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不自由，毋宁死! Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!
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Pro-democracy activists and supporters hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese embassy in Los Angeles, California on June 4, 2008. (Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images) Ahead of an ominous year of anniversaries in China, a new charter calling for democracy and freedom in the world’s most populous nation is gaining momentum among prominent Chinese citizens disgusted with the communist regime’s long-standing corruption and repression of Chinese people.
Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but that’s the only good news for the regime. It also marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre of democracy advocates on Tiananmen Square, the 10th anniversary of the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual group, the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s exile to India from Tibet, and the 90th anniversary of the May Fourth pro-democracy movement against imperialism.
Add to that the turmoil mounting in China as its colossal economy reels from the global economic downturn and unemployment rises, and Charter ‘08 could be the gale-force wind on a perfect political storm facing the CCP.
“The Chinese people, who have endured human rights disasters and uncountable struggles across these same years, now include many who see clearly that freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and that democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values,” reads the translated version of the Charter’s forward. The entire document, translated by Perry Link, Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of California, Riverside, is available at nybooks.com.
Charter ‘08 continues: “By departing from these values, the Chinese government’s approach to ‘modernization’ has proven disastrous. It has stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse. So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century?”
The Charter was published on Dec. 10, the 60th anniversary of the publishing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Charter ‘08 mirrors Charter 77, signed in Czechoslovakia, in January 1977 by more than 200 Czech and Slovak intellectuals living under communist rule there.
Already, since its publishing, Chinese authorities have detained Charter organizer Liu Xiaobo. Other organizers have said they were briefly held by police, according to a Reuters report. “This will be a long-term endeavor, like Charter 77,” said Zhang Zuhua, another organizer, according to the report. “When I was questioned, I told the police I don’t want to be arrested, but if they do jail me, I will be ready for it, whether it’s a year or a dozen or more.”
Sheng Xue, vice president of the Federation for a Democratic China, said she hopes free governments outside China can lend their support to Charter ‘08 and its signers.
“We hope the international society and world leaders can all stand up to condemn and stop the Chinese Communist Party from persecuting and suppressing individuals involved in Charter ‘08,” said Sheng, who is based in Toronto, Canada.
[size=18]After the Olympics[/size]
Kai Chen, a former Chinese national basketball team forward turned political activist, is hopeful about the new resolve people in China are showing after the Olympics—when the regime reneged on promises to improve human rights and freedom.
“It’s a positive development for those who live in China. The people are pushing for more freedom; most of the time they didn’t have the guts to do it,” said Chen, who lives in Los Angeles.
“People realize that there is some kind of obligation on their part that they need to push for, otherwise things won’t happen on their own.”
While not advocating violence, Charter ‘08 holds that major change is needed. Likely no coincidence, the urgent call for change is the same rallying cry that helped propel Barack Obama to the presidential nomination in November.
“The decline of the current system has reached the point where change is no longer optional,” reads the Charter. “We see the powerless in our society … becoming more militant and raising the possibility of a violent conflict of disastrous proportions.
While mostly positive in his response, Chen’s one concern is that the Charter does not go far enough in condemning the Chinese Communist Party and corrupted officials.
“You’ve got to make sure all the crimes will be put on trial by the new legitimate government. You cannot collaborate with a bunch of criminals, but I understand the difficult situation in China,” he said.
照亮通往自由的路途 Lighting the Path to Freedom/on Kai Chen (part II)
FREEDOM: Kai Chen, former Chinese national basketball team forward, runs for hope at his Global Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement in Washington D.C. last year. (The Epoch Times)
Lighting the Path to Freedom:
An Athlete Runs for Human Rights Chinese basketball player Kai Chen’s story—part two
Epoch Times Staff Dec 14, 2008 Share: Facebook Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon Related articles: Sports > Basketball
Kai Chen, possibly the best forward in China’s national basketball team in the late 1970s, quit the team at the peak of his career to break free of the Chinese authorities’ manipulation. However, his love for basketball never diminished.
In 1981, after his marriage in Beijing to Susan, an American exchange student, Chen moved to Los Angeles. He had yearned to visit the U.S. ever since he had played against the American team in Mexico in the summer of 1975.
“Before I knew there was a country called America, America had already saved me, because America invented basketball. So I am always grateful to America. My connection to America started with basketball,” he said.
He graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a bachelor in Political Science and published an autobiography about his life in China, “One in a Billion—Journey Toward Freedom”
“I really wanted to rethink and reinterpret the entire struggle I went through in China,” said Chen, now a real estate investor with two grown daughters.
In August 2007, Chen launched the Global Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement in Taipei, Taiwan, to “express the true spirit of the Olympics—the spirit of freedom.” Between then and the start of the Beijing Games a year later, he ran in ten cities on four continents, including New York, Berlin, Sydney, and Vancouver.
“The Chinese regime wanted to use the Beijing Olympics to legitimize themselves. The Chinese torch was an offensive by the regime onto the world’s conscience, basically to confuse the world and to intimidate the world. And at the same time to unite Chinese nationalists around the world, which is what they did.”
After reaching the stadium in Berlin where Hitler held his 1936 Olympics, Chen ran six miles from there to the Berlin Wall to symbolize freedom from tyranny.
When the Chinese regime crumbles just like that of East Germany, said Chen, he hopes a “Chinese Holocaust Memorial” can be built to remember those who have been “persecuted and murdered” by the regime, just like the one to commemorate the Jews beside the stadium in Berlin.
“I want all people in the world to know: One day, human beings will eventually progress from despotism and tyranny to reach freedom. When that day comes, I will go back to a free China and also run a freedom run. I believe that day will come—and it will come soon.”
In the run-up to the Beijing Games, Chen also took part in the Human Rights Torch Relay, a global grassroots campaign that began in Athens and covered more than150 cities.
Journey to Freedom: An Athlete’s Struggle for Dignity
Chen has now set his sights on Mao’s Kitchen, a restaurant with locations in Venice and in Los Angeles. Mao’s Kitchen sells T-shirts with Mao’s image and inside the restaurant symbols of the Cultural Revolution, a flag of the red guards and slogans such as “Down with Americans” are displayed.
On December 26, Boxing Day, which also happens to be the anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birthday, Chen has planned a protest against Mao’s Kitchen.
“I think it’s a very important issue to be addressed, because I think Mao’s image in China now is what the Chinese communist regime depends upon to survive. They think Mao’s image represents power—the power to kill, the power to do anything the regime wants.”
Chen said that while the Holocaust has been well documented and the Nazi regime discredited, the “many atrocities” committed since the communist regime took power in China are not widely known in the world.
“Land Reform, the Anti-Rightist movement, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the first Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1976, and the second Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.... These atrocities and crimes, which led to millions upon millions of lives lost, have never been fully documented.”
The regime’s ongoing crimes today include the persecution of the spiritual group Falun Gong and the illicit harvesting of their organs, the imprisonment and torturing of Christians and the suppression and killing of Tibetan Buddhists, Chen said.
“But the worst harm the Chinese communist regime has done to human beings was not physical, but moral and spiritual.”
Chen said he will never stop striving to make a difference with his abilities and talents. He hopes to inspire people with the sense of freedom and conscience that he has come to understand through his own experiences.
“I hope people will never give up their struggle for freedom, will never give up their yearning for a better future. Pursue your own dream with courage, and don’t be afraid of paying the necessary price. You will not be disappointed when you have achieved your dream.”
