==+==+==+== C h i n e s e C o m m u n i t y F o r u m ==+==+==+=== Wednesday, February 9, 1994 (Issue No. 9405) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Chinese Community Forum (CCF) is a journal published on China-Net. CCF is dedicated to the discussion and debate on the issues related to the Chinese community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of the Editorial Board of CCF. Contributions to the discussions and suggestions of new topics are very much appreciated. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Table of Contents Author | # of Lines ============================================================================ The Theme of This Issue: Chinese New Year 1. Rituals of the New Year.................................Yingyin Xu 93 2. A Brief Account of Traditional Chinese Festival Customs............................ Zhang Zhiyuan 298 3. Lawyers in a Lawless Society--A Comparative View of Chinese Legalization in 1994 and the Near Future...........Bai Yan 125 4. Spring Festival and Father...............................Ping Wang 65 Chinese Community 1. The Eye of Long Nose (Part Two)...........................Sinorama 98 China & International Affairs 1. No Sense Throwing Good Money After Bad Rules........Rudo Dornbusch 89 2. China and American--The Rights Row...................The Economist 58 Letter to the Editor 1. Free Net................................................Tiefeng Hu 37 2. Discussions on Current Affairs............................Dr. Zhou 28 3. Editor's Response...................................Changqing Yang 43 ============================================================================ From the Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beginning February 10, the Year of the Dog is unleashed to roust the Year of the Rooster. it is Lunar Calender Year 4692. On this occasion, all CCF editors and staffs wish to extend our best regards to the readers and wish all of you Happy New Year! In this issue we lay out a few different columns dealing with Chinese New Year, Chinese Community, and China & International Affairs. Readers will find what they like from a wide range of articles. Maybe you feel tempted to write after reading. Please do so. CCF is your CCF, and each reader is also CCF's writer. Our projected theme for the next issue will be IFCSS's Today, Tomorrow (Part Three). Some new inputs are expected from the recently held IFCSS Working Meeting. Your contribution for this issue will be greatly appreciated. ==========****==========***==========***==========***==========***========== Chinese New Year 1. Rituals of the New Year...................................Yingyin Xu 93 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a child, the Chinese New Year always came with a hushed promise of something grand, infinite, yet it was so elusive that I felt the moment I tried to articulate it, it would vanich like a whirl of wind. In the south where we lived, when we inhaled the ticklish warm air mixed with a tinge of wintry chill, we knew the Spring Festival was not far away. However the days of anticipation were long, though never tedious, and the exhilaration was sustained by nothing but the mirage of that shapeless promise that did not even have a name. I was not waiting for a red envelop of crispy new bills that were supposed to bring me good luck and peace, as I always dutifully surrendered it to my mother afterward any way; I was as proud as if I had contributed to my keep. No, it was not the money, which I had not much use for. If I was looking fowward to anything luxurious, it was the two whole days when my parents would stay home all the time, when I did not have to gaze at the fading light at the horizon, listless, wistful, feeling the sorrow of our existence saturating my heart. Those were the days of soothing security. Every year my father would see to it that the "core dishes" were there to grace the feast table, and one of them was "fish ball," a renown dish from his hometown hundreds of miles away. Late in the afternoon on New Year's eve, he started to recreate this perennial delicacy. He peeled the skin of back of the fresh fish, retreived all the tiny bones from the flesh and cut the filet into cubic chunks before he proceeded to mesh them into a fine paste. He bent over, absorbed in the half-muffled sound of his physical labor. "Hitting" was too harsh a word convey the playful, almost meandering interaction between the red palm of his hand and the white fluffy meshy filet. He raised his hand and lower it to the round clay pot with a wavy, rhymic gesture. It seemed to take him forever to make the mesh just right. It had to be perfect, porous, with a spongeness that would enable the ball to float in a bowl of luke warm water. In the twilight his face assumed a solemnity and a persistence that almost resembled religious piety; at the same time he was so down-to-earth, so maticulous in his attention to material details. There was a mixture of patience and resignation in his posture that so many times, at unexpected moments, aroused my reverence and pity, yes, the pity of a child for her parent who was engaged in a struggle with a force arching over his will. He conformed to the dictate of his innate religious impulse and he believed in the absolute necessity of performing all the rites to evoke divine blessing for his family and to protect them from evil. Yet he did it in a way that had a uniquely personal touch. His faith verged almost on obstinacy and what, from an outsider's point of view, futility. One might even say it was pure superstition. In my father scientific reasoning and old-fashioned superstition coexist in peace and harmony. He has never allowed any conflict between the two to disturn the serenity of his mind. Maybe for him they belonged to different spheres of existence and consciousness that were nevertheless equally "real," having an undeniable claim to his attention, just like the numerous shades and slangs of light from dawn to dusk. In the broad daylight of communist rule that ruthlessly outlawed any practice or custom they considered as "feudal remnant" or superstition, the burning of incence on a mug of rice behind drawn curtains, the kneeling down in front of a make-shift sacrificial table gave me the earliest glimpse of the duality of our existence, which, instead of traumatized me with its schizophrenic vision, nurtured my imagination. It never occured to me that the belief in a communist Utopia and the belief in a Buddhist eternity would contradict or nullify each other; for me they were equally remote yet equally desirable. I always believe that my childhood memory was infinitely enriched by the elements of mystery and the awareness of something unfathomable and inexplicable. I thought that the celebration in other families in our neighbourhood palled in comparison with ours; their feasts were so "crude," so "secular," so impoverished, unvisited as they were by any divine personages. I suspect it is the ritualistic halo around the New Year, which I have a distinct memory of, that is waning now in our celebration. What do we have in the place of ritual that is powerful enough to make the charm of the New Year mesmerizing and enduring? Now, more than fifteen years later, I see my father in my mind's eyes as reenacting the primodial hand-to-mouth life and the caveman's pride of self-sufficience. Now apt it was that he should have reminded himself and his children of the physicality, the sweat and toil of life in the holiday season, which is increasingly becoming a commercial extravaganza, with little or no