Confucius say: Don’t Show-Boat
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Chinese don’t take kindly to show-boating in Communist Party proceedings:
“Zhang Shaocang, former Communist Party chief of state-owned power company Anhui Province Energy Group Co Ltd, wept as he read a four-page “letter of apology” during his corruption trial at a court in Fuyang, Anhui, according to a Procuratorial Daily report reproduced in Wednesday’s Beijing News. But Zhang’s sentiments were later found to be strikingly similar to those of Zhu Fuzhong, a disgraced former party chief of Tongan village in southwestern Sichuan province, whose apology letter was printed in the Procuratorial Daily less than two weeks before.”
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The Procuratorial Daily, the official paper of China’s top prosecutions office, is distributed as reading material at many “supervision venues,” the paper said, referring to the often secret locations where Communist Party officials are held for questioning. It was possible that Zhang, while being investigated for charges of bribe-taking, had drawn inspiration from Zhu’s apology in the hope of gaining leniency from the court, the paper said. “Because of this, Zhang’s apology was dismissed as ‘show-boating,'” the paper said.
It’s not funny to read about official Communist corruption trials following incarceration at “supervision venues” but it is funny to see American slang phrases used by foreigners, especially an official Chinese prosecutorial paper. How would they pick up slang like “show-boat”?
It’s also funny seeing this post right after one calling for Larry Craig to sacrifice himself “for the good of the party.”
Two-way street and all that.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/5/2007 @ 11:44 amI am sure the Communists in China have a deep abiding appreciation of the Broadway hits of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. Do any of them have a low enough voice to do a credible job on “Ol’ Man River”?
JVW (6a3590) — 9/5/2007 @ 11:44 amAlphie,
The GOP is the party of indoctrination? Democrats have a lock on that market and they start at a young age: Why Mommy is a Democrat.
DRJ (2afbca) — 9/5/2007 @ 11:55 amSacrifice himself for trolling in public restrooms?
Alphie you don’t even reach the level of indulgent self parody. Yet another non compos mentis comment from a Sauron wanna be.
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 9/5/2007 @ 11:56 amAlphie, you haven’t seen Hsu anywhere, have you?
Techie (c003f1) — 9/5/2007 @ 12:01 pmMy wife is Chinese and is in the process of learning English. Every once in a while she will throw something at me that is absolutely correct but not appropriate for polite company. 🙂
I know she isn’t getting it from me so I blame my brother. 😉
In any case, the Chinese know that being functional in English is very important for business and the goal of the Chicom govt is to have everyone able to converse in English in 50 years.
Considering some of the signs I read over there the last time, they need a lot of practice. 😀
Evilned (0ac089) — 9/5/2007 @ 12:37 pmThanks, Evilned, that makes sense.
DRJ (8b9d41) — 9/5/2007 @ 12:44 pmYou’re welcome!
And now a word of advice…
Don’t ask for plate of Shish Kabob from a native Mandarin speaker. 😉
Evilned (0ac089) — 9/5/2007 @ 12:59 pmEvilned,
Is business the only reason China encourages its citizens to learn English? If so, I wish Mexico would take notice.
And I’ll take your advice on the shish kabob even though I’m aching to know why.
DRJ (8b9d41) — 9/5/2007 @ 1:00 pmAlphie you don’t even reach the level of indulgent self parody.
Which is why “Brayer” was included when I dubbed him Staunch Brayer.
“Staunch” came from his laughable claims that he is a Republican…since the MSM always seems to run ‘staunch’ and ‘republican’ together. That is, when they don’t use ‘maverick republican’ for the ones they like.
Paul (09c70a) — 9/5/2007 @ 1:07 pmNot many years ago, we would be murmuring among ourselves that the Party interrogators had considerately provided everyone with a prepared apology. I’m more interested in the possibility of show trials than I am in the possibility of show boats.
kishnevi (452bec) — 9/5/2007 @ 1:25 pmKishnevi,
I agree show trials are the more important issue but there’s not much you and I can do except point out they occur. That’s part of the reason for this post.
DRJ (8b9d41) — 9/5/2007 @ 1:29 pmDRJ in Comment 9 asked why he should be cautious regarding Shish Kabob.
I found this out the hard way. Shortly after my wife immigrated, (Legally), I was fixing myself some shish kabobs. My wife referred to this as “Meat on a stick” but knew there was a real name for it. So she asked.
When I told, her head snapped up with a shocked look on her face. She then asked me “Goh Baba?”
I told her it was pronounced Kabob. She grinned at me and said Goh Baba! You eat goh baba!
I knew that goh means duck. Baba is what a duck leaves on the ground after eating a large meal a little while earlier. 😉
So whenever I want to have “American food” she will say “You eat goh baba tonight!”
If you would like a less subtle answer, click on the link of my name and head to the add page. Include your email address and I’ll tell you exactly what it means.
As to the reason China’s govt wants everyone to lear English? That is the reason stated. I know that all the Chinese I’ve met through my wife in the States are militant about at least becoming functional in it if not fluent.
Evilned (0ac089) — 9/5/2007 @ 2:40 pmThe Art Of War…
…A post I read a while ago over at…
The Art Of War (e57ed5) — 12/12/2010 @ 10:33 pm