I’ll first summarize Kaiser’s comments, and then share my own reactions and feelings below.  I do want to quickly say that this centripetal force of the Internet is the opposite of what I had in mind when I started CNReviews in 2007.  I expected that smart use of  internet media, even on a small niche blog like CNReviews, could create awareness and attention far greater than any person-to-person effort.  But the seeds planted by online outlets like Danwei, ESWN, Global Voices Online, Shanghaiist, even chinaSMACK, have not resulted in a great harvest of ongoing interest and understanding in China among Western readers, and instead remain a relatively small niche community serving Chinese expats and those with pre-existing interest in China.  And yes, the comment threads are indeed full of unthinking China-bashers, unthinking China defenders, self-important egomaniacs, and even sock puppets (and the China “experts” that hold them).

Meanwhile, in the real world, we continue to live apart (in geography and in mindset) as the dynamics of global capitalism increasingly tie us together.

Introduction: Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo (Twitter) moved to China in 1996 and is a rock musician in a band Chunqiu, writer, journalist, and speaker.   He most recently served as director of digital strategy for Ogilvy Digital China, where he wrote at the (now defunct) blog Ogilvy China Digital Watch.  In my opinion, he is one of the most articulate thinkers and writers about how internet and technology is shaping the most important bilateral relationship in the world today: US-China.

Will online relationships boil down to Red Guards vs. Rednecks?

Kaiser spoke on the growing awareness of the chasm between Chinese and Westerners thanks to increasing interconnectedness on the internet.  He gave a longer speech (video, 78 min)  at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, entitled “Shouting across the Chasm.”  His TedX speech was a shorter version but sounded the same themes (I will link to it when it is available).  Bob Page, at The Mercury Brief, did an exceptional job summarizing the speech.  The post, and the speech was picked up by numerous esteemed China blogs including China Herald, Useless Tree, China Digital Times, ChinaGeeks, Danwei, and Peking Duck.  Plenty of discussions have happened already around this speech.

Earthquakes happen when pressure builds up under the surface

By and large, US-China relations at a government to government level have been as healthy as it ever has been.  Last summer, during the Beijing Olympics, I recall watching George W. Bush enjoying the autumn days of his Presidency watching the US Women’s Volleyball team and thinking that China was one of the one bright spots of the presidency of George the Younger.  I (who never had a good thing to say about George W) even stuck my neck out and wrote about George Bush’s Uncharacteristically Nuanced Approach toward US-China Relations.  With Obama’s arrival 11/16 in Shanghai on his first trip to China as President (see itinerary on ForeignPolicy.com), a fairly functional relationship exists between governments.

But under the surface, according to Kaiser, at a people-to-people level, “a real crisis exists, and relations between Chinese and Anglophone Westerners are at a real low.”  To use the analogy of an earthquake, the surface looks calm, but the invisible shifting of the techtonic plates.

In the past, contact between Chinese and Americans “took place at small scale and with intermediation” often in “painfully polite settings.”  Bob Page summarized Kaiser’s contrast of the past with the present in his blog post:

“For most of the 30 years since China’s reforms began, Chinese and American civilians rarely met face-to-face in significant numbers,” Kuo says. “When encounters did take place, they were typically stage-managed events among civil, often painfully polite participants in sister city arrangements, trade delegations and cultural exchanges.

“In March 2008, in the run-up to the Olympic Games, Chinese people were curious about what the world would say about them…. But they were blindsided by negative English-language reporting. While hundreds of millions of Chinese had risen out of poverty, while the Chinese economy had grown by 10 percent annually for nearly three continuous decades, while China’s biggest cities had become forests of skyscrapers with vibrant cultural scenes, none of this was deemed newsworthy by Western news media….

“Instead, Chinese and Americans went after each other in the comment sections of news stories, blog posts, YouTube, forums and boards in an escalating people-to-people brawl that continues to this day. They fight over a litany of issues: Tibet, Taiwan, Tiananmen, trade, Internet censorship, religious freedom, Myanmar, Darfur, sanctions on Iran, carbon emissions, and so on. The first real people-to-people encounter between the world’s reigning and rising superpowers did not bode well.

What changed?  In short, English literacy in China, and the internet.  “What has happened since is two things.  One, has been the ubiquity of English language education in secondary schools in China, and the other thing that has happened is the stupendous rise of the Internet.” said Kaiser.  “In 1999, there were only 8 mm people on the Internet. Fast forward to today, we have 338 mm Internet users (in China) and in the course of 10 years, have achieved 94% penetration of broadband….this has made it possible for unmediated, large scale interaction with Westerners and Chinese.”

In this new media landscape, government-to-government relations are on the surface, while a hot, turbulent sub-surface of popular opinion continues a hidden techtonic shift.  What if a crisis were to happen?  How could popular opinion shape and limit government’s response?

Welcome to the Internet:  where your one-sided beliefs are reinforced by others just like you

Even within the West, with its tradition of free press and free speech, we see how the Internet has caused us to self-segregate into communities of similar interest and political leaning.  From Bob Page’s post:

But this is the Internet we’re talking about, which many of us believed would bring down barriers and usher in the death of distance, the good times of a global village. Instead, it has made us more fractured and tribal…. It’s also true within America, where nowadays you only read the political blogs and viewpoints of those who happen to be on your side of the political aisle.

We read what we want to read, according to Kaiser.  Those on the left read Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo, and those on the right read “whatever wacko right wing website they read.”  (Its clear where Kaiser falls on the ideological divide).  The “kumbaya” factor of the Internet is, in fact, more dead than alive.

