还是阿耐好
颓废了两个星期,改邪归正的第一步,读阿耐的新作: 解放. 中国那一百年真的是风云百变啊.
"启元出马有启元出马的好处，那些人再怎么暗示，启元都拎不清。那些人再怎么恫吓，启元想那都是承文的罪过，又不是他的，于是启元的承受力超强。等说到一手 交小黄鱼一手交人的时候，启元又是傻不啦叽地搬出会计那一套，一脸书生气地跟对方讲会计那套不见凭据不支付的道理，而且他是真的认真，而不是跟人搞脑子。
大家你来我往地交涉的时候，北平卢沟桥出事了，一天追着一天，北方的狼烟呼啸着向南扩展。启元尚且懵懂，其他人都急，包括索贿的人也想战事逼近，小黄鱼早 日落袋为安，唯独启元不在乎承文多吃几天牢饭，结果果真那帮人硬是败在启元面前，跟启元平等地一手交钱一手交人了。启元完胜，大喜过望，便在刚放出来的差 点奄奄一息的承文面前口无遮拦地说笑话了。
姐夫，你这一场官司，搞得你们家一夜变成你最爱的无产阶级，你如愿了。”承文还在为他爹内疚呢，启元又自作聪明地追着笑道：“你更能干的是，让地主阶级自愿帮你掏钱闹革命，连我这个不求上进的小职员也掏美金支持你闹革命，你这大秀才说说该如何解释这么多的阶级矛盾呢？”
耐大不愧是我的偶像， 听到这话不噎死才怪。
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承文点点头，难得和颜悦色地道：“我跟你大姐商量过，你做教师是个好选择，我们都支持你。但你回家有必要将你原先的知识结构推倒重来，重新学习理论知识， 首先要清除你脑袋中根深蒂固的封建思想，和剥削阶级的优越性，换成从无产阶级出发，马恩列斯的思想。否则，我看以你现在的观点回去教新社会的孩子，是误人 子弟。”
既然承文这回不来疾风暴雨那一套，那么启元也有理有据地为自己辩解：“我十年前便已在东升哥的推荐下学过马克思的《资本论》，《资本论》的理论我不赞同， 我认为它有破绽，有关价值由劳动产生的定义不正确。既然最基础的价值定义不正确，建立在价值之上的整套体系就如无根之木。我同样也不能接受共产党的一些宣 传。无产阶级一定是好的吗？比如启樵，他和他爹爹又赌又嫖把好好的家折腾成无产，难道他就能从五毒俱全忽然蜕变成好人了？资产阶级就一定是坏的？我别的例 子不说，姐夫，你认为我爹爹是坏人吗？”
“对了，你提了个好问题，有许多人抱着跟你类似的观点，死活不接受革命。我需要告诉你的是，你是一叶障目，不见泰山。你看问题不看全面，你目前是抱住几个流氓无产者就否定全部的无产阶级，是不是。而你看看其他的无产者……”
“我否定，并不是认为无产阶级是坏人，而我肯定，也并不意味着无产阶级就是好人，人都是多面，不能绝对。在我看来，以无产和有产来简单定义好人或坏人，是 制造人与人之间的对立，换言之，是制造矛盾。说难听点，是不怀好意。但是我又觉得你和东升哥，还有那么多纪律严明的解放军都是好样的，我对你们的看法充满 矛盾。”
“你既然片面地看待这些问题，那么你内心充满矛盾是必然的。你问我你爹爹是不是坏人，好，我今天详细给你剖析你爹爹，让你认清现实。你爹爹首先是地主。他 的财产是通过将土地租给佃户，到年底收取田租而来。这期间你爹爹做什么了没有？插秧了？犁地了？割稻了？都没有。这个不劳而获的过程就是剥削，他以田租的 方式剥削了佃户的劳动，而这劳动，是佃户的血汗。这方面你显然不愿承认，也视而不见。但在另一方面，你眼里看到的是你爹爹拿着剥削来的血汗钱办学、施舍、 助人，因此你认为他是好人。然而正因为你局限的视角，你没有看到你爹爹的办学、施舍，其真正目的是暂时缓和无产阶级的反抗情绪，是为维护一个剥削者的地 位，为长久的剥削夯实舆论基础。以致无产阶级收到蒙蔽，以为他是一个善人，无产阶级应该向善人纳贡。你爹爹对你而言是好人，对广大受剥削的无产阶级而言， 你说他是什么人？”
启元听得目瞪口呆，他发现照这么说的话，他的爹爹那真可以用“阴险”两个字来形容了。
“姐夫，关于田租是不是剥削血汗钱的问题，我认为你的说法是片面地。我从会计的角度给你剖析田租的合理性。如果有人为我借钱做生意，我不管他做什么生意， 他还我钱的时候要加上利息，对不对？这个利息，叫做资本的利得。如果我借房子给人，我不管他是自住还是做生意，他每月要交我房租，对不对？这个房租叫做资 产的利得。同样推及到农田，我租给人家，人家到收成时候交我田租，我收的是资产的利得，而不是剥削他们的血汗。如果说这是剥削，必须取消，那么你能借钱不 要利息，租房不要房租吗？显然不行。既然如此，把爹爹划入剥削者行列，是错误的。”
