Tuesday, 29 December 2009

Prostitute boycotts Chinese on ethical grounds

Prostitute boycotts Chinese on ethical grounds
One of the more touching messages I receive in the run-up to the outrageous execution of Akmal Shaikh in China this morning is from a London-based “working girl”, who tells me she is boycotting all Chinese clients for a year in protest.

Please, spare me any sanctimonious injunctions about her chosen way of life. She’s doing what she can. And how many business people have decided today to withdraw their services from the Chinese? I think, in this context at least, she is acting with great dignity and self-respect.

She writes:

Dear Father Pitcher,

I read your article on Akmal Shaikh with interest. It says the Chinese will face serious consequences if the execution goes ahead.

I don’t suppose you will find the following consequences serious, but I know some people who will..

[She then includes a link to her website]

That site is probably not worksafe if anyone is monitoring your internet usage, but it is my advert on [she includes an escort directory]. I am an escort. I’m boycotting Chinese passport holders for a year if the execution goes ahead. I can pick and choose my clients and I don’t need any from murderous regimes.

I’m in two minds about those from Hong Kong, but will allow Taiwanese.

[She then signs with what I take to be a real name, followed by her working name. I include neither here because, at the time of writing, I don't have her permission.]

I love that equivocation over Hong Kong. On her website, not yet updated after Mr Shaikh’s execution, she adds:

Incidentally, if you are the holder of a Chinese passport you had better get your booking in tonight. After Akmal Shaikh, the mentally ill man, is executed tomorrow – you are on short rations for a year! In fact, no rations at all. Diu lai no mo hai, far as I’m concerned.

Could someone translate that Chinese for me? I reply to her as follows:

Dear [.....],

Good for you! I think that’s a highly principled stand – and I think that if everyone similarly did what they could by way of trade sanctions then we might make some progress with the Chinese.

Thanks for writing and have a very happy New Year.

And I mean it. The whole exchange is strangely uplifting and I’m really glad she wrote to me. Bless you, [consider your name here], GP

Monday, 28 December 2009

China will deepen its political and economic reform

A friend forwards this article on Chinese military forces to be privatized on stock market. It is intended to mock those market worshippers in China.

201X年,中国政治经济深层改革正式启动。。。


首先是武警被拍卖,经过私有化改革之后的武警改名为中国武警股份有限公司。中国武警股份有限公司由北京中央政府控股40%,其余的60%则全球上市,在纽约股票交易所的拍照为CNMP 。

接下来,是军队被拍卖,经过私有化改革之后的军队改名为中国国防联合股份有限公司。中国国防联合股份有限公司下设两大相对独立的子公司,分别为中国北方国防联合股份有限公司和中国南方国防联合股份有限公司。中国北方国防联合股份有限公司本身也是由四大子公司所构成,分别为中国沈阳军事股份有限公司(SYMD)、北京军事股份有限公司(PKMD)、兰州军事股份有限公司(LZMD)和济南军事股份有限公司(JNMD)。中国北方国防联合股份有限公司则由三大子公司所构成,分别为南京军事股份有限公司(NKMD)、广州军事股份有限公司(GZMD)和成都军事股份有限公司(CDMD)。中国国防联合股份有限公司向北京中央政府承包中国国防业务,由北京中央政府控股50%,其余的则也在全球上市。

为了使得中国国防联合股份有限公司的管理迅速与世界接轨,前美国国防部长Rumsfeld被高薪聘请为董事长,改制前的原中国国防部长则留任为总经理。

由于业务上的某些冲突,在改制之后,中国武警股份有限公司的董事会则向证监会投诉中国国防联合股份有限公司属于是垄断企业,享有不正当竞争优势。比如说,在拉萨市的一次大规模武力冲突中,西藏地方政府向北京求援。随后,北京中央政府立即向市场公开招标“关于弹压西藏武力骚乱”的项目,结果由于中国国防联合股份有限公司以中子弹和神经毒剂以及地毯式轰炸作为卖点而成功中标,从而获得了整个项目,可是中国武警股份有限公司则因为装备不足,在其项目方案中仅仅只有催泪弹、装甲车和机关枪而名落孙山,从而直接导致CNMP在纽约股票交易所和上海股票交易所的市值惨跌60%之巨,沦为垃圾股,CNMP的董事会为此而一片哗然。

可是,证监会则因证据不足而拒绝了中国武警股份有限公司的投诉。痛定思痛之后,中国武警股份有限公司决心重振旗鼓,也向全球招标高薪聘请总经理职位以改良公司。经过一番激烈的角逐,最后原日本自卫队高级军官松井先生因其家族出现过类似于松井石根这样的名气颇大的人物而成功担任总经理。在接受中央电视股份有限公司的采访时,松井先生向记者公布了自己的改革方案------首先要加强硬件建设,比如说也已得到美国花旗财团的巨额贷款用以从俄罗斯购买轰炸机,从德国购买坦克;同时再来狠抓软件建设,比如说也已同中国法院股份有限公司签署协议,由中国武警股份有限公司来独家承包全中国的死刑执行项目,从而锻炼员工技能,提高员工业务水平等。。。

"unexpected return"


it is composed by someone who obviously miss Mao's era very much.

Sunday, 27 December 2009

Chinese Racism against Chinese

Chinese-Americans need not apply ... how to cope with others' racism


December 20, 2009

Wanted: Young, professional go-getter willing to relocate his/her life to the wild, wild East -- China -- to work for the Chinese media in an office where you need not only fluency in Mandarin, but a foreign complexion. Looking for candidates with a background in journalism, proficiency in spoken, reading and written Mandarin Chinese who value tolerance above the individual. Preference will be shown to blondes. Salary: $700/month, no benefits.

"It's not, how do Americans say, discrimination," my managing editor told me, as she recited the message come down the pipe from my publisher. "It's just that Nancy (the publisher) thinks a blonde would look more foreign."

My publisher held two resumes in her hands, both applications to replace my co-English editor at the bilingual magazine where I work in China.

One was submitted by a well-heeled and ambitious young Chinese-American woman, who recently graduated from UCLA's school of journalism and was looking for her first job. The second resume was submitted by an American blonde from Florida who worked in promotions for a foreign charity in town.

The blonde can't speak Chinese. The Chinese-American can -- fluently. That should have made the decision easy.

But it was discrimination and the decision of how to navigate that sensitive conversation, how to cope with another's racism and how to mediate between my own values and reality was anything but easy.

My editor asked me to tell the Chinese-American girl, when I met her for coffee next week, that she was not offered the job. There was no need for even an informational interview.

She wasn't offered the job because she looked too Chinese and my boss wanted someone who made the office look more international.

And that image was more important that the ability to communicate.

"That's nothing. Wait 'til you hear this one," my friend Gao Yan said. Gao is Chinese but holds citizenship in both China and America -- a rare and controversial duality he was granted in 1989, when he was protected under political asylum. Gao lived in Providence, R.I., for 16 years and returned to China when his American microbrewery opened it's first China plant in his home town, Nanjing.

"The first time I brought my director of marketing, an Italian guy from Providence, to China, those (expletives) thought he was the boss! They greeted us at the plane and led him, my assistant, down the red carpet!"

It's deplorable but understandable. A person of Chinese heritage often looks Chinese and it's likely, on first glance, he or she might be mistaken for being native.

A blonde looks much more foreign.

But in this situation that unsatisfactory logic escalated to an unacceptable level for several reasons.

First, a magazine is a print operation. This isn't CNN and we're not talking Andrea Koppel, Ted Koppel's Irish-looking daughter who reported from China in masterful Mandarin.

The blonde candidate wouldn't be on TV and she's not fluent. Second, the Chinese-American candidate simply wasn't wanted. If I insisted on hiring her, she would likely face inter-office discrimination and be offered a lower salary.

Imagine Connie Chung being un-marketable in China.

After an underwhelming interview, I shuffled the blonde's resume to the bottom of my stack and returned to the classifieds. Then a second Chinese-American's resume came in, and a third, and a fourth. One looked promising: journalism degree from NYU, native English speaker with fluency in Chinese, previous writing experience and a love of China's "often unrefined and instantaneous demands." I took it to my managing editor.

"Oh," she said. She didn't need to say more for the disappointment to register. Another ABC -- American-Born Chinese.

The dilemma I now find myself in is not who to hire, but rather should I even bother considering Chinese-Americans?

If I wanted to hire a Chinese-American, or a Chinese-Canadian, or a Chinese-Australian, I'd feel obligated out of mutual humanity to confess the managements' discrimination. And who would that benefit?

"Nice to meet you. Our office is either rejecting your application because you're not white enough or you can work for us for less money than someone less qualified. Your choice."

Is it better to be given the choice and be forced to face discrimination, or is it better to be protected, but denied? And if I chose the later, does it validate discrimination?

"Nice to meet you. Our office is either rejecting your application because you're not white enough or you can work for us for less money than someone less qualified. Your choice."

Gao Yan was granted a rare and controversial dual citizenship in what year?


Saturday, 26 December 2009

Christmas, and ChairmanMao-mas

Mao Zedong was born today 106 years ago(one day later than Jesus Christ). Many Chinese call for a national holiday to be named on this day, equivalent Christians' Christmas(圣诞节), Chinese may call it 毛诞节 or ChairmanMaomas, Chinese need a God badly.

Here is a recent article of leftist historical revison. It is more about the present politics than about the history.

Zhang Chunqiao is depicted as a genuine Marxist and political heir to Mao Zedong. Hua Guofeng is portrayed as a traitor.

还我江青、还我春桥、还我历史公道-纪念毛泽东116诞辰

    ...华岳论坛 - "http://washeng.net"



    33年的历史舞台上,该亮相的都亮相了,原先隐藏的面目也都自我暴露无法掩饰了。谁是谁非,谁奸谁忠,已经一清二楚。历史显现出以下各种面貌:叛徒可耻;走资投降派可恨;糊涂虫可悲;假革命派可笑;英雄可佩。

    (一)叛徒可耻:华国锋

    头一个要算的是华国锋的账。华国锋的三大罪状:摧毁文革,摧毁党,背叛毛泽东。

    ...华岳论坛 - "http://washeng.net"

    ......

    (二)走资投降派可恨:邓小平(附陈云、叶剑英)

    ....

    (三)糊涂虫可悲:邓颖超

    .....

Friday, 25 December 2009

Liu Xiaobo: An anachronistic Challenge


Liu Xiaobo, Chinese dissident writer, was sentenced to 11 years for his leading role in the Charter 08, an imitation of the Charter 77 initiated by Havel. Obviously Liu over many years has been determined to make an ideological stand against the Chinese state power. Chinese ruling clique has taken the challenge as intended and make Liu a show case punishment.

"Charter 77 (Charta 77 in Czech and in Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in Czechoslovakia from 1977 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, many of its members played important roles in Czech and Slovak politics. The group was linked to the National Endowment for Democracy."

What the Charter 77 has told us is: 1. those drafters later came to power, they are activists for political power; 2. it was closely linked to NED in the US; it functioned as a political opposition althought it claimed not to serve as a basis of political opposition and operate within the law of the country.

The Charter 08 is almost the same, except that it is not clear how much it is linked to the NED. But ideologically it share the same goal as NED and even the US' position on China. Its pedigree is from the cold war era. And it is obvious to the Chinese authority which has long abandoned its Communist ideology. In this sense, the Charter 08 is anachronistic.

The Czeck authority in 1970s treated those signitories harshly. The Charter 77 has support groups, but it did not get wide influence until the end of communist system in the east Europe. It remained mainly as a potential threat to the Communist regime waiting for its time to come. Chinese authority must have taken lessons from this and give those Charter 08 drafters similar treatment.

Comaring the two cases of Charter 08 and 77, the differences are obvious. 1. China is a very different country; 2. the time and outside environment is different. Chinese authority is no longer a die hard communist party, but a very power- interests group. China is a rising economy which is playing more and more important part in the interdependence of international economy, hence it prevent the West, esp. the US from applying the old cold war strategy on China.