In China, the internet “has historically been dismissed as greasy kids stuff” (e.g. internet games, internet cafes, entertainment) but is “also the emerging public sphere in Chinese life.  China has never had a public sphere for intellectuals to gather and discuss the issues of the day,” according to Kaiser.  As a result, the internet in China is extremely important for shaping popular opinion.  But the internet in China is no more enlightened than in the US.  In fact, at Chinese Blogger Conference 2008, Chinese blogger Ping Ke (平客 aka buchimifan) spoke on the need for greater rational online debate within the Chinese blogosphere.  And Roland Soong, in a speech prepared for Chinese Blogger Conference 2009 (see 1kg CNBloggerCon minisite and summary of event on GlobalTimes) and Blogfest Asia, shared the reasons why he doesn’t allow comments on the EastSouthWestNorth translation portal that he runs.  An excerpt:

I do not think it helps for me to facilitate this kind of exchange between “Red Guards versus Rednecks” (or “Chinese Fenqing (angry youth) PK Foreign Fenqing (angry youth)”).  I may want to communicate some information to people, but I am likely to encounter the kind of situation as described by Leung Man-tao (梁文道) in Southern Weekend:

在一篇一萬字的文章裏看見一句令我不滿的話，忘記剩下那部分吧，我要寫一篇兩萬字的回應來批判它。我為什麼要耐著性子看完 那篇東西呢？我為什麼要深入甚至同情地理會它的真正含義呢？它只不過是我用來表達自己的機會和藉口罷了。

In a 10,000 word essay, I came across one sentence that displeased me.  I forgot about the rest of that essay and I wrote a 20,000 word essay to criticize it.  Why should I bother to read the whole essay?  Why should I bother to delve into it or try to comprehend its true meaning?  It is merely an excuse and opportunity for me to express myself.

Indeed, I have come across someone who wrote: “I am not interested in the facts about what happened in Tibet, because I already know how to define the event.”  What is the point for providing information to people like that?  They are not interested in any information.  My own utility to them would be to provide the excuse and/or platform to rave and rant about their pre-established and immovable positions.

Spiraling toward bipolar disorder?  Toward a more resilient system of US-China relations

Unfortunately, the diagnosis of our condition is more painfully clear than the remedy.  Kaiser, blogger Roland Soong, journalist/professor Rebecca McKinnon and blogger Aimee Barnes have each shared some thoughts on how we can prevent the downward spiral that we won’t even recognize until something goes wrong.  I’ll caveat this by saying that these suggestions are in English for the English speaking audience.  Of course, there is just as much work to be done on the Chinese side, and supporting those who can influence Chinese opinion in a positive way is just as much part of the prescription of success.  It is very much a two-way relationship.  Here are Kaiser’s recommendations:

1. Cultivate personal knowledge – From Roland Soong’s post: “Knowledge is the first step. You can[not] talk about something unless you are knowledgeable about it. Why do you want to talk about that something? Because you think that the knowledge has changed your position. And that knowledge may also change your readers, especially those who form the subject of the discussion.”  Blogs are a great place to start.  For English-language readers, Kaiser mentioned several sources including Alltop China, CN Reviews, ChinaGeeks, Danwei (Danwei China mirror site) and ESWN. CNReviews had highlighted blogs that translate Chinese netizen comments and other blogs to watch in 2009.
2. Understand Chinese History – Accept the need to understand Chinese history.  Chinese current events are framed by a view of history held by elites.  Understand that view as best you can.  According to Kaiser, a place to start would be The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence.
3. Learn what Chinese people actually think when their defenses are down. The conversations taking place when it’s not believed ‘whitey’ is around are decidedly more nuanced.  Blogs that translate Chinese content (listed above) can be a starting point.

Rebecca MacKinnon wrote an open letter to Barack Obama advocating a people-to-people approach toward building relationships between Americans and Chinese.  I posted on an Aug 2009 conversation I had with Rebecca and excerpted from the original letter:

Just as you have used new technology to engage with the American electorate, your China policy can be greatly strengthened if you conduct a real conversation with the Chinese people. Listen as much as you talk; provide a much-needed platform for open discussion. The U.S. embassy in Beijing should build a Chinese-language website modeled after change.gov, focused not just on U.S.-China relations, but on the range of concerns and interests – from environment, to food safety, to factory safety standards, to education and real estate law — shared by ordinary Chinese and Americans. Some linguistically talented State Department employees should start blogging in Chinese. Open up the comments sections, see how the Chinese blogosphere responds, then respond to them in turn. Translate some of the Chinese conversation into English for Americans to read and react, then translate it back.

Perhaps the idea of open comments will just draw out “those shouting loudest on both sides…Red Guards and rednecks,” as Kaiser Kuo characterizes the internet.  I believe that more person-to-person efforts are complementary to and more important than an online approach.  This could potentially involve study abroad, educational tourism, volunteer tourism, sponsored events, cross-border events, and informal delegations.  The goal of online efforts should be to convert online connections into in-person connections, and take it out of the blogosphere and into the realm of real-world discussions.

Aimee Barnes comes up with a 5 point approach:

1. Including youth leaders and business influencers into the dialogue now hosted by academic and governmental elites
2. More support for business leaders in both countries to build bilateral relationships
3. More study of Mandarin among US kids and adults
4. Deeper understanding of China’s history and government among Western media
5. New “equal access” research institutions/think tanks that include more Chinese-born specialists

In my opinion, based on 2 years of following English-language Chinese blogs, mainstream media, and actively blogging on CN Reviews, I am more and more convinced that actual person-to-person contact, as opposed to online blogging and conversation, is the most important ingredient to building trust, relationships and increased understanding and mutual respect.  I suppose many of you would say “Duh, of course.”  But if we believe that the internet can be a force for evil (or divisiveness) we must also conclude that it can be a force for good (or improved mutual understanding).  In any case, the “genie can’t be put back in the box” and online discourse will continue on both sides of the Pacific.  But energy should be placed toward efforts that bring together business leaders and non-governmental leaders on issues that we both care about, and rely on material self interest as a mechanism for building bridges.  And a much heavier investment in person-to-person connections between leaders in all fields in China and US is necessary and cannot be replaced by the online discourse dominated by trolls, fenqing, panda-huggers, panda-bashers, Red Guards, and rednecks. In the meantime, your free speech is not guaranteed on the Internet, at least not on our blog.  You can go create your own blog if I don’t like what you have to say!

