During the past few months, Christine Lu and I discovered we shared many of the same interests in bridging and connecting the world with China. So I’m pleased to share (h/t to Christine who already broke the CN Reviews sponsorship story) that CNReviews will be co-sponsoring Christine’s vlogging tour to Beijing and Shanghai from May 21 to May 30.
We will also be co-sponsoring a cocktail party for friends of CN Reviews, China Business Network, and attending the CHINICT conference on May 22 and 23. Aside from the conference, I will plan on carrying Christine’s bags and equipment as a China Business Network fanboy.
China Business Network aims to smash the one-way mirror
I was inspired to start CN Reviews because I observed the one-way mirror effect between America and the world. Chinese people know a lot more about the US than US people know about China. And according to Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Global Voices Online, its not because the voices of China and the world are not there. Its because the developed world is not interested. China Business Network is doing its part to smash the one-way mirror to make China visible to the World.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be planning our specific objectives for the trip. One goal is to reach out the China bloggers and the grassroots organizers of the CNBloggerCon to create a shared vision for bringing a select group of international bloggers to meet up with bloggers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
Bringing together bloggers and young leaders could solve for global peace and understanding (crazy thinking, but yes I mean it!)
Our current vision is to bring international bloggers (and other young leaders) to meetups in Beijing and Shanghai, then culminating in an event to be held at a time and location very close to the CNBloggerCon, perhaps 1 day before or after. We don’t think bringing non-fluent international bloggers to CNBloggerCon, which is mostly in Chinese, is the right model. But by collocating with CNBloggerCon, we hope to create the opportunity for people to make connections with China bloggers.
Why am I spending my time trying to make this happen? My theory of change is as follows:
- People adept at the use of social media (like bloggers) have a disproportionate share of voice.
- Grassroots media is less subject to the economic and political pressures of mainstream media.
- Only a small number of American/European bloggers have strong connections with Chinese bloggers.
- Bringing bloggers and young leaders together will help then gain shared understanding and equip them to teach their audience and readers to become true “world citizens”
CN Reviews and China Business Network invite you to partner with us!
This is not a money-making or fame-generating exercise, so we would love to find other fellow travelers who share this vision and will work to make it happen. Our dream team would be Danwei, Global Voices Online, and other people who have been bridging the East and West for quite some time.
What do you think? A little too wide-eyed and optimistic for you?
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A combination pool hall and bar lounge with dark and sleek decor, Racks is an impressive space. The mechanical bull by the DJ booth and bar is definitely a nice...
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The China Business Network (TCBN) is sponsoring an invite-only cocktail party this Friday May 23 at the JWMarriott (北京JW万豪酒店, Beijing JW wàn háo jiǔdiàn)...
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Excited and a bit humbled to be on the same page with all these China A-listers! I was excited to hear that CN Reviews was featured on the new China.Alltop.com,...
Joint Happy Hour @ Racks: The China Business Network and The Shanghai Business Club 
May 23 Beijing Charity Cocktail sponsored by The China Business Network 
Elliot,
You are Christine have a wonderful idea with the initiatives. As both a CEO with business interests in Hong Kong and the PRD as well as a blogger who plans to focus more on Asia…particularly China..this bridging is sorely needed.
Elliot, we’d love for GV to be involved in whatever way we can. Contact me via email and I’ll put you in touch with the right folks on the GV team inside China. Hope we can share some ideas.
@A. Taylor, thanks for the encouragement. Would love to get your involvement at whatever level you want to be involved!
@EthanZ, thanks for reaching out. I hope Rebecca is feeling better and I’m connected on Twitter with @Feng37 who did an amazing job liveblogging the event last year! Thanks for your thoughtful blogging on “homophily” though I confess I had to read some of those posts 2x to grok it fully (and probably have to read it 1x times more!).
Looks like we’ve got a new spamming technique…
be a native Chinese blogger,I love to join you and I really need it.
Getting to know China, are we ready?
Your vision and objectives are excellent, but not easy to achieve. I have to say that you have just chosen another Long March, and I have a lot of respect to your courage. I cannot imagine what might be up against you down the journey, but as a writer who tries to crack open the “window to Chinese culture” in children’s literature, I have chosen “a cross to carry”. Further more, my effort in trying has brought me unjustified literary criticism and even trouble that I have never anticipated. Here are some examples.
Little Wen: “I Want to See About That.”
Ruowen Wang. Illustrated by Wei Xu.
Review by Myra Junyk.
Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 4-6.
(Part of the Junyk’s review) Little Wen is a very curious child who finds herself in a new environment which she wants to explore fully. As an only child, she is often left to her own devices. This allows her to try out her assumptions by doing things like cutting off all the down on the chick’s heads. Her mother is shocked by her behaviour and manages to stop her before she cuts all of the hair off the tomcat’s head! Little Wen’s curiosity about everyday events will surely be familiar to young readers.
Little Wen’s impetuous actions lead to several improbable events in this picture book. Why is she left alone to experiment with the animals? Why does she seem to act in isolation? We see her with her mother on occasion – but never with her father.
