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Chinese Democracy
The natural evolution of Western democratic societies could be summed up this way: The first step is to develop the economy and the educational system. The second step is the establishment of a general culture for the citizens and the rule of law. The last step is democratization. If the above order is out of place, a society has to pay a severely heavy price.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WHAT'S HAPPENING
In the last few days, I've been asking some of my 20-something Chinese friends a simple question: Had they ever heard of Liu Xiaobo before October 8th?
If the 20th century was about the competition between democracy and totalitarianism, the 21st century pits the excesses of consumer democracy against capable governance.
The Chinese Communist Party is unified by one principle: to remain in power. Any organized effort, even if within the confines of the law, will be viewed as a threat to the CCP's authority.
In my one year of living in China, exactly one person spoke to me about what happened in Tiananmen. The story he told me was a secondhand account.
This is China we're talking about, so the video isn't just funny, punny wordplay. The grass-mud horse video has become a national symbol of resistance to authority and censorship.
