will put His words into his mouth, and he will be set above nations and kingdoms, so he can pluck out and demolish, ruin and destroy, as well as plant and build. The preacher said she thought of parting and setting off to other posts, and how the Marschallin in Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s and Richard Strauss’ Rosenkavalier sings of what she will have to give up. What a horrible comparison! There is nothing light in Jeremiah. There are no waltzes. Ok, Rivers of Babylon, yes. But with Jeremiah, if you have to mention Austrian writers, Franz Werfel would be much more apt. Werfel was Jewish and used Jeremiah, a lot. Ok, she did mention, much too briefly how nobody would heed Jeremiah, and that it’s actually the most terrible story.
Anyway, when I heard Jeremiah, I thought of Bob Dylan. Masters of War. “How much do I know, to talk out of turn? You might say that I’m young; you might say I’m unlearned. But there is one thing I know, though I’m younger than you, it’s that Jesus would never forgive what you do. […] And I’ll watch while you’re lowered onto your deathbed, and I’ll stand on your grave and make sure that you’re dead.” I don’t know if Dylan thought of Nixon and Kissinger explicitly, when he wrote this song. America’s Vietnam War was raging, and I think the song came out when Nixon and Kissinger where in power. Anyway, there is that Monty Python song about Kissinger. Very explicit. Dylan and Monty Python would not be able to sing these songs in China on stage today, to say nothing about what Chinese artists can do. No, Murong Xuecun doesn’t exaggerate.
x and y
x was cruel
butt is sore
y was able
and suave.
both loved culture
both destroyed
hundred million
butts are cold
MW March 2007
Yes, I thought of Mao and Nixon, and their sidekicks. But x and y could stand for many people, and could be mentioned anywhere, at least today. Almost anywhere, probably. Anyway, it’s about smoking, you know. Littering. OK, enough for today.
标签：beijing, bible, Bob Dylan, china, civil society, essays, freedom of speech, Hong Kong, literature, Liu Zhenyun, Mo Yan, Murong Xuecun, music, Nobel prize, novels, peace, poetry, politics, prize, society, songs, speech, Yu Hua
发表在 2012, August 2012, December 2012, November 2012, October 2012, prose, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
8月 3, 2012
Click on the image to go to the English version of Murong Xuecun‘s text.
写得很好，我觉得。写得就像说话，谈话。就是演讲，但也像偶尔跟你一块走一段路，跟你分一些心事。
I like Murong Xuecun‘s recent essay (or speech) The Water in Autumn And The Unending Sky very much. He quotes Lu Xun, very aptly. All the quotations are apt, within the text, of course. This kind of essay very easily gets misunderstood as a mere pamphlet. It is a pamphlet. It is meant as a very sharp critique. But just like Lu Xun’s non-fiction pieces, this one is also meant to be read and listened to very carefully.
The Republican era in the decades before 1949 was roundly condemned for its society and government by many writers. Its downfall was expected, and there was so much contempt, in retrospective, that it seemed the new era after 1949 had to be something better, simply because the war and the state of China before had been such disasters. The Chinese writers and commentators of the Late Qing and Republican eras very often understood themselves as patriots, especially in their most acerbic writings. Lu Xun is the most famous example.
I’m not interested in whether Murong Xuecun could write as well or could become as famous as some Republican writers. He is one among many present writers who are publicly critical of the PRC government. Many of the most critical ones are mostly or permanently abroad. I don’t know if Murong Xuecun can continue to live mostly in China. He is certainly more consequent than Han Han, for example. I don’t know what exactly has driven Murong Xuecun to non-fiction. Seems it has been a gradual process.
The present state and the more or less contemporary history of the PRC have been described and inscribed very starkly by many writers ever since the late 1970s, basically by almost everybody in the world of letters, whether or not they still go through the motions of hand-copying Mao’s totalitarian directives in 2012, as some of the most famous have done.
The Republican era was roundly condemned, in fiction and non-fiction. On the other hand, some people see it as an era of freedom, in retrospect. Both could be justified, it seems. Liu Zhenyun, who could be seen as just another member of the establishment and as a non-serious TV- and popular movie-collaborator, is actually very eager to mention the famine of around 1960 in his works. Remember 1942, Liu’s non-fiction story from 1992, has just been filmed. The story is about remembering a local famine that occurred in 1942. It was a terrible year around the globe. The Holocaust in Europe was coming into full swing. War was raging in many places. Total war was going to be proclaimed. 1942 is a year that has received a lot of historical attention. But the context of Chiang Kaishek’s and his government’s decisions about the famine in Henan is not very widely discussed. Liu Zhenyun manages to combine the Republican era and the PRC in a piece of stunning critique of both. The PRC part is mostly implied, but it works. I don’t know how or if this works in the film as well. Anyway the film, wherever it will be shown, will make some people want to dig out the text.
Liu Zhenyun, Murong Xuecun and Yu Hua have something in common in their tone. They are very close to the common people, aside from some stylistic differences. Yu Hua has only recently become well known for his non-fiction, which is not published in the PRC, but available on the internet. Maybe Murong Xuecun will turn to fiction again, and maybe he will continue to live in Mainland China. Doesn’t look like it at the moment, but it seems more feasible than, say, Liao Yiwu returning to China.
Murong Xuecun, Liu Zhenyun and Yu Hua are very conversational in their non-fiction. These pieces are written for popular appeal. They could be seen as very patriotic, in a way. Many very popular works in other languages are patriotic, like Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. Non-fiction in Chinese won’t become quite as world-famous, but it has come a long way in the last few years.
Murong Xuecun‘s text is a speech held in Hong Kong. There is a lot of classical Chinese at the end, although it is still very clear. The fragile heart sounds very 19th century to a Western reader. To me, at least. But so what? It’s not Wordsworth or Blake or one of the Shelleys, but it’s going in that direction. There have always been many kinds of writing at one particular time.
标签：1942, beijing, china, Dan Brown, government, Han Han, Hong Kong, Liao Yiwu, life, literature, Liu Zhenyun, Lu Xun, politics, propaganda, society, speaking, speech, Yu Hua
发表在 August 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
5月 23, 2012
李煜
清平樂
别来春半，
觸目愁腸斷。
砌下落梅如雪亂，
拂了一身還滿。
雁来音訊無憑，
路遥歸夢難成。
離恨恰似春草，
更行更遠還生。
标签：blossoms, life, love, parting, poetry, politics, seasons, snow, Song Dynasty, spring, Tang Dynasty
发表在 May 2012, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
5月 9, 2012
Die Nummer 62 des Literaturmagazins “Wienzeile” ist gedruckt! Mit Texten von Hsia Yü 夏宇, Yan Jun 顏峻, Hung Hung 鴻鴻, Zheng Xiaoqiong 鄭小瓊, Yu Jian 于堅, Ma Lan 馬蘭, Qi Ge 七格, Wu Yinning 吳音寧, Lin Weifu 林維甫, Tong Yali 彤雅立, Pang Pei 厖培, Liao Yiwu 廖亦武 und vielen anderen. Dazu gibt es Grafik und Bilder von Yang Jinsong 楊勁松, Chen Xi 陳熹, Emy Ya 葉宛玲, Ursula Wolte und anderen mehr.
Wu Yinning 吳音寧, Hsia Yü 夏宇, Hung Hung 鴻鴻 und mehrere andere SchriftstellerInnen und KünstlerInnen in dieser Nummer sind aus Taiwan. Gedichte von Wu Yining gibt es auch hier. Zwei der sieben Gedichte, die ich von ihr übersetzt habe, zitieren taiwanische Rockmusik. Eines ist über einen Kanalarbeiter. Die lokalen Details in Verbindung mit Wu Yinnings starkem sozialen Engagement machen die Faszination aller ihrer Texte aus. Sie war z.B. 2001 in Chiapas in Mexico und berichtete von der zapatistischen Revolte.
Wir haben Texte über Wahlen und Demokratie, 1979 – zur Zeit der Demokratiemauer – und heute. Helmut Opletal, langjähriger Rundfunk- und Fernsehkorrespondent, berichtet von den politischen Verhältnissen im Peking der Demokratiemauer und zieht Vergleiche mit aktuellen Ereignissen. Wir haben Han Hans 韓寒 Essay über Demokratie, übersetzt von Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber. Das ist einer von drei Texten – über Revolution, Demokratie und über Freiheit- die Ende Dezember 2011 herauskamen, gerade als wieder einige Dissidenten zu hohen Freiheitsstrafen verurteilt wurden. Han Hans Texte wurden weltweit heftig diskutiert, unter anderem im Zusammenhang mit 100 Jahre Chinesische Revolution/ Abdankung des letzten Kaisers 1911/1912, auch bei einer großen Konferenz an der Universität Wien Anfang dieses Jahres. Wir haben einen Text des Computer- und Internetexperten Hu Yong 胡泳, ebenfalls übersetzt von Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber 殷歌麗, Kuratorin der Ars Electronica in Linz, Übersetzerin zahlreicher chinesischer Artikel und Bücher aus politisch-sozialen und wissenschaftlich-technischen Bereichen. Nicht zuletzt enthält diese Sonderausgabe einen Vergleich zweier hochbrisanter politischer Texte, der Charta 77 aus der damaligen Tschechoslowakei und der chinesischen Charta 08, erstellt von einer Politologin und Sinologin aus Tschechien.
Das Cover ist von Linda Bilda, einer Künstlerin aus Wien. Innerhalb der Redaktion war es von Anfang an umstritten. Aber eine wichtige chinesische Schriftstellerin, die in dieser Ausgabe vertreten ist, findet es gut, gerade auch wegen der Gewalt. Heutiges China, sagt sie.
Ein weiterer Punkt, der zuletzt heftig diskutiert wurde, war die Inkludierung von Texten von und über Wanderarbeiterinnen in China. Im September letzten Jahres war hier in Wien eine große Konferenz über Arbeitskonflikte in China. Vorträge und Berichte gibt es online auf den Konferenzwebseiten und bei Transform! . Eine der Vortragenden war Astrid Lipinsky vom Ostasieninstitut der Univ. Wien, die schon 2008 in der Zeitschrift Frauensolidarität über Arbeitsmigrantinnen, ihre Sprache und ihr Schreiben berichtet hat. In der Wienzeile haben wir den ersten Teil eines langen Gedichtes von Zheng Xiaoqiong 鄭小瓊. Sie ist Arbeitsmigrantin in Dongguan 東莞 und hat neben ihrer Fabrikarbeit seit ungefähr 10 Jahren viele literarische Texte veröffentlicht, die nicht nur auf dem chinesischen Festland, sondern auch in Taiwan und darüber hinaus bekannt und geschätzt sind. Für Hung Hung 鴻鴻, Regisseur und Schriftsteller in Taipeh, erinnern manche Gedichte von Zheng Xiaoqiong an “Akte 0” von Yu Jian 于堅, einem der renommiertesten chinesischen Dichter, der ebenfalls in dieser “Wienzeile” vertreten ist.
Mit dem Kopf durch die Chinesische Mauer – 橫穿長城的頭顱。Der chinesische Titel stammt von Liu Jixin 劉紀新 aus Peking. Liu Jixin unterrichtet klassisches und modernes Chinesisch am Ostasieninstitut der Universität Wien. Im jetzigen gesprochenen und geschriebenen Chinesisch sind klassische Wendungen durchaus häufig, und auch heute sind Bildung, Erziehung und Sprache in vielen Aspekten brisante Themen. Liu Jixin hat einen kleinen, recht subjektiven Artikel über Schulen in Wien und in Peking geschrieben. Die in Peking tätige Architektin Chen Ing-tse 陳穎澤 aus Taiwan schreibt über Lang- und Kurzzeichen in der chinesischen Schrift. Sie hat eine sehr prononcierte Meinung. 100 Jahre nach den ersten Ansätzen der Sprachreform, die eine enorme Kluft zwischen gesprochener und geschriebener allgemeiner Verkehrssprache und eine hohe Schriftunkundigen-Rate beseitigen wollte, gibt es auch auf dem Gebiet der Sprachen und Schriften im chinesischen Sprachraum viele aktuelle Konflikte.
Josef Goldberger interviewt eine chinesische Absolventin eines Studiums in Wien.
Wer erinnert sich noch an 1990? “Keine Mauern mehr” hieß der österreichische Beitrag zum Eurovisions-Songcontest. Leider begannen noch im selben Jahr die Jugoslawien-Kriege der 1990er Jahre, die 1999 auch China berührten, mit dem NATO-Bombardement der chinesischen Botschaft in Belgrad. Diese “Wienzeile” enthält eine Erzählung von Tamara Kesic, die 1990 in Kroatien spielt. Außerdem haben wir weitere literarische Beiträge von deutschsprachigen Autoren, etwa Gedichte von Isa Breier und einen Text von Thomas Losch.
Die Wienzeile 62 wird am 17. Mai im Venster 99 in Wien mit einer Multimedia-Lesung präsentiert (siehe Plakat). Der Dichter und Musiker Yan Jun 顏峻 tritt live auf. Die Zeitschrift ist bei der Redaktion, im Sekretariat der Abteilung Sinologie des Ostasieninstituts an der Univ. Wien und auch bei mir (Martin Winter) erhältlich.
