Posted on 11/25/2011 12:25:54 PM PST by nickcarraway
On a chilly morning in Hebei province, 20 miles north of the Great Wall of China, Jiang Xiaotian wandered out onto his patio overlooking a town that bears a more than passing resemblance to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. With its pitched roof, stone chimney and wooden exterior, his house looked just like every other in his neighborhood -- evoking the American Wild West he knows from the movies.
Jiang, a Hong Kong corporate executive, has never been to the United States, and before buying his weekend home, he had no particular affection for cowboy culture or American life. But somewhere -- over dozens of weekends spent at a resort town that's part suburbia, part spaghetti Western film set -- curiosity got the better of him. He began reading American novels and immersed himself in John Wayne films. Now, the interior of his vacation home is sprinkled with all-American kitsch -- there's a Zippo lighter collection, a mounted deer head, a black airsoft gun with a leather holster from Texas. The walls are hung with a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence and a Civil War-era map. On his mantle sits an embroidered hanging that reads, in red, white and blue, "God Bless the U.S.A."
"Actually, I don't really have any strong feelings toward the U.S.," Jiang explained as we sat on suede-upholstered chairs in his living room. "But there is something about the cowboy culture, and being near the mountains here, that gives you a feeling of total freedom."
A two-hour drive north of Beijing's oppressive smog and colorless high-rises, the town provides a surreal sense of escape. Jackson Hole, whose Chinese name literally translates to "Hometown U.S.A.," now consists of about 900 single-family homes with working fireplaces, wooden facades and landscaped footpaths. Still under construction is a primarily commercial
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
Money quote:
“In 2009, Zhang and five of his colleagues flew to the original Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the first time. The group rented a van in Jackson Hole and drove to Teton Village, and then north to Yellowstone National Park. But the even while visiting the real American West, Zhang felt as if he’d seen it all before.”
“The mountains were very beautiful,” Zhang said. “But everything else, well, it was pretty much the same as ours.”
Living in the Colorado mountains, I know the meaning of escape. I hate the big city and look forward to the oasis of rural life. In China, they’re discovering the same pleasure.
In Mao’s time, the idea of individual freedom and private property was unheard of. Now its protected in China’s Constitution, the private sector is booming and newly minted millionaires can enjoy their own piece of the country. Pretty impressive, considering China is still an authoritarian state. But people accept the trade-off in exchange for being allowed to live as they want and to travel where they please.
Pretty impressive, considering China is still an authoritarian state.
Don’t worry comrade, we’re catching up!/sarcasm;)
“Pretty impressive, considering China is still an authoritarian state.”
Don’t worry comrade, we’re catching up!/sarcasm;)
We are two nations whose sizes and scopes of government are going in opposite directions. And the trend is not our friend.
After Tienanmen, the state reached a bargain with the people: live as you like and leave the politics to us. Its worked out as much as expected. As long as you stay clear of politics in China, you’re free to do what you want and go where you want. Its better than no freedom at all.
heheh. could work out.
Takes a lot of nerve to champion the cause of a communist nation that has a policy of forced abortion. Globalists twist in the wind in their rationalizations for shipping our R&D and manufacturing base to communist China...and such people are traitors to this country and care little for human rights as long as their bottom line is unaffected.
They will be the first to hang from the lamp poles.
Repression 2.0
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/04/05/repression-2-0.html
Please stop with the inanity. The ChiComs can take away those faux freedoms anytime they want. Your comments are moronic at beat evil at worst. Ridiculous. Only an idiot would fall for this.
We are going the wrong direction, because globalist scum keep firing Americans.
Every America who loses a job which is outsourced by those same scum to China - then looks to big government to help them.
They become ... LIBERAL DEMOCRATS. And them vote for more government. Like Obama.
We are destroying our own nation.
“Free trade” is destroying our nation.
Of course your right, as anyone who’s recently been there would know. And, also of course, we know that PRC rulers can take away freedoms whenever they wish, sort of like what happens here.
Churches throughout the nation will recognize but not celebrate the anniversary of China’s One-Child Policy. Most people know that the policy has brought death throughout all of China, and combined with a son-preference, has meant the loss of millions of little girls.
But not everybody realizes that the policy was set to end in September 2010—three decades after it was created. According to Chai Ling, his autumn marks the 31st anniversary of the policy, which—with its violent forced abortions and sterilizations, heavy fines and destruction of property—“has already prevented 400 million lives,” according to official Chinese government records. Is there an end in sight? No. China has decided to keep the policy around “for decades to come.”
