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william-r-melich · 2 months

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Tik Tok Bill/HR 7521 - 03/16/2024

Bill HR 7521 passed 3 days ago in the house of representatives by a vote of 352 - 65. If this bill passes in the Senate, which looks likely, Joe Biden said he will sign it, which will purportedly ban Tik Tok. It wouldn't really ban it, but what it will do is force Byte Dance, the Chinese company that owns Tik Tok, to divest by providing a description of what assets would need to be divested to execute a qualified divesture. In other words, they would have to sell it. They would also have to shut down their internet hosting service. Someone in the U.S. would buy it. I've been on the fence with this one as well with whether or not Biden will remain on the ticket. After reading a portion of the bill I saw a loophole regarding what can be done with a foreign person. Donald Trump, who back in 2020 wanted to ban Tik Tok, he's now against banning it. He said that banning Tik Tok would give the government too much power and would make Facebook more of a monopoly. I sure hope his 180-degree shift wasn't partly made because he has a big campaign donor from Tik Tok. Elon Musk is against it. He thinks it will lead to the government having too much control of wording and censorship on all media platforms. He argues that it doesn't just involve foreign adversaries. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie on X posted this: "The president will be given the power to ban WEB SITES, not just Apps.--"The person breaking the new law is deemed to be the U.S. (or offshore) INTERNET HOSTING SERVICE or App Store, not the 'foreign adversary.' " The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) controls what content is allowed on Tik Toc, and the version that is used in China is very different to what's allowed on it outside of China, like here in the U.S. In China they're teaching their children strict discipline and loyalty to the CCP without other harmful content, brainwashing them into their collectivist ideologies. Outside of China they are allowing and promoting content that encourages self-harm and suicide. The big concern in Congress is that the CCP is using the platform to collect as much personal data as they can to be later used against us for nefarious reasons.

Bytedance is the parent company running Tik Toc, and it's former CEO, Zhang Yiming, in 2018 wrote an open public letter of apology to the CCP's headquarters. He was in trouble for not directing his tech companies to push the party's communist agenda far enough, including for what they termed as Xi Jinping thought. Here's some of that letter translated in English:

"I sincerely apologize to regulators, our users and colleagues. I have been in a state of guilt and remorse since I received the notice from the regulatory authority yesterday afternoon and stayed up all night."

"Toutino will permanently shut down the app and the Wechat account of Neihan Duanzi. The product has gone astray, posting content that goes against socialist core values. It's all on me. I accept all the punishment since it failed to direct public opinion in the right way."

"I blame myself for failing to live up to the guidance and expectations of the authorities. In the past few years, the authorities have given us a lot of guidance and help, but I failed to understand properly and to correct properly in the past that resulted in the repercussions today."

"I blame myself for failing the support and trust of our users. We one-sidedly focused on growth and scale without paying timely attention to quality and responsibility of guiding users to obtain positive information. We have failed to undertake corporate social responsibility, and lack emphasis and understanding of our roles in carry forward the positive energy, and guide public opinion properly."

"I reflect that the deep-seated problems for the company are: a weak understanding of the 'four consciousness,' a lack of socialist core values, and a biased guidance of public opinion. 'In the past, we have placed too much emphasis on the role of technology, and failed to realize that socialist core values are the prerequisite to technology. We need to spread positive messages in line with the requirements of the times while respecting public order and good practice.' "

The "four consciousness," to which he referred is described in the following CCP directive as translated into English; CCP Central Committee Publishers Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Agencies. March 18, 2021:

"To deepen reform of the Party and state agencies at this new historical turning point, we must comprehensively implement the Spirit of the 19th Party Congress and persist in taking Marxism -- Leninism, Ma Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Important Thinking of the 'Three Represents,' the Scientific Development Concept, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide. We must firmly establish political consciousness, consciousness of the big picture, consciousness of the core leadership, and consciousness of falling in line with party directives. We must resolutely maintain the authority and centralized unified leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. We must adapt to the development requirements of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, persist in the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and adhere to the proper direction of reform. We must persist in being people-centered, and persist in comprehensively ruling the country according to law."

It seems clear to me that the CCP wants to dominate the world and control how everyone thinks. We can't let that happen. The harmful content on Tik Tok can be found on some of the other platforms, but apparently on Tik Tok it's been more harmful and addictive to kids. Amnesty International 2 reports: "Driven into the Darkness: How Tik Tok Encourages Self-harm and Suicidal Ideation and the I Feel Exposed: Caught in Tik Tok's Surveillance Web - highlight the abuses experienced by children and young people using Tik Tok Outside of China. Between 3 and 20 minutes into our manual research, more than half of the videos in the 'For You' feed were related to mental health struggles with multiple recommended videos in a single hour romanticizing, normalizing or encouraging suicide."

Here's how a portion of the Tik Tok bill reads - HR 7521:

(iii) a subsidiary of or a successor to an entity identified in clause (i) or (ii) that is controlled by a foreign adversary; or (iv) an entity owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by an entity identified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii); or (B) a covered company that -- (i) is controlled by a foreign adversary; and (ii) that is determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the United States following the issuance of -- (I) a public notice proposing such determination; and (II) a public report to Congress, submitted not less than 30 days before such determination, describing the specific national security concern involved and containing a classified annes and a description of what assets would need to be divested to execute a qualified divesture. (4) FOREIGN ADVERSARY COUNTRY, -- The term "foreign adversary country" means a country specified with respect to a covered company or other entity is -- (A) a foreign person that is domiciled in, is headquartered in, has its principal place of business in, or is organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country. (B) an entity with respect to which a foreign person or combination of foreign persons described in "subparagraph (A) directly or indirectly own at least a 20 percent stake; or (C) a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph (A) (B). (2) Covered Company -- (A) IN GENERAL -- The term "covered company" means an entity that operates, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate), a website, desktop application, or augmented or immersive technology application.

The loophole I see is that there are people here from China that are legal to work and live here (green card) and who have a residence in China. The President (Joe Biden) could divest any website or app operated by a company with such a person in its employ from China with a green card who happens to own at least 20% of that company. I haven't read through the entire bill, nor am I an expert on Congressional bills or policies, but there might be other loopholes to be found. Given all that I have considered on this, I think divesting Tik Tok is a good idea, but only with no loopholes or wiggle room. I don't trust the government, their too giddy about this and I suspect they may have something up their sleeves. Next to our own ability to destroy ourselves from within, I think China is our biggest threat. This is serious stuff and we're in some very dangerous situations. We've got to get this right and get the right leader in the White House, which, in my humble opinion, is Donald J. Trump.