标签：art, china, democracy, elections, food, internet, language, life, literature, migrants, music, poetry, politics, resistance, sex, society, sound, taiwan, Vienna, violence
发表在 May 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
4月 25, 2012
Wienzeile, a literature magazine coming out in Vienna, Austria, with entries in Chinese, English and German. Lots of new literature by Hsia Yü 夏宇、Yan Jun 顏峻、Hung Hung 鴻鴻、Zheng Xiaoqiong 鄭小瓊、Yu Jian 于堅、Ma Lan 馬蘭、Qi Ge 七格、Wu Yinning 吳音寧、Lin Weifu 林維甫、Tong Yali 彤雅立、 Pang Pei 龐培、Liao Yiwu 廖亦武 and many others.
Art work and photos by Linda Bilda, Yang Jinsong 楊勁松, Chen Xi 陳熹, Emy Ya 葉宛玲 and others.
Articles by Han Han 韓寒 and Hu Yong 胡泳. And an article comparing Charter 08 to Charter 77, written by Helena Nejedla, Czech Republic. If you get hungry while reading, we have a recipe for 四川鍋盔.
标签：apple, art, books, china, death, democracy, elections, food, history, internet, language, life, literature, memory, migrants, music, occupy, poetry, politics, resistance, sex, society, sound, taipei book fair, taiwan, Vienna, violence
发表在 April 2012, May 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
4月 10, 2012
was gesagt werden koennte
warum drucken sie, verbreiten sie alle,
was legitim ist und waffenverkaeufen
begegnet, die fragwuerdig sind?
nichts anderes tut grass. mit einem gedicht
gegen die tatsache, dass deutschland
u-boote an israel liefert,
die fuer atomraketen gebaut sind.
sollte deutschland das tun?
viele, die aufwuchsen
unter raketen
mit vaetern,
als kinder gebrannt
von verbrechen bekannter
und oder verschollener vaeter;
manche, die aufwachsen unter raketen
die immer noch da sind
verstehen wahrscheinlich
dass jemand angst hat.
ob israel anlagen im iran
aus denen atomwaffen kommen koennten
bombardieren sollte
hat grass nicht gesagt.
er wollte kontrolle
iranischer atomanlagen,
israelischer bomben.
das ist legitim.
koennen gedichte
so etwas bewirken?
aufmerksamkeit
ist jedenfalls da.
MW Ostermontag, 9. April 2012
“Was gesagt werden muss” von Günter Grass hat mich inspiriert, es war in der Zeitung, zu Ostern, am Ostersonntag in Österreich, ein bisschen später als in Deutschland. Ich habe die Silben gezählt, die meisten Zeilen haben ungefähr zehn. Ich höre immer auf einen Rhythmus.
Das interessanteste an dem Gedicht von Grass- Wolf Biermann nennt es “Gedacht”– ist natürlich die Diskussion, die wochenlange Verbreitung und Diskussion durch so viele Medien, Foren etc. Maybe you know the poem by Leon de Winter, a rather violent reaction. And the interview with Marcel Reich-Ranicki in the Frankfurt FAZ, very interesting.
Mich erinnert dieser Text von Grass an die Friedensbewegung, also an die 80er Jahre, ungefähr 1984, da war ich 18. Da hab ich an meiner ersten Demo teilgenommen, mit meiner Russischlehrerin. Vielleicht war es zu Ostern, es gab die Ostermärsche der Friedensbewegung, gegen die neuerliche Aufrüstung mit Atomraketen. Auf der Seite der Rechten, also nicht nur bei den Republikanern in Amerika, sondern auch bei den Leuten, die in Deutschland, Frankreich etc. an der Macht sind- hoffentlich ändert sich das bald, hoppauf, Holland! – auf der Seite der Rechten hatte Reagan recht, der habe mit diesen Pershing-Raketen (Petting statt Pershing, ein Slogan von damals) Gorbatschow besiegt. In Wirklichkeit war Gorbatschow der Gute, und Reagan der Böse. Relativ halt. Russisch war ein Wahlpflichtfach in meiner Mittelschule. Realgymnasium, Schwerpunkt Mathematik. Leider. Latein wär besser gewesen, weiss man nachher. Russisch war gut. Aus Ungarn, die Lehrerin. Frau Professor Elisabeth Waldmann, unterrichtet noch dort, soviel ich weiss. Deutsch, hauptsächlich. Hatte sie studiert, in Ungarn. Unlängst war ein Interview im Radio, mit György Dalos, Romancier und Gorbatschow-Biograph. Dass die Auflösung des Warschauer Pakts und die Desintegration der Sowjetunion relativ unblutig waren – im Vergleich zu den Jugoslawienkriegen der 90er Jahre- , dafür müsse man Gorbatschow danken. Klang recht schlüssig. Dalos war damals sehr aktiv, als Oppositioneller in Ungarn in den 80er Jahren, mit vielen Kontakten in die DDR. Und jetzt kann er wahrscheinlich recht gut einschätzen, wieviel schöner es für Ungarn wäre, jemanden wie den jetzigen BRD-Präsidenten Gauck an der Spitze zu haben, als jemanden, der seine Doktorarbeit abgeschrieben hat und auch deshalb als schwaches Aushängeschild der rechtspopulistischen Regierung angesehen wird.
Grass regt zum Nachdenken an. Und zwar sehr viele. Das ist schon nicht wenig. Er hat halt Angst vor Atomraketen und vermisst die Ostermärsche der Friedensbewegung. Glaubt er, dass Israel den Weltfrieden bedroht? Klingt absurd, wahrscheinlich auch für ihn. Atomraketen sind böse, generell. Raketen überall, ausser auf dem Mond, vielleicht. Aber, aber ….
Nix aber. Grass hat halt Angst. Und erinnert (sich) an die 80er Jahre. Pessach und Ostern und Frieden sind halt verknüpft. Das ist nicht seine Schuld. Ausser, dass er halt im Krieg war, als Deutscher. Auf der falschen Seite, das sagt er eh. Aber er hat halt was Arges verschwiegen, und war derweil sehr viel politisch aktiv.
Und mir ist halt die Sprache wichtig, deshalb derweil. Wie bei Robert Schindel. Ciao derweil.
标签：Günther Grass, history, hungary, media, memory, poetry, politics, war
发表在 April 2012 | Leave a Comment »
3月 21, 2012
6 on the beach near the northern tip of the island in the danube at vienna, march 20, 2012
island
the danube flows
vienna starts
somewhere downstream.
the island goes
a couple miles
or maybe four.
they have an ice-cream stand today
with buttermilk and radio.
i came to see the cherry trees.
they’re fast asleep.
they need another month or so.
in april we may still have snow.
the cherry trees are from japan.
i went there 19 years ago.
it was before i knew my wife.
i went by boat.
it took two days.
and almost everyone was sick
except the crew.
a boat from china to japan
in january, in ’93.
the plum trees bloomed among the snow.
in february, when i was there.
it’s nice and warm.
the danube flows.
they had an earthquake in japan
a year ago, a little more.
the biggest one they ever had
or maybe not. but very big
with 20.000 people dead
and nuclear power plants kaput.
and still the trees bloomed like before.
it’s nice and warm.
the danube flows.
a month ago the cherry trees
and rhododendrons were in bloom
in taiwan, just a month ago.
it was quite warm. we even swam
in mountain streams.
and austria had lots of snow.
today they read for liu xiaobo
they have a day for poetry
when spring begins, from the un
the 18th was for prisoners
in china and america.
for prisoners of politcs.
they have a day for everyone.
the danube flows.
i brought my son to therapy.
he goes to school. there’s progress now.
he speaks much more.
our daughter doesn’t read a lot
but on the whole we’re doing fine.
the danube flows.
this city is a crying shame.
they say it’s very beautiful.
a neonazi gets a third,
a little less.
a rightist. just like hungary.
a little bit more affluent.
the danube flows.
MW March 20, 2012
This one’s for all the bloggers out there
Susan Sontag: Pay attention to the world
Elfriede Jelinek
政治與戲劇 Vaclav Havel/文 董恆秀/譯
- March 21, Kardinal Nagl Square, U3 subway, Vienna. Many bees in the tree.
岛
多瑙河滔滔不绝
从维也纳开始
顺流而下到某处
在这座岛上
行走几英里
也许四英里
有个卖冰淇淋摊点
还有牛奶和收音机
我来看樱花
它们睡得很熟
它们还需要大约一个月
四月份可能还会下雪
樱花树来自于日本
我19年前去过那里
在我认识我妻子之前
我坐船去的
花了两天时间
几乎所有人都生病了
除了船员
1993年1月
一艘从中国到日本的船
梅花在雪中开放
二月，我在那里的时候
天气美好怡人
多瑙河滔滔不绝
日本发生了地震
一年多一点点之前
他们有过的最大的一次地震
或许不是。但已经算是很大了
有两万人死亡
以及核电站泄露
树依旧像先前一样开花
天气美好怡人
多瑙河滔滔不绝
一个月前樱花
杜鹃花盛开
在台湾，就在一个月前
天气相当暖和，我们甚至在山溪里
游泳
而奥地利还白雪皑皑
今天他们为刘晓波读诗
在他们的诗歌日
春天到来时，联合国规定
18日是囚犯日
在中国和美国
因为政治犯
他们给每个人指定一天
多瑙河滔滔不绝
我带儿子去治疗
他去上学了，现在有了进步
他话说得更多了
我们女儿阅读不多
但总的来说我们做得很好
多瑙河滔滔不绝。
这座城市令人蒙羞
都说它非常漂亮
新纳粹占三分之一
少一点点
极右分子像匈牙利一样
稍微富裕一点
多瑙河滔滔不绝
2012年3月20日
伊沙、老G 译
标签：america, austria, bicycles, blossoms, buttermilk, cherry blossoms, children, china, earthquake, hungary, ice-cream, islands, Japan, literature, memory, nazis, poetry, politics, prisoners, rightists, snow, speech, spring, sun, taiwan, trees, Vienna, 桜
发表在 March 2012, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
3月 6, 2012
Photo by 莊豐嘉, Febr. 2012. Plum blossoms & waterfall in Wulai, Taipei County.
Taiwan and China. Taipei, Hong Kong, Canton and Europe. Kalt & warm.
Taiwan can easily contain China. China cannot contain Taiwan. Because Taiwan is many things that China is not. Taiwan is open in ways that China cannot afford. These make it prosper. And attractive, also for China.
Just saw some great pictures from a snow-white Berlin, taken on Febr. 22. I was in Tainan on Feb. 21 & 22. Very warm. Ran around barefoot on a public track next to the Confucius Temple. Stopped at a monument with a missile. They are not sure where and when it came from. It didn’t explode, and it won’t. But they are keeping it, like the temples and alleys. Went into the Patriotic Women’s Association. Nice place, from Japanese times. Sat around with a friend, wrote a poem into her notebook. Had been swimming in the mountains the week before, with another friend. Nice and warm there, too. It was cold on some days in Taipei, and in the wind on the island of Kinmen. But nothing like in Europe. Some of the people I went around with in Taiwan came from Berlin. Literarisches Kolloquium. Simon Urban was there, author of Plan D. Great novel, hilarious. Was just presented at Taipei Book Fair and will be translated into English, maybe also into other languages. It’s about a GDR detective, in late 2011. Yes, Communist East Germany still exists in this book. Now I am back in Vienna. The sun is out, but it’s cold. Was grateful for gloves yesterday on my bicycle in the afternoon.
Simon Urban and Tang Wei in Jiufen, Taiwan. Feb.5th, 2012
An den Rändern und in den Ländern rundherum habe ich mindestens ebenso viel über China bemerkt wie in den Jahren in chinesischen Städten. Das ist auch bei Österreich so. In Taiwan hab ich viele Leute kennengelernt, auch einige, die schreiben und übersetzen. Auch alte Freunde wieder getroffen, einen ganz zufällig, nach 22 Jahren. Er war 1988-1990 mein Vermieter in Taipei. Die abendlichen Gespräche mit ihm waren sehr wichtig und lehrreich. Er unterrichtet heute in Taichung und ist Vorsitzender des PEN-Klubs für Autoren, die auf Taiwanisch schreiben. Taiwan ist ganz ähnlich wie Österreich, in mancher Hinsicht. Kleines Land. Viel Geschichte. Schöne Berge. Zeitgeschichte, je nachdem. Lang unterdrückte Sprachen und Volksgruppen. Und so weiter.
