Chinese-English Blog Sites...Autopsy @ Funeral

Thought the photos would get your attention. Just read The Corpse Walker and Other True Stories of Life in China by Liao Yiwu, a man with a incredible biography. Actually, the wiki entry does not do his personal history justice as the Studs Terkel of the diceng or those at the "bottom rung of society". What follows is 21 interwiews with a range of outcasts such as the Professional Mourner (photo) the Safe Cracker, the Human Trafficker, the Former Red Guard etc, all told in gritty fatalistic terms. Liao has just been denied a visa to attend an Australian literary festival. This is one dark journey thru the [1] Middle Kingdom superstitions and [2] the lunatic Mao history of modern China, which was both truly fucking demented and beyond all normal reason. Sort of like Monty Python on really bad LSD.

And for the non-Sino wise, some background here on a recent way to go tradition.






The main course here was meant to be a thorough review of all the sites I visit or where I am a regular commenter. But as the title suggests, Sino-English bridge blogs are rapidly losing their allure. However, instead of value-adding to other sites, lets Get Down and Get With It a la Slade

My commenting baptism, like others who have gone on to greater things, began with Fauna's tabloid trash Chinasmack. Scroll back a couple of years, and you will find that some quite serious commentary and quality trollery in the person of Pusan Playa who was a force to be reckoned with in the non pc department. Today, the stories are the same, the commentary is beyond pathetic, but I notice that some of todays big guns still make a sneaky return. You know who I am talking about!

Next on the board of disrepute has to be the now-defunct Chinadivide run by a triunvirate of seasoned bloggers. CD set a high bar in terms of eye candy graphics and rapid response feedback from the overlords. Not so sure if it succeeded in its mission statement, but it sure was fun, and to this day I have a high regard for Kai Pan. (Here one should also mention a couldn't decide who we are, and also defunct site CNreviews. Late arrival here, and the only interesting poster was Adam with his book reviews.)

Other veterans of the Long March incl.

ChinaGeeks run by Charles Custer. Custer is a fractious weblord who, unlike many, wears his political heart on his sleeve. Play-for-keeps-guy lacking a sense of humour, but to be respected.

chinahearsay run by Stan deals with biz/law/IP topics. Has to be the most prolific blogger around, with excessive faith in the legal processes and again displaying an Americans limited sense of humour. Nonetheless, a must check-in site.

Peking Duck run by Richard since 2002 has serious traffic and a couple of pathological trolls to keep you on your toes.

Lets finish this post before it dies on the vine.

Oz readers. I highly recommend the five sites listed top right.

Adam is definitely the Christopher Columbus of interesting link-finds and his unfortunate taste in music is forgiven. Want to know what are the contemporary haps in North Korea, hit his link.

FOARP is a hardened Sino blog warrior of long standing, multi-lingual and a major practitioner of due diligence.

Justrecently provides Sino translations, does his own blog art as well as providing sophisticated political analysis.

CMP or China Media Project is a must visit site containing context and translation of CPC editorials and other debates taken from Chinese media sources. I have devoted considerable time on this site outing that windbag, publicity hound and recent detention-hoaxer Yang Hengjun, all to no avail such is the gulliblity of the Oz media.

Finally, want a good rant about anti-Chinese Western media bias after posting a recipe for vegetarian lasagne, where else do you go but to Hidden Harmonies.