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Contemporary documentary film about China's transformation

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:13:00 +0000

The Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona starts today the first part of Wang Bing’s epic, three-part documentary, “Tie Xi Qu: West of Tracks", a 9 hours' documentary about the breath-taking economic transformation of the Middle Kingdom at the beginning in the early years of the first decade of this century. It portrays the steaddy decline of the economy and the people's living conditions in the indusrialised north of China (near Shenyang), once a boyant ecomomic area of the country.

For more info read Jeannette's Catsoulis' critics in the NYT.

For those of you who missed the 9 hours session at this year's BAFF, there is a second chance to see this important piece of documentary film history. The cicle starts today (22-05-07) at 7.30pm with "Rust", then it goes on on Wednesday at 7.00pm and concludes the following day (24-05-07) at 7.30pm with "Rails".

Part 1, “Rust”: 240 minutes
Part 2, “Remnants”: 175 minutes
Part 3, “Rails”: 130 minutes

Only 8 days to go for BAFF 2009

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:27:00 +0000

Next friday 27/04 starts the 9th edition of the Barcelona Asian Film Festival. This year's guest country is China!!! So have a look at the just released program. There will be of course, loads of Chinese movies. The opening film on friday night is the lastest work of Zhang Lu, a chinese director with Corean roots. The film is called Desert Dream, it was already shown at the Berlinale this year.

This year, the BAFF has also a blog.

Boycotting the Olympics?

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:47:00 +0000

Last monday Pierre Haski askes in his blog Cinq ans en Chine if it is necessary to boycott the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing.

Currently, the boycott issue seems part of the argy-bargy of the upcoming elections for French presidency this April. As it looks, one of the candidates François Bayrou has been saying that if he was elected the next French president he would favour a French boycott of Beijing 2008. His reasons are "humanitarian", he criticises the Chinese politics on Darfur and says the Chinese government is trading arms to the region, supporting the Sudan government and therefore responsible for the humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

Well, well. There might be many reasons why someone might consider a boycott policy on the Beijing Olympics, mainly reasons that concern the domestic lack of democracy in China.

In this case, I totally share PH's opinion, and the latter conclusions in the post, when he says, that would be like using an "atomic bomb" in a propaganda war against the Chinese:

Quote: "Avant d'en arriver à employer cette "bombe atomique", n'y a-t-il pas des moyens plus intelligents d'utiliser ces JO ?"

Asking the world to boycott a sports event because China is selling arms to Sudan? Come on, don't be so hypocrite! Where is France selling arms to? By those moral standards, WHO might be able to host Olympic games in the future? The isle of Vanuatu?

China in the focus at BAFF 2007

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:45:00 +0000

This year's Barcelona Asian Film Festiva l (BAFF) is dedicated to the new Chinese cinema. It will start on April 26th. During 10 days the 9th edition of the BAFF will show great, independent, fresh Asian cinema.

By the way, they are still looking for volunteers to help out durning the festival days form 26th of April until 6th of May 2007.

Welcome to the DIARRHEA clinic!

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:17:00 +0000

Friends from Barcelona who live in Shanghai sent me this picture. It's another great example of how Chinese translate their linguistic concepts into English. Not that it might not be a proper equivalent for the Chinese word but it's rather irritating to go to the DIARREHA clinic, don't you think so?

Thank's for the shot, Pau + Martina!

Do drunken driving !

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:18:00 +0000

Oh yeah! I'm back... sorry for the long silence but I was busy with the Barcelona wants MySpace campaign and other stuff. So, let's get back to a common issue: Chinenglish. Nora sent me this picture of a traffic sign from a Chinese highway: DO DRUNKEN DRIVE. It still amazes me how wrong it can get...

In a Spanish bar called Austria and run by Chinese

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:59:00 +0000

we could have a chat. Because writting a blog is like having a conversation with your friends, like in a bar. At least that's what my friend Oriol always says and he must know! Confused? Sorry, but I'm all excited because we've just launched a crazy internet campaign called Barcelona wants myspace.

The goal is to convince myspace.com to open up their headquarters in Spain in Barcelona! We know there're coming to Spain but they're still not sure where to go.

So, Barcelona people and Barcelona lovers: go to Barcelonawantsmyspace and join the campaign by leaving you text, image, video message. Just press the "sí quiero" botton and leave your message!

I keep you posted on how it's going!

