From: ygu@balboa.eng.uci.edu (Yifan Gu)
Subject: Re: Mongolia
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 3 Jan 93 06:07:20 GMT

 becker@shell.portal.com (CELIA TONY BECKER) writes:


>>Some of these words sound like ABC/NBC/CBS news. 

>I don't know whether to laugh or feel insulted.  A long time ago, some of
>the major networks in Minnesota used to follow me around at political
>conventions because they knew I was about to grill several politicians
>and would ask far more creative questions than they were prepared to.
>I have never been employed by any news organization that I know of.

I didn't mean that you were a journalist from ABC ..., but your words.
Since you are educated in U.S, watch TV here, you do use slimilar langrages.
And that means you think about China in some similar ways.

>>I respect the idea of democracy when I hear it from intellectuals 
>>whom I respect, but I have strong suspicions when it comes out the 
>>mouths of politicians or from ABC/BBC/NBC/CNN/CBS.

>What kind of intellectuals do you respect--only Chinese?  Have you ever

No. Actually I know few works by Chinese intellectuals. I did read a few 
books by Americans. I choose the books by making a judgement on the way
they use their langrage, which tells me a lot about the person.

An example: I discarded a book about China by "a scholar, journalist, and Asian
expert", as the book claims the authur to be, based on the the following
passage about land reform in China:(not the exact words)

  "At the time China had 300 million people, and the CCP claimed that 10%
were class enemies. So 10% were killed. The 3 million deaths was a 
conservative figure.  More probably .......".

I was amazed that the "scholar" would make such an arithmetic error
and still got his book (more than 300 pages) published. And his colloquial
langrage style tells me that he is not fit for any serious scholarship.

A clear contrst is the "Notes from China" by B.W Tuchman, which describes
China of early 70's, a time I remeber vividly, with such penetrating insight.

  
>studied U.S. or West European history?  I have studied these, as well as 
>East Asian, South Asian and Latin American history.  As for being a
>politician:  I have never held a public office or appointment.  Many years
>ago I helped rebuild the DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor--in Minnesota the 
>Democrats merged with the largest Socialist party).  However, many of 
>my mother's families have been statesmen for centuries, and frankly I'm
>darned proud of some of them.  Two members of my mother's family helped
>draft and signed the U.S. constitution, and several more gave their lives
>fighting the imperial British.   In short, my mother's family helped create
>the longest lived--and most successful--representative democracy in the world
>which has protected and educated many from far less humane nations--including
>China.  By the way, my late mother herself fought the imperial Japanese in
>China in WWII as a yeoman in the United States Navy.

>This is enough background and history.  You and your friends should know who
>I am by now.  Just ask some of the longer-term members at ACSSS or UCBCSSA.
>Now take a break from the computer and go out and enjoy the holiday season.
>----Celia (Lin Xing).

I didn't think you were a politician either.
Is my English so misleading? That is really bad.

If I understand you correctly, you are not so averse to socialism as some
people are. My experience is that people are open mind about socialism have
better chance of understanding China than those who aren't.

BTW, I said chinese are fair, and then a netter told you to go ....
Ah..., I am not felling no good.:-)

Happy New Year!