Water Ink

Joanna Lumley complained on Channel 4 News that her peaceful protest on the day of Olympic torch relay in London was almost ignored by the media. On the other side, many Chinese students voiced the frustration of that their show of support, a pro-Olympic torch demonstration if you like, despite turning up in large numbers, was barely mentioned by BBC News 24, who broadcasted most part of the torch reply. It is understandable that stunts, especially violent stunts, always attract more media attention, however I do wonder whether those they tried to grab the torch, or throw themselves to the torch bearers, or ambush the torch with a fire extinguisher, were risking losing their case. Not only they overshadowed their colleagues who insisted on peaceful demonstration, some action, like the one happened in Paris during which several men charged from all directions, wave after wave, towards a disabled torch bearer sitting on a wheel chair in order to grab her torch (well before the flame lit up), did not do any good PR for the movement’s ‘non-violent’ image.

One thing clear is that if the protesters wanted to ‘embarrass China into submission’, they are most likely to find their efforts totally counter-productive. Not only this forces China into a stand off confrontation, but also galvanises Chinese people into showing more support of the Beijing Olympics. Chinese students in Edinburgh are organising a show of support demonstration at city centre this Saturday, followed by a separate protest against the misreporting outside BBC headquarter in London on 19 April. Some may believe Chinese students are either blinded by Communist Party’s nationalistic propaganda or totally insulated from the outside world. However what it really shows is that, just like their counterparts in Britain, Chinese students are usually not into politics, but will rise up to express their views when the issue they really care about comes by.

It is interesting to compare the live broadcast of torch relay in London and San Francisco. The NBC presenters were upbeat and giggling, often indicating the torch relay is a fun thing (even the torch run, torch drive and the cat-and-mouse “where is the torch” thing is fun), positive for San Francisco’s image, including the display of rivalry between anti-China and pro-Olympics demonstrators. BBC News 24’s broadcast, fronted by Chris Eakin, however, gave the overall impression that the torch relay in London, and in San Francisco, were distasteful embarrassment or miserable disasters. I’m not suggesting any conspiracies. Perhaps Americans are not so ashamed of highly-visible, security-minded operation, or just the weather is better there. A serious point, though, is that if violent disruption of Olympic torch relay becomes a fair game to any protest groups, or even turns into a competition of who can, literally, grab the biggest prize, if attempts of grabbing the torch, extinguishing the torch, or worse physical violating the torch bearers can be justified if you happen to like the course, as some British columnists suggest, then the biggest victim will be the Olympic movement.

Those who use violence to disrupt the torch relay may enjoy the maximum media attention they are seeking for, but the consequences are going to be suffered by all of us who rather enjoy Olympic Games and all the festival atmosphere it brings, whatever one’s views on Tibet are.

During last night’s Channel 4 News, Francesca Martinez declared on air that she had withdrawn from Olympic torch relay in London. Martinez of course should do what satisfies her conscience. Her judgement, however, was not helped by the imbalanced reporting and sometimes misinformation from some news organisations. During the introduction of the very same interview in which Martinez made her declaration, Channel 4 News used the footage of Tibetan protesters held and dragged by police, supposedly to demonstrate the brutality of Chinese authority. Except the protest happened in the neigbouring country Napal, not in Tibet. Why Channel 4 News still used the same video footage while their China correspondent Lindsey Hilsum had already reported several days ago the backlash among Chinese people towards western media’s misreporting including the misuse of this very video footage I do not know. I certainly expect more balanced reporting and accuracy from a respected news programme like Channel 4 News.

Among many commentaries about what happened in Tibet and what would happen at Beijing Olympics, some groups advocate either boycotting Beijing Olympics altogether or at least the opening ceremony, or encouraging athletics openly demonstrate during the Games, wearing a Free Tibet t-shirt while competing for example. To see what kind of reaction their proposed action may get, one can do worse than checking the response from the eighty thousand or so Chinese students in the UK. Although most of them won’t hesitate to criticise Chinese government’s handling of events, such as a blind ban of the foreign media, many believe the western media are equally biased and untrustworthy. On the overseas Chinese discussion boards, there have been heated debate, mainly among overseas Chinese students themselves, about whether Tibetan are treated well enough, and how strained the relationship between Tibetan and Han-Chinese is, however most of the participants see Tibet as an integral part of China, many also accuse western media as being one-sided or even fabricating in reporting the violence in Tibet. A seven minute video posted onto YouTube (has been viewed near two million times) reflects the feeling shared by many Chinese students.

A new website, anti-cnn.com, has been set up to expose the western media outlets like CNN, German N-TV, as well as BBC and The Times of “manipulation of evidence” and “biased reporting”. It looks many quite a few western news organisations, in the immediate aftermath of Lhasa riot, used the pictures of Indian and Nepalese police taking away demonstrators in their reports as the evidence of “Chinese army used brutal force to crack down protest”. One screenshot of BBC News website shows a picture of Chinese soldiers wearing medic arm band standing behind an ambulance with the caption of “a heavy military presence in Lhasa”. A YouTube video then shows a slideshow compilation of the materials.