标签：china, politics, society, taiwan
发表在 March 2012, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
3月 6, 2012
廖亦武，撥算盤吟詩，圖片來源新新聞
廖亦武不是基督徒。也不是台灣的客家人、本省人、原住民、民進黨、工會、長老教會等等。不用支持美國右派，不用支持伊拉克戰爭等等。不用一直當知識分子。甚至不用當海外異議分子。因為不是基督徒，所以《上帝是紅色的》更自然地當報告文學。廖亦武不知是是流亡作家，是流浪漢、囚犯等等，可以引用《三國》的開頭說無論生活在哪裡都是四川人，不用關心一個中國等等政治詞彙。廖亦武無論在哪裡都可以當作家、詩人、音樂手、行為藝術家等等。詩歌朗誦繼承金斯堡、狄蘭·托馬斯等等，甚至讓我想起維也納已故的詩人Ernst Jandl和其他擅長上場並同樣擅長把自己的經歷和記憶配合反對專政、尊敬和承認社會底層的寫作。讀廖亦武不意味不可以讀任何其他作家或詩人。台灣作家可以讀小說家甘耀明、詩人夏宇、戲劇家和詩人鴻鴻等等。有很多作家，非常多元的文化，非常複雜的問題。而有了廖亦武就不用擔心中國會怎麼樣。社會底層的人關心的不是政治。是關心很多生活最基本的事。心、記憶、家、天氣、吃飯、來往。無論在哪裡，無論什麼時候都有作家等等人士讓你欣賞和注意比政治、歷史、國家等等更基本的生活瑣事。包括魯迅，也包括張愛玲。他們的文學裡、生活裡顯然都有社會、經濟、國家、戰爭等等大問題。不過文學、藝術不是為了先解決大問題。是為了不忘記每個人都有一些基本的、大家需要關心的東西。
讀廖亦武，同樣可以讀中國大陸小說家余華或莫言、詩人于堅、鄭小瓊、龐培等等。香港、海外作家顯然亦可以讀很多，包括用英語、法語等等寫作的華人。讀廖亦武也許就不會覺得如果讀北島就不應該讀劉曉波、不會覺得聽顏峻的詩和聲音就不用聽任何地方的民謠、跟踪艾未未就不用跟踪在台灣、奧地利等等地方藝術跟社會、政治、經濟等方面的關係。所以我2012年二月份在台灣的文學經驗跟廖亦武在台北、台南等地方的朗誦會在我的記憶裡是分不開的。很多作家很難跨越寫作和關心公民權利。你博客的讀者也許很多， 而真正喜歡你的詩或你的小說的人比起來可能就少了，或者說有很多人只關心你的博客，根本沒工夫多注意你的詩或小說，無論你是北京的西藏詩人唯色或上海的賽車作家韓寒。廖亦武跟很多作家、評論家等等不同，他不用說他喜歡誰，除非說他喜歡的四川民間歌手。
我各人喜歡的書有很多種。詩歌、偵探小說。。。最近讀了西蒙·無邦（Simon Urban）的《Plan D》。主要的主人公為一名東柏林警察。在這篇小說裡，德意志民主共和國2011年底還存在。很喜歡。黑色幽默。一月份，還未去台灣的時候讀了村上春樹去年的大作《1Q84》. 人物、地點、日常生活都寫得很棒。以前也讀了他的小說，都很喜歡，短片和長篇都很欣賞。很喜歡的長篇包括《舞！舞！舞！》、《世界盡頭與冷酷仙境》、《挪威森林》等等。《1Q84》的故事開一部分始在1968年的東京大學示威，就像《挪威森林》。我很喜歡《挪威森林》。但是讀完《1Q84》就覺得把社會的一些基本的問題只顧在一些局外者的生活裡會產生很大的矛盾。因為《1Q84》裡沒有《一九八四》這篇小說。沒有監獄、沒有博愛部，根本沒有烏托邦。只有兩個月亮。1980年代的東京的一些小街頭等等地方描寫得非常好，生生有味。有恐懼，有人懷疑她是否生活在1984年。可以說有大哥。但他不是人人都知道的人物。只有相當小的教派裡的人在某段時間裡認識那位原來在1968年當大學教授的領導。總共來說我還是非常喜歡喬治·歐威爾的《一九八四》，也很喜歡瑪格麗特·愛特伍(Margaret Atwood)寫的《使女的故事》。跟那兩本書比起來，《1Q84》就比較無害。廖亦武在監獄裡讀了《一九八四》。最近在台北演出的時候，廖亦武也提到《一九八四》跟他自己的經驗的關係。總共來說， 廖亦武可以讓你喚醒，讓你感覺到一些各人的問題和一些各國社會的問題。總會比只讓你感覺到1980年代的日本一些生活細節強。但廖亦武自己大概不會想到這樣的比較，因為根本不需要。
标签：art, china, freedom, literature, music, nineteen-eighty-four, politics, prison, religion, Sichuan, society, taiwan
发表在 March 2012, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
2月 27, 2012
這几天都下雨，昨天還可以，不像前天晚上那麽大。昨天晚上觀眾不超過十五人。放假了到二月28日，所以有的人不在台北。開始有一點慢，介紹古詩和慢性的音 樂。不過氣氛越來越好，觀眾和朗讀者溝通很活潑。說道寫作和翻譯的背景、技巧、論點。也說到政治。讀了我在北京寫得反映北京大量拆遷和民工等等社會問題兩 首詩，還讀了李勤安為1987年台灣解嚴寫的那首。發現他說得現在依然很重要。台灣改變了，但也許不太想承認二十几年前的日常細節。而那些細節也很像現在 的中國大陸等等地方。念出一首詩仔細聽你才發現詩歌的作用和力量。朗讀以后在樓上吃飯、聊天到半夜。林維甫已經把2004年和2007年在北京寫得兩首譯成中文，准備發表。
德語詩、英語詩、漢語詩──維馬丁與彤雅立的翻譯雙聲 2012-02-26
标签：history, language, poetry, politics, reading, society, taiwan, translation, writing
发表在 February 2012, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
2月 23, 2012
“My father made me stand on a table when I was small, and recite ancient classical Chinese. I could only climb down after I was able to recite the whole thing by heart. I was only 3 or four years old, maybe. I hated my father.” This is how 廖亦武 Liao Yiwu began to talk to the students and teachers of 國立成功大學 National Ch’engkung University in 台南 Tainan, after he played a wooden flute, a very basic instrument he had learned in prison. Very basic sounds, mute and suppressed at times. Loss and regret. No uplifting fable. “I am not going to tell you very much about the time when I went into prison. You would have no way to understand everything. I was like any young person. I didn’t want to listen to anybody from older generations. And I had gone through 文革 the Cultural Revolution, when my parents couldn’t take care of me. For me, classical Chinese belonged into the rubbish bin, along with many other things. My father was 84 years old when he died”, Liao Yiwu said. Or was it 88 years? Only a few hours of dialogue and open exchange between father and son, in all those years.
Dialogue and open exchange. Between 四川 Sichuan and 台南 Tainan. Between Taiwan and China. Between languages and experiences. Feeling lost, between clashing dialects, conflicting histories. Feeling rooted, at the bottom of society.
On the podium, scholars of 台灣閩南語文學 Taiwanese literature sat along with Liao Yiwu. They spoke in Taiwanese. One professor recited a poem by a high school student. Before Dawn, or something like that. About the massacre from 1947, February 28th. I didn’t understand the words. But you could understand the feeling. The answer is very simple, he said, when a 客家 Hakka student asked what she should do, because the words and songs of her grandmother would die with her. There were too few people who could still speak with her in 客家話 Hakka, she was afraid her mother tongue, her grandmother’s words would become extinct. The answer is very simple, the professor said very gently. He spoke mostly in Taiwanese, so I didn’t understand it all. But he said you just have to study, you can even major in Hakka now. It’s not easy, but there is a common effort.
It was very simple, Liao Yiwu said, when people asked him how he fled from China. I went to 雲南 Yunnan province, bordering Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Tibet. I had made lots of interviews there many years before, with people at the bottom of society. You turn off your mobile. You could also bring extra mobile phones. You get lost in small towns. And then one day I was across the border in 越南 Vietnam, very wobbly on my legs. There was a small train, like in China at the beginning of the 1980s. I knew such trains from drifting around China when I was young. In Vietnam, I was afraid of a lot of things, getting on the train, of simple things to eat. But I could communicate by writing numbers on a piece of paper. 500, wrote the innkeeper. 100, I wrote below. And so on. Finally I was in 河內 Hanoi, in a simple inn. And then I went on-line and contacted my friends and family in China. When I got on the plane to Poland, I was still afraid. The year before, military police in full military gear had come and taken me out of the plane in 成都 Chengdu. But then I realized, although this was a Socialist country, I was in the capital of another country, not in China. And the plane took off.
The lecture hall was full. I sat on the floor in the aisles, like many others. It was a very welcoming atmosphere. “We have a few books to give away for students asking questions in the second part of the lecture.” What is 流浪 liulang? What is 流亡 liuwang? What is 旅行 lüxing? These three words sound rather similar in Chinese. This was another professor speaking. He had studied in Russia. He was from a Taiwanese faculty in 台中 Taichung, but at this occasion, to clarify this question, he spoke in Mandarin. What is drifting about? What is exile? What is traveling? When you are drifting around, you don’t know where you are coming from, and you don’t know where you’re going. When you are going into exile, you know where you are coming from, but you don’t know where you are going, where they will let you stay. When you are traveling, you know where you come from, and you know where you’re going. Very simple differences. But what about us here in Taiwan? 我們是否知道自己從哪裡來，到哪裡去？ Do we know where we are coming from, and where we are going? In the 1960s and 1970s, many writers and intellectuals in Taiwan were in prison. It was very hard, but you knew what you were fighting for. Just like the writers and lawyers in China, they know they are fighting for freedom. Now in Taiwan we are very free, in comparison. But we can still be marginalized.
One of the professors was my landlord from 1988 to 1990 in Taipei. He is the chairman of the Taiwanese PEN. In 1988 he was a doctoral candidate in history, and a stage decorator. We hadn’t seen each other or heard from each other for 22 years.
标签：china, culture, Europe, exile, history, literature, memory, politics, religion, Sichuan, society, Tainan, taiwan, travel, Yunnan
发表在 February 2012, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
2月 12, 2012
I went to a great reading/ concert/ political happening by Liao Yiwu in Taipei tonight. It was organized by Wang Dan’s New School for Democracy. First time Liao performed his legendary poem Massacre from the night before June 4th, 1989 in public for a Chinese-speaking audience. Very memorable experience. People wept and remembered the White Terror and the Feb. 28, 1947 massacre in Taiwan. The case of Zhu Yufu, who got 7 years for a poem in China, was mentioned several times. Liao Yiwu was asked for his opinions about the controversy around the boss of the Want Want conglomerate and media czar (China Times etc.) who recently denied there was a major massacre in 1989. Liao Yiwu reaffirmed the answer he had given at Taipei International Book Fair. He just said he wasn’t very interested what some merchant would have to say. They would say anything to please Beijing, and unfortunately they would get away with it very easily. Liao was also very critical of the book fair. Glossy and haphazard in many ways, that was his impression. No dignity for authors, no thorough organisation of readings. Well, I must say I liked all the events I saw or participated in. The show girls and the people walking around advertising discounts did not give the impression of a very cultured event, rather like some market selling everything aside from books, just like Liao said. But they certainly did have some well organized readings, and international highlights in French and German, for example. Anyway, Liao Yiwu’s performance tonight was a very exceptional event. I think they recorded it, and I heard it was broadcasted live on the Internet. Don’t know where exactly. Liao was asked what he thought about the relation of literature and politics. He spoke about reading Orwell’s 1984 in jail, and talked about the parts leading up to the end of the novel, how Winston is broken with the use of a rat and made to rat out his girlfriend, and how he loves Big Brother as he is taken away to be shot. Perfect example for his own aesthetics, Liao said. He still supports people doing ‘pure literature’, goes to poetry readings about the Full Moon Sound Magazine (http://fullmoonsoundmagazine.tumblr.com/) and stuff like that. He was not interested in politics until 1989, he said. The Hakka songstress Luo Sirong sung a very poignant lullaby at the end. This part would not have been forbidden in China. Liao’s performance was so intense it made you vary of police barging in. But the most precious thing was the whole event together, the songs and the music, the talks and discussions. The strong interaction made it all very special and rare.
董恆秀的感想
标签：1989, austria, china, Germany, literature, past, poetry, politics, Taipei, taiwan, translation
发表在 February 2012, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
1月 24, 2012
Photo by Ronnie Niedermeyer
祝大家2012龍年一切順利，願比2000年更好！
這幾天記得2000年，那時候我們第一年一直住在北京，住靜安裡，挨著左家莊。2000年天氣特別壞，到六月份才下雨。元旦電視上記得那时候的主席帶火把跑上世紀壇台階。也許有點像去年在台灣慶祝辛亥革命100年的奢侈。台灣聽說費用非常大，很多人大概不覺得記住1911年的一些象徵值得花他們交稅的錢。
那時候在北京很多民房可以看到支持那時候流行的氣功教會、詛咒那时候的主席和执政黨的塗鴉。不只是小區裡牆上樓梯裡等等，也有三環的地下通道等地方。那時候北京還禁止放炮，但越來越多人不管，包括警察。給他們這樣一點的自由就是很好的活門。2000 war auch ein Drachenjahr. In Beijing hat es im Juni zum ersten Mal richtig geregnet, die Sandstürme waren dementsprechend. Jiang Zemin lief am Neujahrstag mit einer Fackel das brandneue Milleniumsmonument hinauf. An vielen Hauswänden, in Stiegenhäusern, aber auch in Unterführungen unter den größten Straßen gab es Graffiti gegen Jiang und die KP, und für Falungong. Feuerwerk in der Stadt war noch nicht wieder erlaubt, wurde aber immer mehr toleriert. Die Blockfrauen fuhren mit einem VW-Bus durch den Hof und kämpften mit einem Megaphon gegen die Knaller. Sie wurden völlig eingenebelt und kamen kaum durch. Aber vielleicht war das 2002, 2000 wohnten wir noch in einem kleineren Hof.