Read Part I here: Lighting the Path to Freedom: An Athlete Runs for Human Rights
An Athlete’s Struggle for Dignity Chinese basketball player Kai Chen’s story—part one
By Helena Zhu Epoch Times Staff Dec 9, 2008
ABOVE THE RIM: Kai Chen, former Chinese national team forward (in the air), against Romania’s national team in 1975, in Bucharest, Romania. (Kai Chen)
Kai Chen, arguably the best forward on China’s national basketball team in the late 1970s, quit the team at the peak of his career because he wanted to be free of control from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“I loved basketball, but my love for the sport was held hostage by evil forces against me,” said Chen. “They wanted to make me a cog in a giant machine—a tool and a slave.”
Chen’s professional basketball career began in early 1970, when the ruling regime set out to use sports to break China’s isolation. The national sports authorities sent coaches all over China to look for sports talent and the 16-year-old Chen, with his 6-foot 7-inch frame, was instantly selected for a training camp in Beijing.
Up until then, however, Chen wasn’t exactly a favorite of the Chinese authorities.
Born in Beijing, Chen’s family was considered problematic with its Kuo Ming Tang (KMT) past and numerous Taiwanese relatives. In his childhood, Chen and his family were exiled from Beijing to Tonghua, a small city bordering North Korea.
After graduating from middle school during the Cultural Revolution, Chen was once again sent to the countryside—as were all students in China at the time—to be “re-educated as peasants.” He worked in a grain depot and joined the depot’s basketball team, although professional sports were banned throughout the country.
“There was nothing to look forward to,” said Chen. “There was no indication whatsoever that I could achieve something through basketball. But indeed I kept practicing basketball all the time… I realized later that through basketball I could find a passionate expression of my own existence. I could feel that I was still alive.”
After completing training camp, only Chen and his best friend, Chen Bangxiao, were picked—Chen for the national basketball team and Bangxiao for the national track and field team. However, Bangxiao was kicked off the team within a year because his father, who had once served in the KMT army, was accused of hiding a weapon.
Tools for the Government
As for Chen, once the authorities discovered his KMT links he was not allowed to represent China abroad. Then, he too was dumped from the national team.
“I realized the evil side of all this,” said Chen. “To the communist authority, all athletes in China are only tools for the government. You can be abandoned at will by them with any excuse, at any time.”
Chen went on to play with numerous provincial and municipal basketball teams, but none were suitable. Later he was drafted by the Shenyang army team and sent to a combat unit for “re-education.” But due to the harsh conditions there, he was unable to play basketball and was hospitalized.
However, he was determined to return to basketball as he “vaguely sensed” that there was a mission to complete, both for Bangxiao and himself. So after recovering he joined the “August 1st Team,” the country’s top military team, and made his first trip abroad to Pakistan.
He helped the team win several national titles and was said to be the best forward in the country. But he was still shut out of the national team.
It was around this time, while playing against a U.S. team in Mexico, that Chen first encountered Americans, who he found to be “very different.” He was highly impressed by the personality and skill of these “very unique individuals” with their “rare vitality.”
“I was moved deeply by the simple fact that the American bench players cheered for the starters. I had never seen such a phenomenon in China. I was amazed that in the world there was indeed such a society in stark contrast to China. In that society, human beings sincerely wished others well.”
Chen’s basketball career peaked in 1978. He dominated his opponents in every game during the national championships that year.
“My defense was impenetrable. No one could do what I was able to do on the basketball court.”
Suddenly the authorities, conveniently forgetting that they had labeled him “a dangerous element,” offered him promotions and membership in the CCP. After the World Military Championships in Syria, Chen was allowed to return to the national team.
However, he refused to join the CCP and assimilate into the authorities’ rank—a rank that once treated him as an enemy. Nevertheless, numerous athletes surrendered to what Chen calls the “evil camp” of the Party.
In that society, he said, people “had to give in” because the authorities pressured people using their family as leverage. If one did not obey the authorities’ orders, living quarters would not be assigned for one’s wife and children. “You could not maintain your integrity anymore. When I detected this insidious trap, I decided that I had to leave. I made a great moral choice at that time. At the peak of my basketball career, I decided to quit.
“Exactly because I truly loved basketball, I had to quit. All your life you wanted to do only one thing. You wanted to prove to yourself that you are indeed free. Freedom does exist, happiness does exist, truth does exist.”
Chen faked a heart problem, detached himself from the national team in 1979, and enrolled in the Beijing Institute of Physical Culture to fulfill his dream of completing his education. This is where he met his American wife, Susan.
Part two: Chen moves to the United States, writes an autobiography, becomes involved in human rights causes, and initiates the Global Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement.
The following text of Charter 08, signed by hundreds of Chinese intellectuals and translated and introduced by Perry Link, Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of California, Riverside, will be published in the issue of The New York Review dated January 15, which goes on sale on January 2.
—The Editors
The document below, signed by over three hundred prominent Chinese citizens, was conceived and written in conscious admiration of the founding of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, where, in January 1977, more than two hundred Czech and Slovak intellectuals formed a loose, informal, and open association of people... united by the will to strive individually and collectively for respect for human and civil rights in our country and throughout the world.
I. Foreword
A hundred years have passed since the writing of China’s first constitution. 2008 also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thirtieth anniversary of the appearance of Democracy Wall in Beijing, and the tenth of China’s signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy student protesters. The Chinese people, who have endured human rights disasters and uncountable struggles across these same years, now include many who see clearly that freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and that democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values.
By departing from these values, the Chinese government’s approach to “modernization” has proven disastrous. It has stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse. So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century? Will it continue with “modernization” under authoritarian rule, or will it embrace universal human values, join the mainstream of civilized nations, and build a democratic system? There can be no avoiding these questions.
The shock of the Western impact upon China in the nineteenth century laid bare a decadent authoritarian system and marked the beginning of what is often called “the greatest changes in thousands of years” for China. A “self-strengthening movement” followed, but this aimed simply at appropriating the technology to build gunboats and other Western material objects. China’s humiliating naval defeat at the hands of Japan in 1895 only confirmed the obsolescence of China’s system of government. The first attempts at modern political change came with the ill-fated summer of reforms in 1898, but these were cruelly crushed by ultraconservatives at China’s imperial court. With the revolution of 1911, which inaugurated Asia’s first republic, the authoritarian imperial system that had lasted for centuries was finally supposed to have been laid to rest. But social conflict inside our country and external pressures were to prevent it; China fell into a patchwork of warlord fiefdoms and the new republic became a fleeting dream.
The failure of both “self-strengthening” and political renovation caused many of our forebears to reflect deeply on whether a “cultural illness” was afflicting our country. This mood gave rise, during the May Fourth Movement of the late 1910s, to the championing of “science and democracy.” Yet that effort, too, foundered as warlord chaos persisted and the Japanese invasion [beginning in Manchuria in 1931] brought national crisis.
Victory over Japan in 1945 offered one more chance for China to move toward modern government, but the Communist defeat of the Nationalists in the civil war thrust the nation into the abyss of totalitarianism. The “new China” that emerged in 1949 proclaimed that “the people are sovereign” but in fact set up a system in which “the Party is all-powerful.” The Communist Party of China seized control of all organs of the state and all political, economic, and social resources, and, using these, has produced a long trail of human rights disasters, including, among many others, the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957), the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960), the Cultural Revolution (1966–1969), the June Fourth (Tiananmen Square) Massacre (1989), and the current repression of all unauthorized religions and the suppression of the weiquan rights movement [a movement that aims to defend citizens’ rights promulgated in the Chinese Constitution and to fight for human rights recognized by international conventions that the Chinese government has signed]. During all this, the Chinese people have paid a gargantuan price. Tens of millions have lost their lives, and several generations have seen their freedom, their happiness, and their human dignity cruelly trampled.
During the last two decades of the twentieth century the government policy of “Reform and Opening” gave the Chinese people relief from the pervasive poverty and totalitarianism of the Mao Zedong era and brought substantial increases in the wealth and living standards of many Chinese as well as a partial restoration of economic freedom and economic rights. Civil society began to grow, and popular calls for more rights and more political freedom have grown apace. As the ruling elite itself moved toward private ownership and the market economy, it began to shift from an outright rejection of “rights” to a partial acknowledgment of them.