Tibetan Cinema at the Human Rights Film Festival

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:49:00 +0000

It started yesterday in Barcelona but it's on until this Sunday: the Human Rights Film Festival in Barcelona. There are a few interesting films on Tibet made by Tibetans. [more info]

Isabel Hilton on China and the Environment

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:32:00 +0000

The interview with Isabal Hilton, founder and editor of Chinadialogue; I've promissed it some time ago. I attach the PDF for download.

Secret, Lies and Sweatshops

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 10:51:00 +0000

I recommend the last week's cover strory of Business Week: Secrets, Lies and Sweatshops about the difficulties foreign companies have to really be in control of their Chinese suppliers. Probably it is a Chinese problem BUT isn't it also our demands (cheap, fast and just-in-time) and hardcore capitalistic way of doing business that puts the pressure on the Chinese suppliers industry... ?

Will we ride on donkeys again?

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:43:00 +0000

As announced I went to Casa Asia's IV Asian Forum on Sustainable Enegry in Asian (Sencond day's subject matter). There were many interesting speeches, presentations and comments made but Mr Michael Nobel's framwork speech on the future energy crisis and Asia's growth was one to remember.

He started his speech saying, that maybe in a not too distant future, we might ride on horses and donkeys again if we don't find sustainable and safe alternative energy sources other then oil and coal (unfortunately nuclear energy is such an alternative for him...). Here's the MP4 of his speech. (sorry, but the quality is not too great).

BTW: yes, Mr Nobel is Swedish and yes, Mr Nobel is a relative of Alfred Nobel!

BOBs award service for citizens

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:04:00 +0000

This year's BOBs (Best of Blogs) has voted the SUNSHINE FOUNDATION "Best Blog of 2006". The Deutsche Welle 2006 Best of the Blogs Awards jury member gave out honors in the BOBs' 15 categories. A great example of who Internet can be used to bring more transperancy and control into democracy and "democratic" decision making. The best Spanish blog 2006 is "La Huella Digital". Felicidades! The Best Chinese blog is a food blog called "The Colourful World" by Shuwaicao.

Here are the results of all categories voted.

"Shame on YAHOO!" would do

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:46:00 +0000

Reporters without Borders proposes a really great, original and effective way to protest against those in the corporate IT sphere who colaborate, actuvley or passively support anti-democratic government politics like Yahoo, Google and MNS in China and all the orther "Internet Black Hole countries". At the protest site "24 Hours Against Internet Censorship" RWB tells you who to protest effectively against the black holes and sheeps in the web: It's easy!

First: join the campaign, vote against their activities in censored countries and show your anger.

Second: record a voice message for let's say Jerry Yang and tell him what you think of his company's ACTIVE collaboration to jail web dissidents.

And last but not least: create your own protester blog with RWB and boost the indepentent, non-censored news blogspere!

Forum ASIA en Casa Asia

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 21:02:00 +0000

Next week Casa Asia in Barcelona will host the 4th Asian Forum; I think the second day (14th of Nov.) is especially interesting. The first session is on Sustainable Energy with intervention by Olivia L. la O'Castillo (President of the Asian Pacific roundtable for sustainable consuption and production), Alfonso González Finat (Director of the new and renewable energy projects in Asia, European Commision or Christopher G. Zamora, Co-director of the ASEAN centre for Energy.

The second session treats the "Energy sector in the Asian Century". [more info]

It's the economy, stupide!

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:52:00 +0000

Politics didn't listen to the ecologists and scientists who have been warning us about climate change and its environmental, social and economic costs for more than 2 decades.

Here is the last chance: listen to the guys who deal with the money !!!

Maybe this is what Tony Blair thinks, might be the last strategy to convince everybody - especially the corporate business world - to start fighting seriously against the ongoing climate crisis (in the UK they have started to grow wine and olive trees on the South coast...). So here are the what Mr. Stern - a former World bank economist - tells the British governement about what to expect economy-wise from the impacts of global warming:

extreme weather could reduce global gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 1%

A two to three degrees Celsius rise in temperatures could reduce global economic output by 3%

If temperatures rise by five degrees Celsius, up to 10% of global output could be lost. The poorest countries would lose more than 10% of their output

In the worst case scenario global consumption per head would fall 20%

To stabilise at manageable levels, emissions would need to stabilise in the next 20 years and fall between 1% and 3% after that. This would cost 1% of GDP

Get all the details of the just released Stern report .