Probably the last difference is intellectual change of tide in China and even in the world. Charter 77 may play an important part in the battle of liberal capitalism succeeding over communism. That is all right in 1980s and 90s. But in the new millennium, for China especially, the focus of the public attention is to enlarge public rights domestically and at the same time enhancing national status internationally with a consensus the west is not something Chinese can rely on or even trust.

Hence Liu Xiaobo is either a martyr too late for his time, or maybe too earlier.

Holy Testicles!圣诞节

The collective and "must shared" joys surrounded seclude one from the real world on Christmas day, not much news on TV and radio, except some yesterdays news. Radio stations broadcast Christmas songs and carols all day long, TV music channel the same. It is a bit mad in the eyes of an outsider like me, probably that is how a foreigner felt when he/she went to the red China during the Great Cultural Revolution years.

I have to work again, from early afternoon to midnight. I don't mind really, esp. it is double pay today. Yesterday I told colleagues christmas' in chinese could be translated into english as "the holy testicles", it is logical since some testicles must be involved in the big affair of making the great baby. Virgin marry is a myth. A female colleague said to us: happy testicles as her x'mas greetings.

the only cold news today is Liu Xiaobo, Chinese dissident writer, was sentenced to 11 years for his leading role in the Charter 08, a imitation of the Charter 77 initiated by Havel. Obviously Liu is determined to make an ideological stand against the Chinese state power. Chinese ruling clique has taken it as intended and make Liu a show case punishment. It looks to me a confrontation with a cold war origin.

Thursday, 24 December 2009

Modern Day Mr. Work-for-nothing on X'mas Eve

Of course X'mas means little to somebody like me with my first 26 years spent in an atheist culture. Every year at the time like this, i am bothered by the thought that i have to deal with different bills, e.g., to renew all the vehicle insurances, MOTs, and vehicle tax discs. apart from paying all income tax, local council tax, NI tax, at year ends, more tax and bills come.

I feel like a modern day Yang bailao(sweat labouring for nothing). And on Christmas eve, i have to go to work while most of other people banqueting and consuming high calorie and high cholesteral food at their homes usually decorated with cheap festival lights and colors:-)

normally those dustbin men and recycle collecting service of the council or some outsouceing companies come on Thursdays rarely punctually(supposed to be in the early morning), but today they came before i put my kitchen refuse outside in the front. amazingly they are punctual today!maybe they collect their x's money from each household today, i don't know, but those lazy bones get nothing from me.



"if this happend in 1840...."

it is interesting to see many comments posted by British public following the times article are very sympathetic towards Chinese legal ruling on this case. Many of them blame on the lack of teeth and moral clarity of the UK legal system. Little do they know in chinese forums, many Chinese compare Gordon Brown's interference to the Opium war in 19CC, revoking the old national humiliation.

China defends decision to execute drug-smuggling Briton Akmal Shaikh

Jane Macartney, China Correspondent

China vigorously defended its justice system today, a day after its Supreme Court rejected the final appeal from a Briton who faces the death penalty on charges of drug-smuggling.

The case of Akmal Shaikh, 53, from London, has prompted several appeals from Gordon Brown to China’s leaders to exercise clemency towards a man who reportedly suffers from mental health problems.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: "China’s judicial authorities independently handled this case in accordance with the law. Drug-smuggling is a grave crime in international practice."

She rejected charges from groups supporting Mr Shaikh that the courts had refused to allow independent assessments of the Briton’s mental health. "During the entire process, the litigation rights and the relevant rights and interests of the defendant were fully respected and guaranteed. China has offered prompt consular information to the UK and arranged consular visits."

Mr Shaikh was arrested in September 2007 on arrival in Urumqi, the capital of the far western Xinjiang region, in possession of four kg (8.8lb) of heroin. Campaigners said that he was duped into carrying the drugs for a criminal gang.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that the Chinese authorities had confirmed the execution would take place on December 29. The FCO said it was “alarmed and deeply concerned" at the news that the final appeal had been denied.

It also said it regretted that Chinese officials had not taken Mr Shaikh's mental health into account despite repeated requests by Mr Brown, government ministers and the European Union.

If the death penalty is carried out, Mr Shaikh would become the first national from a European Union country to be executed in China in decades.

The British prisoners' rights charity, Reprieve, which has been campaigning on behalf of Mr Shaikh, said he would become the first EU national to be put to death in China in 50 years. Diplomats have said an Italian national was executed during the chaotic Cultural Revolution in the 1970s.

Mr Brown pressed the case to the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in a telephone call earlier this month, officials have said. An FCO spokesman said: "We will be using the next few days to renew and intensify our appeal to the Chinese authorities for clemency. The Prime Minister and other ministers have been, and remain, closely engaged."

Reprieve said it has medical evidence that Mr Shaikh, who is married with three children, suffered from a delusion that he was going to China to record a hit single that would usher in world peace. However, he was duped by a criminal gang into unwittingly carrying drugs for them into China, Reprieve alleged, saying that his strange behaviour was "influenced or caused by" his mental illness.

Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve’s director, said: “I just spoke to Akmal’s brother about this terrible news, and it is impossible to imagine what Akmal’s family are going through this holiday season. This is no time for pride – they beg the Chinese authorities to show compassion and take Akmal’s mental health problems into account.”

Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Banality of evil: Anglo-American Wars & Patriotism

Banality of evil is a phrase coined by Hannah Arendt and incorporated in the title of her 1963 work Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. It describes the thesis that the great evils in history generally were not executed by fanatics or sociopaths but rather by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their state and therefore participated with the view that their actions were normal.

If suicide bomb terrorists and state terrorism are both evils, the killers on both sides are not fanatics or sociopaths as they are depicted by the other side, banality of evil is a concept to describe British and American soldiers and fervent patriotic public better than those idealistic and religious Muslims.

As in the famous Milgram experiments in 1960s, Stanley Milgram, the American psychologist, showed that capacity for evil come from obedience. Milgram elaborated the theory of conformism in the experiment which describes the fundamental relationship between the group of reference and the individual person. A subject who has neither ability nor expertise to make decisions, especially in a crisis, will leave decision making to the group and its hierarchy. The group is the person's behave model.

Another theory involved is the agentic state theory, which says, the essence of obedience consists in the fact that a person comes to view himself as the instrument for carrying out another person's wishes, and he therefore no longer sees himself as responsible for his actions. Once this critical shift of viewpoint has occurred in the person, all of the essential features of obedience follow.

The above 2 theories describe the public under powerful state control and under strong media/propoganda influence better than those devoted Muslim individuals who went to joint a non-state radical organizations which apart from political and religious agiation lack the means and resources of states.

Since nowadays the concept of banality of evil is no longer used as frequently as in its early days, i have seen yet it being used to describe the Anglo-American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the part of society behind the invasions and occupations.

I don't think the term has been over used at all. it can be perfectly applied to individual responsibility in big institutions, individual journalist's responsibility in an organization like BBC, and CNN/BBC's role in state propaganda and war efforts. Within big bureaucracies and state, the personal responsibilities and judgement have been surrendered irresponsibly and wrongly

Behind the group conformism and agentic abandonment mentality, there is specialization and division of labour of modern economy and society, esp. in the developed industrial countries. As for insurgent, he would have used a knife to sever his enemy's head off, and see the result of his action, while a western solider, may he be a pilot or a mechanic, may kill dozens or many times more opponents or civilians and yet have not witnessed a single drop of blood.

The contrast of killing in a old way and industrialized way, retail and wholesale, inefficiency and efficiency, barbarian and civilized, irrational and rational, backward and scientific, immoral and moral. The state with its resources makes an efficiency issue into an moral issue. Not only the state can make such difference, but also can some big organization with better governance. like a state with a better political and economic governance can make an aggression look like a peace keep efforts, a powerful media company with better governance and tradition can made the rubbish they churned out more convincing.

Vigilantism in China and in UK

a Chinese man fight 2 robbers
it is on Chinese TV news, a cyclist wielding his bicycle to tackle two escaping robbers on a motorcycle. Obviously this kind of vigilantism is encouraged by Chinese authority and cheered by public. the news reader told the story how the bicycle man threw his bicycle to the 2 robbers after he heard a distress call from a woman whose purse had been snatched. After the fall, two robbers got up and chased the cyclist, then they were caught by a few nearby security guards. CCTV footage shows everything.

it provides a good contrast to what happened in London: a businessman has been jailed for two and a half years for taking on a knife-wielding burglar who held him and his family hostage in their home.

too bad it happened in China. If happened in London, the two failed robber could have claimed a lot of compensation from the cyclist if not put him in jail for a few months for serious bodily harm.

this probably shows how far PRC has changed

China seems seriously considering open the land corridor bordering with Afghanistan to the US army for logistic purpose. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qing Gang said a discussion was going on between China and the US.

Since 1949, except for allies' army taking part joint military excercises, never has a foreign army come into China. Even during 1950s and 50s when Soviet-China alliance at its peak, China refused Russia's request to set up a long-wave station on China's territory for Soviet army. Mao also refuse Russsian request of forming a joint navy fleet.

Probably the momeries of humiliations imposed by European imperialist armies are too recent and too painful for many Chinese, which won't allow them to tolerate foreign troops on Chinese territory again.

Maybe now the memory is no longer that recent after 13 years of opening to the west, or the historic narrative of the modern history under the west influence has changed to such a degree to allow American GIs set their boots in Xinjiang.

渡痴禅师: 最近有两件事让我很震惊:“美军借道”与“国资委谴责国企垄断”


  越来越不喜欢评论时事,时事总是让人无能为力的沮丧,沮丧的次数多了,也就变成了麻木,于是好象觉得有很多话可以说,但仔细一想又觉得如果要 寻根问底这些车轱辘话已经说过了无数次,实在没有兴趣再多说一次。这个世界看起来很复杂,变化万千幻化无穷,万家灯火背后演绎着各家的哀喜苦乐。有醉死的 烈士,有冻死的民工;别墅里觥筹交错,窝棚中寒被裹身;有人在哭,有人在笑,有人在钻研股票,有人在数着钞票;有人谋划着如何赚别人的钱,有人小心的计算 着如何从衣食中再节省几个铜板.....。夜深灯熄,有的人酣然入睡,有的人辗转难眠;有大赚一笔的金色美梦,也有被城管追得狼奔鼠窜的黑色噩梦,有的人 浑身舒坦,有的人一身冷汗....。这个世界确实很复杂。


  但这个世界其实也很简单,再复杂的系统也只有很少的几对主要矛盾。对于我们和平年代的人来说,这个世界核心的东西其实很简单,简单得可以只用 两个字来描述——经济。经济是社会系统演变的动力,抓住了经济,也就抓住了社会万象的根本。人生在世,无非是“得失”二字,“得”什么?“失”什么?归根 结底是“资源”,而经济活动正是社会资源的创造和分配。如何获取或者创造资源?如何组织或者分配资源?这就是我们社会的核心内容。也许有人会提什么“阶层 分析法”,不过在老僧看来,所谓的“阶层”,只是人们在社会经济活动中的位置罢了。“层”以何分?——经济地位决定所属何“层”。


  似乎有些跑题了,但这于我来说是常事。经济与“美军借道”和“国资委谴责国企垄断”有什么关系?似乎没有关系,但其实关系很密切,而且是最根 本的关系。再说一遍,社会生活的核心内容是经济,一切社会现象都是围绕着“资源”在转动。大概是前年,我曾经将中国的经济特征用两个词组来形容,但这两个 词组现在可能属于禁忌用语,为了配合版主们的工作,我这里还是使用柔和一点的说法吧。当时我用“买办经济”和“权贵经济”来归纳中国经济的特征,那么这两 件时事与中国的经济有和关系呢?