In 1998 the Chinese government signed two important international human rights conventions; in 2004 it amended its constitution to include the phrase “respect and protect human rights”; and this year, 2008, it has promised to promote a “national human rights action plan.” Unfortunately most of this political progress has extended no further than the paper on which it is written. The political reality, which is plain for anyone to see, is that China has many laws but no rule of law; it has a constitution but no constitutional government. The ruling elite continues to cling to its authoritarian power and fights off any move toward political change.
The stultifying results are endemic official corruption, an undermining of the rule of law, weak human rights, decay in public ethics, crony capitalism, growing inequality between the wealthy and the poor, pillage of the natural environment as well as of the human and historical environments, and the exacerbation of a long list of social conflicts, especially, in recent times, a sharpening animosity between officials and ordinary people.
As these conflicts and crises grow ever more intense, and as the ruling elite continues with impunity to crush and to strip away the rights of citizens to freedom, to property, and to the pursuit of happiness, we see the powerless in our society—the vulnerable groups, the people who have been suppressed and monitored, who have suffered cruelty and even torture, and who have had no adequate avenues for their protests, no courts to hear their pleas—becoming more militant and raising the possibility of a violent conflict of disastrous proportions. The decline of the current system has reached the point where change is no longer optional.
II. Our Fundamental Principles
This is a historic moment for China, and our future hangs in the balance. In reviewing the political modernization process of the past hundred years or more, we reiterate and endorse basic universal values as follows:
Freedom. Freedom is at the core of universal human values. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom in where to live, and the freedoms to strike, to demonstrate, and to protest, among others, are the forms that freedom takes. Without freedom, China will always remain far from civilized ideals.
Human rights. Human rights are not bestowed by a state. Every person is born with inherent rights to dignity and freedom. The government exists for the protection of the human rights of its citizens. The exercise of state power must be authorized by the people. The succession of political disasters in China’s recent history is a direct consequence of the ruling regime’s disregard for human rights.
Equality. The integrity, dignity, and freedom of every person—regardless of social station, occupation, sex, economic condition, ethnicity, skin color, religion, or political belief—are the same as those of any other. Principles of equality before the law and equality of social, economic, cultural, civil, and political rights must be upheld.
Republicanism. Republicanism, which holds that power should be balanced among different branches of government and competing interests should be served, resembles the traditional Chinese political ideal of “fairness in all under heaven.” It allows different interest groups and social assemblies, and people with a variety of cultures and beliefs, to exercise democratic self-government and to deliberate in order to reach peaceful resolution of public questions on a basis of equal access to government and free and fair competition.
Democracy. The most fundamental principles of democracy are that the people are sovereign and the people select their government. Democracy has these characteristics: (1) Political power begins with the people and the legitimacy of a regime derives from the people. (2) Political power is exercised through choices that the people make. (3) The holders of major official posts in government at all levels are determined through periodic competitive elections. (4) While honoring the will of the majority, the fundamental dignity, freedom, and human rights of minorities are protected. In short, democracy is a modern means for achieving government truly “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Constitutional rule. Constitutional rule is rule through a legal system and legal regulations to implement principles that are spelled out in a constitution. It means protecting the freedom and the rights of citizens, limiting and defining the scope of legitimate government power, and providing the administrative apparatus necessary to serve these ends.
III. What We Advocate
Authoritarianism is in general decline throughout the world; in China, too, the era of emperors and overlords is on the way out. The time is arriving everywhere for citizens to be masters of states. For China the path that leads out of our current predicament is to divest ourselves of the authoritarian notion of reliance on an “enlightened overlord” or an “honest official” and to turn instead toward a system of liberties, democracy, and the rule of law, and toward fostering the consciousness of modern citizens who see rights as fundamental and participation as a duty. Accordingly, and in a spirit of this duty as responsible and constructive citizens, we offer the following recommendations on national governance, citizens’ rights, and social development:
1. A New Constitution. We should recast our present constitution, rescinding its provisions that contradict the principle that sovereignty resides with the people and turning it into a document that genuinely guarantees human rights, authorizes the exercise of public power, and serves as the legal underpinning of China’s democratization. The constitution must be the highest law in the land, beyond violation by any individual, group, or political party.
2. Separation of powers. We should construct a modern government in which the separation of legislative, judicial, and executive power is guaranteed. We need an Administrative Law that defines the scope of government responsibility and prevents abuse of administrative power. Government should be responsible to taxpayers. Division of power between provincial governments and the central government should adhere to the principle that central powers are only those specifically granted by the constitution and all other powers belong to the local governments.
3. Legislative democracy. Members of legislative bodies at all levels should be chosen by direct election, and legislative democracy should observe just and impartial principles.
4. An Independent Judiciary. The rule of law must be above the interests of any particular political party and judges must be independent. We need to establish a constitutional supreme court and institute procedures for constitutional review. As soon as possible, we should abolish all of the Committees on Political and Legal Affairs that now allow Communist Party officials at every level to decide politically-sensitive cases in advance and out of court. We should strictly forbid the use of public offices for private purposes.
5. Public Control of Public Servants. The military should be made answerable to the national government, not to a political party, and should be made more professional. Military personnel should swear allegiance to the constitution and remain nonpartisan. Political party organizations shall be prohibited in the military. All public officials including police should serve as nonpartisans, and the current practice of favoring one political party in the hiring of public servants must end.
6. Guarantee of Human Rights. There shall be strict guarantees of human rights and respect for human dignity. There should be a Human Rights Committee, responsible to the highest legislative body, that will prevent the government from abusing public power in violation of human rights. A democratic and constitutional China especially must guarantee the personal freedom of citizens. No one shall suffer illegal arrest, detention, arraignment, interrogation, or punishment. The system of “Reeducation through Labor” must be abolished.
7. Election of Public Officials. There shall be a comprehensive system of democratic elections based on “one person, one vote.” The direct election of administrative heads at the levels of county, city, province, and nation should be systematically implemented. The rights to hold periodic free elections and to participate in them as a citizen are inalienable.
8. Rural–Urban Equality. The two-tier household registry system must be abolished. This system favors urban residents and harms rural residents. We should establish instead a system that gives every citizen the same constitutional rights and the same freedom to choose where to live.
9. Freedom to Form Groups. The right of citizens to form groups must be guaranteed. The current system for registering nongovernment groups, which requires a group to be “approved,” should be replaced by a system in which a group simply registers itself. The formation of political parties should be governed by the constitution and the laws, which means that we must abolish the special privilege of one party to monopolize power and must guarantee principles of free and fair competition among political parties.
10. Freedom to Assemble. The constitution provides that peaceful assembly, demonstration, protest, and freedom of expression are fundamental rights of a citizen. The ruling party and the government must not be permitted to subject these to illegal interference or unconstitutional obstruction.
11. Freedom of Expression. We should make freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of political supervision. These freedoms should be upheld by a Press Law that abolishes political restrictions on the press. The provision in the current Criminal Law that refers to “the crime of incitement to subvert state power” must be abolished. We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes.
12. Freedom of Religion. We must guarantee freedom of religion and belief and institute a separation of religion and state. There must be no governmental interference in peaceful religious activities. We should abolish any laws, regulations, or local rules that limit or suppress the religious freedom of citizens. We should abolish the current system that requires religious groups (and their places of worship) to get official approval in advance and substitute for it a system in which registry is optional and, for those who choose to register, automatic.
13. Civic Education. In our schools we should abolish political curriculums and examinations that are designed to indoctrinate students in state ideology and to instill support for the rule of one party. We should replace them with civic education that advances universal values and citizens’ rights, fosters civic consciousness, and promotes civic virtues that serve society.