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faisul · 1 year

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Hell in Paradise

By Faisul Yaseen

On a chilly December morning, something took over J, a young baker in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district as he went on a rampage, killing his mother and two others, and leaving his father and five others injured.

“He started attacking everyone ferociously like a bear. I don’t know what happened to him. It was as if he turned mad. He even attacked me and dragged his mother along and killed her too,” J’s father says, unable to come to the grips of the tragedy that has befallen the family.

As the cold winter paved way for the blooming spring, it was déjà vu.

This time another son went bizarre in north Kashmir’s Sopore area when he strangled his mother to death.

Rewind to the blazing autumn, and we see the same tragic events unfold in Kehribal village of Anantnag.

A son, along with his friend, tried to snatch money from his mother, resulting in an argument between the mother and the son.

Infuriated, the son beats and punches his mother forcefully, resulting in her fall inside the kitchen of their house.

With the help of his friend, the son brings a big stone and hits it on his mother’s head, leaving her dead.

The heartrending story is played over and again.

What toxicity is in the air?

All the three sons involved in the gruesome murder of their mothers are said to be involved in substance abuse.

Professor at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Kashmir, Dr Arshad Hussain says that though substance abuse is associated with harm to self in most instances, in some circumstances it is associated with violence to others.

“Most of the research done in the field does conclude that substance use like alcohol and cannabis are associated with increased crime rates,” he says. “They are associated with aggression which doesn’t have a stop button as drugs cut the brakes in our frontal lobes which otherwise modulate our behaviours. Rising crime rates and accidents are indirect heinous costs of rising substance use.”

*****

Narcotics is the third largest business in the world with a turnover of 500 billion US dollars, and, according to the latest World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), some 35 million people globally are suffering from drug use disorders.

In Kashmir too, drug addiction is becoming a rampant phenomenon, bringing other associated crimes along.

According to the ‘The National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India’, one million people in a population of 12.5 million in Jammu and Kashmir have fallen to the menace of drug addiction.

What lures people in Kashmir to substance abuse?

“Various factors,” says Prof Aneesa Shafi, Head of the Sociology Department of the University of Kashmir (KU).

“Our value system getting weak, global connectivity, media, restricted entertainment sources, peer pressure, easy access to drugs, and shrinking space for expression are some factors that push people to substance abuse,” she says.

Those indulging in drug addiction mention other factors too.

K, who is in his early twenties, says that in his teens, he used to be distressed due to the expectations of his parents of excelling at studies and would often remain confined to his room.

“To complicate matters, the girl I loved turned me down,” he says.

Unable to deal with rejection and failure to shine at studies, K was drowning in the pool of depression when a friend suggested trying cannabis.

“It gave me a high,” he says. “I was hooked.”

Within sometime, K began trying other drugs like heroin that completely derailed his life.

Soon, he was a school dropout.

*****

The substance abuse in pop culture too has impacted the lives of youth.

With easy access to Over The Top (OTT) media platforms on their mobile phones, some substance abusers say that popular Hollywood movies like ‘Train Spotting’, ‘Pulp Fiction’, and ‘The Basketball Diaries’ and TV shows like ‘Narcos’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ influenced them in doing drugs.

Others say they were swayed by the mention of intoxication in poetry like Allama Iqbal’s couplet, ‘Mai ḳhana-e-Europe ke dastur nirale hain; laate hain surur avval dete hain sharab aḳhir’ or Bashir Badr’s, ‘Na tum hosh main ho na ham hosh main hain; chalo maikade main vahin baat hogi’.

Yet others say they started doing drugs for the exploration of creative processes, something that has been in discourse for long.

Thomas De Quincey’s ‘Confessions of an English Opium-Eater’ published in 1821 had first romanticised the link between intoxicants and artists’ careers in songs, novels, and films.

Head of the Psychiatry Department at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, Dr Muhammad Maqbool Dar is of the opinion that unregulated media and social media were playing the main role in pushing youth to substance abuse.

“Youth get influenced by what keeps coming on the media and social media over and over,” he says. “More than the influence of drugs in pushing them toward crimes, copycat homicides and copycat suicides are a bigger concern.”

*****

Though the phenomenon of drug addiction in Kashmir has witnessed a surge in recent years, Kashmir has long had its tryst with substance abuse.

Seeing faith healers and traditional musicians in a state of high has been socially acceptable since long.

In their book ‘Dimensions of Drug Abuse in Kashmir: A Study of Anantnag District - A Sociological Perspective’, Shahzad Wani and Pirzada M Amin write that drug abuse has been prevalent in Kashmir society for a long time and functioned as an institution in the form of ‘Takayas’.

‘Takayas’ used to be the havens of cannabis consuming addicts in Kashmir that used to have such social acceptance that people would even send them a share from their feasts.

By the 1990s, the menace of substance abuse had started taking root in Kashmir.

In 1993, Dr Mushtaq A Margoob and Dr K S Dutta set the alarm bells ringing in their report ‘Drug abuse in Kashmir – Experience from a Psychiatric Diseases Hospital’ published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry.

Their report stated that the menace was “touching new heights”, the situation would eventually become “explosive”, and “urgent steps” needed to be taken to curb it before it was too late.

Noted Kashmiri poet, writer, and satirist Zareef Ahmad Zareef blames the political leadership for failing to control the menace of drug addiction in the region.

Giving the example of Mao Zedong, Chinese communist revolutionary leader and founder of the People's Republic of China, Zareef says Zedong eradicated both consumption and production of opium in China during the 1950s.

Under Zedong, 10 million addicts were forced into compulsory treatment, dealers were executed, and new crops planted in opium-producing areas.

*****

The situation regarding substance abuse has gone so bad now that a recent study done by the Psychiatry Department of GMC, Srinagar revealed that Kashmir had surpassed Punjab in drug abuse cases and was currently positioned at number two among top drug abuser regions in India not far behind Northeast.

According to the study, a whopping 33,000 syringes are used to inject heroin by drug abusers in Kashmir every day.

The worrying sign is that most drug abusers are in the age group of 17 to 33 years and unemployed.

The study says that on an average, a single drug abuser spends Rs 88,183 every month on substance abuse.

