Friday, October 2, 2009

Well, that should put Taiwanese minds at ease

On the 60th anniversary of the ascension of the Chinese Communist Party, lots of stuff is going on over in the People's Republic of China, including this parade, with kids making the outline of a map of China.

Well, it's not like Beijing's claim to Taiwan is anything new. And it's not like the Taiwanese don't claim all of Mongolia (officially, at least).

Anyway, enjoy the party, kiddies, but try to behave. You sometimes scare the neighbors.

12 comments:

  1. Awwww... they only have two kids representing Japan and three kids representing Korea.

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  2. Ah, so that's who those stragglers are. I thought they were innocent bystanders. But I guess, like any Chinese, they could be clandestine operatives of the state. ;)

    WORD VERIFICATION: scarde

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  3. Hey, Wangkon, did you get this Hadrian's Wall link wrong?

    Not that I need the traffic. Look how everyone skewered poor King Baeksu.

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  4. Yes... you get a HT for that one BUT... I don't give HTs in the comments section.

    So... why does everyone hate King Baeksu?

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  5. Edward wrote:
    Yes... you get a HT for that one BUT... I don't give HTs in the comments section.

    Um, just so we're clear... you do realize that the last story in the news links is always, um, Jon Stewartish.

    So... why does everyone hate King Baeksu?

    Well, you'd have to ask everyone. I think he comes across as smug and seems to think he's better than everyone else because, in his mind, he bucks the status quo or something.

    I think the other part of it is, though, that a lot of expats in Korea have group envy of people doing something that might possibly gain positive attention.

    I guess there are some people who resent him for bringing negative attention, à la some of the English teachers in broadcasting. Playing the clown and making everyone look bad.

    This is all just speculation. My only beef with him is that (a) he thinks he knows stuff about me and comes here occasionally to try to ride me about that, and (b) his humor/style just really isn't my humor/style.

    But (b) is not something to begrudge him. I know my style of writing and certainly my opinions and sense of humor really rub some people the wrong way. A lot of people.

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  6. By the way, nice headline. Sounds like something I might have come up with. In fact, maybe I'll steal it if I can't think of anything fresh over the next few days.

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  7. Lots of Asian chicks wearing bright fuchsia pink... I couldn't help it.

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  8. I'm surprised they left out the Spratly Islands and most of the South China Sea, which usually appear on any Chinese map, including small images seen in the top right corner during news broadcasts. Spratly Islands is Dokdo magnified 100x times.

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  9. Sonagi, maybe the Korea/Japan stragglers were supposed to be the Spratlys and they just got lost.

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  10. Agreed with Sonagi -- Spratleys would have made a kid's day. And Taiwan is huge. It makes me wonder how strong a grasp of ROK geography elementary students have in the DPRK.

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  11. Adam wrote:
    Agreed with Sonagi -- Spratleys would have made a kid's day. And Taiwan is huge.

    "Mommy! Mommy! I get to play a disputed territory that causes serious political tension with our neighbors!"

    "Oh, I'm so proud."

    It makes me wonder how strong a grasp of ROK geography elementary students have in the DPRK.

    Well, I'm pretty sure they're well aware of the Tokto/Takeshima issue, with a pretty good idea of where it is. Basically, South Korea's territorial disputes are North Korea's territorial disputes.

    I'm betting DPRK kids might get the maritime border in the Yellow Sea wrong. (Post coming on that.)

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