Miss Tan had a very simple dream: she wanted to leave China. When she married Mark, a UK national, she thought her dreams had come true. However, Mark had other plans.
Two years after getting married to Mark, Tan was forced to get a divorce after she spent the majority of their marriage by herself.
Tan met Mark online in July 2011, and the two met a year later when Mark came to visit her in China in November 2012. It must have been a good visit, because the two got married that same month.. Neither could communicate with each other well, and Tan later said she carelessly married Mark in order to leave China.
However, Mark left in December 2012 because his visa expired, leaving Tan, who lived in Liuzhou, on her own. Then the pair began fighting and holding grudges against each other, and grew distant
When seeking a divorce from Mark in June of this year, Tan ran into problems because her husband was not present. To process the divorce, the courts required Mark’s visa and marriage certificate.
However, Mark finally showed up and agreed to the divorce.
Tan was never able to fulfill her dream of leaving China. It is not known if she is now looking for foreigners for other opportunities.
Are you perplexed by China? Still don’t know what to make of the “Chinese Dream” proposed by President Xi Jinping? Why not have everything explained to you by a foreigner?
That’s what a video series called China Review hopes to do. Though it is still very new, China Review has established a panel of experts ranging from diplomats to consultants to help explain the intricacies of Chinese government policies to a captive English-speaking audience.
Though the interviewees all speak in English no matter where their foreign home is located, China Review is readily accessible to a Chinese audience with provided Chinese subtitles. The Nanfang found it after it was forwarded by Sina Media.
One of the recent episodes of China Review featured Sameh El-Shahat, a representative of UK-based risk management consultancy Huayu (literally meaning “reputation of China”). When asked the difference between a Chinese dream and a “Western dream”, El-Shahat explained:
A lot of people have made the comparison between the Chinese dream and the American dream. They are two very different things. One is based on invading other countries. Okay? One is based upon a universal view of the world. This is the American dream. The Chinese dream is different. It’s… it’s… the Chinese—the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people. Right? It’s about the Chinese people doing what is good for themselves.
El-Shahat then describes what can only be summarized as a “win-win” situation:
But the history of the last 40 years has shown that when the Chinese do what is best for themselves, they also end up helping the world. So by having a dream, the Chinese are unintentionally going to share the dream with the rest of the world.
While El-Shahat began talking about the “American dream”, he continues his explanation by talking about the “Western dream”:
The big dream over the last four, five hundred years has been the Western dream. But the Western dream (touches face), its origins are not maybe the most peaceful. It started in colonialism. The Chinese dream is not going to be based on colonialism because China is going to be the first great power to have been a victim of colonialism, and not a colonial power itself. The dream already starts in a good place. So, it’s a different kind of dream.
El-Shahat reserves some key praise for current President Xi Jinping:
And it’s a dream that is needed, because if you can not dream of China as a foreigner, you can not spend more money on Chinese products, you will not do more business with the Chinese. Because China is not so big; it’s very size makes it even more suspicious. How can a country this big not have a dream? So he (Xi Jinping) was right.
Even better, El-Shahat says the “Chinese dream” is already being shared:
The Chinese dream has already started in many ways, if you think about it. In the last forty years, China has taken four, five hundred million people out of poverty. Isn’t this a dream? It will never happen again in the history of humanity. Those five hundred million people caused enough growth in China to trigger growth all around the world. China has been the engine of the world together with America for the last forty years. Without China, the West will not have developed the way it has. So, China has already been sharing the dream.
The world has changed. We’ve just watched an entire—let’s call it the “Washington Consensus”—has collapsed. You know, we’ve had the economic crisis, there’s no growth in the world. The world is not well. Why? Because of a particular vision of doing business has been shown to be wrong. That vision has been.. it’s a zero-sum vision, you know. Somebody had to grow at the expense of somebody else. China has come and say, “hey, we can all grow together”. That’s a vision. Also, the world needs an idea. And China is a responsible player in the world. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s very interesting.
