Friday, April 11, 2008

Young and Restless in China

Looks like a fascinating documentary, profiling nine young people trying to make it in modern China. Among those profiled are a US-educated entrepreneur, a hip hop artist, an environmental lawyer and a migrant factory worker. It's meant to be a longitudinal study like Michael Apted's Up series in the UK, so look for future installments. Interview with the filmmaker on the Leonard Lopate show. (I highly recommend Lopate's podcasts -- he's the sharpest interviewer I've found in arts, literature and contemporary culture. Not exactly your guy for science or economics, though.)

More clips from the film.





PS Forget about Tibet. The vast majority of (Han) Chinese consider it part of China. Let's restore the Navajo nation to its pre-European contact independence before lecturing China about Tibet.
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6 comments:

Random Stuff said...

PS Forget about the Sudetenland. The vast majority of Germans consider it part of Germany. Let's restore the Navajo nation to its pre-European colonial independence before lecturing Germany about the Sudetenland.

5:00 PM
Steve Hsu said...

We had to go to war to get the Germans out of the Sudetenland (actually, the Red Army did it for us). Unless we're willing to go to war, there is no hope to get the Chinese to relinquish Tibet.

If your protests are not for any practical purpose, but just to express moral outrage, then I suggest you protest against the current status of native Americans. They suffered far worse than what the Tibetans are undergoing now, and to the benefit of European Americans like Richard Gere.

5:47 PM
Anonymous said...

Steve,

Thanks for sharing the interesting clip.

Right on regarding the PS! It is a feeling shared by most in Asia.

The picture of Tibet in the Western media is very distorted. It is amusing to see all the western heads praising a religious leader, Dalai Llama, who is definitely no democrat. But they shun leaders elected democratically if they do not like their policies. This is not lost on the rest of the non-Western world. Frankly, I was more astonished to see the relative prosperity of Lhasa in the news footage (it was dirt poor earlier on); impressive compared to many US-supported countries.

Also, if one looks at any country in such a one-sided manner, there are many "human rights violations" that are deplorable. I know there are many bad cases in India (like communal riots), but I would hardly go so far as to go condemn them in such a strident manner, as the haughty Europeans (old colonial superiority complex?) often do.

However, I like you a lot; so I advise you stay away from politics :-)

MFA

BTW:

1)Very nice/touching to see your donation to your alma mater in your dad's name.

2) Re. value of physics education, I would only add that I think a theoretical physics education, especially particle physics/qft/string theory teaches one more than any other subject, including mathematics. After that one can do anything that is quantitative fairly easily, i.e., most of technology/finance these days. So I am all for more PhDs in particle theory!

9:58 PM
Steve Hsu said...

> I advise you stay away from politics :-)

MFA: thanks for the advice. A momentary slip when I wrote that PS! :-)

12:06 PM
Anonymous said...

For an informed opinion regarding the problems with allowing unrestricted immigration, ask an American Indian. :-) :-)

7:58 AM
Anonymous said...

We don't live in a vacuum. Therefore I think it is Steve's perogative to share his view on things that interest him even if someone on this earth disagrees with him.

12:50 AM

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