From written content, to community organizing

For people like Kaiser and Rebecca MacKinnon who are working on writing books, I feel a key metric of success is not just the number of books sold and the number of online references, but the number of influential people on both sides that engage in a deeper and more informed dialogue with the other side as a result of the book.  It is an exercise in community building and community organizing, rather than just the act of authorship.  The pen is mightier than the sword, but only in combination with eye-to-eye contact (or at least numerous meals and drinking together), and trust built over time.

Business partners, motivated by self-interest properly understood

In an article entitled “New Friction and Vast Agenda Awaits Obama on China Trip” in the Wall Street Journal, Ian Johnson highlights that the issues that require US-China coordination have exploded:

A decade ago, most issues discussed at China-U.S. summits were limited to three issues: human rights, nuclear nonproliferation and trade. Now, the list of topics has grown to include almost every problem facing the world, from clean energy and the war in Afghanistan to African development and fixing the world economy — all of which are expected to have a place in talks between Mr. Obama and his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao.

“For the first time in the history of our relationship, global issues are at the top of the agenda,” says Kenneth Lieberthal, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who was a special assistant on Asian affairs to former President Bill Clinton. “This is new territory for us.”

It is a change that analysts on both sides see as potentially problematic. Chinese officials and analysts note that the U.S. still has an arms and high-tech embargo on China — hardly something one does with a true partner, they say. “Obama wants us to become strategic partners or friends but we aren’t either of those,” says Yan Xuetong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University. “We are business partners who share material interests rather than common values.”

It is this last comment from Yan Xuetong that gives me hope and concern.  We indeed have significant material interests, from energy, environment, the monetary system…so lets start there.  With self-interest properly understood, we can build a more resilient global system between the US and China.

Lest you think that Kaiser is too distraught about our future, he claims to be optimistic about our future, and we recently had a great time on Oahu.  Here’s a picture:

I’m interested in your comments.  Even if you are a Red Guard or a Redneck!

The title sounds judgmental, but it isn’t in the least. It’s the truth and, more importantly, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. I am, of course, generalizing the China Blogger Conference and all of the varied speakers, talks, and subject-matter presented over this weekend. While these have definitely included both foreigners and matters that both indirectly and directly affect foreigners both in and outside of China, the vast majority of foreigners will find this conference largely inaccessible and very distantly relevant to them. That almost all of the talks are made in Chinese is only the first, though arguably the largest reason.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong about that, that anyone is to be blamed, and that’s just the way it is. Writing for CNReviews, I have a naked emphasis on what I write about for the predominantly foreign audience we target, an audience we reason as having some basic desire to learn more about China and the Chinese people, so they can better understand both for whatever ends they themselves may have. I have an idea of what this audience may think, how this audience might react, and how I want to influence you. I hope I’m not clearing any mystique or exposing any secrets here.

The takeaway from CNBloggerCon for our audience is that it happens, that a group of Chinese people are bringing other Chinese people together to share, discuss, and promote that which matters to them, that their ideals, ideas, and motivations are being acted upon, that they’re not the sheep too many people too often dismiss them as. Here, they talk about charity, censorship, human rights, artistic expression, professional collaboration, internet phenomenon, and driving or contributing to the continued positive development of China, both online and off. Those of us who are here to see what could be shared with foreign audience are like the Chinese who hopped online to watch Obama accept the American presidency, beholders instead of participants, more eavesdroppers than the target audience. Nevertheless, we are impressed and moved, even if we knew there was no rational reason to feel otherwise.

This is what I can tell you, what I can offer you as a lowly blogger here on behalf of a blog that seeks to bridge China with the West, in hopes that you’ll remember, be impressed, and accord due respect. I won’t tell you about the backwater poverty-stricken schools too few of you could ever find. I won’t tell you about the pseudo-celebrity Chinese Twitterati too few of you could follow. I won’t tell you about the Chinese university students aiming to create a youth-oriented print magazine too few of you could read. But I can share some reasons for expanding our mindsets and our perspectives on mainland China, the Chinese, and what they’re up to.

If you don’t need the reminder, are already impressed, and already accord due respect, then you’re ahead of the game, and you are already a good participant in this ongoing and growing global dialog. Thank you. I need you, CNR needs you…even if and as much as you don’t need us.

For more English-language coverage of the 2009 CNBloggerCon, be sure to look for updates from Jeremy Goldkorn at Danwei (China mirror) and Sky Canaves at the WSJ’s China Real Time Report.

Image credits: Former CNR blogger and Twitter Beast David Feng.

Guangzhou

Min and I boarded a long-distance bus in Guangzhou at 7:55 for what we thought would be a 3 hour drive to Lianzhou. Much of the distance was covered quite quickly on a smooth new highway, smooth enough for me to get some more sleep under my belt after an early morning. When I awoke, we were coursing through the mountains, mountains covered with lush green trees. Then, we were soaring over huge valleys supported by massive columns of concrete rising dizzily through the air from the ground hundreds of meters below. Seeing the latter, I couldn’t help but marvel at how all of this was accomplished, betraying a prejudice against China I have with regards to something I clearly take for granted elsewhere.

The highway ended. It wasn’t finished yet, and as our bus turned onto a smaller, ruttier, country road, we passed by several dozen highway workers piling rocks and pouring cement to form the reinforcing walls for the next small section of what can only be a very, very long highway to wherever it is going. The country road was bumpy, narrow, but still full of cars, motorcycles, and other long-distance busses going to and from wherever it is we’re headed. Unable to sleep any longer, we bobbed up and down over the uneven and spotty concrete road…until the bus came to an abrupt stop behind several cars and trucks also stopped ahead. It was around 11:40am by now, already nearing the four hour mark, already one hour longer than we anticipated…and we weren’t there yet.

Dammit, we’re going to miss the free lunch.