The COVID-19 pandemic also complicated the matters.

According to doctors, the substance abuse among the addicts increased during the pandemic because of boredom due to lockdown.

With the ‘dark web’, tech-savvy youth have easy access to illicit drugs.

*****

As youth continue to fall into the rabbit hole of substance abuse, calls for awareness and rehabilitation are growing shriller.

A study ‘Drug Addiction Causes and Awareness among people of Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir State’ by Tahira Sidiq, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Nusrat, and Feroz Ahmad Wani in the Saudi Journal of Biomedical Research says that 94.17 percent respondents they surveyed were not aware of the process of drug de-addiction.

The study urges society elders and religious leaders to come forward and support people who want to eliminate drug abuse from J&K.

*****

As drug abusers frequently feel alone and alienated, religion plays a role in providing spiritual assistance and builds their capacity to overcome this problem.

The holy Quran has several references against intoxication.

Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 219 states: “They ask you about wine and games of chance. Say: ‘In both these there is great evil, even though there is some benefit for people, but their evil is greater than their benefit.’”

Chapter 4 (An Nisa) Verse 43 states: “Believers! Do not draw near to the Prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying nor while you are defiled - save when you are travelling - until you have washed yourselves.”

Chapter 5 (Al-Maidah), Verses 90-91 state: “O believers! Intoxicants, gambling, idols, and drawing lots for decisions are all evil of Satan’s handiwork. So shun them so you may be successful. Satan’s plan is to stir up hostility and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling and to prevent you from remembering Allah and praying. Will you not then abstain?”

There is also mention against intoxication in the Hadith.

Al-Bukhari (4087) and Muslim (1733) narrated that Abu Musa said: “The Prophet (SAW) sent Muadh ibn Jabal and me to Yemen, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, there is a drink that is made in our land and is called al-Mizr, which is made from barley, and another drink called al-Bit, which is made from honey. He said: “Every intoxicant is haram.”

Al-Bukhari (4343) and Muslim (3032) narrated that Ibn Umar said: “I heard Umar say from the minbar of the Messenger of Allah (SAW): “O people, the prohibition of khamr was revealed when khamr was made from five things: grapes, dates, honey, wheat and barley. Khamr is whatever befogs the mind.”

*****

Kashmir lacks proper facilities for rehabilitating drug users and lack of knowledge regarding drug addiction, detoxification, and rehabilitation.

The governmental agencies, educational institutions, NGOs, and other social work organisations need to scale up their awareness programmes.

As some substance abusers die of overdose while some commit suicide when they become hopeless, parent and care knowledge also needs to improve.

Professor in the Department of Psychiatry IMHANS, Kashmir, Dr Yasir Rather says there are Addiction Treatment Facilities (ATFs) in all district hospitals of J&K.

“However, there is also a need for long-term rehabilitation centers that would provide comprehensive treatment – a combination of medical, psychological, and social services to help individuals overcome their addiction and regain control of their lives,” he says.

Though the crackdown of law-enforcing agencies’ against drug traffickers has been welcomed, people are also suspicious at times.

When former Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh spoke about the drug menace in 2018, he told Hindustan Times, “One new source of drugs is Kashmir despite so much security.”

However, SSP J&K Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) Vinay Kumar says that policing related to narcotics and awareness was getting better.

“Every year, we used to register around 22 to 23 cases under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1988, however, in the year 2022 we registered 235 cases under PITNDPSA,” he says.

Kumar feels that as Police are getting teeth to seize the financial assets and properties of the repeated offender, the results on the ground are getting better.

Stressing that while the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had informed the Lok Sabha that 4.6 percent of J&K population was involved in substance abuse, he says that according to IMHANS, Srinagar, only 2.5 percent of Kashmir population was involved.

Kumar says that the first priority of the Police Department was to take action against those working on the inside of the organisation for drug smugglers.

“Cases have been registered against BSF officials, CRPF officials, and Police officials. Five to six Police officials were chargesheeted in a single case,” he says.

While dealing strongly with drug traffickers is a welcome development, there is a need to treat substance abuse as a disease and drug addicts as diseased, rather than criminals.

*****

L, a youth who has been sober for the past 2 years after being a chronic addict for over 5 years says he owes his recovery to his parents and medics who treated him.

“If my parents wouldn't have been understanding, I would never have been able to come out of this abyss,” L says. “If I could fight addiction, anyone can.”

Greater Kashmir

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jovialbasementbouquetblr · 11 months

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2023 Jojje Olsson: China's Demographic Crash Landing

Below (feel free to skip my intervening rant) is translated an illuminating article by Taiwan-based Swedish journalist Jojje Olsson on China’s population decline concerns. China’s demographic worries over the years changed from population growth is good, to bad, to good again. In the early 1950s, Mao Zedong criticized the demographer Ma Yinchu who called for China to control its population…

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#births #China #demography #family planning #Ma Yinchu #Mao Zedong #old #politics #population #PRC #young #中国 #人口

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panicinthestudio · 2 years

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youtube

Taiwan's president issues warning to China: 'We will defend ourselves', August 5, 2022

Taiwan's president says her country will not provoke conflicts but will firmly defend its sovereignty and national security.

The Guardian

youtube

Taiwan says China's military drills 'simulate' invasion, August 6, 2022

Taiwan has accused Beijing of simulating an invasion of the self-governing island as China continued its large-scale military drills.

Taipei says the Chinese army sent several warships and aircraft into the Strait of Taiwan on Saturday. The exercises began after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei earlier this week. After imposing unspecified sanctions on the politician, China is also suspending cooperation with the US in several key areas including law enforcement and climate change.

Deutsche Welle

Further reading:

AFP, via HKFP: China begins ‘live-firing’ military drills around Taiwan after US politician Nancy Pelosi’s visit to island, August 4, 2022

AFP, via HKFP: Seven decades of Beijing-Taipei relations: Years of talks, threats and tensions, August 5, 2022

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jacobelgordi · 26 days

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ustedes no estan siendo adoctrinados por profesores de izquierda en sus colegios bi aunque el profesor sea el mismísimo fidel lenin zedong. no pueden ni ver un tik tok de mas de 3 minutos y pretenden que un profesor mal pago que tiene mas ganas de corchearse el craneo a tener que bancarse otra pelotudez mas va a adoctrinarlos? por ahí el problema son ustedes, saludos.