Say you’re Lionel Messi, the best football player in the world. Sure, it’s a shame you lost the chance to win the World Cup for your home country of Argentina, but you know, there’s a far more vexing problem to solve.
On a recent trip to Argentina, President Xi Jinping was presented with a #10 football jersey by President of the Senate and House Speaker Budu Dominguez. Messi was also ther at the time, and had this to say to CCTV 5:
I hope with Chairman Xi’s visit to Argentina that football can serve as the middle ground between our two countries as an era of total cooperation opens up between us. Argentina football has no reason not to help China because the biggest aspiration of all our football players is to make football the greatest sport in the world. In order to fulfill this ambition, we need to have the participation of China.
If we’re talking about the kind of football that Messi himself plays, he may have to wait awhile for China’s participation, ambitions be damned.
China did not participate in this year’s World Cup. In fact, China has only ever qualified for the World Cup in 2002 when South Korea hosted the tournament and was given an automatic qualifying position, leaving a spot open for another Asian team.
While fellow countrymen have been displaying anger at Malaysian authorities over missing flight MH370 and demanding the return of their families, one Guangzhou retailer has decided to take a softer approach.
This picture taken by Alex Lee for Reuters on May 11, 2014 shows a plush representation of the missing Malaysian flight hanging in the upper right among other stuffed animals such as bears, rabbits, and the ubiquitous “big yellow duck”.
Before the internet condemns the seller – and it no doubt will – we’ll point out that the “Chinese Dream” is open to interpretation. We don’t know the motives of this Guangzhou retailer, but he probably just wants to earn a living, right? Who’s to judge?
We can only assume that unfortunate toys regarding other similar tragedies will be sold by this retailer:
Wenzhou Collision Electric Train Set
Hindenberg Nerf Set (“Oh, the humanity you’ll enjoy!”)
Hot Wheels Kennedy Assassination: Dallas Track
9/11 Lego Set
Auschwitz Easy Bake Oven
Cherry-Flavored Edible Licorice Slavery Whips (doubles as a primer to BSDM)
Japanese Imperial Comfort Women Pillows
China Real Estate Bubbleblower Gun (new in stock)
We sincerely hope this Guangzhou retailer reconsiders his motives, and that the MH370 plush toy is no longer sold. In fact, any similar toys regarding terrible tragedies should never see the light of day.
The selling of the Malaysian airline plush toy only serves to trivialize a tragedy, drawing attention away from the families who continue to wait for any news on the missing jetliner.
Around 1,000 people, most of whom were young, took to a public square in Guangzhou to sing patriotic song “Glory! Communist Youth” on the day before the 94th anniversary of the anti-colonial May 4 demonstrations. Heavy rain does not appear to have dampened their enthusiasm for the event which is part of the “My Chinese Dream” set of activities, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.
Courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily
The term “Chinese Dream” went viral when Xi Jinping used it in his inaugural address as president. The Economist called Xi’s use of the term an attempt to unite the country as belief in Marxism dies.
“Glory! Communist Youth” was comissioned in 1987 and performed on television in 1988 in an attempt to make patriotic songs, also known as Red Songs, popular again. It was written by lyricist Hu Hongwei and composer Yu Leisheng. Yu, now 81 years old, attended the event.
The lyrics translate as:
We are the flowers of May,
Use our youth to embrace this age;
We are the rising sun,
Using our youth to kindle the future.
The torch of May 4,
Has awoken our nation.
Magnificent things,
Spur us on in our march.
Glory, communist youth!
Glory, communist youth!
Mothers, think of the communist future when you name us
We are creating this future
The May 4 demonstrations were in reaction to conditions of the Versailles Treaty such as handing Shandong Province from Germany to Japan instead of China. The movement that was the forerunner of the founding of the communist party itself became known as the May 4 movement.
His ease in front of the camera, his worldliness and his eloquence have already set Xi Jinping apart from his predecessor.
Miss Tan had a very simple dream: she wanted to leave China. When she married Mark, a UK national, she thought her dreams had come true. However, Mark had other plans.