The best part of the bus ride was the old Cantonese couple sitting to the right of us, across the aisle. They were a weathered sort, very rural, but endearing precisely for such characteristics. The old man clearly had become a few fries short of a happy meal in his years. This became glaringly obvious while I was dozing and suddenly sensed his hand reaching over…first lightly patting over my right pocket before moving further over toward my crotch where it briefly hovered like an arcade machine claw being positioned to pick up a stuffed animal prize. I expected myself to panic but, surprisingly to even myself, my hand only quickly, deftly, but also lightly seized his hand and gently returned it to him. His old lady immediately noticed what was happening and was already leaned forward, embarrassed, and smilingly explained in Mandarin to me that his mind wasn’t very clear anymore. I had surmised as much and bore them no grudge, and nodded back with a smile.

Throughout the rest of the trip, the poor woman patiently kept him in line each time he tried getting up and exiting the bus. I wasn’t quite sure why he was so intent on doing so until later when he had given up, pulling a cigarette out and then reaching into his pocket for his lighter. I reached over and tapped on his shoulder, kindly indicating to him that he can’t smoke in the bus. The first few times he listened and his old lady admonished him in what I can only assume to be Cantonese, as she would every time he was setting himself to do something inappropriate for the circumstances he was in. Later, though, he ignored us and managed to light one up, though in reverse, with the filter of cigarette filter flaring up and him puffing vainly from the unfiltered end before the chastising by his wife prompted him to move to the empty seat at the rear with a window he could open, you know, one that would allow the outside wind to circulate the smoke inside the cabin instead of letting it out.

All of this happened throughout the bus ride, both before and after finding ourselves stopped on the country road, unable to continue our trip, unable to turn back. A single traffic cop was blocking the road, stopping traffic. Eventually, after getting off the bus to eavesdrop on the cop talking to other impatient motorists, I learned that a truck and its trailer had rolled over ahead of us and the traffic department would arrive soon to clear the wreckage.

We got moving around 12:30, with everyone rubbernecking past the wreckage site. The truck itself was being towed away while its trailer was still at the bottom of the hill the narrow road was paved on. Suddenly, I didn’t feel quite safe riding on the bus, what with its massive size and higher center of gravity, bouncing and bobbing its way along that narrow road.

Fortunately, we made it to Lianzhou without any rollovers, off the road and down any hills, happening to ourselves. Lianzhou is a small backwater city/town by Chinese standards, but still had plenty of high rise apartment complexes. The banners hung on the light posts lining the streets advertised a developer’s apartment complex, selling for ~1800 RMB (<270 USD) per square meter. Compared to Shanghai where property prices for decent apartments go for 20,000 to 30,000 to 40,000 RMB per square meter, it sounds cheap. But, for Lianzhou, for the city we were beholding, it might actually be somewhat pricey.

It took another 30 minute taxi ride from the bus drop-off point to get to the Lianzhou Underground River scenic area where CNBloggerCon is being held this year. All the while, Min and I were cursing under our breaths over how remotely located the conference was this year, openly wondering how many attendees there might be this year. Min said past attendance was around 300 people, thinking there might be around 100 this year, noting that there were only 39 paid and registered attendees on the official conference website. Cynical and mean, I exaggeratedly declared I’d be surprised if there were 30-50 people. Even if there were more attendees, I wagered the rest of them were lost like us, unable to find where this damn conference is being held in the middle of nowhere.

Lianzhou Underground River, Middle of Nowhere. Quite pretty, actually, after you get there. Half of the conference was (and is being) held in that big hole up there.

Wuhan-native and England educated Xue Ying of BloggerInsight kindly took our calls as our contact, and as the head organizer of the conference. We could imagine how beleaguered by her organizing duties but she made sure we made it to the conference.

She also made sure several lunch boxes were saved for us.

We arrived at CNBloggerCon 2009, around 1:30pm, over five hours after departing Guangzhou, with over half of the the first day’s talks and speakers already over.

The lunch boxes were pretty tasty though.

Okay, not IN the big hole, but right at the MOUTH of the big hole, HERE. Imagine this space with a projector, some banners, benches, chairs, speakers, and conference attendees. Oh, and wifi.

For CNR, however, Min Guo and I will be flying down to Guangzhou later today to attend this weekend’s 2009 5th Annual CnBloggerCon, for which CNReviews an official sponsor. As one of our past contributors, BloggerInsight‘s Xue Ying will also be there as one of the organizers.

While there are foreign attendees, CnBloggerCon is a home-grown affair, a gathering of mainland Chinese bloggers, entrepreneurs, academics, non-profits, and other people interested in China’s online space. In addition to fronting some cash to help make CnBloggerCon ‘o9 happen, we’ll do our best (read: I’ll do my best) to report on the conference’s activities, speakers, and shenanigans. This will be my first time attending so, frankly, I’m not really sure what to expect.

More: CNR’s past China Blogger Conference (CNBloggerCon) coverage.

Jeremiah Jenne of Jottings from a Granite Studio explains, in general, how the Chinese may differ from North Americans and Western Europeans when it comes to what they fear and expect from their government. From “It’s not ‘Who do you love?’ that matters, but ‘What do you fear most?’“, Jeremiah starts off with an anecdote, setting up the question:

In class two weeks ago we were watching the documentary series China From the Inside, when one of my students asked, with some reason, that if there was so much hardship and discontent why does the CCP enjoy such broad support?

It was a good question, and like all good questions it depends on whom you ask and how you phrase the question.

He explains how Chinese citizens may often be at odds with each other with different — even violently conflicting — views on the current CCP government’s policies. However, in contrast to the “tyranny” that many “Westerners” have traditionally and been socialized to fear from their governments (but not only governments), these same divided Chinese citizens are united by a common fear:

And so  I try to remind my students that the question to “What do you fear most?” looks very different from the Chinese historical experience, particularly that of the last 140 years or so.

