Jacques Martin (25 September 1921 – 21 January 2010)
雅克斯•马丁 （1921年9月25日 - 2010年1月21日）
 
 

Tibet (29 October 1931 – 3 January 2010)
Tibet （1931年10月29日 - 2010年1月3日）

10月12日，王克勤到河南省周口地区的商水县进行艾滋病问题的一个调查，所到乡村看到了许多打击上访的标语，拍摄下来，贴在这里，以便大家了解中国与上访的关系。

打击非法上访，维护社会安定


信访人应到指定的场所反映问题

在2月1987年，法国的内政部长Charles Pasqua说：“La démocratie s’arrête où commence l’intérêt de l’Etat’‘。
中文是：“民主政治的极限在哪里开始国家的利息"。
在中国不是民主政治和国家党政的利息。就是法律的敬重和本地政府的利息。。。
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Attack those who seek audience with higher-ups

Wang Keqin recently posted many photos from his trip to a rural Henan town. He was there investigating the AIDS situation, but found these slogans posted all over the town and thought they were interesting. He posted them, in his words, “so that people can understand the relationship between China and seeking audience with higher-ups [上访]“. For those who haven’t seen it before, the term “seeking audience with higher-ups” refers to traveling to Beijing or larger cities to report local government misdeeds to higher authorities. Here are some of Wang’s photos, with translations in the captions:

打击非法上访，维护社会安定 = Attack illegal reporting to higher-ups, defend social stability

信访人应到指定的场所反映问题 = Complainants should report all problems directly to the assigned place

信访人不得围堵冲击国家党政机关 = Those with complaints shouldn’t entrap and attack administrative units of the gov’t and Party

信访人不得堵塞阻断交通 = Those with complaints mustn’t obstruct traffic/communication

信访代表不得超过万人 = Petitioner delegates can’t surpass 10000 people

以身试法，害已害家 = Defying the law is harmful

信访人不得围堵冲击国家党政机关 = Complainants should report all problems directly to the assigned place

In February 1987, the French Interior Minister said: “La démocratie s’arrête où commence l’intérêt de l’Etat'’.
It means: "The democracy ends where begins the state’s interest".
In China, it’s not a question of democracy and state’s interest. It’s just about respect of the existing constitution laws and the interests of local governments…
 
 
Vocabulary / 词汇:
好多新的词汇（为我！）。。。
打击 = dǎ jī = to attack, against
非法 = fēi fǎ = illegal
上访 = shàng fǎng  = to petition, appeal to the higher authorities for help
访 = fǎng  = to visit, to inquire
维护 = wéi hù = to protect
安定 = ān dìng = stable, quiet
进行 = jìn xíng = to conduct, to execute
拍摄 = pāi shè = to shoot a picture
以便 = yǐ biàn = so that, in order that
信访 = xìn fǎng = petition letter
指定 = zhǐ dìng = designated
场所 = chǎng suǒ = location
反映 = fǎn yìng = to report
围堵 = wéi dǔ = to contain, to entrap
冲击 = chōng jī = to attack
机关 = jī guān = organ, institution
堵塞 = dǔ sè = to block
阻断 = zǔ duàn = to block, to obstruct
超过 = chāo guò = to surpass
以身试法 = yǐ shēn shì fǎ = to defy the law
害 = hài = to do harm to
 
 
Sources / 来源:
王克勤，在路上的记录者
ChinaGeeks

But having a look to the below exhibition program reminds me that galas & shows are once and for all worthy.
It was in Paris Bercy, probably in 2008, for the French "Stars sur Glace" tour.
Skating on two themes of Sweet Dreams (a jazzy version and Marilyn Manson reprise), this program mixes technicality, grace & velocity.

Carron & Jost were the 2006 and 2007 French national bronze medalists and the 2008 and 2009 French national silver medalists. They also won a bronze medal at the 2007 Skate Canada International, finished as high as 6th at the European Championships, and were ninth in their only appearance at the World Championships. Their partnership ended in April 2009. What a loss for ice dancing!…

中文

March 30, 2009
Already an old news, but still worrying…

Proscribing the defamation of religions, as the United Nations Human Rights Council would have the world do, is a chilling idea, in more than one sense. Islam in particular and religion in general would be treated as if beyond criticism. Really, it is a way to dress up the suppression of speech in human-rights garb.