In the UK, an open letter to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been circulated among Chinese students in which the author points out the biased reporting by western media and asks Gordon Brown “not to meet Dalai Lama” when he comes to the UK in May. After the disruption of Olympic flame-lighting ceremony and torch relay in Greece, there are also calls on the message boards to “support the Olympic torch” when it tours through the UK.

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Mariella Frostrup asked in her Open Book programme on BBC Radio 4 whether there is a Chinese Jane Austen, whose work a listener’s fourteen years old daughter could enjoy. There are several authors instantly pop into the mind. Eileen Chang (张爱玲), whose short story Lust, Caution on which Ang Lee’s film is based, is the obvious candidate. But I think her work is often too cold. Her sharp words could coolly pick up the shortcoming of the protagonists piece by piece. Her view of the relationship is perhaps too cynical for a fourteen years old. Qiong Yao (琼瑶), the Taiwanese female author published several dozens of romantic novels in the seventies, many of them have since been adapted into films and TV series. Many will regard her work too superficial and melodramatic though. One contemporary author is Hong Kong’s Yi Shu (亦舒). Her stories rarely happen outside the world of rich and beautiful, but the wittiness is very enjoyable. Zhang Xiaoxian (张小娴), another female writer from Hong Kong, is many people’s favourite romantic novelist.

The problem is novel had not been a highly regarded form of art until the turn of twenty century. In the first half of the last century, when the country suffered never ending civil wars and foreign invasion, writers were often urged to come up with patriotic novels instead of romantic ones. Added into this is the less freedom women enjoyed than their counterparts in the west in this period. So it’s no surprise that there was no Jane Austen kind of figure in early Chinese literature.

But if you don’t mind the gender, Lin Yutang’s (林语堂) Moment in Peking (京华烟云), about a big family in early twenty century Peking (Beijing) is a good read, and it was written in English by the author.

For English readers, some of Eileen Chang’s novels have been translated into English, like Lust, Caution (色戒), Love in the Fallen City (倾城之恋), The Rouge of North (怨女), Written on Water (流言). She also wrote in English such as the novel The Rice Sprout Song. I haven’t seen any English translation of Qiong Yao, Yi Shu, and Zhang Xiaoxian’s novels.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is a collection of ten short stories written by the Chinese author Yiyun Li. The sharp observation of human relationships, the sometimes punchy, sometimes minimalistic dialogs, as well as the warmth and empathy underneath, all make the reading very enjoyable.

Yiyun Li is at her best conveying the strange sense of alienation and liberation. In the two stories I like the most, Extra and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, the protagonists were all thrown into an unfamiliar situation. Unable to communicate with or without the language barrier, but still trying to understand, the characters at end all manage to find their way out, reaching some kind of inner peace and freedom while the outside world remains largely indifferent and incomprehensible.

What strikes me most in those stories is the freedom gained by using a new language. Being able to, or being forced to use a new language, looks to have the unexpected effect of making one be freed from the inhibitory restraint of the mother tongue, instead of just providing the possibility of make yourself understandable. The author herself once said that she feels using English to write gives her the freedom to better express herself. In A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, we witness Mr Shi’s daughter’s transformation from a distant, silent figure into a vivid, laughing, animated person once she’s on the phone, speaking English. We, as Mr Shi, are astonished.

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Spooks ended its sixth season with a bang, which is what it has been doing every season. When a fast-pacing, shocks-stuffing series enters its sixth season, it’s much more difficult to provide more surprises. The strategy seems to have one story throughout the season. The story, that Iran is acquiring nuclear weapon technology, is quite timely, as usual. Spooks has distinguished itself with topical and sensitive storylines, which wins a lot of admiration. In the previous season, Adam Cater has to decide weather or not to shoot a terror suspect on spot, on the crowded street, who is believed about to blow himself and bystanders off. Of course Cater’s decision is the correct one, fully vindicated afterwards. It is darker and uglier in real life.

But I feel it’s kind of lost the focus a bit at the beginning of the season. And gosh, MI5 is so seriously short of hands. Everyone in the section D has to do everything, even Harry has to kidnap someone, and a retired officer and a noisy journalist have to be called into action. They also seems spending a large amount of screen time trying to save each other. In such genre, it is most interesting and intense when the personal safety and integraty of the protagists are threatened. However when it happens too often, it loses the power of shock, only lookes careless.

Fortunately it’s back to form in episode 6, when Adam and Rose try and fail to stop the handing over of the nuclear bomb trigger on the plane. However in the next episode, when some white extremists hijack the stagged live Question Time type of show, it’s just a bit silly really. The plot has never quite recovered after that I’m afraid, although in the last episode, it comes back, albeit with the old trick - the personal destiny of our protagonists.

Having seen the stranger than fiction reality of the war on terror, and enjoyed many similar shows with twisted plot and morality, the audiences are almost immuned to any kind of horror. By turning to the establishment and to each other, Spooks managed to shock the unshockable once again.