14. Protection of Private Property. We should establish and protect the right to private property and promote an economic system of free and fair markets. We should do away with government monopolies in commerce and industry and guarantee the freedom to start new enterprises. We should establish a Committee on State-Owned Property, reporting to the national legislature, that will monitor the transfer of state-owned enterprises to private ownership in a fair, competitive, and orderly manner. We should institute a land reform that promotes private ownership of land, guarantees the right to buy and sell land, and allows the true value of private property to be adequately reflected in the market.
15. Financial and Tax Reform. We should establish a democratically regulated and accountable system of public finance that ensures the protection of taxpayer rights and that operates through legal procedures. We need a system by which public revenues that belong to a certain level of government—central, provincial, county or local—are controlled at that level. We need major tax reform that will abolish any unfair taxes, simplify the tax system, and spread the tax burden fairly. Government officials should not be able to raise taxes, or institute new ones, without public deliberation and the approval of a democratic assembly. We should reform the ownership system in order to encourage competition among a wider variety of market participants.
16. Social Security. We should establish a fair and adequate social security system that covers all citizens and ensures basic access to education, health care, retirement security, and employment.
17. Protection of the Environment. We need to protect the natural environment and to promote development in a way that is sustainable and responsible to our descendents and to the rest of humanity. This means insisting that the state and its officials at all levels not only do what they must do to achieve these goals, but also accept the supervision and participation of non-governmental organizations.
18. A Federated Republic. A democratic China should seek to act as a responsible major power contributing toward peace and development in the Asian Pacific region by approaching others in a spirit of equality and fairness. In Hong Kong and Macao, we should support the freedoms that already exist. With respect to Taiwan, we should declare our commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy and then, negotiating as equals, and ready to compromise, seek a formula for peaceful unification. We should approach disputes in the national-minority areas of China with an open mind, seeking ways to find a workable framework within which all ethnic and religious groups can flourish. We should aim ultimately at a federation of democratic communities of China.
19. Truth in Reconciliation. We should restore the reputations of all people, including their family members, who suffered political stigma in the political campaigns of the past or who have been labeled as criminals because of their thought, speech, or faith. The state should pay reparations to these people. All political prisoners and prisoners of conscience must be released. There should be a Truth Investigation Commission charged with finding the facts about past injustices and atrocities, determining responsibility for them, upholding justice, and, on these bases, seeking social reconciliation.
China, as a major nation of the world, as one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and as a member of the UN Council on Human Rights, should be contributing to peace for humankind and progress toward human rights. Unfortunately, we stand today as the only country among the major nations that remains mired in authoritarian politics. Our political system continues to produce human rights disasters and social crises, thereby not only constricting China’s own development but also limiting the progress of all of human civilization. This must change, truly it must. The democratization of Chinese politics can be put off no longer.
Accordingly, we dare to put civic spirit into practice by announcing Charter 08. We hope that our fellow citizens who feel a similar sense of crisis, responsibility, and mission, whether they are inside the government or not, and regardless of their social status, will set aside small differences to embrace the broad goals of this citizens’ movement. Together we can work for major changes in Chinese society and for the rapid establishment of a free, democratic, and constitutional country. We can bring to reality the goals and ideals that our people have incessantly been seeking for more than a hundred years, and can bring a brilliant new chapter to Chinese civilization.
1970-1971 Trainee, Chinese National Sports & Athletics Commission Youth Training Camp. Member, Chinese National Basketball Team (“B” Team”), Beijing. Member, Guangzhou Military District Basketball Team. 国家体委青少年集训营，中国国家青年队， 广州军区篮球队
1971-1973 Member, Jilin Provincial Basketball Team. Member, Shenyang Military District Basketball Team. Soldier (rank equivalent to private), 39th Army. 吉林省篮球队，沈阳军区篮球队，三十九军士兵，辽宁省
1973-1979 Military officer (rank equivalent to Captain). Member, August 1st Basketball Team and Chinese National Basketball Team. 解放军军官，八一男篮队员， 中国国家男篮队员
1979-1981 Student, Beijing Institute of Physical Culture. 北京体育学院学生
1981-Present Resident of the United States of America. Citizen of the United States of America. Student, Cypress College, California. Student, Santa Monica College, California. UCLA graduate in Political Science, BA received 1986. 美国居民，美国公民，Cypress College 学生，Santa Monica College 学生， UCLA 政治科学系本科毕业生
TRAVEL ABROAD 世界游历
1973 Pakistan. Member, Chinese Armed Forces Basketball Team. 出访巴基斯坦， 八一男篮
1974 Iran. Member, Chinese Armed Forces Basketball Team. 出访伊朗， 八一男篮
1975 Mexico, Argentina, Japan. Represented Chinese National Team (“B” Team) in tournament with Mexico and the United States. 出访，（经日本），墨西哥，阿根廷， 中国男篮（八一队代表）
Romania. Member, Chinese Armed Forces Basketball Team. 出访罗马尼亚， 八一男篮
1976 Afghanistan. Games in celebration of Afghanistan National Day. Member, Chinese National Basketball Team. 出访阿富汗，中国男篮（八一队代表）
France. Member, Chinese Armed Forces Basketball Team. 出访法国， 八一男篮
1977 Turkey. Member, Chinese National Basketball Team (“B” Team). 出访土耳其， 中国男篮 （武汉军区男篮代表）
1978 Syria. World Armed Forces Basketball Championship. Member, Chinese Armed Forces Basketball Team. 叙利亚，世界军队锦标赛， 八一男篮
Philippines. 8th Men’s World Basketball Championship. Member, Chinese National Basketball Team. 菲律宾， 第八届世界男篮锦标赛，中国国家男篮
United States of America. Member, Chinese National Basketball Team. 出访美国， 中国国家男篮
Thailand. 8th Asian Games. Member, Chinese National Basketball Team. 曼谷，泰国， 第八届亚运会， 中国国家男篮
HONORS 荣誉
1974 First Place, Chinese National Basketball Championships. 全国联赛第一名
1975 First place, 3rd Chinese National Games. 第三届全运会第一名
Merit Citation Class III, awarded by the People’s Liberation Army Delegation to the 3rd Chinese National Games. 三等功，第三届全运会
1978 First Place, 8th Asian Games. 第八届亚运会第一名
Merit Citation Class II, awarded by the Chinese National Sports & Athletics Commission for 8th Asian Games. 二等功， 第八届亚运会
1981 Awarded the designation of Master Sportsman by the Chinese National Sports & Athletics Commission. 授“运动健将”称号
1983 Dean’s honor list, Santa Monica College. 校长荣誉名单榜人
1987 Awarded membership in Pi Gamma Mu, UCLA. 社会科学荣誉社团榜人
1993 Wrote autobiographical book “ONE IN A BILLION”. 撰写自传故事 ”一比十亿 -- 通向自由的旅程，一个中国职篮球员的故事“ （ One in a Billion -- Journey toward Freedom， the story of a pro basketball player in China) TOP
23 大 中 小 游客 76.88.37.x 留言 2008/11/27 12:25 倍可亲(backchina.com) support Mao's Kitchen. This is American. Their name did not offend anybody. Is their right to have that name. TOP
Human beings are spiritual existence experiencing, creating a physical world. Human beings are not physical beings merely breathing to deceive themselves in a spiritual illusion. A free man belongs to the former. The despots and slaves belong to the latter. --- Kai Chen
The stark contrast between a free being in the Western world and a slave in China can be described as "a spiritual being vs. a material/physical being".