大陸慶祝2000年的費用比起來也許不算多。共產黨慶祝2000年，因為馬恩主義肯定19世紀的西方發展，西方日曆就是共用的日曆。所有國家和地區都要跟著西方發展，並盡量超過西方。只是把黑格爾的歷史觀變成為無產階級當基本的社會制度。其實物產階級都是基本，每有便宜的工人無論什麼社會都不能發展很快。中國大陸改革開放的經濟模式肯定西方19世紀的一些經驗。因為有很多便宜的工人，經濟上到現在一直發展讓人嫉妒。只是價值上還一直停止在19世紀的西方。馬克思、恩格斯講的造反真的有理，可以說就是實現人類最基本的權利，而且馬克思、恩格斯關心整個世界，比現在德國、奧地利等等地方差不多到了週末都是說我們的社會怎樣那樣，所講的“我們”必定是歐盟最富裕的小組，哪怕說窮人，用“我們”這個詞彙就是奧地利說德語看講究的報紙的“我們”，要不就是歐盟裡有功夫搞理想的青年和有錢的大人，還有那兩種之間的一些讀者。馬克思、恩格斯在一百五十年前已經有很開放的世界觀，比現在很多人都開放。那時候馬克思、恩格斯的價值跟2011年在世界各地講革命、講更換社會制度有很基本的共識。他們那時候知道那時候歐美經濟制度的一些短處和限制。2011年、2012年的思想，至少在大部分媒體所看到、聽到的思想，大部分都肯定西方19世紀的想法。很少有人像馬克思、恩格斯挑戰經濟、社會的體制。中國大陸在天安門有世界人民團結起來的標語，是19世紀理想主義者的回音，包括馬克思、恩格斯等等。從現在看到他們是理想主義者，不像20世紀的革命家主要實現自己利益集團小組的權利，順便也講究思想。思想當實現小組的權利的工具。所以天安門二十多年來國際上都當悲劇的象徵。
中國大陸繼續肯定一些西方19世紀的經濟和價值，肯定不是理想的價值。歐洲媒體都比較自由，都報到去年阿拉伯之春、“我們是99%”等等運動都很興奮。但他們有一些基本的限制。2009年奧地利警察故意射死一個14歲的孩子，另一個孩子重傷。他們在超級市場偷東西，沒有武器。奧地利大部分報刊都站在警察的一邊。最後法官雖然判斷追獵和從後面殺死孩子做得不對，但還是讓的那位射手繼續工作，持續帶槍。在經濟方面，奧地利媒體和社會體制同樣顯得很限制。2012年一月份美國 Standard & Poor （名字直接翻譯就是“標準和貧窮”）財政顧問組織判定歐洲很多國家不是最好的投資對象。像他們那樣的財政顧問集團還有Moody’s、Finch等等，都在美國。他們在2011年一直說歐洲很多國家，包括最大的和最富裕的經濟當投資對象都不如美國。同時在無論什麼地區的媒體，無論美國、歐洲、亞洲等等都沒聽說過美國經濟和財政很健康，比法國等等健康的道理。但歐洲各地還是都繼續跟美國財政顧問組織合作，很缺乏講體制問題的討論。
不願意討論自己社會的體制問題，所以每次因為阿拉伯之春、因為艾未未、劉賢斌，因為2011年12月和2011年一月份中國大陸判重刑的知識分子有或大或小一點的新聞，有的讀者也許一時很興奮，但總編輯每次很快都健忘。反正有經濟問題。MIT DEM KOPF DURCH DIE CHINESISCHE MAUER lautet der Titel der Ausgabe 62. Bitte Beiträge (Prosa, Lyrik, Drama, Essay, Foto, Grafik, Kunst) als Openoffice-Dokument (zur Not MS-DOC, maximal circa 10.000 Zeichen/Text) beziehungsweise *.JPG / *.TIFF per email an wienzeile-redaktion@wienzeile.cc Wir können kein Honorar zahlen, die ausgewählten Autoren erhalten Belegexemplare. Das Copyright bliebt wie immer bei den Autoren. Einsendeschluss ist der 25.3.2012
跟你們說過，維也納文學雜誌 Wienzeile 在2012年春天有中華專輯。我們對中華文化涉及的所有地區的問題都感興趣，包括中國大陸和台灣的異族，等於不是漢人或不是漢語、不倡導國語的文化，也包括本人或家族從中國等地區來的，在世界各地生存的文化，只要在某種方面跟中華文化、歷史等等有關係的。德語題名為 Mit dem Kopf durch die Chinesische Mauer。直接翻譯就是人頭穿長城。低頭撞牆本來不是很健康的做法吧。但這幾年來無論中國大陸的官方或歐洲等地方的限制都沒辦法完全活埋社會的一些討論，包括所謂新媒體，像中國的微博。我們編輯這份雜誌請大家提供自己做的文章和圖案。投稿可以用中文或英語，我們會譯成德語。目前我們不能給稿酬，但每位作者會收到幾分雜誌。
而且請你們提供你們想這分專輯也許能收容的作家和信息的線索，多謝！
維馬丁 敬上
标签：austria, beijing, celebrations, children, china, economy, holidays, justice, media, police, politics, prison, protests, security, taiwan, Vienna
发表在 January 2012 | Leave a Comment »
12月 31, 2011
Dec. 30, 2011
it is the last day of the year
the 30th, almost the last.
a year of freedom full of fear.
a year of 99%,
of arab spring and ai weiwei.
financial worries every day
a hope for fundamental change
in pockets, maybe for a while
a fear of fundamental change.
a fitful and decisive year
with days of truth and days of deaths.
dictators dead, and protesters
are dead or maimed or put away-
almost like 1989
in egypt and tunesia
in libya and in bahrain
in yemen and in syria.
a year of death, a year of pain.
a giant earthquake in japan
a tsunami, and power plants
not quite like 1986
but lots of damage, lots of fear.
in china, there is no big change
and many towns remain in debt.
a high-speed train derails and kills
the silence and the confidence
at least in pockets for a while.
a village full of protesters
in wukan, and the end is good,
or so it seems.
and dissidents remain in jail
and north korea stays the same,
a huge display of pomp and tears.
we went to trebic and to prague
to znojmo, jaromerice
to jihlava, to synagogues.
and vaclav havel passed away.
i saw the light, the evening light
in brno, almost like today.
the wind is cold, i see the moon
at four o’clock. with rosy clouds.
the lights are on. the light remains,
the darkness falls.
the children play.
they sing and pray against assad.
with flags of freedom, chants of hope
in exile, singing loud and clear.
a group of thirty, not a threat.
vienna almost stays the same.
let us drink to days of freedom
let us think of rays of change
let us hope and work and play.
MW December 2011
Photo by Lonnie Hodge
标签：art, life, news, poetry, politics, travel
发表在 December 2011, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
12月 10, 2011
song
the song the tree the moon the night
the streets the cars the moon is bright
the air is right one star is there
I hope we sleep all through the night
MW December 2011
all among the loony people… today is the day the nobel peace prize gets awarded. this year it goes to three women in different places and positions in africa. maybe a little less pointless and pathetic than the prize-great big vain hope obama manunkind not. last year the prize went to loony old liu xiaobo. not very peaceful guy, doesn’t give the chinese government any peace with his charta 08. rather removed from most people in china for 11 years, locked away in the northeast. but instead they have ai weiwei. and we have liao yiwu. great loony poetry. thrown out of china. so it stays hole.
vielleicht
vielleicht has(s)t du noch einen tag
vielleicht hast du noch eine nacht
vielleicht liebst du noch eine nacht
vielleicht liebt dich jemand
auch nachher noch weiter
du spuerst es und du spuerst es nicht
MW Dezember 2011
标签：art, Chinese poetry, death, moon, poetry, political prisoners, politics, prison, translation
发表在 December 2011 | 3 Comments »
9月 30, 2011
Lu Qing’s letter to China’s National People’s Congress from Sept. 28 (working translation)
Expressing an opinion on Amendments to The People’s Republic of China’s Criminal Procedure Code (draft legislation)
To the Working Committee For The Rule of Law of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress:
As an ordinary citizen, I have seen that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has publicly requested opinions on draft legislation for amendments to The People’s Republic of China’s Criminal Procedure Code. Paragraph 30 of the amendment stipulates that public security organs can, under special exceptions, set up a place for a suspect to live under surveillance without notifying the family. Paragraphs 36 and 39 stipulate the special exceptions in which arrest or detention by public security organs can take place without family notification. This means that a Chinese citizen cannot have protection of his or her most basic rights. Residential Surveillance [originally conceived as house arrest] thus becomes secret detention, this is a blatant violation of the constitution. I ask the National People’s Congress, when you debate paragraphs 30, 36 and 39 of the amendment, not to pass the special exemptions. In this way you can clearly state that when public security organs take up forceful measures of detention, arrest or surveillance against any citizen, they should notify the family without exemption and within the period stipulated by law.
My name is Lu Qing, citizen of China, I am a painter. My husband Ai Weiwei, artist, architect and participant in civil society, designer for FAKE Cultural Development Ltd., was taken away at customs at Beijing International Airport. He disappeared for 81 days. We did not receive any notification from the authorities. We did not know why he was kidnapped, where he was held, or about his health condition.
Family and friends were all very worried and angry about his disappearance. Ai Weiwe’s mother, who is over 80 years old, worried day and night. She could hardly sleep or eat and had to take medication. It was a huge mental and physical strain on her. Family members have tried to get information from any direction, reported the case at police stations both where he disappeared, where he had lived and where he was registered. We wrote Missing Person ads and sent letters to the Beijing City Police Bureau, the Procurator’s Office, the Politics and Law Commission, the Discipline Inspection Commission and the Ministry of Public Security, without receiving any answer. Ai Weiwei’s disappearance for 81 days was very harmful for the physical and mental state of his family.
On June 22, Ai Weiwei was “released on bail to await trial” and returned home. [Again], we have not received any notice from the public security organs. After he was taken away by public security organs, they demanded he sign a notice about “residential surveillance” before they brought him to a secret place in the outskirts of Beijing.
When a citizen is taken away by public security, the family should be notified, to honor one the most basic human rights of a citizen. Family members are not co-defendants. They should have a right to know. If a society loses the protection of a citizen’s most basic rights, this is harmful for the whole society.
A cultured nation should respect the most basic rights of a person. If the above measures are passed, it will be a regression for China’s legal system, the deterioration of human rights, and will be a hindrance to the progress of our civilization. I hope that the current modification of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code could restrain the arbitrariness the public security organs display in upholding law and order. I hope that citizens receive legal protection before the arm of the law, so that the basic human rights as they appear in the constitution are truly recognized.
Signed: Lu Qing, 2011-09-28
See the Reuters article
See the original Chinese text
Photos by Ai Weiwei, from Google+
标签：art, beijing, china, Chinese Studies, chinese translation, law, life, police, politics, translation
发表在 October 2011, September 2011, Translations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
8月 8, 2011
标签：art, beijing, china, Chinese literature, Chinese Studies, family planning, life, poetry, politics, translation
发表在 August 2011 | Leave a Comment »
6月 26, 2011
Liebe Freunde,
Ai Weiwei_Martin Winter
(Basler Zeitung Di., 27. Juli 2011)
Ai Weiweis Gedicht "Wir sprechen uns später" ist in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Zeit (7.-14. Juli). Kam am Donnerstag
heraus, nach China kommt die aktuelle Ausgabe immer erst am Montag, wenn sie kommt. Dann kostet sie 120 Volkstaler,
dreimal so viel wie in Deutschland. Die Übersetzung ist von Angelika Burgsteiner und mir. In den Tagen nach Ai Weiweis
Freilassung war dazu ein Artikel von Bei Ling, den ich übersetzt habe, in der FAZ, in der Presse und auf derstandard.at.
Das Gedicht erschien 1987 in der von Yan Li herausgegebenen chinesischsprachigen Zeitschrift Yi Hang (oder Yi Xing, d.h.
Eine Zeile/ Eine Gruppe) in New York. Ai Weiwei erinnert sich an das Gedicht, weil es das einzige ist, das er je geschrieben
hat, sagt er.
Zeit_2011_7.Juli_AiWeiwei
Wir haben Ai Weiwei am Freitag in der Früh besucht. Er wirkte noch ziemlich mitgenommen. Ich bekam den Eindruck, er wurde
eher zu von der Staatssicherheit vermuteten politischen Hintergründen von alten Fotos aus New York befragt als zu steuerlichen
Vorwürfen gegen ihn. Aber wir haben nicht viel gefragt. Für die Aktionen zu seiner Unterstützung war er sehr dankbar, obwohl
er bei manchen Sachen auch etwas skeptisch ist. Die aktuelle Ausstellung in Winterthur kommt bald nach Graz, und die Sache in
Bregenz fängt auch in diesem Monat an. Aber er kann ja leider nirgends selbst hinfahren. Manche Projekte, die er vorher begonnen
hat, scheinen ihm jetzt fast fremd geworden zu sein. Er möchte gerne gastfreundlich sein und frei reden wir früher. Aber wie er
selbst sagt, jetzt geht es ihm eben wie vielen anderen, und eher wie vielen gewöhnlichen Leuten, die auch nicht zuviel
den Mund aufmachen dürfen. Als Wegzehrung für den Rückweg haben wir ein paar Sonnenblumenkerne mitbekommen.
Herzliche Grüße, mw
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/07/liao-yiwu-leaves-china.html
Silence of the dissidents
The Ancient Roots of Chinese Liberalism
台灣自由時報副刊全版刊〈草泥馬時代的艾未未〉文，照竟也全刊出了
The source for Ai Weiwei’s poem
严力：说说艾未未（之二） （2011.5）
严 力：说说艾未未（之三）
严力：说说艾未未（之四）
Hu Jia released after years in Chinese prison
@faz_net Weit hinter der chinesischen Firewall http://t.co/LIbIuTv 貝嶺 Bei Ling (June 25). http://derstandard.at/1308679661187/Die-Freilassung-Ai-Weiweis-Ai-Weiweis-Zukunft Ai Weiwei mit Maulkorb: Wie lange wird er das aushalten? Der Aktionskünstler ist wieder auf freiem Fuß, aber unter scharfen Auflagen: Gibt es echte Freiheit für ihn nur um den Preis des Exils?