reference to its inauspicious origin. The sense of mystery derived from and recreated by ritual is a necessary illusion, otherwise the world would be too cynical a place to live in; so is the nobility and strength in our parents, or they would no longer be the towering, firm, leafy olive tree sheltering us from the scorching sun and pelting wind. When I was little, in summer evenings, beneath the cool shade of the branching old olive tree, a big white screen would be stretched between two electric poles and from the balcany of the house we used to live we would watch, for the fourth or fifth time, one of the eight "revolutionary examlary Beijing operas." Before the "feature presentation," short documentaries or "news reels" would be projected, in which Chairman Mao was shown as receiving heads of foreign governments in "cordial, friendly atmosphere." Chairman Mao often appeared in a toothless, benign,, semi-unconsciousness, half acknowledging his guests and yet all the while lost in his own thoughts. Invariably we children would doze off in our parents or nanny's laps in the middle of the show into the cosy oblivion that transcended the tumoils of the time. If there was anything precious we could salvage from those dull years of the "Cultural Revolution," that must be part of it. Feb. 9, 1994 "yxx3@po.CWRU.Edu" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. A Brief Account of Traditional Chinese Festival Custom................................Zhang Zhiyuan 298 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are various traditional festivals for all the nationalities in China. Each festival witnesses its own festivities, and each follows a course of its own. Most traditional festivals, except one or two of Taoist or Buddhist origin, date back to the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.), some even to three or four thousand years ago. The course of development of a festival is a chance for man to recognize and reform nature. Particular festivals have their own traditional activities. Judging from the earliest customary activities, primitive worship, superstitions and taboos are the origins of the customs of Chinese traditional festivals. Primitive worship occupies an important position in totem worship. In China the most popular and typical worship is praise of the dragon. The dragon is an animal first imagined by the ancient Chinese. The worship of the dragon has exercised a profound influence on the Chinese people and hence they are called "descendants of the Dragon." The Dragon Boat race, which was held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month for worshipping the dragon totem by the ancient citizens of Zhejiang province, is regarded by some famous scholars as the origin of the Dragon Boat festival. There was also worship of the stars. The worship of the sun and the moon, which is very popular in some parts of the world, was in vogue in ancient China. This primitive worship is the origin of the custom of admiring the full moon in mid-autumn. Of all the stars, the laboring people closely related themselves with the Cowherd (Altari) and the Girl Weaver (Vega), which is the reflection of their hope for small-scale peasant economy--a man ploughing in the fields and a woman weaving at home. It was their belief that the stars would decide their destiny. There was also the worship of heaven and earth. China has been an agricultural country; the people have lived on rice and they have relied on the earth on which corn grows--so they have worshipped and offered sacrifices to the local god of land. The basic features and core of Chinese traditional culture are moral principles. From time immemorial there has been worship of ancestors, which to the time of the Shang dynasty (1700-1100 B.C.) was fashionable. In the Spring and Autumn Period (1100-256 B.C.), the worship of ancestors developed into the filial piety favored by the Confucianists who advocated the theory of "venerating the living parents as well as the departed ancestors." This etiquette and custom of worshipping ancestors exerts a deep influence upon such festivals as the Cold-food festival, the Pure Brightness Festival, 95th solar term and the 8th day of the 12th lunar month. Besides these, the Mid-autumn Festival, and the Winter Solstice Festival also stem from this worship of ancestors. Yet not all the customs of traditional festivals are products of primitive worship; many are associated with ancient taboos and superstitions. The taboos relating to the happy reunion on New Year's Eve have greatly shaped the formation of festivals. For example, the ban on food-cooking on the Cold-food Festival originated from the custom of banning smoking and fires in ancient times. Almost all the ancient festivals had their own taboos. Most festivals fall on uneven dates, especially on both odd dates and odd months, such as New Year's Day on the 1st day of the 1st month, the Dragon Boat festival on the 5th day of the 5th month, the Double 9th Festival on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. The Chinese like even numbers, and even dates and months, for they think things in pairs are propitious. Why, then, are most of the festivals both on odd dates and in odd months? Close study reveals that not all the festivals at this time of origin meant happiness and rejoicing. The so-called "joyous festivals and red-letter day" were, at the beginning, inauspicious days, each having its own taboos, either evil or ominous. It was these days that gave rise to festivals. Many superstitions exercise great influence on the development of the customs of festivals. In ancient times a ghost meant one of two things: one was the everlasting spirit after one's death, the other, the spirit that formed everything under the sun. The ghost would do no harm to man. Because of their fear, the ancients asked for help from the gods to drive the ghosts away. The entrance-guarding god was closely related to festivals. Peach wood was regarded as a supernatural force with which ghosts could be driven away. Ghosts were said to be afraid of this wood. Legend has it that the giant Yi, who had shot down nine suns with his arrows was beaten to death with a peach wood rod. Why did peach wood possess such a supernatural force? Perhaps it had much to do with the superstitious beliefs in plants. The entrance- guarding god, who exerted an influence on the customs of New Year's Day, made his bow of peach wood, which later evolved into a peach wood charm. The rite for exorcising the devil that caused plagues, which was very popular in the Qin Dynasty, was also a superstition. Later this rite became necessary not only to the festivities on New Year's Eve, but also on the 8th Bof the 12th lunar month and the day (the 23rd of the 12th lunar month) on which the kitchen god went up to heaven. The above-mentioned primitive worship, superstitions and taboos are surely the soil for the development of Chinese traditional festivals. In light of the origins and development of festivals, we find that though most of the festivals took shape in the Qin dynasty, the festivities were not rich in variety, were unknown in many areas and not fixed to a certain date. The Qin dynasty may be looked upon as the embryonic stage of the origins of festival customs. Only in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220) were most of the traditional festivals finalized both in form and in time, such as New Year's Eve, the Lantern Festival, New Year's Day, the Cold-food Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Double 7th and the Double 9th Festivals. The Han