When a Chinese comments on another person, thin or fat, clothing, looks, rich or poor, education, fame, power are usually the subjects and the only content. When I was an athlete in China, people and the party-state only saw and cared about my physical existence and athletic performance. I was much like a race-horse, nothing more, nothing less. No one cared about who I was, what I thought, how I felt and my spiritual yearning for meaning in my life. Today the Chinese athletes are still experiencing the same as I was. They are tools and pictures to be used, maintained, enslaved, abused and abandoned.
Unfortunately, most of us athletes in China also treat ourselves with indignity and view ourselves as sub-human. The very fact that the Chinese athletes often marry to each other demonstrates my point. The very fact that people like Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi came into being shows you that the Chinese athletes have very little choice, due to their isolation and lack of knowledge about the outside world, in how they live and how they form families. The appearances, wealth, education, family background, etc. often determine how a person chooses a mate. Values, belief, personality, integrity, intelligence often are not in the Chinese people's language. The tall needs to be matched with the tall. The good looking needs to be matched with the good-looking. The fat needs to be matched with the fat. The small needs to be matched with the small..., etc. etc... Everything is for looks from the majority's point of view. Everything is physical and material. Everything is for the collective's tastes and interests. Individuals disappear. Moral character of a person disappears. True love disappears. Thus Yao Ming. Thus Wang Zhizhi.... No wonder they are taller than others: Their parents had not much choice anyway in China, being athletes themselves.
I dream that one day China can truly be free and the Chinese athletes can truly be free. They will no longer be some caged animals knowing only their trade under the total control of the party-state. They will be free to choose not only their sports (or no sports at all), but their mates, their places of living, their future.... I know it is difficult to be free from the enslaving Chinese sports culture and establishment. But indeed it is possible. I, as one, indeed freed myself from the dehumanizing and suffocating sports environment in China. And I sincerely hope all the Chinese athletes will be free one day as well.
真是令人難以容忍與接受，洛杉矶竟然有來自北京的中文教師(He was born in 1964 in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution, taught Chinese at the University of Beijing and emigrated to the United States in 1989 during a student movement striving for cultural freedom.)開設“毛的廚房”，而餐廳內更佈滿了文革時代的各種海報，例如，“全世界無產階級聯合起來打倒美帝國主義”、“熱愛祖國，熱愛人民，擁護中國共產黨” 、“毛澤東畫像”等。
那位開設“毛的廚房”的北京人，是否能夠明白在美國這塊自由的土地上，你怎麼可以使用代表反美國自由精神(Spirit of Liberty)的“毛的廚房”的名字呢？是否能夠明白在美國這塊自由的土地上，你沒有權利在道德上從事任何反美國自由精神的活動？是否能夠明白“毛的廚房”的名字，根本就是代表對人類“愛、正義、道德、良心、人的尊嚴、自由、平等、民主、人權、法治、平安、 喜樂、和平與幸福”等價值理念的污辱與踐踏呢？
70 million innocent lives perished under Mao’s regime and the atrocities continue today in China. Persecutions of Falungong practitioners, Christians, Tibet Buddhist monks, human rights activists have been intensified before, during and after the Beijing Olympics.
We call upon all conscientious people in the world to mobilize and combat the increasing infiltration, encroachment and growing corruption by the Chinese communist regime onto American political, social, moral and civic landscape, and to assert American values of freedom, justice and human dignity.
These communist regime's activities include providing propaganda material and finance for the Chinese language schools in American to brainwash American-born youths, infiltration, bribery and intimidation of Chinese language media in America, establishing government funded "Confucian Institutes" world wide, encouraging civic moral corruption and immoral establishments such as "Mao's Kitchen" in the Los Angeles, manufacturing Mao's t-shirts and other Mao-related commodities, holding Mao's birthday commemorations, etc. In glorifying and commercializing Mao's (the biggest mass murderer in human history) images throughout America and the world, our very souls as dignified human beings are being degenerated and demoralized. A massive invasion of human decency and basic humanity is now taking place world wide under the government funding and meticulous planning of the communist regime in China. We as conscientious individuals must act to counter such insidious and pernicious scheme.
I will paste the audience response to "My Way" here. I hope you will be inspired by the positive comments and uplifting sentiment reflected by these powerful messages.
Your message moved me deeply. I feel our hearts and souls are intimately connected. I want to thank you for taking the time to write this message.
Your observation on how the Chinese athletes react after they win is right to the point. And it is exactly how I felt when I saw the Chinese athletes won the gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. They have been extracted from their own families when they were very young, for the sake of legitimizing and stabilizing a criminal communist regime. Their relations with their own families are warped and distorted. It is much like the Stockholm Syndrome. The victims start to identify themselves with the kidnappers, internalizing a perverted, criminal mindset in the process after some period of time of captivity. The Chinese people now are exactly in that kind of mindset.
Mao's Kitchen (three restaurants) in Los Angeles is only one such an example of the Stockholm Syndrome. I plan to have a demonstration in December to bring this issue to the forefront of American people's consciousness. And I hope the Chinese people also learn something about their own sickness and perversion.
My forum - Kai Chen Forum has been moved out from Youpai.org to a new location: www.kaichenforum.com. I welcome you to visit my forum and post your comment on my forum. I want to thank you again for being my comrade in our fight for freedom and human dignity.
Best wishes to you and your family. Sincerely yours. Kai Chen
America is not about economics, not about politics, not about science either.... America, to the end, is about a tireless pursuit of eternal values of mankind -- Truth, Justice, Liberty and Human Dignity. Without such a pursuit, America will lose its own unique meaning. --- Kai Chen
This morning after Obama was elected as the next president of the United States, I have many thoughts. I knew MacCain would lose this election for he was never up to the challenge in the post USSR world. (He came from a privileged background and only those years in Vietnam's prison had taught him a little about himself and reality. I actually voted for Palin for she is a self-made woman.)
Without the stark contrast of USSR, many in the world have soon forgot the horror of socialism/communism inflicted upon the world population by the left. The lingering romantic utopia presented by the leftist ideologies now starts to make a come back, manifested by this election. It seems America needs to relive the horror of socialism to understand the consequences of their own choices.
The incremental loss of focus for many Americans started from the end of the cold war and the passing of the Reagan years. Self-made man like Reagan is hard to come by nowadays. The ability to articulate American values and uniqueness has not been manifested by anyone for many years. President Bush's visit to Beijing for the Summer Olympics 2008 was only one more such example of moral confusion on the part of American conservatives. Suddenly it is as though some form of socialism/communism, like that in China, is an acceptable form of governance. In this sense, the insidious Chinese communist regime has successfully invaded/infiltrated America, in the spiritual and moral realms.
As an immigrant, I came to America not just because of the economic opportunities, not just for the fresh air and a peaceful living. I came to America to express myself fully, to unleash my creative impulses/ability, to create, to construct, to produce, to communicate, to rejoice.... I came to America not for some government handout, for some social benefit at the cost of others, for the so-called redistribution of wealth by high government taxations, for seeking out an omnipotent savior in the government to fulfill my sense of existence. I came to America for the freedom it promises to all of us. I came to America so I could fulfill my life with meaning and accomplishment defined only by God.
I deplore the lack of genuine politicians nowadays in America - those with vision and values like President Reagan. Now I can see only some second stringers with no vision and values, only ambition for power and fame. When the economic woes struck recently, somehow government has become the only source that people look up to for solutions. No one, absolutely no one has come forth to articulate about the fundamentals of this great country - the moral characters of American people. The unique moral characters of American people is really what attracted me to America in the first place. Individualism, creativity, audacity to walk a path no one has walked, self-made men, open free market for talent selection, strong faith in goodness and God, government as servant, not as savior/master..., all of these and more, composed the exceptional unique characters of American people.
I came to America because I was already American when I was in China. I only came home to materialize my spiritual and moral pursuit. I have fulfilled my American dream and more, much more than what I anticipated/expected: I live as a free being.