中文刊於6月24日台灣蘋果日報
英譯刊於6月25日台北時報（Taipei Times）: What will be the price of Ai Weiwei’s freedom? By Bei Ling 貝嶺
Berliners for Ai Weiwei (He lost a lot of weight in prison, so he might as well have some!)
See also Berlin’s Tagesspiegel from June 23rd 柏林《每日鏡報》6月24日文化版
标签：Ai Weiwei, art, beijing, china, Der Standard, Die Presse, dissident, FAZ, freedom, HuJia, law, literature, politics
发表在 July 2011, June 2011, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
6月 13, 2011
According to Xinhua and Global Times, the newly published second volume of “History of the Chinese Communist Party” (1949-1978) is “seen as objective”. So what’s the objective of this book? What are the objectives of this new “objective” party history? Was it written by party members? Does anyone among them, or among the people who planned, published, and distributed this book, think the PRC should evolve into something different from a one-party dictatorship/autocracy? (I find it hard to believe that many non-party members would use their own money to buy such a book. Or is it really that different? Why was it published, then?) Which major bookstores have had their sales rankings dominated by this book? Ok, the main objective seems to be seen as objective. “Experts say that objectivity, a founding principle of the CPC, was virtually banished during the late 1950s and 1960s, when “extreme leftist” thought dominated the governing ideology of the Party.” Founding principle? There must be some historians who can answer this question. Anyway, they still write their party with a capital P.
In Taiwan, there seems to have been pressure for change in the late 1970s and early 1980s. China was changing. Taiwan was and is still called Republic of China, but in the 1970s they lost their UN-Security Council seat to the
PRC. Because of that ping-pong tournament between Nixon, Zhou Enlai, Mao and Kissinger, or something like that. Yes, sports events have always been very important. So there was pressure on Taiwan to open up politically, to democratize. They couldn’t just go on calling themselves The Free China team. No-one was ever going to help them liberate the Mainland anyway. So the Chiang Ching-kuo administration eventually lifted martial law in 1987, and allowed real opposition. A real opposition party. In 1988 or 1989, you still had to be a Party member (GMD/KMT) to get into certain positions in Taiwan. In 1988 or 1989, even very liberal Party members still said that in 1947, maybe 200 people might have been killed after the February 28th incident, but it was an armed uprising anyway. In 1991, President Li Denghui publicly admitted that probably more than 20.000 people had been killed in 1947 by government forces, and apologized to surviving relatives.
Going back to China: If there is any real discussion about The Great Leap Forward famine, in conjunction with all the other campaigns, including the anti-rightist “movement” and the ones before and after, including the CR,
wouldn’t that mean one-party autocracy would have to be abandoned at some time? In 2011, we’re having 90 years of CCP, in addition to 45 years after 1966, the beginning of the CR. In 2009, we’ve had The Founding of a Republic (1949), and in addition 1959 (famine), 1969 (CR), 1979 and 1989 (In 1979, economic reform was ushered in under Deng Xiaoping, who prevailed over Hua Guofeng in the late 1970s, although Hua had been appointed by Mao. Does that mean Hua and Mao were part of the “‘extreme leftist’ thought [that] dominated the governing ideology of the Party” […] “during the late 1950s and 1960s”?).
The student demonstrators in 1989 explicitly stated in slogans on banners etc. that they supported the CCP. Even after they were called counter-revolutionaries in the The People’s Daily. (See the article by Su Yang 蘇陽 in the HK Xin Bao). But because protest leaders emphasized loyalty to the state, three peasants who hurled red paint at the Mao portrait at Tian’anmen were apprehended by the students and handed over to Public Security. They were from Hunan, where Mao came from. They got 17-20 years. After the massacre of June 3rd and June 4th in the streets of Beijing, who would still think that political reform would be possible under the Party?
“Objectivity” sounds rather like the 1980s. Objectivity and political reform, or at least pressure for political reform are interdependent. Any kind of national and international pressure, especially the latter. “Chinese
Communist Party seen as objective in writing its history” – doesn’t that sound like “Vatican seen as objective in writing its history”? Yan Lianke cannot publish his latest novel Four Books in mainland China, because it’s about the Great Leap Forward famine. Opposition party founder Liu Xianbin has been sentenced to another 10 years in March. He has been sentenced to 26 years since 1989. There are a few other people like him. They are not as famous as Liu Xiaobo and Ai Weiwei. And there are people in detention or in labor camps for political reasons who are not intellectuals or dissidents. Like Ai Weiwei’s cook and his driver. Anyway, would anyone call the present political and social climate in China hopeful? So what are the objectives?
标签：anniversary, art, CCP, china, CPC, everything, history, July 1, parties, political prisoners, politics, revolution, Tian‘anmen
发表在 July 2011, June 2011 | Leave a Comment »
4月 5, 2011
Stichworte Lesung 12.4. Gerhard Ruiss – Bei Ling
Verhaftungswelle – Ai Weiwei, vorher schon andere Künstler wie Wu Yuren; auch Ran Yunfei und viele andere Blogger, Teng Biao und viele andere Menschenrechtsanwälte …
Gao Zhisheng (Anwalt) seit Jahren verschwunden, vorher mehrfach inhaftiert und gefoltert
Viele unter Hausarrest und abgeschirmt, in letzter Zeit verschärft, auch Liu Xia, Frau von Liu Xiaobo.
Seit Oktober durfte niemand Liu Xiaobo besuchen, auch seine Frau nicht. Falls Bruder oder Eltern doch einmal hindurften, dann unter Geheimhaltung, alles abgeschirmt, jeder Kontakt nach außen wird strengstens verhindert.
Liu Xianbin wurde letzte Woche wieder zu 10 Jahren wegen Anstiftung zur Untergrabung der Staatsgewalt verurteilt. Seit 1989 bekam er insgesamt 25 1/2 Jahre, u.a. wegen Gründung einer Oppositionspartei. Solche wie ihn gibt es noch mehrere, sie sind halt alle nicht so bekannt wie Liu Xiaobo. Liu Xianbin kam erst 2008 frei, unterschrieb aber sofort die Charta 08 und wurde 2009 wieder erhaftet. Er hat eine Tochter im Teenageralter, die ihren Vater hauptsächlich von Besuchen im Gefängnis her kennt. Es gibt einen sehr interessanten Text von Liu Xianbins Frau Chen Mingxian (leider nur auf Chinesisch), in dem sie von ihrem Leben seit 1995 erzählt. Sie ist einfache Lehrerin, lernte zufällig Liu Xianbin kennen, wurde langsam in die Dissidentenszene hineingezogen, beschreibt sehr eindringlich ihr tägliches Leben in einer kleineren Stadt, mit häufigen Polizeibesuchen.
Seit Februar gibt es im Internet Aufrufe, in 10-15 Städten auf die Straße zu gehen, jeden Sonntag, gegen hohe Lebensmittelpreise, Korruption und viele Misstände; ohne Transparente, einfach Spazierengehen an bestimmten Orten, höchstens manchmal Sprechchöre; darauf wird jedoch mit großem Polizeiaufgebot, Brutalität und vielen teils willkürlichen Verhaftungen reagiert.
Der Dichter Liao Yiwu, der 1989 wegen einer Radioausstrahlung seines Gedichts “Massaker” ins Gefängnis kam, die 90er Jahre hauptsächlich in Lagern verbrachte, dort viel Stoff für Reportagen und Erzählungen fand, die auch ins Deutsche übersetzt wurden, und von einem alten Mönch Flüte spielen lernte, durfte im Herbst 2010 erstmals ins Ausland, nach den Solidaritätslesungen am 20. März (Tag der politischen Lüge, Authors for Peace, Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin) und nachdem sich sogar Angela Merkel für ihn einsetzte. September und Oktober 2010 war er in Deutschland, dann ging er zurück nach Sichuan. Sofort wurde er wieder überwacht, öfters zur Polizei beordert, etc. Heuer wurde er in die USA zu einer Lesereise eingeladen, durfte aber im März wieder nicht ausreisen. Auf diese Weise wird er auch die folgende Reise nach Australien, wo er dasselbe Buch vorstellen sollte, nicht antreten können. Seit den 90er Jahren wurde er 16 Mal in verschiedene Länder zu literarischen Veranstaltungen und Konzerten eingeladen, 1 mal (im Vorjahr) durfte er ausreisen, 15 mal nicht. Liao Yiwu ist nicht das einzige Beispiel; der Dichter Bai Hua durfte lange Zeit ebenfalls nicht ausreisen; ich habe noch von anderen Fällen gehört.
Zhao Wei, der Student, der unlängst auf einer Zugfahrt umkam, ist auch ein Fall, der einen an viele ähnliche Fälle erinnert, von denen man ebenfalls in China gehört hat.
Liu Xiaobo, Ai Weiwei und Bei Ling kennen einander aus den 80er Jahren. Alle Künstler, Musiker, Schriftsteller etc., die jetzt über 30 sind, sind durch das Proteste-Desaster und Massaker von 1989 miteinander verbunden, auch wenn sie künstlerisch, intellektuell etc. überhaupt nicht miteinander übereinstimmen. Dissidenten, auch im Ausland, sind teilweise sehr zerstritten. Liu Xiaobo wird von manchen nicht als geeignet angesehn, die Arbeiter, ArbeitsmigrantInnen etc. zu vertreten, die in den letzten Jahren mit Streiks, Selbstmorden und schon länger auch durch die vielen Arbeitsunfälle in den großen Fabriken in den Industriestädten um Kanton und anderswo von sich reden gemacht haben. Aber auch da gibt es eine Verbindung: Zheng Xiaoqiong, die Arbeitsmigrantin und Dichterin, die 2003/2004 bekannt wurde. 2009 kam eine Auswahl ihrer Gedichte in Taiwan heraus, in einer Serie, in der auch Gedichte der tibetischen Schriftstellerin Woeser erschienen. Am 5. April 1976 begann die Öffnung Chinas, noch vor Maos Tod, auf dem Tian’anmen-Platz mit Gedichten. Auch heute ist Lyrik bedeutender und integrativer, als man glauben möchte. Natürlich ist nicht alles davon immer ‘nur’ Literatur – Kunst und Politik sind in Wirklichkeit weiterhin sehr eng miteinander vebrunden, auch wenn seit den 90er Jahren alle sagen, alles sei nur noch kommerziell geworden. Unter Mao war allles Politik. In den 80er Jahren waren die Verbindungen noch sehr deutlich. Jetzt sind sie auch sehr deutlich, wenn man die Nachrichten hört.
12.4. 19 Uhr
Lesung mit Gerhard Ruiss und Bei Ling (Lyriker, Essayist, Dissident, Biograf des Friedensnobelpreisträgers Liu Xiaobo)
–
Raum D / quartier21
Gedichte von Liu Xiaobo und Liu Xia
Auszüge aus Essays von Bei Ling und aus der Biografie von Liu Xiaobo
Gedichte von Bei Ling
Es lesen Gerhard Ruiss (IG Autorinnen Autoren) und Bei Ling
Nach der Solidaritäts-Lesung für den inhaftierten chinesischen Friedensnobelpreisträger Liu Xiaobo am 20. März (mit Gerhard Ruiss im Radio – siehe
http://archiv.literadio.org/get.php?id=766pr1602) kommt sein Biograf Bei Ling zu einer Lesung nach Wien ins Museumsquartier. Der Versuch der Überwindung von Zeit und Raum ist für Bei Ling seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt bittere Realität. Der Lyriker war – wegen der Veröffentlichung einer Literaturzeitschrift – selbst in Haft, wurde 2000 auf internationalen Druck hin freigelassen und aus China ausgewiesen. Seither lebt er im Exil.
„Es gibt keine Wahl mehr. Das Blut vieler junger Menschen, jene Seelen, jene eingekerkerten Menschen, und dann noch Xiaobo im Gefängnis – er wird mich verfolgen und auch das, was ich schreibe. Er wird mein Verhalten bestimmen“, das schrieb Bei Ling vor 22 Jahren als er erfuhr, dass sein Freund Liu Xiaobo nach dem Massaker vom 4. Juni 1989 verhaftet worden war – und er scheint recht behalten zu haben. Die Biografie seines Weggefährten Liu Xiaobo ,Der Freiheit geopfert´ ist erst kürzlich auf Deutsch erschienen.
Am 12. April liest Bei Ling mit Gerhard Ruiss Gedichte von Liu Xiaobo und Liu Xia (der Frau des inhaftierten Nobelpreisträgers, die seit Oktober in ihrer Wohnung festgehalten wird). Außerdem trägt Bei Ling aus seinem lyrischen Werk vor und liest aus der Biografie über den Friedensnobelpreisträger.
Die Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit dem quartier21/ MQ wird von der IG Autorinnen Autoren mitgetragen.
Der Freiheit geopfert. Die Biografie des Friedensnobelpreisträgers Liu Xiaobo
© Angelika Burgsteiner und Martin Winter
Martin Winter
0043-650-7209592
标签：art, china, civil rights, detention, disappearance, human rights, law, lawyers, literature, poetry, politics, prison, rights
发表在 April 2011, Welcome! | Leave a Comment »
3月 23, 2011
The world-wide reading on March 20 was a big success. In Leipzig, as far as I heard. In Vienna, it was interesting. Instructive. Great experts. Reporters Without Borders. Amnesty International. Writers in Prison, with Helmuth Niederle from the Austrian PEN. Professors from the East Asia departments of Vienna and Bratislava. Poetry. Protesters in China, in prison. Women, peasants, workers. In spirit. In between. Over 90 cities in 33 countries on six continents. At least. Gerhard Ruiss and Bei Ling read in Leipzig. At the book fair.