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obligatoryjauneblog · 17 days

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Something fluffy about Jaune x May zedong x Pyrrha?

Jaune: *leaning on her right* Thanks for teaching me how to shoot, May. I really appreciate it.

May: I-it's nothing, I was more than happy to.

Pyrrha: *leaning on her left* And you're so knowledgeable! Really we can't thank you enough *starts patting May's head*

May: I-i

Jaune: *patting her head too* You're the best, Ma- oh my Gods she fainted, Pyrrha go get Ms. Goodwitch!

#rwby #jaune arc #pyrrha nikos #may zedong #combined arms #is the ship name i think?

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zvaigzdelasas · 1 year

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Kuomintang Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia is expected to visit China on Wednesday, the latest in a series of friendly gestures between the one-time foes in the Chinese Civil War. Hsia is expected to visit several Chinese cities over nine days including the capital, where he’s likely to meet Song Tao, a former top Communist Party diplomat who now oversees affairs across the Taiwan Strait.[...]

Despite having lost to Mao Zedong’s Communists in the civil war in the first half of the 20th century, the KMT is Beijing’s preferred negotiating partner in Taiwan because they both share the notion that the island is a part of China.

That preference was on display in August last year, when the KMT’s Hsia visited China amid lingering tensions over Pelosi’s visit. Hsia shrugged off criticism of the trip from Tsai and some in the KMT to lead a delegation that focused on business-related issues. Under Tsai’s KMT predecessor, former President Ma Ying-jeou, Taipei and Beijing eased decades-old restrictions on tourism and investment.

7 Feb 23

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crossroad1960 · 3 months

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Nel rinnovato e non sempre appassionante dibattito su nazismo e comunismo, su quale fu peggio e quale meno peggio, e se ci si debba dire anti l’uno e l’altro, ha catturato la mia attenzione il giudizio di un amico come Giuliano Cazzola, per il quale perlomeno una differenza va notata: il nazismo fu disumano sin dai presupposti, invece nobili nel comunismo. Non un giudizio inedito, e infatti già molti anni fa Milan Kundera espresse il suo smarrimento: il male per il male aveva permesso di rifondare ad Auschwitz un’etica europea, mentre il male per il bene ha reso vuoti pure i diritti universali, se in loro nome si è prodotta la carneficina. Ma talvolta si barcolla anche sulle saldezze. Un libro che si promette magnifico, e di cui ieri ho letto qualche decina di pagine, si intitola “Lapidi – La Grande Carestia in Cina”, è scritto da Yang Jisheng e edito da Adelphi. L’abbiamo sempre conosciuta così, la grande carestia (’58-’61), poiché quand’ero ragazzo era attribuita a eventi naturali. Poi lessi in un libro, non ricordo quale, che Mao Zedong fece abbattere tutti i passeri per salvaguardare le piante e finì con lo spasso degli insetti e la catastrofe dei raccolti. Ma non era nemmeno inettitudine, perché nel libro di Yang la verità è un’altra: i contadini vennero affamati per nutrire le città su cui si basava la crescita cinese. I morti furono 36 milioni. Cercarono di salvarsi in ogni modo, mangiando cortecce, cotone, argilla, guano. Si mangiarono fra di loro. Alcuni genitori si mangiarono i figli. Avete presente quando si diceva che i comunisti mangiano i bambini? I comunisti no, le loro vittime sì. (Mattia Feltri)

Impressionante l’analogia con la carestia genocida scatenata da Stalin in Ucraina nota come Holodomor, entrambi i totalitarismi hanno ridotto alla fame i loro popoli promettendo un radioso futuro e il paradiso dei lavoratori.

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moonlightswritingandstuff · 3 months

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if only i could break the chains of disappointment weighing me down (shake off the ghosts that whisper warnings)

It's the middle of the night. Frank Zhang can't sleep. Instead, he picks up his old kid's version of Journey to the West.

read on ao3

(sorry i forgot to do this one :/)

The stick burns, and Frank stares at it.

He does nothing.

It burns up. He collapses. There is nothing else.

And then he wakes up.

(The first time he had that nightmare, he tried to stop it, throw it into the snow. Frank learned quickly. Now, he thinks, he'll just be surprised to not wake up after it burns for real. Or maybe death is like sleep? He supposes he could ask Hazel.)

He wakes up in his bed in the praetors’ quarters.

It's two am, and Frank doesn't have to wake up for another four hours, but the world is quiet and Frank likes it that way. Reyna's sleeping in her room, so Frank walks out to their 'hang out room' - as they like to call it - and turns on the small lamp.

His copy of a kid's version of Journey to the West sits on the bookshelf. Reyna had raised an eyebrow at it, but to him it's a marker of when his childhood was a little easier, a little happier. His mother used to read it to him.

And then she went to war.

His mother was a wonderful woman; she loved more than Frank ever thought possible.

Emily Zhang also left.

Those two halves Frank has never quite been able to reconcile; Emily Zhang, the loving mother, and Emily Zhang, the absent parent. For so much of his childhood, it was his Lao Lao - maternal grandmother in Mandarin - and him.

Smashed pottery, pretty blue and white, and his grandmother’s disappointment.

“Zhang Fai,” she’d trill disappointingly. All of that disappointment could never hide the pain in her voice when she sent him away, could never hide the pain in her voice when she found her daughter to be dead, could never hide the pain in her voice when she spoke of her late husband’s death.

Frank had never been fully certain if his grandmother ever even had a husband. Zhang was her married name; Jade Zhang Yu has always been more Chinese-Canadian than Chinese, despite her pride.

Frank used to know his Tai Poh Poh - great-grandmother, Cantonese instead of Mandarin like the rest of them - or, he met her once in his memory. Her mind was failing her by then, her speech muddled with Cantonese words. Frank understood little - of course, his last Cantonese relative was his great-grandmother. She'd speak and through the curtain of language he could understand bit-by-bit, fragments painting a whole.

She had come from China, escaping Mao Zedong (who his grandmother always intermittedly pronounced as ze-dong or see-tong) and his communist regime with her family, moving to Hong Kong and later Canada.

But from what Frank understood, his great-grandmother was only saying a few Buddhist prayers, maybe intermixed with something else. Something for her final days, something about her late husband, Frank's grandfather.

