Translation

In the film Infernal Affairs [a 2002 Hong Kong action film that was adapted into 2006's The Departed Hollywood film], there is a line: “This is the best of times, this is the worst of times”.

Whether you’re living in the best of times or the worst of times is a choice that’s entirely in your hands. We must face these bustling, flourishing, bizarre, and restless times, which are pregnant with hope, and at the same time, loss. We must remove the scales from our eyes and see clearly that we are living in times that demand giving of ourselves. For everyone who hopes to be successful, the things you can give/spend are the only wealth you [currently] have.

Most common people are running about living their lives, working and sweating to overcome obstacles, using talent and the sweat of their brow to cast their futures and achieve a great life. Life is the same the world over, the development of human societies requires paying out and reaping the benefits, and [sometimes] even sacrifice.

On the ancient topic of paying out and then reaping the benefits, no explanation is needed, when progress [i.e., paying out] is made a step at a time, gains will definitely come.

So what about sacrifice, that higher level of “paying out/giving of oneself”?

I remember reading a story in a magazine some time ago that was simple but thought-provoking. It was called “The Desert Spring”.

There was a traveller who was in the lonely process of crossing a desert. He had already drank the water he’d brought with him, and his increasing thirst had driven him to hopelessness. In his last moments of struggling for his life, he saw a great green tree in the distance, and pushed madly on towards it. There was no water at all around the tree, just dry desert sand, and scattered across it, several skeletons of men who had obviously died of thirst under the tree.

What was really strange was that there were traces of digging in the earth under the tree. Disregarding everything else, our traveler began to dig and eventually had dug out a deep pit using his bare hands. To his surprise, in it was hidden a football-sized jar, full of clear water.

He couldn’t wait to open the jar, but on the top was a slip of handwritten parchment that read, “If you pour every single drop of this water into the pit, you will receive an entire pool of spring water.”

The traveler was truly trapped. Without thinking of the trustworthiness of what was written on the paper, he thought of his surroundings. It was an ocean of dry desert; the jar could only satiate a little bit of thirst and prolong death for so long; even if he drank it all in one gulp he couldn’t count on just that to keep him alive in the desert. On the other hand, if what was written on the paper was a lie, he would certainly die [almost immediately] of dehydration.

His throat was burning and his physical strength had already left him, if he didn’t drink water very soon he would quickly die. He looked around, gazing at the skeletons around him, and then used the only strength he had left to pour the water into the pit. The water quickly sank into the dry sand and in a moment, there was no trace of it at all.

The traveler waited a little bit, extremely regretful, having personally poured the lifesaving water into the hopeless pit. He fell, powerless, by the side of the pit, when he heard the sound of flowing water. In the pit, a puddle of clear spring water had sprung up, and the traveler was saved! He packed away the water in his own containers, and filled the jar with water again, sealing it with the strip of paper and burying it in the pit. Eventually, he made it out of the desert.

This story seems incredible, but it’s actually reminding us of an iron [i.e., unchangeable] truth: at times, by “paying out” so much that it approaches sacrifice, you can create a miracle.

If you still haven’t found your desert spring, it’s because your travels haven’t yet taken you far enough, and you haven’t yet given enough of yourself.

Brief Commentary

The job market is exceedingly difficult for young Chinese college graduates these days, and success can be difficult to come by in a place where job fairs can look like this (see photo at left). Many graduates live together in cramped apartments, working jobs they once thought were well below their qualifications and pay grade. These “ant people“, as they have been called, are a significant demographic, and it’s interesting to analyze the acosta’s desert traveler story with them in mind. The message that success comes from sacrifice and faith could be dangerous for a group that’s already sacrificed much and, in some cases, had to redefine success in light of the dearth of high-end well-paying jobs. After all, for those working menial jobs and living in one-room apartments with eight former classmates, what else is there to sacrifice?

