Monday, December 01, 2003

Modern China and the culture Posted here Monday, December 01, 2003 at 7:21:53 PM     From a Book, One China, Many Paths 2003 Verso press Soon a wave of commercial euphoria caught up the big cities, creating a new cultural atmosphere in which market values became increasingly unbridied. In the tidal wave of mass culture unleashed by Deng Xiaoping's guideline of 'To Get Rich is Glorious', the whole nation was called to tne task of commercialization. It was in this context that, soon after the party's congress in late 1992, the writer Wang Meng, a former Minister of Culture, published his essay 'Avoiding the Sublime' in Dushu (Readings), the leading intellectual monthly in the mainland. In this, he extolled the self-proclaimed 'lout literature' (wanzhu wenxue) of Wang Shuo for its 'perfect fit with the Four Cardinal Principles and the market economy'. It is not surprising that this provocation caused a strong reaction.21 Intellectuals working in the humanities based in Shanghai and Nanjing, where commercialization ran far ahead of other parts of the country, were among the first to see the turn of the party towards garish popular entertainment as a big blow, and a dozen of them struck out against the new trends in Dushu.22 This was the background for the vigorous defence of the 'humanistic spirit' against the emergent culture industry, mounted by a group of Shanghai intellectuals in 1993, among them Zhu Xueqin and Wang Xiaoming. Neither official ideology nor popular opinion showed any relish for this discussion. In the same year, the literary critic Qian Liqun published a book, Fengfu de tongku (Intense Pain) on the trans-cultural reception of images of Quixote and Hamlet. One of the leading themes of this work, the need for intellectuals to accept the challenge of Hamlet in the spirit of Quixote, struck a comparable note of resistance to the new commercial culture. Comment: paying attention to Chinese Culture is very interesting and challenging. ********

Dana Milbank on Bush's trip as hiding Sen. Clinton's Posted here Monday, December 01, 2003 at 1:24:47 PM     Mea culpa Dana Milbank: None whatsoever. But that doesn't stop people from speculating. Fodder for conspiracy types: The Pentagon knew weeks in advance about plans for her trip. Cold water for conspiracy types: the Clinton trip was to have been the week before but was delayed because of Medicare votes.   ********

on Friedman in the Atlantic Posted here Monday, December 01, 2003 at 1:17:52 PM     Following up on Friedman's Glory of America oped homas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign-affairs columnist for The New York Times, attributes wonder-working power to the U.S. intervention in Iraq. For him, it is not about finding WMD or opening a new front in the war on terror or even ending a cruel regime. More is at stake—the transformation of the Arab world from autocracy to democracy. ********

Soros on Bush in Atlantic Monthly Posted here Monday, December 01, 2003 at 1:15:17 PM     Is there really any other substantial view? That is, that Bush has badly led us? Even so, September 11 could not have changed the course of history to the extent that it has if President Bush had not responded to it the way he did. He declared war on terrorism, and under that guise implemented a radical foreign-policy agenda whose underlying principles predated the tragedy. Those principles can be summed up as follows: International relations are relations of power, not law; power prevails and law legitimizes what prevails. The United States is unquestionably the dominant power in the post-Cold War world; it is therefore in a position to impose its views, interests, and values. The world would benefit from adopting those values, because the American model has demonstrated its superiority. The Clinton and first Bush Administrations failed to use the full potential of American power. This must be corrected; the United States must find a way to assert its supremacy in the world. ********