He had never met Shen Lun, who moved up from San Francisco, to meet Frank's great-grandmother in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Frank likes Chinatown. It's sort of chaotic, but it smells strangely like a home. There's a bakery that makes amazing apple fritters and disappointing ma lai goh, a sort of spongy cake. There's Chinese herbal remedy shops whose aroma floats in the air, baskets upon baskets of herbs like star anise and ginger. There's slightly dirty shops with roast duck hanging in the window, rotating slowly. There's the gate, and the grand dragon dance on every New Years'.

Frank misses Chinatown, all the time. He misses the crowded shops. He knows that the Chinatown he knows is no longer present, he knows that Chinatown's been slowly gentrified over time. He also knows it is no longer the centre of Chinese Canadians in the Vancouver area - Richmond has taken that, but again, it was also where Frank grew up.

(But Chinatown still sounds like home to Frank. And even though he'd never met Shen Lun, he had to bear his mistakes anyway. Filial piety, loyalty to your parents. A never-ending cycle of shame and guilt given from parent to child. Frank is Chinese-Canadian. He finds other ways.)

(And that's not getting to Richmond. Because Frank knows it must've changed in the years he's been gone. Or two years. It was changing fast by the time he left.)

New Rome is too clean, clean to be unnatural. It's odd and strange and kind of weird, but Frank is praetor, and his obligations rest on his shoulders here.

Frank resurfaces back in the present, and takes the copy of Journey to the West off of the shelf. The characters and drawings are achingly familiar, a children's book that is still decently long, due to the nature of how long Journey to the West is.

Frank's grandmother's favourite goddess is Guanyin, or, as she pronounced it the Cantonese way, Ginyam, with a hard g. Goddess of mercy and compassion, a bodhisaatva in Buddhist tellings. Guanshiyin, in her long form. The children's book has a drawing of her; Guanyin sits on the blooming lotus flower, wise and compassionate.

Frank's mother liked her too.

("Mercy is restraint, Frank," Emily said. "It has just a place in war as violence does.")

Frank supposes it is fitting that he likes her too. Taoist gods are much more... well, Frank can't quite place it, but Taoist gods are different than Roman gods. They have different concepts of filial piety and duty attached to them. The Jade Emperor gained power via compassion. Jupiter’s came from force.

Guanyin is nothing but benevolent; she assists Sun Wukong in helping Xuanzang (Frank did not find the other characters as notable; his favourite was always the peaceful Xuanzang, and, well, Sun Wukong is hard to forget). Her one fault, his mother had always said, was that she was a deux-ex-machina for the protagonists. But, as Emily had always reminded Frank, deux-ex-machinas can be good things, too.

"Why are you up at this ungodly hour?" Reyna asks, stepping in place beside him, breaking Frank out of his reverie.

"Just… reminiscing. Had a nightmare.”

“Fair enough,” Reyna says, rolling out her shoulder. “Nothing important?”

“No. You can go back to sleep.”

Reyna smiles, but it’s ephemeral. “You know you can talk to me, right? We’re not super close but we are working together. And you can talk to Hazel.”

“I know. It’s nothing important.”

Reyna nods and leaves him alone to his thoughts and the kid’s version of Journey to the West.

She reminds him of the burden of duty. She’s bore it for all too long. Frank doesn’t know how she did it. He’ll be praetor for just under ten years, and the toll’s already been felt. And alone, too. If Frank’s honest, Reyna has always seemed frightening to him. She’s great at what she does, self-confident and assured in her every move. And duty is something Frank is familiar with - Shen Lun’s stain has long been felt. Frank’s grandmother’s pride had long been kept.

Reyna has a legacy. Of her family and of her own. She may have created it with her sister Hylla, but it is hers nonetheless.

Frank has one too. But his is conflicting. Shapeshifters, prisoners, immigrants, exiles, war heroes.

His mother would've told him he had his own path in life. His grandmother would've told him that children must follow their parents.

If there is one thing the Roman and Taoist gods are in agreement about, it is filial piety. It is loyalty to your parents, to the state. If there is one thing all of his ancestors would have probably agreed on, it would be that.

Obey your parents. Obey the state. Your parents gave you everything; you can never recompensate that.

He puts the kid's copy of Journey to the West back on the shelf.

He wants a good bowl of noodles - whatever it is. Crossing-the-bridge, udon (in Chinese dishes, yes, that was Chinese-Canadian). They don't have any decent Chinese food in New Rome (only terrible Chinese food allowed solely by , and he's not allowed to go to San Francisco, or, gods forbid, Vancouver. Even as praetor).

Maybe he should send one of his distant cousins a message - or his grandmother, if she's still alive. He thinks he could find her. Or perhaps it is more hope.

Plus, the praetors have their own kitchenette. He could probably make something. As long as it can be put in the microwave.

Frank smiles.

He thinks, if his grandmother is alive, she may be proud of him in this moment. For nothing else but where he's come and who he wants to be. For nothing else if that he has turned the Zhang family into what the Shen family could never be.

He thinks, if his mother were here to see him, she would be proud of him. Not for everything he's come to, but simply because she loves him. He thinks Emily Zhang would as well.

#frank zhang #pjo hoo toa #pjo #hoo #toa #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo

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kneedeepincynade · 1 year

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China is building a better future while the imperialists try to destroy the present, and we know the capitalists will not win because an order without future will die in the present

The post is machine translated

Translation is at the bottom

The collective is on telegram

⚠️ I QUATTRO PRINCIPI (四项原则) DELLA CINA PER LA COSTRUZIONE DI UNA COMUNITÀ DAL FUTURO CONDIVISO ⚠️

🇨🇳 Nella maestosa Xi'an, capoluogo della splendida Provincia dello Shaanxi, si è tenuto il Vertice Cina - Asia Centrale, dove il Presidente Xi Jinping ha proposto Quattro Principi (四项原则) per la costruzione di una Comunità dal Futuro Condiviso (命运共同体) 💕

❤️ Ricordando l'Annuncio Congiunto sull'edificazione di un Futuro Condiviso tra la Repubblica Popolare e i Paesi dell'Asia Centrale, al Vertice dell'anno precedente, per commemorare il 30° Anniversario delle Relazioni Diplomatiche tra i Paesi, il Presidente Cinese ha dichiarato che la 命运共同体 è una Scelta Storica che presenta un Futuro Luminoso per il Popolo Cinese e i Popoli dell'Asia Centrale, e che - per costruire un solido Futuro Condiviso, è necessario aderire a Quattro Principi:

