Mid-Autumn Festival thoughts

Tonight I am home for the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is wonderful to be home again and out of the city. As much as I like New York, it's always good to get away for the weekend - whether that be in North Jersey or Long Island. Moon cakes await!

Everyone says the third year of law school should be easy and a piece of cake. I find it nothing but, perhaps because I always manage to keep myself busy. I continue to keep pace in my classes, follow through on my extracurricular commitments, and try to learn new things in my spare time. There is plenty to occupy my time this semester, even after I forced myself to cut back on doing too much.

Reading the Wall Street Journal every day has been a blessing too, despite the constant need to keep up with so many pages. I am avidly interested in this upcoming election - people say it's almost lost for Romney but I do not believe it. This upcoming debate will be interesting, and I must distinguish each candidate's policies from the rhetoric.

Some of my close friends are now back in China or Hong Kong. I will miss them for sure - for now, the Far East seems like another world. But given how small the world is today, they are merely seconds away. Next year I will be back; will we still recognize each other when we reunite?

A Day of Culture Galore

Yesterday, June 23, was a traditional Chinese festival called Duan-wu (端午). Most people know it for the sticky rice cakes wrapped in bamboo leaves and for the dragon boat races. The holiday supposedly commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a great poet from the Chu Kingdom in the Warring States period of Chinese history (~500-300 BCE). He committed suicide by tossing himself into a river when he disagreed with his state's policies and failed to persuade his king. Today, the holiday retains some patriotic connotations while the popular celebrations focus on the dragon boat races and the arrival of mid-summer.

I admittedly did little to celebrate the holiday. I instead went with my friends to visit the Instituto Cervantes's El Dia E, its annual commemoration of Spanish culture. The Instituto held a block party with Spanish music, food, books, and crafts. There were tours of the Instituto and its library and galleries. We did a flamenco dance class, which was fun and too short, yet not that long lest I suffer more embarrassment. Altogether it was an enjoyable part of the weekend partaking of the rich cultures that New York and living in our time have to offer.

The Story of May Fourth and Chen Guangcheng

May Fourth is a significant yet often misunderstood day in China. Today, people know it as "Youth Day" when teenagers and students get half day off school. The origin of the day, however, was the May Fourth movement that culminated in famous intellectual demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919. That history, like most history in China, has been told differently and some might say misrepresented, by the Chinese Communist Party and official views. Chen Guangcheng's story happening today in fact parallels the true idea of what May Fourth was about.

May Fourth, as it should be remembered, was the story of an intellectual rebellion. The connection to students remain because many of them, some of whom studied in the universities in the West, led the voices that culminated in May Fourth. They rebelled against the inequities of the day: a weak, unresponsive national government in Beijing; a country divided by warlords and incapable of solving great social problems; and a backwards culture that was dragging back China's progress into the Twentieth Century. China's suffering at the Versailles Treaty, despite contemporary accounts, played little role in the intellectuals' frustration.

That clash of ideas was what underscored May Fourth. Intellectuals of all stripes and persuasions came to voice their dissatisfaction with the country and proposed ideas for change. The times provided the opportunity for students to voice themselves and their dissent with authority. One of the ideas that attracted attention was Marx-Leninism, that China should follow the Russian Revolution that had just happened up north. But Marxism was not the only idea or the main idea behind the movement, contrary to what official history relates. May Fourth was about many ideas coming and clashing, rather than one idea triumphing.

Chen Guangcheng fits within the ideals behind May Fourth. His role in pointing out the inequities that exist in China today and daring act of fleeing to the American embassy are as audacious and ground-breaking as those of the intellectuals who led May Fourth. He, like many of them, is voicing displeasure at problems in the country and how the politicians were fostering them. His act of dissent - some may call foolhardy while others may call defiant - is what May Fourth is about. Celebrating May Fourth as a mere youth day betrays the true origin of what's it's about and its contemporary significance - and does more injustice to people like Chen Guangcheng. The Chinese Communist Party is fine with that, but what about you?

The Decade of the Puffing Dragon

Will China be the biggest topic in international relations this decade, if not the century? The past month, relations between the U.S. and China have frosted, while bilateral issues have continued to come up. I do not see China's "complicit" role in derailing climate change talks at Copenhagen decisive in causing the setback. Underlying tensions, including questions about China's economic growth and conduct in global affairs, have existed for a while. September 11 might have put them to rest briefly, but new issues, including global warming, the global economic recovery and Iran have surfaced those tensions. The current souring of relations came about not from one conflagration, like the April 2001 plane incident, or traditional sources of disagreement like human rights, but rather from a confluence of developments that shook both groups' trust in the other.

Despite what the Chinese media might have said, Copenhagen was a setback for China. Coming in with high expectations, China failed to effect any concrete results or agreements. Instead, much international criticism, especially from Europe, emerged, which dampened the West's enthusiasm for working with China. Likewise, the Obama administration's recent gestures of support for Taiwan (weapon sales) and Tibet (invitation for the Dalai Lama) underscored the America's flouting of areas of traditional Chinese sovereignty. These setbacks, along with many others, have eroded trust on both sides. Unfortunately, the days of unilateral action in tackling any substantial global problem is over. For China, that means more responsibility and accountability. It must act as a responsible global power and not be stubborn or self-interested on key areas such as global warming and Iran. For the U.S., it means great sensitivity to issues that continue to irk China, especially Taiwan and Tibet. Rebuilding the lost trust will not be easy, but is essential to restoring the most important bilateral relationship in the 2010's.

中国六旬回

明天，2009年10月1日，是中华人民共和国的60周年国庆。这时刻对所有华人们表出骄傲和自豪，尤其中国的公民。如此而已，如今的中国60年来实施了建国的宗旨吗？ 要分析这个问题，我们应该回顾那一代的历史，尤其孙中山的三民主义。 我特意选了孙中山，非毛泽东，因为他和毛泽东志同道合而且可以代表全世界的华人，但是毛泽东的政治主义已经失去了现实的政局。以三民主义为规范，

其一，民族主义： 中国已经是独立的国家，没有任何被别的国家强迫。但是，以近期的新疆事故为例，各各民族相和还是远期的梦想。

其二，民权主义： 中国在共产党政治下永远达不到真正的民权，尤其孙中山梦想的。 中国的行政没有均衡的政院，但是近期的行政法律改革将要增进许多人的政权。

其三，民生主义： 中国奉行了民生为先的政策，如故现代的经济和生活条件已经超越过一百年前的梦幻。 社会的各个阶级都分享了景气，但是普通农民的均田已经到濒危的状况。

以三民主义评审，中国在民族和民生达标了孙中山的原意，但是在民权中仍然及格。 这几天中国应该鼓掌至今的成就，但是仍需努力在民权上奉献更大的改革进程。