  自从1949年之后,除了与友军合作演习之外,中国的陆地上就再也没有外国军队踏上过一步。在中苏关系最密切的时期,在前苏联大批援建中国经 济的背景下,中苏关系不可谓不友好,不可谓不“战略伙伴”,但就是在那样的前提下,先是前苏联要求在中国建立长波电台,被拒绝;然后是试图组建中苏联合舰 队,再次被拒绝,两次被拒绝的理由很简单——饱经外国军队侵略的中国绝对不允许外国军队有一兵一卒踏上中国的领土。实际上,建立长波电台与组建联合舰队, 至少从形式上来看双方还是属于“战略合作”模式,而非一方控制另外一方,但是经历过战争年代的老一辈们宁愿放弃苏联源源不绝的援助,也要独立自主。


  而六十年之后的今天,在中国全面进入千年盛世的今天,却有可能允许一个公然宣称“台湾主权未定论”的国家“借道”中国,理由可能是“反恐”, 而长期在中国新疆制造恐怖事件的“疆独组织”之所以活动猖獗,正是由于这个国家在不背后长期的大力支持。对于这样一个以包围中国分裂中国为战略核心的国家 军队,居然还与之谈判“借道反恐”的合作项目,这怎能不让我震惊?!


  但这又有什么值得让人震惊的呢?以外向型为主导的“买办经济”,早已经融入了以美元为衡量标准的体系之中,要想获得美元政府的支撑,除了突破 先辈们的“僵化思维”,努力合作之外,还能有别的选择吗?“借道中国”,不过是外交替“买办经济”背书而已。迟早的事。


  关于“国资委谴责国企垄断”,这看起来似乎可笑,怎么都会觉得有些滑稽。国资委作为国企的“老板”,他们原本最大的利益当然是希望国企变得对 市场更有控制力,也就是所谓的垄断。但中国的事情总是很“特色”,我们的国企老板不是想让自己的企业越干越大,而是期望自己的企业越来越小,这样的老板, 还真是滑天下之大稽了。以前没有见过,现在开了眼界。不过,如果仔细分析,这还是我大惊小怪,“国有资产管理委员会”早就是“国有资产拍卖委员会”了,国 资委的使命就是最终让国资委消失,我还在这里一惊一咋的干啥呢?


  “国资委”反国企垄断,颇有壮士解腕的雄姿,不过做得很不美观罢了。只要想想“国企”被“反垄断成功之后”,谁会得益就明白了。那些现在依附 在国企下面的形形色色的所谓股份制企业,以及那些企业背后的老板们,同时也是国企的利益相关者们,他们早就对国企垄断的行业虎视眈眈,只要有空隙,他们的 爪牙是早就磨利了的。国资委反国企垄断,不过是国资委在为“权贵经济”背书。这有什么奇怪的呢? ...

A Parasite on the Vestige of Red China?


No.51 Shijia Hutong
No.51 Shijia Alley(史家胡同51号) undoubtedly is a public property. Zhang Shizhao, Honghuang's grandfather on maternal side probably in 1920s gave 100 silver dollars to a jobless young man whose name was Mao Zedong. After 1949 Mao return the favor in a big way and grand this spacious traditional courtyard residence in central Beijing to Zhang Shizhao.It was the years of proletariat revolution, hence no certificate of private property was given to her grandfather.

Madam Zhang Hanzhi,her mother, was Mao's English teacher for a short period of time before becoming a red diplomat in Chinese foreign ministry in 1970s. It is widely reported the madam got intimately involved with Chairman Mao, and this intimacy with the great leader greatly advanced her diplomatic career.

Madam Zhang later married to Qiao Guanhua, the foreign minister at the time, to the dismay of the great leader. After their marriage, they moved their home to the courtyard residence at No. 51 Shijia Hutong.

After her step father and mother died, HongHuang stays in No. 51. It seems for quite some time the Foreign Ministry has been demanding the huge property back from Honghuang, who is private entreupreneur and entertainer who has no business with the ministry. She refueses to surrender the property disputing the claimed ownership of the property by the ministry.

It is too obvious whoever the property belongs to, it does not belong to her.She is now demanding the ministry to pay back all the maintenance and refurbishing she has spent on the property over decades. From what is revealled by Honghuang, it looks like the Foreign Ministry is going to compensate her with another property, and Honghuang is asking for a property of no smaller than 120 sq metres.

But how much does she have to pay back to the public at a commercial rate for a huge residence like that in central location in Beijing? How luckier she can get than ordinary Chinese, first living in a huge property funded by public money, and then moving to another large property, agained paid with public money?

In the year of Beijing Olympics I went to visit a friend who stayed in the courtyard, the part of No.51 which has been used by China Women Association as luxury hotel. It is 2 courtyard with dozens of en suit luxury rooms around courtyards. I have not been to the part kept by Honghuang, but judged by the 2nd picture, it is very spacious. Normally only the very high level officials like commander of beijing military zone can get that size residence in that central location in Beijing.

Honghuang(in red) hosts a party at No. 51 court yard
 由于母亲章含之在史家胡同51号的房产没有产权,文化名人洪晃被外交部诉至法院“腾房”。昨日上午,该案在法院进行了庭前质证,洪晃本人亲自到庭,有趣的是,洪晃一直在其微博上对该情况进行“直播”,让众网友体会了一把微博时代与名人的零距离接触。
 
  自曝:为房子首当被告

  昨日上午8点,洪晃在其微博上发出一条信息:今天去东城法院,被告。外交部要我搬出史家胡同51号,我要他们先把30年院子的维修费还给我。就这点破事儿,我家律师从二月份开始给他们发函,一直置之不理,再后来就接到传票了。

  据悉,史家胡同属东城区朝阳门地区,是东四南大街从北往南数的第七条胡同,自西向东沟通东四南大街和朝阳门南小街,长700多米。明代,即称“史家胡同 ”;据传,因胡同内住有史姓大户而得名。史家胡同51号,旧时的门牌是24号,在胡同西段北侧,坐北朝南,原是一座三进四合院。史家胡同51号原是章士钊解放后在北京的住宅,章士钊入住之时,认为房屋太多,一家人住不了,遂将第三进院分出,在内务部街南侧另辟街门,形成独立院落。于是,史家胡同51号就形成一座二进四合院。章士钊去世后,史家胡同51号归属章士钊之女章含之(洪晃母亲)所有。


 分析:这官司我肯定输

  对于史家胡同51号的房子,洪晃有着深厚的感情。她在随后的微博上透露:留下这院子还真不敢妄想,我妈曾经问我要不要办什么故居。我都拒绝了。没什么意思,为了一个房子上蹿下跳,求爷爷告奶奶,人的生命比这个要值钱。但是心里还是难受的,毕竟住了五十几年,所有的记忆都在里面。
the elegant lady herself

  对于这场官司,洪晃看得十分透彻。她在微博里表示:这官司我知道我肯定输,就算这辈子第一个官司,算经验吧,也很宝贵。洪晃称自己把51号的事情想得很清楚,“房子肯定是国家的,不管我的上辈怎么说,什么领导送的,没有房产证就肯定不行。那么既然是国家的,国家又给了外交部,我们也交了房租,但是自从乔冠华不当官之后,外交部就没有给过暖气,也没有做任何维修。所以我和外交部的纠纷是合理补偿。”

  幽默:倒插门女婿不能随便接

  据悉,昨日洪晃到法院是开庭前交换证据,她称自己还有两个月举证,然后再开庭。昨日上午,洪晃一直在微博上直播着庭审的经过。08:54她在微博上写道:到了法院,开始找门,前门不开的,打官司得走后门。这可真所谓门朝哪儿开都不知道。09:00,她写道:找到后门了,人很多,味道像医院。10:19 洪晃又在微博上说,我的朋友陪我来,说这案子关注人太多,不让旁听。10:29洪晃在微博上直播称:好了,询问结束了。还是挺好的,法官很和蔼,很公平。给我们两个月时间举证。主要纠纷是房子三十年来的维护费,至于外交部给我安排的房子,我觉得能把我们家五十年的破烂都装里面就可以,但是 120平方米是一定不够的。

  洪晃还不改其幽默本色,在微博里调侃道:好多人认为这是我外公的房子,可是当时政府把这房子给他时就没给房产证。后来乔冠华和我妈结婚从报房胡同搬过来,这房子怎么就变成外交部的了?看来,这倒插门女婿不能随便接。

  华西都市报记者胡晓

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Copenhagen: an excellent analogy

the following analogy is made in a posting in http://www.pinggu.org:

the Copenhagen summit is compared to a leaking boat. On this leaking boat, it would be suicidal for 190 people to take time negotiating on who should work more to remove water from the boat. in that situation, probably even the most selfish person on the boat would automatically work to his best to save the boat.

But in a little bit more complicated scenario, the situation would be different. If the people on the boat could figure out before sinking, the boat could carry them to a safe port, hence they can leave the danger to the next group of passengers, then many people on the boat would sit down and enjoy the sea journey instead of working hard to save the boat…
(I hope this comment is an original posting in the above forum, if it is a translated version from english, it would be silly for me to do the reverse translation:-))

评丹麦世界气候大会:破船上的大智慧

如果一百多人在漏水的船上讨价还价谁该往外多舀水,那是明摆着的蠢,事实上没人会这么干,连船上那最自私最无耻的人,也会拿出最大公无私的精神拼命舀水的。

但是事情如果再复杂一点,就会有新鲜的现象了。如果船上的人算计一下,在这条船沉没前,他们有足够的时间安全抵达港口,危险属于下一船乘客时,有很多人就会停下来安静地欣赏海景了。

哪怕这条船在抵达港口前的确会沉没一部分,比如灌满一个叫“马尔代夫”的船舱,其他舱室的人,基本上都会无动于衷。

更复杂的是,如果这艘船超重,需要乘客们把身上的金银细软抛下船的话,扯蛋就来了。穷人们说,富人钱多经得起糟蹋你先扔,至少得再扔40%;富人则说穷鬼你那堆破烂儿又沉又不值钱你先扔;穷人说我扔也可以但你富人得拿出年收入的0.5%-1%,即3000块补偿给我,还得教会我发财致富的秘诀,富人说你丫做白日梦吧老子已经一年白给你100块了,多了别想,你救的不是我是你自己。

穷人说老子才刚坐这船没两天,你狗日富人坐好几年了,生生把新船坐成了破船,现在多出点血是天经地义的;富人说以前天杀的知道这船是会坐破的,再说如果不是我们富人天天捣鼓这船,你这帮农民今天还在刨地球,能懂航海术、看西洋景?今天这船要沉了也是我们发现的,要不你们这帮賤人淹死了都不知道咋回事。

蛋还没扯完,眼见船越来越漏的厉害。于是船客们聚到“日本房间”,穷人们靠着人多强行通过了一份《京都协议书》,要求富人赶紧扔东西,穷人却可以不扔。最富的富人米利坚说,这是明显的仇富嘛,天下哪有这道理,俺不玩了。穷人说你B一家最重,负担就占了全船的近1/5,你不扔谁扔?米利坚说我的东西是最重,但也最值钱。俺以全船1/4的值钱物件才占了1/5的重量,凭啥我扔?你们看看那叫拆哪的穷鬼,以不到3%的价值也占了近1/5的负担,为啥不让他多扔?

黑眼睛黑头发黄皮肤的拆哪一听急了:穷兄弟们别听他的,俺们可都是穷苦人家出身,你们要是把我推出来,以后你们中有人小偷小摸耍流氓谁罩着啊?好歹这船是大家的,你米利坚就是东西最多最重,这船也属你坐的时间最长次数最多,看我干啥?凭啥?你凭啥?这最怕船沉的不是咱穷棒子是富人,他们经不起大规模人员伤亡。

为了尽快把蛋扯完,船客们最近又在一间叫“丹麦”的房间开了一个会。据最新消息,把蛋扯完的机会已经很渺茫。最重大的成果将是形成一份《哥本哈根共识》,这份有所有船客签名的共识说:“我们都发现并且承认,这船在漏水,而且是会沉的。”

这份共识发表后,船客们纷纷接到恭喜电话,表扬他们表现出了高超的政治智慧,并且坚定地捍卫了国家利益。

The West tried to lure China into Copenhagen "trap"

Interesting Comment made by Xenophon in TNR blogpost. The dramas between the US and China during Copenhagen summit appear to validate the analysis.