一 Assistenza Reciproca, elevando il Concetto "互助", ovvero "aiutarsi a vicenda", il che si riflette in:

⭐️ Sostenersi a vicenda in maniera inequivocabile su Questioni riguardanti la Sovranità, l'Integrità Territoriale e l'Indipendenza 💕

⭐️ Sostenere la Dignità di ogni Paese, rispettando la sua Cultura 💕

⭐️ Sostenere il Percorso di Sviluppo scelto costruito sulle Condizioni Materiali del proprio Paese 🤝

二 Sviluppo Comune, costruito sulla Cooperazione nell'ambito della Nuova Via della Seta, che andrà a toccare ogni settore dell'Economia, dal Commercio all'Energia, dal Sistema dei Trasporti alla Produzione Industriale, per garantire una riduzione della povertà in tutta l'Asia 🤝

⭐️ Sviluppo Comune e Progresso Comune, per giungere alla Prosperità Comune (共同富裕), concetto citato dal Presidente Cinese, apparso per la prima volta nel 1953, in un'opera del Presidente Mao Zedong 🚩

三 Sicurezza Universale, costruita sull'Iniziativa di Sicurezza Globale, avanzata dal Partito Comunista Cinese, per resistere congiuntamente ai tentativi di forze esterne - principalmente Occidentali - di interferire negli Affari Interni dei Paesi, e di istigare rivoluzioni colorate ⚔️

🤝 Lavorare congiuntamente per sradicare il Terrorismo, il Separatismo e l'Estremismo, per garantire una Pace duratura, in quanto «La Pace è come l'Aria e il Sole, è appena percettibile quando ne traiamo beneficio, ma nessuno di noi può vivere senza di essa» 🕊

四 Amicizia Eterna, elevando il Concetto di "友谊", attuando l'Iniziativa Cinese per portare avanti la Tradizionale Amicizia dei Paesi, la condivisione di esperienza in materia di governance, l'approfondimento tra Culture e la costruzione di solide fondamenta per un'Amicizia indistruttibile tra il Popolo Cinese e i Popoli dell'Asia Centrale, per costruire Unità, Armonia e Affinità 💕

🌸 Iscriviti 👉 @collettivoshaoshan

⚠️ CHINA'S FOUR PRINCIPLES (四项原则) FOR BUILDING A COMMUNITY WITH A SHARED FUTURE ⚠️

🇨🇳 The China - Central Asia Summit was held in majestic Xi'an, the capital of the splendid Shaanxi Province, where President Xi Jinping proposed Four Principles (四项原则) for building a Community with a Shared Future (命运共同体) 💕

❤️ Recalling the Joint Announcement on Building a Shared Future between the People's Republic and Central Asian Countries, at the Summit of the previous year, to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between the Countries, the Chinese President said that命运共同体 is a Historic Choice that presents a Bright Future for the Chinese People and the Peoples of Central Asia, and that - to build a solid Shared Future, it is necessary to adhere to Four Principles:

一 Mutual Assistance, elevating the Concept "互助", or "helping each other", which is reflected in:

⭐️ Support each other unequivocally on Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Independence Issues 💕

⭐️ Supporting the dignity of every country, respecting its culture 💕

⭐️ Support the chosen Development Path built on the Material Conditions of your country 🤝

二 Common Development, built on Cooperation within the framework of the New Silk Road, which will touch every sector of the Economy, from Commerce to Energy, from the Transport System to Industrial Production, to guarantee a reduction of poverty throughout the Asia 🤝

⭐️ Common Development and Common Progress, to reach Common Prosperity (共同富裕), a concept mentioned by the Chinese President, which appeared for the first time in 1953, in a work by Chairman Mao Zedong 🚩

三 Universal Security, built on the Global Security Initiative, advanced by the Communist Party of China, to jointly resist the attempts of external - mainly Western - forces to interfere in the internal affairs of countries, and to instigate color revolutions ⚔️

🤝 Work jointly to eradicate Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, to ensure lasting Peace, as «Peace is like the Air and the Sun, it is barely noticeable when we benefit from it, but none of us can live without it of it» 🕊

四 Eternal Friendship, elevating the Concept of "友谊", implementing the Chinese Initiative to carry forward the Traditional Friendship of Countries, sharing governance experience, cross-cultural insight, and building a solid foundation for Friendship indestructible between the Chinese People and the Peoples of Central Asia, to build Unity, Harmony and Affinity 💕

🌸 Subscribe 👉 @collettivoshaoshan

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claudehenrion · 6 months

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Cujus regio, ejus religio...

Ce dicton romain, qui peut se traduire par ''celui qui règne sur un territoire en détermine la religion'', a longtemps été un argument de base pour justifier des situations historiques, inexplicables autrement. En notre temps, dramatiquement marqué par la perte de toute culture –-et donc de toute référence sensée-- il reste plus que jamais d'actualité, contrairement à tout ce que les médias nous disent qu'il faut penser. Et il semblerait même que, le temps passant, cette bribe de l'antique sagesse non seulement surnage mieux que prévu, mais a toute sa place, aujourd'hui...

Longtemps après l'effondrement du communisme –cette pseudo-religion intouchable, sur les terres de laquelle il ne faisait pas bon ne pas souscrire à ce que croyait le chef-- on constate que dans tout le monde musulman (avec, pour un moment encore, les deux exceptions que sont mon cher Maroc et les Emirats du golfe), mais en Inde aussi, où il ne fait bon ni être musulman ni chrétien, et en Israël (passons rapidement, si vous le voulez bien, pour éviter les controverses. Mais j'y ai vécu des situations critiques), bien sûr en Chine (un seul pays, mais plus d'un milliard d'habitants), où les 2 mêmes minorités paient parfois cher le fait d'oser croire qu'il y aurait eu d'autres ''prophètes'' que Mao Tsé Tung (Mao Zedong en ''Pin-yin'') ou au Canada, soumis à Trudeau, l'idiot enragé du progressisme...