Response from Ruowen:
I think the reviewer needs to learn a little bit of other cultures so that she can think out of the box of OUR TODAY’s society. Living in a village where everyone knew everyone else, children were totally on their own without adults around. They would come home
when they were hungry. Men were out working from 6 am to 6 or 7 pm. And fathers would never take care of children, since it was a woman’s job (even though this was not true in my case). Usually children would be brought to their fathers by their mothers when they got into serious trouble.
Reply from CM editor:
(By the way, he is also my friend, who always tries to help me, warn me and keep me from harm):
“Your comments bring to my mind my earlier suggestion that you need to add “Author’s notes” at the end of your books to provide “context.” You cannot expect your readers [or reviewers] to be aware of child raising practices in other cultures around the world [and not just China]. I agree that we cannot be just ethnocentric in our reading of books, but the reality is that most people will see things through the lens of their own culture.”
“In today’s multicultural world, schools are particularly [perhaps, at times, overly] sensitive to how minority cultures are presented. Also, in today’s Euro-centric world of equality between the genders, that concern also gets overlaid on the minority literature.”
“Another email today brought me information about your experiences with the Toronto schools*. Again, some author notes that provide the context could have possibly avoided the “stereotyping” claims.”
Ruowen: It is amazing that we have to figure out how to make “communication” work, and consider potential obstacles from all aspects. On the other hand, if everyone writes something everyone else knows, there is no place for learning, sharing, or multiculturalism. What are we going to do?
*Literary Censorship in Schools in Toronto?
All twelve books written and published by Ruowen Wang – a Chinese-Canadian author for children, have been banned from public schools by Toronto District School Board (TDSB)!
Ruowen Wang is a children’s author with a dozen published titles to her credit and always another dozen stories on the way! Two of her five books submitted to the Canadian Children’s Book Centre were selected in The Best Books for Kids and Teens 2008. Two others have been rated five stars by Midwest Book Reviews on Amazon.com. Most of Wang’s books have been collected by many public libraries and schools across Canada, and some around the world. All her books are collected and used by OISE to teach student teachers. Most schools that read her books for the first time bought every published title and asked for her next books.
Before Asian Heritage Month in May, Wang wanted to let schools know that she had the very books for this theme. Since sending out flyers with synopses of books is not effective, Ruowen wanted teachers to have the opportunity to read and consider the real books. So she sent out a package of twelve picture books to more than four hundred local schools in Toronto, along with a book order form should they choose to order the books for their school. To remind schools that there was no obligation, she highlighted a line on the book order form saying “We will contact you in two weeks. If these books are not for your collection, we will get them back and you pay nothing.”
The responses from schools were overwhelming. Schools were surprised by this kind of unusual approach. Some loved Ruowen’s books and invited her to visit schools, regardless. Others were offended and would not look at her books. A few took further action by complaining to the board of education.
So on April 27th, Toronto District School Board asked Wang to submit two sets of books, and called for a vetting process. (By the way, Ruowen is TDSB’s approved vendor, and has been invited to show and sell books at TDSB’s book fairs a few times a year.) At 9:23 am on Friday, May 8th, the board called Ruowen and delivered its verdict: All Ruowen’s books would be banned from Toronto schools. Ruowen asked the reason for this decision. TDSB responded that “There are some offensive illustrations, exclusive languages and gender issues”. Ruowen asked for a written statement with detailed explanation for each book. TDSB promised to send it to her by email. After her numerous phone and email messages, she did get an email message that only contained a general statement very much like the one she was told over the phone:
Dear Ms Wang
Please make arrangement to pick up the books that you had sent to 400 of our elementary schools as soon as possible. The books have been reviewed by both our Library Services area and our Equity department and have not been approved for use in TDSB schools. There are concerns regarding the stereotypical imagery and text. Further, it has been determined that these books are a level 1 resource and couldn’t be used in the classroom without extensive inservice.
This message does not provide details of each book’s evaluation. Is the Toronto District School Board claiming that every one of the twelve books is stereotypical? What is wrong with Little Joy, a book about a little girl adopted by a Caucasian family? The handful words and repeated sentence structure mainly focus on language acquisition. What is wrong with Zigzoo, a little fire-puffing dragon who caught a cold, lost his fire, and finally got his fire back by helping another person? Or To Share One Moon, a little girl’s wish under the full moon, which symbolizes unity and family togetherness, that all loved ones are thinking of each other no matter where they are in the world? If one or two or even ten books raise the board’s concerns, shouldn’t they be considered individually rather than being banned collectively?
Ms. Wang believes in high quality children’s literature and the true meaning of “Equity, Inclusiveness and Multiculturalism”. She believes she has written twelve children’s books that reinforce and celebrate this spirit. Even though, some content in some books may be foreign to the Westerners’ eye, she trusts the intelligence of her readers, even very young children. Ms. Wang understandably feels wrongly accused of stereotyping, and this judgement by the TDSB could affect the perceptions of a much wider audience. She has therefore chosen to make all her books fully open on her website for children and their parents to read from cover to cover, and see for themselves. Make your own judgement by visiting her publisher’s website: http://www.kevinandrobinbooks.com and go to Virtual Books. Click on the book cover to open a PDF file.