

Orwell and China: Nineteen Eighty-four in Chinese - Turukawa
http://ibisbill.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/nineteen-eighty-four-in-chinese/

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creamyhorror
I find blogs like these rather impressive: long discursions on a topic of
interest, as opposed to the snappy marketing pieces that I see much more
often. Clearly the author is a dedicated researcher in his field.

It's odd and ironic, but yes, the book has been repeatedly published in China
and is widely available, even from a state-run bookstore. Perhaps this
illustrates the point that, if you treat something like it ain't no thang,
people don't notice and focus on it (the "forbidden fruit syndrome"). Or,
alternatively, that most people don't care about political satire as long
their lives are improving materially.

A quote by Orwell from the article, showing his ethnic/national sensitivity in
1947:

 _We all have these feelings in one form or another. If a Chinese wants to be
called a Chinese and not a Chinaman, if a Scotsman objects to be called a
Scotchman, or if a Negro demands his capital N, it is only the most ordinary
politeness to do what is asked of one. The sad thing about this alphabet-book
is that the writer obviously has no intention of insulting the “lower” races.
He is merely not quite aware that they are human beings like ourselves. A
“native” is a comic black man with very few clothes on; a “Chinaman” wears a
pigtail and travels in a junk– which is about as true as saying that an
Englishman wears a top hat and travels in a hansom cab. This unconsciously
patronising attitude is learned in childhood and then, as here, passed onto a
new generation of children._

(The article explains that 'Negro' was a term of respect at the time.)

~~~
hcarvalhoalves
Well, that's interesting. I wouldn't think of China as a prime example of an
Orwellian state, but rather something out of Huxley's mind.

China is capitalist, industrial, workers are salaried, the culture is
material-focused, and more than half of the population is non-religious.
Politically alienated rather than politically manipulated. Censorship is not
based on hate speech, but justified as a way to protect the internal market, a
capitalist and pragmatic view.

That's "Brave New World" to me.

A prime example of Orwellian state in my opinion would be DPRK, or Cuba, or
what Venezuela is turning into. Two major points of "1984" are a population
kept poor and hate speech.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
China has its Orwellian moments, just read the newspaper or watch the news
inside the country, as do cuba and Venezuela, but none of those are Orwellian
states. Spot on a about North Korea, Kim Sung Il must have read 1984 and used
it as a template. Note, however, that North Korea is hardly the poorest state.

~~~
guard-of-terra
Outside poorest central asia and sub-saharan africa, North Korea is the
poorest.

Certainly was in 90-s. Now it's getting better thanks to small business, trade
with China and limited agri reforms,

~~~
seanmcdirmid
There are probably some countries in SE Asia that are poorer (New Guinea,
Myanmar, Laos, maybe even Cambodia). If DPRK reunited with ROK (under the ROK
government, of course), it would probably only take a generation or so to
catch up to ROK. They have a culture of high literacy and industry, only their
government is holding them back (less developed countries have much less to
work with).

~~~
guard-of-terra
Even ex-DDR still did not catch up with the rest of Germany - and one
generation did pass. And they were just 3x poorer, where DPRK is more like 15x
poorer than ROK.

I doubt that SE countries you listed lost 100k+ people due to hunger (in 90-s
and 00-s anyway). Sure they are poor, but they can handle it better than
command economy. They're used to be poor, not shocked by it.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
There are just SE countries that haven't been rich and have or are are going
through their fair share of poor governance. My only point was that there are
plenty of other ways to be poor, even poorer. Now I have to get back to my
view screen in my beijing apartment, 大哥 is watching.

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georgechen
Off-topic slightly, but it's worth mentioning Louisa Lim, former NPR / BBC's
China correspondent had recently published the book The People's Republic of
Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited. It's worth a read.

It covered the current state of political life in China from 1989 ~ now. The
whole concept of "1984 in China" is very much a topic talked about in the
book. In the book it mentioned there was a case where regional government
authorities forced the public to go back to work and school on Sat. and Sunday
as a way to prevent crowd to gather for a weekend protest. It's rather
fascinating.

~~~
coupdejarnac
Whoa, I thought she was still reporting from China. I guess she is now persona
non grata.

Funny story: She came through Dallas a few months ago for a book signing tour.
At the last minute I had to travel out of town. I sent my Taiwan-born gf in my
place to see her speak and get a book signed. She was apparently one of the
few, or the only, Asians in attendance. Louisa Lim even remarked how few
Chinese have shown up to her book signings. So, even in America, Chinese here
have a blind spot for recent Chinese history.

~~~
potatolicious
> _" So, even in America, Chinese here have a blind spot for recent Chinese
> history."_

And it's getting worse. I've noticed a trend in recent years where the new
Chinese bourgeoisie and intelligentsia are outright dismissive of books and
other media addressing these topics, attributing them as Western slander
driven primarily by envy over China's economic miracle.

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jdjabgnnska
Ironically, this website is hosted as a wordpress.com subdomain, so it cannot
be accessed in China (I can't open it here)

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anovio
I wish there was an auto summation tool or keywords of major topics for every
link. I wonder how many good articles are closed immediately after they're
opened simply because of the word count.

Back on topic, do they actually print copies of the translated version in
China? It would be mighty ironic if that is the case.

~~~
desdiv
_George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four is just the kind of book that you would
expect to be banned in China – all that talk of Big Brother, Newspeak and the
rewriting of history is far too close to the bone, surely. So I was amazed to
come across it on open sale in a state-run bookshop, in Yanji 延吉 on the North
Korean border in fact. Nineteen Eighty-four is all over the place in China, it
turns out.

A Chinese website lists no fewer than 13 translations published in the PRC
between 1985 and 2012, and it’s easy to find at least three or four
downloadable or online translations on a quick internet search._

They are indeed printed in China, and are openly sold in China, without any
government censorship surprisingly.

~~~
duaneb
> They are indeed printed in China, and are openly sold in China, without any
> government censorship surprisingly.

Censorship applied to materials about censorship seems like it's made for the
Streisand effect—look at the vibrant samizdat culture in the soviet union. A
much better way is to have it fall into insignificance out of lack of cultural
application. You can bet they measure up well to a government that exercises
prosecution of thought crime.