Dynasty witnessed the gradual finalization of festivals, especially the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), in which historical traditions and conventions were shown in festivals. This display of traditions was seen in two ways: for one thing, primitive worship gave way to the worship of historical figures, Qu Yuan, Jie Zi-tui and Wu Zishu, who later became worshipped or gods of agriculture. Some customs took the form of rites, and some rites changed into customs. Many rites and customs were integrated and passed on from generation to generation, which was also true to the development of festivals in later times. The period from the Southern Dynasty to Northern Dynasty (265618) was a period in which the development of festival customs showed great variations and was impacted by Taoism and Buddhism, metaphysics and natural assimilation. The religious impact was the most important, many festivals with religious coloring sprung up, such as the Buddha-bathing Festival (on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month) and the Zhongyuan Festival (on the l5th day of the 7th lunar month). The rites on the Buddha-bathing Festival were popular in this period among various nationalities. The Soul-releasing Festival of Buddhism and the Zhong-Yuan Festival of Taoism fall on the l5th day of the 7th lunar month. Buddhist festivals, thereafter, became customs, which emperors and common people alike kept to repay the kindness of their ancestors. In the times after the Tang Dynasty, this practice became vogue. The Tang Dynasty (618-907) was a period in which the customs of Chinese traditional festivals underwent radial changes. Festivals became enter- taining holidays, free from taboos and superstitions. On New Year's Day, the explosion of fire-crackers no longer was meant to frighten ghosts. Instead, it was a symbol of happiness and rejoicing. The driving ghost ceremony had turned into a small scale play on the street; solemn and mythical rites gave way to joyous entertainments of the people. Lanterns, formerly sacrifices to the gods, became festive lanterns for people to enjoy. The worship of the moon turned into enjoying the moonlight at the Mid-autumn Festival. Festivals were joyous occasions full of rich and colorful activities. There were kite-flying, shuttlecock-kicking, polo-playing, tug-of-war, arrow- shooting, horse-riding and hunting. The tendency of entertainment at festival times appeared as early as the Wei and Gin Dynasties (220-420), but it wasn't until the Tang Dynasty when a radical change in the forms and in the concept of festivals took place. Mythical tales were no longer terrifying. On the contrary, they became vivid, humorous, romantic and poetic. Legend has it that Zuan Zhong, one of the Tang emperors, ushered by a Taoist visited the Moon Palace and saw groups of fairies dancing and singing under the laurel tree. The Weaver, in the Wei and Gin periods, was regarded as a woman punished for her laziness, but after the Tang Dynasty, she was looked upon as truth, good and beauty incarnate. The prosperity of social economy brought about happy, joyous festival customs, which show the rich temperaments and interests of the people and their relatively balanced state of mind towards society. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911), there appeared three changes in Chinese traditional festivals. One was the restoration to ancient rites advocated by the rulers and men of letters; the second was the flagging and elimination in festive customs based on small scale peasant incomes, and third, the rapid development of entertaining customs. For example, the ceremony of driving away ghosts in the Tang Dynasty was entertaining in a totally different manner than what it used to be. Another example shows that before the Tang and Song Dynasties (618-1279), people looked highly upon the customs in which people worshipped the local land-god, but in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, no people paid due attention to it, for peasants were reduced to landless renters or farm-laborers and needn't worship the local land-god. Joyous festivals, however, continued to develop. For instance, on the eve of the Lantern Festival, gatherings for lantern shows and bonfires lasted for ten nights on end, breaking the historical records for this activity. The Dragon-Boating race continued to gain momentum, and the lion dance, yangko dance, acrobatics and sports became commonplace, particularly for the people of Hang Zhou, who rowed the pleasure boats every festival on exceptionally grand scales. From the origin, development and changes of traditional festival customs, we know that in each different period of history, customs have been molded by the particular features of time. Besides the common features of commemor- atives, inheritability and stability shared by all the traditional festive customs in the world, Chinese traditional festival customs have their own specific features. Unlike religious customs in Europe and other ones in other countries, the Chinese traditional festival customs have endowed many historical figures with immortality, and in turn, historical figures have vested festive customs with new meanings. Take Hou Ji (the god of grains), Qu Yuan, Jie Zi Otui, Zhong Kui, Qin Shu-bao and Yuchi Gong for example. They were closely connected with festivals both as objects of them and as responsibility-bearers for them, thus endowing festivals with a deep historical bearing. In the long process of history, many activities held by men of letters on festivals turned into stories, which later became customs spreading far and wide. No doubt they made traditional festivals beautiful and colorful. Many famous men of letters wrote poems composed with music, which were sung on festive occasions, adding elegance to them. All this is closely related to Chinese traditions and culture. In their development, Chinese traditional customs were often interfered with by the ruling classes, which caused their changes and development. Rulers in China's history have paid great attention to customs, by which they could know the feelings of the people and society for reinforcing their rules. In each historical period, every politician stabilized his rule by changing prevailing habits and customs. Some festival customs were initiated by emperors, such as the Lantern Festival by Han Wu Emperor and Buddha-bathing Festival by Liang Wu Emperor. The Chinese traditional festival customs reflect traditional ethics and moral principles. The ancient Chinese paid great attention to worshipping Heaven and ancestors. There were ancestral temples, the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of the God of Grains for emperors to hold worshipping ceremonies; and for common people, there was in each household, a memorial tablet on which were written "heaven, earth, emperor, teacher and ancestor. Deal with your parents' funeral ceremonies respectfully and worship your ancestors piously. Be respectful to gods and look highly upon ghosts" have been traditional concepts of the Chinese people. On every festival, therefore, the Chinese piously worship their ancestors to show their filial piety and longing for them. When Spring Festival comes they set out the tablets of their ancestors in the main room, before which incense and tinfoil paper are burned to express their memory of them. They also kowtow before the altar on which sacrifices are placed to show their filial piety. At the Cold-food Festival and the Pure Brightness Festival, people would go to pay respects at the tombs of their ancestors