From the Chinese perspective, particularly as written in the history textbooks used in PRC schools today, the greatest horrors have not come at the hands of the all-powerful state, but in times when the state was too weak to defend itself and the people.  Think of the depradations of the European imperialist powers in the 19th century at the expense of a rapidly weakening Qing Empire. There is the starvation and disasters of the warlord period in the early 20th century, when China was for all intents and purposes Afghanistan on steroids, and the ‘central government’ consisted of a parade of military leaders in control of the 10 square blocks around the “Presidential Palace” in Beijing.  Even under a period of relative prosperity in the 1930s, Chiang Kai-shek’s control never extended much past a few central provinces in the Yangzi region.  Locked in struggle with the CCP, the Nanjing government lacked the political will or wherewithal to build a new society or improve the lives of China’s rural population, and  soon even that gargantuan task would take a back seat to mere survival as the forces of both the KMT and the CCP were overrun by the Japanese onslaught.

Even if we look at the latter half of the 20th century, a period not covered quite so thoroughly in the PRC school curriculum, the personal experience of so many Chinese during the Cultural Revolution serves as fresh reminder as to what happens when the central government abandons order and stability in the name of “idealism.”

Whether or not you personally agree with this interpretation or not, the salient point is that many Chinese see their history through the lens of chaos/order with the forces of the latter fighting a constant battle against the former.

So, the Chinese tolerate, support, or defend the bullying and tyranny of a CCP government because it keeps order and stability. This makes little sense to many who come from other nations and backgrounds, but isn’t seeing and understanding these things from the Chinese background, history, and experiences the whole point? If we do, genuinely, understand these fears of the Chinese people, are we stuck begging them to let go or are we actually trying to help them move on? Do we actually know how to help? Are we supposed to?

Read the full — and excellent — post over at Jottings from the Granite Studio»

Image source:  appow

I read John Kennedy’s excellent reflections on this year’s CNBloggerCon and tried to summarize for myself what the main takeaways from the conference was for me.

1.  Before our very eyes, the development of civil society is happening online.

Michael Anti 安替 spoke of the tremendous media liberalization in China since 2000.  With all of these advances, there are still problems with mainstream media in China, which is state-controlled and censored.  From the birth of the internet in China in 1998 to today, blogging in China plays a bigger role than in Western countries that already have a free, independent and professional media.  The question he asks is: can professional journalism arise from the blogosphere? Can bloggers support pluralism and sensible discussion?  He suggests that Chinese grassroots media is at a turning point: and should select the best aspects of journalistic tradition from the world. Ethan Zuckerman has a 2007 interview of Michael Anti that I like.

Ping Ke 平客 aka buchimifan observed the strong tendencies of argumentativeness and divisiveness in online forums and the blogosphere.  He spoke of the need for rational debate, both offline and online.  He hints at some aspects of Chinese society and culture that make it more difficult for people to disagree and debate in a calm way.  If you look online at Chinese forums and blogs, the “civil society” we are discussing is often not very civil.  Are these signs of the inherent centrifugal (“center-fleeing”) forces in Chinese society that cause leaders to emphasize harmony?  The blogosphere needs to play a role to support pluralism and rational online debate.

Hecaitou 和菜头 warned that the risks of misinformation can come from online mob rule as much as it can from a government seeking to maintain control, or private businesses seeking commercial gain.  Online sources can be extremely unreliable.  He gave an example where the blogosphere (and BBS) rallied behind a student who was killed by police officers.  But people jumped to conclusions, and it turns out the student wasn’t a student at all and had a prior record of attacking the police first.  The blogosphere is not “inherently truthful” any more than business or government is “inherently truthful” and Chinese civil society will need to determine what is true infomation in the Web.  Fortunately, I think they are pretty equipped to be skeptical of all sources of information.

2.  The scale of blogosphere and social media in China makes it impossible to control

The Sydney Morning Herald and Stuff.co.nz wrote up a nice article about Isaac Mao that I think captures the power of social media in China:

But while Western attention focuses on how much international content China still blocks, Mr Mao is excited by what has recently happened. His verdict: blogging has given Chinese people nerve. (all emphases mine)

“Two years ago nobody would have believed this was true,” Mr Mao says. But “as more and more social problems have emerged in China, people have had the chance to connect and share things that could not be seen before. Once there are enough bloggers nothing can be hidden.”

The number of bloggers in China doubled to 107 million in the six months to last June, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre. Total users rose 56 per cent from the previous year, to 253 million, giving China the largest online population in the world.

Mr Mao says he can see a tipping point coming. He believes that as a result of blogging, young Chinese brainwashed by their education system are now trying to think for themselves, work together and find smarter solutions.

Roland Soong of EastSouthNorthWest also has an exceptional speech that he couldn’t give in person because of family matters.  In the past, coverage of Chinese domestic injustices by the Western media was the only way to get redress.  But today, domestic social media has assumed the role that the Western media used to play.  Furthermore, the Internet has changed in four important ways:

Firstly, the Internet has grown so big that it is beyond normal control.  How do you monitor what 253 million netizens are doing (statistics from Wikipedia)?  How do you monitor the contents on 11 million Chinese websites?  The mythical 30,000 Internet police are helpless against those numbers…The dam is leaking all over the place….

Secondly, there is the emergence of an extremist right and an extremist left on the Internet in terms of public opinion…

Thirdly, a more interesting development has been the artful insertion of rumors into public debates.  On the seemingly straightforward case of The Police Beat A Harbin University Student To Death, there was a wave of misinformation about the deceased (that is, he had family ties to important government figures; he was a drug abuser; etc) that undermines public sympathy.  This gets to the point where one has to tread extremely carefully in every case to tell information from misinformation.  That may be frustrating, but it is actually very useful training…

Fourthly, and most importantly, you will note the role of western media has been eliminated from the process model…If once upon a time western media coverage, which affects the opinion of western politicians and citizens, mattered to the Chinese people, this is no longer the case.

I find Roland’s assessment very exciting.  The dam is leaking all over the place.  Social media, in an odd partnership with the Chinese government, has created a robust, networked system that is impossible to control, but can be both helpful and detrimental to the development of Chinese society.  It has been so successful, that domestic social media has supplanted the role of Western media and Western public opinion in influencing Chinese government policy and action.  As it should be.  Some more comments on Roland’s speech can be found at China Herald.