In retrospect, I think the "plan" for Copenhagen--hatched between the US and Europeans--was to downplay the demands being made on the emerging economies, especially China, so as not to scare them away before the conference. Copenhagen, was in essence, a trap into which China would be lured, and then, in the glare of world media coverage, be forced into submission, ie intrusive inspections, etc. President Obama, with his supposedly overwhelming influence among third-world countries was the ultimate hammer to achieve this. Hence, the aura of inevitability preceding and during the early part of the conference and the wildly exaggerated ideas of the outcome among the climate advocates, the media, et al.

But someone forgot to assess the Chinese position with cold, hard logic. The Chinese leadership is trying to move huge numbers of people out of poverty and transform China into a world power. As they gradually open up Chinese society and the economy, they live more and more on a political knife's edge. They know what political instability will do to China's development--what China was like under the late Ching and Republican rulers. ( They also know that the US wouldn't really be heart-broken if their ambitious plans are thwarted.) While the Chinese leadership may actually buy into the science of global warming--I'm not really sure--they are not going to sign on to an inspections regime that locks them in to levels of economic pain that conceivably bring about--or at least contribute to--domestic political cataclysm.

China's vested interest in weaning itself off hydrocarbons for strategic and economic reasons means that its policies will, in practice, probably be generally--very generally-- green-house-gas-reduction-friendly, but that's as much as we can expect. They're not going to risk political suicide and the collapse of all the work of the last three decades that have taken China so far. Clearly, others felt similarly to China based on the comment of the Brazilian negotiator in one of the article's links, but China was perhaps the only one that would simply say, "No."

So, the "trap" failed to catch the prey, and bagging the US Senate will now be nigh impossible. In the end, I suspect that rising energy prices and the consequent shift to increasingly viable energy technologies will be the motive force in combating green house emissions, but it certainly won't be on the timeline of the scientists, climate advocates, et al.

another two post i like from "fool's mountain":

hzzz Says:
I think a lot of this is bs. The real issue here is human population growth and their usage demand.

Since China is a manufacturing nation, of course it will create more CO emissions. But let’s say China improves all of its factories with the latest green technology, the extra cost to manufacture these products will simply be passed on to the consumers. Consumers tend to choose the items with the lowest price. Eventually manufacturers will figure out to move their factories elsewhere with less emission restrictions, that’s all. Of course, this is assuming that going green will always be more expensive. I am not sure if that will always be the case but that is certainly the case today.

But that still does not touch the issue of human population growth. As long as that continues there will be demand for manufacturing, and ultimately that is driven by capitalism which tend to focus on short term growth than long time gains. I think the real key to change is to change the way people use items so they would waste less. Of course that also goes against capitalism because if people waste less they would buy less and that’s bad for the economy.

And I have not even started on breeding practices yet. I for one think people should have less kids, but then that opens up another can of worms when it comes to supporting social policies in the form of taxes.


neutrino Says:

You are right on. The per capita emission is a better and fairer measurement than the total emission, but an even better barometer would be the per capita carbon consumption, including all the carbon emission associated with the good you consume. In forty years, China could easily move those high-carbon intensity factories to Africa, and lower its per capita carbon emission and total as well. But the relocation of carbon emission origin does not lower the total emission of the world, does it? The truth is that we all need to scale back our consumption habits, and stop producing more children than the resource of this planet warrants.

Let me ask all of you who have commented here: How many of you are driving compact cars (or not driving at all) instead of unnecessary SUVs, how many of you have changed all your indoor lighting to the energy efficient type, how many of you have considered or are considering adopting children instead of having your own? (My answer to all of this is yes!) These are simple things to do to contribute to the carbon reducttion, but I suspect not everyone is doing it.

Some country is invaded!

PLA = People's Liberation Army
























Hold on, don't you celebrate yet!

this is just a film scene where Hollywood is remaking the blockbuster "Red Down". In the remake, the invading Soviet army was replaced by Chinese PLA. In the film, Chinese PLA has launched a full scale military invasion in mid-western America, the World War III starts...

They are churning out loads of rubbish again


Ed Miliband: China tried to hijack Copenhagen climate deal
Climate secretary Ed Miliband wrote in Guardian accusing China, Sudan, Bolivia and other leftwing Latin American countries of trying to hijack Copenhagen.

If he really wants China and the developing world to reduce their carbon emission, then ask the west give them the green technology. If the world really is in such crisis, why UK, why don't the US and other the developed countries make substantial efforts first and then ask poorer countries to cut their emission and restrict their development?

US was the biggest winner in Copenhagen anyway. US will only reduce 4% from 1990 level as a developed country. Why doesn't he admit that the developed countries need to reduce emissions from now on and into the future, it is only fair for all persons emit an equal amount. Why doesn't he agree that developed countries should pay up for past total emissions by which they reached their current standard of living. This is a cost that should not be burdened upon the developing and poor countries since they did not benefit from it.

What is the reason for asking poors to reduce their chance of survival and limiting further their baisc life needs, while refusing making sacrifice in present luxurious, high emission life styles in the west? cutting emission for rich people means take less jet flights, wasting less food and energy; for the poors it means lack of shelters, lack of calories and nutrition, living in unbearably hot or cold conditions, and death.

Why doesn't he speak out it is the US with the biggest carbon emission which is reluctant to lower their emission and glad to use China as a scapegoat. Is that with the like as Ed miliband barking at China and developing countries, the US would get less blame? the miliband brothers are amazing. it makes one wonder how come the guys with a father like ralph miliband could be degenerated so quickly in politics and serving the interests of privileged class and "the West" in interests in a cold war sense.

Saturday, 19 December 2009

Copenhegan:the US and China finally agree on rights issue


China is often under the criticism from the US and other Western countries over its human rights records, China's standard answer since 2005 has always been: the formost human rights are the right to live and to develop. Chinese government regards the right to live and develop is the basis of all other human rights.

Chinese position and the West's differ on rights conception, the fomer is group right, the latter is individual right which is more or less reflected in the Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights(“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”)

Human rights are "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Apart from civil and political rights, human rights also mean the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to be treated with respect and dignity, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education in some countries.

Obviously it is against the spirit of human rights if certain peoples’ chance of economic development is restricted and discriminated because of their citizenship and which country they live. Copenhagen Accord is supposed to be a compromise of the two principles, i.e. individual and group, but the accusations made by the like of Edward Miliband against China is more based on the principle of group rights, it is discrimination against individual rights and against the liberal principles by which China is often scolded by the West.

China is often criticized by the west by evoking individualist principle on Chinese state infringement of Chinese citizens’ individual rights. But this time on climate negotiation, the west suddenly found individual right something to be avoided. They do not like to compare the carbon emission per capita between the developed countries and the developing countries.

The fact is, the US’s per capita output, in 2007 19.5 ton. The biggest carbon emission per capita are those from gulf oil rich little states, about 30-50 tons per person. China’s CO2-equivalent output per person was 5.5 tonnes of CO2 per year. By responsibility, if individual bear equal responsibility disregarding his/her country, it is mainly rich countries' responsibility to cut emissions and stop global warming. Developed countries account for 80 percent of the total global carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago.

Of course, both China's per capita and total emission is catch up quickly. In 2000 it was the equivalent of 3.9 tonnes of CO2 per person per year. In total carbon emission, China has surpassed the US already. That is why the west led by the US won't allow China 's per capita emission approach near to the US level, which would be a global disaster. But it can also argued in reverse. Since it is so dangerous to allow Chinese to increase their emission to the US's level, why not the US and other rich country cut their emission substantially to the level of Chinese, instead of preaching over cut emission hypocritically as what Miliband does.

The West should make up their mind on a consistent standing when dealing with China, i.e., to adopt a group principle or an individual principle. While dealing with Chinese people and other peoples in developing countries, should their individual rights, e.g.,civil, political, economic rights(restricted by emission quota), be respected? or should their group right be respected, as the governments of china and other developing nations always insisted?

Seems the US and Europe pick and choose different principle to suit their need here. when they make human right accusations against china, they insist each Chinese should enjoy the same individual rights and freedom as everyone else in the world. But when coming to the emission and right to develop, they are against Chinese individual rights to reach the same level of development and living comforts as the west.

P.S. Chinese per capita output is higher than that of many countries significantly richer in per capita terms. Current nominal Chinese GDP per capita is around $3,250, but countries such as Turkey ($10,479), Brazil ($8,295), Macedonia ($4,656), Jordan ($5,600), and Algeria ($4,588) all have significantly lower per capita CO2 equivalent outputs. Hence China has its own reason to improve energy efficiency and make their industries greener. It would be Chinese domestic need more than the pressure from the west which push China to go greener.

Friday, 18 December 2009

Snow in the Southeast


after a night of strong wind and snowing, i had to go to work by train instead of motorbike. Unlike the big snow in February, this time snow on roads was melt quickly. Coming out of Charing Cross station in the morning, i was surprised to see many biker commuters on London streets.

China's Export-Oriented Economy: A slow but deadly disease

Chinese economy runs on US dollars. The US dollars China holds eventually goes back to the United States, in return the United States gives China IOUs, i.e. US government bonds which will be unlikely paid back.

图解:中国外向型经济的本质

理了一下思路,认定中国的经济是“尿毒症”经济。各位慢慢看。这个图需要单独点击,才看的清楚。请大家点图。

中国用美元来支撑中国经济运转,得到的是暂时的美元,最后都回流到美国,美国给中国开证明:美元国债,相当于给中国打白条,这个白条是不兑现的。

中国企业输出多少美元的商品,中国就给这个企业相应的人民币,等于奖励企业将实物资源流出到美国.

但这样一来,等于扩大了国内人民币的发行,而这部分人民币是没有物质做保证的,因为实物已经到了美国,也就是说,所有结汇后扩大了的人民币是没有任何物质做支撑的,这样等于变相的制造通货膨胀.也等于中国用人民币给国内人民打白条。之所以现在人民币所表示的财富还有购买力,不是这个购买力向外得到的保证,而是以子孙后代的地下未开垦的财富做信用的。

换句话说,现在中国的gdp总额只代表消耗了的物质,而没有任何实质财富意义。中国人民拿这个纸上财富能够购买商品,只且仅仅因为背后有未开垦的资源满足这个支付需求。如果,中国资源耗尽,中国所发的这些庞大数量的人民币,是一点作用也没有的,因为这些数据,只是向美国输出物资资源的证明而已!!!

有同志会说了,那我们拿美元到国际上去兑现不就得了!

是的。正常情况下本应如此。但事实上,这个过程是不可实现的过程。大部分的美元购买了美国的国债,美国人绝对没有还的意思。等于这部分美元打了水漂。

剩下的美元,可以到国际市场购买非美国本土的商品,但是,这个过程,充满了艰辛。我们需要的高科技产品,别人不卖给我们,等于美元购买力变相作废。低端产品,别人又不生产,我们一个包,人民币50元一个,外国一个包10000元一个,价值不对等,我们买了也没有意义。原油、矿产等自然资源,将来还要在路上被低端海盗打劫,印度、美国、日本等国的军事锁喉还在布局,未来的美元购买力实现过程,路途是艰难的。

因此与其让美国财政部发钱让美国公民购买中国的产品,不如中国财政部给中国人发钱,让中国人自己购买自己企业生产的产品,让中国的企业实现再生产。

结论:
中国外向型经济的本质,类似于尿毒症患者。中国将国家的资源输出到美国。美国用“纸币美钞”来做“循环透析”。最后的结果一定是被美国用美钞透析完中国的资源。因为中国资源的不可再生性,决定最终透析终结。而所有透析物被以美元的名义给消费掉了。而中国以人民币的名义奖励整个透析过程,美国则以美元国债名义给这个奖励过程背书。中国的整个生产过程,完全是盲目不知所以的东西,自己国家只会空空如也,人民被血汗工厂压榨,除此之外,就是残破的河山!