and on the Winter Solstice, burning paper clothes at their ancestors' tombs for the dead to wear. The Chinese people show great respects to their ancestors and also pin their hopes on their children. On New Year's Day, in drinking Jiaopo wine in a family, the youngest must take the lead; on the Drago Boat Festival, children are painted with red pigment or ointment and carry small bangs and cloth-made tigers filled with moxa; for all these things are thought to be items which will protect their children from harm. On the 7th day of the 7th lunar month and the Double 9th, unmarried girls in a family are beautifully dressed, and even the married ones will be called in for the occasion. In short, parental love for children is shown especially on festivals. Children are allowed to play to their hearts' content during festivals. Family reunions are must for every household. Especially on the Lantern Festival and the Mid-autumn Festival. A famous quote expresses the feelings of most Chinese: "On festive occasions more than ever we think of our dear ones far away." Anyone who is away from home will long for his or her family and dear ones. The combination of rites, etiquette and customs is a striking feature of Chinese traditional festival customs. Paying due respect to the dead and living elders is perfectly shown in the worship of ancestors on festivals. To pay respects at the tombs of ancestors on the Pure Brightness Festival was originally an old custom and until the reign of Xuan Zhong, it was officially fixed as a rite. Many early festivals were gradually recorded in the Confucian classics. In the festival activities on each festival a certain order was followed: first parents then children, first the respected then the humble, first husband then wife, first elders then the young. In the worship of ancestors, the first worshipper should be the wife's eldest son and the eldest grandson, and the rest all in successive order. This practice shows the love for the young and respect for the old and also the concept of maintaining social structure in the family. During the festival times, relatives pay calls to one another, and friends visit each other, based on the idea that "Courtesy demands reciprocity." Festival presents vary with different festivals; for example, assorted cake for the Double 9th, moon-cakes for the Mid-autumn Festival, lanterns for the Lantern Festival, pyramid-shaped dumplings and mung bean cake for the Dragon Boat Festival. Customs of Chinese traditional festivals possess great comprehensiveness as well as strong cohesive forces. These are determined by the long history of the Chinese nation. Traditional festivals in China are celebrated alike by nobles, officials, men of letters, common people and even villagers in the remotest country-side. Traditional festivals are like a strong cohesive glue which unites the Chinese nation as an integrated whole. At traditional festival times, overseas Chinese, no matter where they are in different parts of the world, think of their motherland from which they have descended and for which they are yearning. Isn't it this cohesive force of festivals that represents the cohesive force and affinity of the Chinese traditional culture? Today traditional festivals that are celebrated and observed by the whole Chinese nation include New Year's Day, the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Pure Brightness Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are more, which if we had space we could describe. From Journal of Popular Culture, No. 3, 1993. (Mr. Zhang Zhiyuan is a lecturer in Heifei College of Education) Scanned by Tang Huang "CHEM7J@Jetson.UH.EDU" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Lawyers in a Lawless Society--A Comparative View of China's Legalization in 1994 & Near Future................Bai Yan 125 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chinese lawyer system is a continual subject of political debate in the year of 1994. If a number doesn't tell everything, it can surely tell something. The number of the employed lawyers by 1990 in the United States is 655,191 in a society of more than 200 million people. China, a country with over one billion people, had only about 28,000 lawyers around 1990. If we recall further, some 60,000 lawyers practised in China before 1949. By 1957 that number had dropped to 2,800. These surviving lawyers were purged again during the Cultural Revolution. Whereas in the U.S., the number of lawyers has kept on increasing at the same time. These figures invites questions about the difference between the role of lawyers in China and the United States. Law is a social mechanism that helps societies function in a harmonious and efficient manner. The precise content and manner of this mechanism's operation is determined by the needs, resources, cultural preferences, and historical development of a particular society. Since these factors may vary greatly from society to society, one would expect the judiciary to vary correspondingly both in content and in style. It is a cornerstone of Anglo-Saxon justice that an accused is presumed innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. "Innocent -Until-Proved-Guilty" is the accusational procedure in the U.S. judicial system, where the basic question is whether or not the accused can be proved guilty. Furthermore, the accusatorial procedure is associated with the adversarial system in which the judge acts as a kind of referee between two contending attorneys and decides the law when the jury is present to decide the facts. In China, a different philosophy regarding the presumption of guilt prevails, that is the inquisitorial procedure of "guilty-until- proved-innocent." Since the accused is already presumed guilty before trial, the simple question is whether he/she is willing to admit it. The inquisitorial procedure has exerted such a great influence on the formal courtroom proceeding that the defendant's lawyer is almost always put into a position to plea and bargain lighter punishment rather than to argue the innocence of the accused. Generally speaking, a lawyer's position in China is very different from that in the West. In the first place, lawyers in China are organized to practice law collectively. They are on the government payroll. Therefore, they are not advocates or adversaries in the Western sense. They act as legal advisors to government units, enterprises, and individuals. Their role is not to protect their clients but merely to advise them as to what the law says. Lack of lawyers makes the Chinese far less litigious than Americans. Every year nearly 25 million cases are tried in American courts, and one American in every nine is directly involved in litigation. In fact, a large percentage of both civil and criminal cases are settled in China by informal methods. The primary informal ways of settling cases are mediation, education, persuasion, and social group pressure. Not having a substantial legacy of law and lawyers, contemporaty Chinese society has assigned many functions which are handled by law in the U.S. to nonlegal organs and personnels. Nevertheless, the informal approach should not be considered as a substitute for the formal legal system. As China's economy becomes further decentralized, with individuals, organizations and enterprises making contracts with each other as well as with foreigners, mediation is likely to prove inadequate for increasingly complex legal issues. Mediation is a slow process, and susceptible to the influence of personal power and persuasion. Further, mediation is often not