3.  But expect Web 2.0 will inspire Cop 2.0: adaptive efforts to control and influence social media

Crane Wang has an interesting post entitled Web 2.0 & Cop 2.0 that shares a bit about government involvement in this year’s event.  I covertly took pictures of the undercover police “protecting” the event from reactionary forces by trying to look “grassroots”:

Zhou Shugang (Zola, Zuola, Alouz, Twitter:Zuola, Zuolazi) – But the government is not without its ability to harrass.  Rebecca MacKinnon shared that blogger Zhou Shugang, aka Zola, was prevented from leaving the country:

Zola has stirred up controversy by turning himself into a commercial brand while at the same time committing citizen journalism. He has been called many things by many people: The “nailhouse blogger.” “Enfant terrible of the Chinese blogosphere.” A Chinese journalist-blogger friend of mine calls him “post-modern.”

Now Chinese authorities say he is “a potential threat to state security.” For that reason, they barred his exit from China to Hong Kong on Sunday. He was on his way to Germany to serve as a judge for Deutsche Welle’s Best of the Blogs awards.

Its clear that Zola doesn’t fear attention, as he was the only one with T-shirts sold at the conference with his picture on it.  I bought a few.

These are traditional harrassment methods.  And much of the burden of Internet censorship is essentially privatized and decentralized to the licensed content providers in China. The important thing is to know that Web 2.0 will eventually inspire a Cop 2.0 response. We don’t know what that will be yet, or if it will be more of the same.

4.  Social Media has been transformative in the fields of education, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and business.

Education – Social media is creating more ways in which teachers and students relate to each other, and also ways in which students relate to one another.  This is likely to stimulate more creativity and independence on the part of students, and faster, sustained continuous improvement on the part of teachers.

Non-Governmental Organizations – The Sichuan Earthquake disaster relief was a great example of how relief organizers were able to use social media to communicate with each other.  The blogosphere was critical in disseminating information to their trusted networks rapidly.

Panel on Online Word of Mouth Marketing – There are mixed feelings about business’ use of social media.  Chaozuo (抄炒做) is about manufacturing buzz in China — and is controversial if used incorrectly, just as it is in the Western world.  A classic case of the power of the blogosphere is the 2006 case of “Processor Gate” or “Dell Hell” which was chronicled by Sam Flemming of CIC and also BusinessWeek.

5.  Social media offers opportunity for personal growth:  self-knowledge, wisdom, and discovery

Jean Chow (Goldred) shared some heartfelt personal reflections about blogging:

• “life is something like making a good meal, we need time to let it mature to make it taste really good”
• There are no “eternal fans” or “fans forever”
• Sesame and pies — What’s more important — sesame or pies? Both, in fact, as just as important; but there’s a time and place for everything.  The way we need to learn must change.
• There’s too much on the “outside”.  We’ve forgotten the “inside”
• Quote from Zhuangzi (莊子). We must find ourselves. Only then will others follow us.

Lian Yue: Pessimism is Immoral - And finally, Crane Wang blogs about a meet up on November 16 after the official conference had concluded. Lian Yue, a liberal opinion leader, exhorted bloggers to persevere in the face of persecution:

In the very early stage of social change, when the Internet first came into being, when you first began blogging, people might very easily get frustrated and believe those efforts are just meaningless, stupid and vain. If you press hard on those efforts and say there’s no point, such negative attitude might kill civil society in its infancy.

That is why I believe pessimism is immoral at this time in China.

Please remember social transformation is by no means a quick task.

In a democracy like America, very person has one and only one vote. B. Obama has one vote, G. W. Bush one; and a rich man one vote, a poor guy also one vote. If you have a blog and keep writing on it, express your opinion, that is your social responsibility and civic duty being done. Even if there are only 2 readers, your are making quite a move. A civil society would come into being by such gradual influence. Please be optimistic.

So that’s it.  An exhausting event that I believe is part of a historic movement!

和而不同，多志兴邦!  Embracing Our Diversity, We Build Our Future Together!

Other Links:

WSJ China Journal “Do Chinese Web Users have more fun”

John Kennedy’s reflections

Micah Sittig’s quick impressions

John Biesnecker’s parting shots

David Feng’s summary

Shel Israel’s post with some CNBloggerCon reflections

Web2Asia’s China 2.0 Tour Guangzhou Day 2 post

Web2Asia’s China 2.0 Tour Guangzhou Day 1 post

Online broadcasts (zh) by Netease here:  http://tech.163.com/special/000932A4/cnbloggercon2008.html

SlideShare group organized by Oliver Ding:  http://www.slideshare.net/group/cnbloggercon/2

Video from WSJ China Journal:

Via Roland Soong, a list of 17 Chinese bloggers (many already mentioned above) who are on the vanguard of a new open media that will make China a stronger, more resilient country through a new tradition of open journalism and greater civic participation:

安替 (Michael Anti)
长平 (Chang Ping)
连岳 (Lian Yue)
时昭 (Shi Zhao)
胡咏 (Hu Yong)
冯三七 (John Kennedy)
左拉 (Zhou Shuguang)
杨恒均 (Yang Hengjun)
邓志新 (Deng Zhixin)
艾未未 (Ai Weiwei)
老虎庙 (张世和，Zhang Shihe)
温云超 (Wen Yunchao)
许志永 (Xu Zhiyong)
刘晓原 (Liu Xiaoyuan)
翟明磊 (Zai Minglei)
宋以朗 (Roland Soong)
毛向辉 (Issac Mao)

1.  Entrance gate to CNBloggerCon with Chinese Flag in the background

2.  星坊 60 (Xing1 Fang1 60) near Xinghai Music College (星海音乐学院)

3.  Local Public Security Bureau (PSB) “protecting” CNBloggerCon.  Thank you Jing Jing and Cha Cha!

4.  Slogan: “A diverse blogosphere working in harmony for society”

5.  A gathering of diverse Chinese bloggers

6.  In a creative warehouse environment

7.  Surrounded by creative spaces and even a bar/lounge

8. Guangzhou committee member LEMONed wears a fail-whale shirt

9.   Bridge bloggers eating at the Xinghai music college cafeteria

10.  Fun game at CNBloggerCon…gathering is not all about listening to speeches

11.  Cool notebook establishing intense blogger street cred

12.  Carol Lin’s (@thecarol) fashionable mini-notebook with a strap.

13.  Young photoblogger in training

14.  Lounging around

15. Jeff Lyndon speaking passionately

16. Xiao Juzi iceorange and Yuanzi (小橘子, 袁子) sharing ideas

17. Sky Canaves

18. Christopher Adam

19.  Undercover Public Security Bureau guys trying to look “grassroots” – but hair, clothes don’t look quite right, and the guy on the right looks a little too fit to be a blogger.