In a recent interview I did with Isabel Hilton, founder of the web project chinadialogue.net, for the december issue of "if...", we talked about whether there was still time to make sure China's development would be sustainable instead of ading to the global warming. Her aswer was quite clear:

"I think we are running out of time. The next ten to fifteen years are absolutely critical in terms of the measures that need to be taken to avoid really catastrophic climate change. The Chinese are caught between the need for development and the need to take care of the environment. I think until five years ago, the attitude was pretty much “develop first and think of the environment later”. That has certainly changed. The crisis is now so visible that the government has become convinced of the need to do both: to develop sustainable, to build in much stricter environmental impact assessments. Making that happen across China is a challenge of governance and that’s a whole other side of issues: how you turn this oil tanker around… "

A book+blog = dialogue

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:26:00 +0000

Good news: the french journalist, ex-Beijing correspondent of La Liberation who published on his experiences on his blog Mon journal de Chine has come back with a new blog, Cinq ans en Chine, that comes with his lates book also called Five year in China. In his blog he proposes to establish a dialogue with his many readers on what he has esperienced during his 5 years in China.

Voilà, a vous at Cinq ans en Chine.

YouTube in China?

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 17:35:00 +0000

I've just read an interesting analysis on the implications of the Google YouTube deal for China I want to share with you. More info at David Wolf's Silicon Hutong blog.

The Complicated Cake

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 17:07:00 +0000

While Beijing is freneticly preparingfor the Olympics, the authorities try to ensure that visitors will be able to navegate through the linguistic jungle of Mandarin: therefore, everybody is making an effort to sign-out bilingual: in Chinese and in English. The outcome of the translations - everybody who has tried to read an English menu in any Beijing restaurant will know - is "Chinglish".

In menues one can frequently find items such as "corrugated iron beef", "government abuse chicken" or "chop the strange fish". The mistranslations from Chinese phrases into English on product packaging are also common place causing serious doubts about the content inside...

"The Complicated Cake"

The mistranslations arise because many Chinese words express concepts obliquely and can be interpreted in multiple ways, making translation a minefield for non-English speakers. The BBC reoports that Beijing city authorities will issue new translation guides by the end of the year since previous attempts to clamp down on bad English have failed.

Safty Warning Flashing Lamp ... when the bright is not enough!

2nd chance to see CHINA BLUE

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 18:50:00 +0000

For all who have missed the chance to see the revealing documentary "CHINA BLUE" by Micha Peled here is your second chance!
SETEM Catalunya organizes the conference "Made in China" and has invited two experts to talk on the subject of labour rights and standard in China: Patrick Poon from the China Labour Bulletin a Hong Kong-based labour organisation that has been promoting independent, democratic labour unions and the protection of labour rights in mainland China. And the second guest is Staphany Wong from the Hong Kong Liasion Office of the International Trade Union Movement, IHLO. The conference starts at 6.30pm at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (La Rambla, 30-32, BCN). After the experts interventions and discussions CHINA BLUE will be shown.

Don't miss the second opportunity to learn about the negative sides of the Chinese economic boom!

Hong Kong Film Week at Casa Asia

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:34:00 +0000

Like in recent years Casa Asia in Barcelona hosts the Hong Kong Film Week starting next week on the 26th of October. There will be 9 films shown, starting of with A Side, B Side, Sea Side by Wing-Chiu Chan. Apart from the classical HK mafia-police action stuff, there is "Everlasting Regret" by Stanley Kwan and AV by Pang Ho-Cheung, a young promising HK director. More info.

China and the environment

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 23:03:00 +0000

A strong recommandation for everybody interested in climate change, sustainable energy and in-depth information, analysis, dialogue and discussion about China, the world and the environment: China Dialogue.

It's a web with experts views on the hot issue of how does and will China tackle the so important question of sustainable ecological and economical development in the next years. There are bilingual discussion forums where you can post either in English or Chinese and your comments will be traslated to be understood here and there.

I had the chance to talk to Isabel Hilton, journalist and editor of China Dialogue. Watch out for the entire interview in one of the next editions of IF (La revista de la innovación) or here in this blog.

Can't we live without jeans?