done by legally competent personnel. As more laws are codified, tough legal problems will arise, requiring trained lawyers. The lack of lawyers in China is compounded by a lack of legal training. In fact, many of those appointed since legal reforms began in the 1980s are simply former military men who have been shifted into the civilian sector because of their trained skill and loyalty, and the need to cut the military budget. China has no public reporter system of judicial opinion or case decisions. What is published, usually through public notice on billboard and media, is a list of the prosecuted with a red cross over each of those sentenced to death. Occasionally a television station broadcasts the actual execution. Due to their limited coverage and the closed information system, existing publications can not meet the needs of the researchers. Information on trials is barely accessible, even to those engaged in the legal profession. In fact, it is even difficult to gain access to the briefs of previous trials within the same court. As a result, the Chinese law system receives little analysis from academic research. Moreover, lacking a system of judicial reporting results in a lack of judicial precedent. That is, decisions of one court are sometimes not available for referenceby other courts, nor are the decisions of one court in any way binding on other courts. Today China is pursuing widespread modernization. This leads to another issue: allowing lawyers to be independent of governmentor party interference. Foreigners entering into economic contracts with the Chinese people are very sensitive to the likelihood that the same Chinese work unit that provokes legal problems may decide the merits of the dispute. Unless lawyers act on behalf of their clients rather than in defense of China's collective interest and loyalty to socialism, China's international trade and joint ventures will not develop well. According to the latest report, China so far has 4,100 law firms and 50,000 lawyers, and is in the process of opening a great number of independent law offices around the country. Obviously both the formal and informal judicial systems will continue to function, but new legal ideas and codes are struggling to emerge and provide the framework within which a free and impartial system will be implemented. The past years, however, has seen little progress in the Chinese judicial front. In fact, judicial reform is the least desired by the Chinese government because the judicial system is too crucial a tool to the present control of the Party. China does not have a separation of powers or a system of check and balances. The judiciary is not independent. Clearly, the lack of a clear and independent role for the judiciary means that the courts lack the right of judicial review over legislation and executive decrees. Furthermore, the Chinese accusatorial system emphasizes substance rather than form and procedures, and the primacy of the whole (society, state) over that of the individual. These two themes are wrapped into a package of "class justice," a catch-all phrase rationalizing the de facto abolition of the judiciary's independence and its subordination to the political organs of the state. Laws cater to the political needs and trend. Political prisoners such as Wang Juntao are still refused to sue the Communist Party and government under new civil laws for infringement of rights. To conclude, the number of lawyers can only tell something, as said at the beginning. What we need to know more about the Chinese legalization is how independent the Chinese judiciary is in the year of 1994 and the future. Feb. 3, 1994 "UOYAN@ttacs.ttu.edu" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Spring Festival and Father..................................Ping Wang 65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spring Festival is especially enjoyable to children- good food, new clothing, hundreds of firecrackers and, of course, the 'easy money' from the elders. Although I did not have had all of those while I was little, Spring Festival was the time I had been counting on for all of the year. Because that was the time when father would come home. Father had been away before I came to this world and he could only come home once or twice a year for a week the most. Mother would not tell me where father was and what he was doing. From what I could imagine, he was serving Chairman Mao and the party. That was what I had been telling my friends in kindergarten. Father had so many stories to tell and he knew everything in the world! "He could even write poems in Japanese, you know" once my uncle told me. "No wonder Chairman Mao and the party picked him up", I was very proud of him. Things went more complicated when I start to look and think things myself. I remember once my friends would not believe what I told them about father and they said that father was a 'bad element'. I had a big fight with them and came home asked mother to confirm it. Mother did not say a word. She hugged me tight and I saw tears full of her eyes. Years had past before I had put many parts of the picture together. Father was one of the first college students from our county (there were three or four total together) in the early 1930's. He had two college degrees, one in law and the other in Chinese literature. While most of his classmates went abroad for better opportunities, father went back home because he believed that was the best way to save China (and also because my grandmother had said stay). The county did not know what to do with father. Since he had a law degree, he was given a 'practicing intellectual position' (jian4 xi2 wen2 guan1)- the deputy head of the police department and the judge in the county court (apparently the system was kind of mixed up). The People's Liberation Army came over before father even had a chance to serve his people, and he was put away, first 5 years in the gulag and then 22 years 'labor reform under surveillance of the mass' (jian1 du1 lao2 dong4 ) in a commune 120 li away from home. The crime, of course, joined the National Party (together with other 500 students in college) and intended to serve the old anti-revolutionary government (he might have been shot if he had done more on his new job). When he was asked to open his heart in the late 1950's, he said Chairman Mao and the party should let him teach or practice law to better serve the people. He got more trouble and paid bitter price for that also. In 1979 while I had been in college for almost two years, father was rehabilitated (several months before his 63ird birthday). We had a letter from the government saying that they were sorry that history went that way. That Spring Festival was the first one for twenty seven years he had spent more than a week with us. When the 'new year dumplings' was ready, father pureed a bowl of white wine and, with tears in his eyes, he said "let's thank and drink for Deng and the party, from now on, I could stay home all the time". We were all, of course, very happy. I was also, however, very confused, who should we thank / blame for taking father away while we need him most? Now I am a father myself, and with the Spring Festival of 1994 coming, I wrote to father and said: "Not until I became a father did I realize how hard it must have been for you to be kept away from us for such a long time. Although I missed almost all of my childhood being with you, I would try everything to make sure that will not happen again to Jack (my son) and millions of other children at home. I believe that is the right thing you want