What a trip.

Some of us didn’t have time to post on the whole event. Elliott, Zoe and I pulled off some work at the Blogger Conference, but some of us had to wait until the flight out of China to get any decent work done. But now that we’re all relaxed and “stuff like that” (as I say)…

A Look Back At China 2.0

China 2.0 was a very brave, and at that a very successful event that not only made a lot of incoming “foreign devils” (if you must in Chinese lingo) aware of PRC 2.0, so to speak, but also opened their minds (and even expanded my horizons as a “local expert” in the field). I knew this was the case when I started talking to Shel just before he touched down at Beijing Airport. To him, meeting me at the Airport Starbucks felt like never leaving home, and he must have been treated to the often breathtaking sights and sounds of Beijing by both the group and by @kaiserkuo.

The companies we met with sounded like a veritable Who’s Who. With the notable exception of Baidu, we got to meet just about all the big guys in the biz. Meetings with Youku, Tudou, and even Google, were part of the program, as were meetings with Web2Asia, Kaixin001, and Alibaba, just to get us started.

I’m sort of like an explorer, so I like to experience cities unplugged. Those short but sweet “hours off” where I got to (remember this is “me”) ride each city’s Subway systems were unique and unplugged me (for a chance) from the otherwise 2.0 parts of each city. (To that, of course, I count Beijing’s Lines 1, 2 and 13, as well as Shanghai’s Line 8 and Guangzhou’s Line 3.) Having a bit more exploration time would have been the icing on the cake, so to speak, but China 2.0 alone as it was turned out to be one delicious Cake 2.0.

A Look Back At Chinese Blogger Conference 2008

The Chinese Blogger Conference was easily the big thing this time round. After Beijing’s and Shanghai’s fair share of corporate encounters, the stage was set for a hundred flowers to bloom in the City of Five Rams — Guangzhou.

Michael Anti started things on a good note for Day 1, when he talked about media, and a preference for US media or media that strove for the truth versus Taiwanese media, which can get quite colorized at times. We also had informative prezos from Fenng (or “the other” David Feng, which this David Feng recognizes by name), as well as a highly educational talk by Goldred from Taiwan. The evening of the first day belonged to Carol Lin, Taiwan’s Twitter Queen, as China got its first-ever Punch Party.

Day Two of the Blogger Conference started out with me making sense of Shel’s keynote to the audience by translating the whole thing into Chinese. The sound system at times made translation hiccup a little, but the encouragement I got later on proved that it turned out pretty good. Right before and after the keynote, I got to take some great shots with the Scobleizer himself and his entourage. (It was pretty interesting how the Scobleizer came to know of the Blogger Conference; it looked like I tuned quite an audience (the Scobleizer included) into 2007′s conference through the then-blognation China tweetcast. Needless to say, it was refreshing and a great pleasure to meet the real Scobleizer in person — just as every bit as witty and insightful as his tweets and his blog proved him to be.)

The afternoon featured prezos from many more people, but most notably a progress report about Asia’s Web 2.0 landscape from Gang Lu. I went next with a 20-minuter detailling the International Chinese, and the author of River Crab Coming Ashore, Mr Yang, ended the whole conference on a very powerful note: don’t take what’s not yours..

In between, I got to meet up with a great number of fellow bloggers, tweeters — a good number of people that, with any attempt to produce a detailled A-Z name list, will eternally glue your hands to your mouse (or trackpad). This was a very vibrant and diverse 2.0 community in the PRC — even with “harmonization” already underway.

(You can’t harmonize individuality, it seems.)

A Look Back In General

The last week was a week that I had been waiting for — for quite a while. And when it ended as I made myself in semi-asleep mood onto a taxi headed for Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, I wish it hadn’t ended that quick.

Right off the top of my head, the sheer number of people I got to meet was just — way out there. As I joked on the trip, I had collected a veritable Mount St Helens of namecards — nearly 70 at last count. Facebook contacts exploded as did the number of fellow tweeters (nearly 100 in a full week, including those who “dropped out” due to mass tweeting), and my LinkedIn network grew beyond imagination.

Even with the online growth, what was most magical, so to speak, were the offline interactions. I got to meet some truly amazing people, including those that I had seen on Twitter for a long time, but only just met. Right off is the amazing meetup with @thecarol, Taiwan’s undisputed Twitter Queen, as well as with @kenworker. Meetings with other people of note included with noted citizen journalist @zuola, as well as the old gang — @isaac, @Tangos, and @ganglu, just to mention a few!

Offline with China 2.0, I had also met some people that left me with a deep impression. Nothing left a deeper impression than the “donut-ready” (I think @christinelu loved it the most) @marcvanderchijs, as well as a very inspiring Kai-Fu Lee. And, of course, no mention would be complete without the @Scobleizer and @rocmanusa, just to mention some folks.

Of course, those in the China 2.0 gang had some of the most memorable and unforgettable people in the whole crowd. These were people that basically stuck with us through the whole thing. @shelisrael tops the list, as I was fortunate to drive him to the Marriott City Wall in the Jing. Accent-wise, @mbites talked pretty much the same talk and was always ready for a laugh — even when my legs (and feet) were being near-threatened by the foot masseuse. And if I could name just one other China 2.0 folk (apart from Elliott and Christine) that I shared some really good time with, it was with a fellow traveller (very much a traveller at that) — @SheilaS.