Herta Müller’s speech on March 20 in Berlin was published in the FAZ on March 26. Very good speech. She has read the biography. Maybe a little too fast. The labour camp didn’t come immediately after the first prison term. He wrote the confession in prison at the end of 1990 and went free in January 1991. Everything else is correct. The episode with his father, who wanted him to give in. And the labour camp. She does take a side, very emphatically. The last sentence is the most important one. “More and more supporters of Charter 08 are disappearing in jail.” Liu Xianbin was sentenced to 10 years a few days ago. Altogether he has been sentenced for more than 25 years since 1989. His most serious crime seems to have been one of the founders of an opposition party at the end of the 1990s. Liu Xianbin’s wife Chen Mingxian chronicles her life in the last 20 years in this account: http://08charterbbs.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_23.html
There is also a good piece in the NY Times by Geng He, wife of the human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/opinion/28geng.html
Teng Biao has disappeared, Ran Yunfei has been detained for a while, and now Liu Xianbin has been sentenced to 10 years, to name but a few. The situation is very clear. No progress, just the opposite.
MuseumsQuartier Wien, Raum D / quartier21 - Photo by Pernille Koldbech Fich
There will be a reading with Bei Ling, poet and publisher, in Vienna at the same location on April 12.
标签：Amnesty International, austria, Bei Ling, beijing, china, church, freedom of speech, Gerhard Ruiss, Helmuth Niederle, Japan, Liao Yiwu, Libya, literature, Liu Xiaobo, love, Nobel Peace prize, PEN, poetry, politics, prison, protests, raoul findeisen, Reporters Without Borders, reporting, Rubina Möhring, spring, Vienna, Vienna University, weigelin-schwiedrzik, writers
发表在 March 2011, Translations | Leave a Comment »
3月 12, 2011
Vienna, March 20, 2011
标签：Charta 08, Charter 08, china, Chinese poetry, Jasmine Tee, literature, Liu Xiaobo, poetry, political prisoners, politics, prison, prisoners of conscience
发表在 March 2011 | Leave a Comment »
3月 2, 2011
One of the best texts I have read in a long time is Murong Xuecun‘s recent speech in front of the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Hongkong. It was a speech he had wanted to give at the occasion of receiving the People’s Literature magazine’s “special action award”. But they didn’t let him speak at the ceremony. Time magazine has the full text, they say (acc.2011-03-02). Please read this text. If you like it, maybe you’ll agree that literature is a very good indicator of the state (of a nation), exactly because you can’t really know what it states. This is true for art in general, or a capacity for innovative culture. You can’t really know what it states, or maybe you’re sure you know, but you can’t really say, or what you can say is only one aspect. You can analyze the structure. You can try to translate it, and still keep the spirit. I haven’t read the original text, haven’t had time to look for it. Is there an original text in Chinese? Did he write it in English? He probably gave the speech in English, because it was at the foreign correspondent’s club. If the text in Time magazine is a translation, I’m pretty sure it is translated well. Yes, maybe there is something universal about it. Maybe Chinese writers have said similar things through the centuries. And millenia. But not only Chinese writers. And I am pretty sure, on the other hand, that this text is a very powerful indicator for the present state (of things). It’s both. Perfect example for Yomi Braester’s Witness Against History. Art has something else, something that goes far beyond History. Or also keeps record more faithfully.
标签：china, literature, politics, speech
发表在 March 2011, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
2月 28, 2011
In 2004/2005 or so in Beijing, my wife and I became friends with some parents of other kids at the local kindergarten. One mother had studied art in Japan and introduced me to blogging. Since early 2008 I have a website at Yahoo Japan. (I had spent a few weeks in Japan in early 1993, on a boat trip from Shanghai.) There is a blog I maintain at Langmates (translation and localization), another one for poems only (almost) and a harmonized teaser, among others. My translations of poems and various signs and banners in China can also be found on websites set up by Sam Brier (2004) and by Charles Laughlin (Ma Lan’s poetry). MCLC (Modern Chinese Literature and Culture), edited by Kirk Denton, has not only spawned an extensive treasure trove of Modern Chinese Literature and Culture sources, but also an Email-list server which has maintained professional and other exchange services for the international Chinese Studies community and beyond, including some very lively discussions. Recently, list members have introduced their blogs, such as Anne Henochowicz, Andrew Field, Jeanne Boden and Charles Laughlin. The initiative was started by Paul Manfredi.
标签：beijing, china, Chinese Studies, culture, life, literature, poetry, politics, Shanghai, travel, writing
发表在 March 2011, Uncategorized, Welcome! | Leave a Comment »
2月 22, 2011
As rich European countries go, maybe Austria is just as bad as Italy or France. Only smaller, more provincial. Newest anti-foreigner laws package passed on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd, 2011. The protesters in Egypt didn’t really look to America or Western Europe, but to protest experiences in Serbia and such. At least that’s what I remember from reports in the NY Times, among others. A Chinese friend told me he was watching the Arab protests very much,while he was in Europe, because the pictures from Egypt reminded him of Beijing in 1989.
China has had too many so-called revolutions under Mao and a big failure with protests for civil rights and democracy in 1989. But there are many protests in China all the time. Labor unrest, land seizures, health hazards etc.. There may also be a big craving for stability, hence the hesitation to participate in larger protests. The op-ed in the NYT (IHT) by Daniel Bell, designated Western politics professor in Tianjin, was very academic. Or very wishy-washy. Civil rights are universal. No, China’s not so special. Reporters know, especially when they go to see the blind Women’s rights activist lawyer in Shandong and get waylay-ed and beaten. No, nobody cares about supposed academic discussions on why democracy might not work. Yes, people try to lead a good life, individually, for their family, and sometimes they notice the limits, and try to work around them, and many do talk about it. Sorry for the rambling. As I said, rich countries are no beacons. Maybe I am more politics-sensitive than before, since we moved back to Austria from China, after 10 years in Beijing and a few more in other cities. Roger Cohen is right, the EU doesn’t look very good at all these days.
Don't bother
标签：1989, 2011, activists, Africa, austria, beijing, china, civil rights, civil society, democracy, Egypt, Europe, law, lawyers, Libya, life, politics, Tunisia, Xenophobia
发表在 February 2011 | 1 Comment »
2月 3, 2011
Chinese sign in Cairo
Any discussion on forbidden topics is worthwhile. And this topic seems to be at least semi-forbidden on websites easily accessible in China. Social unrest is widespread and continues to grow. China is built on denial. Not on the Nile. There is no river in Beijing. I wonder if there has been any precipitation by now since fall. It was pretty bad in 2000, I remember. They dug huge canals all the way from around Nanjing and Wuhan to bring water for Beijing and Tianjin. Imagine a new canal dug through a city center, 100 meter down. That’s what I saw somewhere in Henan in 2007 or so. Maybe most people don’t take part in uprisings yet. As anywhere, people are concerned with their family and their livelihood. Not with the government. Unless something bad enough happens, you don’t need to take action. Maybe you’ll discuss something, like Premier Wen visiting the Beijing Petition Bureau. They do seem to feel the need to address some problems publicly, and not only through suppression. They continue to suppress many words, such as eleven or civil society. Actually I’m not sure if eleven is still sensitive, but it wouldn’t surprise me, since a certain dissident who was sentenced to eleven years on Dec. 25, 2009, got a lot of publicity lately. Any comparison of China with countries in volatile situations is worthwhile. It’s important not to end up in the Nile, or in denial. That’s a nice little joke I heard from our friend Liam, very nice if you’re far away, I guess. To a very large extent, China is built on denial. The same could be said about other societies, like Austria. But maybe at least there is less denial now than 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. In Austria, maybe. It’s a dialectical process, maybe. There is still a lot of denial. But in China denial is at the base of the system. In private talk, if you’re a friend, people will tell you what they went through in the 1950s, -60s, -70s and so on, or what they are doing now, even if it’s against official policy. But is there enough public discussion of past and present grievances and problems? This is already very close to the question Adam (see below) has put in his post. Adam is right, saying that China is very special and very stable and so on often gets very obnoxious. I am very wary of any big-time supportive international collaboration with institutions in China. Just look at what happened at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2009. The organizers cooperated with China’s GAPP, the general administration of pressure and prodding to toe the government line in publishing. The Ministry of Truth. Maybe they had to, to stage a China-themed fair. And the ensuing scandal was good, except for a few officials. Any kind of discussion is good, any kind of publicity, if there is a lot of denial. I wonder if the Robert Bosch trust fund and other Western sources of funding for cooperation with China learned anything. In December there was a discussion in Germany and Austria, after an article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung suggested that Chinese Studies institutions staid away from the topic of the Nobel Peace Prize award for a Chinese dissident. Maybe some of them do, if the people in charge are too closely affiliated with the Confucius Institutes situated right inside the Chinese Studies department, as it is usually the case now. In Vienna, this wasn’t a problem. There was a big discussion on January 11 at the Sinology department of the East Asian Institute, one of the most engaged and open events at Vienna University in a while, probably. Bei Ling, author of the Liu Xiaobo biography was there, reading and talking to an enthusiastic crowd, in a very interesting discussion about the roles of intellectuals and public institutions. Professor Weigelin was fully in her element. Prof. Findeisen and Dr. Wemheuer contributed important points on literature and society. Who would have thought that in January, people around the world would spontaneously think of 1989? At least for me it feels like back then, very sudden change sweeping through several countries. So of course there are many comparisons. It is nice to live in exciting times, and important not to end up in the Nile. May they have peace and better times in Egypt soon!
Shanghai Scrap (2/1/11):
Comparing Egypt and China wrong questions, meaningless answers
From Language Log
标签：1989, 2011, academics, Africa, army, austria, china, democracy, demonstrations, denial, discussions, dissident, Egypt, forbidden topics, Germany, international news, internet, language, media, politics, protests, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Vienna, Vienna University
发表在 February 2011 | 6 Comments »
1月 17, 2011
Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident sentenced to 11 years on Dec.25th 2009 for “inciting subversion“, was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in absentia in Oslo on Dec. 10th, 2010. Liu’s old friend and Independent Chinese PEN co-founder Bei Ling has written a biography of Liu Xiaobo. Bei Ling started off from an essay he wrote in June 1989 in New York, after Liu Xiaobo had been arrested in Beijing in the aftermath of the massacre throughout the city, as People’s Liberation Army troops forced their way through the streets blocked by protesters in the last phase of the demonstrations on Tian’anmen Square. Liu Xiaobo had returned to China from New York and led a hunger strike of intellectuals on the square, supporting the students and Beijing residents in their demands for civil liberties. Bei Ling‘s essay from 1989 was re-published in Chinese in Hongkong and Taiwan in June 2009, and in the German newspaper FAZ on October 12th, 2010, a few days after the Nobel Peace prize announcement from Oslo. Soon after, the German publisher Riva expressed interest in a biography of Liu. Bei Ling had recently written a literary memoir of his years a Beijing underground poet in the 1980s and a literary magazine editor, shuttling between China and foreign countries, in the 1990s. Liu Xiaobo and other old friends such as Liao Yiwu are important figures in Bei Ling’s memoir, to be published by Suhrkamp in Germany this year. So Bei Ling was ready to write his biography of Liu Xiaobo on short notice. It was a crazy idea, but it worked. We worked around the clock in November 2010, and in early December the book hit the shelves. In the first week, from Dec. 9 to 16, it sold 2500 volumes, according to the publisher. Since then, Bei Ling’s biography of Liu Xiaobo has been reviewed in many newspapers, magazines, on TV and radio stations etc. throughout Germany and in neighbouring countries. This month (January 2011), according to the publisher, the book has started to appear on the Spiegel magazine’s bestseller list, the standard list in the German-speaking realm. On January 11th, 2011, a symposion with Bei Ling, Prof. Weigelin-Schwiedrzik， Prof. Findeisen, Prof. Zhu Jiaming, Dr. Felix Wemheuer and others was held at Vienna University and met with great interest among students and teachers from various faculties. See here …
Liu Xiaobo biographer Bei Ling at Vienna University on Jan. 11th, 2011. Photo: Angelika Burgsteiner
标签：11 years, censorship, china, Chinese Studies, civil rights, civil society, freedom of speech, intellectuals, literature, Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace prize, politics, prison, prisoners of conscience, reporting, subversion, Vienna University, writing
发表在 January 2011, Translations, Uncategorized, Welcome! | 5 Comments »
12月 10, 2010
This is a book about an absent person, who is held in prison; who has won a Nobel Peace prize and is not allowed to collect it: Liu Xiaobo. His old friend Bei Ling writes about him. He draws a many-faceted picture – only a knowledgeable friend can do that. This book is concerned with manifestos, petitions, political actions, but also with self-doubt and guilt, stubbornness and ambition. The author Bei Ling, who was imprisoned himself before, sees his duty in painting a complicated picture of this civil rights activist, with many different shades and colors. Bei Ling knows that he can see Liu Xiaobo only from one side, he can only portray him in profile, not from the front. But even if it is only part of a bigger picture, this part shows us a whole cosmos of courage and repression, of labor camps and life outside watched by security agents, like the life that the wife of this civil rights activist is forced to lead. This book offers a lot of information, but it doesn’t explain everything, because it wants you to keep asking questions. This is why I think everybody should read it.