The Pearl Awards ceremony was a marvellous occasion. Royal Festival Theatre looked fabulous. Yang Xuefei’s guitar performance with the English Chamber Orchestra, thoughtfully consist of one Chinese and one Rodrigo piece was mesmerising. Niu Niu, the 10 years old piano prodigy won the longest applause though. Even Prince Charles popped in to say congratulations. The appearance of Vanessa Mae on the stage as a special guest caused wild cheers from some sections of the audiences. It’s a great pleasure to see so many beautiful Chinese people at one time in the UK.

It is thus unfortunate that my knowledge of the three ‘unsung heroes’, who received the awards at the ceremony, does not enhance much. I know one of them, Florence Qiu, quite well. I worked for her to organise the Tyneside Cinema Chinese Season some years ago. Florence has worked tirelessly for the Northeast England Chinese community for many years, devouting time and energy to promoting cultural exchange. She is certainly a worthy winner of the award. However, the other two winners remain ‘unsung heroes’ to me. A little more introduction of their work and contribution is no more than they deserve.

Delaying, delayed, severely delayed

On my way back to Edinburgh today, I was sitting on the ‘delaying’ GNER train that stalled somewhere between King’s Cross and Peterborough because a train ahead of us had some problem with the overhead wire. When the train reached Doncaster one and half hour late we were told we were on a ‘delayed’ train. Upon departure from Newcastle, two hour late, the new driver started the announcement with a sign, ‘this is the severely delayed service to…’ making everyone on board smile. An award recognising the Chinese community’s contribution to the British society is certainly ‘delayed’ if not ’severely delayed’. I hope there will be no further ‘delaying’.

Yesterday someone on LKCN BBS asked where she could visit Thornfield, the place where Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester fall in love. It was quickly worked out by other Brontë fans that North Lees Hall and Hathersage are probably the best the places to go. Of course, the place where Mr Darcy and Miss Bennet fall in love is also a good destination for the romantic types. And with so many adaptations, the choices are abundant.

Brontë sisters and Jane Austen are equally, if not more, popular in China than in the English speaking world. The most popular Jane Eyre adaption in China, the 1970 version starring Susannah York and George Scott, was dubbed into Chinese and watched by millions people in late 70s, at the time when the country was just starting to recover from the shock of Cultural Revolution. The possibility of passionate love, in the guise of rebellion against social classes, was slipped into the mind of a whole generation.

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On Sunday there were repeated scenes on the television news of the McCann family returning from Portugal to the UK. There were photographers on the back of motorcycles following their car, more photographers waiting at the gate of the airport, long lens images of an empty runway with the caption ‘Live from Midland Airport’. Those pictures somehow reminded me the footages of police chasing O.J. Simpson. When the photographers rushed to the car windows to take more pictures as if it is a prison car leaving the court, I had a terrible feeling. Didn’t they realise there were two children sitting at the back seat? At that moment, those photographers did look like a pack of ‘feral beasts’, who would tear apart anything on their way.

On Manday morning Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Five Live asked the audiences to debate about the media coverage of the missing of Madeleine McCann. It is a timely debate, however, it is so easy to slip into a ‘which side are you on’ kind of arguement that is purely based on speculations. The debate was stopped when more than half of the responding audiences said they didn’t want to hear it anymore. It is curious BBC would stop a programme or a debate because some audiences don’t like it based on moral ground. I still believe it’s a worthy topic, perhaps only on the broader issue of the media behaviour in these cases, or perhaps now it’s not the best time. What I don’t want to see, is the BBC, like other media, acted like paparazzi following a celebrity. It’s ture McCann family, with enough resources, have used the media to publicise their search of the missing child (wouldn’t you do anything you can at such situation?), but that doesn’t mean their privacy should not be respected.

Edinburgh Filmhouse’s Mikio Naruse Season is a treat. I knew little about the director and hadn’t seen any of his film before this. But after watching When A Woman Ascends the Stairs, I ended up watching six out of twelve films on offer.

It is rare to be able to watch so many Asian films in such short period in the UK. (Cinema China 07, which was also held in Edinburgh Filmhouse, was an exception.) Giving the fact that Mikio Naruse’s films are not well distributed in the West - some of the 16 mm prints were borrowed from German Japan Foundation, it makes this Mikio Naruse Season even a greater opportunity. What’s more, as I have realised graduately, is that his films are better watched in pairs. When A Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) and Floating Clouds (1955), tell two different stories, but I can almost see them as two sides of the same woman. The fact that both films were starred by the beautiful Hideko Takamine makes the comparison more intriguing. Repast (1951) and Wife (1953) can be watched as the two episodes of the same marriage, which adds waryness to the happy ending of Repast (1951). Interestingly the husband in both films are played by the same actor Ken Uehara.

Mikio Naruse’s films are immersed with Eastern philosophy. He had the near Taoistic pessimistic view of the world and yet very sympathetic towards the characters. His films always refrain from saving the characters from misfortune but yet avoiding making moral judgement on the men and women. Those films are wonderful work.