The UN resolution has no legal force, but its symbolism is disturbing. Any Islamic government that legislates against an "insult to Islam," which can cover nearly anything, has just been given a pat on the back. Anyone anywhere who finds something objectionable - a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in an editorial cartoon in Denmark, or a novel set in India, or a mention of the Prophet Mohammed in connection with a beauty pageant in Nigeria - has been handed a moral justification for protest. This, in a world in which such protests have often taken deadly forms.

The notion of defamation of religion is vague to the point of meaninglessness. What is its reach? The text of the Human Rights Council’s resolution says, "Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human-rights violations and terrorism." That suggests a vast range of discussion is off-limits. The UN itself has overseen several reports outlining how Arab societies (both secular and religious) have fallen into decay. "Why do Arabs enjoy so little freedom?" the authors, 40 Arab intellectuals, asked. (If defamation of religion is wrong, is defamation of ethnic groups allowed? Is there now a hierarchy of protected groups?) Islam can co-exist with modernity, they say, implying that it does not do so now. Did the UN defame Islam, then?

There is a good deal of ferment in the Arab and Islamic world, of which those 40 intellectuals are a part. There is also a good deal of silent acquiescence in the face of extremism. At the request of Pakistan, which put the resolution forward on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Human Rights Council is pushing a fanatical notion, rather than encouraging the ferment.

Is it wrong to say, for instance, that creationism should give way to evolution in school curriculums? If it is wrong, how is society to progress? Of course, there are hateful people who will lie about religions - the Jews have faced them over many centuries (significantly, the World Jewish Congress and some Muslim and other religious groups oppose the Human Rights Council resolution) - but the price of dealing with the hateful should not be to stifle everyone else at the same time.

The notion that Islam should be protected has played out in Canada, with a human-rights complaint about the writings of journalist Mark Steyn on Muslims in Europe that were inflammatory but well within the bounds of free speech. Democracies do not, or at least should not, have their debates overseen by human-rights tribunals.

The discredited UN Human Rights Council is trying to drag the world backward. Instead of the Enlightenment, medievalism. It is disgraceful, though not surprising.

联合国通过“宗教诽谤”决议引争议

虽然逾50个国家超过180多个非政府组织联名签署请愿书抗议，联合国人权理事会本周四仍旧以23票支持、11票反对、13票弃权通过了一项关于“宗教诽谤”的决议。

此次请愿书的发起人宗教自由基金（Becket Fund for Religious Liberty）联名众多机构要求人权理事会能够拒绝“宗教诽谤”的决议。在该决议通过之后，该机构的代表L. Bennett Graham）发表一份声明说：“人权是为了保护人，而并非概念。人权理事会所通过的这个决议对所有信仰的人群来说都是一个灾难。”

亦有批评人士警告说，该项决议可能会被利用来令反亵渎（anti-blasphemy）合法化，使人权积极分子与宗教异见人士受到威迫；最终结果不仅不会 保护到宗教信徒（包括少数宗教）应得的权利，反而会令当权宗教利用此决议来打击其它人。比如在巴基斯坦，因国家反亵渎法的威胁，使基督徒经常活在恐惧中， 回教徒经常以污蔑穆罕默德的罪名随意指控基督徒，只要被抓，很少人可以全身而退，曾经有法官因宣判基督徒无罪而被暗杀。

总部设在英国的国际人权组织“世界基督教团结会”（Christian Solidarity Worldwide）的宣传主任Alexa Papadouris说：“不幸的是，这些决议试图去破坏《世界人权宣言》上的原则，而我们在去年12月份刚刚庆祝了《世界人权宣言》颁布60周年。这些 决议攻击了言论自由和宗教信仰自由，并且试图以无力的个人为代价来保护有权势的政府们。”

宗教自由基金代表L. Bennett Graham强调说：“我们在人权理事会不再是讨论人权的问题，我们现在讨论的是政治。这是一个耻辱。”