Beijing Olympics, Obama, Mao's Kitchen, 2008 election, all are bundled together to give me a sense of a moral and spiritual crisis in America. Is America lost? Do I still live in my beloved America where all the oppressed people yearn to come from all over the world? My weakness tells me that I want a better man to emerge to take the helms from those small beings that hijacked this great country. But my strength and convictions told me that I can and have to do my duty to bring this country on the right track. I, as an immigrant, will have to tell the native-born Americans what this country is about, seeing them wandering into dangerous woods of big government with small, slave-like beings all around yearning for some handout, yearning to be saved by a God-like state.
"Why do you not send someone here, God, to save me from the misery and despair?" Someone asks God. "Indeed I have done that, my child." God answers, "I have sent YOU."
May God bless you and this great country of America. Best. Kai Chen 陈凯
70 million innocent lives perished under Mao’s regime and the atrocities continue today in China. Persecutions of Falungong practitioners, Christians, Tibet Buddhist monks, human rights activists have been intensified before, during and after the Beijing Olympics.
We call upon all conscientious people in the world to mobilize and combat the increasing infiltration, encroachment and growing corruption by the Chinese communist regime onto American political, social, moral and civic landscape, and to assert American values of freedom, justice and human dignity.
These communist regime's activities include providing propaganda material and finance for the Chinese language schools in American to brainwash American-born youths, infiltration, bribery and intimidation of Chinese language media in America, establishing government funded "Confucian Institutes" world wide, encouraging civic moral corruption and immoral establishments such as "Mao's Kitchen" in the Los Angeles, manufacturing Mao's t-shirts and other Mao-related commodities, holding Mao's birthday commemorations, etc. In glorifying and commercializing Mao's (the biggest mass murderer in human history) images throughout America and the world, our very souls as dignified human beings are being degenerated and demoralized. A massive invasion of human decency and basic humanity is now taking place world wide under the government funding and meticulous planning of the communist regime in China. We as conscientious individuals must act to counter such insidious and pernicious scheme.
The poison of Mao has profound and lasting impact on the world. The reason is two-fold: One is that China is still under the thumb of a communist regime and very little information about Mao's crime during his reign of terror is collected and documented, unlike Hitler's crimes were after the WWII. Another is the moral corruption/confusion of the Chinese themselves and the Western leftists. Both of these groups have an infatuation/worship toward absolute power from a God-like government. Mao's Kitchen in Los Angeles personified both the poison itself and the reasons behind it.
Today The Reason TV in Los Angeles interviewed me about Mao's image and its impact on the world. Che Guevara is another figure Reason TV wants to demystify.
After the interview, we drove to Mao's Kitchen in Los Angeles on Melrose. A shop right by the side of Mao's Kitchen was selling T-shirts with Mao's image on it. I was amazed and outraged by what I saw. The biggest mass murderer in the human history is openly celebrated/mystified/revered in America. Very sad indeed. The outrage from my heart is generated not only from my past memories of Mao's crimes against humanity, but mostly from the indifference toward and tolerance of such an evil figure by majority Chinese and some Americans. Just imagine what would happen if Hitler's image were openly in display and utilized in commence to make money.
To equate tolerance of difference with tolerance of evil shows you how corrupt the Chinese mindset is, and how confused the leftists' mindset is. Even in our daily lives, moral decisions and choices face us at every corner. We must have moral courage and conviction to make a judgment toward many occurrences every moment. Lack of such moral conviction and courage, and evasion of such judgment will doom our own mindset into a meaningless stupor. Long period of such escapes from moral choices in our daily lives will degenerate our conscience and eventually throw us into the man-eating state of zombies. Degeneration comes with long time misuse and no-use of our moral faculties. When finally and suddenly something big happened, we would be like deer in the headlight, paralyzed and helpless.
I hope more and more Chinese will wake up from their moral stupor to find their moral courage and conviction, to find their true humanity. I wish with what I can do and will do, people would start to see that it is indeed possible to be free and happy.
To combat the increasing infiltration, encroachment and growing corruption by the Chinese communist regime onto American political, social, moral and civic landscape, and to assert American values of freedom, justice and human dignity.
These communist regime’s activities include providing propaganda material and finance for the Chinese language schools in American to brainwash American-born youths, infiltration, bribery and intimidation of Chinese language media in America, establishing government funded “Confucian Institutes” world wide, encouraging civic moral corruption and immoral establishments such as “Mao’s Kitchen” in the Los Angeles, manufacturing Mao’s t-shirts and other Mao-related commodities, holding Mao’s birthday commemorations, etc. In glorifying and commercializing Mao’s (the biggest mass murderer in human history) images throughout America and the world, our very souls as dignified human beings are being degenerated and demoralized. A massive invasion of human decency and basic humanity is now taking place world wide under the government funding and meticulous planning of the communist regime in China. We as conscientious individuals must act to counter such insidious and pernicious scheme.
Time:
12:00 noon – 3:00 pm, Friday (or Saturday, lunch time) December 26 (or 27), 2008 (Mao’s birthday), in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre in 1989.
Locations:
“Mao’s Kitchen” Diners in Melrose, San Gabriel and Venice. Demonstration to be held simultaneously at all locations.
Means:
Using cartoons, images, portraits and slogans linking Mao, Hitler and Stalin (Pol Pot, Castro, Hu Chiming, Bin Laden, Kim, etc), demonstration is to be held by the sidewalks in front of the diners.
Participants:
1. All anti-communist individuals. 2. Falungong practitioners. 3. Christian groups (such as Hacienda Christian Fellowship with Pastor Eddie Romero) 4. Libertarian groups (Reason TV, Magazine) 5. Conservative groups as well as liberal groups (i.e. Freedom Center) 6. Jewish, Vietnamese, Cuban, Korean, Iranian ethnic groups. 7. Chinese democratic groups. 8. Taiwan progressive groups.
Media and Police notification:
Various Chinese and English media need to be informed about the event and police departments need to be notified prior to the “Tidal Wave Project”.
Contact:
Kai Chen (elecshadow@aol.com) ----------------------------------------------------------------------
70 million innocent lives perished under Mao’s regime and the atrocities continue today in China. Persecutions of Falungong practitioners, Christians, Tibet Buddhist monks, human rights activists have been intensified before, during and after the Beijing Olympics.
We call upon all conscientious people in the world to mobilize and combat the increasing infiltration, encroachment and growing corruption by the Chinese communist regime onto American political, social, moral and civic landscape, and to assert American values of freedom, justice and human dignity.
These communist regime's activities include providing propaganda material and finance for the Chinese language schools in American to brainwash American-born youths, infiltration, bribery and intimidation of Chinese language media in America, establishing government funded "Confucian Institutes" world wide, encouraging civic moral corruption and immoral establishments such as "Mao's Kitchen" in the Los Angeles, manufacturing Mao's t-shirts and other Mao-related commodities, holding Mao's birthday commemorations, etc. In glorifying and commercializing Mao's (the biggest mass murderer in human history) images throughout America and the world, our very souls as dignified human beings are being degenerated and demoralized. A massive invasion of human decency and basic humanity is now taking place world wide under the government funding and meticulous planning of the communist regime in China. We as conscientious individuals must act to counter such insidious and pernicious scheme.
Yao Ming has to choose between slavery and freedom. Hesitation with confusion is the biggest enemy of an athlete. Yao Ming's basketball career is intrinsically tied to his moral choices. He must realize/understand that. There is no such thing as a virgin whore. --- Kai Chen
I have always maintained that Yao Ming cannot function as a basketball player, while being a slave for China and wanting to be free in NBA. He must make a moral choice very soon. He is being pulled apart by the Chinese political machine on one side and his yearning for freedom on the other.