It’s hard to get a handle on exactly what acosta’s readers think of the idea. Several of the early comments have expressed their agreement, others said in various ways “easier said than done”, but many just posted “cute” animated gifs. Still, this, more than any of the dissident political stuff we like to discuss on English blogs, is the kind of discussion that’s going on in the internet in China. Here’s a small window into one of China’s most popular blogs; what do you think?

The following is a translation of this blog post by Hong Huang. Hong Huang (sometimes spelled Hung Huang) is a magazine publisher and an extremely popular blogger on the Chinese internet. For more on her, readers can check out this post on Danwei.

Translation: China’s Soft Power Army

Zhang Ziyi on the January cover of iLook

In 2006, Professor Zhang Yiwu wrote in his article “How to Sell Chinese Culture” in New Weekly, “One Yao Ming, one Zhang Ziyi are more effective than ten thousand Confuciuses. “Jewel in the Palace” [a popular Korean drama] is a good example of Korea getting both high culture and low culture [into other countries].”

“Only if we emphasize Zhang Ziyi the way we emphasize Confucius does Chinese culture have a future.”

These sentences were quickly twisted by media-watchers into “Peking University Professor Says Confucius isn’t as Good as Zhang Ziyi” and “One Zhang Ziyi is Better Than 100 Confuciuses,” etc., then it was published on the internet, and poor Professor Zhang took quite a lashing online. It was so bad that even in this issue of our iLook Reader magazine, which is on soft power, Professor Zhang is still having to explain himself.

When I went online to look up information about the incident, I found a statistic saying that 99% of netizens were opposed to the statement  ”One Zhang Ziyi is Better Than 100 Confuciuses.” In that case, it seems I really am one of the poor, deserving-of-abuse 1%.

First of all, as far as China is concerned, I think soft power and hard power are equally important. Secondly, we currently have hard power, but our soft power is very weak. In terms of manufacturing, we are a giant exporter, but in terms of culture, we are importers; we import 15 times more culture than we export. Third, we often talk about the great achievement of thousands-of-years-old Chinese culture, as if China today had no culture to speak of.

Put it this way, let’s look at the great “soft power armies” of other countries: France’s definitely wear Dior army uniforms, carry Louis Vuitton satchels, the army marches out with glittering Cartier emblems, and when they fire over a volley of red wine, China’s fashion industry definitely lines the streets to welcome them, as though they were looking upon excellent fashions. The most unwelcoming thing they might do is strip them and send the French home naked!

And if it’s America? There would be a column of Mickey Mouses, a column of Donald Ducks, and a column of Tom and Jerrys. There would be Transformers, Superman, Batman, and Spiderman; Chinese children under 16 would happily think it was a promotional activity for a toy store.

And then there’s the Chinese soft power army; if we go with what netizens want, then it’s a 2000-year-old rotten old man? If Confucius hadn’t once denounced the daughters of peasants, most Chinese wouldn’t know what “the Master” was talking about even if he spoke all day.

Soft power can’t open a bunch of schools, or bring thousand-year-old etiquette back to life, and speaking official jargon that no one can understand isn’t soft power, either.

Soft power should be an army of Zhang Ziyis, who wouldn’t exclaim upon seeing that! No matter who we attacked, no one would resist. Right? So don’t look down on those who are alive, or those who are smaller or prettier than you. Soft power is something that, when you see it once, you want to hand over your guns, can Confucius do that? Explain all you want, but you can’t explain [how that would work].

This month’s January 2010 issue of iLook has special meaning, as it will be published in Taiwan as well as on the Mainland. We are happy to announce that ours is the first copyrighted Mainland periodical to be published in Taiwan. The magazine [called Metro City in Taiwan, apparently] will hit newsstands in Taiwan on January 20th.

This counts as our contribution to China’s soft power, it’s also why we were absolutely sure we wanted Zhang Ziyi to be on the cover on both sides of the Strait. If it was Confucius instead, [prospects for the magazine] would have been hopeless, right?