Chose curieuse, on peut, contre toute attente, ajouter la France à cette liste de régions soumises à la loi du ''Cujus regio, ejus religio'' : après un siècle (depuis 1905) pendant lequel l'anti-cléricalisme profond d'une grande partie de la classe politique a pu passer inaperçu et faire illusion en se déguisant en ''tolérance'' (tu parles !), la prétendue laïcité de la caste au pouvoir se montre pour ce qu'elle est : un laïcisme militant et exacerbé, qui guerroie inlassablement contre toute crèche, qui ferraille sans répit contre le mot-même de ''Noël'', qui est prête à toutes les démonstrations de son hostilité agressive contre les Saints, les Fêtes, les musiques, les noms de villages ou de rues, les cloches... bref contre tout ce qui pourrait rappeler que la France, ce beau fruit de la civilisation judéo-chrétienne, a été pendant des siècles ''la Fille aînée de Dieu'' ou, comme le dit un proverbe yiddish, le pays où Dieu est heureux (''Glücklich wie Gott in Frankreich'').

Le temps passant, nos leaders sont lentement tombés de la pratique affichée (De Gaulle) à une opposition affichée (Hollande) ou évidente et cachée (Macron, qui croit... et, en même temps, ne croit pas !), via la tiédeur engagée de Giscard, l'indifférence respectueuse de Pompidou, la girouette erratique de Chirac, le doute prudent de Sarkozy, et avant la ''cata'' qu'est l'hostilité des deux derniers occupants de l'Elysée, déclarée et affichée pour l'un, et ''en même temps'' pour l'autre. On peut être d'accord ou pas avec ma vision des caractères et de la religiosité de nos Présidents... mais il faut tout de même reconnaître que Macron ne tient pas ''les cultes'' en grande estime... sauf une apparence de ''soumission'' à l'islam, tant il a la trouille des nuits d'émeute, des quartiers anéantis, des bagnoles cramées et de l'impuissance des forces ''de l'ordre'', menacées.

Par exemple, on ne se souvient pas qu'il ait sérieusement demandé leur avis aux dits cultes –ou qu'il en ait tenu compte, les rares fois où il l'a fait-- pour tout ce qui concerne les lois prétendues ''sociétales'' : ni sur la remise en cause du mariage, confirmée et élargie, ni sur la PMA, ni sur la GPA, ni sur l'inscription d'un ''droit à tuer les bébés dans le ventre de leur mère'', sans cesse élargi, lui aussi (NB : comme il était beau –et tellement vrai-- le ''Infans conceptus pro nato habetur'' du Droit romain . Il mérite une traduction : 'l'enfant, dès le moment où il a été conçu, doit être considéré comme déjà né'').

Il ne se préoccupe pas davantage d'ailleurs de ce que pensent les églises, les temples, les mosquées ou les synagogues dans d'autres domaines, tels l'accueil des migrants, le ''dé-baptême'' des rues, des écoles ou des villages, la vraie liberté d'enseigner et la liberté tout court... et, tout récemment, sur l'euthanasie et le respect dû à la vie... que l'Etat a pourtant pour mission de protéger, comme on nous le rappelle sans cesse mais à mauvais escient à propos du pillage en règle des poches des automobilistes et des motards qui osent rouler au delà des stupides normes administratives (90, 80, 90, 110, 80, 70, 90... sur 1 km !) re-baptisées ''la sécurité'' par des technocrates pourvus d'un chauffeur qui, lui, s'en affranchit, ajoutant la pollution sonore d'un ''deux tons'' (pin-pon) à son non respect de la Loi !

Pourtant, nécessité faisant loi, le Président a oublié ses préjugés habituels. Sans doute parce qu'il est un peu ''paumé'' : l'échec hurlant de sa politique étrangère en général et de sa politique arabe en particulier doit (enfin !) commencer à lui peser, et il faut reconnaître que ça doit être difficile à supporter de voir que pas une seule de ses idées –qu'il croyait géniales, le pauvret-- n'est autre chose que (très) mauvaise : personne de sensé ne peut suivre les danses du ventre qu'imposent chacun de ses ''et en même temps''. Ça, ça peut passer dans un discours d'estrade. Dans la vraie vie, ça n'a pas la moindre chance de finir autrement qu'en catastrophe ! Quant à son ''quoi qu'il en coûte''... il ne pouvait nous mener qu'à la banqueroute. Bingo ! On y va tout droit.

Mais ''place au direct'' comme disent stupidement nos animateurs-télé (une bêtise de plus à leur actif : en quoi ce que dit M'ame Michu –qui était à 2 km mais a entendu un grand ''boum''-- doit-il passer avant le ''spécialiste de ceci ou cela'' ? Il est vrai que, après les ''Experts ès-covid'' et ''ès-Ukraine''... on voit débarquer des ''spécialistes de l'islam'' qui ne parlent pas un mot d'arabe...) : la situation dramatique créée par le seul Hamas, due à sa décision folle et non directement provoquée (on peut toujours remâcher de vieilles haines : ce sont des arguments, pas des raisons !), a contraint le chef de l'Etat à se rappeler qu'il existait d'autres forces dans le pays que les seuls progressistes et leur action délétère (et c'est tant mieux : c'est notre ultime espoir !).

Voilà pourquoi il a cru utile de convier, lundi dernier, les représentants des trois monothéismes à venir boire un petit kaoua à l'Elysée, ce qui tendrait à prouver que lorsque le besoin s'en fait sentir et que son rêve d'un ''vivre ensemble'' impossible est démontré irréaliste par les faits, il sait où trouver des aides salvatrices. Mais la séquence ne manque pas de sel : ''chassez le naturel, il revient au galop''. Juste après la grande marche contre l'antisémitisme (qui a entraîné la ''rabia'' de la Grande Mosquée de Paris, vite recentrée : ''Taqyia'' oblige, recommande et permet) , il n'a rien trouvé d'autre que de leur demander, à eux, ''de défendre l'universalisme des valeurs républicaines'' et, cerise sur le gâteau, de ''multiplier les actions éducatives en ce sens''... On a envie de dire : ''Pincez-moi, je rêve !''. Pourquoi ne pas carrément leur demander de devenir d'actifs militants du laïcisme anti-catho et anti-juif que pratiquent ses amis ? Ça aurait au moins eu le mérite de la franchise,et ça aurait démontré qu'il connaissait notre adage du jour, ''Cujus regio, ejus religio'' : en Macronie, les seules ''valeurs'' sont ces ''vertus chrétiennes devenues folles'' que la République à fait siennes, et le laïcisme militant est la religion d'Etat. D'ailleurs, ses grands-prêtres veulent l'inscrire dans notre Constitution, c'est tout dire.

