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OPINION> Letters
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Letters and Blogs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-19 07:40 Ridiculous poem provokes criticism As thousands of poems in memory of the Wenchuan earthquake pour into the Chinese media, a recent prose poem in Qinu Evening Post has earned the ire of netizens. In his poem Words from Under Debris, Wang Zhaoshan talks about "We will be happy even if we become ghosts...We will die satisfied with the whole nation's love". The author wrote so perhaps because the poem aimed to describe the Chinese people's quick response to the earthquake, to show sympathy and condolence for the quake victims. However, the author obviously misunderstood what the whole nation did after the earthquake. Hence the negative impact on the readers. First, the prose poem misread the people-oriented viewpoint. As we know, after the huge natural disaster, our leadership, our troops, medical staff, and volunteers from across the country all rushed to the quake-hit areas in order to save as many lives as possible. They raced against time because they put people's lives as the top priority, while the victims under the debris struggled to survive. As our leaders and soldiers risked their own lives to go to the quake forefront, the merciless catastrophe continued to take away thousands of lives. The dead died in agony, putting their families, rescuers, and all of the Chinese people in suffering. But the author's line "we will die satisfied with the whole nation's love" really an assault on the memories of the victims. How could he speak as an agent of the dead? The rescue operation was a way for our government and our soldiers to serve the people. They did so without asking victims to be grateful. Therefore it was really cruel of the author to express thanks in disguise of a "ghost". The poem described the Games as more important than life, imagining that even the dead were longing for the Games. It was really a desecration for both the dead and the Games. No matter how bad the poem is, it's not necessary to debunk Wang too much. His good purpose simply got lost in Wang's choice of bad words. We can air our views and criticize him, but it's not correct for some netizens to scold or even curse him. Wenxuntai on bbs.ganji.com Funny boycott of Kung Fu Panda Chinese artist Zhao Bandi is reported to have called for a boycott of the upcoming Hollywood film Kung Fu Panda. His explanation: even after US actress Sharon Stone made the "karma" comment on China's earthquake, Hollywood still shamelessly tries to make money from the Chinese market; the film is a "piracy" of China's precious pandas and kung fu. But I think his reasons are too far-fetched. Despite Stone's irrational words, this Hollywood film is a masterpiece full of Chinese cultural items and without any violence, sex or racial discrimination. What's more, the film cannot be regarded as a piracy. In my view, pandas and kung fu belong to China, but they are also precious for the whole world. One cannot fault a foreign film for publicizing Chinese traditional culture in their way. Although Zhao is entitled the "panda man" by some people, he doesn't own any patents on "panda arts". Our great leader Chairman Mao Zedong said we should study good things from foreign culture. While the foreign artists are absorbing things from our traditional culture, why cannot we learn from their art techniques? It is really irrational and funny to talk about a boycott casually. If you can produce good films yourself, the audience will rush to see them and there will be no need to boycott such films. Online ugly star on blog.xinhuanet.com Readers' comments are welcome. Please send mail to Letters to the Editor, China Daily, 15 Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029 China. Send faxes to (86-10) 6491-8377. Send e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you. (China Daily 06/19/2008 page9) |
