标签：commentary

Post-80s: The First Generation of Young People in an Age of Twilight

Culture & Public Commentary2013.05.18
Post-80s: The First Generation of Young People in an Age of Twilight
People’s Daily published an article, “Do Not Let Youth Be Stained by a Mannered Decline,” saying that the post-80s generation had aged overnight and become listless and dispirited. Of course, the internet quickly produced many rebuttals, but many of those rebuttals were in fact still echoing People’s Daily: yes, the post-80s are dispirited, but that is because the environment has forced them into it. Those rebuttals simply blamed the environment a bit more fiercely, that’s all. Those rebuttals missed the point entirely. The key question is: are the post-80s really dispirited? Are the ones who are truly dispirited really the post-80s? The pressure of the environment—this much even People’s Daily…
culture China commentary self
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2013年5月18日
The Paradox of Fairness—On Halting Ticket-Grabber Plugins

Culture & Public Commentary2013.01.19
The Paradox of Fairness—On Halting Ticket-Grabber Plugins
I had just seen in the afternoon that the Ministry of Railways said they would not, and in fact had no authority to, prohibit browser ticket-grabbing plugins, and I felt somewhat relieved. I never expected them to go find the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to ban them instead. I can only sigh. The reason for banning ticket-grabbing plugins sounds very high-minded: the plugins are indeed effective, but they are unfair to other passengers. Is that so? Indeed it is. A ticket is released and within a few dozen seconds it has been snatched up by ticket-grabbing software—what are the other passengers supposed to do? But the key issue…
culture China freedom commentary
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2013年1月19日
Equality or Freedom: On the Question of Attending School Outside One’s Hometown

Culture & Public Commentary2012.12.17
Equality or Freedom: On the Question of Attending School Outside One’s Hometown
Recently, the case of the non-Shanghai girl Zhan Haiter has drawn a lot of attention, especially because it happened in Shanghai, so I can’t help but offer a few comments as well. Of course, I support Zhan Haiter’s struggle, and I support every citizen’s open expression of his or her demands; but as for the content of those demands, I do not support it. This matter involves too many questions, all tangled together, making an already complicated issue even more complicated. So first we need to break down the questions involved. There are two big issues: one is education, the other is regionality. It should be noted that the problem…
culture China freedom commentary
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2012年12月17日
On the Diaoyu Islands

Culture & Public Commentary2012.09.14
On the Diaoyu Islands
Recently the internet has been filled with cries for killing and slaughter, with rancor spilling everywhere; it’s heartbreaking to watch, and I can’t help but state my own position as well. First, I have always clearly leaned toward the “traitor to the nation” camp. I do not think that so-called “sovereignty” is anything particularly important, especially “territory.” Unless it is a place like Qufu, which is indeed a cultural or religious shrine, territory is nothing “sacred” at all. The foundation of a country is its people; land without people is at most just some property, and in diplomacy it is a bargaining chip in a game of strategy, nothing more….
culture China commentary state
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2012年9月14日
Olympiad Math: The Side Road to the Gaokao

Culture & Public Commentary2012.08.23
Olympiad Math: The Side Road to the Gaokao
After talking about the Olympics, I wanted to talk about Olympiad mathematics. Today I happened to see a report again, so I might as well write down a few thoughts. When I was talking about the Olympics, I was also reflecting on myself: is my enthusiastic support for the Olympics related to my own Olympiad-math experience? The answer is yes. When I have recalled my growing-up years, I have also mentioned many times how important Olympiad mathematics was to me. My experience with Olympiad math not only helped me get into school on recommendation all the way, but, more importantly, gave me the exhilaration of peering into truth and the…
culture China commentary education
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2012年8月23日
The Whole-Nation System and the Pursuit of Excellence

Culture & Public Commentary2012.08.03
The Whole-Nation System and the Pursuit of Excellence
At Olympic season, it feels awkward not to talk about the Olympics; but four years ago, in “Four Takes on the Olympics”, I already said more than enough, and for the moment I don’t particularly feel like rewriting anything. As for the recent badminton match-fixing-through-passivity incident, I’ve said quite a lot about it on Weibo. First of all, this match was of course disgraceful; the question is whose disgrace it was. Obviously not the athletes’—the athletes were simply trying to adopt the best possible strategy for eventual victory, which is perfectly understandable. The first to be embarrassed is the International Badminton Federation’s bullshit rule: setting up such a weird rule…
culture commentary education pursuit
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2012年8月3日
Youth and Politics

Culture & Public Commentary2012.07.06
Youth and Politics
Today Huanqiu Times published a good commentary, “Young Students Should Not Be Encouraged to Rush to the Front Line of Conflict,” which says: Middle school students are minors. Their minds are not yet mature enough, but they are full of enthusiasm and highly sensitive. They have few worries and little social pressure, so they fear nothing and have strong explosive force and impact. They have no clear political interests to demand, nor any stable beliefs, so they are easily pushed along by adults, either becoming an expression of the correct social psychology or being led in the wrong direction. Since the founding of New China, the most striking eruption of…
culture China commentary education
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2012年7月6日
Black Bear and Virtue Ethics

Culture & Public Commentary2012.02.23
Black Bear and Virtue Ethics
The black bear issue has been blazing hot lately, so I’ll throw in my two cents as well~ Simply put, morally speaking, I oppose live bear bile extraction. As for whether Genuizhang should be allowed to go public, I think that’s another matter; I’m not familiar with the relevant legal framework. Why oppose live bear bile extraction? The usual arguments tend to focus on whether the bears are in pain, but I think that is actually a secondary issue. If the bears were injected with some kind of drug so that they not only felt no pain, but even became addicted to bile extraction, would that make everything okay? Utilitarianism,…
philosophy China freedom commentary
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2012年2月23日
A Second Discussion of Fang Yaohan: Wild Animals and Freedom of Speech

Culture & Public Commentary2012.02.01
A Second Discussion of Fang Yaohan: Wild Animals and Freedom of Speech
Some people say the Han Han affair is yet another diversion of public attention: there are so many major matters concerning the national economy and people’s livelihoods worth following, yet internet users are gathered around such a boring little incident. In my view, although Fang Jiaozhu’s performance was boring, paying attention to this event is by no means unimportant. Because for our present environment, this question is no less secondary than any other: what exactly is freedom of speech? Many people will say that even if Fang Zhouzi said something wrong, he should not be punished by law, because to protect freedom of speech, one cannot punish someone for their…
culture China scholarship freedom
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2012年2月1日
About Fang Yaohan

Culture & Public Commentary2012.01.31
About Fang Yaohan
I had long since gotten too lazy to care about Fang Zhouzi’s business, but this time, riding on Han Han’s fame, I had no choice but to take a look at Fang Zhouzi’s disgraceful performance as well. My sins, my sins…… Since I’ve already joined the crowd, I might as well jot down a few things while I’m at it~ Of course, I don’t need to take a side here; I believe the readers of my blog are absolutely incapable of thinking I would support Fang Zhouzi. In my view, Han Han and Fang Zhouzi simply do not have a reciprocal “vs.” relationship at all. Fang Zhouzi is nothing but…
scholarship commentary discussion reason
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2012年1月31日