大力发展内需经济是中国唯一正确的道路!尿毒症经济,终会要了中国的命!

source: http://bbs1.people.com.cn/postDetail.do?boardId=2&treeView=1&view=2&id=96532970

Thursday, 17 December 2009

the 140 private jets and 1,200 limos at the climate summit

John Siemieniec of West Dundee, Ill., was among many readers to note the 140 private jets and 1,200 limos at the climate summit. World leaders and celebrities rode in comfort to a conference to wag their fingers about how somebody else should stop wasting fossil fuel.


Gregg Easterbrook's footnote

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

George Galloway : It's high time we rang the changes

By George Galloway on Dec 14, 09 07:28 AM in

MPs' expenses are knocked into a top hat by the eye-watering news that David Cameron's star parliamentary candidate Zac Goldsmith - son of billionaire Jimmy and brother of comely Jemima Khan - has robbed the British taxpayer of £5.8million in dodged tax.

Nothing could speak louder about the nature of the would-be Tory government than this.

There are more Old Etonians and other public school types on Cameron's front bench than at any time since the 19th century. Their treasurer and chief funder Lord Ashcroft presides over their affairs from the tax exile of Belize.

As Gordon Brown voluntarily paid back the £500 for the painting of his shed, how about would-be MP and non-domicile Zac pays back the £5million in unpaid taxes? From time to time, I come across the deluded and the deceived who've fallen for the "We're closing in" rhetoric of the campaign against benefit cheats. Of course nobody should be allowed to rip off the benefits system. But why don't we start at the top, where the big money is going missing? Why don't we start with Lord Ashcroft and Zac Goldsmith? If Brown and Darling were men instead of mice they'd do just that, and quickly.

Who knows, guys, it might even help in the forthcoming election? Did anyone check that Tory defector, now a New Labour Defence Minister, Quentin Davies - surely the only rat ever to clamber aboard a sinking ship - hasn't slipped in a claim for the removal of that hump on his back? In the middle of a war in which he is the spectacularly unsuccessful procurement minister - a combination of essential equipment never ordered and a £6billion overspend on the otiose, the grandiose and the merely gross - he sat down to compose a £20,000 expense claim for, among other things, the repair of the bell tower on his stately home. A Labour MP, that is, with a stately home. And a bell tower. There is another Labour MP, also a Tory defector, Shaun Woodward. Married to a Sainsbury, he has SEVEN homes worth tens of millions and complete with butlers. He is the richest man in parliament, one of the richest in the country. But that doesn't stop him sitting down and filling in an expense claim form on which he extracts to the penny the exact maximum in second home allowance.

What's wrong with these people? Then there's Tory grandee, head of the controversial Conservative Friends of Israel, James Arbuthnot MP. He's the chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee. In the middle of a war, he too had other things on his mind. He might have been watching the history channel. Or Newsnight, Question Time or the BBC.

Instead one night last summer he was watching the shopping channel QVC. As you do when you're a top parliamentarian. His eye was caught by a three-pack of garlic crushers and peelers. Well, every home should have one. But three? And at the public expense? Even Gordon Brown claimed £500 for the re-painting of his "summer house" - what the rest of us call a shed - in Queensferry.

Why? Tory toff Lord Snooty Cameron, who last year claimed to cut back his Wisteria, now bills us £1000 for Aga oil.

Two millennia ago, the Roman Emperor Nero famously fiddled whilst Rome burned. Our rulers fiddle while they burn our money and destroy what's left of parliament's reputation.

Ask not for whom Mr Quentin's bell tolls? It tolls for all of them.

Teresa Deng and 2 defected PLA fighter pilots

Teresa Deng posed with 2 PLA fighter pilots defected to Taiwan in 1980s. Teresa Deng appeared to be very active in Taiwan's anti-communist propaganda, the irony was, the Taiwan KMT regime was scarcely less authoritarian. Teresa had a beuatiful voice and left many melodious classics behind, but she made some unnecessary political gestures.
解放军叛逃飞行员与邓丽君合影

王学成(左)、台湾歌星邓丽君(中)、孙天勤(右)合影


1983年8月7日,解放军空军被借调到海军进行新型空对空导弹试验的副团职飞行员孙天勤借试验飞行之机,驾驶1架歼-7(米格-21)战斗机从辽宁大连机场起飞,飞抵韩国汉城K16机场。此次叛逃创造解放军职务最高机型最新的双记录,中国要求韩国交还飞机和飞行员,韩国将飞机交还中国,而孙天勤则于8月24日抵达台湾,获黄金7000两,并加入台湾空军,授予上校军衔。

孙天勤1984年8月21日在台湾与同是从大陆叛逃的音乐家李天慧结婚,退役后移民加拿大。

此外在叛逃的过程中,孙天勤肆无忌惮,居然还用无线电打了声"招呼".更气人的是,孙天勤叛逃后留下了一份二万多字的《告全党公开信》,这个东西赫然摆在宿舍的桌面上!

孙天勤不仅飞走了一架当时我军最先进的飞机,还"顺便"带走了一项重要的科研项目,这就不光是个政治影响问题,还涉及到军事的泄密!岂敢等闲视之,部队领导不得不火速上报,一名飞行员的叛逃,在上层引起如此大的反响,实为罕见!

孙天勤事件对新闻界秘而不宣,但在军内却引起一场轩然大波.孙天勤是空军的人,可是几个月前,他从空军抽调海军,协助延飞一种新式导弹.麻烦来了,事故算谁的?责任由谁负?孙天勤是为海军试飞,人由海军代管,在海军出的事,然而,孙天勤穿的是"篮裤子",归根到底是空军的人,他在空军呆了几十年,到海军才几天.

1983年11月14日,解放军海军航空兵第6师第18团2大队中队长王学成驾驶1架编号83065的歼-5(米格-17)战斗机从浙江岱山机场起飞,在2架台湾空军F-5战斗机的引导下在台湾桃园机场迫降。获黄金3000两,后加入台湾空军,授予少校军衔。


-------from a chinese website

Sunday, 13 December 2009

曹长青:useless Zhang Xueliang

my comment: Nietzsche said something like history is constant reconstruction, here is an example. Zhang Xueliang, a good-for-nothing spoiled thug, is depicted as a national hero by Chinese Communist government.

西安事變真相:張學良糊塗死了——假英雄、假將軍、假基督徒

曹長青

談中國近代史,離不開國共兩黨;而研究國共兩黨史,離不開西安事變,因它是兩黨關係的轉折點;但西安事變的主角張學良,活到101歲,就是不肯說出事變內幕,直到2001年10月14日去世,把他知道的秘密帶進了墳墓。

自1936年西安事變至今幾十年中,海內外出版了很多關於這一事件的書籍,截止1991年底,僅中國大陸就已出版了23種;另外還有張學良接受各種媒體採訪的談話。但海峽兩岸對張學良的評價卻像黑、白那樣兩極﹕大陸把他譽為“民族英雄”,台灣定他為“歷史罪人”(解除黨禁報禁後,台灣已有不同聲音)。

到底怎樣給張學良蓋棺論定?要回答它,就必須弄清楚七個關鍵性問題﹕第一,日本侵佔東三省,張學良為什麼不抵抗?第二,蔣介石為何不同意“抗日”?第三,張學良為什麼發動兵諫?第四,西安事變造成什麼後果?第五,誰應該對西安事變負責?第六,張學良為何近一生被囚禁?第七,張學良怎樣看待中國那段歷史?

●第一,張學良為什麼在東北不抵抗?

1991年5月,在張學良被軟禁50多年後首次獲準來美國那次,在東北同鄉會的安排下,我和李勇、徐松林、劉賓雁等八個東北人在紐約以老鄉的名義去看望了他。在長達150多分鐘的聚談中,張學良有意無意地解釋了很多問題。

對於日本入侵東三省,東北軍不予抵抗,世間廣泛流傳是因為蔣介石曾有一手諭給張學良,不讓其抵抗。我問張學良“到底有沒有這個手諭呢?”張學良明確回答說,“是我們東北軍自己選擇不抵抗的,我當時判斷日本人不可能要佔領全中國,我想盡量避免刺激日本人,不給他們藉口擴大戰事。我們採取‘打不還手,罵不還口’,但最後不能‘殺不出血’。殺到全中國來了,我們只能拼死一搏。”

1990年12月9日,張學良在台灣軟禁幾十年後首次接受記者採訪(日本NHK電視)時也是這樣解釋﹕“當時的中央不是蔣總統,是孫科(蔣那段時間下野,國民政府主席是林森,行政院長是孫科),當時中央給我的指示是,相應處理。不抵抗的命令是我下的,我承認那時判斷錯誤。我下令不抵抗是為了大事化小,小事化了。”

除了所謂“錯估局勢”,張學良可能還有不願直說的原因,那就是東北軍根本不是日本關東軍的對手,如果抵抗就是全軍覆沒。包括張學良在內的中國軍閥們,都是靠部隊多少而存在的,沒有了東北軍,就沒有了張學良的地位。東北深山老林多,盛產土匪。張作霖的東北軍其實就是最大宗的土匪,在小股土匪眼裡它是“正規軍”,但碰上裝備精良受過訓練的日本關東軍,東北軍就露出土匪本色。張學良曾為爭奪鐵路權率東北軍和蘇俄軍隊交過手,結果大敗,被迫簽訂屈辱條約。那次慘敗,等於向日本展示了東北軍不是東北虎,而是紙老虎。1933年3月熱河一戰,日軍僅用128名先頭騎兵,幾乎兵不血刃就攻佔了熱河省會承德,可想而知東北軍的戰力和張學良的指揮能力。

汪精衛雖然後來成為漢奸,但在918事變時,他是主張抗日的,他繼孫科後出任行政院長,曾多次給張學良發電報,催促他出兵抵抗,責備張學良“去歲放棄沈陽,再失錦州,致三千萬人民,數十萬土地,陷於敵手……”但張學良總是推諉說糧餉不足,拒不行動,並還暗指汪精衛無權指揮東北軍,結果氣得汪精衛辭職出洋,認為這個行政院長沒法幹了。
 
在日本關東軍攻打熱河之前,中國有識之士都認為張學良這個當時吸毒成性、沈緬女色的公子哥根本沒有能力指揮整個華北的抗日,軍政老將宋哲元、商震、龐炳勛等都要求蔣介石親自北上,指揮抗日。著名知識份子胡適、丁文江、翁文灝三人當時曾聯名致電蔣介石,指出華北抗日,不是張學良能夠領導的,熱河如果再輕易失守,政府責任難逃,籲請蔣介石速來華北親自指揮。
 
蔣介石接到胡適等人電報後覆電說,他第二天就北上。然而當天夜裡,熱河全境就被日軍佔領。蔣介石後來感嘆說:“我估計日本要用六個師團的人,日本國內和台灣(當時在日本手裡)都得動員兵力。我們每日都有情報,知道日本沒有動員,故料日本不過虛聲嚇人而已。不料日本對湯玉麟、張學良的軍隊(能力的瞭解)比我們知道得多。”

當時進攻東北的日本軍隊只有幾萬人,而僅張學良的東北軍就有30萬部隊,但熱河就這樣輕易失守,對此胡適非常悲憤,在《獨立評論》上發表了“全國震驚之後”一文,認為熱河失守,張學良罪責難逃。胡適毫不客氣地指出﹕“張學良的體力與精神,知識與訓練,都不是能夠擔當這種重大而又危急的局面的。”

地質學家丁文江也在同期《獨立評論》發表了“給張學良的公開信”,批評張學良既無指揮能力,又不親赴前線督師,但卻戀權不放,陷東北百姓於水火,貽誤國家。

雖然張學良在紐約聚談時澄清,當時沒有蔣介石“不予抵抗”的一紙手諭,但從整個抗戰背景來看,蔣介石對張學良在東北不抵抗基本是持某種默許態度的,主要原因是蔣對當時中國和日本的軍事實力懸殊有比較清醒的認知,傾向於忍讓、不擴大事端,以爭取時間。從這個意義上說,張學良採取不抵抗,在策略上也不完全是錯,它可以為國民政府保存一定軍事實力,以後從長計議。因此可以說,東北不抵抗是張、蔣兩人的共識。史學家爭論到底是張不抵抗,還是蔣下手諭,並無實質意義。

●第二,蔣介石為何不同意“抗日”?