Sa terreur ? La crainte de voir le conflit palestinien ''importé'' dans notre pays par ''les communautés religieuses'' (sic ! Ne riez pas, ce serait cruel !). Mgr de Moulins-Beaufort et le grand Rabbin Haïm Korsia ont découvert qu'ils étaient les porteurs potentiels de violences et de terrorisme dans notre cadre national. Mais dire ''l'islam'', apparemment, lui pose un problème. Question : d'où vient cette impossibilité chronique de prononcer le mot ''islam'' là où il s'impose, parfois avec véhémence, comme le fait Abdelali Mamoun, l'Imam de la grande Mosquée de Paris, qui nie, en se tortillant les neurones pour avoir l'air de ne pas dire l'indéniable... ou le dire sans le penser complètement...? On se perd en conjectures... Camus aurait dit : ''Mal nommer les choses, c'est ajouter au malheur du monde''. Qu'il l'ait dit ou pas, est-il besoin d'aller plus loin ?

H-Cl.

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raffaeleitlodeo · 7 months

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"Mi limiterò a dire che a mio parere – non empiricamente, purtroppo, ma solo in teoria – per chi ha letto molto di Dickens, sparare al suo simile in nome di un’idea è più problematico che per chi non ha letto Dickens. E sto parlando proprio di chi ha letto Dickens, Sterne, Stendhal, Dostoevskij, Flaubert, Balzac, Melville, Proust, Musil, e così via; cioè di letteratura, non di alfabetizzazione e istruzione. Un letterato, persona colta, per essere sicuri, è pienamente in grado, dopo aver letto questo o quel trattato politico [...], di uccidere un suo simile, e anche, dopo averlo fatto, di esserne pienamente convinto. Lenin era letterato, Stalin era letterato, e così era Hitler, e Mao Zedong ha perfino scritto versi. Ciò che tutti questi uomini avevano in comune, però, era che la lista delle persone che hanno colpito era maggiore alla lista dei libri che hanno letto". - Iosif Brodskij, Discorso di accettazione del Nobel, dicembre 1987

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quotesfrommyreading · 10 months

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How did we get to this point? The origin story of Taiwan most familiar to Americans begins in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces, locked for years in a civil war with Mao Zedong’s Communists, were defeated. Along with much of his remaining army, Chiang fled to Taiwan and set up a government-in-exile called the Republic of China. That government was recognized by the United States. But within a few years of Richard Nixon’s 1972 Cold War opening to Beijing, the U.S. formally switched diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic. Ever since, Taiwan’s status has been cloaked in ambiguity. The U.S. acknowledges Beijing’s claim to Taiwan without recognizing its sovereignty over the island. To help deter a Chinese effort to seize Taiwan by force, the U.S. has pledged to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

That origin story explains Taiwan’s curious geopolitical status, but it leaves a lot out. When Chiang fled to Taiwan—with roughly 2 million Chinese from the mainland—there were some 6 million people already living on an island that was just emerging from 50 years of Japanese rule. Most of the people living on the island when Chiang arrived could claim roots in Taiwan going back hundreds of years. They had their own languages and culture. So too did the island’s many Indigenous groups, such as the Amis, the Atayal, and the Paiwan. To subjugate the island, Chiang killed and imprisoned tens of thousands over decades—a period known as the White Terror. He set up a military dictatorship under the leadership of his Chinese nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) and, from this offshore platform, vowed to reclaim mainland China.

Taiwan is different now. With its broad boulevards, glass towers, military monuments, narrow side streets, night markets, and ample signs in English, Taipei today presents an ambience of blended cultures: Chinese, Japanese, Western, and distinctly Taiwanese. Bubble tea, a Taiwanese invention, is everywhere. But consider what it was like to grow up in the shadow of Taiwan’s postwar history, and you can better understand the profound ways in which younger generations have been remaking the island’s politics and identity.

Emily Y. Wu is a professional podcaster who blends a focus on youth culture with an urgent concern for Taiwan’s political present. (One of her shows is called Metalhead Politics.) She is among dozens of Taiwanese I spoke with during the past year, first on Zoom, then in person in Taipei. Wu was born under KMT martial law in 1984. Her family did not come over with Chiang; they had lived in Taiwan for generations. “Chiang Kai-shek brought China over,” she told me. “I grew up always knowing that there was this alternate history: It was Taiwanese history, which was not taught in school.” Students were taught Chinese history and geography under the presumption that the KMT would one day govern China again. Mandarin was spoken in class, and speaking Taiwanese was discouraged. Wu recalled Lesson 9 of her childhood textbook: “ ‘Hello teachers, hello students, we are Chinese!’ ”

But a movement for democracy was building. “We grew up hearing these names, knowing that there was a group of activists, scholars, lawyers that tried to imagine a free Taiwan,” Wu explained. Many of those people were members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which currently governs Taiwan. In 1987, the KMT lifted nearly 40 years of martial law. Wu’s political consciousness was shaped by the protests, marches, and hunger strikes that led to Taiwan’s first true presidential election, in 1996.

By the beginning of the 21st century, Taiwan was becoming ever more democratic—and ever more Taiwanese. The school curriculum changed: Taiwan’s distinct history was taught, as were Taiwanese languages. Taiwan also began to celebrate its Indigenous population. After the election of President Ma Ying-jeou, in 2008, links of trade, investment, and travel helped reduce tensions with China. Ma was from the KMT, and the party’s Chinese heritage and its ties to Taiwan’s business elite eased the way to détente with Beijing. But many Taiwanese, particularly the young, feared that forging too close a connection could ultimately give Beijing leverage over Taiwan. In 2014, in what became known as “the Sunflower Movement,” named for the flower that served as a symbol of hope, students occupied the Taiwan legislature to oppose a free-trade agreement with China. After a tense standoff, they succeeded in stopping the deal. They also helped propel a political wave that in 2016 brought the election of the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen as president.

As Taiwan was becoming more democratic, China was becoming more autocratic. And as Taiwan was becoming more Taiwanese, China was becoming more fervently nationalist. After the ascent of Xi Jinping to the head of the Communist Party, in 2012, Beijing shifted from incentives to coercion. Xi’s government proved adept at bullying companies and entire countries to stop doing business in Taiwan and to recognize China’s narrative of sovereignty. Xi also began escalating crackdowns on China’s periphery—in Xinjiang province and in Hong Kong.

— Taiwan Wants China to Think Twice About an Invasion

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