“As Christians, our only reaction should be deep sadness and outrage that leads to desperate prayer,” says Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed, a humanitarian organization devoted to restoring life, value and dignity to girls and mothers in China. “We are standing up to a massive communist government and saying that every baby deserves to live. This is God giving us an opportunity to pray more desperately than we ever have before. ”
Is there anything more purely evil then that?
Freedom is better than non-freedom. I’m not defending the Communist regime or its policies. China still has long way to go. That people can practically run their own lives is a new thing in Chinese history. Before China opened up to the world, practically every one in that country thought the state and it leaders were like gods - and were dependent on them. Being able to set your destiny, establish your own business, buy your own home and be able to freely travel is a significant change. People couldn’t do those things before. And real freedom is not what the state gives us, its what we can and should do for ourselves. In that sense, Chinese people are already freer than Americans.
Denial.
A river in Egypt.
JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CHINA
The goal of the justice system has traditionally been to protect the interests of the state not the individual and to keep the masses under control. There is no independent judiciary in China. The courts are regarded as weak and subordinate to the Communist Party and the National People’s Congress.
Chinese justice is not based on the idea of innocent until proven guilty. For the most part one is guilty until proven innocent. People charged with crimes are nearly always convicted and sentences are rarely overturned.
China has a constitution with laws that are not all that different from laws in Western countries. The only problem is that these laws have traditionally been ignored, interpreted in strange ways or not enforced. There is a saying in China: “Power is greater than the law, money is greater than the law and connections are greater than the law.”
The Supreme People’ Court is the highest court in the land. Its judges are appointed by the National People’s Congress. Below the Supreme People’ Court are Local People’s Courts, comprised of higher, intermediate and local courts. There are also Special People’s Courts primarily for military, maritime and transportation matters. Courts have names like the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court.
The legal system is based on civil laws derived from the Soviet legal code and civil legal principles. The legislature has the power to interpret statutes. The constitution is ambiguous on judicial review by the legislature. High courts sometimes hand out judgments not based on evidence but based on orders from Communist Party leaders.
Andrew Jacobs wrote in the New York Times, “The contours of the Chinese legal system, as rights lawyers here know well, tend to be fuzzy. Petitioners are often thrown into extralegal holding cells known as black jails; dissidents are frequently cooped up in their homes for months on end; and domestic security agents have a variety of means to keep troublemakers in line.” [Source: Andrew Jacobs New York Times June 23, 2011]
China only has extradition policies with 37 countries. Sometimes sentences for crimes carried out outside of China are much lighter than those imposed for crimes in China. In August 2011, a Shanghai court sentenced a Chinese man to the relatively light sentence of 15 years in prison for murdering a taxi driver in Auckland, New Zealand because he “expressed remorse.” The man, who admitted to the crime, was not convicted of murder but for the China crime whose best English translation is “intentional assault.
Trials in China
There are no juries. Trials are presided over by three judges in uniforms with insignias with balanced-scales on them. Defendants are allowed defense attorneys. Prosecutors have traditionally won 99 percent of their cases and verdicts are usually foreordained. Arrests are often announced after the prosecution has enough evidence to convict.
See Torture, Human Rights.
By law, defendants are entitled to a trial in lower and higher courts. Almost any case can be appealed or retried, even with no good legal justification to do so. Powerful groups often ignore court rulings and find ways to have them overturned through bribes or connections while the case is being appealed.
An entire trial can take two or three hours or even less than that. One human rights activist said he was given only 20 minutes to mount a defense and was cut off when his time was up while the prosecutor was allowed much more time to present his case and allowed to carry on when his allotted time was up.
Some crimes such as drug possession, membership in Falun Gong and prostitution are considered to minor to waste with trial time and punishment in the regular prison system. In many cases people arrested on these charges are sentenced for up to three years without trial on recommendations from police committees and sent to special slightly-less-harsh prisons. There is a great deal of abuse with this system. The police have power to imprison people for whatever they want.
Electric cattle prods are sometimes used on defendants in the courtroom. After activist Yang Chunlin was sentenced to five years in prison, his sister said, “When he left the courthouse we shouted at him that he must appeal. He said ‘No need.’ and turned to say more, but the police prodded him with an electric stick...I saw sparks, and then he was placed into a police car and driven away.”
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=299&catid=8&subcatid=50
You do the Chinese people no service by soft-soaping the tyranny they live under.
Neither all the millions of Americans whose jobs and livelihood have been sent there, making the regime stronger.
(and America weaker)
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