“对，你这个问题依然是好问题。把这个问题展开来，我要问你两个问题，一，你一家占有那么多地的合理性何在；二，你田租收这么多的合理性何在。先解决第二 个问题，借钱利息高，叫高利贷，田租利息高，就是榨取血汗，一样的罪恶。明白了吗？再解决第二个问题，你一定会跟我说，家里的地都是祖宗省吃俭用攒下来 的，还有岛上的那块地是祖宗围海从龙王爷那里夺来的。前者，就我所知，你们在抗战时期趁火打劫，买了不少穷人家赖以维生的良田，有没有，你不要否认其中的 巧取豪夺。往上追溯，你的祖宗如何积攒下这么多的良田，你心里也可以设一个问号。”
启元一愣，不禁看向启农，他不否定，当年太太趁抗战时期民不聊生，确实低价买了不少地，他当时心里很觉得不安。“那姐夫怎么解释岛上的那块地呢？”
承文哈哈大笑，“这是什么王法，国家的海洋，你围进来，就能算你的了吗？当然，在乱世中，你可以凭借你们剥削阶级的权利，将此非法占有合理化。但很快，我 们必须厘清这个归属，土地等财产是属于国家的，群众在属于国家的土地上劳动，劳动所得归国家所有，群众统一接受国家的分配。由此，可以彻底消灭剥削与被剥 削，以后，也就没有剥削阶级的存在了，什么老爷太太先生小姐，统统成为过去式。摆脱剥削的无产阶级，从此将翻身成为国家的主人，在自己的土地上劳有所得， 过上没有饥饿，没有贫穷的好日子。这就是我们的共产主义理想，我们甘愿抛头颅洒热血为之牺牲的共产主义理想。”
启农冷不丁问道：“既然很快就要收回土地等财产，为什么我们给新政府送去粮食，他们还非要给我们打借条？以后反正要收去的，还打借条干什么？是权宜之计，还是骗术？”
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It's been a familiar topic during these years in U.S.: the comparison between communism(socialism) and capitalism. Having been through the formation of several small (well, more like micro) businesses, I have a better and better vision of what capitalism is, how the money system works. Looking at the common social problems: Social Security, Food Stamps and etc, I cannot help but have stronger and stronger objection to the concept of the Wonderful Proletarian. What an unbalanced reward system. Still I didn't have a clear item by item argument until Ane's article.
It's amazing.
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阶级斗争虽然没再提，但是那种斗争意识却根深蒂固。我们的教育不是爱的教育而是斗争的教育。因此极端言论和极端思想很有市场。
so poignant!
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尤其需要跟盗版帝说的：您如果盗版了，请千万给我寄一本，匿名寄吧,但您要是因这本书给喝茶了，本人概不负责，谁让你印的。而跟转载哥要说的是，千万别再 把文章归类为“都市言情”或者“言情类”了，您即使归类为“色情类”都比“言情类”好，起码还能给我挣几下搭错车点击。放狗搜一下已经转载的几个TXT网 站，都是归在言情门下，郁闷至死。
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And whenever I get discouraged by this darn acting business, I need to remember "read more, write more and create more". For now, the focus is back on accent training.
那一刻….