If he does not have the courage to make the necessary choice, his career will be over soon. No one can sustain the pull of the evil forces while functioning as a dedicated basketball player. I know it. Watch my DVD (My Way), you will understand.
To compare Mu with Chamberlain is like to compare the shoddy Chinese school building in Sichuan with the Empire State Building in New York, is like to compare the fake with the real, is like to compare evil despotism with freedom/democracy, is like to compare nothingness with existence. Such a comparison only shows one's intellectual and moral confusion and corruption. --- Kai Chen
[size=18]没有比较，只有对照。 There is no comparison between Mu and Chamberlain. There is only contrast. [/size]
Dear Visitors:
Yao Ming has commented that Mu was like Wilt Chamberlain in China. This is a gross exaggeration and a total untruth about Mu. It is an insult to the great Wilt Chamberlain.
Chamberlain was not only tall, he was very athletic and had great an individual character with dignity. Mu was not such at all and had none of Chamberlain's ability. Mu was never a starter in the team as Chamberlain always was. Physically Mu was abnormal with a condition called gigantism while Chamberlain was a healthy normal person. Mu was only tall and that maybe the only commonality he had with Chamberlain.
Mu had no individual dignity with principles. He once threw a game to his old Jinan Military Team when we played in the National Championships in Xian, 1976. He had repeatedly betrayed basketball. He often used his basketball to bargain with authority for a little material benefit, such as joining the party, promotion, housing, marriage, etc... Beside sometimes bursting into a childish/infantile temper tantrum, he exhibited no courage against authority. To me he was only a pathetic victim of the Chinese despotism/tyranny. And he had always played the authorities' games.
We used to protect Mu when he was out, for people in China treated him as a freak, a deformed animal. They threw stones at him just for fun. We often had to chase those hooligans and beat them up after they called Mu names and humiliated him. But later it was Mu that had made me lose all respect for him.
In my years with Mu, he was humiliated many times and sent back to his original unit from the August 1st Team. The reason was that the authorities didn't think his appearance/awkwardness was good for China. In their eyes, he would lose face for China. But eventually they had to admit him just to give the team an edge. But he did nothing to protest, to fight back, to show some dignity and self-respect. Rather, he was thankful for the authorities and he played their games without a bit of repugnance. How could he endure the utter humiliation? That was beyond me.
When Yao Ming made a comparison like this, I only feel a great injustice, a great deception done to all the people who have no knowledge of the history. Besides, it is a great insult to my basketball hero -- Wilt Chamberlain.
Those who are anti-communist may not be good people. But those who are pro-communist are never good people.
Those who are pro-American may not be good people. But those who are anti-American are never good people.
Using "anti-communism" as some kind of pretense to escape one's individual responsibility, individual integrity, individual moral judgment, and to excuse one's own moral confusion, corruption and cowardice in one's every day life is a wide-spread pathological/corrupt phenomenon in Chinese families and organizations. Moral clarity and courage can only be manifested through an individual's judgment and behavior via the individual's every day moral choices. To maintain a consistent moral standard toward one's own family and friends is much more telling of one's content of character than one's attitude toward his/her enemies.
I have never believed that rotten materials can be utilized to maintain and sustain the moral foundation of any just system/society. --- Kai Chen
Many I have met within the Chinese community manifest a disturbing but prevalent phenomenon -- they are tougher toward the known enemy (the communist regime in China) than the moral corruption and confusion existed in the Chinese families and organizations. Many times I sense that "anti-communist regime in China" has often become the Chinese pretense to excuse their own moral confusion, corruption and cowardice toward the wrong doings among their own family members and friends.
They simply, by a cultural habit, want to sweep everything dirty under the rug in their own families and organizations, just to maintain a superficial facade of calm. Some even pity those who raped and abused them in their own families, rather than standing up to them and drawing a moral line between the good and evil. This Mr. Q's self deceptive device to cheat oneself into a self-imposed moral superiority by forgetting and forgiving evil-doers before they pay the price and offer apologies is such a pathetic/nauseating one that simply thinking of it makes me want to throw up.
Yet, this sickness in the Chinese families and organizations persists in a most tenacious fashion, many times not being even detected by the perpetrators/victims themselves, till tremendous harms are done.
So ask yourself in your every day life whether you make good and moral choices most of the time. And only by doing that, a better future is possible. Only by doing that, the Chinese can truly start to break free from a self-imposed, paralyzing sick culture of despotism/nihilism toward a more normal, healthier society.
None of the American founders was a professional revolutionary, depending on the revolution for their livelihood. None of the Chinese and Russian revolutionaries was NOT a professional agitator. They all depended on "Revolutions" for their livelihood. American founders used violence to defend human freedom and dignity. Chinese and Russian revolutionaries used violence to establish absolute tyranny/despotism. American founders established checks and balances within the government. Chinese and Russian revolutionaries entered the Forbidden City and the Kremlin to fortify their despotic power/legitimacy.
In today's Chinese "democratic movement" circle, people still are unable to escape the corrupt mindset of the "professional revolutionaries". Pursuing personal interests, status and power, not the eternal moral values of humanity, is still the first and foremost on the mind of most "anti-communist" revolutionaries. --- Kai Chen
In my association and experiences with most people in overseas "democratic movement" circle (Falungong is an exception), I have encountered many Chinese revolutionaries who know nothing about life or making a living besides "Revolution/Democratic Movement". The corrupt and vicious cycle of Chinese dynasties continues. "Revolution" has simply become another word for many of the Chinese activists as "making a living".
All of their activities are simply motivated by their need to satisfy their interests and power-thirst. Moral and value-oriented pursuits are simply NOT in their mind at all. They treat everyone just like the communist regime does, as tools and corrupt partners in their pursuit of power/status. Somehow many of them do not even realize that there is corruption, human defect and down-right evil in their daily conduct. They set out to dictate/educate others as how to defeat the communist regime without realizing that there is basically NO difference between themselves and those in power in China.
I will have to say that Falungong practitioners are much more value-oriented and morally conscious in their own daily lives. A breath of fresh air in the toxic/polluted Chinese cultural environment indeed, as far as I can sense. Surely no one is perfect. But the orientation/direction one heads makes the essential difference. Positive or negative, value pursuit or interest pursuit, self-restraint or suppression of others, moral/ethical or corrupt/confused..., these are 180 degree departures.
Surely I cannot demand everyone to act according to a moral code. But I do indeed demand myself to act according to the eternal human values: Truth, Justice, Liberty, and Human Dignity. I urge all of you to reflect constantly with these values on your own conduct daily, for only the righteous people can succeed in accomplishing righteous goals.
In a society without individual identity, "people" is only another phrase for "government". In China, if you replace all the phrase "people" with the phrase "government", you can clearly see the nature of the Chinese society. "Serve the people" actually means "Serve the government". --- Kai Chen
In all the despotic tyrannies, "people" is a holy word and worshipped by all. But if you think a little deeper, you will see that the word "people" is only synonymous with the word "government". In those societies, the first task for the despots to stabilize their regimes is always to replace the word "government" with the word "people".
Semantic deception serves a tyranny very well. Today in China, still very few people can see this truth. And somehow the phrase "people", actually the phrase "government", is still like God to be worshipped. If the Chinese will ever wake up from their spiritual and intellectual stupor, they can finally see that they are the biggest victims of their own deceptive language. Then and maybe then, they can finally muster some courage and clarity to say:
"The hell with "people". I have had enough of this bull shit. Fuck "people"! I want my own liberty and dignity."
Serve the people = Serve the government
People's Republic of China = Government's Republic of China
People's Liberation Army = Government's Liberation Army
People's Court = Government's Court
People's police = Government's police
To give just a few examples. Maybe when you finally see what I see, you can finally start to establish some individual identity of yourself. That is the true beginning of freedom/liberty in China. That is the true foundation of any meaningful democracy.