東北失守之後,蔣介石為什麼不同意張學良要抗日的主張,最後激發出西安事變?從常識和邏輯來說,當時連一般老百姓都無法容忍日本侵略,作為一個具有強烈民族主義情緒的中國領導人,蔣介石怎麼可能就不準備抗日呢?從蔣介石的一生可以看出,盡管他和毛澤東有很多不同,但有一點非常相似,他們都是強烈的民族主義份子,這點從後來他和毛澤東都無論如何要堅持“一個中國”可以看出。蔣介石寧肯中華民國忍辱退出聯合國,也絕不放棄大陸版圖,更不走台獨。

而且八年抗戰的歷史事實已證明,蔣介石不僅堅定抗日,而且領導了整個抗戰(國民黨部隊承擔了主要戰場,共產黨軍隊僅是敵後打打遊擊)。據香港學者李谷城的研究統計,八年抗戰,國民黨軍隊傷亡340萬人,共產黨軍隊傷亡61萬人。從犧牲的人數大小也可以看出誰在承擔主要的戰場和責任。

從台海兩岸出版的史料都可以證實,蔣介石並不是不抗日,而是在抗日的時機上和張學良有嚴重分歧,蔣介石主張“攘外必先安內”,即抗日之前,先統一內部,清剿紅軍。這種政策主要出於兩個考量﹕

一是當時中國雖結束了軍閥割據,但政令難以統一,尤其是共產黨不僅仍擁有軍隊,並割據陝北一方。蔣介石和張學良的最大不同之處是,蔣對共產黨的本性有相當的瞭解,深知如果不鏟除紅軍,它會利用抗日之機得以發展而後患無窮(後來的歷史正是這樣演變的!)。

蔣介石苦心經營的五次圍剿紅軍和共產黨,雖然前四次失敗,但第五次獲得成功,紅軍被迫進行所謂“兩萬五千里長征”的大潰退。潰退到陝北的紅軍僅剩下幾萬人,蔣介石多年的艱苦剿共,終於有了眉目,他怎麼讓它功虧一簣呢。

二是以當時中國的國力無法與日本匹敵,必須盡量爭取時間,以儲備力量。史學家黃仁宇在《從大歷史讀“蔣介石日記”》 一書中說,當時蔣介石“深知兩方的實力,如即此倉卒應戰,只有自取敗亡。”因此蔣的策略是,盡量避免全面抗日的爆發,以爭取時間組建更多師團,建造兵工企業,構築能夠對日作戰的國家能力。

1934年,蔣介石就把為抗日而建立的國防設計委員會改組為“資源委員會”,直屬蔣直接領導的“軍事委員會”,在湖南、四川、湖北等大後方創建軍工廠和重工業。西安事變時落到張學良手裡的蔣介石日記中對這些國防設計有詳細描述(這也是促成張學良醒悟的原因之一)。在西安事變前一年,蔣介石還堅持“和平未到完全絕望之時期,決不放棄和平;犧牲未到最後關頭,亦決不輕言犧牲。”

但蔣介石為什麼不把他的想法告訴群情激昂要求抗日的中國民眾呢?“918”之後,日本內部對是否攻佔整個中國也有分歧,當時日本政府向“國聯”(國際聯盟)提出的對華五項條款,其中主要有“有效保護日本臣民在滿洲之一切和平業務,尊重日本在滿洲之條約利益”,日本“尊重中國土地之保全”。雖然這種條款是完全不合理的,但中國仍有可能和日本周旋,拖延日本全面入侵中國的時間,以積蓄自己的力量,從長計議。因此如果作為當時中國領袖的蔣介石公開這種戰略部署,等於告訴日本人,中國正臥薪嘗膽,準備全面抗日,會刺激日本鷹派提前全面侵華。因此國人當時多不知蔣介石的這種國防設計。日本佔領東三省後,中國人慷慨激昂,誓言抗日,尤其是大學生和小知識份子們,更是遊行示威。在高喊“刀槍不入”的義和團文化背景下,很容易熱血沸騰,難以聽進去理性的聲音。

當時中國知識界對此保持清醒頭腦的是胡適和他的弟子傅斯年等人,胡適發表“華北保存的重要”一文,主張“停戰謀和”,指出以中國之國情“不足以對日言戰”;“戰則必大敗,而和則未必大亂”。胡適後來還提出,“日本倘能自華撤兵停戰,中國不惜承認滿洲國”。胡適為文解釋說,當年比利時曾被德國佔領,法國割兩省給普魯士,都是由於實力懸殊而採取的權宜之計,後來有實力又收回。

但胡適的見解不僅無法成為主流聲音,而且被指責為“漢奸”“賣國賊”。胡適當年曾感慨﹕中國有古訓“威武不能屈,富貴不能淫,貧賤不能移”,應該再加一條“時髦不能跟”。胡適和汪精衛的本質不同是,一旦所有謀和手段失敗,日本進攻全中國,胡適則堅決主張全民血戰,直至最後一寸土,最後一個人。這也是後來他為什麼打破不做官的自律,在蔣介石的幾次懇請後同意到美國做“中國大使”爭取美國援助的原因之一。

●第三,張學良為什麼發動兵諫?

熱河失守後,全國輿論沸騰,責罵政府無能、不抗日。據大陸作家王朝柱的《張學良和蔣介石》一書(台灣國際村文庫書店93年出版)中引用的張學良秘書王卓然當年的日記,熱河失守後,蔣介石曾和張學良密談,蔣說,現在全國群情沸騰,我們兩人(指蔣張)同乘一條小船,現在風浪太大,必須下去一人,否則船沈;將來局勢平穩,下船的人再上來。張學良表示﹕“我身體不好,精神萎靡,東北失守……這次熱河失守,我更是責無旁貸。願引咎辭職。”隨後張學良下野,去歐洲“考察”。

從此張學良被人罵為“不抵抗將軍”,連他的弟弟都因此被人羞辱。張學良的四弟張學思曾任解放軍海軍參謀長,文革時被紅衛兵批鬥打死。據1996年6月1日上海《文匯讀書周刊》發表的劉永路整理張學思檔案發現的材料,918後張學思的內衣曾被同學用墨汁塗寫“不抵抗將軍之弟”,張學思感到羞辱難忍,闖進張學良所在的北平順承王府,拿著那件內衣,面責大哥為什麼不抗日。本來是張、蔣的共識——為避免擴大事端而不抵抗,最後責任落在張學良一個人身上。張學良的痛苦、壓力可想而知。

但在這種情況下,從歐洲考察回來後,張學良不僅沒有被派去抗日,反而被委任為西北剿共副總司令,負責攻打紅軍。張學良本想通過抗日洗刷“不抵抗將軍”的汙名,現在不僅無法實現,而且東北軍和紅軍交手兩次,兩次大敗,張的兩個師被殲滅。蔣介石不但不給兵員補充,還把兩個師的建制取消了。這使張學良疑心,蔣可能在一箭雙雕﹕剿匪成功,紅軍被消滅;不成功的話,東北軍被削弱,而蔣的中央軍則保全實力,因此更對“攘外必先安內”政策抵觸。

張學良是在父親被暗殺後匆促繼承父業,成為東北軍最高長官。他從小不愛讀書,喜歡的是毒品、女人,他的知識水平,可能都不如那些上街遊行空喊抗日的學生,更談不上對中國當時的國情認知到胡適那種水平;而且他對蔣介石的戰略部署根本不知情(後來看到蔣的日記醒悟,說明原來他並不瞭解蔣不僅要抗日,有周密國防計劃,而且還要重用他)。

除此之外,張學良還有一個隱秘的動機,那就是利用兵諫逼蔣抗日之後,他就可以在西北聯合紅軍和西北軍而割據,不僅洗刷不抗日的汙名,而且可與蔣分庭抗禮。

事變之後張向蔣提出的條件,不僅有停止剿共立即抗日,還有成立西北聯軍和西北抗日聯合政府等政治要求。張學良所以提出這樣的條款,是因為他在共產黨人周恩來等秘密接觸談判中,周已表示要在西北建立以張學良的東北軍為主、西北軍和紅軍為輔的“三位一體”的西北聯軍,成立和南京中央政府分庭抗禮的“西北抗日聯合政府”。據大陸新公佈的史料,張學良在首次和周恩來密談時,就給了“見面禮”兩萬大洋和20萬法幣,完全是按照土匪之間的規矩做的,顯示張學良對共產黨的性質根本缺乏瞭解,他把紅軍當成西北軍一樣的地方武裝;而周恩來對張學良彬彬有禮,一口一個“張將軍”地推崇,也使張學良產生紅軍和西北軍都要推舉他為“西北王”的幻想。

張學良當時已經看到回東北無望,因此聯合紅軍和西北軍建成“西北聯軍”,並成立以他為首的“西北抗日聯合政府”,就可以得到蘇聯和斯大林的軍事援助,而在西北割據和稱王。當時東北軍有近20萬部隊,西北軍3萬人,再加上經過長征剩下的2萬紅軍,這支25萬人的“西北聯軍”是蔣介石難以對付的。因此紐約州羅徹斯特理工大學中國歷史教授朱永德在提交給西安的“西安事變60週年研討會”論文中就置疑說,“張學良事先真的仍準備一旦蔣答應終止內戰一同抗日就會將蔣釋放?從今日的資料來看,當時的計劃是在組織西北聯軍,發動西北大聯合,籌劃西北抗日聯合政府。”

但張學良即使有這樣的認知局限和隱秘動機,如果沒有另兩個條件,西安事變也不會發生﹕一個是他權傾一時。張學良從他的軍閥父親張作霖的所謂軍事學校“講武堂”一畢業,就被任命為旅長,那年他才19歲;而當年底就被晉升為陸軍少將(全世界哪有這麼個軍事升級法的)。發動西安事變那年張學良才36歲,就已晉升為陸軍一級上將,是除了蔣之外,全中國最高軍事領袖;另一個是他的東北人性格,在紐約見到張學良聚談那次,他描述自己說,“東北人有優點,但毛病也很多,魯莽,好衝動,捅婁子,我正是這種性格,而且人家讓我捅一個婁子,我一定捅倆。”這樣的知識水平,這麼大的軍權,又加上這樣的魯莽性格,不出西安事變才怪了。

●第四,西安事變造成什麼後果?