多种形式的“诽谤宗教”决议的发起者与支持者多是伊斯兰会议组织（Organization of the Islamic Conference ）的成员。伊斯兰会议于1999年首次在联合国人权理事会上采用“诽谤伊斯兰“一词，“诽谤宗教”此类词语方才引入；但连续几年国际社会都高声反对此类决 议。直到2005年，联合国大会才开始每年通过“诽谤宗教“决议。但到2008年，在“诽谤宗教“议案中，投反对与弃权票的首次超过了投支持票的一方。今 年，亦是如此。

“世界基督教团结会”宣传主任Alexa Papadouris呼吁，下月在日内瓦召开的德班反种族主义国际检讨大会上，各国政府们应当抵制“宗教诽谤”决议。

4月份，德班反种族主义国际检讨大会将会在日内瓦召开。在为了制定检讨大会最终成果文件草案而开展的协商工作中，尽管各国代表都能以一致同意的方式通过各 项决定，但成果文件草案中仍有一些措辞引发了争议。其中一个存在争议的问题是，一些伊斯兰国家提议在成果文件中加入旨在限制“诽谤宗教 ”（defamation of religions）的内容，但西方国家对此难以接受，认为这将对言论自由造成潜在的不良影响。

Sources / 来源:
globeandmail.com
福音网

In the past, I’ve heard about the sack of the Old Summer Palace, but I never realized that this place was different from the Summer Palace that you can visit nowadays.
Indeed, the Old Summer Palace, 圆明园 (Yuánmíng Yuán) is located on the East of the Summer Palace, 颐和园 (Yíhé Yuán).

The Old Summer Palace was a complex of palaces and gardens, built in the 18th and early 19th century, where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty resided and handled government affairs.
Known for its extensive collection of garden and building architectures and other works of art (a popular name in China was the "Garden of Gardens", 万园之园 - wàn yuán zhī yuán), the Imperial Gardens were destroyed by British and French troops in 1860, as a punishment for the torture and execution of those countries’ peace emissaries by the Chinese Emperor.
You will have plenty of info on the wiki dedicated webpage.

And thus, Victor Hugo wrote the following letter:

The sack of the Summer Palace

To Captain Butler

Hauteville House,

25 November, 1861

You ask my opinion, Sir, about the China expedition. You consider this expedition to be honourable and glorious, and you have the kindness to attach some consideration to my feelings; according to you, the China expedition, carried out jointly under the flags of Queen Victoria and the Emperor Napoleon, is a glory to be shared between France and England, and you wish to know how much approval I feel I can give to this English and French victory.

Since you wish to know my opinion, here it is:

There was, in a corner of the world, a wonder of the world; this wonder was called the Summer Palace. Art has two principles, the Idea, which produces European art, and the Chimera, which produces oriental art. The Summer Palace was to chimerical art what the Parthenon is to ideal art. All that can be begotten of the imagination of an almost extra-human people was there. It was not a single, unique work like the Parthenon. It was a kind of enormous model of the chimera, if the chimera can have a model. Imagine some inexpressible construction, something like a lunar building, and you will have the Summer Palace. Build a dream with marble, jade, bronze and porcelain, frame it with cedar wood, cover it with precious stones, drape it with silk, make it here a sanctuary, there a harem, elsewhere a citadel, put gods there, and monsters, varnish it, enamel it, gild it, paint it, have architects who are poets build the thousand and one dreams of the thousand and one nights, add gardens, basins, gushing water and foam, swans, ibis, peacocks, suppose in a word a sort of dazzling cavern of human fantasy with the face of a temple and palace, such was this building. The slow work of generations had been necessary to create it. This edifice, as enormous as a city, had been built by the centuries, for whom? For the peoples. For the work of time belongs to man. Artists, poets and philosophers knew the Summer Palace; Voltaire talks of it. People spoke of the Parthenon in Greece, the pyramids in Egypt, the Coliseum in Rome, Notre-Dame in Paris, the Summer Palace in the Orient. If people did not see it they imagined it. It was a kind of tremendous unknown masterpiece, glimpsed from the distance in a kind of twilight, like a silhouette of the civilization of Asia on the horizon of the civilization of Europe.