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 07:37:00 +0000

Micha X. Peled's documentary China Blue, shown last night at the Filmoteca de Catalunya, attracted an unusual number of spectators; on the one hand a result of growing interest in the excellent choice of documentaries shown in a series called "Documentary of the Month" organised by Parallel 40. On the other hand, the subjet of the movie and the way it was shot promised an unusual, revealing insight into the conditions of Chinese workers in the age of global commerce. However, having seen the movie I cannot believe it was shot secretly -as said by the producers- since it's impossible to walk into a factory with a camera and a micro unless somebody allows you in... In the credits it was mentioned that the local police forces intervened several times, that the crew had been taken to the policestation for interrogation and that material was confiscated and never returned.

The movie follows three teenager working girls in Mr. Lam's Jean factory in the South of China. Mr. Lam has tight deadlines imposed by his European clients and in order to compete in the global market he must commits to these conditions and to extremly low prices. But Mr. Lam, neo-entrepreneur and ex-chief of the local police, is all positiv about, he has come to the conclusion that " The cannot live without denims - That's our advantage!"

The film does a good job: it leaves us (spectators = consumers of made in China) with a bitter aftertastes. It's like that kind of effect that makes you vegatarian after having seen a slaughterhouse. I'm not sure if I like to wear jeans again... which is not the solution of course but an option. Anyway, I would like to wear denims but not at any price. There actually is a way to act although it seems difficult for us consumers to intervene in the flow of the global trade and change anything about slave-like working conditions in China and in many other low cost producing countries.

In Spain there is roba neta (Clean Cloths), an initiative set up by the NGO Setem which promotes campaigns, focused on improving working conditions in the global garment and sportswear industries. Through their platform consumers can start putting pressure on the respective companies and brands (Inditex with Zara, Massimo Tutti, Beshka, etc.) to improve the precarious situation of workers their (sub-) contractors' factories.

Lou Ye is given 5 years ban

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:40:00 +0000

This June I wrote about the troubles of Chinese film director Lou Ye who showed his film "Summer Palace" at Cannes Film Festival. The entry of his film at Cannes was not approved by the official Chinese film authorities to be shown abroad. "Summer Palace", which features explicit sex scenes, takes place around the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Probably the real issue of the reactions it provoked with Chinese censors.

Now the BBC reports that he was punished with a 5 years ban from making films, "Summer Palace" would be confiscated and all incomes made from it. Unfortunately no progess what so ever in the issue of artistical freedom in the Middle Kingdom ...

China Blue at the Filmoteca

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 08:41:00 +0000

Next Thursday, 7th of Sept. 2006, Parallel 40 will show China Blue (Filmoteca de Catalunya, 10.00pm), a documentary film by Micha X. Peled, director of documentaries like "Store Wars, When Wal-Mart Comes to Town" (2001), "You, Me, Jerusalem" or "Inside God's Bunker".

Micha Peled shot that documentary clandestinely in a South China factory and explores the lives of workers struggling to balance Western demands with shrinking wages. The film follows the lives of three teenage workers in a blue jeans factory – Jasmine, Lipeng, and Orchid – who like most of the cheap labour pool in China are female and originate from poor, rural areas.

So far, those Western companies criticised for slave-like labour and living conditions in their respective factories use to blame their Chinese subcontractors or the lax, rather non-existing enforcement of labour protection laws by the Chinese authorities. But how much of the guilt is ours, the consumer's? How much are we prepared to pay for a pair of jeans nowadays?

In the words of Jasmine: “Who are the fat, tall people who buy these jeans we make?"

The violation of a stone

dorisobermair@yahoo.com (Doris) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:48:00 +0000

On a recent trip to Copenhagen I could once again observe a very typical Chinese phenomenon: the "man-vesus-monument style" of tourism. I first observed it on my visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing, and from then on it was a constant source of amusement seeing how close Chinese tourists want to be with the sight in question. But let me share with our my latest encounter with the Chinese way of tourism:

Place: The habour promenade in Copenhagen
Sight: The statue of H.C. Andersen's "Little Mermaid"
Persons involved: a Han Chinese-looking man in his 40ties, Little Mermaid (LM)
Mission: climb up the statue to be as close as possible to make it look real(?)

A stony violation in 4 steps:

Step 1: find a way to get a grip on the slippery ground by grabbing LM's arm in front of 100 other tourists who simply want to take a shot at the statue by herself.

Step 2: touch LM legs and put the arm around her cold sholder.

Step 3: grip her tight and press his excited body against her breast and winding his legs around her hips. At that point, part of the watching crowd started to get hot, the other part shoting at the Chinese to leave LM alone!

Step 4: Mission completed. Impossible to get any closer to the sight of desire.