在西安事變爆發前一年,紅軍在江西的第五次反圍剿失敗,被迫進行兩萬五千里長征,其間兵員損失慘重。在西安事變前夕,另立中央的張國燾又帶幾萬紅軍出走,毛澤東的陝北紅軍僅剩下不足兩萬人,這時圍剿紅軍的國民黨中央軍、張學良的東北軍、楊虎城的西北軍加起來有33萬人,紅軍處於空前的險境。但西安事變改變了這一切。共產黨軍隊不但不再被圍剿,而且被正式承認為國民政府軍隊,建制八路軍和新四軍。在八年抗戰中,毛澤東實行“三分抗日,八分發展”的內部政策,至抗戰結束時,兩萬人的紅軍發展到八路軍90萬,新四軍30萬,共產黨有了120多萬軍隊。

日本歷史學家松本一男在《張學良和中國》(台灣新潮社1992年版)中說,“在西安事變裡獲益最多者是中國共產黨,蔣介石失去了身為國家元首的面子,張學良種下了被監禁半個世紀以上的開端,楊虎城也導致了被慘殺的命運,但是對共產黨來說,拜西安事變之賜,紅軍得以甦生、發展而取得天下。”“中國共產黨之所以有今天,是托張少帥之福。因為認清這個事實,中國共產黨一直把張學良看成‘千古功臣’。”

對西安事變導致共產黨和紅軍倖存這一事實,史學家幾乎沒有異議;那麼關鍵是人們怎麼看待共產黨和紅軍的倖存,和後來獲得政權。如果認為最後坐大並至今掌權的共產黨給中國人帶來了民主、自由和幸福,那就應該肯定張學良;如果認為共產黨給中國人帶來的是專制、災難和痛苦,那就應該否定張學良。

當然,沒有西安事變,後來抗戰爆發,共產黨也可能東山再起。但西安事變給了紅軍一個喘息和倖存機會已是公認的事實。因此胡適說﹕“沒有西安事變,共產黨很快就可以消滅了……西安事變對我們國家的損失是無法彌補的。”

在事變第二天,胡適就曾給張學良發去一封電報指出﹕中國形成一個領袖不容易,如果蔣介石出現不幸,中國將倒退20年;並嚴詞警告張學良“應念國難家仇,懸崖勒馬”,陪同蔣介石回南京,以謝罪國人;同時明確定性張學良發動西安事變是“名為抗敵,實則自壞長城”,是“國家民族之罪人”。

“中國通”費正清在他的最後一本著作《中國新史》(China: A New History)中對此寫到﹕“若不是日本全力侵略,南京政府本來可以逐步引導中國走向現代化。事實卻不然,抗日戰爭給了毛澤東和共產黨機會,他們在鄉間奠定了新的獨裁勢力,卻排除了國民政府剛剛開始發展的都市文明社會的影響,在戰爭環境下,中國共產黨建立起一個準備好打階級戰的新形態的中國。”

西安事變的第二個後果是,蔣介石被迫提前全面抗日。由於倉促,結果只能用中國人的血肉鑄成“新的長城”。黃仁宇在他的書中感嘆說﹕“世界上沒有一個以農村社會作基幹,不具實質上的統一,衣食未果的國家,打敗一個工商先進國家的先例。”結果是,面對日本侵略軍的飛機、坦克、大炮,中國軍隊根本沒有打擊的武器,士兵只得全身綁上手榴彈,滾到坦克底下,和它同歸於盡。

“戰事既開之後,中國即發現不僅航空汽油全賴輸入,空投炸彈亦不能自製,一架飛機缺乏輪胎即不能起飛。……淞滬戰役歷時十周,中國損耗了85個師的兵力(近50萬人!),整個防線暴露在日本海軍大炮射程之內……徐州戰役之後,中國只能以黃河決堤長沙大火等方法遲滯日軍……”

那份力量懸殊的慘烈,那份艱苦卓絕的悲壯,回蕩於整個抗戰過程。

●第五,誰應該對西安事變負責?

西安事變是中國近代歷史中最具戲劇性的事件,因為中國兩千年歷史,從沒有過這種方式的兵諫。兵諫等同於軍事政變,而政變不是取而代之,就是使最高領袖成為傀儡,因為無論從常識或邏輯上,在武力威逼下即使被捉者改變政見,一旦重獲權力,絕不可能接受這種方式。

但張學良就是這樣一個不按邏輯,不遵常識,不想後果做事的人。在捉蔣前的師軍長會議上,他宣佈要動手,眾人無語,只有王以哲軍長問“捉了之後怎麼辦?”張學良回答,先捉了再說。這麼大的事怎麼可以先捉了再說?而在張決定陪蔣返南京時,部下勸阻,他又是先送他回去再說。天底下像張學良這樣糊塗透頂、又獲得這麼高軍政領袖地位的,恐怕找不出第二個,這也是中國一絕。

著有《張學良側寫》一書的台灣作家郭冠英是張學良的崇拜者,和張“往來甚密”。但他也表示,張學良“是公子哥性格,沒常性,做事衝動,毫無計劃,與這種人共事,‘做他長官頭痛,做他部下倒楣’…… 結果是‘害朋友,毀部屬’。”(美國《世界日報》周刊1996年12月29日)

但說張學良做事全無計劃也不盡客觀,大陸發表的史料已證實,在西安事變之前,張學良曾秘密和周恩來等共產黨人見面會談,提出“你們在外面逼,我在裡面攻,內外夾攻,把蔣扭過來”的方案。據上述朱永德研究西安事變的論文,“張學良曾認真的要求加入共產黨,如今共產國際否決他入黨要求之文件也已刊出,足見張與共產黨之間所有之關係已非尋常。”因此西安事變發生後,張學良“等待來自莫斯科的是讚揚和無盡的軍事援助。”這位在論文中一口一個“毛主席、周總理”的中國歷史教授也承認,當時張學良認為捉蔣、聯合紅軍,蘇聯就會高興,給予軍援。

但完全出乎張學良意料的是,蘇聯竟聞訊大怒,蘇共《真理報》和《消息報》相繼發表社論抨擊張楊的舉動,認為這將導致中國內戰,日本坐收漁翁之利。已證實的史料是,事發第四天,蘇共給陝北發去電報,要求和平解決西安事變。美國記者斯諾的《紅色中國散記》中也說,宋慶齡曾告訴斯諾,這期間她“曾替斯大林轉過一封很凶的電報給毛澤東,內容是要求中共必須(對張學良)施加壓力放蔣。”張國燾的回憶錄也提到當時曾接到斯大林措辭很嚴厲的一封電報。

大陸公佈的當時代表共產國際的蘇共領導人季米特洛夫的日記有這樣的記載﹕“張學良的行動,不論他的意圖如何,客觀上隻能損害把中國人民的力量團結在抗日統一戰線中,並會鼓勵日本對中國的侵略。”(華譜:《中共黨史最新資料》)

毛澤東們本已準備在延安搭臺子公審蔣介石,但迫於蘇共壓力,只得派周恩來去勸張學良釋放蔣介石。張學良最後釋放蔣,也是在眾叛親離,除了楊虎城之外沒有任何外援下不得已做的選擇。

在紐約那次聚談時,當提到周恩來,張學良仍誇周是“大政治家”,“說話簡潔,反應迅速,非常機敏。我們在一起談事情,三言兩語就能談清楚。”但他也抱怨說,當初周恩來說捉蔣,講得頭頭是道,後來說放蔣,也是頭頭是道。其實關鍵不是周“頭頭是道”是“大政治家”,而是張學良“頭頭無道”是“小土匪頭”,別人怎麼說,他就隨著往哪邊走,全無自己頭腦。張學良在聚談時也承認,他是東北的“白帽子”(過去東北趕大車的人都戴白氈帽),這是東北土話,相當於北京話“二百五”,廣東話“漆線”。

西安事變後蔣介石評價張學良是“小事精明,大事糊塗”。張學良在紐約聚談時則評價蔣介石“有大略無雄才”。當年之所以發生西安事變,張學良當然應負主要責任,但這也和蔣介石“沒有雄才”相當有關。

東北不抵抗是蔣、張共識,由張一個人擔負“不抵抗將軍”汙名,蔣不但不予安慰,還派悲壯地唱著“我的家在東北松花江上”的東北軍去剿共,損兵折將又不補充,怎能不讓張學良不滿生疑。張學良幾次向蔣提出抗日,蔣從不透露他的長遠抗戰計劃(不告訴別人,起碼該告訴一下陸海空軍副總司令的張學良吧),還像對兒女一樣訓斥他“等我死了你再抗日!”“你給我好好讀書!”當手下特務告知西安可能有變讓蔣盡快離開時,蔣竟自信滿滿地說“他敢!”連宋美齡後來都批評丈夫“不知安撫,刺激生變”。

而且蔣介石既然認為張學良“誤了我的大事”,但回到南京後竟愚蠢地遵守在槍口下同意改變“讓外必先安內”政策的口頭承諾(沒有文字),承認紅軍為國民政府部隊,授予番號,頒發軍餉,寧可大事被誤。在他明確認定共產黨是“匪”的情況下,再按被匪槍口威逼之下的承諾去做,就根本不是值得稱讚的“君子”,而是“傻子”。如果說張學良是“二百五”,那麼蔣介石這種剛愎自用、同樣“大事糊塗”就是“二百六”,這樣的正、副司令主導下的國民黨怎麼可能不丟失大陸?

●第六,張學良為何近一生被囚禁?

張學良陪同蔣介石抵達南京後,受到軍法審判,以“劫持罪”判處有期徒刑10年。但第二年張學良就獲特赦,隨後被長期“管束”,實則幽禁,直到蔣家父子去世、李登輝擔任總統時才獲得完全的自由。

西安事變,不僅使蔣介石喪失顏面,還有政府高官及蔣的幾乎全部衛士被打死。從蔣介石的角度,這種行為顯然於國民政府之法律、於中國文化之倫理、於長官下屬關係之情理,都完全不容。因而當時軍法審判張學良,獲得國人支持。傅斯年等知識份子當時還提出“對張懲處極刑”。

但蔣介石為人話詬的是,他不是使用法律手段,而是使用“私刑”,特赦後一直不釋放,終生軟禁張學良。如果蔣介石認為張學良觸犯法律構成死罪或終生坐監罪,應該當時判處死刑或無期徒刑,而不應以家法代替國法,視法律為兒戲。

有人替蔣介石辯護說,當時如果釋放張學良,他和東北軍就可能成為共產黨的力量;而在去了台灣之後給張學良自由,他就可能像李宗仁那樣尋機投共,成為攻擊和統戰台灣的力量。但這些辯護仍是側重策略層面,而不是以法律為準繩;而且都是以假設的可能來剝奪一個在法律意義上已無罪的人的自由。

蔣介石處置楊虎城的方式更是用私刑,秘密逮捕後,不予審判,長期關押,最後撤離大陸時在獄中把楊虎城和他的幼兒楊拯中處決。而且楊的秘書宋綺雲全家也是關押多年後被處決,即使宋的孩子(大陸《紅岩》一書中“小蘿蔔頭”的原型)也被殺死。如果說楊及秘書是共產黨人該處決(也應通過法律審判),但兩個不到10歲的孩子有什麼罪?這完全是封建皇帝那種“滿門抄斬”的做法。

有意思的是,張學良到死都不怪罪蔣介石長期軟禁他。在紐約聚談時,張學良說,“我幾十年失去自由是應該的。如果我是蔣介石,我會槍斃了張學良,因為這是背叛啊!但蔣先生讓我活下來,這是蔣先生的寬大。我一生最痛苦的事是蔣先生殺了楊虎城,因為應該殺的是我。”

張學良接著還提到,他父親張作霖曾耳提面命,訓誡“做軍人要置生死於度外,要把腦袋掛在褲腰帶上,對此,學良一生不敢有忘,早把生死視同平常。軍人叛變是死罪,但我卻活了下來。40年失去自由是公平的。”

張學良獲得自由來到美國定居後,北京政府多次捎話邀請他回大陸看看。在紐約聚談時,張學良透露說,他在台灣的一個侄女去大陸,曾見到張學良的東北“講武堂”同學呂正操,呂捎話邀請張學良回大陸探親訪友。呂曾擔任中共將領和鐵道部長,文革中,呂和張學良的弟弟張學思一起被打成“東北幫”首領關在一起。呂對張學良的侄女說,當時他為保命過關,什麼都交待,讓承認什麼就承認什麼;但張學思拒不認罪,反而高呼冤枉,結果遭紅衛兵痛打,越打他越喊,最後因斥罵紅衛兵被活活打死。

張學良還透露說,在北京辦亞運會時,當時任國家主席的楊尚昆特地邀請他在台灣的那個侄女等家人赴北京,參加“亞運會”開幕式,坐在貴賓席。會後楊尚昆親自接見了他的侄女,並捎話給張學良,只要他願回大陸看看,他可派專機到臺北接他。

張學良在透露這些內情後說﹕依我本願,很想回大陸去看看,主要是想看看東北鄉親,給父親掃掃墓;但我最怕捲入爭執糾纏之中。我已遠離政治,唯一的願望是大家把我的名字忘卻,只當一個普通的小小百姓,從此不再有政治糾纏,不再有記者踏破門檻,不再有任何採訪,求閑雲之清靜,達野鶴之超脫。因此他給自己起的新名號是“閑雲野鶴”。

張學良的老同學呂正操後來還專程飛來紐約,面勸張學良回大陸,但張仍是至死也沒有回去他曾說過“想極了”的家鄉,而死在海外。

張學良為什麼選擇不回去?從紐約聚談的印象,以及張學良的其他談話可以感到,張學良對當年那種劫持蔣介石的方式已痛悔,他多次說自己“魯莽衝動”即是委婉表達後悔之意。在紐約時還明確說他發動西安事變是“闖了大禍”,自己是“罪人”。他清楚共產黨感激的正是他發動西安事變,使紅軍得以倖存最後掌了天下。如果他回到大陸,共產黨當他的面捧他為“大功臣”,他會很尷尬;但如果他真實道來對發動西安事變的悔恨,也會使中共下不了臺。與其雙方尷尬,不如暫時避開,這可能就是張學良一再說等政治不再糾纏時再回大陸的真實心理。但中國人的事情,什麼時候會沒有政治糾纏呢?