This wonder has disappeared.

One day two bandits entered the Summer Palace. One plundered, the other burned. Victory can be a thieving woman, or so it seems. The devastation of the Summer Palace was accomplished by the two victors acting jointly. Mixed up in all this is the name of Elgin, which inevitably calls to mind the Parthenon. What was done to the Parthenon was done to the Summer Palace, more thoroughly and better, so that nothing of it should be left. All the treasures of all our cathedrals put together could not equal this formidable and splendid museum of the Orient. It contained not only masterpieces of art, but masses of jewelry. What a great exploit, what a windfall! One of the two victors filled his pockets; when the other saw this he filled his coffers. And back they came to Europe, arm in arm, laughing away. Such is the story of the two bandits.

We Europeans are the civilized ones, and for us the Chinese are the barbarians. This is what civilization has done to barbarism.

Before history, one of the two bandits will be called France; the other will be called England. But I protest, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity! the crimes of those who lead are not the fault of those who are led; Governments are sometimes bandits, peoples never.

The French empire has pocketed half of this victory, and today with a kind of proprietorial naivety it displays the splendid bric-a-brac of the Summer Palace. I hope that a day will come when France, delivered and cleansed, will return this booty to despoiled China.

Meanwhile, there is a theft and two thieves.

I take note.

This, Sir, is how much approval I give to the China expedition.

1st remark:
Victor Hugo, in order to decorate his Guernesey house, bought some sumptuous silk fabrics from an English officer who took part in the looting…

2nd remark:
Two stolen bronze statues, part of a zodiacal fountain conceived by the French Jesuit missionary Michel Benoist, bought by tailor Yves Saint Laurent, have been put in sale in February 2009. Beijing tried to get it back, without success.

3rd remark:
In 1900, whatever buildings survived were destroyed by what the Chinese call the Eight-Power Allied Forces (八国联军) who were in Beijing relieving the ‘Siege of Peking’ and putting down the Boxer Rebellion. At the same time, they also vandalized and destroyed parts of the new Summer Palace (颐和园). Both times, the looting was calculated to humiliate the Qing Dynasty court.
The ruins were further scavenged by Chinese treasure hunters, which was positively encouraged during the Cultural Revolution.

 
 
Sources:
Ancien palais d’été (in French)
Old Summer Palace
The sack of the summer palace

Guys, when will you tour in China???

Check their MySpace (4 mp3 are available)

Modelled closely on a pop-art design by the US street artist Shepard Fairey in support of the Democrat’s presidential bid, the dozens of posters pasted up in Paris last week show Sarkozy against a red, white and blue backdrop.

Each spells out a policy goal — "Making polluters pay?", "Producing clean and sustainable energy for Europe?" or "Saving each household 1,000 euros a year?" — above Obama’s slogan "Yes, We can".

 
Source:
AFP

http://www.missioneco.org/documents/106/137414.pdf

Pour une fois (peut-être d’ailleurs pour la première fois!?), c’est un rapport condensé et exact sur la Chine et la relation que les étrangers pourront y avoir sur le plan professionnel (et personnel) avec l’Empire du Milieu.
L’image -fausse- que se font certaines personnes d’un Eldorado chinois en prend pour son grade

Au sommaire :
- Un premier job en Chine : "1000 euros est un très bon salaire"
- Les 10 conseils pour trouver du travail en Chine
- Guide de la candidature à la chinoise
- Travailler avec des fournisseurs chinois : ce qu’il faut savoir
- Les 10 principales techniques de négociation chinoises
 
 
Source:
L’Expansion: Vingt-cinq clés pour réussir en Chine (Backup copy)
L’Expansion: Un premier job en Chine : « 1000 euros est un très bon salaire » (Backup copy)
L’Expansion: Les 10 conseils pour trouver du travail en Chine (Backup copy)
L’Expansion: Guide de la candidature à la chinoise (Backup copy)
L’Expansion: Travailler avec des fournisseurs chinois : cinq idées reçues (Backup copy)
L’Expansion: Les 10 principales techniques de négociation chinoises (Backup copy)