me to do and that is the way I am going to be. We all love you daddy and happy Spring Festival !". Happy Spring Festival to all of the families on the earth! Feb. 8, 1994 "aata@lamar.ColoState.EDU" ===========***==========***==========**==========***==========***=========== China Community 1. The Eye of Long Nose (Part Two)..............................Sinorama 98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Are there any visual differences or similarities between the two communities you have been looking at? A: The Chinese and the Jews both have deep cultural traditions and strong family relationships. If you want to be a good Chinese or a good Jew then you have to do things in certain ways; everyone is worried about how others see them, so you get a kind of visual tension and anxiety on the faces of many people. When photo graphing Chinese people, they always insist that you take their best side and do not like you to shoot certain things, but it is just those things that I am specailly interested in. They seem to be extremely worried about the impression they give toothers, perhaps because, with a more closed and less integrated society, they are less willing than others to reveal their bad side. I think that the overseas Chinese should learn rom the Jews and try hard to open up tothe outside and integrate. It is only when immigrants can balance their own traditions with the cultural, social and even political communities of the host country that they have any future. I do think that the second generation of immigrants can do a bit better, however. In America, for example, I photographed some new immigrants and they had integrated very well. One thing my book will do, at any rate, is to let the Chinese know how they are seen by "big-nosed foreigners." Of course, the Jews should also learn a lot from the overseas Chinese. Q: It seems to me that image of Chinese in the West for the past 150years has been a very distorted one, which is why immigrants are so careful about giving a good image to outsiders and quietly go aobut their own business and life. You have photographed overseas Chinese societies all over the world, was their uniformity a problem for you? If so, then how did you solve it? A: Yes, you often discover the same traditional values. Sometimes I separate my use of black-and-white and color photographs: For example things such as traditional street festivals, I ue color, while I use black -and-white to express the unseen, what is hidden. Thus in San Francisco I used color for the Chinese news year, while in News York I photographed the old and new immigrant communities in black-and-white. I also stress different points. In Indonesia I wanted to express the oppression of the people and their Muslim beliefs, in Malaysia I shot the spirit festivals and in Taiwan I photographed patriotic old soldie. Q: I remember several years ago I saw in the news that a group of Western photographers had gone to mainland China to take pictures and were very upset when they got home because they just missed the opportunity to take pictures of the Tienanmen Square events. What is your view of this? A: That was in the spring of 1989 when a group of western photographers went to China to do a series on a day in the life of China. Personally, I do no like that way of doing things very much. At that time I wanted to go to mailand China very much. I wanted to understand what democracy meant for the young people there. I wanted to draw a portrait of the youth there through examples, such as a student leader, an unemployed guy, the popular rock singer Cui Jian. After the funeral of Hu Yao-pang, I really wanted to go and take a look but could not get the financial support. At that time the media were only interested in the events in Panama and finally I could only find a tiny French magazine that was willing to give me travelling expenses. I arrived in Peking on the first day of the hunger strikes. I began to follow the events and was very moved. This was the first time that I had seen CHinese people express their emotions so strongly and I felt that it was also the first time I had really got in among them an dbeen accepted. I could finally relax and put all my heart into taking photographs. Inthe square Iknew clearly that I was not just a reporter but also a person. What I came to witness was a massive growth in the strong underlying tension of the scene, which I absorbed very deeply. Later on a lot of Western journalists arrived and of course a lot of people wanted me to supply photographs. I remember that CNN alone had six camera crews, while I was on my own and without fullequipment. But I believe that what they shot was all the same,while I had my own point of view. Many people oly paid attention tothe suppression that came later, and the media was fullof tanks and blood as if everyone had forgotten what went before. In my view that marvellous time earlier was the important point and is what holds the only hope for the future. Q: Just now you hinted at the predictability of the media. As a news photographer you cannot avoid having to collaborate with the media, so what are your principles? A: Ihave an interesting example: The first photographs I sent bak tothe magazine in Frane were taken before the massacre and they were put on page five. The layout was very creative but the cover featured a drawing of a naked woman tied up with ropes - very provocative. Even the art editor wanted the boss to change it and use one of my pgotographs instead, but the boss would insist, "My magazine must make money!" In the end the magazine went onto the market just as the massacre happened, causing him much regret. I was very gratful for the support given to me by that magazine and it is interesting that, in the end, my pgotographs were used by a lot of magazine, including French, German and Italian publications. However, out of all of these it was only "Life" that had nothing to dowith sex. The Western media always preach freedom, but the pressure of circulation and advertising is very big. Sometimes I am very happy with creative layouts but at other times this is not necessarily so, and I get the feeling that the editor is just using my pictures to express his own views. My principle is to first select that best and then fight as hard as I can untillast. (End) Feb. 1, 1994 [From Magazine: Guan Hua, interview by Wang Jia-fong, edited by Christopher Hughes, typed by Yaxin Wang] ===========***==========***==========**==========***==========***=========== International Affairs 1. No Sense Throwing Good Money After Bad Rules..........Rudi Dornbusch 89 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Russia has taken two giant steps toward becoming a really nasty place. Politicians are turning toward some fascist-nationalist-authoritarian model and away from democracy. And in economics, Moscow is turning its back on stabilization and reform. Expect the worst: We may be witnessing a replay of Central Europe in the interwar years. The large electoral support for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a demagogue who cherishes a fascist image and leaves no doubt that he wants to put the world to the torch, shows the extent of the Russian electorate's disaffection with reform, democracy, and decency. Zhirinovsky, with no idea of how to get there, promises greatness, power, and prosperity for all. His time has not come quite yet, but he will gain as the economy worsens. Disappointment with economic reform has led to the exclusion from the new Cabinet of Yegor Gaidar, Russia's brilliant economic reformist