From a collective identity (nation, race, class, sex...) to an individual identity is a progress from superficial to substantial, from a physical existence to a spiritual existence, from an evasion of individual responsibility to a conviction of taking individual responsibility. The content of personal character is the only criterion to judge a person's worth. --- Kai Chen
Today I attended a Freedom Center event. Ward Connerly gave a spirited speech and then he had a book signing. His new book's title is "Lessons from My Uncle James -- Beyond skin color to the content of our character".
I have followed Ward Connerly in his fight to abolish Affirmative Action during his stay in the UC Regency. His courage and conviction has moved and impressed me. Throughout his crusade Ward Connerly exhibited an extraordinary personal integrity and character. He is no doubt one of my heroes. I hope you read his book and absorb moral strength from it.
Skin color, nationality, age and gender should no longer play a role in judge an individual's character and worth. We came along too far to backtrack. Obama, as I asked Ward of his opinion on the election, will definitely prolong the insidious policy of Affirmative Action, therefore backtrack to the old policies of judging a person's worth by his appearance.
I urge you to use your vote to defeat Obama and advance this great country into the future.
Olympic Freedom T-shirt Global Movement has ended with the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. But the profound impact this movement generated will last for a long time to come. I admire the moral courage of Mr. Hu Jia and Mr. Qi Zhiyong for their conscientious actions to bring the spirit of this movement throughout China and the world. --- Kai Chen
Demand children to serve the adults, demand next generation to serve the previous generation, demand all the people to serve their ancestors, emperors, country.... Such a "backward" mentality causes the Chinese children to have become the biggest victims of abuses not only from the despots/despotism, but from an entrenched despotic culture shared by everyone. With such an evil mentality, China can only face its end. Depart from such a mentality, China can possibly have a future, and finally, hope. --- Kai Chen
I pity Chinese children, not just in China, but everywhere in the world. They are the most oppressed people on earth. This oppression is not just from their government, from their schools, but mostly from an evil mentality manifested by their own peers, their own families, and themselves as well.
Filial Piety is probably most representative among all the oppressing elements. In China and a Chinese mind, children are the most enslaved by the culture and adults. They have no freedom to choose their own lives, for anything they choose must have a goal to benefit the parents, the families, the country, the government, their ancestors' face, and all others. All in all, they must think of all others before they think about themselves - what they want to do with their own lives.
I always say that China's culture can be defined as a regressive atavism. Atavism (返祖现象) is a phenomenon that an organism retreats toward past from what God intends it(toward future and hope). It is the most reactionary phenomenon in human social development. Yet China falls exactly into this category.
No wonder many Chinese children nowadays commit suicide to escape such a hopeless and futureless life. If they don't kill themselves, the Chinese society and families will somehow manage to kill them off anyway. Even if they somehow manage to survive the onslaught, they often come out deformed, warped, drugged, handicapped, not able to be independent, not courageous enough to face the nature/world alone. A typical Chinese student, no matter where in the world, is often the most educated, most cowardice, most uninformed, most un-original, most un-creative, most morally corrupt, most psychologically abnormal, most unimaginative, most conforming, most obedient/subservient, most docile, most boring, most mediocre, most nihilistic, most reactionary, most unsure, most unhappy, most negative, most self-destructive creature one can ever witness.
Many Chinese children will not leave their parents at home even in their 20s and 30s. Some will stay forever with their parents, in the name of filial piety, not knowing such an arrangement is most damaging to their own children. There seems no point of separation between children and their parents in a Chinese family, emotionally, financially, psychologically. The children forever remain infantile in front of their parents, just as the people in China forever remain infantile to a dominant parental government.
Just as a song in America indicates: "Someone wants to abuse you. Someone wants to be abused.", this vicious circle continues. It is up to you the individual to break the cycle. Are you ready? Are you brave enough? Are you willing enough? Are you wise enough? My prayer is with you.
The Chinese official media had an exceptionally possitive coverage over Mu's death. It praised Mu with many undeserved comments and embellished his life with many lies. To me, it only has a self-revealing effect as far as the Chinese society goes. Yao Ming's comparison of Mu with Chamberlain also subconsciously plays into the official scheme of comparing a terminally ill society with a healthy society. Mu's gigantism is only a perfectly prophetic analogy of what China is today - a society with an incurable gigantism. The abnormal uncontrolled growth eventually will soon break down the weak social structures of communist government. China's end is near much the same as Mu's gigantism led to his early death. --- Kai Chen
I have long compared China with Mu, even when I was playing with Mu in the August 1st Team and China's National Team.
A society with a tumor in its brain that leads to uncontrolled growth outside and uncontrolled breakdown inside. Nothing describes China better than a tumor in the brain which causes a societal gigantism. With all the structural apparatus remains the same under Mao's communism, China today has no necessary political, social, spiritual and psychological structure to sustain an out of control economic growth. The breakdown is coming quickly. How can a cordial-vascular system that can only sustain a 100 pound person now struggle to sustain 500 pound person?? Operating in such a condition surely will lead to disaster.
When all the "angry youths" cheer for China and demean those who tell the truth, they only have an illusion of a giant physical shape they take as a pride. They refuse to see the pathological, abnormal condition of gigantism caused by the tumor growing fast in the brain.
When the breakdown comes, don't be surprised. I warned you.
Mu died. He was my teammate for six years or more (from the National Training Camp to August 1st Team to the National Team in 1978). One time we even had a fist fight on the court in a training session. He died at age 59. The ironic thing is that, unlike the time when Coach Qian died, I can't find any words of value to comment on him. His life was an example of lives under despotic nihilism. In his life, nothing seemed to have belonged to him or up to his own free will. His height, his fame, his marriage, his promotion, etc. all were up to others and the government. He was a victim and slave of his own fate. Even his death is now being used by the official media to promote the government's agenda. Sad, isn't it? --- Kai Chen ------------------------------------------------------------
[size=18]官方媒体对穆铁柱死讯与生平的报道 Link to Official Chinese media: [/size]
I learned about Mu's death early in the morning (9/14/2008) from another (August 1st Team) teammate of mine. I watched the official Chinese media about his death and his life. I was in some of the photos they had shown in the video clip.
Sadly, I had very little emotional reaction to his death. Am I too cold and cruel? No. I don't think that my reaction to his death is a sign of my cruelty. Yet as I dwell deep into the origin of my emotion, I realized how meaningless Mu's life was and how nihilistic his life was about. His free will made no imprint on his own life if there was any free will on his part. Nothing was up to him at all. He merely existed in a form of slavery and nothingness to entertain a crowd of zombies/vampires. I had only pity and a bit of sadness toward him.
When we were teammates, I occasionally witnessed his rebellion against the inhuman system, throwing temper tantrum toward the authorities. I often enjoyed that. But it was the fact that one time he threw a game to the Jinan Military District, showed me that he had no principles and morals. Everything was interest-driven to him. Satisfying his physical needs/saving face was the only thing he was concerned about. He was his own worst enemy. He lived a life of humiliation with no dignity, partly because of himself, because of his own valuelessness. He bought into the official nihilism and allowed only the government and others to define him.
He started with nothingness. He went through nothingness. He served nothingness. He was defined by nothingness. Now even after he is dead, he is continuously being used by the official nothingness. He, as I now view him, is the typical representative of nothingness promoted by the Chinese despotic tyranny.
I pasted a link above and here for you to judge his life yourself. This is the official view of him from China.
By the way, have you noticed that Mu's forehead grew out two horns, a sign of out of control Gigantism. But the official conclusion is that he died of heart failure. If the heart failure was not from the Gigantism, I don't know what was. The lie continues.
Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:52 am
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