Elfriede Jelinek, Tr. MW
Read more …
Liu Xiaobo biography published
My essay on Liu Xiaobo and the new biography
Translating the bio
Liu Xiaobo and 1984
标签：1989, Bei Ling, biography, china, Chinese literature, civil rights, constitution, diplomacy, Elfriede Jelinek, government, human rights, law, literature, Liu Xiaobo, memory, Nobel Peace prize, philosophy, poetry, politics, prison, Tian‘anmen, translation, writers
发表在 November 2010, Translations | Leave a Comment »
11月 30, 2010
标签：biography, china, Chinese poetry, life, literature, Liu Xiaobo, Nobel prize, police, politics, prison, protest, Translations
发表在 Translations | Leave a Comment »
10月 5, 2010
No Choice – My Memories of Liu Xiaobo Before And After 1989
Keine andere Wahl – Liu Xiaobo, 1989 und heute
Bei Ling
This article was published on June 16, 2010 in Ming Pao Daily, Hong Kong and in Lianhe Bao (United Daily News), Taipei.
Die chinesische Originalfassung dieses Artikels erschien am 16. Juni 2010 in den Tageszeitungen Ming Pao (Hongkong) und Lianhe bao (United Daily News, Taiwan)
Translation/Übersetzung: Martin Winter
Source/Quelle: Lianhe Bao (United Daily News, Taipei)
http://mag.udn.com/mag/world/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=235&f_SUB_ID=4595&f_ART_ID=255134
See also
英語報紙：In English:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/11/02/2003487492
In German:
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub117C535CDF414415BB243B181B8B60AE/Doc~E3AB4F19D97FC404CB097C726A204806D~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
En espanol:
http://www.abc.es/20101010/internacional/xiaobo-1989-ahora-20101010.html
From the Noble Committee:
https://docs.google.com/View?id=dc7f6bh9_884dj3m7sfh
別無選擇——記1989年前後的劉曉波
【聯合報╱貝嶺／文】
2010.06.17 03:28 am
He is very gentle, but he cannot stand any false kindness; he emphasizes individualism, though in daily life he needs his friends very much … His unique personality highlights exactly the kind of character that is so extremely rare among Chinese intellectuals …
Er ist ein sanfter Mensch und kann doch faule Kompromisse nicht ertragen. Er tritt für die Freiheit des Individiums ein und ist doch im täglichen Leben sehr stark auf seine Freunde angewiesen. Sein eigenwilliger Charakter ist gerade unter chinesischen Intellektuellen sehr selten und kostbar…
他喜歡溫和，卻又無法容忍平庸的溫和，他強調個體，可在日常生活中他又如此地需要朋友……他獨特的個性恰恰反襯了中國知識分子極其缺乏個性……
Author’s comment:
This text has been modified. I first wrote it in New York in June 1989, after the June Fourth crackdown, and after I heard that Liu Xiaobo had been arrested in Beijing. I had to vent my feelings. The Liu Xiaobo in this article is my very personal Liu Xiaobo from over 20 years ago.
Read on …
英語報紙：In English:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/11/02/2003487492
德國報紙 Auf Deutsch:
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub117C535CDF414415BB243B181B8B60AE/Doc~E3AB4F19D97FC404CB097C726A204806D~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
西班牙報紙 En español:
http://www.abc.es/20101010/internacional/xiaobo-1989-ahora-20101010.html
挪威諾貝爾委會 Noble Comittee Communique
https://docs.google.com/View?id=dc7f6bh9_884dj3m7sfh
中國留學生 Chinese students abroad
http://www.dailyillini.com/blogs/different-perspectives/2010/10/31/chinese-illini-not-sure-how-to-feel-about-chinas-first-nobel
王超華 Wang Chaohua
http://www.thechinabeat.org/?p=2793
标签：1989, Charta 08, china, courage, friendship, literature, Liu Xiaobo, massacre, memory, philosophy, politics, prison, shame, violence
发表在 October 2010, Translations | Leave a Comment »
6月 20, 2010
venice (written on a city map) one yard of scents, with blossoms filled / one passage through the midday sun / one house, one water, one whole town / one thousand years become one day / they know it here, you’ll die quite soon / and everyone will come and say / what you may claim, and what remains / and then they’re ready to depart / cause what we are stays in this world / what we have done, what we have heard / one scent, one stone, one sound, one plan / a plea that says please understand
MW June 2010
venedig (auf einem stadtplan notiert) ein hof im duft, mit blüten voll / ein durchgang in der mittagszeit / ein haus, ein wasser, eine stadt / als wären tausend jahr ein tag / man weiss es hier, man stirbt recht bald / und alle kommen, es zu sehen / was bleibt, und was man noch erwirbt / dann wollen sie auch wieder gehen / denn was wir sind, bleibt in der welt / was wir getan, was wir geschaut / ein duft, ein stein, ein laut, ein plan / und eine bitte um verstehen MW 5. Juni 2010
《在威尼斯怀念喀什古城》
威尼斯地图记下
花香一院
犹太区
中午一通道
一屋、一水、一城
一日一千年
这里晓得生命很短
大家来看
啥事剩下、还能得到
然后就走掉
我们所做到的留下
一香、一响
一图、一求
请你听懂
2010.6
标签：art, atmosphere, beauty, city, death, destruction, development, economy, force, function, ghetto, heritage, history, jews, Kashgar, life, map, memory, Moslems, people, plea, poetry, politics, power, real estate, religion, soul, sun, time, tourism, understanding, value, Venice, water
发表在 June 2010, poetry | Leave a Comment »
3月 9, 2010
Offener Brief
Wem soll ich das jetzt schreiben? Vielleicht an die Presse. Kommentar der Anderen. Naja, Chefredakteur Michael Fleischhacker hat heute Samstag in der Presse das österreichische Nazi-Verbotsgesetz als notwendigen Ausdruck politischer Unreife bekräftigt. Alle schreiben jetzt über die FPÖ. Wird es etwas nützen? Was glauben Sie?
Warum schreiben jetzt wieder alle über die FPÖ, von den Gratiszeitungen in der U-Bahn zu den Mittelklasse-, Business-, Familien- und Alternativvehikeln?
“Es war ein Fehler, nicht anzutreten.” Das war die Schlagzeile von vorgestern, Donnerstag. Hab ich im Vorübereilen am Bahnhof gesehen. Wahrscheinlich Michael Ludwig, in der Brücke. Nein, der Landeshauptmann. Nicht der davor. Pröll, in der Krone. Nicht die Annemarie.
Also wissen es eh schon alle. Vielleicht schreib ich das nur für mich selbst. Politische Unreife. Ja, allerdings! Warum kann die ehemals größte und immer noch relativ wirtschaftliche Partei des Landes keinen eigenen Kandidaten für die Wahl des Staatsoberhauptes finden? Hat man dem amtierenden Parteisekretär wirklich überhaupt nichts entgegenzusetzen?
Und die Grünen? Ich würde sehr gerne Terezija Stoisits wählen, zum Beispiel. Sie hat im Parlament die Bundeshymne auf burgenländischem Kroatisch gesungen, oder war es die Eidesformel? Ist schon eine Weile her, aber sie hat Österreich sehr gut vertreten, in vielen Fragen. A senior figure. A seminal figure, too.
Don’t get me wrong, ich finde auch, dass wir einen recht guten amtierenden Bundespräsidenten haben. Aber ist das wirklich ein Grund? Alle fünf Jahre wird gewählt. So ist das in einer Demokratie. Ja, die Wahl kostet Geld. Aber sieht eine große Partei wirklich besser aus, wenn sie nicht antritt? Und eine Protestpartei, die die Grünen ursprünglich waren?
Jetzt reden alle von den Rechten. Die üben keine Zurückhaltung. Die treten an, stramm und gereckt. Also was können wir machen? Nicht wählen gehen. Oder Fischer. Versteht sich gut mit Li Peng. Das ist das einzige, was ich gegen ihn habe. Demonstrationsverbot anlässlich des Besuchs des chinesischen Premiers nach dem Tiananmen-Massaker. Die Grünen haben im Parlament protestiert. Cap und Fischer haben das Demonstrationsverbot verleugnet, verniedlicht und bekräftigt. Boot ist voll. Gesetze als Ausländerhetze. Das war damals die Politik der regierenden Sozialistischen Partei Österreichs. Sozialdemokratisch, Entschuldigung, den Namen haben sie auch noch nicht so lange geändert. Nein, ich bin kein Antimarxist. Finde es schön, wenn man an etwas glaubt. Meistens. Innenminister Löschnak ist extra aus der Kirche ausgetreten, damit ihm die nicht mehr gar so sehr auf die Nerven gehen können, die Frau Pfarrerin Christine Hubka zum Beispiel, die die Flüchtlinge aufnahm, als das Boot ach so voll war, im Jugoslawienkrieg. Sie war dann “Frau des Jahres”. Ich habe im Jahr darauf in Traiskirchen Deutsch unterrichtet, Zivildienst.
Alle sähen besser aus, wenn es eine Wahl gäbe. Zwischen dem amtierenden Staatsoberhaupt und ein paar ernstzunehmenden anderen Frauen und Männern. Alle sähen besser aus, auch die SPÖ. Von der großen Wirtschaftspartei ÖVP gar nicht zu reden, oder von den Grünen. Woher kommen die Grünen? Aus dem erfolgreichen Protest gegen das Atomkraftwerk der ersten Generation, das vielleicht doch auf einer Erdbebenlinie lag. Erfolgreich gegen Kreisky und Fischer, mit über 50 Prozent. Auch 1984 waren wir erfolgreich. Ja, auch ich habe damals mitdemonstriert, für die Erhaltung der Donauauen bei Hainburg.
Ich würde auch gerne Fischler wählen. Nein, das war kein Schreibfehler, das war der EU-Agrarkommissar, allseits geachtet, hatte man den Eindruck. Ist doch wirklich nicht schlecht, für Österreich.
Leider hat Franz Fischler gesagt, man soll sich den Wahlkampf nicht antun, wenn man nicht gewinnen kann. Als Partei. Leider gibt es da eine Tradition in der ÖVP, mit unreifen Aussagen und mit lähmenden innerparteilichen Machtkämpfen. Erhard Busek zum Beispiel, intelligent und sehr engagiert, in Osteuropa. Aber das war auch ungefähr damals, zu Beginn der 90er Jahre, vielleicht war er noch nicht Vizekanzler, jedenfalls hat er gesagt, man solle nicht immer weiter über den Krieg reden, über Verantwortung für die Naziverbrechen. Irgendwann sei Schluss, oder so ähnlich. Nicht lange davor war der Bundeskanzler zum ersten Mal in Israel gewesen.
Ist es zu spät? Wird es wirklich nur zwei Kandidaten geben, den Amtsinhaber und die Nazisse? Der Habsburger wird es offenbar auch nicht schaffen, da gibt es ebenfalls Verbotsgesetze. Alles sehr kompliziert, wie ein früherer Bundeskanzler anmerkte.
Als langjähriger Auslandsösterreicher, der manchmal auch tausende Kilometer zur nächsten österreichischen Botschaft reiste, um wählen zu können, muss ich mich wieder mal schämen. Obwohl es keine Sanktionen geben wird, nicht einmal internationale Schlagzeilen. Außerdem bin ich ja diesmal in Wien. Aber trotzdem. Ja, ich möchte, dass dieser Brief veröffentlicht wird. Deshalb heißt er so.
