Chen Guangcheng and Yang Rui

Due to some frequent travel and being away from the computer quite a bit, I have not been able to post as much as I would have liked during the past week. To get things rolling again, I would like to quickly highlight two stories deserving attention before moving onto other issues.

1. Chen Guangcheng has left China and is now safely in the U.S. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be true for some of his family members who remain in China, nor for other activists who remain there. Although there are positives to be found in Chen being allowed to leave China, his need to do so says much that is otherwise. Lawyer Liao Rui wrote:

A Chinese citizen must go to America to get a safe life. As a Chinese citizen, I am deeply sad for this country and myself.

2. Yang Rui, the host of a program on Chinese Central Television that typically includes at least one foreigner guest, recently posted online (as translated by Josh Chin on The Wall Street Journal):

The Public Security Bureau wants to clean out the foreign trash: To arrest foreign thugs and protect innocent girls, they need to concentrate on the disaster zones in [student district] Wudaokou and [drinking district] Sanlitun. Cut off the foreign snake heads. People who can’t find jobs in the U.S. and Europe come to China to grab our money, engage in human trafficking and spread deceitful lies to encourage emigration. Foreign spies seek out Chinese girls to mask their espionage and pretend to be tourists while compiling maps and GPS data for Japan, Korea and the West. We kicked out that foreign bitch and closed Al-Jazeera’s Beijing bureau. We should shut up those who demonize China and send them packing.

At the moment, I will refrain from providing context for the above and commentary. Instead, I recommend reading Brendan O'Kane's post on Rectified.name. It includes links to some of the other relevant posts worth reading and translations of additional comments by Yang that provide further insight into his mindset. It is not clear whether the discussion of Yang possibly being a "xenophobic racist" means O'Kane will now need to find a lawyer. After all, Yang recently said he is considering legal action against Charlie Custer due to "libel against a sincere and conscientious host who has been devoted to international cultural exchanges for 13 years". I suppose that means Melissa Chan can rest assured she has been called a "foreign bitch" in a sincere and conscientious manner.

I may provide some additional comments later. For now, I will just say that I hope Yang invites O'Kane and Custer onto his show for a frank and open discussion.