democrat, along with other reformist democrats. Boris Yeltsin, unwilling to push reform, vacillates. The reformists are out, and the statists are in. One of the few winners is Viktor Gerashchenko, Russia's longtime central banker, who runs the printing presses for the benefit of state enterprises and the old-time power structure. The hope that Russia might brave the long and difficult path to a democratic free-market economy can be shelved for a long time. Russia has five immediate problems: # Nationalism within and without. A few minor civil wars are being waged inside the Russian Confederation, and there are plenty of rivalries with the former republics. Moscow's repeated references to the need for protection of Russian minorities in these states echo Hitler's warnings in the 1930s. And where will the first Anschloss occur? Presumably in the Baltic states. # Political instability. A lack of stability is the common thread in Russia's unpredictable election results: an electorate whose taste ranges from czars to punks, a Parliament without a center of gravity, a President whose views on democracy won't stand up to scrutiny, and insufficient support for democratic reform. A young democracy faced with severe economic problems almost always fails, and Russia is no exception. # Inequality. There is a vast and growing gap between the nooveaux riches of Moscow, flush with Mercedes and BMWs, and the destitute millions who feel they are the victims of a reckless market play. # Lawlessness. There is a no-man's-land between the state and the market, where decentralization is incomplete, institutions are missing, and the daily question is whether reform will move forward or return to square one. Ripping off the state is fair game, the law of the jungle applies, underworld gangs function as private enforcement agencies, and the dollar rules supreme. # Inflation. Current inflation rates of 10% to 30% per month are the staging ground for hyperinflation, which, if it comes, will create a political and economic vacuum that's sure to suck in authoritarian rule. In the aftermath of World War I, German hyperinflation--and that of Austria, Poland, and Hungary--set the stage for Nazi rule. Russia's economic problems and the political risks that go hand in hand with them are unique. They are not the problems of the Czech Republic, for example, nor of coastal China. We must remember that Russia is inward- looking--and that makes all the difference. Coastal China is outward- looking, the Czech Republic on Germany's border always has been, and so are the Baltic republics. Along with their outward orientation, China and the Czechs are producing with a focus on world markets. Russia, by contrast, is suspicious of the world, reluctant to embrace an export strategy, and trapped in an imploding internal market. Reform is another point of contrast. In China, it means brand-new plants that create rapturously welcomed industrial jobs for workers who previously had none. In Russia, it means undoing inefficient enterprises, with large- scale loss of jobs and economic insecurity. The process is highly politicized. Since reform almost invariably aims for higher productivity, which means shedding workers in privatized companies, workers predictably and understandably resist. They vote to stop privatization and, instead, get credits from the central hank to finance wages in enterprises that can't cover costs or make profits. China's transformation offers dynamism and prosperity, while in Russia, the way forward often seems less attractive than taking a break or even moving backward. Like Russia, the Czech Republic needs modernization. But there, the task is carried out by massive foreign investment in plants and immediate opportunities in export growth. There is little the West can do for Russia. Fast disbursement of International Monetary Fund moneys and other aid will make little difference. Our best investment is to support reform in China and thus gain a strong partner in market economics--one that could help stabilize the world if Russia crashes. (Rudi Dornbusch is a Professor of Economics at Massacusetts Institute of Technology; Forwarded by cqyang@chemistry.umass.edu from Business Week/Feb. 7, 1994) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. China and America--The Rights Row.....................The Economist 58 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE annual report produced by the American State Department on human rights everywhere but in America is the sort of "interference" China most objects to. This year's report, the gist of which was released on February 2nd, will be especially unpopular with the Chinese government, whose record is singled out for particular criticism. It cannot be dismissed lightly, for it could put trading privileges worth billions of dollars in jeopardy. In May last year President Clinton said he would recommend Congress to renew China's low-tariff "most favoured nation" (MFN) trading status this June only if it made "overall, significant progress" on a range of issues from birth control to emigration. Since then, however, there have been signs of a shift in America's policy towards what Mr. Clinton described during his presidential campaign as the "dictators" of Beijing. This shift became apparent after the meeting between Mr. Clinton and Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president, in Seattle in November. It seemed that America was reverting to the policy of "constructive engagement" with China favoured by the previous president, George Bush. The report is likely to fuel a demand by members of Congress that Mr. Clinton should be tougher than Mr. Bush was when faced with similar documents. This could make it difficult for the president to approve China's MFN status for another year in June, however much he would like to. According to the World Bank, without the benefit of MFN status 96% of China's exports to the United States would be at risk. The report said China had taken "some positive steps" in 1993 by releasing political prisoners, and noted that economic reform had loosened the Communist Party's control over people's lives. But in general China's human-rights record "fell short of internationally accepted norms as it continued to repress domestic critics and failed to control abuses by its own security forces." The report listed torture, forced confessions, arbitrary detentions, and predetermined verdicts in trials as just some of China's abuses, and pinpointed Tibet as an area of particular repression. It said: Fundamental human rights provided for in the constitution are frequently ignored in practice, and challenges to the Communist Party's political authority are often dealt with harshly and arbitrarily. China is now under serious pressure to improve. The Communist Party could not possibly fulfil even the first of Mr. Clinton's demands--that China should respect freedom of expression--and expect to stay in power for long. But there are several things it can do, among them the freeing of more prisoners. Some are expected to be released in the next few weeks. On January 31st China said it had loosened controls on overseas travel for its citizens, another demand by Mr. Clinton. The China Daily reported that almost 700,000 Chinese went abroad on personal business last year. Only 4% of first-time applicants were refused exit permits, compared with 20% in 1992. Many Chinese who want to go abroad on holiday or to study are refused permission not by China but by the countries they want to visit. The United States is particularly strict, fearing that Chinese allowed in for a holiday may stay on in the land of the free. [Forwarded from The Economist, February 5, 1994] Scanned by Changqing Yang "qyang@chemistry.umass.edu" ===========***==========***==========**==========***==========***========== Letter to the Editor 1. Free Net................................................ .Tiefeng Hu 37 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Editor, It is interesting to read another article on the moderation of the computer network by my friend Luo Ning (Please see it in CCF #9403). I'd like to express my gratitude to the author and all other volunteers who have devoted their precious time and talent to the development and management of the computer network which serves CSS around the world. Even though I tend to agree with the author on the fact that many netters post less "important and effective" messages on the network, I have difficulty in agreeing on the assertion that these netters post messages carelessly because they take the net for granted as "cost free." In fact, most of the "useless" postings have been posted from a few veteran netters. And, ironically, we have too often seen some of thoes same people serve as volunteers on one or another network. To many readers, or occasional posters, it is time consuming, sometimes irritating, to read through large volume of messages on nets such as SCC. When they do post/respond on a high profiled noise-generating issue, they tend to express their view to the best of their understanding. The author has once again advocated the moderation of the network based on the comparison of the net to scientific journals and the New York Times. Yet, the net is neither the New York Times, nor a scientific journal. It is a bulletine board just like the ones on campus where you can stick a note on, such as "apartment for rent." It is the technology of computer that allows this previlege to those lucky individuals who can link their terminals to the network. And it is on this point the author confused the notion of freedom by paralleling cost of access to the net with the freedom of access to the net. Nevertheless, people ignore the "free" bulletine board when they pass by unless they need something from it. And to this extent, the moderated network come into existence. To me, the moderated net service has done a heck of a great job in providing efficient information. China News Digest (CND) for one has been part of my life where I can fetch something that relates me to my homeland. If there is anything that is not free on this network, it is the service and time of the CND editors, and editors of many other networks, such as the Chinese Community Forum. However, the net is still "free", free access to all, a piece of land that many CSS may resort on. We encourage people be more considerate when it comes to the time that they want to post something on the net. Yet, veil threat to the "careless" netters by pointing out the cost of tax dollars in establishment and maintenance of computer network is unfair and deadly wrong. Jan. 26, 1994 "tyhu@mbcl.rutgers.edu" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Discussions on Current Affairs...............................Dr. Zhou 28 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear editors: I would like to make a suggestion concerning the discussion in the net. I think CCF should concentrate itself on the ``current affair'' associated with China and Chinese community. The discussion on historical matter especially something like ``Is Mao good or bad?'' is meaningless and only a waste of time. The reasons may be briefly stated as follows. (1) History is history. No one can change the history. In other words, yesterday is yesterday, its gone. Nothing can be done to influence yesterday. However, today and tomorrow are still here, and are up to us to shape a new future. We should unite ourselves to shape a wonderful tomorrow. (2) Discussion on historical figure like Mao can only lead to disintegration of Chinese community. One's feeling toward Mao is different from another. It is impossible to unify people's feeling toward Mao. If one claims to be able to unify, then he or she must be a dictator. (3) It is not up to us to judge Mao. After hundreds of years, Mao will be what he should be. Today we should not waste much of time on such matter. On the contrary, China after Deng's death is an important issue. For example, will China be split like Former Soviet Union? What can do? If we have wisdom, we should use our wisdom to create new history, different from that created yesterday. This is the real challenging work! (4) From the international point of view, no one (foreigners) cares about China unless China is a powerful, greater nation. Who cares about Mao or Deng if China is split like former Soviet Union tomorrow? If that happens, foreigners may laugh at Mao or Deng, but in the meanwhile, they will laugh at all Chinese as well. Feb. 2, 1994 "hyzhou@potomac.cche.olemiss.edu" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's Response.......................................Changqing Yang 43 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Dr. Zhou: Your message of Feb. 2, 1994 concerning the discussions on the Chinese Community Forum has been well received. Your suggestion is highly appreciated. During the past several months, in its infancy period, CCF has involved in series of discussions related to current events in China and the Chinese community. It is obviously not enough, and we do anticipate more and more readers like you, join our discussions and express their views. However, it does not in any way mean that we shall not involve in the discussion on historical matters. In my point of view, yesterday, today and tomorrow are intertwined with each other. History always gives us the best lesson about today and the future. In fact, the answers to some of today's questions, such as the one you raised, lies on, at least partially, the thorough understanding of the forty-year-history of our People's Republic. It is true that people from different background may have different feelings on Mao. It is also true that people from different sides of the political spectrum may have different understandings of today's events and different perspectives on tomorrow. That is precisely why we need to provide a forum so that people can express their different views and can learn the views which are different. If these peaceful and serious discussions could destroy the unity or integration of a community, then there would have never been a unity or integration of that community. Even if there was, such a unity is totally useless. You are absolutely right that history is history. No body can change the history. Neither can one avoid history. On the contrary, history will always come out to haunt us. Only if we can bravely face the history, shall we be able to meet the challenges of the future. Again, thank you very much for your suggestion and your continuous support for the Chinese Community Forum. Best Regards! Changqing Yang Editor of CCF "cqyang@chemistry.umass.edu" +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++ + Executive Editor: Bai Yan Executive Moderator: Yang Changqing + +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + For subscription: mail "SUB CHINA-NT Your-First-Name Your-Last-Name" + + to LISTSERV@UGA (bitnet) or listserv@uga.cc.uga.edu (internet) + + For back issues of CCF: + + anonymous ftp to cnd.org[132.249.229.100]:pub/community/CCF + + For contribution and inquiry: mail to ccf-editor@ifcss.org + +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++