Herzliche Grüße,
Martin Winter
Wien/ Peking, Übersetzer aus dem Chinesischen
标签：austria, candidates, election, parties, politics, president, shame
发表在 March 2010 | Leave a Comment »
1月 11, 2010
Yi Sha
AN EINEM VERSCHNEITEN TAG
an einem verschneiten tag
spritzt matsch auf der strasse
einmalig auf dieser welt
brüllend wie sonst
ein polizeiwagen
flott unterwegs
und sehr unterhaltsam
in seinem kleid
ganz gleich wie er drängt
das kriegt er nicht runter
auf einmal ganz gleich
nicht zu unterscheiden
von anderen autos
sie schleichen daher
wie leichenwagen
das macht ihn nervös
von seinen rädern
spritzte der schmutz
auf den der vorbeikam
den stapfenden zeugen
dem kamen die tränen
es dachte der dichter
an die poesie
die sei doch wie schnee
in beziehung
zum wagen des staates
Übersetzt von MW im Februar 2008
Quelle: http://china.poetryinternational.org
标签：cars, Chengdu, china, clothes, poetry, police, politics, snow, state, winter, yi sha, 伊沙
发表在 Translations, 伊沙 | Leave a Comment »
3月 7, 2009
Wherever I am – Hung Hung
Wherever I am, I will not be there
Whatever I said, it was not what I meant
Whatever I dream of, I am always awake
I love, but no one else, and also not you
If my heart beats wildly, it is only because
Their hearts are beating the same and without any sound –
Brides sleeping beside a stranger
Workers leaving their town behind
Students shouting on Revolution Square
And suddenly feeling bewildered
Lovers, tied up in freedom
Watch me, so I’ll be in your eyes
Kiss me, so I’ll be on your tongue
Hold me, so I can breathe in your palm
Forget me, so I may stay in your heart
2008, first published in OFF THE ROLL + 01: Lowly People
Tr. MW 2009/3
不管我在哪兒 – 鴻鴻
不管我在哪兒，我都不在那裡
不管我說了什麼，我都是別的意思
不管我夢見什麼，我都一樣清醒
我愛，但我愛的不是別人，也不是你
如果我的心劇烈跳動，那只是因為
他們的心也跳得同樣劇烈，同樣無聲──
那些睡在陌生人身旁的新娘
那些離鄉背井的工人
那些在革命廣場上吶喊
卻突然感到茫然的學生
那些被自由束縛的情人
注視我，我便在你眼裡
吻我，我便在你舌尖
握緊我，我便在你手掌中呼吸
忘記我，我便永遠在你心底
2008
原載衛生紙詩刊+01：賤民
Wo ich auch sein mag – Hung Hung
Wo ich auch sein mag, ich bin gar nicht dort
Egal was ich sag, es war anders gemeint
Egal was ich träume, bin immer ganz wach
Ich liebe, doch gar niemand anderen, und auch nicht dich
Wenn mein Herz heftig pocht, dann nur weil
Ihre Herzen ebenso pochen und ebenso lautlos –
Bräute, die neben einem Fremden schlafen
Arbeiter, die in die Ferne ziehen
Studenten, die schreien
Auf dem Revolutionsplatz
Und sich verloren fühlen
Liebende, gefesselt von Freiheit
Beobachte mich, ich bin in deinen Augen
Küss mich, ich lieg auf deiner Zungenspitze
Halt mich fest, dass ich atme in deiner Hand
Vergiss mich, ich bleibe dir in deinem Herzen
2008
Aus der Zeitschrift: Off The Roll poetry + 01: Niederes Volk
Übersetzt von MW, 2009/3
See also http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/dujuan99nihon/23311339.html
and http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/dujuan99nihon/24454528.html
标签：all, art, asia, Chinese poetry, 鴻鴻, Hung Hung, identity, life, love, marriage, migrants, poetry, politics, random, revolution, separation, sex, taiwan, work
发表在 March 2009, Translations | 1 Comment »
9月 29, 2008
tag
gestern war ein schoener tag
endlich wieder einmal warm
wolkenlos die meiste zeit
gestern war auch wieder wahl
das war leider nicht so schoen
vor zwei jahren war es gut
schwatzblau war nicht mehr gefragt
schwatzorange war auch ein kas
schwatzorange war auch ein schas
vor zwei jahren war das klar
erster war die spoe
oevp war auch nicht schlecht
gruene waren ganz ok
gestern war ein schoener tag
MW 29. September 2008
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
yesterday
yesterday the day was fine
finally the sun was out
there were hardly any clouds
yesterday we had to vote
yesterday was not so good
it was fine two years ago
right-wing government was out
that was clear two years ago
yesterday the day was fine
there were hardly any clouds
MW Sept. 29th, 2008
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
yesterday the right-wing parties gained a lot in austria.
they have 29 percent together now.
really right-wing, anti-foreigners, "austrians first" in every ad.
austrians ueber alles?
yeah, most of the time we’re laughable, thank god.
not in the news at all internationally, i guess.
they had elections in bavaria and in belarus too
标签：all, election, international news, life, nostalgia, poetry, politics, seasons, weather
发表在 Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
4月 3, 2008
please visit this page: 前門、敦煌、大理 
标签：all, art, Beijing 2008, buddhism, christianity, family, life, news, politics, random, religion
发表在 April 2008 | Leave a Comment »
3月 31, 2008
some
quite a few have been arrested
some have simply disappeared
somebody has picked them up
riots go with violence
all the witnesses are saying
peace and order are restored
like in some andean countries
and at many other places
all the witnesses are saying
quite a few have been arrested
some have simply disappeared
somebody has picked them up
some of them turn up again
MW March 2008
标签：china, police, politics, riots, south america
发表在 March 2008 | Leave a Comment »
3月 30, 2008
manche
manche sind verhaftet worden
manche andre sind verschwunden
jemand hat sie abgeholt
unruhen sind nicht gewaltlos
sagen alle augenzeugen
recht und ordnung gibt es nicht
wie in manchen andenstaaten
oder auch an andern orten
manche sind verhaftet worden
manche andern sind verschwunden
jemand hat sie abgeholt
manche tauchen wieder auf
manche haben ueberlebt
MW Maerz 2008
标签：china, order, police, politics, riots, south america
发表在 March 2008 | Leave a Comment »
3月 24, 2008
ostersonntag oder montag
ist er wieder rausgekommen
ist er wieder auferstanden
ist er wieder aufgewacht
hat man ihn ans kreuz geflochten
hat man ihn ins grab gesperrt
was ist dabei rausgekommen
fruehling ist herausgekommen
sonne wieder aufgestanden
mond ist wieder aufgewacht
letzte woche war palmsonntag
kathrins vater ist gestorben
unser sohn ist drei geworden
und in lhasa war ein aufstand
und an vielen andern orten
was ist denn herausgekommen
wer ist schuld an diesem aufstand
wer war schuld in 1960
oder 1989
wer war schuld am tod der juden
wer ist wieder auferstanden
auferstanden ist die hoffnung
sie ist wieder aufgestanden
er ist wieder rausgekommen
er ist wieder aufgewacht
MW Maerz 2008
标签：christianity, easter, politics, religion
发表在 March 2008 | Leave a Comment »
3月 21, 2008
late reports
evening papers!
late reports
they were shooting in the sky
finally we have some rain in beijing
latest stories from tibet
sound like taiwan ’47
taiwan and tibet in china
they are different views of china
vietnam or mongolia
there are many different views
wanbao, wanbao!
zao you zaobao
wan you wanbao
bushi bu bao
shijian wei dao
MW March 2008
标签：beijing, china, history, media, politics, rain, reporting, taiwan, tibet, 报纸，佛教，历史，政治，下雨，北京 new
发表在 March 2008 | 1 Comment »
3月 20, 2008
Two days ago I went to Wikipedia in Chinese and stumbled on a photo of the Dalai Lama. The browser started generating error messages. When I tried to get there again, my screen went black. Then it was blue, with a message from Microsoft about a serious system failure. “Starting memory dumping” was at the bottom. I had been using Gladder, a Firefox extension for circumventing the Great Firewall when you’re in China.
In the 1980s, when I was an undergraduate student, we had a Chinese reading class. It was mostly Chinese government-issued information on Tibet. There was one phrase I remember. The soldiers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army were generous, so they didn’t ask the Tibetan people immediately to pay back the cost of pacifying their land. That was a memorable sentence. Then in 2001 or so I was translating and dubbing films for the Ministry of Culture in Beijing. There was a report on celebrating 50 years of liberating Tibet. Somebody important called me and asked me to please finish it quickly. It was a very important piece. Hu Jintao, who was already very important back then, had led a central party delegation on a fact-finding trip through Tibet to prepare for the celebrations. They stayed at ordinary people’s homes. And when they left in the morning, they gave the peasant family gifts to thank them for letting them stay. They gave them framed pictures of the core leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Chairman Mao Zedong, Chairman Deng Xiaoping and Chairman Jiang Zemin. That was a memorable scene.
What is art? What is music? Music makes you dance or cry. Art is truth. It’s the truth in the ear of the beholder. Or in other orifices. Or somewhere in between. They call it the heart. There have always been found objects. And pictures of leaders.
标签：china, culture, 音樂，文化，藝術，生活，文學，閱讀，, literature, music, news, politics, reading, tibet
发表在 March 2008 | 1 Comment »
3月 10, 2008
How are you doing? This is Leo at the local McDonald’s. They are bigger than the local KFC, and have a good playground inside. Actually, the weather has been warm enough to play outside for a long time now. Yesterday we went to the Meishuguan, the National Gallery. They’re having a very popular Dunhuang exhibition. I co-translated a book on Dunhuang last year, and I have been there in 2000. This time we went with a painter (Zhuang Zhuang’s mother), who had worked in Dunhuang with her father. The great thing about this exhibition is that they have gathered reconstructions and copies of the murals from the last 60 or 70 years. Many copies and cave reconstructions are very good. The really tried to transform the whole museum into a replica of the site, as far as possible. The caves in Dunhuang are only unlocked when a tourist group comes through, and then the cave is locked again after five minutes. So you have to stay the whole day and follow many different groups, like I did. But here in Beijing it is all spread out for everybody. Buddhism for the masses. It’s great.
And here are Maia and Zhuang Zhuang at the Meishuguan entrance. This used to be a museum for Chinese stalinist oil paintings, mostly. They still have them somewhere. But in the last two years or so they have had some very interesting exhibitions. They had the Zhou brothers, who come from the 1970s, emigrated in the 1980s and made it big. They gave the whole building a big makeover. The canteen in the backyard is clean and good. There are a lot of military police stationed in the northwest backyard. I don’t know if they are only there to protect the art. Maybe it’s their local headquarter. The whole city is swarming with police guards, and even more with construction workers. They are having the yearly National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference meetings in the Great Hall of the People on Red Square. The construction workers are transforming the old streets immediately south of the Square into a great faux antique theme park. Qianmen Dajie, the south part of the north-south axis going through the city since Mongol times 800 years ago, is completely evacuated and blocked off, including all the side alleys for half a mile in each direction. You can see the theme park buildings rising behind the construction fences, which are decorated walls. Decorated with old city photos from 100 years ago, in part. Everybody moved out, and make it all new, for the foreigners.
Southwest of Qianmen, closer to Hepingmen and the west part of Dazhalan, there are some Hutongs left. They are being renovated. Some old buildings are torn down, but they are being rebuilt with plumbing. You can see the swarms of Mingong (migrant workers) busy in all the Hutongs in the city that are still intact. Maybe they are doing a good job. So it seems that some parts of old Beijing will remain. Some of them are tourist streets already. Nan Luoguo Xiang is a creative quarter, to some extent. They have torn down some streets there too, east of Shichahai lake. Maybe there will be a canal side park. The remaining Hutongs southwest of Qianmen retain some features of the former Qianmen area, complete with cheap hotels. Maybe the mosque is still there, too. People are friendly, the real ones that remain. Friends of us got robbed in some Hutong cul-de-sac near the Square and the Forbidden City last year. Bicycle cab took them for a ride. Not surprising when huge areas in the city center are instant ruins and construction sites. The whole Qianmen walled-off theme park construction site reminded me of Dali, Yunnan province. In 2006, they had been building a six-lane freeway next to the west side of the old city for a few years already. There is a big new highway on the east side already, all the way around the lake. But this is the old Burma road, so they want to show off all the way to the border. And about half of the old city was still off-limits. Some are plants and factories, but some parts are just old streets being torn down and replaced with malls for foreigners. And Chinese tourists, of course. Why did we go all the way to the south of the city at all? The daughter of an office colleague of Jackie was baptized in the Catholic church at Xuanwumen.
This is Maia in the chapel for the baptism ceremonies. No, she’s not baptized yet. They do it later in the Lutheran churches. Jackie is Protestant, and we have frequented Lutheran services since our wedding. Christianity in China is a very interesting topic. The old church buildings, both in the cities and in remote places all the way into the Himalayas, are all worth visiting, even if you are not religious at all. More than half of Tian Zhuangzhuang’s film on the old tea road in Yunnan is about churches, temples and believers in remote mountain valleys.
And here we are at the McDonald’s again. I don’t have a photo from Qianmen Dajie construction street, because I was carrying Leo asleep around the theme park wall when we passed the south gate of that construction site which is at least as big as the Forbidden City. Would have been a great picture, with a real camera. But there was a guard, who was just closing the gate. Leo will be three on Friday. He has grown, but he still doesn’t say more than five clearly discernible words in any language, although he understands a lot and tells you very forcefully when he needs something. He needs to run around a lot. Not fussy with food at all though, and very mild in his temper in general, compared with Maia, or his parents. But Maia can play rather quietly with a friend for hours now. She did that last Friday night in our yard downstairs, with Yang Yang, the daughter of a Chinese neighbour on staircase #2 in our building. Yang Yang goes to the same Kindergarten group as Zhuang Zhuang, Maia and Leo.
Yang Yang’s father went with her to the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, the two big new Olympic sites. They had asked for photos with the kids in front of the new sites at Kindergarten. Last week, at the last parent’s meeting, they appealed again for photos. Yang Yang’s father advised us against going. Most of the area is still a construction site, he said. Oh well. I have photos of slogans for the Olympics, in the Hutongs and on banners at highway construction sites. They probably don’t want those. They had asked for a small gift for Women’s Day also, for the kids to pass them around the women in the neighbourhood. I didn’t come up with anything, and Jackie was too busy. On the bus on the way back from Qianmen East street on Saturday there was a long speech for Women’s Day on TV. The guy holding the speech was very important at the National People’s Congress and The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. I couldn’t see the screen. The conductor made people get up to give us two seats when we got on. Leo was still sleeping. Maia sat down on the space above a wheel. Then Jackie stood up for an old man and sat there on the wheel with Maia. It was a long trip. Beijing bus lines go on forever. And then there is the traffic. The 120 makes a detour around Guomao, probably in an effort to ease the congestion on Jianguomenwai.
Kids in developing countries often make a victory sign in photos. Maybe they learn it in Kindergarten. This was in Beili, on the way to the Kindergarten, just across the road from our place. By the way, if you are in Beijing, please come to Leo’s birthday party on Saturday. The houses in Beili are the same as in Nanli. We live at the top of staircase #5 in house 6. The compound is not too bad. Children can run around, and there are some trees. But even here in our compound we have some Olympic activism. The residents’ committee got rid of all private additions to the greenery on ground level. Our terrace is to high, thankfully. The mulberry tree is still standing, but they removed the trellises that held up the lower branches, and so they had to cut off the lower branches this weekend. Have a good spring!
标签：art, Beijing 2008, family, life, news, politics, religion
发表在 March 2008 | 2 Comments »
中国大好き 