●第七,張學良怎樣看待中國那段歷史?

《張學良側寫》作者郭冠英說,“張學良這個人,大陸把他捧得太高,台灣又把他貶得太低。”台灣把張學良貶為“千古罪人”,主要是指西安事變導致共產黨最後坐大。但沒有西安事變,是否共產黨一定在中國消失?從蔣介石的剛愎自用,獨裁本性,以及國民黨政府的腐敗無能,很難下這種絕對判斷。

但大陸把張學良捧為“抗日民族英雄”則完全是從政治而不是事實出發。因為連張學良本人看了蔣的日記也明白了,蔣介石不僅要抗日,而且有詳盡的戰略計劃。因此西安事變並不存在促使蔣介石抗日這回事,而只是把原來計劃的爭取時間、積蓄力量的戰略部署破壞了;把全面抗日的時間表提前了。這除了對日本人有利,對中國人則是巨大的災難——抗戰的慘烈已完全證明瞭這一點,因為中國從各方面都準備不足。

史學家許倬雲曾對此評論說,“當時中國在選擇抗日的時機上還是太急了一點,假如能再延遲五年,情況很可能完全不一樣。”這位芝加哥大學歷史學博士所以提出“延遲五年”就是因為1941年珍珠港事件美國對日宣戰之前,中國的抗日戰爭基本沒有得到國際社會的支持,實在是孤軍血戰,犧牲太大,八年抗戰中國軍人陣亡300萬,平民喪生1,000萬。

張學良發動西安事變,導致中國被迫倉促提前全面抗日,對中國人、中華民族,都有害而無利。表面看張學良好像是“愛國”,但其實是害國。

●張學良是“假英雄”

當然,以張學良的學識和認知能力,當時他完全沒有可能預見到共產黨後來會建立那樣殘忍、專制的政權,不要說張學良這樣沒有什麼知識的人,那些大名鼎鼎的知識份子們,不是也有很多都選擇追隨共產黨了嗎?

關鍵的是今天張學良對共產黨的認識,對當年他發動西安事變使紅軍倖存對改變中國歷史進程的責任的認識。雖然不能說共產黨在大陸坐大就是由於西安事變,但畢竟它是一種很大的可能性,而在中共統治下可能多達八千萬中國人因迫害和饑餓喪生。但張學良對這些都無動於衷,更無任何懺悔表示。

1994年張學良在接受陸鏗採訪時還斬釘截鐵地說,對於西安事變“我願負全部責任,而且從不後悔。”(香港《百姓》半月刊1994年5月1日)

在紐約聚談那次,張學良仍表示蔣的“攘外必先安內”政策是錯的,他的聯共抗日才是對的。如果蔣當年沒有採納張的意見,張以自己的政見沒有得到機會實行而批蔣還有邏輯可言;但事實是蔣已被迫實行了張的主張,聯了共也抗了日,結果不僅紅軍倖存,共產黨還最後坐大,至今塗炭大陸生靈。張從哪裡得出他的“聯共抗日”是對的結論呢?他總不至於希望見到共產黨坐大吧?但這就是張學良的“可愛之處”, 一生“大事糊塗”,糊塗死了!因此台灣作家柏楊斷言﹕“將來無論是統是獨,張學良都不是英雄。”

陸鏗撰文說張學良“對得起中國,對不起自己”。但事實是,在中國現代史上,除了共產黨人之外,沒有誰比張學良更對不起中國了!

●張學良是“假將軍”

自張學良繼承父業,就被稱為“少帥”。中國方塊字這種象形聯想,使人想到英姿勃發、統帥千軍萬馬打勝仗的將軍。但事實上張學良是個“假將軍”。他的崇拜者郭冠英在文章中也承認,“918之前他又打毒針又好女色,許多人對他的印象壞透了。”

這個公子哥是因父親被暗殺而獲掌東北軍權的。他曾指揮東北軍五個旅團和蘇俄軍隊交手,結果全軍覆滅;他指揮東北軍陝北剿共,直羅鎮、榆林兩戰,張的兩個精銳師兩萬多人被紅軍全殲;他指揮熱河保衛戰“只到前線去過一次,還是為了陪宋子文;汽車每行15公里就得停下來,讓他注射毒品……他每天總要打上百支毒劑;而這種毒劑,假如給不吸毒的普通人一次注射10支,即使不死,至少也要重病一場……有次召開緊急軍事會議,他竟把下達的軍令公文隨便揣在大衣口袋,忘了發出去。他自己說,當時散在前線的各個部隊,他連其位置都搞不清楚,還談什麼指揮作戰!”(畢萬富﹕“從新發現的史料談張學良的抗日主張”四之二,美國《世界日報》1996年1月16日)

《紐約時報》在張學良去世後刊發的長篇訃告中也毫不客氣地指出,張學良雖然有20萬東北軍,但他沉迷於毒品和女色,是個出名的“花花公子”。他的心思不在抗日,而是在和墨索里尼的女兒(當時義大利駐中國公使的妻子)打情罵俏等社交活動。

●張學良是“假基督徒”

1955年,張學良在宋美齡的勸導下皈依了基督教,但其實他是個“假基督徒”。基督教的核心教義之一是懺悔,但張學良對做過的錯事卻從無真正的懺悔。

多次採訪過張學良的郭冠英說﹕“其實張學良從未懺悔,他當然不好大聲說他做對了,他只好說‘做了就做了,沒什麼懺悔的問題’…… ”(引文同上)

在紐約聚談中,當《東方新聞報》主編李勇提到在中共統治下中國人喪生數量遠超過抗日戰爭時,張學良的回答竟是,“哪個政府為維持政權總是要殺些人的。”當我提到剛過去不久的“6.4”屠殺時,張學良竟說,“電視我沒看,對這事不太清楚。……什麼事不能只聽一方的。”對“6.4”這個世界已經定論的事情,張學良竟是這樣的看法,天底下哪有這種沒心、沒肺、沒靈魂的基督徒?

蔣介石軟禁了張學良半個多世紀,固然是違法和不人道的,但是和無數因大陸落入共產黨手中而遭迫害致死的國民黨人相比,張學良實在是過著瀟灑的天堂般的日子。他不僅不需要像黃維、杜聿明們那樣去做體力勞動、不需要受人身污辱、不需要接受思想改造,更沒有任何衣食住行上的生活擔憂,在軟禁的頭三年裡還有一妻一妾輪流陪伴(如果不是由於夫人于鳳至因病赴美的話,這種日子大概起碼可以維持到張信“基督”的六十年代)。

不知道在這漫長的幾十年裡,在張學良平靜的日子裡,即使他從未思考過其他中國人的命運,他是否想過有多少國民黨將領、士兵的家庭被台灣海峽隔了半個世紀,撐過各種磨難熬過來的倖存者們,重逢相見的時候已是面目皆非了。而他的趙四小姐,雖然青春不再,但仍然是那個在身邊照料左右、那個熟悉的她。

即使張學良全然不在意其他留在大陸的國民黨人的命運,他怎麼也應該記起他的親弟弟吧?我想起在78或79年的時候在大陸曾讀到過一篇回憶張學良的親弟弟張學思的文章,文中說,張學思在文革中被關押、拷打,生命垂危的時候,想念東北食物,希望獄方能給他吃一點東北的苞米(玉米)楂子和土豆,但就這麼一點小小的要求竟然在他臨死的時候也被拒絕了。

張學良說“哪個政府為維持政權總是要殺些人的”,不知這該殺的人裡麵包不包括張學思?如果他對八千萬中國人的死亡沒有感覺的話,對自己的親弟弟遭如此非人折磨,並被活活打死也毫無感覺嗎?

在張學良所謂“傳奇”的一生裡,他和趙四小姐的“愛情”也是最為人津津樂道和關注的。但在張學良恢復自由來美後接受“美國之音”採訪時,在被記者重復追問“您和趙四小姐這段深刻的愛情”、“她真的是您生命中不可缺少的支柱嗎?”“您覺得她怎麼好?”這些讀者最關心的問題時,他的回答竟是﹕“當年她年輕時,也是個很好玩的小姐;陪我這些年也實在不容易。”原來趙四(不是三陪小姐)只不過是個“專陪小姐”而已。

這還不夠,他還在91歲高齡時對東北同鄉祖炳民說﹕趙四小姐趙一荻對他最好,將一生都奉獻給他,但不是他最愛的女人,“最愛的女人在紐約”。

據最近台灣《中國時報》電子版“張學良和他的四個女人”一文,這四個女人是﹕他的母親、蔣夫人宋美齡、於鳳至和趙一荻。明顯地,那個“在紐約的女人”指宋美齡。像張學良這種無知、魯莽、玩膩了“小姐”的土匪頭子,崇拜受過美國教育,又表現出雍容高雅的宋美齡倒不足為奇;但蔣夫人是否像媒體渲染的那樣“關照”張學良則是另一回事兒了。張學良首次來美國在紐約呆了幾個月,連我們這種毫不沾邊的小老鄉都見了,怎麼就沒有媒體報導說他見了一直住在紐約、近在咫尺的宋美齡呢?應該不是他不想見“最愛的女人”吧?而且在他死後宋美齡也沒有任何公開的表示。

陸鏗曾對我說,趙一荻告訴他﹕她感謝蔣先生,因為沒有蔣先生的“管束”,張學良的身體早被“掏”空了。張學良即使到了晚年,仍是“性”趣盎然,逢人就炫耀他的好性本色。

男人好色是天性,既不是奇聞,更不是英雄之舉。但跟到處炫耀好色的男人生活在一起的女人真是天下最不幸的女人(當然張學良也有情可原,他活到一百歲,除了好色,沒有任何其他值得炫耀的東西)。沒想到陪伴了張學良73個年頭(其中35年沒名份)的趙一荻女士竟這麼可憐,他從張學良那裡得到的評價只不過是個“很好玩的小姐”,陪他玩了一輩子,最後人家最愛的還是別的女人。

張學良在晚年熱衷什麼?1994年2月一群華人在夏威夷同張學良聚會時,張自我總結說﹕“我已經93歲了,我這一生有三愛﹕愛打麻將;愛說笑話;愛唱老歌。只要有得玩,我就不累。”這就是被中國人視為“民族英雄”的張學良——全然一個市井村夫,而且是活得最俗氣、最糊塗、最沒靈魂的那種。從1936年到2001年,65年的生命在推麻將中推掉了,活到超過一百歲,什麼人生道理也沒活明白,真是白活了!

惟有那首張學良給無數人題了無數遍的打油詩,倒可能是他一生唯一“明白”的自我畫像﹕

自古英雄多好色,
未必好色盡英雄;
我雖並非英雄漢,
惟有好色似英雄。

2001年10月24日於紐約

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