难得看阿耐写浪漫的场景。 一直都觉得阿耐笔下商场人场的刀光剑雨非常激动人心， 没想到阿耐写浪漫也这么好。 用词简单，却能轻易地打动你。下面的一段摘自阿耐的小说“来世”
情愫的产生是微妙的，不可预料的，但也是无法抵抗的。 It's a magic~~
梅菲斯隔着车窗看到葛培森先是站车边说了会儿，然后对她歉意地做个手势，绕过车头打开驾驶室门。葛培森此时的表情很简单，电话那头正是他项目组里的人因为 他脱队出来吃饭，一时群龙无首，遇到一件事情就做不下去了，需要向他请示。他只好收起满脑袋的风花雪月，将自己的思维拉回到严肃的工作中去。可是这样的正 经、沉稳、甚至大局在握的权威态度却正是梅菲斯欣赏的。梅菲斯这几年遇到的男人要么是小得如仔仔般需要她照顾的，要么是没担当没肩膀的，因此，看上去有担 当的人是如此的吸引她。
她于是静静地看着葛培森坐下关门，从包里抽出一份资料翻看，继续言简意赅地说电话。地库昏暗的光线下，所有影像都似乎变为黑白。于是，黑白的葛培森的眼神变得深邃，黑白的葛培森的侧影变得坚毅，便是连葛培森慢吞吞地插进钥匙都变得含蓄起来。小小的空间忽然变得非常美妙。
葛培森却浑然不知，他只一心一意地进行着与同事的对话，间中用手指在前面仪表板上画一个“sorry”。梅菲斯认出这五个字母，她当然没有打扰。 但是她也意识到自己这么一直盯着葛培森看不是回事儿，可唯有闭上眼睛才可能阻止自己不看。她闭上眼睛，却无法回避小小空间里回荡着的葛培森的话语：权威， 当仁不让，甚至有点儿狂妄，但是声音和语调都是那么的性感。梅菲斯甚至都没去分辨葛培森究竟在说些什么，她如同欣赏音乐一样地闭目欣赏着这流淌的声音，脸 上的神情渐渐松弛，嘴角勾起一朵微笑。
葛培森打电话间隙终于得空瞄了梅菲斯一眼，见梅菲斯闭目养神，立刻想到冷落了人家，打算尽快结束通话。但眼睛转回资料后，又仿佛感觉梅菲斯似乎 并没生气。他又转回眼去，果然见梅菲斯脸上是很明显的恬静的微笑，这种微笑他竟然从没见过，微笑着的梅菲斯在黯淡的光线中似能撒放淡淡的柔光。
葛培森愣住，再也收不回眼光，含含糊糊地结束与同事的通话，放下手机，静静看着梅菲斯。难得他此时心里纯洁得如同少男少女。
梅菲斯听得声音停止，含笑睁眼懒懒斜睨，正好对上一双深情的眼睛。她一愣，连忙坐直了，慌乱地伸手顺了下额前的头发却把下班时理得好好的头发弄乱，慌乱地道：“还不走？
Ane: I surrender, raising my middle finger
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_48dbc5c401009egc.html
This is a funny term. But quite sad. I couldn't see the three posts that Ane listed. They were all deleted. The once loosened control is tightened again. I bet I can find the content on Chinese forums outside. From people's comments on Ane's page, it is corruption inside the China Red Cross. It is incomprehensible that some people are still taking big advantage during this special period. While so many people have put down their cold or mean masks and help the people in the disaster area with what they have, there are still a few have the courage to do something outrageous, under the monitoring of all the other people.
This is a potential turning point. Will China use this opportunity to clean up somewhat or will it go back to the old days?
Tibet Issues
5.23 update. I found an article by Louise Blouin MacBain on Forbes. She had visited Tibet just recently.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/23/lhasa-tibet-macbain-oped-cx_lbm_0523lhasa.html?partner=email
I love Ane. She has been my window to China. I have been wondering where I can get some real people talking on the Tibet issue. Today, in her blog, she suggested LianYue's blog: http://www.bullogger.com/blogs/lianyue/
Recently, Lian Yue has posted letters from different people, from different minority or non-minority groups, different ages, different social positions. They calmly articulated their personal experiences, confusions, and opinions on the long-going Tibet issues. Very thought-provoking.
If you are interested, try using Google or other tools to translate the letters and read them. You can try this link: translated by google Although, Google's auto-translation can be confusing and wrong, you would get some ideas.
First, I don't like the phrase "Tibetan" v.s. "Chinese" in the news. It's like saying "Floridian" v.s. "American". Before Tibet becomes independent, people there are still Chinese. If you want to create the contrast, please say Tibetan v.s. Han (which is the main race in China and the one that Tibetan wants to expel from Tibet. ) or Tibetan v.s. Chinese Government.