It’s probably a bit odd for me to be writing about my own speech, as I somehow tend to see this as shameless self-promotion. Nevertheless, I’m doing my bit in telling those who want to be in the know the reason I did my International Chinese 2.0 speech.

We go back to April 2008. China was hit pretty badly time and again — Tibetan protests, coupled with a massive PR problem while the Olympic Flame was making its way across the world — got quite a number of Chinese united and going, quite simply, ENOUGH. “Love China” icons were all the rage, and it was at this time I started an article on this very site about whether or not we were ready for the “international Chinese”.

When I met @isaac, @Tangos and the rest of the Chinese Blogger Conference team, I wanted to tell those folks that I’d like do a speech this year. This was, even to me, a bit on the quick side. Last year, I was just a totally silent near-no-one at the conference, madly tweeting away with blognation China. This year, things were a tad different.

Isaac got my email and OKed my idea of a speech. The content of the speech was next thing we had to tackle. Isaac and Co knew me as the Subway guy with an affinity for Zhongguolish (our version of Chinglish), but I wanted the audience to be informed miles beyond the Beijing Subway. So I threw an idea: instead of making huge ad campaigns for either the Subway or my projects, how about if I told them a bit about me and what I think — as in someone who’s been to 17 countries in 26 years and lived out there in the West; how about I did something about the international Chinese…

David Feng - International Chinese

These guys are great to work with. I say that because Isaac gave the green light virtually on the spot. Off I went next with Tangos to set the idea afloat — and to get the speech there for real. Tangos was really in the spirit, too, and wanted to feature me as a speaker as soon as possible. The enthusiasm, and the potential audience, was there — and it started to take shape and form. Including the speech itself.

At first, I wanted the speech to be a display of “just” what locals and foreigners think, as well what sets us together and what unites us, plus a bit about my views of the year 2008 as an International Chinese. However, the first day of the Chinese Blogger Conference was quite enough for me to go right back to the drawing board and spend much of Day 2 redoing the entire presentation. (That was why you saw Zoe and Elliott, not me, at the blog helm on Day 2 here at CN Reviews.)

The redone version started on a much more personal touch: I’d describe a bit of me, my education in Switzerland, what I do, as well as a few of those classical @DavidFeng tweets before diving into what makes the Chinese or the foreigners tick (a la the original presentation). This was a good start as people would first get to know me before they got to know what I did or what I believed in.

For much more about the speech, I’ll let the rest of you take a drive around the presentation itself as I posted a (rather condensed) version of the speech on the Web.

Immediately after the speech, I felt quite a bit confused — even down at times. This was my first-ever speech at the Chinese Blogger Conference. Last year was my first-ever attendance at the event: did I jump the gun too soon? How could this near-silent guy last year become a “someone” this year? Are 14,000+ tweets your “admission ticket”? (I doubted that the moment I thought about that.)

As with everything in life, not every last soul could be satisfied, but the way the speech went down with the crowd was both uplifting and even more than I had imagine. Very encouraging were the votes of confidence by virtually the entire Taiwanese delegation and Isaac Mao himself. More and more folks followed me on Twitter or befriended me on Facebook — and mentioned my speech.

I never wanted this speech to be something like a self-ad: I just wanted to make the audience aware that there are quite a number of people, Chinese by ancestry, who are doing their best to bridge the gap, however big or small, between China and the West. (This was pretty much what China 2.0 was all about.) And now that I’ve succeeded (somewhat) in doing this, I feel at least I’ve gotten something done.

Of course, there were also the constructive commentary on how the whole thing could have been better — more humor and more graphics were amongst the suggestions. These folks can rest assured that I’ve taken good note of their ideas and will be doing my best at improving future presentations.

I kind of felt bad myself that some people slept through the speech (as I wanted my bit to entertain people, not put them to sleep, although I had no problems with people actually dozing off), but hey, to all are granted the rights to listen, tune off, or even to doze off. The fact that Carol Lin really tuned in for this one, though, plus the added support I got after the speech, made it all the more worthwhile. Provided the audience and the organizers are OK with this, I’d love to do this again (of course, with a different title and a much-improved presentation) next year!

Speaker: Christopher Adams

Taslima Nasrin’s photo on flickr found by Japanese magazine. How did they find the photo? I used a Creative Common license on the photo. By having the tag it allowed the Japanese magazine to find my photo and publish it.

This is what I like to call the triangularization of benefits, or win-win-win.

Who are the winners here? The Japanese magazine got the free photograph, Nasrin got a high quality photo of her in the magazine, and I got published as a photographer which has never happened before.

Isaac Mao: “Whenever you have the intention to creat, you will find it easier and have more critical ideas when you have the sharing process firmly in mind.”

Charles Dickens. He visited US and was upset that a lot of his books were pirated in the States, he went back to UK and wrote a book called American Notes and criticized piracy in the States. Then Americans pirated this book and sold 50,000 copies in one day.

Mark Twain: He spent a lot of time working on intellectual copyright. He was upset because Canadians were ripping off his books. He wanted to keep control of what he wrote so he would go to Canada to register his books. 1874, wrote a book called “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word As I Heard It”. In this story he really repeated word for word the lifestory of a slave. Mark Twain was not the creator of the story but he became the owner because he wrote it down.

Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons.

Remix Culture: One person creates something and another person remixes. Call and response.

Joi Ito. A book of his photographs. Freesouls.cc

Yiyantang translated essays in the photobook into Chinese. Chinese translations available on the web, even though the book is yet to be published. Ito tols me to go check out slideshare where the book was already available.

But instead of being angry, we are very happy about this. It helps us spread our message. We are creating the community around the idea, so that when the real book comes out people will already be familiar with what we are doing.

Lessig’s Hybrid Model of Creative Enterprise:
Models – Second Life, Flickr.

Swoon. Street artist. Compiling flickr photos taken by different photosgraphers of her work.

Four photographers documented each stage of Swoon’s work. How to catalogue this and publish this.

Second Life – Cao Fei’s RMB City. Using seconlife as a platform for her work, made a documentary using second life.