1. Language issue. The native Tibetan language is fading away. A Tibetan girl wrote: "when I was little, there were schools that offer Tibetan classes. But the overall quality of the schools were not good, the rate of enrolling to colleges are low. Parents would choose Han schools, which have higher ratings. I haven't had Tibetan class since I left the kindergarten. Then I forgot all in elementary school. Then I moved to inland and had even less chance to touch Tibetan. ... I tried to learn Tibetan after I grew up, but I had a hard time finding voice training materials. Han friends will look at us with sympathy -- so sad, you lost your culture."
How to preserve a language. Or, is there a need to preserve a language? I think there is a need to preserve. There are so many elements in a culture that can only be displayed through it's own language. Now, How To is a more difficult question. Before we consider that, let's first consider Who. Shall we ask the majority race to preserve a minority's language, or should the minority people insist on keeping their own language? Same issue exists among Chinese immigrants here in U.S. It's hard to find an American born Chinese kid that speaks good Chinese. I would choose the latter. The Tibetan, or the Chinese immigrants have to either let their language die and blend with the main stream, or scream loud and clear for the need to learn their own language. If it is difficult to get funding or any attention from the government, at least start with contacting fellow that speak the language and form workshops. Start from there and roll it to a bigger community, a learning community. Print and record your own training material.
(I have to add something here. There is a native language/dialect in almost every city, at least every province in China. There is no school teaching dialects, period. However, minority languages are far more developed and independent systems. I do think there is a necessity to teach those local languages in the local schools. )
As to the loss of culture, it's not just the Tibetans. The whole China is loosing the Chinese culture. Any old countries around the globe are having the problem. The world is evolving forward. Certain culture will be lost, new culture will be added. Hopefully, we don't just take culture from other counties and discard ours. We proactively learn our culture, and at the same time, absorb incoming culture then find a new balance.
2. Where to position yourself in the society. The same Tibetan girl also wrote, "When I was working as a sales man, my boss asked me to change my name to something that is easy for Han people to recognize in order to get more business. At a job interview, the male interviewer was more interested in asking questions like 'Do Tibetan really only have 2 showers the whole life'.... Neighbors would comment 'You are Tibetan? You are so white though' My family would try hard to hide our identity as Tibetan because we cannot deal with people commenting on us as a race. "
I am Han, a majority race in China. I was also born and raised in Shanghai. I never felt anything until in college. We had students from different parts of China, even one minority student from XinJiang (Sinkiang) who is the Hui race. The Hui students had their own Cafeteria because they don't eat pork or any dishes that have pork fat in it. As to being a local Shanghai person, I also felt kind of isolated even when there were more Shanghai students than any others. All the other students formed their social groups based on their origin. Shanghai folks were the only ones that didn't have a group. Then I went to work in two American-invested companies. Both places, we were asked to choose an English name so that the American client can have an easier time communicating with us. More than that, when we are doing email support to U.S. clients, we shouldn't even let them know that we are located in China. The ironic thing is once I am actually living in U.S. , people here are actually more interested in our Chinese names and want to pronounce it correctly instead of choosing the easy to pronounce English names.
It's an interesting role change once I came to U.S. I am an minority and I speak a different language. First, the appearance. Well, guess what, I am so damn distinct that I will never be able to hide the fact that I am Asian. So be it. I will just stick my neck up and proudly announce I am from China. Everything I do of course represents what Chinese people do. I like people to think me as an individual instead of a race. But that can only be implemented through giving people more exposure of the Chinese culture. Talk to them. Tell them stories. Not hiding.
Junkmail — a new way to check your news
Ane has a new post today about junk mail. Quite interesting. The following is a brief and rough translation. Please read her original post here if you are interested.
"The majority of the junk mail I receive used to be all different kinds of invoice fabricating services. Since the new labor law has become effective in China, there are an increased number of mail about new labor law training. Then there comes the special training about how to find loopholes in the new labor law. It is interesting that the raise of export tax didn't bring any junk mail at all.
Regarding the new labor law, my friends and I have had many discussions. But we are not too worried. There is always a way to deal with it. We predict, this time, labor companies will emerge everyone. They will all be small scale, single juridical person and financially independent. They will all rent a tiny office so it is easy to close down if needed, even if there are some big hands behind them.
An extended thought -- maybe the reason that the details of the law haven't been furnished is that the law makers don't know how to deal with all the evil? Why our law always end up like a joke instead of something serious?
Ane is back!!!!
My favorite author -- my author -- Ane is back to her blog from slave work!!!! I don't have to starve any more!!!! Already 5 new posts, covering economics, food and literature!!! I love you Ane!
